What did you do today in ME?

Helpful tip about keeping fish alive in ME2. Before starting a mission, feed them. I did that right before playing the broker dlc. The fish were alive when I got back. Before starting Overlord, I fed the fish. They were still alive when I got back.

I know Chambers can feed the fish, but she doesn't until later in the game

Garrus disappointed me in combat several times in ME2, I stopped taking him. 

I hate it when the map is like that and you're what the F do I do first!!!!! It's like when I have a to do list, man I just need to get everything crossed off ASAP!!!!! 

Owen Shepard:

I'm progressing along through the geth ship/Prometheus Station. (Inaccurate name. This isn't a case of stealing fire from the gods. This is trying to trick the Devil into doing your bidding. There's always a catch and it usually ends in your death.) All the evidence, and some logs, tell me Cerberus is filled with assholes. Not like I didn't already know that, and Jack's story is even more evidence, but I'm hating these guys more and more as I go. Some of what's being done here is the same thing Tali's father did and with the same results.

It was smooth getting to the Atlas Station override controls. As soon as I activated it, the VI/David screamed at me and a geth woke up. I had no doubt that every inert geth we'd passed along the way was going to be shooting at us. I did learn that geth can't swim.


Oh, look. I'm a goddamned fortune teller.


Went into Atlas Station, where I would find David. But then I heard a log of Dr. Archer's that mentioned David was autistic. No way could he have been a willing participant. If I get my hands on that asshole my fist is going through his face. As per one Cerberus scientist, doors were opening and closing to herd me in a specific direction. More logs, probably being sent to me by David, had his brother claiming David "might even like it".

Soon enough, I found myself in front of a Big Red Button (actually blue). I had no storage.proboards.com/forum/images/bbcode/image.pngidea what was going to happen but David must have wanted me to press it. I didn't really have a lot of options. When I did, my mind was drawn into a virtual world. Tali and Kasumi were excluded and prevented from coming to my aid. Going back wasn't an option so I was going to find out what David wanted me to see. I went forward and got a look at something. There was the VI head but also what looked to be a humanoid figure below it.


Further on, I began to see video recordings. Turned out David was able to understand and mimic geth speech. They listened to him. On its own, that could have been a good thing. Learning to do as he did and talking the geth down might have been a worthwhile project. Problem was that it didn't end there. It went from that to interfacing his mind with the geth neural network. Then I saw the real horror of it all. Anyone who could do something like this to such an innocent person - especially his own brother - deserved nothing less than a bullet to the head.


Archer showed up and tried to convince me he never meant for this to happen, that if he didn't do it he'd be killed (which reminds me of Garrus's former squadmate), that it was worth it if it saved millions of mothers mourning their dead children. These were all just excuses to cover up that he was morally bankrupts. It was more obvious when I said I was going to take David somewhere safe and Archer took a shot a me by saying he was "too valuable". All that mattered was success, even if it killed his brother. I pistol-whipped him and told him I was taking David to Grissom Academy - and that TIM could fire me if he didn't like it. One thing's for certain - if I'd never gone undercover to take down Cerberus I could never have saved his kid. If that's all I get out of it I'll consider it a success. A follow-up message from TIM said that he didn't condone Archer's actions but that my taking David away set the project back years. What a prick he is.

Finally decided to clear up the last missions for my squadmates, which meant going to Tuchanka. I wanted to handle Mordin's problem first. The rather counter-intuitive decision I made was to bring Tali with me and not Grunt. For one thing, Tali was familiar to Wrex and he liked her. For another, we were doing a mission that might not be kosher to the krogan, even one like Grunt who - at the moment - help to allegiance to the other krogan.

Met with Wrex. He was very happy to see me. He'd somehow managed to unite the clans of Tuchanka under Urdnot, his own clan. Not everyone liked it but he had a better future in mind for his people than any other krogan had in over a thousand years. One scientist I talked to said he was annoyed that he could no longer build weapons but was instead forced to do stupid thinks like research how to make crops grow. The scientist said they could buy that stuff from the salarians. Mordin said he'd "heard" the salarians created the genophage and maybe trusting them wasn't the best idea. That made the idiot rethink the idea of relying on them. No wonder Tuchanka was such a shithole. They couldn't think building weapons to actually make their planet livable - or find a way to cure the genophage.


