What did you do today in ME?

I don't know how I am still discovering new stuff in this series. I completed Rannoch and had to let Legion die to save the Quarians because Tali is my romance.

I think I like Tali even more now because she actually does feel bad about having to kill Legion while the rest of her people celebrate. And I also noticed that if you don't have enough reputation for EDI she actually is slightly more combative if you talk to her on the Normandy after killing the Geth. I could have sworn she agrees to disagree if you have a high reputation. But this time she said something a bit less friendly. Something like "I doubt that would be little comfort to Legion" with an angry expression on her face.

The amount of dialogue and attention to detail in ME3 is just absurdly amazing.

Soldier Clone has the Valkyrie
Infiltrator Clone has the Black Widow (or is it just the Widow?)
Vanguard Clone has the Wraith
Engineer, Adept, and Sentinel Clones have the Hurricane

Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the strongest Shepard of them all?
Well it aint Kathrine, because she only made it half way through round three. Then the grenades got her. Gosh darn it.

"Hey Alec.
They finally came... The Reapers are here. The day I dreaded so much.
It's been six months since I've been locked up. I was never tried and I don't know for sure, but I might have now ex-Councilor but Admiral Anderson to thank for that. He showed up after James told me that the Defense Committee wanted to see me, and Anderson told me how he trusted me, knowing what I did with the Alpha relay was necessary.
The Alliance HQ was really busy, and I already feared the worst when Anderson said that Hackett had mobilised the fleets. I briefly ran into Kaidan as well before meeting with the Committee. Didn't have time to talk really, I just heard how he had been promoted to Major at some point.
The meeting with the Committee was when shit hit the fan. They wanted my expertise and advice on the Reapers, but that's hardly something I could provide. They're a force bigger than any of us. Then we heard how contact with Luna base was lost and saw a transmission of the Reapers having landed in London. Only a few moments later, they came down on Vancouver. Bloody hell, everything happened so quick after that. The building got hit and only Anderson and I made it out alive of that room. He radioed Kaidan to contact the Normandy, but it was bad overall and we soon lost the connection to him. Then I saw that kid I sometimes watched from my window. He was inside a duct and really scared. I wanted him to come with us, but when I had turned around to Anderson because he said something, the kid was gone.
We pressed on through hideous Reaper ground troops, until we found a radio that worked. Anderson called in the Normandy and a few minutes later I reunited with Kaidan, who was already on board. Anderson chose to stay behind. I protested, but he reinstated me and ordered me to get help from the Council, rally every species. I hated to leave him there, Alec. But orders are orders. I'm finally back with the Alliance.
When the Normandy rose up to leave, I saw this kid again. He had made it outside and managed to get on one of the rescue shuttles. A Reaper destroyed it shortly after it had left the ground. I have to admit that this hit me hard. I didn't even know this boy, but he was still so young. Had his whole life in front of him. But of course... life isn't fucking fair sometimes. You know it, I know it.
We managed to get out unscathed of this mess and it didn't take long until I received a call from Hackett, who ordered us to go to the Mars Archives, saying that Liara was there and has found a way to stop the Reapers. Joker plotted the course and James, Kaidan and I checked our gear and got ready. When we landed on Mars, I was surprised to see that Cerberus was there, but we soon found out why. When we met up with Liara inside the facility, she told us that in the weeks she's been there she found some plans for an ancient prothean device that would be able to wipe out the Reapers. Sounds too good to be true, right? I'm sceptical, but I want to believe it, I do. It might be our only chance against the Reapers.
Naturally, Cerberus tried to steal it, and succeeded. A Cerberus synthetic posing as a female scientist had infiltrated the facility and killed the personnel inside to let Cerberus in. We had to fight those Cerberus troops on our way, but made it to the archives in one piece. Liara just wanted to start downloading the data on the weapon when the Illusive Man's holo popped up. I despise this guy. A dead trooper we found showed that they altered their own men, and now he's planning to try and control the Reapers. Fucking madman. While we talked Liara noticed that the data's being uploaded and erased from somewhere else. It was this damn synthetic and we chased it to its shuttle. It almost got away, but luckily I had sent James back to our own shuttle earlier and he crashed into the Cerberus shuttle. Not the most elegant way and pretty dangerous, but successful. Their shuttle was completely fucked up, a burning wreck, but this bloody synthetic was still functioning and attacked Kaidan. It beat him up pretty badly and he lost consciousness, but when this thing came at me I shot it until it finally went down. The Reapers were arriving in this moment, but so was Joker and the Normandy, so we picked up the synthetic and Kaidan and took both of them on board. I carried Kaidan's lifeless body to the Normandy's med bay. He looks really bad, Alec. I hope he survives this hit, but James and I spent some time with Kaidan and not once did he gain consciousness. We're heading to the Citadel right now to get help and I hope it's not too late. We don't have a doctor on the Normandy yet and I can't lose another person close to me. Well, a person that used to be close to me. He still doesn't trust me and kept going on about my ties to Cerberus and how they could've manipulated me all along. I really hope for a chance to talk this through.
Liara and EDI extracted the data for the prothean weapon from the synthetic. With this we're hoping we can convince the Council to help us. This is only the beginning and I'm feeling helpless already. I just wonder... how much worse is it going to get before it gets better? That is... if it gets better at all. Bloody hell. Wish us luck, Alec.

