34 The Means of Resistance

--> There’s something not quite right here. A vague doubt has been growing in the back of my mind for several weeks, with precious little time to spare for examination; only now that I turn to address it do I comprehend the astounding weight of its implications.

To the best of our knowledge, a certain pattern has remained an absolute constant in the execution of every Reaper invasion: across all previous cycles, the Reapers commenced their invasion by signalling the Citadel Keepers to open the station, actually a large mass relay, to where the Reapers hid in dark space. The Reapers would then surge through and capture the Citadel, and through it, control of the entire Mass Relay network. All movement, all communication, between star clusters instantly shut down, each star system isolated and vulnerable, each fleet and world a hanging fruit for the Reapers to pluck at their leisure. So it was for the Protheans before us.

But unlike previous cycles, the Protheans successfully laid the groundwork for the survival of the next cycle. A team of Prothean scientists hidden in a top-secret research bunker on the planet Ilos survived the Reaper invasion, suspending themselves in stasis until the centuries-long harvesting of the galaxy was complete, and the Reapers withdrew back to dark space. The surviving scientists, no more than a dozen in number, completed their design on Ilos: a small-scale secondary-class Mass Relay, aimed right into the heart of the Citadel. A one-way trip, they went to the Citadel, and rewrote the Keepers’ reception protocols, rendering Reaper signals meaningless.

When the time for our Reaper invasion came, when Sovereign, the Reaper assigned to hide in the Galaxy and choose the time, signalled the Keepers to open the Citadel, they ignored him. So he sought another way into the Citadel, a Turian Spectre named Saren Arterius. With an army of Geth at his back, Saren boarded the Citadel through the Prothean relay, or Conduit as they called it. A fierce battle ensued in and around the Citadel, with the timely arrival of the Alliance fleets putting an end to the Reaper, driving off his Geth like so many jackals. The Reaper invasion had been thwarted. For a time.

The Reapers were denied their easy one-step trip back into the heart of the Galaxy, but they still had other means. They began the long trek on foot, so to speak, and arrived here after three years of FTL space travel. Their course took them through Batarian space first, but their primary goal was the homeworld of those minuscule insolents responsible for the death of Sovereign: Earth.

The Reapers are an arrogant breed, and resented in the extreme the temerity of primitive and puny Humans successfully thwarting them. But once Earth was taken, why not proceed with their established strategy? Once into the Relay network, they could reach the Citadel in less than twenty-four hours. Why on Earth are they instead crawling through the Galaxy in their gruesome conquest upon our people while still leaving us the means to manoeuvre? They could still seize the Citadel, and through it the Relays. But this time around, they have so far completely ignored the Citadel. It cannot be through idiocy; Reapers are cunning and adaptive, and would never abandon in entirety a tried-and-true strategy because the first step was compromised. It cannot be through hubris; the Reapers are taking losses only because our fleets can still mass, evade, and strike where they choose.

The only possible solution is that something has changed about the Citadel. This change must have occurred after the battle against Sovereign. I know for a fact that the Citadel’s control of the Relay network was in place at the time of that battle: Saren used it to lock out all Relay access to the Citadel to prevent both escape and reinforcement, and I used the same means to open the Relays again for the Alliance Fleet.

So what happened? Is that control blocked somehow? Could it be that, despite their denial, for all of their adamant insistence that Reapers were a myth and Sovereign an isolated threat, the Citadel Council actually did something about it? That they realised their greatest strength, the Citadel’s control of the Relays, was also their greatest weakness, that should any enemy accomplish what Saren so nearly achieved, all resistance across the Galaxy would be crippled and blind? Did the Council uncouple the Citadel from control of the Relays?  If so, then we owe our only means of resistance to the Citadel Council.

I have no conclusive evidence, but this hypothesis matches all of the available data, and explains an otherwise inexplicable mystery.

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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.”

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8 Endgame

--> A pox on the fickle and willfully blind fools! The Council have assembled their fleets, not to secure Ilos, but to sit and await the Geth fleet at the Citadel. They dismiss Benzia's information, dismiss Saren's claims, dismiss the Virmire files, dismiss the Conduit, dismiss the Reapers, and dismiss any warnings I can provide. Moreover, citing the possibility of provoking war in the Terminus Systems, they've forbidden even a stealth op to Ilos; the Normandy is in lockdown and I am forbidden to leave the station.

It's as though they are so afraid of the Reapers they will do anything to prevent me proving the realness of the threat, as though they believe allowing action to counter the danger will validate and fulfill its existence. Fools.

