Author's Note: Hey everybody, it's me. Sorry for not getting this out sooner, but I have limited access to computers. I don't know how fast I can get out chapters, so some waiting is going to be necessary. I tried something different with this chapter, and divided it into text chunks instead of spacing out dialogue. Anyways, on with the story.

BLACK SPEECH TRANSLATIONS: "Shrakh" translates to Shit, garbage, rubbish, etc., "Fuavile efforavuk. Nowu lat mat." translates to "Futile efforts. Now you die.", "Pauzûlshapât" translates to "Sword of demons", and "kurv" translates to whore.

Chapter Six: Noveria

It had been roughly 5 hours since Liara spoke with Dâgalûr. In the meantime, Dâgalûr decided to catch up on some sleep. When he awoke, he took an old, stale piece of bread, wriggling maggots making holes all throughout it, out of another sack on his belt, and decided to have a bite to eat. As he finished off the last bit of the bread, Shepard called up more squadmates for the next mission.

"Liara and Dâgalûr," she said, "Report to the Command Deck." Dâgalûr got up and proceeded to the elevator, climbed the stairs, and met Shepard and Liara at the Command Deck. "Dâgalûr, I know what to expect from you. Liara, i expect you to do your best." "I plan on it, Commander." The three proceeded to the Normandy's exit, and the door closed behind them. The automated voice said, "Equalizing interior pressure with exterior atmosphere. Logged. The commanding officer is ashore. XO Pressly has the deck." The three exited the ship, and were blasted with cold gusts of wind. They knew this mission would probably be as unforgiving and harsh as the environment.

They continued around the corner, only to be greeted by two human women and a turian, who appeared to be guards. The supposed leader of the three decided to speak up. "That's far enough." Shepard spoke on the both Liara's and Dâgalûr's behalf. "We're not here to cause problems." "This is an unscheduled arrival. I need your credentials." "I'm a Spectre. My name is Shepard." The second woman interjected, "Load of horsecrap, ma'am." "We will need to confirm that. Also, I must advise you that firearms are not permitted on Noveria. Sergeant Sterling, secure their weapons."

The second woman attempted to get closer to the three to take their weaponry from them, but Dâgalûr almost instantly grabbed an arrow from his quiver and drew his bow, Liara started to flare up her biotics, and Shepard drew her pistol. Shepard and Dâgalûr especially would not let anybody take their weapons for any reason. "You touch them, an' I'll put some good maggot-holes in your bellies!" "Nobody takes my weapon." "Charge and lock! We're authorized to use lethal force. You have to the count of three to surrender your weapons." This only pissed Dâgalûr off further, and he proceeded to utter low, deep growls to try to intimidate the guards. "One...two...thr-"

She was cut off by a voice over the intercom. "Captain Matsuo, stand down! We confirmed their identity. Spectres are authorized to carry weapons here, Captain." "You may proceed, Spectre. I hope the rest of your visit will be less confrontational. Parasini-san will meet you upstairs." Sergeant Sterling spoke up again, "Behave yourself." Both parties stood down and sheathed their weapons, as Shepard's crew passed through the next door, but not before Dâgalûr snarled at Sterling.

The three went up a flight of stairs to meet Gianna Parasini. Shepard began to speak to Parasini, but Dâgalûr began to drift off. His hearing was muffled, and his vision became blurry. The roar of a fire, getting louder and louder, was the only thing he could hear. A loud shriek hurt his ears, and his vision faded to black. Out of the darkness, the Great Eye appeared to him, glorious power almost radiating from it. It spoke to him, Sauron's voice loud and echoing. "Dâgalûr… I SEE YOU…. Armstrong…" Dâgalûr was abruptly drawn from his state and found that the conversation had ended, but nobody seemed to notice what was going on with Dâgalûr.

Liara had to talk to Shepard, so Dâgalûr drifted off and took in his surroundings. He noticed Shepard and Liara were moving along, so he followed. They took an elevator down to their destination, and a pre-recorded elevator message began. "Welcome to Port Hanshan, the galaxy's most respected site for independent scientific research and development. For your own safety, and to protect the privacy of others, you are required to obey any directions given by our security personnel. If you have questions or concerns, our friendly administrative staff is always available. Thank you, and enjoy your stay."

