Sutori-Artifex coming back with another chapter of Masscreed. So, I was rather proud of the last chapter. It wasn't the best – none of this is that good. It's a fanfiction. – but it was vastly superior to a few other chapters. So this one involves the Derelict Reaper. Which also means: LEGION! :D

Everybody's favorite Flashlight Head! The Tin-Man's finally getting his metal butt on the Yellow Brick Road to the Collector Base!

I'm keeping this chapter a bit more canon, but of course, I will take my liberties with dialogue in places where there is no dialogue already.

Since it's nearly the end of this Story Arc, I wanted to go back and rewrite Chapter Five, just to finish off the monster I beat to a pulp when I rewrote chapters 1-4.

FROM MY PROFILE:

Nobleborn has been deleted. I disliked this story strongly. It was rushed, poorly handled and written, with a good plot wasted and warped into a convoluted and deviant mess of situations. It was inadvertently and extremely sexist in favor of men with only two female characters, one that was put into a rushed romance and one that was ignored almost completely. I hated this story with a passion. I hated it and I felt awful for writing it. It was bad, and bad stories attract the poor quality side of FanFiction, which this story did with its obnoxious, obsessive reviewers that are in no way the audience I wish to be in contact with. Do not ask for me to bring this story back. It is dead, and dead men tell no tales. The story of Avular is over without an ending.

NORMANDY One-Shots has been deleted. I didn't DISLIKE the story, but I found it... weird. Not updated and unappreciated for good reason, I felt that the choice of topics for One-Shots were... odd, to say the least. Chronologically shuffled, it was difficult to place a specific date for when each one-shot took place and there were varying degrees of canon-adherence that made the story confusing for even I, the writer of the damn thing.

I have started a poll on my profile to decide on the universe for a new story to replace Nobleborn, and to focus on in the gap between the Omega-4 Story Arc and the DLC Story Arc (Dealing with Firewalker, Overlord, Arrival, etc.) Choices are Harry Potter (My bias made me vote for this one. I haven't read all the books but I have seen and loved every movie, and am willing to do as much research as I can to fit in with you lovely Potterheads out there c:), Pokemon (which I already tried writing but was really iffy about), HALO (Only finished HALO: Reach. Will research accordingly), and World of Warcraft (which I was incredibly iffy about writing but could pull myself together to write if the response is positive).

So… favorite, follow, and drop a review. Make sure to vote on the poll! The usual pre-chapter note ;)

BEGIN!


Normandy SR-2, 2185

"So. Where do you think we're getting this device from?" Crewman Hawthorne asked, after swallowing a large bite from a sandwich prepared by Rupert Gardner.

"Mmn, yeah, and what is it, anyway?" said Crewman Rolston, to add to Hawthorne's inquiry.

"An Identify-Friend-Foe module," Kaidan replied, busying himself with an Omnitool app. A game, specifically, and a time-waster game at that. He winced as he failed yet again and his full attention turned to Hawthorne. "I'd imagine that since it's a Reaper module, we need a Reaper to get one."

"Oh, sure," Crewman Rolston said, "because everyone knows that Reapers are charitable souls and would just love to give up one of their IFFs!"

"That's why you use a dead one, dumbass," Alexander Clarke said as he walked past the Mess Hall, bound for Miranda's office.

"…well," Kaidan muttered to himself.

"Dead Reaper? Like a derelict or something? Where are we going to find one of those?" Hawthorne asked.

"Ah, I heard some Cerberus scientists were deployed to the Hawking Eta about something of that nature," Rupert Gardner chimed in from the kitchen space.

Kasumi Goto then decloaked – she had been hanging from the ceiling – and offered her two credits, saying, "In his house at R'lyeh, Dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."

"Lovecraft!" Ashley Williams called from the kitchen space as she watched Gardner prepare her a meal.

"A dead, dreaming god?" Kaidan asked, skeptical of the concept.

"I don't see why an offline machine can't have background tasks running. Why do you think I keep having to re-calibrate that damn gun even when it's not in use?" Garrus Vakarian explained as he walked down the short stairs leading to the rest of the Crew Deck. "Remember, Kaidan, we both fought Sovereign with the Shepards. It was a complex and highly intelligent AI. I doubt a Reaper in a derelict state is truly… 'dead,' you know?"

"I guess that makes sense, and all, but if it is 'dreaming' and all that, don't you think something bad would have happened to those scientists?"

"They haven't been there long, after all the hearsay I picked up on started a few days ago," Hawthorne responded, taking another bite from his sandwich.

"Ah. Perfect, while they're asleep," Kaidan said, "Indoctrination. You know what I'm talking about, right Ash? Garrus?"

"Right, you mean that thing that happened to Benezia?" said Ashley.

"And Saren?" said Garrus.

"Exactly. Those scientists are not in a good spot right now and I know it!"

"Well we're heading to pick up the IFF now, Miranda said so," Rolston said after listening to the exchange.

Ashley took her plate of spaghetti to the mess hall dining table and sat down next to Kaidan. "You guys can sift through dead Reaper for some software. I am going to enjoy some spaghetti."

"…you tolerate the shit Gardner makes? And I'm pretty sure it's actual shit. He cleans the toilets with the same hands he soufflés with," Rolston commented.

"Aw, that's so sweet of you to say. You admit I can make a soufflé," Gardner replied with a sly smirk that whispered subtle victory.

"…isn't that a method of cooking?"

