MASS EFFECT: THE POINT OF NO RETURN

Jailbirds

1017, September 23, 2560 (Military time)\Unknown Location

It had been over three weeks since the destruction of the Collector Base. Those monsters - the final insult that the horrific sentient machines known as the Reapers had cast upon their previous victims, the Forerunners - had launched a campaign involving the abduction of every human in the lawless Terminus Systems. No-one had known why, but now the truth was out. The Collectors were processing the humans, melting their bodies and using the resulting liquid in the construction of a human-shaped Reaper. It was theorised that the creator of the Reapers wanted access to the Array, the centre of all knowledge in existence and the source of the mysterious power known as Technomancy, a power which only humans had the ability to wield. The Reapers were terrible and powerful enough, but if they had been able to create their own Technomancer they would have become truly unstoppable, all of creation at their mercy.

Mercifully, that had never come to pass, thanks to the efforts of the crew of the sleek super-frigate Normandy SR-2. The base had been destroyed and so had the Human Reaper larva along with it. However, their efforts had not come without a price. Their actions had earned them enemies, particularly the pro-human extremist organisation Cerberus. In spite of the fact that they funded the mission to destroy the Collectors, providing the intel, equipment and personnel, they were regarded as a terrorist faction by much of the galaxy, and with good reason. The crew had discovered that the leader of Cerberus, known only as the Illusive Man, wanted to keep the Collector Base for himself, fixated in the belief that he could turn the Reapers' own technology and methods against them. The crew knew the danger such technology possessed, and the cost of it was too high. With such a strong leader at their helm, who was unwilling to compromise and sacrifice innocents to achieve her goals, the crew had grown to trust her more than they did their boss, and so had sided with her, even if it meant they had to become renegades, on the run from Cerberus who no doubt were searching everywhere for them, to reclaim their property and exact some form of retribution.

On top of that, because of them working with a recognised terrorist group, every other authority in the galaxy wanted a word with them, particularly the Citadel Council, the United Nations Space Command and the Orion Alliance. Everyone had agreed had it was for the best that they stay on the Normandy and try to keep out of everyone's way; at such a crucial stage, with the Reapers due to arrive in the galaxy in full force, they knew that they could not afford to be incarcerated. It was an easy job to not attract attention from anyone, thanks to the advanced stealth technology of the ship.

Not that there hadn't been some temptation to break their cover and return to the galaxy at large. Not long after the successful Collector base operation, the extranet had exploded with news and images about the return of the Precursors, the race that had given the human race the ability to use Technomancy. They even had one of their ships completed, which if the newsfeeds were anything to go by was even larger than the Citadel itself. Xi Kedzuel Draconis, the Emperor of the Precursors, had come to arrangements with the Council for aid in reconstructing the rest of his ships, and had promised to help all of the races of the galaxy in the battle against the Reapers. It was encouraging to think that others were now preparing for the arrival of those monsters, but everyone had agreed that it was for the best that the Normandy crew continue to remain off the radar, at least for the time being. When the galaxy needed the Normandy's help it would come, but not before then, not while Cerberus was still such a big factor.

Commander Kaelyn Shepard, the de-facto captain of the Normandy, was stepping into her large cabin at the top of the ship. She sat down at her desk, looking over the notes on a datapad from the day's rounds of the ship. Their fuel would hold out for another week or so, but their food supplies were running low. She didn't want to risk going to the Citadel for ingredients, but if they didn't do something soon they would surely starve. Mess Sergeant Gardner had already had to off-load his 'Chef's Special' onto some unsuspecting members of the crew over the past couple of days. At this rate, soon the only crew members who would have access to suitable food would be Garrus Vakarian and Tali'Zorah vas Normandy; as a Turian and Quarian respectively, they went through the dextro-friendly rations at a much slower pace. She sighed and held her head in her hand; she knew that they had to keep flying so as not to attract attention or leave any proverbial breadcrumbs, but if they didn't head for civilisation and get restocked they were surely done for.

