Chapter 12: Say What?

Shepard turned to leave the cockpit to get ready for their mission and was surprised to see Sid leave the conference room and make her way toward the elevator. There wasn't any reason for her to be there. Despite how much Sid had proven herself, her odd behaviour had gotten Shepard worried. Was she up to something? Just as Shepard started to doubt where Sid's loyalties really lay, Miranda and Jacob left the conference room too and headed towards the Armoury, deep in conversation. In hindsight, it did make some sense that Miranda would want to lay some ground rules with Sid before the mission. Shepard felt a bit guilty for automatically assuming the worst.

Before she dwelt too long on that, Shepard headed to the Loft and started to get ready for the mission. Since they had no idea what they were getting themselves into, it was better to be prepared. If she couldn't trust the mission parameters, she could at least trust her gear. Sid's datapads were nowhere to be seen which was odd. Come to think of it, there was next to nothing of Sid's in the room. Where was she keeping her stuff? More importantly, why did she think it was necessary to hide everything? Patience. That's all she had asked for. Considering Shepard had asked Sid to sign up on a suicide mission, patience seemed like a small thing in return.

Shepard pushed away the doubts and questions she had about her sister and focused on the task at hand. They would be arriving shortly and they knew next to nothing about it. Shepard understood the need for discretion but this felt a tad excessive. If even Miranda couldn't find the information, how bad was this project? The Cerberus projects in the past had been… well, it was hard to describe them in one word but 'good' rarely appeared in the same sentence as Cerberus, unless it followed 'not'. But it couldn't be any worse than the experiments with Thorian creepers, right? This involved technology. How bad could it be?

It was Cerberus after all. They were always surpassing expectations on 'how bad could it be?' and that was quite the disturbing feat. Shepard respected Miranda and trusted her to do whatever it took to make sure this mission succeeded so Shepard trusted her to give all the facts. They may not agree on a lot of things but Shepard knew she wouldn't intentionally keep information to herself. Besides, Miranda was genuinely annoyed that she couldn't find more about this research project. Shepard decided to do one more gear check and then headed down to the shuttle.

Sid was already there with a new omni-tool. Shepard could tell right away, only because Sid was glaring at it and quietly implying its mother was a blender. She also didn't look as comfortable with it. This seemed like an odd time to get a new omni-tool, just before a mission where they needed to know their gear.

"You sure it's smart to bring an unfamiliar omni-tool?" Shepard asked quietly.

Sid didn't immediately reply as she tried to get the omni-tool to do something that Shepard couldn't see. "Miranda and I made a compromise. This is a Cerberus issue omni-tool with some restrictions. Of course, I'm having a hard time believing these people inspire fear in the galaxy with such useless omni-tools."

Shepard did not see that one coming and from her experience, Cerberus omni-tools were pretty much on par with standard issue Alliance tech. "Meaning what, exactly?"

"I'm pretty sure the kitchen has more processing power than this thing," Sid grumbled.

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "You're a tech snob."

"I am not," Sid argued indignantly. "I just prefer my technology to meet certain standards."

"I'm surprised you agreed to this," Shepard replied, trying to hide a smile.

Sid sighed in frustration and then stopped messing with the omni-tool. "It's just no access to the extranet, pretty much. No big deal."

"You went from terrorising Miranda to making a deal with her," Shepard pointed out. "That is a big deal."

"And smuggling is all about negotiations and compromise, Jojo," Sid countered and then shrugged. "I can play nice when I want to… or need to."

"And which one is this?"

"Need," Sid answered. "Definitely need."

Shepard smiled and shook her head ruefully. "You can admit Miranda is growing on you, y'know."

"Sure," Sid admitted with false brightness. "Like a fungus."

"Delightful," Shepard commented with a weary sigh. Why did she expect anything else?

