Chapter 20

Anderson was quite uninformative in providing details on how he pulled off his part of the caper. All he'd admit to was that Udina was in the office when he arrived, so he 'had to improvise.' I later found out that he strode into the office like a man on a mission—which he was—and didn't slow down once he saw the ambassador. Instead, he walked right up to Udina—ignoring his questions on what Anderson was doing there—and punched his lights out. (1) Then he casually reached over and overrode the lockdown while Udina was still slumped on the desk.

As I said, I found that out later. For now, I was just grateful that we didn't get caught.

Joker, on the other hand, was most disappointed. Sort of.

"Aw, damn it. No sign of pursuit? I was hoping the Council would send some ships after us," he complained in mock-disappointment. "I was looking forward to putting the Normandy through its paces. Figured I'd get to see what this ship can really do."

"Saren's still out there," I pointed out. "Maybe you'll get to play hide-and-seek with Sovereign."

Apparently my bit of gallows humour killed the mood. "You know, it doesn't seem like much fun when you say it."

I gave him an apologetic glance and moved on to see how the rest of the crew was doing. Some of them were quite excited. Like Pressly, for example.

"I can't believe we stole the Normandy," he cried out when he saw me. I swear he was this close to jumping up and down in joy. "I know we'll all be court-martialled if this doesn't work out, but part of me loves this!"

I didn't have the heart to quash his excitement.


Others were a little more... quiet. Like Chakwas, Garrus and Tali.

When I asked Dr. Chakwas how she was dealing with this latest twist, she took a minute before responding. "It's strange," she finally replied, "being a fugitive from the Alliance. This crew has sacrificed everything for you, Shepard," she added, looking me in the eye. "Don't let us down."


Garrus, like Pressly, couldn't believe we'd just swiped the Normandy. At the same time, though, he was a little confused. "After everything you told me, about doing things the right way rather than the fast way... it seems a bit extreme, don't you think?"

"Maybe," I conceded. "But think about how you'd feel if we didn't do it and the Reapers do show up."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he nodded. "If you're wrong, we'll pay for it. But if you're right, and we did nothing, I think we'd regret it a whole lot more. I just hope we catch Saren before they realize we're missing."

"We'll catch him," I said, plastering a confident smile on my face. "Just be ready when we do."

"Yes, Commander."


Tali found the concept of being 'fugitives on the run' to be very exciting. "I wonder what the Council would do to us if we got caught?" she mused.

"Your father probably has some political pull, right?" I said. "Despite current relations between the quarians and the Council? He wouldn't let them throw his little girl in jail, right?"

Tali laughed. "You don't know my father. Stealing ships is a capital offence amongst my people. He'd probably want to execute us himself."

Great. Just what I needed to hear. "The Normandy's the best ship in the fleet," I replied bravely, trying to convince myself if nothing else. "They'll never catch us."

"I hope you're right," Tali said worriedly.

Adams must have overheard us, because he wandered over to join us. "Heard we're headed into the Terminus Systems, Commander." Just like that. As if it was another walk in the park.

"That's right," I nodded. "Gotta go through a mass relay that's been lost until now in order to chase down Saren."

He patted Tali and I on the shoulder. "Don't worry," he said reassuringly. "The Normandy's a hell of a ship. She'll get us through this."


Before I headed back to my quarters, I dropped by to get Wrex's take on things.

"Stealing an Alliance ship? Risky stuff," he pronounced. "But I'm right behind you, Shepard. It's the least I can do."

I snorted. "Everyone else thinks I'm crazy, but they're too polite to admit it."

"Sometimes crazy's the way to go," he shrugged. "I just hope they don't catch us before we get our hands on Saren."

"You and me both," I said.

"You'll get us through, Shepard," Wrex rumbled.

"Thanks," I nodded. "So long, Wrex."

"Shepard."


With nothing else to do, and an hour to kill before we reached Ilos, I decided to have some fun. Tinkering with the comm systems, I set them to broadcast an old twentieth-century song called "Don't Fear the Reaper" throughout most of the ship. Under the circumstances, it seemed fitting, and it was soothing enough to calm them down.

As for me, I spent my time bunkered up in my quarters listening to random jazz tunes. What can I say: that's what calms me down. Spent the time with my feet propped on the desk; hitting the road with Ray Charles (even though my name isn't Jack), taking the night train with Oscar Peterson, and cruising down Route 66 with Natalie Cole.

I was in the middle of listening to Ella Fitzgerald's rendition of "Mack the Knife" when Joker contacted me over the comm. "Bridge to Commander Shepard. We're five minutes out from the Mu Relay."

"Understood, Joker," I replied. "Contact the other squad members and have them meet me on the bridge." Figured we should all see what we're getting into.

I donned my hardsuit while the song finished up, and then headed up to the bridge. By the time I got there, the other squad members had already arrived. They, along with Pressly, were clustered up in the cockpit. I joined them just before the Normandy passed through the Mu Relay.

Once again, we saw blurred streaks and blue swirls as we were propelled down the corridor created by the mass relay. Then, with a flash of light, we arrived on the outskirts of the Refuge System, ten minutes out from Ilos.

As we approached, Joker started a passive scan of the area. A frown formed on his face. "Uh... Commander? We got company. At least four geth dropships."

"Have their sensors picked us up yet," Liara asked urgently.

Joker shook his head. "Stealth systems are engaged. Unless we get close enough for a visual, they won't have any idea we're here."

"Take us down, Joker," I said. "Lock in on the coordinates."

"Negative on that, Commander," Pressly reported.

Figures.

"The nearest landing zone's two klicks away."

"Are you kidding?" Kaidan burst out. "We'll never make it in time on foot. Get us something closer!"

