It's that time of the week again! I tried to get this out yesterday but Sam was being lazy on the editing front, so happy belated N7 day everyone. For everyone who was saying I need to write longer chapters...here you go.
Shout out to Leonineus for catching those spelling mistakes in a couple of names.
Sit back, enjoy the read and I'll see you next week.
Shepard was rather disappointed in the Geth armory. He'd expected to find rows upon rows of various exotic weapons lining the walls. Instead the room he was led to contained but a single locker containing a suit of combat armor and a small table covered in weapons.
Shepard first approached the locker, inspecting the armor it contained. It looked thicker and more durable than his old armor, if he had to classify it he would have placed it in the upper end of the medium armor scale. He smiled as he noticed the red on white stripe of the N going down its right arm as well as the insignia raised on the chest plate.
"I'm guessing the Geth made this?" He asked as he ran a hand along the arm, his fingers gliding over a show-room finish topping the armor.
"Yes, we sought to upgrade Shepard-Commander's previous armor. This combat suit is made of a dual layer of ablative-ceramic plates with a reactive layer of gel padding between the two layers on top of a kinetic cushion. This is backed by a Kevlar fabric armor body suit. We hope this will be satisfactory."
Legion had moved up to Shepard's side, allowing it space to point out the various features incorporated into the armor. Finally Legion reached the part that excited Shepard the most: the Geth designed and manufactured omni tool. He listened as Legion ticked off a list of combat programs contained in the omni tool's hard drive. Standards such as an overload, incinerate, and cryo freeze programs along with one for a combat drone and programming instructions for a small deployable turret. Shepard was surprised to see a weapon modification for armor piercing ammo as well, along with one labeled 'Sabotage'.
"More than satisfactory. What about weapons?" He turned to move over to the weapons table. The table was almost completely covered in Geth light arms. He saw a Predator pistol laying alongside the ubiquitous Geth pulse assault rifle, a weapon that he had much familiarity with in his hunt for Saren. He also noticed a tri-barreled shotgun, a small SMG a little bigger than his closed fist, a sniper rifle bearing the same curved lines he saw in all Geth designs, and a large weapon that looked like a hand held Gatling gun as well as a number of silver and red cylinders. He picked up the pulse rifle first, turning the weapon over in his hands he was shocked at how light it was. A frown slid into place as he noticed what seemed to be a bolt pulled back along with an ejection port on the weapons side, "Legion, what is this slot for?"
Legion followed Shepard to the table and lifted one of the cylinders from the tabletop, "It is for a Thermal Clip, Shepard-Commander. An internal, ejectable, heat sink that our studies have shown increase firing time between weapon cool down periods by over 200%. The clips are designed to be universal, as intelligence shows that most organic weapon manufacturers have adopted this style after observing its use by Heretic Geth in their campaign to hasten the return of the Old Machines." Legion lifted the sniper rifle and inserted the thermal clip, letting the bolt slide forward. It rotated and brought the weapon up to a firing position as a set of holographic targets jumped to life on the far side of the room. Shepard heard the weapon charge and fire, followed by a clink and a hiss as the clip was ejected and quickly replaced.
"Huh, so they're like the old magazines from 20th and 21st century weapons."
He picked up a clip and rolled it in his hands. It was light, but sturdily built and as he glanced back at his armor he saw a number of slots around the waist to carry the small clips, "And what is this?" He asked as he hefted up the gatling gun, surprised at its heavier weight compared to the other weapons.
"That weapon system is known as the Spitfire. It is capable of a sustained rate of fire in excess of 6300 rounds per minute."
"I like it." He placed the heavy weapon back onto the table.
He went about testing the weapons, holding them up and firing at the same targets Legion had before. Target practice had always helped him think, and he was glad that it had carried over into this second life.
"Legion, you keep referring to 'Reaper Agents', but who exactly are they? Do the Geth even know?"
Inside of Legion the Consensus debated as to whether or not to tell the Commander of their findings. It didn't take long for them to achieve consensus, "Correlated information indicates that the organic race known as the Collectors are responsible for the attacks."
