Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my Gears of War/Mass Effect crossover.
Thank you all for your patience and support. I deeply appreciate it.
For those of you that voted on the poll I had up, I've got news for you. In a 7-6 vote, the voters agreed to a redux of Halo: MechWarrior v2. The storyline will be massively overhauled and we're going to see some interesting action. All of that, however, will be done once this crossover, and another one I'm working on, is finished.
As always, leave a review and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Gears of War or Mass Effect franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of BioWare, Electronic Arts, Microsoft Studios, Epic Games, The Coalition, etc. Any material original to the franchises belongs to their respective developers and publishers. Any material not original to the franchises is of my own invention. I do not own any music listed in each chapter. Any music listed belongs to it's original composers and/or artists.
SSV Normandy
Herschel System
March 4th, 2183
A few days later, the Normandy was inside the Herschel system, flying towards a faint radio signal that they had detected a few hours prior. Looking at the galaxy map, Shepard thought back to what Garrus told him about the reasons behind this mission, as well as the events leading up to it. I thought I'd seen some sick people in my day, but none as sick as Dr. Saleon, he frowned. Still, I'm surprised that Baird, of all people, agreed to help Garrus out on this mission. I hope he's up to it.
He also knew that Baird wasn't going to be alone on this mission. Both Marcus and Carmine had agreed to come on this mission, and they looked like they were bringing their A-game for this one. Walking away from the galaxy map, he moved closer to where Joker was at. "Anything new?" he asked Joker.
"Yep," Joker nodded. "We've got a Kolwoon-class freighter up ahead. I cross-referenced the codes with the ones that Garrus provided and they match: this is Dr. Saleon's ship. Scans indicate that the interior's been heavily modified, and we've got a shit tonne of life signs on board. If those are his employees, they're going to be grateful that we came to their rescue."
"Or they're extremely angry that we didn't come sooner," Shepard shrugged. "Still, we'll know more once we're onboard the ship. I've got a feeling, though, that having the Gears come along on this one is probably one of my best decisions. Tell them that I'll be meeting up with them once we dock."
"Aye aye, Commander," Joker nodded.
. . .
A few minutes later, Shepard, Garrus, Baird, Marcus and Carmine were in the airlock for the Normandy, weapons primed and ready for when they boarded the ship. Looking around, Shepard could see that Garrus had also up-gunned himself for this mission, with his rifle loaded with shredder rounds. Nearby, Marcus and Carmine held their M-25 Lancers calmly, having done this sort of thing a thousand times before.
This time, they had a special guest as well. Hearing a growling sound, Shepard looked down to see Tai, the Varren that Marcus had picked up at Feros. Ever since he'd found Tai, Marcus had been teaching the Varren how to attack and neutralize targets at his command. The Varren had taken to it quite well, obeying Marcus as though he was it's pack leader. In addition, said Varren was looking much healthier, with ribs that had once been showing now covered with sleek skin and hardened muscle. It playfully rubbed Marcus' leg, growling happily at him.
In response, Marcus merely scratched the Varren behind it's jaw, with the Varren growling contentedly as the itch that was bothering it faded away. "There you go," Marcus smiled. "You like that, don't you?" As if it was saying yes, Tai growled happily, though the Varren remained standing. It knew when a fight was going to happen.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say he stuck with you since childbirth," Garrus remarked. "That Varren's taken quite well to you."
"Sure looks like it," Carmine added. "Funny enough, Tai's been quite nice to us Gears. He seems to think, though, that Baird's tools are play toys. When I came into the cargo bay, I saw Baird chasing after him, as this guy had a wrench in his mouth. Boy was Baird pissed when he finally managed to snag his ass."
"He was just being playful," Marcus shrugged. "Wrex mentioned that Varren are playful when they're happy. That was Tai's way of showing his affection. Still, I think he toys around with Baird intentionally to get his attention." When he said that, the Varren gave him a look that said, 'That's correct,' though to Marcus, it looked as though Tai was asking for more attention. Looking at Garrus, Marcus asked, "You ready for this?"
"I've been ready ever since I met you guys," Garrus nodded, the fire in his eyes becoming more intense as he made sure his rifle was ready for the umpteenth time. "I want Saleon to pay for his crimes, but I don't want to do so in a manner that compromises who I am. Baird's words have told me that much. I don't want to become another Chaiman Prescott."
"Good," Marcus nodded. Turning to Shepard he asked, "Orders?"
