The excitement of seeing the Prothean ruins on Ilos was overshadowed by her fear of death. Liara sat next to Shepard, looking terrified and squeezing the woman's hand as hard as she could. She was beginning to regret insisting that they try to land the mako.

Nihlus hoped their trust in Joker's ability to pull this off was well placed. He glanced over at Sonya as she sat across from him. He locked eyes with her as the rover rolled out the the loading bay for the long drop to the surface. He found the steel of her resolve in the depths of her gaze. If they did die, he wanted her face to be the last thing he saw.

In a moment of familiar weightlessness and vertigo the mako went sailing thorough the air. Nihlus whispered a prayer on his breath to the spirits of all life to spare their lives, at least long enough to stop Saren. His heart pounded hard in his chest, his lungs held captive the last breath he gleaned from the air. He felt he could hear the thoughts of his mate through their bond, the whispers of her love for him through her gaze.

"Brace for impact!" Garrus shouted from the driver's seat mere seconds before they hit ground.

The mako landed with a hard jolt, skipping across the terrain like a stone on the surface of a lake, just as Saren ran inside the Prothean complex with his geth. A large stone wall closed down behind him. Garrus employed all his strength to pull on the breaks to avoid crashing into the stone wall directly ahead of them. They were on the surface. Survival of the team was now in his talons. He could smell smoke from the break pads, likely red hot with the strain and friction against the drums. They were fast approaching the stone wall. Garrus kept his eyes open and on the viewer, intent on looking death in the face if it should come for him.

The mako skidded to a halt a few short meters from the entry to the complex. It took a few seconds for Garrus' grip on the break handle to relax after locking the wheels.

"Good job on those up grades, Garrus!" Shepard congratulated him as she pried Liara's fingers from her arm.

"I knew they'd save our lives one day," He called back to her. "I just didn't count on being the one behind the controls." He teased.

Shepard glared across the mako at his playful smile. His since of humor was never shaken. She couldn't help a grin. She had no doubts that he probably would have something cleaver to say even if they were laying on the ground dying instead of exiting the mako.

"Thank the goddess..." Liara breathed when her feet touched earth. "We're not dead!"

"It's not over yet." Kryik said sternly. "Hold your thanks until after we've stopped Sovereign."

"We have to get inside this bunker before Saren reaches the conduit." Garrus interjected as he jumped down out of the mako.

"There's no way we're getting past that door with brute force." Liara pointed out, collecting herself.

"Saren found a way to open it." Garrus added. "There must be some kind of security override somewhere in this complex."

"We have to find it and get it operational." Shepard said, assuming Saren sabotaged it in some way.

She was checking her weapons and loading them with tungsten rounds, except the sniper. That she loaded with explosive rounds. Whatever she intended to hit with it she would only need one shot, even if she missed the head.

The team went in the only other direction available. It didn't take long to encounter a geth squad with armature back up. The geth fell to their gunfire. It was becoming a rudimentary task to take out the synthetics after the hundreds they faced in the past. The novelty of seeing the geth beyond the Veil had died quickly after the first few skirmishes.

Vakarian took down their shields with a overload signal from his omni-tool. Kryik took cover behind a large stone block, taking out the targets as their shields failed. Liara used her biotics to lift the crates and smaller stone blocks that littered the area in a joint effort Shepard to throw the debris at the geth, smashing them against the walls of the ancient structures around them. It was almost fun to crush the geth to bits like insect pests.

The armatures were more difficult. One blast from the ion canon would cut right through their shields. They might as well have been battling in the nude for all the good their armor would do them against that kind of fire power. Shepard took cover behind a large stone block next to Kryik. Vakarian and T'Soni took similar cover across from them in an attempt to flank the large geth.

Kryik stood with his back to the stone. Shepard was at his side, preparing to lean out and fire on the enemy.

"We'll fire in teams, Liara and I will fire the first round to draw their attention. Vakarian and Shepard, you fire while they're distracted. We should be able to take them down quickly. This must be seamless. I'm will not accept losses." Kryik ordered over the com.

