Chapter 12: Aggressive Negotiations

Under Zhu's Hope, Feros

Nate's rifle scanned the crumbling walls of the stairwell, its flashlight beam joined by four others as they slowly made their way towards what was, up until just recently, the true master of Zhu's Hope. Nate took point, the others in a staggered single file behind him as they descended further and further.

The rain above them was picking up, the sound of it drumming on the floor above their heads and out in front of them somehow sustaining its intensity as they continued their descent.

"They get some impressive storms here, don't they?" Garrus said, back of the pack as a marksman rifle scanned above them for any unwanted surprises. "Not a bad sound."

"It'll feel pretty bad once we get out into the open," Daniel replied, third in line with an SMG. "Even through the armor. Storms like this, especially on a colony world without weather manipulation… they can get bad. We'll need to watch our-"

He was cut off as his foot went through a section of floor that looked like any other, sending him sprawling as more cracks opened up under his body. In an instant, three biotic fields flared to life as a paper-thin bridge replaced the corroded metal and stone that fell away beneath it.

"Damn," Daniel groaned as he got to his feet. "Of all the times to warn about watching your step…"

"Maybe the planet's spirit has a sense of humor," Garrus quipped as the group crossed the bridge. "Decided to take a high and mighty Prothean structure and erode it just so, all for you."

"Well, no engineering is perfect," Liara said, her tone indicative of a grimace. "Not even Prothean engineering, close as it sometimes seems to get."

"The storm won't help matters once we get outside," Nate replied. "If this thing acts even somewhat like other plants, there's got to be at least some part that's exposed to the environment."

"Joy," Kaidan said wryly before he focused again. "I think we're getting closer. The sound of the rain is picking up."

"This should be easy enough, though," Garrus said somewhat flippantly as they came towards an opening, a flash of lightning spilling light towards them for the briefest of moments. "Like you said, Shepard, it's a plant, intelligent though it might be. We just… have to…"

Garrus trailed off as they emerged into what was now a vast, rubble-strewn silo of a section, open to the elements as the rain came down in sheets and driped through the cracks in an intense downpour. It did little to disguise the massive… thing before them. It barely looked like a plant, more like a cephalopod, brown and red and suspended in the air. It seemed, at least as much as any plant could, to be facing them, a 'head' with tentacle-like tendrils and eye spots that, honestly, might well have been actual eyes bobbing up and down gently before a platform that stretched past the walls of metal, concrete, and rainwater.

"That… is probably one of the more disturbing things I've ever seen," Liara remarked as the plant, what could only be a part of the Thorian… growled.

"They certainly didn't cover anything like this in my training manuals," Garrus replied. "What's the play, Commander?"

"Right now, let's try talking first," Nate said as he slowly made his way forward, passing through the curtain of water into the storm itself as he lowered his weapon. "If this thing is as intelligent as we think it might be…"

Nate switched to his armor's speakers, hoping they'd be able to be heard over the storm. "Are you a part of the Thorian?" Nate asked almost at a shout. "We have no intention of hurting you. We simply need something you might be able to help us with."

The Thorian was largely silent for long moments, then began to pulsate, almost as if it was… retching. Slime and bile cascaded from within the tentacles to mix with the rain, and Nate's eyes narrowed as something slipped from what must have been its mouth to tumble onto the ground sprawling.

The figure, wrapped in what looked like a bark simulacrum of armor, got to its feet, revealing a remarkable recreation of a neuter asari, its skin tinged a chlorophyll green as it regarded them with equally green eyes.

"Hello," Nate began. "Are you-"

"Trespassers!" the construct interjected, its voice monotone even as it boomed. "Each footstep is a transgression, and feelers beyond your measure appraise you as meet, fit only to dig or nourish us. Why have you taken the workers from us?"

"They were enslaved without their knowledge," Nate said. "They did not pledge themselves to you. Who are you?"

"This body speaks for the Old Growth, as its template spoke for the being called Saren. You stand before and within the Thorian, and are compelled to be in awe."

"Did you give something to Saren?" Nate asked. "We're in search of something important. Something we're prepared to negotiate for."

"The being Saren sought the knowledge of those who are gone. Those that made this stone forest. The Old Growth took full notice of the little flesh for the first time in many ages. Trades were made and promised."

The asari ambassador's face contorted into something approximating anger. "Then cold slivers of metal began to destroy those who would tend to us. Those that were promised to us! And you continue to take from us!"

