UNC: Major Kyle

Major Kyle, an Alliance officer who served during the Siege of Torfan, has amassed a small but fanatical group of biotic followers. He has already killed two Alliance officials sent to investigate their compound in the Hawking Eta cluster.

Alternative journal entry:
Major Kyle, your CO during the Siege of Torfan, has amassed a small but fanatical group of biotic followers. He has already killed two Alliance officials sent to investigate their compound in the Hawking Eta cluster.

Alternative journal entry:
You discovered a strange transmission discussing some sort of biotic commune. On the whole it seems harmless, but something about the message is a little disturbing.

Acquisition

This assignment can be acquired in four ways:

1. Hacking consoles in the diplomat's offices of the Citadel Embassies, or in Executor Pallin's office. Initially the name of the assignment will be Strange Transmission, as it appears to be an open letter inviting biotics to join a commune.
2. A server node beside the ExoGeni VI on Feros will also display the open letter to biotics, as listed above.
3. Another server node, at the Peak 15 helium-3 reactor on Noveria, during Noveria: Reactor Repair. The node is located on the Reactor Observation Deck on the second floor, and also displays the letter.
4. Upon first arrival at the Century system, Admiral Hackett comms in with relevant orders. The name of the assignment will then change in the journal. This happens even if you have previously acquired the mission from any of the above mentioned terminals.

The open letter reads as follows:

“DIPLOMATIC ADVISORY WARNING
The following message was transmitted from an untraceable account to multiple recipients across the extranet. Further monitoring of the situation is warranted.
"My fellow biotic: You have been selected to receive this transmission because of our shared plight. Few understand us, fewer tolerate us. We must stand together. We must build our own new world. Come. Join us in the Hawking Eta cluster. Only as one body can we right the wrongs done to our kind."”

Admiral Hackett gives Shepard the details on a former Alliance officer named Major Kyle, who has become the leader of a biotic commune. A former marine suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Kyle has set himself up as 'Father Kyle' and gained a number of followers, mostly biotics looking for someone who will champion their cause. Hackett explains that two Alliance officers were sent to talk Kyle around, but they've now disappeared and Hackett is convinced Kyle's followers killed them.

He now needs you to intervene. If you picked the Ruthless background, Major Kyle was Shepard's commanding officer at Torfan, making Shepard the logical choice to speak with Kyle.

Preparation

It's possible to get through this assignment without doing any fighting, but should a fight arise you will be facing roomfuls of lightly-armed but dangerous biotic opponents.

The combat zones have the typical indoor prefab layout, littered with cover and obstacles. The main threat is heaps of disables hitting you and your team at once. Consider a focus on higher hardening and physics threshold stats: armor mods like the Combat Exoskeleton for added protection against kinetic Throws and related talents. Meanwhile abilities that will either keep your enemies off their feet or otherwise prevent them from using biotic attacks will help you keep from getting swarmed. Neural Shock will drop your opponents to the ground, Damping will stop them from using their abilities, and physics-based attacks whether of the biotic or shotgun ammo variety will keep them distracted.

Walkthrough

Head to the Century system in the Hawking Eta cluster. The mission takes place on Presrop, the moon of Klendagon. When you reach the compound on Presrop, you will see two buildings. Head for the prefab two-storey building, since the underground bunker only becomes accessible later. There is a small room on the side of that compound with a med kit if you need it.

When you try to open the door of the first building, you will initiate a conversation. Threatening to barge in at any point ends the conversation: the entrance now requires manual overriding, and when you succeed, the commune becomes hostile. If you ask for the man in charge, you may be able to avoid bloodshed. If you have the Ruthless background, you can tell the door manager that Kyle knows you, and he opens the door without further ado. Otherwise, you'll raise the issue of dead Alliance officers: the biotics do not want "Father Kyle" taken away from them, so you'll have to convince them otherwise. Getting in by either Charm or Intimidate options yield corresponding morality points and a peaceful way in while mentioning your stint with Kyle at Torfan simply grants you entrance with no fight nor morality points.

Going in peacefully results in fewer experience points and potentially a swifter assignment resolution since there will be no fighting involved. Going in guns blazing is, of course, more challenging, though possibly questionable depending on your Shepard's moral convictions.

Peaceful Resolution

If you choose not to fight, the speaker at the first building will ask you to head to the other facility to speak to Father Kyle. Enter the underground bunker, head to the back to speak with Kyle, and that's it.

While the speaker in the first building tells you to go to the other building, you can still enter the first building and loot all the containers. No one will attack and you can talk to the biotics, but if you open fire at anything inside the compound, everyone turns hostile. This also causes everyone in the second building to go hostile, though you don't have to open the second building from the first like you would if you just stormed the first from the start. You do not get any morality points from shooting people in the first building, even if you went in with the Charm option.

The first building (incongruously labeled Mercenary Camp on the map) has a Locked Crate (Easy Decryption) in the antechamber prior to the main room. There's also one Locked Crate (Easy Decryption) around the center of the main room, between two stacked containers. At the far back of the first floor (labeled Control Room on the map), there is a Technician Kit and a Malfunctioning Object. At the second floor is the cultists' living quarters along with a Medical Kit and an Aid Station.