"There is nowhere closer!" Pressly snapped back, a note of panic in his voice. "I've looked!"

Time for Plan B: "Drop us in the Mako," I ordered.

"You need at least a hundred metres of open terrain to pull off a drop like that," Pressly protested. "The most I can find near Saren is twenty."

"Twenty metres?" Kaidan exclaimed in disbelief. "No way we can make a drop in there."

"We have to try," Liara said nervously

Ignoring her, Kaidan turned to Pressly. "Find another landing zone!" he demanded.

"There is no other landing zone!" Pressly immediately replied, definitely panicking now.

"The descent angle's too steep," Tali observed calmly. I wasn't sure whether she was trying to calm things down or was focusing on the problem at hand to forestall a meltdown.

"It's our only option," Garrus observed.

Kaidan flung his arms up. "It's not an option! It's a suicide run! We don't—"

From out of nowhere, a voice softly interrupted. "I can do it."

I looked over at the direction of our saviour. "Joker?"

Joker, with a determined expression on his face that totally belied his nickname, repeated his earlier words: "I can do it."

Good enough for me. It was Plan B, after all. "Gera up and head down to the Mako. Joker—drop us right on top of that bastard!"


About nine minutes later, we were crammed in the Mako. Hardsuits on, weapons readied. The whole kit and caboodle.

"Here are the new team compositions," I said, mostly to pass the time. "Team One will consist of me, Wrex and Tali. Team Two has Garrus and Liara, with Kaidan as team leader."

With Ashley's death—which still sucked, by the way—Team Two faced a serious dip in its combat capacity. Having Garrus move over would provide some much-needed firepower, and some extra tech support to boot. Meanwhile, transferring Tali would offset the drop in my team's tech savvy.

"Commander, we are on final approach," Joker told us. "Drop point in ten. Good luck, guys... five, four, three, two, one..."

And we were off. Plummeting through the atmosphere of Ilos like a meteor, much to my chagrin. We couldn't even hit the micro-thrusters at the usual point. The faster we hit groundside, the better. So I was forced to wait for another agonizing second or two...

Finally, I stabbed the Mako's thruster controls. For a moment, I thought I'd waited too long. I cringed inwardly as the Mako bounced off the surface, rose a bit and bounced some more.

Joker had done it. Not only had we landed without turning into one very expensive pancake, we had touched down in some kind of complex within spitting distance of Saren. I could see Saren and his geth entering a large bunker of some sort. He paused and turned back to look at us, eyes blazing like cold blue stars...

...just before a door slammed shut, cutting us off.

Cursing, we all clambered out.

"We have to get inside this bunker before Saren finds the Conduit," Garrus snapped, slamming his fist on the door in frustration.

Tali had been scanning the door with his omni-tool. Shaking her head, she turned to me. "There's no way we're getting through this door with brute force," she reported.

"Saren found a way to open it," Kaidan pointed out. "There must be some sort of security override somewhere in this complex."

Calming down, Garrus nodded in agreement. "We'll have to find some way to get it up and running again."

At that point, I noticed a little red dot pop up on my HUD, in the opposite direction from the bunker. Followed by another. And another. And they were coming our way.

"Heads up," I barked. "Targets incoming."

The six of us whipped out our weapons, aimed and fired as soon as the enemy popped out from behind a bunch of pillars. One lone trooper. Which quickly got turned to scrap. Followed by another, which met the same fate as the first. Ditto with the next one.

We paused, waiting for the next geth to come. They didn't. So we moved forward.

About a hundred metres into the complex, we entered a courtyard, came under fire again. Taking cover behind pillars, we started firing back at the geth. A couple troopers and a shock trooper, as I recall. We had just taken out the first geth when Kaidan cried out in alarm: "Geth drones on our six! (2) Team Two, open fire!"

Thankfully we weren't being pressed too hard, so we could afford to split our fire. Wrex, Tali and I concentrated on the remaining geth infantry in front of us while Kaidan's team tackled the drones behind us. I fired a dozen shots into the shock trooper in front of me, who doubled over and collapsed in a heap. Noting that Wrex and Tali had already taken out the other geth, I turned around, only to see a pair of drones explode into bits.

"I think that's all of them," Kaidan panted.

Looking around, I started to nod...

...then saw a pair of shapes nearby.

My paranoid streak started to stir. "Tali," I said casually, raising my pistol in the general direction of those shapes, "are those things what I think they are?"

Tali took one look and immediately jerked her pistol up. "Armatures!" she yelled.

We immediately swivelled and aimed in unison.

And waited.

And waited.

Nothing. They just sat there, huddled up.

Tali scratched her head. Helmet. Whatever. "Maybe they're programmed to activate if a threat comes within a certain radius," she suggested.

I nodded at her... then froze. A particular battle bubbled to the surface of my noggin. Therum. In front of the mine where Liara was held. We were attacked by a pack of geth, including an armature, and then Tali...

Turning to her, I raised an eyebrow. "If we got close enough to activate them, would you also be close enough to hack one of them?"

"Definitely," Tali nodded.

"Okay, do that as soon as possible, then join Wrex and I in firing at the unhacked armature," I decided. "Team Two, put as many holes in the hacked armature as possible."

"You want to attack our ally as well," Liara wanted to confirm.

"Temporary ally," Tali corrected. "Sort of: the hack doesn't actually convert it to our side. It just disables its IFF protocols."

"It'll turn on us as soon as it can't find any other targets," I explained. "It would be best for us if it, or whoever survives, is as damaged as possible." I offered a grin. "Besides, it isn't fair to gang up on one of them like that."

The squad decided to follow my plan rather than address my sense of humour. I'm pleased to report that it went off perfectly, and all of us survived.

