Chapter 10: Geth Data
Armstrong Nebula, Grissom system, Solcrum
Yang
Yang was getting used to landing in the mako at this point, her fifth experience in what felt like a very short time. Once they had landed, Ingersoll put the mako to work while ordering her fellow sergeant to watch the surroundings for Geth. With the rest of the team in the back feeling safe and secure, even Yang wasn't surprised when she heard the main gun firing rounds.
"Guess there are some guards outside again." Yang commented.
"Two Colossi this time." Ingersoll answered since their comms were all linked.
"This has to be their central hub then." Tali was confident in her statement since she was the Geth expert.
"Ingersoll, Williams, focus on clearing out whatever is outside." Kaidan ordered before turning to Yang. "Miss Long, given what you did to those Destroyers, would you mind leading the group inside the base this time? Myself and Tali can be right behind you."
Yang didn't even need to think before answering that question. "I'll lead, but you two might want to stand back a bit. I have a habit of getting up close to my opponents." She balled her hands and smiled, the helmet hiding her joyous expression of getting some proper action.
By the time the mako came to a stop, the shields were almost down and only remained that way thanks to Tali who had been doing her best to help recover the shielding during the skirmish. Stepping out onto the surface of the planet and taking a look around, Yang couldn't help but be amazed at how blue it looked. This was due to the colour of the system's sun, a blue giant.
Then there was the wreckage of the Geth and their towers strewn across the surface with blackened marks from the mako's main gun. Tali was quick to make her way over to a Colossi while Yang found it amusing. She had such an interest for the Geth similar to that of Ruby and weapons on Remnant. Though she wondered if Tali was more interested in finding their weaknesses since her people's displacement from their homeworld.
"Alright Yang, you're our pointman this time, we've got your back." Kaidan reminded her.
Getting rid of the gloves once the air inside was proven breathable, Yang readied her gauntlet and opened another door. The energy of the shield her armour provided protected her from the first couple of shots before she charged forwards. She had caught sight of a large Geth on the second floor, though noticed several smaller ones darting around swiftly.
"We've got the little ones." Tali's voice crackled through her helmet as aDestroyer charged at Yang.
"Thank you Tali." Yang answered, meeting the charging Destroyer with a charge of her own. As they neared collision, Yang would fire off a couple of rounds using her gauntlets, propelling herself around the Destroyer and deliver a powerful and heavy right hand with her prosthetic. The Geth skidded along the ground and as it made to push itself off the ground, Yang simply landed another punch to its head and then a second jam to its midsection before taking off to the second level.
Smirking beneath her helmet, Yang activates the sticky grenade she planted on the Destroyer and hears a loud explosion behind her. One big down, where's that bigger one? Hearing the loud clang on a heavy synthetic foot one the metallic floor too late, Yang braced herself. The hit wasn't as hard as she thought it would be, but enough to force her back a couple of metres while retaining her footing.
"Another Destroyer." She said as a warning to the others as the gunfire from her team and the smaller Geth sounded in the room.
"We have a third over here." Ingersoll replied, the sound of her rifle being particularly noticeable.
As she started to dissect the Destroyer before her, Yang would cast her gaze over to the other that was pressing towards her team. She could see things affecting it though and its shields quickly being taken down. She could see Tali's omni-tool glowing too and wondered how and why she was using it in combat. Cracking and crushing the Destroyer's head, she would plant another grenade on it before grabbing it by the leg and starting to spin. Aaaand three! She counted, sending the synthetic body flying through the air to collide with its still operational friend.
She didn't get to see how they looked, heaped up and twisted together with the other as another of her sticky grenades exploded and presumably finished the job. Though she was struck with an explosion that took her off her feet and damaged her aura. Kicking herself back to standing, she narrowly avoided a second rocket of which the force made her stumble forwards. Don't need another one of those to hit me. Realising she could be in danger as her armour's shielding had already failed on the first hit and now it was up to her aura, she started to move using her gauntlets to propel herself upwards to the balcony that gave the Geth Juggernaut its vantage point.
