They easily dealt with the first wave of husks, and there was bound to be plenty more. There was someone who was now aware of their presence. A sniper took out two husks around the corner for them, but Six wasn't able to spot the shooter before they fled the scene. It could be a survivor from the science team, though the idea that it was geth didn't sit all too well.

They found a room with quite a few Dragon's Teeth arranged in a strangely symmetrical pattern with a few of the scientists still impaled on them. The spikes had been arranged to mirror a temple or monastery to be worshiped or idealized. This was undoubtedly a product of the indoctrination that the scientists succumbed to.

On one hand, they hadn't encountered any geth, though with the geth ship still docked with the Reaper that might not be a good thing.

Moving on through the next airlock, they were now near an exposed area of the Reaper where they could see the planet's storm. Shepard signaled for Six and Tali to move up as Jorge watched the railing for any husks. It was relatively quiet, beyond the thunder, and nothing was detected on the motion trackers.

Without warning sniper fire came at them. Six was the first one turning back to Shepard to see if she was hit, watching three husks receiving a shot through the head in quick succession. They looked up, trying to find the sniper this time, however what they saw didn't make any sense. A lone geth looked down to them as it spoke, "Shepard-Commander." Without waiting for a response, the geth simply walked away.

"So, our sniper 'friend' was a geth." Jorge glanced over to Tali and Vaht, "Do they speak with us organics often?"

"Not often," Vaht continued to look out to where the geth was. "They avoided speaking to us unless absolutely necessary."

Tali however quickly retorted, "But it shouldn't be able to talk. A single geth has no more intelligence than a varren."

Six pushed forward, "Looks like they upgraded."

Samara raised her rifle as a growing groan and moaning echoed around them, "It would appear that we are about to have company."

Vaht was ready, "Good. Warm up before we smash the geth and any others still within the Reaper." He fired at the pressurized tanks, detonating them so that he could rush in with sword now drawn.

Six was not far behind him, tackling a husk off the ledge before she shoved the shotgun into the face of another trying to crawl up and blasting its head off. Tali deployed her drone Chatika to get a better view on how many more husks were coming and to distract them with another target.

Shepard picked off a few husks, openly wondering, "How big of a scientist team did the Illusive Man send here?"

Tali was ready for anything that got too close. "Let's just worry about getting to the drive core."

Samara rushed a husk's head with her biotic prowess as she moved on to assault a group of husks that weren't near Six or Vaht. Jorge was pushing ahead, drawing as many husks as he could for the others to pick off and for him to mow down without worrying about friendly fire.

"If this is all we're facing we should be there in no time."

Vaht grabbed a husk, throwing it out into the void, "What they lack in weaponry and power, they make up in mass."

Six agreed, blasting another husk with her shotgun, "Don't let your guard down."

Pushing onward, Shepard activated her own combat drone, zooming off ahead of Jorge to lure out more husks. Shepard particularly altered her drone with an explosive setting when the husks destroyed it.

Beyond a few explosive husks, everything seemed to be going smoothly. That was until they were confronted by a pair of Scions, the mutilated fusion of several husks given a biotic cannon. The two were holding positions at a split walkway and firing at them while several husks continued to push toward them.

Shepard turned to Tali, "Do you think our drones can make it to them?"

"Sure, assuming we can distract them long enough so they can get there."

Six and Jorge moved out of cover, firing at the husks to draw their attention. The two Spartans kept the husks at bay for a time. It was when the Scions launched their attack that the two of them stopped firing. They were waiting for the blasts to get closer before they both slammed their fists down to the ground, overclocking their shields and completely enveloped them in an untouchable state. They didn't feel a thing from the blast or claws as more husks tried to slash at them.

With this opening Tali and Shepard sent their drones off to distract the two Scions. Samara used her biotics to lift all of the husks away from the two Spartans, allowing them to safely disengage their Armor Lock system, blasting the husks back with the EMP pulse.

Vaht had disappeared, though he was quickly found, gutting one of the Scion with his Energy Sword. The team then focused fired on the final Scion, quickly eliminating it. They were getting closer to the drive core with another pair of Scions holding the airlock.

Unlike the previous pair, there was plenty of open space for them to get in close on them. There were some pressurized tanks for the squad to detonate as more husks climbed up to attack them. With the relatively even playing field Jorge started to mow down anything in his way, sweeping the area.

Shepard and Samara attacked the Scion with a biotic tech combo of Warp and Incinerate to weaken the armor of the fused monstrosity. Tali and Six focused on any of the husks that were getting too close as Vaht's plasma weaponry burned away at the weakened Scion. With the last of the husks downed they turned to focus fire on the last Scion.

With this moment to themselves Six moved to one of the downed Scions, "Something doesn't add up…"

Shepard joined her, "What do you mean?"

"The Scions. Weren't those experiments made by the Collectors? Why would a dormant Reaper, billions of years old with no active systems be able to fuse husks?"

