Chapter 7: Lockdown and Ilos
The citadel, I had a heavy feeling we were going to walk into a shit storm. But Shepard told me time and time again to calm down a notch. Kinda hard to do that when the Geth and Sovereign about to strike. But I tried nonetheless but I kinda suspected Shepard was a bit on edge with this. Or maybe I was being paranoid, did have a tendency to be like that nowadays. I watched a vid my girl had put together to try and get us back together. Guess Tali was right, medals and a nasty scar on the neck are just the ticket to get an old flame back to you. But I just watched with a bit of coldness as she talked on and on about how she was an idiot.
Never try that on a marine under the command of a human spectre, they knew how to lie better than anyone. Albeit only one human spectre was around but still, spectre's knew how to lie. Finally Tali knocked on the door. And I allowed her to enter. She noticed the vid playing just before I shut it off.
"What was that?" she asked.
"Officially, it's a recording from my ex saying how we should get back together. Unofficially however, it's a pathetic excuse in the art of deceit. She probably wants me for my recognition. I never really wanted any of that, so long as a mission got done with little or no civilian or military casualties and they go home safe and sound, that's all I ever need out of the military," I said.
Tali smiled under her helmet. "You didn't join for glory?" she asked.
"No, out of spite of my father and because of the expertise of the commandos. I thought I told you this already," I said.
"You did. Just like visiting is all," she said.
"Shame you have that suit on. But as my mum always said, beauty lies in a persons character not their looks," I said. I took a swig of water from a nearby bottle after I said that.
"No whiskey?" she said.
"Nope guess while I was out or something, Chakwas confiscated all my supplies of it. Damned shame, but at least my stomach loves me again and I don't have hangovers," I said jokingly. Tali chuckled and swore as Joker told me to report to the bridge. Seemed we had docked and Shepard had picked Jones and me to go on out on the citadel. As we exited, Kaiden and Williams caught up with us and wanted to see the councils face once we arrived. Unfortunately the situation was less than ideal.
Udina, Anderson and an Alliance Admiral were waiting for us at the base of the tower. "Come on. Council's waiting," Udina said.
"Yes and after, Tex and Mike have a new ship to relocate to," the admiral said.
"Huh?" Shepard said.
"Tex is my son. After Eden Prime, I realized that Infantry isn't fitting for him. He's too report to Carrier Einstein for reassignment. Sorry son," he said.
"Bastard, now I wish I had bled to death on Feros. Least having my throat slit was better than being reassigned to a non combat role," I said.
"Throat slit? No I wish I hadn't let Hackett approve that transfer of yours," he said.
"Shut up you Bosh'tet," I said. Some of Tali's culture had rubbed off on me and it felt good to call my dad a Bosh'tet, even if I didn't know what it meant.
"Watch your mouth marine. And its sir," he said seething with rage.
"Right. Shut up you Bosh'tet sir," I said. He turned away and I decided to say something. "And when the wielder of the pen strikes back with the power of writing none can stand against him," I said with a smile. Protocol be damned to fucking hell, I thought. He turned and was filled with rage.
"I swear to god soldier. The minute this damned rogue spectre is caught you'll never even have the privilege to think about combat," he said. I still stood there, just smirking.
"Admiral, he's got nothing to lose. He figures since he'll be reassigned why should he obey protocol?" Shepard asked with a smile obviously enjoying the argument.
"You'll find out soon enough," he said. And he smiled. I looked at Shepard and everyone else on the team with a look that said, this won't end well. The elevator stopped and we entered the presidium tower. The council thanked us for our efforts and said that numerous fleets were patrolling the mass relays linked to the Citadel twenty-four/seven. But then they mentioned how the Normandy was grounded. They knew damn well we'd go into the terminus systems looking for Saren. But rather than risking a war with the terminus systems, they decided to keep us down. Cowards was the word that popped in our heads that time.
We went back to the Normandy to tell about the fact that we were grounded and not going anywhere. Mike and I on the other hand had to load up and leave. Tali visited me as I packed the last of my things and fiddled with something.
"How are you holding up?" she asked.
"Not to well really. I still don't believe it. We go across the galaxy and uncover this and they still go with a politic reason to stay out. Fucking cowards," I said.
"Um what are you fiddling with?" she asked. She pointed to the dagger in my hand.
