Chapter 182

Joker activated the cloak enchantments Harry placed on the Normandy and quickly drove the ship into Ilos, when the Normandy got close enough to the plane, it dropped the squad onto the planet itself.

Thanks to the squad's Harry-made armor they are wearing, they were able to survive being so high where there was less oxygen, but they didn't have to worry much either way.

Harry quickly transformed into his dragon god form and the girls floated everyone onto the top of his head, with a roar Harry flew down towards where he knew Saren is.

-----

Down below in Ilos, Saren was on top if a flying platform heading into a building with a group of geth following alongside him, however, a very loud roar made him jump in surprise and look up.

Only to gape when he saw a massive reptile dropping from the sky and heading towards him, he recognized that reptile, how could he not, when he had seen Harry Potter transform into that same creature in front of the Council.

Harry Potter was coming after him and Saren knew that Shepard was close behind him as well, so he growled in anger and began to address the geth with him "You two, keep moving, inside, now!".

Saren quickly followed his geth as he made his flying platform head inside the massive building they had been going into at high speed, meanwhile, a geth quickly began to close the gates hoping to stop the creature heading their way, as Saren and the other geth headed deeper inside the building as fast as they could.

Harry saw all of this happen but didn't really mind much and as soon as he landed he immediately clawed the gate open, destroying it and the geth who had tried to close it.

As Harry destroyed the gate he called out to his friends "Hang on guys! this is going to be a bumpy ride!".

Geth began to pop out from the abandoned city behind Harry, Shepard noticed them and quickly issued orders "Everyone! Shoot those geth down! Do not let them get in Harry's way!".

Everyone immediately took out their Harry-made weapons, began to aim, and then shot at the massive geth army crawling out of the abandoned city as Harry burst into the bunker with a roar.

As Harry moved forward, the squad kept the geth army away by shooting them all down, Wrex began to cackle in glee "Hah! This is great!".

Garrus sniped a big group of geth with his Harry-made sniper rifle's charged shot and grinned "You know what? I agree with Wrex, this is pretty fun!".

Kaidan charged a massive biotic singularity and then condensed it before throwing it at the massive geth army, the singularity flew through the air and them suddenly exploded creating a massive black hole that began to draw in many of the geth "Well, it says a lot about us that we're having fun with something like this... Ashley, blow that singularity for me please".

Ashley immediately charged a plasma grenade with her Harry-made assault rifle and then shot it at the singularity, the plasma grenade exploded on contact and created a chain of effect that created a massive explosion of dark matter that destroyed a big number of enemies.

Ashley grinned as she saw the destruction she just brought to the enemy and said "Well, I don't think there's nothing wrong with having fun, with what we do, we're pretty good at it too, so that's a plus right?".

Liara giggled and shook her head in amusement as she charged her Harry-made pistol with flame ammo activated and then shot a massive orb of red hot flames that flew through the air and melted many of the geth before it even crashed and engulfed a big chunk of the geth army in super-heated flames "I think our sense of what's normal is forever destroyed though".

Tali rained down energy buckshot with her shotgun's charged shot, sending a great number of energy pellets raining down on the geth and shredding them to pieces "It's fine no? What's good about being normal anyways?".

Shepard had been hearing the casual conversation the squad was having while riding on a dragon god and shooting geth down by the thousands, he couldn't help to laugh at the absurdity of this entire thing.

-----

As Harry made his way towards where Saren was running to, he was suddenly stopped when an energy barrier materialized in front of him, he quickly shattered it with a swipe of his claws.

But another one soon appeared a few inches behind the first barrier and Harry shattered it as well, but then more and more barriers began to materialize in front of him, all of them a few inches behind each other.

Harry narrowed his eyes and was getting ready to blast all of those barriers with a big blast of his fire breath when he suddenly felt a pulse of digital energy "... Shepard".

Shepard, who had been watching Harry destroy the barriers and then preparing himself to destroy the rest in a single attack, heard Harry call out to him so he quickly responded "Yeah? What's wrong?".

Harry immediately began to inform Shepard of what he just sensed "There is a digital energy signature nearby, it's not geth or reaper, it's something completely different and it's calling out to us".

Shepard frowned as he understood what Harry just told him "A digital energy signature? Could it be prothean? This is an old prothean city after all".