"Collectors? Isn't that the insect species from beyond the Omega 4 relay, the ones no one seems to know anything about?" Shepard paused with the shotgun raised to fire at the practice targets.
"Affirmative, Shepard-Commander. The Geth do not have much information about the Collectors except what has been found through Extranet sources. Warning: Many, if not most of these sources have been deemed unreliable." Legion said, it's emotive-plates rising and falling in mock frustration.
Shepard nodded, "At least its something. I'm guessing the Geth were just as hostile to the Collectors as they are to all organics, huh?"
"We have been, although few Collectors have ever ventured into or near Geth space. Shepard-Commander, please choose your weapons and don your armor. We will be departing soon."
With that Legion left the room, allowing Shepard the few minutes needed to put on the armor and choose his weapons. He found the armor to be lighter than he expected, but molded perfectly to him. With helmet in hand he meandered over to the weapons table and drew from it the assault rifle and shotgun, folding them up into their more compact forms before sliding them onto his back and picking up the Spitfire and sliding it, folded, down his spinal magnetic strip. Finally he holstered the Predator on his hip before filling the pouches in his armor with thermal clips, happy to find a few units of Medigel already attached to the armor, ready to be injected or applied. He rolled his shoulders, letting the armor settle onto his frame as he strode out of the room to find Legion waiting for him.
"Shepard-Commander, there is a long range shuttle waiting in the hanger for us." Legion had acquired himself a Geth pulse rifle and a large, blocky, sniper rifle that Shepard could have sworn matched to one he had seen a Geth use in one of the videos from the Consensus.
"Legion, there is something I need to ask you," Shepard stared hard at his synthetic compatriot, "Am I in charge here, or are you? And if I am, will you obey any orders that I give?"
"We will place ourselves under your command for the duration of this mission, Shepard-Commander, and will obey any orders that do not conflict with our core processes or directly threaten or harm the Consensus." Legion's response was quick and satisfactory.
Shepard nodded and followed Legion through the hallways till they reached a multi-floored hanger bay filled with the small geth fighters and bombers. Sitting on the ground floor was an older beat up Kodiak shuttle, "We will be taking this craft to the colony. There is Levo food and water aboard for you, Shepard-Commander."
The shuttle door slid open allowing the pair to step inside. As Legion had said a box of MREs and a case of water labeled as coming from a spring on Thessia sat on the floor. He wondered how the Geth had acquired the parcels, and discarded the thought as he decided it was best not to know, as he could already imagine that the original owners did not survive the Geth's acquirement of the food stuffs. The shuttle's door slid close and Legion stepped into the pilots compartment as Shepard took a seat in the rear and broke open the box of MREs, rifling through them. His stomach growled loudly as he realized that this was the first meal he'd had in over two years. As he shoveled the cool, almost tasteless, nutrient paste into his mouth it tasted like the meals of kings to him. Finished eating and drinking he leaned his head back against the bulkhead and promptly fell asleep as he waited for them to arrive.
As he slept they maneuvered through multiple relays, the civilian craft allowing them to pass through with an ease that they would not have been afforded in a Geth craft. Shepard awoke shortly after they exited the final relay. Rubbing the last tendrils of sleep from his eyes, he moved over to the access hatch to the pilots space, "Legion, how close are we?"
"ETA to atmospheric entry is 30 minutes, Shepard-Commander," Legion announced through the shuttle's speakers. Satisfied Shepard did one last check of his weapons and equipment and settled in for the wait.
The craft began to lightly shake as it entered the atmosphere, Legion piloting the craft with a machines precision, "Shepard-Commander, there is another shuttle already on the primary landing pad, landing at secondary pad."
Shepard felt the craft lurch as it scooted sideways to the next pad. Legion nestled the craft to the ground and joined Shepard as he stepped out of the craft and into the silent, snowy, night that had engulfed the colony.
Shepard moved off the pad, shotgun at the ready, with Legion following a couple steps behind with its pulse rifle drawn and moved to the first pad to investigate the other shuttle. He didn't recognize the gold and black emblem on the white shuttle that occupied the landing pad, "Lets keep moving, I have a bad feeling about this."