They got off the elevator, and began wandering the area until they found Parasini at her desk. Shepard and her had a chat, but Dâgalûr had a small headache and ringing ears, so he wasn't paying attention. He followed Shepard to the office behind the desk, and his afflictions seemed to go away completely. The salarian behind the desk in the office began to speak to Shepard. "You will excuse me if I don't stand up. I have no time to entertain spaceborn vagabonds." Dâgalûr already knew he wasn't going to like this guy. "I see you looked up my service record." "Only a fool enters negotiation without knowledge of the other party's tendencies. This greeting is a courtesy. I will only cooperate as required by the Executive Board. Businesses come here to avoid the second guessing of galactic law." "I'm not here to investigate your tenants." "Nevertheless, I have a responsibility to keep you away from them. Spectres are not encumbered by a need for due process." The conversation continued deeper and deeper, but Anoleis wouldn't relent.

Dâgalûr got fed up with it. "Forget this useless shrakh. We can get what we need elsewhere." Shepard agreed, and the three stepped out, but Parasini approached them, as she'd overheard everything that happened in the office. "You've never worked in the corporate world, have you, Commander? You can't bludgeon through bureaucracy." "I can bludgeon pretty hard." This got a chuckle out of Dâgalûr. "Talk to Lorik Qui'in. You should be able to find him at the hotel bar. Can't say more. Not within earshot of Mr. Anoleis." :I've taken up enough of your time." "Not at all, Spectre. This is my job, after all." The three left the room and made their way to the hotel's bar.

They reached an elevator on the other side of the massive lobby, and ascended to the bar. They approached a turian at one of the tables, who they believed to be Lorik. "Afternoon. Sit down. Have a drink. What can I do for you?" "Are you Lorik Qui'in? I've heard you might be able to help me." "You are the Spectre that just arrived, are you not? What could an old turian like me possibly help you with?" 'I'm trying to find a way into the garage. I have places to go." "You need a pass. How fortuitous. I'm the manager of the local Synthetic Insights office. For the moment, at least. Mr. Anoleis closed my office. He claims to be investigating reports of my corruption. The administrator is an interesting man. He has become quite wealthy since he took control of rents." "I sense a connection there." "Indeed. I acquired evidence of Anoleis' actions. His hired goons are ransacking my office to find it. I suspect your goal lies outside this port. Mr. Anoleis would be disinclined to let you wander. If you recover the evidence from my office, I will give you my garage pass, as well as a sum of credits." "You have a plan?" "I do. However, there is one other… oh, what is that charming human expression? "Fly in the lotion"? Violence against Mr. Anoleis' thugs may be necessary. He has members of Hanshan's security team searching my offices. He's paying them under the table. Ms. Matsuo is unaware of their outside employment."

"If he's paying them under the table, they're mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Dâgalûr formed a twisted smile of excitement at the prospect of killing someone. "Excellent! Here is my pass into our offices. It will activate the elevator. The evidence is on my office computer. This OSD contains an encryption key to access it. Slide it into the drive and it will auto-execute. Oh, and do try to keep blood stains off the carpets, would you?" The three then left for the Synthetic Insights office, prepared to kill if necessary.

They disabled the security cameras in the offices, took the elevator, and got to the Synthetic Insights elevator. When they reached the top, they were greeted by two security officers that were searching the office. "Freeze! Hanshan security. This office is sealed." "What'll you do if I don't?" "You're the Spectre, right? Lorik Qui'in is under investigation." "Anoleis is paying you to shake this place down. Does Captain Matsuo know you're here?" "Hey, I'm not the one who wants Qui'in. Anoleis has a varren up his ass about this guy. How bout this? You pretend you didn't see us, we'll pretend we didn't see you."The guards passed by the three, but as soon as they entered the office, the guards open fired on them. Liara's biotics flung one of the guards across the room, Shepard's pistol blew one guard's brains out, and Dâgalûr's arrows made the last guard look like a pin cushion of flesh. They then retrieved the evidence from Lorik's computer, and headed for the exit. As they reached the center of the office, they were greeted by Sergeant Sterling from earlier, as well as a couple of guards.

