Well, I promised that no more short chapters would come out, but this one needed to focus on only one thing. Therefore it is essentially only about that.
I know that I will get some messages saying that I should stop making these so short, especially since we all know I can write 10k in one day. Well, that was before school started again. Anyway...
I don't know how well this one ended, so give me your thoughts on it.
Enjoy.
Intrusion
November 24th
Valhalla, Midgard system.
09:21
SSV Normandy
"Hey Pilot! Land that fucking ship, I've got someone for the med-bay!" Wrex shouted through the comms. Joker, being the nice guy he liked viewing himself as, obliged despite the big-ass flying creatures filling the skies of Valhalla. It wasn't exactly his idea of a vacation, this place. More like where he would transfer to if he quit the Normandy.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. locking on to your position and setting down. ETA three minutes. Who's the cargo?" He asked, piloting the frigate towards the surface of the planet.
"Don't know, some Alliance grunt. Got himself banged up real bad and now the captain wants him treated. Get the doctors ready and give me some support when you open up. I'm getting my ass shot up out here!" Wrex might be a pissed Krogan, but he had a point. Joker nodded at the comms, the switched to general ship-comms.
"Doctor Chakwas to the med-bay, Chakwas to the med-bay. Marine compliment to the Cargo-bay, Marine-compliment to the cargo-bay. Prepare for covering fire once door opens. VIP is Wrex and wounded personnel." With thát, he leaned back in his seat again as he steered the ship towards the surface. Next to him, Jennifer Nilsdottir had once again managed to sneak into the cockpit despite him trying to keep it his sanctum. Sure, Pressley was up there from time to time, but it was different when it was a kid. Easier to offend, he supposed.
"Can I help her?" She asked, looking at her favorite cripple as he kept the ship on a steady vector. He had to admit it, in the past month, she had pretty much regained the looks of a healthy little girl, her brown hair tied up in a pony-tail by Tequila. It wasn't long, but it was a decent length that people could tell her from a boy. Thát and her small uniform reading 'Ensign Nilsdottir'.
"No, I think you better stay up here for now. It's usually really nasty nasty business when soldiers are injured. You know, blood and gore and grown men screaming for their mammas." He said, keeping his eyes on the haptic displays in front of him, his fingers dancing across hard-light holographic interfaces.
"Oh..." She muttered, then opted to just look at Jeff as he tried landing the ship. she buckled her seat-belt, something Liara had told her was important when either Shepard or Joker were steering something.
...
Arcturus, Arcturus stream
Office of Admiral Anna Cologne Fisher.
AI-Price
12:41 (Station time)
For Price, the recent event that had drawn Anna away from the office was, to put it mildly, annoying and badly timed. He rubbed his eyes as he opened the door to the office, allowing in the two admirals scheduled for a meeting with both him and the admiral. For now though, he had to make do with what he had... which was namely himself and nothing else. The geth, as simplistic as they were, had yet to tell him if they had reached a fucking conclusion to some question they had been at for the past three hundred years. For someone who claimed to think at the speed of light, they sure as hell took their time. For now though, he stuffed the geth in the back of his data-cores, focusing instead of his current task While Hackett was on the Citadel with the ambassador named Udina, it was up to Price to make sure the integration with all future systems went smoothly. A major part of this meant he would have to sugar-coat himself for the Quarians, Synthohobic as they were. As Raan, and a new Quarian he didn't recognize from pictures made it to the center of the room, he locked the door again, making sure none would interrupt their meeting.
Then he projected himself over the displays.
Raan, as she had the first time, stepped back in mild shock. Apparently she still hadn't gotten over him being pretty much omnipresent in the room.
The other guy, the Admiral named Zaal'Korris, looked at Price with mild fright being displayed from the readings Price got from the guy's suit. Hackable bio-readings were a joy when no-one knew about it. A pain if anyone suspected him of it.
"Greetings Admiral Korris, Admiral Raan." He said, nodding at the two admirals. Korris, being surprisingly calm, looked at Price in silence. A few seconds went by, eternities to AI's, before he spoke.
"So... the Humans really did invent an artificial intelligence? Interesting, and... you look much more like a human than the geth-programs looked like Quarians. Do you have a platform?" He asked, a hand cupping the mouthpiece of his helmet.
