Author: KA Byrnes

A corporate world where anyone can do as they please as long as no other business is impeded, Noveria is Matriarch Benezia’s current location. She landed with heavy crates and a phalanx of Asari Commandos, and headed for a remote research site.

After negotiating the politics of the docking station, we finally get a garage pass and take the Mako out onto the mountain road. It’s a snowy planet under blizzard conditions, but the real danger is that Peak 15, Benezia’s destination, is under lockdown because of a biohazard containment breach.

Of course we must fight Geth. Benezia brought them in those mysterious crates. The surprise is what else we find: Rachni. This is a species thought extinct that now infests Peak 15. They’re a kind of giant scorpion thing with an alleged intelligence. Before we can confront the Matriarch, we must deal with the Rachni.

From a gameplay perspective, this mission has always been confusing. If I go into the hot labs too soon (which is what I mistakenly did with Tag) I lose a lot of side quests. If I meet Benezia first it’s easy to miss killing the Rachni in the hot lab. Ideally, I will settle with Benezia, kill the Rachni horde, and help the medical team as a side quest. The game doesn’t always help with getting me to every mission.

First, Benezia. She attacks us with her Asari Commandos and Geth, but when we defeat them we see that she resists Saren’s mind control. For a moment she has clarity and is repentant. From the Rachni (a species from another part of the galaxy) Saren has learned about the Mu Relay, a space location related to his pursuit of the Reapers. The Matriarch also gives us the coordinates, but where within the Relay we need to go is still a mystery.

Then Benezia, her control failing, attacks us and we must kill her. Tag didn’t take the daughter, but when Ace does we get a tiny, tender reunion. As Benezia dies she calls Liara “Little Wing”.

As we prepare to leave, a dead Asari on the ground rises up and starts to talk, mind-controlled by the Rachni queen in her glass cage. The queen argues gracefully that we should let her go. She is a sentient being, and who are we to commit genocide?

Well, this is Tag the renegade. She injects an acid bath into the box and kills the queen. It was quite easy for me to role play a disgust of mind-controlling beings (again) and their wants.

But, in wonderful replay-ability, I also took the chance to let Ace release the queen. Her talk of singing, of the color of sound the Rachni use to communicate, is beautifully written (even for a bug). It’s really a masterful scene of characters speaking of a history that we in this time barely know.

Regardless of decisions, either way Saren and Shepard now have the same information, and both of them seek specific coordinates within the Mu Relay to further their pursuit of the Conduit.

Rescuing Liara is designed as our first mission. It’s easy and short. After that we have our choice of two other missions, each much more complicated. I choose Feros, a human colony barely surviving under Geth assault. (We’ll take Noveria, the third mission, last.)

The colonists all work for the corporation ExoGeni. After we clear out the Geth in the residential section, we head across the skybridge to the work environment. It all seems straightforward, except some of the colonists act weird. They’re secretive and a little cult-like. Also, why are the Geth here? Something over at ExoGeni has attracted their (meaning, Saren’s) interest.

It doesn’t take long to get the story. ExoGeni is here to study an indigenous life form, the Thorian. It’s an immense, brain-controlling plant. (Gross.) The colonists have been unknowingly infected, living right on top of it. ExoGeni considers them guinea pigs, basically. Evil corporation, human lab experiments, the usual villainous plotline.

Remember, I have two Shepards, the renegade Tag and the paragon Athena. Tag wipes out all the colonists and double-taps the Asari mystic aligned with the Thorian. Athena is a more forgiving sort.

Before passing judgment on the Asari Shiala, though, we receive her information, the ultimate purpose of this location. She is an associate of Matriarch Benezia, following her into Saren’s service. The Asari thought to soften Saren, but instead he persuaded them to go against their nature. He has an enormous alien warship, Sovereign, that exerts a subtle but all-consuming mind control. Benezia no longer acts independently.

Shiala merged with the Thorian so Saren could communicate with it. Apparently, the Thorian predates the Protheans, so knowledge of them is stored in its memory. In order to understand the vision of the Beacon, Saren (and Shepard) need to think like a Prothean. Shiala’s biotic/magical connection allows that memory to be transferred. She did it for Saren, and she does it for Shepard, imparting another dream sequence of orange apocalyptic destruction.

It’s mission-critical, so we can’t say no. “Embrace eternity!” Shiala calls out before she invades our physical and mental space. This game really has a problem with personal boundaries.

I and my two away team members are dropped on a planet. We drive and fight our way into an archaeological dig site, a Prothean ruin. Here we’ll find Liara — Matriarch Benezia’s daughter who is a scientist and an Asari biotic (which is Mass Effect’s version of magical powers). Geth swarm the ruin, looking for her. Saren, for some reason, wants her. Is it because of her mother? Or is it her expertise in Prothean technology and history? We can only guess.

After rescuing her and bringing her to our ship, we tell Liara about the Beacon and its vision. Her research shows that the Protheans were just another in a line of races who inhabit the galaxy and then disappear. We introduce her to the idea of the Reapers, the ones who extinguished the Protheans. She’s never heard of them or the Conduit, but she believes her knowledge can help us as we search. Our team is now complete.

Liara is very impressed with Shepard’s strong will. She, like most every other NPC in the game, will eventually invade our personal space and suggest a hook up.