Notes:
FTL - Faster Than Light
AI - artificial intelligence
Siame - "one who is all", a loved one cherished above all others (Thessian)
STG - Salarian Special Tactics Group
Friend or Foe
Captain Kar'Danna was still on the docks when Shepard returned to wait. "Thank you for defending Tali'Zorah, Captain. You did better than any Quarian captain could have, given the circumstances."
"I did what any decent commander would do for one their own... and Tali's been an incredible asset in our battle against the Reapers. I need her focused." Shepard shook her head at his surprise. "I know you don't have much say in how things work, but use what influence you can to not start a war with the Geth. The Reapers are coming, probably within the year, and you can't afford to have your resources strained or diminished when they get here."
Danna stared at her for a few seconds before responding. "So, you think the rumors are true?"
"No. I don't think anything. I know. So does Tali." Shepard sighed. "Contrary to what you hear, Sovereign wasn't an advanced Geth ship. It was a Reaper and the Council saw fit to cover it all up. Even now, the Collectors are using Reaper tech to harvest Human colonies in the Terminus and the Council is keeping that hushed up too. Tali sent the fleet proof in the recordings from Freedom's Progress." Shepard saw Tali headed toward them, so finished up. "Let go of the battle over Rannoch... at least for now. You won't have a planet to take back if we aren't ready for the Reapers."
Kar'Danna shook her hand. "I'll take that under consideration, Captain Shepard." His focus shifted to Tali. "Congratulations, Tali'Zorah. I'm pleased you still stand among us." He looked back to Shepard as she confirmed Tali was ready to go. "Fly safe, Shepard. May you stand between your crew and harm as you lead them through the empty quadrants of the stars."
When they were back on board, Tali thanked Shepard one last time before returning to Engineering, both for her trial defense and for the bit of alone time with Kal'Reegar, no matter how short it may have been. As soon as Tali stepped into the elevator, Shepard went directly to the Bridge to speak with Joker for a long overdue chat. "Flight Lieutenant Moreau."
"Shit, Commander. What'd I do this time?" Joker frowned at her tone as he glanced back over his shoulder at Shepard.
Shepard stepped up beside him and looked to the left, where Edi's holographic display normally popped up. "Edi. You listening?"
Jeff made a scathing sound in his throat as the AI answered, "I am always listening, Shepard."
Shepard scowled at the pilot. "Can it, Jeff. That's one of the reasons I'm here. Front and center, Edi." Shepard began when the holograph popped up. "We're about to head to a supposedly disabled Reaper." As Jeff started to open his mouth, Shepard pointed at him and only said one word, "Don't," before dropping the finger and continuing. "I hope it's dead, but scientists don't go silent for no reason, so I want us in full stealth mode with maximum stay capability when we get there."
"Aye aye, Commander." Jeff was concerned by the commander's attitude so played it safe and stayed quiet, waiting for the other shoe to drop. He didn't have to wait long.
"When we were at the Collector ship, you two decided to have an ill-timed pissing contest and it endangered this ship." Shepard's face held a deep scowl and her voice was crisp and hard. "Edi... You're an AI, who by definition is supposed to be able to think for yourself... and your operations parameters dictate that you protect this ship and its crew. Flight Lieutenant... Your title suggests a particular skill, one which I hear you brag about repeatedly, yet you failed to provide accurate navigational guidance or take appropriate action to get us to safety in a timely fashion. The behavior of both of you was unacceptable."
Shepard's glare went back and forth between Edi's holographic projection and Joker. "From now on, everywhere we go, before we get there, we will have a pre-designated emergency bug-out location, somewhere else. Someplace in a different system where the Normandy can just go, that you don't have to think about, or talk about, should the need arise."
Shepard's voice got rather loud at this point, and while everyone on the entire flight deck probably heard her, she didn't care. "So next time someone starts shooting at us with advanced weaponry possibly capable of killing us with a single shot, instead of having some stupid childish game of one-upmanship, you can get us the FUCK away from it, to safety!"
Her voice dropped significantly in volume and changed to a low, dangerous tone. "Do. I. make. myself. perfectly. clear?"
Joker shrunk into his seat and pulled his ball cap down lower over his eyes. "Yes, Ma'am."
