Log 32
Date: 20TH DEC 2186
Location: EARTH RESISTANCE HEADQUATERS, LONDON, UK
I had a talk with Shepard later that night over the QEC. I don't think I've ever seen him look so defeated before. To say the least, his latest mission hadn't gone well (not that I'm blaming him in the slightest).
The mission was focused on the Catalyst, a final component needed for the Crucible (the Reaper killing superweapon the Alliance has been working on). The trouble is we've no idea what it might be as it's only referenced by name in the Prothean schematics Shepard retrieved from Mars. The Asari Councilor had recently suggested that he might find a lead on this component at the sacred Temple of Athame on Thessia, the Asari homeworld. Grasping at straws perhaps but with the entire galaxy rapidly falling to the Reapers we desperately need to know how to complete the weapon before we lose the ability to act on the information.
By all accounts he set off at top speed, pushing even the Normandy's engines too their limits but even that wasn't enough. According to him by the time he'd reached the Asari homeworld the Reaper invasion was already underway. Given the vital nature of his mission he was granted some token help to get him to the temple but most aid was withheld so it could be used to help defend the planet.
As it turned out the temple was simply a cover being used to disguise something the Asari have apparently been hiding for the last two thousand years or so, a Prothean Beacon. Kept secret from the rest of the Council the Beacon had allowed the Asari constant access to a repository of Prothean knowledge. Which certainly explains the superiority of Asari technology, every few years bringing an amazing new breakthrough in one field or another. I have to admit I felt disgust when Shepard told me about it. If the Asari had allowed the beacon be studied freely by all races who knows how much more we might've learned?
Proving my point nicely is the fact that Shepard's prior experience with Prothean Beacons allowed him to fully activate it within minutes and access a VI stored within the device. The interactive program was made for Protheans but apparently the designer had considered the possibility that it might be activated by the next cycle, by us. It confirmed everything we already believed to be true about the device except for one important detail, it wasn't designed by the Protheans. Apparently as far as the Protheans could tell each cycle attempts to build the Crucible as a final effort to stop the Reapers. Each modifying and refining the original design, iterative design done using thousands of different engineers over millions of years. No one has ever managed to successfully deploy it.
The way everything's going, I think I'm beginning to understand what it must have been like in previous cycles. The desperate burning through of resources while all around us the galaxy itself is burning. Sometimes I can't help but wonder if there ever an equivalent of me in previous cycles. Probably I'd imagine, it's a pretty basic instinct common to all sentient life I've seen (excluding Reapers) to want to protect your homeland. When I hear about other cycles I can't help but wonder who else led a resistance like mine? How well did they do? How long did they last?
The Prothean VI believed the odds were against us but agreed to interface with our systems to assist with the completion of the weapon. Unfortunately that's when Cerberus reared its ugly head again. The organization has been severely damaged at this stage; having lost their bases on Earth and Omega and several of their top people. I think what's left of them now is just a husk, desperately pursuing the Illusive Man's insane goal of controlling the Reapers.
But they do still have assets at their disposal not least of which is the Illusive Man's personal enforcer Kai Leng. He lead the Cerberus incursion on Thessia and managed to steal the Prothean VI. He even managed to defeat the Commander (you could argue the Cerberus gunship helped) and get away with the data. The loss seems to have shaken Shepard pretty badly, I'm worried about him. When he found the VI, I think he thought he'd be able to end the war in a single stroke. I did my best to encourage him and help get him back on his feet. He's still going now, laser focused on getting the data back. Funnily enough I don't recall that Shepard's ever failed like this before which is astonishing in and of itself. It's cruel that the one man who should have no reason to be ashamed of a single defeat, loses at the one time when failure is not an option. God help Kai Leng when he catches up with him is all I can say.
In truth this is my fault far more than it's Shepard's. Before the war but still not all that long ago I had an opportunity to kill Leng myself. I had the man at gunpoint but if I wanted to take him in alive I would have had to let a kid die. There was no way to keep Leng secured and get medical attention for the boy and I don't regret saving him. But I do regret that my morals had demanded I try to capture Leng and not just blow his arrogant head off. You could say I couldn't have known that he'd go on to threaten our one best hope for survival but I knew well enough that he was going to cause some kind of trouble down the line.
In any case I intend to make amends. Shepard will continue to hunt for the Catalyst but I'm looking for something else: a reliable means of killing a Reaper. Xi Chan and I have mapped out a plan that (if it works) should allow us to do exactly that. Our first test subject? Harbinger.
