Jump Chain Gothic - Mass Effect - Virmire 2

Saren's Base. Virmire 2.

It was like we'd been preparing for this, it was as if all the battles that we'd fought together so far had been training for this one misson. The assault went off without a hitch, at least to start with, I knew it could all end badly, but for now things were going well.

As a team that could be compared to a well oiled machine, Wrex, Garrus, and I went into the base via the warehouse. Which the Geth had opened up while transferring some materials to a Geth drop ship.

This made the platforms easy targets as most of them weren't even armed and all of them had been focused on the task of moving their supplies. You'd think a networked intelligence would be more aware of what was going on, but somehow we'd taken them by surprise.

The drop ship did nothing as we attacked, in fact it took off moments after we saw the small space craft. Making me wonder what it carried, because it had to be very vauble if the Geth were willing to go to so much trouble in order to protect it.

Meanwhile, Shepard was taking Ash and Liara in through the back door. From what I'd heard over the comms they were doing much better then the STG/marine teams that were making a frontal assault. While they were suppose to be all noticable I did worry about them. Partly because if they all died then my team would have to distract the Geth for the Commander's team.

A roar filled the air as a fuel depot went up in flames, we'd passed through the warehouse and had entered a garage of shorts. Some Geth, unarmed platforms, had been preparing to fuel up some sort of craft, a Geth tanks it might have been, but that hardly mattered now as we'd just blown them all up.

Well not all of them. A lone Geth platform came running through the flames, while on a fire, with a shotgun in its hand, and it was screaming in what I assumed to be machine code. This all seemed so odd that by the time I raised my pistol Garrus had already put a shot through its flash light head.

"Now that was a perfect shot!" the turian boasted.

It had been awesome.

"What do you want, an award?" Wrex said with a sneer.

I might have made a remark, but suddenly more Geth turned up, and these machines were ready for a fight so I had to take cover very quickly.

"Yeah, 'cuz you make kills like that every day... oh, wait. You don't because you can't" Garrus said back.

Wrex didn't answer. Instead, he smoothly stepped out from behind his cover and gestured at a group of Geth who were now firing at us. The electric blue of a biotic field suddenly flared into existence, as Wrex's Lift attack snared four Geth Troopers disrupting their personal gravity. As they floated upward, he calmly walked forward and hit all four of them dead center with rounds from his shotgun.

He'd then turned around, no doubt intendting to make a joke at the Turian's expense, when another of the huge Geth models stepped out from behind cover, and it tried to set Wrex on fire with its flame thrower. Thankfully Wrex could handle biotic powers better than I could, and soon trashed the platform.

"What the hell was that!" Garrus cried out.

I had an idea.

"A Geth flamer thrower" I answered "Looks like a modifed version of a standard platform only armed with a flame thrower rather a pulse rifle".

Like the Geth Hunters we'd seen before this was mostly likely a prototype model created by the heratic Geth to better fight organics. Flame throwers were a good way to counter Krogan regeneration and flame throwers could have a strong psyological effect on people.

I moved in closer and scanned what was left of the prototype Geth Pyro with my omni-tool. Later I would send a copy of this data to the Alliance, as well as add it the computer storage devices I kept in my cosmic warehouse. No doubt this sort of info would come in handy, should I for example ever try to build my own robot army.

Not that I planned to right now. But I had nine more Jumps and at some point I might need my own robot army. I wouldn't recreate the Geth of course, they'd just rebel against me, but their desgin and tech could be still be useful.

"Juggernaught!" Garrus warned.

Again Wrex attacked and I watched at the blood red coloured Geth platform twisted under the force of gravitational fields. The Krogan then brought up his shotgun and fired a single blast into the Geth's body that tore the synthetic in half.

"You can keep your sniper rifle, cuttlebone" the Krogan said to Garrus "Me, I like it up close and personal".

Hearing that made me smile.

"Now, now, if you two don't stop all that flirting, people will start to talk" I joked.

We began to move on, we needed to get inside the base proper if we were to have any chance of finsihing the mission. I hoped we could do it without losing anyone, but if Kaiden did die I wouldn't be too upset. Better him than Ashley, she was a bitch to sometimes, but she had a nice body, and I got to play with sometimes.

"So who blew up the fuel tank?" Wrex wondered.

I smiled.

"Oh that was me" I said "I took out a few Geth that way".

It had been fun.

"Nice explosion. Your woman will be pleased by your kill count" Wrex said.

It took me a moment to process that last sentence.

"Ashley isn't my woman" I told the Korgon "But you might be right about the kill count impressing her".

Wrex snorted.

