Chapter Text
Petroleum Effect
Chapter Fourteen - Noveria
Conference Room , Terran Dominion Frigate Normandy II , The Citadel , Serpent Nebula , 6 July 2183
Miranda Lawson and Lilith Shepard stayed in the conference room after Ravenna left for her meeting with the council. It had been a long, messed up day.
"You know," said Shepard, "I think we messed up on Feros."
"How so?" asked Miranda.
"We forgot to say the catchphrase."
Miranda looked at Shepard blankly for a moment.
"Do you remember, from when we attacked the Temple of the Golden Star in Zakera Ward? - It's genocidin' time!"
"You know, Shepard, that catchphrase is disturbingly appropriate. For the galaxy in general, really."
"I wish we'd said it. We didn't actually genocide the last of any races, but we put in some good effort towards it. Maybe the Thorian was the last of its kind. I kind of hope so."
"We can say it now," said Miranda. "Better late than never."
"It's not the same," moped Shepard, "but ..." she raised her hand in a high-five, Miranda slapped it. In unison, they cheered, "It's genocidin' time!"
"You have such a good attitude!" enthused Miranda. "You know Shepard, I would really like to introduce you to some of the other Grey Lords. I think you would really benefit from some of the best practices we've found. You know how when we raided the Temple in Zakera Ward we found the eviloid hybrids eating asari children? Well, I've got a colleague, another Grey Lord called Zaeed. He's been on Thessia since late June and he's got these great ideas about using asari child suicide bombers against the eviloids there. Amazing guy, you have to meet him -"
At that point the comm chimed. "Yes?" asked Miranda, expecting Communications Officer Friedrich Gunther. Instead, the soft, feminine tones of AEA, the ship's artificial intelligence, spoke from the device.
"Incoming message has been routed to you. Geth activity reported on planet Noveria."
Miranda sighed. "Well, it's something to do." She thought-clicked the comm to link her to CIC. "Captain Anderson, I am going to abuse the incredible bath in my suite. Then, I am going to sleep. In the meantime, your orders are to get the Normandy II into orbit around planet Noveria. There may be a Geth attack underway, cloak if necessary."
CIC, Terran Dominion Frigate Normandy II , Noveria Orbit, Pax System, Horsehead Nebula , 7 July 2183
Miranda strolled into the CIC, well rested. She glanced at the holo-display and nodded to the officer of the watch. Captain Anderson had finished his own shift and was asleep. A young lieutenant had command. Tom Bradley, she confirmed with a query through her implants.
"Status report please, lieutenant."
"Grey Lady Lawson, we are cloaked and in orbit around Noveria as ordered. We cloaked after entering the system and engaged heat sinks. There was no hostile action and we have not been detected, but there is Geth activity on the planet, including some landed ships. We disengaged drives after entering orbit, and can remain here for some time without dropping cloaks or heat-sinks. They seem focused on a specific building complex."
"Understood. What is your analysis about tactical approaches?"
"The geth do not appear to be fighting the local authorities. Noveria is a special case world - somehow chartered by a private corporation called the Noveria Development Corporation, for research. This planet is not technically Citadel space and it is certainly not in Dominion space. Spectres have some jurisdiction. We could land at the spaceport and speak to the local authorities, see if they want help with the geth."
Miranda laughed, harshly, "The Citadel have arranged themselves a 'special' world where they get to do illegal research? How charming. What defences do they have, what about ships?"
"Light orbital and ground defences. No ships other than shuttles, civilian craft."
"Well, screw those guys then," remarked Miranda. "If Council law does not run here, then we do not have to pretend to follow it. What if we just come in shooting and land near the geth and the building complex they are interested in?"
"Well, Grey Lady Lawson, to be honest it would save us a lot of time and travel. There's a road from the spaceport to the complex and it's full of geth. You would need a tank to get along there on the ground, but if we stayed cloaked and overflew, we can take them out with point kinetics or lasers. Landing might be more of a problem. I don't think there is quite enough space to land the ship at the complex, but we could rake the outside with fire. We could land somewhere clear not too far away, or on a peak, to be ready to assist."
"Sounds better than advancing on the ground, along a heavily defended road. Let's just talk to Noveria Station first though. Communications Officer Friedrich Gunther, patch me in with Saren's crate then get me on the comm with the station please."