Now that we had some breathing room, I had a chance to look around. This entire complex was apparently built by the Protheans. For something that had been around for at least fifty thousand years, it was in remarkably good shape. Constructed of some kind of stone, it surrounded us with large, blocky buildings. Even though they were all covered in vines and leafy growths, the polygonal shape of those structures was unmistakable.

Come to think of it, it seemed very different than the outer area of the Citadel; and the curved, angular shape of the Presidium in particular.

"I never dreamed I would actually find Ilos," Liara marvelled, interrupting my train of thought.

Garrus looked around nervously. "This place feels wrong to me. And not just because of the geth."

"We shouldn't be here," Kaidan agreed. "Not us. Not the geth. Not Saren."

"My people once tried to find this world," Tali said softly. "We hoped we could settle here. None of us knew it would feel so... unwelcome."

Liara looked at them in confusion. "What are you talking about? This place is amazing! I wish I had more time to study all this. So much history here. So much to learn. I only hope I have the chance to come back some day."

I guess she had a point, from an archaeological point of view. It was a fascinating monument to the Protheans. Still, I had to agree with the others: my paranoid streak wouldn't stop yammering. Something seemed really... creepy.

Shrugging, I activated my sensors and did a general sweep of the area. It looked like there were two areas of interest: one up ahead; one to our right. I directed Team One to investigate the former while Team Two checked out the latter.

After I hacked a nearby crate, of course.


At first, I thought we'd hit a dead end. It looked like an extension of the courtyard that just wrapped around a building. There was a recess built into the building that looked like an elevator of some sort, but neither Tali nor I could figure out how to activate it.

"Over here," Wrex hollered. Pushing aside some overhanging vines, he had found a small alleyway between two of the buildings. As he walked in, Tali and I hastened to catch up.

The alleyway went straight for a while, and then took a left turn. A bunch of statues lay in front of the turn, three on each side. It was hard to make it out, as they were worn down by time and the elements. They looked like thin-faced bipeds in robes, sitting down and leaning slightly forward. And praying. My attention was caught between them and a shrivelled up corpse, curled up in the fetal position.

Moving on, we saw the alleyway turned left again. This time, the wall in front of us was a bit shorter than the others, so I clambered up to take a peek...

...then immediately dropped back down.

"Geth," I whispered, gesturing over my shoulder. "Couple shock troopers at least. Maybe a destroyer."

"Let's keep going," Wrex advised. "See if we can find somewhere with a better vantage point from which to attack."

Sure enough, we went round another corner and came across a ramp. Creeping up, we glimpsed the geth from behind a blocky pillar and some equally blocky half-walls. Below us lay a courtyard, with five shock troopers and a destroyer smack in the middle.

"A lot of people died here," Wrex grunted, nodding at another shrivelled corpse. "Now it's time for a lot of geth to join them."

On the count of three, we popped up and opened fire. Tali disabled the destroyer's weapons while Wrex and I concentrated on the troopers. It was a pretty nice fight, all things considered. We had a lot going for us: high ground, ample cover and the element of surprise. Granted, there were some crates that the geth could hide behind, but we could easily move around them. Heck, the crates fell apart if you pumped enough lead into them.

I was moving on to my second shock trooper when my paranoid streak went berserk. At the same time, I glimpsed something out of the corner of my eye. Turning around, I saw two more shock troopers. Guess they were trying to sneak up on us.

Rather than distract Wrex and Tali, I chose to deal with them myself. I guess it would look good to the civvies—if they ever got clearance to read the reports. Anyone with enough experience would know that the weapons, mods and protection I had was more than capable of dealing with two shock troopers. As long as no one else came sneaking along, that is.

Thankfully, that was the last surprise in this encounter, so we were able to finish mopping up the geth.

Wrex and Tali were all set to go check out the courtyard. I, however, was curious to explore what looked like an elevator. Perks of command: the team goes where you say they go. Sure enough, it was an elevator. It took us up to a ledge overlooking the courtyard and the path we had attacked the geth from. Not much to see.

Other than a crate full of goodies, of course.

Tali sighed as I hacked it open. "I guess you think this was worth the detour."

I pretended to think about it. "Yep," I admitted, grabbing the pistol and shotguns from the now-open crate.

Sighing again, Tali got back in the elevator and waited for me and Wrex to join her. We went back down and started exploring again, continuing along the path that encircled the courtyard. At the far end it went up a hill or gradual incline to a patio. Up we went, sidestepping a broken blocky column...

...at which point we ran right into four geth hoppers.

I'm not sure which group was more surprised: them or us. We shouldn't have been surprised, really, given that our HUDs had been jammed for the last few minutes. In retrospect, I'm pretty sure they started bouncing around and trying to take out our shields at the same time that we opened fire.

Gritting my teeth, I arbitrarily picked one and began wearing down its shields. I didn't have time to select targets, so I was glad to see my teammates select their own geth to pick on. 'My' geth jumped behind a pillar. So I waited, resisting the urge to switch over to 'Wrex's' sapper a couple metres away.

My patience paid off as 'my' hopper hopped back down in front of me, well within spitting distance. Naturally I chose something a little stronger than spit to send its way, before moving on to the last geth.

Once the hopper was down, I opened a comm channel to Kaidan. "Team Two: report."

"Alenko here," Kaidan replied. "Just finished clearing an underground chamber of geth. Nothing serious, but we couldn't find any controls or anything. Though we did find a control that might have disabled the armatures we faced earlier."

Typical.

"We just dealt with a bunch of geth ourselves," I responded, looking around. I saw a glimpse of something behind a pillar. Taking a couple steps to the side to get a better angle, I took a closer look and grinned. "There's an elevator of some sort. Looks like it heads down to another level. Home in on my position and we'll check it out together."

