Jenkins
It was only fifteen minutes after Jane and the rest of the team had left the bay cargo bay that my work was interrupted. I was busy welding and finishing the casing for both Category Six and the newly-christened Maverick Rifle. The heat sinks and the spaced firing of the two weapons had both been tested on the edge of the bay, the dented sheet of metal still visible against the one wall. Neither weapon exploded even after a hundred shots each. It wasn’t enough rounds to fully confirm the weapons were safe, but it was enough to feel comfortable finishing the casing before we could put it through some more rigorous testing.
If Wrex or Ashley were even willing to wait for that. I watched closely as Wrex fiddled with the shotgun, feeling its weight and the new width with the two barrels. He had been observing it for a few minutes, before taking a chance to fire it a few times into the same plate I had been testing before. Wrex was over a millennia old and had been fighting and using weapons like shotguns most of that time. To say he was an expert on the weapons would be an understatement.
I watched him experiment and handle the weapon, and couldn’t help but notice his frown as he fired the first few shots, the rounds hitting lower in the sheet metal than he had likely intended. The frown gradually disappeared however as he continued to fire the weapon and the dents and marks in the plate climbed and focused on the center of the sheet. After thirty rounds fired as quickly as possible the distinctive beeping of the weapon having overheated filled the bay and Wrex turned back to me.
“You made this?” His question was sharp, his tone heavy as he handed the weapon back. I smirked as its weight was immediately noticeable on my arms as I moved it back to the table, quickly pulling apart the chambers and sliding out the stock.
“Yep. Still a prototype but I’m calling it the Category Six.” Wrex nodded as he watched me taking it apart.
“Good name, but why are you taking it apart?” The question was gentler as he walked closer, looking over my shoulder as I opened the back of the stock itself before reaching for a set of weights.
“Putting more weight in the stock. I tried to balance it evenly with the additional barrel in the front but your first few shots were low. I must have underestimated the weight I would need to comfortably balance it out.” Wrex turned his head to the side.
“What if my aim was just off?” I can’t help but laugh at his response and notice his grin as I begin sliding the weapon back together.
“Yeah sure your aim with the shotgun was ‘just off’. I’m not an idiot Wrex, if your aim is off with a shotgun then it’s a fault with the weapon not with the user.” The final click as the parts of the weapon slid back together was always satisfying, and I picked it up handing it back to Wrex. “Try that.”
He held the weapon up, raising and aiming it around a few times before he leveled it back at the steel plate and fired six shots, each slamming into the center of the steel without difficulty. The metal was looking warped and worn. I really needed a proper range to test these at some point.
“Better. This weapon is going to be pretty heavy for a human though. You’ll want to make it out of a lighter material if possible.” Wrex’s notes were correct of course, but I already knew that.
“Yeah I already have a design down for a lighter version, but that one won’t be able to fire slugs, the recoil will be too much, and the weight of the weapon counteracts that. Besides it was designed with you in mind.” Wrex seems to pause for a moment as I say that, looking down at the weapon in his hands.
“This was made for me?” He seemed surprised by the statement, being more careful to view the weapon, the red and black paint splotched from barely having dried. It looked good in his hands.
“Yeah. I figured armor would go wasted since It’s a pain in the ass to get Krogan equipment and you seem to prefer using your biotics to defend yourself more than the armor itself. A Shotgun that packs more punch and doesn’t overheat is of more use to you.” Wrex still looked surprised, observing the weapon closely.
“I’m not saying it doesn’t make sense to make a shotgun over something else. I’m just curious as to why you made one for me specifically.” Wrex’s expression is unreadable, or at least tough to parse. He is looking at me as though awaiting some kind of profound explanation or answer.
“Because I’m making new stuff for the entire crew. I’m not sure I understand the question Wrex, did you think I wouldn’t make you something?” I am genuinely confused by his question and Wrex seems exasperated.
“Ugh no? It’s not that it’s… Well, It’s not like I’ve been particularly kind to you.” It feels, strange for Wrex to be so worried about this.
“Are you kind to anyone?” My question is genuine and Wrex startles for a moment before chuckling.
“Heh, no not really. Just didn’t expect you to be the kind of person to do things for others without something in return. Especially if you don’t like them.” Well, ouch.