"I don't think you're supposed to be in here, Shepard." "Do you plan on making me leave?" "Leave? You think I'm gonna let you walk out? Uh-uh." Dâgalûr snarled and drew his sword, as he knew this would end in bloodshed. "Anoleis would throw you off world for what you did here. I won't. You know what we did to cop killers on my world?" "Did they skin em' alive? Cause' that's what I'm gonna do to ya if you don't scram." Shepard continued, "If you want a fight, I'll give you one." "You talk the talk. Let's see if you can walk after I break your legs." "Your meat'll taste pretty good when I flay your still-twitching corpse to get to it, you whore!" A firefight ensued and Shepard gave Sterling a good pistol shot between the eyes. The other guards were finished off with a singularity and a bone-crushing bite to the neck. Dâgalûr kept his promise, and kneeled down at Sterling's corpse. He took out a filleting knife, took off the armor at her midsection, and began removing her skin with a filleting motion. He opened up a small, blood-soaked sack and began putting the meat taken from her corpse into it for later. He salted the meat, closed the bag, and gave it a little shake so the salt could get all over the meat to preserve it for longer. Liara was horrified by this, but Shepard knew Dâgalûr's tendencies, as she'd seen him drink turian blood back on the Citadel. As Shepard and Liara headed back for the elevator, Dâgalûr sunk his teeth deep into Sterling's stomach to get one last mouthful before he left. He headed back to the elevator with them, and they all headed back for the bar.

As they stepped out of the elevator, Parasini greeted them with a slightly worried look on her face. Dâgalûr's headache and the ringing sounds in his ears had returned in full force, and had become much worse this time around. On top of that, his vision started to get blurry, and every color he saw was red, as if someone had put a red filter over his eyes. He didn't listen to anything Parasini or Shepard was saying, as he could barely hear or see. He still followed them up to the bar, however, and approached Lorik. Shepard spoke with him, then went back to speak with Parasini again. The next thing Dâgalûr knew, Parasini was placing Mr. Anoleis under arrest, but he had no idea why. The three headed to the garage, showed the officer on duty the garage pass, and entered. The second the cold wind of the outside world hit Dâgalûr's face, his symptoms went away.

In the back of the garage, however, a geth hopper decided to rear its photoreceptor, and called for several more geth troops to attack. "That damn Matriarch had MORE of these robotic bastards with her? Is there an endless horde of them?" Dâgalûr said as he nailed one of them to a wall with an arrow. After dealing with the geth, several security personnel, including Captain Matsuo, entered the room. Dâgalûr wasn't interested in listening to Shepard and the Captain, so he wandered off to go collect his arrows. Dâgalûr joined in with Shepard and Liara as they headed for the nearest Mako. Shepard popped open the top and all three of them climbed in.

As the vehicle left the garage, Dâgalûr's vision started to fade to black, and the noises of gunshots and explosions all around him began to become quiet. The loud roar of a fire began to take Dâgalûr's ears, as he heard a bloodcurdling screech. He knew the only place such a ghastly howl could come from was the Wraiths. The Nazgûl were near.

He began to regain his sight, and what he saw before him was Minas Morgul, the dead city, illuminated by the pale green glow of corpselight. Orc howls and roars were echoing throughout the city and carried across the Mountains of Shadow. The gates of the city opened, and out of the green glow came the Ringwraiths, figures of shadow, cloaked in black, tattered robes. They rode atop monstrous horses, eyes red like manblood. These mounts carried their masters across the bridge over the foul, poisoned waters. They shrieked and screamed the words "SHIRE… BAGGINS…" Dâgalûr's best guess was that Sauron had sent them out to find the Ring, and kill all who kept it from him. As they got closer and closer to Dâgalûr, his strength left him and his vision began to fade again. When the wraiths passed by him, he collapsed and his vision returned to darkness. The roar of fire assaulted his ears again, and the visage of the Great Eye was before him. Sauron's presence could be felt, and his voice entered Dâgalûr's mind. "DÂGALÛR…" His voice was much louder than it was the first time. "I SEE YOU… NAZGÛL WILL FIND THE RING… ALL WILL BOW BEFORE ME… AGAINST THE POWER OF MORDOR… THERE CAN BE NO VICTORY... TRAITORS… ARMSTRONG… GAGARIN… RAYINGRI… KILL THEM ALL..."