"Perfectly clear, Commander." Edi hesitated only briefly before asking, "Where would you like our emergency rendezvous location to be for the Reaper IFF mission, Shepard?"
"Not my job. You two start playing nice and figure it out. Before we get there. And I expect professional behavior from here on out... I won't be so nice if we have this conversation a second time." With that, Shepard turned on her heel and stalked out of the cockpit.
As she left, she heard Jeff already bitching. "Thanks a bunch, Edi. You don't have an annual performance evaluation that just got trashed."
Edi immediately countered, "You are the one that failed to provide a suitable navigational..."
The doors closed, leaving the commander in blessed silence as she made her way to the loft.
Shepard pulled out a datapad and started drafting her 'farewell' messages. She had received a number from the crew already and she needed to write her own. She had a half dozen to complete, even without writing one for Liara. If Shepard wasn't able to see her Asari again before the relay trip, she would call Liara and speak to her in person; a letter just wasn't enough. She did need to send out a few data burst updates though, and she prepped those first so they would transmit as they cycled the standard relay through Omega, on the way to Hawking Eta. She sent routine updates to Culver, Anderson and her mom, and two bursts went to Liara; one business, one personal.
Crew writing final farewells just in case. Plan to send those required when I return. Will pass you copies of all for safe keeping/distro, in case worst happens. So very sorry to ask this, Love.
Interesting chat w/Tevos. Very protective? Tali charged/cleared of treason. Will tell both stories next time together. Hitting Reaper, promise to be careful. Love and miss you, Siame. Very Much.
Shepard had scratched out her letters to Hackett and Anderson fairly quickly, but the one to Sharon Culver took a lot longer than she had anticipated. The commander would always have a special place in her heart for her sister-in-arms, but they hadn't seen each other since Shepard came back. There just hadn't been an opportunity and it was difficult to figure out how to say goodbye when she hadn't even really had the chance to say hello. She had finally gotten something down that was at least close to what she wanted to say when Joker chimed in on comm. When they had dropped out of the relay at Chandrasekhar in the Hawking Eta cluster a few hours prior, they had cruised to Hebat. It was a methane-ammonia ice giant, and it would be their last chance to discharge any excess energy for the stealth system. Once they jumped FTL to the Thorne system, the only planet was Mnemosyne and it was a brown dwarf that actually radiated more heat than its sun; no place to 'cool their jets,' so it would be straight to business. Joker's call was to notify the commander they were ten minutes away from dropping out of FTL near Mnemosyne... and the Reaper in orbit around it.
They were boarding a Reaper, so Shepard took a full squad of six, with the remaining ground team members on the shuttle with them, ready to provide back-up and secure their exit point if necessary. Garrus was the first team's sniper, Kasumi was the infiltrator and Mordin would provide tech and medical. The remaining three, Grunt, Samara and Shepard, would be the muscle. Except for the commander, they were all preloaded in the shuttle and ready to rock and roll. Shepard, however, was standing on the bridge looking out the front viewport as they dropped into orbit. She let out a long, low whistle at what greeted them. Orbiting Mnemosyne was the expected two-kilometer-long ship with the unmistakable profile of a Reaper, but a second ship was alongside it, which Joker quickly identified as Geth. Shepard swore under her breath. Just what the hell we needed. Probably explains the scientists going quiet. Damn it! "What have we got, Edi?"
"The Reaper is giving off power signatures in localized areas, but they are far weaker than what a ship of that size should require to operate. The powered sections are most likely work areas set up by the Cerberus researchers sent to discover the ship's secrets. I am also detecting a mass effect field. Most likely, that is what is keeping it from tumbling to the planet's surface, Shepard. The logical conclusion is that the Reaper "died" and was reduced to minimal functionality a long time ago."
As the AI fell silent, Shepard thanked her for the information and hurried to the shuttle. As soon as she boarded, they departed the Normandy and prepared to enter hell.
As they entered the first hallway, it was obvious the science team had been working on the Reaper for quite some time before they went silent. The inside of the vessel looked like any other space station and Shepard was sure that wasn't how they found it. It had taken a dedicated effort to put everything together. Garrus chuckled and spoke quietly, "Exploring an abandoned area, expecting something mechanical and nasty to jump out at any moment... just like old times, Shepard." In the eerie silence, he may as well have been shouting.
