~ Stanza 1 · Through Alien Eyes ~

How strange to feel a memory in your mind that’s not your own.

How strange remembering thoughts not yours, and speaking in alien tones.

I can’t go through it all at once

Bit by bit it trickles down

An alien land in my subconscious

That I can’t find my way around.

I know it most in dreams at night

Then I see with altered sight

In memory of eyes which were never mine

Greeting friends of alienkind

Drowned in turmoils and caught up in joys

Fit to enrapture or to destroy

But which, when I wake, have faded away.

What dreams I dreamt, I rarely can say.

But the vision … the vision. That tortured morass.

That whirlwind of souls crying out from the past,

It starts to resolve into things I can see,

Into things I can hear – and Liara with me.

I am no telepath. I’m a human woman.

And I can’t give away second-hand visions.

But Liara can help me to train my mind

And she can see that which I have defined.

She tells me she thinks that the message was garbled

It was buried so long in the rock.

And its hugeness and chaos shakes even her.

She’s surprised I lived through the first shock.

‘How strong of will you must be, Shepard.

Or mankind is tougher than ever I heard.’

I think of that night on Eden Prime …

Till now I assumed Kaidan would have been fine.

If I’d not got him out it would just have been he

Who foresaw the Reapers, rather than me.

But now I wonder, with sharp after-fear,

And wonder what that would mean for this turbulent year.

So little by little, the Asari and I

Struggle to see through the Protheans’ eyes

What good will come, we neither can say.

But we keep on it, day after day.

And many an evening together we spend

Looking back to the beginning and on to the end

At first she seems to fear that she

Is going to annoy, offend, or bore me.

She has spent far too much time alone

Pouring in silence o’er old dusty tomes

The lonely child of her mother’s age.

The only daughter of a venerable sage.

But as time goes by, her social timidity

Mellows and fades into soft modesty.

All those decades of girlhood spent in history’s dusk

A century-old scholar on womanhood’s cusp.

Over time dimmed tales of yore we two roam

And to present Thessia’s leaping foam

In the rich womb of which the Asari were born

And looked out on the stars to a Galactic morn.

But when we look on to the future ahead….

We turn back again to the cries of the dead

And study the message, for message it is.

Though we still cannot tell what they tried to give.



~ Stanza 2 · The Council ‘s Behest ~

When we left Feros, I thought to sail

To corporate Noveria, following the tale

Of a research station, leased by Saren

An unknown lab in mountains barren

But ere we reach the Horse Head Relay

When we’ve briefly linked to a comm buoy

The Citadel Council calls to me

Speaking of intel they think I should see.

Beyond the relay of Sentry Omega

Circling young, hot Hoc

On the peopleless planet of Virmire

Just oceans and jungles and rock

Suspicious activity some time since was seen.

They sent a Salarian Task Group Team

Who only just now has reported back.

The transmission was poor and kept going black

But they have reason to think it’s related to Saren

‘You think it warrants my investigation?’

‘You’re a spectre, Shepard. This is your mission.

We just wanted to tell you your options.’

But they’ve also called to discuss with me

What they consider my multiple follies.

A Prothean ruin was destroyed.

Was that really necessary?

(Never mind that the cause was volcanoid)

But that which truly makes them wary:

Shepard stop this about the Reapers.

Forget those silly dramatic words.

The Geth are being manipulated

And, Shepard! You have fallen for it.

Focus on Saren. Forget the old myth.

There is no such thing as the Conduit!’



~ Stanza 3 · Into the Traverse ~

Back along our route we trace

Back beyond, out of Council space

Where there’s no treaties known, nor lawful commerce

Far into the breadth of the Attican Traverse.

What is it awaits us, none of us know

Rumour in plenty around the ship blows.

And Williams roundly cautions me

About the Council’s honesty

‘If you have a bear coming after you

And there’s really nothing left you can do

But sic your dog and run away …

Well, you will. It’s sad to say.

You may love your dog, but … it isn’t human.’

‘Maybe your dog, Gunnery-Chief Williams.’

But though Ashley’s example angers me

I realize what her story means.

It’s us that she’s cast as the doomed, betrayed hound,

Not knowing why or towards what we are bound.



~ Stanza 4 · Planet Approach ~

Virmire’s globe is a coruscant jewel

Of blazing jade and bright cerule.

The flames that rage across our bow,

The air which burns as we hurtle down,

Turn the blue and green a garish sheen

Glimpsed through tsunamis of tangerine.

Near the given coordinates a fortress stands

On jungly rock beside the sands

A sprawling, thickwalled, smoke-stacked maze

Pouring filth to the turquoise waves.

