Virmire – part 2

I gathered my squad together, Wrex now calm enough to bear being around me.

"The plan is to hit Saren's base with a full-on assault. However, this will only be a diversion as I lead a small team in around the back and, working together, we have to bring down the anti-air defences for the base. Once that threat has been neutralised the Normandy will drop off a nuclear device that the STG have prepared at a vulnerable point on the site. We all get on board the Normandy and detonate the nuke once we're in orbit."

With mixed reactions the squad took in my brief explanation.

"So we're the infiltration team Sir?" Ashley asked.

"Not all of us," I replied, "the STG forces are short on officers so I've decided to send you and Garrus with them to fill in the roles of squad commanders. Kaidan, Captain Kirrihe will brief you on the detonation sequence for the nuke, and once the Normandy drops off the ordnance, you'll be set to work on that. Until then, you're with me. Kaidan, Tali, Liara… Wrex, the five of us are to be "Shadow" team. Once the STG begin their assault we slip in silently and work our way towards the AA batteries. Along the way there will be communication relays and power units that will be linked to the defence network of the base. We take out these targets along the way and we can help the STG as best we can."

My team went to begin their preparations; checking their weapons, ensuring their armour and shields were battle-ready and getting a bite to eat. As they went off to see to their own devices, Kaidan was the last one standing next to me.

"You ok Kaidan?" I asked my old friend.

"Yeah… it's just…"

"Not the kind of mission I thought we were coming into either."

"No kidding," he paused, "permission to speak freely Commander?"

"It's just me and you Kaidan, you can say whatever you want mate."

"I don't have a good feeling about this one Scott. There's a lot that can go wrong. Too much in fact."

He was right. Assaulting a base with overwhelmingly strong defences, an army of Geth and Krogan opposing us and a nuclear device thrown into the mix as well.

"I know Kaidan, trust me I do. But our mission is to stop Saren and destroying this base could seriously cripple his operation, maybe even stop it."

He nodded, but his expression did not lighten any more,

"I know. It doesn't feel right that we're not all going to be fighting together on this one. Our team… they're like a family now with all the shit we've been through. Won't feel right going in without Garrus… and Ashley."

I patted a hand in his shoulder and talked to my friend,

"Don't worry Kaidan. We'll all be meeting up again at the end. Have you spoken to her yet about how you feel?"

Kaidan laughed and his head dropped a little,

"You know me, Scott; I'll fight a legion of Batarians or Geth or whatever without a second thought. But when it comes to asking a beautiful woman like her out? Not my strong point."

"Come on man! I've seen you two talking together. You don't think she feels the same way?"

"I don't know. Do you?"

"If you're worried, I say why wait any longer? I'm pretty sure Ashley would appreciate it."

A smile appeared briefly on his face and he shrugged,

"Now's as good a time as any I suppose."

"We've got some time. Captain Kirrihe isn't giving the order to move until nightfall so take the chance while you can."

"Thanks Scott. You're a good friend, you know that?"

"Not at all. You'd do the same for me Kaidan."

He laughed again,

"Yeah I would. Now off you go and see Tali."

Tali was standing alone by the edge of the water, letting the cool water run over her feet. Tampering away on her Omni tool she did not hear me walk over to her. Not until my own two feet entered the water did she look around at me. With the low sunlight catching her, I was awestruck by how beautiful she looked. Throwing professionalism out the door I drew her in and held her close to me,

"You alright?"

"No. I'm scared Scott," she said quietly. I slid a hand tenderly up her back and rested it on her hood, wishing I could run my fingers through her hair,

"I know. But look at the messes I've gotten us all into, and you've come out of them all stronger and braver than before. There's no reason that this time will be any different! Believe in yourself Tali, we could never have come this far without you."

