tl;dr: [ooc: mordin's app]
[series]: Mass Effect [2]
[character]: Dr. Mordin Solus
[character history / background]:
Mordin is a Salarian, therefore he was born as part of a large clutch of eggs. He was educated at a young age, specializing in the biological sciences, in particular in genetics and xenobiology, ultimately becoming a medical doctor among other things. He taught within the University system at one time but it is not clear when and how long this was compared to his work for the STG and more recent events.
He joined the Salarian governmental black ops organization, Special Tasks Group (STG), where he took part in many missions on their behalf. He wrote several important texts for them, such as biological analyses of key species of the galaxy. In particular, he took part in a series missions to readjust the birthrate adjustment genetic modifier for the Krogan species, known as the Genophage after it was discovered that the Krogans were developing resistance to it. He eventually went back to normal life, although maintaining his connections to the STG. He decided to go handle a strange plague that had developed in one of the slums of the lawless regions of the Galaxy, Omega, which was targeting everyone except humans basically. During this time he discovered that the plague that has developed manufactured by some very advanced techniques, and seemingly targeting all non-human species. At this time, he is visited by a Spectre, Commander Shepard, who wishes to recruit him in his investigation of the Collectors and the Reapers. Mordin realizes the connection between this manufactured disease and the Collectors, and after Shepard handles the vorcha who are spreading the disease on the Collector’s orders and effectively stops the Plague, Mordin joins Shepard’s group.
During this time, Mordin researches into the Collectors, and the methods they are using to disable and take people in masse, eventually developing a modification to their armors which prevents being stunned by the drones used by the Collectors. This is shown to be helpful during their conflict with the Collectors, by allowing them to actually go head to head with the Collectors on one of their raids. He also helps to run the general tech and R&D labs for the Normandy, handling many of the technical, mechanical and biological upgrades used by Shepard and his team.
Also during this time, Mordin requests Shepard to investigate into the kidnapping of one of his comrades and former assistant, Maelon. Originally believed to have been kidnapped in order to develop a way to counter the Genophage, but is discovered to be helping to engineer a “cure” for the Genophage due to his own personal hatred of what the STG had done. Morality discussions happen over the ethical nature of the Genophage, due to its perceived nature as a death sentence… a genocide for the Krogran species, rather than its actual purpose of adjusting the birthrate of the Krogan to their pre-starship levels of survival so that their species wouldn't multiply like rabbits and overtake the galaxy. Ultimately Maelon is disabled and brought in, and the data is either utterly destroyed, or preserved with the intent to potentially cure the Genophage.
With the ultimate kidnapping of the general crew of the Normandy by the Collectors, Shepard and his team decide to make their final attack on them. Shepard and his team infiltrate the Collector's Base hidden in a region which is nigh impossible to reach near the galactic center, orbiting near a black hole. They save the crew and discover that the Collectors had been kidnapping humans in order to melt them down to a bio-organic metal in order to "ascend" them and create a new Reaper. Shepard ultimately kills this fledgling Human-Reaper, and escapes ultimately destroying the base. With Shepard severing his ties to Cerberus, and the Reapers putting their full attention on Shepard and humanity in general, Mordin will definitely be a powerful ally for Shepard and his crusade against the Reapers.
[character abilities]:
He is shown to have some technical prowess, but is limited compared to some of the more talented members of Shepard’s crew. Despite that, he is clearly talented in the R&D department, handling many of the research needs for the Normandy, and handling their execution alongside of the help of the AI, EDI.
He is a trained physician, showing capabilities in dealing with all major species of the galaxy. He specializes in genetics and xenobiology in particular, but isn’t necessarily limited to those areas.
His species in particular is shown to have a shorter lifespan, but have photographic memory, as well as being shown to be very flexible. While we aren’t sure on the exact specifics of his species, casual comments and observations suggest that Salarians are similar to amphibians.
Due to his background in the STG, he is a notable fighter, showing considerable skill with heavy pistols and SMGs, and probably in handling things stealthily. His in-game skill set allows him to shoot off Incineration Blasts, Cryo Blasts, as well as being able to incapacitate organic targets via his Omnitool.
…and amusingly, he is a trained Opera singer, and has taken part in pieces of theatre before.
