A/N: I imagine some of you expected to see Shepard leave for Thessia in this chapter... alas, plans have changed! Leviathan time! While I did find the DLC rather fun, I thought it had some issues with internal logic, not to mention that all the time while playing it, the question of 'why are we looking for the Leviathan, again?' never left my mind. Also, all through the DLC, Shepard and her companions act as if they had never seen an indoctrinated person before. :P Ah well, I'll try to touch at least upon some of the inconsistencies, but I'll probably miss just as many. :)
And sorry about the title, being a Lovecraft fan, I just couldn't resist.
Chapter 101 - H.P. Bryson and the Leviathan Mythos
"I really hate it when a mission starts off like this," Morgan Shepard mutters, staring at a pool of blood on the floor in the laboratories belonging to the Task Force Aurora. "Reminds me of age old times when I was still a teen playing Galaxy of Fantasy and those goddamned batarians were camping my quest givers just because I let it slip in the general chat that I'm a human!"
"I don't understand," Liara shakes her head, together with EDI looking over the data streams on a nearby console, trying to understand exactly what Dr. Bryson's team of fringe scientists had been working on. "What does this mission have to do with a popular extranet game?"
"Well, Bryson was kind of like our quest giver, and he got shot. Sure, Hadley wasn't a batarian, but..." Shepard gives up, shrugging. "Eh, never mind, it was a stupid analogy anyway."
"I'm just very surprised that Admiral Hackett would jump onto something like this," Liara sounds a little unsettled as she speaks. "All I'm seeing is a lot of guesswork and wild, unsubstantiated theories here..."
"I'm a bit surprised too," Shepard agrees. "The way he suddenly made investigating this a top priority for us, I don't know... like he had suddenly and completely lost all faith in the Crucible and the Catalyst."
"But... it will work, we know it will! We should not be grasping at straws!" Liara protests, pulling away from the consoles, EDI wordlessly taking over. "As soon as Councilor Tevos returns from Thessia, I am sure we will have a new and promising lead."
"Yeah. Maybe," Shepard says, pacing back and forth the lab, watching them work. "Babe, I couldn't tell him that your people might have been hiding a Prothean beacon with crucial info on the Catalyst. That would look... rather bad."
"I... appreciate it, but do you really intend to sneak into the Parnitha System, grab the Catalyst intel, sneak back out and then lie about where we got if from?" Liara asks, shaking her head. "That would be impossible to conceal. The truth will come out whether we want it or not."
"I agree. I just think if we get the Catalyst, they'll be too overjoyed to care that your people have been sitting on this intel for who knows how long. Still... with the interest Hackett has in this project... I hope we can manage to sneak in a quick, scenic trip to Thessia. Tevos should call in soon, I'm beginning to worry about her and Aria's safety."
EDI suddenly interrupts them. "I believe you will find this very interesting, Commander," the synthetic speaks. "It is a conversation between Dr. Bryson and Admiral Hackett. They have been researching the Leviathan of Dis."
"Right... wasn't that thingy in the Shadow Broker files?" Shepard turns to Liara.
"Yes, I believe so... there were speculations that a batarian research team had excavated a dead Reaper and brought it to the batarian space for further study. Salarians came away with some footage, but it wasn't conclusive and the batarians issued full denial. The whole deal was hushed quickly thereafter. It was like the Leviathan of Dis never existed."
"Except that it did," Shepard says grimly. "Balak told me so himself, before I shot him. They had spent many years studying the corpse of that Reaper, and during all that time, many of their people became indoctrinated. When the Reapers arrived in the batarian space... well, let's just say that inside help was a big reason why the mighty Hegemony could not put up any meaningful resistance."
"Goddess!" Liara exclaims. "I... I do feel sorry for them, even if they brought it upon themselves."
"Dr. T'Soni, Commander Shepard, there is more," EDI explains. "The Reaper that the batarians recovered was killed in battle."
"Yeah... so?" Shepard shrugs. "I mean, we've killed quite a few Reapers ourselves. Maybe twenty million years in the future someone will find those remains on Rannoch or Tuchanka and will wonder about them. But what I mean is, if we could do it, one of the previous cycles might have done so as well."
"That seems like a reasonable supposition, Commander," EDI nods. "However, Dr. Bryson was adamant that this Reaper was killed by some larger and more powerful entity. He insisted that it was the real Leviathan of Dis."