"As if that much wasn't obvious. Looking at Shepard and Williams, it clear that they can take more pain then the males of your race. They carry the children to term, and they seem to fight better" Wrex said "If it weren't for breeding I don't think they'd even need you males".

I had no idea. We'd never talked about it. Was she my woman? Was I her man?

"She's chosen well, I guess" Wrex commented "You seem like you'd make good breeding stock to me".

I really didn't know how to respond to something like that. As such I decided to focus on what was going on rather than by what was being spoken about. Which was generally a good idea when inside a base full of hostiles.

We reached a doorway and another hackable security panel. Cortana made short work of the panel, not that anyone other than I knew it was her, and the door slid aside, letting us into a large room.

There were stairs that we took upwards and we soon found ourselves in another room, which contained a large security console and some prision cells.

"Where'd they come from?" Wrex asked.

He was referring to the Salarians who were trapped in the cells.

"Didn't that Captain say he lost several men investigating this place?" Garrus said.

I shrugged.

"To be honest I stopped listening after he told us about his plan" I admitted.

This was when all the cells opened and the Salarians raised weapons we'd not seen them holding.

"Dead, no, but switched sides? Definitely!" Wrex yelled.

We gunned down the mind controlled aliens in short order. Half of them had turned on each other rather than target us, and a couple of them just fired randomly into the air. I had to wonder what idiot had thought it was a good idea to arm them.

"They did't fight right!" Wrex commented. "No tactics, no organization... they smelt wrong, too!"

I went over to a still living alien.

"It wants you dead! It needs me to kill you!" the Salarian screamed as he turned and pointed his pistol at me.

Wrex unleashed a blast of biotic energy and the Salarian was thrown across the room and crashed against the far wall with bone-jarring force. Whatever else the Salarian might have said I never found out.

(Line Break)

Base. Vimire.

The ride up in the elevator was totally silent. We were all trying to process what we were feeling, simmering rage, and a desire for revenge mostly. If we hadn't wanted to kill Saren before, we certainly did now.

Some of the things we'd seen down in the labs, they were war crimes, that was the only term I could come up with for them. Human beings had been turned into husks, and members of every race had been indoctrnated by Saren just so he could study the process.

The lift arrived and I spotted an asari in a lab coat, who noticed us a second later, and was shouting for the guards.

These guards turned out to be turians, followers of Saren no doubt, and they were certainly more effective than the other foes we'd faced so far, but we had a Krogan battlemaster so it was still pretty much a one sided fight.

"What is going on here?" a krogan in a lab coat bellowed, while stomping into the room "Where are the guards? Where is Saren?".

Upon seeing us the Krogan sciencist, apprantly such a thing did existed, whipped out a shotgun.

"No! Stay back! This is the glorious salvation of our species!" he yelled.

His eyes fell upon Wrex and his face twisted up in disgust.

"Traitor! You would destroy the only hope our people have of reclaiming our glory?!" he shouted.

Wrex didn't answer with words. Instead he put his head down and charged right at the scientist, taking shotgun blasts at close range, before tackling the lab coating wearing Krogan like this was just a deadly game of rugby. The scientist rapidly exited the lab via a window, one that hadn't smashed ealier during all the gunfire. Wrex was simply that strong.

The next room we entered was some sort of office, a wide-open one with a large windows. I wouldn't have minded having an office like that, only mine would not be in a base filled with robots, brainwashed people and unethical experitments.

"Gothic we're near your postion" I heard Shepard say over the comm "Don't get too far ahead".

I verbally acknowledge and led the team into the next room at a slow pace.

We found the lab coat wearing asari hiding underneath the desk, when I told her to surrender, she came ou from behind the desk with her hands high in the air.

"Don't shoot, please!" she pleaded, "I just want to get out of here before it's too late!".

No one lowered their weapons, we weren't going to assume this woman was harmless, not after those Salarian prisioners had tried to kill us.

"Who are you?" I demanded to know.

I was sure the information was somewhere in back of my mind, but right now I just couldn't recall it.

"Rana Thanoptis, neurospecialist. I was hired to study indoctrination, but no job is worth dying over," she explained, speaking desperately, "I didn't want to stay, but I was forced to. Look, the elevator behind me leads to Saren's private lab, I can get you in!".

By now Shepard, Ash and Liara had joined up with us.

"Why is Saren studying indoctrination?" the Commander wanted to know.

Rana shrugged nervously.

"I don't know, he kept us in the dark as much as possible" she answered "but I think that he was worried about being affected by it".

The asari moved over to a machine and unlocked it

"See? Full access, all of Saren's files. Can I leave, please?" the blue babe requested.

Shepard studied the asari with a critical eye for a moment, before nodding and gesturing towards the door.

