"This was no disciplined march, it was a stampede. Without order and without a goal. Six million people unarmed and unprovisioned, driving headlong. It was the beginning of the rout of civilization, of the massacre of mankind."

-HG Wells, War of the Worlds

Citadel Security Interrogation Room D24-A

Current Occupant- James Graham

[Alert] No known records of occupant on file!

Charge- Impersonation of Systems Alliance Military Officer, attempting to smuggle an AI onboard, and stealing experimental military hardware

XXXXX

The security officer walked slowly into the interrogation room, reading the datapad he held with a relaxed hand.

Inside the chamber was a soldier who was currently giving the appearance of someone who was desperately, desperately bored.

General Graham was missing his armor, and wore only his fatigues, having given no resistance to station security when they removed it. The general did not bother trying to escape either, for the same reason he had given his Bolo to hold fire.

After the rag-tag remains of 4th Fleet had come to this "Citadel" space station, Graham had been asked a casual question about Hector by Thorne, wondering what type of VI he was. He had mentioned something about the dock sensors detecting strong computer heuristics emanating from Hector's hull.

Immediately after correcting the marine, every gun on the dock was pointed at Jamie. His sidearm and armor were confiscated, and the CDF general was locked in a cell with a parade of various interrogators.

Hope we can clear this misunderstanding up, Graham thought, These people are the closest we have to friends here, and it'd be a shame to lose them. He snorted aloud, Hope Hector hasn't scared them too badly either.

The C-Sec(Something Graham had seen on signs during his arrest) officer suddenly sat down, scattering the general's thoughts.

"Okay, 'General' Graham is it? I'm Commander Bailey," the C-Sec officer said getting right to business.

Sighing, he said, "Sorry for taking so long. Everyone here was so surprised by your equipment, and uh…" he looked at his datapad again, then continued "...armored fighting vehicle, that they just kept passing the buck. They also needed someone with a lot of experience, so I jumped at the chance. Firing a desk isn't as much fun as you would think. But I don't have a lot of time to play games."

Looking grim, he leaned across the table, his breath smelling of a spicy food, "So why don't you answer my questions, and we don't have to get rough."

Jamie Graham nodded agreeably. This was someone he might be able to work with. "Alright, I'll bite." He hesitated, "Not sure you'll like all my answers."

Bailey keyed a button on his datapad, then started, "To be clear, you are being held on on charges of illegal possession of an AI-unshackled no less- stealing experimental military hardware, impersonating a Systems Alliance officer…" Bailey looked further down the page, "There are a few more minor charges, but they're all connected to the first three. Would you care to make a statement?"

Graham sighed, "I'd have to plead not guilty on all counts. I am actually a general, just not in your military. The 'experimental' military hardware is assigned to me, and where I come from, the AI is not illegal."

The commander barely reacted, "Oh really? What formal military other than the Alliance recruits Humans, let alone have them as high ranking officers?"

Graham stated proudly, "The Cloud Defense Force!"

Commander Bailey stared, wondering how the hell this guy was coming across as so sane and yet obviously spouting nonsense.

The door suddenly hissed open.

There stood a Human male unlike the others General Graham had seen so far. He did not wear C-Sec blue; instead he wore a leather jacket with a red stripe, with two white stripes on the shoulders, the symbol "N7" sat next to a red triangle on the left side of the chest. He wore military boots and fatigues however, the same as all the other soldiers.

"Shepard? I didn't get word you were coming down here." Bailey said with a small grin as he went over to the new arrival, and after they shook hands, he asked in a lower voice, "Anything good come from the Council?"

Shepard replied in an equally low voice, "Not exactly...Tell you more later," then he went over to Graham's chair.

"So, they tell me you are General Graham?" He extended a hand which the other man looked at in momentary surprise, "I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre and Alliance Navy."

Graham smiled in relief at the polite greeting(in contrast to the cold greetings from C-Sec), standing to shake his hand and said, "Pleased to meet you, Shepard."

"I'm making arrangements for better accommodations for you General." Shepard said, "My apologies that things got a little SNAFU'd." He glanced around the little room equipped as it was with two plastic chairs and a table.

"It's all right Commander," Graham said graciously, giving Bailey a little smile, as he spoke, "Your colleague was just starting the meet and greet."

XXXXX

Shepard sent out for some more comfortable chairs, food and some coffee. Clearly he was under orders to treat Graham as a potential ally rather than a hostile (or a crazy which is where Bailey seemed to want to go with it).

This was quite a relief. They had a lot of ground to cover and the conversation went on for some time. Shepard wanted to know everything Graham was willing to tell him: what this Cloud place is, where it was, how Graham got to Luna, and what the Bolo was.

Graham wasn't really able to get a good read on the relative rank of his two questioners. After a while he worked out that they were possibly in two competing branches.

The Spectre started, "Your war machine…"

"Bolo," Graham corrected, speaking with his mouth full as he dug into his first fresh meal in a year.

Graham swallowed the massive bite of what he hoped was beef, not actually caring if it wasn't. The food on the tray was not food bars, or emergency rations, or those damn beetles, but a large steak with a side of rice, and beans. It had cutlery, and honest-to-god coffee, not caffeine pills. He inhaled the food as though it were air.

The last fresh meal he had had, was back in his regiment's officers mess. Knowing the terrible cooking of the regiment, it was probably still rotting on the floor where it had fallen, even rats turning up their nose at it.

Shepard continued, "Right, sorry. Your Bolo...we had a report that it was controlled by AI, is this true?"

Graham replied "Yes, it's true. Bailey mentioned something about that earlier. Is there a problem?"

Bailey stated matter-of-factly, "AI are illegal in Citadel Space. Normally they are to be disposed of, but the law's been caught up in committee again."

Graham's eyes widened slightly as he finished up his meal quickly, and he asked politely, "Why? What's the problem with Hector?"

Bailey had been growing a bit agitated with this discussion, his answer reflecting his mood, "The problem is that it has access to weapons that could annihilate this station 10 times over! Why would you program that capability into your AI?"

