45 Quarian Invasion

--> The Quarians have so far been completely uninvolved in the Reaper War; they hold no planets for the Reapers to attack, and have made no move to offer us aid. The Quarians do not have so many dreadnoughts as the Turians, and their ships are typically second-class compared to the Citadel or Alliance vessels, but they nevertheless have the largest fleet in the Galaxy, and every vessel they possess is armed to some extent.

We need more ships of every purpose. We’ve lost a great deal of ground to the Reapers, and supply points are becoming fewer and farther between; an unarmed freighter could easily be worth a heavy combat vessel whose role it replaces in logistical support.

--> Quarian command has agreed to a meeting. The message was terse, even rigidly formal. Our intelligence has indicated for some time that Quarian ships have been preparing for something massive. I'd assumed that was war preparations against the Reapers, but given their continued absence on the scene of galactic conflict I'm beginning to have doubts. Those Quarians had better not be doing what I think they're doing.

--> Yep. I was right. The Quarian Admiralty have agreed to help in the Reaper War, but they need my help with a wee little problem first: namely that they’re currently locked into a death match against the Geth in a fight the QUARIANS started. Led by Admiral Gerrel, they’ve launched an attack against the Geth in an attempt to reclaim their homeworld.

We’re at war with the Reapers in a struggle that will determine the fate of the Galaxy, and the Quarians think now is a good time to pick a fight with a neutral party? Launching an assault upon Rannoch is a clear violation of their agreement with the Citadel Council to avoid provoking the Geth. I have a hunch that’s precisely the reason for their choice of timing. Launch an attack when all is well and the Council will interfere. But if the rest of the Galaxy is otherwise occupied…

The Quarians’ initial strikes were met with success, but the balance of power quickly changed in favour of the Geth. They’re now being coordinated by a Reaper signal broadcast from their lead dreadnought. Had the Reapers been in contact with the Geth for long, we would have certainly felt Geth presence in the War before now. It seems obvious the Geth resorted to extreme measures when attacked by the Quarians. Even if they entered into some deal with the Reapers willingly, it is highly unlikely they can withdraw again so easily. In the meantime they have the Quarian fleet pinned and are tearing them apart.

The Normandy’s stealth capabilities should enable us to board the dreadnought. We’ll find the source of the Reaper signal, disable it, and allow the Quarians to pull out and regroup.

Little Tali is an Admiral. Officially. In actuality, she's still just a kid, a kid shoved for political reasons into her late father's command position, a position she is not equipped to fill. She confided privately that she did not and does not support the Quarian re-invasion of Rannoch, but that she must support the ruling of the other Admirals to maintain morale.

Of the five Quarian admirals, only Koris, commander of the Civilian Fleet, vocally opposes the invasion. Raan, commander of the Patrol Fleet, is a kind-hearted albeit soft-headed old woman who would be better suited to managing relief efforts than making strategic decisions. Xen, commander of the research fleet, is a cold-blooded scientist who is keen to dissect the first Geth she can get her hands on. Gerrel, a robust and domineering old soldier in command of the Heavy Fleet, overruled Koris through sheer force of will to lead the Quarians upon this ill-judged venture.

Raan and Tali were probably the deciding balance in the vote to attack the Geth. Had Koris won both their support, as he ought to have had little difficulty in doing, Gerrel's rash initiative would never have taken flight and dropped this unwelcome mess on our collective heads. Xen is a lost cause, and I don't expect unflinching conviction from either Tali or Raan in this controversial matter, but Koris could and ought to have done better.

--> In case there had been any question of whether Gerrel is a blasted fool, he ordered all ships to open fire on the dreadnought the moment it was disabled; while my team and I were still on board. One should not assume the worst of an ally, but it is not entirely impossible he saw opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: the source of the Reaper control, and the Citadel representative who might interfere with his invasion plans. Even worse, he fired on one of his own: Tali was accompanying my team aboard the dreadnought when the Quarian fleet opened fire. Her desperate attempt to countermand Gerrel's order was indicative of just how much authority Gerrel wields. Raan too attempted to call off the attack, and quailed before the reprimand of her purported equal.

I'm well aware of the fact that effective military leadership cannot be achieved by committee, that there must be a clear and undisputed authority to decide quickly and without delay, but it is becoming painfully clear that the Quarian leadership is being ruled by a man whose desperation to redress disaster in the wake of his own failure borders on monomaniacism.

For now, the Reaper signal is offline, the weakened Geth have disengaged, and the opposing fleets have pulled back to recoup their losses. Koris' ship went down in a suicide run against a Geth planetary defence cannon on Rannoch, and the remaining admirals show not the slightest inclination to dismiss or even overrule Gerrel's determination to prepare for another assault. The battle will resume. The Quarians will not take this opportunity to withdraw. At this point it's too late for that anyway. With the entire Geth network under Reaper control, they now pose a threat that must be eliminated, and fast.