"old family relic. They call it the Dragon's Tooth. A dagger forged in the fires of Mount Fuji. My ancestor won this in a duel with a Japanese officer during the Second World War. Been in my family ever since," I said. I flipped it around and presented it too her. "I want you to have it," I said bluntly.
"What? But it belongs to your family," she said pushing it away.
"Yes but I'm leaving anyway. Might as well have something to remember me by," I said. She finally took it and hugged me. She took out her knife and gave it to me.
"If I'm going to keep something of you, you'll have to keep something of me," she said. She put it in my hand and I smiled.
"The beautiful Angel of the stars, matches a gift of mine with a gift of hers. Showing that not only is she beautiful but generous. I shall treasure it always," I said.
"Beautiful angel?" she asked.
"Yeah, thought I'd go with a bit of poetry. Never was very good at it," I said. I lied down on my bunk and after a minute or so she laid right next to me facing me. I looked into her facemask and thought I was looking into the mirror of an angel.
"You really think I'm an angel?" she asked.
"Yes I do. Tali I never told you this but I think I've fallen for you. I know it's not a very good way or appropriate one either but I couldn't just leave and not tell you," I said. I looked at her silver eyes, they were just barely visible and thought of a poem. "How easy it is for one such as me, to fall for an angel. How easy it is to be lost in your eyes of sliver. How I wish I could be close to you," I whispered. We moved to kiss but the soft clunk of my forehead against the glass of her mask stopped us.
"And there's the down side to this moment," I said. But before anything else could happen, Joker called Shepard saying that Anderson had radioed wanting him to meet at Flux. Shepard told me and mike to head out with him. We grabbed our armor and what weapons we had on hand. Unfortunately for me I had a Winchester rifle on hand. But I still had a modern shotgun from the Virmire mission in my weapon locker. So I just grabbed those and went to Flux with Shepard and Mike.
Anderson was waiting and filled us in on the mission he had. He would sneak into either C-Sec security or Udina's office and disable the lockdown from there. Then we'd head for Ilos and stop Saren. Shepard told him to go to Udina's office to lower the risk of detection and danger when taking down the lockdown. Shepard turned to me and Mike and said," You guys can stay here if you like. We wont hold against you."
"Well as for me I'd go with you. Tex, I don't know he's known for following protocol," Mike said.
"Well Tex?" Shepard asked me.
"Back when I was still growing up, you know before I enlisted, my dad told me something. A man's gotta know which orders to follow and which to break, or how can he truly be a soldier, he said. Right now, I think that order for me leave your crew is bullshit. Shepard, you'll need all the help you can get. I've never back downed from anything, and I'm not about to start now. Count me in this one," I said with a smile.
"Tali grown on you huh?" Mike said with a chuckle.
"I got my reasons, dirt bag. So unless you want a twenty two caliber round in the ass, I suggest you shut up. We're wasting time now so lets get going before Joker leaves without us," I said.
"Tex is right, lets move. Oh and we already know the reason on why you're staying," Shepard said. We got onto the Normandy and waited for Anderson's signal. The signal turned out to be a green light on Joker's navigation board and we pulled out in a hurry. "Joker get us out of here," Shepard said.
"No need to tell me twice," Joker said. The Normandy accelerated out of system and headed for the Mu relay, which according to Shepard was the only way to Ilos. Shepard wanted me and the Greyhound up incase we needed it. Garrus, Mike and I worked on it and got the ammo refilled. Armor was good as new and with the re-supply of ammo, it's in fighting condition. I walked back to my bunk and decided to try and sleep for the next couple hours or so. Wouldn't be long before we reached the Mu relay anyhow.
When I got there Tali was waiting. Guess she found the impending mission fear inducing, couldn't say I blame her. We laid in my bunk holding each other, unknowing of what we'll face. When Joker told us we had about five minutes til we hit the relay, we got up and went to the weapon locker. I grabbed my half full clip from the battle of Eden Prime when Saren killed my squad. I grabbed my M16 and a Thompson submachine gun. But I thought back what Tali told me back on Therum. These antiques are going to get you killed, she had said. I thought to myself, do I really need this? Shepard said not to let all this hate burn me up. I finally made up my mind and put those weapons away. I grabbed only an M24 rifle for sharp shooting and took the elevator down to the requisitions officer.
