7 Noveria

--> I’ve just received an encrypted transmission from Admiral Kahoku. He’s done some digging, and tells me that the party responsible for luring his team into the Thresher Maw ambush was a top secret Alliance black ops division codenamed “Cerberus.” They dropped off the grid a few months ago, severed all ties and disappeared. Kahoku has managed to narrow down the likely locations for one of their bases in the Voyager Cluster. He says their agents are after him.

This sounds bad. I’ve got a lot of issues that demand my attention, a long list of arrests, investigations, and strikes that need carried out. Once I’ve completed my mission to stop Sovereign and save the galaxy, I’ll have much unaddressed work to attend.

--> We've arrived at Noveria. No readily discernible emergency ensuing. There are no Geth in obvious presence, only an unusually heavy corporate security force and cantankerous bureaucrats who resent the intrusion of a law-enforcement officer. I have no doubt, given time and leisure, I could easily find enough corruption to expose to fill my attention almost indefinitely.

Despite the apparent absence of Geth, it seems we have good reason to be here. Benezia, Saren’s second-in-command, Liara’s mother, is here. She left the spaceport for the research labs on Peak 15 a few days ago. No one can tell me what sort of research is being conducted there. All we know at this point is that Benezia brought with her an escort of Asari commandos and a large store of cargo, only identified as “large, heavy, and sealed.”

This will almost certainly get messy. Lady Benezia is highly likely to be Indoctrinated and almost certainly immune to negotiation. Nevertheless, Liara has asked to accompany me in the hope of resolving matters peacefully. Despite the risks, Liara’s presence does indeed constitute our best hope for diplomacy, and whatever happens, she deserves to be present.

There is chill here beyond the honest cold of the mountains, strong enough to cut through even the environmental seal of our suits. The superficially pleasant interior of the facilities here lies clutched in an icy grip of dull suspense. I feel that, if the inhabitants of this place could detect it, they might not remain here long. Something deadly is afoot.

--> Benezia is dead. She was indeed Indoctrinated beyond recovery, but had locked away a portion of her mind, briefly regaining her sanity for a moment when she could do Saren most injury. She gave us what it was she came to Noveria for, what she had just transmitted to Saren: the location of the Mu Relay. It had been in the possession of a most unexpected individual; a Rachni queen.

That is what had been going on on Noveria. Saren had found a derelict ship lost in space from the time of the Rachni wars. In it was a single egg. They’d brought it here to clone and mass produce into a new Rachni army. But the egg was a queen, and when they separated her offspring from her to grow and train, they grew unstable and berserk, eventually breaking free from containment and running rampant through the research base.

Everyone has heard the stories of the Rachni wars, the insectile monsters that nearly overwhelmed the galaxy two thousand years ago, defeated only by the arrival of the all but invincible Krogan. These Rachni we encountered, fighting with the mindless savagery of senseless beasts, proved very hard to kill. They'd slaughtered all but a few scientists and security personnel holed up in one of the labs.

Upon our arrival we destroyed the Rachni soldiers, only to be set upon by Benezia's cohorts, the station's security officers and the Asari commandos. I had no choice but to order my team return fire. I regret deeply that so many died by my hand. The commandos were supported by Geth troops, clearly smuggled in those heave cargo crates. So much for all that heavy security.

When cornered, an initially defiant and intractable Benezia quite suddenly gave way to a different tone; her own self, locked away in the inner recesses of her mind, for one brief moment broke out. Benezia's sanity resurfaced long enough to give us the coordinates for the Relay, and say goodbye to her daughter.

I was about to destroy the Rachni queen, when she spoke through the body of a dead Asari commando. She asked for mercy. Politely. When questioned, she could tell me nothing of the Rachni wars, only of shadows of sorrow passed on by her mother, and of her own sorrow for her own children, the Rachni that I had just destroyed. She said that they had been beyond saving, that she herself would have destroyed them. I asked her what she would do if spared, if she and her kind would attack other races again. She said she would find a hidden place, a planet somewhere far away and unknown to raise her children in peace and isolation, never to attack other races without provocation.

I agreed to release her. She left with a promise to teach her children of my mercy, to return with aid when my need arose.

Both during and after this strange discourse I asked myself; was I making this decision of my own free will, or was my mind affected and bent to the Rachni’s desires? I can with assurance answer a definite no. The Rachni did indeed speak telepathically through the body of the Asari, but my own mind remained clear. Through contact with Prothean Beacons and mind-melding with Shiala and Liara, I have over the last few weeks garnered some experience in knowing when something else is in my mind, of what thoughts belong to me and which to another. It was by my own judgement and nothing else that I chose to spare the Rachni Queen, an individual who, so far as I know, has harmed no one, speaks of standards of beauty, justice, and mercy, and is the sole and last representative of her species. When mercy was humbly asked, I could not in good conscience refuse.

We now have everything we need to find the Conduit. But so does Saren. He will be certainly heading towards Ilos with everything he has to secure the Conduit immediately. We could pursue with the Normandy, but too much could go wrong. One frigate against a fleet of Geth cruisers is slim chance to say the least. The investigative part of this mission is over. What we need now is firepower.

Sending mission report back the Citadel with a request for reinforcements. Time is of the essence. As the old saying goes, get there the fastest with the mostest.

Poor Liara. She unflinchingly stood her ground against the onslaught of monsters and mayhem, bullets and biotics, firing upon not only her own kind but even her own mother. I wish I had left her aboard the Normandy, but what then? I would now be trying to tell her I had killed her mother. Instead she helped me. In the last, as Benezia lay dying, Liara pleaded with her to stay, but Benezia refused aid, and died rather than again succumb to Sovereign’s terrible will.

We are facing the threat of Destruction of this entire galaxy if Saren finds the Conduit and brings back the Reapers, and here I am distracted by the sorrow and pain of one individual. That’s what’s at stake here, this is what will happen to everyone on every world if Saren isn’t stopped. We can’t fail.

Message from the Council. They’re amassing fleets and I have orders to return immediately. Finally the action we need. Let’s rendezvous and take Sovereign down!

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