Feros

Allers: The Council actually did that?

Ashley: It wasn't the council not really. It was Councillor Tevos. It took us two years to find out why she did it.

Allers: It took you two years to find out why. That must have been annoying.

Ashley: It was. I didn't like having that held over me as the one thing that we had never managed to figure out.

Allers: So I take it you'll be coming back to this later on.

Ashley: That I will be doing.

Allers: Where did the Commander take you next then?

Ashley: She took us to Feros.

Allers: Isn't Feros the planet that had the Exogeni plant meltdown?

Ashley: It had Exogeni that's for sure, but there was no plant meltdown. It was the Geth and the Thorian...

It took the Commander several days in order to get over the whole Nassana Dantius predicament; it had a bigger affect on her than she expected. When she finally came round she came told us of our next plan. She gathered us up in the comm room again and briefed us on the upcoming mission.

"Feros is our next destination. We've had reports of Geth taking over the facility and the colony has gone dark. We need to find out what Saren was looking for."

"Do we not have any clues to that Shepard?"

"At this moment we don't have anything Garrus. We've just got top hope that the colonists of Zhu's Hope can give us some intel. Are ETA is six hours, we're going to be docking at Zhu's Hope and on foot from there. We'll all disembark at Zhu's Hope and give the colonists a hand. Dismissed."

That was definitely a change we'd all get to go this time. Due to not having a Mako it made sense, safety in numbers on an unknown world. We all went our separate ways with most of us ending up in the mess. Well except for Garrus and Wrex who naturally had gone down to the armoury to check on their weapons and get some last minute target practice. Leaving just Tali, Liara, the LT and me to ourselves. We took a table to ourselves and sat down talking about anything. Liara was discussing the Protheon's with the Lieutenant and Tali was talking about the Migrant Fleet. Eventually the conversation's all turned in to one big discussion about the four of us. Alenko opened up about finding out he was a biotic and Brain Camp as he called it. Whereas I opened up about my family. When it came to the evening meal we were joined by the Commander. Who explained about what Nassana Dantius meant when it came to her past.

"I grew up on Mindoir with my parents. When I was sixteen the colony was attacked by Batarian slavers. My parents and friends were murdered and I was taken as a slave. It wasn't until weeks later that I was rescued by an Alliance Patrol. The men and women that took me in were the ones that made me want to join the Alliance. And I'm thankful that they did. I still keep in contact with several of them, they were my friends. And they were there when I gained N7."

"I'm truly sorry Commander I had no idea."

"That's alright Liara. Several years later I returned to Mindoir, they had started to rebuild but it wasn't the same. I knew after that day I was never going to return, the attachment that I once had was gone. That Alliance was my home from there on."

I could never have imagined what it must have felt like to have been through so much. How she had survived the emotional pain was unbelievable. But here she was as strong as ever, taking on a new fight. That was all we would learn about the Commander that night, after she said her piece she walked off to her quarters. After considering what the Commander had said I too called it a night and went to get a couple of hours sleep before we arrived on Feros...

...four hours later the Commanders voice was coming across the intercom.

"ETA in ten minutes all ground teams report to the cargo bay."

It took me five minutes to get out of bed and into my uniform and another five minutes to get to the armoury and armour up. By the time the ten minutes were up I was stood next to Tali by the Mako. Ready to disembark. We were all ready to go, just waiting on the Commander to be given the green light and open the doors. When the confirmation came through the Commander opened the doors we were greeted by a colonist.

"Fai Dan said you were coming."

"Who is Fai Dan?"

"He's the leader of the colony, he can be foun..."

Where he could be found we never found out as a Geth trooper gunned him down in mid sentence. We fanned out onto the walk way and took cover as the Geth opened fire. From what I could see there were only six Geth, but they were a mix of normal troopers, shock troopers and snipers. This had us pinned down for a while. It wasn't until Wrex charged towards the Geth that we could finally return fire. Wrex's charge took down the Geth troopers and his shotgun blast destroyed the shock troopers. What I wasn't expecting were his biotics, he used a biotic throw to remove one of the snipers from the battlefield and used a biotic warp in order to dispatch the last sniper. One Krogan took down six Geth without getting a scratch. Someone was pleased with himself.