"But this one is different. There's going to be a battle on which the fate of the galaxy rests. What if we fail? What if Saren and his army beat us? The Reapers will come and…"

I silenced her before she worked herself up too much,

"Tali, you worry too much. I'm here, and I'm damn well going to get us through this. Besides, we're not alone in this either. The STG don't recruit any old soldier from their military; they're the best soldiers the Salarians have."

"Like you're the best the Humans have?"

I chuckled and shook my head. Tali stretched up on her tip-toes and put her mouth-piece to my ear and whispered,

"Close your eyes."

I obeyed, not sure what to expect. I heard several clicks and a small hiss of air escaping, as if from a pressurised environment. Then I felt her. Tali's soft lips pressed against mine, her arms wrapped around my shoulders and I held her as if it was the last time I would ever have the chance. There was always the possibility that it could be the last chance. I kissed her back, feeling her smooth skin brush against mine. I wanted to open my eyes and see the face of the woman I was quickly falling for, but to Quarians that represented a great show of trust and if Tali was not ready then I was not going to push it. The rush of emotions that I was feeling at that moment was unlike anything I had ever experienced with a woman before, and when Tali slowly pulled away I was left in a state of delighted delirium. She clicked her mask back on and I gazed at her, the blue lights of her eyes shining back out at me.

"No matter what happens Tali; I'll keep you safe!" I reassured her, "I will never let anything happen to you."

"No one else has ever made me feel brave enough to try that. I'm glad it was with you."

"Me too."

"I won't let you down in the battle Scott, I promise."

"I trust you Tali. You're so much stronger than you realise, you'll see that one day!"

We held each other for another few glorious minutes in the fading light of the day before we walked back to the camp, my other team members and a few Salarians proceeded to pretend that they had not seen anything happen between us. Kaidan and Ashley were both absent for a while, but when I later saw Kaidan walking with Captain Kirrihe following his brief on the nuke, he gave me an affirmative nod. The bonds forming between my squad mates were growing ever tighter. For all that we were about to face; I believed that we could do this.

The night was still and cold. Ashley and Garrus had set off with the STG forces an hour before, making their way to the North from where they would come back around over eight miles to attack the central and right flanks of the base. With Tali, Kaidan, Wrex and Liara in tow, I set off to the South-East, taking to high ground when we could. I looked back to where the Normandy hovered above the surface of the calm, cool water. For the first time I saw our warship as being extremely vulnerable; this mission depended on my ship delivering the nuke to us, and yet we seemed to be leaving it completely defenceless down in the clearing. If it was anyone else other than Joker at the helm, I would have almost called the operation off and looked for another option, but Joker would never let anything happen to his baby.

Radio contact was strictly forbidden until Captain Kirrihe initiated the attack. I took point and guided my "Shadow" team through the undulating terrain. My Widow rifle was primed and ready to eliminate any scouts that threatened to blow our cover. However, the few Geth patrols that we encountered remained unaware of us and we allowed them past us; the Geth could transmit a warning at light speed, so I was more than aware that the entirety of Saren's army could be alerted as soon as I fired my first shot. Stealth was absolutely paramount and so I kept my finger from squeezing the trigger on at least five occasions.

The hours whittled away in a tense silence, every unfamiliar sound sending us ducking into the foliage for cover. After a six-mile march in a gentle curve I could finally make out the forms of structures ahead. Like a medieval castle from old tales, Saren's base loomed up before us perched upon a hill with its rear side on the water's edge. A tall wall encircled the base and a ring of heavy anti air guns were fixed in such a way that they could completely blanket the sky with fire, all mutually supporting one another. Our destination was an over-hanging cliff from which we would rappel down close to a waterfall and enter the rear of the base. A small outpost was maintained to guard the cliff against such a tactic, but as soon as the frontal assault began, we would wipe out the garrison and proceed as quickly as possible down into the base.