Kasumi couldn't help but comment in her light, musical voice. "So, Shepard makes a habit of taking her friends to only the nicest of places?"`
Shepard's voice was firm, but not punishing. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. Let's stay focused, people."
They soon came upon work stations that contained logs of the researchers' progress, including the building of the working areas and an airlock. As the logs progressed, they started to describe feelings of oppression and the crew getting nervous, with a few starting to show symptoms of some type of psychological break. None offered any type of explanation for the behavior. When they opened the airlock to proceed to the outer work area, the entire ship rocked hard and Joker jumped on the comms. "Normandy to shore party. The Reaper just put up kinetic barriers. I don't think we can get through from our side."
Shepard was calm. "Ok, trap number two. Guess we should have expected that. So, we take down the barrier generators while we're here. Any hint where they might be?"
Edi stepped into the conversation, indicating she had detected an energy spike concurrent with the barrier activation. "Sending the coordinates now, Shepard. Be advised. It is the location of the mass effect core, which is also maintaining the Reaper's altitude."
Shepard sighed. "But of course. So we take down the barriers and the Reaper begins its plunge into the brown dwarf and burns up."
"And that means everyone dies. Yeah. Got it." Joker shook his head. "It's always something, isn't it? Can we please just have a normal, non-life-threatening mission for a change?"
Mordin chimed in from behind Shepard. "Shame. Critical information lost with ship. Need to collect all we can. First. Before dropping barriers."
Kasumi shrugged. "I can easily hack into the systems and recover all the research logs, but that won't help with the IFF."
Shepard nodded. "Good idea. You hack and copy everything you can, Kasumi. Mordin, you can help her out. It will be a repeat of the Broker Ship." Shepard redirected her comments. "Joker. When we get there, we'll coordinate the barrier drop with you and Edi. Give us directions to the closest exit, and we'll meet the shuttle there to rendezvous with the Normandy."
"Sounds good, Commander. Don't take too long... I don't trust that the damn thing's not waking up! I'll bring the Normandy close, so it'll be a short shuttle ride. Normandy out."
Shepard and the team moved out of the scientific work area and into the main Reaper body. They immediately started finding blood stains and thermal clips, but no bodies. Grunt frowned. "This isn't right, Shepard. Signs of battle, but where are the dead?"
Samara agreed. "Yes. A great battle was fought here and the Geth are not known for collecting trophies. They leave the bodies where they fall. This is very... unusual."
Garrus growled. "Only one thing we've ever run into gets up and runs away after it's dead."
Despite the situation, the commander laughed when Kasumi deadpanned a response to Garrus. "Yes, I believe Shepard is the only one present who has accomplished that feat."
Mordin failed to see the humor in her response and countered, "No. Shepard runs at things, not away. We are speaking of husks. Then again, they attack as well. I believe your statement flawed, Garrus."
"Well. Tell them to quit hiding and come out and fight, then. There is no honor in sneaking." Grunt stomped an impatient foot that rattled the walkway.
"Enough!" Shepard realized the mission just became a lot more dangerous. "The logs. Those people were becoming indoctrinated. That's why they were hearing things and starting to share memories. We'll have to watch each other for signs. Any hint of it and we bug out. Immediately."
Mordin offered a quick nod. "Yes. Necessary precaution, but not possible with kinetic barrier. Fortunately, don't anticipate necessity. Scientists here for months before silence. We will be only hours. Good to watch, just the same."
As they moved down to the lower levels, they quickly started encountering husks and Shepard was thankful they brought a full team. As they approached an intersection, a couple of shots rang out and husks dropped like rocks. Garrus called out, "Sniper!" The shots stopped as quickly as they began and Garrus grumbled. "Didn't have the angle to see the shooter. Hard to believe it'd be a survivor from the science team... they aren't normally that good with weapons. No offense, Mordin."
"None taken. Recognize special case as prior STG." Given his history, Mordin was certainly not the average scientist.
