Garrus and Kaidan sat at their own table in Flux while Jane met with Captain Anderson. Garrus didn't know him personally but knew he was a well decorated Alliance officer and that Jane looked up to him and respected him more than anyone else. She had talked about him quite a bit and had nothing but the highest praise for him. She had also mentioned that he was like a father to her. He couldn't hear what they were talking about but he noticed Jane looked a bit concerned. After awhile he saw her smile then shook his hand and walked over to them. He still couldn't get rid of the warm feelings he felt when he saw her smile and reminded himself that he was going to tell her how he felt after they took down Saren. C-sec be damned because he knew he'd be happiest traveling among the stars and taking down bad guys with her. His thoughts were interrupted when she spoke up.
"Let's get back to the Normandy. It'd be a shame if she took off without us." She told them.
"But we're grounded, commander. She's not going anywhere." Kaidan replied, confused.
"Not for long, it's not. I've never left a job unfinished. Wouldn't wanna tarnish my reputation now." She smirked as she sprinted towards the docking bay. Garrus didn't know what she and Anderson conspired to do but he had a feeling he'd find out soon.
As soon as they boarded the ship, Jane immediately contacted Joker on the comm.
"Get ready to take us to Ilos."
"I'd love to but we're grounded- what the hell? Never mind. How do you do that, commander?" Joker replied. Garrus could hear the surprise and joy in his voice and came to the conclusion that the docking clamps were unlocked.
"Shame on you, Joker. A lady never reveals her secrets. Okay team, time to take down Saren." She announced then headed to her quarters. Garrus assumed she wanted to prepare herself and as much as he wanted to talk to her, he had already promised himself he'd wait until after they took down Saren.
A couple hours later they had approached Ilos. Jane was in the cockpit with Joker and Pressly. A few minutes later she had come out and announced they were going to make an emergency drop in the Mako. She called him and Kaidan to accompany her.
As soon as they dropped down, alive thanks to Joker's piloting skills, they saw Saren only 20 feet in front of them. It looked like something got his attention and he looked behind him and saw them. He looked panicked for a moment then ordered the geth to kill them and went through some metal doors and closed them. Jane immediately took out the geth with the mako's guns and they jumped out and made a run for the door.
"Dammit. He overrode the door's controls. Looks like we're going the long way." Jane said in frustration.
They made their way through the area while taking out drones of geth. Eventually they made their way to a security console, taking cover behind some debris to take out the geth guarding it.
"You'd think they'd run out of geth eventually." Kaidan remarked as he used a biotic pull to smash one against a wall.
"Now what would be the fun in that?" Jane replied while scoping out the last geth. "They make excellent target practice." She then pulled the trigger getting yet another headshot.
Jane headed towards the console and hacked into it. Garrus swore that if she hadn't decided to join the military that she would've made an excellent and probably unstoppable criminal. It unlocked the archive doors then a distorted hologram popped up and started speaking in a language he didn't understand.
"Well, that would be more helpful if we knew what it was saying." He remarked.
"You can't understand it?" Jane looked at him confused. "How come I can?"
"Maybe that cipher gave you some understanding of prothean language?" Garrus replied back. Hell, he didn't know how this stuff worked but it made sense. "What did it say?"
"It's a warning about the reaper invasion but it must've come too late. The rest is just unintelligible static. Let's get back to the archive doors." She said before they headed back to the mako. She opened the archive doors then hopped into the mako and started driving.
"Well, if we're going to go into a creepy abandoned underground bunker, might as well do it in the mako." Kaidan remarked.
"Good thinking. The guns on this thing will come in handy." Garrus replied.
"You're still not driving just so you can use the guns." Jane teased him.
"Aww. You never let me use the big guns." He complained, remembering the last time he asked.
"That's because they're too much fun." She smirked as they drove down the long tunnel.
"I guess I'll have to take your word for it." He pouted. "I bet Saren laid a trap, it'd be the perfect place for one."
"What are those on the walls?" Kaidan asked, as they saw hundreds of what looked like some kind of pods.
"They were probably stasis pods intended for survival." Garrus replied.
A little further down, they came across some geth. Jane immediately gunned them down and laughed saying it was about time they got some action.
"Do me a favor, Jane. Next time we go on a life or death mission with impossible odds, make sure I get to shoot more enemies?" Garrus exclaimed.
"Next time?" She asked him, confused. That's when it occurred to him that he hadn't told her he wanted to stay aboard the Normandy yet. Before he could reply he heard her swear in surprise and the mako came to an abrupt stop. When he looked forward, he saw a huge force field around the mako.
"What did I tell you? A trap." He said.
"Uh, I don't think that's from Saren or the geth." Kaidan spoke up.
"Well, might as well take the elevator over there. It's our only option here. Would be nice if things could go as planned, at least once in awhile." Jane sighed as they got out of the mako and headed for the elevator.
They exited into a room and Jane walked towards a platform. A hologram popped up and started saying that they weren't Prothean or machine and that they were expected. It also talked about the warning beacons.
"It seems to be a badly damaged VI." Garrus remarked.
It replied back saying it didn't sense indoctrination on any of them unlike Saren, who had also come by recently and said something about there still being hope.
"How can we understand it? Shouldn't it be speaking Prothean?" Kaidan questioned.
It said it had been monitoring their communications so it could speak with them and introduced itself as Vigil. It told them that though they were currently safe that nowhere would be for long. Jane questioned it a little and found out more about the facility and its creator. Then she asked why it stopped the mako and it told her because the cycle that had gone on for millions of years needed to be broken. It also told her that the citadel was a massive mass relay and a trap, that the reapers come through dark space when it's activated and destroy all advanced organic life before disappearing again. She asked why the reapers were doing this but it said that no one knew. It explained that Ilos was a secret facility and since there were no records of it, the reapers didn't know about it. It told them that the scientists eventually went into cryostasis but the power started failing so it started cutting power to non essential crew until eventually only the top scientists were left.
"How could you just kill them in their sleep?" Jane asked, sounding appalled. Vigil simply responded by saying it was necessary and it was their plan if power failed. It then told them the scientists found a way to disrupt the signals to the keepers on the citadel hence why Sovereign couldn't signal to have them activate the relay. He then gave Jane a file that would give her full access to the citadel and resources but told her she needed to find the master control terminal to activate it.
"How do I find that?" She asked it.
"Follow the one known as Saren. He knows the way. He hasn't reached the conduit yet, you still have time. Do what we could not." It told her before signing out.
"Okay, guys. Back to the mako." Jane said before turning back to the elevator.
"All this technology and the reapers still wiped them out." Kaidan said, sounding amazed and horrified at the same time.
"Yeah, but we're not ending up the same way." Garrus said as he cocked his gun. He may not have had much to live for before but that was before he met Jane.
They made their way back to the mako and raced through the tunnel. She gunned down geth as they went and even ran a few over. Garrus couldn't help but smile at her determination and resolve to stop Saren.
They finally made it to the conduit just in time to see Saren look back and have a glimpse of worry on his face before going through. Garrus thought he'd be worried too if he had someone like Jane after him. She was really a force to be reckoned with.
"Hold on." Jane announced as she stomped down on the gas.
"Wait? We're not… we don't even know if it's safe to go through. We don't know what will happen." Kaidan panicked.
"No time! We're going to find out the old fashioned way." She said as they sped through towards the conduit.
"Um, Jane. You should know that-" Garrus started, intending to tell her about his feelings so he wouldn't have any regrets if it was the end.
"Tell me if we survive this, Vakarian." She interrupted as they went through the conduit.
