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"The best solution to a problem is usually the easiest one..."
(GLaDOS)
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MFV Orvosi, June 15th, 11:56 AM, 2183
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I sat in my medical bed, quietly reading an electronic version of Soldat: Reflections of a German Officer, 1936-1949. It was about Siegfried Knappe, who had survived battles in nearly every major Wehrmacht campaign during WWII. I used to have a paperback copy of this book many years ago, given to me by my father while he was cleaning out his office. It was an interesting read, considering how much he had experienced during the war. How people can survive in the worst situations possible… it reminded me a lot of what we all went through yesterday.
The current situation was… complicated. While the flight back to the Flotilla had gone smoothly, their reaction to our mission and our two new guests was less than ideal, to put it lightly. Not only had Powell nearly been shot by Migrant Fleet marines while we were disembarking, but they had placed both him and Richard in quarantine until further notice.
Me and Dimitri weren't in much of a position to argue with the Admirals at the moment, considering we had both sustained fairly serious injuries during our jump across ships. I had not only broken three of the toes in my left foot and two in my right, but I had also received a hairline fracture in my left foot's calcaneus. Dimitri, on the other hand, had stretched the muscles in both his Achilles tendons, and had also fractured the metatarsus bones for both his big toes.
All in all, Dimitri was already up and walking, albeit with a lot of pain and with the assistance of those heavily-padded Reese shoes. On the other hand, I would have to move around with the assistance of crutches, due to me not being able to put any stress on the hair lined calcaneus. If that broke, I would require a major operation to repair it.
We were all in sealed environments here on the Orvosi, despite Dimitri and I not having weak immune systems. I guess it helped to cut down on contamination to the rest of the fleet. I closed my datapad, leaning my head back and taking a deep sigh. I then looked over at the containment cell next to me, seeing Dan's remaining marine still hooked to the machines.
Apparently, she and Dan had improvised and IED using the power cell from her exo, and used it to blast open a thin wall. They had managed to get out of their holding cell, but the guards got a shot on her before Dan could take them down. She had passed out shortly after being brought on board. I genuinely hoped she makes it through this. Dan, on the other hand, had gotten away with only a couple scrapes and bruises. He volunteered to run maintenance on another ship while we were recovering, or until we got exiled, whichever came first.
With boredom finally overcoming me five minutes later, I picked my datapad back up and plucked a stylus out of the side. I began sketching out some ideas I had been considering for development since the plasma gun was nearly out of the developmental stages.
The biggest, dumbest, and most impractical idea I came up with was pretty much a direct rip-off of the Orbital MAC Cannons from Halo 2. Pretty much a giant gun surrounded by a livable space station, it was no secret that if something like this were to be realistically implemented, nothing currently existing would be able to withstand the impact and survive. It would also be oversized, expensive, and potentially capable of causing extinction-level events if fired at a planet.
Still, I could dream.
The second was a series of improvements for quarian envirosuits, mostly having to do with protection. I came up with an idea for an envirosuit layered with crisscrossed anti-microbial meshes, along with an underlining gel layer that could regulate body temperature. These two alone would double the utility value, and while the quarians could build a sturdy suit, they didn't seem to look at the prospect of comfort very often.
The last was something that was already in the conception stages. A few days ago, Sira and I had begun thinking about upgrading the old Type III Exo Suits into something that could offer a little more bang. While the Type IIIs were good at enhancing a soldier's regular abilities, they still lacked in the actual protection department.
Our new idea is to build a thick set of armor around the current suit, with the goal of rendering the user nearly impervious to small arms fire and light explosives. With these new Type IVs, it would no longer be just an exo suit. It would be full-blown power armor.
The thought alone brought back fond memories of the Fallout series, specifically Fallout 4, which Dan and I had played religiously in college.
I copied all these ideas to my omni tool for later reference, clearing the originals off of the pad. Just as I went to take another sip of water out of my bottle, the omni tool began playing The Imperial March from Star Wars.
Admiral Zorah was calling.
"What can I do for you, Admiral?" I answered in a passive-aggressive tone, still angry over how they all treated Richard and Powell when we arrived back.
"I would like to personally speak with you and Dr. Vsevolod here on the Alarei." He spoke in a commanding tone, more so than usual. "There are many questions that still need to be answered here."