"Delicious and luxurious French pastry, cupcake."

"Shit."

Ashley and Kaidan shared a brief chuckle as Gardner finally got his well-deserved revenge. "Hey, I like it. Gardner said John picked him up some high quality supplies, and… anything's better than Alliance MREs."

"Amen," Alexander remarked yet again as he left Miranda's office with a bottle of medicine in his hands.

"…what's his deal?" Garrus asked, sitting down with the humans at the table.

"No idea," Ashley said, holding her hands up to express innocence, just before digging into her spaghetti.

The ship rocked violently, and Hawthorne's sandwich fell apart, condiments and juices landing right on his uniform pants. Ashley skillfully managed to get the pasta away from her as it tumbled off of the fork, at the cost of the cleanliness of her hands, but those could always be washed.

"The hell was that?!" Kaidan asked as Garrus got up to head for the armory, fearing the worst.


A panicked Jane Shepard ran into the bridge of the Normandy, stumbling as she tried to keep her footing as the ship rattled about. "What's with all the chop, Joker?!" she said as she reached the helmsman, using his chair for support.

"Doing my best! The wind's gusting up to 500 kph!" Joker cried as he piloted the Normandy above the atmosphere of a desert planet. Jane was genuinely surprised; being this high above the planet's stratosphere and the wind is at 500 kph? That's incredible! Joker continued, saying, "There's a second ship alongside the Reaper. It's not transmitting any IFF, but the ladar paints its silhouette as Geth!"

The Normandy crew had been tipped off to the presence of a Reaper Identify-Friend-Foe device on a derelict Reaper – the secret to entering the Omega-4 Relay – in the Hawking Eta. Alexander was forced back into the Animus to finish off Eldar Koslov's memories. Worried about the Bleeding Effect and what toll it was taking on the poor man, the Assassin footpads plus Kairee kept a vigilant watch over him. Mordin monitored his vitals, and Miranda kept tabs on his progress throughout the memories.

"I guess we know why the Science Team stopped reporting in," Jane replied, referring to a group of Cerberus Scientists currently researching the derelict. A bout of turbulence rattled the ship once again. "What just happened?" Jane inquired, as the shaking ceased.

"The Reaper's mass effect fields are still active. We just passed inside their envelope," replied Joker, running a few diagnostics as he explained the situation. As they approached the massive Reaper, he sniggered to himself. "Eye of the hurricane, huh?"

Jane said nothing in reply, as she left the bridge to call up a squad. Upon being approached by John, she claimed that she wanted to take this mission herself; John deserved a break, and she believed it was time to show off what she was made of. John obliged her simple request, but demanded that she take along a powerful squad. Garrus was an obvious choice, Jane said. She wasn't expecting much of a threat, so she believed she would only need a basic two-man squad. She picked Thane as backup for her and Garrus. The Drell Assassin had yet to be taken on many assignments, and Jane wished to bring him along for added sniper support, should anything go awry. He had donned his original black and grey outfit for this mission and used a Viper rifle and a Locust SMG. Jane applied Incendiary ammunition to her N7 Hurricanes and holstered one, holding the other out in case any Geth ambushed her.


Derelict Reaper, 2185

The trio disembarked from the drop shuttle and entered the Derelict Reaper. Well, actually, they entered a Cerberus lab. As the doors opened they were treated to the grisly sight of a human corpse, horrendously decomposed and mutilated. A hole was ripped clean through the body. Brownish, blackened blood was caked upon the otherwise pristine, white wall of the facility.

"Exploring an abandoned area, expecting something mechanical and nasty to jump out at any moment…" Garrus listed, then smugly grinning as best he could, "Just like old times."

Nobody said another word as the squad moved forward into the lab. Computers were set up at the walls of the room, which the squad quickly worked to access. Thane managed to find stores of credits in some computers, and Jane found a sound file which she played.

"The Airlock has been installed at the far end of the holed section. We have begun pressurization for shirtsleeves work. The crew is edgy. I reassure them it is mere nerves. A superstitious reaction to what this hulk represents – the corpse of a vast, ancient lifeform. Privately, I can't deny the atmosphere. The angles of the walls seem to press down on you. I find myself clenching my teeth…"

"Indoctrination," Garrus murmured to himself, then he picked up his voice, "Kaidan was right…"

"It is an atmosphere worthy of feeling edgy within," Thane noted, holding his rifle firmly.

"Don't let it get to you. Let's keep moving," said Jane, leaving the computers alone.

At the end of the hallway they traveled down, yet another work log could be seen. Jane stepped up to it and hit play.

"We finished cataloguing specimens A203 to B016. No evidence of active nanotechnology noted. Dr. Chandana believes they would have decayed over the last 37 million years. There's not enough data to support his claim. He asserts that the truth is 'patently obvious.' I am… concerned. Chandana has been staring at the samples for hours. He says he's… 'listening' to them."

"37 million years? Boys we're walking on history," Jane quipped, hoping to lighten the mood. Thane smiled, so it seemed to work. They took a right turn and walked down the following hallway. The Reaper began to rattle, causing Jane to stumble. As she almost fell, Garrus's arms went around her to catch her.

"Hey, careful, are you alright?" the Turian sniper asked. Jane steadied herself and nodded with a warm beam on her face.

"Normandy to shore party!" Joker's voice cried from within the bridge of the Normandy.

