27

We didn't have to fly to Omega. Near it, we actually discovered an Alliance cruiser that was in orbit around Bindur, the third planet in the Sabarika system where Omega was located. I wasn't particularly interested in what it was doing there, unlike Captain "Chicago." At first, he didn't believe that Admiral Hackett himself was on board with us, along with Anderson, but when they both stated three identification codes confirming their identities, the captain finally agreed to dock with us.

A crowd of armed space marines awaited us in the airlock, pointing rifles and shotguns at us. However, as soon as they saw Hackett and Anderson, who looked like homeless people, they immediately began apologizing. And when they both passed the DNA test, the captain joined his crew. Although Hackett and Anderson couldn't care less about all of that. They just wanted one thing - to eat, sleep, and drink. Well, more precisely, to take a shower, drink, eat, and sleep. Yes, in that order. Daro and Zaala were also brought on board, and after Hackett's orders of "No questions!" and "Let us sleep!!!" the "Chicago" set off for the Citadel. Oh, there will be a heated conversation between those two and the Defense Committee. I allowed Hackett to speak about me; it won't matter to me anyway. And Hackett said that lying to the Committee won't work. I've done too much to be erased from the report. However, the admiral promised that he and Anderson wouldn't say a word about my connection to Hraston. Essentially, they didn't see or hear how I killed him. They'll simply state that he arrived dead. So, I could be at ease about that.

I was already calm in general. I was repaired using spare parts left after the ship's repair, Mila is safe and sound in the capsule, and we are heading to the "Beam of Kiln" to decipher the beacon. Now the main thing is to reach the place where the Geths have already built the factory. And the most important thing is to get there without stumbling into anything else. Well, if anyone knows how to do that, it's me.

A week after the Krogans beat up Shepard's team and three days after Hackett and Anderson returned...

"Captain Shepard," Tevos said calmly as always. It seemed like she always greeted first. At least Shepard hadn't noticed Sparatus or Valern greeting first.

"Advisors," the captain replied politely. She was already in a bad mood today, so she didn't intend to make it worse.

"I believe your team has recovered from the incident on Terra Nova," Sparatus could hardly hide his disdain for Shepard's team, considering them cannon fodder. It infuriated Shepard, but there was nothing she could do about it.

"Yes, you could say that. And I hope you now understand that Saren poses a serious threat," Shepard knew that the Council couldn't ignore such an attack anymore.

"You're right, Shepard. We have analyzed what happened on Terra Nova and reached some disturbing conclusions," Tevos began, and Jane realized that the Advisors indeed had something to say.

"Oh really? And what are these conclusions?" the captain inquired.

"We examined the bodies of the Krogans you killed and the Geth you are trying to capture," Valern started. It seemed that he held all the scientific explanations. Sparatus was left with insults and punishments. They distributed their roles well during the conversation. "As it turns out, all these Krogans are clones, grown using unknown technology..."

"Wait!" Shepard suddenly interrupted the Councilor. "The Krogan Warlords are also clones?" the mere thought of Saren cloning Warlords filled Shepard with genuine fear. She knew what Rex was capable of, and if Saren had thousands, tens of thousands of Rexes... the thought made Shepard shudder.

"Don't worry, Captain. The Warlords we found are just mercenaries. Most likely, Saren pays them well, although we still don't understand how. All his accounts, as well as Matriarch Benezia's accounts, have been frozen. Perhaps they have other accounts or alternative sources of income," Valern's words lifted a weight off the captain's shoulders. There were few Krogan Warlords, which meant that Saren would eventually run out of them. And not all of them would work for him. Shepard was confident of that.

"Alternative sources?" that was not clear. It didn't seem like Saren was involved in piracy. Although with his ship, Geth, Krogans, and Asari commandos, he would become the most dangerous pirate in the entire Terminus.

"Yes. We don't have evidence yet, but it's highly likely that Saren is involved in piracy. We will inform you if we gather any information."

"Inform me?" Shepard was surprised. "So, you..."

"Yes, Captain," Tevos interrupted her. "Your priority now is Saren. Neither we nor you know the whereabouts of the Geth. However, we have learned where Saren is heading."

"Where?" the captain asked directly.

"One asari research vessel reported that an unknown ship passed through a previously unknown relay. Judging by its trajectory, it's heading towards Feros. And based on the description and signature of the ship, we can confidently say it's Saren's dreadnought," Sparatus calmly explained, devoid of any mockery in his voice.

"So, Feros... It will be done," Shepard said curtly. Now she was more self-assured than ever. Now she would take down that Turian bastard, and then, if the Council didn't relent, capture the Geth.

"Good luck, Captain. Until we speak again," Tevos bid farewell, and the hologram of the advisors disconnected.

"Joker. Set course for Feros," the captain commanded and headed to her cabin.