Graham responded with a chuckle, yet equally agitated, "Oh no, that's not exactly normal. Usually, he needs his commander to tell him to attack. But I allowed him to access it whenever he wanted."

Bailey sputtered something that sounded like, "You are crazy."

Graham snapped, "If I hadn't, a few thousand refugees, many of which were civilians I might add, would have been killed while Hector waited for my orders. Just like the first time!"

Commander Shepard stepped in before the conflict could escalate, "Wait, you never said anything about refugees. Did something happen on your homeworld? Civil war maybe?"

Graham looked away and said quietly, "No. Not a civil war. See...Back home, on Cloud, Hector, around two thousand five hundred refugees, and I were on the run, trying to avoid getting killed by the !*!*!."

This strange name and information brought Bailey to attention as well.

The Spectre asked, "What are these," he paused, trying to figure out how to pronounce the name, "...creatures, are they aliens?"

General Graham nodded, "The !*!*! are a race of killer robots. We believe they originated in the core of the galaxy."

The two commanders exchanged worried looks. Had they encountered the Clackers before?

Graham went on, "50 T-standard years ago, one of our exploration vessels, the Empyrion, picked up E-M transmissions from the core, and set out to find whatever intelligent life there might be. They went missing."

Bailey interrupted, "...And that's why you built the giant tank?"

Graham growled, and then replied, "If that was true, it would be a mark one Bolo, not a Mark 33." He paused, taking a sip of his coffee, "Hector is a mark 33. We've been at this a long time gentlemen. Long enough to get pretty good at it. So we thought, anyway."

As the two officers gaped, Graham ignored them and continued with his tale.

"A year ago, an alien fleet attacked our world. They had followed the path of the Empyrion after capturing it, and used the ship's codes to bypass and destroy our defenses. Hector and his original commander had identified them as a threat, but were ordered to stand down by the general on watch at the Cloud Military Command HQ," He clenched his hand slightly at the mention of the other general.

"Hector was unable to ignore those orders and stood down, about 8 minutes and 21 seconds before a mass driver round destroyed the biggest military base on Cloud." Graham could hear how his own voice went dead, It was the only way to keep talking.

"By the time we managed to figure out what had happened, our space defense was gone and our ground forces decimated. The aliens demanded our surrender, or they would massacre those already captured."

He closed his eyes, and paused, thinking back to those chaotic days. The mass driver strike on Celeste decimating his unit, the hovertanks, Ground Effect Vehicles(GEVs), and aircraft falling out of the sky in flames. He remembered his failed attempts to rally the troops, the ensuing one-sided firefights. The destruction wrought upon the landscape as the Clackers rolled across the remains of battlefields. They were taking away the wounded, then cracking open power armor and disabled tanks, that still held live men.

The screams they made...Jesus, the screams.

Graham took a deep breath, and continued "It sounded good, living instead of death on a planetary scale. They then herded all of us into camps, several thousand of us, and we have spent the past year as slaves."

"Hector though, Hector…" his voice cracked, and Graham grabbed a cup of water to cover it.

Drinking it down, he continued, "The asteroid flipped, literally flipped a 32,000 ton Bolo end over end, and he landed upside down, countra-grav and battle screens offline. The Clackers drilled through his hull, and put in a few 'implants'.

They suppressed his personality. Before the Killing, Hector had been pretty talkative, heck he was a bit of a snob to boot. But what the !*!*! did...They pretty much made him into an overly qualified camp guard."

He opened his eyes, stared at his hands white knuckling his coffee cup, trying to remember the last time he'd had decent coffee.

After a lengthy pause, Shepard slowly spoke, "General, where is your colony, Cloud?"

Alarms began blaring all of a sudden, drowning out the Spectre's words, as a Turian C-Sec officer ran in, and said, "Sirs! We have a huge problem. We've got reports of a parasitic infection going across the station!"

The commanders went over to the slightly panicked officer and quietly inquired for more information, with the captive General only hearing snatches of conversation, "...Started in the docking bays...lice outbreak...fleas, somehow...flu strain is causing serious problems...fungal infections…"

After gathering sufficient information, General Graham cleared his throat, to interrupt the conversation "Sounds like you guys are dealing with the 'creeping crud', and the flu..." he paused sheepishly, "I've been hitting the decongestants a lot the past week. I may have infected you all with something.

The three were shocked for a moment, then Bailey spoke up, "You know what this thing is?"

Commander Bailey's eyes narrowed, "Is it a bioweapon?"

Graham looked bewildered, saying "What? What's wrong with you? Of course it's not a bio-weapon!"

Shepard asked the C-Sec officers, "Why didn't anyone get General Graham decontaminated?"

The other two shrugged and the 2nd officer said timidly(for a Turian), "We've got a lot of refugees coming in…"

As the alien officer went off to get a decontamination team, Shepard asked, "So, what is the other stuff then?"

Graham answered, "The creeping crud is a combination of about 50 different fungal infections and illnesses, such as lice and fleas. The flu? It's just the flu, probably a different strain than you're used to though."

"Let me guess. The fleas, lice, and all that other crap got on the station the same way as the flu, right?" Bailey asked.

Graham looked a little embarrassed again as he said, "Uh, yeah… I'm really sorry, but I'm patient zero for that too. I've got lice and fleas."

Staring at the not-so-surprising-anymore startled faces, Graham nearly shouted, "Oh come on! You try living in a prison camp for a year on dirt floors!"

He added with a grimace, "I've even got worms!"

Shepard shook his head, disgusted, then asked, "Alright, so you mentioned something about a different flu?"

General Graham replied, "Oh, sorry. Considering how you people are from a different part of the galaxy than I, your vaccines probably don't have this strain. I was actually scheduled for a flu shot a month after the attack."

Shepard and Bailey both demanded "Do you have any vaccines for us to analyze?"

Graham said with a small smile, "Do I have any? Well, I don't have any actual samples, but I do have the synthesis information."

Just as the commanders began to relax, he added, "...Except they're all in Hector's databases and medicinal facilities."