The pair trotted over to the door to the building just in front of the landing pads. The door slid open as they approached, lighting flickering on to reveal a scene of plates of food simply sitting uneaten on tables. "Power is still on. That's something, at least."
He looked at the cold food laying on trays with no sign of a struggle anywhere in the room. "Almost looks like they just got up and left in the middle of dinner. Hmm. Come on, Legion, lets keep moving."
He waved the geth to continue following him as they exited the building, moving into an empty court yard of concrete with boxes stacked in a far corner. He looked about the area, with the stout metal gate at one end any first year cadet could have held this courtyard for hours, if not days. "Legion, what do you think?"
The Geth was silent for a moment, observing the area before it answered, "It would appear as if the colonists were prevented from fleeing or giving resistance prior to the arrival of the cause of their disappearance."
"I agree."
With that he advanced to the gates latch console, depressing the button to release it. As the gate slid away Shepard and Legion braced for anything,but were met by nothing but more silence and the shattered remains of a few LOKI and FENRIR mechs.
Shepard knelt by one of the mechs as Legion took up a covering position. Shepard scanned the bullet ridden debris with his omni tool, its programs returning their finds, "Eezo. Who ever came through here before us used biotics." He looked over to his right where a short flight of stairs led up to a raised prefabricated home.
"Through there." He stood and made his way up the stairs as Legion followed on his six. As the pair approached the door it slid open to reveal a scene much like the last, a table holding half eaten food with the remains of a LOKI slumped against the far wall behind a counter and below an emptied wall safe. He approached the mech, it's head taken off by a shotgun if the shot pattern in the wall at head height was any indicator. Through the next room and into another courtyard that contained a fallen LOKI and FENRIR. As Shepard walked up the stairs to the next structure he heard commotion from inside the door, shouts coming from two distinctive groups. Finally, he would get some answers.
He waved Legion to take up position behind him as he set up to breach through the door, pistol at the ready. He took a moment before stepping forward, the door sliding open to reveal a pair of humans, their backs to him, with guns drawn on a team of Quarians with their guns on them. He caught the tail end of a shout from one of the Quarians, "...nothing to say to Cerberus bosh'tets!" The opening door grabbed both groups attention, as the one Quarian already talking shifted his weapon to bear on Shepard. It was quickly slapped down by another in a purple and silver hood. A familiar voice filled the room as the Quarian shouted, "Prazza, stand down! You said you'd let me handle this!"
She looked back, bright eyes staring out from behind a purple hued mask. "Shepard...you're alive?" Tali'Zorah's voice was breathless, as if she couldn't believe what he eyes were showing her.
"Well, this certainly complicates-" The human woman, who Shepard noticed was strikingly beautiful in a one piece cat suit that matched the colors of the shuttle out front, was cut off by a shout of "Geth!" from the Quarians.
The shout was answers by a cry of "No!" as Shepard threw himself in front of Legion and Tali pushed into Prazza to keep him from shooting Shepard. This did not stop her from drawing her own pistol and leveling it on Shepard, and Legion. "Shepard, what are you doing?! That's a Geth!"
Shepard holstered his pistol and raised his hands, palms facing outwards towards both groups, "I know! I know, please Tali, everyone lower your weapons and I'll explain." From the looks on the humans faces and the Quarians hostile body language he doubted either side would budge.
"Shepard-Commander, please inform the Creators that we mean them no harm." Legion had lowered its rifle and spoke over Shepard's shoulder.
"It talks?! And how does it know your name?" Tali held her ground, weapon still raised.
"Well, guess that proves the boss right." Shepard turned his head to the other human, a black male sporting a goatee and a shotgun.
"Miranda, lower your weapon. Last thing we, or the boss, need is for the Commander to get killed now." He lowered his weapon as Miranda's face twisted in an scowl that didn't even manage to smear her beauty as she lowered hers.
Prazza didn't seem to want to back down, "How do we know he's the real Commander Shepard? He could be a clone or something!" His outburst made Shepard tense, unsure what would happen next.
Tali kept her eyes on Sheppard, or more accurately on Legion standing behind his shoulder, "Yes, Shepard, how do we know its you?"
