What did you do today in ME?

From the Journal of Ioan Shepard:

In the interest of getting things started, I'm importing Shepard into ME3. He's an Earthborn/War Hero/Vanguard with the Slam bonus power. (Considered switching to Carnage but trying to be consistent.) Mostly Paragon.

For six months, Shepard has been held in a cell, relieved of duty. He had secrets. He destroyed the batarian relay while on a secret mission for Hackett and refused to say why he'd been out there. However, the fact was that he was in protective custody and on standby to make use of should the Reapers appear. All squadmates were dropped off on the Citadel prior to heading to Earth, as was most of the crew. Any who had served with the Alliance (Joker, Daniels, Donnelly, Chakwas) remained aboard, all willing to stand with him. Anderson resigned as Councilor once Hackett told him of the Reapers nearly entering the galaxy. He was one of the few who unquestionably believed in the Reaper threat and Hackett wanted someone like him where he'd be more useful. The politicians could pretend nothing was happening but the fleets had to be as ready as possible. Shepard had few visitors but was on friendly terms with Lieutenant James Vega, one of his "guards", who never stopped calling him "Commander". Vega knew when someone was being railroaded when he saw it.

- Vancouver: Watched a child playing outside my window when Vega came by. Said the Alliance Council wanted to see me. There was more bustling in the hallways than usual. I saw Anderson. He told me something big was headed our way but there was no confirmation that it was the Reapers. I said that, yes, it was them and that I didn't think we were ready. Also ran into Kaidan. He'd been promoted to major but never told me. Never stopped by to see me, either. I let it slide. I'm sure he had other duties and it was probably for the best.
- The Alliance Council showed me some data and told me that whole colonies had gone dark and that there were no communications beyond the Sol Relay. Something incomprehensibly powerful was coming. I told them it was the Reapers and that "winning" wasn't a strategy. Survival was what we had to aim for instead. And we'd only do that my standing together - no separation of the different alien races or the non-Alliance human colonies. Anything less would see us all dead. In the minutes of our talk, a report came in that Luna Base had been destroyed. Then came video from the UK that showed Reapers in London. Seconds later, a Reaper appeared in the skies of Vancouver. I shouted for everyone to move to cover, but only Anderson and I had the courage - and maybe some damn luck in placement - to get out of the way of the beam that came into the room. He and I were the only survivors.
- Anderson raised Kaidan on the radio and told him to head to the Normandy. We also headed off in that direction. It was our only hope.

To be continued...

Melody Shepard, Colonist/Sole Survivor/Infiltrator, Paragade, ME3 Insanity:

Recap:

• Killed the rachni queen
• Rescued Kaidan on Virmire
• Chose to sacrifice the Council
• Destroyed Maelon's data
• Did not recruit Wrex
  
• Chose to destroy the geth heretics
• Left the Collector Base to Cerberus
  
• Survived the suicide mission with 10 squadmates (Mordin died, Samara was never recruited)
• Did not romance anyone in ME1 or ME2

I've started this without doing Arrival in ME2:

1. I didn't feel like playing it on Insanity;
2. I've never done an ME3 run without having played it;
3. I have an ulterior motive (behind a spoiler cut, if playthrough plans count as a spoiler ):

Even with a tweak, her hair colour seems too dark. I've headcanoned that she washed some bleach out of it. It's a much shorter buzzcut than in ME1/ME2 as well, but I'll soon get used to it; I already think it looks quite good on her, actually. In-game, she looks a lot more like "herself".

I got a chance to pick a bonus power, so I went for AP ammo; that'll do a bit of extra damage and preclude the need for piercing mods on weapons.

Aaaaaanyway...

Having spent six months in custody for working with a proscribed organization, Melody was summoned by Admiral Anderson to meet with the Alliance defence committee in Vancouver regarding something ominous on long-range sensors. During the meeting, the ominous thing suddenly became very short-range: the Reapers had arrived in the Sol system. Earth was utterly overwhelmed by the devastating attack. Anderson reactivated Melody's commission, giving her command of the Normandy SR-2, now an Alliance vessel, but insisted on remaining behind to coordinate the resistance on Earth. As the Normandy fled Vancouver, Melody witnessed a child being immolated by a Reaper death ray.

