Video Game Spin-Offs: Mass Effect "Foundation" #12

(Spoilers!) #12 in the Foundation series picks up with Miranda informing the Illusive Man that Rasa is becoming too dangerous.  Rasa has been sticking her nose into the Lazarus project and knows too much.  She is continuing to compile the dossiers and is now investigating the drell assassin, Thane Krios.  Rasa and Krios tangled briefly in a previous issue and Rasa only escaped because Krios decided to show her mercy.

Thane's story starts off with him on an assignment to assassinate a Salarian war criminal.  As he takes aim and prepares to pull the trigger, a female drell sees the dot from the laser sight and steps between the target and the assassin.  If you've ever romanced Thane in Mass Effect 2 this story should be familiar.  It's the story about how he met his wife.  After she interrupts Thane he becomes obsessed with her.  He can't understand why someone would put their own life at risk to save a stranger.  He begins tracking her so he can learn more about her.  This is very fortunate because she is attacked and he is able to save her.  He finds out that she is a scientist working on a cure for a hanar disease and informs her about who he is.  She threatens to call security to arrrest him, but he begs her forgiveness. She decides to let him stick around and their relationship blooms.  Thane is a different person when he's with her and feels awakened from his "battle sleep."

Thane meets his future wife.

Eventually Thane decides he wants to marry her.  In order to get married he must get permission from the Hanar that he is bound to through the compact.  The Hanar warns him that this isn't his path and could be a big mistake.  Thane ignores the advice and decides to marry Irikah anyway.  Soon they have a family, but Thane struggles to be a good father.  No longer able to use his skills as an assassin, he is forced to take meaningless jobs and he finds that this is difficult.  He makes the tough decision to return to assassin work and finds that he is away from his family for long periods of time.

Things turn sour when a group of Batarian slavers who Thane had been paid to take out decide they want revenge.  They pay the Shadow Broker for his identity and wait for him to travel far enough away that they can take out his family before he returns.  Thane then makes it his goal to find the ones who killed his wife and eliminate them all.  He does it in the most painful ways possible and feels no remorse.  As he prepares to take out their leader he has a flashback of his wife standing in his sights.  He pulls the trigger anyway and ends his quest for vengeance.

The issue ends with Thane holding a coin given to him by his wife and tossing it into the ocean.  He laments the fact that he didn't listen to the Hanar priest who warned him that he wasn't meant for a simple family life.

Thane is another of the characters that I like and I thought it was nice to see his story fleshed out.  If you're looking for some new information about Thane there really isn't much in this issue.