Ch.10 - Truths of Zhu’s Hope

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-Prothean Skyway

As some of crew mates finished the final checks for the Mako, we had a squad meeting to inform the rest about the dangers of this 'connection' all the colonists possessed.

After returning to the colony and reporting to the various colonists of our success in solving their various dilemmas, I discreetly reached out to the minds around me to confirm my findings.

As predicted, all colonists were 'connected', but I discovered that there wasn't any…'main terminal'. By this I mean that none of the colonists were deemed responsible for the phenomenon, but they all held a connection to something below us.

This was revealed to the commander in strict secrecy and only now that we were all away from any colonists and she was about to depart to the ExoGeni HQ was she going to speak about it.

"Alright, listen up." Shepard called out as our attention turned to her. "During and after our trip down in the aqueduct, Neo here discovered a little something which has become a major point of concern."

"And what's that? That Vakarian can't shoot a shitting pijak?" Wrex asked in a crude attempt at humor.

"Ha Ha." Garrus drily responded with a fake laugh.

"No. It seems that something is messing with the minds of the colonists. The one we met down there, Ian, who was talking about a 'master's whip', well he pretty much confirmed that something fishy was going on." The commander grimly revealed, much to the shock of the squad.

"Can the Geth do something like this Commander?" Dr. T'Soni asked with a gasp.

"No. The closest we've even seen would be the Husk. Even then, I'm still almost certain that isn't Geth tech." Tali answered for our leader.

"Maybe ExoGeni had ulterior motives for setting up the colony and this was all one big science experiment for them." Garrus suggested with clear disgust. "Lots of companies do these kinds of things."

"I can't say the possibility doesn't exist. I mean, the Geth did attack the local headquarters first and made their base there." Lt. Alenko supported with a heavy frown.

"But what would the Geth gain from this?" Dr. T'Soni validly questioned.

"Maybe Saren just wants another way to turn humans against each other or make them look bad?" Ashley suggested with some uncertainty.

"Why are we sitting here talking about it when our little Quarian can just find out for us when we bust into their building and kick Geth headlights?" Wrex grunted with a scoff.

"Fair point." The Commander said, gaining everyone's attention. "That's why, while Tali, Wrex and I are over there, I want Neo to keep investigating. The rest of you and the Normandy crew are to prepare in case something goes wrong and whoever's messing with the minds of the colonists decides to use them against us. That means nonlethal and subjugation tactics."

"I can do that. Pretty much C-Sec playbook most of the time." Garrus responded with ease as he already began formulating plans.

"I am sure Lt. Alenko's and my biotics will serve a great booms in such an effort. Should it come to it of course." Dr. T'Soni said with a nod of acknowledgement.

"Dr. T'Soni's right. But I'd still prefer if everyone was outfitted with concussion rounds, stun ammo, flashbangs and that we lock down the Normandy if necessary." The Lieutenant seriously advised.

"That's perfect. But I don't think we have all of that for Neo's guns." Shepard replied while looking at my admittedly heavy arsenal.

"Worry not Commander. My physical abilities and Omni-tool programs will serve as suitable replacement if the incapacitation of the colonists becomes a necessity." I reassured with confidence.

I had no doubt I would be able to easily subdue a few dozen colonists with minimal weaponry, coordination and skill with only my body, much less with access to the various programs Tali and I had created for use on organics. Having witnessed their defense against the Geth, I know none of the weapons could harm my naked body, much less my armored one.

"I'll trust you on that. I don't want a bunch of colonists dead because some eggheads went too far, so keep an eye out." Shepard seriously replied, earning nods of understanding from everyone. "Good. Tali, Wrex, let's get this show on the road shall we."

"Finally, some real fun." A clearly pleased Krogan said as he made his way into the Mako.

"Stay safe Neo. Don't get into trouble while we're gone." My friend told me with worry, which was nice and mildly amusing as I looked at her faint facial outline through her suit mask and met her almost glowing eyes.

"Tali, I am not the one about to go with the commander into the Mako, blast my way through Geth defenses and take down their base of operation." I countered with a small smile forming on my lips. "You take care of yourself and make sure to not let the Commander or Wrex goad you into something unwise."

