Legion's voice was the first thing that touched her perceptions and brought her out of darkness. "Shepard-Captain. We acknowledge your integration into this server. We welcome you to our Consensus."

Shepard blinked several times to get her bearings before her virtual self and her surroundings coalesced into something that made sense.

She was not wearing her armor, but Alliance blue medical scrubs, with her name on a tag. She ignored the pang of grim resignation: she felt as though she'd had enough of medical scrubs, by this point, to last her two or three lifetimes. The fact that she felt neither warmth nor chill in her bare feet reminded her that this was all completely separate from reality as she usually experienced it. In her arms rested a gun, much like her Collector rifle, but unlike it enough to highlight the fact that she was in a new place.

Her inner soldier tensed, bristling with uncertainty at the new environment and whatever its unknown dangers were.

Her inner geek-nerd was almost pinging off the metaphorical walls with excitement and interest. This was a geek-nerd's paradise, the dream vacation—doubly so since the things that could go wrong were not the same things that could go wrong in 'reality.'

She, Jalissa A. Shepard, was interfaced with the Geth Consensus…which was probably a first…which had to be a first. That was all the more reason to drink it all in—and wonder how time moved differently here versus the 'real' world.

A strange landscape of blocks and deeply grooved panels delineated the borders of her world, leaving her in a very large open space on a built-up sort of platform. Nodes and tendrils of cubes formed pixelated neuron-like growths, some inert grey, some pulsing with an ominous orange light—the same color as the scars that had once disfigured her face. She could almost feel the pulse as a buzz in the air.

So that was what a virus—or a Reaper—looked like when applied to the geth in their true environment.

All at once she had the impressions of great, vast space and tightly-packed data…all rendered in monochromatic greys, except for the orange light and herself. Both seemed designed to stand out. "Legion?" her voice came out a little fuzzy, having a distinctly synthetic sound. She made a note of this: this was an experience she would have to sit down and write out, at some point. The log might read like a technical report…but some things were worth preserving, regardless of writing skill.

She brought herself back to full focus, drinking in detail and trying to mentally footnote various observations. She would be lucky if she kept a quarter of them by the time she got somewhere that she could write all this down, which was a pity.

The whole place, while alien, made sense, she decided as she moved to the edge of the single massive rectangular prism upon which she and her pod stood. It was a long, long way down, but she knew the fall would only inconvenience her. She did not feel the urge to experience the drop, however, so she backed away.

"Here, Shepard-Captain."

Legion, also projected to be visually distinct, appeared on a floating rectangular panel, as though dropping from another level by elevator. The panel stopped even with the rectangular 'floor' and became one piece with it. The effect of the floor was one of dark, glassy 'tiles' and light-colored 'grout'. Light pulsed between almost inert-looking panels, as though directing her eyes.

She immediately identified this as a kind of synthetic breadcrumb trail she would undoubtedly have to follow. "Is this really the Geth Consensus?" she asked, still looking around.

"We have installed filters to allow you to visually process the server's raw data. It will take the form of something familiar," Legion answered promptly. She had the impression he, too, was examining his surroundings, and wondered if he was looking through the filters as well, just to see what she saw.

Shepard nodded understanding—though not agreement. It was not what she would call familiar…

…but it was. Something in the back of her mind tugged at the forefront. She'd seen something like this before…but she couldn't remember where, or how, or in what context. She ought to know, and it troubled her that she didn't…

"Right…" It took effort to wrench her mind back on track. She was in the Geth Consensus, she needed her wits about her. "So tell me about the geth already in here."

"Geth are software; this is our true world. You will perceive them as surveillance footage, audio logs, sensor records. As we remove geth, the server will grow dark."

Shepard looked around at the brightly lit space. "So when all the lights are out…?"

"The server will have fallen silent, and the fighter squadrons will cease to function."

Was that…regret…in his voice? Shepard looked over at the geth. "This is like wiping out a city, isn't it?"

"It is necessary. It is a question of survival. We will ensure there are no backups or transfers of programs."

Shepard nodded. It was hard for her not to project emotion onto the geth's words. Did Legion regret having to destroy his fellows, however necessary it was? Did he feel the wrench, in some way, over obliterating this 'city' with one soldier and one bloodless assault?

It felt surreal to Shepard, a truly sterile kind of war. She shivered. War shouldn't be sterile, she thought. It was the ugliness that made it a thing to avoid…

But that was neither here nor there, since she had more than enough ugliness waiting on the other side of consciousness.

"There are two communication nodes on this server," Legion continued. "We must access them to disable the hostile geth's fighters. We must protect your exit port." He touched the pod out of which she'd stumbled. "But you will not be alone, we will maintain contact."

Shepard nodded. "Let's do this."