"Come on Shepard there's more Geth up ahead. Huh-Huh"

And he charged forward again up a flight of stairs. After we'd lost sight of him we moved forward and followed in his tracks. It wasn't until we reached the top of the stairs that we saw he had defeated two geth stalkers as well. We came round a corner to find he was pinned down by fire coming from the colony and several people behind metal cover.

"This is Commander Shepard of the Alliance, stand down."

"Stand down, let the Commander through. Fai Dan will want to see her."

"Where is Fai Dan?"

"He's on the opposite side of the camp."

It didn't look like a camp not really. It was just a colonisation ship broken down to make different shelters. Every part had been reused in order to create something that was essential in the continued survival of the colony. It was still weird. Everything else had been built around them, Exogeni definitely didn't arrive till much later. So why had they kept everything like it was and not upgraded. It didn't make sense. Luckily it wasn't a big colony so it didn't take us long to reach Fai Dan.

"Fai Dan?"

"You must be Commander Shepard, are you here to assist?"

"We'll give whatever we can. We've got Geth in the tower get rid of them and we can talk."

"You heard the man, move move move."

As we moved forward into the tower we were quickly ambushed by descending Geth. Luckily we had a battle crazy Krogan on our side. Once again he charged forwards and decimated the approaching enemy. We didn't even have chance to engage. Moving up the tower we reached the skyway where the Geth were gathering on mass. Including two Geth Juggernauts.

"Wrex, you take the Juggernauts. We'll keep everything else of you."

"Shepard. You know how to treat a Krogan."

As we got into cover and opened fire on the Geth, Wrex jumped forward and tackled a Juggernaut to the floor. Bits and pieces of the Geth were flying everywhere from the Krogan's direction. The Geth weren't giving in confident in their numbers. As the Commander and I opened fire with out rifles, Liara and Alenko were throwing their biotics around opening up singularities in front of moving Geth. Tali was using her tech skills in order to bring the shields down on the shock troopers and overload any of the turrets that were flying about. Whereas Garrus had taken up a spot further back using his sniper to take out any of the Geth that were still approaching. It was slow work but we eventually ended the Geth approach. A few scratches here and there but we were relatively unscathed. Even Wrex was unharmed after taking on two Geth Juggernauts singlehandedly. After checking over the Geth remains we headed back to the colony.

"The Geth shouldn't bother you anymore Fai Dan. Now tell me what's going on."

"The Geth arrived several days ago Commander, we've been trying to get through to the Alliance ever since. Half the colony is now gone because you took so long getting here."

"We had other priorities as well Fai Dan. What's the situation at Exogeni?"

"I don't know Commander, we've lost contact with them as far as we know there's no one left."

"How do we get there?"

"The only way is the skyway, there's a Mako parked at the entrance. Take that and just follow the road."

"Okay, Wrex, Williams you're with me. Everybody else stay here and protect the colony from further attacks."

The Commander added the conversation with Fai Dan and set of back up the tower to the skyway, with me and Wrex in tow. The Mako was only an elevator ride up after going as far as we could by the stairs. When the elevator opened up at the top level we were immediately under fire. In front of us there were three barricades each with two people behind aiming at three Geth drones in front of them. We moved into cover quickly and brought them down. With the path now clear we climbed into the Mako. This time Wrex took the weapons platform and I was left with the diagnostic panels. When the garage door opened the Commander set of and we headed up the skyway. Rubble and smouldering vehicles littered the path towards the Exogeni facility. Spread out amongst the rubble were Geth Armatures and Juggernauts. Wrex opened up the main gun and hit them with everything we had, whilst the Commander made the Mako dance. As the Mako was hit by fire from the Armature our shields went down.

"Commander, we've lost shields. Keep us away from that Armature."

"Yes ma'am."

