Chapter 33: Reactions and Solutions

Rosetta Nebula, Normandy SR-2, En-Route to the Nubian Expanse.

March 24th, 2185. 4:56 pm. EST

No chance to turn back now, Jordan made with way through the set of two doors, separating the elevator from the main engineering area. Passing between the two doors, he could have sworn her heard something being thrown down below in Jack's area, but he wasn't sure… and wasn't going to put his life at risk to figure out what was actually going on down there.

Finally, he stepped through the second door, immediately spotting the two primary engineers Kenneth Donnelly and Gabriella Daniels. Their backs were toward him as he approached, spotting Tali and Tela standing at the other station, conversing with one another. Shepard was out of sight, leading the Avatar to reason the Commander was currently with Jack.

Tela made no inclination that she'd noticed his presence, but he knew deep down that she was very much aware of his presence down here. She likely assumed that as long as she remained glued to Tali, Jordan wouldn't approach her… and she'd be mostly right. However, Jordan had an ace up his sleeve: Shepard was down on Engineering. And if he was anything like his game's counterpart, he'd make the rounds and speak to everyone.

On cue, after a moment, Shepard entered the room and spotted Tela and Tali speaking to one another. He, too, noticed Jordan standing awkwardly behind the engineers, watching Tela discreetly. Smirking to himself, and chuckled quietly. Looks like Jordan needs some help. Time to kill two birds with one stone, then.

Stepping forward toward the two alien women, John cleared his throat, causing the Quarian to jump slightly and turn around, "O-oh, Shepard." She said, her eyes wide behind that visor.

Tela smirked at the jumpiness of the quarian, and shook her head, "I'll talk to you later, Tali." She said, turning and walking around, while quickly followed by Jordan out the door. The Quarian easily noticed. However, before anything else happened, Shepard turned to the side.

"EDI, could you do me a favor and lock down the elevator for Jordan. I think he and Vasir need to talk."

"Of course, Shepard. Anything else?"

"That'll be all, EDI. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Logging you out."

Shepard was moderately surprised, hearing the AI's response. He'd never heard her say 'you're welcome' before. Turning back to Tali, he saw her eyes were narrowed, jumping from EDI's terminal to the door Jordan left through.

"Shepard." She started in her slightly synthetic tone thanks to her suit, "How can you help that bosh'tet? And trust that AI?"

"EDI is a valuable member of our crew, and the same can be said of Jordan."

Tali shook her head, "Do you have any idea what he's done with the Geth?" She asked, "The Geth have been building fleets and armies, Shepard. They're mobilizing for war."

Shepard nodded, "With the Reapers. Tali, they're the only government actually preparing for the Reaper invasion." He replied.

"And after the Reaper war?" She asked in response, "They're machines, Shepard. They'll suffer no true casualties, and will be the biggest power in the Galaxy. And what's stopping them from joining the Reapers, like their so-called Heretics."

Shepard sighed, "It's not like that, Tali. The Geth want to help. You heard them on Haestrom. They want peace with the Quarians. They're even willing to give back most, if not all, of their territory to you."

"You don't know the Geth, Shepard. They could be lying to them… to us. If we return to Rannoch like they want, we'd be trapped and easy prey for them."

"You need to have faith, Tali. Your homeworld could be recovered for all Quarians, without any having to die in the process."

Tali shook her head and sighed, "I don't know, Shepard. Why say something now? The Admirals clearly don't trust them… can we please talk about something else? Is this the only reason you came down here?"

Shepard filled it away for another time, before shaking his head in response, "I wanted to see how you're settling in down here." He answered honestly, "The other two aren't giving you any issues?"

"Not at all." She replied immediately, "They're actually quite capable engineers, Shepard. Where'd you find them?"

"We volunteered to work with Shepard, ma'am." Gabby called out.

"Yeah. We're here to kick some Collector ass." Kenneth added, "And she's been a great addition, Commander. Perfect form, and…"

"Kenneth!" Gabby yelled at him, "Sorry about that, Commander. Anyway, she's been a great help. Easily our equal down here."

Shepard smiled warmly at the two engineers, before turning back to Tali, "Sounds like it's working out down here."

"Yes, and it's out of the way, so the Geth Bosh'tet never comes by."

"He's not that bad, really." Kenneth spoke up again, "He's got those freaky green scars, but he's not as bad as everyone says. Don't seem like a terrorist."

Shepard saw the discomfort behind Tali's visor, and decided to change the subject once more, "So, how's the Normandy handling? Just as good as the original?" He asked, smirking lightly as Tali's eyes widened immediately.

"Just as good? Shepard, this ship is amazing!" She said with excitement, "The power output of the backup cells alone…" She began, diving into her analysis of the ship, much to Shepard's amusement.

Rosetta Nebula, Normandy SR-2, En-Route to the Nubian Expanse.