"Once we're onboard, we're going to move through the ship and get to Dr. Saleon as quickly as we can. Any civilians in the area are to be kept in quarantine until we can get them safely out of here and to the nearest Alliance station. Any experiments that try to attack us are to be neutralized. Any questions?"
"No."
"Then we're all set. Joker?"
"We're all good to go," Joker replied. "I really hope we don't have to deal with Lambent again."
"Hey!" Baird protested. "Don't jinx us. Idiot."
Normally, Shepard would've grumbled at Baird, but he knew that Baird had good reason to snap at Joker. Hopefully the jinx doesn't come back to affect us, he hoped. Then again, the Universe, or rather Multiverse, is rarely that kind. Shaking his head, he focused on the mission at hand.
Any conversation that would've continued was promptly stopped when the airlock finished cycling. With the quiet hiss of motors, the door that led to the interior of the Fedele, the ship that they were at, opened, with the squad immediately raising their weapons. The room they entered was small, roughly ten meters in length, and was empty. The floor was made out of a tough metal alloy, while the ceiling was transparent, allowing them to see into the stars.
"All clear," Garrus reported.
"Are you sure?" Baird asked. "I'm getting some seriously bad vibes from this place."
"I'm pretty sure, unless you know better."
"We do," Marcus nodded. "One thing I learned about fighting the Locust, or any enemy, is that just because you don't see them doesn't mean they're not around. Besides, I know it's not all clear because Tai's acting funny."
Looking at the Varren, Shepard could clearly see what Marcus meant. The Varren had crouched low to the ground, and was growling loudly, with Tai's lips retracted to show the teeth inside. Something's got Tai on-edge, he frowned. If that's the case, then it's a good thing we brought him along. From what Wrex told us about Varren, they can sense when something isn't right.
"Got a door up ahead," Carmine noted. "Moving up." Following
Opening it revealed a sealed door in front of them, as well as a hallway. Here, the floor and ceiling were transparent. While the door ahead, and the hallway to the left were clear, there was another door to the right.
Once more, the lack of hostiles had the hairs of Marcus' neck standing up on end, with Shepard and the others also moving cautiously. "I don't like this," Garrus frowned, his instinctual alarm bells ringing. "Saleon's got something planned. I don't know what, but I don't like this."
"Me too," Marcus nodded. "Definitely something up here. Good thing our helmets are on and sealed."
"Agreed," Shepard nodded. "OK, Marcus, Baird, you two stack up on the door. Garrus, you, Carmine and I will provide them fire support in case something happens. Baird, can you get that door open?"
"Sure," Baird nodded. Pressing the button, he watched as a message came up. ACCESS DENIED: ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD DETECTED. Spotting that, he pulled up his omni-tool and began hacking into the door panel. A few seconds later, the panel went from red to green. "Here we go," he said quietly, before opening the door.
What they found before them made it clear that the computer's warning had been justified. When the door opened, they found that they had entered some kind of a cargo hold. The cargo hold they were looking into was filled with cargo crates that were stacked from floor to ceiling, obscuring his line of sight, as far as he could tell. To make matters worse, they weren't arranged neatly, but were instead staked in a haphazard manner, making small pathways that either were fakes or led to bad ends.
It was what was coating the crates that had the team's immediate attention. Much of it was a kind of hardened resin, with the resin being a blackened material that glistened like it was covered in wax or shoe polish. What had their attention, however, was that parts of the material were glowing the same yellow color that the Lambent did.
"Aw shit," Marcus frowned.
"Well, shit," Baird growled. "Remind me to tell Joker to never ever jinx us again. We've got fucking Lambent onboard."
"Not this shit again," Garrus groaned. "The last time we dealt with shit like this was back at Feros. We barely survived that."
"Good thing we brought the experts along," Shepard shrugged. "Marcus, Carmine, Baird, you guys take point. We'll provide cover fire for when you need it." With that, the team slowly advanced forwards, weapons at the ready as they scanned the area. At the same time, the life support systems on their hardsuits engaged, making it to where they were only breathing clean, uncontaminated air. Eight hours of air, Shepard noted as he saw a time come up. Hopefully we get this mission done before that.
To make matters worse, it wasn't deserted either. He could see contacts that were showing up on the suit's motion tracker, indicating hostiles that were present. This only caused him to proceed more cautiously, with Garrus smoothly moving with him, while Marcus and the others led the way. The squad remained tightly clustered, ready to act in the event one of them was caught off guard by an attack.