(Coming to this straight from ME2, the improvements in ME3's graphics and combat engine are really obvious).

Lt James Vega was opposed to leaving Earth, and said so. Already tense enough, Melody lost her temper and yelled at him. Admiral Hackett radioed and ordered Melody to Mars to rendezvous with Liara at the Prothean archives. She took a shuttle with James and Major Kaidan Alenko.

It soon became clear that Cerberus had beaten the Alliance to the archives and had executed the research staff. There was palpable tension between Kaidan and Melody, despite Melody having cut ties with Cerberus. Fortunately for the squad, the Cerberus troops displayed Blue Suns levels of incompetence. (One player death though, stupid grenades...) The jokers behind riot shields were particularly amusing, being little more than free headshots to an infiltrator with an armour-piercing rifle. Kaidan and Liara combined their powers and biosploded anything that Melody didn't shoot.

Deep in the archive, the Illusive Man appeared on QEC Skype and explained his plan to win the war by Assuming Control of the Reapers. He had become quite interested in Reaper tech, also using it to "improve" his soldiers; Melody was having second thoughts about preserving the Collector base. The Cerberus mole in the Prothean archives, Dr Eva Coré, downloaded data about a potential Reaper-killing weapon and fled with it. The squad gave chase, but she turned out to be a fembot with superhuman strength, critically wounding Kaidan. James and Melody broke her and returned to the Normandy.

Kaidan required urgent medical attention at the Citadel. Liara and EDI analysed the Prothean data while Melody took Kaidan to Huerta Memorial. She checked in on him once he was stable, but he was still unconscious. She then accompanied Liara and Cllr Udina for an audience with the Council, who were reluctant to deploy forces to Earth in order to bunker down on their own homeworlds. The turian councillor did propose that the Normandy assist with a mission to rescue the turian Primarch in return for their assistance.

Before returning to the Normandy, Melody denied permission for a journalist to embed aboard the ship, deeming it a security risk.

The child whom she saw killed in Vancouver haunted Melody's dreams that night.

In two of my three playthroughs so far, I've Cained the Colossus. I imagine that I will in future playthroughs too

The first rule of Mass Effect (especially ME3MP): there is always a pyro behind you!

In my most recent playthrough, I kept squad points unassigned on non-loyal characters so I'd be able to level up their bonus powers as soon as they were loyal. This was especially useful on Jack so I could have Squad Warp Ammo straight away.

Melody Shepard, Colonist/Sole Survivor/Infiltrator, ME3 Insanity:

Following the example that Anderson had set while briefly in command of the Normandy SR-1, Melody decided to wear Alliance blues as her regular duty uniform. Suitably attired, she toured the refitted Normandy, although "refitted" was generous considering the rush job that had been done. Bare cables hung messily all over the place, and none of the lighting seemed to be working properly (srsly BioWare, I know ME3 was supposed to be darker in tone, but the mood lighting on the Normandy is absurd). She introduced herself to comms/science specialist Samantha Traynor and shuttle pilot/quartermaster Steve Cortez. She was pleased to find Lt Adams, formerly of the Normandy SR-1, in command of the engineering team. And she sparred with James, earning a nickname in the process.

After collecting her model ships and recapturing her hamster, Melody visited Liara, ensconced in Miranda's old office, the place converted into a mobile Shadow Broker base, the original one having been scuttled to prevent it from falling into Cerberus' hands. She also paid her respects at the cenotaph that had been installed opposite the elevator on Deck 3, inscribed with the names of those who given their lives while serving aboard both ships named Normandy.

In preparation for the mission to rescue Primarch Fedorian, Melody examined some supplies that Liara had procured via her Broker contacts. The Indra fully-automatic sniper rifle looked thoroughly useful, but she had mixed feelings about the Cerberus Ajax armour. Six months ago, she was proudly wearing Cerberus gold; now, it seemed strange to be wearing their logo given the Illusive Man's worrying new direction. Still, Melody hoped that he might yet come to his senses and commit to fighting the Reapers, and she really did want to wear that armour...

