"Stealing an Alliance ship." Wrex shrugged. "Risky stuff. But I'm right behind you, Shepard. It's the least I can do."

"Everyone else thinks I'm crazy." Shepard waved a hand.

"Sometimes crazy is the best way to go. I just hope they don't catch us before we get our hands on Saren."

"You and me both."

"You'll get us through, Shepard" Wrex gave something that passed as a smile.

"We're fugitives on the run. Very exciting, Shepard." Tali tilted her head. "I wonder what the Council would do to us if we got caught?"

"I'll take full responsibility," said Shepard. "Crew is following the orders of a Council Spectre, so they're clear. Both you and Liara are technically civilians. As for Garrus and Wrex I'm hoping that Admiral Hackett will be able to get them off easy."

Shepard was in his quarters trying to relax, but it was pretty hard when they were practically going to a suicide mission. He knew they had no choice, but if they failed his crew would pay the consequences and he could find himself in the brig.

He then heard the door slide open and turned financially approaching him. "Skipper?"

"You don't have to call me that," said Shepard getting up. "I'm a traitor now. I probably shouldn't even be wearing this uniform."

She looked into his eyes. "We had to do this, Shepard. You know that. There was no other way. And you always be the skipper to me. 'O Captain, my Captain…'"

Shepard blinked. "First Alfred Tennyson, now Walt Whitman. You're full of surprises."

Ashley shrugged. "Dad loved although sappy poets. Mum was all into Plath. I'm not a 'word person', Shepard. Other people say what I mean better than I do. We're mutineers, sailing a stolen warship into the most hostile system in the galaxy. I couldn't blame the council for calling us reckless."

"Just a few months ago you would have," Shepard noted.

"I've… had some things to think about since coming aboard," Ashley admitted. "'Death closes all. But something ere the end, some work of noble note may yet be done, not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.'" She placed a hand on his chin and looked at him. "We'll get home again Shepard. I believe you lead us through. 'O Captain, my Captain'."

"Is my rank all you see when you look at me?" Shepard asked curiously.

"No. I see a strong passionate man… with a great ass." He then wrapped his arms around her waist and she did the same with his neck. "There are regs against this, you know. You ready to deal with the consequences? I've spent my whole life fighting to get what I want. To get it done, I had to bury a lot of things. During that whole time, not even once did I feel like I was worth what I was fighting for." She then looked into his eyes. "You make me feel good enough."

"Bunk here to night, Ash. With me."

"Bold words, Shepard," she said teasingly. "I like bold."

"This is a contest, Ash."

"This isn't an act, Shepard. But you'll learn."

Shepard then practically slammed his lips onto hers and at once the two of them began fighting for dominance with in one another's mouths. Their hands traced along their bodies as they tried desperately to remove each other's clothes.

Eventually the two of them were undressed and Shepard was laying down on his bunk. Ashley was crawling towards him with a hair cascading down her shoulders. He then inserted his dick into her and she began to move up and down.

Shepard took this opportunity to roll over so that he was now on top and began to nibble at her neck while pushing in and out. He could hear Ashley's moans in his ear and that only causing to increase his pace as her hands traced his back.

He then pulled away so that he was upright and with one hand placed around the small of her back he lifted her up towards him and she automatically wrapped her legs around his waist. He places other hand on her ass and gave her buttocks a good squeeze.

They then once again placed their lips onto one another and their tongues danced in their mouths. Ashley then took this moment of weakness to roll over so that she was now on top and began to move her hips while moaning.

Her hands landed onto the mattress as she began to move her hips and she arcs her back. Shepard then traced his hands onto her breasts giving them a good rub and squeeze causing her to moan deeply. Eventually she could not take any more and came and fell onto his chest.

Shepard however wasn't quite finished and rolled over placing his right hand over her thigh and the left on her breast. There moans filled the entire cabin as he began to speed up and eventually he came into her.

He then laid down next to her and she wrapped her arms around him and the two of them fell asleep.

When Ashley woke up she found that Shepard was already dressed and leaning against his desk.

"Well now," she panted, still feeling sore. "That's a whole new spin for 'on the floor and give me twenty,' hm?"

"Would you roll your eyes if I said that 'This was first time in months I felt that all was right in the galaxy'?" Shepard asked.

Ashley laughed. "Yes."

"Bridge to Commander Shepard," said Joker over the comm. "We're five minutes out from the Mu relay."

Ashley sighed and she began to reach for her clothes. "Duty calls. Get up to the bridge, skipper. I've got other weapons to check." He was about to make his way to the door when he heard her voice again. "Hey, Shepard? Whatever happens down there, I just wanted to say…" She started shook head. "Wait. You know what? I'm not telling you. You want to hear this, you'll just have to come back to me."

"It's a deal," Shepard smiled.