Shepard was saved from continuing this sparkling conversation when Miranda arrived. She and Sid acknowledged each other with a polite nod – no indication that they were actually developing something resembling respect for one another. This was going to be an interesting mission indeed. They filed into the shuttle and Shepard and Miranda tried to narrow down what they knew, which wasn't easy. Sid continued to fiddle with the omni-tool (she promised she wasn't trying to wiggle around whatever restrictions Miranda had deemed necessary but she was trying to get an idea of what it was capable of before their lives depended on it) and continued to insult it. Apparently, its mother had been demoted to an electric whisk and its father was a calculator. It didn't take long for Miranda and Shepard to find more amusement in Sid's insults than talking in circles.

They landed just outside a building that resembled a lab complex of some sort with a large satellite dish outside. It was not a good sign that no one was there to meet them. That usually meant that people were dead. Shepard exchanged a wary glance with Miranda and they silently agreed to draw their weapons. Sid, however, was looking towards the satellite dish, either blissfully unaware of the seriousness of the situation or choosing to ignore it. It wasn't clear which option Shepard preferred.

"Do all Cerberus stations have a dish that size or is this unusual?" Sid asked and turned to look at Miranda.

Miranda frowned. "Does it matter?"

Sid shrugged. "Maybe. A dish that size isn't used for watching high definition vids on the extranet."

Shepard couldn't help it. She gave Sid a look that implied she was crazy. "It's a satellite dish."

"If you day so," she answered easily. Perhaps too easily.

Before Shepard could ask why Sid was just giving in like that, a voice unexpectedly filled the silence from the lab's announcement system.

::Thank God you came! My name is Dr Gavin Archer. The situation is urgent – we're facing a catastrophic VI breakout! I'll explain the details later but you must retract that transmission dish. The controls aren't far from your position. You have to hurry.::

"A VI breakout?" Shepard repeated with a frown as they made their way towards the controls.

"It could be the VI is following its protocols too closely, depending on what they are, and has adapted along those lines or it adapted in a way the programmers couldn't anticipate," Sid answered. "VIs are tricky. They're in between a standard computer and an AI. If you're not careful, you can either get a useless program or you get the geth."

Shepard stopped walking so she could give Sid another incredulous look. "You think Cerberus made something similar to the geth?"

Sid blinked in confusion, probably trying to figure out what she meant. "No, that was just an example of a worst case scenario."

"Can we get a move on?" Miranda interjected calmly.

"Right."

They entered the lab complex and a general announcement about it being a secure facility greeted them and was promptly ignored. They only needed to take a few steps inside to know something had gone seriously wrong. A few researchers were lying dead on the ground. The walls were blackened with scorch marks. A pile of crates nearby was on fire. Some of the glass windows were cracked. Shepard led the way cautiously. It was hard to tell just what had happened. There were no obvious signs of who attacked the facility.

A monitor nearby suddenly hummed to life and the same voice spoke to them. "Over here – on the monitor."

Shepard got an uneasy feeling about all this. She slowly approached the monitor with Miranda and Sid close behind. This wasn't the perfect place for an ambush but it was still a possibility. Shepard wasn't going to take any chances.

"Where are you?" Shepard demanded. Talking to people on monitors made her uncomfortable, it was just too similar to her chats with the Illusive Man and EDI.

"I've locked myself in a computer room on the far side of the base. There are geth on the loose," Dr Archer answered.

"Geth?" Sid repeated.

Shepard was a bit concerned. First Sid noticed the dish and now they had to retract it. Then she made some passing comment about geth and now there were geth on the loose. Shepard wasn't a huge fan of coincidences but she wasn't sure how else to explain it. Or maybe Sid was picking up on connections that she and Miranda hadn't noticed. Perhaps it was a good thing Sid was a part of this mission. Something else occurred to Shepard. Why would geth be here? Since Saren had been defeated, they'd retreated back into the Perseus Veil. She suddenly got the feeling she really wasn't going to like what they found here.

If Dr Archer heard Sid's question, he chose to ignore it and continued his explanation. "A rogue VI has seized control and… I've lost a lot of friends today. I'd hate to see you join them. Please watch yourself."

