Surface of Alchera
"Not really finding anything good," Mek whined. Was this even worth the money we spent to get this location?"
The batarian, Lod, turned to the salarian. "Of course it is, you moron. This is the Normandy. Commander Shepard's ship! He was a spectre! There's gotta be a lot of juicy stuff here! Like...weapons, or information we can use to get some blackmail in. This has got to be a treasure chest just waiting to be opened!"
"Think so, Lod?" Dol, Lod's twin, rolled all his eyes. "Because I'm starting to think the salarian is right."
Lod ground his teeth as he turned to face the small group of animals they had brought. With a savage kick, he sent one of the younglings skittering across the ice. "Search harder you pieces of filth! We bought you for a damned reason!"
The youngling turned and struggled to get up, but seemed to just collapse back to the ice, where it struggled again. Perhaps Lod had been to vigorous the previous evening when he was taking care of his...needs.
Stalking over to the animal, Lod reached down to lift the animal when feet landed heavily onto the ice, before him. Looking up from the two toed feet, Lod took in the metallic chest, then the long slender, curving neck that ended in a single glowing white sensor eye. Small flaps moved around the eye as it seemed to take Lod in. Small radio like chittering sounds came from the machine as it looked down at the animal, then back to Lod as it seemed to ponder.
"GETH!" Lod screamed as he scrambled back, only to have his foot give was on the ice, dumping him onto his back. He had been on the Citadel when the Geth had attacked it. He knew what a geth looked like.
There was a thunderous roar that Lod recognized as Dol's shotgun as it ripped a giant hole through the machine's torso, stumbling it back. But that was all. The machine caught itself as it reached behind itself and withdrew a large, heavy bored rifle.
*Boom*
*Boom*
Two shots echoed across the snowy field as the geth stood staring over Lod. Then, it almost seemed to nod as it restowed its rifle. And looked back down at him.
"Battarian," it said in a digital voice. "Slaver," it said as it looked to the group of animals, huddling together under a piece of wreckage. The geth turned back to Lod and reached out on hand, grabbing him by the front of his insulated poncho. It lifted him into the air as if he weighed no more than that youngling animal. "Unfit for survival."
"What? No!" Lod screamed and thrashed as the geth began to walk forward. Four steps and Lod could see what looked like Dol's body, but it looks strange with its head splattered over the snow behind it. Five steps after that, and Lod could see Mek's body, its head also reduced to red mist and chunks. "What...what are you doing?! What are going to do to me?!" He screamed.
"Eliminating you," the geth said with the finality of a steel cage shutting.
"No! Animals! Animals! Obey me! Kill this thing!" Lod screamed and kicked at the machine's body. His fingers grasped and pulled at the cold metal of its arm.
The geth stopped, finally, holding Lod over the edge of the ice cliff, and looked down, as if to judge whether or not it was sufficiently lethal.
"Wait…" one of the animals said.
"Yes! Defend your master!" Lod cried, wild hope in his eyes as he saw one of the female animals walking up to them. This one was one of the older ones. Maybe in the middle of its teens. It was hard to tell with human animals. He had enjoyed this one immensely, and it clearly wanted more. Then, behind the animal, the rest of the pack came, shuffling along.
The geth had stopped. It turned its glowing gaze at the animals as they approached. "Queary: Do you with this batarian spared?"
The animal looked at Lod for a moment, its eyes hardened by hatred and anger. Then it spat on him. One by one, the other animals followed suit. The animal then looked at the geth. "Kill him, please."
Lod's eyes widened as the machine simply...let go.
Geth Platform 178946739001.6730198 Ver. 1694, Alchera
"I found something!" one of the little humans called out as it tried to run over, dragging a metal plate behind it. The human was small, and malnourished. It had been beaten and was weak. But it still tried to help.
"Oh! Good find!" The human girl that had been the first to speak when it had been about to release the batarian slaver, over the cliffside. The human called herself "Emma'. Her head was shaved, leaving the thick scars atop her head visible. Other scars marred her face, especially around the right bright green eye. She was young, older than the rest, but still only sixteen, she said, though she wasn't sure. It had been a long time.
Now Emma picked up what turned out to be part of an armored chest plate. It was broken, and jagged, but it was still possible to see the 'N7' emblem on its black surface. There was only two people that had been on the Normandy that could wear that armor. One refused to, leaving only a single candidate for its possession.
"What do you think, mister Geth?" Emma asked smiling as she held up the armor. It covered a up most of the damage to its chest.
"It shall work," it decided.
A wide grin spread across Emma's face as she nodded vigorously a she turned to her companions. "Guys! Go with Blake! See if you can find more of this armor!"
As the five other young organics rushed away, following Blake, Emma turned back to it and picked up the welding torch. "They had me do this a lot, so I'm pretty good at it. I'll try to keep the welds as small as I can."
"Cosmetic issues are unimportant," it said, watching the human prepare her tools. It was clear that the slavers used these young organics as the labor force in there salvaging operation. Then it had a thought. "It would be prefered if you could leave the logo un damaged, however."
