Tali looked immensely relieved when they returned to the Normandy.
"Keelah, I'm sorry I drag you into quarian politics," said Tali apologetically. "All that infighting, seeing what my father did… The you were the only one there for me, Shepard—the only cover I had against that storm. Thank you."
"I imagine they're trying to fill your father's spot on to the Admiralty Board," said Shepard. "What will that do to the balance of power?"
Tali shrugged. "I have no idea. Being exiled might have made it easier. A few people are suggesting me as a candidate. Replacing an admiral takes time, though. You may not have noticed, but quarians like to debate."
"Are quarian politics always like that?" Shepard asked.
"No. Sometimes it can actually get unpleasant. We're a very social people, Shepard. We have to be, to make up for being stuck in the suits. And part of that means getting involved into each other's business."
"The whole trial was insulting," said Shepard furiously. "You should have had time to mourn your father."
"I don't think the life is about what you deserve. But my father would be honoured that I chose to mourn him by blowing up a lot of geth."
Tali had also managed to install new sealed onto the Normandy and Kenneth and Gabby were looking through the systems.
"Kenneth, what has a new shielding done to your power grid balance?" Gabby asked.
"Not much. With built-in capacitor sub-systems, they have a surprisingly low draw," said Kenneth.
"Doesn't that mean the shielding booth won't last long and a fire?"
"True. They're built for hard, fast strikes, not firefights of attrition."
Shepard made his way to the galaxy map, but then Joker contacted him on the comm.
"Change of plans, Commander," he said. "Urgent message coming through from the Illusive Man. Hatching him through to the comm room."
"I'm on my way," said Shepard making his way over to the comm room.
It's about him a minute to reach there and the desk sank into the floor.
"Patching the Illusive Man through, Commander," said Joker.
Shepard stepped into the hollow projector and came face-to-face with the illusive man, who was standing up and smoking a cigarette.
"Shepard—we caught a break," he said. "I intercepted a distress call from a turian patrol. They stumbled on to a Collector ship beyond the Korlus system. The turians were wiped out, but not before they crippled the Collector vessel." He then sat back down onto his chair. "I need you to board that ship and get some hard data on the Collectors. Find as a way to get to their homeworld."
Shepard folded his arms and frowned. "Hard to imagine how a turian patrol could take out the Collector ship."
"Reports indicate the hull's intact, but all systems seem to be offline. They could be making repairs as we speak. I'm not saying it won't be dangerous, but we can't let an opportunity like this slip by."
"Are you sure this information is good?" Shepard asked, he had forgotten the last time he encountered the Collector ship.
"Information is my weapon, Shepard. It's good."
"Send me the coordinates, and I'll now take care of it."
"Already sent. Once you're aboard the ship, establishing uplink with EDI. She'll mine their data for information regarding your Omega 4 relay. Good luck, Shepard."
The hologram then faded.
"Coordinates punched in," said Joker over the comm. "Let's go find us a Collector ship."
They soon entered into the Korlus system and found the Collector's ship just sitting there among some wreckage of what Shepard assumed to be the turian patrol.
"We have a visual on the Collector ship, Commander," said Joker.
"Very low emissions. Passive infrared temperature suggest most systems offline. Thrusters are cold," said EDI.
"That thing's massive," said Joker staring at the ship as they moved in closer. "How the hell did the turians taking out?"
"After what we saw what one did the old Normandy, I'm anyone could do this amount of damage," said Garrus.
"They might have just gotten lucky," said Kasumi.
"We can figure out how the turians did this later, right now we need that information," said Shepard.
Joker moved to the Normandy in closer towards the ship, being very careful. He too hadn't forgotten what had happened the last time they encountered a ship like this.
"Ladar scanned do not detect any hull breaches on the side facing us," said EDI. "I detect no mass effect field distortions. It appears the drive core is offline."
"Rendezvous in 30 seconds, Commander," said Joker. "Good luck."
30 seconds later all of them were in the shuffle and were making their way towards the ship. They all have helmets and breathers on, because the ship had no atmosphere. Once they ended inside they jumped off the shuttle made their way through the corridors.