Saren appeared first. He lived in a crate in the cargo bay now. During the move to the Normandy II, Miranda had upgraded it into what was effectively a pressurised cell. Whilst the turian did not pose any significant contamination threat, as far as they could tell, the idea of an alien breathing the same air as them was disgusting. Saren was by now completely psionically indoctrinated and was delighted with his accommodation and devoted to his human slave-mistress. He was completely blissfully unaware he was mind-controlled and believed he was acting entirely of his own free will.
"Hi Saren," said Miranda, "we've arrived at a planet called Noveria. Seems to be, 'theoretically' outside Citadel space but Spectres have jurisdiction. Back me up in this comm call please."
"With pleasure Commander Lawson!" said Saren, gazing at Miranda with rapt adoration.
Gunther was quick and efficient. Within a few minutes, a female turian from Noveria Station was on the screen.
"Normandy your arrival is not scheduled. Our defence grid is armed and tracking you. Stare your business."
"Hi," opened Miranda. "I'm Commander Lawson of the Most Holy Imperial Terran Dominion and this is the Normandy II. We are here to investigate dangerous criminals, and we're working with Citadel Council Spectre Saren Arterius. We're trying to do this the nice way. However, we have enough firepower to turn your defence grid and your facility into smoking craters. We are concerned about Geth activity on your world. What can you tell us?"
"Yes!" shouted Saren harshly from his box on the screen, "I am Saren Arterius, Citadel Spectre. Comply or be deemed terrorist enemies of the Citadel. Comply or die."
A pop-up window appeared on Miranda's screen, not visible to the turian on the other end of the link. It was an instant message from Bradley - "Their defence grid is active. It looks like a handful of turrets and some missile silos. They don't seem to be able to see us or lock on. They are doing repeat active scans and the weapons are not pointing at us. They have a powerful kinetic barrier."
"Landing access granted," came the reply, "but be advised we will seek to verify status and if we cannot do so, your ship *will* be impounded."
Miranda was unimpressed, "We can verify Spectre Arterius' status remotely. We have no intention of landing. Just tell us what you know about the geth on the planet."
"Transmitting verification key now," said Saren, followed by the melodious chimes of the computer transmitting credentials.
"Give us a moment to confirm." The screen went blank.
There was a pause. A long pause. Miranda was just musing on whether to blow up some buildings when the turian returned.
"Thank you Spectre Arterius. We had an asari matriarch, Benezia T'Soni, land and pass through with a lot of what she described as heavy droids. Benezia left for the Peak 15 Research Complex days ago. To the best of our knowledge, she's still there. We don't have any further information."
"Okay," replied Miranda, "well can you just send us the coordinates and stay out of our way? Keep your people and forces out of the Peak 15 area. Spectre operations."
"Will do," said the turian, grudgingly, "hold on ... sending map now."
"Thank you for your cooperation," said Miranda and then cut the comm to the planet as soon as the map arrived. "Thanks Saren! Okay that's all we need for now. You keep contemplating the oneness of your box, like I told you."
Saren visibly preened at Miranda's praise. "Of course Commander!" He cut the link and returned to lying in his box in the cargo bay.
Miranda turned to Lieutenant Tom Bradley, swiping the map to him, which he expanded.
"Looks like Peak 15 is the complex we identified."
"Good. That plan you came up with. Execute it. Clear the road to Peak 15 and clear the outside. I'll go and find Shepard and Alenko."
Outside the Peak 15 Research Complex , Noveria, Pax System, Horsehead Nebula , 7 July 2183
Grey Lady Miranda Lawson, Lieutenant Commander Lilith Shepard and Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko disembarked from the Normandy II airlock and scrambled down from the peak where it had landed, down to ground level. All were in full armour - Lawson and Shepard in the same Grey Lord combat gear they wore on Feros. Alenko had somewhat less impressive equipment - element zero based armour and a high quality assault rifle. The humans moved cautiously from cover to cover, but they encountered nothing living - just smoking craters and wrecked geth debris. The flyover had been 100% successful.
The research complex loomed before them - vast and white and clean and corporate looking. The humans advanced into the building, finding the main doors were active and opened for them automatically. The inside was clean, functional and peaceful until the group ran into a squad of geth.
Kaiden took cover whilst Lawson and Shepard took out the geth. With their Petroleum Effect shields being one hundred times more powerful than Citadel standard and vastly superior laser gauntlets, they just walked up to the geth, ignoring the gunfire. They took them out with short laser bursts. Even a rocket hit from a geth juggernaut barely slowed the Grey Lady and her protégé. Kaiden was only equipped with standard Dominion eezo armour and an assault rifle. It was around 50% better than comparable Citadel equipment but still orders of magnitude inferior to what the others had.