Some might question the logic of going after the oldest, strongest Reaper first but it's not just about getting some payback (though that would be nice). Ideally the technique we're trying to develop will later be applied to help us take down dozens of Reapers but I have to be realistic. The Reapers might attempt to wipe us out after the first attempt or they might eventually adapt to our strategy. This might only be a one shot deal and if that's the case I want to go after their leader and bring that leviathan down.
For this mission, a group of us gathered discretely in a small chamber on one of the lower levels. We keep our numbers low, just the five of us, at the meeting. The fewer of us are involved the less chance of our plans being betrayed to the Reapers. I arrived first bringing Lara and Xi Chan with me. The next to arrive is another Justicar, the famous Matriarch Ophelia who I had spotted as I arrived the previous day. Having seen Lara in action so many times I thought I understood the power of the Justicar well enough but this lady took 'formidable' to a whole new level.
Standing at about six and a half feet tall and protected by ornate red armor that subtly complimented her deep purple completion she looked around the room with disdain and supreme confidence. The room was strewn with debris and other obstacles but she maneuvered round them without once breaking her gaze from her objective. Her movements were perfect, poised and controlled. She saw what to do and moved herself into position her eyes constantly alert to new threats and dangers.
The last member of our group was considerably less refined but no less welcome. Rupert had been introduced to me as the leader of the Irish Resistance cell. His military career began the day of the Reaper invasion but during that time he'd proven himself to be highly competent. Even I was astonished by the fortitude he'd shown in the face of the Dublin massacre. In spite of the slaughter he'd kept his head and thus saved most of his men. It didn't hurt that he had a burning desire for revenge against Harbinger (who had led the massacre) either. In my hunt for trustworthy allies he seemed like a good bet.
"So what's the plan then, Admiral?" He asked as he arrived.
"I think it's over to Xi Chan to explain that," I replied.
Xi Chan gave me a small nod and stepped forward.
"We believe, that -uh is to say we hope that we have found a weakness that we can exploit against the Reapers."
There was considerable interest from the group at this statement.
"What sort of weakness?" Asked Ophelia.
"Well perhaps it's best if I explain how we reached our conclusion first," said Xi Chan nervously.
"The first thing we noticed is that so far we have only seen Harbinger and other Reapers seize so called 'direct control' over Marauders."
"And?"
"Well it got us wondering why just Marauders?" I said.
"Why not take control of any unit close to one of their targets? We've seen that taking direct control makes that specific unit much more effective in combat, why not use Brutes or Harvesters instead?"
"Alright then, why don't they?" Asked Rupert.
Xi Chan and I glanced at each other for a moment.
"We think it's because they don't have a choice," I said.
"Really?" Asked the Matriarch frowning.
"I've had reports from the Justicar that traveled with Shepard that Harbinger controlled the Collectors when he wished as well."
"That still conforms to our current theory," clarified Xi Chan, taking over the explanation from me.
"The Reapers had control over the Collectors for thousands of years, easily enough time to develop an interface for taking control of that race."
"And you suspect the technology must be adapted for each new species which takes time," the Justicar deduced.
"That is our current theory yes."
"Hang on a second," objected Rupert. "The Marauders are created from Turians. Far as I know they haven't had any longer to study the birds than they have any other species."
"Except that they did," I cut in. "With Saren."
"Saren was a rogue Turian Spectre that fell under the influence of a Reaper left behind after the previous cycle, a sort of advanced guard for the invasion you might say. As far as we know that Reaper, named Sovereign had years to scan and experiment with Saren."
"But Saren and Sovereign were both destroyed during the battle of the Citadel over three years ago."
"The Reapers often referred to Sovereign as a 'Vanguard', an advance scout sent to keep track of the progress of our galactic civilization. It makes sense that each Vanguard would record all the data it gathered on this cycle to aid the main Reaper fleet in its invasion. We believe this would all be stored in a predetermined safe location including everything Sovereign learned from experimenting on Saren."
"An interesting theory, but how does any of this help us defeat the Reapers?" Enquired the Matriarch.
"Well Sovereign was the ship that made the attack on the Citadel almost three years prior to the start of the war. The Reaper was relying on Saren to give it control of the station. Unfortunately for Sovereign, Saren was killed before he could complete his task so it was forced to take direct control of his body and defend the position from Shepard. We believe it used an early prototype version of the control interface used on the Marauders." Xi Chan went on to explain.
