Chapter 22
This isn't a new chapter, I've just divided in two to make it easier to read. I've also added a Red vs Blue down the bottom.
Also as I said before next chapter might be a bit longer as I want to complete virmire and write Noveria as I play it. I'm also going on my Honeymoon slash anniversary for 3 weeks and won't be writing much if at all during that time and if I am I will mainly be improving old chapters.
Drag7 thank you for your reviews, as you've given me a few points in which to improve the story (such as him talking too much at times). But I'll have to argue with you on a few points, one he's not really a passive pumpkin, sure your right in saying that outside combat scenarios he becomes a bit of a side character but that's partly because I want to put focus back on the others and Callum is still the new kid on the block while the rest are almost legends (that will change later on and he will become more outspokenmuch like Tali and Liara really), as for why I didn't pair him up with Shepard I already intended on revealing my PL, what do you think Shepard would have done if she thought Callum was using his knowledge to get in her pants...kicking him from a skyscraper seems like a good start. It's also why he didn't really chase after any of the girls, that and the knowing they needed to stop Saren soon as possible except for Solana. Speaking of her yeah maybe it the rejection from her was a bit sudden but one she recently knew about his feelings to her, two like you said they haven't had much private time together and three she knew someone else was interested in him. She also knows that it could affect team dynamics which as a turian would have been more important to her until Saren was stopped, maybe afterwards she would feel different which is what she said but why keep him questioning in the meantime? Tell him straight and if he's still interested later and you change your mind then good, if not well you haven't wasted his time (as you said he could die, why waste time trying to make a relationship with someone that's not interested) also what's with this virgin thing you keep bringing up? He might not be a lady's man and certainly most of his focus is on Saren but virgin? If it helps though he'll become much more confident in and out of battle in me2 which is were things will really change. They will also not be spreading around the information Callum knows unless it is vital
As for Gamora, Grunt went threw the same thing, right of passage, breeding requests etc and this isn't that different. I wouldn't say I made Shepard a retard, she saw a genuine issue. Callum, a farm boy has shown a lot more combat ability and rationalisation that could be expected somehow knew about a terroist plot. She point a few things together, say maybe the reason he was combat-ready was that he used to do something like this before, say a gang. But as they have access to his history they know thats not true, so either the history they know is true and somehow Callum got all this information that turned out to be correct or the history is fake and good enough to fool the alliance. Some of the organisations that are able to do this include the Shadow broker (who wrex has already said he works for) and Cerberus. So in other words Shepard trusted someone, that someone turned out to maybe have terroist ties so her reaction wasn't complelty unwarranted she also needed to know if Callum knew of anything else that could be important as Terra as she would have fully known how bad that could have gone if the warning didn't work. As for winning the trust back why Callum didn't the rollercoaster of him revealing what he did know would have had some of them questioning what else he hasn't told them. Yes everyone one has secrets but you knowing that someone is going to get hit by a bus tomorrow isn't exactly your secrete to keep.
Aside from Ash the relationships will pretty much go back to where they were before but with the occasional person coming up to ask Callum some questions
Story start
Eventually, the eight hours we were given to either explore the Citadel or to simply relax came to an end and soon...
"This is Commander Shepard, shore leave is coming to an end. If you know of anyone who is unaccounted for please seek to inform your department heads at once as we will be taking off within half an hour. Also all ground crew please report to the communications room immediately." said Shepard over comms.
It turned out that the only ground crew in the cargo bay was myself, Gamora and Tali who had been in engineering.
"Did you spend any time on the Citadel?" I asked Tali, trying to stop an awkward elevator ride from happening.
"Some." said Tali, sounding much better even if her tone was a bit cool "But as the best time to do work on the drive core and make adjustments is when it's docked so I spent most of my time in engineering."
When the elevator arrived on the second deck we made our way to the communications room. By the time we got there, everyone was already sitting. Not that I was surprised with how long the elevator took. The irony that the one time I needed it to go slow it didn't, wasn't lost on me. Finding a seat Shepard started talking
"First of all, Callum, I've told Anderson and Hackett you're not a Cerberus spy. I'd still be careful of your actions from now on though, best I could do was imply that you used to work for a foreign intelligence such as Cerberus or the Shadow Broker who quit a few years ago and are using your remaining contacts to help out." said Shepard "Second I also talked to Anderson about upping security, especially around the Presidium."
"What did you tell him?" asked Kaiden
"The truth." answered Shepard making me worried "Or at least part of it, I did see the Citadel after all which includes the Presidium after all. Maybe I said I saw a bit more of the Presidium than I really did, who can say?" asked Shepard with a smirk
"I also I brought up the fact that we don't know how long Saren has had the geth working for him and he could have been smuggling geth parts onto the Citadel for months if not years and then resembling them later."
"Shit!" I said suddenly as I remembered something
"Something the matter?" asked Shepard looking at me
"No, at least not now. Tali after the meeting I need to talk to about something." I said, thinking about how in a few years her father will do exactly that. It may not be important now but I couldn't take the risk of forgetting it only for it to happen later.
Unfortunately, as always the Council doesn't want to listen. Thankfully I know someone who does, as I said before I know a turian general that owes be a favour."