Dâgalûr was suddenly awakened by a bright flash of light, and he began to regain his senses of vision and hearing. He could hear Liara's muffled voice saying "Is he alright?" "I don't know. Dâgalûr, can you hear me?" He tried to nod his head, but his body had gone stiff. He began to moan to try and signal a 'yes'. 'I think he heard that. Try something else." Shepard began to violently shake Dâgalûr, and he could finally move again. His senses had been restored, and he could move again. "Stop, Shepard! I'm awake!" "What the hell happened? It looked like you were having a seizure." "I don't know what happened. I blacked out… and he beckoned to me." "Who?" "The Great Eye. The dead city appeared to me. Sauron commanded me to… well, I can't figure out what everything meant, but we can discuss it when we get back to the ship." "Did it impair your ability to fight? If it did, you've gotta go back to the ship." "I think I'll manage. Let's just get going." Shepard complied, and they made their way to Peak 15.

As Shepard had eliminated most of the opposing geth troops while Dâgalûr was out cold, the trip was fairly quick. When they reached the facility, they exited the Mako and headed inside. The second they entered the complex, Dâgalur began to feel a pounding headache, his ears began to ring, and all colors were shades of red. A voice in the back of his head commanded him to search and devour all who stood in his way. He could see the outlines of the living through walls, and began to develop a desire to hunt them all down and eat from them. His senses of hearing and smell increased so that he could tell where his prey hid without having to use his eyes, and his gray gums began sprouting multiple rows of sharpened teeth. His irises became blood red, and the outer portions of his eyes blackened. He had become feral, and his will had been consumed by the Uruk Blood-Rage.

He abandoned his weapons, as he only needed his teeth and blade-tipped gauntlets, and his helmet, revealing his short, black hair and pointed ears. He charged through the next door, and walked straight into an ambush. As a Geth Juggernaut charged him, Dâgalûr let out a triumphant roar to assert his dominance and charged it head on. He began to rip and tear at its legs until there was nothing but stumps covered in white synthetic blood. He gazed right into its photoreceptor and ripped it out of the juggernaut's head, causing it to wildly screech and cry out until it bled to death. Krogan mercenaries began to charge Dâgalûr with shotguns, but this proved to be a poor choice, as Dâgalûr sunk his teeth into the arm of the first krogan, causing him to scream in pain as the teeth sunk in deeper and deeper, until Dâgalûr reached the bone and snapped right through it with a swift bite. The krogan fell to the ground screaming, and Dâgalûr turned to the second krogan. The krogan tried using biotics on him, but Dâgalûr didn't even move. He used a shotgun to try and stop him, but it didn't even leave marks on his armor, let alone hurt him. He grabbed the krogan by the shoulders and said "Fuavile efforavuk. Nowu lat mat." The first krogan got up and tried to stop Dâgalûr, but Dâgalûr just grabbed him by the neck and began to choke him with one hand. He then bit into the neck of the second krogan and began to drink from him, as the first watched in horror. Dâgalûr shifted his attention to the first, and did the exact same thing.

After both of the krogan finally died, Dâgalûr garabed the face of one and began to eat it, tearing through bone, flesh, and scale, all the while making a disgusting crunch noise. Shepard and Liara had heard everything, and were too horrified to leave the first room of the facility. Dâgalûr, halfway through eating the face of the krogan, regained control of his own will once more. The Blood-Rage had passed.

Shepard and Liara quickly entered the room, weapons drawn. The sight they walked in on was a terrible one; the Juggernaut lied on the ground, the photoreceptor ripped from its socket, with stumps where its legs were. The krogan mercenaries were thrown about, their orange blood painting the room. Liara almost vomited when she saw that one of the mercenaries had his face half eaten, including an eye, and the half down to nothing but bone. Metal clanks could be heard near the entrance of the room. Shepard and Liara looked back to see Dâgalûr, covered in orange blood, picking up his weapons and helmet. Shepard yelled across the room to him, trying to figure out what had happened. "What the hell did you do here?" "Are you talking to me?" "Yeah. What happened?" "It was the Blood-Rage. It took me in its grasp and wouldn't let go." "What the hell are you going on about? Only krogan have been known to go into Blood Rages. Is that why you obliterated that geth and those krogan?" "Yes, it was. The Blood-Rage is a natural occurrence in us Uruk. It happens about once about every two months, when our primal instincts to kill and our thirst for blood take full control. Once an Uruk begins a Blood-Rage, they'll attack anything they can find. Rows of teeth grow in, our vision allows us to see targets through walls, and we abandon the use of weapons. It doesn't stop until either the Uruk's thirst for violence and death has been quenched, or after about a half an hour has passed without killing something. I've been able to suppress my Blood-Rages for over fifty years, but the unfamiliar sights and sounds must've allowed it to start." "So you're saying that if we had sent you back to the ship, you could've killed the entire crew?" "Yes. I would've tried to kill both of you, too, if you hadn't hid. I could've chained myself up to try and stop myself, but there was no guarantee that the chain wouldn't've broke. It's over, and we can move on." "Then let's go."