[character personality]: Mordin inherently tends to be very logical by nature, rarely letting emotional or personal views affect his judgment if he can. Even so, he is aware that sometimes his actions despite their intended good for the whole have negative consequences. Some of these decisions ultimately affected him to look into many religions and philosophies of the galaxy to find a solace, but ultimately didn’t give him something definite to hold on to. Despite that he is very cheery and humorous.
Due to him being a Salarian, he is quick thinking, quick talking and very likely to tangent. These traits are seen as annoying to others at time, but are shown to help him make very aware intellectual connections over certain matters.
His potential for practicality can be easily shown between his divide between his training as a doctor and as being a part of the STG. Described as being equally likely to shoot you as to heal you, he takes his patients’ safety as being a very important thing. Any attempts to shake him down are very likely to have that person shot, hurt, incapacitated, killed… among other ways. Furthering this point, while in the rather lawless slums of Omega, he physically displayed the bodies of those who tried to press him as warnings to others that Mordin isn’t someone you should try to coerce. In furthering this, Mordin makes a humorous comment showing that many underestimate Salarians due to their perceived frailty, and is willing to take this to his advantage that many of his opponents just don’t see him coming. Despite that, he notes that he is unwilling to kill a person via medicine, showing that he holds his status as a doctor as being very important. His practicality is also shown in other ways, as with Mordin preparing a sex talk for Shepard, especially when preparing to have a relationship with a non-human, citing potential problems and ways to minimize sickness and problems on both sides.
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: End of Mass Effect 2 including all DLCs up to the Lair of the Shadow Broker. Assuming that paragon choices haven been taken throughout gameplay, the whole team surviving the Suicide Mission, and Mordin choosing to save Maelon’s data, but still on the fence over whether or not to use that data.
[journal post]:
[See Mordin. See Mordin looking down towards his arm at a ghost-like orange gauntlet on his arm, clearly not paying attention to the world.]
Not now Shepard, trying to discover how scale-itch got onto the Normandy. Sexually transmitted disease. Only carried by varren. Implications unpleasant. Anything else? …Shepard?
[Mordin finally looks up, realizes he’s now just outside the boundaries of the Fountain.]
Strange. Not the Normandy. [Looks back at his Omnitool] Unable to connect to galactic networks. Nor the Normandy. What is this "Network"? Hmm. Come back to that later. Bigger issues. Like where I'm at. Preliminary scans suggest the local environment is capable of having life.
[His omnitool fades, and he looks up to look at the City]
Hmm. Strange. Architecture looks like… Earth maybe? Pre-Prothean discovery possibly. Interesting.
[a slight pause by Mordin]
That building. It has high grade laser armaments on it. Strange place. Wonder if I can duplicate.
[third person / log sample]:
Mordin’s clinic was very important, especially in a place like Omega, especially during an epidemic like this… one which was basically being contained until the disease disappeared or everyone has died out. As a doctor, as someone who tries to make a world a better place, this was a worthy cause for him, plus an academic challenge worth of a scientist of his caliber. This plague was very peculiar to someone like Mordin because it doesn’t seem to follow traditional conventions of acting like a disease. The seemingly complete disregard for humans as an entire species suggests that the disease couldn’t be natural.
Disease is messy and nature by nature is chaotic, and this disease was too perfect for Mordin but he couldn’t think of who could possibly manufacture a disease of this level. Manufacturing a new strain of the Genophage took some time… but this was on a different level inherently. Whoever could have made such a disease would have been very intelligent or have good resources… or both. But to Mordin, there were more pressing issues such as curing this disease to handle at the moment. The question of who had made it and tracking them down to make sure they wouldn’t be able to do something like this again would have to wait. The Genophage was one thing, but this was something completely different. Medicine was created to heal people, not to kill them, and someone producing a disease like this was very unethical on so many levels. Mordin would make sure to handle them that as soon as he finished curing the district of this plague… preferably with explosives and high caliber weaponry. Possibly with a call to his former associates at the STG, noting the potential danger here that this could have to Salarian interests.