"Hey Tex. Sorry but I ain't got any of that old stuff you take. Only modern shit, even Spectre gear thanks to Shepard," he said.
"That's what I need," I said.
"Whoa, didn't think I'd ever see you want a modern gun over your select stash," he said. He picked out a rifle behind him and put if front of me. "Shepard wanted you have it. Guess he knew you'd choose something different or maybe just in case you did," he said. I picked up the rifle and the weight, while lighter than I like, was a good change.
"Thanks," I said. I took the elevator up and saw Ashley Williams leave Shepard's quarters and decided probably not the best of times to be snooping. I grabbed a reload-able rocket launcher and three extra missiles. I loaded my equipment into the Greyhound but Shepard said," Tex move your gear to the Mako, we're taking that. There's not enough landing room to attempt a proper landing so we're going in hot."
"Affirmative. Great and now I get to feel my organs squashed like pineapples. Mike and I will be there," I said.
"Roger that. Tali, Garrus and Ashley are coming to ground with us. Get ready marines," Shepard said.
"Roger that. Tex out," I said. I grabbed my rifle and got into the Mako. Shepard and the team he selected showed up just a few minutes after. I got into the drivers seat and Mike was in the gunners seat.
"Good to see you two locked, cocked and ready to rock," said Shepard.
"Though I was the only one who said those sayings," I said.
"Old sayings die hard remember?" he said with a smile. He took notice of the rifle next to me and said," Good to see your weaponry evolved some."
"Still got a rocket launcher and an old but still reliable M24 for snipping the shit out of the Geth bastards," I said.
"Good might need those. You bring that mag of bullets with you for when we hit Saren?" Shepard asked. He expected me to bring it and my M16 to deliver the final blow for my squad. But he didn't expect my answer.
"Sir, no sir. Left it in my bunk. Like you said, wasn't very healthy to keep it around. Better to whack Saren with modern guns than a fucking outdated one," I said.
"Hang on everybody. We're going in hot! Gonna be a tight squeeze for the ground team over," Joker.
"Tight squeeze?" Mike asked.
"The only thing with a good point of landing near Saren has only a small clearance of twenty meters. The reason why we're using the Mako. Couldn't afford to break us or lose the greyhound. You comfortable with this? We could always leave you here," Shepard asked with a smile as the Normandy went into a nose dive.
"And miss this shit? Fuck no! might as well go out knowing I did something my dad never did. The smallest clearance he had with to jump into was thirty meters. Glad I hooked up with your crew on this mission Shepard," I said with a smile. The bay doors opened and the clamps holding the Mako down released and the vehicle rolled forward and went into the atmosphere. As soon as we were clear Joker brought the Normandy up and sped out of system. We landed just as the doors into the bunker Saren had just entered closed. He shot us a look as if he were about to say you lose Shepard.
The Mako stopped just before it and I hit the button to release the ramp. Behind the Mako were several Geth and took potshots at Shepard crew. One laser got me though, lasers ricochet who knew? "Damnit!" I shouted as I felt the laser split into my armor past and into my skin. I hadn't activated my shields once we hit ground.
Mike turned the turret and gunned the soldiers down. Shepard turned to me and checked my wound. "How bad is it?" I asked.
"Well you ain't gonna be paralyzed for life but you're still plenty hurt. We'll have to keep you here. Mike stay on the gun. Ash stay with him, just cause he's got Mike doesn't mean he's safe," Shepard said.
"Sir I know you let anyone die here but why assign me? You'll need all the firepower you have to get to the security lockdown lifted," Ashley protested.
"But I need tech as well. Plus with out Tex we ain't got anybody to drive this damned thing. He's got more experience with combat drives. Right Tex?" Shepard asked.
"Yeah in the simulation but I'll do my best. Good luck chief," I said.
"Good, least with the Sim., you still top all of us," he said. He grabbed his rifle and went to leave.
"Sir, take my rocket launcher. May need it. Easy to use too. I'm sure Tali could show you," I said. I grabbed my launcher and the pack I set beside me and did my best to hand them over the chair. Shepard and the rest of the squad left while I was stuck in my damn chair unable to fight for the time being.
"So how was it with Tali?" Ashley asked.
"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked.