After receiving Kaidan's acknowledgement, we thoroughly searched the courtyard. We only came across one crate to hack open, but it helped pass the time until Team Two showed up. Together, we walked to this new elevator, got in and started going down.

"This place still has power," Garrus commented. "These elevators must be running off an internal generator."

"I bet this is the command centre for the entire complex," Kaidan guessed. "Saren's troops must have sealed the door from here after he went inside."

"We'll have to figure out how to disengage the security lockdown if we want to get inside that bunker," I concluded, just as the elevator doors slid open.

We stepped out of the elevator, into a long narrow tunnel that opened into a large underground cavern to our right. Large vines and bushy leaves blanketed everything as far as the eye could see. Pulling out our weapons, we slowly advanced. It didn't take a genius to figure out that we were all clustered into a narrow fire-lane, easy pickings for any geth ambushers.

Naturally they revealed themselves once we emerged from the tunnel. My paranoid streak started screaming when I glimpsed a geth prime lumber into view, with a destroyer and shock trooper close behind. About fifty metres to our right, I could see another destroyer or two.

Cursing under my breath, I quickly looked around. Going back the way we came wasn't an option, as the geth would have a clear line of sight to blast holes in our backsides. There were a few pockets of debris that could serve as cover in a pinch. Better than nothing, given the circumstances. Then I saw a ramp on either side of the tunnel exit. They were easy to miss, given the dim lighting and the proliferation of flora that camouflaged their presence. Each of them looped overhead and joined each other to form an overpass of sorts.

That's more like it.

"Team Two, up the ramp to the right." I highlighted its location on their HUDs in case they missed it. "Team One, we're taking the left ramp.

We almost didn't make it. At least, I almost didn't. A shot from the geth prime's pulse rifle hit me as I was leading the team to the ramp, with enough concussive force to knock me on my ass. In hindsight, I guess I should be grateful—it could have used its rocket launcher. Without a word, Wrex reached down, hauled me to my feet and shoved me in the right direction. All while sending a constant stream of bullets into the prime.

I scrambled up the ramp and onto the overpass, the rest of my team hot on my heels. Team Two had already arrived, and were frantically firing bullets, throwing tech mines and manipulating biotics like there was no tomorrow. Unfortunately, despite our having the high ground, the geth were still holding their own. If anything, they were more accurate, firing at a faster rate than normal, and definitely dealing more damage. Stupid geth prime and its stupid combat optimization protocols.

Ducking down to avoid a round from one of the destroyers, I noticed Garrus on the ground in a heap. When did that happen? I quickly accessed his hardsuit systems and scanned his life signs. Nothing more than a mild concussion. Relieved, I pumped some stims and administered some medi-gel to get him back into the fight.

Getting back up, I saw that we'd taken down a couple destroyers and one of the shock troopers. There were still four more geth, though, including that stupid geth prime. To my alarm, I could see a trio of rocket troopers as well.

"Concentrate fire on the rocket troopers," I ordered, not wanting to get blown to smithereens. "After that, tackle the destroyers and shock troopers." Technically it was probably better to deal with the prime. Take it out, and the others would be much easier to tackle. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.

The teams managed to take out two of the rocket troopers before the last one fired off a rocket. We ducked down long enough to let it fly harmlessly past us. Then we popped back up and shredded it to pieces. The shock troopers went down just as quickly.

That left two geth: the destroyer and the prime.

At this point, they were close enough to reach with tech mines, and the returning weapons fire had diminished to a point where I could safely issue the following order: "Would someone kindly hack one of those guys?"

Tali was quick to oblige, and the destroyer immediately turned on its former ally. It didn't take long before the prime wore down the destroyer's shields, though. In response, the destroyer charged, and we were treated to our first geth-on-geth rumble.

I wouldn't have minded sitting back and watching this spectacle, but I was busy sending the teams to optimal firing positions so we could take down the prime. Besides, I didn't have any popcorn.

Finally, both geth bit the dust. Breathing a sigh of relief, we went down and started to explore the chamber. The dim light and plant growth that seemed to be ubiquitous around here made it very difficult to see anything. For that matter, it made it tricky to figure out where we were going.

Some things were easy to find, though. Like a quartet of consoles, each with a deactivated geth armature next to it. It didn't take long to determine that we could have used them to boot up the armatures. On our side. Permanently.

Makes sense that we would find them after the fighting was over, doesn't it?

Keeping my grumbling to a minimum, I moved on. To my delight, I found another crate to hack for loot. To my further delight, I found another set of ramps, leading up to an overpass identical to the one that had provided refuge for us earlier.

Well, aside from a security console, it was identical.

"Come on," Garrus urged impatiently. "Saren's already got a head start. We have to go find him before he reaches the Conduit."

"Unless he's already found it," Wrex said. "Then we're just walking into a trap."

Kaidan sighed. "That's a chance we'll have to take."

While they were talking, I activated the controls. It only took me a minute to decipher the controls and figure out how to open the bunker.

"Hold on," Tali suddenly said. "Something's happening."

I looked up. Overlapping the green holographic display of the console was another hologram. It looked like an orange blob of curved shapes and lines; rotating back and forth, flickering in and out. There was a lot of static, but I could make out a few words.

"... too late... unable to... invading fleets... no escape..." it said.

"Sounds like some kind of message," Garrus observed. "But I don't recognize the language."

Huh? What were they talking about?

"It is probably in Prothean," Liara guessed. "This recording must be 50 000 years old. No wonder we cannot understand it."

I turned around in confusion. "You can't make it out?"