Equipped with her new armour, Indra SR and standard-issue Katana shotgun, Melody boarded the shuttle with James and Liara. They were dropped onto Palaven's moon Menae, straight into a mob of husks. Unlike the ones manufactured by the Collectors, these ones weren't armoured, so the trio had no trouble neutralizing them. Proceeding to the local turian encampment, Melody introduced herself to the officer in charge, General Corinthus, who broke the news that Primarch Fedorian was dead. The squad rendered assistance in getting the comms tower back online so that Corinthus could find out who was next in line to the throne; it turned out to be Adrien Victus, a general commanding a nearby unit.

Joker suddenly radioed with news about systems failures on the Normandy, so Liara had to depart to investigate. Her place on the squad was filled by Garrus Vakarian, on site in an advisory capacity and eager to assist. The three of them cleared some Reaper infantry from the airfield, including turian "Marauder" husks. They then proceeded to Victus' camp, encountering a krogan/turian "Brute" gestalt monstrosity on the way. A powerful mêlée fighter, it incapacitated Garrus, but Melody and James dealt with it using firesplosions and armour-piercing guns.

Victus' camp was under heavy assault by Marauder, Brute and batarian "Cannibal" husks; the squad's assistance in clearing them out was appreciated by the weary turians. Victus was shocked to learn of his promotion to Primarch, believing himself ill-suited for the job; but Melody opined that a warrior with a penchant for out-of-the-box thinking was just what the galaxy needed.

Returning to the Normandy with Victus and Garrus, Melody began to plan a war summit. The asari decided to sit it out, but Victus agreed to meet with representatives from the salarian and krogan governments.

No player deaths on this mission. The Indra is fantastic for killing Husks and Cannibals, and for chewing away at Brutes while waiting three seconds for Incinerate to become available again. It's not as good for Marauders because they tend to combat-roll as soon as they take significant damage; but that's fine 'cos their shields will be gone, and Cloak+Incinerate is available again very quickly. (I wonder if I can one-shot Marauders and other shielded things using the Mantis with Disruptor Ammo? In multiplayer, I'd use phasic rounds with a single-shot sniper rifle, but they're unfortunately not a thing in SP).

If you are using the Mantis (or Widow), you will need Energy Drain/Overload first on Insanity because of 100% shieldgate. Infiltrator can one-shot shielded enemies with the Javelin and Kirshock (DLC gun) with Disruptor Ammo. For Javelin, you will need Fortification with rank 5 Power Synergy. 

Kirshock deals damage in two parts. Multiplayer and single player values are different (I don't know them off-hand). So with Disruptor Ammo, the first damage will take out the shields. If you score a headshot, the second damage should kill the enemy. 

Melody Shepard, Colonist/Sole Survivor/Infiltrator, ME3 Insanity:

The power fluctuations on the Normandy turned out to have been EDI engaging in a battle of synthetic wills with the remains of Eva Coré's AI, after inadvertently reactivating it while extracting the Prothean data. EDI won and Assumed Control of the fembot. When she asked whether it was acceptable to modify her core programming to remove the morality restrictions imposed by Cerberus, Melody opined that it would be consistent with exercising free will. She also opined that it would be better for EDI and Joker not to attempt a relationship.

Garrus installed himself into the main battery and took his mind off Palaven's fall by busying himself with calibrations. He and Melody spoke about the differing human and turian approaches to military strategy.

The salarian and krogan representatives were willing to attend the war summit if it were hosted on the Normandy. Before heading out into salarian space, the Normandy returned to the Citadel because Melody wanted to check in on Kaidan again. She found him still bedridden, but conscious. She took him a bottle of whiskey as a get-well present. They cleared the air and agreed to put their tensions behind them, Kaidan admitting that he had been wrong to doubt his former commanding officer. Before leaving the hospital, Melody renewed her acquaintanceship with Dr Michel, Kaidan's physician; Dr Chakwas, eager to resume her duties aboard the Normandy; and Thane, receiving palliative treatment for late-stage Kepral syndrome, and at peace with himself.