"Shepard," a female voice with an odd electronic quality to it suddenly said through the ship's speakers. "There's something I need to bring to your attention. Is this a bad time?"

"No, EDI," said Shepard, trying her best not to sound weary. "Go ahead." She walked up to a small holographic emitter beside the large fish tank, where a small hologram of a human woman with lines of code all over her body blinked into view. This was the avatar of the ship's artificial intelligence known as EDI. What was unusual about EDI was her method of creation; her programming was partly based on Reaper code that Cerberus had managed to pull from a piece of Sovereign, the Reaper that had attacked the Citadel two years ago. EDI herself was unaware of this until the ship's pilot, Jeff 'Joker' Moreau, had removed the shackles that Cerberus had placed on her. However, she had proven her loyalty to the crew many times over, and even seemed to develop an odd sense of humour, for upon defecting from Cerberus she had sent millions upon billions of terabytes of porn to Cerberus, most of it from Joker's private stash. She was also another reason the Normandy crew were on the run; quite aside from the fact that AIs were illegal according to the Council, they didn't want her to be harmed by anyone who wanted to deactivate her because of the code within her. Only a few people outside the ship knew about EDI's true nature, and she hoped those people she had told had the sense to stay quiet.

"I thought you ought to know that someone has been trying to contact you," said EDI, reaching an arm up to her short 'hair'. "The transmission uses UNSC protocols, so I have been trying to block it, but the signal keeps getting through regardless of how many blocks I set up. They must be using an expert hacker to ensure the signal evades my firewalls. No matter what I do it always reaches us." She closed her eyes for a moment. "Shepard, this transmission is direct from the office of Admiral Stephen Hackett."

Now Shepard had to admit that this was catching her attention. Normally EDI would bounce away any attempts by the UNSC to contact her, lest they get a fix on the Normandy's position. However, if Admiral Hackett himself was trying to contact her, then this had to be too important to ignore. If he was even going to the lengths of bringing on board the greatest hacker on Earth (she could take a good guess as to who) to ensure that the signal reached her, then she reasoned that she ought to sit up and take notice of this.

"Patch it through to my quarters, EDI," said Shepard.

"Yes, Shepard," said EDI, nodding as her avatar faded.

Shepard crossed back over to her office and pressed some buttons on her terminal. The large glass case over her desk contained several models of different types of ship, and in front of one pane of glass was a large trideo display. Shepard transferred the visuals of the call onto that large screen. As she expected, the figure that appeared on the screen was Admiral Stephen Hackett himself. He was wearing his usual UNSC dress uniform, with all manner of medals pinned to his chest. His aged, battle-hardened face had a scar on it that ran from his brow to his chin.

"Commander," he said. "Thank you for your time. I'll keep this brief. We have a deep-cover operative out in Batarian space. Name's Doctor Catherine Halsey."

"Halsey?" asked Shepard, looking puzzled. "The scientist behind the Spartan program? I thought she was listed as MIA?"

"She was recently rescued from what was left of the Shield Installation Onyx," said Hackett.

"There's a warrant out for her arrest," said Shepard. "Why's the UNSC protecting her?"

"She's done terrible things in the past, Shepard," said Hackett. "If it were up to me, she'd be left to rot on a prison colony. However, we're facing an unconventional war against the Reapers, and she's the best at unconventional solutions. We put her to work in Batarian space. It's a deadly assignment, and she's one of the few up to the challenge. She recently reported that she found evidence of an imminent Reaper invasion."

Shepard stepped back, leaning against the shelves opposite the screen. "So why call me?" she asked, folding her arms. "You know I'm trying to keep a low profile. I assume Mr. Knight helped you to find me?"

"Yes," said Hackett. "We both understand that you don't want to be found right now, and we wouldn't be asking anything of you unless we felt you were the only one in a position to do something about our problem." His face became grave. "Just this morning I received news that the Batarians had arrested Halsey. They're holding her in a secret prison outpost on terrorism charges. I need you to infiltrate the prison and get her out of there. As a favour to me, I'm asking you to go in alone."

"I have a hell of a squad with me," said Shepard. "I'm sure they'd help out."

