Garrus trotted back to the corridor and lay down on the deck, extending his weapon's bipod. His scope showed nothing but red haze. He flicked through the different enhancers until he found a wavelength that revealed the most detail for the most distance and waited. Ahead, in their respective cubbyholes, the rest of the squad did the same. No one said a word as the channels of red light pulsing in the conduits behind the walls and beneath the floor grew brighter.
He kept one eye to his scope, but glanced with the other over the silent team. He didn't need to ask what they were thinking because he was thinking the same thing. Where is Shepard? How is he faring on the Xenophon? What would he be doing if he were here? Garrus commanded a fire team many times during his time on the Normandy. No one batted an eye when Shepard put him charge of a fireteam or security element. But each time Shepard was still been in command, overseeing the entire operation, keeping everyone in line and working together.
Until now.
Garrus leaned against his rifle. If he couldn't even keep his own head straight, how would any of the others be able to keep it together? Shepard put him in command and no one gave the slightest indication they objected. They followed his every order as if they came from Shepard himself, and they were counting on him to get them through this. You're their leader, he thought. Act like it.
He cleared his throat. "Now that we're all here together, I'd just like to personally thank each you for your contributions to the art exhibit on my door." A welcome round of laughter echoed over the squad channel. Garrus went back to scanning the corridor. "Now that I've got you all in my sights, anyone care to confess? Miranda? It turns out you're quite the poet."
"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," Miranda said with a smirk.
"Mmm-hmm. The only one with neater print on the ship is EDI. I used to do handwriting analysis. Want to know what it says about you?"
"I can't wait to hear." More laughter.
"I've prepared full profiles on all of you," Garrus said. "Kasumi, your involvement was obvious and I've singled you out as the ring leader. Jacob, Zaeed? I'm disappointed. Neither of you are apparently bothered to research turian anatomy. And Grunt? Your shading skills are impressive, even if you have the same misconceptions as our human friends."
"That's my fault," Zaeed said. "He came to me for help."
Grunt grinned happily. "But it was a good picture though, right?"
Garrus sighed. "If anyone ever commissions a portrait of me, I'd like you to do the honors."
"I can do colors, too!"
"And Samara... I don't know what to say, except thank you for being the only one mature enough not to participate."
Samara smiled behind her mask. "I didn't feel culturally aware enough to effectively contribute. So I stood watch while the others worked."
"Respect!" Kasumi said from her alcove.
"Team player, all the way," Jacob said from his. "That's what it's all about, isn't it Garrus?"
"Indeed. Warms my heart to see the team come together like that."
"You know I still haven't seen it," Miranda said. "Fleet and Flotilla."
Kasumi looked over her shoulder and grinned. "Oh, we are totally watching it when we get back."
"No doubt," Jacob said. "Set up in the mess. Pop some corn, grill up some dogs... Roast Garrus."
"Is there any action in it at all?" Grunt asked. "Or is it all... romance?"
"Let's put it this way, Grunt," Kasumi said. "Better enjoy this while you can."
"Aw, crap."
"But we do get to make fun of Garrus the whole time."
"Ha! I'm in!"
"We get out of this," Garrus said, "I'll sing-along the whole way through."
That got everyone laughing. "We've got to pull this off now," Kasumi said. " Tali? Get busy in there! We've got things to live for!"
Garrus chuckled. Even if it was at his expense, everyone was loosening up. The situation was still tense, sure. But there was no sense of doom like before. He peered through his scope. "Just remember, no matter what happens, I've got all of your backs..."
Tali looked up briefly as laughter filled the squad comm channel, replacing the dour silence. The change in mood welcome but she couldn't let anything distract her from the task at hand. She gripped the sides of the console as another segment of code compiled. It wasn't the geth hardware that was at fault, but rather the exotic interface Cerberus laid on top of it. Archer may have been a gifted scientist but his understanding of geth architecture was woefully backwards in some areas. As the application stalled once again, she briefly considered composing a command line interface to replace it.
Using her omnitool, Tali could do some code validation but it provided its own distraction. Its outline pulsed red like the geth data traces on the walls and floor, but for a different reason. Back on the surface, her omni received another fleet-wide emergency broadcast, just as it had done when the Rayya was destroyed. It would display the message until an all-clear signal was received. The fact such a desperate message was broadcast at all could only mean the sender's end was near. Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh's message consisted of just one sentence, and a file attachment.
Save our people Tali Zorah vas Neema.
The message flashed at the top of Tali's omni regardless of which application was open. It was impossible to ignore, as was the attachment: Xen's virus, coded to place the geth under quarian control once and for all. The entire Flotilla would have received it. Every quarian on every ship, be it part of the civilian fleet heading for Nariph or the Navy strike fleet streaking toward Rannoch, was now a weapon aimed at the heart of the geth. They'd still need to capture a geth platform and send it to a hub to inject it, but someone would try.