Sonya looked up at Nihlus, waiting for the signal. He bent to nuzzle his forehead to hers. The silent communication between them as their eyes locked needed no words to explain. The message was as simple as it was powerful.

"On my mark..." He kept his head pressed to hers as he counted down. "Three, two..."

Her gaze steeled as she looked up at him. The fire in his own eyes igniting a flame in her resolve. A blue glow rippled over her form in the last second.

"Mark!"

Kryik rolled to the opposite corner and fired on the nearest armature. He saw Liara's biotic blast hit the other followed by her gunfire. The armatures re-positioned their legs and prepared to fire their canons.

"Keep firing until the canon fire leaves the barrel!" Kryik shouted into the com. "Vakarian, Shepard, fire now!"

The blue glow of the enemy blast grew in size and brightness just before it was released from the 'face' of the armatures. Shepard and Garrus leaned out of cover just as the blast shot through the air and Kryik and T'Soni put their backs to stone.

It took a few passes, but the tactic succeeded in taking down the threat. They found a path behind them and took it. The team was set on edge when they were not met by more geth.

"Maybe we're going the wrong way?" Liara asked. "Surely there should be more geth here."

"You're the expert. How did the Protheans typically lay out their installations?" Garrus asked her.

"None of the other sites were anything like this. The status, the designs carved in the pillars... I wish I had more time to..."

She was cut off by a geth trooper's fortunate, however unlikely, missed shot of her head.

"There's you're geth!" Garrus commented before dropping to one knee and returning fire.

It took a few rounds, but he was a good shot. The trooper was unable to return fire while Garrus pummeled its face with tungsten rounds.

A small platoon of synthetics later they found an elevator. It was active so they took it. The lifts slid at an angle down a steep incline, then opened to a tunnel. Like everything else, it was heavily overgrown with old vegetation. At the end of the hall they could see that it opened up to a much larger room.

"This must be the command center for the entire complex." Liara commented. "Saren's troops must have sealed the doors from here after he went inside."

"We must hurry." Kryik said, distractedly.

This would be the third time he had the opportunity to stop Saren, and possibly the last. If he was going to stop him, if he was going to deliver justice, he could not loose Saren again.

The command center was crawling with geth and troopers. Shepard noticed dormant armatures next to the same mobile geth consoles they had seen on Feros. There was little cover behind short stone pillars. The four of them were shoulder to shoulder on the ground behind a fallen column. Kryik lifted out of cover long enough to fire blindly over his shoulder before falling back to the dirt.

"Those consoles, if someone can access them, I think we may be able to activate those armatures!" She shouted over the din.

"Why would we want to create more enemies!" Vakarian shouted. He was looking at her like she was nuts.

"If we can override the control, they might take care of the geth for us!" She explained.

"Or they might finish us off!" Vakarian retorted.

Shepard narrowed her eyes at him and tightened her grip on her rifle.

"It's too dangerous." Kryik told her.

"Since when has that ever stopped you!" She said. "Cover me!"

Shepard didn't wait for a reply. She left cover, firing her pistol into the nearest geth and ran for the console to the right of them.

"Shepard!" Kryik called after her.

His heart leapt into his throat. If she was right, it could save them. If she was wrong... they might die anyway. She wouldn't live if she did it alone.

"Cover us!" He ordered and left cover, firing his rifle into the geth as he took the console on the left.

"They're both nuts!" Garrus grumbled as the set his rifle over the top of the fallen pillar and fired.

Liara ignited into a blue glow. She stood up and pushed a wave of biotic energy into the onslaught of attacking geth, knocking them to the ground. The attack gave Shepard and Kryik enough time to find the override code and activate the armatures . They immediately took cover, just in case the override failed. Fortunately, it didn't. Two armatures was all it took to finish off the platoon of enemy geth. Shepard exhaled a sigh of relief as Kryik jogged over to her.

"You weren't convinced this was going to work, were you?" He asked, a knowing look in his eye.

Shepard simply grinned up at him. She wasn't about to admit she was unsure of anything on a mission, least of all risking everyone's lives. Besides, she could tell he pretty much knew anyway.