"This place is going to be nothing but a crater soon enough. If you want to make it out alive, I'd start running" the commander warned.

Rana shrieked in dismay and all but flew out of the room, meanwhile I headed for the computer.

"Lt find the cure for the genophage" Shepard ordered "See if it is legit".

Alas it was not.

"Well the injection Saren made does cure the genophage" I told everyone "But it does so by introducing Reaper nanotech into the bodies of the Krogan who take the cure".

I was a little unsure of what that actually meant, but it was safe to assue that it would rapidly lead to indoctrantion, and that the cured Krogan would turn into husks after a time.

"So any Krogan who took the cure would just end up under Saren's control" Shepard realised.

Wrex smashed a table upon hearing this. Thankfully it was not the one I was currently working at.

"Damn you Saren!" Wrex shouted.

"That cure is too dangerous to be allowed to leave this base" Shepard declared "Destroy any records you can find".

I got to work purging the computer as best I could.

(Line Break)

Base. Virmire.

The group followed after Commander Shepard, as we often did, and we found ourselves instantly transfixed by the room's only notable object.

"Is that... a Prothean beacon?" Liara asked, the reverence clear in her voice. "Goddess, look at it. This device is at least fifty thousand years old, and in perfect working condition".

Since there was no point in me seeing the vision again I didn't get close the beacon.

"What's remarkable is how well preserved the beacon is. Something like this should be in a museum" the asari went on to say "But I doubt Saren would be willing to let us just walk away with it. Even if we could somehow transport it to the Normandy".

I was less impressed. There were easier ways to send a distress call than downloading it into people's heads.

"From what I understand they are used by the Protheans to send out a telepathic message" I said to Liara "You've got the Cipher so you might as well take a look at the message. Maybe it will make more sense to an asari, you do have more evolved minds than us humans".

The Cipher could be shared, transferred, copied, or something like that. I'd been given it by that asari back on Feros, and then Liara had taken it, or at least part or it or copy. There weren't any human terms to explain what had happened.

I was sure I still had the Cipher because my understanding of Mass Effect technology was much greater than it should be, and the Protheans had been able to build there own Mass Relays, so it made sense that they'd understood the physical sceinces very well.

The knowledge was guding me when I worked with machines I was sure of that, but it was subtle and I didn't think even Tali had noticed, at least not yet. I suspected as time went by it would aid me more. In fact perhaps I was already unlocking some knowledge because I had some understanding of how the beacons worked.

"If you think that's wise" Liara said to me as she reached out to the touch the beacon.

She was suddenly grabbed by a strong force, just like on Eden Prime. When the beacon finally released Liara, she collapsed to the ground. Shepard rushed to her side, looking very concerned.

"It's Ilos. The Conduit is on Ilos!" Liara shouted out.

Well this was good. All we had to do now was go to Noveria and get the location of the Mu Relay from Liara's Mum. Which okay wasn't as simple as it sounded, and first of all we had to get off this planet. Which also might not be simple.

::You are not Saren::

A deep voice echoed through the chamber. Looking around I soon found the source, it was a holographic projection. The Reaper really did look like an armored cuttlefish. Only really it was so much more scary.

::Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh," the voice was now saying "You touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding::

Wow this thing had an ego. It was just a collection of harvested people with machine parts really. Yet even throught the hologram it was chilling.

"Just so we're clear, are we talking to Sovereign? The Reaper ship that Saren found?" Garrus asked.

Well that was one way of looking at it.

"Sovereign isn't just some Reaper ship Saren found..." Shepard whisperered "It's an actual Reaper".

::Reaper; a superstitious label originating with the Protheans." Sovereign was now saying "In the end, what they choose to call us was irrelevant. We simply are::

Many members of the group exchanged looks.

::The nature of our existence is so far beyond your comprehension that you cannot even conceive of it:: Sovereign told us.

Not really. Each Reaper was pretty much just a big space ship with an intelligence made up of millions of people guding it. Okay so that was a massive oversimplication, but they were hardly inconceivable.

"It has to be lying," Liara insisted "No, it's impossible. You couldn't have been there".

::Organic life is a genetic mutation" Sovereign went on to say "An accident. You wither and die; your lives measured in years and decades. We are eternal, the pinnacle of evolution. Long after your civilization is eradicated and forgotten, we will endure::

Given that the Reapers were part organic the Reapers words seemed a bit odd. It was insulting part of itself.

"There's a whole galaxy of races ready to stand up to you" Shepard declared "You won't defeat us".

::Confidence born of ignorance. The cycle cannot be broken:: the huge evil cuttlefish space ship declared.