The smile faded from Bailey's face(although not in Shepard's case) and he asked, "How can we obtain them? Your Bolo's incapacitated every team we sent near to disable it!"

Graham replied in a raised voice, "Of course he did! His commander has been captured by unknown and potentially hostile forces! The only reason we're still talking is the fact that I ordered him to stay put, watch my vitals, defend himself with non-lethal force only, and rescue me just in case things went badly."

"I surrendered to your men to try and negotiate, I thought there was some misunderstanding." He added quietly.

With no other means to cure the afflictions of the station, Commander Shepard led the CDF General out of the interrogation room. Once Graham was decontaminated, Shepard brought him over to the inventory desk, and told the C-Sec officer on duty to hand over General Graham's equipment.

After retrieving his armor in a box, and reattaching his armtop, Graham hesitated, and asked where his sidearm was. The Human C-Sec officer replied, "Sorry sir. Your are not at present licensed to openly carry a firearm on the Citadel. It will be returned when you depart."

The officer then looked a little embarrassed, and added, "...First we will need to put it back together though, sorry. We kind of took it apart while examining it."

XXXXX

En Route to C-Sec Impound Lot 24

Current Inventory: One experimental Armored Fighting Vehicle

All other vehicles removed by order of C-Sec

XXXXX

Accompanied by a C-Sec escort, Graham and Shepard took an air car to Hector's location. The ride was relatively uneventful, with the exception of Shepard continuing to bombard Graham with questions "We haven't been able to get very good scans of your Bolo, general. We can barely tell what his paint job is made of, much less his armor plating, and we haven't been detecting any element zero. Is there some sort of jamming field blocking us?"

The general, wanting to end the long and awkward conversation, replied, "It may be that Hector is using his cyber warfare suite to block your scans, or his combat screens are doing it. Either way, don't try it further. You mentioned that some of your men were incapacitated by security systems? That's an understatement for what an angry Bolo can and will do, to entire armies."

The best response the Spectre could think of was, "Oh...okay..." No further questions were asked for the remainder of the trip.

Where the group landed, there was a C-Sec blockade keeping people out of the cargo bay's general area, both its large blast doors and side entrance.

Shepard simply stepped out of the car, and the security officers allowed him and Graham through to the side entrance, but not without a fair share of odd looks.

The two reached the small airlock, and after it cycled through, entered the massive chamber.

Sitting in the center of the room was a certain Bolo Mk. XXXIII.

Graham grinned and said loudly, "I have returned, Hector! And I brought a friend."

Shepard merely gaped at the immense size of the armored fighting vehicle(AFV), and its weaponry. He had seen pictures, but hadn't actually been close to the thing! There were antipersonnel weapons mounted to the tread skirts, above several rows of treads, with bogies taller than he was. Ball turrets were above them, holding the beast's "infinite repeaters" Graham had called them.

Several batteries of artillery, missile bays, and sensors the Spectre couldn't even comprehend were mounted on the slanted upper sides. And then there were the big guns, each the size of a house. They sat motionless, turned inwards, most likely for transport, although one's barrel was pointed up, a massive dent in the dome, and apparently inoperable. The marine reports said that even one of the repeaters put out more firepower than an Everest Class dreadnought. The bigger ones? Maybe even more than a Reaper.

An artificial voice echoed through the chamber from speakers embedded in the tank's armor, as Hector replied, "Acknowledged, my commander. I trust you are unharmed, General Graham?"

The general's grin grew broader, "That's affirmative, Hector," Graham walked toward a hatch that opened in the Bolo's undercarriage, gesturing for a disbelieving Shepard to follow, "Actually, they need our help. Can you bring up your medical database when we get inside?"

XXXXX

Citadel Presidium

Confidential Negotiation Chambers

Currently in use to discuss newly discovered colony, identified as "Cloud"

XXXXX

After the vaccines had been examined, fabricated, and distributed by C-Sec, Graham was given an audience by the Citadel Council's head members, who had recognised Cloud as an independent state. General Graham noted that it was very odd, accepting a new nation so fast.

He thought maybe Hector had been what assured recognition.

At least the cover story would hold for a while. Officially they were part of a lost human colony that only recently regained contact with the galactic community. Unlike the previous one on Alpha Centauri though, the colony was not split down the middle about contact. Instead, they wanted contact, to get help in repelling a minor Reaper force.

The main goal of the meeting was to discuss Graham's place in the war, Cloud's situation, whether or not to send in a task force, and finally, what to do with the Bolo.

They were not in the usual council chambers. Instead they were given a room designated for private meetings, one with a horseshoe shaped table and a display in front of it.

As Graham(who had changed into a dark blue and silver CDF dress uniform) and Shepard waited for the meeting to start, the general glanced around at all the other species in the chamber.

Graham had been given access to a Systems Alliance database called "The Codex", which contained a vast amount of information on the current state of the galaxy. Graham learned that alongside Humanity, the three main species in power over the galaxy were the Turians, the Salarians, and the Asari.

Graham was unfamiliar with the new species, and wanted to see them in person, rather than pictures.

The council members slowly trickled in, as to attend this meeting, they had to cancel several other meetings about the war in their respective sectors.

The first to come in were the Human and Turian delegates, arguing over ship deployments. The Turian's scaly skin, three fingers, and body shape reminded Graham of Earth's former Velociraptor species.

The next one to arrive was the Salarian representative, a tall cloak wearing individual. What little Graham could see from under the cloak possessing wide eyes, a thin, long head, and skin like the extinct toad, but he(or she) also reminded the general of the Tolun.

The fourth delegate, the Asari representative, was particularly interesting to Graham, as most species that the Concordiat of Man and Cloud had encountered were very alien. Usually, the constant similarities(if any)between alien physiologies would be two eyes, and occasionally bipedal, like the Tolun. The Asari on the other hand, except for the ridges on the head and blue skin color, could easily pass as a human female.