"We're not with Saren, we promise," Liara said as she stepped forward. "We are willing to deal with you honestly."

"The air the little flesh pushes is that of lies!" the ambassador spat. "The Old Growth will listen no more."

Nate glanced around and saw no small amount of the plant creatures they'd encountered earlier beginning to stir. "If there are people willing to serve you, then I'm sure we can come to some sort of compromise. We want to respect you as an equal. I don't think much of anyone beyond Saren was aware you were sentient."

"You are no equal to nature," the ambassador said coldly, beginning to glow with biotic power. "Your lives are brief breaths in the wind, but for too long have you blown."

Nate prepared himself for the onslaught that was coming, feeling the biotic fields of Liara and Kaidan behind him blooming to life alongside his as his crimson tech armor flared to life.

'Well,' he thought, 'that certainly could have gone better.'

. . .

Up above, Ashley considered the storm that she and her current squad weathered as best they could, the absolute tempest that seemed liable to tear the whole colony down. She almost couldn't see the exit of the colony out of the window from the downpour.

After a moment, she glanced back at the colonists and the soldiers here from Wolf Squad that surrounded them. The colonists were all passed out, sprawled across the main building's floor and furniture. It looked, and probably felt, like one hell of a hangover. She didn't envy them in the slightest.

She turned away to see Wrex staring out another window, watching the storm like she had been. "You ever see storms like this traveling and bashing in heads, Wrex?" she asked.

Wrex hummed. "Not many that were as wet as this one. Tuchanka has radioactive dust storms that sound about like this. Probably a little deadlier than this, too."

Ashley nodded as she looked out the window alongside him. "I hope Commander Shepard and the others are doing alright," she said with a quiet sigh. "It's probably more exciting than being the designated grown-up for these poor bastards."

Before anyone else could go on, a rapid beeping pierced the air, bringing all attention to Tali, as she considered her omni-tool. "Motion detected from the entrance!" she said urgently, pulling out a shotgun and adjusting its choke.

Ashley and the other soldiers made their way to the windows, squeezing in as best they could. "I can't see shit!" one of the soldiers, Cheng, said, leaning a little closer as his eyes narrowed. "Anything on anyone else's radar?"

"Not a thing," another soldier, Hoffman, replied, shaking her head. "This storm's messing everything up!"

Ashley was silent, scanning the almost inscrutable scene before them, glancing at her radar to confirm that it had little to no function before looking over at the main section of the colony that they had moved aside, keying her comms. "Korrapati, can you hear us? We've got movement alarms going off at the colony."

The comms line was staticky, but she largely heard Korrapati's voice clearly enough. "Good copy. We'll keep our eyes peeled. Much good as it seems it's going to do us."

Ashley settled in, gun leveled at the window looking for… something. Anything that might be approaching them. Langley and the others who'd gone with Shepard had talked about plant creatures under the control of the Thorian that they had encountered outside of the colony. Could anything like that even try and walk in a storm like this?

Then… there. A shadow, thin and with ragged edges that rippled in the wind as the storm seemed to slacken only somewhat.

It was joined by a second, then a third and fourth, and Ashley's jaw clenched as the group grew bigger, and bigger… and bigger…

Then, in a blink, the window before them cracked as a thorn, as long as her hand and as thick as two of her fingers, slammed into it, the impact point it hugged beginning to sizzle and smoke around the edges. Several others swiftly joined it, the window soon shattering and allowing the storm to roar in their ears.

Ashley ducked as several around her returned fire, the rain drumming on her helmet regardless as she looked back at those squad members who had stayed back. "Kelsey, Wen, Long, get the colonists out of the line of fire!"

Trusting that the soldiers would be doing their job, she returned her focus to the advancing monstrosities, spraying them down with bursts of fire from her assault rifle. She found herself profoundly grateful that these things, as relentless as they were, weren't shielded.

She did a double-take to her left as she saw the crimson hulk that was Wrex mantle through the window, stepping out and standing firm in the driving rain as he exchanged his new-found rifle for his traditional shotgun.

'Makes me hope that whatever Shepard's doing is a little easier with… whatever the hell's going on up here.' Ashley mused as she lay down covering fire for the big red moving target that their enemy now gravitated towards. With this many targets up here, how many could be down there?

. . .