"Is that the one that we saw in Cora's den?" asked Ash
"The same." answered Shepard
"Did you get a certain trinket from the Consort?" I asked
"Yes, is it important?" asked Shepard
"...not really." I answered after some thought "Though Liara would definitely like it, there's an orb on...Eletania, the next system to Feros I think it was. But all it really does is give you some memories of Stoneage or caveman hunter. I was planning on bringing it up if I needed help convincing you that I was telling the truth."
"Do you know where it is?" asked Shepard
"No, only that's on that planet amidst some mountains." I answered
"Then we can leave it for later, it's too far out of our way for now." responded Sheperd "Anyway I talked to the general and while he said he didn't have the power to increase security he could have a few 'special opps' have their downtime on the Citadel for a few months and arrange a 'parade' to showcase Turian military to 'reassure' the public."
"But parades aren't allowed to carry live ammunition." argued Garrus
"Which is why they'll be 'forgetting' to do that. When Saren steps through that miniature relay he's going to have to deal with a lot more than he bargained for. I doubt they will be able to completely stop Saren but they'll at least be able to slow him down and give the Presidium enough time to start the evacuation before they are forced to pull back until reinforcements from either C-sec or any friendly armed forces arrive
It will also hopefully stop Saren from sending his forces out too far into the Wards but instead, keep them confined to mainly the Presdium which will help prevent civilian casualties. Unfortunately, this will also mean that any armed forces on there, aka us will have a lot more geth to deal with."
"But how long does a parade usually last?" asked Ash "If it goes on for too long people might start asking questions and if Saren realises what's going he'll simply send more geth through or worse put a bomb through first and then send his army to mop up."
"The relay would be too fragile for Saren to risk that, though he might do some of bio or chemical attack, they're illegal but that wouldn't stop him and with the bulk of his army being geth it wouldn't really hamper him afterwards. As for the parade, Turians love them. The smaller ones usually last at least one day, if one's on the Citadel they could probably stretch it out for a week before someone started asking questions, a bit more if they also did ones on each arm of the Citadel too. People would start getting annoyed but they'll just think we're going overboard or someone in the upper ranks wants to impress their boss and put too many days down for the parade." answered Garrus
"I've also talked to Anderson to see if we can do something similar." added Shepard "Though at this rate it will look like the Alliance and the Hierarchy are having a dick-swinging contest but as long as it works that's all I care about. Speaking of which, Callum do you think it will work?"
"I think so, all I saw was the aftermath of the attack but from what I know the main problem was that the attack took everyone by surprise and C-sec wasn't equipped to deal with it. On top of there was also an army of geth incoming from the Relay alongside Sovereign to provide reinforcements so they were constantly on the backfoot." I answered
"I see." replied Shepard thinking "Listen I've been going over the data drive that you gave me, I want you to go over the enemies that we'll encounter during the Reaper invasion, just in case you missed something and so everyone else knows. then I want you to tell me anything I can use to prove and then finally I want you to go over everything that happens on Noveria, everything. You lost quite a bit of trust, this is your chance to get it back. If the information you give us is good then everything fine, if its not though..."
"Okay, the first and most common are the usual human husk." I answered "However, they don't do the emp pulses anymore and they are also weaker though the guns might just be stronger. They are also a bit faster. Second, we have the cannibals."
"I'm guessing there's a reason they got that name?" asked Garrus
"Yes, they can eat anything nearby in order to heal themselves and bulk up on armour." I answered
"How's that possible?" asked Ash
"I'm guessing that it's a modified version of the same technology used to turn people into Reaper parts. Unlike the husks we've seen so far they used to be batarians and have a gun grafted onto their arm. Then we have the Marauder, a turian husk, unlike the others so far they can pull off strategies and direct the other husks. They also are able to use normal mass-effect weapons in the...game they were shown to only use assault rifles but I don't doubt they wouldn't be able to pick up a more dangerous weapon if they saw one or switched things up.
Getting into the heavies we have the Ravager, a rachni husk. It has two cannons on either side and a few bulbous sacks that can explode but when they do they release a swarm of smaller rachini, about the size of face hugger or a rachini engineer."
"A what?" asked Tali
"A face hunger, it's an alien from the movie alien." I answered
"You named a movie about aliens...alien?" asked Tali stupefied "That's kind of...dumb not to mention a bit racist."
"It was a long time ago, when when the idea of other life wasn't really taken seriously. After the Ravanger we have the two biggest threats. First, a Banshee, an asari husk though there is some evidence that they prefer Ardat Yashi." I said probably mispronouncing it but still getting a gasp from Liara.
"What's this Ardat Yashi?" asked Shepard
"Loosely translated it means 'demon of the night winds'" answered Liara "My mother warned me about them when I was young, well younger and reminded me once again when I ventured out for my first time. They are an asari with a genetic disability."
"That doesn't sound so bad." remarked Ash
"Melding with them will kill you." I explained "Worse it's addictive to them and each time they do it they get stronger."
"So let me get this straight...fucking someone do death...makes them stronger?" asked Ash in disbelief
"Melding, I've said before the physical part is not needed even if for that sort of meld they are commonly used together." said Liara sounding a little annoyed.