And all around it, in a circle,

Stand more towers like a girdle

Within the deadly bounds of which

The Salarian team hides in some niche.

‘Take a look at those defence towers,

They could knock us to the ground.’

Kaidan points out from his post at the scanners.

‘And the ship can’t go around.

They’re a bit too close to slip between

They’re in visual range. We will be seen.

But they don’t look heavily fortified,

They were probably just built for defence from the sky.’

‘Then we’ll take a ground team. To the bay, Lieutenant!

Joker, tell Garrus we’re hard on a scent.’

~ Stanza 5 · On Alien Shores ~

The Mako lands with a bounding splash.

In the hard-rayed sun bright waters lash

I throw up the hatch. Sharp air blows in.

There’s salt and a thousand strange plants on the wind.

The sea is hid beyond limestone tors

But I can hear it. The surf is at war

With the arches and pillars and cliffs of limestone

That rise all around us with green overgrown.

Hidden down amongst the arches

And winding lanes of rock

Out of the sight of enemy eyes

In the sky and tower-tops

Though splashing inlets, across drifting sands

Heaped up by the tide in bone-white shifting bands

Garrus and I and Lieutenant Alenko

Cover miles of coastlands and surf in the Mako.

On spear-like toes in the shallow shoals

Armoured crabs hunt for fishes.

Leathered wings fight in the clear noonday light

In the eddies the bending fern swishes.

Sun dappled grottos open up

Cool on either hand

Inviting me to come and see

Their pools and shaded sands.

But in a flash they are left behind

Barely seen in a moment of time.





~ Stanza 6 · The Fall of the AA Tower ~

Once in a narrow, watery cleft

Where the Mako’s treads throw out fine rain

We run straight into a squadron of Geth.

And the rain turns into a hurricane

With the rushing of steel, the crash of their guns,

The roar of our truck as we screech on and plunge

Through deeper water and up onto drifts

As I keep her moving while our canon rifts

Open the canyon, and arches it cleaves

Scattering Geth like so many leaves.

‘They’re hunting for something. The Salarians live!

The scanners, Lieutenant! What can you give?

We can’t take the risk of having a tail…’

Ahead in the lane, massive and pale

Straddling the tiny, craggy canyon

Is a many-legged Geth like we saw on Therum.

It turns its fearful gaze…

I floor the engine.

‘Full fire ahead!’

Garrus swings his spiky head.

‘There’s isn’t room, Shepard! We’re gonna collide.’

‘You bet! Keep firing. Hold on!’ I cry.

The Mako bears straight to the blaze.

And behind us the Geth is crashed in the tide

One shot and its over.

‘Shepard. Can I try?’

The engine is smoking, our shielding is down.

As soon as we dare we pull it aground

To put out the fires and patch as we can

For the long miles ahead of winding rock strand.

Garrus can tinker, but Alenko knows

The ins and outs of the Alliance Mako.

He sets to the job with his quiet good-cheer

Efficiently, skilfully, in mongst the gears.

Together we work in the sight of the sea,

And I am strangely glad to be

Back on a trail beside the man

As though I’d been missing my own right hand.

And this fortress is Saren’s! For those were his pawns.

Eagerly, swiftly we go on,

Till stretched across an inlet broad

And rising above like a mighty rod

We come in sight of the AA tower

On the top its long range artillery glowers.

But few, few are the Geth inside

And the flights of stairs are open wide.

In a space of minutes, the tower is won,

The massive artillery thrown down in the sun

To drown in the glittering inlet below.

‘Shepard to Normandy. You’re clear to go.’

As we splash to the Mako I hear a high hum

At the border of hearing. The Normandy’s come.

The water around us rushes to meet her.

The leaves and the sand all leap up to greet her.

A white belly’s flash! And a glimpse of her wings

Just over the treetops. She’s gone. Still she rings.

In the sun fountains fall like a pouring rain

And the leaves slowly drift to the ground again.

We follow more slowly in her airy wake

In the winding trail earthbound wheels have to take.

Off to our starboard over the sea

Black thunder clouds arch and a stiff wind blows free.



~ Stanza 7 · The Third STG Infiltration Team ~

The Salarian’s coordinates lead us to a cove

Tucked between high cliffs and deep darkened groves.

In the shallow lagoon, the Normandy rests

Her long hull tickled with little wave crests.

‘I’ll put her away, Shepard.’ Garrus asks for the wheel.

As he splashes off, a Turian whoop peals.

Lieutenant Alenko and I turn away

To the discrete little camp sitting here by the bay.

On the white sand Gunnery-Chief Williams stands

In speech with a tall, lithesome, froggy man.

She looks up to see us.

‘We’re grounded, Commander.