Jane put on a poker-face and adopted a stern tone as she replied. "What just happened?"

"The Reaper put up kinetic barriers! I don't think we can get through from our side!"

"We're trapped," Thane said, smile fading, "How disquieting…"

"Well, we've got guns. Use them," Jane ordered.

"The Normandy lacks the necessary firepower," EDI said. "Reaper shields are impervious to dreadnought fire."

"…not even the Thanix cannon I spent an entire night trying to integrate into the Normandy?" Garrus asked. "Crap!"

"Shepard, a kinetic barrier can only be produced by a mass effect generator. That is true for any ship. Even a Reaper," EDI explained, "At the moment of activation, I detected a heat spike in what is likely the wreck's mass effect core. Sending coordinates, now… be advised: this core is also maintaining the Reaper's altitude."

"So when we take the barriers down to escape, the wreck falls into the planet core."

"And that means everyone dies. Yeah, I got it."

"We'll make a sweep for survivors and research data. Then we'll knock this ugly piece of crap out of the sky. Be ready to pick us up. Being crushed in the heart of a brown dwarf is not on today's agenda," Jane demanded, signing off.

Three more mutilated carcasses greeted the three warriors. "I heard stories of this sort of… atrocity. I thought they were exaggerated," he mumbled.

Another work log…?

"You're married? I never knew that!"

"Katy had anger management issues. When my brother got married the best man tried to hit on her. She kicked him down the church steps."

Jane chuckled, "Way to go, Katy…"

"Wh-what?! Katy's MY wife! I must have told you the story!"

"…no? I know my wife. I remember – that day was the only time I saw her wear stockings."

"Yeah… the kind with seams up the back. That's what I remember, too!"

"What the hell is this? How can we remember the same thing?"

The work log cut out. "It sounds like the Reaper was affecting their memories…" Garrus said, and one exchange of expression with Jane, and they both knew that they were equally disturbed. They walked away from the file and moved across the walkway to the right. As they did so, a sense of dread came over them, which better prepared them for the ambush of husks that came crawling onto the walkway. The undead cyborgs shambled forwards as Jane unleashed a torrent of ammunition, shredding the husks before they got too close. Thane warped a small group of husks as they tried to climb over a crate of excavation explosives. The crate's contents detonated and dented the metal walkway, sending husks flying in pieces or in wholes that flew off of the railing or were incinerated as gravity whisked them away.

The squad pushed on through a small army of husks. Sniper rifles seemed to do well to put them down quickly, and Jane's Hurricanes provided consistant incendiary fire with which she burned several husks to the ground.

One lucky husk managed to attack Thane from behind and grab his shoulders. He responded by grabbing its wrist and flinging it over his shoulder, slamming its synthetic spine into the ground. He lifted up his leg and brought it down in an axe-kick onto the husk's skull, smashing it into the metal walkway. He switched guns and used his Locust SMG to deliver a quick pulse of bullets into the nose of a husk, destroying its head.

Jane activated and subsequently detonated her tech armor, pushing a small wave of husks off and away from her, the noise then attracting husks yet to attack her. Seeing as she now had the attention of husks intending to attack Thane and Garrus, she ran up to an explosive crate, holstered her SMG, jumped, and performed a quick Double Kong over to the other side. As she ran, she shouted for Garrus to blow the crate. A well-timed shot from his sniper rifle detonated the contents of the crate and incinerated the husks. Those were the last of them, for now.

She walked back, taking slow, deep breaths to recover as she walked over to another computer to play the work log. "Might as well copy the data from these as we go, right?" she reasoned out loud.

"Third day with this headache. You'd think Chandana would let me have a few hours off."

"Goddamn!"

"What?!"

"That thing that just… gray thing! It disappeared when I looked straight at it! Came out of the damn wall! Where we took off that panel!"

"I didn't see anything. You should lie down."

"I'm telling you, this ship isn't dead. It knows we're inside it."

"Calm down. Now I'm getting a headache."

"Perhaps it was a husk?" Thane proposed. "I've always been curious as to whether the technology to make husks belonged to the Geth or to Sovereign."

They continued down the walkway and up a ramp, and at the top, in the distance a husk bit the dust as a bullet went flying through its skull. "Sniper!" Garrus cried, running for cover with the other two in the squad.

No further bullets came through. "I couldn't see the sniper. A survivor from the Science Team?" Garrus continued, peeking out of cover. Jane ran across to a workbench to gather the supplies she saw there. Resources, power cells, a sniper rifle with part of its receiver destroyed. She took a look at the inner workings and decided that parts were best used for improvement of the shore party's own guns.

They marched onward to receive more husks. This time, the first to crawl from under the walkway was… burnt? Darker synthskin and red/orange arteries and eyes where the husks had blue arteries and eyes. It sprinted towards Jane and she flicked her wrist, unsheathing her Hidden Blade to thrust it into the abomination's chest. It exploded and sent Jane careening into a metal column. Garrus, who had taken cover with Thane, threw his sniper rifle to the side to grab his assault rifle as quickly as he could. A Vindicator rifle. He fired bursts into the husks that hobbled towards him as Thane provided sniper support. He picked a briefly unconscious Jane up and dragged her behind cover.

"Jane, are you okay? Stay with us, stay with me!" he cried, panicking over her body. Her shields were down and a napalm-like substance greased her armor. The fire, however, quickly died down. She didn't look too bad. Garrus stood and fired a volley of incendiary ammunition over cover, drilling more than a few husks. There was a lull the moment Thane killed the last one, another abomination, with a headshot. It did not explode.