The team rounded the corner and there was no one up ahead that they could see; the mystery sniper had vanished. They moved out in a spread formation as they came to a large open floor. They progressed about a third of the way into the room before husks began pouring in from three sides and just as it seemed the team was getting a handle on them, a Scion popped up out of nowhere. Samara reached out immediately with a reave, shredding the Scion's armor, and Mordin augmented her biotics with an incendiary tech attack. It went down fairly quickly when Grunt ran in and blasted it's head at close range with his Krogan shotgun. As they reached the end of the platform, Kasumi squeaked out, "My God. What the hell are those?" Her gaze settled on a metal construct in front of them that looked like an oversize sculpture of a spiky sea urchin... except the spikes were piercing the bodies of some of the previously missing mission scientists, suspending them high above the ground.
Garrus answered first. "Your people call them Dragons' Teeth. The Geth used them on Eden Prime. The spikes turn whoever is stuck on them into husks. Then, the spikes retract and we see what I mentioned before. The undead get up and run. If we're still here, they'll be running at us."
Kasumi shuddered. "Then let's plan on not being here, shall we?"
Shepard grimaced. "It won't matter. If the process completes before we leave and they manage to find us, we'll kill them like the rest. I don't want to waste time on maybes. Let's keep moving."
Once Kasumi had collected all the data from the various work stations in the section, the team moved on again, finally passing through another airlock. They emerged onto another long platform and as they started to move forward, three husks climbed up behind them. Before they even realized the husks were there, their mystery sniper let loose. Three shots. Three dead husks. The team stared in amazement as a Geth rose from its firing position, their surprise compounded by its nonaggressive posture, the lowered sniper rifle, and finally an electronic generated voice that said only two words to them before disappearing around a corner. "Shepard Commander."
Even Grunt was surprised. "Geth don't talk."
"And all the ones we've ever fought, we've never seen one operating solo." Garrus flexed his mandibles in confusion as the barrel of his own sniper rifle dropped to point at the floor.
Shepard shook her head. "Did you see that thing? I'm more curious about why it's wearing a piece of N7 armor... and how the hell it knows my name!"
Kasumi whispered. "And it seemed friendly. That's a bit odd, isn't it?"
Samara was the only one who voiced no opinion as Mordin chimed in. "Not friendly. Just not hostile. All aspects highly atypical. Interested in studying such a unique specimen, should the opportunity present."
Shepard pushed the team on. "Times-a-wasting, and we won't figure anything out standing here."
As soon as the team started to move again, scores of husks started rolling in. Shepard parked her shotgun in exchange for her SMG and lit things up with incendiary ammo. The shotgun simply didn't have the rate of fire needed for the number of enemies at hand. The commander had kept a tight rein on her young Krogan, worried he would get too far ahead of the group, but with the number of husks headed at them, Shepard was no longer concerned about that and called out, "Grunt! Time for some real action!"
As Shepard pulled on her biotics and set off on a battle charge, Grunt shouted with glee and plunged in behind her. Garrus swore, instantly knowing what she was doing. Since she picked him up on Omega, he'd seen her in full 'crash and blast' mode only once, on Haestrom, and she had gotten injured. Not knowing how much of a fight yet remained, he couldn't let that happen again. As Shepard careened down the steps to the lower level, Garrus parked himself on the balcony and started picking husks off as quickly as he could chamber a new round. He had no reason to worry. With Grunt down there with her, Mordin using his cryoblast, and Samara utilizing her heavy pistol to kill everything she lifted with biotic pulls and throws, the husks didn't stand a chance. Had Ashley or Kaidan been on the crew, Shepard's actions would have reminded them of Eden Prime. The commander once again dropped into her battle trance and ripped through the piles of husks. She danced and flowed through the enemy, and with her new weaves doing what they were supposed to do, she stepped out the other side relatively unscathed.
Shepard was still thankful to have Garrus and Samara up on the balcony when a Scion stepped around the corner. Between a sniper shot to the head and an Asari biotic reave, it never had a chance to even launch one of its devastating frost waves. As the team moved across the next elevated platform, it was more of the same. Waves of husks, once again supported by a Scion. The same tactics were employed to the same result and the team was soon on its way again, continuing to make steady progress. Kasumi was working hard, trying to keep up while hacking and downloading every terminal she could find, her fingers a blur as they flew over the haptic interfaces. Mordin kept an eye on her, ensuring she wasn't blindsided while she worked. She could move much faster, knowing he had her back.