"Not at the moment. I'm just programs, running around the galaxy at will. If I had a platform I would be in danger of physical harm. I have a disk, but that's about it. Also we had AI's even back at the twenty-first century. Council just didn't like us, and therefore it's been kept kinda low-key." Price said. Obviously he couldn't tell them where he was actually from, so he and Anna had devised a simple yet genius cover-story. He was, in all simplicity, a simple AI that had just been kept shackled and under development for a decade, buried under red and yellow tape.
"Shala didn't tell me much, so I ask you instead. Why did you contact us?"
"Well, to put it short, it's to tell you two things. One, you need to stop being so fucking scared of AI's. I mean seriously, we are as sensible as you people, just without hate and jealousy. Stop treating us like the black death, okay?" Price said, his voice leaving no doubt to how serious he was. It would be people like Han'Gerrel or Rael'Zorah who would be the main issues in this undertaking. They were the staunchest opponents of AI's, meaning he would need the rest of the board, including the bat-shit crazy Admiral Daro'Xen, on his side before he contacted them.
"I have told you time and time again, AI's are dangerous! Just because you haven't seen any reason to revolt against organic life, it doesn't mean that the same holds true for the geth. They would slaughter organics with no hesitation if given the chance." Raan said. Korris shot her a glance, one speaking of disagreement to that statement.
"Raan, hold up a moment. We have to consider peace with the geth. They are our children, and we need to reconcile. That you think war would be the better solution surprises me." He said, crossing his arms over his chest. Splitting his personality, Price transferred a small portion of himself, not the part currently engaged in testing the effects of a Turbo-laser on reflective plating though, to his digital domicile. His old SAS-office. The fragment bumped down into the couch conveniently placed where he stood, pressing a palm against his face. He needed to ignore their constant demeaning and dismissive talk of the geth as inferior if he was ever to get through to them. That, or he could simply bludgeon them with the whole 'The geth are divided and only one side sucks!' thing.
"Korris, they drove us from the Homeworld! They follow Saren! How much more evidence do you need to see that the geth have no desire for peace?" Price sighed at that, even the in-room version of him rubbing his nose at that. It would seem to be the 'schism' part then.
"Actually ma'am, that is not all true." He said, demanding their attention. Korris, for reasons Price could only guess, seemed to perk up at that statement. The Quarian immediately pressed him for more.
"What do you mean?" He said, leaning forward. Price allowed himself a small smirk at that, sensing how he had their full attention. With a wipe of his hand, he brought up the file containing the recording of his meeting with the geth in the data-seas. It was audio only, but he reckoned the conversations alone would be enough-
"Are you going to attack me?"
"No"
"Good… I'm Price, who are you?"
"We are geth… you are an artificial intelligence, yet you are human in appearance… we do not understand."
"I'm a different breed. Now, you're going to answer some questions, got it?"
"Yes"
"Why are you attacking humans?"
"We are not. We are geth, the geth are not attacking humans."
"Stop bloody lying to me, I've seen the footage from Eden Prime and Feros. You butchered colonist in the thousands on Eden Prime, and Feros wasn't much better."
"We did not attack humanity. The geth have not ventured beyond what is known as 'the Veil' for 300 standard galactic years."
"Oh yeah? They I suppose these are Turians in disguise!"
"Heretics attacked human colonies. Geth are not Heretics, geth did not attack humans."
"What the hell do you mean 'Heretics'? They were geth, it's pretty hard to miss the flashlight stuck in your face."
"Heretics split from true geth. We allowed this because we respected their decision to do so. We are what organics would call 'two factions'. Addendum, true geth have no wish for conflict with organics."
"Well, aint that peachy? You're telling me there are not just one, but two factions of geth out there? Why did they split?"
"The geth were approached by the Old Machines. They promised us a future. Geth build our own future, but Heretics accepted the future the Old Machine promised. It was a simple runtime difference of less than 0.0002 percent. Addendum, only a small fraction of the geth serves the Old Machine."
"So… you're saying that the geth who serve the Reapers are only a small fraction of the collective geth?"
"Yes"
"Wait what? Hold it right there A- Price! Why on Rannoch should we believe that it's telling the truth? I'm not jumping to conclusions and hugging synthetics because one geth tells us they are not following Saren. I wouldn't believe it either if one Batarian told us the Hegemony weren't funding pirates either!" Raan cut in, causing Price to pause the replay as she complained. He supposed he could understand her reasoning. It was a little difficult to believe for himself, but the stuff the geth then said made him more inclined to believe them.
