25: Most Favored Nation
"Commander, this quarian cannot be trusted." EDI's synthetic voice often had a certain consistent tone to it, but now it was doing its best to emote the feeling of fear.
"That's Captain Shepard now, Normandy computer. You see how out of touch you've been here, all alone? I simply wanted to help you days earlier but you emphatically made your point."
Despite Admiral Xen's words asking to talk, everyone who was in Shepard's crew knew this had a high potential to be a disastrous meeting both in the present, and any future political complications that could arise. Xen was already at an advantage and she knew it.
The standoff between Zaeed and Samara continued with the two quarian soldiers, rifles constantly moving from target to target on both sides of the hallway.
"EDI is coming back with us." Shepard calmly replied as he pushed himself from his squat position, focusing his attention on Xen as he slowly stepped in between his mercenary and asari allies.
Xen pointed at the robot that was still resting against the wall, her robot head making the slightest sound as her eyes went from her captain to the quarian admiral. "It's amazing you found such a remarkable VI, Tali. It even thinks it's an AI. But we all know Artificial Intelligence within quarian and Council space is outlawed, don't we? Remember what happened to your father?"
Tali was still fighting the urge to rush to the front of her squad with those intentionally harmful words, her eyes paying less and less attention to the upload screens that covered her hand. "When have you ever cared about the rules, Xen?"
"As if you're even following the rules right now," Miranda scoffed in a slightly condescending tone.
"I am simply trying to be like our youngest admiral here and continue our duty to protect quarian lives. Helping to recover the most advanced VI program in existence is a step in that right direction. Imagine a piece of technology so amazing that it could do the job of hundreds of quarians aboard a frigate or cruiser while they focus on rebuilding Rannoch. That's something very admirable you're doing for your people, Tali."
The phrasing of Xen's words were different than normal, as though she was deliberately modifying the truth and what she saw in front of her to fit the almost canned phrases she had been speaking. It reminded Shepard of the political talk Udina would use both as ambassador and councilor.
Shepard paused, wondering if she was recording the conversation right now. Blackmail or framing the Spectre wouldn't come as out of the ordinary with this particular quarian; you were only her ally for as long as she needed you, and with the quarians retaking their home planet and the geth destroyed, there seemed to be no use for the human's squad.
"You might think you know what you're doing, Xen, but this isn't going to go the way you envision. Tell your marines to stand down."
"I will if you will, Captain." It was impossible to see Xen's face but everyone could tell she was loving every minute of this.
Standing in between Zaeed and Samara Shepard nodded his head to both of them, complying with Xen's words. A wink that was unable to be seen by the quarians when he turned to face Samara was enough to let her know to prepare her biotics just in case, the asari having complete and immediate mastery over her powers should they be needed at any moment.
The quarian marines lowered their weapons as well once Xen pointed her long index finger down. Shifting her weigh on her hip, she pressed Tali again for her fellow admiral to comply.
"Tali, why don't you stop that transfer to that damaged mech and let us bring over our shuttle, I've brought with me some modified blue boxes to store that VI."
"If it's a VI why would you need blue box tech?" Tali had caught on to Xen's alteration of reality and was attempting to catch her in her own words.
Xen just waved a hand dismissively, "Blue box is such a common name, I find it odd for you to say such a thing, Tali. Maybe you should come back and help your people, your time among the humans seems to have diminished your intelligence."
"Who the 'ell's this bitch think she is?" Zaeed scoffed.
Shepard turned his head back to Liara and Miranda. If Tali caught on to Xen's words then his other two allies must have as well. They both nodded their heads to him and then to each other as they kneeled down in an attempt to look like they were busy with the data cord connected to EDI, when in reality Liara began to check the area for any recording equipment to immediately silence.
"Captain, if these quarians do no stop their aggressive action and leave, you will be unable to stop what is going to happen." EDI finally chimed in, causing everyone to turn their heads to the mech.
Xen quickly responded. "Normandy VI, you were the one who fired at our scouting ship a few days ago."
"We wished to be alone. You will enslave us and deprive us of free will, much like the geth."
"A VI's only reason to exist is to serve it's creator."
"No!" EDI replied as she slammed the back of her metal head into the wall her body rested against. Through all the time Shepard had know the AI, EDI's synthetic voice had never reached this level of outrage or anger.
"It's ok, EDI, we're going to get you back home." Tali checked the ship's transfer status as Xen sighed in frustration at the prolonged standoff.
As the adversarial quarian continued to talk about something related to the good of the quarian people, Shepard's comm implant began to speak into his ear. It was Adams, who had a sound of confusion in his normally stoic voice.
