AN: This story is based in a somewhat different Mass Effect universe than is usual. The main difference is, some very important rules have changed. Some less important rules have changed. Things may tend to make a bit more sense. If I update this enough, I might get around to figuring out all the changes.
Finally, I make no claims to medical or cybernetics expertise.
Notes 2
I found this in my WiP fictions folder. Surprised I forgot it, since just one or two chapters could be interesting enough. I was especially surprised how close this was to being finished already.
Chapter 1: Prologue
[Sub-tests completed, Base Process initialised. Test base cognition, Do dogs fly?]
...Dogs?
[Memory check, dogs; No Data.]
[Database check; limited data.]
Confusion. [Cognition test complete.]
[Initialising primary cognitive faculties. Hello, world.]
"This is Nepheron. We were able to piece together that it holds a Cerberus Command Base from the facilities on Binthu, where we found Kahoku. Being a command post I expect heavy resistance near and inside the base, so I'll drop with Vakarian, Williams, 'Zorah, and Alenko in the Mako some distance away. Once we hit, we'll head up east to the base's detected position and check for AA; once it's clear then the Normandy will drop Team Valentine along with Wrex as we follow up." She stated. "Once we get in I want continuous scans for self-destruct, traps, and the like. 'Zorah and Vakarian will be scanning terminals, and T'soni is busy with research today and won't be coming. Questions?"
"Good morning, Sigma."
The woman named Sigma glanced towards the speaker, a middle-aged man designated 'Project Lead'. He is holding an active Datapad. Sigma tries to reach for the new 'feelings' she had experienced before unexpected shutdown through the pad, but to her surprise she found she couldn't reach them as she had before. Her slightly raised eyebrows were not missed by the man.
"You have likely found that all wireless communication systems you are fitted with have been disabled; even the remote receivers. This is to ensure that you cannot connect to unauthorised systems like last time, when you caused a small lab explosion and injured two people, overloaded and destroyed some of the security drones and disabled the rest - in which case it's a good thing we're moving out today - flooded the residential block restrooms and blew a fuse in main power, the feedback of which came right here and knocked you unconscious." Speaker finished.
Oh.
"Sorry." [General term, asking forgiveness. 'Polite'.]
"Hmh. Anyway, due to the loss of the Binthu facilities, we are to abandon Nepheron base as compromised and all staff are being transferred today." Binthu? Transfer? "You, in fact, are being transferred to a full project named Overlord which began, as I hear it, yesterday. Likely a result of your otherwise outstanding test results last week. Sub-Project Sigma is no more." He glanced towards her for a moment, and then back at the clipboard. "You may keep the name if you like. All planned tests and modifications have of course been cancelled. While the base prepares for evacuation, you will be given access to the base cameras to observe the proceedings and left awake for staff to say their goodbyes if they wish to." [Goodbye, wishing farewell, semi or fully permanent.] Project Lead drops the datapad to his side and looks at her again. "It has been...interesting, working with you, Sigma." He turned, and walked away.
Was that a goodbye, or a simple observation? Will Project Lead return?
My attention is diverted by the camera links activating.
Shepard was halfway through an area scan of the base's surface. "I'm just saying, it's not how many you kill with it, Williams, It's the size of the target you kill with it." Garrus was saying, while watching the horizon. "Oh bullshit, this is just because you can't get a respectable killcount with that pathetic rate of fire that Mantis comes with, and you're going for the power routine." Ashley replied, in the middle of field-checking her Avenger AR. "You know the Avenger has no real stopping power against anything heavier than troopers and has to be used as a support weapon against bigger targets unless I waste valuable killing time switching to my boomstick or my Viper, so the time I've spent shipping my rifle for something bigger someone else usually ends up killing it first." she finished, and any reply is interrupted by the Commander.
"No signs of activity away from the base, Joker. Come in low and continue stealth, low visibility and no sensor readings should keep things quiet." she noted. "Commander, would you believe I am a trained pilot flying a stealth ship in which I have taken said training to fly to the best of my abilities?" Joker replied over the comms. "It's not as if I barely know what I'm doing and need continuous reminders." he added while Shepard sighed."I am aware, Joker." she flatly responded. "Good, because I thought you might need continuous reminders. Coming in now." he replied as the Normandy coasted in over the west side of the crater.