I did everything I could to reactivate the shields, but my tech skills were very basic. After trying to bypass different routes the shields were up to fifty percent. Giving us enough time to get back into the action.

"Commander shields at fifty percent, be careful."

"I know exactly where I'm going to place it."

With a quick roar the Mako turned towards the Armature and headed straight for it. The Commander managed to lock the Mako directly underneath the Armature. The Armature not being able to do anything about us as it just stood there. That was until the Commander activated the thrusters on the Mako, launching us and the Armature up into the air. As we came down we landed easily, the Armature was turned upside down and landed on its back. As soon as Wrex saw the incapacitated Armature he opened fire with the main gun and ended its existence. With the road clear we carried on and headed into the next building. As we entered the next building we picked up comm chatter.

"There's a vehicle coming, it doesn't sound like the Geth..."

"Get off that radio."

As we carried on we stopped outside what was a weigh station for the Mako's. All the diagnostics programs that we ran against the transmission suggested that whoever had transmitted was in the weigh station. We all got out of the Mako and headed down the path into the weigh station. When we reached the bottom of the path there were several barricades in place with humans guarding the entrance. A man in the middle of the clearing spotted us.

"You! Who are you?"

"Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy."

"You have no business here Commander. Go any further and you'll be trespassing on private property."

"I don't care about your property I'm here to get rid of the Geth and find out why they're here. So you can either let me through or you can watch everybody die."

"Fine, but if you touch anything or see anything you're not supposed to then your career will be over, and Exogeni will bill you."

"I don't take well to threats."

"It's not Ethans fault. He's the highest ranking member of Exogeni left, he was only a low down manager before. If you're going in will you look out for my daughter."

"Your daughter?"

"Yes my daughter works for Exogeni, I lost contact with her. Can you look out for her?"

"I'll do my best."

"Her name is Lizbeth Baynham, thank you Commander."

As we headed back towards the entrance we were beckoned over by a man behind a desk.

"Commander, I wonder if you might help me."

"I'm listening."

"We were so quick to evacuate that I didn't have time to download my research, will you be able to download it for me and bring it back."

"Where will we find it?"

"Any work station will do, Exogeni shared everything over one network."

"I'll see what I can do."

Hopefully this time we'll be able to get out before someone else asked us to do something. We made it back to the Mako and carried on our way to the next skyway. Of course the Geth were waiting for us as well. This time the Commander left the destroying up to Wrex. Who gladly took up the chance to destroy more Geth. Which he did enjoying every second of it. When we reached the end of the skyway we went on foot and headed through the final door and find two geth stalkers waiting for us on the opposite side. As they leaped from surface to surface our shots weren't hitting their target. Wrex threw a biotic warp into the path of the first stalker which decimated its shield and health, leaving its partner, which fell to a well timed shot from the Commanders shotgun. As we moved forward we came to a sharp drop with no way back up. This was the only way forward, a force field blocked one exit and locked doors blocked others. I made the decision for the Commander and jumped down leading the way forward. As we came out of the corridor a lone shot hit the wall where I had just been standing.

"Sorry, so sorry. I thought you were Geth."

"Well I'm not so watch your shooting."

"Leave it be Chief. Are you Lizbeth Baynham?"

"How did you know?"

"Your mother asked us to find."

"My mother's okay."

"Your mother's fine she's near the colony with survivors from Exogeni. Do you know why the Geth are here?"

"Probably for the Thorian."

"Thorian?"

"It's a plant and that's all I know. I'm just a low level researcher I'm not even supposed to know that."

"That's okay, you stay safe. We need to carry on through the compound and get rid of the Geth."

"Here take this, it's my key card it should get you into different areas."