They looked at me like I'd finally gone crazy. Or that I was crazy all along and they finally figured it out. "You can?" Kaidan asked.

"The message is all broken up, but I recognize some of the words," I told them. "It sounds like a warning about the Reaper invasion."

"Of course!" Liara gasped. "Between the beacons and the Cipher, an understanding of the Prothean language would have been transferred into your mind."

The hologram wasn't quite finished yet. "—not safe... seek refuge... –side the archives..."

"What's it saying?" Garrus asked. "Can you make out anything useful?"

Before I could respond, the hologram spoke again. "—alled Reapers. ...the Citadel. ...overwhelmed... ...only hope."

A different voice took over, though his words were still interrupted by static. "—act of desperation. ...the Conduit... ...all is lost..."

"It said something about refuge and archives, as well as the Citadel and the Conduit," I finally said. "But it's too degraded to help. We should go."

As we left, the hologram got stuck in some kind of loop. It kept repeating the words "cannot be stopped" over and over.

I decided to keep that bit to myself.


We found another tunnel after leaving the security console station, one that had an elevator at the end. Miraculously, it was the courtyard elevator that was locked earlier, the one with the armatures. We quickly jogged back to the Mako.

"Who votes we take the Mako into the creepy underground bunker," Tali joked as we arrived.

"Good idea," Kaidan said with a straight face. "The firepower will come in handy."

And it'll save us a long walk, I silently added.

We drove through a dusty tunnel clustered with vines or roots for a couple hundred metres, then dropped into some kind of sewer trench. A thin stream of water ran along the bottom. The walls stretched up as far as the eye could see, though there was some kind of illumination shining down and lighting the way.

"I have spent my life studying the Protheans," Liara whispered, "but I never dreamed I would discover anything like this. This bunker might have the last refuge of their entire species. Just imagine what mysteries it might hold. Imagine what secrets it might reveal!"

I didn't have a chance to comment. There was an awful lot of debris scattered along the road. Coupled with the roots that were jutting out at random intervals, and it made for one heck of an uneven driving surface. Plus, we'd just hit another narrow ramp.

"Please," Tali said sharply. "Try to remember why we're here. Saren? The Conduit? The fate of the entire known galaxy?"

Liara was quickly abashed. "I am sorry. I was swept up in the moment. I just hope we have the opportunity to study this place in detail after this is done."

"I thought Saren would have set some kind of trap or ambush for us," Garrus changed the subject. "They must have been in too much of a hurry."

"Or we just haven't run into it yet," Wrex rumbled darkly.

We emerged into another trench with tall, tall walls. As we drove along, I noticed cylinders protruding from the walls, highlighted with a glowing blue oval rim. Come to think of it, I saw a couple of those structures earlier.

I wasn't the only one who saw them. "What are all those things on the wall?" Kaidan asked. "Some kind of containers?"

"They look like stasis pods," Liara guessed. "The Protheans probably tried to keep themselves alive through cryogenic freezing," "Something must have gone wrong. This bunker became their tomb. The pods look dead, along with anyone inside."

"All of them," Tali asked softly, stunned by the implications. "There must be hundreds of those pods."

"What was Saren expecting to find here," Garrus whispered. "There's nothing left but corpses."

Just then, four rockets flashed by, breaking the moment of introspection.

I love rocket troopers.

We fired back immediately, taking two of them out after half a minute of shooting. I was a bit distracted, so I think I can be forgiven for missing the gnarled curling mass of roots jutting out from the wall until the Mako ran right into it.

The Mako immediately jerked to the side, lifting up for a moment before slamming back down. Thank goodness we were all wearing seatbelts.

That accident had a silver lining, though—the remaining geth had apparently fired along our previous trajectory, judging by the rocket that swept past us. If we hadn't bumped into the roots, the rocket would have hit us square on. Not wasting time on providence or any such thing, we sent a MAC round back. Unlike the geth, we didn't miss.

Once I straightened the Mako out, we started driving again. A little more cautiously this time, as our eyes were peeled for more geth.

There weren't any more geth surprises, though. Not for the next kilometre or two.

The only surprise we ran into was a large barrier that had coalesced about fifty metres in front of us. We drove up to it, gradually slowing down to a halt.

"What is happening?" Liara asked.

"It's a trap!" Wrex snapped. "Saren must have set an ambush!"

"I don't think Saren is behind this," Kaidan said, looking out the window.

We followed his gaze. A door in the wall, previously hidden, was retracting before our eyes. Shrugging, I got out and headed for the door, followed by the squad. We entered a small room with an elevator. I glanced around, but couldn't see anything. So, into the elevator we went. I hit the controls, and we started going down.

After a minute, Liara broke the silence. "I have studied the Protheans for decades, but I have never felt this sense of foreboding. What do you think we will find down here?"

"It has to be useful, if it specifically targeted us," Garrus suggested.

"Whatever we find, be careful," I cautioned. "If this was just some automated trap, Saren would have triggered it as well."

The elevator bumped to a stop and opened into a narrow chamber. It was very similar to the trench we were driving along, right down to the roots and vines running down the walls, and the oval-rimmed stasis pods sticking out. The only difference was a catwalk that extended from the elevator doors down to a platform with a console. As we approached, an orange hologram flickered to life. It looked like the hologram we saw earlier, the one that spat out that garbled message. We stopped about a metre from the hologram and waited.

"You are not Prothean," it greeted us without preamble, in a warm male-sounding voice. "But you are not machine, either. This eventuality was one of many that was anticipated. This is why we sent our warning through the beacons."

"Looks like some kind of VI program," Tali deduced. "Pretty badly damaged."

"I do not sense the taint of indoctrination upon any of you," the hologram continued. "Unlike the other that passed recently. Perhaps there is still hope."

