What did you do today in ME?

Faith & Owen Shepard:

Faith: Met with Captain Anderson at Flux. He was on my side. Told me not to give up the fight and that I had to get to Ilos and figure out what the Conduit was and make sure Saren didn't use it. He'd wanted to warn me but was prevented from getting out a message. Two ideas to get the Normandy out of lockdown came up. First, he thought he could unlock the controls from a Citadel console. That was dangerous, considering it was watched by armed guards. Second idea was to hack Udina's computer since that's where the lockdown was issued. I voted on Udina's computer. Even if he was locked up for it at least he wouldn't be shot by security. Then, once I'd proven the Council wrong in stopping me, he'd be released.

Got to the Normandy and stood with Joker as we waited for the light to turn green. Don't know how he did it but Anderson succeeded. I definitely owed him one. Maybe more than one. Then it happened and we wasted no time leaving the Citadel. By the time anyone knew what had happened we would be long gone. We were headed off to Ilos.

Wouldn't you know it, Admiral Hackett reached out to me to do a mission for him AFTER I'd just stolen the Normandy. Guess he didn't care at all about Udina or Council politics. Something about biotic fanatics. I was in. They had it tough, something I knew Kaidan could relate to. Besides, me and Liara would also be there so it would be a squad of biotics.

Landed on Chohe. I found a surprising number of writings from some long dead asari matriarch (which just added to what I had already thought was a complete collection). As I was driving along I had been thinking about how few thresher maws I'd seen in these long stretches of flat ground when, wouldn't you know it, one popped up! Not that it stopped me. The Mako's cannons combined with it's jumping ability made it no match for us. I was never going to use one of those new Nomad's I'd heard about. They were faster, but the sacrifice was the kick ass cannon that could kill giant worms that came out of the ground.

Got to the compound but there was a bit of a hitch. The biotics had drugged a bunch of scientists and it wasn't all that unlikely that they'd wander into combat zones. Was going to have to try not to kill them. Succeeded. Took out the biotics and not a single casualty from the drugged up scientists. Hackett was very impressed. I was going to kick that Butcher nickname before I knew it. Why should Owen be the only one called a Hero?

Now it really was time to head to Ilos. En route, Kaidan stopped by my quarters. Didn't even knock. We talked and it was clear that we were ignoring the chain of command. I asked him to stay the night. We kissed, made love...he was worth the wait.

Then Joker called. He said we were at Ilos. There were lots of geth ships nearby by our stealth systems kept us hidden. Problem came in getting us close to Saren. Any clear landing zone to drop the Mako wouldn't get us to him in time. Arguments ensued but Joker said he could get us down, even with the landing zone 1/5 of the size normally needed. I trusted him and told him to make it happen.

Saren saw I land and locked a still functioning door. We'd have to find an override. Besides the door, there were still lights and elevators that were working. After 50,000 years, the damn lights were still on! If we survived this cycle I hope we could one day build as well as the Protheans. Funny thing was there were geth attacking us on some places but also armatures that were linked to consoles. I was able to hack them and use them against the geth! Kind of wish I had that quarian with me that was running with Owen.

Found a security panel that was still working. Sort of. A damaged hologram appeared and started to speak. Kaidan and Liara didn't understand it but it could perfectly. Those visions were finally proving useful! It was hard to understand but a clear warning against the Reapers and orders to seek refuge in the Archives. Also mentioned the Conduit but I couldn't figure out its use other than that it was useful against the Reapers. That meant Saren wanted to stop it from being used against them. Still, it unlocked the door and allowed us access to the Archives.

We did see stasis pods lining the walls of the Archives. They had all powered down, meaning there were no survivors. Then we ran into a barrier but there was an elevator right next to it. No choice but to enter. It brought us to another console with a damaged hologram. This was different than the other; it was a Prothean VI that called itself Vigil. I did say there was no taint of indoctrination on us, unlike the others who had passed by. Good to know considering all the Reaper technology we'd encountered. Or maybe not so surprising since I'd only encountered a hologram of Sovereign and not the Reaper itself. Vigil also had the imprint of the mind of a Prothean research scientist. Very possibly more AI than VI, but still barely functioning.