Through the scope of my Widow, I could see the Geth guards at their stations, along with a small number of Krogan. All of them were fully armoured and geared for war. Kirrihe was not going to start the attack until daylight came since the Geth had the complete advantage in a night-combat situation. Kaidan and I kept watch while I allowed Liara and Tali to rest as best they could. Wrex was too restless to sit still for long and continually paced around further back from our position; at least having the sense to remain out of sight of our enemies. He pawed at his weapons the entire time while Liara slept fitfully. Tali was tinkering about with her Omni tool and her shotgun, seemingly trying to adapt some kind of contraption to it. As long as it helped us in our fight, I let my team mates equip any kind of mod to their weapons, legal or otherwise. When the sun once more began to make its presence known, Kaidan rallied our group together and we lay in wait for the STG signal.

The Salarians announced themselves with a series of huge explosions that rocked the entire area. My comm crackled into life as the crafty Kirrihe started our offensive,

"Forward defences neutralised. All teams begin the attack. Take down those AA defences."

Kaidan led the others behind a dip in the ground to attack the opposing outpost from the flank. I set my sights on the Krogan who I judged to be the leader of the small group that was stationed there. He was staring towards the North where the rapturous explosions had been set off and I placed my crosshairs directly on the side of his head and pulled the trigger.

The brutal power of the Widow rifle was displayed once again as the Krogan's head turned into a shower of bone, blood and brains, causing the others to just about crap themselves. The Geth were quicker to react and they began to fan out in groups of two in search of the source of the shooter; in search of me. My Widow dropped a second Krogan and now the rest of them rallied together and joined their Geth allies. When they were far enough away from the outpost, Kaidan began the main attack and my four squad members gunned down the Geth manning the heavy weapons from their flank.

The remaining Krogan and a squad of Geth headed for my team while the second squad of Geth formed together and made straight for my position. The air echoed once more as my Widow almost ripped a Krogan in two before I put the rifle away and brought out the Mattock. Shifting around to the left of the Geth squad's path I caught them by surprise and picked off the leader before falling back as phaser shots came screaming into the ground that I was using as cover. As I ran around and slowly circled back to head for my squad, I got on the comm,

"Kaidan, I'm on my way to you now. What's your status?"

"We've got the Krogan pinned down and most of the Geth have been eliminated… Shit. Another squad just came from the outpost. Wrex, put some fire on them!"

"I'll be there soon," I told him.

I moved across a level, open patch of ground and fired a few shots off at my pursuers. Once I had cleared a small rise I turned back and scoped out the Geth that were after me. Phaser whizzed past my head but I stood firm and fired off single shots, punching through their shields and tearing their circuitry to pieces. Not until four were dead and a shot burned a hole through one of my shoulder plates did I move again, leaving a grenade with a proximity fuse in my place on the rise. The explosion behind me let me know that at least one more enemy was down. I felt my shields light up a couple of times as I took incoming fire from the Geth behind, but now I was close to engaging the Geth ahead of me that were preoccupied with the rest of my squad.

Just as Kaidan put a bullet through the head piece of a Geth, I attacked the enemy from behind with a grenade and my rifle blaring. I was fast, proficient and ruthless and the Geth soon lay as metallic scrap on the grass. When I joined my team again, I quickly led them to a position a little back from where they already were. The enemy were no longer attacking from two directions and we could focus all our fire in one direction. The Geth were hit hard but the Krogan proved as resilient as ever. While the others lay down a wall of fire and Liara used her biotics to protect us, I drew my Widow out again and smashed the nearest Krogan's armour to pieces with a solid shot to the gut.

The last Krogan, however, rushed us and bowled us aside. Kaidan and Wrex recovered quickly enough, but they had Geth almost on top of them and had to deal with that threat there and then. Tali had been knocked on her back and the Krogan bore down on her with frightening speed. I swung my rifle round towards the Krogan but a phaser shot struck me in the back and I felt a pair of metallic hands grab my arm and pull it away. I lost hold of my Widow and reached for my pistol, slotting the Geth twice through its abdomen and once in its head. Liara levitated the last Geth into the air and Wrex blasted it as it hung there helplessly.

