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—
Virmire
"So?" Shepard asked, as he had been waiting for the STG to go over the data in the labs.
Kirrahe finally stepped away from the computer. "It is as you theorized, Commander; there was nothing about the genophage to cause worry, though we did destroy the cloning lab."
And wasn't that a load off his back?
"Alright, we'll be taking the beacon to the Citadel. What is the status of your captured soldiers?" Shepard had seen the state of the Salarians firsthand and knew the chances of them coming back from whatever happened to them were slim to none.
The Salarian captain shook his head, regret seeping to his face at the state his soldiers had been reduced to. "Not good. Whatever Saren did to them, they seemed to have gone insane."
"It's called indoctrination." Shepard said, explaining how the dreadnought could subvert organic minds.
"That is disconcerting. We'll have to stay away from that limb until it is properly shielded." Naturally, the STG would want to study the remains of the dreadnought, but without creating a massive security breach in the process.
"Yeah, I am also taking the research data on it, and the scientist is working on analyzing it. Anything else you found is yours." Shepard would give STG and other organizations whatever data there was on the servers, but Thanoptis was coming with him until she woke up and he decided what to do with her.
"Thank you, Commander. With the jamming down, we sent a message to request support." Remnants of Saren's forces were already hunted down, so the base was secure, and the STG could afford to wait.
"A pleasure working with you, Captain Kirrahe." Shepard held out his hand, appreciating the captain's efforts and attitude towards his soldiers.
Kirrahe took his hand, happy to work with a legend like Shepard. "The pleasure is all mine, Commander."
—
Normandy
Shepard waited in the Comms Room for the Council to answer, which they did very quickly.
Lesson learned, it seems.
"Councillors, how is the research on the beacon going?"
The matter must have frustrated Tevos for her to visibly sigh. "Not good, Commander; research teams couldn't find a way to reactivate the beacon yet."
"Try to have an Asari meld with it. In the meantime, you'll be happy to know I just found another beacon, this one fully intact." Shepard offered his advice, since it seemed too obvious to him to have an Asari interact with the beacon.
Tevos visibly perked up, as did her colleagues. "That is great news, Commander. Where is it?"
"I am bringing it to Citadel before I head after Saren."
"Very well, we'll have a team waiting to receive the beacon. As always, an excellent job, Commander." From the look on Sparatus' face, praising Shepard must have left a sour taste in his mouth.
"I know. Have a nice day, Councillors."
—
While in transit, Shepard allowed his crew to celebrate the victory over Saren, allowing a small amount of alcohol to be distributed.
Everyone except Liara had participated, while she was busy trying to interface with the beacon.
"Just meld with it."
"What?"
"Just meld with the beacon. Seeing as Asari can interface with the minds of organics and the beacon does the same, it stands to reason to try."
"I—I am not sure if that is safe." Liara didn't think anyone had ever tried that before, but it kind of made sense.
"You are tougher than you think, Liara, and if anything happens I'll be here." Shepard encouraged the Asari. For all her timidness when it came to social interaction, Liara was actually a resolute person.
Liara nodded after thinking about it for a solid minute, approaching the beacon.
"Embrace Eternity."
The beacon levitated Liara, and the young Asari, first shocked, began to smile in wonder.
"I can see it."
—
The Citadel
Shepard, followed by his team members, made their way off the ship, the beacon dragged behind on a hover carrier.
"Shepard." Since they were already acquainted and colleagues, both Spectres saw no reason to be overly formal.
"Vasir."
"Another beacon, huh? You're going to make the rest of us look like amateurs."
"I can start holding back to make things fair for you."
Vasir snorted. "No need; it wouldn't be fun otherwise. We'll take the beacon from here. Your ambassador wants to see you."
Nodding to the engineers to hand over the beacon, Shepard, with Ashley and Kaidan, went to see what Udina wanted.
—
"Commander, welcome. Please, take a seat."
Shepard did. "What is this about, ambassador? I need to go and catch Saren." With the beacon's help, he now knew where Saren was heading and wanted to catch him before he hit Ilos and found the Conduit.
"Yes, about that. The Council was wondering if you would consider staying on the Citadel and let them handle Saren." Udina clasped his fingers, avoiding eye contact with Shepard.
"No." Shepard raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, wondering what the Council was thinking.
Udina raised his hands, knowing he could be exiled to the most remote corner of the Alliance with one word from Shepard. "As you wish, though, I would like you to reconsider. Normandy isn't equipped to fight Saren's ship; well, nothing short of a fleet is."
The Council wanted Udina to find a way to make Shepard stay so they could deal with Saren to clean the stain on their reputation, but both sides knew it was up to Shepard to stay.
And Udina wasn't going to risk his career for the Council, at least not when it came to Shepard.
"The new anti-proton torpedoes did wonderful work and severely damaged the dreadnought. A couple more shots and that ship will be scrapped."
"Oh, I see." Udina didn't know anything more about antimatter weaponry than what an ordinary person would, so he deferred to simply inform Admiral Hackett of the matter.
Shepard rose from his seat. "Anyway, I have work to do."
"Good luck, Commander." Udina knew Shepard wouldn't need it in the first place, but it was better than nothing.