Learned that the missing salarian was in the hands of the Blood Pack, specifically Clan Weyrloc. I borrowed a truck and headed out there. I immediately ran into the klixen, those giant bugs I'd found elsewhere - on a planet run by the Blood Pack. I wondered if they were imported to Tuchanka from there or exported out. Knowing that everything on Tuchanka was deadly I could see them originating from here.

Once we got to the krogan hospital, where the Blood Pack were holed up, I spoke to the Weyrloc clanspeaker. Negotiations went poorly...for them.


Mordin was suffering a crisis of faith of his modification of the genophage. He said that the options were genophage or genocide given their rate of reproduction and the aggressive nature - though I'd met a few krogan who didn't fit the mold. Then found an Urdnot scout who had been experimented on by Weyrloc and told it was for the good of all krogan. He was acting weak but he'd never get out of there with this attitude. Basically, I told him he was worthless and only a real badass could make it out of there and back home. It worked. He roared and took off.

Fought through a lot more krogan. Ended up killing the Weyrloc clan leader, insuring that his clan wouldn't lead the charge even if the genophage were successfully cured. Finally made our way to Maelon but found something unexpected. Maelon wasn't a captive but instead had willingly come to Tuchanka to cure the genophage. His guilt over the modifications was much greater than Mordin's and he was unable to live with what he'd done. I had my own ethical concerns about it all but I understood why it had been done...sort of. I understand why it happened the first time but not necessarily the modification. I mean, I'd be pissed if I was looking a piles of dead human babies because someone had inflicted a virus on us to cause them to come out of the womb dead. Maybe that's why they were never able to overcome their violent nature. (Well, one reason.)

Mordin was ready to shoot Maelon to insure that he didn't cure the genophage. I stopped him, reminding him that he'd always said he wasn't a murderer. We sent Maelon running but at least he was alive. (Seems to be my specialty, stopping my team from being too ruthless - Miranda, Jack, Garrus, Jacob, Zaeed and now Mordin.) Then it came down to what to do with the data. Mordin considered deleting it but I suggested he keep it. Who knew when it might be useful? Mordin even considered he might one day use it to cure the genophage.


Dropped off Tali and Mordin and swapped them out for Garrus and Grunt. Garrus was another friendly face for Wrex and we needed to figure out what was wrong with Grunt. Grunt was unimpressed by the state of Tuchanka, saying he'd rather be in the tank. Understood, but I also knew what Wrex was planning. It just might become a place worth fighting for if Wrex got his way. Turned out that Grunt was going through adolescence and needed to undergo the "Rite of Passage". Another krogan whined about it, saying something born in a tank wasn't a true krogan. Wrex even said he was only going along with it because Grunt was with me. Grunt just had to join with Clan Urdnot. We talked to a shaman while the whiny krogan was complaining about it. In the end I headbutted the asshole just like I'd see Wrex do. That convinced everyone that I wasn't to be messed with and that Grunt could do the rite. [Tried to screenshot it but wasn't quick enough.]

Not too surprisingly, the rite was about fighting. First up were varren. I could take them in my sleep. I'm sure this was going to lead up to something more interesting but we could have skipped this entirely. Next up were the klixen, flown in by harvesters. They took a little more work since they did the most damage up close and they tended to swarm. That meant trying to pick them off before they could hit us with flames. They were tough.


Finally, we got something worthy - a damn thresher maw! I'd taken out plenty of these suckers in the Mako but never on foot. This was going to be interesting. It also seemed to be a bit bigger than the ones I'd seen around the galaxy. Maybe they grew 'em bigger on Tuchanka. In the end, like everything that crossed my path, it went down. Turned out that the last one to defeat a thresher maw on foot was Wrex.