"Hey! Not my fault they're all too squishy!" Wrex complained from afar as some squad members chuckled.

"Pipe down and get to your favorite gun!" The Commander chastised as she pushed him into the Mako.

"R-Right! T-Thank you Neo. For worrying." Tali responded as her body language conveyed nervousness from her unconscious movement and hand movements.

"Don't worry. Should the need arise, I shall use the shuttle to come and aid you and the commander." I said to her as I attempted to reassure my friend.

'She is still young and such heavy battles are not exactly something she is used to, especially as a Quarian which heightens the risks she takes.' I thought as I now had some worries over the safety of my friend. 'Hm? That is rather nice, I feel worry for my friends. This means I should have made a true emotional connection to someone. How wonderful.

…

I shall need to protect that.'

"Really!?" A seemingly stunned Tali replied.

'Is that too much? I don't believe so. I am more than capable of accomplishing what I've said and surviving a shuttle crash.' I pondered before dismissing my thought.

"Come on Tali! Gotta go!" The commander yelled as her head briefly appeared from the Mako.

"Eep! Y-Yes Commander!" Tali seemed to reflexively answer as her body obeyed the command, but she stopped and looked back at me before truly going. "I'll see you later then?"

"Of course. We can work on that overhaul of your new suit model once we've finished the mission as well." I calmly said to her.

"Great! Can't wait!" She quickly said with some excitement before making her way into the Mako.

With the Commander's chosen teammates aboard, the rest of us watched as they set off towards the ExoGeni Headquarters before going about our own duties.

"Didn't know you swung dextro." Garrus suddenly said to me with what I could identify as a grin on his face. "Good thing you said you could eat the food."

"I do not understand. What do you mean by 'swung dextro'?" I asked in confusion at what he said.

"Isn't that how humans say it?" Garrus asked me, now feeling confused as well.

"Say what?" I asked I return, clearly not understanding what was happening.

"Wait, you Don't like Tali?" Ashley suddenly asked as she jumped into our confusion. "But you two act all cute and nerdy around each other."

"Of course I like Tali. She is my friend." I said to her.

"I mean like-like." Corrected Ashley with playful smile.

"Isn't hat what I asked him? Or did Joker mess with me again?" Garrus asked the human woman in the hopes of clarification.

"No, you said it right. Neo here just seems to be denser than he first appears." Ashley answered the Turian.

"Good. That means my research isn't all worthless." Garrus said with a sigh of relief.

"Research?" Ashley questioned in clear interest.

"Never you mind." He hurriedly replied.

"I am still confused." I said to the two, gaining their attention.

"He's asking if you want to get together with Tali." Ashley finally clarified for me.

"As in… a romantic entanglement?" I asked with uncertainty as I now found myself in completely foreign territory.

I have no understanding of such things.

Sexual attraction, seduction resistance, the usefulness of sex for missions and even things like the uses of pleasure to accomplish one's goals were certainly covered, but attachments were heavily banned for a soldier. A weapon.

It is why I treasure my friendship with Tali and attempt to form bonds with others. They permit me to understand, to feel, the parts of my humanity Cerberus attempted to keep from me. It lets me know I am more than a weapon and can be a person.

A weapon doesn't have friends after all.

A weapon has no bonds to tie it down or strengthen it.

A weapon only aims were it is pointed and kills.

And I have no desire to be such a thing even if I offered myself to the commander's cause.

"Yeah!" Ashley excitedly answered before visibly calm king herself. "I mean, it's gotta be weird having to deal with all those issues with her immune system and the three fingers, but Tali's nice."

"But at least you can somehow eat dextro food, so that's gotta help." Garrus added.

"I am not sure why this topic was brought up, but I treasure Tali as my friend and I have never thought about such things." I said to the two.

"Really? That's gotta suck for her then. She's crushing hard." Ashley revealed in disbelief.

'Crushing hard?' I thought as I was internally thrown into disarray, turning silent as I retreated inward to contemplate matters.

As I walked on, I saw Garrus and Ashley share looks but did not truly register them.

"Was it too much?" Garrus asked the human female. "Didn't think Neo would react like that."