A cure was close… and mass producing was a simple step away after that. If the warning sirens didn’t go off telling of another group of mercenaries thinking that Mordin needed their “protection.” Mordin had a brief moment of amusement at such a thought. They must have not seen his warning… their own fault. Mordin had better things to deal with than mercenaries who think in such a lawless place as Omega, that they must have the biggest gun and therefore can rule. They’ll never see their end coming… Mordin was probably a better shot than all of them combined and has even bigger guns protecting his patients. Because there’s nothing bigger than gun turrets on Omega... outside of Aria's wraith. Mordin was sure he hadn't done anything to anger Omega's ruler, and he was definitely sure that those mercenaries weren't carrying anything that could likely match a turret without them taking serious causalities. They would never expect a doctor to have anything more dangerous than a syringe and an Omnitool. More people would die in the 5 minutes that Mordin would spend disproving these mercenaries’ machismo… but it is the only way to make sure that his current patients would be safe. To make sure that everyone who was still alive could and would be cured. Mordin knew that he couldn't save everyone, but he intended to save as many as possible.
[3rd person / addendum]
The Normandy was a good ship. It had to been a good ship before if the blueprints were to be believed, and the Normandy SR2 was just as good a ship, if not better. His labs were of very high quality… especially for a ship of this size. This was a very good thing, so he wouldn't likely have to makeshift anything like he may have done on Omega. If anything the ship was theoretically perfect. For Mordin, the crew of the Normandy was the only things that made this perfect ship imperfect. A perfect ship would have been boring in a way, and Mordin was strangely thankful for that. A hectic nature made for a better environment to work. Expedience, necessity… they made sure he kept to his tasks, and not let himself drift to other projects. With being on a ship like the Normandy, getting "distracted" away from his main goal was a hard task. Especially with Cerberus lurking around every corner…
Tali once mentioned her experiences with the Quarian Flotilla, and the original Normandy… The Normandy was too quiet, in too good of a condition, and not "well-loved" like many of the aging ships of the Flotilla. Mordin saw her point in a way: if he ever saw his workplace or even a gathering of Salarians appearing to be quiet, then there was something clearly wrong. Beyond that, Mordin disagreed with Tali… the ship was thriving with noise. Mordin knew he could always hear noise around the ship anytime he took a break from waiting for his samples to cultivate. He could sometimes hear Grunt going about in his faux conflict reliving images implanted in his memories by his creator, complete with some of the damage we was probably making, trying to make himself stronger… an apex for his kind. Something that the Krogans could probably use to help them move past the Genophage and become better... something that Mordin found comforting in his own way. He had once caught Kasumi sneaking through the air ducts spying on others, and keeping her talents up to check. That had been certainly amusing to Mordin as she realized she had been caught, before he waved her off. She was talented, and being a part of the STG just made him check things a little more often for security purposes. It was only an accident that Mordin had really found her. Mordin made sure to keep an eye and ear on on the air ducts from that point on... or possibly any other place that Kasumi could possibly sneak through.
Cerberus did bother him at times. The bugs they placed were easily found and quickly disposed of. They didn’t need to watch him in order to get results... his service record for the STG could easily prove that, if they were able to find the complete uncensored file that is. He recognized their value as an organization, despite their reputation. Their reputation was bad at times with how they keep seeming to try to go about the wrong way in securing the rights that they believed humans deserved. They were no STG despite their claims of being similar in intent and occupation… they had no accountability for their actions. Despite STG’s occasional unethical action, they were ultimately all accountable to law, and Cerberus worked outside of it. Sometimes working outside of the law wasn’t a bad thing… the Spectres were a good example of this… Shepard keeps being a good example of this, but Cerberus kept skirting the line way too often. Jack was a good example of that. They created possibly one of the strongest biotics that galaxy had ever seen in a human compared to a naturally-occurring biotic species… but at what cost? He had seen the files that Jack had read through. He had seen the facilities that had held her. They had went too far then and there, "medicine" like that should have never been practiced. But even with that black mark on their record, Mordin could not deny the importance of the mission they had recruited him into. The Collectors were a metaphoric plague onto the galaxy… a bad choice of words for Mordin, considering his contempt for metaphoric explanation, but it was strangely one of the better ways to describe this. The Reapers had destroyed such a rich culture that the Protheans had created to create these husks… the mindless Collectors, who were just meant to carry out the Reapers' orders of creating another galactic genocide. Despite Cerberus’ potentially radical pro-human views, they recognized that this wasn’t something that can be won on human might alone. It needed a galactic alliance, and the fact that they brought him aboard amongst others they had recruited showed they could see the big picture here. At least here, but Mordin wasn’t sure how far that picture went once you eliminated the Reapers from the picture.