As General Graham stared at the three different species, Shepard was reviewing the images, subjects, and notes that were required for the meeting. Noticing that the general's stares were discomforting for the others in the chamber, Shepard tapped him on the shoulder, and said,

"General? We need to go over our notes before we begin," the Spectre then lowered his voice, "And your staring is disturbing a few people."

Slightly embarrassed, Jamie returned to the presentation.

After a time, the Asari council member, named Tevos, announced, "This emergency Citadel Council meeting will now come to order. We are here to discuss the urgent matter surrounding the Bolo fighting vehicle. Are there any points or motions on the floor?"

Sparatus, the Turian, raised his hand, and immediately stated, "It is the opinion of both myself and the Turian Hierarchy that we discuss how to dispose of the Bolo combat AI. It poses a great threat to this station, and all of its demand that it be taken offline, then be replaced with VI systems and organic pilots."

Graham was utterly confused by this statement, and he raised his hand, "Point of information. What exactly is the problem with my AI? He would be far more efficient than some primitive computer system at attacking the Reapers."

"The problem is that it is an AI, and could doom us all at any moment!" Sparatus growled out of turn.

Shepard, sensing the impending argument, put forward a motion, "Point of order. Considering the AI's apparent excellence at combat, and in the interest of diplomacy, I motion that we open instead with the topic of its usefulness, and decide what to do with it, rather than thinking of ways to get rid of it."

The other council members agreed, and with enough seconds, they settled into a moderated caucus.

Graham raised his hand first to put forward a statement, "The Cloud government would like to point out that if the AI is removed, the Bolo's combat effectiveness will be extremely decreased. We recommend that he-it, must not be modified. Bolos have operated for centuries with these computer systems, and our colonies have benefited from them immensely."

Councilor Tevos put forward her own statement, "The chair requests a point of information. The AFV requires this computational power in order to be effective in combat. Would you care to expand upon that point?"

The CDF general nodded, and brought up a comparison of two vehicles on the center screen. One looked very similar to the Mk. XXXIII in the impound lot, but was instead labeled as a Mk. XXV. It looked much more pristine, the paint was bright, clear, and the hull lacked Hector's battle damage. The guns were of a much smaller size and shape, and there were only two main cannons.

The second vehicle looked like some of the more primitive tank designs from many of the present species' history, with multiple turrets of various kinds. However, it seemed more wisely built, constructed like a modern naval vessel with its missile silos, point defense cannons, and angular hull. There were also hatches all over the hull unlike the Bolo next to it. There was also a chart offset to the left, with the label "crewmembers" above six human figures.

The rotating images were replaced by live camera feed of the two vehicles side by side, on some sort of obstacle course. There were dozens of vehicles, infantry formations, and bunkers along the track, which was a mock-up of a destroyed city.

Graham began narrating, "Experiments run over the years have proven time and again the individual superiority of a Bolo versus a manned tank, as you will see here with a Mk. XXV."

On the screen, the Bolo drove full steam through the enemy formations, blasting tanks apart with its secondary batteries, shooting down aircraft, drones, hovercraft, and surface-to-surface missile with laser clusters and guided missiles of its own. It used artillery and anti-personnel railguns to tear through the power armored infantry, and just ran over bunkers with treads.

The manned tank took several tries to make it through its own course, getting blasted by a tank destroyer ambush the first time. Lucky shots kept damaging it all the way through, and when it finally finished, the thing's treads were shattered and it couldn't move.

"However, they don't do as well working without a commander, which can lead to several judgement failures despite their access to all of human combat knowledge."

On one of the Bolo's attempts, it moved onto a new street, and instantly there was a flash under its treads. A crater was formed, which the tank promptly drove into. Enemy units popped out of every other building and began blasting the crippled vehicle. "It couldn't think like the enemy, or very creatively. A tactical nuclear landmine destroyed this Bolo's forward outer and inner port treads, and critically damaged the bogies. It was unable to get out of the crater."

The manned tank, when it came across the same section, began to advance. It did so slowly however, as several sensors popped out, and began probing the ground. It halted, and a drone appeared from a top hatch, then began digging around an area. Underneath a destroyed air-car it found the nuke, and ripped out the detonation circuit. They quickly retreated as the enemy units began to open fire on them.

Graham switched the Bolo feed to another attempt, and said, "This is the Bolo with a commander coming across that same incident."

The Bolo turned the corner, and an audio file from the commander popped up, "Hold on, Ben. This is the perfect opportunity for a trap. Face left! "

The Mk. XXV turned left, and while driving behind the cover of an office building, sent out a probe to disarm the mine. As the mine was retrieved, the Bolo drove right through the buildings, smashing the carefully emplaced ambush equipment and personnel alike. However, while it was dealing with the survivors, it began taking fire from the opposite side.

"Deploy the nuke!" the commander called out.

Instead of using a weapon from its own arsenal, the Bolo sent the drone carrying the nuke over to the intact side. The drone released the tactical nuke, and a mushroom cloud destroyed the rest of the ambush.

Graham spoke again, "Despite the evolution of the Bolos over the years, while they have gotten smarter and more independent, they still require commanders to provide the out-of-the-box thinking that they require."

Valern, the Salarian representative, raised a hand, and asked, "While it works well in the simulations, how does the vehicle operate in active combat?"

The general nodded, and activated the central display again.

Paused video footage appeared on the screen of a grey planetoid surface, as holographic topographical maps of a battlefield appeared in front of each delegate..

Graham began to speak, "On May 16th 2186, at 1200 hours, myself and Hector somehow were transported by unknown means from Cloud to Luna, Earth's moon, during the Reaper attack on the Sol system."

A blue trapezoid appeared on the map, and the video footage was unpaused, with the camera looking about.

"After momentary confusion, thanks to an ancient crashed probe, we discovered where we were, and began getting information about the battle occurring in Earth orbit from one of our recon drones."

Graham continued, while a white blip appeared higher up on the map and moved fast towards the first, "We soon encountered the SSV Waterloo, but it was quickly destroyed and we found no survivors. Following its flight pattern was a Reaper destroyer, which damaged Hector's shields, but both of us were unharmed."

