Mission Type: Allies and Relationships
Prerequisite: After visiting Habitat 7
Start Location: Nexus or Hyperion
Unlocking: Speak to Director Tann or SAM in SAM Node
Find a Way to Remove SAM’s Memory Blocks
Nexus Operations: PATHFINDER HQ or Hyperion: SAM Node
This Initiative operation is unlocked after you speak to Director Tann (1) during Priority Ops mission “A Better Beginning.” Alternatively, it can be unlocked by talking to SAM at the Hyperion Sam Node chamber or by finding one of the 16 hidden encrypted memories. Dr. Harry Carlyle contacts you on comms from the human ark immediately after the conversation with Tann. He says he’s found a way to communicate with your sibling. This part of the mission is optional, but if you ignore your sibling now, he/she comments negatively on your choice when he/she wakes up later.
Optional: Visit Your Sibling
Hyperion Cryobay
Talk to Dr. Carlyle (2), and he explains that you can communicate with your unconscious sibling using SAM. During the conversation, you inform your sibling of the coma and that he/she is in the medbay. During the conversation options, you can choose to either lie about your father’s condition and the terrible state of Habitat 7, or sugarcoat the situation to keep your sibling’s mind at ease. What you say to your sibling here affects how the Priority Ops scene plays out later when they finally wake up, including if you never bothered to do the optional scene. This optional scene expires when he or she wakes up in Mission 4.
Search for Memory Triggers to Unlock SAM’s Array
Hyperion : Habitation Deck
SAM needs to experience 16 triggers to unlock encrypted memories. Start by speaking to SAM from the Hyperion SAM Node chamber or by finding one of the 16 hidden encrypted memory pickups.
The first memory trigger is in your father’s room, next door to the SAM Node, near the kitchen table (3). Makes sure to listen to the audio logs on your father’s console while in his room. You have access to everything except the three encrypted logs. Those become available as this quest advances.
Speak with SAM About an Unlocked Memory
Hyperion: SAM Node
With one memory under your belt, enter the SAM Node and ask SAM (4) to play the memory. You see a sequence depicting an early memory of your father’s that predates SAM, concerning the pushback from everyone with regards to the creation of SAM. Even your sickly mother is there. After you view this first memory, SAM directs you to your father’s room to access audio logs. The following are the memory sequences that lead up to the quest for the mysterious benefactor:
Second Memory Sequence
The second memory playback shows Ryder Senior talking to Ellen (your mom) about using SAM and her biotic implants to help find a cure for Ellen’s illness. She’s introduced to SAM, who greets her with a bad joke.
Third Memory Sequence
The third memory playback involves a family reunion—the entire family is together. Ryder Senior is still distracted by his work on SAM but manages to share a story about an adventure on Mars. Then they all go off to dinner together, undoubtedly discussing their exploring adventures.
Fourth Memory Sequence
The fourth memory is a discussion between Ryder Senior and a secret benefactor who offers him a future with Ellen. Knowing Alec is out of money to keep developing SAM, which will hopefully cure Ellen’s illness, the benefactor proposes a way for him to continue his work. The memory ends before you hear whether your father agrees.
Fifth Memory Sequence
The fifth memory playback is a sobering one. Ellen is moments from passing away from her illness while surrounded by her loved ones. Afterward you can have a philosophical conversation with SAM about life after death.
Search for Memory Triggers to Unlock SAM’s Array
Eos
Site 1: Promise
Find the second memory trigger on Eos, on the edge of the cliff looming over Site 1: Promise. Follow the “Ryder’s Family” navpoint to the location (5) and pick up the glowing ball of light. SAM tells you that finding more of these will unlock your father’s stored memories.
Kett Base
Another memory trigger(6) is located near the kett facility. It’s on a cliff top north of the facility, and just below the cliff is a forward station.
Prodromos
This memory trigger(7) is in the middle of Prodromos beside August Bradley.
Havarl
Turian Encampment
Find the turian encampment during “Turian Ark: Not Dead Yet,” and locate this memory trigger(8) under a tall light among turian gear and crates.
Mithrava
This memory trigger(9) is in Mithrava, at the top of the tower. See “A Dying Planet” for help getting to the top. The memory trigger is near an angaran statue platform.
The Forgotten Depths
Find this memory trigger(10) in the Forgotten Depths, which you reach during “A Dying Planet” when you follow Taavos to the remains and activate the dormant third vault on Havarl. The trigger is located just north of the Remnant console and Gravity Well.
Voeld
South of Hjara
Use the Nomad to climb to the top peak of this mountain facing Hjara. The memory trigger(11) is on the edge of the mountain.
Future Settlement Outpost Site
Drive west edge of Voeld, south of the Resistance base, to a hill overlooking the future site of the Initiative settlement. This is where you find the memory trigger(12).
Kett Mountain Base
This memory trigger(13) is on the top of a small mountain dwarfed by the much larger kett mountain base to its south. Find the trigger when raiding the nearby kett outpost to the north.
Elaaden
Languish: Near Tuchanka
Use the Nomad to climb to the top of this very steep hill to find the memory trigger(14) east of New Tuchanka.
