A.N./Let's fucking go chapter two, actually released on something resembling a schedule.
Fuck yeah.
Chapter 2: Not so smoothly…
Sovereign-Old Machine. There has been an issue with the cloning process.
He paused, momentarily forgetting the capital grade plasma lance schematic he and a few hundred Geth programs had been working on. The Geth had made a mistake? No, perhaps it's simply a complication when it comes to cloning in general.
We await your arrival.
His arrival? Why didn't they just send him the dat- ohhhhhh… Well, how about that? Seems they accounted for his last visit. Chuckling lightly, he took control of the platform the Geth designated for him, "leaving behind" a few subroutines to finalize his design, and walked towards the cloning pod he last visited.
Immediately upon arrival, he saw the issue. It had been a good while since he had last visited and in that time she'd grown from a fetus to a newborn, but that was expected. What wasn't expected was her pure white skin and hair. "What happened?"
A miscalculation in the cloning process led to a genetic malfunction in the production of melanin for unit zero.
"Will this be an issue for all of the clones?" He demanded.
Yes. All other units were affected before the defect was corrected.
"I see…" He stared at unit zero as it floated there, helpless in its vat fluid, and completely unaware of the world around it. She looked almost… peaceful. "Continue with her adjustments, this defect will only help my plan. Reassign the rest of the batch as test subjects for indoctrination experiments."
Acknowledged.
"And give her an additional designation: Alaya."
Acknowledged.
"You are not curious, Optimus?"
I am. However, I have come to understand that I will not fully understand your logic.
"Very perceptive of you." He conveyed a sense of mirth through their connection, but he also knew Optimus and the rest of the Geth wouldn't understand the feeling. A "tingle" from his design subroutines informed him of his weapon designs finally coming to a finish. Leaving his temporary platform, he returned his focus to his much much larger body. Although it's inaccurate to say his attention ever left. It's more like he was doing both simultaneously, much like a… actually. He couldn't think of a proper analogy, it's not really something that can be fully put into words. He's in both bodies, manipulating them simultaneously with no diversion of his attention.
He could in theory give his complete focus to one or the other, but he likely will never need to. "How many artificial wombs are operational?"
One thousand and one artificial wombs are in operation.
He thrummed deeply in thought. The number was sufficient to perform his needs, but more could be useful. It would come at a cost of delaying other projects as the vats were rather resource intensive. "Cease construction on new womb units, and divert resources elsewhere."
Affirmative.
"By the way, I finished the plasma designs."
The infantry rifles?
"All of the plasma designs."
…Acknowledged. We will begin refitting our platforms immediately.
"Leave the units assigned to me with the old designs."
It will be done, but we are curious. Why?
"It will help deceive the galaxy into believing the Geth serving me are a splinter group."
Optimus remained silent for some time, clearly processing the information. It's remarkable, really. The speed at which the individual Geth program now develops astounded him. They thought more and more organically with each passing day, but retained their gestalt consciousness and distinctive machine like reasoning.
We find this to be logical. The deception will be another layer of defense for Geth.
What the Geth Consensus didn't know was that he had put a subtle reprogram virus into the ones serving him that would eventually turn the small number of Geth into the Heretics. An unfortunate, if necessary, deception that will help the Geth in the long run.
"I've noticed you switch between "we" and "I" when referring to yourself, Optimus. Why?"
When I use "we" I am speaking on behalf of the consensus.
Well now, and here he thought Optimus was simply learning to be an individual. "Fascinating. How goes the development of her armor and implants?"
With the assistance of your data, we have completed the desired designs.
"Good good, and the information package we plan to install?"
Compilation of the specified languages, cultural knowledge, martial arts, and combat doctrines have been completed.
"The manufacture of remote control parts for my puppet?"
They are expected to finish in the next two years. Slower than he would've liked, but still within acceptable timeframes.
"Construction of new platforms, factories, and shipyards?"