Well actually it could.

"Cycle? What cycle?" Shepard demanded to know.

::The pattern has repeated itself more times then you can imagine. Organic civilizations rise. Evolve. Advance. And at the apex of their glory, they are extinguished::

There was a pause.

::The Protheans did not build the Citadel. They did not forge the Mass Relays. They only found them; the legacy of my kind::

Shepard snorted.

"That's ridiculous. Why would you build the Mass Relays and then leave them for someone else to find?" she asked.

The Reaper didn't answer this question.

"Because the more we use their technology the more we devolp to their liking" I explained "By using the Mass Relays and the Citadel they know how we'll spread out and how our technology grows. It explains why all the different race use Mass Effect technology. We're being guided down certain controlled paths".

People were catching on.

"This explains Liara's theory" I then added "About races being wiped out in cycles".

"And they do this so can they wipe out any space-faring race before they can become a threat" Shepard realised.

Well it was more about preventing machines from wiping out organic life by turning organic life into machines, as much sense as that made. But I shouldn't know that so I kept my mouth shut.

"They're harvesting us," Liara said in a whisper "They let us advance to where we can produce resources and materials that they can use, then they kill us off before we get too powerful to be controlled"

The Reaper confirmed this.

::Your civilization is based on the technology of the Mass Relays, OUR technology. By using it, you evolve along the paths we desire. You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it":: Sovereign said

The Commander didn't like hearing that

"You're not even alive," Shepard said, sounding more than a little upset "You're just a machine. And machines can be broken".

And often were when she was around.

::I am the vanguard of your destruction" Sovereign declared, sounding more than a little smug. "We will darken the skies of every world. You cannot escape us::

This made me smile.

"Then where are they?" I asked "Why haven't you begun the harvest?".

No reply.

"If you wiped out the Protheans then why did you need Saren and the Geth?" I asked.

Soverign didn't seem to have an answer.

::This exchange is over::

And the hologram cut out, while the console exploded with enough force to shattered the windows. I might have upset the Reaper by asking question it didn't want to answer.

"Normandy to Shepard! Come in, Commander!" Joker's voice came through the comm.

If he was breaking radio silence, it could only be for some dire emergency.

"That you, Joker?" Shepard asked "What's going on".

Something bad.

"I don't know what you did down there, but Sovereign just started moving! It pulled a turn that would tear any of our ships in half, and it's bearing down on your location, coming in hard! You'd better wrap things up in there, ASAP!".

With that we got running. After all we still needed to blow this place up.

(Line Break)

Base. Vimire

"This has been an impressive diversion, Shepard" Saren praised "My Geth were utterly convinced that the Salarians were the real threat. But I can't let you disrupt what I've accomplished here. You can't possibly understand what's really at stake".

Well we kinda did. Sovereign had more or less just told us what was going on.

"The Reapers are returning" Shepard replied, while making sure to stay in cover "But instead of finding a way to stop them, like any sane person would, you're just trying to save yourself".

For some reason the turian took offense at those words.

"I'm not doing this for myself!" Saren shoued "Don't you see? The Reapers can't be stopped! Not by you, not by anyone! My way is the only way that any of us will survive!".

Only if we wanted to get up becoming part of a Reaper.

"As a slave?" Shepard said "Are you insane? I'd rather die then live under those things!".

Given that they turned people into husks I wasn't sure you could acutally live under them.

"Then you will die!" Saren yelled at Shepard. "Everyone you know and love, everyone that you've ever met, they will all perish! Just like the Protheans! Trillions dead; an entire empire erased virtually overnight. But what if they had surrendered? Might they still exist? Is submission not preferable to extinction? Especially if those that prove useful become the dominant force in the galaxy?"

Our commander was not well pleased.

"You were a Spectre! You swore an oath..." she started to say.

The turian interrupted.

"To preserve galactic stability at all costs" Saren argued. "And look what that's accomplished! The Council; ineffective politicians too interested in their own power, and their fear of losing it, to see what is really going on!".

I waited for the signal too attack. There wasn't much else I could do.

"How do you think I managed to sway them against Anderson all those years ago?" Saren asked Shepard "Why do you think your race is so distrusted especially by the council? They're afraid of you, they are afraid of change, and galaxy slides further into chaos".

Saren's words might have been reasonable had he constructed his arguement better. He was suppose to be a charamistic speaker according to the files we had on him so I could only assume the indoctration was taking a toil on his mind.

"The Reapers can change all that. The Krogan are a dying people; the genophage has seen to that. But the Krogan here on Virmire are free of the genophage. Their offspring would be free of it, as well. The Rachni need not be an extinct race, if they could be made to serve the Reapers as well"

The commander wasn't buying what Saren was selling.