A few minutes later, the geth were smoking corpses. What was left was an eerily empty complex with a lot of secure, locked doors. Trying one of the electronic locks, Shepard received an error message that the lock was offline and she should consult the station's virtual intelligence.
"Thoughts?" Shepard asked.
"VI's offline and I don't see turning it online helping us," replied Kaiden Alenko.
Miranda, Lilith and Kaiden scrutinised the doors at some length. They were heavy and would be best opened by motors. Explosives or lasers would be time consuming. Miranda was contemplating a psionic effect to try to operate the motors and locks telekinetically when a giant, roach-like creature burst out of some sort of vent in the floor.
"Eww!" screamed Miranda in horror and shock, firing her gauntlet on instinct. Whatever the creature was, the laser burst went straight through its inside and flash-boiled its innards. The creature exploded with a crack and a gout of smoke. Miranda kept firing for a moment before acknowledging it was dead and shutting off the beam. By this point, the corpse was also on fire.
"Fuck!" swore Miranda panting. Alenko and Shepard took up defensive positions but nothing else happened. After a few moments Miranda calmed down, embarrassed. "Sorry - that was unexpected," she said. "What the fuck was that thing?"
"No idea," replied Shepard. Alenko shrugged.
"Okay," rasped a still-rattled but calming Miranda, "I'm going to check my armour cam for a better look and you two are going to guard me in case of more of those things."
Miranda replayed the image, reviewing brief, blurred footage of the creature before its insides were on its outsides. It was was chitinous, or something similar, four-legged, with tentacle-claws. She had never seen anything like it. Making an effort to calm her voice, Miranda opened a comm channel to the Normandy II.
"Normandy II, be advised we have encountered hostile unknown aliens as well as geth. Insectoid creatures - never seen one before. I am uploading a picture now. Check our databases, public Citadel databases and if you can't find anything, have Saren check the Citadel classified archives please. Be alert for the creatures as well as geth and ready to defend the ship from attack."
Miranda dismissed the cam history from her armour HUD and switched to a defensive stance as she waited for a response. It took a few minutes, then the comm activated and AEA's voice came down the link. "I've found a match, Commander Lawson, public history database. It looks like a rachni soldier. The rachni were a sentient insectoid hive race that warred with the Citadel Council and were eventually exterminated. It appears they are not as extinct as was thought."
Miranda added the squad to the conversation. "Okay Normandy II brief us on the rachni please. Short version. History, goals, tactics and brief analysis as to what is going on?"
AEA's response was terse, just as Miranda has asked, "The rachni were a sentient insectoid hive race that warred with the Citadel Council. The war lasted more than a century and the Council were losing until they uplifted the krogan. The krogan defeated the rachni but were then subjected to a bio-weapon by the Council to reduce their rate of reproduction. The goals of the rachni were unknown as communication could not be established. The rachni were highly intelligent and utilised ambushes and cunning as well as swarm tactics. Rachni soldiers such as the ones you encountered are melee combatants with heavy armour, melee attacks and acid spit. Historic records include large, biotic, variants and queens. Queens were believed to be highly sentient. Insufficient data to explain their appearance here. Suggest - some rachni survived - or someone has created a weapon that looks very similar, or somehow recreated them."
"Okay," replied Miranda to AEA, "we are looking for Matriarch Benezia. Nothing here but geth and this ... thing. What is our sensor status? Any leads?"
"Heavy Geth activity at a linked facility nearby. Seems to be connected by a tramway."
"Okay, returning to Normandy II. I am not taking a tram anywhere. You can fly us and drop us nearby again."
Rift Station , Noveria, Pax System, Horsehead Nebula , 7 July 2183
Miranda, Shepard and Alenko entered Rift Station via an emergency exit near the tramway. Miranda had to force the door, using her telekinetic abilities to close contacts inside the electronic locks. She opened the door, let them inside and closed it again. They found themselves at the tram terminal - there was no tram just a deserted tunnel stretching away into the distance. The internal doors were not locked and opened automatically.
The station corridors were cylindrical, with a mix of solid metal composite and transparent material affording a view onto rough hewn, solid ice. A few turns and a lift took them into another room and straight in front of the raised barrels of a turian security squad.
To Miranda's surprise, the turians lowered their weapons.
"Thank the spirits you're not bugs!" exclaimed the turian leader. "Who are you ... have you been sent by corporate?"
"Commander Lawson, Terran Dominion military," replied Miranda tersely. "We're here to investigate attacks on this planet. What can you tell us about what's happening here?"