Despite that, Cerberus wasn’t all bad. Jacob was someone you wouldn’t expect within an organization like Cerberus, but in a way, it helped to keep them from going down the wrong path. It kept the potential greatness of Cerberus without poisoning it with utter disdain for all aliens in general. The “assistant”/psychiatrist Kelly was another good example of this… she recognized the value of aliens and humans. She may desire the expansion of humans as a society overall but not always at the expense of other species. That type of ideal Mordin surely did respect. Miranda was interesting to look at with that as well. Mordin wasn’t exactly sure of how to view Miranda at times… it almost seemed she was more dedicated to the organization because she was a key part of it, rather than its beliefs. Mordin in a way respects her views because despite sometimes you have to trust the organization over your own beliefs. The Genophage was considered a necessity, the “best” considered approach out of many. Maelon made Mordin all too aware that it may have not been the best approach overall, considering the decay in Krogan culture over time. Still, it was deemed the necessary end at the time and he can't argue with that. Miranda’s dedication for Cerberus was much like Mordin’s own dedication, and he could never fault her for that. They were only trying to look out for the best of their kind… and for everyone else as well.
Maybe the Normandy was a microcosm of humanity trying to fit into the galaxy. The Salarians had a much longer time getting used to galactic politics than humanity, and had been a part of the Council for such a long time. The Salarians knew they were “safe” in terms of politics, and humanity had yet to find such a place. Maybe Cerberus was a good entity here and now… but only time would tell. How would Cerberus find its “ends” being justified in the history books? Would they be ultimately celebrated or hated… by only humanity or the galaxy as a whole… time would only tell, and Mordin didn’t have a lot of that left. For Mordin, enough time had been spent reflecting on these fairly superficial affairs. He needed to return to seeing if he could discover anymore on the Collectors for the approaching battle.
The blue glow of EDI’s orb interface interrupted any hope of that though. “Dr. Solus, Commander Shepard requests your presence at the docking bay. The full team has been deemed necessary for this mission.” Mordin started to gather his personal firearms that he had placed securely within his desk, before his curt response of “Understood. Finishing up here now. Will leave shortly.” was uttered to EDI. Mordin made sure to set up his sample cultures of his current experiment so they would have time to cultivate for his further work with them later, before he left the lab entirely. Mordin just didn’t know that the seizing of the ship by the Reaper IFF and the Collector's attack on it would set those plans back.
[character]: Dr. Mordin Solus
[character history / background]:
Mordin is a Salarian, therefore he was born as part of a large clutch of eggs. He was educated at a young age, specializing in the biological sciences, in particular in genetics and xenobiology, ultimately becoming a medical doctor among other things. He taught within the University system at one time but it is not clear when and how long this was compared to his work for the STG and more recent events.
He joined the Salarian governmental black ops organization, Special Tasks Group (STG), where he took part in many missions on their behalf. He wrote several important texts for them, such as biological analyses of key species of the galaxy. In particular, he took part in a series missions to readjust the birthrate adjustment genetic modifier for the Krogan species, known as the Genophage after it was discovered that the Krogans were developing resistance to it. He eventually went back to normal life, although maintaining his connections to the STG. He decided to go handle a strange plague that had developed in one of the slums of the lawless regions of the Galaxy, Omega, which was targeting everyone except humans basically. During this time he discovered that the plague that has developed manufactured by some very advanced techniques, and seemingly targeting all non-human species. At this time, he is visited by a Spectre, Commander Shepard, who wishes to recruit him in his investigation of the Collectors and the Reapers. Mordin realizes the connection between this manufactured disease and the Collectors, and after Shepard handles the vorcha who are spreading the disease on the Collector’s orders and effectively stops the Plague, Mordin joins Shepard’s group.
During this time, Mordin researches into the Collectors, and the methods they are using to disable and take people in masse, eventually developing a modification to their armors which prevents being stunned by the drones used by the Collectors. This is shown to be helpful during their conflict with the Collectors, by allowing them to actually go head to head with the Collectors on one of their raids. He also helps to run the general tech and R&D labs for the Normandy, handling many of the technical, mechanical and biological upgrades used by Shepard and his team.
Also during this time, Mordin requests Shepard to investigate into the kidnapping of one of his comrades and former assistant, Maelon. Originally believed to have been kidnapped in order to develop a way to counter the Genophage, but is discovered to be helping to engineer a “cure” for the Genophage due to his own personal hatred of what the STG had done. Morality discussions happen over the ethical nature of the Genophage, due to its perceived nature as a death sentence… a genocide for the Krogran species, rather than its actual purpose of adjusting the birthrate of the Krogan to their pre-starship levels of survival so that their species wouldn't multiply like rabbits and overtake the galaxy. Ultimately Maelon is disabled and brought in, and the data is either utterly destroyed, or preserved with the intent to potentially cure the Genophage.
