Overlord (assignment)

A Cerberus station on the planet Aite (Typhon system, Phoenix Massing) has gone off the grid. The Illusive Man requested assistance investigating the situation.

Acquisition
A message is sent to Shepard's private terminal from the Illusive Man:

On the galaxy map this assignment is titled Investigate Project Overlord

Arrival on Aite
The Normandy flies over the planet and drops the M-44 Hammerhead, which lands on a pad near the facility. Once you land on Aite, Dr. Archer contacts you and gives you a brief rundown of the situation. The Cerberus team faces a possible virtual intelligence breakout, and Dr. Archer needs you to retract the transmission dish. Before heading into the facility, head down the ramp next to the Hammerhead to retrieve some palladium. When you come back up, head to your right and all the way across the pad. In a small alcove on your left will be some power cells.

Run across the pad and enter the door. Once you are inside, an announcement says that you must check in with security to be logged in to the facility and have your weapons checked; however, no one is left to do that. Head down the ramps and when you reach the bottom, Archer appears on a monitor. Walk over to it and listen.

Archer says that he has locked himself in a computer room on the far side of the facility, there are geth everywhere, and the VI program has seized control of the geth. Once Archer finishes, proceed not through the door, but towards the security desk. To your left is a cracked window: shoot it, and the glass will shatter. Inside is a medical station, a terminal with credits and a log from Archer. Grab the medi-gel and credits and listen to the log, then head out of the room. When you exit, move on to the door to the right of you and head inside. The other door out is locked, but in the room are the dish controls and a log from Archer. Listen to the log and then retract the dish.

Getting to the Antenna
The second the dish is fully retracted, you hear two voices, a standard computer voice, “System Error”, and the Rogue VI, which says something that seems like geth communications. Archer comes over the comm and says that the VI has overridden the controls and is still trying to beam itself off planet. You have to stop it before it does. Archer says that you need to destroy the antenna inside the dish, so he directs you to a tram on the lower level. The door heading back to the pad locks, so head to the other door and proceed.

As you move towards the tram, the VI comes over the PA and repeats the unintelligible voice, and the computer says that geth activity has been detected, and all personnel are to remain at their stations until an all clear is given. As you reach the first landing, there is a PDA, access it and proceed. Keep heading down and open the door at the end of the passage.

As you emerge into the next room, the facility’s mess hall, the computer welcomes you and gives the special of the day, egg salad. However there are numerous geth in the room as well. Geth Troopers, Geth Destroyers, Geth Rocket Troopers are waiting, so take them out from the cover near the door, however stay in cover because more geth will come out. More Troopers, Rocket Troopers, and another Destroyer will storm the room, however the Troopers will enter from the second level, so move back to keep in cover. An autosave will kick in when all the geth are down.

Once the geth are down, head across the room and access a cash register for some credits and a medical station for some medi-gel. Be careful becaues there are geth in the kitchen as well. Once they are down, be sure to stop in the back room for some power cells. Then head to the upper level, to the right and a door will be accessible. Inside is another of Archer’s logs and a wall safe, no bypass on this one. Once you are done in the room, head out and walk across the upper level, however get into cover because more geth will emerge from the other side of the room and attack. Stay in cover, and on the second floor in order to take them out. More Troopers, Rocket Troopers, and another two Destroyers are in this bunch, so make sure to keep them at a distance.

Once the attacking geth are down, head though the door and inside is what appears to be a waiting area. There is a medical station and some salvageable parts, so grab them before moving on. The next area is the tram, so save your game, and active the tram.

Getting to the Dish
As you travel in the tram, Archer comes over the comm saying that the VI is aligning the dish manually and has a clear transmission range at the orbiting satellite. It is going to be tight. Once the tram stops, head out the side door and get to that antenna. There are no enemies so just run across the catwalks and keep moving around to the outside catwalks, and take cover on the upper level because two Troopers and a Destroyer will come out of a room on the lower level. Take them out and get into the room. Inside is some palladium, a medical station, and another log. There is a similar room along the way you came, but it holds power cells so be sure to grab them.