I ran over to where Tali was lying crushed under the immense weight of the Krogan. The huge beast lay motionless on top of her and I got Wrex to help me lift him off, revealing her lying equally as motionless.

"Tali, Tali wake up," I said gently shaking her shoulders. To my great relief she stirred and rubbed her head with her free hand. In her other hand I saw the weapon she had used to kill her Krogan aggressor; a nine-inch blade protruded from under the barrel of her shotgun, it glowed with an orange light and seemed to be made purely of focused energy. I held her shotgun and helped her up,

"Are you ok Tali?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine, just a bit of a fright," she said with a slight tremble.

"What is this?" I motioned towards the blade, "is this what killed him?"

"Yeah. It's an Omni Blade. My people developed it a year or two ago."

"I'm really starting to like you Tali," Wrex laughed.

"Seems pretty lethal," I said looking at the massive, burning gash up the dead Krogan's throat, "any chance we could all get one of these when you get a chance?"

"Sure, you'll need to get more parts for me to work with."

"You'll get them," I said, seeing the advantage of such a weapon, "but now we get down this cliff face and head into the base."

"Rodger that, Commander," Tali said back to me, ready to go again.

Using the equipment given to us by the STG teams we rappelled carefully down the cliff face, taking it slowly and keeping to as much cover as possible. From the North and North-East I could hear evidence of a heavy battle raging, the gunfire cracking through the air and explosions sending strong shockwaves reverberating through the earth. I helped Tali down while Kaidan aided Liara in our descent, and when we reached the bottom without incident, I immediately gathered us into cover. With the flick of a button the ropes began to disintegrate and were blown away with the wind, leaving no trace that they were ever there. The STG were a crafty bunch, right down to the smallest details.

My radio crackled again and I heard Kirrihe's voice,

"Mannovei Team is taking heavy, accurate fire from artillery; all teams keep a look out for weapons guidance systems."

Kaidan tapped my back and directed me to a small tower nearby, super computers and communication buoys upon it along with a guard of Geth. My Widow rifle was ready and I sent the team forward before I unleashed the first shot. The larger Geth unit broke apart from the force of the shot and Kaidan and the squad opened fire and rushed the position. With my Mattock rifle in hand, I charged up the ramp and Geth resistance was quickly overcome. Tali went to the main console and started her work,

"This isn't the system guiding the artillery, but it seems to be linked to a satellite system in orbit which could send some heavy ordnance down on us."

"Can you turn it against Saren's forces?" I asked, enthused to have some fire support on our side. Tali tapped away on the console, bypassing firewalls and breaking the system's security down piece by piece.

"I… can't do it Scott," Tali admitted after several furious attempts, "it's too well protected and its IFF recognition won't register the Geth as a threat. The best I can do is destroy it in orbit."

"Damn," I grimaced, "then do it Tali. At least deny its use to Saren!"

A few more taps on the keypad and a warning signal came up, Tali hit the warning light and all went to static,

"Done. It won't be troubling us."

"Good job Tali!" I said, "we need to keep moving. The first gun is due East of our position."

"Let's get to it," Wrex grumbled and took the lead. Avoiding the Geth troopers that passed now and again, on their way to the heated battle with the Salarians, we made it to the first AA gun. The tower was only lightly defended and when we reached the command unit for the automated gun Tali overloaded the circuit and fried the entire system.

"Captain Kirrihe," I announced over the comm, "Objective Echo has been neutralised, proceeding to Delta."

"Rodger that Commander. Gunnery Sergeant Williams will be hitting Alpha momentarily."

No sooner had Kirrihe finished speaking when Ashley came over the comm,

"Objective Alpha neutralised. Regrouping with Jaeto Team."

Two of the five guns were now destroyed, but the resistance was beginning to stiffen for the STG forces as the Geth became more organised. We rounded a corner, Wrex shredding a Geth with his shotgun as we went, and came across another of the small turreted towers. After scanning the building with his Omni tool Kaidan said,

"That's where the artillery is being directed from Sir, we should hit it now."

