After your battles on Mars and Earth, you will finally arrive at the Citadel to warn the Council about the impending Reaper attack. Along the way, you will learn of a Prothean super-weapon that was never completed, the likes of which could turn the tide of the war. You will have to convince the Council to send you aid and begin work on the blueprints. Just because your mission may seem urgent, however, does not mean that you should rush to complete it. There are plenty of side objectives to find and interesting conversations to take part in before you proceed onwards to meet with the Council. As the bulk of this mission will consist of talking with the various inhabitants of the Citadel, you should decide here and now whether or not you will be leaning towards Paragon or Renegade, or some combination of the both. There are plenty of opportunities to increase either slider here.
As you touch down at the Citadel, either Kaiden or Ashley will be whisked off to the medical bay, having been injured during your last encounter. Captain Bailey (or Commander Bailey, as he will now correct you) will greet you as you watch your ally’s body taken away. He will inform you that you can head to the Huerta Memorial Hospital to check on Kaiden or Ashley before you proceed with the rest of your mission. Choosing to do this will earn you some Paragon points. If you are trying to avoid Paragon points, you can decline the offer but still go to the hospital anyway.
Before you head through the door, turn around and enter the waiting room. Run up to the woman in white standing by the chairs and speak with her. She will explain that she is a reporter, Diana Allers, and that her production company wants her to join you on the Normandy to film a documentary on your struggles during the attack. Agree to allow her on the ship under the premise of airing your struggle to the rest of the universe, thus hopefully garnering more support for your cause.
After you have recruited the reporter, turn back around and head through the only door. Along the way, you may speak with the Citadel’s AI on the left if you wish to learn a little more about your surroundings. You can also click in the left stick to bring up a map of the Citadel, with all of the significant areas marked for you. Either way, you will have to walk through the two blue security fields and another door to get to the hospital. When you arrive, you will meet up with Dr. Chakwas, provided she survived your encounter with the Collectors in Mass Effect 2. She will be standing near another doctor, Dr. Michel. Speak with them, and Dr. Chakwas will ask you to recruit her back onto the Normandy. She will beg you to allow her back onto the ship. Here, you have a choice to make. You can either allow Dr. Chakwas to return to the Normandy and abandon her post on the Citadel, or you can make her stay and recruit Dr. Michel instead. Both are very experienced doctors, but there is a clear best choice to make here, and it might not be the one you would initially expect. If you make Dr. Chakwas stay on the Citadel and recruit Dr. Michel for your ship, your Galaxy at War rating will go up and you will still gain the help of an experienced doctor. Plus, you will gain either Paragon or Renegade points, because you will need to use a Persuasion option in the dialogue tree to convince Dr. Michel to come on board with you. Finally, you will gain reputation points for asking Dr. Michel onboard instead of Dr. Chakwas.
After acquiring a new doctor for your crew, it will be time to visit your injured squad-mate. If you would like, you can also uncover a few interesting tidbits in the waiting room of the hospital before you go in to see Kaiden or Ashley. The two Asaris in the back corner will be discussing a traumatic battle that put one of them in the PTSD ward of the hospital. Run away after they finish their conversation and return to hear more. You can do this several times before the traumatized Asari finishes her story. You can also visit the shop towards the middle of the waiting room area to purchase a Medi Gel Capacity Upgrade, which will increase your medi gel capacity by one. The shop will also have a novelty item that you can buy, which will change depending upon which of your squad-mates is currently in the hospital. If your incapacitated squad-mate is Kaiden, the only item available for purchase will be the TM88-Peruvian Whiskey. Buy it for him if you intend to pursue a relationship later. If Ashley is in the hospital, you will be able to choose from a wide variety of gifts, including candy, poetry, and books. You will only be able to buy one before the rest are phased out, however. The “correct” choice here is the Collected Alfred Tennyson book, as she will respond best to this one.
After you are done exploring, head into the only door across the room and seek out your squad-mate’s room. Speak with him/her to try to wake them. Your effort will be to no avail, though. Instead of speaking with him/her, you will have to give them a speech while they are passed out in hopes that they will hear it somehow and respond. Again, you will be faced with either a Paragon or Renegade choice. Either one will be a sort of pep talk, but as always the Renegade option will be much more harsh and focused on the mission, rather than the injured person in front of you. Leave the area and return to the lobby. From here, head to the Citadel Embassy to continue on with your mission. The remainder of your first trip to the Citadel will be covered in the following guide.