Having visited Anderson before leaving, Shepard ordered a course for Ilos.
—
Pangea Expanse
Refuge System
Ilos
"Dreadnought along with the Geth fleet sighted in orbit!" Pressly warned,
There were too many of them for Normandy's small anti-proton torpedoes to take down, and even if all the torpedoes were hits, it would leave them outnumbered against a lot of Geth ships.
So Shepard ordered the Normandy down to Ilos, since stopping Saren took priority in this case.
"Picking up some strange readings from the planet's surface." Pressly reported, and Shepard didn't like the chance that it could have something to do with the Conduit.
"Find me a location to land, now." Shepard wanted to be on the ground yesterday.
Pressly shook his head in the negative. "The closest one is two kliks away."
"We'll never make it in time on foot. Find us something closer." Alenko ordered, searching for a place to land as well.
"There is nowhere closer. I've looked." Pressly said, his voice rising in response to the tough situation they were facing.
If they couldn't land, then they would drop. "Drop us in the Mako."
"You need at least a hundred meters of open terrain to pull off a drop like that. The most I can find near Saren is twenty." Pressly warned, seeing the move as too dangerous, since it wouldn't be Shepard who would pilot the ship.
"Twenty meters? We'll never get in close enough for a drop." Alenko complained, and Shepard closed his eyes to calm himself.
"We have to try." Liara pleaded, as they were running out of time.
"Find another landing zone." Alenko ordered again, as if Pressly didn't do his best.
His XO did shout this time, and Shepard was done with their crap. "There is no other landing zone!"
"Enough!" Shepard's shout silenced the room like an omni-blade cutting through butter. "Stop acting like headless chickens. Joker, drop us in there."
"Aye aye, Commander." Joker nodded after freezing for a second, grinning at the order.
"The descent angle's too steep." Tali warned as a courtesy, as the drop needed a pilot of exceptional skills, who was sitting in his chair right now.
"It's our only option." Liara didn't see any other option, as speed was essential, and they had already lost enough time arguing.
"I can do it." Shepard dismissed the team at Joker's confident reply, leaving to get ready for the drop.
—
Shepard, Garrus, and Wrex loaded into the Mako, ready to drop on Ilos and get to the Conduit before Saren.
Joker dropped the Mako right on top of Saren, barely missing the rogue Spectre as the gate in front of him closed, blocking Shepard and his team.
The team got off the Mako to examine the gate and decided to search for a console to open it, since brute force wouldn't be possible here. Turning back from the gate to the narrow passage ahead, the team opened fire as the Geth came pouring out, trying to buy as much time as possible for Saren.
Clearing the initial wave, they found heavier Geth units waiting on the other side. Two Armatures fired their cannons, missing as the team dove into cover.
Shepard activated his anti-gravity generator, leaping to air with his biotics to rain laser bolts on the Armatures, while Wrex offloaded his minigun on the troopers, with Garrus picking up the ones behind cover.
He shot one of the Armatures just as it charged its cannon, causing an explosion that sent the other Armature reeling, before Shepard shot it through the headlight.
Moving downstairs and through the ruins of Ilos overgrown with roots and vegetation, Shepard leaped back as Geth had the passage under fire from two locations to keep them suppressed.
Ordering his team to handle the Geth on lower ground, Shepard charged between the Geth taking cover behind a platform across the passage, effortlessly sailing through the air and sending the synthetics flying, before three laser bolts neutralized them.
Jumping with the anti-gravity generator, Shepard landed right behind the Geth on the ground, catching them in a pincer. He pivoted on his heel, dodging a rocket, and shot the launcher through the barrel, causing an explosion and scrapping the Geth carrying it.
Under fire from the front and behind, the Geth were quickly dispatched, and the team pushed forward.
Several Geth Sappers quickly jumped between pillars, making it hard to aim.
Wrex used his plasma grenade to take them all out at once, the thermal explosion turning the lightly armored synthetics to shrapnel.
Taking down the elevator and running through another passage, they stood before several Geth platforms arrayed ahead, including a Geth Prime, that didn't miss the beat and opened fire, mass-accelerated grains zipping by.
Nodding to his teammates, Shepard launched a dark matter ball that exploded with concussive force, throwing the Geth off their feet, before pulling them all together into a nice and easy target.
At the end of the road, they found a security console inside a bunker, which also contained a degraded message left by the Protheans, which Shepard easily understood thanks to the cypher.
Taking the elevator inside the bunker, which took them up to the plaza before the gates, they made haste to the bunker to catch up to Saren, only for a large number of Geth to cut their way.
Armatures, ground units, and hoppers were working in cohesion, making it very hard for the team to return fire.
Shepard took out a laser grid grenade, throwing it right in the middle of the Geth, and took cover as a laser beam passed through where he was a second ago.
Getting back into the Mako, Shepard hit the gas, speeding through the bunker, which contained what must have been hundreds of inoperational stasis pods, only for the road to be cut by a golden barrier.
Exiting the vehicle with a scowl, Shepard searched for the source of the obstruction, having had enough of these delays keeping him away from Saren.
—
Next chapter is the final chapter of ME1, so be ready.