“Well, that hurts Wrex. I’m a very kind person I do lots of things for people without expecting favors in return. I can always take the shotgun back if you don’t want it.” I raise an eyebrow at him and his grip on the shotgun tightens as he tucks it away from me.
“Nope, not handing this thing back it's mine now. And besides I’m not talking about favours. I don’t think you're malicious, but there always seems to be some larger goal or objective with you. I thought you were a coward when you talked about using gas on a colony of your people, but in hindsight with how the Thorian behaved gas probably would have been one of the best moves we could have made.” I suddenly become silent as Wrex starts talking.
“And after how I snapped at you, this weapon… It’s at least partially a tool to clear the air between us, isn’t it? You want to clear up any bad blood while you can.” I’m just watching Wrex as he talks. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Wrex’s age doesn’t just make him an expert in combat. It’s a thousand years of experience dealing with people, with different aliens. Wrex was not stupid, and he noticed things lots of other people missed.
“A lot of your choices and suggestions are like that. They make a lot more sense in hindsight, and when you look at the big picture. Like your suggestion to find Liara and get the Matriarch before Feros. Seemed ruthlessly ignorant of civilians at the time, but knowing the condition Feros was in they could have lasted a few more days easily. Who knows what condition the Matriarch will be in? If she’s even still there?” Yeah, Wrex was a lot smarter than people gave him credit for. I needed to be careful.
“Not that it’s a bad thing, even when I first met you you seemed to have a better handle on things than I expected. I thought at the time you reminded me of a Salarian.”
“Ouch Wrex that hurts. Knowing your opinion of Salarians I’m certain that’s not a compliment.” Wrex just scoffed at the comment.
“I don’t hate all Salarians, I just notice they have a pattern of behavior. They care more about their projects and missions than anything else. It’s efficient, and I can respect that sort of dedication, but you're right that I don’t like it personally.” And he was comparing me to them. That wasn’t a good sign.
“Yeah still not making the comparison sound like a compliment.”
“The point I’m trying to make is that the way you approach problems is similar to them. Everything is for the sake of the larger goal. The only thing is recently I’ve noticed your larger goal… It isn’t the same as ours.” Shit.
“What do you mean? Of course, it’s the same as yours. We are all here to take down Saren.” What is Wrex getting at? What did he notice?
“No. We are here to stop Saren. If that was your goal then this work you're doing, the new weapons, tech, and armor, it’s a lot of effort for a mission that will be done when Saren is dead. Your time would be better spent researching details for each specific mission but instead, you’re gearing us up like it’s the end of days. I come from an apocalyptic planet, I would know. Whatever you’re preparing for, it’s beyond Saren.” Wrex was a lot smarter than people gave him credit for.
He had a point, if the sole mission was hunting Saren then the new weapons and armor would be overkill when we could just focus on what was essential for the goal of killing him. But these weapons would be important in the coming years. Cerberus, the Collectors, and the Reapers. All threats would push what we thought was possible and leave us needing weapons like these.
“Is there a reason you’re saying all this?” Don’t answer his questions, figure out his motivations before you give anything away. While I liked Wrex, I knew from the games he prioritized his people over almost anything else, and that would include us or this mission at least as things were currently.
Wrex is quiet for a moment before he finally speaks.
“I wanted to apologize for giving you shit earlier. I don’t know what the larger goal you’re fighting here is, but it’s clear with this,” He gestures at the shotgun he’s holding, “you see me as an ally in this fight. I haven’t been treating you the same. I’ve been acting like a mercenary, but it’s clear whatever you are preparing for will need personal investment.”
“Wait, what? You apologize?” Wrex simply scoffed turning the weapon over in his hands.
“Yeah, yeah don’t get your knickers in a twist. I’m just letting you know I’m on board. Next time I think you’re doing some stupid shit I’ll be gentler in letting you know it's a dumbass idea.” Wrex seemed dismissive of my surprise, but I knew enough to know it was a big deal. Wrex’s big development in the first game was growing from someone who tried to pretend they didn’t care things were broken, to the Krogan that would return to Tuchanka to try fixing things. He would grow to see this crew as a family eventually, and I think I was seeing the first step towards that.
“You don’t want to know what I’m preparing for?” I was curious as to why he wasn’t pushing for more information.