Before the Commander could reply, we were attacked by varren. The dog like creatures that were sought out as pets by Krogan could kill a man with its sharp teeth and tended to hunt in packs. For ten of them to attack at once, it must have been a big pack that was in the area. Thankfully they were no match for three heavily armed individuals. Soon their bodies lay stricken on the ground, making sure that Lizbeth was safe we made our way to the door opposite and worked our way through the compound. As we reached the outside wall of the compound we came across part of the Geth ship that had installed itself in the side of the building. Weirdly there were two Geth troopers kneeling on the ground in front of it, almost like they were praying. But these were machines why would they prey. They were so caught up with their worship that they didn't realise we were there until it was to later. A shot to their head ended their existence. We pushed further into the complex only finding minimal resistance. We eventually came across the opposite side of the force field. In front of it there were three geth. One stalker, one trooper and one shock trooper, one target each. It fell to me to get rid of the trooper. Hidden behind cover I edged to the side and peered out levelling my rifle towards the trooper. With three shots it hit the ground and joined its comrades. Since we couldn't get through the force field there were only two options. There was a stair case to the right that headed up and one to the left that headed down. The Commander chose the right stair case.

When we reached the top of the stairs the Commander had Wrex go first. He turned the corner and immediately charged at the enemies in front. As we turned round we saw three Krogan firing at Wrex. But Wrex wasn't having any of it, he used his shotgun on the first and used a biotic throw in order to crash the other two together. As we concentrated our fire on the two that were dazed, Wrex concentrated on the one left standing. His shotgun still firing we lashed out with his biotics at the same time, biotic warps hitting their intended target knocking the Krogan further backwards. By now the other two Krogan had got back onto their feet and concentrated their fire on us. Luckily we were behind cover, able to hide from their fire but also able to return fire when needed. Our fire from before had fried their shields so they were no working on just their health. As soon as we thought we had them, they had a last second of energy and charged towards us. As quick as we could we both dropped our rifles and quickly grabbed our shotguns and just blasted the two Krogan. Whilst that was happening Wrex had managed to subdue his target leaving his corpse floating around due to the singularity placed by him.

"Anything down there Wrex?"

"Just a data terminal."

"See if you can find that missing research data."

"It's here Shepard, downloading to my omni-tool now."

"As soon as it's done let's move."

It didn't take long for it to download and we were soon moving again. Back down the stairs to take the other route to the left of the force field. This led us down into the complex and opened up to another chamber where part of the Geth ship was latched onto the building.

"Commander if we could shut those blast doors, then it should break the mooring line."

"Good catch Williams; it'll have to be shut with force though. Let's see what we can find."

We moved to the other side of the latch and encountered more Geth and there was no cover for us to hide behind, leaving us open to attack. And they had two Juggernauts. These odds would have been great if we were three Krogan but with us only numbering one Krogan and two Humans they didn't look as good. Well not to us anyway, for Wrex they clearly looked glorious as he charged into battle once again. We laid down covering fire for the Krogan managing to only take a few shots ourselves. We left him to the Juggernauts and we tried to take everything else, using what little cover we could find. Changing from our assault rifles to shotguns we decided to push forward into the Geth line. Taking down everything we could whilst Wrex was battling with the Juggernauts. Before we knew it the Geth line had dwindled leaving only a couple left, including one Juggernaut. As we finished the remaining troopers Wrex handled the Juggernaut. Ripping of different appendages until it was just a torso.

"Shepard, anymore?"

"I think that's all of them. Make sure there are none coming up behind us. Ash check those consoles."

The consoles the Commander directed me to were right up against the far wall. One main hub and then several data modules to the side. Looking at the main hub, it had several different sub routines. It seemed to control a lot of different functions within the Exogeni building, one of which was the blast doors to the room. From reading through the information provided the only way to shut the doors with as much force as possible would be to overload the power. Which is what the data hubs to the side controlled, each one had a different amount of power running through as it they powered the different systems. Looking through the display another time I found the routine that controlled the flow of power. After several seconds of scanning the information I found which ones I needed to control.

"Commander. I know how to dislodge the ship."

"Do it Williams."

I fired up the main hub and started the flow of power. After activating the three data hubs needed there was a loud crash as the blast doors cut through the latch attaching the ship to the building. As the ship could be heard hitting the sides of the cliff face our radios suddenly came to life.

"Commander do you read me? Commander."

"Joker."