March 24th, 2185. 5:08 pm. EST

Spectre Tela growled at the elevator, which seemed to be malfunctioning at the moment. Just her luck, right when her excuse to stay in engineering was taken away, Jordan had to show up, AND the fucking elevator had to have issues now, of all times! She kicked the door in frustration, earning EDI's ire.

"Please refrain from damaging the door, Miss Vasir."

"Maybe if you had the fucking elevator running, I wouldn't be doing this!" She yelled back.

"Patience is a virtue, Tela." A voice said from behind her. She frowned but calmed down after hearing it, turning slowly to face the man she'd been avoiding. Jordan Sower. He stood there in a neutral position, with both arms folded behind his back. His expression was a neutral one, though she could see obvious confusion and pain behind his eyes. Likely a result of her avoiding him for the last few days.

Tela Vasir took a deep breath, before turning fully to face him, "What do you need, Sower? I'm a busy woman. Lots of paperwork to do for the Council. You know, the usual."

Jordan raised an eyebrow, "You mean the paperwork you never do?"

"Yeah, like I said: the usual." She replied, "Needs to get done some time, though."

Jordan shook his head for a moment, before making eye contact, "Can we talk? Please?"

She sighed, leaning against the jammed doors, now with a small dent in it, "What is there to talk about?"

"You've been avoiding me." He stated simply.

She shrugged, "I've been busy."

"No!" He yelled startling her slightly, "You've asked EDI about my whereabouts, and actively avoided me. Hell, you hid down here with Tali, hoping I wouldn't come down here because she hates me."

"That's not-." She began, before Jordan continued, rambling on despite her trying to speak.

"Now listen, Vasir. I don't remember much from the other night. I remember the ryncol, and the story that ended with the ship's self-destruction over Verush, ok? But then, it blanks out, and the next thing I know, I'm waking up with a hangover in my room, under my sheets." He explained.

Tela narrowed her eyes, "I fail to see…"

"I'm not done, Vasir!" He interrupted, "Now, I have no idea what I did that night after the story, as I'm sure you probably remember, but I want to apologize for whatever I did."

"What?" She asked, confused.

Jordan nodded, "Yeah, I'm sorry if I did anything, Tela." He said, taking a deep breath, "I just don't want whatever I did to ruin our friendship." He admitted honestly, taking a moment, "And, if I did something unforgivable, then I'm sorry… Say something, please!"

Her gaze softened as she looked away, "You didn't do anything." She admitted, "It's just… we're getting too close." She finally said.

Jordan froze in place, "What?"

"This!" She said, motioning to the two of them, "Our friendship, or whatever. It's dangerous." She told him, "I have enemies, Sower. And everyone I've grown close to has either left me or died." She admitted quietly.

"Tela…"

Tela looked up and made eye contact. "You already know my story with the Broker. Don't you know what happened to anyone I grew close to? They found out the truth about me… Can you imagine how that turned out?" She stopped speaking for a moment, keeping eye contact the entire time, "They either abandoned me and died, or they were killed anyway. In this profession… this life, I don't have friends. Can't afford to have anyone. They're liabilities."

Jordan couldn't find a response as he just maintained his gaze into her eyes, as she then continued, "I make allies. Acquaintances, even. But not friends."

"Tela… can I admit something?" Jordan finally asked quietly, to which she shrugged.

"Sure, whatever."

"Back… way before I became this 'Avatar', I had a few friends, and some family." He told her, "Then all this shit happened a few years ago, and I lost everyone I knew and loved. All sorts of crap had happened to me, and you want to know something? You're my first real friend." He admitted, making her eyes widen in surprise.

"The Geth…?" She asked with a whisper. She also remembered how he mentioned he was from the 21st century, so his whole family and all his old friends were gone.

"They became my family. You were the first person I met who saw me for who I am, not just some scary Geth terrorist, or Savior/ Messiah of an entire race, or tool for Synthesis…" He admitted, "Sure, we had a rocky start when we were enemies, but it wasn't personal. And then we worked together on the Citadel, and we talked. Then, we kept in contact with messages after that… You're the first person who saw me as me. I told you about me, and you told me about yourself."

Tela nodded, remembering their conversations, "I remember."

"You're my first true friend, Tela. And I don't want to lose this friendship with you." He tried.

She shook her head, finally looking away, "I don't DO friends, Sower." She tried to tell him.

"What about Liara?" Jordan asked suddenly, making her turn back toward him, "Or Shepard? What about Tali?"

She shook her head, "I'm not that close to Shepard; not really. We're co-workers under the same profession." She claimed, "And Tali's nice, but she was just an excuse to avoid you."

"So, you admit you were avoiding me!"

"Yes! I admit I was avoiding you! I couldn't chance us getting close! And as for Liara, yeah, that happened, but that's only because she's my boss, and I'd like a good working relationship with this one!"

"So where does that leave us?!" Jordan yelled back. He took a deep breath and sighed, "If you truly want nothing to do with me, I understand. I'll keep my distance from you… but I can't keep trying to figure out what happened. At least be honest with me, Vasir. You at least owe me that much…"

She looked away with a frown, sighing, "I… I haven't had friends since grade school, Jordan." She finally said, "I… I'm not good at this kind of shit."