We stacked up at the bottom of the ramp and I chucked a grenade up onto the higher platform. The thud of the grenade going off was our signal to move and we cleared the station cleanly.

"There's no console to work on here," Tali said as she searched around.

"Too bad," Wrex said bluntly as he raised his shotgun to the power unit and fired. The tower went dark, all processes going on in the building cut out and the thumping of the artillery guns stopped.

"Mannovei Team, get moving while the artillery is out of action!" I ordered over the comm.

"Link up with Jaeto Team and aid their advance," Captain Kirrihe added quickly.

Objective Bravo was taken out by Garrus' team shortly afterwards and all of the STG teams now regrouped into one larger formation and pushed on towards the central gun; Objective Charlie. For my team, Objective Delta was quite far away and we knew that we were going to have to go through the main breeding facility to get there. No easy task considering that it would no doubt be full of violent Krogan spoiling for a fight. Avoiding and skirting around more squads of Geth we found the target sewer entrance and blew it open. Charging through the festering, stinking tunnels I found the door leading into the lower levels of the main structure and we stealthily emerged through the door, and into what I could only describe as a prison.

Both sides of the building were lined with locked doors to cells. Most were empty, but what we saw in the few that were occupied was certainly disturbing. There were Salarians in STG uniform, but when we opened the cell doors to let them out, they just stood there, ambling around aimlessly. One had his head pressed up against the wall and pawed pathetically at it, his fingers bleeding from what must have been days of clawing. Another stood staring blankly at me, mumbling something and drooling incessantly. It was clear that Saren had been performing experiments on them,

"What are we looking at here?" I asked in disbelief.

"I do not know, but whatever it is… hideous," Liara said.

"There's nothing we can do for them Commander," Wrex grumbled, "let's just leave them and get on with this."

"Open all the doors at least," I ordered, "if there's even a chance that they can escape then I'm giving it to them."

"But what if they turn on us?" Tali said. I looked back at the mumbling one who still stared at me, or through me; I could not decide. The minds of these Salarian prisoners were entirely gone,

"They won't," I told the team.

When all of the doors sprung open at a press on the master control terminal, only one Salarian emerged carefully from his cell. We approached him and he crept back inside, fear abundantly clear on his face.

"Hey, it's ok," I approached the cowering STG soldier slowly, my hands open to show I meant him no harm, "I'm Commander Scott Gardner, Systems Alliance. Are you with STG?"

He looked at me, his eyes fervently scanning me and my team. With his hands still raised in submission he stood up,

"You're not Geth, and you don't have lab coats. I guess I'm happy to see you."

"What were they doing to you?"

"Tests. Injecting us with drugs and… who knows what else. Torturing us, but they didn't want anything from us…"

His voice was weak and shaking, but I was in a hurry,

"Why are you the only one who can speak? Or do anything for that matter?"

"They… were using me as some kind of control specimen. I think."

"Listen Private," I said, "we need to push on, but you're in no condition to fight. Get as far away from this base as possible."

"Run away and don't turn back to look at the explosion, got it," the Salarian responded and immediately fled.

Through another prison and a series of research blocks we advanced and dealt with the minimal resistance easily. The Salarians were doing a fantastic job at distracting the Saren's forces, enabling us to progress further and further into the facility while meeting less and less of the enemy soldiers all the time. As we moved, covering each other as a team, Tali suddenly called to me,

"Commander, my Omni tool is picking up a strange energy signature from the office to our right."

"Let me see," I said. I crouched down next to her and looked at the readings that were displayed on her Omni tool. I was totally caught by surprise when I saw the signature for myself,

"That… That's a Prothean signal!"

"What?" Liara said abruptly.

"I… I recognise it," my head began to pulse painfully, "we need to find the source!"