Harry shrugged "Not sure, but it could be, and since it seems to be calling out to us, this might be important... what do you want to do?".

Shepard thought about what he should do about all of this, behind him he could still hear his squad destroying geth, and Saren was still ahead of them, but whatever prothean knowledge they might find, might tell them something else about the reapers as a whole.

This was an opportunity that Shepard couldn't ignore, so he grunted in annoyance and then asked Harry a question "Can you take us to this digital energy?".

Harry nodded "Yeah, I can even teleport us there directly, but this might give Saren time, time he could use to get the conduit".

Shepard sighed and then gave Harry a nod "I know... but the protheans know about the reapers, we might actually find some more information about them, information that might be useful"

Harry hummed for a few seconds and then nodded "You're right, so... do you want to go?".

Shepard gave Harry a nod and a response "Yes, let's go, we can catch up to Saren with your help soon enough, but we need whatever information we might find in these prothean ruins".

Harry nodded and then made the squad float off his head and took on his human form, with a snap of his finger he teleported everyone towards the digital presence he sensed in a flash of blue light, the color of the infinity stone of space.

-----

The group appeared in a flash of blue light on a platform inside a chamber, somewhere deep in the prothean ruins of Ilos, the squad quickly scanned the area for enemies, but seeing none, they all relaxed.

Harry stared at a weird terminal-looking machine at the end of the platform, Le Fay walked up to him and pointed at the terminal-looking machine "Is that where you sense that digital presence?".

Harry nodded "Yes, but...".

Kunou knew what Harry was going to say so she beat him to it "But it's hard to believe it's still working after being here for so long".

Valerie looked around and piped in "I bet millennia passed by in this room, so how is that terminal still working?".

Harry shook his head "Who knows, but it was calling out to us".

Shepard walked forward to the terminal while giving Harry a nod "Then let's find out what it wants".

Everyone watched as Shepard approached the terminal, only to stop when an orange distorted hologram appeared from the terminal and spoke, "You are not prothean, but your not a machine either, this eventually was one of many that was anticipated, this is why we sent our warning through the beacons".

The squad was surprised at what they had found, but it was Wrex who voiced that surprise "Looks like some kind of VI program... it's pretty damaged though".

The VI continued speaking "I do not sense the taint of indoctrination upon any of you, unlike the other that passed recently, perhaps there is still hope".

Liara was awed at what she was seeing and seemed extremely excited "This is incredible an actual prothean VI, and I can understand it!".

The prothean VI suddenly began to explain as if Liara had asked a question "I have been monitoring your communications since you arrived in this facility, I have translated my output into a format you will comprehend.

My name is Vigil, you're safe here, for the moment, but that is likely to change, soon nowhere will be safe".

Shepard looked intrigued and turned to look at Harry, the Dragon God nodded to Shepard and then asked a question to the VI "Are you an artificial intelligence?".

Vigil quickly began to explain "I am an advance non-organic analysis system with the personality imprints from Ksad Ishan, chief overseer of the Ilos research facility".

Harry nodded, Vigil wasn't an AI, but a digital imprint of someone else, in other words, an echo "That's why Vigil has a digital presence... he's not an AI but something similar, it's a shame though, I would have liked for it to be awakened".

Shepard smiled at his friend's care for digital beings, but not having a lot of time, he decided to ask Vigil a question "Harry said you were calling out to us, why?".

Vigil wasted no time in explaining to Shepard why he had called everyone here to speak with it "You must break a cycle that has continued for millions of years, but to stop it, you must understand or you will make the same mistakes we did.

The Citadel is the heart of your civilization and the seat of government, as it was with us, and as it has been with every civilization that came before us.

But the Citadel is a trap, the station is actually an enormous mass relay, one that links to dark space, the empty void beyond the galaxy's horizon.

When the Citadel relay is activated, the reapers will pour through, and all you know will be destroyed".

Everyone native to this universe gasped in shock, the revelation that the Citadel is a massive mass relay hit them hard and left almost everyone speechless.

Harry, however, had questions and he didn't hesitate to voice them "How come nobody ever noticed the Citadel was an inactivate mass relay?".

Vigil quickly explained "The reapers are careful to keep the greatest secrets of the Citadel hidden, that is why they created a species of seemingly benign organic caretakers.

The Keepers maintain the station's most basic functions, they enable any species that discover the Citadel to use it without fully understanding the technology.