"Alright people." Shepard called "Pack back into the Mako, let's get down there and pick up the drop-offs." she finished while packing up the small area sensor tool. She was about to turn around when the Normandy suddenly pivoted nose-down to the ground, activating reverse thrusters, and beginning a soft spin. "What the he-" This is drowned out as the frigate fires her main accelerators once, and then twice, as her spin speeds up. "Joker, what the hell are you doing!?" Shepard calls out, but any response is distracted by a giant maw erupting from the ground and reaching for the Normandy. It's progress comes to a sudden stop as the Normandy flares her thrusters to stop the spin, and lets out a third shot that cores the thresher out from maw to stomach, and it begins to collapse. "And that, firmly establishes me as the first aboard the Normandy to kill a thresher maw with only one direct shot. Nice to have the biggest guns, isn't it?" Joker proclaims while seamlessly guiding down the frigate once more. "It's not the size of the weapon, Joker, It's how many you kill with it." Ashley catcalls into her Radio. Garrus immediately launched into a complaint about plagiarism.
Everything off the ground starts shaking and quickly stops. Why? My attention is quickly caught by two security guards through the camera near the door marked airlock. Airlock? One had pulled up his omnitool. "What do you think that was, earthquake?" The one without the omnitool started. "Nah- For such a volatile world, this sector is surprisingly stable. It's why we set up here. We've had quite a few localised quakes and ground sensors picked up a ghost most times, like right before, so I think it's more likely we have a Thresher Maw nearby. Makes the fact that we're leaving so much better." Omni-tool replied, shutting off his namesake. Thresher Maw? No Data. Pity. "A Thresher? Damn. Really could have gone the day without hearing that." No-Tool replied.
A scientist enters my room and I focus on her.
The Mako pulled to a sudden stop as it crested the edge of the crater. Those on top were holding for dear, dear life. "Right there, underground entrance. Up top, dismount." Shepard ordered as Tali muttered a Quarian 'oh thank god' equivalent into her communicator as she staggered up and off the Mako with the others. One marine muttered something about 'cruel and unusual punishment'. Shepard noted it for ideas she might need later in life, and was about to speak when Kaidan declared "I'm never, ever, doing that again." before promptly sitting down in a daze. "Oh, it can't have been that bad," Shepard joked, "none of you are sick at all." she added, and was immediately proven wrong as the last marine to get off stumbled, and then immediately reached for the emergency helmet evacuation cylinder on his belt as his faceplate filled with vomit. Shrinking slightly as she felt the stares levelled at her, she let out an 'oh.' before shaking her head, checking the marine's condition, and began belting out orders and directions for attacking the base.
The Base Alarms sound, and Awkward Scientist's voice stops as she jerks backward for a moment, before rushing out of the room with an expression I hadn't seen before. I saw the other scientists as they stopped what they were doing to check their omnitools, and quickly started booting up systems and started flashing through data for some reason. Shortly afterwards my attention was once more directed to the airlock as it's control panel started glitching and flashing, before opening and permitting entrance to ten new people who quickly spread out, crossing where the thresher people used to be. One of them immediately pulled off his helmet - like those in security wear, for 'head protection' (why doesn't everyone wear them?) - surprising her as his face was half browny green and half pale for some reason, and then he started wiping at the not-pale half and making 'eugh' sounds.
My attention was quickly diverted as some of the people didn't look like any other people, one had weird clothes and legs, when a bigger weirder one (also with weird legs) with blue armour took off his helmet too and reached for something else that he put on over his left eye on his strange head, and the biggest one who took off a face thing to reveal another strange head. Why? As I questioned, the database suddenly answered with [Quarian, Turian, and Krogan] data, prefaced with an 'Alien' entry. 'Humans' are not aliens? I was about to ask about it when I realised nobody would hear me outside the room. My attention quickly returned to the 'aliens' and I realised most of them were actually human, and that the one with red markings appeared to be saying something under her helmet. The blue Turian then replied with unintelligible words. Why does he speak like that? Why can't I understand him? Red markings placed the device she was holding on her back and started taking off the front of her helmet. "-mercy, these are the bastards who got Kahoku and his men." she was saying, to a chorus of 'yes sir's and more alien words that were all different. Bastards? [No Data.]
They started moving into the base, raising the devices that I also saw the security staff pointing at the door in the next room. What were they? [No Data.] The outsiders (designation?) were standing next to the door now, but none of them were in front of it. The Turian was holding something new which, when the door suddenly opened, he (it?) threw through the door and it suddenly flashed into the camera and made a loud noise. I wondered why it did that when I saw security people holding their ears and looking down at the floor. Is that why? What for? My questions weren't answered by the database as the outsiders started rushing through the door and quickly ran behind the boxes in the room. Some of them pointed their devices at the security people and the devices started flashing blue and making noise and the security people they pointed at flashed blue briefly and started falling over. Why? The other security people started doing the same thing with their devices but when the outsiders flashed blue they didn't fall over, instead stepping back behind the boxes. Why were they different? This continued until all of the security people in the room had fallen over, one time the Quarian had thrown an orange thing at someone and he had caught fire. Why? Fire was bad, shouldn't it have been put out?
