5 Dr. T'Soni

--> Navigator Pressly is to be commended. Dr. T'Soni was indeed on Therum, and is now aboard the Normandy; as a guest, not a prisoner. She knows nothing about what her mother is doing with Saren, and disavows any loyalty to her in this matter.

We weren't the only ones looking for her; an entire battalion of Geth troops, commanded by a Krogan Battlemaster, was combing the ruins of that searing and barren lump of red rock, trying to find the lone Asari hidden somewhere therein.

One cannot envisage a more unlikely place to find so lovely a creature. Imagine sifting through the baking sands of the sahara, far from any site of habitation by even the most foolhardy, and finding below the surface of dirt and danger a solid gem, a luminous blue sapphire of brilliant quality and exquisite design, unattended and unknown in the desolate and dismal surroundings that concealed it.

Liara T'Soni has apparently spent much of the past fifty years alone in the field, exploring dig sites and archaeological ruins, anything she can find relating to the Protheans. She says that her findings across the decades lead her to believe that the Protheans were suddenly wiped from the face of the Galaxy at the apex of their civilization, and moreover, were not the first. She suspects, though she cannot yet prove it, that a cycle of extinction, sudden and violent, has pervaded the Galaxy for uncounted eons, the Protheans merely being the most recent civilization to disappear. She claims that, contrary to popular belief, though the Protheans were the very pinnacle of culture and power, their greatest works, the Citadel and the Mass Relays, were built upon the works of those that preceded them.

If what she says of this proposed cycle is indeed true, the motivations of the Reapers become more interesting. Could it be a simple case of massive ego? What if the Reapers are the last remnant of some forgotten civilization’s most powerful machines, AIs of immense power with a juvenile need to squash something just strong enough to bite?

Liara has also viewed the Visions stored in my mind by the Beacon, but can tell us little that we do not already know of them. She says that the Visions do indeed tell of the destruction of the Protheans by the Reapers, and that the Conduit is somehow connected, but no more. She says that the Visions are incomplete, there are gaps where information is missing, likely as a consequence of the Beacon having been damaged. If we can find the rest of the message, we'll know more.

Great. All we have to do is find another, intact, Prothean Beacon. Perhaps I'll consult the Normandy requisitions officer.

Liara is a most singular girl. Despite being over one hundred years old, she is but young in the estimation of her kind, and to outward appearance resembles a human girl on the cusp of womanhood. She has been in the field almost constantly for the past fifty years, with little or no contact with the outside world, even her mother. She has a manner of gentle grace and calm sweetness the like of which I've not seen since Rose. To have survived for any length of time without even token support and accompaniment in her constant digging through hostile and dangerous environments, she must be made of sterner stuff than she looks. One would hardly expect such a tender and soft-spoken girl to have filled the role of rugged and solitary adventurer. Indeed, despite her delicacy, her calm and assured demeanour holds a subtle hint of hidden strength. Strangely, I do not find myself surprised that this young maiden has been exploring dangerous and far-flung regions unattended.

As for the detachment Saren sent to seize T'Soni, some were killed by my team as we advanced, the rest were consumed in molten sulphur as we left the planet. The fighting below the surface, gunfire, explosions, even mining equipment, tipped the delicate balance of seismic stability there, and we fled the ruin with T'Soni one step ahead of a collapse into red ruin and crushing death.

This Krogan Warlord was not the first Krogan we've seen among Saren's Geth. We saw a few such individuals before with his troops on Feros. It's no very great surprise that Saren should have begun hiring Krogan mercenaries, but it does prompt the question: what resources and allies does Saren have beyond the Geth? What hidden accomplices might he have still undetected in the galactic community? How many Krogan has he recruited? With his resources, known and suspected, it is not unlikely he may have a small army of the brutes, hitherto unrevealed in full strength. Krogan infantry have not deployed in large numbers since the Krogan Rebellions. Such an event is, I think, not something anyone wants to see.

Unless I am very much mistaken, Lieutenant Alenko has turned an admiring eye upon Liara. The two of them seem ideally matched in character and temperament. Should approval turn to affection, and should his sentiments be reciprocated, I cannot imagine a more perfect couple.

Garrus has separately confided in me certain doubts about Saren and our mission to apprehend him, suggesting the possibility that there is more shady politics involved than is readily apparent, even going so far as to recommend that Saren be shot on sight rather than risk his escape, or even aquital.

It will depend on the situation. If he cannot be taken alive, then so be it. The Galaxy will be safer without him. But, if feasible, we would do far better to take him prisoner. Despite the risks in letting him live, he's too valuable a source of intel to determine his death prematurely.

--> We have a priority message from the Citadel Council. Apparently, I did them injustice. We are not alone in our search for Saren. A Salarian Infiltration Regiment they sent into the Traverse has sent back a message, so badly garbled they could discern no information beyond source and frequency. The transmission was on a channel reserved for mission-critical data. Whatever the Infiltrators were trying to say, we only know it was important. This sounds more critical than rumours of Geth activity on Noveria. The Normandy is currently en route at full speed to investigate.

--> Change of course. We have an imminent emergency. An asteroid being taken to Tera Nova for mining is off course, accelerating at full speed for the planet. The Normandy is the only ship that can get there in time. Virmire will have to wait.

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