"Halsey's a valuable asset to the UNSC," said Hackett, shaking his head. "If the Batarians see a squad of armed soldiers, they'll kill her. This is serious, Commander. Go in with discretion, or don't go in at all."

"What's Halsey actually doing out there?" asked Shepard.

"She's a deep cover operative, Shepard," said Hackett. "We talk only when we have to. I'd heard she was investigating a rumour of a Reaper artefact in the system. Her last report said she'd found it. She believes that the artefact is proof that the Reaper invasion is closer than we all thought. If she of all people says this, then it's worth checking out."

"The Batarians won't take kindly to the UNSC breaking into a secret prison," said Shepard, her arms folded.

"That's why this isn't a UNSC operation," said Hackett. "It's one person going in alone to save a friend. If it were an official mission, of course the Batarians would be upset. You keep this quiet, Shepard, and there's nothing to worry about."

Shepard gave a heavy sigh. She was no friend of Halsey; in fact, given her feelings about the nature of the Spartan program, she had half a mind to leave her for the Batarians. However, Hackett was right; they needed every mind they could get to help them find a way to stop the Reapers, so it looked like she would have to do this mission whether she liked it or not.

"So where's this prison located?" she asked.

"It's hidden underground at a Batarian outpost on Aratoht, in the Bahak System in the Viper Nebula," said Hackett. "I'll upload the co-ordinates now. Once she's secure, confirm her discovery. We'll debrief you when you're back. One other thing; we dispatched the Spartan John-117 to the system with Halsey, to keep an eye on her, more than anything. Senior Chief Petty Officer Mendez informs me that he hasn't reported in for several days. If you can, find out if something's happened to him."

"Got it," said Shepard.

"Hackett out," finished Hackett, his face fading from the screen. When he was gone, Shepard let out a small groan. She didn't trust Spartans, and now she learned that she was not only looking for one, but had been roped into rescuing the creator of the Spartans, the woman responsible for a list of war crimes as long as her arm. She informed Joker of their next stop, and headed to her armour locker, confident that the day could not possibly get any worse.

0

A heavy storm was in progress over the prison complex on the garden world of Aratoht. The Kodiak shuttles on the Normandy had rudimentary stealth systems and were auto-piloted by on-board virtual intelligences. It was enough to get Shepard close to the complex without being spotted. She felt that the grey skies and rain summed up the grey-walled prison complex, and indeed the Batarian Hegemony, perfectly; oppressive, cold, and cruel.

As she stepped off the shuttle, it took off back into the sky. She was standing by a small service entrance, well away from the main gates of the complex. By using a bypass program on her Omni-Tool she was able to hack the door and get it open. She drew her assault rifle, stepping slowly into the dark, dank corridors of the base. Most of the pathways were sealed off by iron bars, and rainwater leaked through the ceiling in several spots. The concrete walls were chipped and cracked, and the floors broken and uneven. There had to have been seismic activity at the base at some point, at parts of the floor had collapsed and had to be bridged with unstable iron girders. Even by prison standards, Shepard felt the place was run-down. Across the bridge and around the corner she was suddenly assaulted by varren, large reptilian creatures that resembled dogs with large fish-eyes. A few shots from the rifle put the ravenous beast down, but Shepard knew that she could not afford many more mistakes like this lest she was spotted.

The Batarians must send their prisoners down here to die, she thought to herself. I've got to find Dr. Halsey now!

She proceeded down the corridors and up a flight of stairs, the walls gradually changed from concrete to metal. Then Shepard froze, as she suddenly heard muffled voices above her:

"Get the human into questioning," the gruff, growling voice of a Batarian guard said.

"Get your hands off me!" a female's voice said with a cold, defiant edge to it. This had to be Dr. Halsey, and if what Shepard knew of Batarian interrogation techniques was anything to go by, then she didn't have much time.

Moving as quickly as she dared to, past an array of rusted pipes that pumped gas through the facility, she eventually found herself in a small locker room. Picking up a small datapad from the table, she activated the personal log that was recorded on it:

"I hear humans are scurrying like vermin out in the asteroid belt. Is anywhere safe from them? We should arm a mission to flush 'em all out."