We stacked up at the door and Tali hacked the lock. When the door flew open, I entered first and nailed the two Geth guarding a door at the far side. My team filed in and I heard a clunk come from under one of the desks to the side,

"Come out, hands up!" I bellowed. Now driven by an unbelievable need to find the source of the Prothean signal, I felt an anger coursing through me and I was in no mood to be caught by a hidden enemy now.

However, it was no Geth or armed enemy that emerged but an Asari; shaking and pleading for her life,

"Please don't shoot me. I'm just a scientist."

"What do you do here?" I asked.

"Saren has me studying indoctrination; its effects and ways to… avoid it."

I pictured the imprisoned Salarians that we had seen, empty husks of life, their minds eroded away to nothing.

"I thought this was a breeding facility."

She shook her head, still unsure if she was about to receive a bullet in it,

"That's the next building."

"So you did the experiments on the Salarians?"

She stiffened, full of fear now,

"I… I did, but I didn't want to I swear. You think the indoctrination only affects the prisoners? I can feel Sovereign in my mind even now, but he hasn't exerted full control over me because he still needs my mind intact. It's the same reason it allows Saren to retain his free will more than the rest of us."

"It's true then," Kaidan said, "Saren's ship is the cause of it?"

The Asari moved to the rear door and swiped her access card,

"There, I've let you into Saren's private lab. I've helped you. I can go, can't I?"

I looked at her, and after a moment of contemplation I motioned for her to go,

"Run fast. We're going to blow this place off the face of the map."

The Asari did not need told twice. As she whizzed past us whimpering, we flooded through the door she had opened and found where Saren had conducted his research. We entered onto the upper level of the office and spread out to search through the computers and files. Suddenly Liara yelled to me,

"Scott! There's a Prothean beacon downstairs."

We all raced down and stood before the beacon. This one was slightly bigger than I remembered the one on Eden Prime being, and I could feel its energy in the air around me. I stepped forward, but Tali grabbed me,

"Wait. Didn't the one on Eden Prime almost kill you, Scott? What if this one is too much?"

"It's ok Tali," Liara said, "with the Cipher he should be fine. His mind will be able to process the information much easier than when he encountered the first beacon."

""Should be" is very different to "will be"," Tali retorted, the concern building up in her.

"I'll be ok, I can feel the draw of it already. It won't hurt me," I said, honestly not knowing if the beacon would or not.

I placed both of my hands on the panel at the bottom of the beacon's spire, and was whipped into the air again. The chaotic memories of the Reapers annihilating the Protheans to extinction came flooding back and pounded on my mind. Machines and organics fought to the death with each other while the grounds around them were turned into infernos and millions of lives were extinguished at a terrible speed. The images were the same, but this time they seemed more fluent, flowing together seamlessly and forming more clearly in my mind. When it was over I dropped to the floor of Saren's office and lay confused and struggling to think at all. Figures were standing over me, fuzzy and menacing. They called to me in an unfamiliar language, reaching for me with their hands and trying to grab me. I pulled back from them with my hands shielding my face, terror coursing through my veins. The darkness was reaching out to take me.

"Scott!" a clear, angelic voice called to me, snapping me back into some form of sense. The darkness faded and I once again found myself looking upon the faces of my friends. I gasped for air, my lungs taking in every ounce of oxygen that they could carry. I closed my eyes and remembered who and where I was before I reached for Tali, who eagerly entered my embrace,

"I'm sorry Tali. I… I wasn't myself there. But it's ok now," I spoke to everyone, "I'm back. When this is over Liara can read my mind and hopefully make sense of what I saw."

Reassuring Tali once more, I picked my discarded rifle up and moved back towards the stairs,

"Let's finish this mission."

Just as we were about to leave Saren's dreary abode there was a series of rapid flashes of red light, and as we all looked around the main communications hub lit up; revealing the intimidating image of Saren's flagship. Sovereign. It's menacing, looming form faded into view, glowing red and a deep, dark and chilling voice boomed out,

"You are not Saren."