In addition, the overgrowth of Lambent material made it tricky to navigate through the cargo hold. Baird, knowing this, pulled out some glowsticks and, shaking them up after bending them, handed them to Garrus. "One every meter or so," he instructed Garrus. "That way, we can find our way back." Nodding, Garrus moved with them, dropping a glowstick ever meter.
As soon as they moved to the left after only a couple dozen meters, they rounded a corner and moved into an unexpectedly open space. The crates they'd seen were actually a partition between the entrance and a now much emptier cargo hold. The door to the bridge was located up ahead, it's lock also an angry red.
What had their attention were the… things that were inside of the cargo hold. Marcus and the others could see around thirty of them, all of which were in various states of disfigurement. Turians, Salarians, Asari, even a few Krogans and Humans, were all inside of the cargo hold.
As for the beings themselves, it was an awful sight. The Turian individuals looked as though they'd been turned into feral monsters. Talons had been morphed into claws, faces stretched into reptilian, teeth filled maws, while long, muscular tails swung to the left and right. The Krogan individuals looked the same, only now they had long, bone-like spines growing from their backs and their humps were now missing. In addition, they were now quadrupedal in nature, rather than bipedal.
The Human and Asari figures didn't look heavily modified, though Marcus could tell that something had been done to them. The Salarian individuals had heavy sacks beneath their chins, likely poison sacs, along with scaly skins and bulging muscles. The worst part, however, was that all of them were infected with Imulsion to some degree, as parts of their bodies glowed, while the parts that didn't were of differing colors, all of which were blackened to some degree.
The sight was so horrific that Marcus gagged, while Garrus nearly threw up inside of his helmet. There was no time for words, however, as moments later, the creatures, spotting the team, surged forwards, roaring loudly as all hint of sapience had been drained away, leaving only animal instinct. "OPEN FIRE!" Shepard shouted.
The cargo hold was filled with the sound of gunfire in an instant. Taking aim at one of the mutated Krogan, Marcus blasted it with HESH rounds, with the explosions tearing out chunks of mutated flesh. The feral creature roared in rage and pain, before charging at him. Spotting the charge, Marcus threw himself to the left, narrowly dodging the creature's charge, before rolling onto his back and firing. Moments later, the mutated Krogan screeched, before detonating.
"OH SHIT!" he shouted when the detonation caused the entire room to shudder. "Careful! These bastards are Lambent too!"
"Got it!" Shepad shouted as he gunned down a mutated Human. Hearing a screech, he turned to see one of the mutated Asari coming at him. Before he could fire, said mutant flung a biotic throw at him.
The next thing Shepard knew, he was flying through the air, before he smacked into a few cargo crates. Grunting as pain flared in his back, he pulled out his pistol and fired at the mutated Asari. Loaded with shredder rounds, he was able to blast off one of her arms, though this made the mutated creature angrier. That was promptly cut off, however, when he shot it in the head, killing it instantly.
Baird was in the middle of the entire fight, though it was clear that he was really putting everything he had into it. The chainsaw bayonet roared and the muzzle flashed with fire as he gunned and cut down any of the mutated creatures that got too close. Roaring, he chopped a mutant Krogan in half, before turning to his right and pulling the trigger, gunning down a mutant Salarian that was preparing to spit something at him.
Soon, the cargo hold was silent, with all of the creatures having either exploded, or cut apart Into pieces. "What the fucking hell?!" Carmine shouted as he kicked at a dead mutated Turian. "What kind of fucking monster makes this fucking shit?!"
"The kind that have no restraint whatsoever," Baird growled. "Fucking bullshit is what this is! This is why I fought against the Locust! This is why I fucking hate the Lambent!"
"This…" Garrus was saying as he caught his breath. "This… is the worst kind of crime anyone can commit. In fact, this goes beyond any kind of depravity that I've seen before. This… this is pure evil."
"I couldn't agree more," Marcus added. "Shepard, if we find Saleon, I say that we fuck trying to bring him in. We gun this bastard down and make sure he can't ever commit this kind of evil again."
"For once," Shepard nodded, "I fully agree with your plan, Marcus. This kind of evil, in fact any kind of evil, is inexcusable. Nothing justifies this kind of monstrosity. New plan team: we find Saleon and kill him."
"Hell yeah!" Garrus nodded. With that, the team advanced through the ship.
It turned out, Saleon had modified the interior to where one had to go through all of the cargo bays first before reaching the bridge. In addition, his experiments with the Lambent had caused it to eat through parts of the hull, allowing the mutated Imulsion to form organic tunnels between each of the cargo holds. As such, the team was slowly making their way forwads.