With the ultimate kidnapping of the general crew of the Normandy by the Collectors, Shepard and his team decide to make their final attack on them. Shepard and his team infiltrate the Collector's Base hidden in a region which is nigh impossible to reach near the galactic center, orbiting near a black hole. They save the crew and discover that the Collectors had been kidnapping humans in order to melt them down to a bio-organic metal in order to "ascend" them and create a new Reaper. Shepard ultimately kills this fledgling Human-Reaper, and escapes ultimately destroying the base. With Shepard severing his ties to Cerberus, and the Reapers putting their full attention on Shepard and humanity in general, Mordin will definitely be a powerful ally for Shepard and his crusade against the Reapers.
[character abilities]:
He is shown to have some technical prowess, but is limited compared to some of the more talented members of Shepard’s crew. Despite that, he is clearly talented in the R&D department, handling many of the research needs for the Normandy, and handling their execution alongside of the help of the AI, EDI.
He is a trained physician, showing capabilities in dealing with all major species of the galaxy. He specializes in genetics and xenobiology in particular, but isn’t necessarily limited to those areas.
His species in particular is shown to have a shorter lifespan, but have photographic memory, as well as being shown to be very flexible. While we aren’t sure on the exact specifics of his species, casual comments and observations suggest that Salarians are similar to amphibians.
Due to his background in the STG, he is a notable fighter, showing considerable skill with heavy pistols and SMGs, and probably in handling things stealthily. His in-game skill set allows him to shoot off Incineration Blasts, Cryo Blasts, as well as being able to incapacitate organic targets via his Omnitool.
…and amusingly, he is a trained Opera singer, and has taken part in pieces of theatre before.
[character personality]: Mordin inherently tends to be very logical by nature, rarely letting emotional or personal views affect his judgment if he can. Even so, he is aware that sometimes his actions despite their intended good for the whole have negative consequences. Some of these decisions ultimately affected him to look into many religions and philosophies of the galaxy to find a solace, but ultimately didn’t give him something definite to hold on to. Despite that he is very cheery and humorous.
Due to him being a Salarian, he is quick thinking, quick talking and very likely to tangent. These traits are seen as annoying to others at time, but are shown to help him make very aware intellectual connections over certain matters.
His potential for practicality can be easily shown between his divide between his training as a doctor and as being a part of the STG. Described as being equally likely to shoot you as to heal you, he takes his patients’ safety as being a very important thing. Any attempts to shake him down are very likely to have that person shot, hurt, incapacitated, killed… among other ways. Furthering this point, while in the rather lawless slums of Omega, he physically displayed the bodies of those who tried to press him as warnings to others that Mordin isn’t someone you should try to coerce. In furthering this, Mordin makes a humorous comment showing that many underestimate Salarians due to their perceived frailty, and is willing to take this to his advantage that many of his opponents just don’t see him coming. Despite that, he notes that he is unwilling to kill a person via medicine, showing that he holds his status as a doctor as being very important. His practicality is also shown in other ways, as with Mordin preparing a sex talk for Shepard, especially when preparing to have a relationship with a non-human, citing potential problems and ways to minimize sickness and problems on both sides.
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: End of Mass Effect 2 including all DLCs up to the Lair of the Shadow Broker. Assuming that paragon choices haven been taken throughout gameplay, the whole team surviving the Suicide Mission, and Mordin choosing to save Maelon’s data, but still on the fence over whether or not to use that data.
[journal post]:
[See Mordin. See Mordin looking down towards his arm at a ghost-like orange gauntlet on his arm, clearly not paying attention to the world.]
Not now Shepard, trying to discover how scale-itch got onto the Normandy. Sexually transmitted disease. Only carried by varren. Implications unpleasant. Anything else? …Shepard?
[Mordin finally looks up, realizes he’s now just outside the boundaries of the Fountain.]
Strange. Not the Normandy. [Looks back at his Omnitool] Unable to connect to galactic networks. Nor the Normandy. What is this "Network"? Hmm. Come back to that later. Bigger issues. Like where I'm at. Preliminary scans suggest the local environment is capable of having life.
