X57: Bring down the Sky | Mass Effect 1 Wiki

X57: Bring down the Sky is an Assignment in Mass Effect. X57: Bring down the Sky is the first Assignment of the DLC Bring down the Sky. Assignments are secondary quests in Mass Effect, that are not mandatory to progress the game's story, but provide context and flavor by meeting interesting NPCs of all kind of Races, granting additional experience, and letting the player visit extraordinary and unique planets.

X57: Bring down the Sky Walkthrough

Once you approach the Asteroid X57, the computer of the Normandy alerts you that the asteroid is heading too fast towards Terra Nova. In four hour it will hit the planet.

The Mako drops on the surface to investigate, and immediately you will receive an urgent message from a woman. In the transmission the woman begs to whoever is listening to shut down the fusion torches, before signing off. 

The Mako's starting position will be close to the first fusion torch, which you can clearly view over the rise. Behind you, there's an engineer's shack, where you can find a technician's kit and Mendel, a dead engineer. Investigating his dead body gives you X57: Missing Engineers.

While you travel to the fusion torch, the woman gets in contact again. Once you are near the torch, six turrets will emerge from the ground. One to the left, another one to the right, and the remaining 4 near around the fusion torch. These turrets only emerge when you are near enough, if you are not, they burrow underground again. So sniping them out from a distance is no longer an option here.

Inside the fusion torch, you are greeted by more Enemies. 5 Batarian Troopers, 1 Batarian Sniper and 4 Varren, will be waiting to fight you. The Sniper is particularly dangerous because in addition to his usual Assassination ability, he has added Sabotage to his arsenal, so try to take him down first.

Once the small Batarian army is gone, proceed to the second floor. There you will find the controls to shut down the fusion torch station. You'll be contacted for a third time by the unknown woman, this time she introduces herself as Kate Bowman. She states that Batarian extremists have attacked the asteroid, however she doesn't know why they are doing this. She cuts the transmission off because she's afraid of being discovered. Don't forget to loot the secure locker and the grenade upgrade box located in the southern room on the first floor, and a secure crate in the room containing the torch controls.

When you are leaving the station, you'll be shot by Simon Atwell, but your shields will keep you safe. Once you talk to him, you can learn about the asteroid and Kate. He tells you that the asteroid is on course to crash into Terra Nova, causing massive damage, probably completely destroying the planet itself. About Kate, he states that she is one of his best engineers and that both she and her brother, Aaron, signed up together. He is worried that she might do something stupid. When asked about the Batarians, he states that they are slavers and pirates, but not planet killers, so he isn't aware to what turned them into this.

He tells you that the next torch station is surrounded by live blasting caps, thus giving you the X57: Avoid the Blasting Caps Assignment. He also states that 3 of his engineers are missing granting you the X57: Missing Engineers Assignment if you don't have it already. He mentions that the name of the Batarians leader is Balak.

Head into the mako, and head up north onto a nearby mountain that has a point of interest in your map. You will find a broken transmission tower, but you will be able to fix it with a short mini-game or with Omni-Gel. Doing so, will grant you the location of 3 survey stations, visiting these stations helps you complete X57: Missing Engineers. 

Now from the fusion torch, head north and the second one will be visible from your position. You will also see a ring of lights surrounding the nearby area. When you get near to this, you will hear a message stating that these are blasting caps. There are also three turrets in the area. Try to take them one at a time, being careful not to enter the danger zone established by the blasting caps. Once the three turrets are destroyed, park the Mako and continue on foot. DON'T ENTER THE DANGER ZONE USING THE MAKO. IT RESULTS ON INSTANT DEATH IF THE BLASTING CAPS ARE STILL ACTIVE.

You still need to thread a path between each blasting cap, even though you are going on foot. A progress bar display will appear in the bottom left of your HUD, to indicate you how far away is the nearest explosive device. You will also hear a noise when you are getting close. Thread slowly and carefully to avoid being blown out to pieces, and keep in mind the available cover in the zone, because when you get to a certain distance of the fusion torch, a 4 Batarian group will be willing to pick up a fight with you.

You can use Throw on the Batarians to send them into the blasting caps, but is harder than it sounds. So if you are having trouble pulling it off, stick to the classic, cover mechanic and take them out slowly.

Once the Batarians are knocked out, you can shut off the blasting caps from a console outside the front door. You can use biotics powers to destabilize the Batarians, and head to the console to deactivate the blasting caps, to give you more room to face the aliens. 

Enter to have another bunch of angry Batarians waiting for you. This time the team is composed of five Batarian Troopers and a Batarian Engineer, who more often than not, likes to use Sabotage on your Weapons. There will also be up to 6 Rocket Drones, depending on your difficulty level. But no more than 2 will be active at the same time. 

The drones have regular patrol routes established. Each time you dispose of a drone, a new one will spawn to cover its destroyed buddy's path, until none are left.

You can also head onto the raised platform that has cover, to give you a great advantage in taking care of the various Enemies. The Batarian Engineer should be your top priority, as he is, by far, the most annoying enemy present.  This position also gives you an unrivalled advantage over the rest of the Batarians.

