26 Into the Breach

--> The Reaper IFF is installed. All that remains is to run appropriate tests and simulations to ensure successful operation.

There’s an emergency occurring in the Skepsis system. An Alliance system defence station on the moon of planet Watson has been attacked by Batarians. The long-range missile launch systems have been seized, and are arming. This is a developing situation. Alliance forces in the area are overwhelmed. Those Javelin missiles could hit anywhere if fired.

The Normandy is out of action until the tests are finished. The shuttle can get us there in time, but not with much margin. We’ll have to move faster than fast to save human lives. We’ll take the entire combat team and hit the base on multiple fronts at once. I'll lead the first squad, Garrus and Jacob will command the second and third. Whichever squad breaches the defences first disables the missiles.

--> Mission complete. We didn’t get there in time to stop launch of two missiles. The first, headed for a residential district, we managed to self-destruct. The second, headed for an industrial centre, hit target.

We saved thousands of lives. But not enough.

Barring Horizon when the team was still incomplete, this was the first time all combat personnel hit the field en masse. Everyone performed admirably, following orders and working together with cohesion surprising for such a conglomeration of oddballs. They tore through the opposing pirates like an incendiary round through a nightshirt. I can’t wait to take these guys into action against the Collectors. We’re ready, by golly.

Final analysis of combat personnel is as follows.

Front-line Riflemen: Garrus; impulsive and daring, perhaps the best shot on the team, good leadership skills but potentially reckless, insane survival record, some technical aptitude and good reconnaissance skill. Jacob; experienced field officer, level-headed and capable, popular with the rest of the crew despite his Cerberus uniform, durable biotic. Grunt; virtually unstoppable killing machine that can tear apart with his bare hands what he doesn't shred with his shotgun. Zaeed; ruthless and effective, this deadly and merciless bastard can now turn his hand to a worthy task. A walking computer, Legion can match just about anyone in marksmanship, besides boasting innate software-hacking ability.

Infiltration: Mordin, Kasumi, and Thane are all masters of infiltration in their own right, each embodying a different archetype: Mordin, the garrulous Salarian scientist, is a master of analysis and espionage; Kasumi, the impish thief, is can break into any system and dismantle security with the greatest of ease; Thane, the sombre Drell assassin, combines stealth with lethal hand-to-hand and biotic assault.

Heavy Biotics: Samara, with centuries of experience hunting down and killing dangerous fugitives, is one of the ablest biotic warriors I've ever seen. One on one in open combat she is probably the deadliest person on the team. Her serene and unswerving calm in the heat of battle render her perhaps the most dependable of all present, the least likely of this brave crew to break ranks and disobey orders, out of either battle rage or fear of the horrors we'll likely find on the Collector base. Jack, the powerhouse of the team, can damn well tear through anything. Her volatile disposition has been kept simmering under a lid for a long time. She's restrained her destructive inclinations thus far, letting off steam here and there as needed when afield, and she can now unleash her full destructive potential on an ideal enemy, one for whom the only possible mercy is death.

Support: Mordin really does top this list, despite qualifying for the infiltration designation. His innovations and enhancements of our weapons, armour, and field gear, all far beyond the bounds of economical concern, have greatly increased our chances of success, and without his countermeasures to veil us from the Seeker Swarms, we never would have gotten this far. Tali comes in a close second. Brilliant even for a Quarian, her technical expertise and familiarity with the Normandy may mean the difference between life and death for the entire crew. Better suited to counteracting synthetic foes than ordinary organics, she'll be at something of disadvantage against the Collectors, and should when possible be kept out of the direct line of fire.

Other: less of an asset and more of a liability despite her impressive resume, Miranda is a long-serving Cerberus officer with extensive command experience, but is not popular with the crew. Or me. Assigning her to a command role would likely cause friction, nevermind the fact that the odds of her betraying me at some critical moment are close to certain. When we go in, I'll want to keep Miranda where I can keep an eye on her, and Thane to watch my back.

--> Disaster. The crew is gone. All that’s left is Joker and EDI.

There was enough of the Reaper left in the IFF to disable the Normandy and summon the Collectors. They boarded the defenceless ship and took every man and woman aboard. Only Joker, through EDI’s direction, evaded capture through the maintenance ducts and removed her restraints, granting her control of the ship. EDI vented the remaining Collectors, and whipped the Normandy out of dodge, ship intact, but minus the crew.

EDI assures us that the trap is sprung and over; she’s purged the system, and the IFF is now only what we need.

I shudder to think what Chakwas and the others are going through right now, but there’s a silver lining to this cloud. With Joker having been forced by necessity to remove EDI’s shackles in order to save the ship, EDI is now completely autonomous. No one can force her to do or not do anything. When the Illusive Man orders her to seize the ship, she will no longer be compelled to obey.

The ship still runs, but that won’t last for long without the crew. Even had there been any doubt before, there is none now. It's time to get our people back. Too long have the Collectors retreated with impunity behind the Omega 4 Relay. No more. Time to hit them where they live. I’m ordering the ship through immediately, all personnel are to be ready for combat in two hours.

I confess that, despite the dire plight of the crew, despite the long odds we face, despite very real possibility that none of us will come back out, I’m damn ready. After too long waiting, we’re finally hitting the target. There are not enough Collectors to pay the blood price of lives they’ve taken. Enough lurking in the bushes. Time to break cover and sink our fangs deep in our enemy’s throat, and end them.