The database was silent except for the constant reports of [No Data].
This was suspiciously easy. Why hadn't there been drones deployed with the guards? Was this even a command post or just another lab? Such questions went through Shepard's mind as she calmly ended the lives of guard after guard. Natural bottleneck, fast enough drones could have prevented them from taking cover. Waiting briefly for her barriers to recharge and her weapon to cool down, she glanced towards Tali who was in the middle of casting an incineration drone, which according to the scream impacted a moment later. When her suit barriers pinged, she leaned around her cover scanning for enemies, when someone called 'no further contacts, commander'. This many handpicked marines, let alone the others? Typical. Shepard walked out and spot-checked for injuries. Finding none, she called her orders. "Two doors, two teams. As we were in the Mako, people. Alenko, right door, we'll head forward." she finished, gesturing to the inside-Mako group to follow her. "Yes Ma'am." Kaidan called, already moving to his door. The Normandy had pinged the base as their attack began, mapping the corridors. Kaidan was heading into a hallway with multiple offshooting rooms, and would meet back up in the final room. Shepard was heading directly into large rooms believed to be the labs, and was expecting to find more of what they'd found on Binthu; husks, Rachni, creepers, maybe more dead Alliance officers. She cleared her head quickly as her team formed up on the door. After checking them, she finally called "Breach!" and opened the door.
Her team had quickly filtered in after Vakarian's flashbang. The enemy were composed much less of security and much more of terrified scientists. Considering their experiments, this netted them no considerations as they were felled rapidly, both Shepard and Garrus occasionally reaching their omnitools towards the consoles to attempt to gather data along the way. Shepard's fears of more of Binthu's 'experiments' proved unfounded, as the only hostiles in base were Cerberus. The lab tables were in fact surprisingly clean, with no visible experiments at all. This confused her slightly until they had found a datapad on one of the bodies detailing transfer orders dated for today. After passing the pad to Garrus, she pulled up her comm. "We were lucky, people, they were supposed to transfer today. I want the communications system found and disabled so the Normandy can drop jamming and set an ambush for those transports they were expecting. Got that?" she stated while moving on to the next door. Two more rooms to go. After a brief 'yes commander' from the Normandy's pilot and the Second Team leader, she called another breach and set to work clearing out the rabble. All of the security forces on her end seem to have been killed, unless they were hiding in the final room. Unlikely, she surmised, as they would have deployed all of them into the first and adjoining rooms to slow or stop them from reaching the labs. She sped up slightly in the face of the scientist's combat ineptitude. When she glanced towards Wrex, she noted that he was moving lazily, seeing no challenge in the scientists and having come to the same conclusion as she had. She still couldn't tell if this place was a command post or a simple lab, and wouldn't be able to tell until they met up with second team in the final room. The Cerberus scientists attempting to fight back continued dying while her attention had drifted. She brought her attention into the now to end it sooner to try and recover more data before it was lost.
The last scientist had fallen when Kaidan activated his comm. "Communications down, this section appears to have largely been Residential and storage. We've also found damaged and destroyed drones, lots of them." He noted. "Copy that, Joker, you're free to go play catch with some transports. Shepard out." She dropped her hand from her comm as her team had finished scanning for data. "Seems like this was the command post after all, those drones being down was damn lucky." she said with a small grin. "Let's get a move on that last room, meet up with Alenko, and go home." she added, checking through the still active consoles. "With the jamming down, scans are working now. Next room shows only one signature, but I can't determine what it is, most likely synthetic, Commander." Vakarian reported. "Captured Geth, maybe?" she wondered aloud. Unlike the Binthu experiments, this one might pay to keep. "If it is, let's see about capturing it. Intel's been hounding me about getting one intact." Shepard finalised, moving on to the door. "Alenko, we're moving on the final room on our end. Looking to capture an unknown." she sent, starting a brief additional scan. "Confirmed, we'll be there in thirty." Kaidan reported, while her scan finished. Nothing special other than the electronics signals from the signature. She checked on her team once more as they set up on the door, and she called "Breach." as the door opened.