At, least that’s what the Salarian thinks, here.’

His name is Captain Kirrahe

Of the Third STG Infiltration force.

He’s surprised to see the Normandy

And surprised by her low-hanging course.

‘An impressive feat, getting in, Commander.’

He speaks in a smooth and gallant manner.

‘But it’s not worth the risk to try it again.’

‘Well what is it you propose, Captain?’

‘Your stopping to help us is appreciated

But the task is larger than we expected.

I sent for reinforcements before our comm plight.

Until they get here … we better sit tight.’

Ashley whistles. Kaidan shifts, looks at me.

For a moment there’s only the sound of the sea.

‘We are the reinforcements.’

‘Oh. I see.’



~ Stanza 8 · Report on the Base ~

Captain Kirrahe excuses himself

To speak with his officers.

I see in his face the blow this has dealt

Though he gives it no space of words.

The clouds still hang away from the coast

Rumbling and looming, but here, on this host

The sun still beats down, on the sand and the waves

On the wavering fronds, and the mouths of the caves.

A few Normandy crewmen have come off-board

To taste open air, feel the waves on the shore.

I notice Wrex, with his huge Krogan shoulders

Near, by the cliff face, clambering the boulders.

‘Commander Shepard.’

Kirrahe’s back.

‘My men and I have a plan of attack.

Let me explain about this place.

It’s more than a simple military base.

I had reason to think that it was run by Saren,

Now I’ve heard of his treachery, and I am certain.

t’s a factory of war. I’ve lost many men

In attempt to determine what happens within.

He’s cloning an army of Krogan slaves

Who they’ve managed to cure of the genophage.

If he sets these monsters loose on the world

And then lures more Krogan in hopes of that cure …

It must be destroyed. I sent for an army.

But since we don’t have one, can your team help me?’‘

We can’t do that!’

Wrex barges in.

‘That cure could save my people!

If he has one, we can’t destroy it

You little Salarian weevil!’

Kirrahe turns an immovable face.

‘The Krogan are an intractable race.

Uplifting them was a fearful mistake.

If they had an uncontrolled populace,

How much that’s now green would be laid to waste.’

The Krogan stomps forward and looms over him,

A great gnarly truck and a willowy limb.

But not a step backward does Kirrahe take.

Wrex’s rumbles out:

‘We are not a mistake.’

He looks at Kirrahe, looks at me

Then turns and stomps off, heading back to the sea.

‘Is he going to be a problem, Commander?’

‘I’ll go and talk to him, reason him over.’‘Good.

If we don’t destroy this atrocious facility

Saren’s hosts will pour out like a bloodthirsty sea

Not one wave but in measured monsoons

And the first of the waves will be sent out soon.

I’m almost glad we’ve no reason to wait.

Each day of delay draws us near to that date.’

Kirrahe goes and I turn away

‘Ma’am,’ I hear Ashley Williams say,

‘Do you really think you can talk Wrex through?’

‘Williams, this is the Krogans’s fight too.’

‘Well I’ll still keep my eye out, if it’s alright with you.’



~ Stanza 9 · The Krogan ~

The Krogan stands on the whitened shore

Staring over the sea

The wind and the waves and the clouds move and roar

But he stands as still as the lee

At first I think I have not been heard

But a low rumble speaks out my name:

‘Shepard,

Do you know how many Krogan children live to be carried to term?’

I do not answer, nor does he turn.

‘But one in five hundred. We dwindle, Shepard.

Dying before we are even born.’

He’s silent again, and the sea fills the space.

Rushing in. Rushing out.

‘That is their genophage.’

Suddenly past his shoulder, I see where Ashley stands

Perched up among the boulders, her rifle in her hand.

(Dammit, woman! Put that away.

There’s no call for that yet. I hope not today.)

‘Wrex this has to be destroyed.

It’s a task we simply cannot avoid.

Think what Saren is! He is your foe

Yours just like mine-’

‘But is he though?!

He is trying to cure my people!

And you would destroy that work!’

All of a sudden, his rage overspills

He grabs at his gun with a jerk.

And there we stand on the on the edge of the land

Weapons of death nose to nose in our hands.

‘Help me out, Shepard.’

He breathes out low.

‘It’s getting real hard to tell friend from foe.’

‘These aren’t your people! They’re Saren’s slaves!

Not free Krogan warriors, wild and brave.

If he has a cure, it’s a trap to enslave you!

If you’re hard-up now, think how you’ll be used

To lay waste your own as well as your foes.

And what when he needs you no more?

Is that what you want for your people, Wrex?

Pawns in a synthetic war?’

His eyes are boring down into the sand.