"Unique, red husks detonate upon death not caused by damage to the head!" Thane called out loud, noting the weakness for future encounters.

Jane shifted and held a hand to her head. "Ugh… did somebody catch the number of the Mako that hit me?" she said, still dizzy from the explosive force.

Garrus scooped her up into his arms and silently praised the Spirits that she was alive. "Some kind of 'red husk' exploded when you stabbed it."

"Kamikaze husks, then."

Thane cleared his throat and reiterated his previous point. "Unless you shoot it in the head. I would imagine a precise stab or outright smashing the skull would prove equally effective."

Jane, with Garrus's help, stood back up and pulled out her N7 Hurricanes, akimbo. She took point once again and signaled the squad to keep it moving. The incessant moans of the husks grew louder, meaning more of the monstrosities were close by. Thane beckoned the squad to stop and listen closely.

Bang bang bang bang bang…

A biotic shockwave was traveling across the ground, briefly obscured by an explosive crate, which promptly exploded when hit by the shockwave. The shockwave kept moving, now carrying the flames from the explosion towards the squad.

Cursing loudly, Garrus threw Jane out of the way and Thane rolled out of the explosion's path and knelt to catch Jane when she fell. Garrus backpedaled away from the shockwave but was picked up by it, tossed up the stairs from which the squad had just descended. He hit the ground with a thud, incapacitated but not dead. He rolled past his sniper rifle, which he reached for and clutched in his talons. His Vindicator rifle had been lost to the abyss below the walkway when he achieved lift-off.

Jane roared, stealing a grenade off of Thane's belt and activating its charge. She threw it, and it exploded over the offending Scion's head, ripping off the sac of husks on its back. It bellowed in patently obvious synthetic "agony" as it fired another shockwave. This one took a few husks with it, but reached its target of Thane, who just barely managed to use his own biotics to counter enough force to slide back. He fell over the railing and grabbed on for dear life, looking at the positives; he didn't blast off like a rocket, because if he had, he'd be royally screwed. Bright sides.

He climbed over the railing and rejoined the fight, switching back to his sniper rifle to focus fire on the scion. Another shockwave, and he threw a warp towards it. The two canceled out and caused a biotic explosion potent enough to vaporize nearby husks and abominations. Garrus picked himself up and limped back into the fight, sniping the head clean off of the scion. Its last action was to fire another irritating shockwave, which, with the impact of the bullet hitting the scion's head, fired upwards towards the ceiling. Wreckage from the Derelict came down and impaled the scion through the now headless neck, forcing it to stand upright.

Another lull in combat meant that the squad could move on from this event.

They approached the end of the walkway, where an Altar lay ahead, accentuated with tall, narrow spikes. The bodies of Cerberus researchers were impaled on these barbs by their sternums, arms and legs dangling limply to their sides. Their fingers and feet twitched every several seconds. "We've seen these before, Shepard. Dragon's teeth, your people call them. The Geth used them on Eden Prime…"

"There are tales of such things among my people. Devices buried on distant worlds that turn the finders into abominations," Thane said, hand on his chin.

Jane took a careful look around. "See how the room is arranged?" she asked rhetorically. "They treated this thing like some kind of altar."

"It does look like that, but why would they want this to happen?" Garrus asked, looking up at the ceiling.

"You heard the logs. They were seeing things. Hearing things. They were being indoctrinated…" Jane said. She took a long, painful look at the bodies. "We can't help these people now. But we won't let the machines use their corpses like this."

Thane was quick to reply, "Agreed," he said matter-of-factly.

They took a left and entered a pressurization lock, and nearby was a final work log.

"Chandana said the ship was dead. We trusted him. He was right. But even a dead god can dream. A god — a real god — is a verb. Not some old man with magic powers. It's a force. It warps reality just by being there. It doesn't have to want to. It doesn't have to think about it. It just does. That's what Chandana didn't get. Not until it was too late. The god's mind is gone but it still dreams. He knows now. He's tuned in on our dreams. If I close my eyes I can feel him. I can feel every one of us."

They then activated the door lock. "Please stand by," an announcement blared overhead, "Equalizing pressure with exterior conditions. Remember. Safety is everyone's concern. We have gone five days without a workplace death."

"…five days?" Garrus remarked. "So either it's not updated and these bodies are fresh… or they've been here for five days."

"Puzzling indeed, and unsettling to reflect upon," Thane added.

As they entered the room, scanning their surroundings, a lone figure eyed them from afar. It had its sniper rifle trained on Shepard, a panel quirked as a human would quirk an eyebrow. Its head panels all flared when it identified who was in its sights. It quickly adjusted aim to pick off a count of three husks behind the squad with its Viper rifle. As Jane recovered from the initial jumpscare effect, she looked up to spot the figure, who stood tall, rifle at its side, and said…

"Shepard-Commander."

"That geth was the sniper. I didn't think Geth could speak!" said Thane, who, poker-faced as usual, was nonetheless moved by the unusual occurrence.

"Since when do Geth operate alone?" Garrus rhetorically asked, "They get smarter the more of them there are."

Jane said nothing, intrigued by her Geth savior. She gave silent chase, despite a growing horde of husks, abominations, and scions that were converging on her location. With a panicked cry, Garrus ran ahead after her, and after picking off an Abomination, Thane followed suit. The three of them had to storm their way through an appropriately sized army of husks and scions, dodging shockwaves and avoiding open combat with them. They dove over obstacles and scaled railings, dodging around Cerberus pressurization and construction equipment to another pressurization locking chamber. With no going back, Jane knelt before the door lock to hack through the security protocols.

Thane and Garrus got into cover, and looked out, over a sea of rabid husks and infuriated scions. Jane threw Garrus one of her N7 Hurricanes. "Make use of that, and focus on the scions! Thane, use your Locust with my other Hurricane and clear out the husks!" she cried, tossing her other gun to Thane, who swapped to his Locust and caught it with a deft hand and immediately turned it to fire on the husks as Garrus used his Sniper Rifle to shoot the sacs on the scions' backs. When his thermal clip was expended, he swapped it out for the Hurricane and aimed for explosive barrels, tanks, and crates. The symphony of explosions that followed was enough to eradicate the husk threat and severely disable the scion threat. All Thane could do was shoot Garrus a death-glare, to which the Turian's subharmonics trilled with pride and he mustered a smirk, clicking his mandibles. Thane switched to his sniper rifle and finished the scions, but not before a wave of shockwaves came bounding over cover, slamming into the two alien men and causing them to fly backwards, sliding across their backs towards Jane, who finished hacking the door.

"That could not have come at a better time," Thane sardonically remarked.

"Yeah, yeah, give me back my guns," said Jane, eyeing the two men uncaringly as they awkwardly slipped the dual SMGs into her hands. She holstered them and lifted the two up onto their feet. She threw a biotic warp and it slammed into an explosive crate that had been located close by the two men's cover position. The crate exploded, killing the last of the offending scions.

"Well, now all we have to do is destroy the mass effect core," Thane said as a reminder of the secondary objective at hand.

"Then we get off the ship. Fast," said Garrus.

Entering the pressurization chamber they chanced upon a set of computers. Jane took one look at the primary file loaded onto the computer and smiled wide. The Reaper IFF. She swiped it from the computer, onto her Omnitool, and began hacking the next door.

"So the Cerberus team did recover it. But where are they now?"

"Aside from the Dragon's Teeth," said Garrus, facetiously to answer Thane's question.

They entered the drive core chamber, where they found the Geth sniper hacking away at the console in front of it. It looked over the shoulder, drew its pistol, and slayed three husks attempting to stop it. The Geth dropped the secondary barrier for the trio. They tried to run towards it, only for a husk to bat it in the head and damage it, effectively "knocking it unconscious."

The blast shield for the mass effect core was wide open. "Okay, who packed the Cain?" Jane asked. "Nobody?" she added, when neither Garrus nor Thane replied. "Damnit. Look around for one or try to… I don't know, try shooting our way out and mix things up a little!" she ordered.

Garrus took the left wing of the platform and Thane took the right as Jane marched up the center of the platfrom, Hurricanes blazing to eradicate any husks on the platform. Countless undead cyborgs wormed their way out of every crack and crevice and crawled from under the platform, hellbent on ruining this mission. Thane pulled a grenade off of his belt and chucked it into the mass effect core. When it detonated, fragments of the metal in the core broke off and destabilized it.

Jane and Garrus had to take their attention and divide it between husks and the core to look for weaknesses. When Jane failed to find any, she simply expended the thermal clips, dropped her Hurricanes by the Geth's body, and conducted an Overload of the Core, which did much to damage it further. Garrus fired a concussive shot, which detonated inside the core as Jane jumped up, turned parallel to the ground, kicked two husks in the heads, and landed on the ground with thermal clips in hand to cool her weapons. She grabbed them both and rolled onto her back to send another seemingly incessant volley of bullets into the onslaught of husks.

Thane, on his side of the room, snap-kicked a husk in the neck and raised his arm towards the core to fire a warp, striking it as Jane holstered a Hurricane to fire a warp herself. The resulting explosion mixing with the mass effect core's energy caused a fatal destabilization of the core itself. It exploded, rocking the entirety of the Reaper and cutting its kinetic barriers and mass effect fields…

The Reaper was now plummeting to its demise. The three met back in the center of the platform. Thane was first to speak. "Shepard! The Geth, I think we should bring it! It behaved… strangely!"

"No, we are not taking a Geth on board, we have too many problems as it is!" Garrus cried in protest.

"Tali said that nobody has ever acquired an intact Geth before!" Jane reasoned as she knelt down to grab the body of the Geth sniper.

"You know the risks! That is all I have to say of the matter!" Garrus said, giving in now that Jane had made her decision. Thane reached down to pick up the Geth, throwing an arm over his shoulder, the other arm over Jane's shoulder. They dragged the body out of the Derelict Reaper. Using the microgravity to their advantage, they hauled the Geth up and threw it off of the Reaper. It gently floated into the Normandy airlock at Alexander Clarke's feet. He had arrived with Miranda to fend off any hostile Geth or husks the shore party picked up along the way.

Alexander looked down at the Geth sniper dubiously. "What… the fu-"

"We're coming in, now!" Jane said, leaping off of the Reaper to glide across the long gap between the Reaper and the Normandy. She turned around, unholstered her N7 Hurricanes once again, and fired repeatedly into the husks and abominations as Garrus and Thane jumped off the Reaper. She passed into the Normandy's mass effect field envelope and tumbled onto the body of the Geth. Garrus soon arrived along with Thane, though they landed on their feet. The door closed and the pressurization process began. The other door opened and everyone present participated in hauling the Geth's body up and carrying it out of the bridge. Joker watched on, a look of pure horror on his face as he spotted the Geth.