To Shepard, that summed up Batarian attitudes perfectly; paranoid, vicious, and full of a deep-seated hatred for anything that wasn't them. She doubted that many in the galaxy would weep if they were wiped out by the Reapers the next day, and there would be no chance of gaining their support, given their isolationist attitudes. No wonder nobody in the UNSC had shared their discoveries, whatever they were, with the Hegemony.

Trying to return her mind the task at hand, she worked her way through, past the iron girders and into a metal corridor which had to come from a newer part of the facility. It seemed to have been built up over time, from the foundations that she had just explored all the way to the present advancements before her. As she reached a ramp that led further upstairs, she crouched behind the wall as she heard more voices.

"They wanted to slam an asteroid into the Mass Relay," a Batarian guard was saying.

"Can they even do that?" his partner asked, incredulous.

"What difference does it make?" the first guard replied. "We caught 'em." As Shepard slowly moved up the ramp, she found that the voices were coming from the other side of a locked door. "They've still got her down in the prison," the guard continued.

"I'd just kill her," the second guard grunted. "Interrogating a human's a waste of time."

The top of the ramp led to a small kitchen, with a door that led back outside. Crouching low behind the various crates scattered about the open-air courtyard, she saw several Batarians on guard. Luckily they didn't spot her, and the heavy rain hid the sound of her footsteps, so she moved slowly on. Ducking into the largest building at the other side of the complex, Shepard heard more voices coming from a recreation room, filled with chairs and various strange Batarian entertainments.

"No way it would have worked," one guard grunted as Shepard crouched behind the door to listen. "Relays can't be damaged, much less destroyed."

"There're three hundred thousand people in this colony," another guard ranted. "Those humans will do anything to destroy us, I swear."

"We have to make this one an example to the others," the first guard said. "We can't respond kindly to terrorists."

Shepard pressed on, reaching the upper level of a small hangar bay, her mind swimming with questions. Was Halsey really trying to slam an asteroid into a Mass Relay? What would she even hope to accomplish with such a thing? If she was trying to do so, however, it was small wonder that the Batarians were thinking of her as a terrorist. Then again, many out there were likely to consider Halsey a terrorist, after all she had done...

"I heard an artefact was found in that asteroid belt," a Batarian voice said from the hangar below, bringing Shepard back to her senses. "Think the humans got it?"

"If they did," replied his companion, "they'd have swarmed in and put flags all over it."

Trying to drown out the hearty guffaws of the Batarians, Shepard crossed into the next room, and was able to lower herself from the gantry to the ground floor by climbing down some stacked cargo containers. A large cargo elevator led her down below the ground level once again, and into a small security office. The way forward was blocked by a laser barrier, which would surely be fatal to the touch. She traced the power cables from the barrier to a small power box on the wall. After she had opened the box she raised her Omni-Tool to hack the controls inside. While she waited, she listened to the security log:

"Our comm. buoy intercepts paid off. We picked up a message to the UNSC coming from somewhere in the asteroid belt. We listened to the feed until we discovered an operation run by a human named Halsey; she was smuggling engine parts and guidance systems into the system from Omega. We intercepted Halsey's vessel and took her and her people into custody. Interrogation has produced nothing but frenzied rambling so far."

It seemed that none of the prisoners had cracked under the strain of interrogation, so the Batarians remained as much in the dark about what Halsey was up to as the UNSC was. There was a beeping noise coming from the power box, and then the laser barrier shut down. Moving beyond the barrier, she found herself outside what appeared to be a viewing chamber, with a large window on one wall looking into an interrogation room. Crouching behind a large crate, Shepard overheard the voices of more guards.

"This one's apparently the mastermind," one of them was saying.

"If she doesn't talk, kill her," grunted his companion.