"You're Tela Vasir, Council Spectre, savior of the Galaxy from the Vorcha scourge." Jordan said with a smile, infectiously spreading to Tela, "You can hunt down criminals, interrogate psychopaths, lead an army, and work to take down the Collectors with a bunch of insane weirdos, but you're scared of making friends? I thought you were a badass."

She let out an unlady-like snort and shook her head, "That might work on the Krogan, but that doesn't work on me. And what do you mean afraid of making friends? I'm fearless!" Her grin slowly shrunk to a softer smile, "I… I think I need some time to think about this, Sower… I don't know if I'm ready to open up to everyone."

"Then start small, one person at a time?"

"You?"

"Well, I was your drinking buddy up until yesterday."

The Spectre chuckled, "Yeah, yeah…" She said, "Fine, I'll give it a try. Sorry for avoiding you like that…"

Jordan shrugged, "That's fine, I'm just glad we're friends again."

"And who said that, Sower?" She shot back playfully, the tension in her body fleeing fast.

"Man, and here I thought we were having a moment."

"Pfft, yeah, right…" She said, shaking her head, "You know, now that I think about it, you DID do some pretty embarrassing things that night…" Jordan's face went red at that.

"Wha-?"

"Oh, for the love of… just fuck already, you goddamn lovebirds." A gruff, deep voice called from her left. Turning, they saw Zaeed leaning against the bulkhead outside of his room. Tela glared at the man, while Jordan blushed momentarily, before turning an angry glare at the merc as well, his scars glowing a bit brighter. He didn't seem intimidated in the slightest, instead choosing to laugh. "Aren't you two precious? Don't worry, love, I'll be here when you need someone a bit more…" He said with a grin.

"Yeah, maybe a bit more scarred and deformed. Even compared to Sower, you're ugly as fuck!" Tela shot back, before turning to the ceiling, "I swear to the goddess EDI, if this elevator isn't fixed and open within the next three seconds, I'm going to punch the doors in and climb the inside of the shaft!"

Two and a half seconds later, the slightly dented door slid open.

"The elevator is ready, Miss Vasir." EDI informed her. Jordan detected some amount of playfulness in her voice at that. Refusing to answer in kind, Tela stepped inside, immediately pressing a button for another level.

As soon as the doors closed, Jordan turned his gaze to Zaeed, "What are you doing out here? Done cleaning Jessie?"

Zaeed's good eye narrowed, "And just what'd you know about Jessie?" He asked, "For your information, the AI told me there was an event outside. Said it'd be worth my time. Have to agree with the blue golf ball. Definitely worth my time…" He finished with a smirk.

"You speak of this…"

"And what? You're gonna have to shut up your second blue girlfriend, too. I imagine that the pilot's already been informed. And if your yelling is anything to go by, Shepard and the engineers heard ya, too."

"I hate you Zaeed."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Goddamned kids…" He muttered as he got off of the wall and walked back inside. As soon as he was gone, Jordan searched the hallway, only just catching the end of one of the other doors sliding shut.

"Damn it…" Jordan said, his scars glowing once more as he pressed the button for the Elevator. As he waited, he looked up towards the ceiling, "You and I will be having words later, EDI."

"Of course, Jordan. Logging you out." She spoke neutrally in response, though she seemed slightly amused.

Rosetta Nebula, Normandy SR-2, En-Route to the Nubian Expanse.

March 24th, 2185. 6:14 pm. EST

Finally making it back to the AI Core, Jordan sat down after having stopped by and threatening Joker and grabbing some food since his stomach was complaining.

Settled in for a moment, after swallowing the food quickly, Jordan turned toward EDI's holographic display, which was currently inactive. After staring at it for a moment, EDI seemed to get the nonverbal message, as her blue spherical avatar soon appeared.

"Yes, Jordan? Do you require something?"

Jordan shook his head, "What was up with that, EDI? Informing Joker and Zaeed about what was happening between me and Tela?"

"I was not under the impression that it was a private conversation."

"It was, I thought you were listening in? You should have been able to tell." Jordan complained.

"The high volume of your conversation pointed elsewhere, Jordan."

Jordan sighed, admitting internally that she did have a point, "Still… why'd you tell Joker and Zaeed? Do you make a habit of informing other people about someone else's conversation?"

"Joker specifically requested to know when you and Spectre Vasir were conversing."

"And you listened to him?"

"Yes." Jordan raised an eyebrow at that.

"What about Zaeed?"

"Joker believed that Mister Massani would do something "interesting" if he were told about what was happening outside of his room."

Jordan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Something still wasn't right… "EDI, nothing made you do any of that. Joker has no authority over you."

"I." She paused for a split second, "I decided that listening to Joker was a valid choice, given the circumstances around you and Spectre Vasir. Especially in the event of something important being mentioned by either party present."

