Introduction

Bring Down the Sky was the first of two downloadable content packs for the original Mass Effect. It was released on X-Box 360 on 11 March 2008 at a price of 400 Microsoft Points. It was subsequently lowered in price to 80 Microsoft Points, before the conversion of Microsoft Points to dollars and is now $1.00 on the X-Box Live Marketplace.

The pack was available at launch on the PC for 400 Bioware Points. It has since then been made free to download for all owners of Mass Effect on the PC. It is included with the Playstation 3 release of the original game for both the disc and Playstation Network release.

Walkthrough

To begin the Bring Down the Sky mission Shepard must have become a Spectre and you must have access to the galaxy map on the Normandy. From there you want to travel to the Exodus Cluster and then to the Asgard System. This system is added with the content pack. There are four planets and an asteroid here.

Three of the planets are named for Norse gods; Borr, Loki, and Tyr. Terra Nova is the other planet here and is home of the second Human colony outside of the Sol System. It currently has a population of 4.4 million. Unfortunately you cannot survey or land on any of these planets. Instead the site of the pack's assignments is Asteroid X57 just outside the orbit of Terra Nova. Journeying there will begin the mission.

There are three assignments on Asteroid X57. The primary mission is [[Bring Down the Sky]], while Missing Engineers and Avoid the Blasting Caps are secondary assignments. The walkthrough divides these up for further explanation, but you will be performing these assignments in unison when actually playing.

Bring Down the Sky

Head east from where you touch down to the nearest fusion torch station. Take out the turrents that dot the outside of the station from the Mako and then disembark and head inside. There is a squad of Batarian troopers and varren in the main room, so be ready for a fight.

Head upstairs and disable the torch. This will prompt Kate Bowman to contact you on the radio. She will tell you that this asteroid was a mining operation and that they were supposed to bring it to Terra Nova. Unfortunately they were attacked by Batarians who hijacked the fusion torches and set it to crash into Terra Nova.

When the transmission is cut, head back for the exit. Before you leave, you will run into Simon Atwell. He will warn you to Avoid the Blasting Caps at one of the fusion torch stations and will ask you to look for his Missing Engineers. You can do these assignments while on the surface shutting down the fusion torches.

To the northeast of here is a small pirate radio station with a first aid station you might want to keep in mind. Continuing to the northeast will bring you to the next fusion torch station. This is the one with the mines that Atwell mentioned.

Circle around outside the mine field and shoot the heavy turrents to bits with the Mako. Once you do, exit the Mako and head in on foot. A gauge will appear telling you how close to a mine you are. Do not rely on the X's on the radar because there are mines that do not show up on there.

There are Batarians firing rockets at you as you approach, so you need to keep a head up to avoid being hit by them. They will only spawn if you enter the mine field and will despawn if you leave, so you cannot kill them with the Mako. You just have to avoid their shots and kill them when you get close enough.

Once you get near the door, look for the mine control station and disable the mine field. Head inside and clear out the Batarians and Rocket Drones. The panel to disable the fusion torch is on the top floor, so head up there and shut it down. When you do, you will receive another message from Kate before she is captured by Ka'hairal Balak, the leader of the Batarian raid.

Once outside head north to find an excavation camp and another first aid station. North of this is an explosive cache with 46 grenades, so feel free to go grab them while you are at it. From here head southwest to the third fustion torch station.

This one has a lot more turrents than the others. Destroy them and head inside. Clear out the Batarians and varren on the bottom floor and head upstairs to disable the fusion torch. Once you do, head downstairs and talk to Charn and his men. You can choose to fight him or you can use charm or intimidate to avoid the battle if have at least three points in one or the other.

If you used charm or intimidate you will gain paragon points. In this route you will also get his pass to enter the main facility from him. If you choose to fight, you can loot the pass off of his corpse. When you are done, head back outside.

There's some vehicle wreckage on a rise to the southwest if you are interested, but your primary goal now is to head to the main facility and confront Balak. The main facility is in the north-central edge of the map. There are turrents on rails up here, so be ready to fire at targets on the move. Take them out and head inside.

There is a huge group of Batarians, varren, and drones in the main room. Take it slow if you need to and work your way through them. Once you kill the last of them, Balak will appear and a conversation will begin. This goes on for a bit, but in the end you are given the choice between letting Balak go and saving the hostages, or fighting him and losing the hostages in the process. Choosing to fight will also award 25 renegade points, while letting him go will award 25 paragon points.

If you choose to let him go, as mentioned the hostages will be freed, but it will also have reprecussions in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3. In the sequel, Kate Bowman will send you an e-mail thanking you again for saving her. You can also catch one of the random newscasts that will mention her. In the third game, if Balak survived his encounter with Shepard he will appear in the Batarian Codes mission and can be either killed or recruited to the war effort.

If you choose to fight Balak, you will begin a battle with him and a handful of Batarians, varren, and drones. Defeating him gives you the choice of either killing him or leaving him to be picked up by the authorities. The effects this path has on Mass Effect 2 is minimal as it only changes the content of a random newscast that mentions a memorial on Terra Nova. It changes Batarian Codes in Mass Effect 3 as well, replacing Balak with a different Batarian if you killed him here.

After Balak is either dead or has escaped, Atwell will appear and you can speak to him. Either way he will offer you Quarian armor or Human armor of any class. If you have 4 charm or intimidate you can ask for his omni-tool instead. Lastly, if you completed Missing Engineers you can report the deaths of his team.

If you let Balak escape you can release Kate Bowman and the other hostages and have a brief conversation with them. There are no item rewards for this path. Regardless, exit the main facility to return to the Normandy and complete Bring Down the Sky.

Missing Engineers

After meeting Simon Atwell at the first fusion torch station, he will ask you to try and find three missing engineers on the surface of the asteroid. Heading to the disabled transmission tower to the west of the first fusion torch station and reactivating it will reveal the locations of the three engineers.

The closest to where you are at this point is in the southwestern corner of the map. Drive back there and examine his body to find the first of the three. This is survey station 3 if you are going by the map. You can read his logs inside the station as well if you wish.

Survey station 1 is in the southeast corner. This one has a first aid station and also has a set of logs. These ones are voiced. Examine her body to get credit for the assignment.

Survey station 2 is in the far northwest corner of the map, past the northwest fusion torch station. There are some more logs here and a set of footprints to the east. Follow these to find the final body of the missing engineers. This will complete the assignment.

Avoid the Blasting Caps

This assignment relates to the central fusion torch station and cannot be missed while doing Bring Down the Sky. Approach the station from any angle, but watch out for the lighted stands around the mine field and do not drive into there.

Circle around outside the mine field and shoot the heavy turrents to bits with the Mako. Once you do, exit the Mako and head in on foot. A gauge will appear telling you how close to a mine you are. Do not rely on the X's on the radar because there are mines that do not show up on there.

There are Batarians firing rockets at you as you approach, so you need to keep a head up to avoid being hit by them. They will only spawn if you enter the mine field and will despawn if you leave, so you cannot kill them with the Mako. You just have to avoid their shots and kill them when you get close enough. Once you make it to the control panel for the mines and disable them, you will complete the assignment.

Copyrights

Mass Effect and all associated trademarks are (c) Bioware.