But his shotgun’s still clutched in his gauntleted hands.

(Don’t you dare, Ashley! I’ve got this, I say!

Can’t you see what I’m asking of him today!)

‘Wrex, I’d help if I could! I swear that I would.

Any chance that I have, I’ll do your folk good.

But help me today, Wrex. You know the stakes.

Come with me. Fight Saren. Fight him for your race!’

I hear a man running. Kaidan is coming.

And Ashley’s sight’s at her eye.

But Wrex doesn’t see. Just stares into me.

In his face, anger, pain, and reason compete.

He drops his gun by his side.

‘Alright, Shepard. You’ve done right by me

And you’re probably right about what Saren means.

I don’t like this. But, I’ll trust you on it.

Come on, let’s go get this thing over with.’

~ Stanza 10 · Laying of Plans ~

‘All well, Commander? Good. Now the plan.’

Kirrahe gestures with long green hands.

‘Going in and taking the place in force

Is out of the question now, of course.

But we’ve rigged our ship’s drive core up to explode.

What we have to do is deliver the load.

We can’t set it off a short ways outside.

The place is too solidly fortified.

We can’t just drop it, they’d take it out going down.

We have to set it to detonate inside the bounds.

A frontal attack is hopeless, yes.

But I think we could pierce their first defence

Perhaps even take out these first two big towers.

To do any more … we haven’t the power.

But what we can do is distract from you.

A shadow team might well sneak through.

Such a team could never capture it

But it might take out enough guns to admit

One quiet, hard to see ship

Carrying the explosive within it.

I’ll give you the details that my scouts have found

I think you could pierce through, here, from the sound,

If, that is, we’ve claimed their defence

And the main force is off at the opposite entrance.’

‘That might possibly work. Very well, we’re in.

But it sounds very hard on your team, Captain.

And how do you plan to avoid the blast?’

‘Well, Commander, I’m not going to lie.

I expect few of us will get out alive.

Which makes this a harder favour to ask….

I’d like you to send a comm-trained marine

To handle the links between all the teams.’

He’s asking for help, and not just with the comms.

He hasn’t the men for the job he’s set on.

‘Confer with your team first and order your men.

When we’re ready to march, we’ll meet here again.

Thank-you, Commander. And, officers.’

He sweeps us a bow. ‘I shall ready my force.’



~ Stanza 11 · The Lieutenant and the Gunnery Chief ~

Kaidan’s been listening quietly

Now, as Captain Kirrahe leaves,

He turns to speak to me, mild but grim.

‘Ma’am,’ he says. ‘I should go with him.’

Ashley breaks in:

‘Not so fast, LT!’

Her high-boned face set defiantly.

‘Somebody’s got to look after the commander.

I’ll go with the Salarians. You go with her.’

‘Gunnery-Chief’ says Kaidan ‘With all due respect,

(They both understand how black is this prospect.)

I’m better qualified to take this assignment.’

‘Why is it “due respect” always is meant-’

(Oh banter, banter, go play tough.

I see what you’re doing well enough

We’ll all be in danger. This is no place

To compete to leave your companions safe.

His comm skills are better, but she’s qualified too.

I will not let Kirrahe’s prediction come true.)

‘Alenko,

I need you on Shadow to handle the bomb.

You know what you’re doing. And that can’t go wrong.

It’s the critical point of this whole costly mission.

Williams.’

‘Yes, Ma’am?’

‘You’re with the Salarians.’



~ Stanza 12 · Shadow Team ~

Ready and armed is the Normandy’s team

We’ve been over the maps with the scouts and their schemes.

Every outer defence work on the facility

Has been considered intensively.

All standing in view of the Normandy’s course

Have been noted and marked, and assigned to a force.

Kaidan’s been briefed on the ship’s drive-core

It’s safely set-up and been carried aboard.

‘Alenko, Garrus, you’re on Alpha with me.

Wrex, Tali Zorah, Dr. T’Soni,

You are Squad Bravo. Our name’s Shadow Team.

If we do this right we should barely be seen.

Wrex?’

‘Shepard?’

‘You’re in command of Bravo Squad.

I’m counting on you. Take care of your charge.’

‘Captain Kirrahe, I’ve readied my crew.

Gunnery-Chief Williams will go with you.

We’ll pick your force up. Mark a rendezvous for me.

I will give it to the Normandy.’



~ Stanza 13 · The Assault Team ~

Along the sands the Salarians stand

In three well-ordered, armoured bands

They far outnumber my little ground-crew

And yet they are still so few, so few.

In the central position is Mannovai Squad

The heaviest armoured and the most large.

They are the main force, the assault’s spearhead.

Captain Kirrahe will march at their head.