"The information, from the Geth base, did it help you with your Pilgrimage?" He remembered Tali's excitement when he'd given her a copy of the information that no Quarian captain would ever turn down as a gift. He hoped she remembered as well.
"Yes...I do remember," Her arm fell to her side as she slowly turned to the rest of the Quarians, "Stand down everyone. This is the real Commander Shepard. Shepard, for the love of the Ancestors, your explanation had better be good."
Shepard took a deep breath before he started his explanation, "The Geth found my body, Tali, the brought me back. Rebuilt me. Now they're trying to find out what's happening to the missing Human colonies. They think it has something to do with the Reapers."
"That's why we're here as well. We already knew that the Geth had acquired your remains, Commander, but we didn't know that they had been so...successful in your resurrection. I would be interested to find out how they did it," Miranda had a hand on her hips, cocked confidently to the side.
"So would I," Tali had taken a step towards Shepard, brushing a hand against his chest.
"I'm real, Tali, it's still me. Just with a few extra bits and pieces."
"Any of these 'bits and piece' a geth mind control device?" Prazza growled angrily to the nods of a few of the other Quarians.
Legion spoke before Shepard had a chance, "That would be unethical. The Geth believe that all sentient beings have the right to self determinate. Shepard-Commander has full control of his platform and hardware."
Shepard was grateful for Legion's response, even though he thought he heard Miranda mutter something about it not being the way she'd have done it.
"Tali, what are you doing here? This is well away from the Flotilla's route, isn't it?" Shepard was happy to see Tali, but a squads worth of armed Quarian marines outside of the Flotilla was a rare sight that deemed a thorough investigation.
"We're looking for someone, a Quarian on Pilgrimage named Veetor," Tali had stepped back closer to her squad, keeping a wary eye on both the other humans as well as Legion.
"Why would a Quarian come here on Pilgrimage?" From what he had seen of the colony it was small with little to no manufacturing or access to the types of things a pilgrim would be interested in bringing back as a gift.
"Veetor never liked crowds, even in the Flotilla," Shepard shot her a questioning glance. The ships of the Quarian Flotilla were supposed to be crowded, with everyone in everyone's business.
"What she means is he's unstable. Combine that with a damaged CO2 scrubber and an infection, and he's probably delirious!" Prazza waved his arms, obviously impatient to go find the missing Quarian.
"Shepard-Commander, this missing Creator may have knowledge that we seek. We should cooperate with Creators to find him," Legion spoke from behind Shepard, the platform's view being that stepping out from behind the commander would probably lead to damage to its platform by use of hyper-velocity projectiles.
Before the Quarians could voice their disagreements Shepard interdicted saying, "Good idea, Legion. Tali, take the Quarians up ahead on the right flank. I'll take the other humans and follow behind you on the left."
"Sounds good, we'd need two squads to get past the drones anyway," Tali nodded.
Shepard turned back to the other humans, studying their outfits that had matching colors if not cuts, "You two don't look like Alliance. Who are you and who do you represent?"
"I am Operations Leader Miranda Lawson. My compatriot here is Lieutenant Jacob Taylor, our employer is-" Miranda began speaking before she was interrupted by Prazza.
"Cerberus," His voice dripped with venom and hatred.
"...Yes. The Alliance hasn't done anything about these missing colonies, so our employer has sent us out to investigate," She glared across the room at the Quarians in open hostility.
Shepard's jaw tightened as he immediately regretted his choice, but as he saw that he had to live with it now, he'd just have to carry on, and watch his back.
"Alright, Miss Lawson, Mr. Taylor. Just so you know Cerberus holds a very well deserved place on my shit list so if I sense the slightest hint of betrayal, I will drop both of you and leave you to rot with the mechs. Am I understood?"
"...Perfectly, Commander," Miranda's response was chillingly cold, as was the look on her face. Shepard got the impression that the woman was a viper, and would have to handled with caution.
Jacob, on the other hand, seemed much more amiable. "Understood, Commander. But you have to understand, we are here to help you. We, and by we I mean Cerberus, were going to rebuild you before the Geth beat us to it. We got your back."
"Jacob..." Miranda began to form a reprimand before her apparent inferior spoke up.
"Miranda, we won't get far if the Commanders expecting a shot in the back. He needs to trust us."