When the room is finally clear, head to the second floor, up the ramp on the far left side of the room and go through the door at the top to shut down the second fusion torch. Near the middle of the main room you will find a loot crate and a storage locker in the southern room on the main floor. You can also find a medical kit and a secure crate on the balcony.

You will find another message from Kate Bowman, stating that the Batarians are aware that someone's shutting down the torches and, they intend to blow up the main facility. Before she can finish, the batarian leader Balak pulls her away. He uses Kate's brother Aaron as leverage by holding a gun to his head, then demands her to know who's shutting down the fusion torches. She refuses to answer the Batarian leader, and turns away. Balak pulls the trigger behind her back. He proceeds to order Charn, his second-in-command to find the problem and deal with it. 

After leaving the second fusion torch, get back into the Mako. Drive north-west, past the mountain range until you see the last fusion torch. Again you will find six turrets guarding it. Four quite near the building and two further away. Destroy them and enter the fusion torch building.

Inside the building you will find the main room divided into a U shape. You will find three Batarian Troopers and a single Batarian War Beast. When you hear, "Release the Varren!" another Batarian War Beast will join. Keep going through the U shape, you will find more Batarian Troopers and one Batarian Shock Trooper. 

When you have killed them all, go through the door on the second floor to shut down the last fusion torch. You can loot a Grenade Storage Box, a Storage Locker, in the southern room on the main floor. 

Head back downstairs to receive a visit from Charn, Balak's second-in-command, who suggests a peaceful resolution. He claims this was meant to be a simple slave grab, but things got completely out of hand. Balak is bent on destroying Terra Nova, and he issued him orders to kill Commander Shepard, but actually he is tired of following Balak. You can choose to kill him or not, or use the Charm and Intimidate options to convince him to give up on Balak and leave. 

If you are bent on fighting Charn, his party consists of 7 Batarian Troopers, two Batarian Shock troopers, a Batarian Sniper, a Batarian Engineer, 6 Batarian War Beasts (arriving in packs of two), and obviously, Charn himself.

Whatever you decide, the result is the same, a pass to X57's main facility to deal with Balak once and for all. 

The main facility can be found is north-east of the third fusion torch, in a mountain. Get into the Mako and head there. Once you arrive, 6 Heavy Turrets will be waiting for you again. 3 of them are moving along mobile tracks. Try to move at a moderate speed in circles while maintaining your aim fixed on one of the turrets. Try to take down the fixed turrets first. 

Once the turrets are destroyed, enter the facility. You will find a medi-gel and some Grenades near the desk, before you enter the main room. Here you will find 6 Batarian Troopers,  2 Batarian Engineers, 3 Batarian Shock Troopers and 2 Defense Drones. You can use the downstairs or upstairs, the medical bay building or the alcoves found on the second level, as cover to face your Enemies. Focus on the Engineers if possible, because they can get very annoying using Sabotage. Once the small Batarian army is gone, a single Batarian Trooper will come from the doorway of a small chamber at the far end of the area. He is no threat by himself, you should dispose of him easily. You can find a grenade upgrade box behind the crate near the doorway. 

When all the Enemies are gone, Balak will make his entrance. He seems humanity as the source of all the problems the Batarian's been facing. He justifies his actions stating that this is an act of reprisal for humanity's deeds in the Skyllian Verge, stealing territories and resources that should have belonged to the Batarians. Only because the Council saw a military advantage in befriending the Alliance. 
If Commander Shepard is a War Hero, he is incredibly resentful towards you after the events of Skyllian Blitz.
If you are Ruthless, he justifies his actions saying what he's doing now is no different from what you did at Torfan. 

You can answer however you like, he will tell you that there are hostages locked away in a room with an explosive he's willing to detonate, unless you offer him safe passage and let him go. So you have to decide between this two important options. 

Once the confrontation with Balak is over, regardless of how it plays out, you will be greeted by Simon Atwell again. He will mourn Kate's death if you decided to kill Balak or saddened by Balak's escape if you saved the hostages. He confirms that the asteroid is no longer on a direct course to Terra Nova, and will miss the planet safely, thanks to your efforts disabling the torches.

If you completed X57: Missing Engineers, you can tell him the oucome now.

You will be offered a reward now for your efforts in saving Terra Nova. These rewards are of the rarest types available and scale to your current level :

• Quarian Armor
• Human Light Armor
• Human Medium Armor
• Human Heavy Armor
• His Omni-Tool (Requires level 4 Charm / Intimidate)

If you chose to save the hostages, you can free them and finally get to meet with Kate Bowman. Although she is glad to be alive and Terra Nova has been saved, she is devastated at the death of her brother and colleagues. 

How to unlock X57: Bring down the Sky

• To unlock X57: Bring down the Sky, you need to download the DLC pack called Bring down the Sky first. Then head to the Asgard system, in the exodus cluster and land on Asteroid X57 to begin this Assignment.

Enemies found on X57: Bring down the Sky

X57: Bring down the Sky Rewards

• Experience Points
• Morality Points
• Get to choose one equipment piece from five different offered by Simon Atwell

X57: Bring down the Sky Notes & Tips

• Notes & tips go here