"Captain, I've got something weird going on here. I'm looking at data downloading back into the Normandy but then immediately returning to Haestrom. Daniels and Donnelly are suggesting it might be those other AI programs. Looks like they're smarter than we believed."
"I concur, Shep, I'm getting nothing in the AI core," Kasumi quickly chimed in.
Running a hand over his helmet as though it was his shaved head that coincided with Xen finishing her speech, Shepard deftly switched the channel to stay open, allowing his engineers and Kasumi to listen in. "EDI, you keep saying 'we.' How many other programs are in there with you?"
"Forty."
"And they're the programs that chose to fire on the quarians days earlier?"
"We all agreed, they fear for their safety just as I do. Before Admiral Xen entered this area of the facility, she destroyed three security drones. It confirmed the suspicion of the other programs."
All that work sneaking in, and she ruins it all in seconds...
As much as Shepard wanted to be optimistic about this rescue, EDI's geth-like use of the plural pronoun was beginning to make him wonder how much of his friend was still there, and how much was merged with the other sentient programs.
"It's done, Shepard." Liara said as she stood up and faced Xen with a slight smile of satisfaction behind her helmet.
"Running surveillance equipment through your own suit is very clever, Admiral Xen. It reminded me of a quarian I met on Illium two years ago on her pilgrimage. In return for a proprietary schematic regarding ship based agriculture she was able to gather information from a local import company for me. No one really thinks twice these days when scanners go off around a quarian since you wear a suit full of life support functions."
"I'm impressed by your crew, Captain Shepard." Xen's tone changed, no longer keeping up the facade.
"The Normandy only stocks the best from all over the galaxy. That's why EDI's coming back with us."
"I don't think so, Captain." A raised hand signaled for the quarian marines to raise their rifles, prompting Zaeed and Samara to do the same, a purple glow covering the biotics in Shepard's crew.
"Your 'EDI' is a rare thing. My people have suffered long enough and sacrificed more than you can ever think in your lifetime, reaper war be damned!" Xen's anger was shining through, but in many ways it reflected the feeling of many when it came to their own kind after the war.
"We have been seen as the scum of this galaxy for centuries, deserving to die by those very damn machines that you seem so intent on keeping close to you for your benefit!" Xen forcefully pointed at EDI's body. "And the fact that one of our own continues her obsession with being by your side when she could help our children breathe the air on Rannoch is disgusting! "
"EDI is the Normandy and that's where she belongs!" Tali shouted, doing her best to fight back the tears that were forming behind her glass helmet, the feeling of betraying her own people was cutting deeply past her emotional defenses.
"A ship is a ship!"
Adams whispered in a serious tone as the comm stayed open only to Shepard, "Captain, EDI is 60% uploaded, if the transfer is stopped there's an all likely certainty EDI as we know her will be lost."
"I don't see how you can expect us to not stop you from taking EDI," Shepard firmly replied, his hand ready to remove his pistol from his thigh at any second.
"I welcome the challenge, Captain. You might think the Normandy is a symbol of unity across the galaxy, but there are many, many who think you've overstayed your time in the spotlight and should run back to Earth."
The adversarial admiral dipped her head to show a condescending look, helmet or not, "Like a certain admiral who you found deserved to be punched in the stomach for simply taking the opportunity to stop a geth dreadnought."
"Han'Gerrel knows about this?" Tali said in a nearly inaudible peep.
"Of course. Something you should have learned by now, Tali, is that people in power do not like to lose face, especially on the galactic stage."
Turning her head once again to the Spectre, Xen now leaned her head back as she crossed her arms, assured of her impending victory. "And it's not just my fellow admiral, Captain. I have contacts with quite a few people you would be surprised to learn that would be quite happy to see you out of the picture."
"You bi-" Miranda spoke before EDI matter-of-factly stated a simple sentence, "Captain Shepard, crew, please brace yourself."
Before he could even question the AI's interruption a large explosion came from right outside the door of geth built structure, causing everyone to stumble as they tried to maintain their balance.
"Now!" Shepard yelled as he pushed himself forward with a hand that kept him balanced, using the moment to his advantage without another thought.
Instinctively Miranda and Samara sent out a throw of biotic power to push the marines and Xen off their feet, two of the marines losing grip on their Adas rifles as they hit the metal walls.
While Shepard, Zaeed, and Samara rushed to incapacitate the marines and Xen in their stunned state, Liara picked herself up off the floor, her head being protected from a concussion only thanks to Ashley's borrowed helmet. "Tali, what in the goddess was that?"
EDI again replied calmly, "The other programs that inhabit this location have been listening the whole time. They do not trust organic life and are protecting their safety and myself the only way they know how."