On the port flank is a smaller squad, Jaëto

Lighter, with longer range weapons to throw,

To provide cover fire for the main stem.

Commander Rentola is leading them.

The starboard wing-squad they’ve called Aegohr,

A lean, light, deadly band of war.

Ashley Williams has been placed in command

For she’s a marine well trained to such stands

She will march at the head of a Salarian band

And serve as an alien captain’s right hand.

‘All of you know the mission at hand.

You know what is at stake.

I have come to trust all of you with my life.

And trust you to do what it takes.

But I have heard murmurs of discontent.

I share them. In the fullest extent.

We were trained for espionage.

Glory in battle is not our way.

We would be legends, but the records are sealed.

Think of our heroes of bygone days.

The Ever Alert,

Who kept armies at bay with hidden facts

The Silent Step,

Who defeated a nation with single shot.

These giants do not seem to give us solace here

But they are not all that we are.

Before the network, there was the fleet,

The Salarians too have fought open wars.

And thus, as Mannovai I have named you,

Aeghor Squad, and the Team of Jaëto.

To remember the worlds we have fought for before

And remind us why we now fight on these shores.

Our influence stopped the Rachni

But before that, we held the line.

Our influence held back the Krogan,

But before that, we held the line.

Today our influence will stop Saren

Today, we shall hold the line!’



~ Stanza 14 · Parting of Ways ~

Ashley turns with a troubled brow.

Aegohr is waiting. We march out now.

‘Ma’am, Kaidan, I just wanted to say,

It’s been a real honour, serving with you.’

Kaidan shakes his head, says gently:

‘Hey,

It’ll be alright, Ash. And we’ll come for you.’

‘Godspeed, Williams.’ I give her my hand.

Her grasp is firm and brief.

She turns to Kaidan. He smiles at her.

‘See you on the other side, Chief.’





~ Stanza 15 · The Assault ~

Now in the thickets the insects chirp

And I scarcely can hear the sound of the surf.

For hours we’ve travelled o’er cliffs, and through briars,

Through leafy brushes, and through stagnant mires

We heard the fortress a long ways away

It rumbles and roars and its glaring horns bray.

Now loudly it echoes in the dank, stinking gorge

Where through dark, oily water, we six shadows forge.

The signal rings. Mannovai strikes.

Alarms ring out in the glaring light.

And quietly softly, Shadow Team

Slips to the rampways up from the streams.

‘Forward, Mannovai! Fear no Geth!

It’s they, not us, who should fear death!’

Though we hear the battle over our coms

The loudest sound here is our muffled door bombs.

And the sound of our footsteps as we break away

Our two squads going our separate ways.

‘Aegohr! Heads up! Fliers coming in.

They’re banking east on the storm-cloud’s wind!’

We pass through long chambers lined with tanks

Rank upon rank upon rank upon rank

In their darkness we glimpse monstrosities

Huge and deformed and loathsome to see

Krogans set to be born full-grown

For one, but one, purpose alone.

How Saren now has filthied his hands!

Before, they were bloodstained with my peaceful lands.

Now they are foetid with perversion of flesh

An assault to the race beloved by Wrex.

‘Watch out! We have Krogan! Jaëto, cover my flank!

And take out that pesky, incoming tank!’

Few Geth do we see til we reach an AA gun

The skirmish is short and we sabotage, run.

But there’s more than the Geth that haunt this place

Asari, and members of my own race,

Starched and manicured scientists,

Who, shrieking, turn and flee before us

But others creatures rush to the fray

With a mad abandon to tear and to slay.

My heart grows hot as blue burns in my hands.

These are captured Salarians.

We cannot recapture them, we’ve no men or gear

We fight them off, open doors, disappear.

‘Good going, Aegohr! But don’t be too fleet.

But don’t push too hard. Don’t push a retreat!’

When we find where Saren’s office lies

We leave our path and turn aside.

The heavy, seamless, unlit door

Is sealed tight to the walls and floor.

Alenko and Garrus together work

To hack through codes while I, guarding, lurk.

Again, o’er the coms, bold Kirrahe cries

Above the battle’s screech:

‘Aegohr! Jaëto! You know your targets.

We will hold the breech!’

Kaidan looks up. ‘Got it, Commander.’

The door slides slowly aside

A cold draft breathes from the black doorway

And the three of us step inside.



~ Stanza 16 · Sovereign ~

Our booted feet drum with lonesome sound

On a hollow deck far above the ground.

The floor is lost in the dark below.

Ahead stands a tall and wavering glow

Humming, Humming, a humming I know

A rising pillar that faint light throws.

It rings in the ear and draws at the eye.