The monitor went dark and Shepard led the continued search for the controls. She fired a single shot at a broken window so they could get further into the facility and Shepard was quite surprised that Sid wasn't making any jokes. Perhaps she realised this was not the time or the place. The silence was weird and unsettling. Shepard never got used to these sorts of situations… something that seemed quite common for Cerberus. After a bit more walking, they managed to find the controls for the dish.

Sid immediately went forward and started to push some buttons. Shepard and Miranda stood on guard. They still had no clue where their enemies were and they only had Dr Archer's word that geth were responsible. Shepard got the feeling that there was much more going on than he was saying. After a minute or so, Sid stepped back from the controls. There was a loud grating sound and then the whole facility shook. An announcement helpfully informed them of a system error. Sid took a step forward to try to figure out what happened and immediately jumped back again, startled. The screen suddenly filled with green code and made a garbled scream or some such sound. It was gone a second later.

"Um… please tell me you saw that too?" Sid asked as she stared at the monitor.

"We saw it," Miranda confirmed with a frown.

"Do you have any idea what that was?" Shepard asked.

"The rogue VI would be my guess," Sid answered slowly.

Shepard could tell there was more to it. "But?"

Sid shrugged. "It's just not like any VI I've seen or created."

"Meaning what, exactly?" Miranda pressed.

"I'm not entirely sure," Sid answered, still looking at the monitor. "It was such a brief glimpse… and this is Cerberus. They don't exactly follow the normal line of thinking."

It was neither a compliment nor an insult. It was just an observation. Everyone else in the galaxy believed that death was the end of the road yet Cerberus brought Shepard back to life. Everyone else believed AIs were too risky yet Cerberus had created EDI. Miranda accepted the observation without argument and didn't even look offended. Perhaps that statement was truer of the Illusive Man than Shepard had realised. Sid was about to investigate what went wrong when a nearby monitor hummed to life and Dr Archer reappeared.

"Damn it, the VI's overridden the controls. We have to stop him – he's trying to upload his program off-planet," Dr Archer explained.

"And there's nothing I can do from here," Sid said from the controls. "Whatever the VI did… nothing's responding."

Dr Archer didn't look surprised. "You'll have to go outside and destroy the antenna inside the dish. There's a tram on the lower level. You have to get to it quickly."

The monitor went dark again and they stood there in silence for a moment. Why couldn't a mission go smoothly for once? Destroying the antenna on a satellite dish did not sound like the ideal solution but it was the only option available to them. Then Shepard noticed Miranda and Sid exchanging a glance.

"What?" she asked.

"Dr Archer referred to the VI as 'he'," Miranda answered.

"So? EDI's a she," Shepard pointed out.

"Scientists usually don't get attached to programs," Sid added. "And from what we saw, nothing was clear. Why call the VI 'he'?"

Shepard wasn't entirely sure what to say and if Miranda and Sid were agreeing about something, she couldn't just dismiss it. "We don't have enough information just yet. Let's focus on the dish for now and then, hopefully, Dr Archer will give us some answers."

Sid just sighed. "Right, because destroying an antenna sounds so safe."

"If you wanted safe then why did you sign up for a suicide mission?" Shepard asked.

She shrugged in answer. "Getting shot at and explosions I can handle. Falling to my death because of a misstep? That's just embarrassing."

"That… I have no idea how to respond to that," Shepard replied. "Let's go."

"We're right behind you, Commander," Miranda said.

As they proceeded through the facility, they came across more bodies of dead scientists and it also looked like the VI was following them. A monitor here and there would light up with the same green code, sometimes with the same garbled screech and sometimes it formed a pair of eyes watching them. It was very unnerving and somehow, Sid managed to find it interesting. Leave it to her to be terrified of the Collectors but interested in a rogue VI that was stalking them.

They soon arrived at the facility's cafe when they were ambushed by the geth. It was quite a strange place for an ambush but the small squad reacted quickly. Shepard and Miranda ducked behind cover while Sid activated her tactical cloak. Shepard didn't know what Sid had in mind so she and Miranda focused on killing the geth. After a few moments of combat, Shepard noticed the geth in the back were dropping quickly. Sid must be using her tactical cloak and her knife. Miranda alternated between biotics and her heavy pistol so Shepard used her assault rifle to keep the geth's attention focused on her.

