Six hours later, the Normandy dropped out of FTL at the edge of the Aratoht system. Shepard stood in the CIC, arms crossed, studying the system map as it populated with data.
"Sensors picking up a batarian prison facility," EDI reported. "MS Farinata. Medium security. Approximately two hundred personnel. Dr. Kenson's last transmission originated from that facility."
"A prison?" Shepard frowned. "They caught her."
"It would appear so."
Joker's voice crackled over the comm. "So, uh, Commander? We're flying into batarian space to break someone out of prison. Just want to make sure I'm understanding the plan correctly. Because that sounds, you know, insane."
"When has that ever stopped us, Joker?"
"Fair point. Where do you want me to park this thing?"
Shepard studied the facility's location. "Bring us in quiet. I'm going in alone."
"Commander," Miranda's voice cut in from her station. "That's inadvisable. You should take a team."
"One person has a better chance of staying undetected than a squad. I get in, find Kenson, get out. Quick and quiet."
"And if it's not quick and quiet?"
Shepard allowed herself a thin smile. "Then you'll hear about it."
The shuttle ride down was silent except for the dull thrum of engines. Shepard ran through equipment checks—Carnifex pistol, full thermal clips, medi-gel, omni-tool fully charged. Standard loadout for a stealth op that would probably go loud.
It always went loud.
The facility loomed ahead, a dark mass of metal and concrete built into an asteroid, searchlights sweeping the darkness. Batarian architecture—brutal, efficient, designed to intimidate. Shepard guided the shuttle to a maintenance landing pad on the facility's lower level, using codes EDI had sliced from the prison's systems.
"Setting down," she murmured. "EDI, how's our cover?"
"Intact. The facility's systems believe you are a scheduled maintenance shuttle. You have approximately seventeen minutes before they verify the manifest."
"Plenty of time."
She sealed her helmet, checked her weapon one last time, and hit the shuttle's ramp release.
The air was thin, recycled, tasted like metal and old oil. Emergency lighting cast everything in a dim red glow. Shepard moved quickly through the corridor, her omni-tool displaying a wireframe map of the facility. Dr. Kenson's cell was in the detention block—three levels up, past security checkpoints and guard stations.
Simple.
The first checkpoint was unmanned—just a biometric scanner. Shepard bypassed it with a quick hack, the door sliding open with a hydraulic hiss. The second checkpoint had two guards, both batarians in prison security armor, looking bored.
Shepard considered the tactical problem for half a second, then decided diplomacy was overrated. She moved fast—stunned the first guard with an omni-tool shock, pivoted, and dropped the second with a precisely placed strike to the nerve cluster at the base of his skull. Both crumpled without a sound.
She dragged them into a side room, sealed the door, and kept moving.
The detention block was quieter than she expected. A few prisoners behind energy barriers, most sleeping or staring at nothing. No one paid her any attention. Her armor's paint job wasn't batarian issue, but in the dim lighting and with her helmet on, she could pass for facility security at a glance.
Cell 13. According to EDI's data, that was Kenson's location.
Shepard stopped outside the door, ran a quick scan. Single occupant, human life signs. Elevated stress indicators but stable. She keyed open the door.
Inside, a woman sat on the narrow cot, head in her hands. Brown hair, medium build, wearing a torn jumpsuit. She looked up as the door opened, eyes widening.
"Who—"
"Dr. Kenson. Amanda." Shepard pulled off her helmet. "It's me. Shepard."
Recognition flickered across Kenson's face, followed immediately by relief so profound she sagged forward. "Shepard? Oh thank god. I thought—I wasn't sure anyone would—"
"Save it. We need to move." Shepard offered her hand, pulled Kenson to her feet. "Can you walk?"
"Yes. Yes, I'm fine. They didn't—" Kenson swallowed hard. "I wasn't hurt. Just... detained. Shepard, I have to tell you—"
"Later. Right now, we're leaving."
Shepard resealed her helmet and moved back into the corridor. Kenson stayed close, following her lead. They made it back to the first checkpoint before the alarms started blaring.
"Warning: Unauthorized access detected. Lockdown initiated."
"EDI!" Shepard broke into a run. "I need those doors open!"
"Working, Commander. The facility's security is more robust than anticipated."
Blast doors were slamming shut throughout the complex. Shepard grabbed Kenson's arm, pulling her through a gap just as a barrier came down behind them. Batarian guards were shouting, boots pounding on metal deck plating.
"There! The human!"
Weapons fire echoed through the corridor. Shepard shoved Kenson behind a support pillar, drew her pistol, and returned fire. Two guards went down. Three more appeared from a side corridor.
"This way!" Shepard sprinted toward the maintenance bay, Kenson right behind her. More weapons fire. An explosion rocked the corridor—someone had brought out the heavy ordinance.
The shuttle was exactly where she'd left it, ramp still down. Shepard practically threw Kenson aboard, then followed, slamming the controls. The ramp closed, engines roared to life.
"Hold on!" She threw the shuttle into a hard ascent, batarian gunships scrambling to intercept. "EDI, tell Joker we're coming in hot!"
"The Normandy is prepared to receive you, Commander."
The shuttle screamed away from the facility, three batarian fighters on her tail. Shepard jinked left, then right, proximity alarms screaming. Ahead, the Normandy's silhouette materialized, hangar bay open and waiting.
She didn't slow down—just aimed for the opening and punched the throttle.
The shuttle slammed into the hangar with more force than was strictly necessary. Crew members scattered. Behind them, the hangar sealed, and the Normandy's engines flared bright.
"Joker," Shepard called over the comm. "Get us out of here!"
"Already gone, Commander!"
The Normandy leapt away into FTL, leaving the batarian pursuit behind.
