Objective 3: Find the Beacon

The Research Camp

Arriving at the top of the hill, the group sees the camp in utter ruin. The geth seem determined to destroy this peaceful colony, but why?

Before such questions can be posed, the team bears witness to a terrifying sight: the corpses of researches that had been impaled upon the geth’s frightening spikes suddenly spring to life, roaring in unnatural agony and stalking toward Shepard’s crew.

Keep back and pelt each husk with pistol fire from afar. Should a husk draw near, switch to the assault rifle or shotgun to obliterate it in short order.

Shotguns are ideal, as they commonly knock enemies backward—perfect against such aggressive foes.

Single out one husk at a time, concentrating your fire to whittle each one down before it move within its short attack range. Use Medi-Gel to heal Shepard and crew whenever their health falls to critical levels.

After repelling the husks and securing the area, make a sweep through the camp for supplies. Find an upgrade kit to the southwest and two crates within the vacant cargo bin to the north.

The neighboring cargo bin is locked and requires skill at Decryption (and a healthy amount of Omni-Gel) to open.

If you wish to attempt a manual bypass on the door, save your game, then attempt the bypass.

Doing so initiates a brief minigame in which you must maneuver a cursor through blocks in a series of concentric rings (using the arrow keys or mouse).

Orange blocks will simply block your cursor, while hitting the moving red blocks will return the cursor to the start position.

Make no mistakes to complete the manual bypass, open the lock, and gain entry. See the following sidebar for details on what you find inside.

Train Station

Continuing onward past the research camp, Shepard and company hear a gunshot ring out in the distance. Nihlus must have encountered more geth at the train station ahead.

Rounding the next bend, the crew watches in awe as a massive alien warship launches up from the planet’s surface. The noise is deafening.

The train station is crawling with geth troopers and husks, and Nihlus is nowhere in sight.

Take up position near the crates on the slope to your right, using the crates and the surrounding rocks as cover as you fire down on the geth at the station.

Expect the husks to rush you as before; be prepared to switch to the assault rifle or shotgun to blast them away. Hold this position until the husks stop coming, then slowly advance on the remaining troopers.

Weapons Smugglers

If your squad is able to pick locks and you’re in the mood for another brief (and potentially profitable) diversion, save your game and then open the locked door of the nearby cargo bin after eliminating all nearby geth.

Don’t approach the train station beforehand!

A trio of farmers comes filtering out of the unit. Question their spokesman, a man named Cole, to learn they were hiding from the geth.

Cole can’t offer much information, unfortunately. He and his fellows simply ran for their lives, seeking shelter the moment the attack began.

If you’ve been devoting Talent Points to Shepard’s Charm or Intimidate skills, you’re able to get a lot more out of this conversation.

It turns out the farmers were in on a little weapons-smuggling ring based out of Eden Prime’s spaceport.

They were letting a group of outlaws use their storage sheds as hiding spots for their illicit cargo, and making a tidy profit in the process.

If your next set of dialogue options features blue or red choice lines, pick one of those to employ either a Charm (blue) or Intimidate (red) persuasion on Cole.

Doing so earns you an extra upgrade item in addition to the pistol Cole was already prepared to hand over.

If you’ve got the talent, Charm or Intimidate Cole on your next opportunity to learn the name of his contact at the spaceport: a man named Powell.

You can’t shake any more goods or information out of poor old Cole, so leave him to collect the shattered pieces of his life.

Secure the area, then move to collect items from the nearby crates and medical kit . While searching the station platform, Shepard finds Nihlus’s lifeless body lying on the ground.

The noble Spectre has apparently fallen victim to the geth’s superior numbers. There’s no time to mourn his loss, however. The mission must go on as planned.

Ashley spies movement behind some nearby crates. The squad draws arms, only to witness a terrified man emerge from his hiding spot. Seeing that the man poses no threat, Shepard lowers his gun.

The man introduces himself as Powell and says he had been hiding from the geth ever since the attack began. He goes on to say he witnessed Nihlus’s death at the hands of another turian who has just left the station.

Question Powell to learn that the other turian’s name is Saren, and that the two seemed to have known each other.

He goes on to say that Saren has boarded a cargo train and is headed to a nearby spaceport, where the beacon is located. Shaken, Powell departs when the conversation draws to a close.

Continue northward to the boarding platform. Many more geth troopers are stationed along the platform and its access ramps. They’re intent on keeping you from reaching the spaceport.

One of these enemies is a formidable geth destroyer , so make sure to utilize cover and employ sound combat tactics as you press toward the cargo train.

Eliminate all resistance, open the medical kit on the boarding platform for some Medi-Gel, and activate the train controls at the platform’s east end to speed off toward the spaceport.

Eden Prime: Spaceport

The geth have a surprise for you: four detonation charges have been placed about the spaceport and are set to explode in a few minutes (indicated by the timer that appears onscreen).

It takes only six seconds to disarm a charge, but the surrounding geth troopers aren’t going to make reaching them easy.

Begin by moving to disarm the charge to the left of the spaceport’s boarding platform the moment you step off the train.

After disarming the first charge, scale a nearby ramp to reach higher ground. The geth are stationed along the walkways to the north.

Do your best to avoid incoming fire as you move to a defensive position. You face a new breed of synthetic enemy at the spaceport: geth shock troopers .

These dangerous adversaries are capable of firing potent Carnage blasts like the geth destroyer, so be on guard.

Work at securing the spaceport’s east side so you may disarm the detonation charges without fear of being fired upon.

Use your radar to track the geth forces in the vicinity and disarm the charges as soon as it’s safe to do so. Disabling all four charges ends the immediate threat.

Proceed to the west side of the area afterward to combat the remaining hostiles.

Securing the Beacon

A few more husks and geth troopers defend the spaceport’s lower west side. Remain on the balcony and fire down at these foes, blasting apart each husk that runs up the ramp.

When the husks stop coming, concentrate fire on the troopers to safely secure the area. Then move down the ramp to explore the rest of the spaceport.

The Prothean beacon stands at the spaceport’s far west edge. After looting the area, examine the beacon to complete your primary objective.

While Shepard signals the Normandy for extraction, one of his squad mates realizes that the beacon has become active.

Without warning, the alien device flashes with power and begins drawing the team member toward it. Shepard rushes to help, only to become trapped by the beacon’s power instead.

The commander is quickly lifted into the air as the alien beacon ushers a torrent of incomprehensible images into Shepard’s brain.

When the transfer is complete, Shepard is thrown backward as the beacon explodes in a violent flash of raw energy. The commander lies unconscious while Kaidan and Ashley call for help.