The Mako made its way through the massive complex at a moderate pace as Shepard didn’t want to run full speed into a geth ambush. Garrus, meanwhile, was carefully scanning the surroundings with the turret, taking in the sight of the structure they were driving through. High walls that had pods of some sort sticking out of them, all seemingly without power, lined the way and a small stream of water flowed down the center of the path.
“What are those things on the walls? Some kind of containers?” Garrus asked as he pointed the cannon’s camera at one of them and zoomed in, his feed being distributed to the others in the back so they could watch as well.
“They look like stasis pods of sorts,” Tali commented, guessing their purpose. Liara seemingly agreed with that.
“This bunker might have been the last refuge of the entire species! Just imagine the things we could learn from it!” she gushed at the sight of the massive prothean structure. The site she had been picked up at was but a mere fraction of the scale this one presented.
“I’m sure they’ll let you have a good look at this place after we’ve stopped Saren,” Shepard cut in as he drove down a ramp deeper into the facility, the Mako bumping around a bit as the ground had severely deteriorated in that section.
It wasn’t long until they ran into the first of Saren’s rear guard. After driving through another section of the complex that had the stasis pods jutting out of the walls, they ran into three geth rocket troopers, their missiles missing the Mako as Shepard used the thrusters to jump over the first salvo. The commander kept up his evasive maneuvers until Garus had dealt with the flimsy machines using the Mako’s cannon.
“No further contacts in the immediate area are on the scanners,” Tali reported as the last geth had fallen.
“Good. Keep your eyes peeled you two. There are bound to be more waiting for us ahead somewhere,” Shepard said as he resumed driving steadily, soon coming up to a second ramp that led deeper into the facility. Only, after reaching the bottom of this ramp, Shepard hit the brakes. Up ahead there was a golden energy field of sorts blocking the road ahead.
“I’m not picking up any geth on the scanners,” Tali said, checking one of her displays to see if the system was working optimally.
“Nothing visual either. Maybe Saren found a way to activate it and left it as another barrier for us to run into?” Garrus theorized while zooming in on the barrier with the camera, trying to get a better look at it. “I could attempt a shot at it?”
“Try it,” Shepard said. He wanted to see what his options were. The cannon buzzed and fired a shot, the shell flying in a straight line at the barrier… and doing next to nothing as it exploded uselessly.
“Damnit. Guess it was worth a try,” Garrus swore as he saw the shot had done no damage. Shepard thought for a moment longer but eventually started creeping forward towards the offending energy field.
“Commander, there’s a passage to the right of the energy barrier,” Tali said as she noticed the entrance in the wall. Shepard took the Mako to approximately thirty meters from the wall before putting on the brakes again.
“Tali, Garrus, stay here and keep monitoring using the Mako’s systems. The rest of you, line formation.” Shepard ordered, getting out of the driver’s seat and following the others out. The squad immediately formed up in a line to the left and the right of the Mako, slowly moving forward towards the entrance with raised guns. As they approached close and the commander got a view of the small passage, he could see it was only a couple of meters deep and ended in an elevator. “Liara, Wrex, Fluttershy, On me. The rest op you form a perimeter around the entrance here.”
The squad immediately split up as the Commander took Fluttershy and the others into the elevator. The pegasus nervously fidgeted her wings as, the longer she remained on the planet, the more she felt like she didn’t belong there. This had only become worse as they realized that the planet might be acting as the final tomb for an entire species.
As the elevator finished its ride down, the four soldiers stepped out, biotics ready and weapons high in case they ran into resistance. Luckily for them the smaller room seemed to be completely empty. There were more pods sticking out of the walls and a walkway that led up to a console that looked like the one in the control room which they had used to open the door to this place, a hologram flickering in front of it.
“You are not prothean, but you are not machine either,” a slightly artificial-sounding voice came from the hologram as the group had approached close enough. “This eventuality was one of many that was anticipated. This is why we sent the warning through the beacons. I do not sense the taint of indoctrination upon any of you, unlike the other that passed recently. Perhaps there is still hope for the galaxy.”
“It’s talking in our language!” Liara gasped as she tried restraining her excitement.
“Indeed, I have been monitoring your communication ever since you arrived at this facility. I have translated my output into a format you can comprehend. My name is Vigil. You are safe here for the moment, but that is likely to change. Soon, nowhere will be safe.”
“Why did you bring us here?” Shepard asked the VI.
“You must break a cycle that has been going for millions of years. But to stop it you must understand, otherwise you will make the same mistakes we did. The Citadel is the heart of your civilization and the seat of your government, as it was with us and has been with every species before. But the Citadel is a trap. The station is actually an enormous mass relay, one that links to dark space, the void beyond the edge of the galaxy. When the Citadel relay is activated, the reapers will pour through.”
“Which meant they took out your leadership and destroyed a good part of your fleet,” Shepard said as he guessed the most likely outcome.
“That was indeed our fate, but in taking the Citadel they also gained control over the mass relays. Communication and transportation was crippled. They isolated us and took out the pockets one by one over the course of centuries. World by world, system by system, they methodically wiped us out and then… they left.”
Fluttershy felt a shiver go up her spine as she listened to the VI explaining how they were exterminated.
“This facility was a top secret research station, which saved it from the reapers’ onslaught. Here researchers worked to recreate a small mass relay, one that linked directly to the Citadel.”
“That’s it!” Liara exclaimed. “The conduit is not a weapon but a back door onto the Citadel!”
“What did your kind do after the reapers had left? Where did the reapers even go to?” the pegasus asked the VI as so many more questions bubbled to the surface.
“Language detected - Equine. Pony race designated as traitors - Inquiry denied.”
Fluttershy looked baffled at the hologram. Of all the things that she expected, this was not one of them, and a glance at the others revealed that she wasn’t alone in that feeling either. Several lines of questioning went through her head. She knew that the program wouldn’t be answering her questions… but maybe it would answer them if she wasn’t the one asking.
If Shepard asked for me the thing will probably answer my question.
1. [Apologize to Vigil and ask how to stop the reapers, I can come back later for answers.]
2. Why are my kind considered traitors?
3. How is it that you know about my species?
4. [I don’t need to listen to a broken VI]