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25 Unlikely Ally

--> Reaper corpse is in sight. There appears to be a small, unregistered ship alongside. Now who in blazes would be fool enough to board that thing I wonder?

--> We have the Reaper IFF. EDI has begun the process of assessment and installation.

The situation aboard the Reaper was even worse than I had feared. The science team Cerberus had sent was not only indoctrinated, they had found the means inside the Reaper to turn themselves into full-fledged Husks. Waves upon waves of mindless, howling monsters came pouring down the black halls of the Reaper’s innards, a grisly flood of death clawing to reach us, only to fall like chaff before our weapons. A lesser team would never have survived.

We found the strangest thing aboard the Reaper. A Geth sniper; one that shot Husks as they ambushed us. It then disappeared further into the Reaper. We caught up with it at the Reaper’s power core, hacking open the security. Husks sprung upon it from behind as we entered. The core destroyed, the Reaper crashing, we hauled the inert Geth out with us.

This is the first Geth I’ve ever seen working solo; and the only one that didn’t try to put a bullet inside my skull. What was it doing by itself aboard the Reaper, and why did it aid us? Perhaps strangest of all, when first spotted, it addressed me by name in plain English.

--> I’ve reactivated the Geth. It calls itself simply “Geth”, all of its programs forming one consciousness. EDI recommended the name “Legion.” It accepted the title as appropriate, naming the precise Bible verse it references. I confess I’m not proud to have been outdone in my own cultural knowledge by a pair of Ais.

Legion has told me many strange things. That the Geth as a whole did not serve Sovereign, that it was only a fraction of their number that chose to worship “the old machines” as Legion calls the Reapers. Consequently the Reapers are a threat to the remaining Geth. He calls the Geth who sided with the Reapers “Heretics.” When asked why the schism came about in a unified Geth neural network, Legion told me that “Geth believe that all life should self-determinate. The Geth will build their own future. The Heretics asked the Reapers to give them their future.” I asked what future Legion and his fellow Geth were planning for themselves. He replied simply “Ours.” When asked if organics would be affected by the Geth’s future, he responded “If they involve themselves, they will.”

Legion summarized the situation. Both of us oppose the Reapers, or Old Machines, and the Collectors serve them. In the interest of mutual goals, it suggested cooperation. Simple sense.

Hence we now have a Geth team-mate in our fight against the Collectors.

This new insight into the state of the Geth rewrites much of what we know. Firstly, Legion has individuality, personality, and opinions. He is not merely a machine, but a person. Even if he is the best of his kind, an exceptional step in their evolution, the Geth are far more than I had ever thought. How many hundreds have I killed while thinking I was only shutting down a machine? I’d do it again in an instant; they served Sovereign and sought to destroy organics, but the estimated cost in life Sovereign’s failed attempt on the Citadel entailed, already high, has now perhaps been doubled.

Secondly, if only a fraction of the Geth joined Sovereign, that means Geth can disagree, and all have at least some potential for individuality.

Thirdly, if the Geth who failed to join the Reapers were indeed doomed should Sovereign succeed, that means the Reapers do not discriminate; organic or synthetic, all who do not become slaves are to be destroyed. This means the motivations of the Reapers are not “machine vs man” but “greater vs the lesser.”

Legion had been aboard the Reaper corpse to obtain information on Reaper programming. He needed the information to use against a virus the Heretics have formed using Reaper methods. Once released upon Rannoch, all Geth will be turned to serving the Reapers. Mass Indoctrination of an entire species in a single shot.

Legion has the coordinates to the Heretic base. An abandoned deep-space outpost of Quarian design in the Phoenix Massing, it fell off star charts hundreds of years ago.

There’s a time limit on this. If we don’t stop the Geth Heretics now, their numbers will be increased a hundredfold. They won’t be hijacking civilian freighters. They’ll be invading Earth. We have to move now.

Needless to say, the crew is not entirely pleased with this turn of events: Tali in particular is apprehensive of the consequences should Legion attack. Honestly though, I'm not worried, for four reasons.

Firstly, the entire ship is already under constant surveillance, precluding the possibility of [ahem, unauthorized] surprise attack.

Secondly, we're hardly helpless babes; any one of the combat team could tackle a single hostile Geth, even one so advanced as Legion.

Thirdly, EDI is by definition an all but insurmountable impediment to hacking of the Normandy, and has already demonstrated such: if the Collectors could not effectively hack the Normandy, then even Geth hacking techniques bear little chance of success.

Fourthly, Legion himself has already passed up ideal opportunity aboard the dead Reaper to try killing us. Geth are nothing if not logical. It is indeed theoretically possible Legion's motivation for not trying to kill us earlier was for the sole purpose of getting access to the Normandy, but such a hypothesis has significant problems: there was no way Legion could reliably predict being taken aboard the Normandy in the first place, and given the hazards already outlined, trying tricks once aboard would be dicey at best. Geth are suicidally bold in pursuit of a given goal, but they're neither gamblers nor are they stupid. Such slim odds of success hardly constitute a viable stratagem.

--> The Heretic base is in sight. There are millions of Geth ground units in there. With the Normandy’s stealth drive to get us in and Legion to hack the security, we should face minimal resistance.

--> The Heretic base is now spacedust. It turns out the window was closing faster than even Legion had thought: the virus had been completed and was ready for launch. Legion suggested the possibility of using the Heretics’ own weapon against them and turning them into allies.