Reliance on the Keepers ensures no other species will ever discover the Citadel's true nature, not until the relay is activated and the reapers invade".

Harry sighed and then groaned "Well shit!... Got to admit, the reapers pulled a fast one on an entire galaxy, even I didn't even realize it and I was searching for Keepers for a while!".

Le Fay nodded "Well, the reapers might be arrogant but they are highly intelligent machines, it's not that surprising that they pulled this off".

Valerie crossed her arms and shook her head "Besides, how were you supposed to know this Harry, we're not from this galaxy, and at the time, we didn't know anything about Citadel.

There's no way you could have realized all of this about the Citadel, well not unless you use the Akashic Record".

Kunou shook her head "But we know you don't like abusing your power over the Akashic Record, not when you saw what the prior administrator did in that world you told us about".

Harry nodded "Yes... Polaris... but never mind that this is pretty serious for everyone in this galaxy and the Council".

Shepard frowned and nodded, he then asked something he was wondering about, when Vigil mentioned it "How do the reapers survive out in dark space?".

Everyone in the squad who had been stunned by the information they received, snapped out of it when they heard Shepard's question, it was a very good question after all.

Vigil once again immediately answered the question he was given "We have only theories, the researchers here came to believe the reapers enter prolonged states of inactivity, to conserve energy.

This allows them to survive the thousands and thousands of years it takes for organic civilization to rebuild itself, but in this state, they're vulnerable.

By retreating beyond the edges of the galaxy, they ensure no one will accidentally discover them, they keep their existence hidden until the Citadel relay is activated".

Shepard sighed and then scratched his head in frustration "The reapers can wipe out the Council and the entire citadel fleet in a single surprise attack!".

Vigil quickly informed Shepard of some more information "That was our fate, our leaders were dead before we even realized we were under attack, the reapers seized control of the Citadel and through it, the mass relays.

Communication and transportation across our empire were crippled, each star system was isolated, cut off from the others, and easy prey for the reaper fleets.

Over the next decades, the reapers systematically obliterated our people, world by world, system by system, they methodically wiped us out".

Harry frowned and shook his head "Some of you must have managed to survive, there's no way the reapers really wiped everyone out".

Vigil explained what had happened to everyone "Through the Citadel, the reapers had access to all our records, maps, census data, information is power, and they knew everything about us.

Their fleets advanced across every settled region of the galaxy, some worlds were utterly destroyed, others were conquered, and their population enslaved.

These indoctrinated servants became sleeper agents under reaper control, taken in as refugees by other protheans, they betrayed them to the machines.

Within a few centuries, the reapers had killed or enslaved every prothean in the galaxy they were relentless, brutal, and absolutely thorough".

Harry tiredly rubbed his brow and shook his head "I can't believe I'm saying this, but the reapers are officially, worse than Frieza, and this is me saying it, that bastard is a heartless monster but at least you can somewhat reason with him".

The squad didn't know who Frieza was, but given Harry's opinion of him, he must really be a horrible monster, it seems that the reapers were worse than this Frieza and that was bad news for everyone.

Shepard then asked Vigil a question "I don't understand, where did the reapers go after they conquered your people?".

Vigil once again immediately answered Shepard's question "Our worlds were stripped bare, harvested by indoctrinated slaves, everything of value- all resources, all technology- was taken.

Certain that all advanced organic life had been extinguished, the reapers retreated back through the Citadel Relay, into dark space, sealing it behind them.

All evidence of the reaper invasion had been wiped out, only their indoctrinated slaves were left behind, abandoned.

Mindless husks no longer capable of independent thought, the indoctrinated soon starved or died of exposure, and the genocide of the protheans was complete".

Harry huffed "I really hate the reapers now... just what do the reapers get out of this anyway? Why do they keep doing this over and over again? That's the only thing I don't understand about them... why do all this?".

Vigil answered Harry's question as best he could, or at least, the theories the protheans had "The reapers are alien, unknowable, perhaps they need slaves or resources, more likely, they are driven by motives and goals organic beings cannot hope to comprehend.

In the end, what does it matter? Your survival depends on stopping them, not in understanding them".

Harry agreed with Vigil and nodded, though he was still curious about why the reapers were doing this, he decided to push it aside, Shepard crossed his arms and wondered about everything he just heard, all this information was good.

