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.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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!

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 Virmire

--> The rocket stations established on Asteroid X57 have been commandeered by unknown parties, status of the civilian engineers undetermined. The Normandy could simply destroy the rockets, but if the engineers are still alive, we would be responsible for their deaths. I’ll deploy on foot with Williams and Alenko to shut down the rockets manually, find out what’s going on, and save the engineers if possible.

--> Mission successful. Asteroid X57 is back on course to a stable orbit. Most of the civilian engineers are still alive. They were being held hostage by Batarian pirates who thought the Asteroid perfect opportunity to do major damage to humans. Saving the hostages required allowing the Batarian leader, Balak, to escape. He’s now on the Alliance’s priority target list. It's only a matter of time before we find him again. Hopefully that occurs before another such nearly disastrous attempt. He’s escaped justice once. I intend to see he does not do so again.

With this emergency resolved, we are free to head for Virmire. We still have no solid intel of the situation there. I’ve requested the Council mobilize forces for deployment, but they remain insistent on only sending the Normandy. Can’t risk provoking the Terminus Systems to war, etc etc. Let’s hope we won’t need reinforcements.

--> Virmire is in sight. Heavy AA fire emanating from a fortified facility on the planet. We also have a fix on the Salarian encampment nearby. We’ll drop in the Mako and clear enough of the AA guns in the vicinity of the encampment for the Normandy to land.

--> The Salarian Captain, Kirrahe, tells me the facility is Saren’s base of operations, a research centre. It appears Saren is on the verge of formulating a cure for the Genophage. With such a bargaining tool, Saren essentially guarantees the allegiance of all Krogan, and given the cure, the Krogan will become populous enough to conquer the entire galaxy.

Kirrahe tells me his transmission asked for an army; his forces are down to half strength, and so long as the AA guns remain in place, the only aid the Normandy can offer them is the away team. Nonetheless, Kirrahe has a plan to destroy the base.

His ship’s power core has already been retrofitted into a twenty-kiloton ordinance. The base, however, is so heavily fortified the bomb will have to be placed inside it to guarantee 

destruction. Kirrahe will break his men into three teams and attack one side of the base while my team infiltrates the other side. We’ll disable the AA guns on foot, the Normandy will land the bomb, we’ll put in place, and evacuate. We won’t be able to leave the bomb unattended for long. Anyone not at the rendezvous point on time will be left behind. There is a very good chance non of us will survive this mission. But so long as that bomb gets set off, the mission will be a success. 

 

I’m sending a transmission to the Council reporting the situation on Virmire and what little we know about Saren’s plans. If all else fails, if Saren escapes and we do not survive, someone else can pick up where we left off.

Wrex is conflicted, naturally. I’ve managed to convince him that allegiance to Saren will in the end be nothing other than slavery. I’ve promised him that, if possible, we’ll recover Saren’s research data before we blow up the base.

Kirrahe needs one of my officers to coordinate the teams, someone who knows Alliance communication protocols. Kaidan will be needed to arm and set the bomb. Williams will accompany the Salarians.

Despite the impending battle, it is peaceful here. The waves break upon this alien shore with the same serene cycle of ebb and flow as any beach on Earth. Strange birds whose names perhaps no human knows call to each other over the lulling song of the breakers. Three-legged craps muddle resolutely about in the shallows upon business of their own, blurbling and mumbling, heedless of the battle brewing above their heads like the distant phalanx of thunderclouds that begin to gather menacingly on the horizon.

The Salarians are moving. It's time to go.

--> The base is destoryed, Saren escaped, Kaidan dead, and what’s left of the Salarians on board the Normandy. Kaidan’s death is on me. When the bomb was in position, the rendezvous sight was overrun by Geth reinforcements. It was a choice of either picking up Kaidan at the bomb or Williams with the last Salarian assault team pinned down on the AA tower. With no time to evacuate both parties, I made the only choice I could, and saved the greater number of lives.