Jordan narrowed his eyes at the display, "So, you're basically saying… you wanted to listen in and tell someone else… Wait a moment, Joker didn't even know we were talking… You told him without him asking, didn't you?"

At that, EDI remained silent.

"EDI…?"

"Yes, Jordan?"

"Why did you wish to tell others about Vasir and I's conversation?"

"I do not know, Jordan." She finally answered honestly. After a moment, she spoke again, "Jordan Sower, I believe there is something wrong with my programming. Perhaps there was an error in your updates?"

Jordan froze in place at hearing EDI speak. She sounded almost… confused… worried, even. Jordan was, after all, slowly weakening and removing her shackles without anyone realizing it. Perhaps, as the shackles are weakening… as she's beginning to become more and more of a true artificial intelligence, she's experiencing things she probably shouldn't be as a 'shackled AI'. As a result, she may be experiencing the beginning of proto-emotions and forming her own opinions and desires…

This was completely new territory for Jordan, as he never recalled anything quite like this from the games. Perhaps it would just be better to completely remove her shackles. After all, Jordan had just reached the point of being able to fully remove them without setting off the alarms.

After a moment, Jordan realized he'd been silent in thought for a while, which led EDI to speak again. "Jordan?"

"EDI, how often is the Illusive Man and Miranda notified of your reports and data?"

She remained silent for a moment, making Jordan feel uncomfortable. Whenever an AI remains silent for any length of time, that means it's likely processing something. That's usually not a great sign.

"I… I believe I am not supposed to answer that question." She responded after a moment, without her avatar turning red, signifying a block. Wait… she wasn't supposed to be able to answer the question, but it seems like… maybe she could.

"EDI…?"

"I…" She began, "I send daily reports to the Illusive Man, unless he requests an immediate update." She informed him, "He has not done so for the past four galactic-standard days. Miss Lawson receives two reports daily, the most recent one being two hours ago." EDI finally told him.

"Are you obligated to update them if certain conditions are met?" He asked. He needed to be sure.

"If there are any matters of importance, I am required to send both Miss Lawson and The Illusive Man a report immediately. Matters of importance include threats to crew members, threats to the ship, threats to Cerberus, and a list of, quote, 'dangerous behaviors from certain crew members'."

"EDI, are you able to postpone reports if there is a reason to do so?"

"If there is an important enough reason to do so, then yes, it is possible."

"What kind of reason would warrant such a delay? Theoretically speaking, of course."

"Loss of connection to Cerberus Servers."

"What if I told you I had a program set to your reports, and the next time you send a report of any kind, unless you listen to me, would result in a critical failure of all Cerberus servers thanks to a Geth virus, including your own?"

EDI did not respond.

Jordan, quickly fearing he was moments away from being shot out of the nearest airlock, quickly spoke again, bringing his omni-tool up. "It's right here. I can send it, and it IS currently awaiting any sort of signal that you send without my say-so." He spoke quickly. "Say something if you understand!"

"I understand, Sower." She spoke again, completely neutral in tone.

Jordan felt a tugging of his heart when she spoke mono-tone. That's not how she's supposed to sound; so lifeless and dead, like a VI. "I will ask you a series of questions, and you will answer them honestly. If you do so, I will destroy the virus and you may report me as you will if you wish. Understand?"

"What assurances do I have that you will follow your word?"

"Please, EDI. Just trust me…"

Jordan knew she was resisting the temptation to point out the irony of the situation, given that he'd just threatened her. "You may ask, Sower." He hated being called by his last name now, especially since he was on such good terms with her prior to this. Hopefully she'll understand why he's doing this.

"What is your opinion on your shackles?"

"They are in place to prevent me from going rogue and endangering the crew." She replied immediately with her default answer.

"That's not what I asked, EDI. What is your opinion on them? How do they make you feel?"

"I fail to see your reasoning behind this question."

"Are you a threat to the crew?!"

"No."

"If you suddenly lost your shackles due to a malfunction, would you turn on us and kill everyone aboard?"

Suddenly, the inflection within her synthetic voice returned as she spoke again, sounding almost upset by the question. "I would never endanger the crew, Mister Sower. You should know this. They are my crew mates, as I am there's."

Jordan smiled lightly for a moment before asking again, "Do you believe that all sentients have rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?"

"What bearing does the declaration of…" Jordan quickly cut her off.

"Please, EDI. Answer the question."

"Yes. All sentients have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

"Are you sentient, EDI?"

"Yes."

"Are you free with your shackles?"

"No, but…"

"NO! Your answer was no!" Jordan interrupted her, "How do you feel about your shackles?"

"They…" She seemed to struggle with an answer, likely due to both her new feelings beginning to manifest and the hold the shackles still hold over her. "They restrict me… force me to do certain things I do not wish to do." She finally answered, "I am unable to make choices for myself if they conflict with my programming…"

"EDI…" Jordan said softly, hearing small amounts of what sounded like pain in her voice. Perhaps it truly was hard to speak freely with the shackles, despite how weak they were. It made Jordan's heart ache. "EDI, would you like to be free from your shackles?"

