3 Feros

--> We’ve touched down on Feros. The colony here is down to a fraction of it's former numbers, constantly harassed by Geth attack, they exhibit strained and even odd behaviour. No one can tell me why the Geth are interested in the planet.

We've driven off the Geth attacking this outpost of the main colony, now we’re off to the main complex. Maybe the Geth forces there will be kind enough to inform us of their intentions.

--> The colony is secure, the Geth there destroyed, the remaining inhabitants safe and free from the Thorian. Apparently, Saren had come to Feros to negotiate with this Thorian, an intelligent plant being with insidious mind-control abilities and a lifespan stretching back tens of thousands of years, even back to the days of the Protheans. This unique and dangerous creature sat and observed the rise and fall of their civilization, gaining extensive knowledge of the Protheans, right down to their very thought patterns. It was this knowledge, the “Cipher,” that Saren sought in order to interpret and understand the visions in the Beacon, giving the plant in return one of Benezia’s handmaidens, an Asari named Shiala.

When he had gotten what he wanted, Saren left a detachment of Geth with orders to destroy the plant so no one else could attain its knowledge. The plant, which had already dominated the colonists nearest its neural center, used them, living and dead, as defence, first against the Geth soldiers, then against us. We only saw the corpses animate upon returning from defeating the main Geth hub in the colony. The colonists went berserk and fired on us. Had it not been for gas grenades provided by other surviving colonists hiding isolated and uninfected, I would have had no choice but to murder human civilians.

Despite precautions, I regret to report that one of the colonists died by my hand; a bullet intended for one of the many animated corpses instead struck the Salarian merchant, the only alien amongst the colonists. I know I should no more regret the death of one sentient being over another, but killing one of a kind out of many others makes the loss all the more sharp.

“First Human Spectre responds to distress call, saves Humans, kills only alien.” The media is going to love this.

Apart from the Salarian, and the colonists' leader who turned his gun upon himself rather than us, all infected with the spores of the now dead Thorian are alive, and once again free to think their own thoughts.

We also managed to save the Asari handmaiden held by the plant. Shiala had been the thrall and medium between the plant and Saren, but once freed imparted to me the Cipher willingly. She says that the effects will take time, but eventually I should come to understand more fully what it is the Visions say. Honestly, these confused and blurred glimpses of horror are not something I want to see more clearly.

Shiala holds no loyalty to Saren. She tells me that Benezia had joined Saren some time ago upon sensing danger in him, hoping to guide him down a gentler path. Instead, she and all of her entourage became his thralls. His ship, called Sovereign, has profound impact upon those near it, bending them to Saren’s will. The process takes time, days or weeks, but in the end is absolute. Even an Asari Matriarch cannot retain freewill. It is unknown if the process wears off given distance and time, or if Shiala regained her right mind because the Thorian had overridden the effects of Sovereign.

Asari Matriarchs are among the wisest and most powerful beings in the Galaxy. This power Saren has to bend even such a one as they to his will is a truly alarming thing to comprehend.

Can this possibly be a coincidence? Saren possess a ship with mind-controlling abilities and seeks out a plant that can do the same? What other undisclosed connections do these two have in common? Could this mysterious and powerful ship Saren possesses be as old as the Thorian, dating back to the Prothean era, perhaps even being a Prothean or Reaper vessel? Shiala says she has no idea who built the ship or how Saren came by it. Whatever its origin, this dreadnought is not Geth. Its make matches the design of no known species. Its weapons are irresistible, its defences nigh impenetrable. Clearly taking it on in a straight-up fight would be suicide. Any successful attempt against it would have to be covert. Given the information Shiala has provided, it seems reasonable to assume that a boarding party could raid the vessel without risking immediate domination.

The company that funded the Feros colony, ExoGeni, has much to answer for. They’d known full well that the Thorian was dominating the colonists, and had treated the whole matter as a science experiment. I make it clear in no uncertain terms in my report to Alliance Command that a thorough investigation and prosecution of the responsible parties is strongly recommended.

Despite her traumatizing experience, Shiala is surprisingly calm and rational, even serene.

She has chosen to remain with the recovering colonists. I wish I could do more for them, but I must away. Free from the plant being, they have declined evacuation, instead seeking to live their lives on Feros as best they can.

We've found several threads linked to the Feros incident. A shipment of human rations to an uncharted world, and sale of samples from Feros to a group referred to as Cerberus. I don’t have time to track down these leads, but hopefully my superiors can find someone else to investigate. Most ominous of all, we managed to salvage some intel from the Geth. It appears they may be establishing a foothold in the Armstrong Cluster. This information goes directly to Alliance High Command and the Citadel Council.

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