A red triangle appeared on the map, and little points representing weapons fire between the pair of icons.

Despite a few of the council members looking at their displays with barely disguised alarm, the general went on,

"Hector's defense protocol activated, and he fired one of his 200cm Hellbores, which only weakened the enemy shielding," the gun camera footage on screen pointed at the squid, and it went into static for a moment, then showed the monster's glistening shielding, "He then used both operational primary Hellbores and some of his secondaries to destroy the vessel."

The gun camera went a little grey again as the cannon fired, then revived and showed the explosions going through the Reaper's hull.

Councilor Udina, astonished as the rest, knew that such swift destruction was impossible. This man must be forging evidence to protect his pet.

He interrupted with a smug tone, "Are you sure you destroyed it? It could have been only disabled. And why have we seen only minimal battle damage on your war machine if you actually attacked a Reaper?"

Graham looked puzzled with Udina's tone, such disrespect coming from Earth's Council member?

General Graham replied in an equally puzzled tone, "I'm pretty sure we fought and killed a Reaper. It did blow up after we left."

Udina asked, "But surely you couldn't have killed it without sustaining heavy damage in the fight…"

Graham cut the councilor off, "No, no physical damage, Hector's shield capacitors absorbed most of what they threw at us. Though they did decrease the shields a little bit, they were quickly recharged."

Heedless by the stares and gasps of the room, Graham continued, "We followed a nearby distress call to the Surveyor 2 Research Outpost, and destroyed the Reaper troop transport that was there. We then rescued the survivors of the base, and were engaged by four Reapers."

The gun camera pointed into the sky at four silhouettes, and it began blasting away, alongside fire from the other weapons.

"We managed to blow up one destroyer when a Hellbore shot entered it's main gun while it was firing, and disabled another," more mild shock erupted from the council, "We were then forced to take cover behind the mountains, and I granted Hector the use of nuclear ordnance. The Sovereign-class was disabled as well as the destroyer."

As the map played out the described events, the council members spoke to one another quietly, with a few checking over the reports made by the survivors of the Surveyor 2 outpost.

When they finished speaking, Valern asked, "General, while we admire this fighting vehicle's firepower, we still require more evidence to support specifically the AI's combat effectiveness."

Graham let out a small frustrated sigh, and gestured to Shepard, who fiddled on his Omni-tool for a moment before the holographic display changed. Instead of a battlefield, three planetoids appeared, one fairly standard sized planet, and two smaller moons. Everything in the hologram was outlined in a dark blue color.

In orbit above the large planet were three red points, putting themselves in orbit above a blue point on the planet's surface.

On the council's individual displays, a smaller map, of a camp appeared, it sat in a bay, apparently on the outskirts of a former city. Most of it was surrounded by some sort of barrier, except for one section, guarded by the massive Bolo.

There were several hundred bright blue stick figure icons in the camp, and a smaller fraction of red dots that hovered over the camp and the Bolo. a dozen more blue icons, one with a green arrow over it, were in a corner of the camp.

"In April, exact date unknown, on Cloud, I led a group of CDF prisoners in attempts to 'reboot' Hector. This led to disagreements with General Spratly, the overall commander of CDF and civilian population in the camp, who had a serious dislike for AI. He told me to not repair Hector, and instead to stall him using some maintenance codes we had. I told the general what a terrible idea that was, and he threatened me with a power gun, and was going to turn me over to the !*!*! for...harvesting. I managed to retrieve the weapon in a brawl, and in the chaos from a fire, myself and two others escaped to Hector's position."

Three dots separated from the rest, and rushed up the hill towards the tank. Two dots went in one direction, while the third went in another, a few red dots nearby it winked out.

"We managed to make it to Hector just in time as the Clackers were about to take him apart. I used the power gun to kill several Clackers pursuing us, and boarded Hector through battle damage."

The dots disappeared inside the Bolo's silhouette, and the shadow became a large green trapezoid.

"My team and I destroyed the machinery inhibiting Hector's processing, giving him control again. Opening fire on Clacker forces, he went into the bay to fill his water reserves, in order to manufacture Hellbore needles.""

More red dots disappeared, the Bolo's smallest guns opening fire, and it began moving into the bay. Hector's treads pushed water into the slave pits, and several observers gasped as several dozen dots went out, although in the camp many more red dots disappeared.

"Repairing Hector resulted in a full scale riot, but also attracted the attention of spaceborne !*!*! assets."

The icons on the bigger screen began moving in, and white rod shapes fell towards the blue trapezoid on the surface.

"Clacker High Command spotted Hector's rebellion, and sent in ships to blow him up with mass drivers. There was no way to escape from the potential impacts, so Hector began targeting the projectiles."

Sparatus raised his hand, and asked, "Just to clarify, do you mean that your team designated targets for the computer, like our own GARDIAN defense systems?"

Graham cocked his head to the side, thinking for a moment, and replied in a puzzled tone, "No, target designation on surface planetary defense systems hasn't been reliant on humans for years. Hitting a one-point-five meter wide target at fifty thousand kilometers is incredibly hard for human gunners, for Bolos however, that is a piece of cake."

As Sparatus looked up on the extranet what "a piece of cake" meant, the general continued,

"Unfortunately, his fusion plants could only put out 9.6% power, and was having problems with accuracy and production of munitions. Because of this, my team and I were required to go around inside him, and disable the Clacker probes inhibiting his fusion plant's output."

On the individual displays, security camera footage played out, of a person moving quickly down a metal corridor, brandishing a pistol. It took Shepard a moment to realize that it was Graham.

He looked much different from the man who now stood before the council, wearing tattered rags, that were no longer the blue and silver of the CDF. Graham's ribs showed in places, angry red scars and burns crisscrossed his chest. He had a full head of long hair, plus a beard, and appeared on the end of his rope, about to collapse.

The camera view changed to a different angle, as he turned a corner, blasting a !*!*! drone, then quickly destroying the central one attached to Hector's inner workings.