"Ardats are one of the most dangerous things out there, both on and off the battlefield" growled Wrex "and coming from me that means a lot."
"I'm guessing your speaking from experience?" asked Shepard
"A few centuries ago I got drunk on way too much Ryncol, there was an asari that was showing a lot of interest in me. When she started the meld I immediately knew something was wrong. Ripped that bitch in half, just not the way she wanted me to." said Wrex with a chuckle getting dry looks from most of the women in the room, mainly Shepherd, Ash and Solana.
"All jokes aside they can be quite dangerous, especially in situations where you don't see them coming. They can also be incredibly persuasive. There's an asari Justicar called Samara who has a daughter that calls herself Moridith, she got an entire town to worship her and to use their bodies as meat shields when her mother came so she could get away." I said seriously
"And these Banshees, how big of a threat are they?" asked Shepard keen to get back on topic.
"Remember that geth tank we had to deal with on foot when we picked up Liara on Therium?" I asked getting a nod "Well if they went head to head I'm not sure which one would win, though my money would be on the Banshee, though that could just be due to how the Banshee likes close combat and the tank doesn't.
A Banshee looks like someone grabbed an asari, stretched it out and filled its stomach with gas and tubes. They have razor-sharp talons, impossibly strong barriers and are constantly using charge to get close to you. When they do they'll shove their arm through your chest and then your back with ease." I described making a few people turn green "Then they'll caress your head, which in hindsight may mean they have the ability to get stronger with each kill."
"How does that work, I've been running it over in my head and it still doesn't make sense?" asked Ash "If these 'night demons' get stronger then why doesn't every asari?"
"Liara?" I asked carefully looking at her
Frowning Liara answered "I'm not quite sure and as far as I know not much research has gone into why but instead has gone into how to cure. In melding, no matter if it's a mother teaching her daughter or something more intimate, there is always a sense of giving or sharing. From what I know of Ardat Yakshi their 'melds' are much more violent, nothing is given only taken, and quite forcibly at that."
"So not only are they incredibly dangerous they might have the ability to become even more dangerous." said Shepard signing "Callum, any chance this is only done to these Ardat Yakshi? Not asari in general?"
"I can't say for sure commander but if I had to guess it will be similar to the rachni, if they can't find them they'll make them. The Reapers may prefer them as it's less work for them but I'm pretty sure they would be to give them the ability to do it, even if the asari wasn't an Ardat yakshi. The last husk is called a Brute and is a fusion of turian and krogan. They're incredibly tough, it's like their whole body is pure iron and completely bulletproof. Despite that, they can charge unbelievably quickly, a normal charge that is, not a biotic charge. They also have a massive claw that could cut a geth prime in half easily and can be used effectively as a shield. Facing one is like facing two krogan at once or a yahg."
"Between the Brute and the Banshee which one do you think is the bigger threat?" asked Kaiden while Wrex looked slightly insulted that something could be as tough as 'two' krogan.
"In all honesty probably the Banshee, it can just close the distance so quickly. The Brute may be tougher but at least if you see it coming it's slow enough to get a few hits in before it starts to get into charging range. With a Banshee, first you hear it, then it's directly in front of you and then its sticking its arm through your chest." I answered truthfully "And no I'm not exaggerating, it's like dealing with a powerful asari commando who's hell-bent on getting close to you. At least with the Brute you can get some distance between you if needed, with the Banshee you struggle to maintain any distance no matter how small."
"The Brutes are the reason why your guns have that overcharge feature aren't they?" asked Shepard
"Yes." I answered truthfully "The run-of-the-mill weapons won't do much against a Banshee or Brute. It's also why I suggested to Yarrick and Sheita to have adjustable grain sizes. Something that's good against a Brute would be unnecessary overkill on a human husk. Something that's good for mowing down waves of husks will be nearly useless against a Brute."
"Any other husks that you know of?" asked Shepard
"One, Harvester though there could be more. I never saw any other husk species though that could be because some of them weren't suitable such as the volus or were only used for certain situations like hana husks would only really be useful on the hana homeworld or aquatic environments. The Harvester is a large husk of some animal from Tuchanka, it fills the role of gunship and dropping off reinforcements. They also breathe fire and when the die they explode."
"They're called Harvesters, the husk name is the same as the species name." interrupted Wrex
"That's all the husk types you of?" checked Shepard getting a nod from me "In that case tell me about the Reaper evidence and where we can find it."
"The first one we will come across is a VI on Ilos, it had a lot of information to prove the existence of the Reapers. Unfortunately, it was running out of power and according to the council when they went to check things out it was nowhere to be seen. I don't know if the fact it ran out of power caused it to break down or the fact that with how long it usually takes for the council to respond someone went in and nicked it." I answered
"Tali, Liara think you can rig something up to provide power?" asked Shepard
"It's possible." said Liara "If we can rig up a spar core then maybe. It will have to be low-powered to not risk overloading the circuits though."
