Virmire was tough. The battles were tough, the situation was tough, and the decisions I had to make were tough.
When we entered the Hoc system, which Virmire exists in, we had trouble contacting the STG team. And when we entered the airspace, we saw why; a jamming tower, which was protected by AA guns. So once again, we had to drop in that damn Mako and had to drive to the salarian base.
Once again, we fought through an army of geth, but on the bright side, my control over my biotics is now strong enough to lift a geth armature. But we almost wrecked the Mako when we flipped over when ramming that same armature. Luckily the tank's eezo core checks whether the tank is on its wheels or not, and righted it so we could continue on with the mission, and we managed to get out and destroy it on foot.
And that wasn't the first time that had happened either; that damn tank flips over at the slightest bump in the road. I'm actually surprised we didn't go flying over the edge on Feros. But I digress.
When we got to the salarian camp after taking down the AA guns and jamming towers, we were met by a Captain Kirrahe, who told us what was going on here; a lab to breed a krogan army. Wrex, of course, was intrigued, and Kirrahe said that he believed Saren came up with a cure for the genophage.
And then he said the thing that set Wrex off; he said the base had to be destroyed. And while I agreed with Kirrahe, I understood Wrex's frustration; he believed the genophage cure would bring hope to his people. And he was completely willing to fight to protect it.
Thankfully, I managed to talk him down, though it wasn't easy. Wrex believed that curing the genophage was what was best for his people, and I needed to convince him that Saren's cure would make the krogan tools. Weapons were drawn at each other, but I managed talk him down.
Addition by Doctor Liara T'Soni: Shepard downplayed the situation, as usual. The armor logs, as well as what we saw, say things differently.
Wrex (Angry tone): This isn't right, Shepard. If there's a cure for the genophage, we can't destroy it.
Shepard (Slight amount of panic in her voice, but she retained her composure): I understand you're upset, but we both know Saren's the enemy here. He's the one you should be angry at.
Wrex: Really?! Saren created a cure for my people. YOU want to destroy it.
Wrex advanced upon Shepard, getting right in her face.
Wrex: Help me out here, Shepard. The line between friend and foe are getting a little blurry from where I'm standing.
Shepard (A bit of anger in her voice): Wrex, this isn't a cure, it's a weapon. And if Saren is allowed to use it, you won't be around to reap the benefits. None of us will.
Wrex: That's a chance we should be willing to take! This is the fate of my entire people we're talking about!
Wrex takes a step back.
Wrex: I've been loyal to you so far. Hell, you did more for me than my family ever did.
Wrex drew his pistol, and in response, Shepard drew her shotgun. Ashley also drew her shotgun and started advancing toward Wrex, awaiting the best moment to fire.
Wrex: But if we're going to do this, I need to know we're doing it for the right reason.
Shepard (Lowering her shotgun): Wrex, these krogan are not you're people; they're slaves of Saren! Tools! Is that what you want for them?
Wrex was quiet for a moment before speaking.
Wrex: No. We were tools for the Council once. To thank us for wiping out the rachni, they neutered all of us. I doubt Saren will be as generous.
Wrex lowered his gun, and Ashley backed off when she saw this.
Wrex: All right, Shepard. You've made your point. I don't like this, but I trust you enough to follow your lead. Just one thing; when we find Saren, I want his head!
Addition by Garrus Vakarian: After seeing these logs, I think that Wrex wanted to be talked down. He knew what the right decision was, but he needed to hear the words to truly understand them.
After Wrex calmed down, we talked to Kirrahe about the mission; nuke the base. The STG team wanted to use their ship's drive core as a nuclear device and have me set it in the middle of the facility to maximize output. Kirrahe would assault the base from the front, while I snuck my team through the back. This would give me time to take down the AA guns and get access to Saren's files. But Kirrahe didn't have enough men, and needed to take one of my people. I gave him Williams to lead one of his fire teams, and broke the rest of my team into two teams; the bomb preparation team and my combat team. I put Kaidan in charge of the bomb team, and left Tali and Liara with him, where I took Garrus and Wrex into battle; I felt it important for Wrex to keep his mind on mission and not focus on destroying the genophage cure.
My shadow team managed to take down some extra defenses that would have harassed Kirrahe's teams; com systems, combat drones and the geth satellite uplink. We also shut down the alarms in the base, so we'd all have an easier time.