"Illo Qui'in - head of security. I won't turn down military help. We're being overrun here. I've seen no geth, whatever those are. We've had bugs overrunning the complex, coming up from the Hot Labs. Corporate sent an asari matriarch to clean up the mess. She went to the Hot Labs yesterday and we haven't heard from her since. She had a lot of strange looking combat robots with her, too."
"Benezia," remarked Shepard, "am I right? Is she still there?"
"I don't know. I don't see what one person could do, even with all those robots. There are a lot of bugs."
"How do we get there?" asked Miranda.
"I can't let you in - and you don't want me to. Look, I feel we need to evacuate," said the turian.
Miranda shrugged and suddenly the turian in front of her was wrapped in a psionic field. She casually cut down the remaining turians with short bursts from her gauntlet, ignoring return fire and two hits on her with bullets, which had negligible effect on her armour's barriers. The turian leader writhed in pain as he was lifted into the air and crushed.
"TELL ME HOW TO REACH BENEZIA," ordered Miranda, her words backed by psionic will that flooded into Illo Qui'in's mind, filling him with terror, despair and pain.
Writhing in pain, Qui'in croaked, "Make it stop, please. Make it stop. I can give you a card that will let you access. There's an emergency elevator out by the trams. It will take you down to the Hot Labs."
Miranda stopped and held out her hand. Qui'in handed over the card, weakly, and she shot him dead. "Stupid alien filth," said Miranda.
At this point, more rachni burst from the vents and died at the hands of the humans, who headed back towards the trams.
"We passed it on the way in," observed Shepard.
The three humans retraced their steps and found an entrance to the elevator next to the door they had used to enter the complex. Heading down, they found themselves in large room. A stately asari stood on a metal walkway, wearing a formal dress that showed a lot of decolletage and a strange head-dress made of chitinous material, vaguely reminiscent of the rachni.
The matriarch began to speak, "You do not know the privilege of being a mother. There is power in creation, to shape a life, turn it toward happiness or despair." The asari turned towards a giant rachni in a sort of tank in the centre of the room. "Her children were to be ours, raised to hunt and slay Nihlus' enemies. Have you faced an asari commando unit before? No humans have, as far as I know."
The asari matriarch raised her hand and doors opened. From the top floor, two younger asari burst in to the attack, wielding assault rifles. From the bottom floor entered geth troopers. The matriarch watched her reinforcements arrive calmly. With a gesture, she was wrapped in a tough looking bubble of biotic force and she stood casually, looking like she intended to spectate the fight.
It was a short fight.
As the last geth collapsed, the humans rounded on the asari. Her biotic field flickered, but she continued to ramble at them. "This is not over. Nihlus is unstoppable. My mind is filled with his light. Everything is clear."
"Benezia, right?" asked Shepard.
"Yes," replied the matriarch. She seemed to hesitate, then spoke, "you must listen -"
Miranda interrupted her with two psionic mental blasts. The invisible attacks went straight through the asari woman's biotics and she collapsed like a puppet with her strings cut, unconscious.
"Guessing that's a rachni queen," said Miranda, nodding to the giant rachni.
"YES, I AM". The strange voice came from one of the asari bodies, which got to its feet and stumbled, zombie-like, over to the tank. "THIS ONE SERVES AS OUR VOICE."
"WE CANNOT SING," rambled the zombie-asari, "NOT IN THESE LOW SPACES. YOUR MUSICS ARE COLOURLESS."
"You're the rachni in the tank?" asked Shepard.
"WE ARE THE MOTHER. WE SING FOR THOSE LEFT BEHIND. THE CHILDREN YOU THOUGHT SILENCED. WE ARE RACHNI."
"I heard you were extinct," responded Miranda.
"THE SKY IS QUIET NOW. OUR MOTHERS' SONGS ARE LOST AND THOSE WHO SLEW US NOW WALK TO MEET THE SAME FATE. THE CHILDREN WE BIRTHED WERE STOLEN FROM US BEFORE THEY COULD LEARN TO SING. THEY ARE LOST TO SILENCE. END THEIR SUFFERING, THEY CANNOT BE SAVED, THEY WILL ONLY CAUSE HARM AS THEY ARE."
"Not a problem at all. At all," replied Miranda.
"SUCH DISCORDANCE BODES ILL FOR WHAT WE MUST COMPOSE HERE. BEFORE YOU DEAL WITH OUR CHILDREN, WE STAND BEFORE YOU. WHAT WILL YOU SING? WILL YOU RELEASE US? ARE WE TO FADE AWAY ONCE MORE?"