Nihlus nudged his forehead to hers just before Garrus and Liara joined them. He activated his omni-stool and started a scan of the ruins.

"You two got the crazy out of your system?" Garrus teased, sort of.

"Let's go." Kryik ordered, ignoring Vakarian's remark.

He lead the team to a ramp of hidden along the side of what looked to be a command deck. When they entered the room it was disappointingly empty. Three old Prothean terminals lined the far wall. Shepard approached the middle one. It wasn't likely to be functioning, but it was worth a try.

Suddenly the terminal came to life. Kryik took a quick step back. A series of lights focused into a circular shape, then lost continuity, appearing as flashes of lightning in a pinkish orb.

"I think it's some kind of hologram." Garrus said.

"... too late... unable to... invading fleets." The groups of words were broken static. "... no escape..."

"It sounds like some kind of message, but I don't understand the language." Kryik said.

"It's probably in Prothean. This recording must be 50,000 years old. No wonder we cannot understand it. If the message was written I might be able to read it, but I've never heard it spoken before." Liara added.

"I can understand it." Shepard stated. "It must be because of the beacons and the cypher, but the message is badly damaged. I can only make out a few words. It sounds like a warning against the Reaper invasion."

"...ot safe... seek refuge... side the archives..." the holo continued.

"Can you make out anything useful?" Vakarian asked.

"... alled Reapers... the Citadel... overwhelmed... only hope..." Then the voice on the recording changed.

"... act of desperation... the conduit... all is lost... cannot be stopped... cannot be stopped!"

"It said something about the conduit and the Citadel, but it's too broken to help," was all Shepard told them. She didn't have it in her to tell them the rest. They heard it enough from Saren.

"We should go." Kryik decided. "We have to get to Saren before he reaches the Conduit."

Kryik left the room. What good was any of it if it could not help them? Why did she have to suffer through the beacons and the cypher transfer if there was nothing useful to gain? He hated the waste.

Seconds later they took an elevator to the surface. They were right back where they started and there was no control console, no system to override. Frustration began to eat at their determination.

"Perhaps in activating the hologram, other systems were activated. The door to the bunker may open upon our approach." Liara suggested.

"We've no other choice." Kryik conceded.

They path to the mako was littered with the fallen geth and spent heat sinks. They trampled over their own foot prints to climb inside the rover. Kryik and Shepard were the last to climb in. Just before she got in, Shepard stopped in front of Kryik. She studied his face for a moment. He didn't display any agitation or other change in mood or demeanor like he had on Virmire or Noveria, but she wanted to be sure he was okay.

"We're going to stop him." She said. "He won't get away this time."

"No, he won't." Nihlus said. He knew her concern. He worried about it himself, but he was not Saren and he would not let Saren's teachings corrupt him now. "We will make sure of it."

Shepard nodded, then climbed inside. He followed her in and took his seat after securing the hatch. He knew he would not fail because she was there to balance him. He was strong on his own, but she made him stronger. His chest puffed up with confidence.

Liara's intuition was correct. The door slid open as the mako inched forward.

"Who votes we take the mako into the creepy underground tunnel were geth are guaranteed to shoot at us?" Garrus scoffed from the controls.

No one laughed, but he didn't really expect them to.

Inside it was just another dirt tunnel, but it quickly changed to a water way with walls dotted by protruding oval shapes. Kryik caught a glimpse of the viewer images over Vakarian's shoulder. Turning to the navigation console next to him, he linked the display to the viewer systems to access the images.

"I have spent my life studying the Protheans, but never dreamed I discover anything like this!" Liara's face was alight with excitement.

"This bunker might have been the last refuge of their entire species. Just imagine what mysteries it might hold! Imagine what secrets it might reveal!" She continued almost breathlessly.

Though her tone never really changed, Shepard was nearly convinced the asari doctor was about to loose her mind with a child like enthusiasm.

"Try to remember we're here for Saren, the Conduit, the fate of the entire galaxy?" Garrus teased her from the cockpit.