[His omnitool fades, and he looks up to look at the City]
Hmm. Strange. Architecture looks like… Earth maybe? Pre-Prothean discovery possibly. Interesting.
[a slight pause by Mordin]
That building. It has high grade laser armaments on it. Strange place. Wonder if I can duplicate.
[third person / log sample]:
Mordin’s clinic was very important, especially in a place like Omega, especially during an epidemic like this… one which was basically being contained until the disease disappeared or everyone has died out. As a doctor, as someone who tries to make a world a better place, this was a worthy cause for him, plus an academic challenge worth of a scientist of his caliber. This plague was very peculiar to someone like Mordin because it doesn’t seem to follow traditional conventions of acting like a disease. The seemingly complete disregard for humans as an entire species suggests that the disease couldn’t be natural.
Disease is messy and nature by nature is chaotic, and this disease was too perfect for Mordin but he couldn’t think of who could possibly manufacture a disease of this level. Manufacturing a new strain of the Genophage took some time… but this was on a different level inherently. Whoever could have made such a disease would have been very intelligent or have good resources… or both. But to Mordin, there were more pressing issues such as curing this disease to handle at the moment. The question of who had made it and tracking them down to make sure they wouldn’t be able to do something like this again would have to wait. The Genophage was one thing, but this was something completely different. Medicine was created to heal people, not to kill them, and someone producing a disease like this was very unethical on so many levels. Mordin would make sure to handle them that as soon as he finished curing the district of this plague… preferably with explosives and high caliber weaponry. Possibly with a call to his former associates at the STG, noting the potential danger here that this could have to Salarian interests.
A cure was close… and mass producing was a simple step away after that. If the warning sirens didn’t go off telling of another group of mercenaries thinking that Mordin needed their “protection.” Mordin had a brief moment of amusement at such a thought. They must have not seen his warning… their own fault. Mordin had better things to deal with than mercenaries who think in such a lawless place as Omega, that they must have the biggest gun and therefore can rule. They’ll never see their end coming… Mordin was probably a better shot than all of them combined and has even bigger guns protecting his patients. Because there’s nothing bigger than gun turrets on Omega... outside of Aria's wraith. Mordin was sure he hadn't done anything to anger Omega's ruler, and he was definitely sure that those mercenaries weren't carrying anything that could likely match a turret without them taking serious causalities. They would never expect a doctor to have anything more dangerous than a syringe and an Omnitool. More people would die in the 5 minutes that Mordin would spend disproving these mercenaries’ machismo… but it is the only way to make sure that his current patients would be safe. To make sure that everyone who was still alive could and would be cured. Mordin knew that he couldn't save everyone, but he intended to save as many as possible.
[3rd person / addendum]
The Normandy was a good ship. It had to been a good ship before if the blueprints were to be believed, and the Normandy SR2 was just as good a ship, if not better. His labs were of very high quality… especially for a ship of this size. This was a very good thing, so he wouldn't likely have to makeshift anything like he may have done on Omega. If anything the ship was theoretically perfect. For Mordin, the crew of the Normandy was the only things that made this perfect ship imperfect. A perfect ship would have been boring in a way, and Mordin was strangely thankful for that. A hectic nature made for a better environment to work. Expedience, necessity… they made sure he kept to his tasks, and not let himself drift to other projects. With being on a ship like the Normandy, getting "distracted" away from his main goal was a hard task. Especially with Cerberus lurking around every corner…
Tali once mentioned her experiences with the Quarian Flotilla, and the original Normandy… The Normandy was too quiet, in too good of a condition, and not "well-loved" like many of the aging ships of the Flotilla. Mordin saw her point in a way: if he ever saw his workplace or even a gathering of Salarians appearing to be quiet, then there was something clearly wrong. Beyond that, Mordin disagreed with Tali… the ship was thriving with noise. Mordin knew he could always hear noise around the ship anytime he took a break from waiting for his samples to cultivate. He could sometimes hear Grunt going about in his faux conflict reliving images implanted in his memories by his creator, complete with some of the damage we was probably making, trying to make himself stronger… an apex for his kind. Something that the Krogans could probably use to help them move past the Genophage and become better... something that Mordin found comforting in his own way. He had once caught Kasumi sneaking through the air ducts spying on others, and keeping her talents up to check. That had been certainly amusing to Mordin as she realized she had been caught, before he waved her off. She was talented, and being a part of the STG just made him check things a little more often for security purposes. It was only an accident that Mordin had really found her. Mordin made sure to keep an eye and ear on on the air ducts from that point on... or possibly any other place that Kasumi could possibly sneak through.