Before returning to the Normandy, Melody visited the Presidium shops to buy upgrades (and model ships), then dropped in on James in the Purgatory bar and bought a a round of drinks for some marines. On her way out of Purgatory, she passed Aria T'Loak, now a refugee, Omega and its riches having been seized by Cerberus. She then went down to the Citadel docks, now converted into a refugee camp, where Garrus was coordinating relief efforts as best he could. And she convinced Khalisah al-Jilani to do some real reporting for a change.



The war summit was an ill-tempered affair. Urdnot Wreav spoke for the krogan and demanded a cure for the genophage as his price for joining the war, to the outrage of the salarian dalatrass and the incredulity of Primarch Victus. Wreav revealed a trump card: a krogan female who had survived Maelon's experiments being held in a secure testing facility on Sur'Kesh. With Victus desperate to secure krogan troops to fight on Palaven, and Melody intent on securing this alliance, the dalatrass found herself outnumbered and outvoted.

Melody took a shuttle to the salarian facility with Garrus, EDI and Wreav. The krogan did nothing to hide his contempt for the human, taking her decision to destroy Maelon's data almost personally. Melody responded by echoing Mordin's sentiments that the krogan had not been ready for a genophage cure. Tempers ran high as the shuttle landed. (Wow, this is really quite different to the way things go with Wrex in charge. Glad I'll be having Wrex present in any future playthroughs! )

The facility was under heavy guard, the troops commanded by Major Kirrahe, whom Melody and Garrus were pleased to meet again. Kirrahe remarked that Melody's standoff with someone called "Urdnot Wrex" on Virmire was legendary within STG. Melody had no recollection of anyone by that name; but then, she had killed a lot of krogan that day. Perhaps he had been one of the mercenaries hired by Saren.

The salarian scientist in charge, Padok Wiks, introduced himself. An evolutionary researcher, he strongly believed that the genophage was political interference in the krogan's natural evolution, and that it would be preferable for nature to take its own course, for good or ill. (This is such a different approach and motivation compared with Mordin. I like Wiks already. Wouldn't mind seeing how he and Wrex get along, actually, so there's an idea for my next playthrough).

Resigned to her purpose as a bargaining chip, the krogan female readied herself for transfer to Tuchanka, when Cerberus suddenly attacked. They seemed intent on preventing the Council races from forming an allience with the krogan. Kirrahe opined that there was likely a mole within STG who had tipped them off. Fortunately, they were mostly as incompetent as the platoon who had been sent to Mars (two player deaths: another blasted grenade, and then a piece of complete idiocy involving an Assault Trooper for which I have no excuse ). Their engineers tried to set up mobile turrets, but Melody hacked them.

Cerberus dropped an Atlas mech in their last attempt to capture the female krogan. Melody switched her Indra from disruptor to AP ammo and made short work of it. Wreav yelled "encouragement" over the comm as she and her squad did their work; Garrus remarked that he missed Wrex. That name again; Melody figured that perhaps Garrus knew this Wrex during his C-Sec days. She could certainly believe that he'd worked with a krogan merc in order to get a job done.

Back aboard the Normandy, Hackett radioed with support for the proposed krogan alliance, and also said that the Prothean device, dubbed the "Crucible", was now under construction.

Melody "chatted" with Wreav about his plans after the genophage was cured. To him, the female ("Eve") was political capital; with the cure under Urdnot control, he would rule all of Tuchanka, and then move on the Council. Melody and Primarch Victus agreed that his ambitions were troubling.

Watch the Indra trivialize the Atlas, and then I show my true "abilities" by fluffing an easy headshot :