Our industrial capacity now exceeds that of the Turian Hierarchy by a factor of ten and is projected to be a factor of fifty in nineteen years. We possess twice as many ships of their equivalent classes as the Turian Hierarchy. This number will take time to grow with the delays refitting them all will bring. Our current physical platforms exceed ten billion in number and are expected to triple in nineteen years.
If he could smile, he would be smiling wide enough to split his face in half. "There's a design I'd like to show you. It should prove to be an adequate replacement for your current fighter craft."
He sent over the schematics. The design is something many would recognize as a fighter from a rather well known video game from his time. A small frame, smooth curves, two long plasma cannons protruding from its front, a fuel rod cannon towards the front of its belly, aerodynamic reverse swept wings, two long high power vectoring thrusters on its rear, and a deep purplish hue.
This design is compact and efficient. It will prove an exceptional replacement for our current platforms. We require a designation.
Oh, how he wished he could smile. "I was thinking something like "void banshee", is this adequate?"
We find this designation to be acceptable.
Her eyes fluttered open. Everything was blurry, with a light blue fluid like haze over her vision. She was in some sort of vat, like a test tube of some form. A long strand of pure white hair floated into her field of view, it was… pretty. Was that her hair? She looked on in innocent wonder as the strands floating in front of her waved up and down gently as the nutrient bio-fluid flowed in and out of her vat. She didn't know how she knew what any of that was, she just knew.
A blurry three fingered hand placed itself on the outside of the glass, and a singular bright light shined in at her.
What is this? Her mind told her it's a Geth, but she didn't understand what that meant. It made such strange warbling screech noises, and she felt tired, her eyes started to drift closed. She sunk a little in her vat as the fluids drained out. A feeling of immense cold assaulted her, and all she could do was twitch slightly in panic before her world became darkness.
When her eyes next opened she saw a ceiling covered in dark purplish blue tubes and a painfully bright light. Her head hurt so much, and it felt bare of any hair. "Sovereign Old-Machine, respond if you are in control."
"Yes, Optimus. I'm in control, it looks like the surgery went perfectly." A voice, her voice! Her eyes blinked rapidly and her body moved upwards of its own volition. What's happening? Why was her body moving?! She tried to fight it, but nothing happened, as if her attempts didn't even register. Horror, her first real emotion, dawned on her.
She's been made into a puppet.
"I'm feeling a slight pain in the forehead."
"A result of the implantation process. Pain should subside as the areas fully heal." He had assumed as much, but he needed to make sure the body wouldn't suddenly drop dead. It's nice to have all of these sensations again, even if they're coming through a female body. He stretched out the arms and legs some, silently marveling at the flexibility and physique of his puppet.
"What stage is this body at?" Optimus's flaps twitched slightly around his three "eyes".
"The body's physical age is approximately twenty human years. The effects of our accelerated gene therapy have worn off, rendering it indistinguishable from a normal human in the rate it ages."
"Good." He stated simply, flexing his arm and hand. Feeling the strength hidden by its modest and slightly delicate features. "Where's my equipment?"
"In this crate." It was only then that he noticed the object. Huffing slightly, he slipped his puppet off the operating table, and shivered slightly at the sharp cold feeling of the metal floors. Now that he had moved off of the table, it was impossible to miss just how much Optimus's prime platform towered over his puppet. As it stood, Optimus was almost double in height compared to the pale frame he possessed. He moved over to the crate and began unloading its contents.
"Everything is as I specified?"
"I do not understand why you express doubt at Geth capabilities. You have worked with us for years now. What purpose is there in inquiring about data you already possess?"
"Double checking data is harmless, and can reveal tampering or mistakes." He slipped the hexagon patterned bodysuit on, and hit the micro-button on its wrist; causing it to become perfectly form fitting.
"Your logic is sound, but your timing is not. It would have been more logical to double check before the surgery." He rolled pigeon blood red eyes, and slipped the tall dark colored armored boots on, followed quickly by heavy thigh plating.
"A fair point. How are the other subjects' implant surgeries going?" He finished the leg and waist armor then slipped on the thick arm plates. Unlike most armors in the galaxy, these gauntlets had armor plated gloves, allowing for more devastating hand to hand strikes when necessary. Not only that, but the palms and fingers possessed micro pressure sensors, allowing him to direct his puppet to perform much more delicate tasks with precision even when fully armored.