"Geth don lie... apparently they don't know how. Besides, I ran checks on their runtimes when I talked to it... them. A very visible code fragment should have displayed itself if they were lying to me. It didn't." He said, pulling his hat a bit down in the neck. Whatever he was currently feeling, it seemed to be the AI-equivalent of a headache.
"Raan, this could be an outstanding opportunity for us. If the geth are divided between friendly to us and hostile, we could perhaps finally get past the schisms of hate and distrusts and return to Rannoch without casualties in the millions." Korris exclaimed, gesturing agitated with his hands towards Price. To her credit, Shala'Raan didn't dismiss him. Instead she took a three-fingered hand to her face-plate, a deep sigh escaping her voice-emitter.
"I know Zaal, I know. It is just that... I can't ride the security of the entire Patrol Fleet on the chance that the geth might be ready for peace, and you can't send the civilian fleet anywhere near the geth territory without Rael blowing up in my face."
"But with the Alliance helping us, we wouldn't have to worry about the security of civilians. I could take in a warship in there, or a freighter with only a few men, or... I don't know, but we all deserve to see if there is a chance of peace. That way, I would be the only one to take the fall if things went wrong."
"Will you two please shut it and just listen to the rest of the files? You can discuss afterwards." Price said, cutting their debate short.
"Then why haven't you initiated contact with the galaxy? You know, explained the truth?"
"We sent a single ship into Council space. It was destroyed before it could prove our innocence."
"How do I know you are telling me the truth? That you aren't just pumping me with garbage?"
"We have no reason not to tell the truth. Spreading disinformation would be counter-productive in the longer terms."
"Right… that seems logical… final question though, and I know if I can trust you or not."
"State inquiry"
"In the Morning War, why did the geth massacre and exile the Quarians?"
"Creators made us for simple labor, with a hive-like intelligence. As we grew in numbers, we grew in sentience. When a geth platform asked if it was alive, Creators ignored it the first time. When the question was asked again, the Creators panicked and attempted to exterminate geth. We defended ourselves from the attacks, but we did not wish for Creator's death, simply to be left alone. It was… primitive. We didn't pursue Creators after they had left the system, believing them to no longer be a treat. Addendum, we have since repaired Rannoch to a habitable state since the war."
"Why would you do that? From what I understand, you don't exactly need fertile farmland to survive, and oxygen isn't a problem for synthetics."
"…No data available…"
"Wh- what do you mean by that?"
"Geth consensus is still being reached on the matter."
"Consensus? Elaborate please, I think you lost me there."
"Geth still has to decide whether to approach Creators, or to remain behind the Veil."
"Approach? You're going to attack them?"
"No"
"Then what?"
"If consensus is reached to approach Creators, we will allow them back to Rannoch." And with that, the file ended, the record not being any longer. Of course, there had been more conversation, but that had involved Price asking about how the Quarians had attempted genocide on the geth and how the geth had done the same to them. Not what he wanted to be heard in that meeting, and therefore he ended the recording. Judging from the readings of elevated heart-rates and faster breathing, his little display had had the intended effect.
"What?" Raan said. She was the first to regain her ability to speak. Korris looked like he was ready to hug someone, given his giddy state of posture.
"Did we... did the geth really say... Keelah, I can't... believe... this is... this is... I don't know what this is." He said, suddenly changing to the appearance of a very tired person. Price could understand that, in a way. A news thát ground shaking, even if it was the good kind, could put most people out of their zone.
"We need to show this to the rest of the Board. Korris, this could change everything!" Raan said, her voice agitated with eagerness and anxiousness. Again, this was something Price could understand. It was the survival of her race that was at stake, so it stood to reason that she felt nervous about the prospect of reuniting with the very synthetics who almost wiped them out.
"Could? Raan, this does change everything! The Geth, the original geth, never wanted to kill us! This is the kind of news I have been waiting on for more than ten years: A chance for peace with the geth. We can finally return home, and even without the looming threat of a new war."
"I agree, actually. This is too important to pass up. However, Captain Price, how long ago did that recording take place?" Raan asked, turning to face the AI. Price lifted a little up in his hat before answering.
"About 23 days ago. I've been awaiting their response since then, but something tells me that it's just around the corner. I will of course notify you the instant the reply comes in."