Stepping through one of the tunnels, Marcus frowned as he heard squishing sounds under his boot. Looking down, he could see pulsing veins of Imulsion that glowed yellow, along with other veins that carried things he didn't want to think about. This is fucked up, he said to himself. This is why the Locust War was as fucked up as it was, and why the Lambent Pandemic was so fucked up. I wouldn't be surprised if Saleon was experimenting with this shit. With that, he hurriedly made his way through the cargo hold.
"I'm surprised that there's even air in here," Garrus remarked as he moved through the tunnel with Marcus and the others. "Puncturing the hold should've caused all the atmosphere to vent into space."
"I've got a couple theories," Baird added. "For one thing, we know that life-support is still working, and that these cargo holds can be sealed off from the rest of the ship in the event of a hull breach. The other is that the Imulsion is, somehow, generating oxygen for the infested areas, allowing the infected organisms to survive."
"That's fucked up," Shepard frowned.
"Tell me about it."
Eventually, they made their way into the last cargo hold. Spotting more of the creatures, Marcus and the others got into cover. Peering over cover, Marcus could see more of the mutated creatures, mostly infected Turians and Krogan. Spotting a pair, he immediately regretted looking in that direction when he saw the two creatures, much to his disgust, mating with each other. "Shit," he grunted. "As if dealing with these things was bad enough. If they have any offspring, we're in deep shit."
"Fuck," Baird groaned, watching as a mutated Krogan began eating part of the material on the wall. "They're eating the stuff for food. This is seriously fucked up. I thought the Lambent on their own was bad. This is fucking worse!"
"Yeah," Shepard frowned. "Any ideas?"
"I say we blow them the fuck up," Garrus suggested. "Marcus and Carmine have some explosives with them. A frag grenade, coupled with some Torque Bow bolts, should eliminate most of the hostiles."
"Good idea," Shepard nodded. "Marcus?"
"I'll handle the grenades. Carmine has the bow."
"Good. On my mark, we engage." As he said this, Marcus and Carmine got ready. "Three… two… one… mark!"
With that, Marcus pulled the pin on his grenade, before tossing it over cover and into the group of mutated creatures. At the same time, Carmine fired his Torque Bow, sending explosive bolts into the group. Seconds later, the frag grenade detonated, blasting apart most of the creatures, while the Torque Bow bolts blew some more apart.
Thankfully, that dealt with all of the creatures, as Marcus and the others sighed with relief. "All clear," Garrus reported. "Now, it's time to find Dr. Saleon and make him pay for all of this!"
"I agree," Shepard nodded, "but I want to hear him try to justify this shit before doing so. Either way, he's gone into the deep end." With that, they advanced forwards into the area.
Just then, a voice called out to them. "Help us!"it called out to themWhirling around, Shepard and the others found the source of the cry.
It was another mutated Turian, but this one was far different from the others. While the upper half of his body was that of a normal Turian, the bottom half was anything but. It's entire lower body was limbless, with a long, snake-like, tail that extended from his hips down, ending in a small, seemingly prehensile tip around seven and a half meters in distance. Thick and tough scales protected this part of it's body.
It's blue eyes, however, where what caught the team's attention. Unlike the eyes of the creatures that they had fought, which were filled with savage rage and animalistic instinct, this Turian's eyes were calm, and a sharp intelligence was inside of them. This being had sapience, and was fully aware of what was going on. Right now, it was standing upright, with the powerful muscles in what was essentially a massive tail keeping him stable.
"What the hell?" Marcus grumbled under his breath.
"The fuck is this?" Baird asked. "I've never seen something like this before."
"Me neither," Carmine agreed.
Shepard, spotting the creature, asked, "Do you understand me?"
"Yes," the half-Turian, half-snakelike being said to them."I understand you fully."Seeing the weapons pointed at it, he, as the creature was unmistakably male, said, "I don't want to fight you. I just want to get out of here, away from that horrible Salarian!"
"What happened to you?" Garrus asked. "You look like you were a Turian once."
"That's a good question," Shepard nodded. "Who are you?"
The mutated Turian, relaxing at those words, said, "My name's Vorenus. I was a loyal soldier of the Turian Hierarchy before I went to the Citadel to work at C-SEC Academy. I was having a vacation when I was knocked unconscious. When I came to, I was onboard this ship, and that Salarian, Dr. Saleon, began to experiment on me."