Shepard nodded and turned to address the Quarians once more. "Ready?"
"Are we taking orders from Geth lapdogs now?" Prazza glared out from behind his mask.
"No, Prazza, you take orders from me. Now you and the rest of the squad go wait outside," the Quarians all turned and left, mumbling amongst themselves as Tali turned back to Shepard, "Are you going to be okay working with Cerberus?"
Shepard looked over to the Cerberus team and then back to his friend, "They're not the old team, and I'm not sure they won't try to stab me in the back the first chance they get, but I'll make do," He gave her a small smile, reminiscent of old times.
She chuckled, "You always do. Be safe out there, Shepard, and watch your back. I'll be on frequency six-eight-point-four," before heading outside to join the rest of her squad.
The smile slipped from his face as he turned to face the pair of humans. "Tell me what you can do," he opened a program on his omni tool to allow him to record their abilities.
Miranda spoke first, "I'm as close to genetically perfect for a human to be. I can shoot a mech's head off at a hundred meters, or crush it with my biotics. Take your pick," She flipped her hair out of the way, fixing Shepard with a glare.
Jacob came to attention, and rattled off his weapon specialties as well as his biotic capabilities. With the information recorded Shepard gave the order to move out, placing Legion on the rear with Jacob and Miranda in the middle and himself out front on point. It was going to be a long night.
Leaving the confines of the prefab they moved outside and down a winding staircase. Shepard's radio crackled to life in his ear.
"Shepard, watch out. Got a squadron of security drones up ahead." Just as Tali finished sending her warning, a flight of drones buzzed by only a few feet above their heads.
"I see them," was his response, grip tightening on his rifle, their feet pounding on the grated walkway as they moved with all due haste.
As they rounded a corner, they came to an intersection of three buildings. The air was filled with the buzz of the drones' engines as they swooped down onto a set of ledges on their left, a couple of them taking a high position on top of the far building.
"Get to cover!" He shouted, diving against the walkway's railing as the drones fired over his head. A series of thunks indicated the rest of his squad hitting the deck, Jacob and Miranda popping up over the ledge to fire a shotgun gun blast or a short burst of SMG fire before dropping back down to let their shields recharge from the barrage of fire the drones sent their way.
Miranda shot him a cursory look as she fired blindly over the railing, "Well? Do you have a plan, Shepard?!" A woosh of a rocket streaking by over their heads followed by a sharp blast against the far rock wall punctuated her question.
Shepard glared back at her, "Legion, concentrate on the far targets! Use overload on them, we'll focus on the three in front of us!"
With that Shepard popped up, casting out an overload tech that cause one of the assault drones to spark and explode. He was met with a hail of gunfire and rockets that sent him diving back for cover. Legion followed Shepard's orders, his overload program detonating one drone while a sustained burst from his rifle took down the other in a matter of seconds. The geth, who seemed oblivious to the gunfire firing around it knelt back down.
"Mission success, Shepard-Commander."
Shepard flinched as Jacob fired over his head at a drone that had drifted into a flanking position. His shot was followed by another overload from Miranda, which finished off the last of the hostile drones. The team stood up, looking around the now silent space, "Lets keep moving, before more drones show up."
He moved past Miranda and Jacob and into the first building to clear it his radio crackled to life again, "Shepard! Prazza and the others went on ahead. I tried to stop them but they want to find Veetor and get him away from here before you get to him."
"We should have expected this," Miranda spat, bitterly, as she followed Shepard into the building, sub-machine gun at the ready.
"We can still catch up to them. Next building, move!"
The next building they breached was much like the last, empty and quiet. They exited through a far door and descended down a flight of steps, diving to cover once more as the air was filled with the buzz and whir of drones. These drone, unlike the others, danced about the battlefield. Drifting from point to point to throw off the aim of all but Legion, who picked them off as they came.
Shepard sighted down an assault drone and time seemed to slow for him as he watched the drones shields flare from an overload just as he depressed the trigger, spitting plasma rounds that shredded the drone and sent it flying into another which toppled to the ground. Another minute and the fight was over, the half-dozen or so drones that had occupied the area now laying in crumpled piles on the ground.