"Can you see any evidence to back up this claim?" Liara asks.
"I do not find any factual evidence that would allow me to extrapolate how such claim could be made," EDI admits after a few moments of quantum processing. "But it seems that Admiral Hackett believed this explanation."
"I'm not sure what to think," Shepard shrugs her shoulders. "I mean, these wackos probably got a lot of funding from Hackett. Funding that they wanted to keep receiving. Bryson could have lied about it, I don't know. Thrown a bait and watch Hackett swallow it, because he was desperate."
"I strongly agree with you, Morgan," Liara nods, her posture suggesting how insulted she is at the pseudo-science practiced in this laboratory.
"And yet... there is something here that doesn't make sense," Morgan stops at a strange artifact, placed in a prominent place in the lab, a large, glowing sphere, apparently sent to Bryson by one of his field researchers. "He obviously thought this was something really important," she says, peering at the artifact curiously, fighting the urge to touch it, but then stepping away. "And... I mean, Hadley was clearly indoctrinated, and yet... there was something very weird about that, too..."
"What do you mean?" Liara asks.
"He seemed completely fine when we arrived, then he lost all control of his senses and shot Bryson. Then he snapped out of it again, and then as he was about to tell us more about that artifact and the guy who sent it, Garnish-something..."
"Garneau," EDI quickly corrects Shepard.
"Yeah, Garneau," Morgan nods. "It was like someone flipped a switch and took control of him again. Cue creepy warnings in a voice from beyond the grave and all that bollocks. I mean... usually Reaper indoctrination doesn't work quite like that, does it?"
"Benezia was able to shake off the effects of the indoctrination to help us, Shepard," Liara says quietly.
"Yes, but your mother was an asari matriarch, an exceptionally strong minded individual," Morgan says, stepping closer and taking Liara's hand in hers. "This guy was just an underpaid lab assistant. I swear, it felt as if someone was looking through his eyes all the time, taking control when it was needed to either silence Bryson or stop revealing too much information about their project."
"A worrying thing to consider," Liara finally admits. "Who could be interested in preventing us from learning more? Either the subject of this research, or the Reapers, if this... subject is a threat to them."
"There is another message from Dr. Bryson to Admiral Hackett that you might find interesting," EDI interrupts them. "He insisted that the Reapers were shadowing the Task Force Aurora field teams, as if they would be hunting the Leviathan themselves. Dr. Bryson claims the Reapers consider the Leviathan a threat to them and want to find it themselves. Admiral Hackett declared the task of finding the Leviathan a top priority, along with assigning more funding."
"This is a dead end!" Liara slams her fist against the surface of the desk, her frustrated exclamation startling even EDI. "We should go to Thessia, Morgan. Tevos will check in on the QEC, we can already be on our way by the time she makes the call! This... this is a waste of time!"
This is so unlike her, but then again, she is desperately worried about her people. She has seen the reports, she knows they don't have a lot of time left. "Putting me in a difficult situation, babe," she says, placing her hand on Liara's shoulder. "I want to go to Thessia as well, but Hackett is still my superior officer and I'm supposed to follow his orders."
"Wasn't it his order that we find the Catalyst as quickly as possible?" Liara asks, sounding a little deflated.
"If Tevos gives us the green light, I promise, I'm taking the Normandy there immediately, okay? Will that suffice?" Liara nods slowly after a moment of pause. "In the meantime, let's just keep searching this place for more clues. If this is all a sham, we need a proof of that too."
"There is more information here about the artifact sent back to the lab by Dr. Garneau," EDI says. "Garneau claims he collected the artifact from a location that was visited by the Leviathan. He swears on that, but offers no factual evidence."
"Of course," Liara grumbles.
"Garneau writes that he intended to follow Leviathan along its projected path, and yet states no destination. Which means that they had employed a certain method to predict its movements. Or at least, they believed so," EDI theorizes, much to Liara's dismay.
"They have managed to delude themselves with their own crazy theories," the asari says. "I suppose we are not looking for truth based on facts, we are simply looking for something they believed would lead them to this mythical Leviathan."
"Ah, don't be so quick to dismiss them, babe," Morgan smiles at her bondmate. "We were called crazies and worse for believing in Reapers, remember?"
"I... suppose you're right. But we'd have to go through a lot of data in order to find what they used to track the Leviathan's movements," Liara sighs, looking at the datapads and consoles scattered throughout the lab. "And since we have nothing better to do..."