"Good to hear your voice Commander. We've got a problem."

"Hit me Joker."

"The colonists have started attacking the ship. One minute they were fine and the next they just went crazy."

"Activate the kinetic barriers so they don't do any damage. We're on our way back."

"Roger that Commander."

"Let's move out."

We headed back the way we came, with the ship no gone the force field that was preventing us from leaving should be gone and it was, in its place was Lizbeth Baynham.

"Commander, you did it."

"You lied to me Ms Baynham."

"What."

"I found a terminal in there, you're not some low researcher. You're in charge of the Thorian project. Why didn't you tell me this?"

"Because you may have left me there. I'm sorry Commander."

"Accepted, what's the Thorian?"

"The Thorian is a plant like creature and it has mind control capabilities."

"Mind control?"

"Only after pro-longed exposure to its spores."

"Where is the Thorian?"

"It's situated underneath Zhu's Hope."

"Come with us Ms Baynham, we're going back to the colony."

Once back in the Mako we headed back down the skyway towards the colony. As we reached the weigh station another voice was heard of the radio.

"Please is there anybody out there..."

"...Get her away from that radio."

"Mother. Stop the Mako."

As the Mako made a quick stop Lizbeth jumped out and headed down the ramp towards the weigh station. We quickly jumped out and followed her down the ramp. Hiding behind some crates we listened into the conversation that was happening. Clearly Ethan had lost his mind talking about a neutron purge.

"Get away from her you bastard."

"Who's there? Come out all of you."

As we came out of cover, Ethan's face sunk.

"Commander, I was hoping the Geth would have killed you."

"Nice to see you to."

As we walked down the ramp Lizbeth ran towards her mother. Wrapping her up in a hug.

"What's going on?"

"Exogeni want no trace of this facility. They're initiating a neutron purge of the facility."

"What about the colony?"

"They don't matter. We can't let the galaxy now about what we've done."

"You mean the Thorian."

"You're not supposed to know about that Commander. But yes the Thorian."

"At least let us try and safe the colonists."

"No, no one is going anywhere."

With that he drew a gun on the Commander.

"Ethan, this is going too far. You can't just sacrifice the lives of the many just to hide the crimes that your company has done. Give me the gun."

"The Thorian cannot be exposed."

"Even if you initiate a neutron purge the Thorian will be exposed. And your company will be seen as criminals and everyone will be arrested. I'll make sure of it. But if you lower your gun then we can save the colony and exterminate the Thorian. That way Exogeni come out as the good guys saving the colony. Which would you rather do?"

"Alright Commander. We'll do it your way."

"Time to go kill a plant."

"Commander, what about the colonists?"

"What about them Williams?"

"If they're under the influence of the Thorian then they are unaware of their actions. There must be a way to save them."

"We have a way Commander. Use this on your grenades. It will release a gas that will knock them unconscious. Once you've dealt with the Thorian they should walk up free of its influence."

"All right we'll do that then. Stock up on grenades team."

We climbed back into the Mako and made our way back down the skyway. When we reached the other side the garage door was shut. The only button being outside the Mako we piled out again. In front of the door there was some kind of gray plant. As we moved closer the plant moved it turned into a humanoid shape upon seeing us it ran at us just like one of those things from Eden Prime but more organic. It reached the Commander and started to throw up green bile which managed to drain the Commanders shields. A quick shotgun blast from Wrex threw it backwards.

"What the hell was that?"

"No idea. But it's safe to say they're not friendly. Shoot to kill."

"What about the colonists?"

"Use your grenades on the colonists, but watch your fire. We don't need any dead colonists."

A quick press of the button and the door opened up, revealing to us more of the organic husks and several colonists hidden behind cover. The husks were defeated easily but the colonists proved to be a bigger problem. Having us pinned down we couldn't exactly fire back or even try and throw a grenade at them.

"Wrex can you use stasis?"

"I'm a biotic Krogan, what do you think?"