‘Just like the one on Eden Prime.’

I hear Kaidan say.

I step away.

‘Stand back, you two. I’ll be just fine.

Remember, I have the cipher this time.’

I let it draw me to the light and sound

My booted feet lift off the ground.

I hit the deck and crumple

Black surging at my eyes

All seems around to crumble

As did the ancient sky.

But I see! I see! As I didn’t before.

And I jump up straight from the cold metal floor

Saying to Kaidan, to Garrus, to me:

‘I have it! I saw!’

‘What did you see?’

‘Many things, horrible. But I saw a place…

Tell me, how long since we entered this space?’

‘Moments, really.’

‘So short? Are you sure?

It seems in the meantime that I have seen worlds.

I must see Liara! Let’s go at once.

We’d find nothing better here searching for months.’

I turn to go, but a sudden sound

Rings at my back, o’er my head, from the ground

A rumble almost too low to be heard

It speaks from the dark, forming ponderous words.

‘You are not Saren.’

Where the Prothean Beacon stood

Now glows mass of red

A many jointed, loathsome image

Like the ancient beacon bled

Out its torment to the air

In a fiery form that casts no glare

And yet engulfs and hides the light

Of the beacon, green and bright.

I feel the brush of Garrus’s carapace

‘Shepard, it’s just a VI interface.’

‘What are you?’ I ask. ‘Who is it that speaks?’

The sound continues. Sonorous. Bleak.

‘Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh,

You fumble here in ignorance.’

Garrus’s form beside me has stiffened

‘Or, I guess … maybe it isn’t.’

‘There is existence you cannot imagine.

I am beyond your comprehension.

I am Sovereign.’

The wayward red lines resolve in my mind

And I’m back in the vale on Eden Prime

Looking up at the curse over valley and cliffs.

I start like a wakening sleeper.

‘Sovereign isn’t a Reaper ship

Sovereign is a Reaper.’

‘An actual Reaper?’ Kaidan whispers back.

Garrus clicks his mandibles beside in the black.

‘Reaper? A label used by the Protheans

To give voice to the agent of their destruction.

Their choice of terms is irrelevant.

Organic life is an accident.

Your lives are measured in days and years.

You wither and you die.

Your extinction is inevitable.

You quibble to defy.

The Protheans did not forge the Relays.

They did not build the Citadel.

They found them, as you did. Our technology.

You develop as we intend you shall.

We impose on the chaos of Organic life

The order which we forge by strife.

Your civilizations hurry

To rise to the pre-set mark.

Then, at the apex of their glory

We plunge them into dark.’

Beside, on my right, I hear Kaidan move.

‘Where are all the rest of you?’

‘We are legion.

We are coming.

You exist because we allow it.

You will end, because we demand it.

We are eternal.

Before us you are nothing.

We are the pinnacle of evolution.

We are the end of everything.’

As the huge sound spoke from out of the black

My heart grew cold and my hands grew slack.

A vision spreads like a poisoned draft…

Then Sovereign’s words strike home like a shaft

The dark spell breaks.

And I almost laugh.

‘Both the end point of a growth in time

And that which transcends it?

My! How great you Reapers must be

To o’er’ride the rules of logic!

No, don’t bandy words with me,

Or don’t say silly thingsBoth of these you cannot be.

My thoughts like yours take wing.

Oh, self-claimed pinnacle of evolution,

To claim that title, the revolutions

Of the spinning galaxy which you have seen

Must of a countable number have been.

What if you pre-date the Prothean race?

What if you’re the biggest bludgeons in space?

You’ve seen length of time, and that is all.

The Galaxy itself is still but small.

You’re not omnipotent, what’ere you pretend.

You began. So you can end.’

‘Confidence born of ignorance.

The Cycle cannot be broken.

The pattern has repeated itself

More times than you can fathom.’‘

And what is the point, the end goal of all this?!

What leads you to lurk in the empty abyss

For thousands of years in wait for your prey?

It can’t be resources. It wouldn’t seem slaves.

Is this just a giant ego-trip?

Tell me, who built you enormous ships?’

‘Your understanding my kind transcends.

You cannot grasp our mode of existence

We are each a nation independent,

Free of your Organic weakness.

We will darken the sky of every world

When you are long dead, we still will endure.’

‘Well we, like you, can fruitfully strive,

Let your failure on Eden Prime stand as token.

You aren’t even truly alive!

You’re a machine! And machines can be broken.’

‘Your words are empty deconstructions

Empty as your future.

I am the vanguard of your destruction.

This exchange is over.’

Overhead is the shrieking of shattering glass

We shield our heads as the fragments slash past.

When we look up the red figure is gone.

