Ch. 26
History repeats itself; historians repeat each other.
Author: Philip Guedalla
We sit in the Mako waiting, a quiet time, before the drop. I sit and think back over what's happened. So much so fast, before all this my biggest excitement was when the next great game would come out, now I'm going to help save the galaxy from a race of giant sentient machines. Well then onto life.
"Hold on tight," Shepard says. I grab anything that I can get a hold of. I get that unique feeling of falling. It's not as bad as the first time on the Mako, but I'm still not used to it. We fall fast and before I know it I feel a bump as we touch down on the planet. We jump out of the Mako, just in time for a massive (stone?) door to slam shut. I get a good look of Ilos, overgrown ruins, a planet full of overgrown ruins, vegetation rising all the way up walls. There was a feeling to it a foreboding sense, like standing in the middle of a graveyard.
"We better catch up to Saren," I say to Shepard, "so first job is the door."
"Saren found some way to open it," Tali says, "there must be some kind of security override somewhere in this complex."
"Let's move it," Shepard says urgently. We head off towards the one open route, and of course we get attacked by geth. I make a bee line for cover while firing a burst from my recently unholstered SMGs. Tali fires an overload and takes down a geth trooper's shields and I redirect my fire taking it down. I try my hand at an overload, I holster one of my SMGs and point my hand at a geth speak the command word and the targeted geth overloads, a shotgun blast from Tali and it's down. We continue off through the ruins to find the control center. We pass by dozens of statues of what I assume are protheans, stone sentinels that have lasted thousands of years. Our travel is interrupted periodically with short fire fights. We finally find a working elevator. We open it and get inside.
"Shepard," I get her attention, "this place should be left alone."
"I feel it too," She says, "we'll finish our mission and leave this place far behind."
"I'll be happy with that," I admit. The elevator door opens, it's more ruins and geth, not many we clean them up and a short while later are standing in another elevator.
"This place still has power," Tali observes, "it must be running off its own generator."
"It's probably a command center," I say, "the geth must have sealed the door after Saren passed through."
"We should be able to open the doors then," Shepard says. We pile out of the elevator, I pull out both my SMGs, I felt better with them in my hands. We head down a small corridor into a wide-open area. The battle for the control room begins. I speed to what appears to be a toppled column, I crouch and take cover behind it. Chunks fly away as the geth pour fire on my position. I can't return fire so I sit there. I hear the tell-tale sounds of an overload followed by the chatter of an assault rifle. The fire on my position weakens enough for me to get in the fight. I pop up and fire off a good amount, taking one geth's shields down long enough for Shepard to sight it and finish it off. I hear a shotgun blast and see a geth prime fly back.
"Found Tali," I say to myself. I head to where the geth flew from. I find Tali with her Shotgun out, she's clutching her arm.
"Stupid bosh'tet," she says to the dead geth, she notices my look, "the suit is taking care of it." That's right, it has a built in medical interface.
"See the hundred thousand credits were worth it," I say with a grin, "though I suppose the shields could have done better."
"Let's move it people," Shepard says heading to the back of the room. We rush and find a ramp that leads to another level. We find the security console and Shepard activates it.
"Come on we have to catch Saren," I say to them.
"Unless he's reached the Conduit," Tali says, "then we will be walking into a trap."
"No guts no glory," I say grinning. We begin to turn to leave.
"Hold on something's happening," Tali says, that's right the warning message.
A hologram appears and begins saying static gibberish. "Sounds like some kind of message, but I don't recognize the language," Tali says after a few seconds.
"Probably prothean," I say knowing full well it is, "we are on a prothean planet."
"The message is all broken up, but I recognize some of the words," Shepard says, "it's a warning against the Reaper invasion."
"Of course you would understand," I say, "you have the Cipher, I wouldn't be surprised if you could read prothean."
"What's it saying," Tali asks, "can you make out anything useful." Shepard listens to it for a short while longer.
"It said something about the Conduit," Shepard says, "but it's too degraded to help." "We should go," Shepard says. We head back out, we find the elevator that if I remember correctly should lead us close to the Mako. Sure enough when the elevator door opens again we are looking at a familiar area. We head off running to the Mako.
If it ain't broke don't fix it, "who votes we take the vehicle into the creepy, underground bunker," I ask.
"Good idea, the fire power could come in handy," Tali says.
"Everybody pile in," Shepard orders. We get in the Mako, Shepard peels out and we speed off. We pass through a tunnel with roots coming out of the roof, as the tunnel ends it leads to a, well it felt like an artificial canyon with a ceiling too high for anyone to see. Cylindrical containers dotted the walls.