Eventually, we made our way to a lab, where we met asari scientist Rana Thanoptis, who was studying indoctrination. It was through her that we learned that it wasn't Saren doing the indoctrinating; it was Sovereign, the Reaper ship. We also found that indoctrination affected anyone who came into contact with a Reaper, so Rana could possibly be indoctrinated as well. I wasn't going to take that chance, and had to gun her down.
We were in luck, however, that another Prothean beacon was behind the lab. I activated it and got a much more clear vision than what I got on Eden Prime. But on our way out, we were met by Sovereign itself, and learned it was not just a Reaper ship, but an actual Reaper. It taunted us, saying that our extinction was not only inevitable, but mandatory.
Anyway, we went back through the lab and brought down the AA guns so the Normandy could land and Kaidan could place the bomb. Unfortunately, the bomb site was guarded, so we had to fight through the geth troops before Joker could land.
But once the bomb was brought out, we got a message from Williams; she and her team were pinned down, and they needed assistance. Kaidan said he could arm the bomb himself, so I took Tali and Liara along with Wrex and Garrus and headed up the elevator to get to Williams. Unfortunately, a geth drop ship landed and attacked Kaidan, and I was forced to choose; Lt. Alenko, who was a proven leader, L2 biotic and Engineer, or Chief Williams, an insubordinate racist who has been getting on my nerves every time I talk to her.
So I made the only simple choice during this mission; leave her to die to get Kaidan out. And while I regret that the salarian team had to die with her, I could only save one, and we needed to make sure the geth didn't disarm the bomb. So we headed back down the elevator and fought off the geth while radio chatter told me that Williams' team had fallen. And that's when Saren attacked.
Saren came down on a geth glider, and was now somehow a biotic, which was my first indication that Sovereign had modified him. Then next was when he started talking to me; saying that serving the Reapers was our only salvation. This was proof he was indoctrinated, and I called him on that. And while I got through to him a bit, he still attacked. We managed to fend him off, but he used a flash bang which managed to stun me and allowed him to get me by the throat. But he was surprised by an alarm, and I managed to crack him in the face, forcing him to drop me in order to escape.
I picked up Kaidan in a fireman's carry and got him and my team up the loading ramp, and alerted Joker we were in. He got us out just in time to watch the nuke detonate from orbit.
Kaidan was overcome with grief, but I convinced him, and the rest of the crew, that if we didn't stop Saren and the Reapers, Williams' sacrifice would mean nothing. Kaidan agreed, and I continued on with the debriefing, when Liara brought up melding our minds again to share the more clear vision.
She got a planet; Ilos, in the Pangea Expanse, which is only accessible through the Mu Relay. The only problem; Ilos is in the Terminus Systems, a place where Citadel aligned ships are not welcome. Liara and Tali said that we needed the fleet regardless of political situation, but the Normandy has a stealth drive, and we could sneak in undetected. We're going into the Terminus Systems, and we're going to stop Saren, whatever the cost.
I ended up talking to Kaidan, Wrex and Liara before I set the coordinates on the galaxy map, to give everyone time to recuperate from the harrowing mission. Kaidan was dealing with his survivor's guilt, and asked how I dealt with the losses on Elysium, due to him having never lost any soldiers to hostile action. I told him I mourned later, and continued on with the mission. Liara felt sympathy on Saren for becoming indoctrinated, but I told her not to waste her sympathy on a racist bastard who initially sought out the Reapers to destroy humanity.
Addition by Doctor Liara T'Soni: This was speculation on her part at the time, but considering what I've learned about Saren since, she was right.
And Wrex? Strangely content over what happened. He apologized for aiming his gun at me, his only concession to his frustration was that I need to "just make sure it's worth it."
For now, we need to make preparations to head to Ilos. We don't have time to head back to the Citadel for supplies, and we're heading in to a blind situation. I hope we make it out fine.
Glossary of terms:
Fireman's carry-A fireman's carry or fireman's lift is a technique allowing one person to carry another person without assistance, by placing the carried person across the shoulders of the carrier. Carrying someone in this manner has several advantages over other methods of moving another person. The subject's torso is fairly level, which helps prevent further injuries. When the subject's weight is evenly distributed over both shoulders, it is easier to carry them for a longer distance - 50 feet or more. For a visual representation, do a quick image search.