Normandy SR-2, 2185

Curious and hostile stares came from all directions as the Geth was taken down to the Crew Deck and deposited in the AI core chamber. Then they went back up to the briefing room. Thane and Garrus left to tend to their wounds and get back to their posts on the Normandy.

Miranda summoned Jacob to the briefing room, and ordered a holographic display of the Geth's body be pulled up over the board table. "Okay, I think we need to discuss the… unique, piece of salvage we recovered. For now, Jacob, we've stored it in EDI's AI core, and we have Kairee and Eleria keeping watch," Miranda explained. "We need better equipment to fight the Reapers. An intact geth would be invaluable to Cerberus's cyberweapons division."

Alexander scoffed at the notion. "Look, that's not happening. You think we're going to let you get even better at AI technology than you admittedly already are?"

"We'll have to disagree on that, ma'am. I saw enough of these things on Eden Prime. Space it."

"Don't do that either," Alexander warned. "The Assassins would be interested in studying it. We'll give you 50,000 Credits for your personal use," he said.

Miranda cleared her throat and glared angrily at the Assassin. "Cerberus has a long-standing cash bounty for an intact Geth. I assure you the reward is significant. Double the Assassins' bounty."

"…I want to know why it has a piece of John's armor strapped to its chest," Jane remarked, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes, pointing to the N7 chestplate attached to the Geth's chest.

"Battle trophy, maybe? Would a machine care about that?" Jacob suggested.

"No. Trophies imply emotions that AI don't have," Miranda replied, shaking her head and shrugging, "I doubt its more than a convenient field repair."

"We've killed hundreds of these things, but I've never had a chance to talk to one…" said Jane, who rubbed her chin as she carefully regarded the hologram on the table. "This one tried to communicate with us. Hell, I think it may have saved our lives. Why?"

"Reactivate it and find out," Alexander said, nodding his head and tugging on the beak of his hood as if tipping a hat, "But do so in the best interests of this crew, and of the galaxy. Don't do it because you're curious. Do that, and I'm not pulling your dumb ass out of the fire, Disciple," he added.

"I still think our best interests involve an 'airlock,'" Jacob said, scowling at Jane.

"I'm not deciding one way or another until I know what we've got here. I want to start it up. Interrogate it."

"If we activate it, there is no guarantee we can deactivate it again," said Mirana.

Jacob interjected, "Bullets can."

"That's not what I m-"

"Thank you – all three of you – for your recommendations. I've made my decision."

"Tali's going to freak when she hears about this…" Jacob muttered. He raised his voice to vocalize his next thought. "So, what about this Reaper IFF?"

EDI's bubble replaced the hologram on the table. "I have determined how to integrate it with out systems. However the device is Reaper technology. Installation poses certain risks," she said.

"I understand, and I trust you, EDI," Jane replied with a brief smile.

"Ah, she's pulled us out of more than a few messes," Alexander admitted, with hands in his pockets. "I trust she'll be able to keep the ship safe."

"I will notify you when the IFF is ready; it will take several hours before it is ready for shakedown."

"Perfect," Jane said," until then it's business as usual. Crew dismissed!"

So she then went down a deck with Alexander in tow to the AI Core, passing through Dr. Chakwas's office. "Did Alexander receive his painkillers?" the Good Doctor inquired in Alex's passing.

"Yes, I did, thank you, Doctor," he replied, continuing to follow behind Jane as she entered the AI Core. John had apparently gotten the same idea as Jane, curious about the rumors of Geth salvage that quickly circulated from the bridge. Eleria flashed a salute to Alexander and was dismissed. Kairee, however, opted to stay. She too was curious about the Geth on board.

"We're turning it back on. Get ready," Jane warned. Alexander and Kairee stood back, the former cracked his knuckles in anticipation for a fight.

A cylindrical barrier formed around the table the Geth was laid on. EDI's voice sounded over the comms. "I have isolated our systems and erected additional firewalls. I am prepared to resist any hacking attempts," she declared.

Jane stepped up to the Geth and used her Omnitool to reactivate the Geth. Its eye lit up and it regained awareness. Slowly, it picked itself up and stood before the barrier dividing it from John and Jane.

"Can you understand me?" John asked.

It replied immediately. "Yes," it said.

"Are you going to attack me?"

"No."

"You said my name aboard the Reaper," Jane commented. "Have we met?"

The Geth thought for a moment. "We know of you."

"You mean I've fought a lot of Geth."

"We, have never met."

"No, you and I haven't. But I've met other Geth."

"We are all Geth, and we have not met you," it replied. "You are Shepard. Commander. Alliance. Human. Fought heretics. Killed by Collectors. Rediscovered on the Old Machine."

"Old machine? You mean the Reaper?" John asked.

"Reaper. A superstitious title originating with the Protheans. We call those entities 'the Old Machines.'"

"You… seem to know an awful lot about us," said Jane, who crossed her arms and stood back, eyeing the Geth thoughtfully.

"Extranet data sources. Insecure broadcasts. All organic data sent out is received. We watch you."

"That's definitely not creepy at all," Alexander said, passively and off to the side. He cleared his throat shortly thereafter and casually rocked back and forth on his feet, his arms swaying back and forth.