"It will also have to be universal, whatever interface they'll have will be drastically different to ours." remarked Tali
"As soon as the meeting ends I want you working on it, what else?" asked Shepard
"Like I said before there is likely a prothean bunker on Eden Prime, not even the asari councillor can argue against a living prothean. Aside from that there is also a Prothean beacon on Thessia." I answered
"There would be a number of beacons on Thessia, what is special about this one?" asked Liara confused
"Not like this one, it's hidden in a statue of Athame and only the higher up asari know anything about it. It has more information on the Reapers than even the ones on Eden Prime and Virmire do. It even has a working Prothean VI when it's fully activated and knows that the Citadel is the Crucible need to defeat the Reapers plus I don't know what else." I answered
"Hold on, hiding a beacon is incredibly illegal...why would my people do such a thing?" asked Liara
"As he said this beacon sounds quite special, maybe it was too good to pass up?" suggested Solana softy
"But still to do such a thing...sharing Prothean technology is one of the most important laws we have?" asked Liara shaken
"It doesn't matter why, what matters is where. Where is this beacon?" asked Shepard
"I don't know, all I know is its a temple on Thessia. If I saw it though I could probably recognize it." I answered
"Why haven't you been looking, I have to imagine most of these temples would be recorded on the extranet somewhere. Couldn't you just go through them?" asked Kaiden
"Thought about it, but for two reasons decided not to...well three reasons. One there are a ton of temples dedicated to Athame and I don't even know what city it's in, two it has government military funding. If I kept looking up every single temple that had a statue of Athame there was no way I wouldn't raise a red flag. The third reason is that once they realise I have contact with Liara they'll send asari hit squad after both of us, maybe even the rest of the ground crew." I answered
"M-me?" asked Liara "Why me?"
"Benezia was one of the Matriarchs to know of the beacon, at least from what I know that is. They would have assumed Benezia told you and that you told us." I answered
"My mother knew of this? Why didn't she tell me?" asked Liara sounding a little betrayed
"The same reason why your father all but agreed to spy on you later on, they both were afraid that 'some crusty matriarch', your fathers' words, not mine. Would send a hit squad after you." I answered
"It makes sense, a secret this big is too important to trust to a large number of people. If they did someone would have talked by now, no I'm guessing only a few know about this beacon and they're sworn to secrecy on pain of death as soon as they learn of it." explained Shepard
"Also from my experience while the typical asari is usually quite friendly some of the older ones seem to be a bit...entitled." added Garrus
"What other evidence do you know of?" asked Shepard
"Well the Reapers have been routinely devastating planets, when the dinosaurs went extinct on Earth there was evidence of asteroid bombardment. Despite how careful the Reapers are there is no chance that they could remove all evidence of their attacks. A more difficult possibility is to try and determine either the age of the Relays or the Citadel itself, there was also a Salarian and Volus on the Citadel looking into the Keepers. Unfortunately, by the time they realized what they did every 50,000 thousand years the Reapers were all but on our doorstep." I said
"I met the salarian I even scanned a few keepers for him, what else?" asked Shepard
"The other ones are a lot more dangerous. When Sovereign attacked and was destroyed, I'm not sure if I said it before but the Council started to dismiss is a geth superdreadnought or something." I responded
"Hold on, while they might look somewhat similar Sovereign is completely different in design to the geth. How could they possibly mistake the two?!" asked Tali shocked
"Honestly...I have no idea. But it might be due in part to most of Soverign's corpse vanishing, either due to multiple agencies grabbing pieces of it or the keepers cleaning up. The thing is the Councilors kept insisting that it was of geth design and that it took them a significant amount of time and resources to make. To my knowledge, there are at least two dead Reapers, one of which as I've said before is called the Leviathon of Dis and is on the batarian homeworld. There's also another dead Reaper floating over a planet, I don't where exactly but I do know that the Keplar Valley on Tuchunka was formed when one of the shots meant for that Reaper missed. If we can show that Sovereign was not a once-off like the Council suggests and that the other examples far predate the geth then more people will start to believe or at least prepare for the Reapers. But as I've said before even dead Reapers can indoctrinate others. The second anyone gets onboard them they will start to become indoctrinated, the only way they can safely be inspected or analysed is through probes or drones and even then I would be careful about the drones and being near them."
"Aren't you being overly cautious?" asked Tali
"I said before the Reapers got at least part of their mind control abilities from the Leviathons, they are also a mix of machine and organic. Later on, they were able to upload a virus to the geth's consensus to convert them into more heretics that would later need to be destroyed. I wouldn't put it past them to be able to do something similar to drones, whether they can then pass that on I don't know but would you want to be close to something that's infected with Reaper code. That said EDI, Joker's would be girlfriend had Reaper code. How she ended up being a good person I have no idea."
"Getting back on topic, the biggest issue I see is that with how eager everyone would be to explore a Reaper and how they wouldn't believe the danger of indoctrination they'll go rushing on board as soon as they could despite what anyone says otherwise." said Shepard "Tell me, as far as you know do anyone on this crew ever become indoctrinated?"
"Maybe, when the Reapers come you saw a boy hiding in a vent, that boy was exactly the same as the form that is used by the intelligence aboard the Citadel. Also, you started to have dreams." I answered "Because of that there were some theories that the Reapers were attempting to indoctrinate you."