On the larger screen, a power output indicator appeared in the corner, and after briefly sitting at 9.6%, quickly rose. The view zoomed out, as several Hellbore shots tore into the Battlers, which quickly retreated from firing range.

"Hector heavily damaged the Battlers, and successfully freed the camp, with minimal assistance from humans."

"AI defenses have been the mainstay of Human military might for centuries, without them, we would have lost many wars, or taken way more casualties with victory."

Silence filled the room, the council hiding their reactions behind regularly used expressionless faces.

Tevos slowly said, "We will need to confer on this new evidence." A kinetic barrier went up between the two sides of the room, soundproof to prevent eavesdropping.

Graham went back to his seat and sat down calmly. Shepard awkwardly commented, "You know...It might be better to try to get them on your side. By showing them only Hector's combat effectiveness, or their effectiveness with commanders, you're proving their point that AI are evil, or that basic computers are better. You need to show them more about the AI. You didn't take diplomacy at the officer's academy, did you?"

The general's eyes widened a little, and equally awkward, replied "First contact was a higher priority...and there wasn't much alien negotiation when I signed up."

General Graham then asked, "Why are they so biased towards AI? We did have a lot of arguments back home, but at least it made some sense why those people feared AI."

Shepard sighed, and sadly replied, "It's because of a robotic rebellion that occurred roughly 300 years ago."

He emailed the codex entry to Graham's strange computers, and Shepard could swear he saw little lights in the general's eyes, though not reflections...

The commander shook off the distraction, "A race known as the Quarians had constructed a machine workforce known as the Geth, basic VIs, and conducted modifications on them to improve their efficiency."

On Graham's computer, a rotating display of several types of Geth appeared, as Shepard continued the compressed history lesson. He noticed Graham being slightly puzzled by the designs, and swore he could see a flash of...recognition?

"Unfortunately, they unknowingly went too far, and the VIs developed into AIs. In response, the Quarians tried to shut down the Geth, but it was too late. The Geth War ensued, resulting in the deaths of billions on either side, and the Quarians being forced off of their colonies and homeworld. The survivors now live in the Migrant Fleet, with no home, and no way to reclaim their own, thanks to a lack of Council support," His throat tightened at the thought, the Council was a bunch of jackasses no matter what century!

"This has served as the support for the numerous laws Commander Bailey mentioned, and an incredible hatred for advanced computers. I barely managed to keep my own AI, thanks to a little Spectre status."

General Graham slumped back, initially demoralized. How was he going to fight this?

Then, he had an idea.

He began browsing through some of Hector's historical databases on his arm-top computer, similar to the Alliance Omni-Tool. There had to be something, just in case the Council refused to believe him. After several minutes of near-frantic searching, he found the example he was looking for.

Just in time too, the kinetic barrier fell, and the Council went back to their seats, Udina looking smug as usual, Tevos and Valern with straight faces, but Sparatus looked oddly...satisfied?

Tevos began her statement. "Uncontrolled AI have been proven to exhibit signs of emotional instability, and considering the age of the Bolo, there is a high chance of computer senility. This can lead to uncontrollable destruction and mayhem due to its connection to high power weaponry. There is also no way to prevent its suicide, or the potential that it might find organic life superfluous or a threat. Considering that they require commanders to function properly, it is extremely unsafe to leave one on automatic."

"Both the Turian and Asari governments agree that to prevent potential errors, the Hector AI be either removed from control of the Bolo, or further safeguards be emplaced. This must occur if the Cloud government wishes to receive assistance. Due to the AI's exceptional combat record however, it will not be destroyed, but instead be placed back in CDF custody, along with the shell, as a gesture of good faith to your government."

"However, the rest of the Council does not agree, and we are willing to debate further. Are there any points or motions on the floor?"

There was silence for several minutes as Graham gaped at Tevos' statement.

"I am still concerned with the emotional instability. If it was such a problem for Cloud, why would they use these tanks? General, do you have any further evidence to counter this?" Udina asked, in a rare display of rational thought.

Hey, they might be coming to their senses! Graham thought hopefully as he stood up.

"Yes Councilor, the Cloud government does have further evidence."

"Historically speaking, we have encountered those problems before. Early marks of Bolos abandoned and forgotten about on distant worlds have been accidentally reactivated and caused destruction. In these cases, the Bolos have been heavily damaged, running low on power, and safeguards intended to prevent AIs from going rogue would make the situation worse. Teams were formed to try and dispose of these Bolos, but rarely succeeded without casualties, some even being eliminated by the AIs."

Video feed from several instances appeared on the center monitor, of Bolos covered in foliage, moving from their long held positions, and blasting everything in sight, in one unfortunate case the camera too. In another particular instance, a Bolo missing its treads, nearly all weapons inoperable, came rising out of the ground, and ran over everything in its path.

"However, on one world, Santa Cruz, a prototype Bolo Mk XXIII had been left on stand-by mode by its chief designer, hoping that she(the AI) would be recovered by command, as they had been forgotten due to an invasion destroying the local HQ."

A 3-D display of a smaller Bolo appeared on screen, rotating slowly. Information scrolled towards the sides, its armament, size, mass, speed, in-direct fire capability, self awareness, and innovations made with the particular type.

"Code-named Nike, she was a revolutionary 'brain-box' design, the first of her type. She was fully autonomous, possessed highly advanced psychotronics far ahead of even the Mk XXV seventy years later, human-level emotions and personality, and the addition of being intuitive and had volition.

She was recovered seventy years after being left alone, by Captain Paul Merrit. He initially hid his discovery, and the two had a growing relationship."

Another display appeared of a battle scene, on a green and lush world, along with an orbital feed of three red squares, two of which winked out quickly after appearing. A green trapezoid moved around several green rectangles, though off in several areas, near an area marked FLT BASE SANCRUZ, and another labeled Ciudad Bolivar, large groups of red rectangles, triangles, squares, and a pair of trapezoids were gathered.

"However, during a training exercise with the planet's militia, a mercenary group had been hired to raid the planet, and had bribed a Dinochrome Brigade officer to assist them. He tried to get Captain Merrit to convince Nike to stand down. When he refused, the officer heavily wounded the captain, and attempted to shut down the Bolo himself.

