"Geth!"
Michael dove for cover, stunned as a shower of pulse rifle shots whizzed over his head. Geth attack! Has this place been taken over by Geth! How did they even find the place! It's far from the veil and hidden from any sensors...
They had entered a large dinning hall; a short set of stairs from the door they had come from lead down to the food court, the once white chairs and tables strewn around it were mostly knocked over by now. Shredded corpses lay where they had fallen, their food still untouched. Above the dinning hall itself, a large computer screen hung, no doubt to bother those eating with various announcements, now, however, it was black and dead.
Further ahead was the kitchen...and it was from there the Geth came; soldiers, snipers and even two Destroyers.
To Michael's left, Miranda was already behind a table, submachine gun coming up to stitch a clean line over one of the troopers jumping over the counter between the kitchen and the dinning area, dropping it onto the floor with a crunch. To his right, Tali's shield flared as she moved for her own cover, the answering bark of her shotgun tearing the head clean off another Geth.
Turning his head, Michael looked to Legion...and was almost surprised to find the machine also diving for cover, the low wall it found becoming scored with half a dozen shots as it crouched low, calmly waiting with its hands manacled.
So...not allies then?
Looking over the table he'd dropped behind, Michael found the other Geth advancing...and curiously so. Normally the Geth moved from cover to cover with long and calm steps, covering one another with a constant stream of shots as they closed the distance. These, however, were running forth, their shots haphazard at best, lacking any form of cooperation as they threw themselves at the team.
And as they closed in their eyes blazed green.
Green, white, whatever. Michael stood up, Revenant moving from left to right, spraying high calibre bullets along the enemy 'line'. To his amazement the Geth didn't even try to dodge, some even throwing themselves right at the bullets...their cries containing an odd screeching tone as they fell.
Three came straight at him though, shots pouring towards him, trying to force him backwards...and Michael kept low as he returned fire, not about to be forced back by the odd flicker of his shield. The first fell, chest breaking open with a loud crack, the next one's head exploded...yet it kept stumbling forward, screeching...and Michael wasted precious moments putting it down as the third pushed past the corpses and launched itself at him.
Close combat!
Michael stared in wonder at the Geth, essentially a mobile gun-platform, as it dropped its rifle and jumped over his cover, metallic hands forming into claws as it lunged at his face.
Michael's rifle came up, held horizontally and he pushed down, knocking the reaching arms of his foe downwards even as he pivoted himself on the spot, letting the machine come to a stop as his rifle became wrapped around its neck. A twist...and it snapped, sending the machine tumbling to the floor.
And then it was over, the flood of Geth ending as swiftly as it began as the machines were swiftly torn apart in their frenzied attempts to crash into the team.
"What..." Michael turned, watching the others rise from their cover. "...the hell..." He pointed at the Geth lying at his feet. "...was that?"
"Geth, obviously." Tali replied, throwing Legion an accusing glare, despite that her tone held a lingering...doubt.
"Attack patterns are not of Geth make." Legion retorted, stepping closer to the fallen machine, looking down at it even as it offered its hands to Michael. "Shepard-commander, we would like to investigate."
"Alright..." Michael gripped the manacles, omni-tool glowing...and they came off Legion's wrists even as the two women of the team moved closer, Tali keeping her gun drawn as she looked down at Legion with narrowed eyes. "...so?"
Legion's lens grew as it looked over the fallen machine, its own omni-tool glowing as it moved it over the broken thing. "Composition of armour suggests Heretic origin."
"Convenient." Tali snorted...and reluctantly holstered her shotgun as Michael threw her a glance. Calm down. "Shame though that I can't confirm that, could compare your armour with it, but that's not a...trustworthy test."
"From your perspective, correct." Legion nodded. "However, these platforms used sub-par attack protocols. Heretics essentially use Geth protocols, you observed this too, did you not?"
"They were nuts...sure." Michael shrugged even as he frowned; something was not right...
"Checking systems...internal components showing stress from electronic signals not adapted to platform's systems." Legion rambled...and Michael threw Tali a confused look.
