5: Taking Control
The Illusive Man turned away from the star as he puffed on his cigarette. He allowed the nicotine to calm his nerves before speaking; appearing anything less for this conversation would be disastrous for him. "Shepard, one of our cells just went completely off the grid."
"Why am I not surprised?" The hologram of the commander folded its arms.
He allowed the comment to slide. "Project Overlord has been experimenting with some highly volatile tech, and I need you to investigate what happened."
"And this helps stop the reapers how?"
"I'm sure a few of your squad would take offense to your tone, Shepard." He exhaled slowly as he stubbed the cigarette out in an ashtray. "Your quarian friend, in particular, would find the ability to control the geth to be an immeasurable strength in the coming conflict."
He resisted the urge to grin as the gravity of his words sunk in. Now that he had dropped this bombshell, he knew that the commander would consider it a top priority.
"How?"
"Overlord was the most successful of several different approaches we took to solving this issue following the attack on Eden Prime. Anything else I could tell you will immediately become obvious when you arrive."
"When", not "if".
"Send me the coordinates."
"Already done, Shepard." He closed the connection, turning toward a dark form within the shadows. "Leng. Send an encrypted message to Lawson. She needs to get on the ground team and recover all the data on Overlord that she can. It's been too long since Archer's last update."
Kai Leng stepped forward, making himself more visible. "And if the project has taken a turn for the worse?"
"It already has," he stated. His electric blue eyes focus on the assassin. "And I'd prefer that it stopped turning in its grave."
Could it really be possible?
Tali had sprinted toward the armory as soon as she'd gotten the mission brief from EDI. She was unsure what to think about Overlord; knowledge that the geth could be controlled gave her hope for being able to see Rannoch in her lifetime, but the idea of what Cerberus would do with a synthetic army gave her chills.
We don't need another Idenna incident.
To her surprise, she wasn't the first one to reach the armory. A green and black alien raised his head as she entered.
"I see you are well, Tali'Zorah."
She tilted her head as she warily stepped in. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've met."
"Apologies. Having a perfect memory means that we drell will usually skip the pleasantries when reputations precede us." He laid down the sniper rifle he had been inspecting and crossed his hands behind his back. "Thane Krios, at your service," he stated with a slight bow. "A few of the team members hold you in high regard, the commander included."
Her shoulders drooped a little. "You'll forgive me if I don't feel as if I've earned it."
The drell blinked. "Lawson mentioned that you were impacted by the events on Haestrom."
"And what do you think?"
"That you worry too much about what happened in your battle-sleep. You were not at fault."
"My what?" The quarian gave him a confused look.
Thane turned back to his weapons as he elaborated. "Drell see the mind and body as separate entities. Typically, they work in tandem, united. However, there are things that can break this synchronization. In times of extreme stress, they become... disjointed. The body continues to act without the mind, driven by instinct while the mind turns inward and becomes a silent passenger. We refer to this as 'battle-sleep', as it often manifests in soldiers during combat."
"So you're saying I let it happen," she softly murmured.
"Hardly. A captain whose crew has mutinied against him cannot control his ship."
"You sound like you've had a lot of time to consider this."
The drell froze, his dark eyes glossing over. "I sprint down the moonlit street. Stairs creak, but I ignore the sound. I reach the threshold. The door is broken. A slight breeze tugs tattered curtains. Irikah lies on the ground, her clothes fouled and torn. One sunset eye stares accusingly. The other is vacant, marred by a bullet wound. Kolyat cries in the corner, bound to his mother's favorite chair. 'Where were you, Dad?' Rage and sadness build, both in his voice and in my soul. My mind wishes it had words of comfort, for either of us. My body runs back out the door without another word." His eyes regained their focus, reabsorbing the surroundings. "My apologies, I did not mean to lapse into that memory."
The quarian stood there, flabbergasted. "Was that...?"
Thane nodded. "My successes earned me numerous enemies. Eventually, they banded together, killing my wife in front of my son. It... deeply disturbed my spirit. While Kolyat was watching her funeral, I was on Omega hunting down the all of those responsible, even peripherally. Gunmen, informants, allies..." He took a deep breath. "Friends... spouses... The 'One-Hour Massacre', they called it." His eyes close. "For many, it lasted much longer than the name implies."
"Keelah."
"I eventually regained control over myself and traveled straight back to Kahje. I arrived in time to see her laid to rest. Kolyat refused to speak to me. He considered my leaving unforgivable." He looked at her. "Shepard seems to think otherwise about you."
It was Tali's turn to be downcast. "I wish I shared your confidence."
"If you had seen him sprinting into the med bay, your opinion would undoubtedly be different."
"I nearly killed him, Thane."