Cerberus did bother him at times. The bugs they placed were easily found and quickly disposed of. They didn’t need to watch him in order to get results... his service record for the STG could easily prove that, if they were able to find the complete uncensored file that is. He recognized their value as an organization, despite their reputation. Their reputation was bad at times with how they keep seeming to try to go about the wrong way in securing the rights that they believed humans deserved. They were no STG despite their claims of being similar in intent and occupation… they had no accountability for their actions. Despite STG’s occasional unethical action, they were ultimately all accountable to law, and Cerberus worked outside of it. Sometimes working outside of the law wasn’t a bad thing… the Spectres were a good example of this… Shepard keeps being a good example of this, but Cerberus kept skirting the line way too often. Jack was a good example of that. They created possibly one of the strongest biotics that galaxy had ever seen in a human compared to a naturally-occurring biotic species… but at what cost? He had seen the files that Jack had read through. He had seen the facilities that had held her. They had went too far then and there, "medicine" like that should have never been practiced. But even with that black mark on their record, Mordin could not deny the importance of the mission they had recruited him into. The Collectors were a metaphoric plague onto the galaxy… a bad choice of words for Mordin, considering his contempt for metaphoric explanation, but it was strangely one of the better ways to describe this. The Reapers had destroyed such a rich culture that the Protheans had created to create these husks… the mindless Collectors, who were just meant to carry out the Reapers' orders of creating another galactic genocide. Despite Cerberus’ potentially radical pro-human views, they recognized that this wasn’t something that can be won on human might alone. It needed a galactic alliance, and the fact that they brought him aboard amongst others they had recruited showed they could see the big picture here. At least here, but Mordin wasn’t sure how far that picture went once you eliminated the Reapers from the picture.
Despite that, Cerberus wasn’t all bad. Jacob was someone you wouldn’t expect within an organization like Cerberus, but in a way, it helped to keep them from going down the wrong path. It kept the potential greatness of Cerberus without poisoning it with utter disdain for all aliens in general. The “assistant”/psychiatrist Kelly was another good example of this… she recognized the value of aliens and humans. She may desire the expansion of humans as a society overall but not always at the expense of other species. That type of ideal Mordin surely did respect. Miranda was interesting to look at with that as well. Mordin wasn’t exactly sure of how to view Miranda at times… it almost seemed she was more dedicated to the organization because she was a key part of it, rather than its beliefs. Mordin in a way respects her views because despite sometimes you have to trust the organization over your own beliefs. The Genophage was considered a necessity, the “best” considered approach out of many. Maelon made Mordin all too aware that it may have not been the best approach overall, considering the decay in Krogan culture over time. Still, it was deemed the necessary end at the time and he can't argue with that. Miranda’s dedication for Cerberus was much like Mordin’s own dedication, and he could never fault her for that. They were only trying to look out for the best of their kind… and for everyone else as well.
Maybe the Normandy was a microcosm of humanity trying to fit into the galaxy. The Salarians had a much longer time getting used to galactic politics than humanity, and had been a part of the Council for such a long time. The Salarians knew they were “safe” in terms of politics, and humanity had yet to find such a place. Maybe Cerberus was a good entity here and now… but only time would tell. How would Cerberus find its “ends” being justified in the history books? Would they be ultimately celebrated or hated… by only humanity or the galaxy as a whole… time would only tell, and Mordin didn’t have a lot of that left. For Mordin, enough time had been spent reflecting on these fairly superficial affairs. He needed to return to seeing if he could discover anymore on the Collectors for the approaching battle.
The blue glow of EDI’s orb interface interrupted any hope of that though. “Dr. Solus, Commander Shepard requests your presence at the docking bay. The full team has been deemed necessary for this mission.” Mordin started to gather his personal firearms that he had placed securely within his desk, before his curt response of “Understood. Finishing up here now. Will leave shortly.” was uttered to EDI. Mordin made sure to set up his sample cultures of his current experiment so they would have time to cultivate for his further work with them later, before he left the lab entirely. Mordin just didn’t know that the seizing of the ship by the Reaper IFF and the Collector's attack on it would set those plans back.