"Dreams?" asked Shepard
"Yes, dreams of an ashen forest full of oily shadows." I answered
"You said that before." said Tali "That was how the rachni perceived the received the Reapers?"
"It is." I answered "There is some evidence that Shepherd might I've been going through the start of the indoctrination process, or at least that's what some people thought. I don't know myself." I answered
"Do you think I might be indoctrinated right now?" asked Shepherd "Or even close to it?"
"No, at least I don't think so. The only times you were at severe risk of indoctrination was when you were on board the dead Reaper when you need to grab the IFF signature in order to get through the Omega really and the collector base...plus the time you took a Reaper down on foot. Without those, I don't think there's much chance of you becoming indoctrinated." I answered
"And as far as you know there's no cure aside from the Thorian." mussed Shepard "Is there a way to block it?"
"Dr Bryson was able to erect a field around a piece of Sovereign and a Leviathon 'pearl', both seemed effective but I don't know how or why. I don't even know for sure how the Reapers really indoctrinate people, just the conditions it could happen in. Whether it's by nanites or something else I don't know but I do believe the loud fog horn like bellow the Reapers make is a part of it."
"Never mind about that for now, can you think of any other evidence?" asked Shepard
"Just one, there's a planet called Namakli where there is a wall painting of a Leviathon which looks quite similar to a Reaper, in fact the layout of the council chambers also looks like a Reaper."
"Finally tell me what I should expect on Noveria." said Shepard "Don't leave a single thing out."
"Well, as soon as you get into orbit Noveria will threaten to shoot us down." I started to explain
"That sounds like a usual response from them." inputted Garrus
"Noveria, I never heard of that planet before?" asked Kaiden
"You know how some say that Ilium is just an Omega with a nicer coating?" asked Garrus "Or how Spectres are able to do what they want as long as they get the results needed? Well it's a lot like that, there's a lot of research going on Noveria and most of it isn't quite legal and the rest of it certainly isn't but as it is outside Citadel space normal laws don't quite apply there...as long as they don't make it too obvious."
"What happens next?" asked Shepard "Do they allow us to land or not?"
"Once they find out you're a Spectre yes, though they're not sure about there being a human Spectre. When you land there will be three 'cops' I suppose two humans, and one turian. The human woman with blond hair will be a problem later." I explained
"Why?" asked Shepard
"Dirty cop, the salarian running things...the manager has been dipping from the till."
"The till...dipping?" asked Liara confused "I'm sorry I do not understand that expression."
"I too have not heard of this term before." agreed Gamora
"It means that he's been taking money he shouldn't from the company." explained Shepard
"That's right." I agreed "There is also a white-collared detective investigating him, she's wearing a pink dress and has managed to become a secretary, assistant or something. She can also tell us that Benezia is there at peak...15 who they've recently lost contact with and has been there for sometime."
"Don't they know that Benezia was a part of the attack on Eden Prime?" asked Solana
"I don't know, also I wouldn't put it past Saren to have his geth filtering what messages make it through. I vaguely remember a salarian complaining about extranet connections. The biggest problem is that getting to peak 15 is going to be quite hard."
"Can't we just get Joker to drop us off in the mako?" asked Shepard
"No, unless things are different there should be a blizzard going on. Also, the entire planet is basically ice and the pathway is only just wide enough for the mako at points. If you try a drop off things are going to horribly bad, in order to get to peak 15 you're going to need to get a garage pass."
"And how do we get that?" asked Kaiden
"A few choices, one dob the white collar into the manager. Or you can help a turian who is having his office raided by dirty cops looking for some proof he has on the manager's dirty deals. When you find the evidence that blond cop I mentioned before will start a fight. After you deal with her and her friends you come face to face with the white collar detective who'll want you to convince the turian who owns the evidence to testify against the salarian. Apparently, his bosses have heard what he's been up and they're not happy. There's also an asari that might try to convince you to spy on a competitor company.
When you get to the garage though you'll come under fire from multiple geth, Benezia used her power as one of the top investors in...binary helix I think it was to bring in crates full of geth. Finally, you can reach peak 15 on some very icy and narrow roads with a few geth along the way. Then you come to a building were the road ends...sorry commander I'm trying to remember what happens next." I said trying to think
"Take your time." responded Shepard simply, crossing her arms
"The building is full of geth, a few Primes maybe even a krogan or two. Once cleared you can start getting to the actual peak 15, both the power and the VI are out and they're also a pair of turrets stopping anything from leaving that you might want to take out before they start shooting you. Okay, let's see what's next?" I thought to myself "Going further in you encounter more geth and the first rachni soldier. It has two clawed tentacles and spits acid. I also remember there being snow so it could be on the roof or somehow the snow started piling in."
"You don't remember?" asked Ash calmy, if a little snidely
"I did this about...five or more years ago, I can remember a lot of the big stuff and I've used a lot of time trying to remember things that I've forgotten. What I know for certain though is you'll need to manually restart the VI, the power and get the train, tram or whatever it is to where Benezia is where they'll be some survivors including a very traumatized volus.