They made their way down the rest of the stairs, a large gate like the one that had blocked him and Legion before stood locked in front of their path. He got on the radio, keying in Tali, "Tali, we're at the gate, but its locked."
Her response came quickly, being shouted in a panicked voice, "Shepard! Veetor locked himself in the security warehouse! He reprogrammed the heavy mech, it's tearing Prazza's squad apart! Get your squad into position and I'll open the gate!"
Shepard listened carefully, barely making out the sounds of gunfire and screams that drifted over the high walls. Shepard waived Miranda and Jacob to the flanks of the door while he and Legion took up position behind a low barricade in front of the entrance, despite Shepard's training screaming at him to get out of the fatal funnel. The door slid open and the noise of gunfire and screaming Quarians intensified immediately as the two pairs advanced quickly into the plaza, taking cover behind a set of crates. They watched helplessly as the Quarians were ripped apart one by one as the YMIR's heavy machine gun and rockets. The gun tore gaping holes in their suits only to leave blood and organs sprayed across the ground and crates around them.
"This is going to be one tough bastard to take down." Jacob said, peeking around the corner of his box.
Shepard's gaze swept across the battlefield, blinking as the mech's frame was highlighted in red. The Geth had done more upgrades than they had told him about, "Keep that thing distracted!" He shouted, leaping out of cover, sprinting to the prefab on his left.
"Shepard, what the bloody hell are you doing?!" Miranda shouted as her SMG spat out a burst of rounds, the mech's shields rippling under the combined fire.
The mech was not so easily distracted as it turned to follow Shepard's path, machine gun chattering as he sprinted to dozen feet or so to the stairs. He leapt, taking cover behind the prefab's wall as the rock face it sat against was pulverized into dust. As the mech's firing ceased he pied the corner to line up a shot only to see the mech coil its arm back and launch a rocket at him. His eyes went wide as he saw the rocket streak towards him in slow motion. Diving to the side and pulling himself into the building he hit the floor as the rocket impacted the corner he had just been standing behind, leaving nothing but a smoking hole and his ears ringing. He shook his head to clear his ears as he heard the distant shouting of his teammates, coughing as smoke and dust filled the air around him, "Legion! Sabotage that gun!"
"Shepard-Commander! Hacking programs are unable to penetrate enemy shielding. Advise disabling shields to allow access." Legion's synthetic voice was surprisingly calm considering the situation they found themselves in. Legion leaned out of cover, hitting the mech with an overload, "We will attempt to keep the Model 34-A distracted."
Shepard cursed as he scrambled to his feet, popping up he aimed down the sights at the YMIR, the mech's back to him as it fired on Legion and the Cerberus team, its cannons and rockets blasting away at the meager cover they hid behind. He launched a powerful overload at the mech, watching at its shields flared but remained raised. He fired a long burst at the mech, watching as the sand grain sized rounds went from impacting the YMIR's shields to sparking off its armor plate. "Legion, I wan-"
The mech lumbered, rotating to launch another rocket at Shepard as it announced in a low tone that its shields had failed. The rocket screamed over Shepard's head, impacting the wall behind him and turning the bunks that lined the wall into a twisted pile of metal and foam.
Shepard hit the deck, thankful that he had chosen to wear his combat helmet as a few shards of shrapnel skipped off his shields as he lay prone. He could hear Legion and Miranda continue to fire off a combination of overload and gunfire. "Legion, take out that gun!
"Affirmative!" Legion stepped out from behind its cover, launching a Geth hacking program into the YMIR, gaining access through the communication's array. The semi-self aware program quickly adapted and bypassed the mech's firewalls, overheating its gun and causing an alarm to blare out over the courtyard.
"Lawson, when I say 'now', hit that thing with a warp!" He rolled onto his back under the open window, bullets whizzing by overhead as the mech opened fire again with its cannons, and waited for her response. He looked at the wall and saw the mech still outlined in red through the structures thin walls. The moment he got her response he launched an incineration program out the window, the red ball of plasma shot up into the sky before lazily turning and streaking towards the mech from above like a fiery meteor. It connected with the mech's sensor head, spewing flames that stuck to whatever they touched.