-Dee"

It begins!


On Mars my setup for Devlon worked pretty well so far. Deploy decoy, hit enemies with Cryo Blast and Stasis, make pretty cryo explosion with Incinerate and snipe at the enemy in the Stasis bubble It's exciting for me to see how this will work out during other parts, as I've read that Decoy is ignored by melee creatures and some others, but I'm really hoping it can still be fun. If not it's still a nice enough option for roleplaying my Shep.

Kim was a sentinel and her clone had a shotgun. I think it's a Wraith, or at least it's cousin. 
So there is some form of sense in your head

Yesterday Shepard ran around the traverse investigating some odd reports she ran across while on Feros.

"Hi Alec,
we've been to the Citadel and got help for Kaidan in time.
Bailey from C-Sec (Commander now) came to meet and tell us that the Council was expecting us. I had some time to visit Kaidan before that though, so that's what I did. He's still unconscious, but at least stable. I'm glad he lived through this and hope he wakes up soon.
At the hospital I also ran into Dr. Chakwas and Dr. Michel, and I asked Dr. Chakwas to come back to the Normandy. She agreed and I'm really happy to have her back.
Then it was time to meet the Council. It didn't exactly go as I hoped. Liara presented the plans for the device. Unfortunately, it misses information on something called the Catalyst, so we need to find out what this component is first, but I really thought the Council would be more supportive of this weapon. They weren't, and they also didn't want to help Earth. They wanted to protect their own borders first and foremost before they'd consider any aid. I can understand that, but... they need to see that none of us will beat the Reapers alone.
Councilor Udina was miffed about it as well, but when he and I talked about what had happened in his office, the turian councilor came by. Wouldn't have expected it, but he had a proposal. The turian primarch had called a war summit with the asari and salarians, but Reapers had hit the turian homeworld and they lost contact with him. According to some intel he was on Menae, Palaven's largest moon. So if I can get their primarch safely out of this, I could bypass the Council and try to negotiate with those at the summit directly. It was better than nothing, so of course I agreed. I was also informed I'd still have access to Spectre resources. That will definitely come in handy.
After everything was said and done, I was about to return to the Normandy, when a reporter called me over. She wanted to put some news stories together from the Normandy. It could be a good way to rally support for the war effort, so I told her to come on board. We'll see how this goes.
I actually wanted to go talk to the crew, since there was not enough time for this up until now and I had heard some new people joined us, but first I wanted to quickly check the schematics for this weapon myself. Didn't have the chance yet, but I fell asleep. Had a nightmare. It was the first one I had since quite some time, but it was disturbing. I dreamt of the kid I saw die back on Earth. Thankfully Liara came by, so that was a good distraction. I didn't really want to think about death again.
Liara had tried to sell the turian councilor on the device again, but no luck of course. We were interrupted by Samantha Traynor, a comm specialist who had helped with the Normandy's retrofits back on Earth. Lovely young lady. Explained every overhaul for the Normandy. I already like her, and EDI is fond of her too. Even requested for Traynor to stay, so she's a permanent addition to the team now.
I had a little chat with Joker, and Liara had settled into Miranda's old office to do her Shadow Broker business from there. She even brought the Shadow Broker's old helper drone. She calls it Glyph. I caught up a bit with her and she told me how Cerberus had been after her. She packed up and sent the Broker ship into a Cerberus cruiser. A real shame, this ship was a technological marvel. But I'm glad that Liara is back with us now, and I guess it will come in handy to have the broker's information network right here.
Our old engineer from the SR-1, Adams, was also on board again and he apologised for not having stood with me during my time with Cerberus. I don't blame him. I didn't want to work with them myself, and it's good to have him back now.
Then I met another new addition to the Normandy's crew in the shuttle bay. Lieutenant Steve Cortez, our shuttle pilot. It's definitely good that James cannot crash any shuttles anymore from now on. Cortez seems like a nice and polite guy and he explained his role to me in detail. He helped with the retrofits of the cargo hold back on Earth and he definitely knows his stuff about shuttles, including how to repair them. Wish I hadn't asked him about family in the very first conversation. Parents dead, and I learned that he was married, but lost his husband to the Collectors. Ferris Fields... I remember this. I remember some crewmen talking about it back then. Goddamnit. If only we could've stopped the Collectors faster. I didn't really know what to say. It's fucking tough to lose someone like that. Here's hoping we can make these Reaper fucks pay.
I look forward to work with old and new crew members alike. It's just a shame that it will be under such circumstances.

