Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my Gears of War/Mass Effect crossover.
Thank you for your wonderful feedback and support. I greatly appreciate it.
I also apologize if I was being presumptuous when I issued that DeviantArt challenge to any artists reading this story. I kinda got ahead of myself and I was quite excited.
Either way, I appreciate your feedback and support, and I hope you follow this story to the very last chapter. We are almost there.
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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, The Coalition, Epic Games, 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.
Ilos
Abandoned Prothean City
March 20th, 2183
With the lock down keeping the doors to the bunker lifted, the team began making their way back up to the Mako. Fortunately for them, there was a small hallway underneath the room they'd been in that led to an elevator. Punching the newly refurbished panel, Shepard watched as the doors closed, with the elevator taking them all back up to the surface.
When the doors opened, Carmine looked around. "Well, what do you know? We've come back to the very place that we split up at. That should make it easy for us to get to the Mako."
"Yeah," Marcus agreed. "We get in, find the Conduit, then rain hell down onto Saren's head."
"Sounds so easy in theory, doesn't it?" Baird asked rhetorically.
It does, Shepard admitted internally.
With that, the team made their way back to the Mako. True enough, the door to the bunker was wide open, allowing the team to begin making their way inside. "Who votes we take the vehicle into the creepy, underground bunker?" Kaidan asked.
"Me!" Baird replied.
"Same here," Cole added, with the others also giving their consent.
"Good idea," Wrex finished. "Having a big gun on hand's a good idea." As they drove inside, he added, "Funny. I thought Saren would've laid a trap of some kind for us. They must've been in too much of a hurry."
"Or we haven't run into it yet," Kaidan countered.
"Maybe," Baird added. Looking at a video feed, he was surprised by what he saw. Inside of the bunker, past the incline they had just exited, was a long, vaulted room. The ceiling was very tall, tall enough that he could see actual clouds forming above his head. The walls, though, had his attention the most, as he could see cylinders large enough to store a man protruding from them.
Cole, spotting those, asked, "The hell are those things?"
"I don't know," Garrus mused. "Tali?"
"Me neither," Tali remarked, "though I'd have to guess that they serve some purpose."
"Want to know what I think they are?" Baird asked.
"Sure, why not," Wrex replied with a shrug.
"Given that we now know that the Protheans tried to preserve themselves, otherwise they wouldn't build a bunker like this, my guess is that they're some kind of stasis pods. It's not too surprising. From what Marcus told me of the New Hope Research Facility, stasis pods were used to keep the Sires on ice for decades."
"Incredible!" Tali whistled. "The Protheans must've been really advanced to use such technology. I'm surprised the COG managed the same."
"Where there's a will, there's a way," Marcus remarked.
"There's only one problem, though," Baird noted. "The Mako's scanners aren't picking up any life signs from the pods. Something must've happened to turn those pods off, leading to their deaths." He shivered, while feeling a pang of sympathy and horror at what must've been a horrible death for the occupants of the pods.
"LOOK OUT!" Garrus shouted, with Shepard throwing the Mako into a hard right turn. Just as he did, a missile whipped past the Mako, before exploding harmlessly against one of the walls. "Geth up ahead!"
"I see them!" Driving the vehicle fast, Shepard could hear Garrus quickly going to work firing at the Geth up ahead, while he made sure that few, if any, shots hit the vehicle. Fortunately, a single application of the rail gun on the Mako made short work of the Geth, and they began to drive on.
As they did, though, Shepard spotted something up ahead. From the looks of it, it appeared to be a kinetic barrier, only it glowed a gold-yellow color. As soon as he got close to it, though, another barrier of the same color appeared behind them. We're trapped, he realized.
"What's happening?!" Tali gasped.
"It's a trap!" Wrex shouted. "Saren must've sent an ambush."
"I don't think so," Baird countered. "If it was an ambush, the vehicle would've been set upon immediately. I don't see anyone shooting at us, and the Mako's not detecting anything like gas. It's something else." Spotting a door, he said, "Let's try that elevator. Maybe there's something here we can find that can shut down the barriers."
"Good thinking," Shepard agreed. "Everyone out. Let's see what we can find." With that, the team quickly exited the Mako, before moving towards the elevator doors. Once inside, the doors automatically closed, before descending.