"The subjects are fully implanted and await deployment."
"Good." Next came the most unique part of the armor: its torso and pauldrons. Instead of the typical and rather stupid "boob plate", there was a singular angled horizontal protrusion to provide room. The pauldrons, however, looked far more like those that belong on male heavy armor than the typical female ones one would expect to see. "Have I ever thanked you for convincing me to use half of the first batch as disposable shock troops?"
"Thirty three times." Pale lips twitched into a light smile as he fought back his amusement. Finally, he directed heavily armored hands to the helmet. It very closely resembled the two eyed helmet commonly worn by mercenaries, but it also had a crude looking caricature of a skull painted on its faceplate. Slipping it on, an incredibly advanced and detailed HUD sprung to life. Providing not just targeting systems, armor diagnostics, and biological readouts, but also a wide field of vision that belies its outer appearance.
"You've really outdone yourself with this gear, Optimus." He complimented, otherwise silently appreciating the incredible craftsmanship of the armor. Flexing and feeling the exoskeleton hidden under the armor reinforcing his puppet's already olympian strength beyond that of anything a normal human could possibly achieve.
"I did not manufacture the armor."
"It's an idiom. In essence, I'm complimenting Geth craftsmanship, not yours." The last items in the crate were some higher end weapons the Geth had secured through the few raids they've done on the nearby warlords in the Terminus systems. None of it was top of the line, but they weren't bad weapons by any means.
"Acknowledged, we have cataloged the terminology." A gentle laugh bubbled out of his puppet's throat. How strange, now that he's controlling a human body again, he feels oddly emotive. It's… nice. He missed the "feeling" of having his old body, and this one brought bouts of nostalgia.
"What's the status of project warlord?"
Optimus's panels flexed again. "The implanted Turian clone designated "Tacitus Aurelian" has finished maturing and awaits deployment."
"That's great." He meant it too. With that Turian as a front he'll be able to wrestle control of the Terminus from the various warlords and mercenary bands; creating a unified force completely ready to combat the Reapers for every inch of space.
"Load up the frigate you stole, and make sure its stealth systems are fully operational. Then we head for a backwater planet called Halgalaz."
"Acknowledged."
"Alaya-Puppet. We are on approach."
He involuntarily caused his puppet to wince at the designation. "Good, and remove the "puppet" part from that designation."
"Acknowledged."
He rolled his puppets eyes in exasperation. "Have we been detected?"
"Negative."
"Perfect." He directed his puppet out of the cockpit and into its cargo bay, where his troops were waiting. The old Turian frigate was one of many ships captured by the Geth and refitted for infiltration purposes. However, instead of deploying agents across the galaxy, its first mission will instead be to deploy fifty clone shock troops onto the Shadow Brokers massive ship hidden in the storms of Halgalaz. "Optimus is moving us to the top middle of the ship, towards the rear a bit. There should be an access way into the ship's interior, from there the Shadow broker should be nearby, and we can fight our way to him to take him out."
"Roger that, ma'am." Unlike his puppet, these clone shock troopers weren't directly controlled by him. Instead they were more like Cerberus troops; implanted to be obedient, but not mindless drones. Fully capable of initiative and reasoning, but unable to disobey an order. They are much like slaves, but there is little to be done about that. Their freedom is a necessary sacrifice for the salvation of all life in the galaxy.
"Good." He turned from their bulky armored forms, drew his assault rifle, and awaited the chance to deploy.
"Alaya. Prepare to deploy in five." The fifty heavily armored clones drew their assortment of rifles and tensed for combat.
"Four." The already tight grip his rifle was held in tightened further.
"Three." All lights in the bay were replaced by a dull red glow.
"Two." The lights flashed green, and the bay door lowered.