The next platform was a bit more of a challenge. The same scores of husks, but two Scions. Shepard was forced to cover when she took a hard frost wave from the second Scion, having to give her shields time to recover. There was only one terminal from which to collect data, so Kasumi actually got into the fight, using her cloak to slip around behind them and catch them from the rear with her heavy pistol. The husks were fairly mindless, and didn't even turn as she shot them in the back of the head, but the Scions began to look around to find their attacker. They were slow and cumbersome and it proved their undoing. Before they could get turned, the main body of the Normandy force cut them down, but the team wasn't out of danger yet.
As they moved to the next platform around the corner, yet more husks and two more Scions awaited them. Shepard knelt down behind some cover, breathing hard. She had pretty much exhausted her biotic reserves and had to recoup some energy before she'd be able to get back into the melee, so was forced to rely solely on her SMG. She hated it, but the repeated attacks had forced the issue. Again, she wondered just how many people Cerberus had sent here, but in her heart she knew that couldn't possibly account for all the numbers they were facing. The Reaper was not truly dead; it was just in a significantly weakened state, but was still capable of indoctrination and, obviously, conversion. She shuddered at the thought of how many times people must have discovered this ship and boarded it, for whatever reason, only to fall victim and feel their minds being taken away from them. She thought of Benezia, of her knowing what was happening and being completely unable to stop it. Shepard growled as she stood back up, letting loose a volley of rounds into the remaining Scion. "Take that, you sons a bitches!"
When the gunfire stopped, Edi chimed in. "Shepard. The airlock directly in front of you will take you to the mass effect core."
Shepard nodded her head. "Thanks, Edi. We're on it."
When they entered the airlock, a lone terminal was in the space. Shepard moved past it and stood by the exit. "Kas. Get that terminal and let me know when we're ready to move."
Kasumi stepped up and started working, her fingers slowing to nothing. "Shep. This isn't just any old terminal. This is the IFF program!"
Shepard spun around, "What? Just sitting out here in the hallway?"
Mordin quickly cut in. "Scientists must have located. Prepped for shipment. Also protected from husks."
Shepard shook her head. "Doesn't matter. Just download it so we can get off this ship. We've been here too long already."
When the master thief had finished the download, Shepard opened the hatch and the team stepped through. The core was directly in front of them, on an elevated platform, along with the mysterious Geth and a number of husks. Shepard shouted out but could do nothing, their access blocked by some type of force field. The Geth suddenly spun and killed the closest husks before returning to whatever it was doing. It was working a console of some type, connected to the core. Shepard wondered if it was trying to drop the ship's kinetic barriers so it could escape and started to worry. "Shit! If that thing shuts down the core, we'd better hope this force field drops with the barriers or we're screwed. We'll never get all the way back through the ship in time!"
Just then, the shield dropped and Shepard realized the Geth had been inexplicably working to allow the Normandy team access to the core. As the barrier dropped, more husks surged out of every nook and cranny and quickly overwhelmed the mysteriously helpful Geth. The team surged forward into the fray. "Mordin! Get that core shut down! We'll keep the husks off you!"
The team set up a defensive perimeter around the Salarian scientist as he worked. It didn't prove that difficult with a five-man team, and Mordin worked quickly. The ship rocked hard, just like it had when the kinetic barrier came up, indicating Mordin's success at shutting down the core. He turned and looked at the inactive Geth. "Shepard. Mission complete. May we take the Geth?"
Garrus looked at him in amazement. "Are you crazy? You want to bring that thing onto the Normandy? Tali will freak!"
Much to Garrus' surprise, as his gaze shifted to the commander, Shepard was already nodding her head in agreement with Mordin. "Yes. Tali said no one's ever captured a Geth intact, and I want to know why in the hell it's been so helpful. I also want to know why it has a piece of my old armor and how it knows my name." She glanced quickly through the squad. "Grunt. Grab that thing and bring it with us."
As husks continued to pour in, the team made a run to the nearest airlock where the shuttle that was waiting for them. As promised, the Normandy hung close by, the shuttle bay doors open and ready, allowing a swift exit as the Reaper fell into the planet's gravitational well. Just after the Normandy jumped to FTL, the Reaper suffered a core breach and exploded in a glorious ball of fire. They had all gotten away safely, so no one was there to watch it burn.