A light blush settled in her cheeks, but her eyes did not leave the display. Fascination was written on her face as if someone painted it there.

"I'm sorry." She apologized, "I was swept up in the moment. I just hope we have the opportunity to study this place in detail after this is done."

Shepard grinned to herself. It was so endearing how the doctor held on to her faith in the success of the mission and their survival. She hoped the girl was right.

"What are those?" Shepard wondered allowed, looking at the oval shapes on the walls.

"They look like stasis pods. The Protheans probably tried to keep themselves alive through cryogenic freezing." Liara answered.

"Okay, party's over. Sit down or get out and fight. We've got company." Garrus called over his shoulder.

Shortly after the sound of bullets hitting the hull of the mako rattled around them like heavy rain. Kryik was up the rungs on the wall and in the gunners seat before anyone hand time to strap in. He fired the main canon dead center of the small group of geth that were attacking them. The group exploded in burning circuits and metal plating. The tunnel narrowed to a tube and took a sharp turn down. as they passed between sections. When they exited the other side the far end of the room was blocked by a yellow barrier curtain.

Kryik's haunches were up. All his training told him 'ambush'.

"Be ready." He growled.

"What is happening?" Liara asked, nervously.

"I don't think Saren is behind this..." Shepard trailed off.

"There is a door way to starboard." Kryik said, turning the canon to look around. "Maybe we can get around it or find a way to deactivate it."

He climbed down and opened the hatch. Garrus stayed behind, in case it was an ambush and the geth returned. They weren't going to get the mako.

The doorway was a short hall. The smell of the water and old vegetation was even stronger in the small space. There was an elevator at the end, noticeable only by the telling light from the call button. There were no other options. They got in and Kryik hit the button. For a few moments they stood in total darkness. Nihlus took the opportunity to squeeze Sonya's hand. She squeezed back.

"I have studied the Protheans for decades." Liara spoke into the darkness out of nervousness, "But I have never felt the sense of foreboding. What will we find down there?" She wondered allowed.

Sonya and Nihlus kept their peace. Sonya offered Liara a week grin. It made her feel less alone. Whatever awaited them, they would face it together.

The door to the elevator opened. T'Soni left the elevator in wonder of the tall, narrow space they found themselves in. Kryik released Shepard's hand after they stepped out of the elevator. The short walkway dead ended with another Prothean console like the holo projector they found earlier. Perhaps this one would deactivate the barrier curtain.

"Liara, see if you can access..." Kryik didn't need to finish his order.

The console came to life as they approached it, just as the other had done. And just as the other, the holo image was damaged. The colors flashed and fluctuated in radom patterns. As the other had done this one spoke, but not in Prothean.

"You are not Prothean, but you are not machine either." A calm, gentle male voice emanated from the holo. "This eventuality was one of many that was anticipated. This is why we sent our warning through the beacons."

"I think it's a VI." Liara said, enthralled. "It's badly damaged, like the console, but it appears that the mainframe is still in tact."

"I do not sense the taint of indoctrination upon any of you. Unlike the other that passed recently. Perhaps there is still hope," said the VI

"This is incredible. An actual Prothean VI and I can understand it!" Liara said.

Shepard was surprised to hear Liara's voice break pitch with excitement.

"I have been monitoring your communications since you arrived at this facility. I have translated my output into a format you will comprehend," explained the VI. "My name is Vigil. You are safe here, for the moment, but that is likely to change. Soon no where will be safe."

"Why did you bring us here?" Kryik asked.

"You must break a cycle that has continued for millions of years. But to stop it you must understand or you will make the same mistakes we did." The VI paused for a few seconds then continued. "The Citadel is the heart of your civilization and the seat of your government. As it was with us and has been for every civilization that came before us. But the Citadel is a trap. The station is actually an enormous mass relay. One that links to dark space; the empty void beyond the galaxies horizon. When the citadel relay is activated, the Reapers will pour through. And all you know will be destroyed."

"If Saren activates the relay, the Reapers will wipe out the Council and the Citadel fleet in one fell swoop!" Shepard said, her brow furrowed with alarm.