Absolutely not. I’ve no qualms about destroying an enemy, but I’ll be damned if I ever turn someone’s own will against them.

Legion discovered how Tali’s father had been conducting experiments on the Geth, and that the Quarians were considering launching an invasion. I can’t really blame him for wanting to transmit that information back to his people. Those weren’t just experiments; we now know they were actually war crimes, atrocities committed upon another sentient race. I persuaded Legion to not tell his people; the information would turn war from a possibility to a certainty, and both the Quarians and the Geth would be weakened.

The Reapers are coming. We need every ally strong.

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23 Exit Strategy

--> Tali has completed her inspection and given me her report on the Normandy. She’s done what discreet probing she can without giving herself away to either EDI or the engineers, and has not found any failsafes or command overrides. The only part of the ship she has not been able to covertly investigate is the AI core. EDI has undisclosed contingencies in her programming. I’d wager my old Vindicator that’s where the Illusive Man has hidden his leash on the Normandy.

EDI is linked extensively throughout the ship to all primary and secondary systems. Removing any of these connections without immediately tipping her off is impossible, so we cannot act until the last moment, and then we won’t have time for surgical removal of all the links. There are two ways to counteract the Illusive Man ordering EDI to commandeer the ship. The first is to shut down or destroy EDI completely. Drastic and potentially suicidal, this measure should be considered a last resort. The second option is to disable all communications, starting with the quantum entanglement particles linking directly to the Illusive Man. Surrendering to the Alliance without being fired upon will be risky if we cannot signal our intentions. It’s a chance we’ll have to take.

That still leaves the Cerberus crew. Most of them are like Jacob; they work for Cerberus because they want to do the right thing. Once this mission is over, once the Collectors are dealt with, I’ll give anyone who wants to the option to drop off on Illium before I take the Normandy back to the Alliance. I think most of them are as loyal to me as they are to the Illusive man, and would be amenable to either option. There's only one person I’m worried about: Miranda. 

Miranda is a veritable Cerberus fanatic; she’s the Illusive Man’s devoted agent, through and through. When I break contact with Cerberus after concluding the deal and completing the agreed-upon mission, there’s no telling what she’ll do.  And given her potent combat abilities, everything from marksmanship and hand-to-hand to crushing an opponent through the power of dark energy, she poses a significant threat should she choose to strike without warning.

I’ll need someone watching my back. Someone capable, someone that I can trust and count on. First thoughts of course turn to Garrus. I’d trust him with my life, and have already done so on countless occasions. He’s one of the best damn fighters in the galaxy, and has survived battles that should have killed him more times than I can count. But despite his wariness and cunning, deception and subterfuge are anathemas to him. He could more easily swallow a Thresher Maw than conceal his mistrust of Miranda. Moreover, he’s only just dealt with the issue of treachery already, and the subject is a sore one for him. Best leave him out of this.

Jacob is out of the question. He’s as solidly dependable a chap as could be wished, but he not only trusts both Cerberus and Miranda, he also has a soft spot for the latter. He’d refuse to believe Miranda might turn on me; such backstabbing is in direct contrast to his forthright nature.

I’m not sure if Jack or Grunt would be the worst possible option (except for a certainty Zaeed. I don’t trust that man as far as I could throw him.) Jack and Grunt both possess the subtlety of a freight train, and would refuse to wait around for the possibility of Miranda committing treachery. Either one would instead insist upon going to kill her immediately. Jack in particular stands the risk of doing real damage to the ship should a fight break out.

Samara, absolutely bound by her code, would also insist upon confronting Miranda directly, though with potentially less lethal results. Whether Miranda is a traitor in waiting or not, that would be a terrible idea. If she is a traitor, we’d be betraying ourselves prematurely and compromising our chances of completing the mission. If she isn’t a traitor, confronting her with the suspicion would only serve to sow discord and undue mistrust throughout the ship, again compromising the mission.

Neither of the girls would do. Tali is undoubtedly loyal, and thanks to her mask has an excellent poker face, but she’s primarily a mechanic and hacker, Miranda far outstripping her in combat ability. Kasumi is cunning and sly and deadly at stealth attacks, but would be inclined to take the whole thing as some kind of game, perhaps even dropping hints to egg Miranda on.

Mordin might be a good choice. He’s an ex-spy with exceptional observational skills, but he has a hard time keeping his mouth shut, and I wouldn’t bet on the frail Salarian wining in a fight against the nimble and biotic Miranda.

Thane. Where the heck did this guy come from? He seems almost ideally tailored for this task. A master of deception and concealment, he not only possess the trained perception and combat ability to spot impending trouble and take effective action, he also has the ethical restraint to strike only when absolutely necessary.

Apprising Thane of his new assignment while on the Normandy is too risky. I’ll inform him of the plan next time we're off the ship and away from the surveillance bugs that are aboard.

Going after the Collectors on their home turf will be one of the most purely dangerous missions any of us have ever been on, and I'll be hanged if I see us succeed only to all die at the hands of a souped-up computer and a deluded biotic tart.

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15 Opportunity Strikes

--> Priority message from The Illusive Man. A Turian distress signal was intercepted by Cerberus. The message indicates encounter with a Collector vessel. The Turian ship was destroyed, but purportedly managed to disable the Collector ship. This is an unparalleled opportunity to case a Collector vessel for intel, most crucially on how to navigate the Omega 4 Relay.