"Does Saren's ship have its own VI?" Kaidan asked, as unsure as the rest of us what was about to happen.

"Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh. You touch my mind, stumbling in ignorance. Incapable of understanding."

"This… isn't a VI," Tali said darkly.

"There is a realm of existence so far beyond your own you cannot even imagine it," the monotonous, emotionless voice continued, "I am beyond your comprehension. I am Sovereign!"

Those words chilled me right through and images from the beacon flashed through my mind again as I turned to my team,

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

"You mean that that massive ship we saw on Eden Prime was actually a sentient being?" Kaidan burst out in disbelief.

"Reaper," Sovereign repeated, "A label created by the Protheans to give voice to their destruction. In the end, what they chose to call us is irrelevant. We simply are."

"The Protheans vanished fifty thousand years ago!" Liara stated, "you could not have been there. It's impossible."

"Organic life is nothing but a genetic mutation. An accident," the Reaper mocked, "your lives are measured in years and decades. You wither and die. We are eternal. The pinnacle of evolution and existence. Before us you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable. We are the end of everything."

"There is an entire galaxy united and ready to face you!" I asserted to the machine.

"Confidence born of ignorance. The cycle cannot be broken."

""Cycle?" What cycle?" Wrex asked.

"This has happened before? Even before the Protheans?" I added, hoping that what we were thinking was wrong.

"The pattern has repeated itself more times than you can fathom. Organic civilisations rise, evolve, advance. And at the apex of their glory, they are extinguished," Sovereign continued on, its voice never changing. "The Protheans were not the first. They did not create the Citadel. They did not forge the Mass Relays. They merely found them, the legacy of my kind."

"Why would you leave them for us to find? I don't understand," I said, desperately trying to find a reason behind the Reapers' goal of galactic genocide.

"Your civilisation is based on the technology of the Mass Relays. Our technology. By using it, your society develops along the paths we desire. We impose order on the chaos of organic life. You exist because we allow it. You will end because we demand it."

"You're harvesting us?" I was barely able to get the words out, "what for? Slaves? Resources?"

"My kind transcends your very understanding. We are each a nation, independent. Free of all weaknesses. You cannot even grasp the nature of our existence."

"If you're so powerful, where are the rest of the Reapers? Are you the last of your kind?"

"We are legion," Sovereign's voice shook the room, "The time of our return is coming. Our numbers will darken the sky of every world. You cannot escape your doom."

"You're not even alive!" I yelled at the floating hologram of our enemy, "not really. You're just a machine. And machines can be broken."

"Your words are as empty as your future," the Reaper warned, "I am the vanguard of your destruction. This exchange is over."

As quickly as he had appeared, Sovereign disappeared again. Our astonished silence was cut short as an explosion shattered the glass windows and sent deadly shards everywhere. As we made sure we were not full of shrapnel Joker came over my comm,

"Commander. We have a problem! That ship, Sovereign, just pulled a turn that would've torn any of our ships in half. It's on its way back here, and fast."

"Rodger that Joker. We'll wrap this up ASAP!"

From the terminal where the Asari had been working, I lowered a walkway outside to let us into the breeding labs. There was resistance from a small number of Krogan, but they seemed slow and sluggish, almost as if they had only just been awakened from a deep slumber. Through sheer weight of firepower, we were able to bring them down and fight our way into the lab. As soon as we burst through the door a Krogan leapt out with a shotgun in one hand and a handgun in the other,

"You will not destroy my work! This is the salvation of my people."

A heavy shot from my Widow put the Krogan on his back, a sizable chunk of his head missing. When it was clear that there were no more enemies present in the chamber we carried on at full speed, running past hundreds of breeding tanks containing Krogan that were still asleep, or possibly not even alive yet.

"This is not how my people will be saved!" Wrex bellowed angrily.