What it told us was chilling. The Citadel was a massive mass relay that the Reapers would use to invade the galaxy and destroy us all. The keepers were creations - or perhaps slaves - of the Reapers that were used to maintain the Citadel so that no organics would ever understand how the Citadel truly functioned. Worse, even those who escaped the initial assault were betrayed by indoctrinated agents. Then they stripped away all signs of advancement and retreated to dark space to allow younger civilizations to advance. The indoctrinated agents, with no one controlling them, died of starvation because they no longer knew how to care for themselves.

The Protheans had partially unlocked the working of the mass relays and had created the Conduit, a backdoor into the Citadel. And while I know we had just come from there, we might not understand what we needed to do without first coming to Ilos. Most of the stasis pods were shut down to preserve Vigil. Only when the Reapers retreated were the top scientists awakened. They knew they had no hope of winning but hoped to find a way to stop the Reapers from killing future cycles. After decades of work, they learned that a signal from the Citadel controlled the keepers. The Protheans prevented the signal from working so that, when Sovereign returned, the signal was ignored and the keepers did not open the mass relay as planned. Saren's plan was to manually open the Citadel relay. However, they had created a program that would temporarily override a master control unit for the Citadel that would prevent Saren from opening the relay. It was located right on the other side of the Conduit. I questioned Vigil as much as possible but we had to head out.

We had to race past several geth colossuses and into the Conduit before it closed. The Mako was wrecked into the process but it brought us right into the Presidium. That one mass relay sculpture that Ash had admired and Kaidan said made his teeth tingle - that was the other side of the Conduit. It was one-way, which is why no one ever knew its true purpose.

Probably shouldn't have been surprised to learn that the master control unit was located in the Citadel tower, right where the Council met. Had to travel outside of the Citadel on foot to get there. I interrupted Saren and he had to stop to face me. I talked with him, told him he would be discarded after the Reapers had one, and that he could stop them if he had the guts to do what had to be done. He knew what I meant. Saren thanked me and blew his brains out. That's the ultimate sacrifice in the face of an unstoppable enemy. Saren wasn't a good person by any stretch but at least he died trying to stop the Reapers. That meant something.

With him out of the way, I accessed the control unit and uploaded the data file. Kaidan suggested I open the Citadel arms so the fleets could get in. Problem was the Destiny Ascension - a ship holding 10,000 asari and the Council - was in grave danger, shields down 40%. They wouldn't survive without help. Then I heard from Joker, who had the entire Arcturus fleet with him and was willing to save the ship. Liara, of all people, said I should sacrifice the Council for the greater good while Kaidan talked of this all being bigger than humanity. I had to pause to consider the options, even knowing how little time we had. What I did understand was the while I hated politics and politicians even more, they were also the only thing holding the galaxy together, keeping what peace we had in check. If they died, things would be chaotic. I had to save them, even knowing that it would sacrifice more of the Alliance's fleet than I cared to think about. This was what it meant to be a part of a galactic society. We had to stand together. I gave the order.

As the fleet moved against Sovereign, the remnants of Saren came alive - or animated, at least. There was nothing organic there anymore. It was also just machine and entirely under the control of Sovereign. I'm not sure if it transferred its mind to that body or if it was in both places. I had no idea how Reapers worked. What I did know was that once I blew that thing to bits the shields on the Reaper dropped. The fleet flew and and destroyed Sovereign completely.

In the aftermath, the Council expressed tremendous gratitude for our actions. Even Sparatus was humbled, showing no signs of his typical bad attitude. The Council recognized that humanity was ready to stand as defenders of the galaxy and so offered us a place on the Council, only the fourth ever since its inception over 2600 years ago. Races who had been around much longer like the volus had not received such an honor. They asked for a list of potential candidates to serve as human Councilor but said MY choice would hold a lot of weight. I chose Anderson without hesitation. He had a spine. He was willing to punch Udina in the chin, risk his career, his freedom, maybe his life to do what he knew was right. More than that, he never doubted me when I talked about the Reapers. A soldier serving as a politician was just what we needed. Udina questioned me on that decision but the Council agreed. I'm sure the Alliance Council would have there own say on the subject but I suppose if the Citadel Council was happy with it they couldn't argue too much.

Then I told them I still had a lot of work to do to prepare for the eventual arrival of the Reapers. Though they'd been slowed down they were still on their way. We had no idea when they would come but we had to be ready.