Twice more it fired and missed while Yang manoeuvred through the air before she landed next to it. It lashed out with its modified pulse rifle to which Yang responded by meeting it with her prosthetic and breaking the weapon into many pieces. The machine seemed stunned by this, as if calculating what had happened. Yang quickly took full advantage. One punch to send it towards the ceiling in the middle of the room. She followed quickly, grabbing onto its back plating and firing twice with her free hand to get them moving in a rapid rotation while falling. It was something she had done to her foes and Grimm before and wanted to show her team a little more of what she could do.
As it came to the point of release, Yang let the Juggernaut go, sending it to the ground with a terrible combination of noises. Crunching and cracking, of both the Geth and the floor beneath. Yang landed next to it with a roll to break her fall and stood up ready to fight, only to see the lights of the Geth's face flicker and fade. She stood there for a moment, making sure it wouldn't reboot like the Armature did on Feros and when she was confident, she relaxed her arms and checked the others.
Tali was looking at Yang, though the golden maned woman was unable to judge what the Quarian was thinking. Ingersoll came over and whistled, pushing on the Juggernaut with one foot.
"You sent that thing flying, what's in those gauntlets of yours and where do I get some?" The now helmetless Ingersoll asked, which caused Yang to become a bit concerned.
"Remnant… Tali, are you good with bullets and the like?" The Quarian just shook her head leaving Yang to be concerned about what she had left.
"Tali, over here. It looks like… a Quarian." Kaidan calls while looking at a monitor.
Sure enough, Tali confirmed that it was a Quarian, one that was singing. It doesn't last long however and soon they're left in silence once more.
"Search the building, we'll see if they've left anything behind that might be usual to the Commander." With Kaidan's order, the group splits off with Tali mostly going to examine the Juggernaut Yang threw into the ground.
Yang went into the back room on the ground floor with Ingersoll following her. The two searched through the containers before Yang headed to what seemed to be some sort of terminal.
"Hey Ingersoll, that's weird. Can I call you by your first name?" Yang asked as she examined the terminal of Geth design before her.
"Do you know it?" The sergeant responded.
"What do you think?" Yang scoffed, turning her omni-tool on to see if it could help her. Tali had been showing her a little about decrypting and how to get it started, but after she quickly failed once, she sighed.
"It's Emelyne, Emelyne Ingersoll"
"Well then, Emelyne, can you tell me how to decrypt this thing?" Yang asked.
The purple haired woman came over and had a look, her eyes narrowing before sighing. "That's an easy one you know, but I guess since you're new here it's going to take you a while. If you have any omni-gel, then you can just use that to override the decryption process." When Yang just looked at Ingersoll like a lost sheep, she let out another sigh. "Like this."
Ingersoll went through the process of showing Yang what to do and even giving her some omni-gel to use now and in the future. Guiding Yang through the steps and having the brawler finally override the Terminal, Ingersoll stood back with a smirk.
"I think you should get Tali to make up a few beginner challenges to build up your decryption skill, unless you want to rely on someone else. Tali and Kaidan are probably the best in Shepard's team, I might be on par with Kaidan but Tali's surely in a different league. Shepard can do it too, and I think Garrus?"
"Thanks for the lesson and advice, Emelyne." Yang grinned and then checked the new files she'd gotten from the terminal. "Hey, I can't make out much, but I think this is Geth." She held out her arm with the omni-tool for Ingersoll to look at.
"I think you're right. Better give them to Kaidan so he can give it to the Commander when we pick her up." Ingersoll went back to searching the area before Kaidan called them all together and requested a pick up from Joker.
Normandy, enroute to Noveria
Yang
Once back aboard the Normandy, the group discussed the possibility of yet another Geth outpost, but without any further clues or evidence of one, Kaidan gave the order to set course for Noveria. It was after that when Yang confronted Kaidan about the information, before he had a chance to go up the lift.
"Kaidan, Ingersoll said I should send data or whatever they are to you." Yang activated her omni-tool to show Kaidan what she'd found, with Ingersoll's assistance.
"You and Sergeant Ingersoll both believe it's data on the Geth then? Very well, transfer it to me." Kaidan activated his own omni-tool and started showing Yang how to transfer things when Tali came up beside them.