"I've never seen a ship like this before," said Samara.
"Looks like a giant hive," said Garrus. "Rachni, maybe?"
"I don't know," said Tali. "The ship's hull resembles stone."
Moridn frowned. "Very little décor, Collected appear not to interact with one another. Judging by the layout, they work like drones."
"Penetrating scans detected an access node uplink with Collector databanks. Marking location to your hardsuit computer," said EDI.
"Okay, everyone keep your eyes peeled for any Collectors," said Shepard. "We take this nice and slow and try not alert anyone."
"Shepard. I have compared the ship's EM signature to the known Collector profiles," said EDI over the radio. "It is the same vessel you encountered on Horizon."
"Maybe the defence towers socketed up for the turians," said Shepard.
"The missing colonists might be aboard," said Garrus. "If they're still alive."
As they made their way through the ship they found more of the pods they found on Horizon. They kept on moving and found something completely disturbing, a bunch of dead bodies littered all over the place.
"Why would the Collectors just leave a pile of bodies lying around?" Garrus asked.
"They must have been used for testing," said Tali. "If they were a control group, they would have been discarded at the end of the experiment."
"There are worse things than death—like been a test for twisted aliens," said Shepard.
"I know you're right, but it doesn't make me feel any better," said Tali.
They carried on down the chamber soon found some sort of repertory, Shepard managed to hack into the systems and Mordin began to look over the data. Garrus approached a pardon saw a Collector inside of it.
"That's a Collector," he said. "Were they experimenting on one of their own?"
"EDI, I'm uploading the data from this terminal," said Shepard switching on his radio. "See if you can figure out what they were up to."
"Data received. Analysing," said EDI. "The Collectors were running baseline genetic comparisons between their species and humanity."
Shepard frowned. "Are they looking for similarities?"
"I have no hypothesis on their motivations. All I have other preliminary results. They reveal something remarkable. A quad-strand genetic structure, identical to traces collected from ancient ruins. Only one race is known to have this structure: the Protheans."
All of them looked at one another in horror and then stared down at the Collector.
"My god," Shepard gasped. "The Protheans didn't vanish. They're just working for the Reapers now."
"These are no longer Protheans, Shepard," said EDI. "Their genes show distinct signs of extensive genetic rewrite. The Reapers have repurposed them to suit their needs."
Like when they changed the humans on Eden Prime to husks. "The Reapers didn't wipe out the Protheans. They turned them into monsters and enslaved them." He then looked down at the Collector. "Still they're working for the Reapers now. And we have to stop them."
"No species should have to suffer through that," Garrus nodded.
Shepard then picked up an assault rifle that laying around. "Let's find what we need before the Collectors come to salvage this vessel. Move out."
"Liara always wanted to study the Protheans, but I don't think this is what she had in mind," said Tali has they made their way through the ship.
"A grim fate indeed," said Thane. "The Collectors are nothing more than victims of the Reapers."
"Killing them would be a mercy," said Samara.
"This would explain how come the Collectors have never communicate with someone verbally," said Miranda. "They were created to be drones, perfect machines for the Reapers."
"No doubt they got indoctrinated like Saren and began to sabotage key points in their war," said Shepard.
"Most likely," Modin nodded. "Have infiltrate key structures in society and in military and then began to destroy them from within when Reapers attack."
They soon entered into a chamber and found more pods attached to the walls and ceiling.
"Look—on the ceiling," said Garrus gestured. "More of those strange pods."
"Hundreds of them," said Samara. "I wonder how many are… occupied?"
"Too many," said Shepard grimly.
"I detect no signs of life in the pods, Shepard," said EDI. "It is probable the victims inside died when the ship lost primary power."
"That's not much of a comforting thought, EDI," said Shepard as they pushed forwards.
They kept on proceeding deeper into the ship and had yet to meet any resistance which made Shepard quite uneasy. Joker then reached them on the radio when he didn't help matters.
"Commander. You gotta hear this," he said. "On a hunch, I asked EDI to run an analysis on this ship."
"I'm compared to the EM profile against the data recorded by the original Normandy two years ago," said EDI. "They are an exact match."