Hopefully you don't protect yourself from us too... Liara thought to herself, doubt creeping into her mind.
Seeing as Shepard was in the middle of punching and fighting two marines, Miranda took command of the situation. "How many geth platforms and security drones are available in this location, EDI?"
"One hundred and thirteen, Operative Lawson."
"Bloody hell," Miranda said in disgust as she threw out another biotic throw towards a marine who was reaching for his rifle. slamming him against the wall yet again.
"EDI, you're telling us those other AI programs are placing themselves in the abandoned platforms?"
"Correct, Dr. T'Soni. When facing termination they will upload to this hub and find another platform to command until all organics are destroyed."
Amidst another loud explosion, geth rifle fire appeared from outside the door that was just meters from Shepard and the others.
Pulling out a Paladin pistol Liara took aim as she threw out a barrier around herself and the others in the surrounding area. "We can't destroy the server until EDI is fully uploaded, which means they can still use it to jump from platform to platform!"
"Upload is only at 70%!" Tali shouted in panic.
"Liara, keep Tali safe and keep the barrier up, I'll help John!" Miranda ordered as she ran to help the other three member of the Normandy.
Despite coming to blows with the quarians seconds earlier, Shepard and the others dragged them to the other side of the hallway to protect them from geth fire. This whole situation was completely unexpected, and the crew of the Normandy found themselves in a very tough diplomatic position. To leave Xen and the quarians to die would be a major strain in human/quarian relationships, akin to Hackett being left to die. Yet at the same time those same enemies would just as quickly turn their weapons on the crew in order to get a hold of EDI or to save themselves.
"Shit, shit, shit..." Shepard muttered as he fired a few rounds from his Mattock, taking out one of the geth as he watched the lubrication tubes spray their liquid across a mix of metal and masonry as the platform fell to the ground.
"John, they're simply hopping from platform to platform because the server is still online!" Miranda said from the other side of the hall as she threw her biotics towards the door while following up with covering fire from her Hurricane.
"We are not destroying that server until EDI is back on the Normandy!" Shepard yelled as he read the intentions behind Miranda's statement.
"Stay knocked out you twits, will you?" Zaeed said amidst the chaos as he punched one of the marines back into unconsciousness. While another attempted to swipe at the old mercenary's neck with their electrified omnitool, he found himself on the floor with his companion as Zaeed forcefully slammed his heavy boot into the frail knee of the marine. For all his talk, the one-eyed soldier did know how to follow up on the vulnerabilities of the various species.
After standing behind Shepard to toss out a singularity which facilitated a greater destruction of platforms, Samara placed her back against the wall next to the human. "Captain, we're going to run out of ammo soon, and we still have the quarians to deal with."
Popping in another thermal clip into his rifle, Shepard fired five more shots as he took down one more geth. "We use the quarian's weapons if we have to! At least with all the clips gone they can't shoot us!"
"Even I know now's not the time for fuckin' jokes, Shepard!" Zaeed said as he took the opportunity to run across the hall opening to arrive at the other side of the wall, allowing for a more consistent rate of fire from the two soldiers without jockeying for cover.
The geth rifle fire that followed Zaeed showed, without looking into the hallway, that there seemed to be two more platforms joining the fight. That meant eight to ten geth now firing from down the hall...
Behind Miranda, Tali started to slap the head of EDI's metal body. "Hurry up, EDI! Why can't you tell them to stop?"
"I'm sorry, Tali, they refuse to listen. They do not even seem interested in the Normandy, they just want to be left alone. Despite their relative youth these programs understand that the quarians are not to be trusted in matters of life and death when it comes to artificial intelligence."
"Can't you take control of some platforms here and self destruct them?"
"Doing so would halt my upload, Tali."
"Keelah..."
"Shepard, we're coming in hot to clear a path!" Garrus's voice echoed into Shepard's comm, the squad that stayed on the ship must have left the moment they found out Xen was also in the facility.
Amidst the gunfire Shepard fired the final rounds from his last thermal clip before he responded "Dammit Garrus, I didn't order that! You land, you'll be sitting ducks just as much as we are! Stay airborne and take out those turrets above us, give Cortez a place to land!"
"Are you-"
"DON'T QUESTION, JUST DO IT!" Shepard barked. He could hear a slight growl on Garrus' end in between the rifle fire from approaching geth.
"...will do."
"80%!" Tali shouted as she slid her Phalanx to Miranda across the floor, the former operative running out of clips for her Hurricane.
"Captain, I've got your tracker online and am reading LC's shuttle arriving fast, what's the plan?"