The underground bunker (labeled a Science Station on the map) has an antechamber, followed by a large room with four pillars to the south, then further south branching off to two chambers to the west and east. At the large room there is a Medical Kit on the pillar to the right of the entrance door, a Storage Locker (Easy Decryption) by the pillar just south from the Medical Kit, and an unlocked crate off to the left, near where you entered from the antechamber.

At the back of the facility (southernmost on the map) there are two rooms to the east and west (left or right from the way you come in). The room to the left is a sleeping quarters and contains a Technician Kit and a Malfunctioning Object. The other room is the Sanctuary and where Major Kyle is located.

Guns Blazing

If you try to bludgeon your way in at the first building, you will find a lot of obstructions, multiple explosive containers, and eight Biotic Cultists. The Cultists aren't heavily armed, but their biotics fortify them and can knock you down for prolonged periods of time, making this a challenging encounter. The best way to deal with them is to keep on the move here: not only will it keep them off guard, but it will also give you a chance to avoid their biotic attacks, while employing your own abilities; use those containment cells to knock a few down, and sometimes out of the fight permanently.

Since the Cultists aren't willing to let you see Kyle in this scenario, you'll have to grant yourself access to the other building. The controls are on the far side of the first floor, at the area labeled Control Room, on a terminal. Note: If you exit the building without clearing it first, you'll have to override the outside door again.

When you have defeated the Cultists, loot the first building. Item placements are the same as in the peaceful scenario above, and also applies to the bunker.

At the underground bunker, be prepared because you will encounter hostiles in the first room. Two Cultists are here, and will sometimes make a break for the door into the main room, don’t let them get in there because that will just make more that you have to deal with.

When you have dealt with them, head into the main room and be prepared to fight five more Cultists. Just like in the other complex, they are fond of using their biotic powers, so staying on the move is a very good idea. There are several Power Junctions here that deal toxic damage when shot, so time their destruction when there are Cultists nearby.

The innermost reaches of the bunker splits off into the Sanctuary and an unnamed room. Kyle is in the Sanctuary. The unnamed room has a Cultist for taking out.

Meeting the Major

Once you open the door to the Sanctuary a conversation commences regardless of whether you negotiated or shot your way in. Kyle always has at least two followers with him in the room. If you chose violence, Kyle orders his remaining followers to hold as he claims he doesn't want any more bloodshed. Kyle knows why you have come, mentions that he has no quarrel with you, and asks why they can't be left in peace. If Shepard has the Ruthless background, Kyle recognizes the Commander and addresses them as "the Butcher of Torfan".

You can answer whichever way you like at the first juncture, though at the second juncture you have to point out he's not actually keeping his flock safe for a chance at a peaceful outcome. Otherwise, all other options will result in a fight.

If he respects the fact you're there under the banner of peace, he still cannot simply abandon his "children" as he claims they'd be helpless without him. Only Charm or Intimidate options allow for a peaceful outcome, where Kyle asks for an hour to get ready so he can explain to his flock what's going to happen. You need 7 Charm / 8 Intimidate (or 8 Charm / 10 Intimidate if you fought your way in). Regular responses will only yield morality points in either direction (or none if the middle road is taken), will result in you shooting Kyle, and the remaining cultists turning hostile regardless of whether you went in peacefully or not. Refusing to give Kyle the hour after using either Charm or Intimidate response also leads to hostilities.

If you accept Kyle's terms, he is picked up at the gates of his compound without further incident. If you're unwilling to trust him, you're given one more chance to trust him after saying so. Otherwise the Cultists won't understand what's happening and turn violent, forcing you to kill them all. You still have to walk out of the facility if you negotiated peacefully, so avoid any accidental misfires and renewed hostilities by simply holstering your guns. It should be noted that fighting out is a bit harder if you went in peacefully, since you'll have many more Cultists to deal with than if you already killed most of them on the way in.

Warning: When the conversation with Kyle ends with Shepard shooting him, you'll suddenly find yourself holding a pistol, whether or not that is your normal weapon. While this would be fine if it worked as well on the Cultists as it does in the cutscene on Major Kyle, suddenly holding a weapon you haven't trained with, upgraded, etc, while Cultists suddenly start launching Carnage and biotic attacks at you can come as a bit of a surprise. Be ready!

You may later return to the first area to eliminate the biotics if you desire the experience, but this does not alert the enemies in the second area and there seems to be no way to provoke them. This also works in the reverse by eliminating the biotics in the second area for experience while the biotics in the first area being friendly. Leaving the facility or talking to Major Kyle again while engaged in combat will cease the biotics from being hostile with no way to provoke them again.

The assignment ends by returning to the Normandy. Upon using the Galaxy Map, Shepard is debriefed by Admiral Hackett.

Enemies

• Biotic Cultist (Optional)

Trivia

• Upon successfully hacking the first building door, the alarm sounds and you receive experience. If you leave without completing the task inside, you may re-hack the door for more experience and repeat the process as often as desired.
• If you kill all biotics but convince Kyle to surrender, Admiral Hackett will still congratulate you for "saving a lot of lives", including Kyle's.
• This mission has many parallels with Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness. Both the mission and the novella involve a journey into the unknown and dangerous depths of a remote and hostile territory, where the protagonist is tasked with finding a missing former military officer and uncovering the truth about a sinister operation. The themes of imperialism, exploitation, madness, and moral decay are also present in both works. Additionally, the assignment's name in the game's data files is "Apocalypse Now", the name of a 1979 film also based on the novella.