"Exactly," Shepard grins, rubbing her hands. "Let's split up, gang, it's time to look for clues!"
After a couple of hours of meticulous searching, or in Morgan's case, a great deal of twiddling of thumbs and playing around with the latest upgraded version of the Shepard VI, the trio meet again at the galaxy map downstairs on the main floor of the lab to discuss their findings.
"Useless as I predicted. They had amateurish interest in Prothean ruins, believing they might hold a clue to the Leviathan's whereabouts, but clearly this data was not used by Garneau," Liara begins to explain her discoveries. "They also believed that the Leviathan would prefer an eezo rich world, but adding the relevant filter to the galaxy map yielded nothing. And don't even get me started about using the sensationalist stories of sightings of extraordinary creatures... I feel dirty for even bothering with this 'data'. They found your reports about the Thorian very interesting, though."
"Really?" Shepard raises a curious eyebrow. "Any reason for that?"
"They believe that the Leviathan is similar to the Thorian in the way that it has developed without using the Reaper controlled technology. They also propose that the Leviathan would be capable of something similar to indoctrination," Liara finally admits, a little unwillingly.
"Like the Thorian was able to control the Zhu's Hope colonists?" Morgan asks. "That would fit in with the way Hadley was acting, I suppose... but well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. What do you have, EDI?"
"There was a collection of information about crimes in which the perpetrator claimed memory loss. This falls in line with their belief that the Leviathan would be capable of controlling organic minds," EDI explains.
"That's nice. So... why do we want to find this Leviathan, again?" Shepard sighs.
"However, constructing a search filter based on locations with increased blackout crimes yielded no results," EDI continues. "Another member of the task force was researching the ship movements of ancient rachni fleets from before the Rachni Wars. They believed that the rachni might have been manipulated by the Leviathan, trying to prepare them to fight the Reapers."
"That makes no sense, the rachni then attacked other organic species who would have been allies in a war with the Reapers," Liara exclaims, shaking her head vehemently. "No, I think my own theory about the Rachni Wars is more sound."
"Really? Let's hear it," Morgan urges her to explain.
"It was said that after completing the harvest and retreating back to the dark space, the Reapers left someone behind to monitor the developments in the galaxy. We know that in our cycle this task fell to Sovereign. I believe that it was Sovereign who manipulated the rachni. A possible motive was that the organic races were developing at a faster rate than predicted and the Reapers sought to slow our advancement down artificially."
"I guess that is possible. Though war usually leads to a lot of leaps in technological advancement," Morgan says thoughtfully. "Of course, we might not have been meant to win that war."
"In any case, the data about rachni fleet movement did not lead to anything relevant," EDI concludes. "I believe that Garneau used the encrypted data about Reaper hunting patterns. Considering that Dr. Bryson claimed that the Reapers were looking for the Leviathan themselves, he and Garneau would have strongly believed in this lead. However, we cannot access this information without the decryption key, thus I suggest we focus our efforts to other possible leads."
"Speaking of which, what did you find, Morgan?" Liara asks.
"Err... I found this drawing. I thought it was kind of cute," Shepard admits bashfully, showing them the work of 'art' by an eight year old, a picture of a gangly man in a dark suit, a caption saying 'Daddy' under the drawing. "It was made by his daughter, Ann. Uh... somebody should probably give her the news about her father..."
"Shepard! You are a genius!" EDI speaks, swiftly snatching the picture from Morgan's hands, the Commander standing there bewildered. "You found the encryption key!" the synthetic briefly studies the drawing, then inputting the data to Bryson's computer and downloading the information to create another filter to use with the galaxy map.
"Did you hear that, babe? Apparently I'm now a genius!" Shepard remarks, grinning at Liara, who just rolls her eyes in reply as they follow EDI to the galaxy map.
"Dr. T'Soni, I'm afraid I must disappoint you even further," EDI says as she is working on applying the filter to the galaxy map. "The data clearly indicates that the Reapers are indeed searching for something as Bryson's team believed. This is no longer a wild and far-fetched theory. This is a fact." As the scowl deepens on Liara's face, the results begin to appear on the galaxy map. "The search function has been concluded. If Garneau has used this data to predict the Leviathan's movement, then his next stop would have been... Caleston Rift."
"Alright, I guess that's where we're going then," Shepard says reluctantly, much like Liara more willing to wait for Tevos and then hit Thessia, but also knowing that Hackett would not appreciate her sitting on this intel and doing nothing.