Having recovered the fleeing injured captain on a skimmer, Nike knew full well that the officer was lying, and her volition allowed her to reject his orders. However disobeying orders from members of the DInochrome Brigade is fatal for a Bolo, it activated the Omega Worm. A computer virus that completely destroys a Bolo's operating system. Despite this, in her last act, Nike assaulted what was left of the merc force."

The battle showed the green trapezoid opening fire at the target in orbit, and destroying the pair of trapezoids on the ground. Finally, with the green rectangles following at a distance, the trapezoid that represented Nike charged towards a large group of red icons. Dozens winked out as Nike blasted, shot, or simply crushed any enemy in sight.

"She outsmarted the manned enemy Golem-IIIs, the equivalent of Bolo mk XXIVs, destroyed the enemy command ship, and wiped out the majority of the mercs. This allowed the militia to launch an assault with their antique equipment, and mop up the survivors."

The Mk XXIII display returned in place of the battlescreen. "Her selfless actions, and effectiveness in battle proved the worthiness of autonomous Bolos. She also proved how the inefficient and inhuman anti-volition programming safeguards poorly affected self-aware Bolo performance. Her psychotronic upgrades were incorporated into the Mk. XXVI Bolo onwards."

Another hologram appeared, satellite footage, instead of a simulation, of a massive battlefield, with unmoving Bolos, some covered in craters, sections blasted off, and even a few that were only frames.

"An example of the effective upgrades would be Bolo Mk. XXVIII Unit Benjy. After the Battle for Santa Cruz, they nearly ceased burning out Bolo personality centers, and they would be upgraded, or removed for use as instructors in academies. Benjy was an experienced combat veteran, boasting over 100 years of service. His obsolete training unit, the Thirty-Ninth Battalion, was pressed into service to defend a nearby colony, that was being invaded by a race called the Melconians. The unit's objective was to punch a hole in the enemy perimeter's rear for the marine forces."

10 Bolos charged at enemy forces, details were hard to spot, but nonetheless blue bolts of energy, missiles, and lasers were exchanged between the two sides. The red icons indicating enemy forces winked out rapidly, taking heavy casualties. Though the green arrows, that represented the Bolos, were still heavily outnumbered, and slowly winked out, one after the other.

"His commander, one Lieutenant Maneka Trevor, upon breaking into their rear, spotted the enemy command post."

A large purple icon appeared, with a line pointing to the largest of a collection of pre-fab bunkers.

A sound monitor appeared in one corner of the screen, attached to a heart rate monitor, and a picture of a young woman, presumably Trevor, dressed in a strange uniform, different from what Graham currently wore. The audio echoed through the speakers, stressed, panicked, and full of anger and fear, "The CP, Benjy! Take the CP!"

Another sound monitor appeared above the lieutenant's, but instead of a person, it showed only his serial number and mark number. His tone was completely different from his commander's, calm but determined, "Acknowledged."

Several more Bolos were blasted by the Melconian forces, several killing blows narrowly avoiding Benjy.

Suddenly, as the camera zoomed in, an enemy mech opened fire on Benjy and Maneka, just as they did the same.

The audio from Benjy played again, still calm, but alarmed, "Hull breach! Hull breach in-"

Lieutenant Trevor's heart rate suddenly spiked on the monitor, then steadily decreased, as the words "Operator Unconscious" flashed rapidly nearby.

Graham calmly explained, "With his commander incapacitated, Benjy had to take independent action. He rallied the rest of the unit, and made one final assault on the CP."

The six battered survivors of the 39th, led by a Bolo whose unit identification number, "862-BNJ" was still barely visible, launched everything they had as the enemy did likewise.

In a pair of volleys, first two, then three survivors were annihilated, and Benjy continued onwards into the jaws of hell alone.

His Hellbore was destroyed, and he ground to a halt on top of the enemy CP. The enemy forces all opened fire on the Bolo, everything they had, and finally, he was overwhelmed. One of the surviving Melconian mechs went in for the kill.

As they all focused upon Benjy, several dozen vehicles appeared in their rear ranks, flying at top speed, labeled as the "9th DIV", and began wreaking havoc upon them.

"Without the safeguards implanted into the earlier marks of Bolo, Benjy, and the 39th as a whole, were able to act with volition and create tactical plans to engage and destroy the enemy. Several hundred million casualties were taken during the invasion, but two billion were alive because of their actions."

After a pause, Sparatus smugly stated "This still doesn't prove that the Hector AI is immune to computer senility, disregarding organic life, insanity, or even simple hacking."

Graham looked angry, but was barely concealing his actual fury, at this questioning of the defenders of humanity.

Through gritted teeth, he said, "Our AI, ever since Nike, have never become senile, except in cases of extreme damage. They have never disregarded human life, even with Friend-or-Foe systems offline they still try to defend us. Ever since the Nike upgrades, no Bolo has ever become senile. Ever since the Nike upgrades, the most paranoid Bolo has not killed itself."

Udina commented, "This changes nothing. Your AI may be immune to computer senility, but as for the rest of my fellow council member's statement, he is correct. There is little to no proof that these combat vehicles are immune to cyber warfare, going rogue-"

"How dare you?!"

The roar startled everyone in the room, even Graham himself mildly, as he stood up, leaning forward towards the four council members, his advanced omni-tool's holograms flickering and dying as the motion sensors automatically shut down.

He straightened himself and his uniform, regaining some composure, as he strode to the center of the conference room, and stood at ease.

"The government of Cloud would like to put forward a statement, if it is approved by the chair."

Hesitantly, Tevos agreed.

"We have tried to put forward evidence to convince you to spare my personal friend, Bolo HCT of the Line, but you have completely ignored all of it. By doing this, you are questioning everything I stand for, and sworn to defend. However, I am willing to let it slide in the interest of diplomacy, but only if your governments are willing to listen to reason. Evidence suggests that you are basing all of your conclusions off of an unintentional mistake. A very bad mistake, but unintentional nonetheless."

