--> Horizon
in sight. Sporadic heat signatures are occurring at the Sanctuary
complex; definite
sign of disaster, and almost
certainly of combat.
Whatever's going on down there, it's happening ground zero on a
massive refugee housing
center, and civilian casualties are all but guaranteed.
The sooner we can contain the situation the better. We'll go in low
and see who's killing who, then participate as appropriate.
--> I
had thought Cerberus had done its worst, that nothing could exceed
the depths to which they had already stooped. I was wrong.
Cerberus
had been running the refugee centre on Horizon as a gilded web to
ensnare the displaced. What was by all outward appearance a refuge
from privation and danger was nothing less than a death camp. No, it
was worse. They only killed some of the subjects. The refugees were
taken and transformed into Husks. The Illusive Man had contracted
Henry Lawson, Miranda’s father, to run this facility as a means to
produce and to study Reaper forces and discover the means to control
them, with the ultimate intent of controlling the Reapers themselves.
I
can’t believe it. I’d once thought the Illusive Man crooked and
ruthless, then deluded and a tool, but I never would have thought any
Human could have concocted such a twisted and diabolical scheme as
this, let alone on an industrial scale. To subject thousands of
fellow Humans to the same horrific and agonizing end that they would
have suffered at the hands of the Reapers is unthinkable. Is every
last Cerberus soldier, engineer, and desk-worker so thoroughly
corrupted that this butchery committed en masse under their watch
meant nothing to them?
If
Cerberus personnel are all Indoctrinated, the Indoctrination is of a
quality of derangement, not control. The fighting we found was the
last of a bloody contest between Cerberus and a Reaper strike force,
clearly sent to destroy the research base and all the information
within it. I don't know if it is actually possible for Cerberus to
have discovered a means to control Reapers, but it's clear the
Reapers themselves are taking no chances. It seems Cerberus put up a
tough fight; we walked over innumerable bodies, Cerberus and Reaper
troops alike lying dead throughout the length of that cursed
facility. The deceptively white and orderly walls and floors marked
with dark blood, and the smell of death everywhere. Not a single
civilian refugee survived that massacre.
I
don’t know how many innocents were lead to the slaughter.
Thousands, hundreds of thousands, it makes no difference. Cerberus,
which prided itself on being a force for the defence of Humanity,
used the Reapers’ own methods on the very people they were meant to
protect. My mind refused to comprehend the extent of the horror.
But then how could it? How could any mind fathom the unimaginable
pain and terror that facility turned out in its gruesome work? But
this is only an example in stark contrast. On Earth alone there are
millions of souls suffering the same fate at the hands of the
Reapers. Sanctuary was but a single facility. The Reapers have made
a hundred more.
Leng
had left before we arrived, taking with him the completed research
data; Lawson he left to the Reapers. My team and I carved our way
through the last Cerberus and Reaper forces left in the base, and
found Lawson in a stand-off with Miranda, her sister Oriana held by
their father as a human shield.
Hostage
rescue training takes no prisoners. Mr. Lawson will not have
opportunity to stand trial for his deeds. A higher Judge than the
Alliance could provide will decide his ultimate sentence. Neither
Oriana nor Miranda need fear him any more.
Miranda
did us a favour and tagged Leng with a tracer before he bugged out.
We have our destination: the Illusive Man’s centre of operations is
in the Anadius system. Alliance Command will be pleased to hear
this. After having for so long been a menace to Humanity, and the
entire galaxy, the centre of the Cerberus web has at last been found.
--> Alliance
Command responds. Fifth Fleet is dispatched to Anadius; the Normandy
will have the full weight of the Alliance Navy backing her. No
halfway measures. Hackett's orders are to seize the data and destroy
Cerberus.
It's
been a long time coming.
-->
Anadius System locked down. The net has been drawn. There is no
escape. Cerberus defence fleet moving to engage. Let's remind them
what it means to be Alliance.
--> Damn
the Illusive Man. Damn him to hell and back again. Our mission, as
a mission, is a success; Cerberus is defeated, their main fleet and
central base destroyed; we have the Prothean data, but all too late.
The
Catalyst, the last piece for the Crucible, is the Citadel. We should
have known all along. The two massive stations combined have the
power to destroy the Reapers with their own tools. The Citadel
controls the Relay Network, and the Crucible serves as a colossal
spark plug and guidance system to jump-start and overcharge of the
Relays to target the Reapers. The Crucible turns the Reaper's own
creation against them.
Had
we known this before, we could have taken the now completed Crucible
to the Citadel, established the link, and fired it up. The war would
have been over, the Reapers caught broadsided and destroyed by their
own tools. But that cannot be. The Reapers have taken the Citadel;
the Illusive Man learned of the nature of the Catalyst from the
Prothean VI, and told the Reapers. Now the last piece of the puzzle
is in their grasp. They’ve taken the Citadel to Earth and sealed
it shut, surrounding it with every ship they have. What could have
been a bloodless victory for us will instead be a desperate struggle,
a grim contest of strength against a foe whose power eclipses ours
even as a river surpasses a stream. We cannot win through strength
alone.
Kai
Leng is dead, and with him most of Cerberus, but the Illusive Man
himself remains elusive. The nest has been incinerated, but the
chief rat is still at large. He'd already left for the Citadel
before we ensnared his fleet. He will not escape again.
There
are still some diverse fragments of Cerberus scattered throughout the
Galaxy, but as an organization, they’re history. With Cerberus
dealt with, we can turn our full attention to the Reapers.
--> The
word has been spread, the time has come. The final engagement of
this war commences at Earth in forty-eight hours. Every fleet has
responded, every course set.
Operation Skyfall has begun.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment