"Assets, please identify." Then, on a geth short range frequency. "Greetings, geth. Please identify."
"Unit designation is Aggie," Aggie responded on the same frequency, but not out loud. It was aware of the servicemen flinching at the sudden gurgling chatter.
The Citadel asset was geth. Aggie knew organics sometimes had bizarre reactions to stimuli, but for once it understood where the organics were coming from. A frisson of feedback ran through its circuits at the familiar touch of a fellow geth. It had felt better not being alone, but not being alone and having one of its own kind present helped restore its sense of inner balance.
Something it hadn't really understood previously.
"This is Corporal Park Siu. Sign is panda."
"Countersign: bamboo. Welcome to the Citadel, Stiletto Three. I am Horatio, and I have visual on you."
After a moment's thought, Aggie abandoned the geth short range frequency and spoke aloud for the benefit of his companions. "Are you in the Citadel systems?"
"Affirmative."
"Shall I join you to assist?"
"You can do that?" Siu asked, blinking. "Just…download yourselves into the Citadel?"
"Geth are software," Aggie responded. "Hardware is purpose-selected. This unit is a combat unit, but it is not my first mobile platform."
Siu swallowed and seemed to consider this, apparently impressed.
"Assistance would be welcome. However, it is my recommendation that any assistance be rendered after the objective has been taken and held."
"Is there heavy resistance?" Kolyat broke in.
"Negative. The Reaper forces on the Presidium are not significant. They did not expect anyone to make it this far."
"Has anyone else made it?" Kolyat asked eagerly.
"Affirmative. Elements of Stiletto Two have set off to secure an objective. Please proceed along the designated path to your objective. We can continue conversing if you wish." Then, on the private channel, "Aggie. How did you come to be with Stiletto Three?"
Aggie explained about its onboard pilot partner, finding Karl, and then being found by Kolyat and Siu.
"Everything okay, Aggie?" Siu asked nervously.
"Affirmative, Corporal. Geth communication is more efficient than verbal communication," Aggie answered.
"Where are we going, exactly?" Kolyat asked.
"Hold a moment. Asari assets wish to make contact. Connecting…go ahead."
"I don't know who you belong to, and I don't really care," a female voice, sharp and authoritative announced. "We'll hold the Council Tower, but we need someone to hold the secondary controls in the Archive. Be aware, there are injured civilians but we need to take and hold the secondary controls."
Kolyat and Siu's vitals spiked, understanding the implication: help a few people in the short term, or a lot of people in the long term.
"There are enemy assets at the secondary controls," Horatio announced. "However, probability suggests you will be able to deal with them. Please continue along the designated path."
"Hey, Horatio, Aggie, if you can just load yourselves into the Citadel, can we get some more geth into the system?" Siu asked. "I'm worried about the lack of resistance."
"I have investigated the network. If a Reaper wished to interface with the Citadel, it would need to meet certain conditions. Proximity is requisite. The system is designed to be accessed by a Reaper, but apparently in such a way that no organic could possibly or accidentally discover the backdoor procedures. Hence the necessity for Sovereign's positioning during the Battle of the Citadel."
"So as soon as we get the Ward arms open, a Reaper could just park itself and we've got a problem?" Siu frowned.
"Not precisely." A momentary pause before Horatio continued. "It might be possible, with enough geth, to hold the Citadel network against a single Reaper. I am detecting various alterations that suggest non-Reaper interference. The interference creates bottlenecks, and there is no evidence to suggest Reapers are able to project themselves into the network in the fashion of geth."
"So the Protheans screwed with the system?" the sharp female voice asked.
"Origin of the abnormalities is unknown," Horatio responded. "I have sent signals to geth ships requesting units to…test this theory. Of course…the possibility exists that my calculations are inaccurate."
If a geth was admitting to the possibility of inaccuracy like that—and Aggie felt no desire to share this with the organics—then it must be only slightly better than fifty-fifty odds. But what else could be done? Aggie remembered the Reaper on Rannoch.
"Horatio. Would a Rannoch situation be avoidable, if it became a question of geth versus a Reaper?" Aggie asked over the short range channel.
"Unlikely. In that case, the Reaper consciousness was comparatively unfiltered. We have the benefit of the Reapers not wishing to damage their trap."
Aggie still didn't think the plan was a solid one. Then again, the organics were willing to fight and die for worse odds than fifty-fifty.
"Damaged units will proceed to the Citadel and infiltrate. It will be easier if the Ward arms are open."
"How's that coming?" Kolyat demanded.
"If we can't get the lift working, we're going to have to walk it like Shepard did," another female voice announced. "Horatio, can you do anything about—thanks!"
"You are welcome."
"We're about…five minutes out," the sharper of the two voices announced.
"Asset Two will arrive in ten," Horatio announced.
"Can't ask for better than that, all things considered," the more cheery-sounding voice announced.
Aggie agreed. "Are there any further reinforcements for the ground?"
Horatio was silent for a moment. "…negative. I am encountering disruption in the system. I—" Suddenly, the link went dead, but not before Horatio broadcast to all geth units to abort the attempt to hold the Citadel by loading themselves into the network. There was something else, intelligent, inside.
"Shit—the lift just stopped!"
"Horatio? Horatio! Are you there?"
Aggie was the one to answer, slowly, ponderously, and if a geth ever felt foreboding, Aggie felt sure it was that geth. "Horatio has fallen out of contact. I think it…found something that did not wish to be found."