Once they exited lightspeed they could see the planet Ilos in the distance, but it was blockaded by several geth ships.

"Uh…" Joker looked over his shoulder. "Commander? We've got company."

"Have their sensors picked us up yet?" Liara asked.

"Stealth systems are engaged. Unless we get close enough for a visual, they won't have any idea we're here."

Pressly spoke up from his position at the station behind them. "Picking up some strange readings from the planet's surface."

"Take us down, Joker. Lock in on the coordinates."

"Negative on that, Commander. The nearest landing zone's two klicks away."

"We'll never make it in time on foot." Ashley shook her head. "Get us something closer!"

"There is nowhere closer! I've looked!"

Shepard nodded. "Drop us in the Mako."

"You need at least a hundred meters of open terrain to pull off a drop like that. The most I can find near Saren is twenty."

"Twenty meters?" Ashley sighed. "We'll never get in close enough for a drop."

"We have to try!" Liara gestured.

"Find another landing zone!"

"There is no other landing zone!" Pressly yelled.

"The descent angle's too steep!" Tali looked over the readout.

"It's our only option!" Liara folded her arms.

"It's not an option! It's a suicide run! We don't—"

"I can do it." Joker's quiet voice cut Ashley off.

"Joker?" Shepard looked down at the pilot.

"I can do it." Joker nodded.

"Gear up and head down to the Mako. Joker—" He nodded. "Drop us right on top of that bastard!"

Saren was moving his forces into the tunnel and the once ancient city and then he heard the sound of the ship descending. He looked up and saw the Normandy flying straight towards them.

"You two, keep moving. Inside. Now!" Saren ordered.

The mako then launched from the ship and he and his geth distance into the tunnel when the doors slid closed. He only had just enough time to see the mako landing on the ground and judging from the impact from behind the doors they had managed to make it.

The ride in the mako was quite a bumpy one, but all of them manage to survive the impact. Shepard open the hatch and one by one they jumped out and made the way to the doors where they had last seen Saren.

"We have to get inside this bunker before Saren finds the Conduit!" Ashley shook her head. "There's no way we're getting past that door with brute force."

"I don't control panel which I can hack either," said Shepard glancing at the door.

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

"We'll have to find some way to get it up and running again."

"Right." Shepard nodded. "Wrex, you and Tali stay and protect the mako. The rest of you, with me."

They managed to descend into the lower levels, remarkably the generators were still working for the lifts. However, they soon discovered that not all the geth went with Saren, because they had to pay several patrols of them.

"Come. Saren's already got a headstart. We have to go find him before he reaches the Conduit." Garrus gestured with his rifle.

Ashley shook her head. "Unless he's already found it. Then we're just walking into a trap."

"That's a chance we'll have to take." Garrus started walking. "Hold on…" He stopped when a console lit up. "Something's happening."

"—too late." Static garbled the message. "Unable to… invading fleets… no escape…"

"Sounds like some kind of message." Garrus shook his head. "But I don't recognise the language."

"It's probably in Prothean. This recording must be 50,000 years old. No wonder we can't understand it." Ashley sighed.

Shepard stared at them. "The message is all broken up, but I recognize some of the words. It's a warning against the Reaper invasion."

Liara eyes widened at him. "Of course. Between the beacons and the Cipher, an understanding of the Prothean language would have transferred into your mind."

"… ot safe… seek refuge… side the archives…"

"What's it saying? Can you make out anything useful?" Ashley asked.

Shepard held out his hand. "… Alled Reapers… the Citadel… overwhelmed… only hope… act of desperation… the Conduit… all is lost…"

"It said something about the Conduit, but it's too degraded to help. We should go." Shepard sighed.

"You speak Prothean." Liara matched his pace at they started out of the chamber. "You actually speak Prothean."

"You're wishing now that you had Cipher, don't you?"

"Yes, but I fear that it would be useless if I did not access the beacons as you have," said Liara.

The bunker door was open. "Who votes we take the vehicle into the creepy, underground bunker?" Ashley glanced over her shoulder.

"Good idea." Garrus nodded. "The firepower will come in handy."

"I'll drive." Shepard climbed onto the mako.

"I'll arm the gun." Garrus started to follow.

They began driving through the tunnel and Liara just stared as they drove through what remained of the city.

"I have spent my life studying the Protheans, but I never dream to that I would discover anything like this!" She saw the strange looking pods as they drove by. "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!"

"Hey! Try to remember why we're here," said Ashley. "Saren, the Conduit, the fate of the entire known galaxy?"

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

"That if we're not all looked up for treason," said Shepard.

As they pressed forward Garrus frowned. "I thought Saren would have set some sort of trap or ambush for us. They must have been too much of a hurry."

"Or we just have yet to run into it," said Tali.