At those words, Garrus' eyes lit up immediately. "Shepard, I know this guy. Vorenus was one of my co-workers. A really good man, then he just disappeared one day." Turning to the naga-like being, he said, "Tell me something only I would know."
The mutated Turian thought for a moment, then he said, "I remember when you talked to a Quarian named Tela'nomir vas Neema. You helped her find a place to stay at, so that she wouldn't be arrested for vagrancy. It was one of the cases you helped me out on."
Immediately, Garrus nodded. "Yep, it's Vorenus alright. Only he and I know of that incident, present company included, of course."
"Really?" Shepard asked. After Garrus nodded, he turned to Vorenus and asked, "What happened to you?"
Vorenus shuddered, his mutated scales hacking at the horror of those memories. "He began to experiment on me," he said a moment later. "He would inject me with all kinds of substances, just to see what would happen. To make matters worse, when I tried to fight back, he used some kind of device to send me into convulsions. It was horrible; he gloated over the fact that I couldn't fight back, even when I tried.
"Over the months, my body began to change. My legs melted together, while the bones fused together and formed vertebrae. Now, my entire lower body has been replaced with a massive tail, and I have to slither in order to move around. Saleon also boasted that he'd thrown in a few things, all to break me down and make me a slave." As he said this, another mutated Turian came towards them. It was smaller than Vorenus, and it's bodily features were more rounded and smooth than Vorenus'.
It too spoke, and while it's voice was deep, it's voice made it clear that it was unmistakably female."Saleon did the same thing to me too," she told them. "He turned the two of us into monsters, made us into the creatures we are right now. We… we don't want to be here anymore! We just want to go home!" She began to weep moments later, tears streaming down her face as he began to sob. Nearby, Vorenus began to do the same, even as he hugged his wife and tried to comfort her.
That, more than anything, caused a pang of sympathy to go through Shepard's heart. Marcus, though, was the most affected, as the whole scene reminded him of a traumatic event in the past, when he was with Dom. It's just like when Dom had to put his wife down, he thought to himself.
It was then that Shepard, unable to figure out what to do, asked him, "Marcus, what do we do? I've never encountered something like this before. Even the Rachni Queen was easier to handle than this?"
Marcus, seeing the two mutated Turians, felt more sympathy for them than anyone else he had met before. They didn't ask for this, he thought to himself.They just wanted to live their lives in peace, then that monster abducted them and turned them into these things. After a moment of thinking, he said, "I think we should spare them. We'll have to check them over for Imulsion infection, but beyond that, we've got to do what we can for them. They've suffered enough as it is."
"I agree," Shepard nodded. Looking at the two, he said, "We'll do what we can for you. Sit tight; we're going to kill that bastard Saleon, and make sure he never does this again."
"Thank you," Vorenus, having regained his composure, said to them. "Shepard, may I make a request of you?"
"Sure."
"When you find Dr. Saleon, bring him to me. I and my wife want to kill him ourselves. He turned us into monsters, destroyed our future and wanted to keep us like trophies. He deserves to die, by our hand!"
"You'll get that wish alright," Shepard nodded. "Come on. We've got a Salarian to find."
With that, the team began to move quickly towards the bridge, now that they had managed to get through all of the cargo holds. Surprisingly, this area had no Imulsion contamination, with the team entering a decontamination chamber. "Figures that Saleon would keep himself uncontaminated," Garrus snarled. "Fucking bastard." Once they were through the decontamination procedure, they quickly entered another room.
Inside, there was a large amount of medical equipment, along with some cots. Much of the medical equipment, while cleaned, was partially disassembled, while other pieces of equipment were covered in blood, some Krogan, some Turian and some of it Human. A single Salarian wearing a science uniform was inside, a rifle on his back. He jumped for a moment as soon as they came inside, then relaxed. "Thank you," he gasped. "Thank you for saving me from those things."
"That's him," Garrus told Shepard. "That's Dr. Saleon."
"What?!" Saleon gasped. "M-my name's Heart! Dr. Heart! Please, you have to get me out of here!"
"You certain?" Shepard asked.
"Positive," Garrus replied. Looking at Saleon with a murderous gaze, he said, "There's no escape this time, doctor. I'd harvest your organs first, but we don't have the time." He cocked his shotgun as he said this, the menacing sound filling the air.
"You're crazy!" Saleon gasped. Looking at O'Connor, he said, "He's crazy! Please! Don't let him do this to me!"
"You're under arrest," Shepard growled.
"Shepard?!" Garrus asked. "What about -?"