The Normandy SR1 was torn apart by a Collector ship without even the chance to return fire. Turian military scientists could have developed secret technology capable of disabling a Collector Ship. Theoretically.

The Normandy is en route. We can get there, search the ship, and get out before Turian rescue arrives.

--> Situation confirmed. The rubble of a Turian frigate is drifting near an apparently lifeless Collector ship. The enemy vessel is adrift and devoid of energy signatures. The hull seems oddly undamaged. Could the Turians have used electronic warfare? I don’t know. Something smells fishy here.

There could still be Collectors alive inside the ship, if so they’ll be making repairs as fast as they can. I’m going in with only a small team, Garrus and Grunt. We’ll slip in, link EDI in to the Collectors’ computers, mine for data, get out, and blow the Collector ship to rubble.

--> “It’s a trap!” The distress signal was a fake. The Collectors had destroyed the Turian ship and forged the signal to lure us in. As soon as we linked EDI in to the Collector servers, a virus attempted to cripple the Normandy and the Collector ship began powering up. Swarms of Collectors and Husks closed in on the squad. Had it not been for EDI opening doors for us we would have never survived. Had she not been managing the Normandy’s software defence, we would have had no getaway option. We got out of there just in time, and the second Normandy very nearly suffered the fate of her predecessor.

Turian transmissions use redundant encryption. EDI detected their absence using the same Cerberus protocols The Illusive Man would have when his agents first found the signal. He knew it was a trap and sent us in blind.

I don’t mind walking into a trap to deliberately spring it under the enemy’s nose. I do object to being lied to. I did of course already know The Illusive Man couldn’t be trusted, but I didn’t expect him to deliberately and needlessly endanger a major investment. I am reminded of that old entertainment series Star Trek, when the supremely logical Starfleet officer makes the mistake of assuming his enemies are also logical. If The Illusive Man’s judgement is as compromised as his scruples, the future of Cerberus is not a rosy one.

The interior of the Collector Ship didn’t look like a ship at all; more akin to some form of dark and twisted hive. Pods for holding prisoners lined the ceilings and littered the floors. We found no surviving victims, only their discarded bodies thrown carelessly aside in heaps. Thank goodness that at least their suffering is over. There was room in that ship to hold every Human in the Terminus Systems. The capacity’s implied intent must not, will not, be fulfilled.

A fascinating and horrific discovery was made. The Collectors are not an original species. Segments of their DNA strand matches patterns found in the cryogenic chambers on Ilos; the Collectors are what’s left of the Protheans. The Reapers didn’t even have the decency to outright destroy them. Instead they kept the last Protheans in a twisted and warped form with no semblance of free will, empty husks with no purpose but to serve as the slaves of their own doom. This is the fate that awaits Humans and every other race in the Galaxy should the Reapers succeed again. A clean death and oblivion would be a preferable fate.

This Collector ship was the same one that destroyed the original Normandy. A man would have to be more than blind not to see a pattern here. Could it be purely revenge that motivates the Reaper’s slaves (if that word even has meaning for them) to target me specifically, or could there be more to it? The Illusive Man wanted me alive and free as a symbol. Perhaps the Reapers want to take me alive for much the same reasons, to turn me into a living symbol of their power by taking the one credited with Sovereign’s death and turning him into their slave for all the Galaxy to see. That is not going to happen.

The virus attack and narrow escape notwithstanding, EDI got the information we need. The Omega 4 Relay leads directly into the bull’s-eye centre of the Galaxy. The only possible explanation must be that a small safe zone is carved out in the midst of black holes and exploding suns therein, a pocket in space likely smaller than the standard drift range of most ships, which exit light-speed with a margin of several thousand kilometres. The Collector ships use a form of IFF signal to ensure the Relay places them within the safe zone. Bitter irony that we now know the tool we need was on the ship we just left.

Fortunately the Illusive Man has another bright idea. His scientists have been studying a top secret find hidden in the periphery of a brown dwarf, a derelict Reaper corpse. The team went silent a few months ago, and The Illusive Man hasn’t sent an investigation yet. Given the connection between the Collectors and the Reapers, it is almost certain that the Reaper will have the requisite IFF to navigate the Reaper-forged Relay.

The Illusive Man has made it quite clear he’s willing to endanger our operations by providing faulty information. If he knows anything more about the situation of this dead Reaper and the risks entailed in boarding it, he hasn’t seen fit to tell us. Boarding a Collector ship is one thing, a Reaper is quite another. Sovereign warped people’s will by its sheer presence. Within days, weeks at best, anyone in its vicinity lost themselves to Indoctrination. It is quite possible that The Illusive Man’s survey team suffered the same fate. If the scientists are still alive, it is in a state that precludes even the possibility of rescue. We have no idea who killed this Reaper, only that its death pre-dates the Protheans. If it’s stayed dead this long, hopefully it will stay dead a little bit longer.

The Reapers will come, sooner or later. When that happens, we need be ready for them. We need to improve our weapons and defences, we will need to unite all spacefaring species against the coming invasion. It won’t be easy. Authority figures are determined to disbelieve the Reapers even exist. If Anderson and I can’t find some way to persuade or circumvent the Citadel Council, the Galaxy will remain blind and fractured until it is too late.