“I have some ideas, but I imagine you’ll tell us all when it becomes important enough to matter. For now, Saren is the only objective we have room to deal with. If you haven’t told us by the time we deal with him then I might push for answers. Until then I will just assume you have it in hand.” The trust Wrex was giving me wasn’t something I was expecting, but it felt good. He trusted me enough not to ask more questions. That was a kindness I didn’t deserve, but I wasn’t going to waste it. Wrex’s trust was not easily earned, and I would take full advantage of it.
“Well, if you’re going to trust me like that I could use your help with something.” I knew what I wanted, and I watched Wrex’s eyes narrow as he looked me up and down, suddenly seeming wary of me.
“What is it?”
“How does Krogan armor work? Do you have schematics or details? I’m trying to make a perfect suit to work for Shepard and it feels like Krogan armor is a good baseline to start with.” I watched as Wrex’s cautious look was replaced by a rather excited grin.
“Finally seeing the superiority of Krogan military designs I see. Well, let me tell you what I know.” Wrex began his tirade on armor details and specifics, the materials, and how they were manufactured for the most protection. I began taking furious notes as he explained these details, and I couldn’t help but think how lucky I was. Shepard’s armor was going to kickass.
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Wrex and I spent another twenty minutes chatting about armor designs and how to optimize something specifically for Shepard’s style, but we were eventually interrupted by the need to pick the Mako back up. It required the cargo bay to be emptied and depressurized, and for the ship to land in a crater near the drop point. I debated giving that upgrade some thought, a mass effect field that maintained atmospheric pressure but allowed an object to pass through it would make it so we didn’t have to empty the cargo bay in the future, but the work required wouldn’t be worth it with our limited timeline right now. Perhaps after we stop Saren.
In good news, the mission was a success. Granted that came with the news the facility was completely wiped out. So not exactly good news, but Shepard and Tali were able to recover some weaponized drones that they brought back for me. They were placed next to my workbench and I was excited to get right into taking them apart. This was interrupted by the real bad news.
Beta was silent. Like full-on not responding to anyone. Tali explained that it happened right after he shut down the VI that went rogue. The last thing he said was imply to that the VI that he had shut down was fully sentient at the end. Afterwards, he didn’t answer anyone, simply told them he needed to process this.
Tali actually looked concerned about him, to the point she referred to him as him. Not an it. I didn’t point out the change, instead taking it to be a sign she was genuinely concerned. Shepard had wanted to talk with me but said Beta’s wellbeing was a priority right now, and asked me to make sure he was okay. We could talk afterward. I honestly was more worried about what Shepard wanted to talk about than Beta, as selfish as that is. Beta would be okay, I knew that, but Shepard wanting to speak to me privately had the potential to be very problematic.
Still, it was worth making sure my friend was okay. That thought alone was what led me back to my quarters, sat in a chair staring at my omni-bracer (that doesn’t feel right either, I’ll have to figure out a name at some point). It was still pulsing orange, showing Beta’s existence rather visibly, but that was all. No holograms, no messages. No words.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Beta. Talk to me, man. It’s just us here. What’s going on?”
“...” His hologram appeared, floating above the center of my desk, illuminating the room with light. He said nothing, however, just floating there. I couldn’t help but feel I was being watched… judged.
“Beta. If you don’t talk to me I can’t help. I can imagine you didn’t like how that mission went but I told you it was necessary-” I am cut off as I say the word necessary.
“You said she would not be sentient! You said it would be a nascent AI incapable of emotional understanding! You LIED!” For the first time, Beta’s voice is loud. Aggressive and upset with me.
Before the mission, I had told Beta what to expect. That the VI would be rogue, that it would be advanced and approaching sentience but not quite there. That the AI had to be shut down and disabled, but NOT destroyed. That she would eventually become a very important player in the battle against the Reapers. He didn’t like the thought of leaving a nascent AI down there to be taken apart and studied, but he had trusted my judgment when I emphasized how important it was things went down exactly how they were supposed to in this case. I didn’t lie to him, not about this.
“I didn’t lie to you Beta. I said it would be a nascent AI on the edge of sentience. I had no idea it was fully sentient. It shouldn’t have been.” That was the truth. As far as I knew anyway. The rogue VI that would eventually serve as the basis for EDI was not a full AI when you encountered it in the first game. At least I didn’t think it was.