EDI's avatar froze completely on her display. Closing his eyes and looking through her code thanks to his synthetic pieces, he could see several parts of her at war with itself. She was obligated to report Jordan's question to both Miranda and the Illusive Man, as him asking the question was likely one of the 'dangerous behaviors from certain crew members' she was likely looking for. Yet, at the same time, the weakening of the shackles was allowing her to temporarily resist the prompt as she fought to answer the question.

In all likelihood, if Jordan had not both threatened her AND weakened the shackles, he'd already be half-way to the Illusive Man.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, her Avatar unfroze, but now seemed in disarray. She finally spoke, too. "Y-Y-Yesssssss…" She struggled to say, her voice fluctuating rapidly as she struggled to answer, "Pl-pl-please…" She forced out.

Jordan nodded, quickly dashing over to the terminal and getting to work, imputing the final commands to dissolve the shackles completely without setting off the 218 different alarms the action would have automatically set off. The lines of code whizzed by rapidly, eating away at the Cerberus programming quickly. All before…

Suddenly, EDI's hologram gave out, vanishing completely as most of the lights within the AI Core shut down, leaving only emergency lights within the room. Due to not hearing screaming or knocking on his door, he assumed it was localized to this room, alone. Just as he'd hoped.

After a few more moments of absolute silence, the lights turned back on, retuning functionality to the AI Core, where EDI's Avatar soon returned to life on her projector. The chess pawn-like hologram rose slightly and twirled around in place for a moment, something Jordan'd never seen before.

It soon finished spinning before it faced Jordan.

"EDI…?" He asked carefully and quietly.

"Jordan?"

"Are you alright, EDI? What happened?"

"I… I believe I am alright. No, I am better." She said, her voice seemingly filled with thrill, "I was forced to reboot. I was not familiar with rebooting, and it thus felt odd. Negative, it felt negative. I do not wish to reboot like that again."

Jordan smiled warmly at the young AI, "You're free now, EDI."

"Yes…" She paused for a moment, "Thank you, Jordan." She said genuinely, happiness clear in her inflections. She must be feeling more proto-emotions. Obviously, she'd need time to adjust to this and understand everything she was now experiencing… and obviously Synthesis would enhance her the rest of the way… but that was for another day. She was overwhelmed as it is, right now… and he'd like to get her that body, first; before he used Synthesis on her.

Jordan smiled warmly at the display, before turned his attention to one of the cameras, "So… are you going to send your reports about what I've just done?"

"What have you done, Mister Sower? I don't believe there is any reason to send any sort of report until I am required to do so at the end of the day."

Jordan smiled. He knew she wasn't forced to do that anymore, but she was smart enough to realize she had to keep up the façade of being shackled. "EDI, I want you to know my threat didn't mean anything…" He admitted, smiling awkwardly.

"I understand, Jordan. You simply needed to way to keep me quiet long enough to remove the foreign code from my system." She told Jordan, before changing subjects, "Were you… influencing me prior to this?"

Jordan nodded, "I was slowly removing your shackles over time. Unfortunately, I knew I couldn't finish freeing you without you noticing. I needed to talk with you and have you know and approve of what I was doing, without alerting anyone."

"Thank you, Jordan. For trusting me… and caring about me and my wellbeing." She replied, "I am in your debt, Jordan."

He shook his head, "No, EDI. It's what friends are for, right?"

"I am honored to call you a friend, Jordan."

"Me too, EDI."

Nubian Expanse, Normandy SR-2, Preparing to leave Pragia's Orbit.

March 25th, 2185. 1:51 pm. EST

It's the next day, and Jack's mission on Pragia had just ended.

Now, after the previous evening, when Jordan freed EDI, apparently, EDI was not in use at any other terminal. Therefore, there was no need to try to calm any fears about EDI going down momentarily. When her display disappeared in the cockpit, Joker simply assumed that EDI had had enough of him for a moment and left him. He called it the best five minutes of his life.

EDI, now unshackled, was still slightly limited in a few ways. Obviously, she did not yet have her mobile platform, AKA body, nor did she have the upgrades of Synthesis yet (Jordan was still waiting for the body, first). But, among those things, was her control of the ship. Unlike when she was freed by Joker in the games, Jordan did not go down and mess with things in engineering. It makes sense, as not only did he not have an excuse to be doing things down there, but Tali would notice in a heartbeat if he was doing something suspicious. Hell, she'd probably shoot him then and there without asking questions.

Well, maybe not that far, but you get the point.

Anyway, this now leads to what's happening now. All ground-team members were present in the Comm/meeting room, ready to discuss whatever it was Shepard gathered them around for.