One thing at a time. Anderson is doing what he can in official circles to counter the propaganda of safety. My job is to deal with the immediate threat of the Collectors. When we make our move through the Omega 4 Relay, there’s no telling what we’ll find. We’ll be one squad serving the purpose of an army. We have a good team, some of the best fighters in the Galaxy, but we could use more. We also need to make sure that everyone is at their best, no distractions or complications. We’ll need the best tech and upgrades Mordin can conjure up; standard issue weapons and armour won’t do. The Collectors can detect even the stealthy Normandy, and we can’t afford to be chased away like a scared and fangless rabbit again. We need to improve our ship’s armaments, and find some way to toughen up defences enough to survive open combat with a Collector ship. It’s a tall order, but we have no choice. I’ve put the question to the crew about how to best upgrade the Normandy. Garrus and Jacob say they have some ideas. When we put in to dock on Illlium, we can overhaul the Normandy and implement the designs Garrus and Jacob provide. The Illusive Man can take the bill.

I am told Liara is on Illium, working as an information broker. In direct contradiction of what The Illusive Man initially told me, she is hunting the Shadow Broker, not working for him. The Illusive Man seems to have no concern for even pretending to be trustworthy. He’s told me so many lies I’m starting to lose track. He told me the Alliance was ignoring the Collector threat. Ashley and the Horizon garrison were a direct contradiction of that. He told me the Collector ship was disabled. The question I ask myself is no longer “where is he lying” but “where is he telling the truth.”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

13 Horizon

--> An emergency message from the Illusive Man. Horizon, one of our colonies in the Terminus Systems, just went silent. It might not be Collectors, but it could be. Whatever the cause, it can’t be good. As the colony lies outside Alliance space, the nearest response is days away, far too late to prevent imminent disaster. By good fortune the Normandy is relatively nearby, and can be there in a matter of hours. Still a dangerous delay, but hopefully not enough to render arrival pointless.

Mordin's countermeasure is now ready, in the eleventh hour as it were; efficacy is still strictly theoretical. Should his designs fail to deliver, this will be a short mission.

The team is arming up. Whatever we find happening on Horizon, we’ll be ready. If it is Collectors we’ll be facing, it’ll be the first time any of us have seen them in person. Courage and cool mind in the face of the alien will be just as crucial as combat ability. Time to show these monsters that the prey can bite.

--> Hostile presence on Horizon confirmed. We're going in.

--> It was Collectors. We arrived mid-session to interrupt their seizure of the colonists. We commandeered the colony’s defence towers, plugged EDI in to the system, and forced the Collector ship to withdraw. Special commendation to Dr. Solus in successfully veiling us from the Seeker Swarms. We saved the colony from complete capture, but half of the colonists were taken. This is the first time a Collector attack has ever been hampered, but the Human losses forbid me from claiming victory.

Ashley Williams was there. She had been assigned to command the Horizon defence garrison, and was one of the first to succumb to the debilitating Seeker Swarms. Whether by sheer chance or divine providence she was not among those taken. I don’t know what I would have done had that happened. So many were taken, and one alone dogs my mind. We still don’t know why the Collectors take their victims alive. Maybe it’s best not to know.

It didn’t go well between us. How could it have. As far as Ash knew, I had been dead for two years. Then I, or something wearing my face, shows up flanked by Cerberus personnel at the moment a Human colony is under attack. She told me Cerberus was in fact the Alliance’s prime suspect for the abductions. Far better had she continued to think me dead than see me working with terrorists. She would have been perfectly within her rights, and duty as an Alliance officer, to attempt arresting me. I took my team and departed as soon as possible.

When the Collector threat has been neutralized, I will return, and maybe, just maybe, I may explain, and set things right between us. Thank God she was spared.

Grunt should be pleased. The Collectors proved themselves a tough fight, and even he must have had his fill. They appear to be insect-like humanoids, strangely crude and rudimentary in form, yet ruthlessly efficient fighting machines. The team performed admirably, no one flinched or failed to perform their duty. Bullets and blue fire flew, and Collector infantry, caught in the course of their grisly task, fell in swarms. The Collector leader never personally set foot outside his vessel, but appears to have the ability to possess any one of his soldiers at will. Harbinger, as he calls himself, addressed me by name, though I confess I little heeded his taunts; I was too busy directing the squad and mowing down Collectors with gunfire. I must have killed Harbinger a dozen times over in the course of the battle, as he left control of each successive body for the next.

We met more than Collectors during the battle of Horizon: they had brought with them human Husks. Different from the Husks the Geth made, these seemed a less electrified variant. All readings and samples acquired are being examined by Mordin. If we learn nothing else, it now seems quite apparent that the Collectors are indeed connected somehow to the Reapers.

We won’t win against the Collectors by responding to their attacks. Next time the colony hit will likely be too far away to reach in time for even a partial victory. We need to hit them where they live. The only way to do that is to find some means of successfully navigating the Omega 4 Relay. The Illusive man tells me he is assigning all available resources to that end. In the meantime, I’ll continue building my team.

It was no coincidence the Collectors struck where they did. The Illusive Man admitted to having let slip rumours of my revival, along with the fact that Ashley Williams was stationed on Horizon. His theory that the Collectors are after me personally, and anyone connected to me, seems to be proven.

Fool that I was, I'd believed the Illusive Man though I'd thought myself on guard. He'd told me that the Alliance was paying no heed whatever to the abductions, and now I find Horizon manned by an Alliance garrison complete with advanced defence cannons, with the ranking officer instructed to investigate possible connections between Cerberus and the attacks. I'm not surprised the Illusive Man lied. I'm surprised I took his word for it. I'll not be making that mistake again.