"This is incredible," Liara said excitedly. "An actual Prothean VI, and I can understand it!"

"How come we can understand you?" Kaidan asked. "Why aren't you speaking the Prothean language?"

"I have been monitoring your communications since you arrived at this facility," the hologram explained. "I have translated my output into a format you will comprehend. My name is Vigil. You are safe here, for the moment. But that is likely to change. Soon, nowhere will be safe."

"Vigil, are you some kind of artificial intelligence program?" I asked.

"I am an advanced non-organic analysis system," Vigil replied, "with personality imprints from Ksad Ishan, chief overseer of the Ilos research facility."

"Pleased to meet you," I said. "Why did you bring us here?"

"You must break a cycle that has continued for millions of years," Vigil said. "But to stop it, you must understand or you will make the same mistakes we did."

"Mistakes?" I frowned. "What mistakes?"

"The Citadel is the heart of your civilization and the seat of government," Vigil began. "As it was with us, and as it has been with every civilization that came before us. But the Citadel is a trap. 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 pour through. And all you know will be destroyed."

"Hang on," I raised a hand to stop the hologram. "How come nobody ever noticed the Citadel was an inactive mass relay?"

"The Reapers are careful to keep the greatest secrets of the Citadel hidden. That is why they created a species of seemingly benign organic caretakers."

"The keepers," I guessed with dawning realization.

"Exactly," Vigil confirmed. "The keepers maintain the station's most basic functions. They enable any species that discover the Citadel to use it without fully understanding the technology. Reliance on the keepers ensures no other species will ever discover the Citadel's true nature. Not until the relay is activated and the Reapers invade." (3)

"How do the Reapers survive out in dark space?" I asked.

"We have only theories," Vigil replied. "The researchers here came to believe the Reapers enter prolonged states of inactivity to conserve energy. This allows them to survive the thousands and thousands of years it takes for organic civilization to rebuild itself. But in this state, they are vulnerable. By retreating beyond the edges of the galaxy, they ensure no one will accidentally discover them. They keep their existence hidden until the Citadel relay is activated."

"At which point, the Reapers pour in and we're all screwed," I said. I thought back to my last meeting with TPTB, and the plan they had laid out, and swore. "The Reapers will be able to wipe out the Council and the entire Citadel fleet in a single surprise attack!"

"That was our fate," Vigil admitted. "Our leaders were dead before we even realized we were under attack. The Reapers seized control of the Citadel and, through it, the mass relays. Communication and transportation across our empire were crippled. Each star system was isolated, cut off from the others. Easy prey for the Reaper fleets.

"Over the next decades, the Reapers systematically obliterated our people. World by world, system by system, they methodically wiped us out."

"Some of you must have managed to survive," I pointed out.

"Through the Citadel, the Reapers had access to all our records, maps, census data," Vigil explained. "Information is power, and they knew everything about us. Their fleets advanced across every settled region of the galaxy. Some worlds were utterly destroyed. Others were conquered, their populations enslaved. These indoctrinated servants became sleeper agents under Reaper control. Taken in as refugees by other Protheans, they betrayed them to the machines.

"Within a few centuries, the Reapers had killed or enslaved every Prothean in the galaxy. They were relentless, brutal and absolutely thorough."

"What do the Reapers get out of this?" I asked, hoping Vigil would be more accommodating than Sovereign. "Why do they keep repeating this pattern of genocide over and over?"

"The Reapers are alien, unknowable. Perhaps they need slaves or resources," Vigil speculated. "More likely, they are driven by motives and goals organic beings cannot hope to comprehend. In the end, what does it matter? Your survival depends on stopping them, not in understanding them."

Maybe so, but I wasn't done yet. "Where did the Reapers go after they conquered your people?"

"Our worlds were stripped bare, harvested by the indoctrinated slaves," Vigil replied. "Everything of value—all resources, all technology—was taken. Certain that all advanced organic life had been extinguished, the Reapers retreated back through the Citadel relay into dark space, sealing it behind them. All evidence of the Reaper invasion had been wiped away.

"Only their indoctrinated slaves were left behind... abandoned. Mindless husks, incapable of independent thought, the indoctrinated soon starved or died of exposure. The genocide of the Protheans was complete."

"You said you brought me here for a reason," I prompted. "Tell me what I need to do."

"The Conduit is the key," Vigil said. "Before the Reapers attacked, we Protheans were on the cusp on unlocking the mysteries behind mass relay technology. Ilos was a top secret facility. Here, researchers worked to create a small-scale version of a mass relay. One that linked directly to the Citadel: the hub of the relay network.

"So the Conduit's not a weapon," Tali realized. "It's a back door onto the Citadel!"

I nodded absently, one thing still bugging me. "How did you manage to stay hidden?"

"All official records of our project were destroyed in the initial attack on the Citadel. While the Prothean empire came crashing down, Ilos was spared. We severed all communication with the outside and our facility went dark. The personnel retreated underground into these archives. To conserve resources, everyone was put into cryogenic stasis. 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. Years passed. Decades, centuries. The Reapers persisted. And my energy reserves were dwindling."

"So how did you survive?" I asked.

"I began to disable the life support of non-essential personnel," Vigil admitted. "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."

"There were hundreds of stasis pods out there!" Kaidan burst out. "You just shut them down? You killed them?"

"You couldn't let everyone die," I recognized, painfully reminded of Ashley. "Better to sacrifice some so others could live."

"This outcome was not completely unforeseen," Vigil revealed. "My actions were a result of contingency programming entered on my creation."

Wrex snorted. "I bet they didn't tell the 'non-essential' staff about this contingency."