"Well, we tried that before, and I remember it resulting in a lot of pointed guns and unnecessary quarantine procedures." I replied sarcastically, thinking back to that moment vividly.
"Don't patronize me, doctor! You know exactly why we acted the way we did! If it were up to me, I would have had you all exiled for bringing that machine here!" He shot back, sounding slightly more angry than usual. "Now, if you wish to argue the case for your friend and this… automaton, I suggest you and Dr. Vsevolod come here, and soon. We've sent a shuttle to Port 9 to transport you. The other Admirals and I will be waiting."
"Fine, but don't expect us too quickly. I have to hobble around now, in case you forgot." I finished with a touch of venom to my voice, shutting off the channel and knocking on Dimitri's side of the window. I mouthed out "Admirals" to him, as he grabbed his Reese boots.
I slowly dragged my feet to the edges of the bed, grabbing my crutches before applying force to my least damaged right foot. I hobbled over to the room controls, throwing on a mask and activating the decon cycle.
"So, what do the Admirals want from us now?" Dimitri asked while limping, his booming voice barely muffled by the breathing mask he was wearing.
"Apparently, they want to ask us a few questions." I answered with a mocking tone, moving about a two feet forward every time I used the crutches. "I don't know anymore, these people are so fucking paranoid it's skull-numbing."
"You mean like us?" He shot back, getting a chuckle out of me.
"Yeah, you have a point there." I replied with a weak smile.
"To be fair, this is first time they have come in contact with Geth in hundreds of years." He argued, causing me to roll my eyes. "Even if it isn't really a true Geth…"
"These are our friends we're talking about, Dimi." I shot back, nudging my head slightly towards him. "They're treating them like criminals right now."
"I know. If we are lucky, perhaps we can work out deal with Admirals, maybe reach compromise." He finished with shrugged shoulders as I focused back on my walking.
I slowly made my way through the ward with Dimitri, making sure not to apply any force whatsoever to my left foot. We eventually made it to the shuttle, as we stepped inside and looked at the pilot.
"Take us to the Alarei." I ordered, carefully lowering myself into as seat as the door closed and sealed behind us. "Man, I just want to go home right now… see Mara again."
"Heh, I understand how you feel my friend." Dimitri agreed, hooking himself into the seat next to mine as he got a cheeky look on his face. "I once knew this woman at SibFU, beautiful green eyes, perfect hourglass figure…"
I simply chuckled as the shuttle sped off, removing all but the sound of the engines from my mind.
"So, you mentioned Richard saying something important earlier?" Dimitri started, focusing hard on me with his dark green eyes.
"Yeah, though to be perfectly honest, I'm still not exactly sure what to make of it." I prefaced, propping my head up with one of my hands. "You know those Geth that left the Veil and attacked Eden Prime?"
"Yes." He answered with a nod, maintaining his eye contact perfectly.
"Well, according to Richard and Powell, they are a different faction of Geth, a splinter group that joined up with this ancient machine called Nazara." I started, as Dimitri began to get a quizzing look on his face. "Apparently, this thing is one of thousands, and they are responsible for the disappearance of the Protheans."
"I must admit, that does sound awfully far-fetched." He replied, sounding skeptical. "What possible rhyme or reason is there to eradicating entire species from galaxy?"
"I don't know man, but according to him that's what the scoop is." I finished, as we closed in on the Alarei. "That Alliance bigshot always being featured on the network seems to mention similar things, so maybe there is some truth to it all."
"I certainly hope not. Anything capable of destruction that widespread would be unbelievably powerful." He said, as the door to the shuttle opened, revealing two marines who were waiting for us.
"Lead on, gentlemen." I ordered, waving my hand dismissively at them as we slowly started making our way through the hallways.
The ship, normally filled with members of Rael's research team, was eerily devoid of activity. Only a few people were here, mostly vital staff. It felt very odd, but then again I guess this was an unusual situation for the Quarians.
We entered an area lined on both sides with containment cells, holding various materials, like Geth parts, hazardous materials, and the likes. Near the end of the hallway, I could see the Admirals, along with several of the marines from our mission.
"Ah, they've arrived. Glad you could join us." Raan nodded to each of us, as we nodded back.
"So… what do you need to know?" I asked, moving my arm a bit so I would be more comfortable resting on the crutch.