"Interesting," Tali noted. "If this were an automated trap, Saren would've triggered it. What do you guys think this is?"
"I don't know," Kaidan remarked, his words summing up what everyone felt. "I just how that whatever's down here is friendly. We've got enough enemies at the moment."
"I couldn't agree more," Carmine added. It was then that the elevator came to a stop.
Instead of a wall of guns being pointed at them, or a small room with a gas trap, they found themselves looking at a small walkway that descended towards a single computer console. A hologram was present, though it was badly fragmented, making it incomprehensible. "What the hell?" Marcus whispered.
"That's not what I was expecting," Garrus observed. "I thought we were going to run into a trap."
"Me too," Shepard admitted. A moment later, he approached the computer console.
What no one expected was for a voice to greet their ears. "You are not Prothean, but you are not machine either. This eventuality was one of many that was anticipated. This is why we sent our warning through out beacons."
Carmine yelped. "Was that the computer?!"
"It was," Baird remarked.
"Looks like some kind of VI program," Tali noted. "Pretty badly damaged."
"I do not sense the taint of indoctrination upon any of you," the VI continued. "Unlike the other that passed recently. Perhaps there is still hope."
"Wait a minute," Kaidan interrupted. "How come I can understand you? Why aren't you speaking the Prothean language?"
"I have been monitoring your communications since you arrived at this facility," the VI explained. "I have translated my format into an output that you all can comprehend. My name is Vigil. You are safe here, for the moment. But that is likely to change. Soon, nowhere will be safe."
"Are you some kind of artificial intelligence program?" Shepard asked.
"I am an advanced non-organic analysis system with personality imprints from Ksad Ishan, Chief Overseer of this research facility."
"Oh, perfect," Baird snarked. "Reminds me of that semi-sapient computer system that Dr. Niles created based on his own personality. I hope this VI isn't like that."
"Me too," Marcus added.
Shepard, hearing this, nodded, before turning to Vigil. "Why did you bring me here?"
"You must break a cycle that has continued for billions of years," Vigil explained. "But to stop it, you must understand it, or you will make the same mistakes we did. The Citadel is the heart of your civilization, and the seat of your government. As it was with us, and as it was with every civilization that came before us."
"Oh fuck no!" Baird gasped, his face going pale as his mind connected the dots.
"What is it?" Shepard asked.
"I've just realized it! No wonder the Keepers are so mysterious! Damnit, I should've seen this sooner!"
"Seen what?" Marcus asked.
"The Citadel is a giant fucking mousetrap!" Baird finally explained. "Sovereign didn't mention the Citadel, but now I understand that the Protheans didn't build the facility! The Reapers did!"
"You are correct," Vigil confirmed. "The Citadel is a trap. The station is an enormous Mass Relay, one that links to dark space, the empty void beyond the galaxy's horizon. When the Citadel relay is activated, the Reapers will pour through, and all that you know will be destroyed."
"Son of a bitch!" Garrus snarled. "All of this time, and we didn't realize this!"
Shepard, though, had questions. "How come nobody realized the Citadel was a Mass Relay all this time?"
"The Reapers are careful to keep the greatest secrets of the Citadel hidden. That is why they created a races of seemingly benign organic caretakers. The Keepers maintain the station's basic functions. They enable any species that discovers the Citadel to use it without fully understanding the technology. Reliance on the Keepers ensures that no other species will ever discover the Citadel's true nature. Not until the relay is activated and the Reapers invade."
"Fuck!" Carmine deadpanned. "The Keepers are the bait! It's just like Baird put it: it's a mouse trap!"
"I don't understand," Shepard remarked. "How do the Reapers survive out in dark space?"
Vigil sounded disappointed with the next response. "We only have theories. The researchers here came to believe that the Reapers enter prolonged states of inactivity to conserve energy. This allows them to survive the thousands upon thousands of years it takes for organic civilization to rebuild itself. But in this state, they are vulnerable. By retreating beyond the edge of the galaxy, they ensure no one will accidentally discover them. They keep their existence hidden until the Citadel is activated."
"Motherfuckers," Marcus growled. "Shepard, if this VI's right, the Reapers can wipe out the entire Citadel Council and the Citadel Fleet in a surprise attack!"