But Tali was already at the hub, with an open connection to the collective. She turned to another one of the console's holo screens and conducted a search to make sure none of the remnants of Archer's code remained. The last thing she needed was to further corrupt the geth consciousness with conflicting constructions. The next consensus command they received had to be absolutely consistent, or who knows what might happen?
Save your people Tali Zorah vas Neema. Xen's message stuck in Tali's mind like its own virus. During the Normandy's mad scramble to Ma-at through an uncharted relay, Legion had asked her what she would do if the quarians succeeded in infecting the geth collective. She couldn't answer. If the quarians had control of the geth, the thread of starvation from the loss of the Rayya, factional turmoil within the fleet, the struggle of keeping three-century old technology running all went away. What quarian wouldn't want to see that happen?
"Contact!" Garrus shouted over the comm. The laughter over the tactical net ceased immediately. "Geth infantry, far end of the corridor, one hundred twenty meters."
Tali looked up from the console. At the back of the corridor, Garrus was the only one of her friends in view. He lay alongside his massive rifle behind a disabled geth platform. In the vacuum of the hub, there was no report as he fired, only flashes from its barrel which lit the corridor. A second later, the entire corridor flashed like a nightclub in full swing as the rest of the squad joined in and incoming rounds sparked off the walls.
She looked back at the console. In a few seconds, she could upload the virus and the assault would be over. She lifted her omnitool to prepare the virus package for upload. But which package should she inject? What of all the quarians who died protecting the Migrant Fleet in exile from their own homeworld? The countless friends, countless shipmates lost to the geth, family, her father?
Save your people Tali Zorah vas Neema.
Tali began to hyperventilate. Her suit responded by automatically adjusting the internal oxygen mix. Taking control of the geth was the only guaranteed way to preserve what was left of quarian civilization, but there was another option. What if she took control just long enough to stop the geth from counterattacking? To give the the Migrant fleet time to withdraw? She could then upload the restorative version afterward. She'd have all the time in the world to make things right.
Or would she? Dashta Interchange Station and the Anba proved the lengths quarians would to go to keep control. Now Xen's virus was in the wild. Anybody with the right skillset could take advantage of it, in the Flotilla and beyond. Left on their own, the geth could fix the vulnerability, but only if they were in control. How would the geth react once they learned Xen had weaponized every quarian in the fleet against them? Would they stop their attack on their own? If the quarians took control of the geth, would they ever release them? Or would Tali be responsible for enslaving the entire collective again? Would that be so bad, if it meant that the quarians would survive?
Was it worth risking the future of her people find out otherwise?
"Geth prime, on the right!" Miranda yelled.
"On him!" Kasumi responded. "They're coming up the left hand corridor, too!"
"Grenades!" Garrus shouted. "Onthe intersection! Keep a steady stream!"
Artificial lightning from the arc grenades produced dazzling, jagged patterns of light on the corridor walls. A river of beams and a hail of projectiles streaked back forming a glowing particulate haze. The compiler reached 99%. "Oh gods, come on," Tali pleaded. She huddled over the console, her omnitool out and ready to upload with Xen's message flashing before her eyes.
Save your people Tali Zorah vas Neema.
What would she do if Shepard were here now? Was there any question? What of her crew, her friends, her family who were now defending her with their lives so she'd have the chance to stop Cerberus? Or Legion... the one sentient entity in the universe that risked the most to ending the war between the geth and their creators because it wanted peace more than anyone else?
"I'm out!" Kasumi's call over the comm crackled with static.
"Front rank, fall back!" Garrus shouted. There was a scream. "Kasumi's down!"
"Cover me!" Miranda shouted.
Zaeed yelled as he fired. "Move it, Lawson!"
Garrus dropped his Mantis and pitched his last arc grenades down the corridor before switching to his Vindicator, firing quick bursts. "Pull back! Pull back! Grunt, do it!"
"Go," Grunt's shout was punctuated by static. The entire corridor, now completely filled with smoke, flared white. The silhouettes of the squad spilled into the control chamber, firing as they came through. Miranda staggered through first carrying Kasumi over her shoulders, followed by Samara who supported Zaeed with one of her arms under his shoulder. The mercenary kept firing the entire way, letting go at the corner where he propped himself up to maintain fire. Samara stood next to him, eyes glowing blue as she hurled one mass effect field after another into the corridor. Jacob and Garrus back-peddled in, their rifles spitting out heat sinks as fast as they could be replaced.
The progress bar on the console stayed frozen at 99%. Tali searched for the door control. With the squad retreating, there was no harm in trying. The huge metal door began to slide shut, then stopped. The geth weren't going to allow it.
She stared at the frozen progress meter, her heart pounding, both sets of code loaded into her omnitool. Save your people. It all boiled down to one question: what would the geth do once freed from Cerberus influence? Would the geth attack, or let the quarians retreat? After the Rayya was destroyed, the geth changed their mind and offered help when no one else in the galaxy would, for no benefit of their own. She'd asked Blue, and effectively the entire collective, why?