"This place makes me uncomfortable," I repeat my earlier statement, "it's disconcerting." We continue on past, we reach another section of cylinders.
"What are all those things on the wall," Tali asks, "some kind of containers?"
Shepard continues driving, "They're coffins," I answer, "this is a tomb."
"There must be hundreds," Tali says.
"Thousands," I say, "this was the last refuge of the protheans."
"What was Saren expecting to find here," Tali asks changing the subject, "there's nothing left but corpses."
"There's the Conduit," Shepard says. We hear an explosion and the Mako rocks, the implications are unpleasant. I hear the turret swivel and Shepard unleashes a staccato of fire, followed shortly by a more explosive sound. We never slow down. We hit uneven ground and begin bouncing around. A massive wall of light is at the end of the path we've been following.
"Vigil," I say quietly to myself.
"What," Tali asks.
"Nothing," I answer. We reach the wall of light.
"It's a trap," Shepard says as another wall of light appears behind us.
"Saren isn't behind this," I say to them. We leave the Mako and spot a door control flashing green. "Over here," I say heading to it. I push it and the door shifts open. We step inside, "it's another elevator," I say to Shepard. As it descends that uneasy feeling begins growing, "Shepard it's getting worse," I say.
"Whatever it is, be cautious," Tali advises, "if this were simply an automated trap, Saren would have triggered it as well."
"I have a feeling we are about to meet the crypt keeper," I say as the door opens.
We walk along a path in a room towards a console, "You are not prothean, but you are not machine, either," a VI says as the hologram pops up distorted and strange. "This eventuality was on of many that was anticipated, this is why we sent our warning through the beacons," it continues.
"Looks like some kind of VI program," Tali observes, "pretty badly damaged."
"I do not sense the taint of indoctrination upon any of you," Vigil, who's name I remember now, says, "unlike the other that passed recently, perhaps there is still hope."
"How'd you learn English so quickly," I ask Vigil.
"I have been monitoring your communications since you arrived at this facility," Vigil says, "I have translated my output into a format you will comprehend." "My name is Vigil," it says, "you are safe here, for the moment, but that is likely to change." "Soon, nowhere will be safe," it finishes.
"Why did you bring me here," Shepard asks.
"You must break a cycle that has continued for millions of years," Vigil explains, "but to stop it, you must understand or you will make the same mistakes we did." "The Citadel is the heart of your civilization and the seat of government," it continues, "as it was with us, and as it has been with every civilization that came before us." "But the Citadel is a trap," Vigil says, "the station is actually an enormous mass relay, one that links to dark space, the empty void beyond the galaxy's horizon." "When the Citadel relay is activated, the reapers will pur through," it continues, "and all you know will be destroyed." I know this but hearing it confirmed really cements things in my mind.
"Holy crap," I say, voicing my prior thoughts. I'm gonna be here for that if we fail.
"The reapers can wipe out the Council and the entire Citadel fleet in a single surprise attack," Shepard exclaims.
"That was our fat, our leaders were dead before we even realized we were under attack," Vigil says, "the reapers seized control of the Citadel and through it, the mass relays." "Communication and transportation across our empire were crippled," Vigil explains, "each star system was isolated, cut off from the others." "Easy prey for the reaper fleets," Vigil finishes. "Over the next decades, the reapers systematically obliterated our people," Vigil continues, "world by world, system by system, they methodically wiped us out."
"Some of you must have managed to survive," Shepard says.
"Through the Citadel the reapers had access to all our records, maps, census data," Vigil explains, "information is power, and they knew everything about us." "Their fleets advanced across every settled region of the galaxy," it continues, "some worlds were utterly destroyed, others were conquered, their populations enslaved." "These indoctrinated servants became sleeper agents under reaper control," it explains, "taken in as refugees by other protheans, they betrayed them to the machines."
"They took advantage of good people who cared for their fellow beings," I say growing dark, "bastards."
"Within a few centuries, the reapers had killed or enslaved every prothean in the galaxy," Vigil continues ignoring my comment, "they were relentless, brutal, and absolutely thorough."
"You said you brought me here for a reason," Shepard says, she must feel the seconds ticking away as Saren gets closer to the Conduit, "tell me what I need to do."
"The Conduit is the key," Vigil explains, "before the reapers attacked, we protheans were on the cusp of unlocking the mysteries behind mass relay technology." "Ilos was a top secret facility," Vigil continues, "here researchers worked to create a small-scale version of a mass relay." "One that linked directly to the Citadel," it continued, "the hub of the relay network."