"I saved key personnel," Vigil emphasized. "When the Reapers retreated, the top researchers were still alive. My actions are the only reason any hope remains."

"Go on," I prompted.

"When the researchers awoke, they realized the Prothean species was doomed. There were only a dozen individuals left—far too few to sustain a viable population."

That sucks.

"Yet they vowed to find some way to stop the Reapers from returning," Vigil continued. "A way to break the cycle forever. And they knew the keepers were the key."

"Didn't you just say the keepers were under the control of the Reapers?" I objected.

"The keepers are controlled by the Citadel," Vigil corrected me. "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. Using the Conduit, they gained access to the Citadel and made the modifications. This time, when Sovereign sent the signal to the Citadel, the keepers ignored it. The Reapers remained trapped in dark space."

"Saren must have some plan to undo everything they did," I guessed.

"The one you call Saren will use the Conduit to bypass the Citadel's defences," Vigil confirmed. "Once inside, he will transfer control of the station to Sovereign. Sovereign will override the Citadel's systems and manually open the relay. And the cycle of extinction will begin again."

"I'll stop Saren," I said firmly. "Just tell me how."

"There's a data file in my console," Vigil revealed. "Take a copy when you go. When you reach the Citadel's master control unit, upload it to the station. 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," Garrus interrupted. "Where's the Citadel's master control unit? I've never heard of anything like that."

"Through the Conduit," Vigil replied. "Follow Saren. He will lead you to your destination."

"Just a few more questions," I said. "What were the beacons for, exactly?"

"At our apex, the beacons spanned the breadth of our empire," Vigil replied. "We used them as a single galaxy-wide network to transmit data and communications rapidly from world to world. Virtually all the beacons were destroyed during the invasion. But once the Reapers were gone, the survivors here on Ilos decided to risk sending out a message.

"We knew it was unlikely there were other survivors. But if there were, we wanted them to know about Ilos. We wanted to give them hope. So a message was sent across the network. In truth, we didn't expect any of the beacons would still function, but we had to try. If there were survivors, we had to reach them.

"The message was meant for our own people. It was coded so only organic beings could interpret it. We still didn't understand the power of Reaper indoctrination. We never realized it could lead an agent of the machines—like Saren—to this world. But it has also led you here. So perhaps we did not fail after all."

Next question: "You mentioned earlier that the Reapers are trapped in dark space. How did Sovereign get here?"

"It is logical to assume the Reapers would leave one of their own behind after each extinction, a sentinel to pave the way for their inevitable return," Vigil speculated. "Like those in dark space, Sovereign probably spent most of the last 50 000 years in a state of hibernation. Periodically, it would wake to evaluate the state of galactic civilization. And, when the time was right, it would signal the Citadel and usher in the next Reaper invasion.

"But this time, the signal failed. The keepers did not respond. Sovereign's allies were trapped in the void. Alone, it was forced to try and discover what had gone wrong."

No wonder Sovereign was so chatty: it'd been spending the past 50 000 years all alone. "Speaking of which, did the Reapers create the keepers when they were first constructing the Citadel?"

Vigil was quick to answer this question too. I guess it was feeling chatty as well. "A more likely hypothesis is that the keepers were one of the early harvested civilizations. Perhaps the very first. Perhaps they responded well to indoctrination or the Reapers simply bred them to be obedient. In any case, they only respond to the signals emitted by the Citadel itself. When the Reapers altered the Citadel's signals, they broke Sovereign's hold over the keepers. Now they are completely harmless."

"I guess that was when Sovereign realized that organic races were a bit difficult to control," I said wryly.

"A likely hypothesis," Vigil agreed. "The keepers evolved in an unanticipated direction. Non-organic servants, like the ones following Saren, would be more predictable."

"One last question: what happened to the survivors from the 'Conduit Project'?"

"They used the Conduit to gain access to the Citadel, but the Conduit is only a prototype. The portal only links in one direction, so they were trapped on the station. I do not know what became of them then. It is unlikely that they found any food or water on the station. I fear they suffered a slow, grim death.

"I only know they succeeded in their mission to seal the relay. Your presence here proves their sacrifice was not in vain."

"Saren's got enough of a head start," I decided, downloading the data file to my omni-tool. "Let's go!"

"Shepard, are you sure?" Liara asked, raising a hand. "Who knows how much longer Vigil will be here? Even now the projection is weak. This might be our only chance to speak with it—our only link to the knowledge of the Protheans! It is the opportunity of a lifetime!" (4)

Oh for crying out loud.

"I'm sorry, Liara," I replied, quite patiently under the circumstances. "We have to stop Saren. Nothing else matters."

I'm not sure whether it was my response, or the incredulous looks everyone else was giving her. Whatever it was, Liara caved in. "You are right. I am sorry. My personal feelings clouded my judgement. We... we should go."

Vigil had one more thing to tell us before we departed: "The one you call Saren has not reached the Conduit. Not yet. There is still hope if you hurry."

No pressure, right?


It was a rather silent and depressing ride up the elevator.

"So many races look up to the Protheans as paragons of civilization," Garrus murmured.

"All their culture, all their advanced technology, and the Protheans were taken in by the Reapers, just as we were," Liara added sadly. "They failed."

"Just like my people," Tali nodded. "But they also gave us a chance to save ourselves. We must hurry!"

"Keep it moving," Wrex agreed. "I've got no intention of ending up like them."

We ran for the Mako as soon as the elevator doors opened, threw ourselves in and took off in a jiffy.

And promptly crashed into the wall. This trench was not conducive to easy driving and manouvering, especially with something as difficult to steer as the Mako.

Gritting my teeth, I managed to get the Mako back on course. The way it was weaving back and forth, any observer would have guessed that I'd had a few too many drinks.