"Wait, Kaidan, Yang, if the data you speak of is about the geth. I want a copy of it." Said in an urgent manner that was almost demanding.
"No can do Tali, the Alliance wants the information and it could have sensitive information about the Alliance amongst it. You can ask the Admiral when Shepard contacts him or ask Shepard once we've picked her up." Kaidan turned back to continue on with Yang's omni-tool, only it was off and Yang looked a little perplexed.
"Why do you want it anyway Tali? Didn't you find anything on the Geth we destroyed?"
"Those files could have information that could be vital to our efforts to understand the Geth. It could be the key to helping us reclaim our homeworld." Tali explained, making Yang unsure of what she should do.
She had spoken with Tali and learned the Quarian, or at least her views towards the Geth, and reclaiming would mean a war with the Geth and the cost of thousands of lives. She still didn't know if the Geth were alive either, if they were like Penny or just more advanced AI similar to the Atlas military bots, but better.
"You can ask Shepard when she returns, Tali. Yang, transfer the data." Kaidan set his omni-tool up again and waited, but Yang didn't raise her arm. "Yang, that's an order." Kaidan then said, which got a hard glare from Yang.
"I've always been terrible at following orders, even when I was with the Atlisian military." She turned around and started to walk away. "I'll hang onto it until Shepard gets back, I'm sure that isn't going to be a problem."
"Yang-" Kaidan called before being cut off.
"Hey goldilocks, when a superior officer gives you an order, you follow it." Ashley called as she joined the conversation. "Humans are new to this galactic community, we need to protect ourselves over other species. Like Lt said, it could contain information about the alliance which the Quarians could use against us."
Yang turned to look at the two other humans, finding that they both had valid points but were being rather inconsiderate to Tali. Her lilac eyes stared at Tali's visor for a moment, seeing the light glow for just a moment but nothing came out. She wants to speak. Yang realised and smiled.
"I'm not a human like you two, or even Shepard. My loyalty to the Alliance is questionable, I'm sure you're both aware of that. I'm sure Shepard will listen to your arguments too, Sergeant, Lieutenant." Her eyes flicked back to Tali before making her way down to the engine deck.
She saw Emelyne shaking her head but smirking as she stepped into the lift. "Come on Lt, let's grab some grub and let things simmer down in the cargo area. I'll come sort them out if I hear any explosions."
With a little movement and some whispered mumbles behind her, Yang soon found herself sitting down in the engine room. Stretching her neck from side to side and just trying to relax, she wasn't surprised when Tali came to stand before her.
"Going to ask for the data again?" Yang said without looking up.
"A copy." Tali said softly. "I don't have any intention of using it against Humans, I can even delete anything that involves humanity before handing it over to the admirals if that helps." The offer was appreciated as Yang sat back with her head against the wall.
"You want the data so you can destroy the Geth right, not understand them." Tali didn't even look away as Yang prodded for her true intent.
"Not right away, we will need to study it, it could take years but it will give us new insight into how the Geth have changed, and evolved over the past centuries." She kept forgetting about the long history of the other species in this galaxy. Krogan and their genophage, the Quarians being kicked off their homeworld.
"But why? I get wanting to take back your homeworld… sort of, probably not. I can see why your people would want such data, but is that the only reason you want it?" Yang asked, not sure if she should give the data to Tali if all it results in is war.
Tali gave a little sigh before taking a seat next to Yang on the floor, her own back against the wall as she started to speak. "When my people reach maturity, we leave our birth ships and seek acceptance with a new crew." Yang didn't get where Tali was going with this but she stayed quiet and would learn more about Tali and her people. "It's necessary to maintain genetic diversity among the fleet. But no ship wants to accept someone who will be a burden on them, so to prove our worth we embark on a pilgrimage. We set out alone, leaving the flotilla and our families behind us." Yang hung her head at that, knowing the feeling of leaving family behind, worry, sadness, a longing for the one who left to return. She'd left her dad on Patch to chase after Ruby, as Ruby had left them behind months earlier.