"I'm curious about your friend here… Dr. Richards." Raan began, looking into the room next to us where Richard and Powell were being kept. "If what he has said is to be believed, he is the first organic to make peaceful contact with the Geth in hundreds of years."
"Hmph… likely." Rael remarked under his breath, slowly shaking his head. "Looks more like some sort of Geth experiment gone wrong."
"I'm more interested in those cybernetic replacements he is using." Zadie remarked, looking through the glass at the two sitting very still on empty crates. "They've got to be the most advanced ones I've ever seen."
"Are you done?" I asked in an annoyed deadpan, glaring at the bickering group. "We're standing right here, and you're referring to one of my crewmates and friends as if they're some sort of lab rat."
"What have you been planning on doing with them?" Dimitri asked, as Koris' body posture became slightly… disoriented.
"We're currently debating that, doctor." Gerrel answered after a short pause. "It's part of the reason why we asked you two to come here."
Their seemingly disconnected, casual speech was actually really starting to piss me off by this point.
"What is there to debate?" I asked, putting particular emphasis on "debate" as I spoke. "You should let them out and talk to them!"
"It's not that simple, captain." Koris quipped, crossing his arms and shooting a glare at Rael before looking to me. "While I am in full support of releasing them both, there are those among us who are more concerned with their own interests than personal wellbeing."
"I thought we agreed we wouldn't be talking about that." Rael remarked with a slight grittiness to his voice, shooting daggers at Koris.
"I don't care what we "agreed" on, the captain and his crewmates deserve to know what has been discussed." Koris defended, as Raan stepped up from the side.
"Enough, both of you!" She quashed, looking hard at both of them. "This bickering gets us nowhere. We should ask Captain Michaels what he thinks we should do. As a captain, he has that right."
"Very well, then." Gerrel agreed, folding his hands behind his back. "Captain, how would you like us to handle this situation?"
With the full attention of all five of the Admirals, I spent a little over ten seconds thinking about what to do. I decided the best thing to do was to reiterate my previous statement in a calmer fashion.
"I think we should simply let them out and talk to them about it." I said, keeping my voice level and calm. "If we all just talk about this, I'm sure we can all find a way to compromise on all sides."
"But what if the Geth tries to access the ship systems?" Rael objected, looking to each of the Admirals to try and garner support.
"His name is Powell!" I corrected with obvious anger in my voice, before forcing myself to relax once more. "Listen, if he does anything, anything at all, you can banish me from the Flotilla without another thought. That's my proposal."
The Admirals looked at us and between one another for a few moments, before Admiral Raan broke the silence.
"I believe the easiest way to settle this would be with a vote." Raan suggested in a neutral tone, looking at all of us. "All those in favor of releasing them?"
Koris raised his hand, along with Zadie. I meekly raised my hand, even though I knew it wasn't going to count.
"And those in favor of keeping them detained?" She continued, as Gerrel and Rael obviously opposed.
"As the deciding vote, I side with Captain Michaels." Raan finished, much to my relief. "We haven't even tried talking to them, Rael, and you're already trying to blow this out of proportion. You need to take a more diplomatic approach every once and awhile. Now please, release them."
Rael was obviously not happy about this, his body posture changing almost instantly. He reluctantly turned around and entered the code for the door. It slid open, causing Richard and Powell to turn and face us. I waved them towards us without a word, making them get up to meet us outside of the containment room.
"The whole admiralty, huh?" Richard remarked in a slightly sarcastic tone, looking between them, us, and Powell. "I'm honestly not that surprised."
"I predicted a hostile encounter at a margin of 79.3 percent." Powell said alongside him, focusing exclusively on the Admirals. "I'm shocked that I was wrong."
"We've been… discussing the current situation, and we've agreed to Captain Michael's suggestion to release you two and include you in the conversation." Raan explained, sounding slightly nervous.
She must have felt intimidated by Powell's size. He really was massive compared to all of us, even Dimitri.
"Well, I appreciate the… chance you are giving us." Richard thanked, nodding very quickly before looking up to Powell for assistance as his social phobia took hold.
"I understand this was very… unexpected for everyone here, but I'm sure we can make a compromise here that will benefit all parties." Powell took over, causing Raan and Zadie to take a step back.
"That sounds reasonable." Koris agreed, crossing his arms as he gained everyone's attention. "Now, there is something here that I am curious about. If you are not a Geth, then what are you?"