There’s only the beacon, burning on.



~ Stanza 17 · Fall of a Captain ~

Back to the day and the glare of the sun,

The distant booming of charges and guns.

I hadn’t heard them, down there in the room

I’d almost forgotten their sound in the gloom.

We don’t stop to speak, to look round at the world,

To ask of each other, what have we heard?

We run on without words more swift than before

While, out of sight, the armaments roar.

A voices cries out o’er the intercom

In a voice so long it is almost a song.

‘Captain Kirrahe is fallen!

He lies among the Geth!

Aegohr, Jaëto, your banner is fallen.

Take it up and avenge his death!’



~ Stanza 18 · Planting the Bomb ~

Deep inside the fortress, a high walled courtyard lies

Open to the sharp sea air and the blazing skies

Within its walls a turbid flood of brown and sluggish water moves

Whether design or mark of war naught that I can see will prove.

‘Alenko, does this alter our plan?’

He shakes his head.

‘I don’t think so, Ma’am.

The drive core exterior should take the damp

If it’s not messed up during transit or preamp.

Actually, it might be a kind of good thing,

Make it harder to see, if someone comes looking.’

‘Well then … Joker, this is Shepard here.

All squads have checked in. Alpha’s on-site. You’re clear.’

Moments later I hear her hum

Swift, over walls, under towers she comes

And splashes down low to the filthy flood.

It stains her silver like ancient blood.

‘Attention! This is Shadow Team. The Normandy’s through.

Pull the retreat. Head back to the rendezvous!’

As the great door lowers to the filthy damp

Kaidan springs past me and jumps to the ramp

I hear his voice directing the sailors,

His straightforward, gravely, matter-of-fact words.

Then he re-emerges in a circle of men

Shuffling, the heavy core carried between them,

Down the ramp to the water below

And through it off to a little alcove.

There he bends down, low in the brown

At work at what seems a small brazen mound.

Across the water, Bravo stands

Tali leaning on Wrex’s hand

He scoops her up and bears her over

While behind, fair Liara skims through the water.

‘Alpha Team, stay. All hands else aboard!

To the rendezvous, Joker, but don’t go straight toward.

Make a fuss elsewhere, distract from this spot.

But mind the gun schemes, and be there on the dot.’

Suddenly a voice calls out in my ear,

Shouting sternly through gunfire and cries of fear.

‘Commander! You there?’

‘Williams? Are you alright?’

‘My squad’s been pinned down and we’re getting fried.

Up by the second of the big front guns.

We’re gonna have trouble making this one.’

Kaidan looks up.

‘Go, Commander.

I’ll be a few minutes here, you go help her.

We can meet up again at the rendezvous.’

‘You have the coordinates?’

‘Yes, I do.’

‘Right then. Wrex! Is Tali alright?’

‘Ah, nothing much, suit torn in the fight.

She did pretty good for a Quarian.’

He speaks with bright brashness, but he too is bleeding.

‘Well get her on board. Joker!– Area scan.

Garrus! Liara! Aegohr needs more hands.’

By the time we’ve sloshed to the opposite door

The Normandy is gone

And I scarcely can see the green clad marine

Bent o’er the half covered bomb.



~ Stanza 19 · The Call ~

Whilst we run, we tell Liara

In a couple of short-breathed words

What we found in Saren’s office

And the thing which we there heard.

If not for the time pressed down upon us

I’d stop and show her now.

It would take just a moment, then we would know.

But – soon as time will allow.

Ahead, I see the tower rise

Behind, the courtyard evades my eyes.

But – maybe its merely a mischievous echo,

Or maybe Geth fight with some phantom foe –

But back down deep where I cannot see

The shrieking of plasma comes sharply to me.

We ran the scans! The place was clear!

There shouldn’t yet be Geth so near.

I snatch at my comm.

‘Alenko! Report.’

The delay’s just a moment. Really quite short.

Then the plasma and gunfire, close in my ear,

Then Kaidan’s voice.

‘Alenko here-’

He breaks off again, as if torn from his answer.

‘Lieutenant! Are you headed to the rendezvous?’

More crashing and fire.

‘No, Commander.

They’ve found my location…’

‘Do I need to come help you?’

No! I’ve got this. Just a minute, hold on.’

Seconds pass.

‘I’ve just set the bomb.

I’ll keep the Geth off it, Ma’am. Go. Ashley needs you.’

Another voice breaks in. Ashley has listened.

‘Fiddlesticks! They found him! Go help the lieutenant!’

‘Negative!’ he cries. ‘I can hold them off!’

(I believe him. He will. While we soar aloft.

I’ve placed the mission’s crux in his hands

And he’ll keep the trust. He won’t come. He’ll stand.