Nate narrowly diverted the biotic blast from the asari clone, a tide of viridian-tinged gravity that still managed to slam him into the wall behind, sending dust flying as he struggled to stay on his feet. His retort, a tide that crawled across the ground to try and take his opponent's feet out from under them, was pushed into the floor, shattering it and making a decent hole as they focused on the two other biotics that were trying to pierce her defenses. Whoever Saren had offered up to the Thorian, they were remarkably powerful and experienced.

While Nate rejoined the fight to try and contain this threat, Garrus and Daniel did their best to keep the plant creatures off of their backs, several drones covering what angles the two men couldn't keep an eye on at the present moment.

Even still, the tide of green kept coming, Daniel coming back to back with Garrus just behind Liara, who tossed a flickering, flashing bolt of biotic power that popped in and out of sight, finally catching the plant clone in the side and sending her swaying and making her focus flicker for the briefest of moments.

It was a moment that Nate and Kaidan took full advantage of, Nate deftly weaving an aura of blue-shifted gravity that lifted the clone off the ground, sending her gently spinning in the air before Kaidan sent a hammer of force slamming into the clone and sending them flying up and across the way, arcing over the Thorian and out of sight.

Nate, Kaidan, and Liara turned their focus to the plant creatures, the tide slowly beginning to turn as Nate activated his tech armor, wrapped himself in a biotic barrier, and stowed his rifle in favor of a shotgun. If the Sentinel was going to work here, he needed to get up close and personal.

As inhumanly strong as these plant crawlers seemed to be, they fell easily enough, the space around the squad becoming a little less pressed after long moments of fury and fire. In the moments after the majority of the crawlers had fallen, Nate heard Garrus' voice in his comms. "Alright, so we've taken care of the biotic, for now. How do we deal with this thing?"

Nate looked around the space as best he could through the rain, the slowly abating rain allowing him to get a better look at the space around them. The Thorian growled, a deep rumble that was accompanied by a somewhat distant crackling and snapping that was getting closer and closer, more and more crawlers likely on their way.

Continuing to look around, Nate found a potential solution. It was a slim chance… but it just might work. "We need to make our way to the anchor points keeping this thing attached. We drop this thing…"

"It's going to stop working in this sector at the very least," Liara finished. "We don't have time to waste. We have to hurry!"

After another quick glance around, Nate started charging towards a rounded slope that led up towards one of the larger tendrils. "Follow me!"

The squad charged up the slope, the rumble of thunder and the flash of lightning covering the flash of their guns and the pounding of their sprint before, at last, they reached the thick, deep green cord, a glow of red weaving through it in a series of threads. Scattered around it were the corpses of the crawlers that they had blitzed through.

"Garrus," Nate said, looking over and pausing for a moment as he saw the man shouldering the launcher he'd taken. "You read my mind. Hit it."

Garrus stepped forward, and after a moment's calibration, with a buzzing blare, a packet of condensed gravity containing the equivalent of a tiny, unstable star zipped towards the branch and detonated violently. The squad looked away for a moment from the almost blinding glare before looking back at the mangled, but still connected tendril.

"Damn," Kaidan said as his hand glowed with biotic energy, "this thing's tough."

As he finished speaking, he unleashed an arc of gravitic power, a red-shifted slash tearing through what little connective tissue remained, a keening bellow coming from the Thorian as a passage revealed itself from behind the space the tendril barred.

"Alright," Nate said as he began to make his way towards the path forward, "let's-"

Before he could get any further, the ceiling above exploded, raining rubble down on them as several biotic shields flared to life to keep them from being buried. One of the things that landed on them, however, was far more lively than most things, the asari clone landing almost squarely over Nate's head and springing off the shield and onto the ground.

Before any of the biotic umbrellas could flicker out and their creators turn their power elsewhere, the clone dashed into their midst, a fist readied to land squarely on Garrus' chest. As Nate turned to try and intercept the blur, he saw someone else moving to put himself in the way.

And his eyes went wide as, in the moments before the asari collided with Garrus, Daniel managed to catch the asari's arm, shoving it into the clone's body. The gravitic punch released whether its wielder wished it or not, lifting the asari off their feet and sending them flying past Nate once again.

The asari once again landed on their feet, sliding back a few feet and only pausing a moment before they dashed in again, their target quite obviously changed as Daniel laid into them with SMG fire while he backpedaled.

The asari clone closed the distance relentlessly though, the shots reflecting off a biotic barrier until they grabbed onto Daniel's armor and heaved, tossing him out a 'window', and into the open air.