Richard and Powell looked at each other in silence for a few seconds, before looking back to me.
"You might as well just tell them, it's not like it really matters anymore." I encouraged, giving them both a small wink.
"Tell us what?" Rael asked, sounding very unamused.
"Alright…" Richard caved, letting out a massive sigh before looking back to the Admirals. "Back when we used to work for the Alliance, I specialized in neuroscience. I was brought on because of a process I theorized, where one could take a living brain and rip the signals of said brain and place them into a computer system. In the end, I created what I coined as the organic A.I."
"You created A.I.? And from brains?" Zadie remarked in disbelief.
"How is that even possible?" Rael shot back, not believing any of it.
"It's quite simple when you break it down, really." Richard began, folding his hands together as his thoughts collected. "By tracing the neural development of a healthy human fetus, I developed a roadmap for rebuilding neural signals, strand by strand. From there, it was rather simple to translate these raw signals into actual data, through the use of artificial neural receptors."
"Powell here was my first, and last successful transfer. Shortly after I created him, we were attacked, and you've all heard that story." Richard finished, looking back to me for approval. I accepted it with a curt nod.
He knows that mentioning Lydia could possibly complicate matters. I'm sure Dan would appreciate his little retcon.
"I was born December 12th, 2179, 12:41 PM aboard Aldrin Station." Powell stated, crossing his hands behind his back. "I used to help in all matters, including assisting the research staff and maintaining the station's various systems. Now, I help Dr. Richards and the other remaining task force members with whatever they need."
"And you did this all on your own free will? You were under no restraints at all?" Gerrel asked, sounding shocked, and possibly horrified at the same time.
"At first, I was placed in a secure network for observational purposes, but later I proved my worth and trustworthiness enough to be granted full access to station systems." Powell replied, sounding rather pleased with himself. "During the time I spent on Aldrin Station, I performed 174,669 maintenance tasks, assisted station staff on 8,541 different occasions, and eliminated roughly 12% of the station's boarders during the Cerberus assault using the autonomous security systems."
"Why didn't you tell us about this when you first arrived?" Rael asked, looking specifically at me as he spoke as if to accuse me of a crime.
"Why do you think?" I replied back nonchalantly, readjusting myself on the crutches. "We knew there would be no chance of joining the Flotilla if you knew we had an A.I. lying around… even if we do view him as a person. For all intents and purposes, Powell is an individual. Not a computer or some complex system, but his own person. He is on a much more complex level than the Geth, and I can guarantee you can trust him."
Powell nodded silently to the Admirals, as Koris spoke up.
"So, what should we do with the two of you, then?" He asked, walking closer to us.
"We were made aware that Sean and Dimitri now live with the rest of the leads on a planet in a system that is off the Relay grid?" Richard questioned, looking back at us as we nodded in confirmation. "We'd like to just reintegrate with our old colleagues, perhaps have access to some laboratory space?"
"We will… consider it." Raan said with finality, nodding slightly as Rael shot her a dirty look. "For now, we will keep you confined to your cell, but we will be back in a few minutes once we have made a decision."
"Understood. Thank you, Admirals." Richard finished, as he and Powell walked back into the storage room. The door closed, leaving just us and the Admirals once more.
"Follow us." Raan asked, as we followed them back out to the lab space we entered from.
"I don't want them anywhere near the camp or the labs! These terms are unacceptable!" Rael ran off almost instantly, outrage filling his vocal coords and his body movements.
"I see no reason why they can't be trusted to rejoin Captain Michaels and his crew." Koris quietly disagreed, crossing his arms once more.
"According to what Captain Michaels said earlier, Dr. Richards and "Powell" deserted a few months ago." Gerrel mentioned, causing me to reflexively roll my eyes. "Why did they leave, and for what purpose?"
"The two of them left because the felt threatened being here in the Fleet." I explained, taking a seat on a nearby stool so I could get off of the blasted crutches. "They wanted to try and make peaceful contact with the Geth, learn more about this machine race that no one has seen for many hundreds of years. By the time they had made it past the Veil, Richard had been badly wounded during a pirate attack. Powell managed to make contact with them, and negotiated with the Geth to save his life."
"Powell saved Dr. Richard's life?" Raan repeated, as I nodded back.