They all came to a stop and look at one another. Every single one of them looked slightly and easy and had their hands grasped onto the weapons.
"The same ship dogging me two years ago?" said Shepard. "Way beyond coincidence."
"Something doesn't add up, Commander," said Joker. "Watch your back."
"So this is the same ship that destroyed the original Normandy," said Tali.
"This smells like a trap," said Grunt with a firm hold on his shotgun.
"Agreed," Shepard nodded. "Keep your eyes peeled for anything unusual."
"You mean apart from the fact that we boarded a ship that attacked us two years ago and is housed to thousands of indoctrinated Protheans?" said Garrus.
Shepard looked at him. "Touché."
They soon entered into what looked like the main hub of the ship what they found was frightening. There had to be billions of stasis pods all around the ship.
"This is unbelievable," said Garrus.
"They could take every human in the Terminus Systems and not have enough to fill these pods," said Miranda."
Garrus looked at Shepard. "They're going to target Earth."
"Not if we stop them," said Shepard determinedly.
"One thing's for sure, this is a whole lot worse than we imagined," said Jacob.
"That's an understatement," said Tali. "Never in my life have I ever seen a ship like this and I live on them."
"We need to find out where their homeworld is in attack before they get a chance to attack us," said Shepard.
"There—on the platform," Garrus pointed as they made their way down the ramp. "Look like some kind of control panel."
"Where are the bodies of the Collector crew?" Miranda frowned. "Careful, Shepard. Something doesn't feel right about this."
Shepard then began to access the control console and activated his omnitool. "EDI? I'm setting up a bridge between you and the Collector ship. See if you can get anything useful from the data banks."
On the Normandy, Joker watched as EDI pulled up the data from the Collector ship.
"Data-mine in progress, Shepard," said EDI as she scanned through the data.
Joker the notice some static on the holo-screens. He turned his head and saw the hologram of a Collector, but this one didn't had arms or normal legs and instead had insect-like legs. It then vanished as quickly as it appeared.
"Uh… that can't be good," said Joker.
Suddenly there was a flash of light on the control panel, Shepard was accessing. Then the machines began to move on their own.
He quickly reached for his radio. "Everyone's okay, Joker. What just happened?"
"Major power surge," said Joker. "Everything went dark, but we're backup now."
"I managed to divert the majority of the overload to non-critical systems," said EDI. Shepard thought he heard movement and turned, but saw nothing. "Shepard, it was not a malfunction. This was a trap."
Suddenly the platform they were standing on began to rise up and began to rotate.
"We need a little help here, EDI…" said Shepard.
"I am having trouble maintaining connection. There is someone else in the system."
Suddenly the platform stops suddenly and they all toppled over. Tali helped Garrus back onto his feet and Samara did the same with Miranda.
"Connection re-established," said EDI. "I need to finish the download before I can override any systems."
Shepard then noted another platform heading towards the man through the scope of his sniper rifle he saw that it contained collectors.
"Then you'd better get it done fast, EDI," said Shepard as he took cover.
"Look out—we've got company!" Garrus yelled as a second platform appeared.
"I knew those too much of a coincidence," said Shepard as he shot a trooper.
"I like to know how we fell for such a trap," said Grunt as he fired his shotgun.
"It was a bit obvious," Tali agreed.
"Just keep firing!" Shepard yelled shooting at a scion.
Samara protected them with the barriers and then send a couple troopers flying off the platform. Grunt then jumped from his cover and charged that the scion, he then promptly head-butted it in the head and then tossed of the platform.
"Eighty-four percent," said EDI.
"EDI! Get out of here!" Shepard yelled as another platform.
"I am simultaneously fighting Collector firewalls in over 8000 nodes. I am tasked to capacity."
"Here they come again!" Garrus yelled as the second platform appeared.
"We're getting overwhelmed," said Thane.
Suddenly one of the collector troopers like before on Horizon. No doubt be possessed by Harbinger, who promptly fired powerful biotic at them.
Garrus managed to break through his barriers with a sniper rifle and Thane then fired several precise shots from his pistol killing it. Samara used her biotics to push a scion over the edge and Shepard and Miranda to cut the last of the troops.