"If you are truly serious about pursuing this, then yes," Liara shrugs, trying to appear indifferent.
"This might not turn out to be a wild goose chase after all, Liara," Morgan reminds her, feeling that she can no longer dismiss this easily, now that they have verified that at least some of Bryson's intel is solid. "We're still going to Thessia, that's a promise, but until Tevos checks in... let's see if we can find more about the mythical Leviathan..."
Almost a whole day later, the Normandy finally discovers hints of Dr. Garneau's presence in a remote system of Caleston Rift. The associate of late Dr. Bryson is hiding on Mahavid, a large metallic asteroid which is being mined by a T-GES Mineral Works company. Since their facilities are the only possible place where Garneau could be hiding, Shepard takes a small team with her and Cortez brings them down to the surface of the asteroid. Liara has been almost as if glued to the QEC, desperately awaiting a message from Tevos, but since there are no news, Shepard almost forcefully drags her to the shuttle, knowing that the asari needs a distraction, Tali and Garrus joining them on the ground mission.
There are numerous Reaper signatures blinking in the sparse Nahata Belt surrounding Mahavid, likely also searching for the Leviathan, if Bryson's intel is to be trusted. In any case, the Reaper presence in such remote and unattractive system lends some credence to the crazy Leviathan theories, and even Liara is forced to admit as much.
Reaper ground forces are skulking around the outside of the mining facility, Shepard and her team forced to deal with a large congregation of brutes and marauders massing at the main entrance. Once they have been dealt with, Morgan tries to reach someone inside the base and talk them into opening the doors for her group, but there is no reply. Fearing the worst, she orders Tali to hack the doors, finding a very unexpected surprise waiting for them.
There are no Reapers about to jump them inside the facility, instead, they are met with the sight of the facility staff mingling about the main hall and giving them strange looks, almost as if accusing them of intruding upon their peaceful existence. The atmosphere of calm and tranquility feels incredibly fake, however, and not just to Shepard, all of her friends are sensing it too. At least unlike Hadley, none of the clearly indoctrinated staff are brandishing weapons at them, so Shepard allows herself to relax a little and they begin to explore the lower level, time and again addressing the local workers, hoping at least one of them might have retained their senses, but their inquiries fall on deaf ears.
Nobody claims to know a single thing about Dr. Garneau, and all they get to hear in reply are cryptic warnings not to disturb the darkness. Having heard yet another remark in the vein of 'you do not belong here' from a young dark-haired researcher, Shepard grabs her by the shoulders and shakes her a bit. "Hello? Is anybody in there?" she asks, but the woman remains just as listless and dull while Morgan manhandles her. "We wish to speak with your master! This is Commander Shepard calling! Please, answer!" When there is absolutely no reaction, Shepard releases her with a heavy sigh, and the woman wanders off in a slow walk.
"I think I can repair the access elevator to the upper levels," Tali speaks quietly as they gather to discuss their next steps. "But I would appreciate cover. Maybe that Leviathan thing will force them to attack us if we poke around the elevator."
Fortunately enough, nobody seems to object to Tali's fiddling around the elevator controls, and soon afterwards the resourceful quarian manages to reactivate the elevator, also gaining access to the electronic logbook which shows that Dr. Alex Garneau has used his access card on this terminal at least once during the past seven days.
"So, whoever is indoctrinating these people doesn't want us to find Garneau," Garrus remarks as the elevator takes them to the mineral lab facilities. "Could it be the Leviathan?"
"I guess, because finding Garneau should lead us to the Leviathan, and apparently it doesn't want to be found," Morgan replies, shrugging her shoulders as they enter the large halls filled with lab equipment, a more varied setup than she would have expected in a small mining facility.
The few researchers wandering about look at them oddly with their dull, emotionless eyes, just as indoctrinated as the people on the lower level, moving about on whatever tasks their puppet-master has assigned to them. It takes Liara only a little poking around to realize that most of the things that the scientists are researching have very little to do with mining of tungsten, for example the history of weather events on the hanar homeworld of Kahje, or the table crammed with beautiful flowers, results of a horticultural study. The researchers appear completely oblivious to anything Shepard and her friends are doing, so they feel safe enough to split up and quickly cover more ground around the enormous lab.