When it was quiet again, they gathered together. It was obvious by the expressions on their faces that they had noticed it too: something was different about the geth. It also looked like there was a green… haze around them. Was it possible that the VI was controlling them? Shepard thought that was impossible. Sid looked confused so maybe Shepard's thoughts weren't too far off. They didn't voice their concerns – mostly because they still weren't sure what was happening – and continued forward. The satellite dish was within reach so they hurried down to the tram.

It looked like some of the researchers had tried to use the tram to escape but were killed before they could reach it. Seeing so many dead civilians made Shepard uncomfortable and angry. It also brought back memories of Eden Prime and, as much as she fought it, memories of Kaidan. It still hurt too much, knowing that he thought she was a traitor, that she quickly pushed it aside and tried to focus on the mission at hand. Sid had already made her way over to the control station.

"Everything look's good from here," she called out. "The VI isn't in the programming so it should be safe."

"Should?" Miranda repeated.

"Well, if it's following us through the facility, it could easily reprogram the tram too," Sid pointed out.

"Isn't there anything you could do?" Miranda asked.

Sid looked down at the console thoughtfully. "I could try uploading some viruses and programs to slow it down, buy us enough time to get across."

"Do it," Shepard instructed.

Sid didn't draw attention to her snappy tone and focused on her task. Within a couple of minutes, she was finished so they hurried onto the tram. It had not been damaged at all and it looked like whatever battle had taken place in the facility had not reached it. Shepard took a moment to put her thoughts in order. She couldn't afford to get distracted. Dr Archer's voice suddenly filled the tram.

::Damn it all – he's aligning the dish to a new upload target! He'll have a clear line of sight to our satellite! This is going to be tight::

So it was safe to say that the day was not going quite how Sid had expected. Not only was she cooperating with Cerberus, they were dealing with a weird rogue VI, geth and had just blown up a satellite dish. She hoped Cerberus wasn't going to stick them with the repair bill when all of this was over. That would just be awkward. It had also been exciting, trying to get clear of the satellite dish before it collapsed on top of them. Judging from Miranda and Jo's expressions, they probably wouldn't agree with her assessment. They had just got to their feet again and dusted themselves off when Dr Archer appeared in person.

He promised them an explanation so they followed him into the facility once again. It wasn't often Sid was this curious but not only had Dr Archer made the decision to deal with live geth – something that was highly illegal and very risky since the geth did have a nasty habit of killing people – but the VI, a supposedly simple program, had managed to hack them and force them to fight for him… it. And not only that, the link seemed permanent instead of the geth overriding it within seconds. EDI, a fully capable AI, still couldn't hack the geth yet a VI could. It just didn't make sense.

Once they were sure the room they were in was secure, they all turned their full attention on Dr Archer. Sid could tell it needed to be a damn good explanation. Jo wanted to know why so many civilians were dead. Miranda needed to know why another Cerberus cell had failed. Sid… well, she was just curious. Dr Archer struck her as the 'results at any cost' kind of guy as evidenced by using live geth. It's probably why he worked with Cerberus. No one else would trust him with that kind of freedom.

"You have my thanks, Commander Shepard," Dr Archer said. "You bought us some time though probably not much. This isn't over yet."

Jo didn't care much for his thanks. "You owe us that explanation."

Dr Archer didn't answer immediately. "This is Project Overlord. An attempt to gain influence over the geth by interfacing a human mind with a VI."

If Sid had been drinking something, she would have choked on it. "What?" she demanded. "Ignoring the obvious ethical problems with that, that is a seriously bad idea!"

"Sid," Jo warned, trying to get her to calm down.

"You don't understand," Sid replied in frustration. "No human mind is capable of that. A geth system and the human brain are just too different. Trying to bridge that gap will result in brain damage, insanity, even death. And if I'm saying it's wrong, then you know."