Deciding that enough was enough, and that she had to act quickly, she quietly sneaked into the room, holstering her rifle. Neither of the guards turned around, continuing to peer through the window into the interrogation room beyond. She was able to sneak right behind the nearest guard and grabbed him, swiftly breaking his neck. The other guard turned to see what was going on, but Shepard struck him in the windpipe, crushing his throat and bringing him to the floor, where he met the same fate as his partner. Once they were down, she was able to peer into the interrogation room, where she saw Dr. Halsey herself, her iron-grey hair now somewhat dishevelled and wearing grubby prisoner overalls. She was strapped into what looked like a metal cage, and a small laser emitter was pointed at her forehead, ready to shoot should she give an answer the interrogator didn't like. Monitors in the viewing room watched Halsey from all angles. There seemed to be no activity in the room at present, with the interrogator typing something into his datapad, so Shepard listened to another security log:

"The humans still won't tell us where their base is. No way we'll find it even if we scan every asteroid out there. I wonder if those humans actually found something. No torture is too great if it gets that information out of them."

Inside the security room, the interrogator had once again turned to Halsey. His voice came through on the intercom:

"I'll ask you again," he growled. "Where is your base?!"

"You're wasting time, you four-eyed simpleton!" Halsey barked, looking utterly defiant. "The Reapers are coming!"

"The Reapers are coming here," repeated the guard sarcastically. "To this relay."

"Every moment you keep me here brings them closer," said Halsey.

"So I should let you go destroy the relay then?" asked the interrogator, shaking his head. "Just destroy this system?"

"Do what you want to me, Batarian. Torturing me won't save you."

"No," the guard said, with a horrible leer. "But it will amuse me."

Deciding that she had heard enough, Shepard ran around the corner and opened the door to the interrogation room, just as the torture device crackled, beginning to power up. Turning to see who had entered, the interrogator found himself meeting Shepard's fist as she battered him to the floor, beating him into unconsciousness. Halsey's eyes flickered over to Shepard and she regarded her with a frosty glare.

"Who are you?" she asked. "What are you doing?"

"Dr. Halsey?" said the Commander, stepping behind the rack which Halsey was strapped to. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to get you out."

"Commander Shepard?" asked Halsey. "Yes, I've heard a lot about you. Hackett and Knight couldn't stop talking about you. Apparently you've give Telek 'Heros himself a run for his money as a miracle worker."

"We're not safe here," said Shepard, manipulating her Omni-Tool to hack the controls to the restraints. "Can you walk?"

After a few seconds the metal restraints were released. Halsey staggered off the rack and onto the main floor of the cell, looking rather weak. She held onto the frame of the cage as she shook herself, trying to regain the feeling in her legs.

"I'm fine," she said. "Just give me a moment."

"We have to go," said Shepard, shaking her head. "Now."

"If we can find a console," said Halsey, "I can hack security and make us an escape route." All of a sudden a siren sounded all around the base, almost deafening the pair. Gritting her teeth and drawing her assault rifle, Shepard pressed herself against the wall, the sound of footsteps in the hall getting louder.

"Then we'll find one," she said. "Come on!"

Halsey stooped to pick up a pistol from the guard's unconscious body. Loading it with a flourish, she hissed, "Ready."

"The ringleader escaped!" the guards yelled over the intercom as they began to fill the hall. "Get your asses out there and stop them!"

At that moment, the hall was filled with gunfire as squads of guards opened fire. It soon became apparent that they would never get out the way Shepard had come, so she led the way down another passage deeper into the cell block. Down a ramp and through a door they found themselves in a large circular chamber, with a deep shaft in the middle of it. More guards were in the room, but were quickly cut down under a hail of gunfire. A small security office was in there, and upon noticing the console Halsey ran up to it and began to manipulate the controls. Clearly this was the type of console she was looking for.

"They know we're here," she barked. "Keep them off me while I hack us a way out!"

"Suppression teams to cell block!" a voice barked over the intercom. "Now!"

As quickly as she could, Shepard sprinted to the door they had entered from and slammed her fist into the control console, causing it to slam shut as more bullets whizzed past her. She was then forced to dive for cover behind a large metal pipe as more bullets were fired, coming from the shaft. The Batarians were raising themselves into the chamber through small elevator platforms.