We met an old friend aboard the Geth dreadnought. Legion. The Reapers were using him as an interface to broadcast their control throughout the Geth network. His restraints removed, he helped us disable the ship and evacuate in a Geth fighter when the Quarians opened fire. Despite being the medium for their control, Legion is apparently the only Geth not now subject to the Reapers’ will. As much as I trust Legion, I’d not have taken his word for his sustained autonomy had he not proven himself friend through action when he had ample opportunity to turn on us. But I am still mystified why he alone is singularly immune to Reaper control. He can only tell me that it is because he is different, more advanced. Subjugation of synthetics would naturally function differently from Indoctrination of organics, so I suppose it is possible a preprepared program intended for the purpose could prove ineffective against a singular individual that failed to conform to expected specifications. There’s no doubt Legion is exceptional among Geth, taking it upon himself to independently seek a means to stop the Geth Heretics, then ally with organics to destroy the Collectors.

Needless to say, the Quarian Admirals are alarmed by the sight of our new ally. Xen expressed a keen desire to dissect Legion. I asked her what she was waiting for, he’s standing right there, and told Legion to avoid breaking the furniture. Unfortunately, neither one seemed to appreciate the joke. Legion seemed simply confused, and Xen left in a huff. She is not welcome on my ship.

Legion tells us that, despite disabling the Reaper signal on the dreadnought, the Geth are still not free of the Reapers. There’s a Reaper base established on the planet, and within a short space of time the Geth will have another means of transmission in place; they will then be once again deadly enough to easily destroy the Quarians. The location of the base is unknown. The Normandy, with Legion’s guidance, will begin immediate search for the target.

In the meantime, Legion has drawn our attention to a Geth server, linked to a significant number of Geth fighters, vulnerable enough for a covert strike. If bombed, the Geth inside the server will simply transfer to another site as soon as the attack hits. The server will have to be disabled, quickly and quietly.

We also have reports that several escape pods from Admiral Koris' ship made it to the surface. Search and rescue is urgently needed in hostile terrain, and the prospect is out of the question for the unstealthy Quarian fleet.

Outraged by the treachery of Gerrel, Garrus has suggested that we invoke Spectre authority and place him under arrest. Javik offered instead to remove him from the equation permanently. I've forbidden both courses of action. Gerrel is indeed guilty of treachery and moreover responsible for this entire predicament, but like it or not, he's also the man we need to fix it. He's the only Quarian Admiral equipped with solid military experience, and this is an irrevocably military matter. Without him, the remaining Admirals would assuredly flounder.

We have urgent matters to attend to. Gerrel can stand trial after this is all over, Geth and Reapers alike. Ashley's muttered comment about pistols at dawn will have to wait.

Should the Quarians withdraw altogether from the conflict at hand, or worse be defeated by the Reaper-enhanced Geth, we would be bringing back from the Far Rim, not urgently-needed reinforcements for the Alliance, but instead a new fleet for the Reapers.

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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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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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21 Tali's Trial

--> A rather sudden and unlooked-for turn of events. Tali tells me her superiors have charged her with treason. She has no specifics, only that she is ordered to return to the Migrant Fleet to stand trial. She says it cannot be on account of working on a Cerberus ship; she got full and explicit leave for that purpose. She has no idea what the exact nature of the charges are.

I smell a rat. There’s something more to this than Tali’s actions.

Setting course for the Migrant Fleet.

--> Well that was unexpected. I thought I would be providing moral support to Tali. Instead I’m her legal representative. The Admiralty declared Tali to be vas Normandy instead of vas Neema, barring her Quarian captain from speaking at her trial.

Tali is accused of sending active Geth back home to her fleet. She admits to sending Geth parts, per her father’s requests for Geth material, but denies sending anything that could have spontaneously reactivated, or having reactivated, pose a threat. Tali’s father was conducting experiments on Geth parts and software for developing new weapons and hacking techniques; all details purportedly open and officially sanctioned.

But something went wrong and her father’s lab ship, the Alerai, is now overrun by Geth. It seems to me fairly clear that someone was getting a little too advanced in their simulations and accidentally kick-started the dormant Geth.

The Quarians have already tried to take back the Alerai, but the teams sent in were repulsed with heavy casualties. The vessel’s engines and weapons are offline, and it seems unlikely anyone aboard that ship is still alive. The Admiralty are debating whether to simply blow it to bits. I’ve volunteered to instead board and reclaim the Alerai. We've been granted permission.

