Noveria

Noveria is a planet which has been colonised years before the event of Commander Shepard setting foot on it. A haven for rich investors to pry open secrets of banned and illegal experiments, corporations and companies of odd and non-mainstream services all set up here. It has been said that most people come here to rent a laboratory and facilities, many people are never seen once they enter these labs and anyone who comes out is never the same.
 
Noveria is protected naturally from intruders by its cold climate, so cold that seconds of exposure outside a building or vehicle are lethal. Getting around is not easy either as dense fog and snow storms make visibility poor. This also functions much like labs in the arctic circle, if anything does escape, it won't live long in the barren, frozen lands with lethal temperatures.
 

Noveria in Mass Effect 1

Shepard is sent to take out the matriarch which has been indoctrinated by Saren Arterius. She is located at one of the labs known as Peak 15.
 
When the crew land, they dock at Port Hanshan, where there is elevated security. The player is prompted to make a choice on what to say when they are approached by armed gaurds. The guards will be told to stand down and leave you alone. 
Walking through a scanner for weapons and devices, the alarm will go off and you will be stopped and spoken to by Gianna Parasini, a receptionist and access control staff member who will explain that security has been upped recently. She will have the option of telling you, if you question her, to tell you that the Asari Matriarch known as Benezia has arrived recently on the planet, and made her way to Peak 15.
 
To reach there, the player must take one of the following paths to gain a card: 

• Take the quest given by the Hanar shopkeeper and take his package, keep hold of it and then tell him you will keep it. You can hand this in to Anoleis and obtain a garage pass, credits and negotiate to keep hold of it again for yourself.

 

• Retrieve the package, keep hold of it and speak with Gianna Parasini, she will tell you about Lorik Qui'in who is a turian business owner that is currently having his office and business branch on Noveria, searched for evidence to bring him to trial rather than Anoleis who by searching Qui'in's office he will find some evidence but he has no search warrant in place to be able to do so legally.
  
  • Speak with Qui'in and he will explain of evidence of Anoleis' corruption on Noveria, with Qui'in only being able to sit around and unable to act legally, he needs your help, if you can get into his office, survive any conflict with the gaurds in there, find the evidence and bring it back to him, he will give you his Garage pass.
    
    
    

•  It is also possible to contact Parasini and she will unlock a quest following the corruption of Anoleis, requesting to speak to you at the hotel bar.
  

 
After various Geth are fought through combat with the Mako, the player will eventually reach Peak 15. The area of the vicinity where the matriarch and rachni queen are situated are further away than thought by most, the player must attempt to restore power to the tram that will bring the player to the inner sections of Peak 15. There are a few missions here to be done, one involving the rachni queen and one involving the Matriarch Benezia. The mission involving the Rachni will place you in a in a room where a scientist is killed by a Rachni quite gruesomely for the Mass Effect's general level of gore. He explains of a neutron purge which will finish off all the rachni in the immediate area.
 
Benezia will be in another room, it is possible to take Liara with you for slightly differing conversation options, however it will not affect the mission outcome, even the mother of Liara cannot resist the commands of Indoctrination by Saren and the reaper Sovereign.
Benezia will attack with Biotics but Asari commandos will enter the room from various doors and shoot at the player while the Matriarch pauses in battle. 
The fighting will reveal a rachni queen directly in the glass containment cage which it appears the Matriarch was communicating or interacting with. By possesing a dead commando, the queen speaks with you through her and the player has the option of destroying the rachni or sparing them by not destroying the queen.