"Yes. It was after his recovery that he and Powell discovered that the Geth that had begun attacking human colonies around the Traverse were not "true" Geth, and were actually "heretics." I explained further, probing my memory for every bit of information that I had. "These Geth were following that rouge SPECTRE, Saren. The majority of the Geth did not accept this, and stayed on the other side of the Veil as they had done for the last few hundred years."
"Why did these "heretic" Geth follow Saren out of the Veil?" Zadie probed, sounding very interested.
"They followed him because he is apparently taking orders from an "old machine" known as "Nazara"." I explained, vaguely aware of how batshit it sounded. "These "old machines", or "Reapers" as some others call them, supposedly wiped out the Protheans millions of years ago, and then just vanished."
Silence filled the void, as everyone weighed in one what I had said.
"OK… so what happened after that?" Gerrel dodged, seeming more interested in the order of events than the explanation. Either that, or he just thought it was insane.
"After that, the Geth provided Powell with a platform to inhabit, and gave them a ship to investigate previously gathered data on Reaper movements in Sigurd's Cradle." I began to wrap up, meshing my fingers together. "From there, they were attacked, drifted off, and were found by your mining ship."
"OK… we will discuss all of this privately." Gerrel said, looking at the other Admirals as they nodded in unanimous agreement. They all walked off into another room, leaving Dimitri and I alone.
"So… that went well." I remarked in my usual sarcastic tone, running my hand through my hair.
"We well as it could have." Dimitri shot back, taking a seat on the stool next to me. "Are you sure it was good idea to mention Reapers?"
"I don't think there was any harm in telling them. We already threw the A.I. research out into the open, why not that?" I argued, looking at the door that led to the holding area.
"Because it sounds a little "farfetched", as you call it." He answered, as I nodded in mild approval.
"Maybe. I suppose there's nothing I can really do about it now, huh?" I finished, as he simply nodded at me.
After two or three minutes, the Admirals came back, looking like they had a sense of purpose to their movements, even Rael.
"We have come to a decision, Captain." Raan announced as I stood back up with my crutches.
"Well, let's hear it." I greeted with enthusiasm, even though I was secretly dreading the worst.
"We have agreed to allow Dr. Richards and Powell to rejoin your crew, but in exchange they must wear tracking devices and provide any and all information on the Geth that they have." She laid out, plain and simple.
"That sounds reasonable." I agreed, though still hating the idea that they would now have to be tracked and probed for information. "Anything else?"
"No, that's about it. We'll work out the smaller details at a later time, but those are the ground rules." She finished, crossing her hands behind her back.
"Captain, I'll be expecting a full report of the derelict incident by 0800 hours tomorrow." Rael mentioned with a hint of bitterness to his voice, as he walked off to let Richard and Dimitri out.
I smiled at Dimitri, feeling triumphant.
We had won over the approval of the Admiralty Board. Not an easy task.
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MFV Asgore, June 15th, 8:42 PM, 2183
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The five of us stepped off of the transport ship, getting the perfect view of the valley at sunset. Dan instantly took in a deep breath of fresh air, him being the outdoorsman type. Dimitri just smiled, the mountains reminding him of his time on Elysium.
Richard, who normally had a great fear of wide open spaces, actually looked impressed with the view. I couldn't really gauge Powell's reaction though, considering his face was a giant flashlight head.
Both he and Richard had been fit with trackers in the form of ankle bracelets. The Admirals were very paranoid that the two of them would run off again and steal the secret recipe to Quarian chili or something ridiculous like that.
I also don't think the Admirals were aware that Powell could leave his body anytime he wanted. Simpletons.
We disembarked, walking through the forest path to where our housing was located. The moment Mara, Jack, and Sira saw us, equal parts confusion, fear, and worry filled their faces.
"Oh my god, what happened to you?" Mara asked as I hobbled over on my crutches.
"It's a long story." I replied, leaning in and giving her a quick kiss. "I'll tell you over a nice bottle of wine."
With that, we all went home.
Home sweet home.
…
A/N: I'm so freaking sorry this one took so long to come out, everyone I've been so goddamn busy with college and work and everything that finding the time an motivation to write has been quite challenging. I feel bad making everyone wait like this, and it hurts every time I imagine disappointing my readers. I hope you can all forgive me.
I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!