"If we kill him here and now, we won't know how to restore the other two to normal. If we capture him now, we can reverse the change, and he'll serve his time."
"I -" Garrus stammered, before seeing the logic in Shepard's reasoning. "Alright." Turning to Saleon, he said, "You're lucky the Commander's here."
"Oh, thank you so very much," Saleon sneered, before attempting to run, while a hidden door opened. Before he could get that far, Shepard fired, nailing Saleon in the legs, while Marcus fired a shot too, nearly severing the other one.
"I'm sorry," Shepard frowned. "I tried to be reasonable, but now you've given me no choice. With that, he roughly picked up Saleon and dragged him towards the decontamination room.
Seeing this, Saleon's eyes went wide as he realized what Shepard had intended. "NO! NO! NOOOOO!" he screamed. "LET ME GO! PLEASE!" Looking at Garrus, he shouted, "PLEASE, YOU HAVE TO STOP HIM! HE'S CRAZY!"
"I don't think so," Garrus growled. "You've done unspeakable evil, all in the name of 'progress' and 'science,' It's scientists like you that give the ones that want to follow the rules a bad name. In addition, as a C-SEC officer and as a Turian, I am thoroughly disgusted with the things that you have done. Even Pallin would approve of what Shepard has in store for you." As he said this, they entered the cargo hold, where Shepard flung Saleon down at Vorenus' feet.
"Here you go," Shepard nodded. "He's all yours."
"Thank you," Vorenus snarled, his facial features becoming a mask of rage and fury. "Dr. Saleon, you are a monster for which there is no punishment too great for you. You twisted the bodies of myself and my wife into these forms, turned innocent living beings into feral beasts, and planned to inflict a terrible disease onto the galaxy. I won't even bother hearing your final words, because I'll be too busy doing this to you!" With that, he pounced.
Saleon screamed,a loud, thin wailing as Vorenus slithered over and wrapped his entire body around Saleon, while his wife did the same, wrapping the Salarian in their coils. A moment later, they squeezed… hard. Saleon gave one last scream, before there was a loud CRUNCH, then he fell silent.
"A fitting end," Marcus noted, nodding in approval at what the two had done.
Sighing, Vorenus said, "That it was. I don't like having to do those kinds of things, but this time around, that was what had to be done." Looking at Shepard, he slithered over and hugged Shepard with both arms "Thank you," he whispered over and over again, tears streaming down his plated face, with his wife doing the same.
"You're welcome," Shepard nodded as he returned the hug, with Garrus doing the same for Vorenus' wife. "Saleon can't hurt you anymore. You're free of his control." After Vorenus released him, he keyed his comm. "Joker, send a comm signal to the Alliance ASAP. We've got Imulsion present here and two survivors."
"Aye aye, Commander," Joker replied. "Comm signal's already been sent. ETA: 2 hours."
Turning to Garrus, he said, "You OK?"
"I'm good," Garrus nodded. "It's just that… seeing the level of depravity that Saleon stooped to… nothing can describe it fully. I'll have nightmares about this for the rest of my life. At least Vorenus and his wife have a chance to start anew."
"Agreed," Shepard nodded. "Any questions?"
"Why did you do what you did?" Garrus asked.
"First off, Garrus, I wanted to bring justice to the victims for what happened here. In addition, I wanted to show you something: you can't control how other people will react, but you can control how you react. In the end, that's all that matters."
"Yeah," Garrus nodded. "That's a good lesson. You tried to arrest him peaceful, and when he didn't want to come along peacefully, you allowed his victims to get revenge, and find some closure in the process. Either way I think Pallin would approve of what you did. Saleon was a monster; he had to go."
"Agreed," Shepard nodded. "Everyone, let's move to the decontamination chamber. Once the Alliance comes, they're definitely going to get busy."
(Author's Q&A)
MarauderPrime12: Agreed.
edboy4926: Thank you.
Chonus1326: I see. I'll definitely make a change there. Thank you.
PhatomRPG: Thank you. As for the Varren, you'll find out very soon. Also, that mission will come up in the Mass Effect 3 story arc, which will be in a sequel.
Guest #1: Thank you. As for your theory, I think the Rachni Queen's telepathy is stronger. Did Myrrah influence the Locust with her mind? No, because they were brainwashed into being loyal to her. The Rachni Queen doesn't do mind control either. Her drones are loyal to her, and want to help her, though the relationship is definitely more symbiotic.
Guest #2: Possibly. We'll just have to wait and see.