Jorge looked out to the gas clouds around them, "She does have a point. Unless we assume the indoctrinated scientists made them?"

Samara noted, "Sometimes the simplest explanation should be enough to suffice."

Vaht kicked one of the dead husks off the platform, "Then let us be on our way and destroy the Reaper core."

The airlock was locked, but a quick bypass opened it up. Inside next to a console was what they were looking for. "There we go."

"But who placed it here?" Jorge could see a few monitors with the image of a strange glowing sphere above the console. They all seemed fixated on this object, whatever it was.

Vaht did not want to be inside this vessel any longer than needed, "Let us assume the science team managed to secure it before they turned themselves into machine slaves."

Shepard opened the door to the core, but they were blocked by a barrier. Off to the distance they saw a geth working a console as more husks approached it. It was the same geth sniper from before, and they could confirm the giant gaping hole in its chest and a fragmented N7 armor in place of its damaged right half. The geth wasn't oblivious to its gusts, turning back with a pistol and dropping some of the husks before it turned its focus back on the console.

Whatever was going on, the barrier dropped as soon as the geth was finished with the terminal, only to be blindsided by one of the husks it didn't kill. Jorge opened fire on the core as Samara and Shepard dealt with the two husks standing over the geth.

After a moment of sustained fire, the core sealed itself up, protected by the metal shell. "Samara, Tali, Vaht. Focus on the right. Jorge, Six, with me on left. We focus our assault on the core when it opens."

With the high ground of the walkway and the stairways covered, there was little the husks could do to reach them. The occasional Abomination was more of an asset, detonating them amidst a group of husks. Six positioned herself next to the geth, making sure it didn't suddenly reactivate and her shotgun would do the maximum amount of damage to the drive core.

The stream of husks slowed and the drive core opened. The brutal assault from all of them broke down the drive core quickly, as gravity from the brown dwarf started pulling at the Reaper. Six then turned her shotgun down to the geth, "It's still mostly intact? What do we do with it?"

Tali adamantly advised, "Leave it there! You know what they are! If it gets into Normandy's computers…"

More husks soon climbed onto the walkway, as their numbers swelled. "You said it yourself, no one's ever found one intact."

"That's true, but…I'm not sure it's worth the risk, Shepard."

Jorge picked up the geth, wrapping it around his pack, "We can argue about what can be done once we're off this sinking scrap pile!"

Shepard put on her helmet, "Let move!" Samara strapped on her breather mask.

Six took lead, blasting any husk in her path as Samara supported her. Vaht covered the rear with his energy sword, screaming at a few husks to draw them toward his blade. Joker radioed in, "Hang on, folks!"

Shepard took out a husk, keeping her eyes out for any other threat, "Open the portside airlock."

"Aye, aye."

As soon as the Normandy was in view, she pulled over with the airlock open. Jorge dropped his passenger, kicking it off toward the ship and joined Six in blasting husks. Shepard tapped Tali to go first, followed by Samara. Six glanced over to Jorge, who nodded, jumping up and using his gun to propel himself toward the airlock while still covering them.

Vaht looked back, running toward Six and Shepard, tackling the two before leaping across. Six fired a few extra shots to ensure they made it. Once inside, Shepard banged the door, "We're clear. Go!" The airlock sealed as the Normandy quickly pulled away, escaping the falling Reaper's demise.

O'Brien was a bit upset about not being of assistance, "I could have provided some cover while you guys jumped back."

Jorge laughed, "I don't know if you would have liked being sandwiched between me, Vaht and a geth."

Six added, "Don't forget Shepard, Tali, Samara and me."

"It would have been more of a hindrance to the team." Cortez looked up, "And scuttlebutt has already made its rounds about your geth friend sticking around a bit longer."

"Friend is going a little overboard. The thing is a pretty good shot. Might be better than you, O'Brien."

O'Brien openly rejected the giant Spartan's remark, "That'll be the day a machine is better than me."

"That wasn't the strangest thing it did… It talked to us."

O'Brien couldn't believe it, 'No way. They can't do that…can they?"

Cortez wasn't so sure, "They were built by the quarians to be servants, so I don't think it'd be too farfetched to think they were originally able to speak. If anything, you'd think it would be a function that would have been removed after all this time in isolation."

Six looked up, "Whatever happens to it, we should still be cautious what it might do. Dot?"

"We have prepared anti-hacking counter measures, extra firewalls and isolated vital systems from the network. The geth unit has also been physically isolated via a mass effect barrier. The Lieutenant Commander has requested your presence in her cabin to discuss this very matter when you are available."

"Tell her I'll be up in a moment." Six was grabbing a pistol from one of the lockers, slightly dreading where the conversation would go.

Vaht was passing around engineering, fuming. It had gotten to the point that Jack left her hovel below and went over to Grunt's room to avoid doing something stupid. "Being able to work with demons is one thing, but a geth…"

"You know I'm not too thrilled about that possible outcome either. But we should at least trust Shepard to do what is right."