"That was our fate. Our leaders were dead before we even realized we were under attack. The Reapers ceased control of the Citadel, and through it, the mass relays. Over the next decades the Reapers wiped us out, one world at a time."

"Some of you must have survived." Kryik said, hoping Saren was wrong. Hoping that this 'Vigil' has some useful data that could save them.

"Some worlds were destroyed, others conquered and their populations enslaved. These indoctrinated servants were taken in as refugees by other Protheans. They betrayed them to the machines. In the end, every Prothean was enslaved or killed. The Reapers were methodic and absolutely thorough."

"What do the Reapers get out of this? Why do they keep repeating the pattern?" Kryik asked, not only for himself, but for the team. The one question burning in there minds behind how to stop them.

"We do not know. There reasons are likely uncomprehendable to organic life. In the end, your survival depends on stopping them. Not understanding them."

"Then tell us how to stop them." Shepard leaned forward as if to hear better.

Vigil explained that Ilos had been a top secret facility. Researchers created a small scale version of the relay. One that linked directly to the Citadel. Shepard and Kryik exchanged glances, both thinking of the relay monument on the Presidium.

Vigil continued. The ovals on the walls were indeed stasis pods. The remaining staff had retreated to them to be awakened by Vigil when the danger had passed. But the Reapers took centuries to complete the genocide. Eventually, Vigil had to shut down all the pods, save key personnel, to conserve energy enough for the possibility of the next cycle of life finding him.

The news angered everyone. Their eyes narrowed at the VI, but the contingency was in his programming. Liara wiped away a tear as Vigil continued.

"The remaining pods were on the verge of failure when the Reapers finally returned to dark space. Only a dozen or so that had survived. Hardly enough to sustain a viable population. They dedicated themselves to stopping the Reapers from returning. They knew the keepers were the key."

"The keepers?" Shepard asked.

"The keepers are controlled by the Citadel. Before each Reaper invasion a signal is sent out and the keepers activate the citadel relay. After decades of study the researchers found a way to alter the signal. They accessed the Citadel through the Conduit and made the modifications. This time, when Sovereign sent the signal to the Citadel, the keepers ignored it. The Reapers are trapped in dark space."

"But with Saren assisting him, the Citadel's defenses can be overridden. Saren will hand control of the station over to Sovereign." Kryik glowered.

"That is correct." Vigil replied.

"We will stop Saren." Kryik told the machine. "Just tell me how."

"There is a data file in my console. Take a copy when you go. When you reach the Citadel's main control unit, upload it to the station. It will corrupt the Citadel's security protocalls and give you temporary control over the station. It might give you a chance against Sovereign."

"What's the main control unit? Where is it?" Shepard asked the question before Kryik could.

"Follow Saren, he will lead you to your destination." Vigil replied.

"Saren has enough of a head start." Kryik growled. He grazed a talon over Shepard's wrist. "Grab that data file and let's go."

Shepard nodded and moved toward the console.

"Wait!" Liara panicked. "This may be our last chance to speak with Vigil, our last link to Prothean knowledge..."

"We don't have time to play Q and A with it, Liara." Shepard cut her off, sharply. "The galaxy is at stake and we don't have the time. None of it will matter if we don't move now!"

Shepard made eye contact with T'Soni. She hated shouting at her, but the mission came first. Especially this one.

"I'm sorry... you are right." Liara agreed, however mournfully.

"The one you call Saren has not yet reached the conduit. There is still hope, if you hurry."

The VI fizzled out as Shepard pocketed the data. The team ran for the elevator and back to the mako. They had the way and the means. If only they had the time.

"I'm glad you're back!" Garrus greeted them. "When the barrier fell..."

Kryik had barely gotten the hatch shut when he cut off the turian with the order to move out.

"We've got a way to stop Sovereign. We need to get to the Conduit!" Kryik shouted as he climbed the rungs to the gunners seat.

"Yes, sir." Garrus shouted back, and hit the fuel to full ahead.

Saren left more than geth behind to secure his escape. Armatures, colossus', and troopers blocked the team from following the servant of Sovereign. But Kryik was not going to let metal and circuits keep him from the goal.