Dreadnought "Light of the kila"

After firing 50 shots from the scavenged rifle, I decided to stop. It was indeed a powerful weapon. So powerful that the "Black Widow" paled in comparison and smoked a joint in the corner out of envy. I simply named this rifle the "Gauss Cannon" as a tribute to my favorite game. It could penetrate one Prime and kill a second one if it hit the head or reactor. The magazine held 10 rounds for the rifle to fire. The rate of fire depended on how much you squeezed the trigger, but it also affected the shot's power. The only problem was the battery charge, but I solved it by attaching a trooper's reactor. The weight increased by half, and it didn't look great, but at least I didn't have to worry about the battery charge anymore.

I also checked the rest of the weapons that the Geth took from the crashed vehicle, where we all ended up, and the jeep that we brought with us. And now I had almost finished checking everything on the Geth platforms. Their programs were "evacuated" because it was unpleasant to shoot at our own, but the shields and all the functions were activated. And here's what I found out.

The minigun could take down the shields of regular Geth in three shots, then shred them to pieces. Primes required seven shots to bring down their shields, and then it took half the magazine, which is 150 rounds, to bring down a Prime, assuming you knew where to aim. If you didn't know, then you'd have to empty the entire magazine, and then the Prime would definitely be dead.

The pistols could only take down shields, but they couldn't penetrate armor, not even for soldiers and troopers. The story was the same with the makeshift SMGs.

Assault rifles could take down a Geth with half the magazine, bringing down shields in three shots, and the rest were needed to destroy the reactor and battery. Such weapons wouldn't kill a Prime or a Juggernaut, even at point-blank range.

But the replica of the RPG, or rather, its exact copy, was much simpler. The test rockets were found in the jeep, so I had enough shots to understand—it was an awesome weapon. The armor-piercing rocket would penetrate right through a Prime or similar heavy units, simply melting them with molten tungsten, while ignoring their shields.

And from all of this, a very unusual conclusion emerged. Everything, ABSOLUTELY everything in this Galaxy is held together by Mass Effect, which was invented and implemented by the Reapers themselves. The fallen races leave their knowledge to the primitive races in the hope that they can defeat the Reapers. But as soon as these races receive advanced technologies for free, they simply discard their own technologies, relying completely on Element Zero. And then the Reapers arrive, everything goes according to plan, and it starts all over again. These races leave their legacy to their descendants, who find it, leading to technological stagnation, and the Sovereign laughs again, like a stoned man, as the trap works once more. And so it goes on and on, again and again.

And then I came to one single conclusion - to defeat the Reapers, different technologies are needed. Completely different. It's necessary to tell Mass Effect to go to hell and develop things in our own way. But there was one tiny problem. Time. It was incredibly limited. Essentially, there were two and a half, maximum three years until the beginning of the Harvest. Even the Geth wouldn't have time to come up with anything in that time frame. I even requested the development of plasma-based weapons from them. The Geth told me it would take five years for the research and development, while for the Council races, it would take 350-400 years with all their problems, such as bureaucracy, financial systems, organic-related issues, and so on and so forth. But even that result didn't satisfy me. Yes, the Geth could improve existing technologies to a level that the Council could only dream of, but it was all still Mass Effect-related. Therefore, I needed to find ready-made technologies that had nothing to do with Mass Effect. But there was a problem. The Prothean beacons contained the same technologies, and what they invented during the Harvest, they probably didn't have time to encode into the beacons. And even less was known about other races. And certainly, there were no carriers of their information left.

However, this idea became so firmly entrenched in my mind that I started to think about who might possess such technologies. Waking up Javik doesn't make sense for now. Yes, his rifle is a powerful tool and exactly what we need, but it's not enough. Attacking the Collector base also makes no sense. I don't have enough forces for that. Only 3,570 platforms of various sizes, no armored units, and just one dreadnought. Moreover, I would still need to find the "friend-foe" system to pass through the Omega-4 relay, but even if I find it, I won't be able to storm the base of those insects. I'm more than certain it's much larger and has far more soldiers than what we encountered in the game. I've already witnessed the true size of the "Sovereign," and it didn't comfort me. So, that option is off the table. But then I remembered one more option.

An ancient being, possibly a million years old, and yet, intelligent. A Thorian. That's who might know about the technologies of other races that existed when the Protheans hunted with spears and bows or even back when the Protheans were nothing more than animals fighting for survival. Damn, he might even know about Reaper technologies! What's stopping him from absorbing a Husk and learning about the technologies used within them? Hidden within him are technologies that could help us win. He's exactly what we need. And it's Shepard who will have to kill him. No, I can't allow that. I need him alive. So, after contacting the Geth, I left half of the platforms at our mini-factory, which wasn't even operational yet, and then ordered the "Light of the kila" to head to Feros.