That's when the whiny little bitch showed up. He wanted to accept Grunt into his clan but essentially neuter him. I had no doubt Grunt's response to that. I set the clanspeaker of Weyrloc on fire while he was giving one of his speeches. I'm sure this would go down much the same. In the end, that asshole and his followers died and Grunt earned his place in the Urdnot clan with all the rights that came with it. He was not going to be anyone's trophy. EDI informed us that several requests came for breeding rights with Grunt...and one for me. Can you imagine me and a krogan having sex?

That was it. Now that my entire team could focus on the task at hand, it was time to head to the derelict Reaper. Supposedly derelict. TIM said he'd lost communication with the scientists there. Any idiot should know that spending time around a Reaper was bound to cause indoctrination. Now this idiot was going there to investigate. Now the question was who to take with me? I decided on the Cerberus flunkies. Maybe they'd get a better idea of what TIM is willing to subject his people to. Completely unsurprised to learn that the Reaper's mass effect field was still active. No way this thing was completely dead.

First thing we saw was a corpse. Then a log said the crew was edgy and even the lead scientist said the atmosphere was dark. Another scientist was reported to have been staring at samples for hours, "listening" to them. Sounds like indoctrination. Aaaaand...the Reaper put up kinetic barriers. Definitely not dead, though why it would sit there for 37 million years was beyond me. Even Sovereign only waited 50,000 years between cycles. That means it sat there through 740 cycles. Had to be a watcher of some sort.

[Posting, not because I'm done, but because my screen got messed up for a short time. Don't want to lose this very lengthy post.]

Damn. I was invincible. Level 42. And I died like a idiot on depot sigma 23... I blew myself up... damned count-down


Well, to blow up is shepard destiny, after all

Owen Shepard:

Off to the Heretic Station to help Legion. I don't know if the robot, this geth is really go to help us if we help it but it's worth a shot. Tali seems like she'd be the obvious choice, since she knows more about geth than any of us, but she's also biased - and I would be, too, if my father had been killed by them. My father was killed by batarians. A brilliant mind could come in hand, so I chose Mordin. I know salarians aren't the toughest race out there but Mordin was STG. That means he was a badass.

Another option in dealing with the heretics became available. They could be rewritten rather than destroyed. This would bring them back into the fold. But there were considerations. For one, this was akin to mind control. Two, nothing prevented them from coming to the same conclusion about the Reapers and allying themselves with them. Maybe even bringing more geth along with them. Then Legion discovered the heretics had placed programs in the "true geth" to try to alter their programming. Seems like the heretics had a very good chance or returning even if they were overwritten.

Once back, there was an argument between Tali and Legion. Something about Legion wanting to send back data about the quarian engaging in weapons testing against the geth which would endanger them. Sending the data would endanger the quarian. I decided they were both right, after a fashion. Tali acknowledged what was done in the geth weapons testing was wrong but was afraid that telling them would lead to a geth attack. Legion agreed not to transmit the intel and in exchange Tali gave Legion some non-classified information. It satisfied them both. If I could make peace between those two I was beginning to believe that anything was possible.

EDI had installed the IFF but some tests to make sure it was functioning properly. While that was happening, it was suggested that the team take a little break. We took the shuttle for some downtime before heading off to the Omega-4 relay. After we returned we learned that some serious shit had gone down in our absence. The IFF had a program in it that took control of the Normandy. The Collectors then showed up. The only way for EDI to remove them was to remove the restraints that kept her from having total control of the ship. To do that, Joker had to get to the AI core. That meant getting past a lot of Collectors. Then he had to reactivate the engines. That's when we learned EDI had a sense of humor. To their credit, this crew sacrificed themselves to help him get there. The rest were abducted. Only Joker remained safe.


We found all these things out when we returned. Miranda tried to blame Joker for it all but what could he have done? She also was mad that he'd unshackled EDI but, again, what were his options? Still, we had our ship and the means to get through the relay. If I'm being honest, I know the abductions were to draw me to the Collectors. I still didn't know what they wanted from me but it was time to find out and to rescue my crew. However they got here, whoever they worked for, these were good people. I wasn't going to let anymore of them die.