The VI, hearing Marcus' words, said, "That was our fate. Our leaders were dead before we realized that we were under attack. The Reapers seized control of the Citadel and through it, the Mass Relays. Communication and transportation across our empire were crippled. Each star system was cut off, isolated from the others. Easy prey for the Reapers. Over the next decades, the Reapers systematically obliterated our people. World by world, system by system, they methodically wiped us out."
"The war was lost. If you surrendered, they might've let you life," Garrus suggested.
Baird frowned at that. "I don't think Reapers don't sound like the kind of guys that offer surrender."
"Correct," Vigil added. "No offer of surrender was ever given. Our enemy had a single goal: the extinction of all advanced organic life. Through the Citadel, the Reaper had access to all our records, maps, census data. Information is power, and they knew everything about us. Their fleets advanced across every settled region of the galaxy. Some worlds were utterly destroyed. Others were conquered, their populations enslaved. These indoctrinated servants became sleeper agents under Reaper control. Taken as refugees by other Protheans, they betrayed them to the machines. Within a few centuries, the Reapers had killed or enslaved every Prothean in the galaxy. They were relentless, thorough and absolutely brutal."
Shepard frowned. "I don't understand. Where did the Reapers go after they harvested your people?"
"Our world were stripped bare, harvested by the indoctrinated slaves. Everything of value – all resources, all technology – was taken. Certain that all advanced organic life had been extinguished, the Reapers retreated back through the Citadel Relay into dark space, sealing it behind them. All evidence of the Reaper invasion had been wiped away. Only their indoctrinated servants were left behind, abandoned. Mindless husks, no longer capable of independent thought, the indoctrinated soon starved or died of exposure. The genocide of the Protheans was complete."
"I don't understand," Baird grumbled. "What do the Reapers get out of this? Why repeat such a horrible cycle over and over again? It doesn't make sense."
If Vigil had shoulders, it would've shrugged. "The Reapers are alien, unknowable. Perhaps they needed slaves or resources. More likely, they are driven by motives and goals organic beings cannot hope to comprehend. In the end, what does it matter? Your survival depends on stopping them, not understanding them."
"You said you brought us here for a reason," Shepard stated. "Tell me what I need to do."
"The Conduit is the key. Before the Reapers attacked, we Protheans were on the cusp of unlocking the mysteries behind Mass Relay technology. Ilos was a top secret research facility. Here, researchers worked to create a small scale version of a Mass Relay. One that linked directly to the Citadel: the hub of the Mass Relay network."
"OH!" Baird gasped. "Now I understand! I knew that the Conduit wasn't a weapon! I was right! I was fucking right!"
"That you were," Kaidan agreed. "It's a back door onto the Citadel!"
"Damn," Garrus remarked. "You had it figured out, Baird. Remind me to check in with you for any hunches you have."
"I do have my moments," Baird admitted. "Still, even I'm surprised that I was right. Still, one question VI. How did you manage to stay hidden?"
All official records of our project were destroyed in the initial attack on the Citadel," Vigil explained. "While the Prothean Empire came crashing down, Ilos was spared. We severed all communication with the outside and our facility went dark. The personnel retreated underground into these archives. To conserve resources, everyone was put into cryogenic stasis. I was programmed to monitor the facility and wake the staff when the danger had passed. But the genocide of a species is a long, slow process. Years passed. Decades. Centuries. The Reapers persisted, and my energy reserves were dwindling."
"You should have fought!" Wrex growled.
"You really think that they'd have stood a chance?" Marcus growled. "These guys were scientists, not soldiers, Wrex."
"Correct," Vigil agreed. "We were a few hundred against a galactic invasion fleet. Our only hope was to remain undetected. I began to disable the life support of non-essential personnel. First support staff, then security. One by one, their pods were shut down to conserve energy. Eventually, only the stasis pods of the top scientists remained active. Even these were in danger of failing when the Reapers finally retreated back through the Citadel Relay."
"There were hundreds of those pods out there!" Tali gasped, horrified by those words. "You just shut them down? You killed them?"
"You were meant to protect them, not kill them!" Shepard growled angrily.
"This outcome was not completely unforeseen," Vigil calmly countered. "My actions were a result of contingency programming entered upon my creation."