Options are limited. Negotiation with the Council is fruitless, leaving me no recourse but to play the renegade. The clock is ticking, and Saren gets closer to Ilos every moment we wait. So close to his final goal he'll be taking no chances, and will almost certainly have the entire Geth Fleet in tow.

There's only one ship fast enough to get there in time, one ship stealthy enough to slip in without catching every shell from every gun on every ship in the Geth fleet, and that ship is the Normandy, locked and secured in docking.

We have two options. Either we disable the lockdown clamps manually, or we break in to C-Sec Control and disengage the lockdown remotely. Both options pose significant difficulties. Tampering with the clamps will alert C-Sec instantly, and they have officers posted almost immediately on site. Disabling the clamps will take a few moments, and the likelihood of a shoot-out before the ship can be freed is high. Brassing out an entry into C-Sec Control would prove eminently easy for a Spectre, but as the lockdown was ordered by a Councilor, revoking the order will result in immediate arrest.

Update. Captain Anderson wants to meet on the Citadel. I don't know what help he can offer us, but the Captain never does anything without reason. Whatever it is he has in mind, it's bound to be something better than a commiseration-and-sympathy-themed pity party while we wait the for the sky to fall on our heads.

--> We're out! I'd been mistaken. It had been hadn't been the Council that gave the order to lock down the Normandy; it was that skunk Udina. Captain Anderson has broken into Udina's office and lifted the lockdown.

Even with Adams pushing the swift and powerful Normandy beyond recommended parameters, it will take a several hours to reach Ilos. Every moment is precious, and the Normandy hurtles through the stars, outstripping their rays as though even she knows how narrow is our margin, the thinness the knife edge of time we walk, the stakes should we fail, and has channelled the will of every grim and desperate member of her crew into a furious dash to Ilos.

For the crew is indeed aware. I considered withholding from them the truth of the matter, letting them believe that this last step of our mission is officially sanctioned and above board, but no: I owe them honesty. Every man and woman aboard knows we have broken orders and stolen the Normandy; and despite being offered the choice to wash their hands and remain aboard the Citadel, they have instead unanimously agreed to stick to the mission, to see this through to the end, no matter what the cost. I am honoured by the trust they put in me even to the point of mutiny. Let the record show that I assume full responsibility for this action.

I can't afford to think about Captain Anderson right now. He might be imprisoned or even dead. He went above and beyond to give us this chance. We will not fail him.

I’ve told the squad to make sure that both they and their gear are ready. I’m going to get what sleep I can. The Citadel has hailed us several times. I’m not picking up the phone.

--> We've reached Ilos, and successfully eluded the Geth fleet in orbit. A large detachment of Geth troops have already landed in the ruins. Joker will have to pull off a drop under impossible conditions to get us in. No reason things should get easy now.

--> Mission complete. We did it. We’ve won. For now. Saren is dead and Sovereign destroyed. It took the combined firepower of the Citadel and Alliance fleets to bring him down.

The Reaper did indeed lead the Geth Armada against the Citadel, and tore through their defences like a bullet. Saren went in through a different way; the Conduit, a Prothean-made Relay built secretly on Ilos linking directly into the heart of the Citadel. Saren and an army of Geth stormed the Citadel from the inside and commandeered the Station, handing control over to Sovereign.

But we were hard on his heels. A few moments later, and Sovereign would have opened the Citadel to Dark Space, and The Reapers, hundreds of them, maybe thousands, would have poured through. We brought with us a gift from Vigil, a failing Prothean VI hidden in the crumbling Prothean ruins on Ilos. While we engaged Saren, Vigil entered the station’s systems, severing Saren’s control and turning the Citadel from our damnation into our salvation. Instead of Reapers from the edge of the Galaxy, the Relays opened to the awaiting Alliance Fleet. Human vessels swept in, saving the floundering and sundered Turian and Asari defences. The assailants driven off and the survivors rallied, all ships turned and unleashed hell upon Sovereign. More ships died in battle against that one Reaper than did against the entire Geth Fleet. Thank God we made it in time.

Anderson not only eluded C-Sec and survived the Geth attack, he saved Udina's life as well. The irate ambassador nurses a bruised jaw, courtesy of the Captain's intrusion to lift the lockdown.

In gratitude for Humanity’s actions, the Council offered us full recognition as a Citadel species, with one of our own holding a place on the Council. For what it’s worth, I’ve put forward my word on behalf of Captain Anderson.

The Normandy Crew and Command have been officially pardoned. I am glad, for there is much work to do. Cerberus and a dozen other lesser threats must be dealt with, and the greater threat, the Reapers, still remains. We've thwarted their immediate plans, but they will not accept defeat. One way or another, they're still coming. When they get here, we need to be ready. I intend to see that they receive a warm welcome.

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