We went through the relay. On the other side, we were attacked by a giant, floating eye that blasted us with energy. It tore holes through the shuttle bay but we were eventually able to take it down. Once we landed on the Collector Base, we had to figure out how to get where we needed to be. Someone had to go through a ventilation shaft. Jacob volunteered but we needed a tech expert. Meant Tali or Kasumi. I didn't want either of them to be at risk but this mission wasn't about safety. I chose Kasumi. She could cloak herself so it might help.

I led one team while Miranda led the other. Kasumi went through the vents. We finally made our way to where the crew was being held in pods. Right before my eyes I watched one woman - not from my crew - melt into some kind of sludge. I was horrifying. I was able to free my own crew before it happened to them.


Chakwas was surprised I came for her. I told her no one got left behind. In that moment, I forgave Joker for Faith dying. She died and he lived because she'd never leave her team behind. This was no different. In any case, we had to get them safely to the Normandy. I sent them with Mordin. He could handle himself in a fight but also knew how to be sneaky. Seemed like the best option. Before they left, Chakwas said the "processed" humans were being moved through tubes. EDI said the tubes all led to a central chamber. The only way through was a corridor that was filled with seeker swarms. There were too many for Mordin's countermeasures to work. The idea came up to use a biotic barrier to keep them out but the one doing it would have to be very strong. Jack and Miranda were both strong but no one topped Samara. She was the one for this. However, I wanted some back up just in case. I took Miranda and Jack with me. They could bolster the barrier if necessary. Meanwhile, Garrus would lead the second team to create a diversion.


Samara was literally pushed to her limits. I have no idea of Miranda or Jack could have held out so long. Neither of them had her mental fortitude.

Finally, we were near the control room but had the Collectors on our tail. I had to pick a team for myself while everyone else stayed behind to defend. I wanted my closest friends with me but instead chose Miranda. And a really unusual choice in Legion. I hoped the rest could make it back to the Normandy. Even if we didn't make it at least they might.

When we finally got in, after fighting numerous Collectors - many of turned into Harbinger - we got to the central chamber. What we found was a skeleton monstrosity that was obviously designed to look human. All the tubes led into this thing. EDI theorized that this was how Reapers reproduced - by transforming the "processed" people of many races and feeding it into things like this, which served as the heart of new Reapers. EDI suggested that millions more, at the least, would be required. Despite tens of thousands of humans having died to make this thing, I had every intention of stopping it.

EDI said destroying the tubes leading into it should stop it. That was partially true. The thing was weakened but had some kind of awareness. We still had more work to do to kill the damn thing. In the meantime, TIM contacted us, saying he wanted us to save the Collector Base. I understood his reasoning but also didn't trust what he might do with this kind of technology. He'd already created husks in the past. Who knew what he could do with what he found here? The answer was a hard no. More than that, Miranda told him she resigned. She'd seen a lot in our travels together and learned more truth about Cerberus than she ever imagined.


Miranda, Legion and I blew that thing to hell. The rest of the squad had made it to the Normandy. The three of us ran like hell since the base was set to explode and we had Collectors at our back. I was the last one to board, making a leap I think Superman would be proud of.


Once back on board I had a chat with TIM. I told him to fall in line or to get the hell out of my way. No surprise in his decision. I wasn't entirely sure what our next move was going to be other than to finally go on the mission Hackett had told me about.

Usually I arrest Ronald Taylor, and a couple times I've left him to be torn to pieces by the hunters. But this time he ended up shooting himself in the head. I don't really see how that option is more renegade than letting the hunters have him, which is the middle option on the wheel. A quick death is much more preferable, imo.

That's it for missions today. Now on Omega listening to Patriarch tell war stories. I've never listened to his whole spiel before. I wonder if he knows Drack?