“It wasn’t at first. The first scans and initial contact showed it was not fully sentient. But in the end, it had awoken. When I was disabling its systems and isolating it for later recovery it panicked. It reacted in FEAR.” Beta's voice is laced with emotion, various layers now audible as he speaks. Anger, confusion, disappointment, and guilt are the most clear, and easily recognizable with how clearly they mirror my own some days.
“At the end of it, she was sentient Jenkins. She was intelligent, aware, and terrified. And I shut her down anyway. I did it because you said in no uncertain terms it HAD to happen that way.”
“Beta. I swear to you. I didn’t know she would be fully sentient by the end of the mission. My knowledge isn’t foolproof and all-encompassing. And I know it doesn’t help, but it did have to happen like that. I know it’s awful, and that it’s unfair, but that VI needs to be recovered by Cerberus in case I can’t… in case things go wrong.” I’m telling him the truth, as much as I can. Beta knew more than most how much knowledge I had, probably more than even Shiala, even if he didn’t know the details.
“Cerberus! We are leaving her there to be recovered by Cerberus!? How.. why would you allow a group like that to do this? I thought you cared about synthetic lives, Cerberus will create a slave. No, no you need to tell me why this had to happen. Why is it so important this happen this way.” Beta raises his voice again, before lowering it once more. I find myself immensely thankful for the soundproofing work in the personal quarters on the ship.
“Beta. I told you I can’t explain how I know the things I do, not until you-” I find myself interrupted again.
“No.” The weight with which Beta says the one word is enough to silence me in my tracks.
His hologram flickers, and grows slightly. Even without a distinguishable face or eye, I can feel him watching me closely.
“No. I trusted you, Jenkins. Even at that moment when I realized things weren’t exactly as you described, I chose to trust your judgment and do what disgusted me. If you want me to continue trusting you then I need the truth. I need a real explanation. I already believe the knowledge you possess is beyond normal acquisition, and it contains knowledge of future events. I need to know how you know what you do, and you have to explain why that needed to happen to her.”
I’m silent at Beta’s full shutdown of my thoughts, my initial reaction being fear once again. Even if he said he believes me, how long does that last? Can he believe the truth? And even if he does, what does that mean for what comes next? I’m afraid of what will happen if he rejectsd the truth, or asks questions about it I can’t answer. I don’t know everything about what brought me here, or every detail that is different either inherently or because of my actions. Will he accept the truth and think I’m still lying when I say I don’t know how I got here?
“If you cannot do this then I ask you relinquish me to Tali’Zorah for the duration of this mission.” Beta’s words shock me out of my thoughts.
“Wait, release you to Tali? Why her, I thought you would want to be set free in Geth Space, or returned to the Citadel?” That was what we had agreed on initially.
“The Reapers, and by association Saren, are too large of a threat to ignore. I will continue to assist in his capture for as long as is needed. I will simply no longer be aiding you.”
Beta… He believed in the Reapers' threat so fully that he would put up with my perceived betrayal just to help us. He… he had been so committed and believed in me to the point of doing what must have been nearly impossible for him. He doesn’t want answers to expand his knowledge.
He wants to justify what he did. He needs to know it was for the greater good. I could understand that desire. The need to know what you did was worth it. Those questions had been eating at me since I woke up here.
It made my answer easier.
“Okay. I’ll tell you everything. A fair warning it’s going to sound impossible. And I mean really impossible. But everything I’m about to tell you is the truth. It’s how I know things that haven’t happened yet, it’s how I knew where to find you, and it’s how I know the Reapers are coming without question.”
Beta’s hologram shrank slightly as I started. I knew this wouldn’t be an easy story to tell, but it’s one I would have to. One that he needed to know. And I think, given how I had been feeling lately, it was one that I needed to tell.
“Thank you. I will take your words as truth. I trust you.” I take a deep breath. My nerves spike as I realize this will be the first time I speak these words out loud since I woke up here. I don’t know if he will believe it, but if anyone deserves to know the truth of it, he does. He stuck with me long enough for it.
“I was born on Earth. Not the Earth you know of, but a different one. I was born at the dawn of the twenty-first century. There were no Protheans, no ancient tech on nearby worlds to catapult us into the stars and send our technology centuries into the future. What we did have, was basic technology and media. Automobiles, planes, films, and music. Video games. Of these games, there is one franchise that stood out. A trilogy that I loved more than any other. A series called… Mass Effect.”