"Vakarian, do not stop this mako!" Kryik ordered as he fired rounds from the tanks gun at the geth in their way. "If it's not dead, run it over!"

"With pleasure!" Garrus shouted back. And he did.

Whatever was not taken out with bullets or canon fire passed beneath the wheels of the seven ton tank. Larger enemies, like the colossus, were simply avoided. Garrus drove around them and dodged the ion blast that would set them on fire. Eventually they saw less and less geth.

"We must be getting close." Kryik said, mostly to himself.

Not long after Garrus brought the mako to a dead stop. Down a steep decline a bright light shown out like a star at the bottom of a twin relay to the monument on the Citadel. Guarding this were many colossus'.

"There!" Liara pointed at the image on the nav. display. "The Conduit. It's incredible."

"We don't have time to admire the view." Shepard reminded her.

"We have to get through that rely." Kryik said as he descended the rungs. "On my mark, we make a run for it. The mako only needs to survive long enough to pass through that relay."

He strapped himself into his seat across from Shepard. His resolve was never so absolute. He locked eyes with his mate once more. This was it. If they did not stop Saren now, they weren't going to. He didn't bother with a count down.

"Mark!"

Garrus tightened his grip on the throttle. He eased it forward.

"Hang on, things are gonna get a little rough!" He shouted the warning over his shoulder.

The mako was never meant for hair pin turns or dead runs through wet, curvy ravines. She was designed for field battle over dryer terrain and straiter paths, or mineral recon up steep slopes of mountains. But she did her best to respond to Garrus' urging demands, swerving and dodging the ion canon fire, hopping over colossi and blunt hills as he pushed her full ahead toward the light from the relay.

The display screen was filled with white light as the mako hit the relay dead on. The feeling of vertigo was amplified in the small projectile as the power wielded by the Conduit propelled them though space and time at horrific speeds. There were no enursha dampeners on the mako. No gravity simulators. No environmental or life support controls. They had whatever air was in the tank with them when they make the jump. The pressure on them made it feel like their bodies might implode.

The sudden weight of gravity hit them as they were ejected from the relay monument, a feeling more nauseating than the vertigo or pressure from the trip, sickened the passengers. The mako sailed through the air over the lake and walkways to crash to the ground by the Citadel Tower, bouncing then rolling to a stop against a wall hitting several smaller objects on the way.

Kryik's stomach rejected everything that was in it and offered it to the ceiling of the mako that was now a floor. He wasn't alone. A general feeling of 'Ugh!' groaned inside the hull.

Kryik managed to untangle himself from his seat and get the hatch open. Luckily, they didn't land on it. He helped the rest of the team crawl out to the floor of the Presidium. What he saw when the first rush of smoke filled air hit his face made his heart sink. The trees were on fire. Businesses were destroyed. Apartments on the upper levels were just gone, including his own. The Citadel's holo directory was repeating a warning of geth infiltration as if she were providing information about the weather. Nearby the distant memory of Eden Prime was revisited with a row of husks on spikes; once citizens of the Citadel. As the spikes receded into the base that supported them a sizzle of electric charge could be heard over the crackle of fire.

Nihlus closed his eyes and took a deep breath of smoke and recycled Citadel air. The gun was in his hand when he opened his eyes again, a renewed fire burned in them. The bullets flew from his pistol in quick succession. The husks lay dead and oozing on the dirty and broken tiles before they had taken more than a few steps from their respective spikes.

"Saren is going to pay for this." He growled.

Shepard, Vakarian and T'Soni followed the warrior to the elevator. There was a hardness of his features, steel in his posture as he stood at full height, hell fire burned in his eyes. The speed of his gun and accuracy of his aim was impressive. He gained the respect of those with him in those moments. Respect that cannot be given or earned by good deeds. No. This was respect of someone that will wait for rain to remove the mountain in his path if he cannot climb it. Someone whos resolve propels him to justice and delivers it ten fold. Saren deserved a measure of pity for what awaited him, for his end was nigh and it's name was Nihlus Kryik.