"But when Commander Shepard put the resurrected Saren out of action it caused the interface to malfunction, generating a feedback loop that disabled the actual Reaper."
"And you believe that we can reuse the same effect against Harbinger? How can you be sure the Reapers haven't adapted to this threat?"
"You're right of course, the Reapers have adapted a defense but the underlying vulnerability still exists," Xi explained before holding up a small disk.
"This contains a computer virus I developed while waiting for the Admiral to arrive in London. Thanks to the feedback loop a simply titanic amount of data is exchanged between the Reaper and its puppet when that puppet is killed. Enough to effectively hide any malicious code the puppet might be infected with."
"So if the virus is uploaded to the implants of the Marauder that Harbinger is controlling and then the Marauder is killed?"
"Then it should be successfully uploaded to Harbinger itself," Xi Chan confirmed.
"But it's not going to be easy, we'll need full support from all of you to make this work," I cautioned.
"If this plan has a chance of bringing down that monster then the Justicar Order will see it done," stated Matriarch Ophelia.
"And we'll be joining you as well but what about that General of yours? Shouldn't we be telling him about all this as well?"
Asked Rupert seeming confused as to the exclusion of such a high ranking officer.
"I've asked Coberg to oversee our intelligence gathering missions for the Alliance with Pierre (head of the Paris resistance)." I explained. Rupert still seemed confused with my choice but the others understood what I had left unspoken. I was no longer prepared to trust Coberg with anything so secret.
"There is one other issue we have to deal with," I continued (mostly as a distraction from my decision about Coberg).
"According to my earlier chat with Xi Chan in order to make this idea work he needs access to recorded communications sent by Harbinger. To that end we've located an enemy communications tower about five klicks from this position. Take the rest of the day to prepare because tomorrow we take the fight to the enemy."
As the group dispersed to begin making their preparations, Lara remained behind to speak with me.
"Are you sure putting Coberg in charge of surveillance operations is wise? It's still a critical area."
"We can't shut him out entirely, we can't let him know about this project and I refuse to put him in charge of base defenses so what else is there? He's being insulated as much as possible from mission specific details."
"I still don't trust him, no matter how much you try to restrict his access without raising his suspicion he could still find some way around those limits."
"Then it's a good thing you ordered Karlakh to keep a close eye on him," I said but she remained quiet.
"You did give the order, didn't you?"
"Yes of course I did."
"And I've made sure Major Coats stays close at hand too. If Coberg does try something we'll have a better chance of getting some evidence of his indoctrination. Once we have that we can go to the others and get him removed."
"I hope it works," she noted.
"But that's not the only thing I'm worried about. This plan of yours-"
"Having second thoughts already?" I asked.
"No, my first duty is to the Justicar Order and it looks like you managed to convince my sisters."
"But?"
"This is dangerous Anderson. Why risk so much when we're so close to-"
"To what?" I asked. "What have you heard?"
"Rumors have been going round about there being some way for the Reapers to be defeated. I thought it was crazy until I someone told me that Shepard was going to Thessia to finish it."
So she hadn't heard the news, frankly I hardly felt that I was the right person to break it to her but she had a right to know. I sighed heavily, delaying the moment I'd have to tell her.
"Commander Shepard failed that mission," I said finally.
"I spoke with him this morning about it. It was because of Cerberus."
"And Thessia? Did you hear any news about Thessia?"
"Nothing good. The Reapers gained complete control over the planet about two hours after Shepard was forced to evacuate. I'm sorry."
Lara closed her eyes and remained silent for a long time. It wasn't long before her tears started flowing freely down her face as she wept. I'm not sure what response I was expecting from her but it certainly wasn't this. I turned away and made to leave so that she could grieve privately but her voice called me back.
"It's funny, I was always taught that the Justicar way, abandoning everyone from my old life, would make this easier. But now I think back to old colleagues, old friends and I don't even know if they were still living on the Homeworld or not."
I turned back to face her.
"Even if they are on Thessia, we know better than most that there's still hope, even under occupation. And Shepard will come through for us in the end even if I have to kick him back into gear occasionally."
She managed a small smile.
"I hope so and thank you for everything you've done Admiral."
"Could you let your let your sisters know? I think it would be better coming from one of their own."
She nodded and then departed leaving me to my thoughts.
Earth, Palaven, Thessia and so many other worlds are all now under Reaper control. The longer this war goes on the more their efforts to eradicate our populations accelerate. We need a way to stop the Reapers but failing that we at least need the means to fight them. In short, we need this to work.