"Daniel!" Nate shouted as he turned his attention fully back to the asari, gunfire joined by tech attacks and biotic powers, supercooled tech rounds from him and Kaidan slowly starting to whittle away at the asari's defenses.

"I'm okay!" a voice, strained though it might have been, cut through the comms after long moments. "I'm… damn it! I'm on top of this thing!"

Nate looked out the hole at the smudge of color that peeked out from below for a moment, and saw a slight smear of blue crawling on top of it. "Hang on, Daniel!" he said. "We'll get you off there when we can!"

"Take your time," Daniel grunted. "I'll figure things out here."

Nate was focusing on wearing down the asari clone now, working with Liara to continue grinding them down over the course of agonizing minutes. Kaidan had broken off his assault to assist Garrus in keeping still more of the plant crawlers from overwhelming them. But the asari was locked in place now, its attention split between two sides of a relentless assault. It could get tired. They could…

"Cease!"

The word went over Nate's head for a moment before he fully realized who had spoken it, the asari clone no longer pressing an attack on them. As well, Nate saw Kaidan and Garrus' fire taper off as the crawlers simply… stopped and stood there.

Nate looked at Liara for long moments, their concealed faces unable to conceal either one's skepticism. It was only after long moments that their biotic and tech attacks fully disappeared, the biotic barrier around the asari clone dropping.

"Alright," Nate said. "What's changed?"

"The proximity of the little flesh upon us allowed us to see its memories, its intentions," the asari clone replied. "What we have seen… it has made us reconsider."

"That so?" Garrus said, his rifle still leveled at the crawlers. "You willing to actually talk now?"

"The Thorian will negotiate," the asari clone replied. "You seek the knowledge of the creators of this space. It is a heavy cost to give up this tender."

"But…" Nate ventured slowly.

"The Thorian has come to realize its hidden nature shall become a curse if none can understand it," the clone continued. "It pains it, but it must make itself known, that it may be acknowledged and left to its intentions without undue disruption. You shall have your knowledge. We ask in return for a new body to speak for us. We will await this new body."
As the last word exited the clone's mouth, it collapsed to the floor, lifeless and limp. After a moment, Nate and Liara approached it, Nate nudging what could easily be described as a corpse with his boot as it began to lose its bright green coloring, soon becoming an even, dull brown.

"Fascinating…" Liara said, her eyes wide. "This is hardly my area of expertise, but there are a few academy students whom I studied with who'd be absolutely ecstatic at some of the things they'd be learning about at the moment. The ability to create such an uncanny simulacrum…"

"Setting aside that they'd have to be pretty bulletproof to make it this far," Garrus interjected, "I'm guessing your schoolmates would be perfectly willing to shove ExoGeni aside for something like this."

"It might not be a bad idea to get in touch with them," Kaidan said as he looked around at the crawlers that simply… stood there. "I think this might be outside ExoGeni's wheelhouse now."

"Next question," Garrus said. "If this isn't the body of the asari… where are they?"

Seemingly in response to that, one of the crawlers walked forward, past them a little way before pausing and turning to them, waiting as they regarded it.

"I think it wants us to follow it," Kaidan said slowly.

"Then that's what we'll do," Nate replied. "Liara, Alenko, go get Theisman off the Thorian and follow after us. Garrus, come with me."

"Sir," Kaidan said, nodding Liara over to the edge as the rest of the crawlers dispersed.

With that, Nate and Garrus followed after the crawler that continued up through the spiral passageway that the ruins had created in their millennia-long decay. It was eerily silent now, and the only other sound besides their footsteps was the rain that continued to slacken as the storm passed on.

Finally, though, Garrus decided to break the silence that he and Nate shared. "How do we know we can trust this thing?" he began. "If it decided to attack us before, then what's to say we don't somehow piss it off again? Or some other poor bastard?"

"If it's willing to go this far to negotiate, then I think we're alright, at least," Nate replied. "As far as I'm concerned with anyone else, we take this to the Council and trust that they listen to us. After we're done here, it's a matter of diplomacy."
"That's a lot of trust to place in a Council that doesn't fully seem to trust you."

"Maybe so," Daniel agreed with a shrug. "But we aren't just dealing with a science experiment or unthinking beast here like ExoGeni might think. This is a living, intelligent being that doesn't want to be poked or prodded any more than you and I do."

"Makes sense, I guess," Garrus replied, looking around the darkened ruins with the light from his helmet.

After a moment more, they heard someone calling out to them in a remarkably familiar voice. "Hello? Is someone there?"

