Mass Effect 3 Walkthrough Part 50: Normandy Part 5

After an action-packed last few missions, it pays to take some time out to rest on the Normandy. There are tons of different interactions that you can have with your crew and the troops back on Earth from here. The first will begin before you event enter your ship. When you go to board the Normandy for the first time since defending the Citadel from the invading Cerberus troops, either Kaiden or Ashely, depending on who you sacrificed, will meet you in the elevator (provided, of course, that you did not have to kill him or her when negotiations broke down on the landing pad of the Citadel earlier.) If you were nice enough to him/her, not just during Mass Effect 3 but also during past games, you will see this scene and be able to recruit your long-absent squad-mate back into the fold. It will not be quite so easy as it sounds, though. First, you will have to put up with his or her questioning about the events on the roof, especially if you took the Renegade interrupt opportunity to kill Udina in cold blood. Fielding his or her questions with Paragon answers will put him or her at ease, while answering with the Renegade options will bring you to an uneasy alliance. He or she will also ask if you really could have pulled the trigger on him or her during the standoff. Answer that no, you would not have. With this, Kaiden or Ashley will mention that they would gladly abandon their duties on the Citadel to take the fight to the Reapers’ front door. Accept the proposition, and you will have pulled another powerful soldier into the fold.

Once you are onboard the Normandy itself, you will have tons of different options on who to talk to, and how. This is the section of the game where your romances will really begin to blossom, if you have chosen to pursue any. Some romance scenes will even be accessible to you right now. First things first, though, you will have to convene with Hackett and Anderson via vidcom. Admiral Anderson will tell you the details on the assassin who tried to kill the Councilors. Apparently, his name is Kai-Leng, and he has worked with Anderson in some capacity in the past. Anderson will promise to forward the information to you later in an email. From here, you will also learn of how work on the Crucible has been going. The device will be about fifty percent completed, but is still missing a key component. There is something called a “Catalyst” that will allow the device to focus its destruction on the Reapers exclusively. Without the Catalyst, the Crucible would unleash destruction upon everything in its path.

Gather what information you need from Anderson and Hackett, then engage Liara in conversation as she comes in. This will be the message of help from the Ardat-Yakshi colony. The mission you will find there has been covered in a past guide, as it contains items necessary for one of the side quests back on the Citadel. When this conversation is done, head into the main deck of the Normandy and speak with Specialist Traynor. You will receive another mission, Ex-Cerberus Scientists, that has been covered in a past guide. Congratulate her for the find, and then proceed to your private terminal. It will be flush with new emails. Read all of them. Several of them will be requests from various parties to come discuss something in your private quarters.

Head down to the Crew Quarters via the elevator to find Garrus standing right outside of the door, examining the memorial to all those who were lost to the Reapers. Speak with him. He will drill you on the events that occurred on the Citadel, but he will ultimately sympathize with you. From here, head to the Med Bay to get another side quest. Now that you have taken care of most of the exemplary conversations, head around the ship and do your normal rounds. Some crew members will have new dialogue for you, while others won’t, depending on when you talked with them last. Pay a visit to the Engineering Deck while you are at it, and speak with Engineer Adams. He will request a part for the Normandy, triggering another side quest.

After you have spoken with everyone that you want to speak with, head up to your private quarters. Using the console on the desk to the right, you can invite several people up to your room. You may have already spoken with Liara about her computer and her design of you in the computer. If not, just allow her to make her own decision and then respond positively afterwards to get closer to a relationship. You can also invite James up if you haven’t already, where you can direct his career a bit. New to the terminal are Specialist Traynor and Diana Allers. Invite Traynor up for a game of chess. If you intend to romance her, now is the time. When she goes off to admire your shower, offer it to her. As she bathes and you watch, she will confess to having a crush on someone aboard the ship. You will have the option to either join her in the shower, or deny her approaches. If you join her in the shower, you will get the romance scene. Alternately, you can ignore the shower and simply challenge her to a game of chess.

Similarly, you can also romance Diana Allers, despite her very minor status in the game. First, however, you will have to grant her an interview or two. Invite her up to your cabin. When she starts asking questions, use the Persuade Paragon option (not the Renegade one, as she won’t like this,) and answer the rest of the questions using Paragon answers as well. She will enjoy the interview, and make a flirtatious remark about following you home next time. Respond that you have already taken her there, in a way, and she will make her intentions clear. You won’t be able to get the romance scene the first time you interview her, so if you are pursuing this path, be sure to check your email for more interview opportunities on a regular basis.