"Welcome back to the show. We are currently talking wuth Commander Shepard. So get to the Citadel what happens next?
"I was there asking the council to help with building the device. They weren't to keen about that since they had prtoblems of their own. They also didn't believe the device can stop the reapers. Thankfully the turian councilor gave me a alead to get things moving. I had to rescue the leader of the turians, the Primarch."
"Here you are in a dream chasing a boy."
"That never happened. At time i slept well ther times I didn't because my mind was on stopping the reapers. Its something Bioware put in the game."
"And here's the scene everyone has been waiting for. Your future wife, Samantha Traynor."(the audience cheers) "Ws that the first time you met her?"
"No. The first time I met her was in Vancouver while the Normandy was getting retrofitted. I was at a loss for words. To this day I can't explain why. She...I was just in awe at how good looking she was. I will say this. If the reapers looked like her, we would not be talking right now."
"Bugs Bunny as already playthrough meeting the rest of the crew. Did you and James fight?"
"No. I don't have an answer as to why Bioware added that. I know James has mention a few times that he likes the scene."
"So you head to Palaven to get the Primarch. You also run into a former squadmate, Garrus. He helps you defeat the reapers. When was the last time you've seen him"
"Its been many years. Last I heard he was helping train new recruits in the military"
"Here's a question from one of our audience members? What happened to Rupert Gardner?
"He's a famous chef. He has a few restaurants all over the world. I see him a few times each year. I don't know why he wasn't in ME3."
"I see Bugs Bunny is playing through very quickly to get to the part where you have to choose what to do with the genophage. I will ask that question right after this break"

Haha, still in training
And you're not doing so bad yourself, so keep the videos coming

From the Journal of Ioan Shepard: (Back in business! No mods allowed me to reach Mars. Still might try them again.)

- Mars: Arrived on Mars. Had no idea what we were looking for but there was a massive storm heading our way. Kaidan mentioned it was normal and I wondered when he'd ever spent any time here. Right off, found a dead Alliance soldier. Indications were that he didn't resist. Heard shots fired and went to investigate. An Alliance marine was on his knees with his hands behind his head, surrounded armored men with the Cerberus logo. He didn't resist when executed him. It made no sense. However, they had to pay for it. I used a Krysae Sniper Rifle to take out the executioner and then we cleaned out the rest.
- Kaidan was immediately suspicious of me, as though I hadn't been locked in a room in Vancouver for the past six months. Vega at least knew I had been under constant watch and that, even if I had ever held I loyalty to Cerberus, there's no way I could have been in touch with them. I told him to trust me, given all we'd been through together, what we had meant to one another. He said he did but there was a huge "but" involved.
- Inside the base, we heard something in the ducts. Liara popped out with Cerberus troopers on her tail. She took them out with a singularity and a few shots to the head. Then we talked. There were blueprints for a device in the Prothean Archives that might just be the thing that could take on the Reapers. I sent James back to the shuttle in case we needed a quick evac while Kaidan, Liara and myself went ahead.
- Had to go outside to a pedway to access a tram to take us to the Archives. Saw signs of Alliance fighting Cerberus but we never saw anyone left alive. Cerberus was clearly winning here. It became evidence why on the other side. An airlock that had been opened by security override had caused those inside to suffocate to death. This was even more cruel than normal for Cerberus. Saw some video showing a woman named Dr. Eva Core was responsible. She was a Cerberus plant who killed Alliance soldiers and opened the airlocks.
- We discovered the trams were locked down from the other side. Only way over was to trick Cerberus into sending one back. Kaidan found a trooper whose helmet was intact. When he removed it, we saw a face that looked very much like that of a husk. Not exactly, but partially. Everything I feared Cerberus might try to do since I first crossed paths with them three years ago. Kaidan said he thought maybe that was done to me, that I was a puppet for TIM. That hurt. A lot. But I played it off, saying he was just stubborn and that maybe we'd find answers along the way. They weren't as stupid as I would have liked. The squad the came over started firing immediately. But we were ready and took the tram across.