Sighing, the Quarian knelt down next to Legion, her own omni-tool glowing. "Hmpf, you're right, hacked." She shook her head. "If these things were the ones killing the Cerberus crew they must have been hacked for some time."
"Impossible." Legion looked back to the Quarian, armoured plates shifting atop its eye. "Network self-adapts, deletes faulty files and rebalance systems, we cannot stay hacked for extensive periods of time."
"Oh really?" There was a cruel smirk in Tali's voice as she leant closer. "It looks pretty extensive from where I'm standing..."
Michael found himself frowning in disapproval. "Tali, I don't think a Quarian should enjoy the fact that someone experimented on Geth only to have them turn on them..."
Tali flinched at the words. Striking so truly into the heart of what her own people had done to become exiled from their world...and looked down at the floor as she nodded. "I...yes..." A sigh, her face tilting towards him. "...sorry." A deep breath...and she rose. "This is terrible...we'll stop it before things get our of hand."
"If the hacking proved long-term..." Miranda muttered, glancing at Legion. "...does that prove that whatever they did here was at least partially successful? If so we should try to retrieve any data on it..." Then she glanced at Michael, looking hesitant. "...Sir?"
"Attack patterns disrupted, platforms acting mentally deficient, this is not a success." Legion noted, the Geth getting to its feet. "We conclude that information stored here might be dangerous to Geth and organics alike, to preserve lives it should be destroyed."
"Of course you would say that..." Tali glowered at the machine.
Miranda nodded at the Quarian's words. "Agreed, this need not turn into a total loss, we should-"
A screech cut off the rest of her words, the sound long. There was a pause, only for it to begin again...the horrible screeching transmitted from speakers attached to the large computer screen hanging above the dinning room...a screen flickering into life.
Looking up at the screen, Michael blinked, finding dozens of glowing green blocks on it, the blocks moving as they formed the shape of a human face, the dark holes for its eyes staring down at them, its mouth moving, speaking words that only turned into more screeching.
"Make it stop!" Miranda shouted over the electronic wails, the woman pressing her hands against her ears and looking decidedly pissed.
Growling, Michael aimed up...and the screech ended in an explosion of light and glass as the bullet shattered the screen. Even as he did so he saw them...half a dozen cameras in the corners and ceiling of the room, all moving, all tracking the team, glowing green lights like tiny eyes. Six more shots...and they came apart.
"Right, I think it's about time I get some damn answers." Michael grunted as he moved to reload. "Or I'm going to level this entire base, just to be sure."
"Agreed." A new voice spoke...and the group whirled about to aim over at the kitchen in time to spot a man appear behind the counter...a man whose eyes widened, his calm shattering as he ducked back into cover. "Geth! Behind you!"
Sighing, Michael moved forward. "An unarmed Geth...you should be more concerned about me..." The man remained behind the counter...making Michael sigh as he calmed himself. "You have a choice, either come out...or be dragged out."
"I...very well..." The man rose, gaze nervously eyeing Legion as he pressed his palms against the counter, looking ready to bolt. "I...despite that thing...I'm very glad to see you." It was a balding man, his face weathered by worries and work, his body slim and bony from a life spent in labs and research if the lab uniform he wore was any indication. His grey eyes shone with fear...but also intelligence, curiosity. "I am Dr Gavin Archer, head researcher of this facility, thank you for coming on such short notice."
"Seems you have quite a situation here." Michael noted, putting his assault rifle back into place before crossing his arms over his chest. "I suggest you explain exactly what has hacked this facility and these Geth; some mad VI you experimented on?"
"Not so much a what as a..." The man grimaced, looking uncomfortable. "...who."
Michael arched a brow.
Licking his lips, Gavin's gaze flickered between the marine and Legion as the Geth, flanked by the two women, moved closer. "This is really not a conversation to have in front of a Geth..."
"If it comes down to it I'll scrap it." Michael replied, finding his patience thinning. "Or you, depending on what you tell me. So talk, now."
"I..." Gavin looked over to Miranda and her Cerberus uniform, but found no help there...nor was there any in Tali's glare...and Legion's piercing eye only made him sweat before he turned back to Michael. "...don't have many options, do I?" A nervous laugh escaped him, only to swiftly die out. "This site was picked because of a Geth ship crashing on the surface, the content excellent for supplying raw...material."