Languish: Cave
You can find this memory trigger (15) in a cave between the Remnant derelict ship and the krogan colony of New Tuchanka. Be prepared to fight; the cave is home to a few Echidna and Fiends. Scan the beasts for “Comparatively Alien” while you defend yourself.
Gehenna Valley
Find this memory trigger(16) on the ground in a little oasis in Gehenna Valley.
Kadara
Kurinth’s Valley
Find this memory trigger(17) in the northwest corner of Kadara in Kurinth’s Valley. It’s next to an acid pool and a sought-after mineral for “Hitting Rocks for Science.”
Sulfur Springs
Find this memory trigger(18) out in the open near the future site of the Initiative outpost.
Sulfur Springs
This memory trigger(19) is on a climbable peak beside the western Remnant monolith.
Investigate Alec’s Logs
Hyperion Habitation: Alec’s Quarters
You’ve been directed to investigate Alec’s logs in his quarters (14) after collecting enough memory triggers to receive the fourth memory sequence. This one is about a secret benefactor. Go there now and use the Archive System. Select “Benefactor” and then “Meeting with Benefactor.” Alec had thought Jien Garson was the mystery benefactor, but it turns out she’s not the one. You decide to ask Tann what he knows about this.
Speak with Director Tann About the Benefactor
Nexus Operations: Tann’s Office
Take the tram to Nexus operations and ask Tann (15) about the mysterious benefactor. No matter how you press him for information, the result is the same—he doesn’t admit to knowing anyone besides Jien Garson who would be the strongest advocate for the Initiative. Now you must investigate her death.
Investigate the Nexus Records for Jien Garson’s Death
Head to Addison’s office and review the Nexus records (16). Use the security footage console and access the file “Garson Investigation (CLOSED).” The cause of death lists her as a “casualty of Scourge disaster” and the burns on her body were consistent with that assessment, but it’s unsure how she ended up in that apartment at that time. Enter the tram and travel to the docking bay.
Investigate the Nexus Apartment Where Jien Garson Was Found Dead
Nexus Docking Bay
Go to the second floor of the Nexus docking bay area and then toward the apartments on the end. Enter the second apartment on the left (17).
Scan the Room for Clues
Pull out the scanner and begin scanning the entire apartment for clues. Scan the area around the bed in the back of the apartment to find a holographic scene recreation of a man’s silhouette seen lurking over Jien’s body on the bed. You deduce that her death was not the result of natural causes.
Continue Scanning the Room for More Information
When you realize the entire area was shuttered before the Hyperion arrived, you wonder what Garson was even doing there. Continue scanning the room for clues. You catch a hit if you scan the wall above the head of the bead. It’s a hidden door on the right wall as you entered the room. A good scan of it reveals a prompt to open the secret door.
Investigate the Hidden Room
Inside the hidden room (18) you find two datapads on a desk. Read one and listen to the other. The audio file is of Jien; she recorded a message about hiding in this sealed-off section of the Nexus because someone was trying to kill her. She reveals that she embedded pertinent info in her VI in the cultural center and that the datapad you’ve accessed has the code to unlock this secret message.
Speak with Garson’s VI Display in the Nexus
Exit the apartment and head to the cultural center (19), also on the second floor. If you haven’t been to the cultural center since you helped the Moshae, you’re intercepted by the angaran head diplomat. He talks and walks you out of the room. Simply finish the conversation, re-enter the cultural center, and interact with the Jien Garson VI.
In the interface, select “Secret Message” to get the info she was talking about on the datapad in the apartment. She talks of the silent partner (the benefactor) involved with the Initiative. Something big spooked them in the Milky Way and then moved 100,000 of them to Andromeda. She thinks someone is out to remove her. The code word she and Alec had for this operation was “Fulcrum.” At this point you need to keep unlocking memories to find out what they meant by “something big” spooking them.
Speak with SAM About An Unlocked Memory
Hyperion: SAM Node
The last memory trigger affords you access to the final memory. Go to the SAM Node (4) and watch this memory now. Ryder uses Jien Garson’s code word “Fulcum” to access the memory. SAM announces it as the last memory your father encrypted, from the final planning stages of the Hyperion’s departure.
The memory is of Alec Ryder talking to Castis Vakarian. Ryder asks about the Reaper threat, and Castis tells him about the 50,000-year extinction cycle and that it’s about time for it to strike again. Ryder speaks with the benefactor next. She feels they need to accelerate the timeline for the project, seeing as how the extinction cycle threatens everything. The arks must be launched immediately. Lastly, Ryder Senior asks SAM to track down his kids so they can discuss the circumstances. Ellen is discovered to be in stasis, which suspends the progress of her disease. She’s hidden in cryo under a fake name. Just before the memory ends, you catch a glimpse of your father saving you on Habitat 7 and then, just before he dies, telling you, “There’s still hope for your mother.”
Meet with Your Sibling at Your Mother’s Stasis Pod
Hyperion: Cryobay
SAM tells you that Ellen is on the Hyperion in stasis under the name of Elizabeth Reilly. On your father’s Archive System in his room, listen to the Milky Way emergency log. It discusses the Reapers hitting the Milky Way and the escape in the arks. Take the tram to the cryobay and follow the navpoint (20) to your sibling, who’s standing at your mother’s stasis pod location. A touching story unfolds, and you kids decide to keep her in stasis until you find a cure for her illness.