I’ve ordered that man to suicide!)

‘Go, Ma’am!’ he says.

Then from Ashley’s side:

‘Rosamund Shepard, listen to me!

You heard the lieutenant. You know what he means.

Don’t let him do it! Go help him get through!

Commander! You know it’s the right thing to do.’

In a moment’s flash I see them both

She and Aegohr are fighting to break through a host

But Kaidan will stay to the death at his post.

‘Alenko, hold your ground, I’m coming.

I haven’t okayed any suicide missions.

Keeping trying, Ash. I’m still coming for you.’

‘ … Okay, Ma’am.’ she says.

Then just gunfire comes through.



~ Stanza 20 · Running ~

Over the ground which we passed so fast.

Quicker this time than even the last.

Doors crash before us in bursts of blue.

Each second I grudge, each second I rue.

Every moment’s one less til I retrace again

These steps towards the tower and Ashley’s men.

Every moment my chance of getting to her,

Each moment my chance of keeping my word

Slips farther away. Have I chosen right?

I haven’t unless Ashley wins that fight.

But how can I leave a man behind

With no chance of escape? Just leave him to die?

~ Stanza 21 · Back to the Post ~

Water surges brown and swift

Within the sun-beat walls

And sharp and hard the bright air rifts

With plasma shotgun’s calls.

I see the Geth, bright gems of death

Lashing through the shallow depths

But I don’t see Kaidan, in my first scan

It’s when I look back that I see the man.

From behind the rippling glimmer

Of a quick set-up tech-shield

Down beside the brazen lump

In the niche beside the field

A splash of green is pouring lead

Towards any foe that shows its head.

And now a mass tries to rush the post

And a burst of blue hurls back the most

While others jerk from an overload purge

And tumble back to the shallow surge.

To his side we race, our guns a’cry

In the splashing murk and the sun’s hard eye

Against the Geth, the many Geth.

Where in the nearby corridors’ breadth

They hid from our scans, there’s no way to know

But they number greater than I had hoped.

‘Shepard! Incoming!’

Garrus cries.

Pointing his claw o’er the roofs to the skies.

‘Pull back to the post!’

I shout.

‘Pull in dense!

Liara!

I want a biotic aerial defence!

Kaidan!

Maintain that shielding and keep up ground fire!

Garrus!

With me! Let’s take out those fliers!’

We pull back beside Kaidan, fighting low from the flood,

Crouched down at his post.

The pool’s dark with blood.



~ Stanza 22 · Saren Arturius ~

The fliers swoop down; there’s a Turian form

Perched on a glider leading the swarm.

From the air he can see what the ground troops did not.

I see in his face. He knows what we’ve got.

With a silent gesture he raises his claw,

Halting his troops. He opens his maw.

‘Well, Shepard, I am impressed.

Your little distraction had me convinced.

I was sure the Salarians were the real threat,

Until I saw you turning back on your steps.’

‘The real threat is that pal of yours, Sovereign!

You know what the Reapers did to the Protheans!

You know what they plan for us!

And you would still help Sovereign bring them back?

Are you mad, Arterius?’

‘No.

I know better than you what became of the fallen.

Shepard, we have no hope against them.’

‘And that’s a reason for betraying us all?!’

‘You do me injustice. The Protheans fall

Was brought on by their fruitless attempt to fight.

There can be no defence against the Reapers’ might.

They’ll come whether I, or anyone aid them

But I can prove Organics’ worth to them!

They won’t throw away tools that have proved themselves fit.

Shepard, this is why spectres exist,

To do the ugly things which must be done

And make the calls from which little men run.

They won’t kill us all if I can just make them see.

Shepard, save your race. Join me.’

‘You would betray all those that breathe

In the hope we can live on as slaves?

I sooner would see us honestly dead

And our every structure razed

Than live as the playthings and tools of the Reapers

Than exist as the chattel and thralls of the Reapers

Even if there was reason to think that the Reapers

Even desire slaves!’

‘No, they can be reasoned with!

Shepard, I am sure of it!’

‘You fool!Do you think that such as Sovereign is

Will truly honour your service?

Will he not rather throw you away,

The minute you’ve served his purpose?

You know what he does to other minds,

How they’re trammelled and subjugated!

Do you think you alone are exempt of your kind?

You are indoctrinated!

Escape him. Come with me! We can fight the Reapers.

But, Saren, we’ll have to work together!’

‘No!

Sovereign will not indoctrinate me

A mindless tool would not serve his needs.

You work against your own people, Shepard.

You’ll bring them all to doom.

In fighting those who cannot be fought

You build your race’s tomb!’