"And that would be our wayward herald," Garrus said quietly as they continued their approach.

Sure enough, they came across a thoroughly… slimy asari, wearing light armor that shared the same flowing, almost flower-petal-like patterns as the clone, but colored in lavender, white, and pale sky blue. Their blue skin was streaked with green, striping their face and tendrils, and their eyes were a bright green.

They saw Nate and Garrus approaching, sighing in apparent relief. "You're Alliance. And… a turian?"

They became much more guarded, Nate stowing his weapon. "I'm Commander Shepard, and this is Garrus Vakarian. We're trying to look for Saren, among other things."

"So you're not allied with him," the asari sighed in apparent relief. "And I suppose I have you to thank for releasing me."

Nate nodded as he approached. "Are you alright? Are you hurt in any way?"

"Is any of that slime you're wearing… yours?" Garrus said as the asari frowned for a moment.

"Oh no, I'm fine. Or I will be in time, at least," the asari replied. "My name is Shiala. I… well I served Matriarch Benezia before Saren gave me to this… creature."

"Why ally yourself with someone like Saren anyway?" Garrus asked, Nate glancing back to see the rest of his squad coming up behind them as Garrus continued. "Or at least, why stay with Matriarch Benezia when she did?"

"Well," Shiala replied, "she realized what kind of influence that Saren might have, part of the Spectres as he was and keeping the sort of company he kept. So she joined his side to try and guide him to a path that would be… gentler than Saren was apparently prepared to travel. But Saren was compelling. Benezia lost her way. Along with myself and the rest of the commandos I served with."

"Commandos?" Kaidan said rather incredulously.

"A gift of protection for those that serve for some time in political positions," Liara explained. "Commando squads who aren't on active duty elsewhere can seek to pledge themselves to a Matriarch's protection for a time."

"Which begs the question," Nate said. "As strong-willed as a Matriarch and her commando retinue must be, can Saren control minds somehow?"

"Whatever might have happened, we and Benezia came to believe in the whole of Saren and his goals. The strength of such influence is troubling, regardless of whether he can control us or not."

"Benezia sought to turn a river aside and found herself swept away," Liara said quietly, her tone sorrowful.

Shiala tilted their head slightly. "Wait… you are Benezia's child. Liara."

Liara nodded. "Yes, I am," she said quietly.

"She spoke highly of you," Shiala said. "I think she would be touched that you were part of trying to stop Saren."

"Speaking of," Kaidan said, "do you know how Saren managed to control you?"

Shiala was silent for a moment, their expression staid, but shaken. "Saren has a vessel. one of a kind and size unlike any I have ever seen. One that he calls Harbinger. Whatever it does, over the process of weeks, days even, it subtly indoctrinates anyone to follow Saren's will."

"So… what happened to you?" Garrus asked.

"I was a willing slave when Saren brought me to this world," Shiala said. "My specialization in melding was needed for Saren to communicate with the Thorian, and learn its secrets. A trade was made, and I was sacrificed so that Saren could obtain its knowledge."

"Saren seems quick to betray his people," Nate said with a grimace.

"He was quick to betray the Thorian as well. After he obtained the Cipher, he ordered the geth to begin destroying any evidence of the Thorian. Not that he would manage to get far with what I now know."

"It's like he knows we're on his tail," Daniel said with a quiet sigh of frustration.

"He does, through his own channels," Shiala said, their mouth a thin line. "He is aware you search for the Conduit. And his work here was to ensure that you would not obtain the Cipher."

"So, what is this Cipher?" Nate asked. "Clearly, Saren places a lot of value on it."

"The beacon on Eden Prime gave you visions," Shiala began, "but you could not understand them as Saren did not. They were unclear, muddled. Meant for a prothean mind."

Nate arched a brow as Shiala continued. "To truly comprehend them, your mind must be used to prothean concepts, ideals, culture, and history. The Thorian was here long before this city was built. It studied them, lived among them, consumed them when they died. They, and their memories, became a part of it. Allowed it to construct the Cipher that is so vital today."

"So the key to all this is to think like a prothean," Nate said. "That much knowledge…"

"It has to be condensed somehow, in order to fit into a mind without driving it insane," Daniel said. "Like a file pack for a computer."

"Just so," Shiala said.

"How does it work?" Nate asked.