Again his gaze flicked to Legion, but the Geth didn't move, simply observing as Michael growled. "Do go on..."
"Cerberus knows that any future war with the Geth would be bloody for humanity." Gavin paused, watching Legion, but found no reaction in the cold eye looking back. Licking his lips he continued. "But with those fighting alongside Saren we detected religious impulses, a tendency to worship the Reaper. Furthermore what little we know of them seem to imply a fascination with philosophy and Quarian religion..."
Michael arched a brow, turning to look over at Legion. The machine remained quiet, watching Gavin with the same neutral stare.
"We...I...was tasked with finding a way to prevent this bloodbath. And I concluded that by harnessing this religious impulse we could drive the Geth into submission by giving them a God...if they submitted to the worship of this God, a God under our control...there would be no war, we would have won before it had even begun."
"Likelihood of success of such a plan is zero percent." Legion finally spoke...and the doctor leapt back in fright, eyes widening.
"It can talk!"
"This platform has been adapted for communication with organics, yes." Legion cocked its head at Gavin, thinking. "We judge your goal admirable, but we must repeat, you will never succeed with such a plan."
Gavin's fascinated stare turned into a frown. "I...how can you know?"
"It could just be lying to you, too." Tali suggested, easing some of the tension from the doctor's shoulders.
Legion didn't reply though, its head turning to Michael. "Shepard-Commander, the plan would never work, our actions are not forced, but due to choice, worship cannot be forced. We judge this experiment, and any data from it, worthless."
You're not denying the religious part... Michael frowned, looking back over to Gavin. "So...this VI of yours you used...didn't go over well with the Geth?"
"We...did not use a VI." The doctor admitted, looking...pained? "A VI lacks the flexibility and ability to handle the Geth network, it is simply too advanced."
"Keelah...don't tell me you made an AI to control the AI..." Tali muttered, head dropping as a hand moved up, making Michael smile as she wearily rubbed her visor as if it was her temples. You've been hanging around humans too much...
"Not...that either." Gavin replied, sighing. "A shackled AI is inherently hobbled, the programming we force to keep it compliant slowing and limiting its ability...and an unshackled AI is too dangerous..." Both he and Tali glanced over at the unmoving Legion. "...it has to want to help us...and resentment is easily garnered."
Miranda shook her head, saying exactly what Michael was thinking. "Wait, if you didn't use a VI, nor an AI...how did you try to gain control over the Geth?"
Gavin grimaced, taking a shuddering breath as he looked away. "First we created a machine capable of contacting and interacting with the Geth network, to this we added a VI with vast processing power and memory...as a buffer...sort of..."
"What..." Michael snapped. "...did you..." Finding a worry grow in his gut. "...use?"
"My brother, David..." Gavin took another shuddering breath, still refusing to look at them. "...volunteered to hook himself into the machine, giving it genuine consciousness, a consciousness allied to us."
"Why the hell would anyone volunteer to do that!" Michael gasped, staring in disbelief at the man.
Now Gavin looked back at him, eyes narrowing. "Some of us are willing to sacrifice much to archive results, even our own flesh."
Don't lecture me about self sacrifice...poor sod. Michael opened his mouth to speak, but Legion was faster. "That is impossible. Human hardware nor software is similar enough to the Geth network to communicate, not to mention command, the Geth network."
"You'd be surprised what a human is capable of, Geth." Gavin retorted, glaring at the machine.
Legion looked right back at him, shaking its head. "It is not a question of ability, but of information. The human brain is complex as a small singular unit; the Geth network complex through size, translation of information would be too taxing for a human mind to keep up."
Driving him...mad. Michael looked back to Gavin, feeling himself pale. The doctor was shaking his head though, looking annoyed. "It worked perfectly well during testing, David was able to command several Geth simultaneously."
Miranda's voice was laced with a hint of irritation now. "Yet we see this...what happened?"