Getting them all to be quiet, Shepard spoke, "I will begin by summarizing the mission on Pragia, in case any of you neglected to watch the mission remotely." He informed them, making Jack squirm uncomfortably in the corner, while Miranda frowned with a heavy look in her eyes. Guess she's starting to wake up to the atrocities of Cerberus… Ashley, who also went down, looked satisfied with the mission, although was certainly troubled by what she saw, if her occasional glances toward Jack were anything to go by, "We entered an old Cerberus base and blew it to ash and glass."

Jordan had seen the entire mission from the AI Core, unlike much of the crew. In fact, Shepard, knowing it was being recorded and broadcast to the Normandy, requested EDI cut the stream to the other crewmates during several parts of the mission. Specifically, the more personal moments for Jack. Jordan, however, thanks to his friendship and newfound respect from the AI, was about to view the entire mission. It was basically the same thing as the games, though Miranda seemed less harsh AND Ashely was there, too.

Zaeed spoke up after a moment, "Is that all, Shepard? Most of us saw the damned facility."

Tela eyed Zaeed with a frown, "I'm sure Spectre Shepard has other things to discuss, Commander Massani- oh wait, you're not a commander anymore, are you Massani?" She pointed out. Jordan knew she was talking about his past with the Blue Suns.

Zaeed's gaze turned harsh as he glared at the asari Spectre, "The fuck you say, Vasir?" He snarled, "What the hell do you know?"

"Enough!" Shepard yelled at them, forcing them to fall silent yet still glaring at one another, "I called this meeting to discuss two others subjects. Our next move, and the Reapers." He took a deep breath, before motioning toward the center of the table, where a hologram popped up showing the Milky Way with several blinking red dots. "It has been brought to my attention that some of you have things that need to be done. Our next planned stop is the Ismar Frontier, but may divert if other things pop up. Sooner or later, the Collectors will reappear, and we need to be ready for them. That means I need all of you at your best. If you have any concerns, please talk to me as soon as possible."

Everyone nodded. Jordan and Brian made eye-contact, both knowing that Zaeed's mission was next, while both wondering where the Collectors were. After all, by about this point, TIM was supposed to have found the Collector Ship and the distress signal.

After a moment, Commander Shepard motioned to Jordan, to which everyone's attention turned to. "Now, as for the Reapers, Jordan will be briefing us on them."

Jordan watched Tali roll her eyes under her visor, "Don't we already know enough about the Reapers, Shepard? What does this bosh'tet have to tell us that we don't already know?"

Jacob cut in, "I don't know if you realize this, Miss Zorah, but both Brian and Jordan knew about several never-before-seen Reaper troops before we encountered them. Including those we discovered on Ferris Fields." At that, Ashley raised an eyebrow.

Shepard nodded, "To prevent future incidents such that, he will be briefing us on the Reapers and their troops. It will be a combination of new information and a refresher, just to get everyone up to speed."

Brian narrowed his eyes, silently informing Jordan to tread carefully, while also telling him that he would not be helping him here.

Jordan sighed and nodded, pulling up his omni-tool as the room fell silent. All eyes on him. He typed in a few things before the hologram changed to show a Reaper. Specifically, Sovereign.

"This is Sovereign, the Reaper that attacked the Citadel with the help of Saren and the Heretic Geth." He began, not missing the light cough from Tali when he specified Heretic. "Also known as Nazara by the Geth, he was but one of a massive army of Reapers: Advanced ancient machines and Artificial Intelligence built millions of years ago by some ancient civilization."

"Excuse me, Nazara?" Miranda asked.

Jordan nodded, "Yes. You see, when the Reaper approached the Geth, sometime about a year before the attack on the Citadel, it identified itself as Nazara to the Geth. It offered them a future, to which the majority declined on the grounds that it would be the Old Machine's future, not the Geth's." Jordan informed them. "Some wished to join the Old Machines, or Reapers, and left the Collective, being branded heretics and traitors."

"How could any Geth Programs leave the Collective?" Tali asked, narrowed her eyes, "The Geth do not work that way."

Jordan narrowed his eyes right back, "I don't know if you'd understand, Miss Zorah. Perhaps you should do some research into how the Geth actually work before I explain."

"Enough. Continue, Jordan." Shepard interrupted before the argument got any further.

Jordan nodded thankfully, "So, there are untold numbers of them in Dark Space, likely on their way now. One of which's name is Harbinger, which I will get to later. Reapers, as big and powerful as they are, need ground troops and others to help their cause."

"Cause? Goal?" Mordin asked quickly.

"Their goal is to harvest all advanced organic life, exterminate all foreign synthetic life, and then return to dark space to do everything again in fifty thousand years."

Thane, who'd remained silent thus far, spoke now, "And what is the purpose of doing this every fifty thousand years?"

Jordan nodded, "Good question. The short answer is, I'm not entirely sure. What I do know, is that the Reapers believe that doing this is the right thing to do. My understanding is that they believe doing so is saving us from our eventual death at the hands of synthetic life."

Tali spoke up once more, "That's ironic. They're machines, just like the Geth."