However some of them will shoot you in the back, there's an asari that's Benezia's informant and the local guards are also on her payroll. They don't know about her being on the run or part of the reason why the rachni are attacking, there's also a lot of running around and the place is like a maze, there is something about a virus or something as well. Finally, you'll be facing Benezia herself, facing waves of asari and geth as well, the rachni queen will be there too in a glass cage. When Benezia is the only one left she is able to temporarily break free and give you the coordinates to Ilos. After that though she'll fall back under Reaper control."
"How many asari will there be?" asked Shepard
"I think all of them, every asari under Benezia's control. After that, I don't remember seeing any asari in Saren's forces." I answered
"Gamora how many asari do you remember being under Benezia's command?" asked Shepard turning to her.
Thinking carefully Gamora answers
"From my inherited memories it could be close to fifty."
"That could be bad, asari commandos are some of the strongest and well-trained armed forces out there. I'm not sure how well we'll do against them, krogan, geth and rachni thrown in." mussed Shepard
"Actually commander it might not be that bad." said Liara making everyone look at her "While I never wanted to become a commando Benezia insisted that I go through some of their training in order to defend myself. One of the first things they taught me was that an asari's greatest weapon is not their biotics or any weapon they can carry, but their mind. No matter how strong an asair's biotics are, without the discipline or mind to use them they won't be as effective as they should be. From what Gamora said before most of them are fully indoctrinated, their minds have probably deteriorated even further by now. I believe they might no longer be able to fight as well as they once did."
"If that's the case then we might have a shot, Callum take us through the layout." ordered Shepard
"It's a large square room with the cage in the centre, there is an observation platform in front of and behind the cage and up a short flight of stairs. Around the room is a wide walkway, if I had to guess its roughly twenty to thirty metres from one side to the other." I answered
"Any good sniper nests?" asked Garrus
"Not that I know of, though there are a number of crates and canisters though." I answered
"I'm curious on how the Rachni managed to get on Noveria?" growled Wrex
"Binary Helix found a lone egg on a rachni ship. When it hatched they found out that it was a Queen." I answered
Hold on, they found a rachni ship, brought back an egg...and then hatched it?" asked Tali astounded at the stupidity
"If you think that's bad they have the great idea to separate any egg the queen lays in the hope of creating an army of rachni. Unfortunately, it turns out that they need to be close to the queen in order to develop properly. Every rachni aside from the queen seems to be insane and will attack anything, in order to get rid of them all we'll need to initiate a neutron purge. Something that we can either do before or after, I also remember a back entrance somewhere that will allow you to by pass most of the fighting or at least the guards under Benezia's payroll."
"In that case, the best course of action would be bring everyone one with me, it might cause more hostility and suspicion from security but I'm not going into a scenario where I'm going against a small army of asari commandos with anything less than everything we go. We're going to split into three teams, Gamora, Wrex and myself will be going up against Benezia herself, we want to take her alive so we're going to need biotics and the muscle to do so. Callum, Solona and Kaiden, you will be our second team. The final team will be Liara, Ash and Garrus, we are going to play it just like we did with on Feros with the Thorian, keep an eye on your team and the team next to you. Once we have dealt with the vast majority of enemy forces we'll get Gamora to attempt to free Benezia from Sovereign's control. If she is able to break free temporarily like Callum says she will we'll do it then, if not we knock her out or restrain her and hope it works." said Shepard "Once the process is done we'll knock her out anyway, if she wakes up herself then we've done it, if not I don't know what more we can do."
"Then what commander?" asked Ash
"We work on how to smuggle her out." replied Shepard "Garrus I want you to modify the mako somehow to hide her."
"I could make some space underneath the seats, won't be comfortable but it should work." said Garrus
"Do it, Liara have you managed to get a hold of your father?" asked Shepard
"Yes commander." answered Liara
"Good, tell her to meet us as close as she can get to Noveria. We can drop the mako off on some planet on the excuse of scanning for materials and hand her over then. Now any more questions about Noveria from anyone?" asked Shepard
For the next thirty or so minutes I answered whatever question someone had, from how many rachni there were likely to be, what sort of tactics we would likely face, to what the environment would be like. I could tell there was still a lot of scepticism but it seems like they were doing what Shepard had said before, treating it like any other intel until they saw for themselves whether that intel was reliable or not.
Elsewhere
Far, far away overlooking a red sun a man sat. In one hand was a cigar, partly smoked, in the other was a tablet with a glass of bourbon nearby.
For what must have been the hundredth time a voice recording starts 'My name is Callum Maclean, born in Australia, February...1994.'
"You can't be taking this seriously?" asked another voice "This is can't be more than a delusion or pure-faced lie on his part with a few facts thrown in to make it believable."
Taking a drag of his cigarette the man answered simply "He knows my name."
"...what? That's impossible, not even I know your name." stepping forward the owner of the voice is revealed. A black-haired woman wearing a skin tight black and white catsuit which pronounced her rather large 'assets.' There were many out there that made the mistake of spending one to many seconds paying attention to them and not what she was really doing.