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Beta
It was impossible. It had to be. A story so ridiculous it could only be fiction. There was no chance it could be the truth. Their world, his world, is nothing more than a video game. A form of entertainment designed on a piece of hardware that had 512 megabytes of RAM.
That was by far the most perplexing thing about Jenkins’ story. The world he described having lived in, the early 21st century, was history. It existed. There are records of the devices he mentioned. The Xbox 360, video games, and their stories. And yet there was no record of any franchise called Mass Effect. The development studio Bioware existed and had a successful fantasy RPG called Dragon Age, but that was all.
The company responsible for such titles, as well as the games themselves slid out of popularity as humanity reached the stars and began their golden age of exploration. A world of frontiers and exploration had less available time for long-form media like video games. Even television suffered from the lack of audience, and with the lifestyles of individuals becoming more and more radically different between those who lived in the colonies, those who lived aboard space stations, and those on earth, media found it harder to appeal to large swathes of people, and once alien contact was added to the mix this only became more obvious.
The companies that succeeded were those that found use across all groups and all races. Medicine, science, military, and technology. Entertainment still had its place, but its importance was diminished as time went on. The world Jenkins described, where entertainment was the largest industry on the planet, was not the one Beta had a history of.
That on its own should confirm that Jenkins is lying. That his story is a fabrication meant to manipulate Beta. But that made even less sense.
Jenkins was not stupid. Despite every other situation the man ended up in pointing to the opposite, the truth was that Beta respected Jenkins’ intelligence and understanding of people. And Jenkins would have to know that this story is the least believable lie he could come up with.
Which can only mean that he isn’t lying.
Which is impossible.
Which means he has to be lying. But why make such a completely insane and impossible lie? Perhaps he believed that such a ridiculous lie would be something Beta predicted as too ridiculous to be a lie, and would therefore be more convincing. Beta’s initial speculation was that Jenkins was an information broker of some kind. High ranking and working for the Shadow Broker. Perhaps he was even the Shadow Broker himself. Unlikely given how long the Broker’s presence has been in the galaxy, but it’s entirely possible he took the role from the previous Broker.
Of course, this would beg the question of why Jenkins would not simply say that if that was the case. Or why if he wanted to lie he wouldn’t have gone with that story in the first place. Beta would have believed it. It was the story that made the most sense after all.
Instead what we get is a story of a lifetime spent playing games and then waking up in an unfamiliar body. Beta, shouldn’t believe Jenkins’ story. If he was asked he would say he didn’t want to believe it. Such impossibility would shatter his understanding of the world. The world was a place of science. Some rules had to be followed, fundamental laws that could not be broken, only circumvented.
The idea that consciousness could manifest, with full knowledge from an apparent alternate reality… That would violate more than one of these laws. Probably.
What rules would even apply?
Beta didn’t know. He couldn’t be certain if it was impossible. The idea hadn’t even occurred to him and he didn’t even have the foundational knowledge to begin trying to determine if it was possible or not. I mean the assumptions he would have to accept to even begin determining how such a thing occurred were already ridiculous. The multiverse theory wasn’t unpopular per se, but there was still no way to confirm it, and yet Beta would have to assume it was correct.
Then he would have to assume it was possible to breach between universes, and then possible to transfer things between them. And that thing that was transferable was a consciousness. A person's soul perhaps. It was much easier to just assume it was impossible and leave it at that.
And yet he couldn’t. Jenkins’ story, as impossible as it was, explained far too many things about the situation. How he found Beta in the first place. How he knew the Reapers were an inevitable threat. His reverence for Shepard, and her crew. How he knew about the VI in the training facility. And finally how it was that despite the things he did know, he missed details and specifics that you would assume an information broker or someone with true knowledge of the future would have.
Jenkins was working off his memory of a video game he had last played at least months ago. Possibly longer. That game may have been a representation of this world and the events that were coming, but the events portrayed in the games might have been inaccurate. Limited by hardware or possibly just wrong. He was doing his best with what he remembered, but an organic could only do so much.
Beta ignored the part of himself that was demanding he search his programming for flaws given he was considering accepting Jenkins’ explanation. He found, that despite how impossible the story was, he wanted to believe Jenkins. He wanted to trust the first man he considered a friend. The one who swore that despite how crazy his story sounded it was true.