Dr. Kenson sat in the conference room, a thermal blanket around her shoulders, hands wrapped around a cup of coffee she hadn't touched. Shepard sat across from her, waiting.
Finally, Kenson spoke.
"They're coming, Shepard. The Reapers. I have proof."
Shepard leaned forward. "Show me."
Kenson activated her omni-tool. Data streamed across the holographic display—stellar drift calculations, gravitational anomalies, subspace readings. It looked like scientific noise until you understood what you were looking at.
"This is Object Rho, a reaper artifact we discovered among the asteroids near the Relay itself." Kenson explained, her voice gaining strength as she fell back into familiar territory. "I've been studying it for months. When we get to Arcturus Station I'll explain everything." She met Shepard's eyes. "They're using it as a back door. A Reaper vanguard is already on its way, probably already approaching final stages of deceleration as we speak. And when they do, the invasion begins. Not in months. Not in weeks. Days. Maybe hours."
The words hung in the air like a death sentence.
"How many?" Shepard asked quietly.
"I don't know. Dozens. Hundreds, quite probably thousands. Enough to overwhelm any defense the Alliance could mount. They'll sweep through the relay, hit the nearest systems, establish a foothold. By the time the Council believes the threat is real, it'll be too late."
Dr. Kenson's hands trembled slightly as she brought up another holographic projection — a massive object highlighted in red, its path intersecting the relay like a dagger.
"The Project," she said. "It's designed to stop them before they arrive. We're going to destroy the relay."
Shepard's eyes narrowed. "Destroy it? That's possible? I've always thought relays are indestructible."
Kenson shook her head, her voice tight with conviction. "Not indestructible. Merely resilient. And i think its more that nobody is willing to find out what happens when one is destroyed. With enough mass and velocity, the impact will destabilize the energy core. We've calculated the threshold." She expanded the diagram; a dwarf planet or rather a large asteroid appeared, glowing blue with targeting vectors. "This rock—on a collision course. The resulting energy will annihilate it — and the entire system."
Shepard leaned back, stunned. "The entire system? You'll kill everyone here."
Kenson's gaze didn't waver. "There are 300,000 batarian colonists in this system. If we don't do this, billions will die when the Reapers arrive. The choice is clear."
"Clear?" Shepard snapped. "You're talking about genocide."
"It's sacrifice, Commander. The kind history will never know. And it will save everyone else."
Shepard exhaled slowly, trying to keep her voice level. "You're sure this will stop them?"
"It won't stop them. It will slow them. Without a relay, their advance will take months—years to reach the next jump point. Enough time for the Alliance and Council to prepare, maybe even to find a way to fight back."
The room fell silent but for the low hum of the ship's engines. Shepard stared at the projections—the spinning asteroid, the bright blue relay, the path of destruction between them.
Finally she said, "When does it hit?"
"Soon," Kenson replied quietly. "We're nearly ready. All we need is final authorization to begin the push. The engines are primed, the targeting algorithms calibrated." She looked at Shepard with something like pleading. "This is our only chance."
Shepard rose from her seat, jaw tightening. "I need to see it myself. Take me to the facility."
Kenson nodded, a flicker of relief crossing her face. "Of course, Commander. You'll understand once you see it in motion.
The research facility was small, isolated, built into the rocky surface of a moon orbiting Aratoht. As Shepard's shuttle approached, EDI's voice came through the comm.
"Commander, I'm detecting unusual energy signatures from the facility. They're faint, but—"
"But what, EDI?"
"They're similar to readings associated with Reaper technology."
Shepard's eyes narrowed. "Given the Reaper artifact onboard I'd say this is to be expected?"
"Possible. But the levels far exceed previously encountered 'dormant' artifacts."
She looked at Kenson, who was staring out the viewport at the approaching facility. "Dr. Kenson. Your team. Have they been exhibiting unusual behavior? Paranoia? Obsessive thoughts?"
Kenson's expression flickered—just for a moment—with something Shepard couldn't quite read. "They've been under a lot of stress. This project, its purpose... it's consumed us."
"That's not what I asked."
"They're fine, Shepard. They're scientists, not—"
The shuttle's controls went dead.
"What the—" Shepard grabbed the controls, but they didn't respond. They were locked on an automated approach vector.
"EDI!"
"I've lost control, Commander. Something has overridden our systems and locked me out."
Kenson was on her feet, backing away from Shepard. Her expression had changed—cold, distant. "I'm sorry, Shepard. I really am. But we can't let you destroy the relay."
Understanding hit Shepard like a physical blow. "You're indoctrinated."
"Indoctrinated? No. Enlightened." Kenson's smile was terrible, beatific. "The Reapers are salvation. Ascension. When they arrive, humanity will be uplifted. We'll become part of something greater. We just had to make sure nothing interfered with their arrival. And you—" She pulled a pistol from her jacket, not really a threat for an armored biotic, given Shepard could likely tear her apart, but what then be blown out of the sky from the base defenses, it was better to wait for an opportune moment. Kenson leveled it at Shepard. "You're the biggest threat to the return of our saviors."
"Amanda, listen to yourself—"
"I'm finally thinking clearly. You'll understand. Eventually. When you're ready." The pistol didn't waver. "Once the Reapers arrive. Once you see."
The shuttle landed. The ramp opened. On the other side, a dozen armed personnel in environmental suits waited, weapons raised.
"Take her," Kenson ordered. "And secure her in detention. We'll need her alive to make sure Cerberus doesn't interfere."
They moved fast. Shepard tried to fight, but there were too many, and they were ready for her. Someone hit her with a shock baton. Her muscles seized, vision graying.
The last thing she saw before darkness took her was Kenson's face, serene and smiling, as if she'd just solved the last puzzle in the universe.
A.N: This was... so boring to write...