"Me neither. I thought he would have been embarrassed at most. Always felt like the type who would be shy about that sort of thing. He looks pissed now." Ashley responded while looking sheepish at her possible insensitivity.

"Do not take things personally. He is being introspective about matters, not angry." Dr. T'Soni suddenly said as she walked up from behind the two.

"And how would you know that? You avoid him like the plague." Ashley questioned suspiciously.

"I-I have done no such thing." The Asari replied hesitantly.

"Ash is right Liara. Anytime Neo tries to even get close to you, it's like you can't wait to get away from him." Garrus said to her before showing a look of concern. "Did he do anything?"

"What?! No, goddess no. Neo has always been very polite and professional." Liara answered hurriedly.

"Then what's your deal?" Ashley asked with curiosity over this new revelation.

"Um, well, it's, I mean he… *Sigh*." The young Asari tried to answer before taken a deep breath and sighing in resignation. "You both know of how Asari are all naturally able to use biotics correct?"

""Of course/basic stuff."" The two replied quickly.

"Well, this makes us rather sensitive to many things other races tend not to feel. This is also partially affected by our means of reproduction." The young doctorate holder continued to explain as best she could.

"So what? Neo makes you horny?" The gunnery chief crassly asked in jest.

"No, that is not the right way to phrase things." Dr. T'Soni answered with a blush appearing on her blue skin from the thoughts such words triggered in the maiden stage Asari. "The closest I could describe it would be a sort of natural attraction his very powerful biotics give out. Maybe even close to a desire to submit.

This was something which worried me, especially in a complete unknown like Neo, so I took the wisest course of action: distance and observation."

"Soooo if any other Asari got near him, they'd want him?" Ashley asked as she tried to summarize the Asari's explanation.

"That sounds, a bit dangerous." Garrus seriously said.

"Goddess no, nothing so extreme. It is a very small, instinctual matter which any decent Asari should be able to resist. The constant…temptation is something which I do not wish for, hence I avoid Neo. It doesn't mean Neo is dangerous." Dr. T'Soni hurriedly reassured her companions.

"That makes him sound like an Asari." Garrus noted, surprising the two ladies.

"What do you mean?" Ashley asked.

"Well, there's always been a lot of talk in galaxy about how Asari are seen as generally attractive by every race. Heck, it happened more than a few times that a drunk group made up of different species argued about what made a particular Asari dancer so…stimulating, each saying very different things." The Turian explained using something he had actually had to break up before to cement his point.

"You may have a point Garrus. I've read quite a few studies regarding such things when I was preparing to go off-world for the first times. Many professors warned me of the…value Asari had. They speak of a sort of effect my species has which seems to have others view us in ways which better suits their 'palates'." Dr. T'Soni supported thoughtfully.

"Wait, so you don't actually all look like blue supermodels?" Ashley asked in shock at the possible revelation.

"I cannot say for certain, since I am a bit unsure as to what a supermodel is, but from what I know, Asari are the closest to humans in terms of overall outward appearances, even if only the female ones due to our mono-gendered nature." Was her rather diplomatic answer.

"Ok then. Didn't really want to think Asari were some kind of space succubi who were actually really ugly and no one could tell." The human woman replied in relief.

"I think we got off topic." Garrus said cautiously.

"Certainly, but this conversation has been rather illuminating. I have much to think about and any more might simply be counterproductive." Dr. T'Soni said thoughtfully, earning a shrug of acceptance from the Turian.

"Meh, might as well get ready like Skipper said. I just hope we haven't said anything to screw with Neo's apparent powers, which now that I think about it, I really need to ask about." Ashley said as she looked at the two near her. "You two were with the commander when you picked him up, anything I should know?"

"*Sigh* Just that he's had it rough Ash. Try not to push it. If you want to know, go ask the commander. If she's not willing, let it lie until Neo feels comfortable enough and if she is, then don't judge him for things he can't control." Garrus answered carefully as he looked at the large man's armored back. "Neo's a good guy."