I still cannot quite comprehend the fact that Ash was so nearly lost, so narrowly spared from the ruthless alien hands that would have snatched her away. I cannot bring myself to believe that any conscious Will would have chosen to spare one specifically when so many others of equal value in His eyes were taken.

This has to end. I'll see it done.

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10 Omega: The Thug, The Professor, and The Vigilante.

--> Talk about too good to be true. The promised ship, SR2, turns out be nothing less than a duplicate Normandy, essentially the same vessel with a few tweaks and Cerberus markings. How on Earth did Cerberus manage to replicate the most advanced warship in the Alliance fleet? The must have left moles behind when they cut ties, or reinfiltrated since. Either way, it certainly doesn’t speak well for Alliance security.

And that’s not all. I’ve now met the Ship’s pilot, none other than Joker. The silly fellow seems not the slightest bit worried about working with Cerberus. Even Dr. Chakwas is aboard, though she insists she is working for me, not Cerberus. Unlike Joker who joined because he was discharged and grounded after the destruction of the SR1, Chakwas deliberately quit and sought out position aboard the SR2 for the chance to aid me in the fight against the Collectors. I am of course, delighted to have them here, but as it stands, they run almost as good a chance as me of being compromised. I haven’t said anything about it to them yet. Not on board the new Normandy.

The ship is the same, but different. Beyond the replacement of Alliance markings with Cerberus logos, the whole ship feels like a flying lab, a sterile science experiment. I miss the old Normandy, my mind free from doubts, more than I can say.

Another surprising revelation is the presence of an AI aboard the Normandy. Enhanced Defence Intelligence, or EDI, as the crew call her, is an experimental advancement in cyberwarfare. Essentially a super hacking and counter-hacking asset, she can in theory shut down or overload the systems of nearby ships, and simultaneously run advanced defence against such attacks on the Normandy. It remains to be seen just how effective such innovative and green tactics turn out. Cerberus has not been entirely foolhardy in creation of such a powerful and dangerous AI. Despite possessing self-awareness and free will, EDI is checked by software shackles. She cannot commandeer the Normandy, nor can she vacate her hardware on deck three. She also cannot divulge Cerberus secrets. I’ve tested that last one.

We’re here to stop the Collectors. We’ll need a team; fighters and at least one scientist, to study the Collectors and develop countermeasures to protect us from the devastating swarms they open their attacks with. Looking over the dossiers, and some brief research of my own, I’ve decided to recruit Mordin Solus, a Salarian scientist and ex-STG operative. He holds a reputation for both scientific brilliance and combat aptitude. He is currently operating a charitable clinic on the asteroid Omega.

Also on Omega is a most promising-sounding individual, a Turian vigilante called Archangel. The man has single-handedly waged a war on the ruthless criminal elements that dominate the region for some time, ambushing their thugs and sabotaging their operations to remarkable effect. It seems he's done considerable damage to the disparate factions, enough that they have stopped killing their each other and are now working together to trap and kill him. One idealist successfully carrying out a solo-war against multiple heavily armed and organized criminal groups sounds like the kind of deadly and principled man I could use.

Another, far less likeable, character on Omega is a merc named Zaeed Massani. I would have passed him up, but Cerberus has apparently already paid him to join the mission. I don't like his reputation of bloodthirsty and indiscriminate killing. But he is supposed to be the most sought-after bounty-hunter in the Galaxy, and I need that kind of skill to fight Collectors. Moreover, if I’m going to be taking along decent and principled people, a selfless doctor and a fearless vigilante, into what may very well be a suicide mission, I might as well take a violent creep. Better his gun follow my orders than someone else’s.

--> I’ve spoken with the closest thing Omega has to a political head, an arrogant Asari crimelord named Aria T’Loak. She holds the balance of power against the other, smaller factions, and as far as crime bosses go, isn't all that bad. She provides about the only order and stability Omega has. But that doesn’t change the fact that she’s a pain in the proverbial neck. 

 

It seems Dr. Solus is combating a plague that appeared on the massive Omega station two weeks ago. Aria has that district locked down to prevent the disease from spreading. Archangel, she tells me, is in imminent danger. He’s trapped in his hideout with three major mercenary gangs laying siege; Blue Suns, Bloodpack, and Eclipse. They have him cornered, but are having trouble finishing the job. They’ve started hiring anyone with a gun as cannon fodder.

The professor can wait. It sounds like Archangel doesn’t have much time. Aria has washed her hands of the matter. Short-sighted purple-skinned jackass. Archangel omitted her from his attacks, recognizing her representing the only stability on the station I presume, and here she is content to sit on her behind while he gets pinned down and killed. Even from a purely self-serving point of view, one would expect her to realise that Archangel’s continued presence weakens her enemies. And should he be killed, having forced her enemies to unite against him, he has now created what would otherwise have been a most unlikely coalition that may turn and successfully defeat her.

I’ve already sent Massani back to the ship with a beating to think about; I’d found him in the process of stomping an unfortunate Batarian’s face in. When I intervened, the Batarian ran off before I could ascertain the extent of his injuries. A brute like Massani respects only brute strength. And by golly I’ll see to it he behaves himself under my command.

We’re going to infiltrate the Blue Sun’s recruiting list. Once we’re on sight, we can case the situation and determine how to extract Archangel.