A nagging voice in my mind tells me that I made the choice I did, not to save the greatest number of lives, but to save Williams. She crosses my mind all the time. I keep forgetting that she’s a soldier like me, and I her superior officer. For the first time since I enlisted, I find myself wishing I were not a soldier in the Alliance Military. But I have more urgent matters to attend to. I can sort out personal issues once this Reaper situation is resolved.

The Reapers are perhaps even more of a threat than we realized. While in Saren’s base, we found another Beacon. It is unknown whether Saren found it already on Virmire or brought it there for more thorough study. As Liara had predicted, touching the Beacon filled the gaps in the Visions. The Visions were a distress signal and a warning of the at the time ensuing Reaper invasion; a warning come too late, it would seem. Through glimpses of images in the Visions, Liara recognized the planet Ilos as being of prominent importance, almost certainly the location of the Conduit. We still don’t know what the conduit is, and we cannot reach Ilos without access to the Mu Relay, which Liara says was blown by supernova into a nebula thousands of years ago. It could take decades of searching to find the Relay. We can only hope Saren remains as ignorant of its location as we.

And we discovered something else on Virmire. Sovereign, Saren’s ship, is not a vessel of Reaper design, but is in fact itself a Reaper. Where it has been lurking for thousands of years we can only guess, and why he has chosen now to take action can only be surmised. He claims, for we spoke to him through Saren’s office terminal, to be a “life form beyond our comprehension,” “transcending our very understanding.” He says the numbers of his kind will “darken the skies of every world,” that “organics exist because his kind allow it,” that we will end “because they demand it.”

Despite the very real threat Sovereign poses as one sole creature, let alone what an invasion of more of his kind could do, I detect unwarranted hubris in his speech. He claimed to be the “pinnacle of evolution,” and almost immediately after said his kind had no beginning or end, “eternal.” This super-intelligent, ultra-powerful machine, this sentient dreadnought of incredible age and awesome power, is exhibiting traits of arrogance and self-contradicting blather. Whatever their origins, whoever made them, whatever the reasons for why they establish this cycle of extinction, they are clearly not without limit, not purely logical. They’re flawed, and flaws can be exploited.

Until further information sheds more light on the subject, given that the Reapers left alone the primitive Asari, Human, Turian, and other races when they exterminated the Protheans fifty thousand years ago, and the monstrous ego issues Sovereign exhibits, it seems most likely that the Reapers simply wait for organic civilizations to reach a point of technological maturity where they can put up at least a token challenge, then the Reapers squash them and leave, waiting for the next crop of organics to grow, replenishing and increasing their strength from the harvested species.

I have of course reported everything to the Council, but they insist that Saren is deluding me, that the Reapers do not exist, that there is nothing to worry about.

We don’t know where Sovereign and Saren have gone, or what their next step is. We have one more lead, the rumours of Geth activity on Noveria. But first to the Citadel, to drop off Captain Kirrahe and his men.

For centuries, humanity has prided itself on its supremacy, believing itself to have shaken off the primitive superstitions that haunted our collective subconscious for untold millennia; monsters, ghosts, and demons, beings of malignance and power beyond our mortal ken. For ages these hostile creatures lurked in the shadows of our cultural imagination, slowly fading from memory as humanity reached for the stars.

Then we found the Relays, and all pretensions of invulnerability vanished in an instant. What would we find, we asked ourselves, if we opened that door? Phantoms we thought we'd forgotten grew suddenly real again in our minds, a thousand mists hiding as many horrors…

But our fears once again faded as we met what lay beyond the Relay. The Turians, the dominant military force in the Galaxy, the martial spacefareing species strength we tested in battle. They were an enemy we could match, even surpass.

Now we meet a Reaper, and it seems that our darkest dreams have come true. A host of beings, any one of which is more than a match for any vessel conceived of, emerge from the dark recesses of the distant and unsounded past, bringing with them all of the suppressed nightmares we'd learned to scoff at. These monsters destroyed not only the Protheans, but an uncounted number of races that preceded them; civilization after civilization, culture after culture, all have fallen before the Reapers. And we're next.

The Reapers have yet to meet their match. It's high time this game of theirs was ended.