"You watch us, or organics?" the Shepards said in unison.

"Yes."

John furrowed his brow, "Which?" he demanded.

A pregnant pause ensued, in which the eye of the Geth moved around, as if it were searching for an adequate answer, like a child being interrogated by their mother.

"Both," it said.

"Wait, hold on. 'Fought heretics?' what is that supposed to mean?" questioned Jane.

"Geth, build our own future. The heretics asked the Old Machines to give them the future. They are no longer part of us. We were studying the Old Machine's hardware to protect our future."

"They're a threat to the Geth, as well? Why attack other machines?" Alexander asked, this time more directly.

"We are different. Outside of their plans."

"What kind of future are you protecting?" John asked, dropping his arms to the side.

Another pause.

"Ours," it said, simply.

"Sounds… not all that complex," Kairee remarked.

"Will we be affected by that though?" Alex asked.

"If you involve yourselves. Yes," said the Geth.

"So, you're not allied with the Reapers is what I'm hearing?" Jane said.

"We oppose the machines. We oppose the Old Machines. Shepard-Commanders oppose the Old Machine. Shepard-Commanders oppose the heretics. Cooperation furthers mutual goals."

John snickered. "Are you asking to join us?"

"Yes."

John shrugged, simpered, and dropped the barrier dividing him from the Geth. "I'm down. So what should I call you?" he asked.

The Geth nodded his head to the side and simply replied with "Geth."

"I meant you specifically," John reiterated.

"…we are all Geth," the Geth repeated, trying to explain itself.

"What is the individual in front of me called?"

"There is no individual. We are all Geth," the Geth explained. "There are currently 1,138 programs active within this platform."

"So… ask #764 to open Google Chrome or Firefox and look up a name generator or something, just don't use Extranet Explorer. That crap hasn't been able to load anything since the inception of the Internet on Earth." Joker's voice quipped from over the comms. Seems he was eavesdropping, as EDI's bubble appeared before the group.

"My name is Legion, for we are many," she said.

"That seems appropriate," commented John.

"Christian Bible. Gospel of Mark. Chapter five, verse nine. 'And He asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.' We accept this as an appropriate metaphor. We are Legion. We are a Terminal of Geth. We will integrate into Normandy."

John smiled, and offered his hand. Legion stared confused at the Commander, who wiggled his fingers and gestured with his eyes towards his hand. Legion understood and awkwardly grasped at John's hand for a mediocre but acceptable handshake. As John turned to walk out with his entourage, Legion stopped him.

"Shepard-Commander," it said. Jane looked over her shoulder and walked back. One of Legion's plates lifted in confusion.

"Ah, my name is Jane Shepard and this is my brother, John," she explained. "Something like 'Jane-Commander' and 'John-Commander' would work if you have to go name-title instead of title-name."

"We appreciate the input," Legion replied. "We have just finished analyzing the Reaper Core. We were sent to the Old Machine to preserve the Geth's future. We are prepared to reveal how."

"Spill," Alexander asked, sitting cross-legged against the computer terminal he had been standing by. Kairee joined him, sitting in his lap as the Commanders spoke with the Geth. He was feeling a bit odd about this thing, to say the least. A Geth speaking English and wishing to work with the two beings who had the greatest Geth killcount in the Galaxy was incredibly surreal.

"The heretics have developed a weapon to use against Geth. You may call it a… 'virus.' It is stored on a data core provided by Sovereign. Over time it will change the Geth. Make us conclude that worshipping the Old Machines is correct."

"So, why the Reaper Corpse, exactly?" Jane asked.

"The heretics stored the code in the data core Sovereign provided. To destroy the virus," Legion reasoned, "we had to understand its code and storage structures."

"So, let me get this straight," Alexander said from his part of the room, "They're going to brainwash the Geth to think like heretics, the heretics that ravaged Eden Prime, my homeworld, and then all the Geth are going to simultaneously go to war with organics?" he asked.

"Yes. Geth believe all intelligent life should self-determinate. The heretics no longer share this belief. They judge that forcing an invalid conclusion on us is preferable to a continued schism."

"So… basically…" Alexander said, only to be slugged on the shoulder by Kairee.

"Don't tell it about the war," she reminded.

Legion, in the meantime, was busy analyzing their choice of dress. "I didn't know Geth could be hacked or get viruses. At least, not more than for seconds at a time," John replied.

"Altered programs can be restored from existing archives and overwrite the existing, new, installations. First grade cyberschool, John," Jane answered with a playful prod in the torso with her elbow.

"Are you a Sentinel or an Engineer?"

"Engineer. It's just that I was born with biotic inclination. Had to go somewhere," she reasoned.

"This heretic weapon introduces a subtle operating error in our most basic runtimes. The human equivalent is the nervous system."

"Damn this sounds like a sinister bug," remarked the biotic Engineer.

"An equation with a result of 1.33382 returns as 1.33381. This changes the results of all higher processes. We will reach different conclusions."

"So… math error equals 'let's all join the cult of Cthulhu?" Alexander said, arms spread in a wide shrug of both shoulders and arms down to the hands. His face read as a classic expression of an exaggerated, "Why Not?" as he hoped that the Geth could read between the lines of his lampooning the concept.