"Unlocking all doors to the hangar," Halsey called. "Still need more time."

Shepard gritted her teeth, wanting to tell Halsey that time was a luxury they didn't have. She opened fire on the guards, cutting down several of them in a hail of assault rifle fire. As the frantic gunfight drew on, Halsey called out her status with the hacking, mentioning that she was bringing down the orbital tracking network, and also having the annoying habit of telling Shepard where to shoot. To Shepard's mind, it was like going into combat with a particularly fussy mother. In the end, she tried to drown out Halsey's voice as she focused on shooting down any guards that tried to ambush them.

"That did it!" Halsey finally called after the last of the approaching guards had dropped dead. "Let's move!" An elevator lowered from the top of the shaft, stopping just in front of Shepard. She and Halsey ran onto it, and rode it upwards, their senses heightened for any sign of approaching guards. "Oh, and one last thing," the scientist said. "The hangar doors are hard-locked. We'll have to get those open the old-fashioned way."

"Leave that to me," Shepard muttered. The elevator stopped just outside the hangar bay. Several Kodiak shuttles were inside, just waiting to be hijacked. More guards ran into the hangar, forcing Shepard to dive from parked vehicle to parked vehicle, with Halsey providing covering fire. She shot out the hard-locks on the hangar doors, which were surprisingly fragile, and the doors sprang open.

As the last of the guards was gunned down, Shepard noticed that the floor was soaked in what appeared to be petrol. The shuttle that she and Halsey decided to take allowed for manual piloting, so Shepard steered it safely out of the hangar bay. As it flew out, the flame from the jets struck the oil, setting it alight and instantly immolating a squad of guards that had dashed into the room.

Neither Shepard nor Halsey breathed easily until they were well away from Aratoht. Shepard wanted to return to UNSC space immediately, as she didn't feel safe so deep into Batarian space. She set the autopilot to take them to the system's Mass Relay, then sat opposite Halsey as the shuttle sped onwards through the void. The scientist regarded Shepard with a steely expression in the low light of the cabin, her hands clasped together. She radiated coldness and a feeling of absolutely no empathy; Shepard began to think that it was no wonder the Spartans turned out the way they did, since they were so much like their creator.

"We should be well out of range before they get their security measures unscrambled," said Halsey.

"Do you think they'll come after you?" asked Shepard.

"I'm not taking any chances," said Halsey. "Batarians don't take kindly to humans who plan to destroy their Mass Relays."

"So the charges against you are true," said Shepard, folding her arms.

"Well," said Halsey, shrugging, "to be fair, that's about half the story. My people and I were here investigating rumours of Reaper technology out in the fringes of this system."

"I guess you found something."

"We found proof that the Reapers will be arriving in this system," said Halsey. She turned to look out of the window, where the enormous Mass Relay, resembling a gleaming metal tuning fork with a glowing blue Element Zero core, floated serenely against the star-strewn backdrop. "When they get here, they'll use its Mass Relay to travel throughout the galaxy. We call it the 'Alpha Relay'. From here, the Reapers can invade anywhere in the galaxy."

"So you decided to destroy it," said Shepard.

"Exactly," replied Halsey, in a tone that suggested she was proud of her idea. "Doing that would delay the Reapers' invasion. Even at FTL speeds, it would be months before they reached the next relay. We came up with what we just called 'the Project'; a plan to launch a nearby asteroid into the relay and destroy it before the Reapers could arrive." She waved her hand dismissively. "Of course the resulting explosion would probably wipe out the system."

"How did you plan to launch an asteroid into a Mass Relay?" asked Shepard.

"Moving an asteroid just requires thrust and guidance," shrugged Halsey, "both of which are readily available in Omega's salvage yards. Get the right amount of power, and a good VI to drive it, and you can just point and shoot."

"I've always heard that Mass Relays are indestructible," said Shepard, shaking her head.