Tali manages to crack the door code leading into the private quarters of the scientists, and driven by curiosity, Shepard follows the quarian inside. It does not take long for them to make a startling discovery. "Shepard, some of the messages here are as old as eight or nine years. Personal messages from concerned friends and family, and they were never replied to!"
"You think it might have been controlling these people for as long as that?" Shepard blinks, surprised. "That's... very strange. You'd imagine that some of those families would have come here or at least sent someone to investigate."
"It's possible that they came... and stayed," Tali says, gulping audibly. "Shepard, let's finish things quickly here and get out, while we still can. We have no idea how much does it take for... whatever it is, to indoctrinate us too."
"I'm forced to agree," Morgan nods as they leave the crew quarters, looking to catch up with Garrus and Liara, hoping that one of them has had better luck in finding clues about Dr. Garneau's whereabouts. And from the smug look on Garrus' face, it appears that the turian has been successful.
"You need to hear this, Shepard," he says, leading them to a quiet corner to share his discovery, an unsent message from Alex Garneau to Dr. Bryson. Garneau speaks of having found another one of the spherical artifacts down in the mines, at which point it seems as if the indoctrinated mine workers had reacted unfavorably to his discovery, Garneau mentioning of being forced to go into hiding.
"Another of those artifacts, hmm?" Shepard ponders thoughtfully, not sure what to make of it just yet. "And no clue of where Garneau himself is hiding?"
"I might shine some light on that," Liara joins their talk. "I managed to access a security vid report, which held information about an... altercation in the mines. Considering that is where the artifact is located, I believe the report speaks of Garneau. If that is true, then we will find him in the medbay. I have the patient file number that will grant us entrance."
"Right, let's get there, then," Shepard says, leading her team towards the medical bay. "Still... something here just doesn't seem to fit..." she adds, unable to stop feeling that they are all missing something vital.
The secured part of the medbay is sinking in darkness and at first appears abandoned. It seems plausible that with a small sized staff like this facility, there would often be no patients at the medbay, thus not requiring for a constant presence of the medical personnel, however, according to the report, someone was moved to the medbay following the incident in the mines, and yet nobody is here to take care of them.
Leaning against the window of one of the dark rooms, Shepard can just about make out a still shape of what appears to be a dead human male inside, revealing a compelling reason for the absence of the medical staff. "Damn it, they got to Garneau first," she exclaims angrily, punching the bullet-proof glass. "Figures, just our luck."
"No, they haven't got to Garneau yet," suddenly there comes a deep voice from the adjacent dark room, the shape of a man rising to step closer to the window, addressing them. "If you are looking for Garneau, you have found him."
Shepard quickly introduces herself, and asks Garneau to explain everything that has happened to him during his stay on the mining facility, before offering to safely escort him from this place. The answers are what they had already expected, he was attacked by the employees while doing his research down in the mines. However, his answers to their inquiries about the Leviathan are more puzzling.
"The Leviathan is a myth," Garneau insists upon their requests to elaborate. "It's a dead end."
Shepard sends a quick glance at Liara, thinking that the asari would be rejoicing from this revelation, but her bondmate is gently tapping her index finger against her chin, looking thoughtful and concerned. "Then what about the artifact you mentioned in your message to Bryson?" she finally asks, peering at Garneau, still remaining standing in the dark behind the window where they can barely even see his face.
"The artifact? I don't remember any artifact," Garneau shakes his head in denial.
"Sure you do," Shepard speaks up, exchanging worried looks with her friends, sensing that something is deeply wrong here. "We have the location of the artifact in the mines. Once we have taken you to the shuttle, we're coming back to retrieve the artifact-"
"No! You must not take the artifact!" the doctor suddenly shouts, raising his arms and then lowering them again as a biotic explosion detonates around them, shattering the windows and throwing them all off their feet. "You will not breach the darkness!" he exclaims in a deeper voice that no longer seems his own, jumping through the smashed window and running off at almost superhuman speed, as Shepard and her crew struggle to get back up.
"Damn it, so he was indoctrinated too!" Garrus swears, looking pissed off. "Should have known it from the start!"
"Forget about Garneau, he is no longer of any use to us," Liara says, rising and checking herself for injuries. "It is clear that the artifact is important in some way, he does not want us to get it, so that's where we must go! Into the mines!"
"Yeah, I'm afraid Liara is right," Shepard admits, not looking forward to a long and dangerous trek through some mines. "This mission just got a lot more complicated..."