Mass Effect. The Gratitude
Characters: John Shepard, Shiala, Elizabeth Baynham.
Location: Feros, Exo-Geni colony.
Though the Thorianin were dead and the Exo-Geni Tower was free of the Geth, none of the colonists felt joy. Each of them had lost a friend, comrade, or even family member in the attack. Only a small group of people survived, holed up near a ship called the Borealis on the roof of one of the many Protean skyscrapers. At first, the reason for choosing such an unusual landing site for a transport ship was the damage it had sustained, but in reality, the colonists used the ship to block the entrance to the skyscraper's interior - where the Thorianin, which controlled the minds of the colony's poor inhabitants, was hiding. Now that the horrible plant was gone, Shepard didn't want to think about it. On the contrary, he wanted to distance himself from what had happened on Feros, for the Spectre had to walk a fine line between loyalty to the humans and the purpose ofa his mission.
It would have been much easier to kill the Protean-controlled colonists, but Shepard decided otherwise. Thanks to one of the surviving Exo-Geni scientists, Juliana Baynham, the captain was able to load the battle group's grenades with a unique anti-Torian gas that neutralized the colonists without causing physical harm. Of course, this made the task much more difficult. It is not easy not to shoot someone who is trying to kill you, even if that "someone" is not in control of his mind and is unaware of his actions. Another Spectre in Shepard's place would not have cared about the lives of the colonists, but would have completed the task at any cost.
But not John. Despite his no-nonsense approach, Shepard was compassionate by nature. And when there was the slightest chance to save the colonists and prevent their deaths, Shepard took that chance. Thanks to the gas that paralyzed the colonists, no one died among them, and the captain felt much better, having once again proven to himself that he still valued humanity above all else.
Shepard felt terrible looking at the sad and tired faces of the colonists who had been through so much. The Normandy's mission on Feros was over, but John decided to stay on the colony for a few more hours. A ship was on its way to Hope Zhu from the nearest inhabited system with the necessary supplies and, most importantly, guards, and until it docked, Shepard decided not to leave the colony. He felt a certain responsibility to all the colony's inhabitants for what they had endured. If the Normandy had arrived earlier, who knows how many lives might have been saved.
- Captain, - a pleasant, almost velvety female voice came from nearby.
The man turned to see an azari standing a meter away with light blue skin and tattoos of the same color on her face. Shiala, who had been rescued from Torian captivity by the captain. Her slender body was clad in the tight, dark battlesuit of the Azari troopers. She looked exhausted and devastated. And she should be, for she had been through so much. But she tried to keep her head up and her back straight, because she didn't want to look weak in front of the colonists, who, she was sure, had suffered more than she had.
- Shiala, - John said in a friendly voice. He was sitting on an empty supply crate, dismantling a machine gun. The automatic cooling system had malfunctioned in the last battle, so the captain had used his break to check it.
The girl's appearance did not surprise him. She must feel like a hermit in Hope Zhu. Although the girl had not personally participated in the attack on the colony, she had served the matriarch of Benezia, which meant that she had originally come to Feros with rather nefarious intentions. Fortunately, she came to her senses in time, especially when the Matriarch betrayed her by allowing the Torianin to enslave Shiala's mind. Afterwards, Shiala reconsidered and decided to stay on the colony to help its inhabitants rebuild what the Geth had destroyed.
It was a noble cause, and though the colonists were initially suspicious of the Azari, she would prove to be an extremely useful member of their society. Shiala despised herself for falling so easily under Saren's spell, and so the Spectre had no doubt that guilt would be her guiding light on the road to normalcy. Even though she was the only member of the Azari race in the human colony.
- Can I sit down? - Shiala asked. Without waiting for an answer, she sat down on a nearby crate, pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. Her gaze was a little vacant, so Shepard decided to ask how she was feeling.
- Is everything all right? - The captain put down his weapon and looked at the Azari carefully. Up close, she looked even more haggard, as if she hadn't slept in at least a few weeks.
- I took some sleeping pills, but they don't have much effect on the Azari, - Shiala said, staring uncertainly into the distance. - I tried to sleep, but...
The girl covered her eyes.
- I can't. As soon as I closed my eyelids, the vivid images Torianin had sent me returned to my mind. The intertwining roots, the enveloping of the mind, dwarfing all other senses. It's as if I'm falling into oblivion... And immediately I shudder in horror. I'm afraid of the emptiness I felt when I was at the mercy of the plant. More than anything, I just want to rest. And then... Oh, Goddess, forgive me. You don't need to listen to my complaints. It's enough that you saved me and gave me a chance to redeem myself.