Ashley then frowned at the pods that were stuck in the walls. "What are all those things on the wall? Some kind of containers?"

"They look like stasis pods," said Tali. "The Protheans probably try to keep themselves alive through cryogenic freezing. Something must have gone wrong. The bank and became their tomb. The paths are dead, as well as anyone inside."

"All of them?" Ashley said. "There must been hundreds of those pods. What was Saren to expect a fine down here? There's nothing left but corpses."

They kept on driving but then a shield appeared in front of them blocking their path.

"Someone has cut us off," said Shepard.

"It's a trap! Saren must have set an ambush!" said Ashley.

"I don't think Saren is behind this." Tali tapped the display in front of her, which indicated a door had opened nearby. The readings were strange.

"Since it appears that we have no choice let's investigate," said Shepard.

They entered through the open door and entered into an elevator and began to descend downwards. They soon stopped and saw more stasis pods and a console nearby and in front of it was some sort of hologram.

"You are not Prothean. But you are not machine, either. This eventuality was one of many that was anticipated. This is why we sent our warning through the beacons." The hologram was strange, twisting in shape as if it couldn't project properly.

"Looks like some kind of VI program. Pretty badly damaged." Garrus tilted his head at the hologram.

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

"Wait a minute." Ashley shook her head. "How come I can understand you? Why aren't you speaking the Prothean language?"

Shepard was relieved that he didn't have to act as translator he can have a notice that Liara was excited by this.

"I have been monitoring your communications since you arrived at this facility. I have translated my output into a format you will comprehend." The spinning of the hologram abruptly shifted directions. "My name is Vigil. You are safe here, for the moment. But that is likely to change. Soon, nowhere will be safe."

"Why did you bring us here?" Shepard stared at the hologram.

"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 Citadel is the heart of your civilisation and the seat of government. As it was with us, and as it has been with every civilisation 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 galaxy's horizon. When the Citadel relay is activated, the Reapers will pour through. And all you know will be destroyed."

Questions came from him and his companions, but the answers made little sense. The keepers were apparently part of the problem, but the real problem appeared to be simple complacency. "The Reapers can wipe out the Council and the entire Citadel fleet in a single surprise attack!"

"That was our fate. Our leaders were dead before we even realised we were under attack. The Reapers seized control of the Citadel and through it, the mass relays. Communication and transportation across our empire were crippled. Each star system was isolated, cut off from the others. Easy prey for the Reaper fleets. Over the next decades, the Reapers systematically obliterated our people. World by world, system by system, they methodically wiped us out."

"Some of you must have managed to survive."

"Through the Citadel, the Reapers had access to our records, maps, census data. Information is power, and they knew everything about us. Their fleets advanced across every settled region of the galaxy. Some worlds were utterly destroyed. Others were conquered, their populations enslaved. These indoctrinated servants became sleeper agents under Reaper control. Taken in as refugees by other Protheans, they betrayed them to the machines. Within a few centuries, the Reapers had killed or enslaved every Prothean in the galaxy. They were relentless, brutal, and absolutely thorough."

He looked at his companions. Then he nodded and turned back to the hologram. "You said you brought me here for a reason. Tell me what I need to do."

"The Conduit is the key. Before the Reapers attacked, we Protheans were on the cusp of unlocking the mysteries behind mass relay technology. Ilos was a top secret facility. Here, researchers worked to create a small-scale version of a mass relay. One that linked directly to the Citadel: the hub of the relay network."

"The Conduit's not a weapon." Ashley's voice came from behind him. "It's a back door onto the Citadel!"

Shepard nodded and looked back at Vigil. "How did you manage to stay hidden?"

"All official records of our project were destroyed in the initial attack on the Citadel. While the Prothean empire came crashing down, Ilos was spared. We severed all communications with the outside and our facility went dark. The personal retreated underground into these archives. To conserve resources, everyone was put into cryogenic stasis. I was programmed to monitor the facility and wake the staff when the danger had passed. But the genocide of an entire species is a long, slow progress. Years passed. Decades, centuries. The Reapers persisted. And my energy reserves were dwindling."

"You should fought!" said Shepard.

"We were a few hundred against a galactic invasion fleet. Our only hope was to remain undetected. I began to disable the life-support of non-essential personnel. First support staff, then security. One by one, their pods were shut down to conserve energy. Eventually, only the stasis pods of the top scientists remained active. Even these were in danger of failing when the Reapers finally retreated back through the Citadel relay."

"There are hundreds of stasis pods out there!" Liara stared in horror. "You just shut them down? You killed them?"

Shepard can believe he was about to say this, but the entry agreed with the hologram. "You couldn't let everyone die. Better to sacrifice some so others could live."

"This outcome was not completely unforeseen. My actions were a result of contingency programming entered on my creation."

"I bet they didn't have the 'non-essential' staff about this contingency," said Astley angrily.