- More troops awaited us but we dispatched them. Then we stepped into the Archives itself. A hologram of TIM appeared to talk to me. He thought I was short-sighted for destroying the Collector Base but I told him the place where the deaths of hundreds of thousands of humans took place had to be destroyed. I told him to give me his resources and I'd stop the Reapers. TIM had other plans, believing the data in the Prothean Archives would lead to a way to control them. Again, abominations, countless species ground up into goo to create them. I wanted them dead. He told me to stay out of his way.
- The whole conversation was meant to distract me. We found this out when Liara noticed the information from the Archives was disappearing. Kaidan then found Dr. Core was behind it. She gave him a vicious kick that knocked him down. I took off in pursuit. No way we could let her get away with the information they'd stolen. Not enough to copy it. They have to have it only for themselves. I dogged her but she made it aboard a Cerberus shuttle. I had already called in James Vega and he used the Normandy's shuttle to bash the other one into the ground. I only hoped that omni-tool survived so that we could recover the data.
- Then Dr. Core emerged from the wreckage but it was clear she wasn't human. She was a synthetic. She grabbed Kaidan by the neck and slammed him into the shuttle a couple of times. Then she came for me but I managed to take her - it - down. Kaidan was unconscious and I carried him aboard the Normandy. James brought the bot so we could study it.
- Normandy: I was in shock and Liara had to get my focus away from Kaidan long enough for me to tell Joker to take us to the Citadel. Reapes were inbound and we couldn't stay around no matter what. Then a call came in from Hackett over QEC. He told me to get the Council on board with helping, giving me broad latitude to do whatever it took to make that happen. That's a lot of power for someone who was just reinstated a few hours ago after months of house arrest.
- Citadel: Once we touched down, medics arrived to take Kaidan to Huerta Memorial Hospital. Commander (Captain when we'd last met) Bailey greeted us and told us to meet with the Council via terminal from Councilor Udina's office. However, he suggested I'd have time to check on Kaidan and I decided to do that. Before heading off, I saw a reporter that I'd had no previous affiliation with asking questions about me, having noticed the Normandy had docked. I approached her. She wanted to be embedded on the Alliance to help drum up support for the war. She had Alliance security clearance to do so. I agreed. Maybe reports she made could do as she said. Truthfully, I'd have loved Emily Wong but had no idea where she was. At least it's not al-Jilani, since she'd slant every word I said. Once the deal was made, I headed up to Huerta. Dr. Chakwas was there, having heard of a critical injury for a Normandy crew member. I convinced her to rejoin the Normandy. Then I went to see Kaidan. It was hard to see him banged up and unconscious but at least I knew he was getting the best care possible. I hoped he would recover soon so that we could resolve our difficulties.
- Headed up to the Human Embassy and stopped into to talk to Bailey. Al-Jilani was there, complaining that the Council wouldn't talk to her. I imagine they didn't have time for someone like her. Then I went to the Council. They did what they've always done and refused to help. Would love to have fed Sparatus his own fingers for his air quotes last year regarding the dismissal of my Reaper claim. Oddly enough, he was the one who offered support, after a fashion. He needed me to go to Palaven and extract their primarch for a war summit. The reasoning was that doing so would gain me turian support which would allow me to bypass whatever the Council had to say. Hackett did say to do whatever it took and this was it but I was not happy to be playing politician. Not my strong suit.
- Ran across my least favorite reporter, Khalisah al-Jilani. She basically called me a coward for leaving Earth but I told her I had to come to get help. Then I told her to keep being a thorn in the side of the Council to make it more difficult to dismiss Earth. For once, she could be useful.