The three continued further into the complex as a voice spoke over the intercom. They entered a small room with turrets facing the wrong way, and found an elevator to the next level. The next room was quite large, but geth were lying in wait for an ambush. They were dispatched of quickly, but a piercing, insect-like squeal was uttered from the vent shafts, and footsteps could be heard. Dâgalûr grabbed another arrow and set its head aflame with his pyromancy. "Come out, come out, wherever you are, you little shrakh." He said, pulling on his bow string. As the three passed by a small office, the creature from the vents dropped down, and another attacked from the front with several smaller ones. The creatures had the faces of shellfish, but their bodies had four outgoing legs. They possessed long, tentacle like whips with which to attack. "Ungol!" Dâgalûr shouted as his flaming arrow pierced the hide of the one from the vents, causing it to cry out in pain as it began to burn alive. The swarm was dealt with in the bullet storm coming from Shepard's assault rifle, and the second one was thrown across the room by Liara.

They began to search the complex, finding more of the creatures. They found an elevator an ascended to the next level, only to be greeted by more creatures. The room they had entered appeared to be a control room of some sorts, containing entrances to multiple locations. "The damage here is not extensive. It could be repaired." The voice from the intercom spoke once more, demanding a manual reboot. Shepard descended the core of the VI, repaired it, and conversed with it in order to find a way to Benezia. Shepard returned up, and instructed Liara and Dâgalûr to follow her to the elevator to the Main Reactor. Geth waited for them when they arrived, but they were dealt with quickly. Shepard repaired the fuel lines, and the party headed back to the control room. More of the creatures began ascending through an open part of the floor, but they weren't a major threat. The party took the elevator to the roof, and were met with more creatures. Shepard repaired the landlines after the creatures were eliminated, and activated a VI terminal to speak with Mira, the VI from earlier.

They took the elevator back to the control room, only to be met with even more creatures crawling up from the open vent in the floor. Dâgalûr was getting irritated now. "Do these monsters ever stop coming?" The elevator to the Transit Hub was now active, and the party used it to try to get to the Matriarch's location. In the first room of the next level, two of the creatures were sealed in in an adjacent room, with a large window separating them from the party. "At least the filthy little shrakhs are locked in." A body was lying on the ground on their side of the room, in the back corner. A hazy recording revealed that the man had killed himself before the creatures could. "So he offed himself because o' those creatures?" "He must've felt there was no hope in surviving. Killing himself would be easier." Shepard had to override the lock on the doors fencing the creatures in, so that they could pass through. As nobody had enough knowledge of electronics, the creatures had to be confronted head on. They were slaughtered with relative ease, and the party pressed on to the Transit Station.

They boarded a tram to the Rift Station, and got to the opposite station fairly quickly. When they arrived at the next station, they took the nearest elevator up to the next level. Instead of creatures threatening them, however, this time guards pointed their weapons at them. The captain had to order the guards to sheath their weapons. "Stand down. Sorry, we couldn't be sure what was on the tram." "I'd do the same. What's going on here?" "Bugs. Zillions of em', coming up the tunnels from the hot labs. My team's been running on stims for days. Look, you're human, and that's enough that I won't shoot. But I'd like to know who you are." "My name's Shepard. I'm a spectre." "Huh. I won't look a heavily-armed horse in the mouth. The aliens overran the hot labs last week. Only Han Olar got out, and he ain't all there anymore. The first we knew, the bastards were clawing into my command post. We had a lot more staff then." "You were taken by surprise and had civilians to protect. You did a good job, Captain." "Yeah? Sure as hell doesn't feel like it. The board sent an asari to clean up the mess. She went to the hot labs yesterday. We haven't heard from her since." "I'm not going to let any of your people die." "All I can do is hold out here and protect the civilians. There's an emergency elevator out by the trams. This card will let you activate it. It can take you down to the hot labs. Oh, if you need any first aid, Dr. Cohen's downstairs in the med bay." "I've got work to do." "Yeah, I hear th-"

Gunshots and the screeches and cries of the creatures cut the captain off. "Hell! Man the perimeter!" The creatures began to crawl up in the open vent behind the party, but the continuous stream of bullets and arrows managed to ward them off. "Thanks for the help. Every few hours, a group comes up the tram tunnel. It's actually better since we locked down the elevator." "I'll do whatever I can." "I don't know why they keep throwing themselves against our defenses. Even animals should learn not to stick their noses where it hurts."