"I do agree with Garrus. My own issues aside, Neo has shown himself to be earnest and honest, which does make me feel guilty now that I realize he is likely to have taken my actions badly. I should probably speak to him now that I think about it." The Asari quickly said as she hurried along, feeling fretful regarding possibly slighting the relatively young man.

"Well that's not foreboding." Muttered Ashley as she narrowed her eyes towards her most mysterious squad mate, cautiously looking for anything she could. "As strong as Wrex, somehow attracts Asari and has powerful biotics, can nerd it up with the tech experts and is probably getting close to Vakarian's shooting skills. Nothing to worry about there"

-With Neo in Zhu's Hope

'I must focus on the task at hand for now. Tali's possible affection towards will be pondered upon another time.' I thought to myself as I began following my own orders.

I started by focusing around the colony, opening myself enough to feel but not receive. I could not allow whoever was behind this precarious situation to know of my awareness of it.

To help cover my investigation, I carefully inspected the defenses, entrances, weaknesses and points of interests of the colony personally. This served to narrow down the location of the perpetrator.

It was evident that the culprit, if this was truly a phenomena with nefarious intent or the cause of the Geth invasion, was not within the colony. Every connection I found could be traced downward, but also in the direction of the downed merchant ship and cargo area.

After discovering this, I began looking for more information.

Zhu's Hope was built on top of one of the cloud breaking Prothean buildings. It was simply too much to search the entire structure for a possible culprit, so I actively hacked into colony and ExoGeni records to find every report regarding the structure they stand upon. One needed to thoroughly research the colonized area after all and a privately formed one would inevitably leave traces.

I faced some mild security measures, nothing remotely difficult, discovering that although very few areas of the building were even accessible, there are records of an underground area which could be reached from the colony. Much of the information was redacted or hidden deeper, but I found that some teams discovered a large plant beneath the surface of the planet and that its roots spread far and wide across its surface.

My latest discovery alarmed me as several pieces of evidence flashed through my mind.

Unknown Spore.

Large undocumented alien plant species.

Controlled colonists.

Connection beneath us.

ExoGeni Headquarters being far from the main colony while having rather minimal presence within.

Squad and Crew mates being unaffected as of yet.

Geth attack, but somehow repelled so far by colonists.

'I need to check medical records.' I immediately thought as evidence needed to be found to confirm my thoughts. 'Let's see here.

Observational Subject #31

Designation: Fai Dan

Entry 15.

The elected leader of the colony seems to have become the main voice for Species 37.

After the conditioning stage is complete, it would seem as if the subject retains most pre-existing behavioral patterns, only showing a calmer and more repressed demeanor. Although the conditioning process can be seen as crude, using pain by focusing of the fungal spores within the subject's brain to stimulate the brain directly or doing the opposite to reward 'appropriate' behavior or even help subjects improve in whichever task Species 37 deems necessary, it has been seen as effective.

Data suggests that over 80% of the colony has been taken over, with the remaining few being subjects with stronger wills, but resistance is crumbling quickly. Species 37 is either very experienced, with its age being somewhere upwards the 10's of thousands, this unique species might simply have great instincts or humans might be too susceptible against it.

Further subjects are needed to know for sure.

Regardless, subject #31 has shown no negative physical effects aside from some minor damage during the conditioning stage. There has even been interesting developments on the subject's brain, hypothesized to be due to the constant telepathic communication it is using, resulting in the brain adapting. It is unsure if this is natural or due to Specimen 37.'

What I read made me…angry.

I felt my blood…warm. Boil.

'More scientists ruining lives in sociopathic, amoral manners. Again.' I thought in disgust.

But I needed to center myself.

Anger would blind me. It would shackle me. It would not help anyone, not myself and not the colonists suffering from these heinous actions.

I needed to understand what Specimen 37 was.

It was clearly a plant-like organism. Maybe a possibly parasitical or symbiotic one. It was old, maybe as old or older than the megatroplis it lays under. It survived for thousands of years. It uses humans as tools.

From the evidence gathered, Specimen 37 is likely the cause of the Geth attack.

Saren discovered it. Needed something from it or saw a threat in it. Either he obtained what he desired and ordered it's destruction afterward to cover his trail and hamper the Commander's pursuit or simply desired its end.

