Mass Effect: Invasion 2

Issue #2 Cover: Carnevale version

Mass Effect: Invasion 2 is the second issue of the 4-issue Mass Effect: Invasion comic series published by Dark Horse Comics.

Release Information

• Publication date: November 16, 2011
• Tagline: Nobody &!#%$ with Aria!
• Writer: Mac Walters, John Jackson Miller
• Artist: Omar Francia
• Colorist: Michael Atiyeh
• Cover Artist: Massimo Carnevale / Paul Renaud

Publisher's Summary

Space station Omega is under attack by bizarre creatures from the center of the galaxy! Aria T'Loak, pirate queen of Omega, leads the charge against the grotesque invaders, but when the true threat behind them is revealed, Aria is forced to regroup and form a new strategy--or risk losing everything!

Story

Aria and General Petrovsky aboard the Elbrus lead Omega's defense forces against the Adjutant ships. At first the battle goes smoothly because the Adjutant ships do not return fire. The Adjutants have yet to master the controls and use the weapons. This doesn't last for long, as one ship manages to fire on Elbrus.

Many more quickly follow suit and Elbrus takes considerable damage. Aria considers that losing their ships is an acceptable loss when weighed against the millions of lives aboard Omega. She suggests closing the Omega 4 Relay to prevent any more Adjutants from entering the system. Petrovsky points out the holes in her plan: relays are impenetrable and cannot be disabled, and laying mines around the relay to destroy ships that arrive through it would take far too long. Above all, the Illusive Man would forbid such an action, as Cerberus still has a vested interest in its Reaper research.

Aria begins to argue, but the Elbrus takes another hit. Petrovsky realizes that the only place they can retreat to now is the relay, where they can escape to the center of the galaxy and possibly stop the source of the problem. The Adjutants won't follow them because they are intent only on advancing on Omega to transform its population into more Adjutants.

In Omega Control, Anto Korragan learns that Aria's ship has left the system. Knowing that Aria would never abandon Omega, he assumes that she is either dead or an Adjutant, and begins forming plans to take over as Omega's leader. In the shadows, the escaped Colonel Ashe listens in.

The Elbrus arrives at Avernus Station, a Cerberus research base almost overrun by the Adjutants. A handful of surviving Cerberus personnel flee to the station's exterior, hoping the area's intense radiation would deter the attackers, but to no avail. The Elbrus' guns take out the Adjutants just in time, and the ship docks with the station's north spoke, the only wing that hasn't been compromised.

Aria, Petrovsky, and the Cerberus personnel investigate the base and discover a survivor, Gabone, an assistant administrator. Gabone explained that when the scientists had begun studying a live Adjutant specimen, it "whispered" to them. Petrovsky suspects this was a method of indoctrination and prepares to execute Gabone in case he had already been affected, but a group of Adjutants break down the doors into the room. While Aria and the Cerberus operatives are distracted, Gabone transforms into an Adjutant and lunges toward Aria. Petrovsky intervenes and kills it, saying he should never leave his business unfinished. Aria then uses her biotics to obliterate the other Adjutants, but the effort causes her to pass out. Petrovsky orders his men to contact the Illusive Man to inform him that Avernus Station is now secure, but the Illusive Man sends a message to him first.

Back on Omega, Cerberus reinforcements finally arrive and set upon the Adjutant ships. Anto, flanked by guards, heads to Omega Control to find out why he, Omega's soon-to-be new leader, was not informed that Cerberus had arrived. Colonel Ashe appears, shooting Anto's guards and running past him. Anto runs to Omega Control, wondering how Ashe escaped and what he was up to, but when Anto reaches the room he stops, shocked. Everyone in Omega Control is dead.

Aria awakens on the Elbrus, still docked with Avernus Station. Biotic dampeners have been fitted around her hands. Petrovsky explains to her that the strategic situation has changed; Aria will be a "guest" on the Elbrus until further notice. He plays a recording that the Illusive Man had sent earlier. In it, Colonel Ashe speaks to the people of Omega, saying that with the Adjutant crisis over, Cerberus has decided that control of the station is vital to protecting the galaxy from the Reapers. He reveals that to institute an orderly transition of power, he has disabled Omega Control and the station's defenses, and Cerberus has eliminated all of Omega's remaining defenders. Ashe commands everyone to submit to Cerberus immediately or suffer the consequences. Omega belongs to Cerberus now.

External Links

• Faraway Press, John Jackson Miller's blog on Mass Effect: Invasion's second issue