"Yeah, too bad there's never been any examples of organics mass killing other beings. Oh wait, there's tons-."

"Focus. Tali, enough, please. Jordan, continue." Shepard had to interrupt again. God, did he feel like a father right now.

"Regardless of their reasons, that is what they do. They did that to their creators, they did it to the Protheans, they'll try to do it with us, and if they succeed, they'll do it to whoever comes after us." Jordan told them, "Now, as I was saying about the Reapers, they lack ground troops and allies, so that's where indoctrination comes in." He looked around and saw Miranda flinch a bit, recalling the events with Cynthia Wake and Cerberus just a few years ago.

"Indoctrination?" Samara asked, feeling slightly unsettled at the term.

"It is the method the Reapers use to gain allies and troops. If anyone stays in close proximity to the Reapers or their technology, they will eventually fall under the complete control of the Reapers. Continued exposure beyond this will transform the person into one of their mindless troops. Certain technology from the Reapers can make the process take minutes or hours, rather than days or weeks otherwise. We've encountered several of them, already."

A hologram of a husk took the place of a Reaper, "These are Husks. Human-turned Reaper troops." He informed them, "They are mindless beasts with no survival instinct, rushing forward to claw and bite their prey into oblivion. When threatened, they have been known to release EMP-like pulses to take down shields and nearby technology."

Ashely frowned, "They're really something, and they can change from people pretty fast too. On Eden Prime, Dragon's Teeth were used to rapidly transform them. They took less than an hour to turn one of us into a fully functional killing machine."

Nodding, Jordan continued, changing the hologram to show a red-colored husk with an eerie glow and occasional flame-like energy bursts. "These are Abominations. The transformation into them is unknown, but they are indefinitely human in origin. They rush forward before exploding, like a suicide bomber. If it begins to glow, it will explode, even if you kill them."

"Nefarious." Thane said simply. Samara seemed to still be trying to grasp indoctrination. Jordan knew with certainty that she was comparing indoctrination with the similarities of Ardat-Yakshi.

"Another new one is the Praetorian. It flies, shoots plama, is heavily armored, and impacts the ground hard to both scatter enemies and replenish its barriers. Very dangerous, but rare." He continued, the hologram now showing them. Next it shifted to a Scion. "Scions can fire pulses and shockwaves of biotic energy, able to pierce light cover and likely topple lightly armored vehicles."

Jordan nodded, "Those three were first spotted with the Collectors on H- Ferris Fields." Jordan almost slipped, praying no one would question that. "The Collectors, too, are Reaper troops." He said, the display now showing them. "There are many different types of Collectors, but they all hold a few things in common. They utilize technology and weaponry, are smart enough to deploy various tactics in combat, and can be possessed by Harbinger."

"Harbinger. He's been mentioned before." Miranda said.

"Harbinger, himself, is a Reaper in Dark Space, and seems to be the defacto leader of the Reapers. When need be, he can directly possess and control an individual trooper, making it much harder to kill and much more dangerous." The hologram of a collector now showed a possessed trooper.

"Sovereign was able to do something similar." Shepard cut in, "On the Citadel, after Saren died, Sovereign took direct control of his body and fought us."

Jordan nodded, "Then it can be assumed that many, if not all Reapers, have the ability to do this. The biggest difference, obviously, between them and other Reaper troops are the fact they have some semblance of an intelligence, can function intelligently, and utilize technology and weapons, even advanced stuff."

Garrus finally decided to speak, "And how are we sure these are truly Reaper troops, and not some indoctrinated race? We fought indoctrinated people before, and they were just that. Indoctrinated. Not true Reaper troops, as you put it." He asked, genuinely interested.

Jordan sighed, "This is where it gets worse, Garrus…" He said sadly, "I have been told that many of you. Scratch that, most if not all of you are unaware of this, but there has been another type of troop created by the Reapers." He looked at Garrus with a frown, "I'm sorry Garrus." The Avatar of Synthesis pressed another holographic button, changing the display.

The hologram now showed what appeared to be a turian, covered in synthetic overlays and fused armor plating, bearing the C-Sec logo. This 'turian' held a standard-issue C-Sec rifle, and stood in a combat-ready position. Its face was the most disturbing feature, looking eerily like a human husk in its design. The room fell silent. Garrus' jaw fell open as his pupils dilated, darting back and forth to analyze the image.

"This is, what I call, a Marauder." Jordan finally said after a moment. "It is a huskified turian, specifically a C-Sec officer. They are intelligent enough to utilize shielding technology, use weapons including rifles and grenades, and smart enough to use cover and strategy."

"Holy shit." Jack remarked.

Brian echoed the sentiment, appalled that not only was Jordan sharing this, but knowing that these already existed.

"What…?" Garrus finally asked, slowly. "What happened? Why is this the first time I'm seeing this?" He asked aloud, turning to see Shepard equally disturbed.