She turned to look at me and said," like you don't know. I saw you and her go into your bunk. Something had to have happened. You get to see under her helmet?"
"Yea actually I'm a bit curious myself. What she look like?" Mike asked.
"Well nothing happened. I didn't see under her helmet so shut up get set in case those fuckers try to grab this vehicle," I said.
"Ok. Denial, right Williams?" Mike asked.
"Yeah, didn't figure you'd actually go for an alien, let alone a Quarian," she said.
"Hey I thought I said shut up," I said.
"Yeah but with us being fugitives rank doesn't exactly matter now," Mike said.
"Good one Jones," Ashley said agreement. I rolled my eyes and waited eagerly for the rest of the squad to show up. Twenty minutes later and the bunker's main door was open with the squad piling into the Mako two minutes later.
"Glad you showed up. These two were driving me nuts," I said hooking a thumb at Mike and Williams.
"Yeah I bet. Drive down that way we need to hit Saren before he can get to the Conduit," Shepard said.
"No need to tell me twice," I said as the Mako accelerated down the ramp. As we entered the bowels of the building we noticed hundreds of pods aligned along the walls.
"What the hell?" Mike asked.
"Those Protheans in there?" I asked.
"Probably. Lets not stick around though," Shepard said. But as we continued we ran into what we took as an ambush. "Damn it, Tex get us out of here," Shepard said.
"Aye, Aye chief. Time to get the hell out of Dodge," I said.
But as we backed up, another force field popped up behind us. "Motherfuckers," I said. I turned to the main compartment and said," Mike blast our damned way out."
"You got it," he said. The turret swerved and the main guns started firing. But they did nothing to the force field. "Damn it. Fucking Shields are too thick to pierce with these guns," Mike said.
"Fuck. Hey that door. Maybe it'll lead us to a security panel to power down these things," I said.
"Good thinking. Tex, you and Tali are the most experienced engineers here and Tali won't be able to do this on her own. Better hope that wound of yours is healed right otherwise, we'll have to carry your ass out," Shepard said.
"Affirmative, popping hatch," I said. The rear door opened and Shepard got out with Ashley first, they were followed by Garrus, Tali, Mike and me. The door led to an elevator. We got in it and ascended up a level. In the level was a single walk way which led only to a computer console.
"You, you are not machine nor do you have the taint of indoctrination on you," said a voice.
"Um, please tell me I wasn't the only the one who heard that?" Mike said a bit spooked.
"Nope. Tex, that damned A.I. on or something?" Shepard asked.
"Yes but I ordered him to either A, shut the hell up or B, turn himself off. Which ever is easier but I think he's just being reasonably quiet. Hopefully," I said.
"Ok so if Montgomery didn't say anything, who did?" Ashley asked.
"forgive my actions but I was surprised to see untainted individuals such yourselves," the voice said again. A horribly distorted hologram came up and it introduced itself. "My name is Vigil. My personality is an imprint of Ksad Ishan, chief overseer of the Ilos research facility. I am glad to see that my creators plan worked," said the hologram.
"Plan? First of all who are your creators? Second, how are you talking to us? Third, what the hell kind of plan are you talking about? And if you could, tell us about the reapers," Shepard said.
"To answer your first question, my creators were the ones you refer to as the Protheans. I am able to communicate with you because I have monitored your communications since your arrival and have translated my audio output as such. The plan I mentioned was the signal my creators had planned to alter so we may stop the cycle," Vigil said.
"Cycle? What cycle?" Shepard asked.
"The cycle which extinguishes all advanced organic life which has been continued on for millions of years. The Reapers are sentient ships of untold power that can wipe out whole fleets in a single attack as they did to the Protheans ships. Soldier, in order to stop the reapers you must know of our mistakes so you do not make them yourself," Vigil said.
"I'm listening," Shepard said as he crossed his arms.
"Our civilization, like yours and others, was based upon the technology of the machines known as the Mass Relays. These were forged by the Reapers to prevent the development of more advanced forms of travel which would or could hamper their efforts to wipe out all life. Even the citadel was a trap for us like it is for you. When the Reapers attacked, we never knew what happened until it was too late. They wiped out most of our ships and killed our leaders in the initial assault but while most Star maps and everything concerning our species were captured, the information about the Ilos research facility was most likely the only thing destroyed before they Reapers wiped out all Prothean resistance. The few hundred who remained here were spared as the rest of our once glorious empire died in a slow but precise genocide at the hand of the Reapers," said Vigil.