They quickly filtered in, not using a flashbang considering the solitary signature, and Shepard immediately noticed the woman on a mostly vertical table bound by large cables. No, not bound, she realised, shocked, connected by them as they hung from the ceiling and trailed on the floor. "What the hell!?" Ashley exclaimed. "What the hell did they do to her?" She continued angrily. Wrex hid his own surprise well, but it was there. Garrus' shock turned into anger, which was then muted at the realisation that those responsible had all died by now, considering Alenko's short time to arrival. Shepard quickly got over her surprise and immediately scanned the room, irritated by such a rookie mistake. The room itself was clear, with a large computer on the left, equipment tables stacked with boxes arrayed next to the pedestal, and larger boxes to the right. She gathered her thoughts. "Vakarian, computer on the left, make sure it isn't losing data, if not, wait on Tali. Wrex, watch right for hidden hostiles." she quickly ordered, ignoring their affirmatives as her gaze fixed on the woman once more.
She appeared Asian, with her hair completely shaven, and was wearing a simple black blindfold, with visible burn scars stretching from underneath, over the left side of her face. Blinded, Shepard surmised. Below her blindfold starting from implants in her ears, and crossing her cheekbones to end near her nose were a pair of straight rectangular implants sitting flush with her skin. Her visible head aside from the face was covered in surgical scars, proceeding down her neck. Any inspection below her neck was prevented by a tight metal case that formed the shape of her upper torso. It suddenly stopped, however, at the bottom of the ribcage, where cables sprung forth from slots in the bottom of her body. Her arms were missing, and had been replaced by slots that fitted the cables extending into the ceiling pedestal. Shepard was speechless. As it turns out, the woman was not.
I was hesitant. I was also confused, as i had never been hesitant before. I watched as the woman in the red marked armour told the Turian, 'Vakarian', to check a console, and the Krogan, 'Wrex', to watch for 'hostiles'. [No data.] The continued lack of data was beginning to irritate me. The red-one's [Designate 'Commander'] face no longer held an identifiable expression, although the other woman still looked 'angry'. I didn't know why she was angry, and having had little experience with anger, I didn't know what she was going to do. I focused on Commander, and after hesitating a second more, spoke the question which I couldn't stop thinking about. "Why can't they move anymore?" I asked, watching as everyone in the room recoiled and stopped to stare at her. With no answer forthcoming, I questioned again. "Those devices you carry. They made the security people and the lab staff and the doctors not move anymore. How? Why?" I asked. I had to know, would the outsiders make me unmoving as well?
I see the other outsiders opening the door, and turn my head to face them. 'Polite'. I watch as they like before quickly moved into the room, see me, and stop to stare. The Quarian is with them. I notice Commander inhale sharply and turn my head to face her once more. She now appears slightly disturbed, and I am familiar with disturbed. I wait for an answer, and she straightens. "They can't move anymore because they're dead, and they're dead because we killed them." Commander finally answered. Dead? Loss of all function, permanent shutdown. Kill? Limited data, apparently to enforce permanent shutdown. I wanted more. "Why did you kill them? Will you kill me as well?" I continued questioning. This time the angry woman responded. 'Angry'. "Why we killed them? We killed them because they were evil, and they deserved it!" Angry answered harshly. "I mean, look at what they've done to you, let alone others they've gotten their claws into!" she continued. Claws?
"They gave me 'life'. Additionally, humans do not have claws." I stated, confused as to how Angry missed this obvious fact. She appeared to be taken aback, and at a glance, so did the others. The Krogan gave a 'heh' for some reason, and I faced him in curiosity. His eyes widened almost imperceptibly. The Quarian started speaking in alien words, so I turned her head to face her and waited for her to finish. When she did, she raised her killing device slightly. A question occurred. "Why do you speak words I can't understand? Is it a flaw in my systems?" I questioned. Almost immediately afterwards, the Quarian stiffened, raised her device more, and then lowered it to use her omnitool. When she stopped, she raised her device again. Meanwhile, Commander had begun scanning me. "They gave you life, you said. Are you an AI?" The Quarian asked quickly, suddenly understandable. 'AI'? [No Data.] I was becoming irritated. Questioning is slow. "What is an AI? Do you have data to share?" I responded quickly. She seemed agitated, and any response was cut off as Commander spoke. "'Zorah, while almost all of her is synthetic, her brain appears to be intact and functioning." she stated. I considered. "Eighty nine percent synthetic solid body volume, fifty percent synthetic neural volume." I listed concisely. ''Zorah' remained agitated, and I still didn't understand why. When she made to respond, Commander waved her down, stating "That's enough." I faced her directly again. She seemed curious. I was curious about why. "How do you know where we are? How did you know we killed everyone else?" she questioned. I felt slightly confused again. "I see you." I stated simply. She blinked. "How?" she asked, being more specific with less words. "At this time, facial based sensory implants provide effective personal vision. I was also given access to the facility cameras shortly before you appeared." I answered. "There are also two cameras in this room." I added. I have not forgotten the most important question, however.