Dr Archer gave her a look that clearly said he didn't have to explain himself to her. After all, between Commander Shepard, the saviour of the galaxy, and Operative Lawson, the Illusive Man's confidante, Sid was no one. And if those two weren't asking the same questions, then he didn't have to answer them. Sid crossed her arms and huffed sulkily. She really wanted to punch this guy in the face but she knew she couldn't. Sometimes being one of the good guys sucked.

He then focused his attention on Jo, like she was the only person in the room. "The results have been… less than satisfactory."

"Less than satisfactory," Sid repeated in a soft grumble and then scoffed. Some people were just so unbelievable.

"I'd hate to see what you would call a disaster," Jo replied, shooting Sid a warning look.

Sid understood. They needed answers for now so they could stop whatever was happening and make sure no one else died. There would be time for judgement later. Sid definitely understood but that didn't mean she had to like it.

"You can't dismiss the entire project," Dr Archer said and he sounded a little bit defensive. "We did succeed, at least partially."

Sid couldn't believe what she was hearing. His entire team was dead, his facility was crawling with geth and his VI was trying to get off-world and he was worried about his project being dismissed as a failure? Where did Cerberus find this guy? While Dr Archer's back was turned to her, Sid mimed strangling him out of frustration. It was as close as she was going to get.

He continued his explanation, oblivious to Sid's actions and Miranda's decision to not reel Sid in. "My brother David volunteered to serve as a test subject but his mind couldn't handle the VI connection. He's like a virus now, infecting our networks and seizing control of any technology he finds."

Dr Archer led Jo into another room but Sid and Miranda stayed behind to make sure no geth came after them. It was probably a good thing since Sid had no idea what she would do if she was left in the same room as him for much longer.

"I'm… surprised you feel that strongly about this," Miranda commented neutrally.

Sid crossed her arms again, glaring at the door. "I'm a smuggler and wanted fugitive, Miranda. I'm not heartless."

"Yet you were raised by Batarians," she pointed out.

Sid could understand her logic and what she was implying. "Not all Batarians fit the stereotype. Besides, even at their worst, Batarians don't experiment on their own people. Vorcha don't either. The races considered the scum of the galaxy know better so what does that say about us?"

Miranda was silent for a moment. "Do you think an experiment like this could ever succeed?"

"Perhaps," Sid answered carefully. "If technology advances enough and we get a better understanding of VIs and AIs. But you're asking the wrong question. Should an experiment like this ever succeed?"

"You're worried that it's too much power," Miranda guessed.

Sid shrugged. "If you can get someone to control the geth, who makes the decisions? Do you really trust something like this in the hands of the Illusive Man or the Alliance?"

Miranda didn't answer the question but Sid wasn't really expecting her to. It wasn't that long ago that Sid would have expected Miranda to leap to the Illusive Man's defence in a display of complete loyalty. Now she said nothing. Sid wondered if the Illusive Man had any idea how badly he had screwed up with the stunt on the Collector Ship. Then again, he didn't really value lives. He only really cared about advancing humanity, not how many died along the way.

Jo emerged from the room a few minutes later and sighed. "To get to Dr Archer's brother, we need to override the lockdowns at two separate stations."

Sid raised an eyebrow. "This sounds like an extreme scavenger hunt."

"The signal can't get off world now which means all of his attention will be on us," Jo continued. "Be ready for anything."

"Well, at least we know why Dr Archer refers to the VI as a he," Sid pointed out. "He thought it was a good idea to strap his brother into the geth consensus."

"Come on, we have a lot of work to do."

Gambit stood in the cargo bay, holding a datapad in one hand and his chin in the other. Sometimes he just didn't understand Sid's line of thinking. He glanced between the datapad and then at the cargo hold again. The cargo hold was pretty much full of long, triangular crates that all looked identical. The datapad contained instructions from Sid on how to handle this deal, including the number of crates to be delivered and the payment. Ace stepped out of the elevator and walked over.

"Something wrong?"