"He also knows that I had history with Saren." continued the person known to most as the illusive man
"How is that possible, I thought you removed all traces of your past?" asked the woman surprised
"I did, there are barely five people in the entire universe that know the man I was is the same person I am now...and that includes me." answered Tim "Luckily for the operator assigned to listen in on the Normandy he passed the message up to me before my name came up else he would have temporarily been a sixth person.
"But what he's saying is impossible, there's no way it can be true." argued the woman
"Your right Miranda, but everything that he says that we can confirm to be true has been proven to be true. Even the things that we can't confirm sound plausible, such as the Collectors being Prothean in origin. As with every other ground crew Callum was investigated, nothing that we learned even suggested that he had this kind of intel. Even now after a much closer look nothing is showing.
Either he had some how gained access to an intelligence agency comparable to ours or the shadow broker then he is telling the truth. He also know the identity of the shadow broker and has given us an idea of his location. But the most damning evidence that he's telling the truth is what he just reported." taking another drag Tim continues
"I spoke with one of our contact on Noveria, our best one there. He was able to confirm that there are a number of corrupt security officers and that Administrator Bel Anoleis has been taking credits that he shouldn't. With some difficulties they were even able to confirm that he was under investigation and as you know a recent report had already started that Benezia was there. But when I asked if any turian's office was being searched he was surprised. Turns they started to raid the office of one Lorik Qui'in looking for 'evidence of corruption'...five minutes before he called." crushing the cigarette Tim finishes
"Either Private Callum has a network that we know nothing about and can somehow see the future or he is somehow telling the truth." raising a glass of bourbon he takes a sip before gently swirling the glass "Of course I'm not saying we believe everything he says without trying to confirm it on our own, quite the opposite in fact."
"Do you want me to get an extraction squad together?" asked Miranda
"...no, at least not now. We both know Shepard won't stop at anything if one of her squad is kidnapped. We can't afford her to become extracted at such a critical point. There's also the problem Callum might recognize anyone we send at him. Besides it might not even be needed. Thanks to a well-hidden bug we already know a great deal of information, that said if they do another detailed scan they'll either find the bug or its fail-safe will activate when it can no longer hide itself and it will wipe itself so nothing leads back to us.
Callum said he wrote everything that he knew and secretly gave it to Shepard hidden in a present. To do that he must have written it out somewhere else first, my guess is his omni-tool. He might still have a copy of it there and even if he tried to delete it he doesn't seem to have the technical know-how to do a full wipe. We might be able to recover some information. The next time he's on the Citadel I want one our agents to recover it. Without being detected or causing a scene that is, under no circumstances should he or anyone on Shepards team be harmed. Also, I have a project I want you to run personally." said Tim, handing over a tablet
Taking it Miranda scrolls through the information
"How much of a priority is this?" she asked
"Top priority, if there's anything you need let me know. You'll also need have the two asari retrieved as quickly and as unharmed as possible. One is confirmed to still be on Feros while we have not yet tracked down the second." answered Tim
"I'll get onto it right away." said Mirander before leaving Tim alone in the room.
Taking a long look into his glass the man once know as Jack Harper contemplated
Some of the things his future self didn't make sense. While the ends justified the means to throw away so many lives with so little return didn't make sense. Could he really be become indoctrinated?
A large part of him said that was nonsense that if that was the case surely he would know, that he could tell.
'Desolas didn't know, Saren didn't know.' said a little voice 'A madman doesn't know there crazy, to them they're the only sane ones left.'
'Miranda has to succeed.' thought the illusive man to himself 'No one can jeopardize humanities survival...not even me. Perhaps it was time to consider his own replacement? Something that was always coming, just not this soon...but who?'
'There were few that could the job, one of which just left the room. Miranda might lack the stomach to do some of the darker things that might be needed to ensure humanities survival but maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. Though if that was the route he was taking he'd need to deal with her father and him getting his legacy.' thought the illusive man 'If Henry can't be happy that one daughter is looking to be bright woman in own right who in all likely hood will be running her own business at some point and another daughter who will be running Cerberus then he'd make sure that it was Henry's problem and his problem alone.
Pressing a button Tim calls his secretary "Kes I need you to bring me all reports on both current and past Cerberus activities."
"Of course sir, at once." came the secretary's immediate reply.
If he was becoming indoctrinated or his judgement had somehow been compromised then the evidence will be found there.
Red vs blue omake
Virmire
Just as Shepard was about to leave an idea occurred to her, turning to the new individual called Tex she asks
"Just how strong are you?"
"Pretty strong why?" asked Tex
"I've got an idea come with me everyone." ordered Shepard
A short time later while Caboose and Tex were carrying the package back to the Normandy Shepard asked
"I'm curious on why you aren't indoctrinated?"
"What the hell is that?" asked Tex
"Saren's ship, Sovereign, which is a Reaper an AI race bent on wiping out organics is able to convert people into being it's willing slaves. You don't know anything about that?" asked Shepard
"Nothing, though that does explain the ringing in my ears that I've been getting for the last week or two." replied Tex
"If you weren't indoctrinated then why did Saren trust you?"