"Now!" He shouted into the radio.
Miranda swept out of cover, her left fist enveloped in the purple-blue of biotics. She punched out her arm, sending a ball of biotics flying into the burning mech before spinning back behind the crates cover.
A blast shook the yard as Shepard scrambled up, drawing the Spitfire as his rifle had been knocked away in the blast, and leveled it at the mech. The large robot's head was scorched, the armor that protected the back of its head blown away by the explosion. He heard its machine gun spooling up, as it had recovered from Legion's previous hack, and prepared to dive once more to cover. With a loud bang that echoed around the courtyard the mechs head exploded outward, a vapor trail drifting out into the smoke trailed from Legion's position as the Geth racked the bolt back on its M-98 Widow.
Shepard blew out a breath of air, impressed at both the Geth's skill with the large, unwieldy weapon as well as its impeccable timing. He tossed it a salute and looked about the courtyard as the Cerberus team crept out of cover. A look of worry flashed across Shepard's face as he glanced at the Quarian corpses that littered the ground. His worry for Tali almost palpable, he lept through the window, gun still in hand as he sprinted across the yard to the prefab across the way. He skidded to a halt inside to see Tali tending to the wounds of the few surviving Quarians.
She looked up, pausing with a can of dextro-anti bacterial foam in her hand, "I've got this here, Shepard. Go find Veetor before those Cerberus bosh'tets do."
He nodded solemnly as he calmly walked back outside. Miranda and Jacob stood near a prefab, its door glowing with the orange holographic of a locked door. Legion was crouched next to the fallen YMIR, rummaging through its gun arm. "Find anything useful?"
Legion didn't even look up as he pulled a large thermal clip from within the gun housing. "The thermal clip from this YMIR holds a larger shot capacity than your current heavy weapon does. We can use this to upgrade it."
Shepard nodded as he stood next to Legion, looking down at the fallen YMIR.
"Good find. But just so you know, anything you want to take from that thing...you're carrying back to the shuttle."
"Understood, Shepard-Commander," Was Legion's response as it reached back into the fallen YMIR to continue investigating the weapon system.
Shepard left him at it to trot up the few steps to the locked door of the prefab, Miranda and Jacob falling in behind him as his omni tool quickly unlocked the doors. The trio stepped inside the darkened room, dimly lit by a few red lights and a double row of computer screens. In front of those screens sat a lone Quarian, muttering quietly to himself. "Can't find me here, Mechs will protect. No no no... Safe from the monsters...swarms...can't find me here...no no no..."
"Veetor?" Shepard had no doubt it was the Quarian they were looking for, but whether the Quarian was still amongst those present was an entirely different matter.
"I don't think he can hear you, Commander." Jacob said quietly as Veetor continued his mumbled ramblings. Shepard nodded and quietly opened a program on his omni tool that with a slow wave of his arm shut the screens down pair by pair.
With the stimuli removed Veetor slowly pushed back from the console and turned to face them. "Humans? But how did the swarms not find you?" His voice was shaky, nervous and frightful.
Shepard spoke slowly for he knew; he knew what it was like to see everyone you ever know to be taken from you, to be alone and traumatized in the dark. "We weren't here from before, Veetor, we came after. Can you tell us what happened here?"
"Monsters came. Froze everyone, then monsters took them away. Hid here, watched, swarms...didn't find me. I recorded them, the monsters..."
Veetor turned, his voice trailing, and reached forward, pressing a button on the keyboard as the screens jumped back to life, showing security camera footage of a trio of bipedal, insectoid, creatures escorting a floating cocoon off screen as a swarm of insects buzzed close by.
The three had been watching silently till Miranda broke the silence first, "He must have pieced the security footage together. Are those...Collectors?"
Shepard stepped forward to take a better look at the video, "I think they are. The Geth were right about who's been taking the colonists, but why come this far from the Omega 4 relay just for some human colonists?"
Miranda turned to Shepard, uncertainty flashing in her eyes, "I don't know, but we should take the video and the Quarian and get back to-"
"You're not taking him anywhere!" Tali barged into the room, Legion trailing behind her. "Shepard, you can't let her take Veetor! He's sick, and injured. He needs to get back to the fleet."