From the Journal of Ioan Shepard:

- Normandy: Strange nightmare. In a dark forest. The kid who I saw die on Earth was there, brightly lit in the shadows. He was laughing and running away from me as I pursued him. I finally catch up with him. I stretch out my hand but then he goes up in flames. He's quiet, which makes it all the more disturbing.
- I wake up to a knock on the door of my cabin. It's Liara. We talked a little about what was driving my nightmares: Kaidan. Then we were interrupted. Was going to need to lock this door. This was Comms Specialist Samantha Traynor. She'd been involved with retrofitting the Normandy for Anderson when we left Earth. Never intended to serve aboard a ship but she was here now. EDI gave her own recommendation of Traynor. We went through the changes to the ship, all for the better. Then a chat with Hackett. He liked the idea of me bypassing the Council and going directly to the leadership of other races. He wanted me to build alliances, send people to work on the Crucible and get as many ships and people as possible to fight. EMS: 282.
- I noticed there was a memorial plaque on the crew deck. Anderson must have had it added. Those listed included those who dog tags I'd found on Alchera, Pressly, Jenkins and Ash. Twenty-three names. I hoped I wouldn't have to add to it. There was now a library, a bar, a poker table and VR. Anderson must have fully expected to have a relaxed crew. The oddest thing is that I was finding my model ships scattered around the ship. I couldn't imagine who would take the time to remove them from the shelves in the cabin, disassemble them and put them back in boxes. I guess it would be stress relief to put them back together again. And my space hamster was here, in the lower decks of engineering! Little guy must have escaped and been living on crumbs for the past six months. Well, he was going back in his little home in my quarters where I'd take care of him again. Hmm...wonder what happened to my fish. I mean, if they're leaving the aquarium in place it may as well be stocked.
- Liara had taken over the XO quarters where Miranda used to be. Looked like the captain's quarters on the SR1 except there were monitors covering an entire wall, as well as her information drone, which she named Glyph. Adams was in engineering. He regretted not joining me when I was with Cerberus. Apparently Chakwas has asked him. I understood. Why leave the Alliance for a terrorist organization? Certainly a conflict of interest.
- In the shuttle bay there was a KEI-9. Odd to see it given that they're usually attacking me and my squad. Destroyed so many of those things during the mech rampage last year. Also had a shuttle pilot named Steve Cortez. He had been in charge of retrofits in the shuttle bay but was now the shuttle pilot and procurement officer. The Hammerhead was gone. According to Cortez, it was likely a pile of rubble now since it had been undergoing repairs on Earth. Hated that damn thing, though I'm wondering if this was a secret plot to keep me from driving. He'd lost someone to the Collectors but didn't want to talk about it. James had also been through a lot with the Collectors. Seemed like I had the right people with me, people who fully understood the stakes.
- Checked me emails. Damn, I'm authorized to make treaties with non-humans. KEI-9 was left behind by accident. Things missing from my cabin: my prothean orb, though I imagined that was being studied; my N7 helmet; my fish. All models around the ship have been restored.
- Sanctum: I had priority missions but there was a Cerberus lab with Reaper tech on this world. We could be studying this while I fought other battles. Also, getting it out of their hands was for the better. We got the samples but Cerberus was making it difficult. Lots of troops and Cortez had to shake some people on his tail. Damn, he's good. EMS: 307
- Menae: Though I was directed to Palaven I actually learned that the primarch could be found on its moon, Menae. Touched down there with James and Liara since, as yet, they were my only squadmates. Sure miss the days of 12 people backing me up. Still, we could see that Palaven was getting hit hard - as hard as Earth. And the turians had the strongest military in the galaxy.
- Met with General Corinthus. He told me the primarch had been shot down an hour ago. However, lines of succession were very clear for the turians. It was just a matter of figuring out who and if they were still alive.

"We met up with Liara in Illium because she seemed to have information on the last two recruits. She had been working as an information broker ever since the Normandy went down and I had died. She scared me a little."
"What? Why?"
"Haha, nothing serious, ma. It was just a little strange. She was so naive and innocent back when I first met her, and now she threatened people who didn't pay her because they didn't like the information they got. Liara had changed quite a bit from when I last saw her. But during my first visit we didn't speak for long. She was busy and I had my mission. I asked her about Samara, a justicar, and Thane, an assassin."
"You weren't kidding about them all being unique."
"Told you."
"What's a justicar doing? I don't think I ever heard that word."
"Justicars are asari that gave up all their possessions and family, and are usually operating in asari space. They follow a strict code to protect the innocent and to stop anyone who breaks the law. It's rather black and white from what I've heard from Samara, but I've accepted her into my team because she was really strong and experienced. She had been doing this for hundreds of years."
"Wow, that's a long time."
"Yeah. Well, Samara was hunting her daughter during that time and I helped her find the name of the ship she was smuggled off-world in in exchange for joining my team."
"She was after her own child? Why?"
"She was a criminal. But I'll get to that soon."
"After I made sure Samara was all settled in on the Normandy, we returned to Illium to find the last recruit, Thane."
"The assassin, right?"
"That's right. Never would've thought I'd work with someone like that. But then I worked with Cerberus, so there's that."
"I can't wait to hear it."
"Then here goes..."

Piiiics


One death in the very first alley. That's usually one of the easier parts for me But the fight against Wasea was pretty nice this time. Tali's drone did some good work in keeping her at bay and she didn't even make it to the second area, yay!
Now for some Thane action next!