Mass Effect: Point of no Return

Well, actually we return sooner than you'd think.

After visiting Virmire, Shepard is equipped with all-new information about Saren, Relay, the Reapers and the Conduit. Using this info, Liara is able to pinpoint the location to Ilos, a thought lost Prothean world. So we return to the Citadel and try to pursue the Council to lend us more resources and pursue Saren thru the Mu Relay. Those idiots think the Reapers are just a fairy tale and grounds the Normandy in fear we will risk a war with the Terminus system. (Where the Mu Relay is located, it's controlled by geth and other vagrants.)

As we begin to wallow in doubt, Anderson meets us in a bar with a plan. He will 'persuade' Udina (with his fist) to allow our ship to be released from it's land-lock.

And we've done it. We either succeed or be tried for treason.

In the moment of calm before the storm Liara enters our captain's quarters and confesses her love. We share in a tender moment, then something more. We meld, not in a the way before, but in an intimate binding of souls. As the scene ends, we are brought back to reality and the mission at hand.

The Normandy BAMFS out of the relay and engages stealth systems. (Oh yeah, she has that.) As we near planet Ilos, Pressly pulls a "there's no room to land" and Joker pulls a "i'm good enough, damn it!" And the Mako is drop-landed in a miraculous fashion. Just as we land, we see Saren duck through a bunker door.

Unfazed , Shepard fights through a hoard of geth on foot and re-opens the door to an ancient Prothean archive. As we hop back in the Mako, Liara is struck by the potential knowledge, and points out that all these capsules we are seeing are actually defunct Prothean stasis pods. We keep truckin' along when we hit a barrier and must continue on foot. Odd, the barrier doesn't seem normal. We creep down a hallway and onto an outcropping with what looks to be a computer terminal.

As we near, an AI boots up and bids us close. This AI is named Vigil, the last remains of Prothean society. As the millennia waned, he had to gradually turn off power to the stasis pods in order to preserve his knowledge. Vigil then explains that the Citadel is actually a massive mass relay that links to where the Reapers are hiding in dark space, prepared to strike. Luckily the Protheans had disabled the Citadel's relay, in a last-ditch effort during their Reaper rebellion. Unluckily Saren is on his way, sneaking onto the Citadel and reversing the process. Luckily, the Conduit is not actually a weapon, but a back-door, mini-mass relay located on Ilos that the Protheans built as a way into the Citadel. What a mouthful.

Shepard thanks the ancient AI, gets a data disk and then hauls ass back to the Mako and into the Conduit, blasting geth along the way.

Aaaaaannnnnddd. ZWAP We crash-land in the Atrium of the Citadel, totaling the Mako, yet conveniently in front of the elevator to the Citadel's main control area. It's a race against time since Saren is already at the controls, shutting the Citadel's walls and allowing Sovereign and the geth to take over. Shepard takes in little of the destruction and mashes UP on the elevator only to be halted as Sovereign lands on the Citadel's tower. The impact of his landing halts the elevator and disables gravity. In the most bad-assest of moves, Shepard smashes thru the elevator window, turns 90° and muscles it up the side of the elevator in zero G.

Another fight through an army of geth, blowing up a drop ship with AA guns, all in zero gravity. Finally, Shepard makes it up to confront Saren. He begins by bragging how Sovereign has upgraded him with implants, how he is better and enlightened. However, our ever-so-superior Shepard convinces him he's making a mistake, that the Reapers have control of his mind, and what he is doing goes against everything he once stood for. In a moment of clarity, Saren agrees, pulls out his pistol and commits suicide, falling to the ground below. Garrus hops down double taps him just to be safe.

By this time the Human Systems Alliance fleet arrives to help defend the Citadel. Shepard has opened the Citadel and exposed Sovereign to attack. Shepard is presented with the choice to order the fleet to save the fleeing council members, or to have them focus fire on Sovereign. The choice was clear. Destroy the Reaper at all costs. We could not lend him even one second to reactivate the Citadel's relay and have the Reapers return. The Alliance fleet rushes Sovereign and....

An impact from the battle throws our heroes down to where Saren's body is. As they are recovering themselves SAREN WAKES UP IN A RAGE OF UNHOLY MIGHT. Somehow Sovereign has taken control of the dead Saren, mutilated his body, and has him fight us in one final endeavor. Shepard holds her own against the mechanical Saren, and just as she lands the final blow, Normandy's main cannon rips through Sovereign, disintegrating Saren's body and terminating whole ordeal.

As things settle down, or team is rescued from the rubble. But where is Shepard?! Could our hero have been crushed in the ensuing battle?!!? OF FUCKING COURSE NOT. She majestically crests the wreckage, smirking as Garrus and Liara sigh a HUGE sigh of relief.

Shepard then convenes with Udina, Anderson and some random alien heads of state. The humans are considered heroes for saving the citadel and are given a seat on the (soon to be) new council. Shepard names Anderson as the new human councilman, to Udina's dismay. The humans begin the process of stepping up to be the new galactic leader, which many other species see just a a power-grab in the council's recent death. Even after this crazy ordeal, when the new Council is established, the STILL don't think the Reapers are a threat, and just blame it on the crazed Geth AI. The scene ends as Shepard walks away with Anderson making a grand speech.