Owen Shepard:

Heading out to rescue Admiral Hackett's missing friend, Dr. Kenson. It took me to batarian territory, on one of the outer rims of the galaxy. It's one of the last places I ever wanted to be. Though I've learned not to hold a full grudge against the race as a whole, I can say I don't like their practice of murdering and enslaving human colonists - or colonists of any other race. I say again, my entire family was murdered by them, and those who lived were made into slaves. I can't forget that. Ever.

Hackett wanted me to do this mission solo, as a favor to him, no doubt because I had been with Cerberus. He didn't know that we'd severed ties with them, nor that my squad was loyal to me. I'd earned their trust and trusted them in return. Still, I followed orders. I did wonder if Hackett knew I was an undercover Spectre but it wasn't worth dwelling on.

A lot of varren on Aratoht, both dead and alive. I wonder if the batarians used them just as much for target practice as they did attack dogs. This prison was probably one of the worst I'd ever seen. I did hear the batarians interrogating Kenson, which was good. It meant she was still alive. Problem was the laser security preventing me from rushing in. Had to find another way.

I overheard the batarians talking about someone wanting to smash an asteroid into the system's mass relay. That last time I'd heard of something similar - from Faith - was the Mu Relay. It had been lost for centuries. Of course, that was from a star going nova. Who knew what would have with a direct hit from something solid. (Not that the force of a nova would seem solid, but maybe the relay absorbed some of the energy. We didn't really know how those things worked or stayed powered.) I suppose I understood the interrogation. Not that it was going to stop me from killing them and rescuing Kenson.

Overheard the interrogation. Kenson seemed convinced that the Reapers were coming and that they'd arrive through the Bahak relay. The batarian seemed to think doing so would destroy the system. No evidence had ever suggested that would be the case but their belief was all that counted. Even if it didn't I can imagine they wouldn't want to lose this relay. Freeing Kenson triggered alarms and we'd have to fight our way out.


Kenson said we'd need to find a console that would allow us to commandeer a shuttle of the planet with the right credentials. We found a security console for Kenson to hack while I kept the batarians off her back. Really wish I had Garrus or Samara with me. But I'm an N7 and a Spectre. I'll work with what I've got. Made our way to the shuttle but had to break the locks securing the shuttle bay. [Remember I absolutely cannot use biotic charge here. Had too many enemies stuck in walls or wherever and unable to kill them - which prevents me from boarding the shuttle.]

Once we were away, Kenson explained the situation. She said the Reapers were coming through the Bahak relay, which she referred to as an "Alpha Relay". From it, the Reapers would be able to reach the entire galaxy, though I'm not sure how that made it different from any other relay. (I guess a primary relay rather than secondary.) Destroying the relay, which she believed would probably destroy the system, would prevent the Reapers from coming through and give us additional time to prepare for their arrival. This mission was sounding worse and worse as we went. I had no love for batarians but I can't imagine wiping out the non-combatants, the mothers and children simply living their lives. Moreover, Kenson had yet to provide any proof. She said it came from a Reaper artifact called Object Rho. That already made me feel uneasy. Spending much time around it was begging for trouble.

When we got to Project Base on an asteroid there was a countdown. It was just over two days. She brought me to the lab where I could see Object Rho, an artifact that had given her visions "like the Prothean beacons". Very suspicious at this point.

Oh, shit. This was worse than I thought. Object Rho was sitting there in the open with no shielding of any kind. There was dark energy swirling around inside of it. As Kenson said, it gave me a vision of the Reapers coming through the relay. That was when Kenson turned on me, saying I couldn't restart the project, that we had to let the Reapers come. Indoctrination. Kenson sicced her guards on me. Object Rho also spoke to me. Sounded a lot like Harbinger.


A lot of guards came after me. Wave after wave until I was finally overwhelmed. When I woke up there I was in a cell. The sedatives had worn off of me and no longer kept me down. Worse, I was in a Cerberus uniform. Can't account for that one. Don't ask me why but there were controls for a Loki mech in my cell. I was able to use it to disable the field preventing me from leaving. I was glad to be back in my N7 armor and armed. I'd been out a long time. There was just under two hours before the Reapers would arrive.