"And what would that be? Selling it to the Cerberus or giving it to your people to study? It would not be a dilemma if we had left it within the Reaper as it fell to its destruction." Vaht wasn't wrong, though the thought of reactivating it seemed to haunt her the most.

Six was glad Shepard didn't hand the geth over to Cerberus, but just like the rest of the crew, she was still opposed to the idea of reactivating it. "Even with all the extra counter measures, can we be certain the geth won't be able to break through them all?"

"I'm not saying we should give it free range of the ship. But this is the first geth to talk to us, maybe even save us."

Six knew the odds that it missing Shepard was too big of a margin for a machine, she then pointed out, "Then what about the N7 armor? Trophy or field repair? If it was field repair, why leave the hole? There's too many questions surrounding this thing."

"Which is why we're going to get those answers. If not," Shepard looking down to Six's pistol, "I know you're ready to destroy it."

Six figured that would be something that she'd say. She moved aside, letting Shepard move toward the elevator. Reaching the crew deck, they went through the med bay and entered EDI's AI core room. At the end of the room was one of the security personnel at the ready with the geth secured behind the barrier.

Shepard moved closer to the geth, linking her omni-tool and jumpstarting the geth. It took a moment as the lights slowly flicked back on. Soon the geth slowly sat up, making the clicking noises they were more familiar with. After a short assessment it turned to Shepard, standing up.

The geth made no attempt to breach the barrier, it just stood there, waiting. Shepard made the first move, "Can you understand me?"

"Yes." It was unmistakable. The geth was speaking and it was cooperating, for the moment.

"Are you going to attack me?"

"No."

Now to the first of many questions, "You said my name aboard the Reaper. Have we met?"

"We know of you."

"You mean I fought a lot of geth."

"We have never met."

"No, you and I haven't. but I've met other geth."

Shepard started to move, as the geth followed her movements, "We are all geth, and we have not met you. You are Shepard. Commander. Alliance. Human. Fought heretics. Killed by Collectors. Rediscovered on the Old Machine."

Six couldn't help herself, asking, "Old Machine? You mean the Reaper?"

The geth turned to Six, addressing her question, "Reaper. A superstitious title originating with the Protheans. We call those entities the Old Machines."

Shepard was a little curious about everything else it blurted out, "You seem to know an awful lot about me."

It's head flap things and optic moved, as though to make something of a facial expression for them to follow, "Extranet data sources. Insecure broadcasts. All organic data sent out is received. We watch you."

"You watch me or you watch organics?"

"Yes."

"Which?"

"Both."

Six has heard enough about heretics from the Covenant to know how damning it could be. But without the emotion behind it, she was curious about it, "The 'heretics', who are they?"

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

Shepard was surprised, "Are the Reapers a threat to you too?"

"Yes."

Shepard seemed confused given their encounters before, "Why would they attack other machines?"

"We are different from them. Outside their plans."

The geth didn't object to any of the questions they were asking it. It almost seemed as interested in providing some of these answers itself, when the question suited it. Six tried prodding further, "What future are the geth building?"

"Ours."

"Will anyone else be affected by whatever it is you're doing?"

"If they involve themselves, they will." That seemed to be a subject it was going to guard carefully. But everything else that it has said seemed to suggest that it wasn't in opposition to them.

Shepard got closer to the barrier, "So you aren't allied with the Reapers?"

The geth did the same, its face inches away from the barrier, "We oppose the heretics. We oppose the Old Machines. Shepard-Commander opposes the Old Machines. Shepard-Commander opposes the heretics. Cooperation furthers mutual goals."

Shepard wanted a direct answer, "Are you asking to join us?"

"Yes."

Shepard turned to Six, who was still opposed to the idea, but she at least removed her hand from her weapon. Shepard deactivated the barrier, "Then what should I call you?"

"Geth."

"I mean you. Specifically."

"We are all geth."

Shepard was getting a tad annoyed by the repeated answer. Six took a crack at it. "What is the designation for the unit before us?"

The geth turned to her with a somewhat surprised look, assuming the way the faceplates were moved were meant to mimic human facial expressions. "This is Mobile Platform 2A93. This is merely hardware. There are currently 1,183 programs active within this platform. We are geth."

EDI's projection appeared, "'My name is Legion, for we are many'."

With all of the religious references, Shepard approved, "That seems appropriate."

It took a moment as the geth searched for the origin of the quote, "Christian Bible, the Gospel of Mark, chapter five, verse nine. We acknowledge this as an appropriate metaphor. We are Legion, a terminal of the geth. We will integrate into Normandy."

Shepard offered her hand to Legion, though the geth hesitated. It rose its arm to meet Shepard's, looking back to her to affirm that she was waiting for it. With that conformation, it shook hands with her. Six took a step back, "Don't betray this trust, geth. There's plenty of us who can put you down."