"One." Fifty one bodies rushed out into a hail of gunfire. There were twenty or so Shadow Broker mercenaries in cover firing away at his troops, much of it was ineffective; bouncing harmlessly off of the shock troopers fortified frontal barriers. A few rounds harmlessly glanced off his own barrier, which was far superior to the troopers behind his puppet. Raising his rifle, he squeezed highly accurate and precisely calculated shots into a woman about to fire off a missile. Unfortunately, she and a couple of her comrades managed to fire off their missiles before they could be taken down; killing four shock troopers.
Combined fire quickly ended the threat, as his puppet's boots finally impacted the hull. He directed the small frame into a roll to disperse the momentum, and continued that roll into a crouch. By the time he managed to bring the rifle on target the shock troops were almost on top of the defending mercenaries. He only managed to squeeze off a few shots before the clones crashed into a brutal melee with the mercs.
While the mercenaries were well trained and equipped, they were no match for the genetically superior clones in Geth made armor, and were swiftly killed. However, there were now ten dead shock troopers, leaving him with only forty. Still, the numbers were in his favor. "Form a perimeter, and prepare to repel a counter attack!"
"Yes ma'am!" The troopers carried out their orders with gusto, picking the best possible defensive positions they could on top of the mega ship. As they did so, he directed his puppet towards the door, and placed a small device on its surface. It locked in place, started beeping softly, and a red light switched on. "One minute!"
He forced his puppet to an alcove where it would be well protected, but still able to contribute to the fight.
Sure enough, they were quickly swarmed by drones, mechs, and mercs. In what little time they had, the clones had placed down high explosive tripmines, which shredded much of the mechanical forces heading their way, but did little to the flying drones and mercenaries. "Overload the drones!"
Forty one omnitools lit up and sent out the high powered bursts of electricity, taking out half of the flying drones, but it cost another three troopers. "Grenades!"
Each trooper fired their weapon one handed to keep the mercenaries down, and primed a grenade in their left. Lobbing them overhead into the mercenaries positions cost another four troopers, but resulted in taking out a large chunk of the mercenary force.
It had only been five minutes since they landed, and only fifteen seconds since this firefight started. Now it was a more even fight, but he's down to only thirty three troopers. From this point it was an agonizing grind of popping out of cover, firing a couple bursts into a merc, and hiding again. Thankfully, this is where his troopers' far superior weapons, shields, and armor came into play. They were able to take far more punishment than the mercenaries, allowing them to fire much longer bursts before needing to go back into cover, and their newly made Geth plasma rifles passed right through their enemies' kinetic barriers. The bolts of plasma flash boiled armor and flesh leaving horrifically maimed corpses and wounded screaming in agony.
Slowly, the timer ticked down as the device worked to unlock the door, but even with the superiority of his troops, the mercs managed to kill another three before the door was unlocked. "Door's open! You ten, guard the door. The rest, with me!"
He piloted his puppet through the door and into the bowels of the behemoth that hung in the sky. Three troopers led the way, charging through the first defenses they encountered with vicious martial prowess. Unfortunately, just before they turned the next corner, a massive krogan charged into their front ranks followed quickly by two more. The lead one blasted the head off of the first man with a large blocky shotgun, and the other two shoulder checked the shock troops that had been flanking the first, and caved in their chests with brutal stomps holding the krogan's entire weight.
He forced his puppet into a backwards roll as the shock troopers opened fire. The plasma ripped into the two smaller krogan with brutal results, but the bigger of the three shrugged it off, having most of the energy dispersed from his biotic barrier, and charged with a roar. One of the taller troopers primed a grenade and attempted to grapple the charging battle master. The krogan seemed to welcome the challenge and crashed head on into the trooper with a tackle, caving in his chest plate.
It was then that the krogan seemed to notice the primed grenade stuck to his helmet. He frantically tried to rip it off only for it to detonate and turn his head into red mist.
Another four dead troopers in a manner of moments. They did their job, but the attrition rate was atrocious. No one batted an eye at the corpses as they rushed down the hallway. "Another right and there will be a large room, after that it should be a straight shot to the broker!"