"The Cipher is, in rather grand terms, the essence of being a prothean. It cannot be described fully, only how to pass such knowledge from being to being. To try would be like trying to describe color to a creature lacking eyes. To fully understand beforehand, you must have the ability to recall endemic ancestral memory, the viewpoint of thousands upon thousands before you," Shiala explained.

The scale of it boggled Nate's mind. "But you can give it to us?"

Shiala nodded. "I took hold of the Cipher when I was joined with the Thorian and our minds intertwined. It was not taught or researched. It is simply experienced."

"But you can transfer that knowledge to us in the same way you did for Saren," Daniel said. "It would be the entire reason he brought an asari for the task."

Shiala considered Daniel for a moment. "You would be correct. As I said, my skills at melding were an important factor in why Saren chose me."

Daniel looked at Nate for a moment. "Looks like we both get to experience our first melding, then," he said as he took off his helmet.

Shiala looked at Daniel quizzically. "You saw the vision of the beacon as well?"

"I'm partly responsible for him seeing the beacon's vision in the first place," Daniel admitted. "Before he threw me aside, I saw the message encoded in the beacon as well."

"I see," Shiala said. "Then you will receive the Cipher as well. But we shall start with Commander Shepard first."

They stepped towards Nate as the man removed his helmet. "Take a deep breath, Commander. Release your focus on your physical body. Reach out with your mind to grasp the threads that connect us all, one to another."

They stepped closer to Nate as they continued. "Every action ripples across the galaxy. Each idea must touch another mind to live. Each emotion must mark another's spirit."

They paused, within arms reach of him. "We are all connected, each of us living a single, glorious existence. Open yourself to the universe."

As Shiala finished speaking, they placed their hands just inches to either side of Nate's head, closing their eyes. After a moment, they opened their eyes, pupil and iris now utterly black.

"Embrace eternity!" Shiala nearly seemed to command.

And Nathaniel Shepard… saw.

The images that had flashed through his mind weeks before now began to make some slight sense. And… a part of him wished that they didn't.

The shadows of people, adults and children, twisted in pain and sorrow in the dying days of a war that had been utterly lost. Flashing in between such scenes of almost hellish fear were visions of flesh, their flesh,

his flesh, entwined and pierced through with metal and machinery, tearing and fusing and screaming as they all became part of…

Then at last, a new solar system, a bright sun surrounded by gasses… no… it was a sun surrounded by ash. Worlds burned. More terrifying still, some worlds were cloaked in an impenetrable shadow. One eclipsed the sun, closing in on him until it seemed to swallow him in darkness.

And from the darkness, reaching out towards him, was that ancient, alien vessel he'd seen on Eden Prime.

He reeled…

and found himself back on Feros, Shiala stepping back from him as her eyes returned to their usual image.

They regarded him with no small amount of intent, their eyes narrowed slightly before she moved on to Daniel. "Do as I instructed Commander Shepard," they said, once again placing their hands around Daniel's head. "Embrace eternity."

Again, it was long moments where Daniel grimaced slightly at what Nate was sure was a remarkably unpleasant experience. But when their moment finished, and Shiala stepped back, he noticed something else in their eyes. Alarm. What had they seen in him? What had they seen in Daniel?

Questions for when they were back on the Normandy. "Thank you," he said, not fully feeling as thankful as he might have sounded.

"You both have the Cipher now," Shiala said. "Just as Saren does, you have the understanding of the protheans. I hope the Goddess guides you to utilize it wisely."

"Are you guys alright?" Kaidan asked.

"We'll be fine," Nate said, hoping that would be true. "I'm not sure things made complete sense, but it's clearer than it was. We'll go ahead and make our way back to the Normandy. Shiala, we'll give you a ride back to the Citadel in order to help inform the Council about the Thorian and what it is, if you're willing."

"You both will adjust with time to process the Cipher," Shiala replied. "I am sorry you experienced any pain or distress. But the Cipher is something you absolutely need to fully understand."

They paused for a moment. "As for your offer, if you will allow it, I would like to stay here and help the colony recover. They have been hurt, and my actions played no small part in such suffering. If I can make amends, then it would at least be a start on the road to healing. However, I am fully willing to communicate to the Council to speak for the Thorian until its new speaker arrives."

"The colony is going to be very lucky to have someone like you to help them out," Nate said as the squad and Shiala began to make their way back to the colony.

"Thank you," Shiala replied.

As they made their way back to what was likely a battered colony, Nate couldn't help but wonder how much of this Cipher would be an asset in their search for Saren… or a curse.