"The Conduit isn't a weapon it's a back door to the Citadel," Tali says.
"What happened next," Shepard asks.
"We severed all communication with the outside and our facility went dark," Vigil says, "the personnel retreated underground into these archives." "To conserve resources, everyone was put into cryogenic stasis," Vigil explains, "I was programmed to monitor the facility and wake the staff when the danger had passed." "But the genocide of an entire species is a long, slow process," it continues, "years passed, decades, centuries, the reapers persisted, and my energy reserves were dwindling."
"How did you survive," Shepard asks.
"I began to disable life support of non essential personnel," Vigil explains, "first support staff, then security, one by one their pods were shut down to conserve energy." "Eventually, only the stasis pods of the top scientists remained active, even these were in danger of failing when the reapers finally retreated back through the Citadel relay."
"All those people," I say stunned, "you killed them all."
"You couldn't let everyone die," Shepard says surprising me, "better to sacrifice some so others could live."
"This outcome was not completely unforseen," Vigil says, "my actions were a result of contingency programming entered on my creation."
"I bet they didn't tell the 'non-essential' staff about this contingency," Tali says.
Vigil seems to get defensive, "I saved key personnel, when the reapers retreated, the top searchers were still alive," it argues, "my actions are the only reason any hope remains." "When the researchers woke, they realized the prothean species was doomed," Vigil continues, "there were only a dozen individuals left, far too few to sustain a viable population." "Yet they vowed to find some way to stop the reapers from returning," Vigil says, "a way to break the cycle forever, and they knew the keepers were the key."
"I still don't understand what's going on here," Shepard says, "why is Saren trying to find the Conduit."
"The Conduit gives him access to the Citadel and the keepers," Vigil explains, "the keepers are controlled by the Citadel." "Before each invasion, a signal is sent through the station compelling the keepers to activate the Citadel relay." "After decades of feverish study, the scientists discovered a way to alter this signal," it says, "using the Conduit, they gained access to the Citadel and made the modifacations." "This time when Sovereign sent the signal to the Citadel, the keepers ignored it," Vigil says, "the reapers are trapped in dark space."
"Saren can use the Conduit to bypass all the Citadel's external defenses," Shepard exclaims.
"Correct, and once inside, he can transfer control of the station to Sovereign," Vigil continues, "Sovereign will override the Citadel's systems and manually open the relay." "And the cycle of extinction will begin again."
"I'll stop Saren," Shepard promises, "just tell me how."
"There's a data file in my console," Vigil explains, "take a copy when you go." "When you reach the Citadel's master control unit upload it to the station," it explains, "it will corrupt the Citadel's security protocols and give you temporary control over the station, it might give you a chance against Sovereign."
"Wait where's the Citadel's master control unit," Tali asks, "I've never heard of anything like that."
"Through the Conduit, follow Saren," Vigil answers, "he will lead you to your destination."
"Saren's got enough of a head start," Shepard says, "grab the data file and let's go."
"The one you call Saren has not reached the Conduit, not yet," Vigil says, "there is still hope if you hurry." Tali gets the file from Vigil. "Let's move people," Shepard orders. We all run back to the elevator.
As we get in the Mako, "Shepard you better put the pedal to the medal," I say to her, "if we are going to save the galaxy." She doesn't respond, but takes off with her foot stomped on the accelerator. She slows as we reach a collapsed area she turns carefully and we fall a short ways down a ledge. She heads off at top speed. We take a turn and then head downhill, Shepard starts firing the turret at a group of geth farther down the ramp. She guns it not bothering with any left behind, we speed around a corner.
"Colossus," Tali warns as one of the aforementioned machines fires at us as we round a corner. We rise in the air and dodge the blast Shepard continues without slowing to engage. We pass inches from the Colossus, I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I hear an impact just behind us. Shepard weaves through the ruins. Rockets start exploding around us as we move forward, one hits us dead on but the Mako keeps moving. We reach another downhill ramp. I see a miniature relay glowing in the distance.
"Shepard look it's the Conduit," I shout.
"We don't have time to admire the view," Tali says, "we have to get through that relay... and these geth aren't going to make it easy for us." Shepard floors it down the hill we spot a group of Colossus surrounding the Conduit.
"Things are never easy," Shepard says. We serpentine through the Colossus and catch a blast just as we reach the ramp, I feel a slight static discharge, we ramp into the relay.