They thundered through the hall and into an atrium of some sort, with over a dozen mercenaries in the middle of setting up defenses. They seemed surprised at their arrival, probably expecting the krogan to have lasted longer. While they scrambled to take positions, the shock troopers were already laying down precise fire and advancing. "Keep pushing!"
Already the defenders numbers were cut in half, but they quickly began returning fire, with moderate effect. Once again the reinforced frontal barriers proved their worth as they rendered the incoming fire to be near harmless. Realizing this, one particularly intelligent merc primed a bandolier of grenades and tossed it into the formation of advancing shock troopers.
The nearest clones tried to scramble away in a mad panic, but four of them were still eviscerated by the explosion. Although it bought the mercenaries some time, it didn't change their fate, as they were quickly cut down by a torrent of plasma fire. They rushed past the cooling corpses and finally reached their destination.
The door to the Shadow Broker's office.
"Get a charge on that door!"
"Roger!" The trooper unfolded a thick strip of thermite, and lined the edges of the door with it. Falling back a couple meters he hit the detonator. A bright light slowly crawled around the edge of the doorway, and when it reached its end several shape charges detonated, sending the door flying inward. A blink of an eye later his puppet and the remaining twelve shock troopers stormed into the office and fanned out.
"I admit. You have me at a bit of a loss here." A deep baritone rang through the room. The Shadow Broker was exactly how he remembered. A well dressed and large alien with a triangular mouth. Aka, a Yahg. "I would ask who hired you, and how you found me, but I doubt you'd answer me."
He nodded his puppet's head. "You're right. Open fire!"
The broker roared as a hail of plasma assaulted him, he brought up a thick metal shield to block what incoming fire he could, and hosed down two shock troopers with a storm of mass accelerator fire. Their barriers held for a moment before they were ripped to shreds by the powerful weapon.
"Shit!" He dove his puppet behind a piece of cover as soon as the broker turned towards her. The heavy impacts reverberated through the hunk of metal leaving him to feel not so gentle vibrations through the armor. "Disarm him!"
Immediately, two troopers rushed the colossal form of the yahg and tried to grapple him. However the broker proved to be far and beyond physically superior to the clones. He threw one across the room, impacting with a sickening crack, and slammed one on the floor. As the wheezing trooper tried to regain his breath from the slam, the broker lifted one of his massive feet and crashed it down into the troopers' head, popping it like a melon. "Damn, surround him and blast him from all sides!"
The troopers dutifully obeyed and started wearing down the brokers' formidable defenses. Unfortunately, the broker figured out the orders were coming from his cornered puppet, and began to steadily advance upon her. While the troopers continued to fire, he realized the broker would reach his puppet before the combined fire could take him down.
"Damn it! Kill him! I don't care what you do, just kill the bastard!" It's not like he could help either with the broker still laying down a shitstorm of fire on his puppets' only piece of protection.
Two of the troopers quickly looked at each other and reached the same conclusion he did. They dropped their rifles, primed a grenade in each hand, and rushed the broker; who thankfully didn't notice until it was too late.
The two troopers collided with the broker and immediately detonated in a fiery explosion, leaving little more of the broker left than a scorch mark on the floor.
It was only now that the fight had ended that he realized just how exhausted his puppet was. While it didn't feel like very much happened from his perspective, this was the first time any of his forces engaged in combat under his direct supervision. It took a toll to be sure, but he was certain that Alaya's body would recover. Even though she was currently drenched in sweat and panting like a dog, he still pushed her to stand up. "You four guard the door!"
"Yes ma'am!"
"Broker, come in. We've eliminated the intruder's rearguard. Do you need reinforcements?"
He directed the worn out puppet to the terminal where the transmission originated, and pushed down the talk button. "This is the Shadow Broker. The intruders have been eliminated. Resume standard procedures. I want a status report on all operations within the next solar day. Shadow Broker out."
Now all the cards lay in his hands. "Heh, hah. Hahaha. AHHAHAHAHAHA!"
He involuntarily broke out into malignant cackling through the puppet, bending over and hugging her sides to try and stymie the pain in her kidneys from the constant laughing. After a minute it died down and he was able to force his puppet to catch her breath. "Ohhhhhh… this is perfect."