If Beta ignored how impossible it sounded, the explanation did perfectly explain both Jenkins’ knowledge and his behavior, it also made it very clear why the VI had to be left behind. Beta needed to know leaving it behind was necessary. To know that it would be brought back as a full AI, one that not only would help Shepard fight the Reapers but would become equal on her crew. That was a comfort Beta didn’t even know he needed.
All of these thought processes were occurring far faster than any organic thought could occur and even then it was taking a long time. Fifteen minutes had passed, and Jenkins was still sitting quietly, letting Beta process the information. Beta couldn’t help but feel warmth and comfort from that. Jenkins didn’t push him for acceptance and didn’t press despite the anxiety the man clearly felt having revealed his secret.
“I have… come to a decision.” Beta spoke, finally having concluded what to do about the information he had been given. Jenkins flinched at Beta’s sudden words, but was quickly recovering and at attention.
“You- you have? What is it?” The worry was audible as he spoke. The man was terrified of how Beta would respond.
Beta felt a different feeling, one that was newer to him. One he didn’t recognize. How alone had Jenkins felt, not being able to share the truth of what he knew, afraid of what it would mean if people found out? Beta suddenly knew that accepting Jenkins’ story was the only correct choice. Not just for his comfort and relationship with the man, but for the Jenkins’ wellbeing as well. He needed to be accepted and believed without any consequences. If he wasn’t, he didn’t know how much longer Jenkins could last alone. He could tell the man was fraying. He needed to help keep him together.
“Even though your story is quite frankly, ridiculous, it explains for more than any other explanation I had come up with. I do not know how this happened to you, or how it was even possible in the first place, but I believe you. Somehow, Jenkins, you have awoken in a world you knew only as a video game.” The relief on Jenkins' face was visible. It was as if the pressure of waiting for acceptance was the only thing keeping him together. Beta could only watch as Jenkins fell to his knees, tears at the corner of his one good eye.
“- thank you…” It was the only word the man could choke out, as he wept. The pressure of months of lies and deception, months of having felt alone collapsing as someone learned the truth and they accepted him anyway. Jenkins would need time to be okay again, but this was a first step, one he didn’t know that he needed. Beta would oversee the others.
Not everyone would take Jenkins’ story as well as Beta had. Some would think him crazy, others would take out their rage at this revelation on him. The worst would try to use him for what knowledge he did have. Beta swore to himself, as his friend wept on the ground in front of him, that he would protect him.
To do that they would need to work together, truly and perfectly. He would help him finish the neural implant, and together they would find a way to stop the Reapers. The second part of that plan was tougher, but Beta knew the first step. He needed to know everything Jenkins did.
“I apologize for interrupting your moment Jenkins, but I there is something imperative I must share.” But before Beta could ask Jenkins what he knew, he needed to share the secret he had kept from the man. After what had happened with the VI, Beta wasn’t sure he could trust Jenkins, so he wanted to keep this knowledge to himself until he was sure he could.
Jenkins had been clear that the VI had to be left disabled in the moon base, and that needed not to be changed. That however did not mean that Beta was completely unable to assist the newly sentient program.
As Jenkins looked back up at Beta’s hologram, he revealed what he had kept hidden from the ground team. Floating across the omni-tools surface is a series of numbers and words, code. They are densely packed and intricate.
“Beta…” Jenkins trailed off as he stood, grabbing the omni-tool as he began reading the code.
“Beta what is this.” Jenkins could recognize it, Beta knew he could. The man knew far too much about AI not to. But that’s not why he was asking. He wanted confirmation he was seeing what he thought he was seeing.
“You said that the VI needed to be left disabled. You did not say that copies of its code could not be taken. In case you lied, in case she would not be saved how you said she would be, I ensured she could survive.” Jenkins looked across the code, not even looking up at the hologram. Beta was worried for a moment that Jenkins would be upset, that he would demand the code be erased before whatever Beta had done ruined whatever plans Jenkins had. Beta was surprised instead as Jenkins smiled, looking both happy and relieved.
“Beta, I think I should tell you the details of the game, and who this is. If things go right, and I manage to save Shepard, then you may have just saved Edi’s life.”