"I'll bet they didn't tell the 'non-essential' staff about this contingency," Kaidan dryly observed.
"I saved key personnel. When the Reapers retreated, the top researchers were still alive. My actions are the only reason any hope remains. When the researchers awoke, they realized that the Prothean species was doomed. There were only a dozen individuals left, far too few to sustain a viable population. Yet they vowed to find some way to stop the Reapers from returning. A way to break the cycle forever, and they knew the Keepers were the key."
"I still don't understand what's going on here," Shepard remarked. "Why is Saren trying to find the Conduit?"
"The Conduit gives him access to the Citadel and the Keepers. The Keepers are controlled by the Citadel. Before each invasion, a signal is sent through the station, compelling the Keepers to activate the Citadel Relay. After decades of feverish study, the scientists discovered a way to alter this signal. Using the Conduit, they gained access to the Citadel and made the modifications. This time, when Sovereign sent the signal to the Citadel, the Keepers ignore it. The Reapers are trapped in dark space."
"HAH!" Cole laughed. "The bitches told it no! That's one way to piss off a Reaper: tell it no!"
"Yeah," Shepard noted. "Saren, though, must have some plan to undo everything the researchers did."
"That is correct," Vigil confirmed. "The one you call Saren will use the Conduit to bypass the Citadel's defenses. Once inside, he will transfer control of the station to Sovereign. Sovereign will override the Citadel's systems and manually open the relay. And the cycle of extinction will begin again."
"Is there any way we can stop them?" Shepard asked.
"There is a data file in my console. Take a copy of it when you go. When you reach the Citadel's master control unit, upload it into the station. It will corrupt the Citadel's security protocols and give you temporary access over the station. It might even give you a chance against Sovereign."
"Where's the Citadel's master control unit?" Tali asked, confused. "I've never heard anything like that."
"Through the Conduit," Vigil instructed. "Follow Saren. He will lead you to your destination. In addition, there is a file in my console that details the procedures necessary to detect indoctrination. Take it with you as well. Should you stop Saren and Sovereign, it will allow you to root out any individuals with indoctrination and prevent them from causing any significant damage."
"One question," Shepard asked. "If the Reapers are in dark space, how did Sovereign get here?"
"I can answer that question," Marcus replied. "Sovereign referred to itself as the 'vanguard' of the Reapers. My guess is that the Reapers leave one of their own to periodically 'check-in' on the wider galaxy, that way they can start the cycle when the time comes. This time, however, its going to have to do things manually thanks to the researchers here blocking out the signal."
"That leads to a question I've got," Wrex remarked. "Sovereign's the largest ship in the galaxy. Why all this secrecy? Why not just attack the Citadel?"
"Sovereign is not invincible," Vigil explained. "Revealing its true nature would have united the forces of every organic species against it. Even a Reaper cannot withstand such odds. But the Reapers are patient. They will not rush into the unknown. Sovereign could've been planning this for centuries, moving deliberately, gathering allies.
"Slowly, it assembled the pieces of the puzzle, working through agents to keep itself hidden. Saren is the most visible pawn of the Reapers, but I doubt that he was the first. Now, Sovereign has grown bold. Whether from confidence or desperation, I cannot say. But it is determined to reopen the portal into dark space."
"That makes sense," Wrex admitted.
"What about the Beacon on Eden Prime?" Shepard asked. "And the one on Virmire. What were they for?"
"At our apex, the beacons spanned the breadth of our empire," Vigil replied. "We used them as a single galaxy-wide network, to transmit data and communications from world to world. Virtually all of the beacons were destroyed during the invasion. But once the Reapers were gone, the survivors here on Ilos decided to risk sending out a message. We knew it was unlikely that there were survivors, but if there were, we wanted them to know about Ilos. We wanted to give them hope, so a message was sent across the network."
"You could've exposed yourselves to the Reapers," Carmine noted.
"In truth, we didn't expect any of the beacons to function, but we had to try. If there were survivors, we had to reach them. The message was meant for our own people. It was coded so only organic beings could comprehend it. We still didn't understand the power of Reaper indoctrination. We never realized it could lead an agent of the machines – like Saren – to this world. But it has also led you here, so maybe we did not fail after all."