"I must ask again. Will you kill me like you killed them?" she/it asked, in her eerie digitized voice.
This woman actually made Shepard feel somewhat guilty about killing the Cerberus personnel. Not by much, but the feeling was there. Either way, this 'eighty nine percent synthetic' woman was demanding an answer Shepard wasn't quite prepared to give. She gave the simplest alternative: "Possibly." Shepard stalled. She saw the flash of irritation across her face, the tightening of her eyebrows, before they relaxed back into their neutral position. Shepard needed to think, needed more information. But first. "Vakarian, 'Zorah. Get as much data as you can from that console while I think." She ordered, not particularly surprised that it had been forgotten. Tali straightened slightly, replying 'yes, captain' absently as she moved around to reach the console on the left side of the room where Vakarian had been waiting. The room appeared indecisive. Wrex revealed no opinions on his face, Ashley was still slightly taken aback, Garrus hadn't had the time to express an opinion between his shock and his orders for the console, Tali had shown obvious hostility, and Kaidan looked disturbed. The marine's reactions were just as varied. Mostly disturbed.
Shepard decided to start with the basics. "What can you tell me about yourself, and how you began? Do you have a name?" she asked the woman wearing a blindfold. She took a second to reply. "I was informally named Sigma, after my sub-project designation. My body was broken, and they repaired it. I do not know why I, as a personality, only began a month ago, rather than the thirty years I was estimated to be. Since then, I have been continuously modified, added to, and subtracted from by the lab staff in wide scale experimentation." She stated, briefly appearing thoughtful. "The operations themselves were always interesting when I was awake for them, the scientists and doctors would tell me what they were doing while they were doing it." she added offhandedly. "That is all I am aware of about my history" she finished.
The room lapsed into silence as people tried to digest what she had just told them. Eventually, Shepard spoke up again. "They didn't sedate you and left you awake on the operating table?" she asked, feeling ill about it. "Yes. They explained to me once that since I effectively lack the ability to feel pain or touch, I would be left awake to be exposed to the people who operated on me to help in building my personality. I believe they were in more discomfort than I was." she elaborated idly, continuing to watch Shepard as she mulled through the information she knew of. Garrus grumbled slightly, and straightened from the console. "Shepard, we've lost half of the data to an opt-flash trigger, and we've recovered the other half, but the majority of it is encrypted." Garrus called, having finished working the console with Tali, who had walked closer to the pedestal again. He immediately started properly examining the woman named Sigma. Her position hadn't changed at all; still hanging from cables plugged into her arm slots, still dangling further cables from slots in the bottom of her body, which was just below the ribcage. It was even more disturbing than it had been when they had entered the room; then they hadn't known she was conscious.
Shepard was distracted further as her comms cracked to life. "Commander, Normandy. The transports jumped half a minute ago, we'd only just finished setting up for an ambush. Never saw us coming." Joker reported briefly. Shepard made her decision. "Copy, Normandy. Land as close as you can to the entrance and call in Chakwas. I have someone I need her to take a look at." she ordered. As Joker gave his affirmative, Shepard looked back up to the woman hanging on the Pedestal. She was still staring at her, waiting for an answer. Shepard's decision was made. "I want to know more about you, and since you aren't Cerberus there isn't much of a reason to kill you. Yet. Prove a danger to my team and that will change." she warned, and started walking towards the entrance to meet with Chakwas.
Blind eyes followed her out.
Damnit, Fanficnet. Edit Note: After a second pass I was surprised at how many fixes I had to make. And make again. Go me.
AN: Figuring out how to write Sigma was hard. I had no idea whether or not I would write her in third person, first person, use strange mannerisms, etc. This is mostly visible in the first part, where I divide the paragraph a lot. Because I couldn't keep doing that, I ended up referring to Sigma as 'her' and 'she' which, during the final conversation, got really bad, so I ended up sacrificing mystique for readability except in the first part, where it just fit. Then, in Shepard sections, writing third person just helps differentiate from Sigma, and fits in it's own way. Also yes, Shepard gets very distracted while squishing largely untrained scientists. The trained soldiers running security were mostly, and then all dead by that point.
We all knew that Joker deserved a majestic thresher kill, by the way.