As the Krogan activated his biotics his skin started to glow. His blue aura spread forth and wrapped the colonists in stasis allowing us to move closer and plant the grenade. We moved safely away from the colonists and Wrex let go of their stasis but by that time it was too late for them. As soon as they were out the Commander activated the grenade knocking them unconscious. We turned towards the elevator and headed down towards the colony. As soon as we got off the elevator more colonist were waiting for us, a quick grenade to either side of them ended their attack. We encountered more resistance once we reached the colony, not just by the colonists but there were more of those organic husks as well. We quickly found that they also fell to the gas from the grenades. As we made our way through the colony towards the supposed location of the Thorian we encountered more and more resistance. We rounded the corner and found the rest of the colonists waiting for us. They were guarding a control panel.

"Commander, that control panel, should be the crane controls."

"I see it Chief."

With that we threw the last of our grenades towards the gathered colonists. As the grenades detonated the gas was released managing to get every civilian, and some of the organic husks. The left we brought down with gun fire. It was quick and easy, leaving nothing left standing. As the Commander activated the control panel Fai Dan appeared. His gun drawn but by his side he approached the Commander.

"We didn't mean for it to go this far. But the Thorian it creeps into your mind unknowingly and subdues. There's no saving us now, we're too far gone. We're not accountable for our actions."

With those final words he placed the gun to his temple and fired. As his body dropped to the floor we moved towards the opening that the crane had given us and headed down.

"All we have to do is find this plant and kill it?"

"Yeah, how big can it be..."

"This is going to be a problem."

The Thorian wasn't just a plant it was an enormous plant. Roots as thick as a Krogan sprouted from it and attached to the walls, here there and everywhere. It was monstrous. As we moved closer the plant seemed to convulse like it was throwing up. From what could be said was its mouth came this figure. An Asari.

"Defilers. You will not leave her alive."

"We want to know why Saren came here."

"Saren came to trade, he was to give us freedom for information and he betrayed us. As soon as he got what he wanted he left us. We won't have that happen again."

"All we want is the knowledge you gave Saren we have no intention of harming you."

"Damage is already done. You shall not get what you want nor shall you leave."

With that the Asari used her biotics in order to throw us backwards. As soon as she started to open fire then more organic husks appeared and charged us. Wrex decided it was up to him to take on the Asari leaving us to the husks. The husks fell quickly, every blast leaving one down and another one to take its place. Quickly looking towards Wrex it was clear that he had the upper hand, his biotics were throwing the Asari about. As her strength faded Wrex took the last advantage and used his biotics to throw her over the ledge. With a quick grin he turned and charged into the remaining husks.

"So the easy part done, how do we defeat that?"

"Good question, try the roots."

"The roots?"

"From the looks of things it holding the Thorian up so if we weaken them, it should collapse."

"The roots it is Commander."

We moved closer to the first root and held a shotgun to it and fired. As soon as the shot hit the root came away from the wall and the Thorian screamed.

"Heh-heh. That worked Shepard lets go find another."

Wrex was enjoying this, but he was Krogan. As we moved round and down the Thorian we came across more organic husks and strangely more Asari, but they all had the same markings on their face identifying her as the same one we defeated earlier. As more roots were removed the Thorian began to quiver due to the strain of trying to stay up with little to hold it. As Wrex destroyed the last root the Thorian fell down the chasm it was hanging over. Even a plant wouldn't be able to survive something like that. With a loud thud it hit the bottom of the floor.

"Grenade."

"Wrex?"

"Just to make sure."

"Do it."

With confirmation received Wrex dropped several grenades down the chasm and waited till he heard them hit the bottom. As soon as they hit the bottom they detonated. It may have been overkill but with something like the Thorian it's better to be safe than sorry. With that done we turned to leave, but we were drawn to one side as a pod on the wall opened and with it came an Asari. She had the same facial markings as the one's that had been attacking us earlier.

"Please don't harm me."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Shiala."

"What are you doing here Shiala?"

"I came here with Saren and Matriarch Benezia. We came to get the Cipher."

"The Cipher?"