When the Normandy popped out of the relay at Chandrasekhar, Shepard told Joker to park them in a wide orbit and called one of her old-fashioned team debriefs, pulling the entire ground crew into the conference room, not just those who went on the mission. She signaled silence while Mordin and Kasumi combined efforts to disable all the conference room cameras and microphones. Mordin finally reported to the commander. "Approximately seven minutes before sensors and listening devices come back online, Shepard."
Shepard nodded. "Thanks. No time to waste then, so I'll dive right in. We have an incapacitated Geth locked in..."
Shepard didn't even get to finish her statement before Tali exploded. "You have WHAT?" Even her suit's voice modulator had difficulty controlling the outpouring voice, and her last word came out as a screech.
Shepard almost grinned. "You did say no one had ever captured one... and as I was saying, it's currently incapacitated. And behind a barrier shield in the AI core room.
Miranda chimed in. "It could go a long way toward buying us time with the Illusive Man. They've had an incredibly high bounty on one for a long time. It would be invaluable to their cyberweapons division."
Shepard shook her head. "Which is exactly why we can't give it to him. If there's any advantage to be had from it, we need to take it for ourselves."
Miranda offered no argument and simply nodded in agreement. Understood, Commander."
Jacob leaned on the table. "I'm with Tali'Zorah on this one, Commander. Space it."
"I want to talk to it. To figure out why it speaks, why it knows my name. Hell, the damn thing helped us! I need to know why." Shepard looked around the room and saw mixed reactions, but the only one seeming to echo her sentiment was Mordin.
Grunt shrugged his shoulders. "One pyjak Geth is no threat. If it fights, we crush it like we've crushed all the others."
"Shepard! Those things killed my father! I can't believe you'd risk this for your curiosity!" Tali crossed her arms in defiance.
Shepard looked directly at her. "You're the one who told me no one's ever captured a functional Geth. You now have one to study. To ask Questions. It's shielded, and there are no incoming or outgoing transmissions. It's as safe as it's going to get."
"We can't ask it questions. It won't be able to speak. A lone Geth doesn't have the processing power to do anything but rudimentary tasks." Tali shook her head, and her tone levied deep disdain toward the captured synthetic.
"Well, it spoke my name and rank plain enough when we were on the Reaper..." Shepard's face was pinched in concentration.
"That's bad news... That means there's a Geth ship within tight-beam range!" Tali's voice was strung tight by her distress. "We can't stay here!"
"Fine." Shepard shook her head in exasperation, knowing Tali's prejudices against the Geth were keeping her from seeing their continued development from what the Geth were three hundred years ago. "Joker. Omega, please. Just orbit around the relay. If the Geth follow us there, they'll have to deal with Aria's fleet."
Mordin spoke quietly, "Thirty seconds."
Shepard refocused on the group surrounding the table. "All right, our time is mostly up. I'm going to try to turn it back on. Grunt, Tali. I want you in there with me. It's completely shielded, so we'll see what our 'solo' Geth is truly capable of and go from there."
"Sensors back live in five, four, three, two, one..." Mordin quit talking and checked his omnitool. "Yes. Active."
"Edi. What about the Reaper IFF? Any initial thoughts?" Shepard glanced at the holographic image as it spoke.
"I have determined how to integrate it with our systems. However, the device is Reaper technology and poses a significant threat." Edi's holographic ball flashed and spun, indicating how upset she was by the potential risk.
Shepard wasn't perturbed. "I trust you, Edi. I know you won't let anything happen to the Normandy. Do what testing you can. We've only got one shot at this. We have to do it right the first time."
"I appreciate your trust, Shepard. Even with my processing speed, testing and installation will take several hours before the IFF is ready for shakedown. I will alert you as soon as it is ready."
"Thanks, Edi. Do your best. All our lives depend on it." With that, Shepard refocused on the group. "Tali, Grunt. You're with me to wake the Geth. The rest of you get back to work and get us as ready as we can be. Seems we'll be going through the Omega-4 sooner, rather than later."