The way I ran over a couple rocket troopers at the next bend would have convinced them for sure.

According to the sensors, there were two more rocket troopers out there. I tried to get the Mako in reverse so we could blow them to smithereens. All I got for my trouble were a bunch of wheels spinning in futility and another round of shots hitting our shields.

"Everyone get out," I finally ordered. It would be faster to take them out on foot, I'd guessed.

Sure enough, that did the trick. The geth couldn't use their rocket launchers, and by the time they switched to their backup weapons, we were already pumping lead into their synthetic bodies.

"Guess we'll try that trick next time," Kaidan panted.

"Yep," I agreed. "Back in the Mako, everyone."

With a groan, the squad obeyed. A few judicious blasts with the micro-thrusters and we were free to continue on our way. We drove round the corner, drove right off a ledge, and landed on the next level of the trench—ten metres down. It's a testament to all those missions I spent driving the Mako up (and off) mountains that no one raised any fuss to this drop.

The next cluster of geth came around the next corner. They were a fair ways away, so we could easily shoot them at range with the MAC cannon.

The colossus that was accompanying them, though, required a more... direct approach. Stomping on the pedal, I drove straight at it. With an audible crunch, we hit it with enough force to knock it on its knees. Backing up to get some distance, we unloaded everything the Mako had at it. Rinse, repeat, game over.

As far as I recall, the remainder of the trip was rather routine. I just drove along, trying to keep the Mako on some semblance of a straight course, weaving around the odd block of debris or tree root until we saw a rocket or two that inevitably came blazing our way. Then we just hopped over it, or gritted our teeth and let them drain our shields, before returning the favour.

The fact that I look upon those memories with such blasé nonchalance is probably a clear indicator that I need my head examined.

At last, we reached another tunnel, its roof overgrown with vines and roots. It sloped down before opening up at what looked like a large chamber with a bright light. As we got closer, we saw the source of the light.

Vigil wasn't kidding—the Protheans had done it. They had actually built their own mass relay, something no other civilization had done since the Reapers decided to start their ongoing cycle of fun and kicks.

"There it is," Liara shouted excitedly. "The Conduit! By the Goddess, it is incredible!"

"We don't have time to admire the view," Wrex barked. "We have to get through that relay, and those geth aren't gonna make it easy on us!"

Looking closer, I felt my heart sink. There were at least two armature-class units guarding the Conduit. This was gonna be fun.

"Oh Keelah."

Aw, crap. Whatever Tali found out, I was pretty sure it wouldn't be good.

"Shepard, if these readings are accurate, the Conduit was activated a short time ago. Saren must have already gone through."

Aw, crap. I hate it when I'm right.

"Any other good news?" I asked sarcastically.

"The mass effect fields around the Conduit are destabilizing. I estimate we have less than forty-five seconds to get to the Conduit before it shuts down."

And good luck figuring out how to reactivate it in time. Especially with geth shooting at us.

Once more for good measure: Aw. Crap.

"Hang on!" I yelled, putting the pedal to the metal. "This is gonna get a little rough!"

Forty seconds...

It figured. It just figured. Why would the universe make things easy for me when it was so much more fun to make it difficult.

Thirty-five seconds...

And not just difficult. No, it had to go for suicidal-difficult.

Thirty seconds...

We burst out of the tunnel. I saw a trickling stream weave back and forth around low hills before leading to the Conduit. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to follow the road. Not with the clock ticking.

Especially not with the geth Saren left behind. Which weren't a pair of armatures, by the way. They were four colossi.

Naturally.

Twenty-five seconds...

Biting back a curse, I pressed even harder on the pedal. We had no choice but to run the gauntlet. We didn't even have time to jump n' shoot at the colossi. Nope, we'd just have to hope that our shields held out long enough. Because it's too much to ask that the targeting algorithms the geth used would suddenly go nuts.

Twenty seconds...

We bounced over the hill, feeling our velocity slow down even with that brief trip in the air. We also felt at least two siege pulses from the geth hit our shields.

I knew it. The universe just wouldn't give me a break.

Fifteen seconds...

Two hills down. One more to go. Shields at 25%.

Aw, crap.

Ten seconds...

As we got closer, we could see the Conduit. It really was a miniature mass relay, about four stories tall, its tuning fork-like arms directed vertically rather than horizontally like its larger cousins. Its rings were steadily spinning, revolving around a pulsing sphere of blue energy.

Nine seconds...

We cleared the last hill, but not before a succession of shots drained the last of our shields. One more hit, and we were toast.

Eight seconds...

Okay, when I said the universe wouldn't give me a break, I didn't mean for it to be listening or anything!

Seven seconds...

Of all the time for it to be paying attention.

Six seconds...

See, this is why I prefer being a sniper.

Five seconds...

Stay far away from the action.

Four seconds...

Watch heads explode and bodies drop from nice safe distances.

Three seconds...

No danger, unlike now.

Two seconds...

No stress, unlike now.

One second...

No—

There was a flash of light, a sudden jolt as if a giant had kicked the Mako up in the air...


(1): While I would have preferred that Shepard left that particular detail out, I must confess to a certain amount of satisfaction in the act.

(2): Alliance parlance often refers to analog clock faces, with 'twelve o'clock' designating in front or straight ahead. 'Covering one's six' or is Alliance military slang for watching the rear or guarding one's back.

(3): Every time I read this, I cannot help but wince in chagrin at how every civilization, past and present, were willing to just sit back and take what was so handily offered to them without so much as a question. Some things are truly universal.

(4): Indeed, when Citadel teams were sent to Ilos, they were unable to activate Vigil. It must have used its last reserves to communicate with Shepard and his team.