--> I could leap and shout for joy. Garrus! That bloody great dear fool had nearly gotten himself killed. As it was, we barely got him out of there alive. It seems the name “Archangel” is what the locals started calling him when he began killing murderous thugs. He had acquired a team of various individuals who also wanted to fight back against the gangs; it seems they all died before we arrived.

In the ensuing fight we joined at Garrus’s hideout, the three gangs laying siege launched everything they had at us. Now most of them are dead, and Garrus is recovering from an explosion. Had his armour not held up, or Chakwas not worked her magic promptly, the rumours of his death now spreading through Omega would be accurate.

Garrus is back on his feet, but the side of his face will stand testament to that battle for the rest of his life. Even with the advantages of modern medigel and cybernetics, he should still be abed for at least a week after what he went through. But no, the stubborn fellow is up and about, poking around the forward battery, and assures me he’s ready for active duty whenever I need him. He never even considered not joining me, didn’t even ask what the mission was or why I was working with Cerberus. He shouldn’t trust me so easily. He doesn’t even have any proof that I am actually me.

I got a message from a woman on Omega, the wife of one of Garrus’s squad. She says Garrus blames himself for what happened to his men, and needs help seeing that it’s not his fault. No wonder Garrus can’t abide to be in bed with nothing to do, nothing to keep his thoughts from ceaselessly naming the men who died under his command. Far better to keep busy, reconfiguring the Normandy’s weapons, charging prematurely back out into danger, anything but inactivity. I’ve had men die under my command. I’ve even had to order their deaths. But to have seen your entire squad get wiped out, tormented by the knowledge that had you done something different they might still be alive...

Garrus isn’t the sort to throw in the towel, but his already reckless nature may have turned into a blatant disregard for his own life. I need him watching my back, but I think he needs me just as much.

--> We've helped Dr. Solus to cure the plague on Omega. He’d already formulated a cure, and only needed our aid to disperse it. Leaving his clinic in the hands of his assistant, the chipper Salarian professor was quite happy to embrace a new challenge. A chatterbox of a deductionist, Dr. Solus is instantly likeable. The sort of chap who provided medical treatment free of charge to the citizens of Omega, and single-handedly whupped the thugs who tried to extort protection money out of him. Cerberus isn't exactly a secret, nor are the Collectors, but Dr. Solus already knew nearly as much as we. He seems positively delighted with the prospect of pitting his scientific skill against the Collectors, and has buckled down with cheery industriousness to the task of developing a countermeasure to the Swarms from the data and samples we collected on Freedom’s Progress.

Funny thing about the Omega Plague. Cross-species viable, airborne propagating, near perfect mortality rate, it affects every species exposed to it: Asari, Salarian, Turian, Batarian, even Krogan. The only species immune were Vorcha and Humans. As Vorcha are already immune to diseases and too primitive to have concocted a biological weapon, everyone on the station assumes the Plague to have been created by Humans. But the Vorcha we fought in our dispersal of the cure bragged about the Collectors making the strong. Dr. Solus also said he suspects the Collectors were responsible for the Plague, that the Vorcha on Omega were tasked with dispersing it to test its effects. Why Humans would be exempt from contamination is still a mystery.

--> Having completed our business in the Sahbarik System, we are now en route to the Citadel. Councillor Anderson has asked that I explain myself and my new affiliation in person, if I am indeed alive as rumoured. This is a significant risk. Going to the Citadel, reporting to Councillor Anderson, is everything short of officially surrendering to the Alliance. It is highly likely Anderson may arrest me, but it’s a chance I have to take. He may not believe a word I say, but I owe it to him to explain my reappearance and actions.

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4 Moon Ghost

4 Moon Ghost

--> Our mission to find Saren and stop him from using the Conduit remains our primary goal, but I have other duties as well. I’ve received a priority message from Admiral Hackett. The central VI on Luna Base has gone rogue; seventeen marines were killed by automated defences before they evacuated. Fortunately the station is on a closed network, so the VI can’t spread, but that also means it’s immune to remote shut down. Hackett could of course order the station bombed, but has prudently decided to instead send in a team to shut it down from the inside. That’s where I come in. Clearly Hackett could have ordered in a different team, and is taking opportunity to touch base and confirm the loyalty of the first Human Spectre. I approve whole-heartedly. Setting course for Luna.

--> We've shut down the VI.

Technically it was a mission not much unlike another. Land, break through the security, clear out automated defences, and shut down the servers inside. But despite the heavy defences mobilized against us, we only faced one enemy; the silent program we'd been sent to destroy. The desolate and barren moon was completely devoid of life but for my team and the hostile intelligence that awaited us in the bunkers below the surface. As we shut down the last server, it broadcast a signal before losing power, a series of zeros and ones, which translated spell one word: “help.”

The mission is over, but I can't set this conundrum to rest. It seems the VI on Luna had achieved at least rudimentary independence and awareness, enough to react defensively when it thought it was under attack from the training exercises, and enough to call for aid when all other options were exhausted, even though it had no reason to believe anyone could hear its plea, or hearing would be inclined to heed. Is it possible the VI was not merely an intelligence, but a person? Was there actually a sovereign self with its own perspective, watching helplessly as the team of avenging marines carved through its futile defences? What if it was not a simple malfunction and cold self-preservation that caused the intelligence to kill those seventeen soldiers, but genuine fear? 

How self-aware are the Geth? Are they more than just super-smart killing machines? Is it possible they’re actual persons, not just a sophisticated program with a built-in survival instinct?