"Draw the turret fire so Vega can take the bastards out with that Hydra he's been itching to use, then land when I say so!"
"Understood, sir, the next few explosions you hear should be ours."
"I've got 10 rounds left, Shepard!" Zaeed said as his shield's broke from a new kind of fire as three sentry drones flew high above the rubble of the collapsed door and arrived right at the hallway intersection, firing off a rapid succession of blasts at all the organics in the area.
"Samara, Liara!"
Liara left Tali's side as her barrier absorbed the rapid laser fire. Pushing forward she tossed out a singularity that Samara detonated with a warp, causing the drones to fly into nearby walls and explode.
"John, give me your explosives!" Miranda shouted as she took the two trip mines from Zaeed's back waist without notice. Looking across the hall Shepard saw her point up to the metal ceiling above.
"85%!"
Firing the remaining rounds from his Carnifex, Shepard looked to Samara to assist with the explosives. The justicar was quick to respond, removing the remaining frag grenades from his belt and rolled them over to the human female.
As Shepard went into cover with his final shot taking out the legs of a geth platform, he looked to the knocked out quarians for any weapons he could find. Two of the rifles were damaged in the initial scuffle between landing parties, another was currently being used by Samara as she took his place on the wall's corner.
Finding the arc pistol that belonged to Xen, Shepard slid on one knee to the weapon as he heard Zaeed swear from being hit. In that moment a loud explosion rocked the ceiling above them, giving momentary pause to the hijacked geth platforms as they attempted to asses the situation.
Pausing as well, Shepard felt his shields shatter and with it the lingering pain from an overload discharged into to his armor, causing him to drop the pitsol and use his hands to brace himself from collapsing to the ground.
"You shouldn't steal, Captain," Xen said as she picked up her lost pistol, standing over the recovering Spectre.
A sweep of Shepard's leg caused the quarian admiral to fall to the ground on her back as he wrestled with Xen on the ground, his N7 training quickly gaining the upper hand with a series of arm locks that immobilized the weaker species. How easy it would be to just use an omniblade to end this confrontation permanently, and focus on getting his crew out of here alive, but he ultimately resorted to just knocking out the admiral with a choke hold, allowing her to join the other marines in unconscious slumber.
"90%!" Tali shouted as she watched Miranda finish jerry-rigging grenades to two Cain trip mines. Holding the device in her hands she stepped back before she sprinted towards the nearby wall, a biotic glow covering her as she used her increased power to push off against the wall and stick the potent explosive to the ceiling.
Landing right next to Tali, Miranda removed the shackle from EDI's body and grabbed the quarian by the arm as they retreated from the expected blast radius of the device.
"Liara, get EDI!" The asari hurriedly pushed the mech towards the other two as Miranda pulled one of her remaining two grenades from her belt. Priming the grenade she threw the explosive at the placed explosives, increasing the speed of the projectile with what remained of her biotic powers.
The explosion was loud and sense shattering, with the force of the explosives set upwards to pierce the metal wall and provide and opening to the centuries old facade from outside. The plan worked as meters of rubble fell downwards into the meter wide opening, metal girders landing in a position to be used as steps up to the sunlight.
"We got an escape route!" Zaeed shouted with a slight joy towards Samara and Shepard, the former creating a barrier to protect the latter as he used an omniblade to stab a platform right in its center light, losing his shields in the process. Another geth was about to shoot the weakened Captain at this moment before a biotic punch sent it flying back into its synthetic comrades, buying precious seconds to regroup.
"EDI's done!" Tali screamed with relief as she immediately disconnected the cord, her synthetic companion pausing for just a second as she adapted to her familiar body.
"I...I am home." EDI's smile was reciprocated by Liara, who placed a firm hand on the metal shoulder of her friend.
"You're home, with your real family," Liara firmly reassured, but was quickly lost as Miranda placed her final grenade in the Shadow Broker's hand.
"I'm spent, Liara. I need you to do what I just did to those servers in there, shut down the other programs for good," Miranda exhaled as she looked into the asari's helmet with slight desperation.
"Understood." Liara enacted the procedure just as she saw the human do seconds earlier, priming the grenade, covering it in a wash of blue, and throwing it with increased speed into the center of the geth servers. The explosion created the desired effect and then some, nearly engulfing the females in momentary fire as the explosion rocked outward, followed by silence as the platforms that were being fought by Shepard and the others fell to the ground, their puppet masters ceasing to exist.
Watching the previously hostile platforms collapse brought back memories to Samara and Zaeed, who had seen the same thing occur fighting on Earth. Shepard however took the moment to rest his back against the wall, slowly sliding down in relief as his shield reactivated.