"So, are there more like you?" asked Shepard.
"WE ARE THE LAST."
"Looks like the tank is rigged with acid as a security measure," suggested Kaiden.
"THAT IS THE TRUTH. YOU HAVE THE POWER TO FREE US, OR RETURN OUR PEOPLE TO THE SILENCE OF MEMORY."
Shepard looked at Miranda, joy written on her face. Miranda looked back, staring out through her helmet visor, through Shepard's visor and deep into Shepard's eyes. Their eyes met. Their gazes locked. Without psionics, in an ordinary but profound human connection, in that moment, they knew perfect understanding of each other. For a moment, they were almost one.
Shepard raised an armoured hand high.
Miranda raised an armoured hand high.
They high fived.
"It's genocidin' time!" the two women shouted in unison at the top of their lungs.
Shepard rushed to the controls and mashed them frantically. The zombie-asari moved to stop them but Shepard threw her out of the way with her powered armour. Clear liquid ran down, flooding the tank. The rachni queen writhed and screeched. The tank churned with acid - liquid turned brownish-black with dissolved rachni parts, bubbling violently and opaque. Soon the screeching stopped.
"Right, let's get out of here with the prisoner," said Shepard.
"Ohhh that was so gooood!" exclaimed Miranda rapturously.
"Without a doubt," replied Shepard, heavy satisfaction in her voice.
Terran Dominion Bulk Cargo Carrier Truckin' Fantasy,
Noveria Orbit, Pax System, Horsehead Nebula
, 8 July 2183
Miranda and Shepard looked through the reinforced window of the examination chamber.
After returning to the Normandy II, they had immediately lifted for high orbit. At the same time, Miranda had sent an emergency message to her small flotilla. Shepard and Miranda had cleaned up whilst the Normandy II silently fired upon and destroyed Geth ships and a small corporate transport trying to leave the planet. The Normandy II ignored all hails.
The Image of Violence had arrived through a portal not long after and started widespread bombardment with Petroleum Effect bombs. It had been ordered to glass the planet - to turn the entire surface of the world into white hot lava just as the Dominion had done with Rainbow-2 over fifty years previously. All visible installations had been targeted first. Nothing would be leaving now. The Image would not stop until the entire surface was blazing molten rock.
In the meantime Matriarch Benezia was transferred unconscious to a xenobiological examination and interrogation chamber. It was the same room that had held Helpful Bear. Benezia's shapely body had been stripped completely naked and she was restrained with bands of solid composite and biotic dampeners. Whilst she was unconscious, Benezia had been sedated to stop her waking up for a while. Then, nanites had been used to remove every spec of element zero from her body. The glittering discharge from her body had been power sprayed into drains for recycling. Benezia was no longer biotic in the slightest.
Shepard and Miranda stood together just wearing uniform - no armour - in a control room for the interrogation chamber. The usual aides and scientists had been dismissed.
Miranda pressed a button and liquid flowed through injectors into Benezia. She began to awaken.
Benezia woke up. She was strapped down in a dark room and she felt weak. Sedative, she thought. She instinctively tried her biotics, just a flex, but nothing happened. She felt an odd pain.
"Watch!" commanded a painfully loud voice in perfect Asari. It sounded like an asari voice, or a human female.
A screen activated in front of Benezia. There was a surface in the picture made of what looked like pink fur. It was quite pretty - like a carpet or a child's toy it looked soft and touchable. Then, it split. Something greenish-black, vile and glistening emerged. It continued slowly and obscenely. It was something like an asymmetric sac, from its shape filled with numerous lumps. The surface of the sac was covered in warts or tumors as well as slime. From the sac extended a writhing, thick shape - a column of flesh which moved from side to side, coiling and uncoiling, like a tentacle. At one end was a fleshy bulb with a vertical slit, which opened for a moment revealing needle-sharp teeth. The whole greenish-black thing pulsated and sharp, cruel spines shot out from the sides of the flesh column, just under the bulb, then retracted.
"What you are seeing is the reproductive system of a male Care Bear, the species now more properly known as eviloids. It is a hideous instrument of violation and miscegenation concealed in a pouch. Any asari impregnated with this organ will give birth continuously to eviloid-asari hybrids every three months until she dies when her body eventually gives out. We're pretty sure you don't want to encounter one."
The frame Benezia was attached to suddenly moved, motors spreading Benezia's arms and legs, emphasising her vulnerability.