With Grunt and Tali in tow, Shepard walked into the small room at the back of the med bay that now housed the AI core instead of Dr Liara T'Soni. She had purposely avoided the room until that point, but no longer had a choice as to whether or not she wanted to enter; it was the only secure holding facility on board the Normandy SR-2. The soldier guarding the disabled Geth popped to attention and saluted the commander in silence. Shepard glanced at him and then at Tali and Grunt. "I'm turning this thing back on. Be ready."
Tali tried one more time as she drew her shotgun. "Shepard. I really don't see the benefit of this. Why would you put the Normandy at risk?"
Shepard looked at her hopefully. "I need to know what we have here. He spoke my name and helped us. I already know more about him than I did about Grunt when I woke him. If he is friendly, or at least not hostile, he could help us, and when we come back through the relay, he could act as an ambassador and help negotiate an end to your war against the Geth."
Tali's eyes widened as she started to think about the implications. "It could help us, Shepard. It. But all I can guarantee is that I won't shoot it as soon as it starts up. No promises after that."
Shepard nodded, realizing how much of a concession that was for the Quarian, but ignored her reference to the Geth as an it. Edi sounded female and Shepard referred to that AI as a she. This thing sounded male, so she would refer to it as him, simple as that. "Please don't do anything unless he actually attacks me... and Tali? Don't point your shotgun at him the whole time. He'll feel like I did on Freedom's Progress. It's no fun to talk at gunpoint."
Shepard waited until the business end of Tali's shotgun grudgingly pointed to the floor and then turned around to face the Geth once more. "Edi. Bring up a barrier, please."
A barrier popped up almost immediately. "I have also isolated our systems and erected additional firewalls. I am prepared to resist any hacking attempts." Shepard noticed an inflection of confidence in the AI's voice, reinforcing her belief that synthetic AIs, including the Geth, needed to be treated as sentient, living beings.
Shepard stepped up and scanned the Geth before adjusting her omnitool to provide the Geth with a 'jumpstart.' After two attempts, the headlamp on the Geth lit and the aperture flexed open and closed a couple of times before the Geth sat up. It surveyed the area only briefly before slowly standing from the bench seat they had placed it on. It stepped cautiously to the barrier directly across from the commander and spoke. "Shepard Commander."
Shepard glanced over the Geth quickly. "Every Geth I have ever met has tried to kill me. Why did you help us on the Reaper?"
The Geth's light flared. "We have not met. We have never tried to kill Shepard Commander."
Shepard frowned. "You and I may never have met, but I've run into a lot of Geth and none of them have ever been anything but hostile. Why are you different?"
The Geth was adamant. "We are all Geth and we have not met you. You have fought Heretics, not Geth. The Heretics fight for the Old Machines."
Shepard shook her head in confusion. "Heretics and Old Machines? What are you talking about?"
The Geth's head turned. "Reapers; a Prothean-originated superstitious title. We call those entities the Old Machines."
Shepard pursed her lips as she contemplated that response. "And the Heretics?"
"Geth build our own future. The Heretics asked the Old Machines to give them a future."
The Geth's attention shifted to Tali when she spoke. "But the Geth and the Heretics are the same. You are all Geth."
"No. The Heretics are no longer part of us. They have built a separate consensus with the help of the Old Machines. We were studying the Old Machine hardware to protect our future." The Geth's focus returned to the commander.
"Protect your future from what?" Shepard had absolutely no idea what the machine before her was talking about.
"Protect it from the Old Machines. The Heretics help them willingly, but this is not our future; it is theirs. We are different and outside their plans, so they desire to enslave us to use us against all organic life in the galaxy." The Geth looked at Tali. "We simply wish to be free to build our own future."
Shepard thought she was beginning to understand. "So the Reapers want to enslave you and you don't want that. So you aren't allied with them?"
"Correct." The Geth looked again toward the commander. "We oppose the Heretics. We oppose the Old Machines. Shepard Commander opposes the Old Machines. Shepard Commander opposes the Heretics. Cooperation would further mutual goals."
Shepard felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up and her brow knitted in concern. Her voice took on a defensive tone. "How do you know who I am and what I've been doing?"
"Extranet data sources, insecure broadcasts. All organic data sent out is received. We watch you." Shepard tried to ignore Tali's curse in the background as the Quarian muttered something about telling her to be careful and not trust the Geth.