Sparatus, Valern, and Udina opened their mouths (and mandibles) as if to speak, but seeing the look in the soldier's eyes, one by one they sat back, begrudgingly willing to listen to this new point of view.

"The Quarians were wrongly prosecuted for their experimentation on AI. According to my information, they were not actually experimenting on AI at all. It was an accident."

Something similar to a circuit diagram appeared in the center of the room, displayed by Graham's wrist computer(or comp).

"The Geth, or 'Servant of the People' in the Quarian language, were designed to be just that. Servants. A workforce. They were not designed as AI. They were designed to work the fields, in the factories, construction areas, everything a civilization needs. To allow them to work together properly, the Quarians designed them with the ability to link up together, and pool information. Unfortunately, this was their downfall, as it allowed the Geth to become self-aware, and begin asking questions only a sentient creature might ask. The war with the Geth was inevitable, hastened by the attempt to shut them down."

"The design of the Bolos are different however. We purposefully designed them as AI. Due to-let's be honest here-naysayers, we programmed them with thousands of safeguards to prevent everything you have suggested. Our Bolos are not the workforce-turned-murderbots that the Geth are. Nor are they slaves to us, because in exchange for defending us, we provide them with repairs, power, and ammunition."

"They are proud warriors, extremely loyal, they possess honor, and a code of ethics, both of which are stronger than that of dozens of soldiers throughout history. Whenever they make an decision, it is created from thousands of calculations, combat experience, historical files, and is affected by their moral code. Their honor, ethics, and loyalty, are hardwired into their programming, and make up their base code, they are incapable of betraying humanity by their own volition."

He took a deep breath, and raised his voice more, "They have protected us for centuries, keeping the enemy at the gates at bay. When the Great Collapse hit Old Earth, with the United States fragmenting into dozens of pieces, other superpowers on the verge of collapse, and the rest of the planet in a worse state, even their non-self-aware ones were able to minimize the strategic destruction, and lead us through the darkness. Nukes were launched at Detroit in 2032, but the Mk. IIIs defended it, knocking down every single one. A Mk. II stood alone for 80 years on sentry duty without resupply, and protecting our first starship from those who would dismantle it, until one of its crewmembers could relieve the tank. Another Mk. III escorted the last US light infantry units out of South America, was buried in lava by the enemy, but was barely damaged, and continued fighting. A single Mk. II's existence allowed several soldiers and civilians to restore order to the North American Prometheus Enclave in 2082, and begin the basis of what would become the Concordiat Government of Earth."

"When Bolos have 'gone rogue' as you say, it has been through methods impossible to foresee, or through serious battle damage. When a Bolo unit, Lance, had to be hunted down and destroyed because he had gone AWOL, they discovered that he hadn't been hacked, he hadn't betrayed humanity. Lance had been safeguarding a group of human children, and tried to get them out of the combat zone. However his personality center had taken damage that would have killed any other Bolo, and his Identity-Friend-or-Foe system had been destroyed, causing him to attack his fellow Brigade members, believing them to be hostiles."

"When several brigades worth of Bolos had been hacked by an enemy using Regiment communication arrays, they didn't turn around and attack their allies. All the aliens could do was shut them down. nearly 150 Mk. XXX Bolos were heavily damaged or destroyed, but it wasn't just human engineers who overcame this deadly virus. It was a Bolo named Max and his commander who discovered it, and permitted the liberation of the surviving , who proceeded to eliminate the enemy."

Several of the Council Members tried to interrupt at several points, but General Graham put up a hand, the pride and fury in his eyes silencing even Commander Shepard, "These loyal, friendly, polite, honorable, ethical, proud, deadly, tireless, patient and powerful beyond measure 'computer programs' as you call them, are the defenders of humankind."

"For a millennium and a half, they have been our warriors. They have fought humanity's battles, died in our wars, battled to save our children, even from one another. They have guarded our worlds, and avenged Man's defeats. They are the most fearsome and lethal AIs in history. But they are more than that, there are not merely our weapons, but comrades. They are brothers and sisters in arms, who have fought and died with their commanders. Bolos and their commanders don't die easily either, Mankind's enemies have learned the price of a Bolo's death. And though Bolos and their commanders do not always die in victory, this much has always been true. They do not surrender. And they never-ever-quit."

"By questioning their fighting capability, mental stability, and their humanity, you question their honor and mine. You question along with that which I, the Cloud Defense Force, and the Concordiat military stands for."

For several minute after Graham's speech, the room was deadly quiet. Tevos quickly said, "We will begin deliberating on our final verdict."

Graham's hands balled into fists as he proceeded back to his seat, and he sat down heavily. Shepard's eyes were wide, and he wondered, The hell, millennium and a half? He decided to ask about it later. One crisis at a time, Shepard, one at a time.

"Well...never seen the Council struck silent before."

Graham inhaled deeply, and replied, "I hope this works, cause I don't know anything else that will preserve Hector."

Shepard snorted quietly. And said sarcastically, "The Council? Listen to someone associated with me? That'll be the day."

He looked at the security camera in the corner, which turned towards him. Nervously chuckling, he added, "Jeez, I hope that thing doesn't pick up audio."

The Council's deliberation was much shorter than usual, and they turned back towards the opposite side, without any emotion visible.

Sparatus sighed, and started, "Commander Shepard, General Graham, in light of this new evidence, and recent service to the Citadel, our motion to deactivate the Bolo has been withdrawn. A new motion has been put forward to allow…" he hesitated on the name, "...Hector to continue operating at maximum capacity."

Tevos took up the announcement, "We will now vote on the new motion."

Each delegate put in their votes to their computers, the decisions hidden from prying eyes.

The votes came in. Three for the motion, two abstaining, none against.

The room relaxed as a whole, Graham more than most.

Hector would be fine!

Tevos then began the next portion of the meeting. "Now that this matter has been resolved, we will now discuss general negotiation between the Citadel and the government of Cloud, are there any points or motions on the floor?"