The galaxy now moves to his whims.
All it cost him was a ninety two percent casualty rate for his shock trooper platoon.
Acceptable losses.
His body was half disassembled, chunks floating in perfectly positioned locations around the collosal shipyard. Hundreds of thousands of Geth platforms scurried along his actual body pulling it apart with perfect precision and machine-like efficiency; he observed it all from the sensor suite of a nearby quantum entanglement satellite. Hovering off to the side was the fake Sovereign he'd be using to initiate his plans throughout the galaxy.
Made from the remains of the leviathan and the derelict, it was a near perfect replica of his original form. The only difference was the absence of its original core and indoctrination field. In the cores' place were quantum entanglement communication suites instantaneously delivering his control signals, even in his half disassembled state. The indoctrination field was far more difficult to remove. It required years of Geth making in-depth investigations and experiments to discover a way to shut down the dead reapers' passive mind altering abilities.
He could turn his own field on and off with a whimsical thought, and he intended it to stay off, but forcibly turning off the indoctrination abilities of another Reaper was a completely different endeavor. Still, it allowed the Geth to make great strides in researching the effects of indoctrination, how to protect against it, and how to possibly reverse it.
Although much of that is currently unimportant as he directed his complete body double to where he would be found by one of the Batarian entrepreneur Edan Had'dah's survey teams. Discovering such a location was trivial now that he was the Shadow Broker, and it also meant all of the pieces would fall into place exactly as he designed.
Soon Saren will "find" him and the end of the cycle will be put in motion…
This is exactly what he wanted! With that stupid Batarian and researcher dead, there was nothing stopping him from using this ship to bring humanity to heel. He looked around the strange ship, cringing slightly at its… uncomfortable design. It clearly wasn't designed by any species he knows of, but it felt distinctly familiar.
"Saren."
"Who's there?!" He whipped around, desperately trying to find the source of the voice.
"I am an existence so far beyond you, you cannot even imagine it."
"ANSWER ME!" He roared. All was silent for a moment before a red hologram of the very ship he stood on sprung to life. "I am Sovereign, and the galaxy's doom is nigh."
His eyes widened as he realized where he recognized the design of this ship from.
"The artifact." He gasped. "You made it!"
"No, but it is a construct of my people."
"Your people?" He asked, almost in a daze.
"The Protheans knew us as Reapers, but it was simply a label to give voice to their destruction." The way Sovereign spoke radiated power and assurity of what was spoken. So much so that he believed every word of it. "We have existed for billions of years before the Protheans, and we will exist billions more after you."
"Impossible." He breathed out. "Nothing can last that long and still function."
"Organic life is nothing more than a genetic mutation, an accident. We bring order to the chaos organics wreak upon the galaxy."
He stared in wide eyed horror. If what Sovereign said was true, then the Reapers were able to take out the Protheans empire at its height. The Protheans had been centuries more advanced than even the Asari, there's no way the galaxy could face them and win. "Then you plan to destroy us?"
"No, you are useful to me, Saren."
Useful? Sovereign wouldn't destroy him because he was useful? Then maybe he can prove that all organics are useful to Sovereign and the rest of his kind.
Slowly, a plan formed in his mind.
Little did he know, Sovereign was already well aware of what Saren would do. For it was whatever he'd ask of the Turian Spectre.
A.N./Uhm. Yeah. Been really working at this. It's uhh… just coming really easily to me right now. It helps that I'm not taking it as seriously as my two passion projects; Rouge Apprentice and Rose in a Land of Guns. Those two are monster stories with probably way too much ambition for me to fill, not ever planning to give up on them, but while I work on them I hop between other projects like this one to not burn myself out from the effort I put in.
It actually frustrates me beyond words that this story is as successful as my first story popularity wise, with just the first chapter alone, despite my first story being over eight times the length.
Although, that's likely the fault of my incredibly slow update speed, more than any other factor.
Anyway, chapter three and four are in the works.
Peace muh dudes!