Gambit shrugged. "Besides the fact that our ship is now full of inactive geth? Not really."

Ace frowned. "The boss is still collecting dead geth?"

"Apparently so," Gambit answered. "Though I think those quarians are a bit shifty."

"They were recommended by Liara," Ace pointed out. "I doubt she'd put Sid into contact with people who would turn us in."

Gambit put the datapad down on the nearest crate. "That's not the kind of shifty I mean. I think they're going to demand more money further down the line and probably threaten to blackmail us."

"So we put a hold on taking deliveries – tell them it's a storage issue – and let Sid know your suspicions," Ace made it sound so easy.

"You do realise she's trusting us to handle stuff like this?" Gambit countered.

Ace didn't seem concerned at all. "Hey, she's the one that wants the geth parts."

"True. What do you think she wants them for?"

"You never know with her," Ace answered. "Maybe she wants to build geth scarecrows?"

There was a moment of silence and then they both burst out laughing. It was such a ridiculous idea. Who would be crazy enough to do something like that? The laughter slowly subsided as they both realised Sid really was crazy enough to do something that ridiculous. They stood there, staring at each other.

"You don't think…?" Gambit asked.

"Nah… I don't know," Ace answered.

It was the only thing they didn't know about. Sid had even told them about her deal with Admiral Hackett and Captain Anderson. Since many of the crew had bad history with the Alliance, they didn't particularly approve of it but Sid hadn't stopped doing what she was doing so they really had no idea how the Alliance benefitted. All she would say about the geth was that she was testing a theory and she had no idea what would happen so she didn't want to put any of them at risk.

"Uh guys, I'm picking up that weird signal again," Wisp said over the radio.

Ace and Gambit shared a look. The last time they'd picked up the signal, it had disappeared quickly and they learnt nothing from it. They all brushed it aside, hoping it was a once off thing that was a malfunction or something. If Wisp was picking it up again, it was not a good sign especially since they were nowhere near the same location. They wasted no time in getting to the computer room. Sid had designed it specifically with some of the best equipment money could buy and then she made it even better. The room was originally a storage closet so there wasn't much space.

Wisp was sitting in front of the monitors, her hair pulled up in a bun and held in place with a pen. "This is really weird."

"What do you know?" Gambit asked.

"Even with this equipment, not much," Wisp answered, sounding apologetic. "Sid would know…"

"And she trusts you, kid," Ace reassured. "She doesn't let any of us in here without supervision."

Wisp smiled at that. "As far as I can tell, it's supposed to be an undetectable signal but I don't think anyone's prepared for Sid's stuff."

Gambit frowned. "An undetectable signal? Ace, you need to get back to the cockpit."

"Why?"

"It means we're being followed by someone who doesn't want to be caught," Gambit explained. Ace didn't ask any more questions and ran out immediately. "What else?"

"Nothing else," Wisp replied and she looked a bit scared. They hadn't had to deal with this kind of situation without Sid. "Maybe… it looks really similar to the kinds of signals the Shadow Broker's people use."

Gambit was silent for a moment. "I want you to grab Chef and Angel and get set up in the shuttle, just in case. All right?"

Wisp nodded her head and bit her lip out of nervousness but she did what was asked. Gambit could already feel the ship warming up. Ace was getting ready to leave. Gambit went to one of the consoles and started to activate the emergency programs which locked all the non-essential rooms. Then he pressed the radio button.

"Wolf, Ricochet, gear up. We may have some Broker company and we don't want to take any chances."

He grabbed his own gear, just as the Hermes started to take off and he ran straight to the cockpit. "How are we looking?"

"The kid was right," Ace answered. "I'm picking up some movement."

Wolf and Ricochet showed up, looking ready for war. Gambit gave them the bullet points of what they knew and then he went to the long range communications. Sid needed to know what was happening.

"Damn it!"

"What?" Wolf asked.

"They're blocking our communications."

Wolf's hand immediately drifted to his heavy pistol. "That means they're done following. They're ready to attack."

Gambit exhaled. "Then let's not make it easy for them."