The Specimen resisted. Used the colonists to defend itself. This indicates a certain lack of direct defense mechanisms. A vulnerability despite its massive scale and successful covering of the planets surface.

The Center?

All links lead below. The defense centers here. The attacks are targeted here. Here is the way below.

This means one controlling center. The root of it all is below. Hidden by controlled colonists and then protected.

The pieces fit.

And according to ExoGeni files…

'Thorian. Specimen 37 is called the Thorian. But how did Saren discover this being and why would he seek it out?' I briefly thought as this seemed to stick out to me. 'I understand why ExoGeni is here, why the colony is here, what the Thorian is, but why would Saren care?

Maybe his past spectre access could explain some things, but still no why.'

Frustrating.

I am missing a piece of the puzzle, but my current investigation is complete.

A silent report must be sent. Notes to not speak aloud regarding the Thorian. Request to hopefully synthesize a specific nerve-gas which targets Thorian spores within the bodies of those 'infected' by them was sent to Dr. Chakwas, the scientists were preparing against the Thorian, and for the Commander to keep an eye open for some while in the ExoGeni HQ. Squad and Crew Mates need to be warned.

I must ready.

The Thorian is already hostile towards invaders due to Saren. Logically, it will not deem us 'safe'. We shall be seen as dangers once we are done with the occupying Geths simply because we are not bound by it, hence it will turn the colonists against us as they are its current defenses.

It will likely turn on us once it confirms the Commander's success. Her return will signal their attack. A suitable signal for us as well.

Garrus can help me lock down those within the buildings by hacking their systems. It would reduce numbers.

Dr. T'Soni and Lt. Alenko can help control the field.

Ashley will need to secure the weapons from the Salarian merchant, Ledra. Limit the available arms. Take away variables.

I do not know the combat efficiency the Thorian is capable of exhibiting using the colonists, but their substandard weapons will limit them and so will their lack of armor, shielding, biotics and technology.

My current assumptions would say that the Thorian's influence has resulted in Teamwork and group tactics being the main means the colonists used to repel the Geths so far, so we will need to stay aware and limit this.

Choke points. Obstacles. Nonlethal traps.

These will be key to subdue the colonists without killing them.

They are not at fault for the workings of amoral monsters playing with their lives.

I will save them.

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EXTRA AUTHOR NOTES:

Here's another little chapter for a little more character development.

I thought Garrus would be interested in the developing thing between Tali and Neo due to the dextro thing, with Ashley's mild to bad alien views combining with the mildly gossipy nature I kind of got from her during the games mixing to form a sort of morbid/amused curiosity in it too.

It makes for a bit of bonding as Neo experiences 'normal topics of conversation' and teammate teasing.

Also the reveal as to why Liara has been distant and seen as uncomfortable by Neo. Something one must remember was thought of to be the case due to Neo having little life experience and possibly misinterpreting signals he perceives.

I thought having Neo have this kind of subconscious effect on Asari would be interesting and a bit fun in the long run as he kind of is a 'male Asari' in all but blue skin. I'll probably be playing with that more later.

So their weird relationship will get better soon and Neo can integrate better into the team as they start letting their guard down more, especially for those who know his real origin, this being helped by them just getting to know him more.

Might have Ashley be a bit confrontational or suspicious, but that's kind of in her character.

After that I wanted to show more deductive reasoning and evidence gathering.

There is just no way a company and scientists wouldn't have a bunch of records regarding what they were doing on Zhu's Hope, so Neo found them. He then used the various clues he's found and observations he's made during the mission to piece things together, Sherlock Style.

I think I'm doing good with that.

I'm also pretty sure no one knew what Saren wanted from the Thorian until they met it and that it was not really revealed for they how Saren knew about it, so I just went with past Spectre access.

After that you have Neo's tactical acumen and rapid thought process and multitasking to prepare for a conclusion he views as inevitable by placing himself in the shoes of his opponents by using observed behavior to deduce future moves.

Like I said, I'm trying to show his brain and that he's not just going to be a near unstoppable Soldier.

Hope you enjoyed.

I liked having a small cute moment where much smaller Tali gets all shy in front of her big human crush.