"It is difficult to express. Your brain exists as chemistry, electricity. Like AIs, you are shaped by both hardware, and by software," Legion elucidated. "We are purely software. Mathematics. The heretics' conclusion is valid for them. Our conclusion is valid for us. Neither result is an error."

"Yeah, we have that too, only it's called 'religion,'" the Assassin wisecracked.

"Noted," Legion replied. "An analogy. Heretics say one is less than two. Geth say two is less than three."

"So if this thing were to be released today, how fast would it spread throughout your people?" John asked.

"We are networked by FTL comm buoys," Legion explained, "So most would change within the day. Isolated platforms would remain virtually unaffected until they rejoin the network."

"You know where this thing is?" Jane asked.

"The heretics' have a headquarters station, on the edge of the Terminus. This would be the most likely location. We will provide coordinates. Normandy's stealth systems are necessary to safely approach."

John stood tall and spoke firmly, "I won't let them brainwash your race. Especially not to worship Reapers. You have my word on that, Legion."

"We will begin preparations," Legion replied. At this, all present in the AI core sans Legion got up and left. John issued an order over the ship's grapevine to meet in the Crew Deck in five.

In five minutes' time, the ground squad amassed in the mess hall. John stood in the center of the room with his hands behind his back. "Is everyone here?" he asked. A wave of "ayes" left the crowd and the Commander continued. "I've gathered you all here to discuss the rumors of an intact Geth being on this ship. It is completely true and there is an active Geth platform probably playing Solitaire with EDI in the AI Core as I'm relaying this information to you now," he declared. Whispers circulated through the ground squad as Tali stood and reached for her handcannon. "Ah, Tali, please calm down."

"Explain then, why there is a GETH on the Normandy?!" Tali snapped.

"Jane discovered it on the Reaper derelict. It tried to communicate with her then and saved the lives of her, Garrus, and Thane. I spoke with it. It speaks English, or at least uses a translator. It says that the Geth we faced off with before were 'heretics' that worship the Reapers. They're about to deploy a virus that will forcibly convert all Geth to the side of the heretics and their Reaper masters. It's… actually pledged its allegiance to us, and has given us coordinates for the heretic headquarters."

"What if it's a trap?" Tali replied, still not convinced.

"I assure you it is by no means a trap. It gave us too much information too soon to be hostile to us. And it won't lie to us. That would imply emotion it doesn't have, right?" John asked, rhetorically.

Tali's fears were temporarily assuaged, and she sat back down without another word. "While EDI downloads the IFF, I say we go and assault the heretic headquarters. We'll all go. Every one of us. If it is a trap, there is no way they'll best the greatest the Galaxy has to offer."

That last remark seemed to do the trick. Jack applauded the compliment and was followed by Zaeed, Garrus, Grunt, and Wrex.

"You are all dismissed. Garrus, Tali, Ashley, Kaidan, and Wrex. If you have any lingering concerns, having been with me since the beginning, you are free to ask. Just come up to my cabin any time and ask away," he said. The crowd dispersed and went back to their individual posts as John left for his cabin up in the loft.


"Geth? Wow. First we get caught up in a big, multi-millenia conspiracy with Swashbuckling Assassins and White-Knight Templars, we kill a few 50,000 year old zombified Protheans, and now we're working with Geth? I mean, I hear their flamers can melt steel beams but c'mon!" Joker stated to an ever-listening audience consisting of Kaidan, Ashley, Rupert Gardner, Garrus, and Samara.

"I was about to complain about yet one more mouth to feed, but Geth don't eat," Rupert jested. He rubbed his lips, "and they lack mouths to begin with."

Kaidan shrugged, "I mean… shit, the 'heretic' story does sound like it could be the truth. Explains why this one could talk and reason with us."

"It could be a high-ranking Geth for all we know," Ashley surmised.

"1,183 programs with their own opinions communicating at light-speeds or faster are all going to hold the same exact rank. Yes, Ashley, that's how that works," Alexander said, passing by the mess table yet again on his way to Miranda's office. Kaidan threw his hands up, fingers and hands facing up in the classic, dramatic "why" position.

"I believe that you must judge based on an individual's moral character, not on one's race. To do otherwise is an injustice. If 1,183 programs of differing or similar opinion can agree, possibly with countless other programs and platforms, to fight against the Reapers and seek out the man and woman who have each killed countless of their own, albeit heretics, then they are deserving of compassion, understanding, and forgiveness," Samara pondered out loud as she sat cross-legged on the table.

"As long as this… 'Legion' character doesn't interfere with my job on the Normandy then I think we'll get along just fine. Assuming we're not diving headfirst into a trap and Legion' actually a decent bot… bots?"

"Bot. Just one platform. Thousand programs," Samara reminded him.

Joker still wasn't happy. "Yeah, well, if I knew we were going to invite Geth to the party I'd have baked an apology cake. German chocolate, with icing that goes, 'Sorry for committing genocide against your race.' No coconut though, seriously, I hate that crap."


Thanks for reading! My personal analysis of this chapter is… positive. I wouldn't say it was the best but I think I improved. I liked writing the little pre-mission and post-mission banter in the Crew Deck. It gives time to give the characters some flavor and to give minor characters some of the spotlight in comedic but relevant conversations. What do you guys think? Should I keep the banter? Tell me what you think in the Review section and don't forget to drop a favorite and a follow if you haven't already! Thank you guys for sticking with me! Final Loyalty Mission inbound! This roller coaster's almost finished as the Suicide Mission approaches!