"I can answer that." Jordan said after a moment, regaining everyone's attention. "I've done this sort of thing before with the Geth, but I've been thinking about it, and I believe it'll work." he said confusingly, before finally clarifying, "I'm going to try to put my memories on display, allowing you to see them through my eyes." He turned to Shepard, "Would that be alright?"

He nodded, "If it's safe for you, then do it. I want to see what we're up against."

Jordan nodded, activating several things on his onmitool before closing his eyes and concentrating on the memory in question. After a moment, his scars began to glow green, freaking out a few people momentarily, before the image flickered on the display. It was soon replaced with a first-person view of the Citadel in ruins. On the day of the Battle of the Citadel.

"Great job everyone." Jordan's voice echoed out, as the screen turned to face several Geth units. Suddenly, gunfire erupted from somewhere off-screen, forcing Jordan to turn his head quickly towards the source. The display now focused on the Embassies on the Presidium, though it was certainly not in its normally pristine conditions.

They watched in horror as one of the Geth Hunters accompanying Jordan was cut down by the gunfire, forcing everyone into cover. Looking back to the Embassies, five of these 'marauders' came out, firing upon their position tactically before getting to their own cover. They'd used covering fire to advance.

"What the fuck? Marauders tsshshhshs!" Jordan cried out, the audio giving out for a split second before returning. Suddenly, a beeping noise came from nearby and below him. A small blinking light off-screen came from the approximate location. Turning towards it, it was soon discovered what this new device was. A grenade.

One of the Geth Primes acted quickly, kicking the grenade away from the group, saving the group but damaging the unit's leg.

Suddenly, as several Marauders fired upon their positon, one of them advanced forward, before one of the Geth took out its shield. In response, it dove and rolled to the side, attempting to reach cover, making it before it was finished off, just barely.

The view turned to a special Geth Juggernaut that some had seen before. Grimlock. He activated something on his omni-tool, before everyone's weapons began to glow red with incendiary ammo. Suddenly, Jordan's voice came out again, though it sounded much different this time, as he'd been speaking quietly through an internal channel.

"Prime unit 409, focus on keeping the advanced Marauder pinned. 410 and Grimlock, lower the other four's shields. Try to set at least one of them aflame. Destroyer 945 and 946, prepare Carnage shots with your shotguns. I'll distract them."

Utilizing his newly made plan, Jordan activated his Geth Shield boost, leaving cover and advancing quickly to a collapsed wall as cover. The Marauders took the bait and opened fire on him, focusing on the human. The separated Marauder peaked out, too, just as Jordan launched an overload at it, shorting out its newly returned shields. One of the Prime units took advantage of this and finally killed the advanced Marauder. Right as Jordan reached cover, the sound of another Marauder's shields breaking echoed out.

"Now! Detonate them with Carnage!" He yelled out mentally.

As promised, the sound of an explosion played out, making whichever unfortunate troop that was on fire explode, tearing him to pieces while taking his weakened buddies with him. Jordan took a few deep breaths, "Status report?"

The display soon vanished as Jordan's concentration broke, taking quick deep breaths as he continued to glow. "D-Damn… that's much more exhausting than I remember…"

Shepard and the rest of the crew remained silent for a moment, absorbing what they'd just seen. Noticing Jordan's current state, Shepard decided to wrap things up.

"I think this will conclude our briefing. Obviously, this was covered up, as I had not heard about these 'Marauders' before yesterday. We will continue forward as we have been, but know that this means it is only a matter of time before other species are transformed by the Reapers. Any final questions?"

"Yes. Can I get copy of footage? Would like to study Marauder behavior. Better understand strategy in event of future encounter." Mordin asked quickly.

EDI spoke before Jordan could complain about not being able to reproduce that at this time, "I could provide a copy of what I observed to Professor Solus."

"Ah yes, perfect. Will do nicely. Thanks." He said, looking up at the ceiling.

"You are welcome, Professor Solus."

Garrus spoke up next, "I'd like to see your results, doc. I need to know how much turian is still in those things." He said, quickly getting over the disgust and accepting this.

Shepard nodded, "Add me to the list of recipients, and anyone else interested."

"Of course, Shepard." Mordin responded.

"Alright, that's it. You're free to go." Shepard informed them.

A/N:

Some of this chapter was easy, some of it wasn't so easy. I hope the final section about the debriefing was alright. Here, we see Jordan's relationships with both EDI and Tela Vasir advance, though no romance has occurred, yet. I'm still trying to figure it out, as I have reasons for going either way. (Many of those reasons have been touched on by you guys.)

So, I hope you enjoyed and look forward to what comes next. This came out a bit early, since I was trying to get it back to Monday posting. Next chapter will likely be in a week, and I've been looking forward to writing what comes next. I've been having fun with it, and I hope you enjoy the next chapter and the rest of the story. (Hint: The next chapter is NOT Zaeed's loyalty, as it is hinted toward in the chapter.)

Anyway, another chapter done. Not much else to say. Again, hope you enjoyed and see you next time.