"Ha!" Emma laughed. "You're a fan of Commander Shepard too? I sometimes got to hear things. The stories about Shepard were amazing! We always used to dream about him kicking down the door and rescuing us."
"The odds of that were very small," it tilted its head as its flaps moved.
Emma's smiled faltered for a moment as she shrugged. "I know. But still. The idea gave us some hope, if even just a tiny one. Now! More importantly, is this going to hurt?"
"Negative," it said. "I am a machine. I do not feel pain."
"Well, that's convenient," Emma sighed. "Wish I could not feel pain. Anyway, no whining, Emma!" The girl slapped her face a couple of times as she ignored the welder. "If you could hold the armor up, it would help a lot."
"Affirmative."
Geth Ship 778042, ver. 77.21
"This ship is not designed to accommodate organic passengers," it looked over the slaves.
Emma nodded as she looked at the fairly small geth ship. "Yeah...but...you know. Your ship is kinda tiny. I bet if we ripped out the slave pens, it would fit in the Stupid Brother's cargo hold."
Its flaps moved as its programs worked together, building consensus. "This is acceptable," it said at last. "Show us to the ship."
"Okay!" Emma grinned as she took the lead, and walking toward one of the hills nearby. "Say...what should we call you? We've just been calling you 'mister geth' but that isn't really your name."
"We are geth," it said.
"Yeah, we know that," Kikka, an asari child said. "But what about you?"
"We are all geth."
"Umm...right…" Kikka frowned in thought. "What about the platform in front of me right now?"
"This platform contains one thousand, one hundred and eighty-three individual programs," it said, its eye focusing on the asari. "We are all geth."
"'I am Legion, for I am many'," Emma giggled.
"Gospel of Mark, human religious text, Bible. Accurate. This is acceptable. We are Legion," Legion nodded.
"Oh!" Emma grinned. "Okay Legion! Let's get to work so we can get out of here and… What are you doing, anyway?"
"We are seeking to make contact with Shepard, Commander," Legion said. "We seek his help."
"Isn't he dead?" Blake said quietly as he picked his nose.
"That was our belief," Legion looked at the human. "Recent information on the extranet seems to have sightings of him on the human colony of Freedom's Progress, Horizon, the asari corporate world of Illium. It is our intention to track him."
"Well, then you are definitely going to need us!" Emma exclaimed with excitement. "You can't go onto regular worlds and ask around! And the ship may be shitty, but it isn't geth, so it won't get destroyed off hand!"
"This is true," Legion agreed. "We shall accept your assistance in this matter."
"Alright!" Emma pumped her fist.
Xera, SR-2 Normandy Main Deck
"Fuck...I don't want to do this," Xera looked at Karin as they stood outside Miranda's door. "Don't suppose you would buy it if I said I was coming down with a fever and needed to go lay down?"
"Afraid not," Karin almost smirked. "I don't want to do this either, but that's why we get paid the big bucks."
"You get paid!" Xera half exclaimed as she clutched at her chest. Then she deflated with a deep sigh and reached for the door announcer. "Alright. Let's do this."
"Come." Miranda's voice came from the speaker even as the door opened.
The woman herself sat at her desk, several small stacks of datapads sat in front of her, along with numerous coffee mugs. To the side of the desk, Garrus was seated, also looking through pads. Right side up, this time.
"Oh...this is going to be personal," Garrus blinked as he saw Xera and Karin together. "I should probably go..."
Turning to face the doctors, Miranda frowned. "I assume the fact that you are both here together, you don't have pleasant news."
"It is about the medical scans you asked me to do," Xera nodded.
"Yeah, I should definitely go," Garrus started to stand, but Miranda lightly touched his forearm.
"I'm not hiding anything. Please stay.," she said quietly. Xera could see the worry in her eyes as she looked at the turian.
"Sure," he said, just as quietly, settling back into the chair.
Xera took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You asked me to do a genetic work up. Which I did. Going over the results and looking at your medical records, you didn't tell me you had given birth before."
"I...it's not something I like to discuss," Miranda nodded slightly, with a pained look.
"After realizing that was what I was missing, I ran the scans two more times. I also had Doctor Chakwas take a look at them, along with Professor Solus," Xera said, shifting into her profesional mode.
"Alright," Miranda's eyes hardened slightly. "I'm not pleased with half the crew being involved, but continue."
"Miranda, it is medical in nature. We take our oaths very seriously. If it wasn't important, we would not have been involved," Karin spoke up.
"I...you're right," Miranda conceded. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Xera gave a small shake of her head. "Looking Over the data we came across a few anomalies."
"Anomalies? I'm supposed to be perfect!" Miranda frowned.
"And you almost are," Karin said. "If it wasn't for the fact that we have the equipment that we do, we never would have noticed them."
"What...what is it?" Miranda began to look worried, her eyes widening.
"It looks like somebody took a look at asari DNA and tried to copy parts of it using human genomes," Xera said simply. "It's what makes you such a strong biotic. It also isn't quite perfected. Not as perfect as it seems, anyway."