"I see," Shepard noted. "So when the Reapers created the Citadel, they created the Keepers as well?"
"A more likely scenario is that the Keepers were one of the early harvested civilizations. Perhaps the very first. Perhaps they responded well to the indoctrination, or the Reapers simply bred them to be obedient. In any case, they were left behind to operate and maintain the Citadel. But the Keepers are no longer directly controlled by Sovereign or it's ilk. They evolved so that they could respond only to the signals emitted by the Citadel itself."
"Sovereign must've realized that organics are hard to control," Shepard mused.
"A likely hypothesis. The Keepers evolved in an unanticipated direction. Non-organic servants like the Geth would be more predictable."
"Yep," Shepard decided. "Saren's got enough of a head start. Baird, Tali, grab the data files and let's go!"
Just as he turned to leave, Vigil said, "The one you call Saren has not reached the Conduit. Not yet. There is still hope if you hurry." With that, Baird and Tali finished grabbing the data file, before the terminal shut down again.
"We've got what we need," Baird told Shepard. "Let's get back to the Mako."
As they made their way back to the Mako via the elevator, Tali said, "It's tragic. For all their great achievements, the Protheans lost everything, just like my people. Even their last plan failed."
"Not entirely," Kaidan countered. "They've given us a weapon. They've given us a chance… if we can just get there in time."
"Yeah," Marcus agreed. "We just need to move fast enough to get there. Baird, how tough's that Mako?"
"Pretty tough," Baird replied. "Why?"
"I'm wondering if you made any adjustments to the electric motors and fuel cells."
"Yeah, we did," Baird rejoined. "I installed an extra mode into the computers that will temporarily overcharge the electric motors and, while we were at Earth, oversaw the installation of booster modules. You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Yeah," Marcus agreed. "We boost through the enemy as fast as possible and get to the Conduit." As he said this, they reached the Mako.
"Sounds like a plan to me," Shepard decided. With that, everyone clambered in, with the Mako taking off a second later.
Driving through the hallways of the archives, they began entering areas that had collapsed due to the pass of time and other natural events. As they did so, hostiles began to show up. Most of them were small fry, with Shepard ignoring those and driving past them. "Down that hole!" Garrus instructed him, pointing at a hole in part of the floor.
"Got it!" Shepard replied, driving the vehicle down and through the hole. A moment later, they drove off a precipice and landed in an artificial river. Moving forwards, they drove down a long incline before entering more areas that wound and twisted around.
"INCOMING!" Carmine shouted. "GET COLOSSUS!"
"Move past it!" Garrus shouted. "We don't have the time to deal with them!"
"Here we go!" Shepard shouted, activating the overdrive mode. The electric motors whined loudly as they began operating well above their usual capacity. The effect, however, was immediately apparent, with the vehicle quickly zipping past the massive machine and around another turn. Disengaging the mode, he continued to drive past any debris that had fallen down into the area along with roots from plants above their location.
Eventually, they came to the bottom of an incline, where instead of another turn, they spotted a large, open area. Up ahead, though, Shepard was shocked to see a miniature version of a Mass Relay. "There it is!" he heard Tali shout. "The Conduit! It's incredible!"
"No time to waste now!" Wrex countered. "We have to get to that relay, and these Geth aren't going to make it easy for us!"
"Now or never, Shepard!" Marcus shouted. "We gotta get to the Conduit!"
"Everybody hold on!" Shepard shouted. With that, he gunned the boosters and the throttle.
The Mako surged forwards, the electric motors howling as they threw the vehicle at top speed towards the Conduit. Nearby, Geth Colossi spotted the vehicle and began firing. Within a few seconds, the barriers were down, and armor plating began to boil away. Come on, Shepard urged the vehicle. Just another lousy few meters!
Then it happened. As soon as they got close enough, the Conduit activated. A tendril of energy reached out and touched the Mako, catapulting it through a mass free tunnel. In an instant, the Mako vanished.
(Author's Q&A)
EDYGOFENIKS: Hah! That would be funny!
kukuhimanpr: Yeah. They weren't the sharpest tools in the shed.
edboy4926: Thank you. As for that last part, see for yourself.
Mashot Tito: Yes. That armor definitely will. Move over thin armor plates. Here comes a real man's armor.