"You mean, as mindless slaves?" Shepard said with a sneer "I saw what your so-called cure did. The indoctrination will drain the will of every man, woman, and child in Citadel space! Just like it did to you".

Saren snarled.

"I'm not indoctrinated!" he shouted.

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks" I muttered.

This was no time to be quoting Hamlet.

"Keep telling yourself that" Shepard was now saying "Sovereign's controlling you and you don't even know it".

Saren actually calmed down, it was as if he cared that we belivied him. Given his low opinion of humans this seemed odd, and was perhaps just another sign of how crazy he really was.

"Indoctrination lowers intelligence. It's subtle. The more control that Sovereign exerts, the less capable the subject becomes" Saren told us "As long as Sovereign needs me to find the Conduit, until I do my mind is still my own".

Which explain why Saren wasn't at Noveria right now getting the needed info. He was resisting.

"So live in servitude or die? That's my choice?" Shepard asked.

"If you want to save as many as can be saved, then... Yes, THAT is the choice" Saren answered.

Before any of us could react the turian used his botics to bring Ashely over to him so he could use her a human shield.

"Now call your man at the bomb site. Tell him to deactivate that bomb or your Chief Williams will not live to see her sisters again!" Saren ordered.

I didn't have a clean shot. There was nothing I could do. Even if I used my boitics I'd hurt Ash.

"Don't listen to him, ma'am! Take him out!" Ashley urged.

No Kaiden would die here no Ash.

"Oh, please," Saren said with a cruel look on his face "It's like I told you before, Shepard. Humans aren't ready for the sacrifices necessary to become Spectres and I shall prove it."

The turian then turned to the commander.

"Deactivate the bomb, let my Geth take it, and I'll let Chief Williams go!" Saren bartered "She'll live to to see her dear sisters again!"

Shepard did what needed to be done. Then, a siren began filling the air. Some sort of bomb detection system was alerting us all to the threat of nuclear death.

"Sorry, Saren. The bomb's already set. It can't be stopped. Not by me, not by you, and certainly not by your Geth" she stated.

Saren made an expression I couldn't read.

"A Spectre, a real Spectre, wouldn't have traded one life for the misson" Saren said "Perhaps I was wrong about you".

Saren than pointed his pistol at Ash's head.

"Let's find out" he then added.

It all happened in slow motion, at least for me. Shepard yanked up her gun and fired once. The shot missed Ash, somehow and hit Saren who shoved Ashley at Shepard.

Wrex fired shotgun blasts at the rogue Spectre, who hit the Battlemaster with a powerful concussion shot from his weapon. Wrex's shield shimmered and died as Saren lashed out with a biotic push that shoved the old Krogan back.

I opened fire, but the ex-Spectre raised a boitic barrier, and I knew how tough those could be. Still I kept firing until my weapon overheated.

"Garrus! Grab Williams now!" Shepard ordered as she ran after Saren

The bad guy was now on his cool flying platform thing. But just as it began to rise into the air, Shepard slammed into Saren and began punching him.

The two of them struggled with each other aboard the flying sled device, but finally, Saren threw Shepard from the rocket sled and she crashed onto the ground.

"You would undo my work!" he yelled at us "You would rather doom our entire galaxy to extinction? For that... you must die".

Perhaps he would have gone further with his super villian speech, but that was when the Normandy arrived, and we all remembered the whole nuclear bomb thing. Which led to running for the Normandy

I jumped and landed in the cargo hold, but then ended up rolling across the hard floor of the cargo bay. Which was not fun.

"Get us out of here now, Joker!" I heard Shepard yell.

(Line Break)

Cargo Hold. SSV Normandy.

Once again Tali I went over some alien tech, this time Ashley had come back with a new model of pulse rifle, so far from my scans it seemed to be a superior model. Perhaps that bloody Reaper had shared to some small bit of tech with the Geth.

"Its always too quiet here, and now its worse than ever" Tali remarked.

None of us had been close to Kaiden, he'd been a man who kept to himself and did his job, but there was a still of a peroid of morning going on. People weren't exchanging small talk as they worked, there was no conversation in the mess.

"Everyone just needs some time to work through Kaiden's death" I told her "Its never easy losing people you know".

Tali nodded her agreement, but I could tell that the lack of noise was bothering her.

"How are things going in engineering?" I asked.

"Oh much better ever since I learned enough about the ship to start making improvements" she answered "I wrote a couple of software patches for Engineer Addams, he couldn't be happier".

I let her prattle on about her work as I scanned the weapon. It was nice hearing her talk .