It answered a lot of questions he and the squad had about the reapers, but that just left one thing "You said you brought us here for a reason, tell me what I need to do".

Vigil responded to Shepard right away "The conduit is the key, before the reapers attacked, we protheans were on the cusp of unlocking the mysteries behind mass relay technology.

Ilos was a top research facility, here, the researchers worked to create a small-scale version of a mass relay, one that linked directly to the Citadel, the hub of the relay network".

Liara gasped and suddenly explained what she just realized "The conduit is not a weapon, it is a back door into the Citadel!".

Harry scoffed and shook his head "And the Council is so sure that they're safe there and that they can stop Saren.

I can't wait to see their faces when they realized how wrong they are".

Everyone nodded in agreement, the Council certainly didn't gain any friends among them so everyone would have loved to see their expression when shit hits the fan, Shepard then asked Vigil something he was wondering about "How did you manage to stay hidden?".

Vigil quickly explained "All official records of our project were destroyed in the initial attack on the Citadel, while the prothean empire came crashing down, Ilos was spared.

We severed all communication with the outside and our facility went dark, the personnel retreated underground into these archives.

To conserve resources, everyone was put into cryogenic stasis, I was programmed to monitor the facility and wake the staff when the danger had passed.

But the genocide of an entire species is a long, slow process, years passed, decades, centuries, the reapers persisted and my energy reserves were dwindling".

Shepard and the squad shook their head, everything Vigil just told them was a hard pill to swallow, Shepard sighed and then asked "How did you survive?".

Vigil responded to Shepard's question and explained "I began to disable the life support of non-essential personnel, first support staff, then security, one by one their pods were shut down to conserve energy.

Eventually, only stasis pods of the top scientists remained active, even these were in danger of failing when the Reapers finally retreated back through the Citadel relay".

Le Fay frowned and looked around "There must be hundreds of pods in here alone, but you shut them all down, you killed them all... but I guess you really didn't have a choice either"

Everyone was upset about what Vigil had to do, he is a VI, and logically, he did the right thing, however, anyone else would feel angry and sad about his choice.

Harry scratched his head and looked down "You couldn't let everyone die... so you chose to sacrifice some so others could live, what a horrible choice for someone to make".

Vigil paused for about a second, but then explained "This outcome was not completely unforeseen, my actions were a result of contingency programming entered upon my creation".

Wrex grunted and shook his head "I bet they didn't tell the 'none essential' staff about this contingency".

Ashley frowned "Yeah, but how do you explain something like that to people?".

Tali looked down and sadly sighed "More than likely, they knew it would come to that, so they decided to keep quiet to spare everyone from the bad news...".

Vigil suddenly began to speak "I saved key personnel when the reapers retreated, and the top researchers were still alive, my actions are the only reason hope remains.

When the researchers woke, they realized the prothean species was doomed, there were only a dozen individuals left, far to few to sustain a viable population.

Yet they vowed to find some way to stop the reapers from returning, a way to break the cycle forever, and they knew the Keepers were the key".

Shepard nodded "Alright, now explain why is Saren trying to find the conduit?".

Vigil answered the question right away "The conduit gives him access to the Citadel and the Keepers.

The Keepers are controlled by the Citadel, before each invasion, a signal is sent through the station, compelling the Keepers to activate the Citadel relay.

After decades of feverish study, the scientists discovered a way to alter their signal, using the conduit, they gained access to the Citadel and made the modifications.

This time, when Sovereign sent the signal to the Citadel, the Keepers ignored it, and the reapers are trapped in dark space".

Harry clicked his tongue in annoyance "Son of a bitch, that's why the reapers needed Saren and the geth, without the conduit, they can't activate the Citadel relay".

Shepard nodded "Saren can use the conduit to bypass all of the Citadel's external defenses".

"Correct, and once inside, he can transfer control to the station to Sovereign.

Sovereign will override the Citadel's systems and manually open the relay, and the cycle of extinction will begin again".

Shepard narrowed his eyes and then said "We'll stop Saren, just tell us what to do".

Vigil immediately explained to Shepard what to do "There's a data file in my console, take a copy when you go, when you reach the Citadel's master control unit, upload it to the station.

It will corrupt the Citadel's security protocols and give you temporary control over the station it might give you a chance against Sovereign".

