What did you do today in ME?

Virmire, Salarian Camp:
I stare down at the krogan body in disbelief about what just happened.
What the hell. I was so sure I'd be able to talk Wrex down. Now we lost an ally, and I actually liked him. The krogan suffered a tough fate and I might not have opposed a cure, but not like this. Not for an army for Saren.
Kaidan appears next to me. He asks if I'm alright. Not really. It's comforting he's here. He agrees with Ashley it was better losing Wrex than losing me. Sure, I play an important part in this and I am close to finding Saren, and... we still have a mission to complete.
I regain my composure, ready to go on.

Virmire, Lab:
"What did they do to you, soldier?"
My voice comes out thinner than usual, appalled by what we're finding here. The salarian tells me about the experiments done on him, then snaps a few seconds later, banging his head against his cell door, while his comrades remain in a vegetative state in the other cells. They're completely gone.
This is much worse than being dead, it's cruel. If only Saren's henchmen had just killed them...
I won't ever be a slave to these shitheads.

Normandy, Crew quarters:
I try to make Kaidan feel better about what happened on Virmire. He is caring. He is a sweet and genuine man and I am glad we met. Became... friends I suppose, being able to rely on each other on and off the battlefield. I would ask him to join me for a drink in honour of Ashley, but we're on duty and we need to be as ready as we can.
I tell him we will mourn her later. She did her duty, and it was a respectable death. She will be remembered as a hero. But now we have to deal with Saren.

Nonuel, Warlord's Outpost:
I tell Darius to stuff it and we start shooting at these assholes. I don't have time to try and negotiate with him, I need to go after Saren. Damn you, Hackett...
We plough through the warlord's men, leaving behind a trail of corpses. The galaxy surely won't miss them.

Citadel, Control Terminal:
Tali argues the Council is not as important as concentrating on Sovereign, Kaidan chimes in that this is bigger than humanity. They're like angel and devil on my shoulder and I have to make a decision. Tali has a point, Sovereign is here now, a threat. But in the long run, we cannot beat the Reapers alone. We need allies, lots of them. We need the stability the Council brings, the familiar faces that people hopefully will follow. I know well that I will send good soldiers to their deaths now to save the Ascension, but that's how it has to be. I can't just throw the galaxy into chaos while we need to prepare. I tell Joker I'm opening the relay for them.

Citadel, Tower:
I climb over the rubble and look up. I see Anderson, Tali, and Kaidan, smiling at me. I smile back. We made it. It's only a small step in comparison to what's about to come, but it's a start. For now, I revel in this moment of joy. Of being reunited with some of the people dearest to me...

Pics


Yeees, I was not ninjamanced by Liara
And I finally played the Renegade quest for the first time! It was a lot of work though and such a hassle I initially wanted to let Ash shoot Wrex so I can be mad at her, and I played through all of Virmire until leaving the Citadel again for Ilos. Unfortunately I was a few Renegade points short for the trigger of this quest. I then tried 3 or 4 more variations with more Renegadey answers on Virmire (like triggering the alarm on Kirrahe's end) because not a lot of points were missing. In the end, nothing worked and I had wasted some hours on it... I then contemplated to collect the Renegade points when shooting Wrex and still pretend Ashley did it, which would have sucked. BUUUUUT everything worked out much better. If Shepard shoots Wrex, Kaidan will ask if he is alright, and going through the Paragon route of this dialogue was really awesome, couldn't have fit better for Kassim.
I should have tried this option out before. I would likely have taken that route immediately and not waste a couple hours on this
Yep, I fuss too much over my characters, haha. But it has been very rewarding in the end and all falls into place with what I have planned for ME2 and 3.