"Grunt!" Garrus yelled. "Fall back! Grunt!"
The big krogan dove through the opening, his armor scorched on every surface and coated with white conductive fluid. The remaining squad found what protection they could behind corners and columns and emptied their weapons into the smog.
Compilation complete, read the console.
In Normandy's briefing room, Tali asked the geth what they wanted from their creators. The collective's answer? Forgiveness. She injected the revised code into the console from her omnitool and pressed 'execute.' The holo screen replied operation complete. What happened next would be up to the geth. She leaped through the holographic screen, over the console itself, shotgun in hand. Before she'd taken two steps, Chikktika rezzed in next to her as she charged to the firing line. She slammed herself against the column where Garrus had taken cover.
All at once, the hail of fire from the corridor ceased. Garrus poked his scope around the column and saw only haze. "Anybody have a target?"
"Negative," Jacob said from the next column over.
"Can't see shit through this smoke," Zaeed said.
Tali sent Chikktika into the haze of the corridor. She gave a relieved sigh as her drone's sensors confirmed what they weren't able to see. "They've stopped."
"Reload!" Garrus said. "Gather up what you can, just in case. Miranda, check Kasumi!"
"Right," the ex-Ceberus operative knelt next to the unconscious thief, her medkit in hand.
"Everybody stay put," Garrus said. He stepped next to Zaeed at the corner and peered into the corridor. A wall of smashed geth platforms choked the corridor, sparking and spraying clouds of vapor into the corridor, adding to the haze. As the particulate settled, the haze dissipated, revealing a field of blinking yellow lights suspended in the air behind.
"Goddamn," Zaeed murmured as the fog continued to thin.
Garrus let his rifle fall to his side. Tali walked up next to him, still holding her shotgun. The entire corridor from side to side was filled with geth platforms; unarmed maintenance drones, cargo loaders, a squat looking model on treads with a giant mining drill... Mixed in were the combat platforms; shock troopers, rocket platforms. Giant white prime models which towered above the rest, carrying weapons usually found on armored vehicles. Behind them, a pair of armatures crouched on their spindle legs to fit in the corridor.
Every single geth platform was frozen in its tracks, their main apertures blinking a soft yellow. The flashing lights faded in into the depths of the haze as far back as any of the Normandy squad could see.
"Jesus," Jacob said, joining the group at the corner. "Gotta be hundreds of them."
"Maybe a thousand," Zaeed said, sounding as astonished as anyone had ever heard.
Garrus looked at Tali. "What happened to them?"
"I don't know," Tali whispered. In all her years of researching geth, she'd never seen anything like it. "Looks like a system-wide reboot."
"Doesn't matter," Garrus said. "We've got to get back to the Xenophon."
"Keelah," Tali squeezed the grip of her shotgun. Her heart began to pound again. "Shepard and Legion! Let's get going!"
Jacob gestured toward the geth with his rifle. "Think we can make it to the Kodiak while they're asleep?"
Garrus shook his head. "We've got to try. Grunt, start clearing us a path. Miranda? How's Kasumi?"
"Bad," Miranda said, still kneeling over her wounded shipmate. "Shot through the back, multiple penetrations. I've stopped the bleeding, but she'll need help soon."
"She's not the only one." Jacob tapped Zaeed on the back and pointed to his leg where gas spewed from a crack. "You're venting, man."
Zaeed looked down at himself. His armor showed impact marks from head to toe, but his left leg showed definite penetration. "Shit!"
"We all are," Samara said. True to her words, small plumes jetted from fractures and seals from just about everyone in the squad.
"Let's get ready to move," Garrus said. "We'll make repairs on the shuttle. Miranda, stay with Kasumi. Tali-"
In unison, the field of flashing yellow lights stopped, then turned bright blue-white. The geth platforms stabilized themselves, while ones that had fallen over picked themselves up.
"Cover!" Garrus shouted, and the squad scrambled behind the columns to take aim at the corner of the corridor, ready to fire. But no targets presented themselves.
Tali took a deep breath. Every second they wasted was time off of Shepard's clock. If the geth were still hostile, the extra few meters of cover in the control room wouldn't matter. She stepped into the corridor to face a wall of blue-white camera eyes staring back at her.
"Creator-Tali'Zorah," said a familiar, metallic voice. "Consensus has been restored to the collective. Cerberus instructions canceled. Ceasing offensive operations in this area. Standing by to render assistance."
Tali couldn't tell which platform was talking, or if they all were. It didn't matter. She rushed the geth standing directly in front of her, a towering geth juggernaut carrying a plasma cannon the size of her body. In that moment, her own needs, that of the squad or even the Migrant Fleet was secondary. "Help Shepard!"