Talk soon,
Dee"

Pics:

I have done this myself on a number of occasions.  I mean to do one thing but instead tell a squadmate to go to a new location.

Ah, Juggsy Prime, as I named mine, is fun to play. For once I could just stand in one spot and snipe everything.

[Take note if you use Imgur. It has a limit of 200 images that the site will host. After that, it starts deleting older images. This means that images from older posts here will begin to disappear. I did find postimg.org. It's free but don't know what limitations it may have down the road.] [Rechecked and images are there but they definitely had seemed to cap off at 200. melbella]

Jeph Shepard:

- At long last, we were headed for Earth. I had assembled the largest fleet the galaxy had ever before seen to attack the Reapers. For all that, they were only a distraction so allow the Crucible to dock with the Citadel. That couldn't happen until we opened the Citadel arms, which had to be done on foot from a beam in London the Reapers used to transport victims to the Citadel. Were they still intent on making humanity into the next Reaper or was it for some other purpose?
- The road to the beam wouldn't be easy and the first thing that needed to be done was to take down Hades cannons. We'd go in with a squad, as well as another shuttle carrying heavy weapons. I picked the only options that made sense, the two who would never be able to stand still on the Normandy while so close to Earth: Kaidan and James. Unfortunately, the other shuttle was shot down and we had no choice but to do their mission. It was a success but Cortez's shuttle had been damaged and unable to pick us up. The that did get us also had Anderson on board. Man, was he a sight for sore eyes. He brought us into what passed for a base so we could further plan.
- James easily found himself in command of troops. That was good. He was going to be N7, I had no doubt, and that meant leading.

- Kaidan had also hooked up with Biotics Division. I was a little concerned he might want to go with them because I wanted him by my side. But I knew this was military life. I might not get what I wanted but damn I wanted him with me, here at the end of all things. We talked about how it was goodbye but I told him I'd be waiting for him and he'd better be there. He said he'd fight for the chance to be by my said again and, also, that he couldn't lose me again. Yeah, he was coming with me. Then as I turned to walk away, he pulled me in for a kiss. God, I hoped it wasn't the last one.


- I reached out to all my past crew to find out where they were at. A lot of them talked about meet ups after the war. Jack surprised me when she said she wouldn't let me down. Quite the change from the belligerent, barely cooperative inmate I'd met on Purgatory. Glad she got the opportunity to grow into such a wonderful young woman. Grunt also thanked me for getting him out of the tank. I knew he appreciated me already, making me his battlemaster rather than a krogan. Also hard to believe that of those I had met while with Cerberus, Miranda was the one to whom I'd grown closest. Never would have thought that could happen but there it is. Maybe if I get too hurt she can put me back together again.

- Also talked with others in person. Primarch Victus put boots on the ground, wanting to repay the favor. He saw that things here were as bad as Palaven. But we needed to make a stand somewhere, concentrating all of our forces in one place, because that was the only hope we had. I suppose it was fortunate that the Citadel was here since I'd convinced everyone to be here. Garrus was also right here, but that was to be expected. He had become my best friend; we had clicked right from the start. If we didn't make it, we planned to meet at a bar on the other side. If just one of us did, we'd watch out for the other.

- Next up was Liara. She had a special gift for me. It was melding our minds, a thing we'd done a few times before, but this time we were sharing. It was like being gods, staring out into the infinite universe, just the two of us. Liara was a good friend, though I'm not sure she ever quite got over me choosing Kaidan over her.

- Javik was also here, but it's not like there was anyplace else for him to go. He told me that all those who had died at the hands of the Reapers throughout the many cycles were watching this moment. This was the closest anyone had ever gotten to defeating them. He said he looked forward to seeing what peace looked like and that he was going to write a book with Liara.

- Wrex was rallying his troops and said Bakara was pregnant with their first child, which she intended to name Mordin. Naming a krogan child after a salarian was possibly the single-most important shift in krogan politics ever seen. Between Maelon and Mordin, as well as the decision of the STG to follow a different path than the politicians, things were changing. If we survived, I believed that the krogan would have a Council seat. Of those without, they were the one who proved themselves most worthy because they brought as much to the table as the quarians, geth, turians, humans - and even those who came late to the game, the asari and salarians.