"Shepard, you must manually re-establish my link the command console," said EDI.
Shepard activated his omnitool and re-established his link with the command console and the hologram of EDI appeared in front of him.
"I have regained control of the platform, Shepard," she said.
"I knew you would let us down, EDI," Shepard smiled.
"I always work at optimal capacity," said EDI. EDI's program and pleaded and the platform began to move.
"Did you get what we needed?" Shepard asked.
"I found data that could help us successfully navigate the Omega 4 relay. I've also found the turian distress call that served as the lure for this trap. The Collectors were the source. It is unusual."
The platform soon landed and EDI's hologram appeared again and Shepard frowned at her. "Seems logical to me that they would have sent the initial message as bait."
"No, it is unusual because turian emergency channels have secondary encryptions. Is corrupted in the message. It is not possible that the Illusive Man would believe the distress call was genuine."
"Why are you so sure?"
"Found the anomaly with Cerberus detection protocols. He wrote them."
"He knew it was a trap?" said Joker's voice. "Why would he send us into a trap?"
Shepard slammed his fist into his palm in anger. "That son of a bitches sent us right into Collector hands."
"We should have known this would happen," said Tali. "Cerberus can't be trusted!"
"There has to be some other explanation!" said Miranda. "The Illusive Man wouldn't do this to us. He… he just wouldn't!"
"Uh… Commander," said Joker. "We've got another problem. The Collector ship is powering up. You need to get out before their weapons come online. I'm not losing another Normandy!"
Shepard looked around the Shepard and saw that more of the machines were coming online.
"I do not have full control of their systems," said EDI. "I will do what I can. Sending coordinates for shuttle extraction."
"Come on. Let's move!" Shepard ordered.
"So can we discuss our arrangement with Cerberus?" Garrus asked as they walk down a corridor.
"The Illusive Man would not do this," said Miranda firmly. "Not without a reason."
"Don't you think you're a little too trusting to Cerberus?" Tali asked.
"No, the Illusive Man would not fund this mission and then betray us when we're halfway through."
"We can discuss this once were safely out of danger," said Shepard.
It was clear that the Collectors had been in stasis all this time and were now waking up. They were certainly determined to prevent them from escaping their ship. They even encountered a praetorian, but were able to deal with it thanks to the Collector weapon Shepard still hold.
Fortunately, EDI had some control of the ship and closed the doors preventing them from being overrun. Unfortunately, the Collectors were also doing the same thing and closed the door in front of them for they had a chance to enter.
"EDI? We've got a problem here," said Shepard.
"A temporary setback on firewall 3217. Reliving command through firewall 7164," said EDI over the comm. "I have successfully opened a door on the opposite wall. I will keep it open as long as I can."
"Down there," Garrus pointedly turned round the corner. "That's where we came in."
"We must be getting close to the end," said Samara.
"Just between us and the exit are thousands of Collectors," said Tali.
"This is going to be fun," said Grunt holding his shotgun eagerly.
They encountered hundreds of Collectors, who were determined to stop them from escaping. Harbinger even controlled several more troopers and they have to do with assassins. They kept on pressing forward and Grunt tossed any Collectors he got his hands on across the room.
Samara prove useful by using her biotics to push any Collectors back and Thane and Kasumi attacked the back ranks without them even knowing. Tali unleashed a drone to distract the Collectors and Shepard and Garrus use this opportunity to use their sniper rifles to take them out.
"Uh, Commander?" said Joker over the radio. "Hate to rush you, but those weapons are about to come online. You might want to double-time it. You know, so we can leave before they blow the Normandy in half."
"You heard him, move! Move!" Shepard yelled.
They all then ran as fast as they could along the corridors and soon encountered a patrol of husks. They would have overwhelmed them if it hadn't been for Samara and Miranda using their biotics to push them back.
Grunt took quite a bit of joy by tossing them around like rag dolls and blasting them to pieces with his shotgun. A husk grabbed Shepard, but he was able to free himself by punching it in the face and then find a couple into its chest from his pistol.
