Author's note: Still special thanks to Zevik—without his walkthrough this wouldn't have been possible. Here we meet our big bad, and I added some inner dialogue that you get as you go through the whole game, but I thought it wouldn't be nice to see into his inner workings here…some things I thought he would think and do. Also—there's another death.
10. The Villian
Saren Arterius paced back and forth, watching and waiting. The Geth were planting demolition charges on the other platform, around the beacon, but it was taking too long. He'd seen the Alliance ship touch down, and drop people off. He needed to get there first to discover the location of the Conduit, and blow this human drenched world to smithereens.
His brother had been killed by humans at Shanxi, and he'd never forgiven the rotten species. He was one of the first Spectres, but when he'd found that ship, he'd started committing galactic wide crimes, in the hopes of bringing the Reapers back.
Nihlus had gotten far ahead; he was supposed to be waiting for Shepard to catch up, but he'd been curious and kept going. What the hell was taking her so long anyways? The mission parameters were clear: find and secure the beacon—nothing else mattered. He heard something and dove into cover, his shotgun at the ready.
He stood up slowly, ready to fire a shot into the head of whoever was pacing at the spaceport, but as the figure turned slightly, he lowered his gun. He relaxed.
"Saren?" Nihlus asked.
The tiny enhancements Saren had, allowed him to hear the footsteps, but not know who it was. Nihlus had been his friend before, but he didn't need friends now—not with his rise to power so close. It was regrettable that it had come to this, but nothing was going to stop him. He turned around.
"Nihlus."
"This isn't your mission, Saren." There was a hint of annoyance and confusion in his voice. "What are you doing here?"
Saren walked forward, and put his hand on Nihlus' shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"The Council thought you could use some help on this one." Saren told him, the lie coming to him immediately.
Nihlus turned and surveyed the area. There were husks impaled everywhere, and only smoking ruins remained of the once beautiful colony. Nihlus shook his head, unable to see the emotions flicking across Saren's face as he stood behind his old friend, the two back to back, like old times—only this time Saren wasn't protecting Nihlus'. He couldn't decide how he wanted to handle the situation.
"I wasn't expecting to find the Geth here." Nihlus muttered. "The situation's bad."
"Don't worry." Saren said, turning to face his friend's back and drawing his shotgun silently and single-handedly, pointing it at the back of Nihlus' head. "I've got it under control."
He squeezed the trigger.
Saren wasted no time high tailing it onto the train, and moving to the other platform. Nihlus' second strike team must've been hot onto his trail. He stepped off the train, and approached the nearest Geth. He looked around to admire their handiwork for a second before he spoke.
"Set the charges. Destroy the entire colony. Leave no evidence that we were here." He ordered.
The Geth tilted its head in acknowledgement, and Saren walked angrily over to the beacon and activated it. He felt himself being lifted into the air, but he'd been prepared for this, for a good long while. When he finished, he made his way to his ship, and took off, leaving the Geth behind to clean up.