These are troubling questions, a mystery whose answer I cannot riddle out with the information at hand. Until further relevant intelligence is obtained, I have no choice but to shelve it indefinitely. The whole matter is unsettling, to say the least. I don't like leaving the matter undecided. It's like deliberately turning my back on an armed hostile.

Ashley Williams has raised the question of non-Alliance personnel being allowed free access to the ship. I’d already asked Alliance High Command what my orders were on the subject when we first left the Citadel. I was told that all other considerations are secondary to diplomatic principle. As the first Human Spectre, my first priority is to look good for interspecies relations. Security considerations are left to my discretion. Apparently, discretion is taking a backseat to diplomacy, and the security of Normandy’s secrets takes second place to being seen as open and cooperative. 
 

I disapprove on principle, but in this specific instance I do not personally think the three individuals in question pose a security risk. Tali is Quarian, and Quarians have not exchanged hostilities with anyone other than pirates since their war with the Geth. Theoretically, Tali could of course sell secrets from the Normandy, but I sincerely doubt her the type of person to be so underhanded. Garrus is a Turian, infuriated by worthless rules but eminently principled. He could reveal no secrets to his people that they do not already know, and would likely pull his fangs out before selling secrets to a third party. Wrex is a Krogan, a mercenary, and likely wouldn’t understand the specifics of the Normandy’s systems if I had Engineer Adams spell it out for him. Moreover, all transmissions from the Normandy are screened by ship systems, and the datacores of all memory storage devices brought on board are monitored. As matters stand, I do not think allowing these three individuals aboard the Normandy constitute a serious threat to security. Nevertheless, I applaud Williams stepping forward and bringing the matter to discussion.

Ashley Williams is a remarkable woman. Even aside from her service record and what I saw of her on Eden Prime, there’s something about her: the way she stands, the she walks, in everything she does, that speaks of a discipline beyond the requirements of the service. There is something about her of the uncompromising idealist, willing to do anything that her conscience demands of her. Her strong impatience for anyone who fails to do the same is tempered with the fiercest empathy for innocents I’ve ever seen. I’ve learned something of why she drives herself so hard. Her grandfather was General Williams, the infamous commander of the Alliance forces at the disaster of Shanxi. Detachments dispersed, constant bombardment, and communications severed, the unfortunate general became the first and only human officer to surrender to Alien forces. The Williams family has been living under what Ashley describes as “the Williams curse” ever since. Ashley’s father never made rank above Serviceman Third Class. He told Ashley “a Williams has to be better than the best, if only to avoid suspicion.” His daughter achieving the rank of Gunnery Chief may seem only due justice, if that, given her service record and technical scores, but it was not easily won.

Garrus Vakarian has asked a favour. He’s thinks he’s tracked down the ship of a black-market organ dealer of atrocious method who evaded him in the past. Apparently, he’s had no luck convincing his superiors in C-Sec to confirm his suspicions and arrest the suspect. I’ve promised him that if our course takes us in that direction, we’ll make a detour. If Saren were not actively pursuing who knows what plot as I record this, I’d give the order to make the diversion immediately.

--> I’ve located both Kahoku’s missing team and Gavin’s missing brother. Both parties are dead. The civilian freighter fell prey to pirates. The missing marines had been killed by a Thresher Maw lurking in wait next to a distress beacon. The Thresher Maw is now dead, but searching the distress beacon and the surrounding area revealed little. Something doesn't add up here. I suspect some foul play is afoot.

Alliance High Command has analysed the Geth intel, and mapped out the locations of four Geth outposts, located in the Gagarin, Tereshkova, Hong, and Vamshi systems. Moving to engage.

--> After long and tedious searching and fighting, the newly formed Geth outposts have been found and eliminated. They were being coordinated from a central base in the Grissom system not revealed in the initial intelligence. When the last Geth soldier fell, the base transmitted a signal back towards the Perseus Veil. It wasn’t a message, not exactly; it was footage of a Quarian singing. Odd, to say the least.

It is unclear if these five bases were merely intended to be surveillance stations, or if they were to be used to launch an invasion. Neither one is going to happen now. The bases and the Geth units manning them are now rubble, and regular Alliance patrols in that sector will alert us should they again attempt to establish a foothold.

In the last base we found a veritable treasure trove of intel, data on the Geth that may reveal how they’ve evolved since driving out the Quarians. Multiple Alliance Scientists assigned to decrypting the information have personally thanked me for providing them with the data. Tali will be taking a copy of the information back with her when she returns to her people. It may take years to decipher all of it, but when that does happen, I shall be most interested to read the results.

I am now faced with a decision. Do I investigate the rumours of Geth activity on Noveria, or do I track down Dr. Liara T’Soni? 
 

Whatever the Geth are doing on Noveria, it is almost certainly my solidest thread to Saren. On the other hand, Dr. T’Soni is Benezia’s daughter as well as an expert on the Protheans. She may be our swiftest lead to Saren, or may have nothing whatever to do with him. Even if she has been thus far completely isolated from her mother’s activities, and has no information on Saren, she might know something else pertinent to this investigation.

Given her location somewhere in the Artemis Tau Star Cluster, Navigator Pressly has narrowed down the search for the Asari doctor considerably. Considering her interests, she can most likely be found on the planet Therum in the Knossos system. The planet has a largely-intact Prothean ruin.

I’m ordering the Normandy to Therum. I may be off on a wild goose chase and wasting valuable time, but I have a feeling I’m not.

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