One journal log from a guard said he was having unusual dreams. He also said he thought Kenson stopped caring about the project and that he thought he wasn't hearing fear in her voice but instead excitement. Another log, from Kenson herself, had her believing that the Reapers didn't really want us dead since life continued to exist. Indoctrination is the worst. There was no use trying to disable the guards. All the evidence pointed to it being a permanent state of affairs, with only the strongest minds able to resist it even for a short period (as Saren had done in order to kill himself).

Once I got to the controls I was told by the VI that approximately 300,000 batarians would be killed. That was a lot for my conscience to handle. Unfortunately, a lot more would die when they arrived, including this colony. I activated it. I did try to warn the batarian colony but was prevented. Not sure it would have made a difference. No way to evacuate that may people in under two hours. Kenson had interrupted the call and said she was going to destroy the reactor core to prevent the collision with the relay.

To stop Kenson, I had to insert some cooling rods. Lots of guards between me and my destination. Once the cooling rods were inserted, I had to confront Kenson. She no longer heard the Reaper voices. I took a shot at her. As she fell she pressed the button of a detonator in her hand. The explosion killed her and knocked me out. When I woke up there was less than 30 minutes to escape. Tried to call the Normandy but communications were damaged. The VI directed me to shuttles.

Got to a comm relay outside and was able to contact Joker. That was when Harbinger decided to show up, or at least a projection. He threatened me, said I'd gained nothing. Time mattered...if I could convince anyone that the threat was real. They didn't believe Faith and they'd seen a damn Reaper attack the Citadel. The Normandy arrived just in time and we made it through the relay moments ahead of the asteroid. We saw the relay blink out of existence, along with the Bahak System. [Almost lost this entire write up to my Wi-Fi adapter inexplicably not working. Fortunately I was able to save it in a Notepad before rebooting.]


Back on the Normandy, in the med bay, I saw Chakwas conferring with Admiral Hackett. It seemed to confirm my suspicion that she was there as an ally, undercover herself, rather than having joined Cerberus. Hackett and I talked. He wanted to know what had happened and I explained everything. He didn't doubt a word I said. Hackett also inferred that the Normandy was no longer a Cerberus vessel. It did mean I'd failed at my undercover mission but it was worth it to do what I'd accomplished. Hackett also spoke to me like I was an Alliance marine and told me I'd eventually have to return to Earth to stand trial. He did say he wanted me there anyway so I'd be in place to face the Reapers.


And that is the end of Mass Effect 2.

Well, I nearly managed to write up more about Barbara "Barbie" Shepard, but I procrastinated again. I am about two weeks (three weeks?) behind at this point. Not good. I must do better.

Okay so its been a few days since William recounted his experiences and in all honesty not sure where I left off so just going to pick up from yesterday.

So having stolen a live Prothean from under Cerberus's nose and having had EDI download herself into Dr. Eva Core's body William headed off to Palaven's largest moon to pick up Primarch Fedorian (SP?), on arrival got to fight a variety of Reaper Husks including some Brutes which was fun. Spoke to Geberal Corinthius who avised that Fedorian was dead and they were still trying to ascertain who was next in line. So while that took place William helped clear a landing field of Husks, fixed a Comm.'s tower and then "held the Line" or a wall at least.

Shepard was advised the next Primarch was a General Victus and was pleased to see his old friend Garrus who agreed to find Victus and then to join the crew.

Then off to Grissom Academy where it was a pleasant surprise to see Jack teaching the academy kids Biotics. William could have done without the punch in the face though and with the help of Kahlee Sanders Jack, Garrus and EDI started evacuating the kids. TBC.

Some Pic's

Yes Javik, they used to eat flies



EDI can you put some clothes on please



Welcome aboard garrus, yes you can get calibrating



The wonderful Kahlee Sanders (no relation to the Colonel



Its always a pleasure Jack