"The problem really lies in how long you live," Karin added. "Your longevity is remarkable, in that under regular circumstances, you should live up to twice the normal human lifespan. The issue is that your power is going to grow the entire time."
"I...what?" Miranda blinked.
"You have been modified to emulate asari levels of biotic power, and their power grows their entire life. But your brain and nervous system are still too human to handle it. As you get older, it will start to burn you out. It will start with seizures, then memory loss. Then it will get bad," Xera explained.
Swallowing, Miranda looked at her desk for a long moment. "Allright. How long will it be before it becomes a problem?"
"Decades," Karin started. "So we have time to look into solutions. On the positive side, much like the asari, your breasts will continue to grow your entire life."
"What?" Miranda snorted a laugh. "Is that why all the matriarchs I've seen have been stacked?"
"Pretty much," Xera chuckled.
"Oh god…" Miranda looked between the doctors. "What else is wrong. You wouldn't have used that line if there wasn't something else wrong."
"Yes," Xera nodded. "You….are infertile. There is an error in your DNA chain. As you got older, your ability to have children...died, essentially. Your system decided your eggs were foreign contaminants and destroyed them."
"But...I...I had a daughter!" Miranda protested. Garrus reached out and took one of her hands. She clutched at it like a drowning woman as she paled.
"That is what threw me off," Xera admitted. "I realized through your records that you had given birth once before, so I double checked. The problem probably started when you reached your full growth. Most likely around the age of twenty."
"I started having very bad menstrual cycles when I was twenty-one," Miranda whispered. "They went back to normal when I was twenty-four." Then, suddenly, Miranda's eyes shot open with pure horror. "Oh God! Orianna!"
"Wait!" Karin held up her hands. "Stop! Calm down! We thought of that. We requested a sample of her DNA when we saw the issue. We used the guise of confirming you as sisters legally, for tax purposes."
"She is clear of all the problems," Xera nodded. "Her being your daughter and not actually your sister actually corrected all the genetic errors. In fact, she will have all the benefits, without the downsides. And with as aggressive as the DNA is, it will probably always breed true."
"So, you're saying that I was able to create the perfect super human," Miranda's eyes began to shimmer as she took a shuddering breath. "But...I only got to do it once? I'll never get to actually hold my own child? I won't get to feed her. Tell her how I love her. Send her to school?"
"No, Miranda, I'm afraid not," Xera shook her head sadly. "I talked with Mordin. We looked to see if we could fix it. But the damage is already done. I'm sorry."
"Could you….please give me time?" Miranda whispered.
"Of course," Karin nodded as she and Xera left the office.
As the doors closed back in the medical bay, Xera snarled and spun, her fist lashing out and slamming into the wall hard enough to dent the panel.
"Karin, this is one of the times I regret being a doctor," Xera breathed.
The human nodded as she reached into a drawer and pulled out a bottle and a glass. She also fished out several drink tubes, setting them on the table next to her bottle. "Here, this will make it worse."
"Thank the Ancestors…." Xera grunted as she dropped into the other chair and slotted a tube.
"Umm...is it wise for both ship doctors to be drinking?" Keup'Sora, the quarian wreck survivor said quietly from her medical bed.
"Shut up and drink this," Xera snarled, tossing the girl a tube. "It'll dull your headache and clean your sinuses."
"Oh...okay…."
Garrus
"Should I…" Garrus began before Miranda's hand squeezed tightly. "Okay, I'm here," he whispered instead, as he slid his seat closer to her's and pulling her to him. Wrapping his arms around her.
It was like a dam breaking, or a fortress imploding as Miranda's arms wrapped around him. Her tears and sobbing filled the room as she shook against him.
And he had no idea what to do. Turians didn't cry the way humans and asari did. They vented their sorrow, usually through violence to some unfortunate piece of equipment or wall. They had a particular keenig sound that they released when anguished.
And he had no idea what to do. So he held her. He rubbed at her back the way he had seen Shepard comfort others. He rocked slightly as he just repeated, "I'm here...I'm here…."
"I...I learned to cook," Miranda whispered, he voice choked out of her. "I learned to cook for when I had children. I wanted to be a mother. I know how to sew. I can knit. I wasted my time." She spat the last.
"No," Garrus said quietly, but firmly. "No you didn't. You can still be a mother. You may not be able to give birth, but there are other ways. There are children that need a home. Always. Your heart's too big to close off. You are too strong for it.
After a moment of silence, Miranda pulled back, wiping furiously at her eyes as she chuckled. "Sorry. I'm not particularly pretty right now…"
Pulling a small cloth out of one of the compartments of his armor, Garrus pulled Miranda's hands down and lightly wiped her face. "Hush now. You are always pretty." And he wasn't lying. She was always pretty. Always.
"Heh...smooth talker," Miranda sniffed. "Say things like that and I'll make you be the father."
Garrus smiled and leaned back, nodding. "Papa Garrus?" he mused. "Kinda like the sound of that, actually."
Again, Miranda's eyes widened. Again tears dripped from her eyes. Then she wrapped her arms around him again, this time just...holding.