This is not the first time, nor indeed will likely be the last, that I've seen the consequences of fooling around with advanced artificial intelligence. One would expect that, of all people, the Quarians should know better, but it seems the greedy and power-hungry never will learn. There should be a proverb about this sort of thing, perhaps, “the forbidden fruit of folly is seldom plucked but once.” Or on second thought, the old proverb that tells us “as a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly,” is probably sufficient.

--> Alerai secure. It was as I expected. Given the circumstances, how could it have been otherwise? The ruthless efficiency of the carnage therein was unmistakable. We stepped over the broken and bloodied corpses of the Quarians, marines and technicians, soldiers and civilians, adults and children, to find awaiting us the grim metallic figures that had so mercilessly torn them to pieces. Tali’s father had indeed been conducting illegal experiments on dormant Geth parts, and reconstructing full Geth for more advanced experiments. They screwed up; the Geth gained the advantage and slaughtered every last Quarian aboard, down to the last child. They’d taken all of the available Geth parts and assembled a small army inside the ship.

They’re now once again only so many pieces of rubble.

Tali's Father left a message for her, his recorded image speaking hollow words of attempted comfort to his bereft daughter. I've seen loss countless times before, and will again for as long as I live. Tali has lost something that can never be regained. She must come to terms with that and move on. There is nothing I or anyone can say that will give her the solace she craves. When a wound is suffered and the flesh made raw, it must be treated and sewn together again. A scar will always remain, but the body must seal the injury and survive.

Though it would clear her of the charge of treason, Tali begged me not to reveal to the Quarian Admiralty the truth about how her father had reactivated the Geth himself; she couldn’t bear the thought of him being immortalized as an infamous warning to future generations, and preferred the prospect of her own threatened banishment.

We returned the hearing, and I commandeered the floor. Tali and I had done a little digging prior to retaking the Alerai, and it payed off. I justly accused the Admiralty of bringing their disagreement about potential reinvasion of their homeworld into their judgement of Tali. I reminded them of how Tali had helped defeat Sovereign, of how she’d brought back with her to the fleet invaluable information on Geth evolution, demonstrating her abilities, loyalty, and judgement, and how there was nothing in the way of evidence that she had suddenly grown so foolhardy as to endanger the fleet.

The Admirals cleared Tali of charges. If necessary, I’d have presented the evidence from the Alerai to clear Tali’s name, regardless of her requests. Not only would allowing her to unjustly bear her father’s guilt been ethically untenable, he is dead and she alive.

I intend to see to it she remains thus.

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19 The Clutches of Cerberus

--> The long-promised trip to Pragia has been seen to. What we found there, I’m sad to say, doesn’t even surprise me. Amidst the crumbling ruin clutched by mutant plant vines we found the fading story of a veritable hell-hole. The Teltin Cell had abducted every child with biotic potential they could get their hands on. All of them were used as test subjects, just so many human lab rats. Any procedure, no matter how horrific, that might theoretically improve biotic strength was carried out upon these children. All were expendable, all except Subject Zero; Jack was the focal point of the entire project. All of the atrocities inflicted upon her and the other children were for the sole purpose of turning her into an invincible super-biotic.

It is unclear if Jack matched their expectations. Her strength certainly exceeds that of any other biotic I’ve met. The astonishing thing is that she retains any level sanity. A mind subject to a childhood of constant torture and abuse, no human contact beyond killing other children, should have turned her into a genuine monster, completely devoid of any semblance of basic humanity. How she managed to cling to sanity, to remain a functional human being in any degree, is beyond me.

Exactly what happened at Teltin is unclear. All that we know for certain is that Jack broke out of her cell and tore through anything in her path. She escaped Teltin, then was captured and abused by pirates. After a mixed career of crime she was again captured and imprisoned on the Purgatory. She’s never had anything like a chance at a normal life. Hopefully, if we survive the mission to stop the Collectors, she will finally get that opportunity.

We found another escapee from Teltin there. The poor fellow, Aresh, he called himself, was drawn back to the place he couldn’t forget. In his crazed state he planned to restart the Teltin project, to discover why they had inflicted such horrors upon him. Jack sent him scampering, where to I know not.

Something fishy about Teltin. We came across communication records that implied the details of their experiments were unknown to the Illusive Man. Aresh claimed to have been in the ruin for about a year, but his hired security escort spoke as though they’d just arrived. Did the Illusive Man send Aresh to plant false evidence and shift the blame down the chain of command? I shouldn't be the slightest bit surprised.

