Prologue
"Let's see…" The Quarian man said to himself as he tinkered with the Geth unit's internal wiring. "There's the problem… You got dust and dirt lodged in your wiring."
With a brush and a bit of finesse, the Quarian quickly cleaned out the internal workings of the Geth unit. The Geth stood perfectly still, staring at the light grey wall. The workshop was located in a relatively old and dilapidated building compared to some of the other buildings located on the base. A few minutes later, the Quarian replaced the small plate of armor on the unit's lower neck. The Geth seemed to relax.
"Be more careful around the dust-bowls out there. I can't go cleaning you out every other day." The Quarian man said with a smile, though you couldn't tell because of his enviro-suit.
The Geth gave a nod, and a military salute. It turned around, and began to march towards the door. Then, a voice came over a terminal. The Quarian walked to the terminal, and pressed a few buttons.
"Hey, doc!" a male's voice called out from the intercoms.
"What is it Neil? Has something important happened, or are you just bored again?" the Quarian asked.
"Bit of both. You might wanna come down to the excavation site, and bring Phobos along with you." Neil replied.
The Quarian shook his head. He patted the Geth on the shoulder and waved to the door.
"Well my synthetic friend, I guess we have business." The Quarian said.
The Geth opened the door, and waited for the Quarian to go ahead of him. He followed behind him quickly. The Quarian wore a standard environment suit, which had a dark blue tinge to it. There were a few intricate markings on the shoulders of his enviro-suit, mostly to tell him apart from the other Quarians in the colony. A pistol was holstered at his hip.
The Geth was a relatively unique looking unit. With a black and orange finish instead of the white finish found on similar models. An assault rifle and shotgun were folded on the unit's back. A pistol was holstered on its hip as well. An antenna jutted out from a small mound on the unit's left shoulder; with a small black "hump" on its back that was barely noticeable at the right angle. A small round pack was mounted on the lower back of the unit, just below where the shotgun was holstered. The pack had wires that ran up to the hump, and into the antenna. Sleek orange lines ran along the unit's sides, and light blue circles were located on the unit's palms.
After walking for just under three minutes, and waving to every other person, the Quarian and his synthetic follower found themselves standing on the edge of a deep pit with ramps leading down into it. This was the entrance to the excavation sites, where Quarians, Humans, and Asari alike all came to hunt for Prothean artifacts and runes. Deeper into the site; an armed Human stood guard, with a young Quarian girl, no older than eight or nine years of age, beside him. The girl was pouting.
As the Quarian man and the Geth approached the Human, he shook his head.
"Ali'Naya nar Usela, what are you doing down here?" the Quarian man asked in a firm tone.
"I came down here to look for you. It gets so boring up there." She replied, "Sorry father."
The Quarian man sighed. "It's alright. But you must remain up on the surface. It's too dangerous for you down here."
Ali'Naya averted her gaze to the Geth unit. A smile appeared on her face.
"Phobos, I haven't seen you in days!" she said with glee, throwing her arms around the Geth.
"Response: I am pleased to see you as well." The Geth remarked, with a deep, but synthesized voice.
"Alright, Phobos. I trust you can take care of Ali and the others for now?" the Quarian man asked.
"Query: Are there any specifications to be met?" the unit asked.
"Ali needs another dosage of antibiotics today. See to it that she receives them."
Phobos-as it was affectionately known by the colonists- produced a light "whirring" noise for a moment, as if processing the data it had received. After a minute, it became responsive again. Phobos nodded, turned back to Ali'Naya. Ali took Phobos' hand, and began to lead him up the ramp of the site. The Quarian man smiled under his helmet.
"Those two look like they were meant to be best friends…" he said with a chuckle.
"Moving on doc Usela, the miners said they have something to show you down in the pit. Good luck." The Human replied.
Incomprehensible amounts of time had passed since then. The little Quarian girl known as Ali grew up, although she tried her hardest to visit her Geth caretaker at least once a week. As she grew older and busier with her studies, she became less and less dependent on him. After she became a full-fledged adult, she had already forgotten about him. Phobos spent the next three years as a security unit. After that, he was shut down indefinitely due to being "out-dated" as the creators had called it. This unit sat in a storage room, forgotten by those who had put it there in the first place. It just sat there, alone amongst boxes, collecting dust. By some swift wind-of-fate, time has come for this unit. Its destiny has been revealed.
The Normandy SR-2 had just performed an emergency landing, because-no one aboard knows why- their fuel reserves had been suddenly depleted. They landed on a small, sparsely inhabited planet that is made up of mostly deserts. Mind you, that landing the Normandy just outside the small colony was no easy task for Joker. Shepard, Tali, Legion, and Garrus had left the ship to make contact with the colonists. They were greeted by heavily armed Krogans and Turians. Specifically, a Turian soldier.
"Whoa, hold up there. I need ID, now." The Turian demanded.
Shepard shook his head in frustration. It's not like getting asked for ID everywhere you go is very appealing.
"Relax Shepard." Garrus said in a friendly tone, "They must have their reasons."
"Wait, Shepard? Like, Commander Shepard, the Spectre? I've heard of you before. You stopped the Reapers, hell. If I would've known…." The Turian began to ramble silently. He stopped for a moment.
"Hey, open the gate! We got a special guest here!" The Turian called out, bashing the heavy metal gate.
After a second, the gates slowly slid open. Inside, the colonists were abuzz with life. People rushing to and from their destinations, children playing out in the open, teenagers armed with replica laser-tag weapons chasing each other up and down the paths. A few moments after the gate opened, a young Quarian woman greeted Shepard.
"Ah, Commander Shepard I presume?" The Quarian asked. "Please come with me, Isala would like to see you immediately."
Shepard, not having time to react, simply followed the Quarian. While walking, Shepard noticed an Asari bending over to pick up a basket filled with packaged food items. He proceeded to "check her out", while Garrus laughed uncontrollably. Tali sighed, and shook her head. She didn't understand the mindset of a male, and she didn't really want to. Legion was busy soaking in every detail of his surroundings that he could. A group of misfits? Indeed, but the best group of misfits you could ever find.