Head back out and the computer will say again that a satellite broadcast window is opening soon, so no time to waste. Get to a terminal and extend the walkway into the dish. Keep moving and get to the base of the dish and get inside. However the VI apparently wants to get off-world, so just as you are about to reach the door, you are ambushed by Troopers and Rocket Troopers from the left. Get into cover and take out the attackers, and once they are down, bypass and unlock the door. Save your game, enter the room, and prepare for a hard fight.

Once inside the dish, get in cover because more geth attack. This group includes Hunters so focus on them first. The best tactic here is to move from cover to cover, heading left or right, no real difference in enemy numbers, and taking out geth as they pop up. Just watch your flanks as the geth severely outnumber you and keep moving around to your flanks. Watch the second/upper level as well, as Rocket Troopers from the other side where you are advancing, charge up various ramps and position themselves there to get shots at you. Keep to cover as much as you can, and keep destroying geth.

On the far side of the room is a Geth Prime, so switch your focus to it and again, stay in cover. However, the Prime likes to stay on the move, so keep your eye on it, move with it, from cover to cover, and take it down. Once the geth are down, head up the catwalks and destroy the dish.

Destroying the Dish
When you get into the dish itself, Archer will say that you need to take out the support struts, so destroy the various capacitors that are around. Move up the various capacitors around the dish, the things that resemble fuel tanks, access the terminals to lower their defenses. However the second you do so, shoot the tank and find cover because the computer will comment about the dish’s structural integrity, the VI will say something angrily over the comm, and some geth attack.

The second the third support is destroyed, you are treated to a cutscene where Shepard and the squad are watching the destruction; however, the whole dish starts to collapse. Shepard orders a retreat and the squad runs for it, jumps and lands safely on the catwalks around the dish. Archer comes up at this point to thank them, Shepard asks for an explanation, and Archer tells the squad to come with him for that explanation.

The Situation
Dr. Archer thanks you for buying some time. Respond any way you choose. Continuing the conversation will give an overview of the project and explain what they were doing. They were trying to gain influence over the geth by interfacing a human mind with a VI, but something went wrong. Respond, but Archer will say they succeeded but the VI overpowered the test subject’s mind, Archer’s brother, and has evolved into a virus. Explore the various conversation options to learn more about what happened, and could happen. You can berate Archer, but he will say they couldn’t account for every possibility.

Archer will tell you that the VI has fortified itself in Atlas Station, and you need to override it from the facilities at Prometheus and Vulcan stations. Archer will explain that the lockdown procedure was in case of an emergency, and all three mission heads are required to override it. Archer will explain the override procedure, however since he is the only one left, he tells Shepard that the other two need to be done manually. Once he is done explaining, Shepard asks what if they need to terminate Archer’s brother; he hopes it won’t come to that.

Explore the various conversation options to learn about the project’s history, its goals, the other stations, and what went wrong with the experiment. When you have all the info you want, leave the conversation and Archer will say the rest of the stations are within driving distance and wishes you luck. If Legion is present, Archer will comment on him. Before you leave it is recommended you save your game as you can’t do so inside the Hammerhead.

Logs
"Status Report: Please inform the Illusive Man we've made great strides in our research. His doubts about the lack of progress are unwarrented. A demonstration is forthcoming." "Memo to all project personal, I understand there is some concern handling live geth. I agree there is some risk, but the potential rewards are much greater. Someday your sons and daughters will thank you." "Memo to all project personal. Congratulations on all your hard work. Tomorrow we take the next step forward. It will be a great day for Cerberus, and a greater day for humanity." "This is Project Overlord with an emergency message to Cerberus Command! We have experienced a catastrophic security failure and are requesting assistance! We - - what do you mean the outgoing comms are jammed? How can it do that?"

Enemies

 * Geth Trooper
 * Geth Rocket Trooper
 * Geth Destroyer
 * Geth Prime
 * Geth Hunter

Mission Summary
"Transmission dish destroyed. Surviving scientist located."
 * Debriefing
 * Experience: 250 (312)
 * Credits: 7,500
 * Cerberus Funding: 3,750
 * Credits Found: 3,750
 * Resources
 * Palladium: 2,000

Trivia

 * When Shepard first encounters Dr. Archer and asks about the situation, he replies with the phrase "man's reach exceeding his grasp". The phrase might be a reference to a quote, “Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?”, by Robert Browning. He was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.