Even Miranda seems shaken by what we found on Pragia. She adamantly denies Cerberus proper had anything to do with it, insisting that the Teltin project had gone rogue. Sure. Whatever helps her sleep at night. Jack, desperate for satisfaction, nearly started a biotic brawl with Miranda for refusing to apologise on behalf of Cerberus. The sooner we complete our mission and those two go their separate ways the better. Jack has agreed to remain below decks and leave Miranda alone. For now.

Strange that Jack should have escaped the clutches of Cerberus so many years ago, only to find herself once more ensnared in their machinations. Of her own volition, to be sure, but little better for that. We're all in this web together now, all by choice and with good purpose. But once purpose is fulfilled, when the game is played and the cards laid bare, It's all of our necks on the line, even if we survive the mission. It's up to me to find a way out of that noose.

--> I’m seeing reports in the Cerberus intelligence network of an increase in Geth sightings. I’ve just saved a civilian munitions vessel, the MSV Broken Arrow, from colliding with a planet in the Nariph system. The ship had been commandeered by Geth and deliberately set on collision course. That’s just plain odd. The Geth are perhaps the most technologically advanced species in the galaxy, viciously logical and deadly in combat and planning. If they’re resuming hostilities outside of their home system again, why are they resorting to paltry tactics like seizing a civilian freighter? That’s the sort of strategy I’d expect to see used by Batarian pirates, who are more interested in hurting as many people as possible than risking their own skin. Geth are cunning and deadly fighters, ruthlessly implementing vicious attacks upon their enemy, optimizing damage dealt and paying no heed to the cost in their own forces. They’re not at all senselessly suicidal, but destroying their enemy is their primary focus; their own casualties are a mere detail.

There are also reports of Quarian’s encountering the Geth. Tali, in command of a stealthy investigation, has been sent into the Dholen System in the far rim. That system is occupied by Geth. I don’t know why the Quarians sent their people in there, but I plan to find out.

There’s another, seemingly unrelated, reason to investigate Dholen: the Cerberus web. When the Collector threat is dealt with, I’ll be cutting ties with Cerberus and taking the Normandy back to the Alliance. When that happens, the Illusive Man will almost certainly activate failsafes built into the Normandy to prevent me from doing just that. I need help discreetly finding the hooks hidden in the Normandy, and removing them. Immediately if possible, or at the last minute if necessary. Tali is brilliant, even for a Quarian, and knew the old Normandy inside and out. Moreover, she’s someone I can trust. If anyone can free the Normandy, it’s her.

--> Tali and her team are on the planet Haestrom. It looks like they’ve been detected, and are engaging superior Geth forces. Moving in.

--> Most of the Quarian’s are dead, shot by Geth infantry or bombed by the Geth dropship. Tali is alive, as is the Quarian marine charged with her safety, Kal Reeger. They’d been sent to investigate the system’s star, Dholen. It’s aging prematurely, the interior’s mass increasing at an unprecedented rate. Within a hundred years, perhaps more, the star will go critical.

Understanding in theory how to increase the star’s mass is simple; application of dark energy through mass effect technology. There are however two massive problems: the problem of scale and the problem of origin. No known species has every created a warp field powerful enough to crush the interior of a star. It seems unlikely the Geth would use such an inefficient weapon, the effects would take a century at best to come to fruition, and their opponent would have long since discovered the danger and evacuated. Moreover, the Geth are eminently practical, and wouldn’t destroy an entire system and all of the resources on every planet, asteroid and comet therein.

To my surprise, Tali not only agreed to accompany me, she even got official clearance from her superiors to do so. She says I’ll need people I can trust if I’m working with Cerberus. I suspect her superiors sent her orders to infiltrate the Normandy and spy on Cerberus, find out what precisely Commander Shepard is up to.

This business of Dholen reminds me of the mystery of Rothla. An entire planet blown to bits by Krogan. They didn’t live to tell us how they did it, and I suspect they didn’t do it on purpose (you never know with Krogan). It’s possible that clan discovered a hidden super-weapon from a previous cycle meant to fight the Reapers. It’s also possible this soon-to-be-exploding star is something of the same sort ticking over, perhaps accidentally triggered by the Geth. In any case, neither super-weapon, intentional or not, is likely to prove useful.

I’ve received a message from Admiral Hackett. He’s asked me to recover the missing dog tags from the crash site of SR1, and plant a memorial to mark the spot.

According to the Shadow Broker’s intel on Hackett, he refused permission to Alliance forces to detain me. I’m grateful. This job would be much more difficult if I were constantly dodging Alliance agents. I owe Hackett a great deal for his allowing me a chance to prove myself. I’ll plant the memorial before I board that dead Reaper. It won’t be a pleasant experience, but I’m honoured to be given the job.

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