Shepard and the party headed into the mess hall, and Shepard began to question the civilians in the area. She headed down a flight of stairs to be greeted by Dr. Cohen, who was trying to resuscitate two people. Shepard inquired on what had happened to them, and Dr. Cohen said that an antidote could be synthesized in a contaminated area. Shepard headed back to the mess hall, and had to argue with a turian guard to try to get into the area that was supposedly contaminated. Shepard quickly synthesized an antidote, but was cornered by an asari and two geth, who were all in league with the Matriarch. Dâgalûr let out a bull-like roar and charged the asari head on, who was overwhelmed by a 300 pound half-Uruk tackling her. As the geth were dispatched of, Dâgalûr decided to simply break the asari's neck with his hands, as he had no interest in eating anymore. The party left the area, only to find the turian guard dead on the ground. Shepard questioned the sole survivor of the original outbreak of the creatures, Han Olar, and found out that the creatures that had been continuously assaulting the security team and the party were the long dead Rachni. Shepard was skeptical, Liara was amazed, and Dâgalûr didn't care. The squad headed back to Dr. Cohen, who gave them some medi-gel and a pass to get into the maintenance area. Shepard lead the squad into the maintenance area, which was coated in ice and snow, and encountered more rachni, which were killed off just as all of the ones the squad had come across were.

The squad didn't know that the maintenance area was actually a shortcut to the back of the hot labs, which was where the Matriarch was hiding out. As soon as they left maintenence, they were confronted with the target they had spent all this time looking for. The Matriarch spoke in a condescending tone, cold and almost lifeless. "You do not know the privilege of being a mother. There is power in creation. To shape a life. Turn it towards happiness or despair. Her children were to be ours." She referenced the massive Rachni in a holding cell, which was screeching and trying to escape. "Raised to hunt and slay Saren's enemies. I won't be moved by sympathy. No matter who you bring into this confrontation." "Liara's here because she's a member of my crew." "Indeed? What have you told her about me, Liara?" "What could I say, mother? That you're insane? Evil? Should I explain how to kill you? What could I say?" "Have you faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have." "But I am no mere human. I am half-Uruk!" Dâgalûr shouted as he drew Pauzûlshapât from his belt, its blade whispering in the tongue of Mordor, fouling the air around it. "I can't believe you'd kill your own daughter." "I now realize I should have been stricter with her."

The Matriarch used biotics to cement the squad in place as asari commandos entered to protect her. When the squad regained control again, the commandos flung Shepard around like a ragdoll, but Dâgalûr cleaved through them like a knife through butter. Shepard fell to the ground with a thud, and applied medi gel to herself as a second wave of commandos was called in alongside a few geth units. The commandos were quickly eliminated with Liara's pistol as Shepard riddled the geth with bullets. Another wave was called in to stop the squad, but they knew the routine by now. Benezia was weakened with each passing wave, and was on her last legs after the third wave.

"This is not over. Saren is unstoppable. My mind is filled with his light. Everything is clear." "The rachni didn't cooperate with you, why should I?" "I will not betray him. You will...you...you must listen. Saren still whispers in my mind. I can fight his compulsions. Briefly. But the indoctrination is strong." "So you could turn on me again?" "Yes. But it would not be my will, Shepard. People are not themselves around Saren. You come to idolize him. Worship him. You would do anything for him. The key is Sovereign, his flagship. It is a dreadnought of incredible size and its power is extraordinary." "The ship that attacked Eden Prime? I didn't think anything that size could land on a planet." "It has a very powerful mass effect drive. But that is not Sovereign's true power. The longer you stay aboard, the more Saren's will seems correct. You sit at his feet and smile as his words pour into you. It is subtle at first. I thought I was strong enough to resist. Instead I became a willing tool, eager to serve. He sent me here to find the location of the Mu Relay. Its position was lost thousands of years ago." "Someone on Noveria found it?" "Two thousand years ago, the rachni inhabited that region of our galaxy. They discovered the relay. The rachni can share memories across generations. Queens inherit the knowledge of their mothers. I took the location of the relay from the queen's mind. I was not gentle." "You can still make it right. Give me the information." "I was not myself, but - I should have been stronger. I transcribed the data to an OSD. Take it. Please." Liara stepped into the conversation. "Knowing the relay's coordinates is not enough. Do you know where he planned to go from there?" "Saren wouldn't tell me his destination. But you must find out quickly. I transmitted the coordinates to him before you arrived. You have to stop - me. I can't - His teeth are at my ear. Fingers on my spine. You should - uh, you should -" "Mother, I - Don't leave! Fight him!" "You've always made me proud, Liara!"