"I saved key personnel. When the Reapers retreated, the tops researchers were still alive. My actions are the only reason any hope remains. When the researchers woke, they realised the Prothean species was doomed. There were only a dozen individuals left, far too few to sustain a viable population. Yes they vowed to stop the reapers from returning. A way to break the cycle forever. And they knew the keepers were the key."

"I still don't understand what's going on here. Why is Saren trying to find the Conduit?"

"The Conduit gives them access to the Citadel and the keepers. The keepers are controlled by the Citadel. Before each invasion, a signal is sent through the station compelling the keepers to activate the Citadel relay. After decades of feverish study, the scientists discovered a way to alter this signal. Using the Conduit, they gained access to the Citadel and made the modifications. This time, when Sovereign sent the signal to the Citadel, the keepers ignored it. The Reapers are trapped in darks space."

Shepard's eyes widened. "Saren can use the Conduit to bypass all the Citadel's external defenses."

"Correct. And once inside, he can transfer control of the station to Sovereign. Sovereign will override the Citadel's systems and manually open the relay. And the cycle of extinction will begin again."

"Is there any way we can stop them?"

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

"Wait." Garrus shook his head. "Where's the Citadel's master control unit? I've never heard of anything like that."

"Through the Conduit. Follow Saren. He will lead you to your destination."

"So when the Reapers created the Citadel, they created the keepers as well?"

"A more likely scenario is that the keepers were one of the earliest harvested civilisations. Perhaps the very first. Perhaps they responded well to indoctrination or the Reapers simply bred them to be obedient. In any case they were left behind to operate and maintain the Citadel. But the keepers are no longer directly controlled by Sovereign or its ilk. They are evolved so that they only respond to the signal emanated by the Citadel itself. When the Protheans altered the Citadel's signals, they broke Sovereign's hold over the keepers. Now they are completely harmless."

Shepard and then understood why he used the geth instead. "Sovereign must have realised organic races were difficult to control."

"A likely hypothesis. The keepers evolved in an unanticipated direction. Non-organic servants like the geth would be more predictable."

"What happened to the survivors from the Conduit Project?"

"They use the Conduit to gain access to the Citadel, but the Conduit is only a prototype. The portal only links in one direction, so they were trapped on the station. I do not know what became of them. It is unlikely they found any food or water on the station. I fear they suffered a slow, grim death. I only know they succeeded in their mission to seal the relay. Your presence here proves their sacrifice was not in vain."

Shepard then looked at the rest of his team. "Saren's got enough of a head start. Grab that data file and let's go!"

Garrus grabbed the data disk, but Liara looked as if she didn't want to leave. "Shepard, are you sure? Who knows how much longer Vigil will be here? Even now the projection is weak. This might be our only chance to speak with it—our only link to the knowledge of the Protheans! It is the opportunity of a lifetime!"

"I'm sorry, Liara. We have to stop Saren. Nothing else matters."

Thankfully Liara nodded. "You are right. I am sorry. My personal feelings cloud my judgement. We… we should go."

"The one you call Saren has not reached the Conduit," said Vigil. "Not yet. There is still hope if you hurry."

Meanwhile at the Citadel Sovereign and hundreds of geth exited out of lightspeed descended upon the Citadel. They then began to fire upon the Citadel fleet that was patrolling the Citadel itself.

Their attack caught them completely destroying about a tenth of their fleet. They then began to engage the enemy fleet, but they were completely overpowered. Even the Ascension was having problems and it was the flagship of the Citadel fleet.

The commander of the Ascension avoided the fires to make her way to the navigator. "Activate the defences! Seal the station!"

"The arms aren't moving! Systems not responding!" said the navigator.

The commander knew that they were completely overwhelmed. "Abandon the Citadel! Evacuate the Council!"

The navigator then activated the radio. "Citadel control! Citadel control! Do you copy?"

Within Citadel control a geth was looking over the console with several dead C-Sec officers littering the floor. With them was Saren and they soon left the room.

Meanwhile on Ilos, Shepard and the others soon saw the Conduit on the horizon. It looks like a minuscule version of a mass relay and at the moment it was surrounded by geth.

"There!" Liara pointed. "The Conduit! It's incredible!"

"We don't have time to admire the view," said Ashley. "We have to get through that relay… and those geth aren't going to make it easy on us."

"Garrus clear us the path and heading down there for speed," said Shepard putting his foot flat on the accelerator.

They soon made their way down the hill and Garrus began firing at the geth that got in their way.

"So our plan is to jump through a mass relay," said Tali.

"Commander the mako wasn't designed for spaceflight," said Ashley.

"If Saren was able to make it so can we," said Shepard. They soon reached the slope towards the relay. "Hold on to something!"

The mako then jumped into the relay and then they vanished in a split second.