"I heard that too," replied Halsey. "But I think it's more that nobody's willing to find out what happens when one is destroyed. And, well..." She paused for a moment, smiling at Shepard as if the Commander was simple. "We planned to slam a small planet into the thing at very high speeds. By my calculations, that's more than enough."

"Why do you think destroying the Mass Relay would destroy the entire system?" asked Shepard.

"Mass Relays are the most powerful Mass Effect engines in the known galaxy," said Halsey. "Even in my short time back in the UNSC I realised this fact. The energy released from a relay's destruction would resemble a supernova. This is a remote system, but just over 300,000 Batarians live on the colony where they held us. The explosion would undoubtedly kill them all." She didn't sound too bothered at the prospect of killing hundreds of thousands of people, causing Shepard to look disgusted and very uncomfortable with her fellow passenger.

"Is the Project still operational?" she asked.

"I imagine it is," said Halsey. "We were one button press away from launch when the Batarians arrested me."

"So how were you caught?" asked Shepard.

"We've been smuggling starship parts from Omega," said Halsey. "Thrusters, guidance, an aftermarket Eezo core. The Batarians thought that looked suspicious. A few days ago, I took a few of the men on a scouting trip, and the Batarians pounced on us. They never found our actual base."

"I still don't see how you learned about this supposed invasion," said Shepard, leaning forward in her chair. That was the one thing that she did not understand in this whole sorry affair.

"The evidence came from what we call 'Object Rho'," said Halsey, "a Reaper artefact we discovered among the asteroids near the relay itself. When we get back into UNSC space, I'll explain everything and provide copies of all of our notes on the artefact."

"How exactly does a Reaper artefact give you proof of an impending invasion?" asked Shepard, looking sceptical.

"It showed me visions of the Reapers' arrival..." said Halsey, closing her eyes. "Much like your Forerunner beacon, I'd wager." Her eyes snapped open and she regarded Shepard with those same cold eyes. "The Reapers are coming, Commander. That much I know for certain."

"What's a Reaper artefact doing in an asteroid?" asked Shepard, shuffling about on her chair.

"We don't know," said Halsey, shaking her head, "or even what its purpose was. Some things are just too old or large to comprehend. According to your reports from the Collector incident, even a Reaper thousands of years dead contains power. Their artefacts are worthy of study, regardless of their purpose." At this point, Shepard was beginning to get uncomfortably reminded of the Illusive Man, and how he tried to get his hands on Reaper technology that he could turn against its masters.

"If you're working near a Reaper artefact," said Shepard, folding her arms, "how have you avoided indoctrination?" She was thinking of the insidious method of mind control that all Reapers and their technology could use to gradually bend someone to their will.

"We've been very careful," said Halsey, frowning. "I know what I'm dealing with. You're not speaking to a child, Shepard; Kiryuu Knight showed me the face of their creator. I saw what Sovereign did to the Citadel. Trust me; I know what's at stake."

"Well, these stakes are too high," said Shepard, leaning forward, her green eyes peering into Halsey's blue ones. "If you were willing to destroy a whole system over this, I want to see your proof."

"I guess I can't argue with that," said Halsey, shaking her head. "Give me a moment." She walked over to the shuttle's communicator and opened a comm. channel. "This is Halsey to Project Base."

"Good to hear your voice, Doctor," a female voice responded on the other end. "You coming home?"

"Affirmative, Kelly," said Halsey. "And I've got Commander Shepard with me."

"Shepard?" asked Kelly, sounding rather uneasy. "Really?"

"Tidy up the lab," said Halsey. "The Commander needs to confirm the artefact."

"Right," said Kelly. "I'll get everything set up for your arrival. Project Base out." After Kelly had signed off, Halsey made some adjustments to the autopilot, now setting it to take the shuttle to a point somewhere in the asteroid field near the relay. She sat back down opposite Shepard, nodding but losing none of the frostiness to her character.

"All set," she said. "Just sit back and relax. We'll be there in no time."

Shepard tried to sit back in her chair, but the attitude of her current company, combined with the news of the monstrous plans she had been formulating, meant that she found the journey to Project Base anything but relaxing.