Once they were dealt with a continued to follow the corridor down and found the corridor they had followed when they arrived. The shutter was still there waiting for them and they didn't waste any time making their way over towards it.
Unfortunately, the door they originally came out of open than a platoon of collectors started to swarm in.
"We're out of time, Commander! We have to go!" said Joker.
"You heard the man—everyone onto the Normandy! Move!" Shepard yelled as he fired his assault rifle at the Collectors.
They quickly jumped onto the shuttle and exited the ship just as the lights came back on. Without hesitation they boarded the Normandy as quickly as possible.
"Strap in people—gonna make them work for it this time," said Joker, who began to fiddle with the controls.
The Normandy quickly pulled away from the Collector ship and Joker can define Shepard running towards him as quickly as he could.
The Collector ship then turned and fired its primary weapon at them. Fortunately, Joker was prepared this time and avoided a collision.
"I can't judge this guy forever, EDI," said Joker desperately. "Get us the hell out of here!"
"Specify a destination, Mr. Moreau," said EDI.
"Anywhere that's not here!" Joker yelled.
"Very well. Engaging mass effect core."
They soon exited the system just before the Collector ship fired on them again.
Once Shepard has got on his armour he made his way over towards the comm room.
"Call coming from the Illusive Man," said Joker. "Figure you've done a few words for him, too."
Shepard nodded and entered into the comm room just as the desk lower and he stepped into the hologram projector. At once he came face-to-face with the Illusive Man, who was sitting down in his chair.
"Shepard. Looks like EDI extracted some interesting data before the Collector ship came back online," he said smoking his cigarette.
Shepard narrowed his eyes. "EDI told us the distress call originated from the Collectors. You betrayed us. Just like I knew you would."
"We're at war. The Collectors are taking humans, and every minute we waited one more we give the enemy to prepare."
"I know the stakes," Shepard glared. "But we're supposed to be on the same side, and I can't trust you."
"Without that information, we don't reach the Collector homeworld. And you and every other human may as well be dead." He then snuffed out his cigarette and stood up. "It was a trap… but I was confident in your abilities. And don't forget EDI. The collectors couldn't have anticipated her."
"You could have told me the plan," said Shepard angrily. "You say I'm important, but you sure try hard to get me killed."
"I needed the Collectors to believe they have the upper hand. Telling you could've tipped them off in any number of ways. Besides. I wouldn't have sent you in if I didn't think you could succeed."
Shepard folded his arms. "I don't risk people. There are always alternatives."
"You may not like being on the receiving end—neither would I—but the facts are with me. As mages we try to avoid them, these decisions need to be made." The Illusive Man then sat back down in his chair. "But more importantly… it paid off. EDI confirmed our suspicions."
The Illusive Man then picked up his cigarette and smoked. "The Reapers and Collector ships use advanced Identical Friend/Foe system that the relays recognise. All we need to do is to get our hands on one of those IFFs."
"I'm guessing you have a plan," Shepard assumed.
"We have a science team working on a derelict Reaper right now. I need you to pick up its IFF."
Shepard stared at him. "Where did you find a derelict Reaper?"
"An Alliance science team recently determined that the 'Great Rift' on the planet Klendagon is actually an impact crater for mass accelerator weapon." The Illusive Man then took a drink before he continued. "A very old mass accelerator. I sent a team to fight either the weapon or its target. They found both. The weapon was defund, but it helped us what the flight path of the intended target—a 37 million year old derelict Reaper. We found the damage and trapped in the gravity of a brown dwarf."
Shepard had to admit that entering into a derelict Reaper while it was orbiting a gas giant didn't sound particularly safe.
Shepard looked at the Illusive Man. "I get the feeling this isn't going to be a simple 'swing by and pick up our package'."
The Illusive Man nodded. "We lost contact with Dr Chandana's team shortly after they boarded. Initial reconnaissance reveals no clues, and it was too risky to commit more resources—but now we need that IFF." He paused to let out smoke from a cigarette before looking back at Shepard. "I'll forward the coordinates to Joker. In the meantime… I suggest you tell your true identity risk their lives unnecessarily. It will make things easier going forward."
"EDI—tell the crew to assemble," said Shepard. "We've got a lot to talk about."