"Dunno, before you got here he kept sending those robots at me. I didn't have anything else do and he gave free food so I thought 'why not?' then about an hour or two ago he came to me and asked if I wanted something a bit more challenging. I was getting bored at that point so I thought why not?" asked Tex
"So why did you start beating the absolute shit out of everyone if you know half of them?" asked Ash who was told the entire story after she joined them.
Her only response was a shrugg
"Oh she always does that" chimmed in Caboose "Church used to call it Tex's play time...not that any of us had fun."
A few hours later
Councilor Tevos was starting to get annoyed, for the last few minutes Sparatus had asked Shepard numerous questions, all of which she ignored and refused to answer.
"I must insist Commander that you start to answer Sparatus." said Tevos
"Can't." answered Shepard
"What do you mean you can't?" asked Tevos
"I can't hear him, I got sick off his constant condescending attitude and removed the audio from his terminal." answered Shepard
Sparatus was halfway through a rant before he realised that Shepard still couldn't hear him.
Holding up a hand to stop Sparatus from saying anything else Tevos started to reprimand Shepard
"That is incredibly childish Co..."
"I've got your audio controls right in front of me." interrupted Shepard "As for Sparatus I'm sure at some point he blamed me for a bomb going of on Virmire, which if he had actually read the report I sent he would have know it was the salarians not me that made the bomb and came up with the plan. He should also know that it was this Council to send a single ship to check in on a STG team that they knew was investigating Saren."
"The message wasn't clear, we didn't know what the message was about." argued Valern
"And if I go camping I don't know how many shits I'm going to have but I make sure I have enough supplies not to worry about it." shot Shepard "You wanted me to do a job, you didn't want to send more ships. I've had half my people ask why didn't the Council as least have a couple ships in system? That way we could have some support and get word out if we didn't have enough firepower to deal with the problem? These are idea's from people with less than a tenth of your collective experience? Instead you bitch about me pulling of nearly an impossible feet."
"Is the language really necessary Commander." frowned Tevos
"Shut it bitch I have my hand on you audio and I will fucking yank you. I've hand a bad day, bad week, bad month. Even if the rest of this year is heaven with me sipping cocktails out of coconuts with all the shit I've put up with it will barely be an 'okay' year." said Shepard shocking the Councilors
"I must insist that you treat each of the Councillors with respect." said Valern "Such behaviour is improper."
"And I must insist that you but up with it if you ever want this." said Shepard activating her omni tool. Behind her a live feed popped up of the cargo bay showing...
"You've got another beacon?" breathed Tevos "How...nevermind you have to bring it to the Citadel at once."
"I don't think so, you see I realised something. This will be the second beacon that has been supplied by humanity and humanity alone in a mere year." replied Shepard
"As you of all people should have know the first beacon was destroyed on Eden Prime." said Tevos getting a wince from Valern
"A beacon that was destroyed...well at least sabotaged by the Councillor's top Spectre, so again humanity has supplied two beacons, if one was destroyed by one of your agents that's your problem. After all how could a small colony possibly have the resources to hold back not only a geth army but the number one spectre." said Shepard going right for the throat
"Saren has lost his Spectre status." said Valern trying to salvage the situation
"Which only happened because I and my team found evidence and made you listen. If it was up to you he still would have been a Spectre and we would have nothing but dead bodies and being blamed for the beacon's destruction, the loss of the century. Something that we actually still are, so why should I hand over a second beacon? Given your lack of support and all that?"
"...what do you want?" sighed Tevos
"Sending you a list of demands now." smirked Shepard activating her omni-tool
Once the Councillors received them it didn't take long for their eyes to widen.
"You want me to call you mommy?" asked Tevos shocked
"Or daddy, up to you which. You also have to bring it up whenever possible, if some asks 'who's your mommy' you have to say 'Shepard's my mommy', whenever you address me it will have to be mommy or daddy. When I ask 'who's your mommy' you have to say 'you are'. It's also a legal document, fun thing being on such a diverse ship we have all sorts here including someone who has a family of lawyers. Even long after I'm dead you have to keep saying it, I'm also talking to Hackett, Anderson and Udina to see if there's anything they would like to add." smirked Shepard stunning Tevos
"And why should we say yes to this?" asked Valern while Tevos recovered
"Because if you don't I'll drop the beacon off on the hanar homeworld, good luck seeing it for the next ten years or so. Hell maybe even longer, we all know about they get about Prothean artifacts. When you've made up your minds...get back to me." said Shepard before hanging up
For everyone wondering no, Cerberus or at least the illusive man will not become good guys so don't worry. Tim will be the asshole we all know, the only difference between Tim cannon and mine is that he knows know he could be indoctrinated or at least on his way to it and will actually be putting humanity before himself like he keeps saying he does.
Finally, the next chapter might take some time, I looked at the walkthrough and the is a lot going on. Enough that I want to write it as I play it if I can, the problem with that is I still have virmire plus a bunch of missions I want to do before I need to head to Ilos such as a few cerberus missions, Tali, Garrus and Wrex missions etc.
Also, and I have no idea how but I romanced Ash, I was just talking to her and then she suddenly started talking about our future or something so I've been avoiding her as I'll only go with liara or tali for this run