She paused as Saren's will overtook her mind once more. "-Die!" She suddenly attacked Shepard, flinging her around with biotics, but she was tackled by Dâgalûr. Shepard got up, took out her assault rifle, and started firing at Benezia, who was still trying to get up. Shepard managed to do enough damage to keep her down and to give Benezia her will back. "I cannot go on. You will have to stop him, Shepard." "Hold on. We've got medi-gel, maybe we can -" "No. He is still in my mind. I am not entirely myself. I will never be again." "Mother…" "Good night, little wing, I will see you again with the dawn. No light? They always said there would be - Ah…" She had drawn her final breath, not knowing if her afterlife would truly be there.

The rachni queen now looked upon the party, screeching and suckling on the glass. The corpse of one of the commandos suddenly began to rise and shamble towards the squad. It spooked Shepard and Liara, but it didn't phase Dâgalûr. "I swear, I didn't raise it from the grave to fight for me." The corpse began to speak on behalf of the queen. "This one serves as our voice. We cannot sing. Not in these low spaces. Your musics are colorless." The corpse was constantly twitching, and appeared to have difficulty speaking. The corpse's statement only confused Shepard further. "Musics? What?" "Your way of communicating is strange. Flat. It does not color the air. When we speak, one moves all. We are the mother. We sing for those left behind. The children you thought silenced. We are Rachni." "How are you speaking through her?" "Our kind sing through touchings of thought. We pluck the strings, and the other understands. She is weak to urging. She has colors we have no names for. But she is ending. Her music is bittersweet. It is beautiful. The children we birthed were stolen from us before they could learn to sing. They are lost to silence. End their suffering. They cannot be saved. They can only cause harm as they are." "If you're sure they can't be saved" "It is lamentable. But necessary. Do what you must. Before you deal with our children, we stand before you. What will you sing? Will you release us? Are we to fade away once more?"

"They made a mistake. They let the krogan go too far. This is a chance for us to atone. She has done nothing to us." "Think, Shepard. Those vats of acid are up there. If those wars of yours were anything to go by, more people could die for no reason. Then again, these bugs might be able to be used as a weapon, like the Ungol back home. All we need is the influence of Sauron." "Your companions hear the truth. You have the power to free us, or return our people to the silence of memory." "I won't destroy your entire race. You'll go free." "You will give us the chance to compose anew? We will remember. We will sing of your forgiveness to our children." "It was your call, Shepard. I won't judge your decision." The corpse fell to the floor, and Shepard used the control panel to release the queen. Shepard ordered Liara and Dâgalûr to head back to the tram, as she had to head to the hot labs to deal with the remaining rachni. After about five minutes the two heard a deafening explosion. Shepard returned, and the squad headed back for the Normandy.

When they arrived, they headed down to the comm room, and were greeted by the remaining crew members. Ashley began to speak as the three sat down. "What's our next move, Commander? Head for the Mu Relay?" "The Mu Relay could link to dozens of systems. Unless we know exactly where Saren's going, we'd just be wasting our time." "The Commander is right. We cannot rush off blind. We still need to know more about Saren." "Who put you in charge? Did the Commander resign when I wasn't looking." "I'd shut your mouth if I were you, kurv." "We're all on the same team here, Williams. She's just trying to help." "Sorry, Commander." "This is a tough mission. We're all on edge. Everyone, go get some rest. Crew… dismissed!" Dâgalûr got up to leave, and the last thing he heard was Joker. "Noveria report is away, Commander. You want me to patch you through to the Council?"