"Damn, out of trillions of people, only a few hundred remained? Wait shouldn't they still be up? The Protheans should've survived then," Shepard said.
"Unfortunately the genocide of the Prothean people wasn't "completed" until after several centuries. As time went on, my power supplies began to dwindle. My creators had placed themselves into cryogenic suspension to prevent the early consumption of resources stockpiled here. But as I said before, as time went on I began to lose power. Without constant maintenance, Ilos's ecosystem began to retake the planet. And unfortunately this also included my power generators. In order to conserve the little power my generators were able to put out, I had to… deactivate the pods, one by one," Vigil said.
"what? You killed your own people? Your creators? Why didn't you just let out the engineering specialists and have them fix up your generators when you needed it?" Shepard asked.
"We could not risk the possibility of detection by the Reapers and further doom the Prothean species. By the time the Reapers had finally left, only a dozen life pods remained, the chief scientists of Ilos. Everyone else, the non essential crew, had died from the pods losing power. This out come of them was not foreseen, but it still pained my creators to write this regulation of cryogenic suspension containment. After realizing that the Prothean species was doomed with the only remaining Prothean people numbering a dozen people, they decided to risk sending a message through the beacons and get what survivors there were to seek refuge at Ilos. But fearing they were the only ones of their kind, my creators worked hard to ensure the survival of the species they'd been studying for years on end," said Vigil.
"The other species? You mean humans, Asari, Turian, Krogan, Salarian and the other members of this galaxy?" Shepard asked.
"Yes. The last Protheans worked for decades to find a way to stop the Reaper threat but they finally found the way to do so. They reviewed intercepted Citadel communications to find a strange signal being sent to the Citadel just seconds before the Reaper armada poured into the Galaxy. They assumed it was the signal the Reapers would send to have the Keepers open the Citadels hidden Mass Relay. They used a secret project developed here to regain access to the Citadel, the Conduit," Vigil said.
"The conduit? I thought it was a weapon. How can a weapon let someone regain access to the citadel?" I asked.
"The conduit is not a weapon as you thought. But instead it is a smaller version of a Mass Relay. We attempted to recreate the Mass Relays that are scattered through out the Galaxy. We partially succeeded by creating the Conduit. Unfortunately anyone who used it faced a one way trip after each use. After my creators used the Conduit, I could only assume that they starved since the possibility of finding food on the battle scarred Citadel was next to nothing. As for the remainders of our empire, whole worlds were left barren, their resources stripped form them. And the last of the Prothean people, indoctrinated, were left behind to either starve or die of exposure. But now your species and the other species out there face extinction unless you stop the Reapers," Vigil said.
"How the fuck are we supposed to stop an armada of Reapers? If the Protheans couldn't do it, since they had millions of ships and billions of soldiers, what the hell makes you think we stop the Reapers?" I asked.
"I gotta go with Tex commander. Seems like we'd need more help," Ashley said.
"Yes how could we stand up against those things?" Tali asked.
"Vigil? I assume you've got a plan," Shepard said.
"Yes, but you must act quickly. Sovereign and a massive fleet of starships are currently amassing to lay siege to the Citadel. I have a program which will grant you the power to temporarily take access away from Sovereign. Take a copy and hurry time is of the essence," Vigil said. We turned to leave but Vigil brought up a panel filled with some type of medical supplies. "One of your party is wounded and will impede your progress. Take some of these supplies to quickly heal your comrade and any of your party should they become wounded," he said. We took the supplies and headed for the elevator.
We piled into the Mako and headed for the Conduit. The Geth were at just about every turn of the ride and tried to slow us down. The aqueduct we drove into took us straight to our target. At the final stretch of the run, we found that only had Saren posted four Colossi tanks to stop us but our only window of opportunity was closing fast. "Tex punch it," Shepard said.
"Aye aye Shepard," I said as we accelerated down hill. The Colossi took notice of us and began firing and tried desperately to take us down. "Hang on everyone looks like a bumpy ride," I said. We reached the conduit with barely five seconds to spare and were sent at what seemed three or five times the speed of light towards the Citadel.