"We only return once we have found something of value we can bring back to the fleet, this is presented as a gift to the captain of the respective ship we wish to join. If the gift is accepted we are welcomed into the crew." Tali finished.
"So it would have to be something that would benefit the ship, the crew… something that could provide something for an extended time." Something I can't give Shepard or the Normandy.
"You would think so, but even when the gift is not particularly valuable, the captain usually accepts it out of a sense of tradition." Yang gave a little snort to that as it made the process sound pointless. "However," Tali stated with her face towards Yang because of the disruption, "there is a stigma to presenting a sub-standard gift. It's not the best way to make a good impression on a new community. Most pilgrims don't return until they find something worthwhile."
"Otherwise you don't make many friends, or connections? And you go off alone? Sounds dangerous and a bit like me, though I suppose Quarian pilgrims have knowledge about the galaxy unlike myself."
"We do have that advantage, and more. Before we leave, we are given lessons on how to survive outside the flotilla, and given gifts to help us on our journey. We also receive implants to fight off sickness and disease. Generations of living in an isolated and highly controlled environment have left our immune systems weaker than most."
"That's why you can't show me your face, because you'll get ill, potentially die just from that." Tali nodded her head and seemd to be smiling, Yang could tell that much just by the change of her glowing eyes. That and being so close to Tali's helmet allowed her to see faint outlines of her features, though nothing clear and all in the shade of purple. "So you want the data so you can give it to your new captain since… you're on your pilgrimage right now?" Tali nodded once more. "And this data would be a suitable gift for you to present, it would get you onto a new ship, a new home?"
"I believe it would be the greatest gift a captain has received in decades. Geth data is incredibly difficult to come by, and it appears you have more than I dreamed of finding from salvaging destroyed Geth."
"My choice here could result in thousands of Quarian lives being lost, and Geth too, if they are more than just machines. I don't want to give it to you if it's going to start a war, Tali." Yang was twiddling her thumbs at this point, conflicted about handing over information that could be turned into a weapon. Though hiding information often hurts. She cast her thoughts back to General Ironwood and how he had hidden things from her team when they arrived and how her team had hidden things from him, from everyone.
"Whether you give me the data or not, my people will one day try to retake our homeworld. This data could… you should think of it like this. You could be saving thousands, millions of lives even. If you let me copy the data."
"Quarian lives." Yang said melancholy. Tali had steered Yang's thoughts into a better way of thinking about her choice, ever so slightly.
"Yes, Quarian lives. The lives of my people who deserve to return to their homeworld, and one day maybe live without the need for these suits." Tali traced her hands over her knees and down to her ankles as Yang watched.
But what if the Geth are like Penny, that would be like a full on war between two species, like Faunus and Humans. She massaged her temples as she considered what to do. Come on Rubes, help me out here will you. Tali for her part didn't interrupt Yang and left only the other engineers talking and the low hum of the reactor to fill Yang's ears with noise.
"I've got years right?"
"Assuming that it is encrypted." Tali stated.
Yang showed Tali a little of the data with the Quarian confirming it would take a while, potentially years to decrypt and analyse the data fully. "Go on then, make a copy. I'll take any heat that Shepard throws your way." She gave Tali a smile, though was still worried about the future ramifications.
Tali didn't waste any time and was quick to get a copy of the data onto her omni-tool. "Yang, my people, I, owe you a great debt. One I can never repay. The only thing I can offer in return is…" The young Quarian floundered in her offer as she didn't know what to offer.
"Be my friend?" Yang suggested with a hopefully grin. Tali just giggled at that.
"I thought you might ask to see my face."
"I thought about it," Yang admitted, "but I'd rather have my friend alive and healthy."
"Thank you, Yang. You've probably done more for my people than any other species has in decades." The elation in Tali's voice was clear for the brawler to hear.
"Well then, I think I'll go and get some food, shower, and then sleep. What are you going to do?" She asked, though already knew Tali's answer before the Quarian even spoke. Just like Ruby's fascination with weapons.
She left Tali there to start her work on decrypting the data and proceeded as she had said. It wouldn't be long to arrive at Noveria either thanks to the Mass Relays, so she spent what time she had awake relaxing.