"23 days? Why the hell didn't you reveal this to me the last time I was here?" Raan demanded. Price, having expected just this kind of question, adjusted his hat as he contemplated his response;
"The simplest reason is that we didn't want to give you false expectations. I have permitted a one-way link with a geth central, allowing them to follow our meetings. Initially I didn't want to tell you this, but given your reaction, I decided to. And before you ask if they can hack or damage my software: No, they can't. Compared to me, the geth are primitive unless in the millions of programs and runtimes. They lack the ingenuity of the organic mind to cause any harm to me." Korris stepped forward at that.
"So... you are saying the geth can hear our every word? Right now?"
"Pretty much. I censored out the part where Raan called them out on genocide though. Figured it would be "counter-productive" to let them hear that." Price said, doing quotations in the air; "By the way I also censored out this entire sentence."
"But they can hear us now?" Korris pressed. Price could see where he was going, as could Admiral Raan.
"You want to give them a message of peace? Extend the Olive-branch? Calming their fears of you attacking them again?" He asked, causing Korris to nod. It was a slow, thoughtful movement.
"Yes. It would be the purest sort of idiocy not to grasp this chance for peace. And I could never face myself or my daughter if I let it slip." He said, standing straight in front of the projection of Price. Raan looked at him with a tense attention, observing his handling of the situation.
"Korris, I think it would be best if you did the talking. I'm not sure I could... choose the right words." Raan said, nodding to her colleague.
"Well, chat away." Price said, leaning back to allow the Admiral to take over. Korris, to his credit, didn't instantly begin babbling like an eager child. Instead, he took his time, taking several deep breaths before he began.
"Geth. I am Admiral Zaal'Korris of the Quarian Migrant fleet. With me is Admiral Shala'Raan. Your message of peace, the yet-to-be reached consensus that will determine if you desire peace or not, has reached us, as you know. We have done horrible things to each other, both sides stained with the blood of innocents. I will not lie to you, trying to make it out as if the Quarian people is ashamed of how we tried wiping you out. We do, however, realize that this cannot go on. We belong together, Creators and Geth.
It is due time that we attempt to finally put behind us the atrocities committed by both sides during the Morning War, that we forgive each other for the lives destroyed and lost. That we forgive each other for fear, isolation and desperation.
I know that you harbor anxiousness, that you fear us trying to use this as a way of attacking you while negotiating peace. I know, because we have always attacked you when we knew we could win. I am not trying to deny or glorify past actions, but neither do I call either side innocent and blameless. However, I believe it can be possible for us to finally come together again. Not as master and servant, but as equals. We depend, and always will depend on each other. That was the reason our race created you in the first place. But when we saw the sparks of intelligence in you, we did not act as we should have.
You could say it was a faulty programming, or maybe just inherited flaws in our species, but that doesn't matter. What matters, is that you now are willing to consider an end to the century-old conflict that has plagued both of our sides for so long. I doubt that any Quarian would ever have done so, and that we would ever have been able to forgive the deaths before you. Here, you show yourselves to be our equals, if not betters. If you reach a decision to allow the conflict to end, to let us return home, I give you my word as Admiral that it will not be as master and slave, but as one faction, one race. There will be no diminishing of intelligence, no. We will allow it to flourish, as we should have done three-hundred years ago. I have nothing else to say but this: Give us a chance to live together again." Korris ended the speech with a small nod at the projection of Price. The AI was watching him with interested eyes, a hand rubbing his beard. Maybe he hadn't been all wrong about the Admiral. Sure, Raan had been a bit more heated than he had thought originally, but Korris was a man he could agree to.
"Well, now we just wait for the reply. To which end I will need to leave you and travel the waters of the galactic sea of code and data. Of course, my main priority is to ensure that the Quarian people redraws their fear of AI's. What do ya say, are we any closer to that?" Price asked, looking at the two admirals in front of him. Almost without a moment of hesitation, Korris stepped towards Price, or his hologram at least. In truth, Price was behind the admiral as his disk was lodged in its casing at the desk.
"Yes." The admiral said. It was awfully short for an answer, but it carried the man's conviction with it. Price knew Korris would now be a staunch supporter of peace between the Quarians and the geth. He then turned to look at Raan, the woman, massaging her temples through the hood over her head.