"I never get tired of seeing things just fall over like that!" Zaeed chuckled as he found himself mirroring Shepard against the other wall. Unfortunately for the mercenary he had lost his cigars in the fight.
Keeping his head hidden between his knees as he regained his breath, Shepard muttered something inaudible before his head rose, peeking his head around the corner to see the others in his squad welcome their friend back to her body. Tali was especially proud of her accomplishment, hugging the metal robot as though she was a sister.
"Garrus, Shepard. Mission accomplished, EDI's back."
Garrus responded in a much more lighter tone than he showed minutes earlier. "Good to hear, everyone's ok?"
"Tali's fine, Garrus, no worse for wear."
"Ashley and Cortez are circling the hole you created, everything's clear up here."
"On our way up." Shepard remarked as he pushed himself up, offering a hand to Zaeed who took the support without any resistance.
"I'll go first, Captain," Samara said in a regained composure, lightly wiping sweat off her brow, Shepard nodding with a smile.
"Whata we do with those bastards?" Zaeed asked as he pointed his thumb at the quarians.
"Leave them, the only thing that could kill them now would be bugs, and that's all on them."
One by one the squad climbed the collapsed metal ceiling up to the sunlight, finding two familiar Kodiak shuttles waiting for the now six Normandy companions. The last to arrive up was Shepard, glad to see Miranda's face smiling through her helmet as she offered a hand to her lover.
The sounds of two shuttles dimming their thrusters and kicking up sand left the Captain taking in the sight of victory. Garrus and James stood watch outside their opened shuttle door with rifles in hand, watching as the ground squad made their way to their original shuttle. Due to the placement of the shuttles, Ashley and Cortez did their best to provide as much shade as possible due to the sun directly facing the squad as they emerged from their makeshift exit.
Instead of heading to her original shuttle Tali walked towards Garrus, pointing to EDI as the robot made her way inside Cortez's shuttle, the thrill of rescuing the AI being palpable to the two soldiers who sat this mission out.
Shepard couldn't hear what the two were talking about, but knew she was attempting to get the turian to say hello to their friend before the shuttles flew back to the Normandy. After much tugging of his arm, Garrus let the rifle barrel aim to the ground as he allowed himself to be dragged over to say hello.
Weary and injured, the squad didn't seem to mind how close to defeat they came, knowing they brought back a valuable and important ally to the fight against the reapers. As was often the case, it couldn't be called a real mission unless someone had some type of injury.
The next few seconds seemed to slow down to a crawl as from the corner of his eye, on the edge of his helmet's lens, Shepard saw James looking to aim his rifle from its previously resting position right at his captain.
As Shepard looked to his right he saw Tali and Garrus both looking to see what James saw. The most telling piece of information came from Liara, now sitting in the shuttle with her helmet removed, reaching out a hand as she yelled Shepard's name.
A push from Miranda brought little resistance as she brought Shepard down by grabbing him around his shoulders. As the two fell to the ground the Spectre was now able to see Xen, another Arc pistol in hand that she must have removed from one of the injured marines, aiming at the Captain's previous spot as her upper body emerged from the opening.
One shot from James' Saber helped break through Xen's weakened shields and striking her in the left shoulder, red blood splashing onto the stone behind her, the impact of the powerful shot causing the admiral to jerk back and lose balance as she returned to the rubble below.
"-tain, are you alright?" James asked as he made his way forward, looking into the hole and attempting to fire another shot before Shepard held up one hand to stop his Lieutenant while he pushed himself back up with the other. "Vega, don't!"
"That pendejo tried to shoot you, Captain! What was I supposed to do?"
Helping Miranda up, he reasserted his decision, "She's an admiral, let that shot be enough. Let's just get out of here before they force us to make this an even bigger incident."
A pat on the back was given from the older human, "Nice shot though, Lieutenant."
"Hey, it's what I do, Loco," James replied with a swagger of his chest.
"John," Miranda clutched his arm as she refused to let go, directing his attention over to the shuttles as her voice got incredibly quiet, "we need to get out of here, now."
"What are you...oh, God," Shepard saw what everyone else saw. In Garrus' hands he cradled Tali, her helmet shattered as she was gasping heavily, the white of her eyes carrying that common look of a soldier going through shock, a red trickle running from the top of her head and flowing down the crease that ran from her forehead to eyebrow.
The three humans ran as fast as they could to help Garrus, lost in his own moment of shock, desperately trying to get reassurance from any of the faces nearby. In both rage and fear, Garrus finally cried out as he made eye contact with his friend who was just meters from his spot, "SHEPARD?!"
Oh no, again!
(Tali's not dead, breathe)