- Tali was here, instead of helping Rannoch rebuild, and was asking if I was okay. She had been there with me from the start, even coming aboard a Cerberus ship when the quarians and Cerberus were at odds. A true friend.

- EDI also had some fears she needed put to rest. She wasn't backing down, not by any means, but this showed just how human she had become, because she modeled her behavior changes after humans.

- Then it was time. Anderson gave us our objective: get to the beam, board the Citadel and open its arms so we could dock the Crucible. Then I gave a rallying speech and chose my squad: Kaidan, because I wanted him there, and Garrus, because he's my best friend and a hell of a fighter. These were the two I wanted guarding my back.

- Made our way toward the beam and watched the company who was with the Javelin missiles get wiped out. It turned out that the beam was distorting the missile guidance system. The company tried to hold out but was overwhelmed. EDI said she could used the Normandy to try to keep the missiles on target. While she got things ready, we had to fend off hordes of husks, cannibals and marauders. It got worse when we lost our left flank, bringing banshees to the table. The missile launch was a bust. It was still too close to the beam, meaning we needed it to come a lot closer to use while fending off a new wave of Reaper forces. And there were only two missiles left so we weren't going to get more than one shot at it. Now we were fending off all of the above plus a harvester and dodging a Reaper beam at the same time. No sweat. We did it, though, and a missile made its way to its destination.

- All we had left to do was run for that beam and hope we survived. All that stood on our way was goddamn Harbinger, firing on us.

- Then a Mako took a major hit, exploding and doing some serious damage to Kaidan and Garrus. I called for a Normandy evac. Kaidan was in no shape to continue and I couldn't live with myself if he died from a hit by Harbinger. I just prayed(!) that the stealth systems held up so that they could avoid detection long enough to get off Earth. It may have been a reckless decision but love does some funny things. Yeah, love. When Kaidan said he didn't want to me left behind, I told him I would always love him, no matter what happened. Then I sent them away and headed toward the beam.

- I took a big hit, probably worse than Kaidan. My armor was destroyed and all I had in defense was a pistol. Which I needed when a Marauder stood between me and the beam. No idea what happened to Harbinger but I reached my goal. On the beam ride up I thought about Kaidan, hoped he was safe, and my mother, who had to be in the thick of it all. Then I was there. The hallway was lit with red light and there were dead bodies all over the place. Keepers were doing something to them, so I assumed they were firmly under Reaper control again. A message from Anderson said he was also on the Citadel, so at least I wasn't up here alone. But I feared they were indeed trying to make a Reaper out of humans since all the bodies seen were human.

- I followed in a direction that seemed to parallel once Anderson had also been on. I got very concerned when Anderson went radio silent, right after saying he had found a control panel. As I approached a central area, I saw Anderson. He was moving very strangely. Then I lost control of my own limbs as TIM appeared. There was strange black something melded into his skin and dark energy in the air. He had harnessed it to control us.

- We talked to TIM, tried to make it clear that he was under Reaper control. Rather than admit it, he forced me to shoot Anderson. I had to keep him talking, make it clear he was indoctrinated and turn his strong will to the task of fighting that control. Finally, he understood and broke free long enough to shoot himself in the head. With him out of the way, I was able to get to the control panel and open the arms.

- Once that was done, Anderson and I had a little chat. He said he thought I'd be a great father, and that idea appealed to me. Raising kids with Kaidan...I always thought I was a marine until the end, but that thought was no longer enticing. As I had told Javik, a life full of nothing but death wasn't enough. I needed more, and I was sure Kaidan would feel the same. We just had to survive. Then Anderson told me he was proud of me and died.

- Unfortunately, the Crucible wasn't doing anything and Hackett told me to find a way. I was barely conscious so I don't know what I did but the arms did open and the Crucible fired. The Reapers were utterly destroyed. All of their tech was damaged, but not irreparably so. That meant we could fix the relays so everyone could go home. I had managed to barely survive and recuperated while the Normandy found its way back from wherever they had briefly found themselves stranded. It took a while, since they had to use FTL, but fortunately they weren't that far away.
- The future did look bright. We'd come to learn that we were strongest when united rather than all of us keeping our petty secrets and power. No race had lived beyond the 50,000 year barrier (at least as far as spacefaring went). Now we had the real opportunity to find out what was out in the universe, or even just the uncharted parts of the galaxy.
- I didn't outright resign from the marines but I made it clear that I was only remaining to help rebuild and that I had no interest in fighting. I also said that if they wanted my help, Kaidan and I would remain together because we were going to be married ASAP. I can't say everything was 100% happy. Rebuilding was a long process. But we did have a family and that's the best I could ask for in life.

I only know that each post I uploaded kept me at a steady 200 images.