"Of course, Shepard," said EDI.
Moments later, Jacob, Miranda and Mordin were in the briefing room as Shepard explained what the Illusive Man had told him. Also among them was EDI's hologram.
"So the Illusive Man didn't sell it out," said Jacob. "Could've fooled me."
"Lied to us. Used us. Need to access the Collector databanks," said Mordin as he paced up and down. "Necessary risk."
"There really wasn't any other choice," said Shepard with his hands behind his back. "Let's just hope this IFF works."
"My analysis is accurate, Shepard," said EDI. "I have also determined the approximate location of the Collector homeworld based on the navigation data from their vessel."
EDI then showed a map of the entire galaxy and began to move an icon across it. They all watched as the icon got close and close it towards the galactic core and then to their surprise it actually stop dead in the centre of it.
"That can't be right," said Miranda.
"EDI doesn't make mistakes," said Shepard as he leaned over the map. "The Collector homeworld is located somewhere in the galactic core."
Jacob shook his head. "Can't be. The core is just black holes and exploding suns. There are no habitable planets there."
"Could be an artificial construction," said Mordin, who looked very intrigued now. "Space station protected by powerful mass effect field and radiation shields."
"Even the Collectors don't have that kind of technology," said Miranda folding her arms.
Shepard wasn't as convinced, in fact explain quite a bit about the Collectors. "The Collectors are just servants of our real enemy. And we've all seen what their masters are capable of. They build the mass relays and the Citadel. Who's to say they can't build a space station surrounded by black holes? No wonder nobody's ever return from a trip through the Omega 4 mass relay."
"The logical conclusion is that a small safe zone exists on the far side of the relay," said EDI. "A region where ships can survive. Standard relay transmit protocols would not allow safe transport. Drift of several thousand kilometres on in common, and would be fatal in the galactic core. The Reaper IFF must trigger the relay to use more advanced, encrypted protocols."
Shepard nodded. "Just because we can follow the Collectors through the relay doesn't mean we can take them out. I don't want to go after them until I know we're ready."
"Sooner or later we need that IFF," said Jacob. "I say, why wait?"
Miranda shook her head. "It's derelict Reaper. What if the Collectors are waiting for us? We may want to build up our team before we take that kind of risk."
Shepard nodded in agreement. "The more people we have on our side, the better our chances of success. We need to keep building up the team."
"It's your call, Commander," said Jacob. "Whatever you decide, we're with you."
Jacob then saluted and then left the room with the others following him.
Kelly looks quite relieved to see that Shepard was alive and well.
"You have me so worried when you were trapped on the Collector ship," she said. "Thank goodness for EDI."
"That sounds like more and just professional concern, Kelly," Shepard noted.
Kelly smiled. "You're more than just my commander. You're my friend. EDI brought you back to me. If she had a body, I'd give her a big hug."
Shepard smiled. "I'm standing right here. Where's my hug?"
"Oh Shepard…" Kelly blushed. "I wish there were time to get to know you better."
"Why don't you join me in my cabin for meal?" Shepard offered. "It would give us the chance to talk."
Kelly nodded. "That sounds wonderful. Lead the way."
They say that there are a lot longer than just for meal when they returned back to his workstation she yawned.
"Goodness. I haven't stayed up that late since my college days. I had a wonderful evening. Thank you, Shepard."
Shepard went to see how Mordin was doing, he was busy sorting through the data they had gathered from the Collector ship. More precisely he was looking into how the Protheans became the Collectors.
"You got a minute to talk?" he asked.
Mordin looked up from his research. "Yes! Good timing, in fact. Excellent. Made breakthrough. Can share results while next samples grow. Hate waiting for cultural analysis. Never fast enough. Usually no result in advance. Just checking work. Have to be careful."
Mordin then noticed that Shepard was losing track. "Getting off track. Discovery. Based on Prothean-Collector connection, can explain technology, chart Reaper species modification. Fall of Protheans."
Shepard was now intrigued. "Tell me what happened."