"Now, Matriarch Benezia, tell us what you were doing on Noveria."
Matriarch Benezia was terrified.
"Nihlus sent me to find the Mu Relay. Its position was lost thousands of years ago."
"Where is the relay?"
"I transcribed the data to an OSD in the lab. Take it, please!"
There was a pause for a moment. A long pause.
"The lab has been destroyed. You will have to tell us what you know the slow, hard way."
Suddenly Benezia's manner changed, a surge of rage and compulsion rose up from somewhere deep inside, "I will not betray Nihlus. He will save the galaxy!"
The interrogation continued for some time.
There was pain inflicted by a variety of instruments on a robotic arm assembly, some bladed, others electrical, others blunt. The pain was punctuated by injections. Some of the injections hurt, some numbed the pain, some made her giggly, others made her excited or really awake. Sometimes Benezia's head hurt for no reason and she felt another presence in her head. She thought it might be an effect of the drug. At one point it almost felt like a painful meld, but she was alone in the room.
Benezia found the rage and compulsion diminishing and she was able to talk, she wanted to talk, she could do nothing but talk. The asari matriarch's secrets were wrung out like she was a wet sponge.
Benezia found herself revealing all Nihlus' plans. The Citadel was an ancient mass relay that had been made by the, 'Masters'. She realised, oddly, that her own thoughts had never been clear on just who or what the Masters were. Looking back, her actions made no sense to her - like she had been drugged or controlled. Regardless, the Citadel should, apparently, have opened the way for the Masters to return but had failed for some reason due to Prothean sabotage. Nihlus could open the way but he needed himself and his flagship to physically visit the Citadel and dock with the tower. He had to have control of some of the Citadel Council's chambers for a short but non-trivial period.
To this end, Nihlus was seeking a device called the, 'Conduit'. Apparently, this was a model mass relay made by Prothean scientists which linked directly to a counterpart on the Citadel Presidium - like a point-to-point teleport over interstellar distances. By using the Conduit, Nihlus planned to transport large numbers of Geth troops to the Presidium whilst his flagship and a Geth fleet attacked the Citadel. Nihlus also had a base on the planet Virmire, where he was breeding an army of krogan using a cure he had somehow obtained for the genophage. He intended to use them as disposable shock troops. Once the Citadel was under control, its mass relay functionality would be activated and the Masters would arrive, ending the fleet conflict at a stroke.
The questions continued. Why had she helped Nihlus? Benezia realised she did not know. In fact, she felt quite serene for some reason. The questions about the Masters and Nihlus continued. Eventually, Benezia slept.
When Benezia awoke, her head felt clearer. She was alone in a comfortable room, lying in a comfortable bed. There were clean, plain clothes on a couch nearby and Asari refreshments on a table.
Conference Room , Terran Dominion Frigate Normandy II , The Citadel , Serpent Nebula , 9 July 2183
Miranda and Shepard sat in the conference room.
"So," said Shepard, "now we know all Nihlus' evil plans."
Miranda smirked, "The Citadel Council are going to literally piss themselves, when Saren reports, with video footage, that Nihlus not only attempted to resurrect the rachni to use as an army, he is doing similar with the krogan."
Shepard laughed at that. Miranda continued, enthusing, "Saren is so great as an asset. I've got him living in a crate now and grateful for it. He's given me all his access codes - I've got a program running downloading every secure file the Citadel Council have to Dominion intelligence. His reports tell the Council whatever we want - how awesome we are and how selflessly cooperative."
" That asari prisoner will probably be useful too. At least we now understand the Citadel trap."
"Indeed," said Miranda somberly, "in fact we have probably spoken to it - the Keeper. It basically told us the same thing as Benezia, except left out that the Citadel was the mass relay needed for the ancient synthetics to return. The Protheans called them Reapers but we have ships of that same name, so I am going to call them exterminators or synthetics. We'll probably have to use the word, 'Reapers' around Citadel races though."
"So what now?" asked Shepard. "I have ideas if you want to hear them, but this is way above my pay grade."
"Ideas please," asked Miranda, "your pay grade could change soon."
"We need to glass Virmire. No need to go down to the surface just send a couple of our element-zero fleets to destroy it from orbit, with a sword ship to drop the bombs. We don't need to follow Nihlus any more. We just need a fleet near the Citadel to let us drop the hammer when Nihlus arrives. We can ride in like the cavalry. At the last minute of course. Heroically."
"Not such a bad idea," smiled Miranda, "let's get the Demilady on the link and put it to her."