Kaidan frowned and then piped in "The Citadel has a master control unit? Where? I've never heard of anything like that".

Vigil wasted no time in explaining the plan "Through the conduit, follow Saren, he will lead you to your destination".

Kunou hummed and then spoke her opinion "Well, we have a plan now, I bet Saren won't expect us to hitch a ride with him".

Valerie giggled "I can't wait to see his face, it's going to be great".

Le Fay smiled at her harem sisters and then decided to ask a few questions she herself had, after hearing Vigil explain about the reapers "You said the reapers are trapped in dark space, where did Sovereign come from then?".

"It's logical to assume the reapers would leave one of their own behind after each extinction, a sentinel to pave the way for their inevitable return.

Like those in dark space, Sovereign probably spent most of the last 50,000 years in a state of hibernation, periodically, it would wake to analyze the situation.

Keeping its existence hidden, it would evaluate the state of galactic civilization, and, when the time was right, it would signal the Citadel and usher in the Reaper invasion.

But this time the signal failed, the Keepers did not respond, Sovereign's allies were trapped in the void, alone, it was forced to try and discover what had gone wrong".

Valerie then raised a question "Why not just attack? Sovereign is a very large ship and has quite powerful weapons too, so why all this secrecy and whatnot?"

"Sovereign is not invincible, revealing its true nature would have united the forces of every organic species against it, even a reaper couldn't survive such odds.

But the reapers are patient, they will not rush into the unknown, Sovereign could have been planning this for centuries, moving deliberately, gathering allies.

Slowly, it has assembled the pieces of the puzzle, working through his agents to keep itself hidden, Saren is the most visible pawn of the reapers, but I doubt he was the first one.

Now Sovereign has grown bold, whether, from confidence or desperation, I cannot say, but it is determined to reopen the portal to dark space".

Le Fay nodded "I see, it all makes sense now... when we met Sovereign in Virmire, he seemed so arrogant and so sure of itself, it made me wonder why a being like it, would work with Saren and the geth.

After all, according to Saren himself, Sovereign really does not have a high opinion of organic life, but now it makes sense.

Sovereign is desperate now, who knows how long he has been searching for a way to activate the Citadel relay and to contact the rest of the reapers as well?"

Everyone nodded, and a few of the squad wondered the same thing as Le Fay, so they were glad she had asked about it, Liara then raised another question "What about the beacon on Eden Prime? and the one Virmire? What were they for?".

"At our apex, the beacons spanned the breadth of our empire, we used them as a single galaxy-wide network, to transmit data and communications rapidly from world to world.

Virtually all the beacons were destroyed during the invasion, but once the reapers were gone, the survivors here on Ilos decided to risk sending out a message.

We knew it was unlikely there were other survivors, but if there were, we wanted them to know about Ilos, we wanted to give them hope, so a message was sent across the network".

Liara nodded, she had always wondered about the beacons, she had spent a lot of time researching them after all, and to finally know what they are and what their function is, was something that Liara never hoped to find out.

Tali however frowned "That's quite the risk, you could have exposed yourselves to the reapers..".

"In truth, we didn't expect any of the beacons would still function, but we had to try, if there were survivors, we had to reach them.

The message was meant for our people, it was coded so only organic beings could interpret it, we still didn't understand the power of reaper indoctrination.

We never realized it could lead an agent of the machines, like Saren, to this world, but it had also led you here, so perhaps we did not fail after all".

Tali softly smiled, sure it was risky but she now understood why the protheans decided to take the risk, to begin with, plus, because they did that, it give them a chance to fight back, it was thanks to that decision that they were here right now.

Kunou suddenly piped in "Wait! I have a question... so when the reapers created the Citadel, they actually created the Keepers as well? Cause the Keepers look organic, sure there are some machine parts, perhaps they're indoctrinated?".

"A more likely scenario is that the Keepers were one of the early harvested civilizations, perhaps the very first.

Perhaps they responded well to indoctrination or the reaper simply bred them to be obedient, in any case, they were left behind to operate and maintain the Citadel.

But the Keepers are no longer directly controlled by Sovereign or its ilk, they evolved so that they only respond to the signals emitted by the Citadel itself.

When the protheans altered the Citadel's signals, they broke Sovereign's hold over the Keepers, now they are completely harmless".