"Early stages similar to indoctrination. Get captured Protheans laughed intelligence over several cloned generations. Cybernetic augmentation widespread afterwards." He then scratched his chin. "As Protheans failed, Reapers added tech to conference. Mental capacity almost gone, replaced by overworked sensory input, transfers. Transmitting data to masters."
"Is there anything we can do to help them?" Shepard asked hopefully.
Mordin shook his head. "No! No glands, replaced by tech. No digestive system, replaced by tech. No soul. Replaced by tech. Whatever they were, gone forever. Understand now?" Mordin then looked furious. "No art, no culture. Closer to husks than slaves. Tools for Reapers. Protheans dead. Collectors just final insult. Must be destroyed."
"I didn't think you needed any more motivation than you already had to stop the Collectors."
Mordin smiled. "Enjoy challenge. Saw necessity of attack on Collectors after plague on Omega. Their work, my people. How to care about two armies. One wins, one loses. Always work to do after. Now have more context. See what Collectors are." He looked up at Shepard. "Wasn't looking for other work before. Don't mean to imply that. Just committed now. Won't let you down."
Shepard folded his arms. "You said the Collectors had no art. I had no idea you cared about that kind of thing."
Mordin shrugged. "Personal interest negligible. Sang a little. Multispecies productions the cultural exploration. Gilbert and Sullivan. Always had the do the patter songs. But not about me. Cultural artistic expression reflects philosophical revolution, interest in growth, perspective, observation, interpretation. Suspect you won't see any art in Collector Base. Tools for Reapers. Worse than the geth."
Shepard looked up at Mordin. "I'm sorry, I know allows important, but…" He stared at Mordin with a bemused look. "You perform Gilbert and Sullivan?"
Mordin smiled.
I am the very model of scientists salarian,
I've studied species turian, asari, and batarian.
I'm quite good at genetics (as a subject of biology)
because I am an expert (which I know is a tautology).
My xenoscience studies range from urban to agrarian,
I am the very model of scientist salarian.
Mordin then turned back toward Shepard and cleared his throat. Shepard just stared at him for moment before shaking his head. "What is it about the Collectors' modifications that offers you so much?"
"Disrupts socio-technological balance! All scientific advancement due to intelligent overcoming, compensating for limitations. Can't carry a load, so invent wheel. Can't catch food, so invent spear. Limitations! No limitations, no achievement. No advancement, culture stagnates!"
Mordin sighed. "Works ever way, too. Advancement before culture is ready disastrous. Saw it with krogan. Uplifted by salarians. Disastrous. Our fault."
Shepard stared at Mordin. "You blame the salarians from what the krogan did?"
Mordin nodded. "Yes. Like giving nuclear weapons to cavemen. krogan and prepare for spaceflight, technological advance. Krogan could have evolved alone. Work out aggress on. Been ready to use new tech responsibly. Instead, salarians came. Disrupts krogan culture. Use krogan as blunt instruments against rachni. Shortsighted. Foolish."
"If you feel that way, why do you work on the genophage modification?" Shepard asked.
"Talks before. Best option. That or kill them all. If around first contact, would have argued against it. Wasn't there then. Do what I can."
Shepard nodded. "Thanks for sharing what you've learned, Mordin."
Ashley was with Anderson as he began going through reports from Rick.
"Sir, I've been meaning to ask you?" said Ashley.
"You would know what I think Shepard joining Cerberus?" Anderson guessed.
Ashley nodded.
"I can't say that I approve of his decision, but I can see why he did it," said Anderson. "He needed resources and very few people we believe him about the Reapers. I don't like Cerberus, but I can play nice with them if they can handle our Collector problem."
"You don't seriously believe that Shepard first, not after our history?"
"No. If he did trust them he would've said be quite a bit of information about Cerberus through a secure channel," said Anderson.
Ashley blinked. "He did what?"
"Apparently the Blue Suns had kidnapped and tortured a Cerberus agent information. Shepard managed to deal with the mercenaries, but he was too late to save the agent. He then forward the data to me. Unfortunately, it's encrypted so will take years for us to break."
Ashley shook her head. "I'm just not sure he's same and I once knew."
"Either way he's the only Shepard we've got."
Ashley merely nodded.