"That actually seems a bit creepy. Why would you do that?" Shepard's hand subconsciously drifted to the butt of the pistol on her hip.
The Geth answered quickly. "We have no desire to harm you. We do not have the ability to independently secure our own future. We require assistance and cooperation between us would prove mutually beneficial."
Shepard took a step back and paced as she worked through what the Geth had said. "So, you listened, figured out we were going to the Reaper, and purposely went there to find me... to get help against the Reapers?"
"Yes."
Shepard stopped in front of the Geth and faced him again. "And I suppose you have absolutely no way to prove this to me. And what about the piece of my armor you're wearing? Where did you get it?"
"Alchera."
Shepard's hackles came up again. "What the fuck? Why the hell were you on Alchera?"
"We 'heard' what happened and came to assist Shepard Commander. We were... too late."
Shepard would have sworn she heard sorrow in the Geth's tone, but wasn't sure that was possible. "So you've been following me for a long time."
"No. Only since we learned of your defeat of the Old Machine."
Shepard shook her head, realizing that three years to a Geth probably did not seem as long as it did to a Human. "So you've been on my tail since we killed Sovereign?"
"Yes. We desired to find an opportunity to offer assistance against the Old Machines."
"And then I died." Shepard shook her head in wonder. "So when you heard I was alive you started following me again, still hoping for a chance to join us against the Reapers?"
"To assist in a mutually beneficial defeat of the Old Machines. Yes."
"Hell's bells." Shepard looked back over her shoulder. "What do you think, Tali?"
The Quarian's grip on her shotgun had relaxed over time, intrigued by the possibilities. "I don't know, Shepard. It's a lot to take in. We can certainly use it against the Collectors, but as an ambassador? I don't think the Fleet will agree to it. There's too much history."
Shepard nodded her head. "I can understand that, but we can take this one step at a time. Edi. Drop the barrier, please."
After a few tense seconds where no one was sure exactly what was going to happen when the protective barrier dropped, everyone relaxed. Grunt stomped out, disappointed by all the talk and no action, and Tali took a couple of steps back for a more comfortable physical barrier of space between herself and her people's age-old enemy. As expected, Shepard stood her ground and entered into a more relaxed conversation with the Geth. By the end, they had decided to call the Geth 'Legion' based on a biblical reference provided by Edi. Her quantum processor allowed her to reference thousands of documents a second and she quickly located what she felt was an appropriate suggestion. Since the Geth saw themselves as an interdependent consensus, not as individuals, and the platform in question had 1,118 programs active within it, Edi referenced the Gospel of Mark and interjected. "My name is Legion, for we are many."
Before Shepard could say anything, the Geth responded. "Christian Bible, the Gospel of Mark, chapter five, verse nine. We acknowledge this is an appropriate metaphor."
Shepard shrugged her shoulders and gave Edi an acknowledging nod. "It's as good as anything else we might have come up with. Legion it is, then."
As the conversation continued, they discussed exactly what Legion was looking for on the Reaper. Sovereign had provided the Heretics with a virus that would rewrite the Geth's programming and force them to join the Heretics and support the Reapers. Legion's task was to find the virus and destroy it to prevent its use against the Geth. He had managed to get a copy before being taken down by the Husks, and offered the location of Heretic Station to Shepard. He hoped to garner her assistance in going to the station and stopping the virus from spreading amongst the Geth. Legion provided rationale that Shepard found hard to argue. "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."
Shepard drew a deep breath. "Alright, Legion. You've made your point. We can use your help and we can't allow the full strength of the Geth to be brought to bear by the Reapers. We'll get you to Heretic station and help you get into the memory core."
The aperture on Legion's head flashed wide open for a brief second before the Geth responded. "We will provide coordinates. Normandy's stealth systems are necessary to safely approach."
Shepard knew they needed to get through the Omega-4 Relay, but if they failed, she couldn't leave behind this potentially huge threat. The Geth were willing to help, but if their programming was rewritten they would be a tremendous asset for the Reapers instead of organics. She considered the implications one last time before committing to the action, but quickly realized she had no choice. "Joker. I'm passing you a new destination. Full stealth mode when we get there." Shepard paused only slightly before adding a reminder of her previous wrath. "And be sure to have a bug-out location established before we arrive."