Jacob put out reassuring hand, "We won't hurt him, we just want to talk to him. See what he knows."
"If you think I'm going to just let you-" Tali started, her voice rising to an angry, desperate, high.
"Tali! Enough!" Shepard shouted, holding her back. He turned to Legion, who was watching the exchange with quiet curiosity. "Legion, make copies of Veetor's data. We'll send one to Cerberus, one to the Consensus and Veetor will go back with Tali." He felt her shoulders and arms relax as Shepard made his proclamation.
Miranda began to protest, "I...fine. The data should be enough."
She spun on her heel and stormed out, Jacob pausing long enough to give the commander a nod before following her outside.
"Thank you, Shepard. It's nice to know that you're still in charge," Tali raised a three fingered hand to her mask before moving to Veetor, who cringed away from her, "Come Veetor, I'll take you home," she spoke with the voice that a mother comforting a scared child would.
"There are no monsters there?" Veetor hesitated, his body shaking.
"No monsters, Veetor. Take care Shepard, hopefully we'll meet again soon," she said as she gently led Veetor out. Shepard took one last look around before he and Legion left the morose room.
Outside Miranda and Jacob were engaged in a quiet, albeit animated, discussion. He walked over to them as they didn't seem to notice his presence.
"Anything I should know?" He glanced from one to the other in the same manner as a Drill Sergeant interrogating a pair of unruly privates would.
Jacob leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest, "We were discussing what to do next. With you, I mean. Our orders were to..."
"Our orders didn't cover a bloody talking Geth, Jacob. We bring that thing back of its own volition and it could tear through any firewall we have!" Miranda retorted, her comment earning only a curious tilt of the head from Legion.
"What the Hell are you two going on about?" Shepard put his hands on his hips, his time as First Cadet at the Academy followed by years as a Platoon leader came rushing back to the fore.
Miranda let out a soft sigh as she turned to face him, speaking curtly, "Our orders, Commander, were that should we come across you we were to convince you to come with us and speak to our employer about the missing colonies."
"And what makes you think I would come with you?" Shepard had no intentions of working with terrorists. He wouldn't disgrace the names of the men who had died on Akuze for Cerberus' sick experiments.
"The missing colonists are connected to the Reapers somehow, that we're sure of. You want to stop the Reapers, and so does our employer. Our goals match and believe me, we can support a campaign of this type much better than the Geth." Miranda looked over at Legion, her black hair framing her face.
"Which brings us back to where you came in. What to do with your Geth."
Shepard took in a deep breath, preparing to unleash a blazing condemnation of Cerberus' activities and how he'd go back to rotting in Hell before he joined them when Legion surprised them all.
"Shepard-Commander, we may have a solution to this issue."
Shepard held his breath, turning to look at Legion along with the others.
"Lawson-Miranda is correct that the Geth are ill suited to mount any sort of protracted campaign to rescue your lost colonists. Siding with Cerberus would be the most effective and logical of choices. We will give our word to them, Shepard-Commander, as you did to us."
"Shepard, what does he...it...mean by 'your word'?" Jacob had a look of pure confusion on his dark face.
"When I...woke up Legion made me give my word, swear I guess, that I wouldn't harm the Geth or their structures if they removed my restraints. Legion, are you saying you would do the same?"
Legion nodded, "That is correct. We would promise to not attempt any active hacking of Cerberus files while this platform is a part of Shepard-Commander's investigation."
The two Cerberus operatives were quiet for a few moments before stepping away to discuss it between them. They didn't take long in making their decision for when they returned Miranda said, "Very well. We accept the Geth's-"
"Legion. It's name is Legion," Shepard corrected her.
"...We accept Legion's promise not to hack our systems, but it is ultimately up to our employer to make that final choice."
"We accept these Terms and Conditions, Shepard-Commander," Legion looked from a Miranda to Shepard.
Shepard was fuming silently. He knew Legion was right, but that didn't make him like it, "Fine. But your boss better have some damn good answers, Miss Lawson," He pushed through Miranda and Jacob, Legion following, and made his way back to the Shuttles.