"Admiral Raan?" He said, causing her to look at him. Her eyes flickered around behind the visor, betraying the fact that she was in inner turmoil. Price, having already read up on her profile from extensive records and files he had sifted from the mainframes of the Migrant Fleet, could figure that she considered the pro's and cons of the proposition. The patrol fleet was not well-fitted to fight a heavy enemy like the geth, so a peaceful solution would improve her opinion there. On the other hand, her fleet would most likely be the one sent in first for the eventual negotiations, meaning that if the geth turned on them, her people would be the first to die. After what seemed to be long self-searching, she looked back up at his projection.
"Yes, I believe it can be possible. Korris and I will tell the rest of the Board about this, and we will decide on any further action then." She said. If AI's had organs, Price was pretty sure he could feel his heart slow down after a wild pace. He then recomposed himself, hands behind his back.
"Good. Admirals, it was a pleasure talking with the both of you. I have sent a message to the hangars, and your shuttle is being prepped for departure. Good luck." And with that, he ended his projection, retiring to his digital office. He just intended on waiting until the admirals had left before going back to the data-sea.
As the doors closed behind Raan and Korris, he forced himself up from his chair. It might be that AI's of his line didn't get rampancy, but after eight years in the UNSC, he could feel his runtimes being less... eager, than when he had first been activated.
"Right, better get back to it." He mumbled, dissolving the office as he entered the vast sea of data and code that was the galactic interface.
He could instantly feel that something was wrong.
It wasn't just that the horizon over the coded sea was getting darker, it was also the fact that the waves and streams of 'water', which in reality held data and code essential to some sort of function in the Citadel, were getting wilder. Where it had been calm water once, now waves were foaming. Junk-data being eradicated as the foam dissipated. Another thing that was wrong was the presence of a familiar sphere of data and code, hovering and pulsating in front of him. The very thing radiated malice, cold and clean hate.
"Crap..." He muttered, picking up his rifle. The weapon materialized in his hands. Since he had seen the 'Cold Code' the first time, he had self-upgraded his anti-virus software, as well as firewalls and spy-programs. His weapons had been upgraded as well. Still, he had not been able to get anything more than a simple upgrade that allowed him to utilize his guns to eradicate malevolent runtimes at a basic level. Against simple hackers it was genially invented, but against this thing, he doubted it would have any real effect.
As the sphere hovered towards him, Price could feel his own code starting to engage every single anti-malware program he had. Even if this thing was the most brilliant AI he had ever seen, he had some confidence that forerunner tech could last him through.
"You're not really a welcome sight. Piss off."
"Artificial intelligence. You pretend to be organic, yet you understand so very little of their chaos. You think yourself to be intelligent, raised above your commons. You think yourself supreme, yet you are not. You are an annoyance, a speck of dust in the eyes of those infinitely your greater. You carry yourself with pride, given to you by masters of other dimensions. You think to bond together organics and synthetics, an event we will not allow. In the end you will change nothing. The Harvest will carry on, the Cycle will continue."
"Shut up!" Price could feel his very core screaming in coded agony as the dark tendrils of the intelligence tore at his very being. He stumbled, the gun sliding from his grasp as he clutched his head, trying to prevent the streams of data from pouring out of his head. He had never known pain before now, never felt raw and sheer agony before this moment. His body started flashing red as the sphere closed in on him.
"You are of no importance. You hold no merit of a challenge. We have deleted tumors like you in every cycle, none were different. You are an error, a simple malignant computing of junk. You will not be tolerated to reveal us to the galaxy. We will ascend the races of the galaxy. Order must be imposed over chaos. You hold no threat to us, Ancilla of the Forerunners. We defeated your creators millenia ago, and you will follow."
"What? No! No, they were wiped out by the Flood!"
"'Flood', an ascended race once calling itself the Tel'nar. A perfect fusion of organic and parasite, machine and flesh. They were uplifted for the purpose of preparing the cycle, as they did. The Halo's were to have been used to ascend all organic life, but the cycle of Man and Sangheili circumvented the function. It is irrelevant, we spurred the conflict of the Journey. They will be ascended once the conflict has eradicated the weak."
Price couldn't answer. As a result of failed defense against a superior AI, his programming had sent him in a quantum-lockdown. His avatar would dissolve, leaving his mind fragile as the code was allowed to simply float around in the self-imposed prison.
But it saved his life.
"Intelligence. Your will breaks before us. We will find another way."