Valerie clapped and then spoke up "Oh! So that's where the geth comes in! Sovereign must have realized organic races were difficult to control.

With the geth, he could control them with ease plus they're loyal! He plans to replace the Keepers with the geth!".

"A likely hypothesis, if the Keepers evolved in an unanticipated direction, non-organic servants like the geth would be more predictable".

Tali looked down, with everything she had learned and understood now, she couldn't help but feel bad and disappointed by what was becoming of the geth, the fact that it was her species who pushed them towards Sovereign still hit her hard.

Harry noticed Tali's mood, so he gently taps her arm and then gave her a smile, Tali cheered up a bit and smiled back at Harry, seeing that Tali was okay now, Harry decided to ask a question to Vigil "What happened to the surviving protheans from the conduit project?".

It was a good question, one that everyone was hoping to find the answer to, though they were also aware that they shouldn't get their hopes up, Vigil immediately answered the question "They used the conduit to gain access to the Citadel, but the conduit is only a prototype, the portal only links in one direction, so they were trapped on the station.

I do not know what became of them, it's unlikely they found any food or water on the station, I fear they suffered a slow, grim death.

I only know they succeed in their mission to seal the relay, your presence here proves their sacrifice was not in vain".

Harry sighed and nodded "I see... I only hope that their souls found peace and that they're having a good next life or afterlife".

Everyone nodded, it was only because these protheans sacrificed themselves, that they now had a chance to stick it to Saren and they were really thankful for it.

Shepard nodded and then said, "Saren's got enough of a head start now, let's grab that data and go after him!".

Liara suddenly spoke up "Shepard, are you sure? Who knows how much longer Vigil will be here? Even now the projection is weak.

This might be our only chance to speak with it... our only link to the knowledge of the protheans! It is the opportunity of a lifetime!".

Shepard softly smiled at Liara "I'm sorry Liara, but we don't have enough time, I know it's important to you, but we have to move".

Liara sighed and nodded in understanding, Ashley grabbed her hand and gave her a smile, Liara happily stared at Ashley and then at Shepard "You're right, I'm sorry about my outburst, I was just too excited about this".

Shepard nodded and then downloaded the data he needed "I have the data, let go guys".

Vigil suddenly and quickly spoke up "The one you call Saren has not reached the conduit, not yet. There's still hope if you hurry".

Shepard nodded and then the squad left, except Harry who stayed behind and stared at Vigil "... I could take you with me, give you a new purpose".

Vigil stayed silent for a few seconds and then said "No, I would like to finally rest, my purpose has been fulfilled and my creators are all gone, it is my time now".

Harry sadly frowned but nodded "... Goodbye Vigil of the protheans, I wish you a good sleep".

With that said Harry turned around and took off running to catch up with his friends, Vigil's hologram flickered and made some odd buzzing sounds "Good luck... bzzzt...".

With those last words said by the ancient prothean VI, the hologram flickered one more time and then disappeared.

Harry quickly caught up with the squad and immediately snapped his fingers while using his control over the concept of space, in a flash of blue light, everyone teleported back to where they were before coming to speak with Vigil.

-----

Back in the hallway leading to Saren's location, Harry took on his dragon god form again and the girls floated everyone back on his head, with a roar Harry then took off running at high speed on all fours.

The hallway seemed to have been filled by geth, more than likely, they took advantage of their sudden disappearance and filled the place with an army in hopes of slowing Harry down.

But Harry didn't even slow down and just kept running while all the Geth kept shooting at him until Harry arrived in an open channel of sorts, one with running water on it.

That's when the squad finally saw the conduit, a massive tower-like construct glowing blue, Liara pointed at it "There! The conduit! It's incredible!".

Everyone inwardly agreed with Liara, they didn't know what to expect from the conduit, but now, being able to see it, made them appreciate everything the protheans did and worked on for their benefit.

Ashley suddenly piped in "Liara, we don't have time to admire the view, we have to get through that relay and fast!".

Harry grinned and then said, "No problem, hang on tight! I'm taking off!".

Everyone crouched down and got ready, Harry took off running, jumped high into the air, and spread his wings wide open, one mighty flap later, Harry was moving at high speed towards the Conduit.

It was time to stop Sovereign and Saren, it was time for them to pay for what they had done and the people they made suffer.