"Saren encountered a Protheon Beacon on Eden Prime, but the vision wasn't complete. In order to understand the information a cipher was needed. The vision hinted at a creature that had lived through the last cycle and was contained on this planet. Saren used me as a means of communicating with the Thorian. Once he had what was needed he left. Leaving me as a prisoner of the Thorian."

"Did he get what he wanted?"

"Yes, the cipher was given unto him by the Thorian."

"Dam. We need that information."

"I still retain the information. If you are willing I could join with you and pass the information on."

"Do it."

"Clear your mind Commander. Look into the void and EMBRACE ETERNITY."

We watched as the Asari's eyes turned black and her hand came into contact with the Commanders cheek. What had only begun a few seconds ago quickly came to an end as she removed her hand.

"What you saw Commander was the cipher working. It will take time for it make sense, but it is the beginning."

"Thank you Shiala. What will you do now?"

"I don't know. I'd like to be able to make up for what I've done."

"You could come with us."

"Are you sure?"

With a nod of her head, she agreed. It was a lot to take. The woman that had been recently shooting at us was now going to be joining us. She must have been sincere in her wish to make up for what she'd done; either that or something was conveyed across when they melded. But she was part of the crew and we headed back towards the colony. When we reached the colony Lizbeth Baynham and her mother were waiting for us.

"Thanks for everything you've done Commander. Only a few would have saved as many as you did. You have our thanks."

The only colonist that hadn't made it was Fai Dan but at least that wasn't our doing. We had managed to save everyone else. As we walked through the colony there were several shouts of thanks, being thrown around by the colonists. It felt good to be thanked for something we had done; no doubt the council would see it differently. As soon as we made it onboard the Normandy, the Commander took Shiala down to see the Doctor. Leaving the rest of us to remove our armour and weapons in the cargo bay. As soon as we had stored it all away the Commander came over the radio.

"Full team debrief in the comm room, five minutes."

There was no point in hanging about so we made our way up to the comm room. As we waited for everybody else to arrive, the Commander walked in with Shiala. Shortly followed by the rest of the team.

"It seems that Saren has been here. To cut a long story short, there was a life form on this planet called the Thorian. It's over fifty thousand years old. It lived through the Protheon-Reaper war and had access to the Protheon cipher. This cipher should be able to allow me to process and understand the vision from the beacon. For those of you who might have noticed, this is Shiala. She was a commando under Matriarch Benezia. She is her for the same reasons that you are. It was from her that I gained the Protheon Cipher."

"You joined with her?"

"Yes I did Liara. It was the only way to get the cipher."

"I see. I remember you Shiala. The Commando was always two steps behind my mother. Her personal protection, not that she really needed anything. She was a powerful biotic. Why did you follow her to Saren?"

"I followed her for the same reason that she left. We thought that we would be able to turn Saren from his path. He allowed us to stay and see if we could accomplish what we set out for. We failed. As soon as the Matriarch became indoctrinated it didn't take long for us to fall as well. We did the bidding of Saren. When Saren left me in the possession of the Thorian, I felt nothing. I had done what he wanted. Nothing more and nothing less. My time with the Thorian erased the indoctrination; I became a thrall to the Thorian. Kept in a cocoon and copied. Those Asari that you thought, we're my genetic clones. When you defeated the Thorian and I came out of the cocoon, it was the first time since we joined Saren that I had felt completely free of anybodies influence. When I joined with the Commander, I saw her fight and I wanted to be a part of it. Hence why I am here, little wing."

"How did you know that?"

"Your mother was proud of you, even though she may not have told you. Even in her indoctrinated state she remembered you. Often calling you little wing. I think part of her still remains but for how long I cannot say."

"Thank you Shiala. I had hoped something of her remained."

What did you think? It took a while to arrive, but I'm doing this whilst I'm at work. So sometimes naturally I have to do something else. The longest chapter I've done yet. There was a lot to fit in. Especially with making a character that you see only once throughout the game a more important significant character. It's going to be fun. Once again any comments send them my way. Please review, and let me know what you think. The next chapter will be here when its ready.