"I...well...you know what it's like!" Gavin took a step back, breathing deeply as he snarled as much at them as at everything around him. "The project was taking too long, the Illusive Man wanted results...so I pushed the deadline." Oh no... "There were only so many tests we could run before hooking him up to the entire ship's network anyway, it was only upping the number of Geth units to command after all..." He looked away.
Silence.
Then Legion's voice. "We repeat; Geth gain complexity by size, the number of Geth grew on a linear curve, complexity exponentially."
"I knew that!" The doctor snapped, taking a step forward, fists bunching against the counter as he glared at the machine. "But we had to try!" Under Legion's gaze he faltered, however, looking away. Tone dull. "And now my brother is gone...along with the rest of the team...and we have to stop him..."
"Stop him? What is he doing, exactly?" Michael asked, forcing himself to look at the man neutrally, however much letting your brother volunteer for such a thing disgusted him. Guess I can try Garrus' way...second chance and all that crap. "Tell me and we might do something to repair this."
"Yes...I have been looking into this as best I can while avoiding David's troops..." Gavin nodded. "...whatever happened...it twisted him into something else...I don't know if he's even there any more. He's infecting machines all over the base, every door, every elevator, every mech, every single thing with a chip in it...it is all under his command...I don't even think he can help it. If he reached past the planet and into civilised areas..." The doctor shuddered at the thought.
Good I told EDI to shut down communications then... "We have a ship in orbit with more men there, can you point us towards the base's generators? If we can shut them off the shield around the base goes as well."
"Sure, but it won't do you any good." Gavin replied, sighing. "We have large generators being driven by the planet's core...but we've led a lot of energy into large capacitors in the main lab to keep things running in case of some disaster, and I'm sure Dav-the program, is using those."
"And how long will those last?"
David grimaced, meeting his gaze. "Two years...give or take."
"Oh, what a great idea, really..." Michael groaned, rubbing his temples. Cerberus finally takes some precautions with their crazy experiments...and those serve to turn things for the worse...why didn't I see this coming? "So I guess we have to go for the main lab, then?"
"Erm..." Of course not. "...Dav-the program...initiated a security lock-down, you can't get to the lab without shutting down the security locks at the energy plant and inside the Geth ship...only then can you enter the main lab and stop...him."
Great, just great...I hate the Illusive man. "Good." Michael drew his assault rifle, checking the ammo gauge as he sensed a long battle to come. "Anything else."
"Yes...there isn't much time." Of course not... "So far, David has not been able to take over the relay dishes, but once he does he will be able to transmit himself off the planet...and we'll have an apocalypse as every computer on every planet is turned against its users."
"So..basically the same 'the world is about to end' pressure I always have then?" Michael snorted, making the doctor blink in surprise. "Alright people, can't waste time cleaning up somebody else's mess, let's move out." He turned to leave.
"Shepard-Commander." Stopping in his tracks, Michael looked back at Legion, standing there, its hands hanging by its sides since he'd forgotten to put its manacles back on...though with Tali keeping a firm watch he wasn't worried. "Considering the danger and need of speed we would be better able to assist if we were to be allowed weapons."
Tali was silently shaking her head, Miranda looking uncertain...and Michael eyed the machine for any treachery, knowing he would be unable to find anything in the cold eye looking back at him.
Time is of the essence, unarmed it'll slow us down, we could tie it up or shoot it...but that would be wasting a resource, not to mention I don't trust Gavin around it...God...I can't believe I'm considering this...
"Go ahead, Legion, grab a weapon and follow." Michael nodded to Tali, the Quarian staring at him as if he had gone mad. "But one wrong move and princess here will blow your head off."
A hiss escaped Tali at his use of his nickname for her...and he shot her a smirk even as Legion reached down, prying a pulse rifle from one of the downed machines...and holding it at the ready while offering a short nod. "We will comply, we follow Shepard-Commander."
Behind him, Gavin muttered, fascinated. "An unshackled AI offering to work with an organic...I can't believe it."
Grumbling, annoyed with being disturbed from his teasing of Tali, Michael turned and brushed past the doctor. "Believe it, now show us this energy plant."
This is going to suck...
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Thanks to Abydos Jackson for being so great.
