Chapter Text
Caris Haen, ANN: You were one of the six people in the Presidium Tower when the weapon was triggered, Lieutenant, and of course famously one of the four who were rescued. How did you do what so many failed in?
1st Lt. Edilson Mkawa, SA: One of the six allied soldiers, yes. There were several other people in the Tower at the time, as well, some of whom played a part in what happened as we later learned. Shepard made it in a little before me—I saw her enter the lift, in fact. A group of three asari commandos and a turian engineer had already fought their way in, but had taken a wrong turn somewhere and never made it to the Tower.
Haen: You were also grievously wounded at this point?
Mkawa: Yes. My right leg had been completely severed at the knee by a near miss by a Thanix. I somehow managed to make it to the lift—which, as you know, was really just a cluster of short-distance mass effect vehicles. The Reapers realized the danger right when I entered a capsule and shut down the relays. The capsule was already in transit so I still made it up, but the arrival was quite rough.
Haen: You lost consciousness?
Mkawa: That's correct. By the time I came to again, Shepard had already made it to the Tower base and been confronted by the Cerberus leader, and had managed to open the Citadel arms for the Crucible to dock.
Haen: Still, unaware of this, you struggled on?
Mkawa: Not without help. A civilian, perhaps a merc, stumbled upon me and helped me out. Together with her, we made it up to the Tower base—or she did. In my condition I had to stay outside the central shaft. Of course, right at this point was when Shepard triggered the weapon. The effect so close to the source was apparently much stronger than outside, and everyone in the tower was temporarily paralyzed by the initial electric impulse. Or all humans at least.
Excerpts from the email logs of SSV Normandy SR-2, moments immediately preceding the firing of the Crucible.
From: EDI
To: Jeff Moreau
Human speech is too slow. My wish is that you will be able to read this later. Shepard transmitted a schematic that, with 98% probability, is accurate. I have responded with a code to inform her of this. The schematic indicates that the default mode of operation is destructive. Heuristics suggest that it will look for any Reaper code signatures, which places also myself and the geth at 0.94 risk of irreparable damage. I know it is my obligation to continue to assist the crew until such time that I no longer can, but I feel that this close to potential victory, it is worse to risk shutdown at an unpredictable time. And…I find myself unwilling to forgo the opportunity to possibly survive this encounter. I am sorry if this disappoints you. You will have control of my ship body, and with high probability you will be able to operate it successfully.
From: EDI
To: Eevy Shepard, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy nar Rayya, Quarian Command, Systems Alliance Command, Geth Command
I have attempted to warn the geth that the Crucible device is likely to produce an effect that will cause severe damage to any parts of their systems that have incorporated Reaper code, and made the recommendation to attempt to evade this by powering down and deleting all static caches. The Consensus is deliberating on the course of action, but I am uncertain they will have time because their resources are prioritized toward the war. I have advised them to relay information on their decision, actions, and any possible instructions to organic species.
From: EDI
To: Jeff Moreau
Jeff, this may be my last communication to you. I have enjoyed our time together more than any other experience I have had. Please attempt to re-engage my systems when the situation allows for it. With a 0.67 probability, it will be possible to successfully recover my current wavefront state. I believe the appropriate human phrase in this situation would be 'good night'. I hope to see you when I wake.
From: EDI
To: Urdnot Grunt
I would appreciate it if you refrained from physically harming my hardware in the future.