"And you've saved his life multiple times since." He noted her questioning look. "Garrus, the turian, told everyone who would listen of your actions against the gunship, Elnora, and the Eclipse leader's biotic assault."
"It doesn't feel like I've done enough."
"Forgiveness is enough. All you can do is continue to earn it."
"Did you ever find yours?"
"The Shadow Broker has no permanent affiliations, and Aria did not mind the devastation I had dealt on Omega in my body's pursuit of vengeance. She considered it 'house-cleaning'. My religion has also absolved me from responsibility for what I did."
"And Kolyat?"
His silence answered the question for him as he gathered his weapons.
"Your new armor suits you," the drell commented on his way out. She could feel his eyes analyzing her suit and its new plating as she checked her own guns. "It shows strength and determination in the face of adversity, an inner courage with its form, as well as humility with how your species' traditional garb blends with it." He paused, as if reflecting on what he said. "You would make a good siha for him."
"A what?"
He left without another word.
"I'm going to check for survivors in the east wing."
It had been a simple excuse, one birthed from the slightest of white lies, that gave Miranda the freedom to explore the rest of Hermes Station alone. Tali and Thane were busy taking care of the many corpses in the rest of the facility. Shepard, who was talking with Gavin Archer, the project lead, had been too busy to deny the request. Since the majority of the geth in this part of the installation had been focused around the communications dish (which Shepard destroyed, in spectacular fashion), she had met very little enemy resistance so far.
She rounded a corner, coming across a lone geth trooper. It glowed with a green light, a stark contrast to the blue-lit ones from Haestrom. Miranda held her hand out to the back of its head, frying its circuits with an overload as she continued her search. A door stood open to her right. She cautiously crept up to the frame and peeked inside.
Jackpot.
She had reached the station's security and communications center. Several vidscreens around the walls gave visuals of the hallways from various cameras and drones. On the back wall was a door simply labeled "Armory".
So this is where Archer was during the attack, she thought as she walked toward one of the interfaces. It reacted to her presence, displaying a prompt:
User is unlisted. Please identify yourself.
"Operative Miranda Lawson, Lazarus Cell, requesting administrator access to records for data recovery. Code Styx-Omega"
Command confirmed. State authorization phrase delta.
"The jack of hearts built a full house, to protect the spades and clubs from their folly."
Authorization accepted.
A trio of slots appeared, allowing her to attach an OSD to each. Various images flashed across the screen as terabytes of data were copied onto the drives, no two of which had the same data or encryption. It was a failsafe that the Illusive Man had devised; even if one of them was captured and decrypted, the whole picture would have been impossible to grasp without the other two.
"Play most recent log." The download would take a while, and she could tell from the cameras that this wing held no other hostiles. Gavin Archer's voice began to play from one of the monitors.
"Archer's Log 167: The VI has adapted much faster than anticipated, evolving into a sort of virus. It has infected almost everything on this facility: mechs, geth, drones, stationary guns, even the bloody comms. I was lucky enough to be on the last shuttle that left Atlas Station before the turrets were infected.
"We had hoped to contain the outbreak to Atlas, but it's been using our communications network against us. Vulcan had already fallen by the time I arrived at Hermes Station, and it appears that this station will fall soon as well. At least it's some consolation that our attempts to isolate Prometheus have worked in our favor. I believe they may have used our weapon of last resort there, which would have destroyed any chance at a VI takeover.
"Even so, it is... hopeless.
"Even if what few of us that are left here could retake Hermes, we'd still need to use the command overrides at Prometheus and Vulcan to get to Atlas and take the project offline.
"If this is being reviewed by a recovery team, there are six data packets scattered among outposts between the bases. For there to be any chance at successfully restarting Overlord, that data must be found."
Miranda retrieved one of the OSDs as the log terminated. I'll have to look into that. She started another log and began to pace as Archer's voice again rang out of the consoles.
"Archer's Log 152.1-152.2: The Illusive Man called for a stop on the project, but I convinced him to hold off pending a demonstration. I couldn't allow him to pull the plug, not when the geth were responding so well to our volunteer.
"Still, we're going to need to do something big to keep our funding going. He's no longer impressed by controlling only one or two of the synthetics."
Miranda arched an eyebrow. So it was a success? This is astounding, all things considered. She removed another OSD. The rest of the log had an additional layer of security, though she decided to circumvent procedure by simply hacking it. It was soon playing as she calmly waited for the last OSD to finish downloading the data.
"Archer's Log 152.3-152.6: I have made some modifications to the project, to insure Overlord's success. I managed to acquire a copy of the base code used to actualize EDI from the same source that Lazarus obtained their tech. While the source may have been a rogue AI, it was initially programmed as a VI.
"I've... tweaked it to fit our purposes.
"It is still a VI by all accounts, but it now has the adaptability of an AI. Precautions have been taken, of course, though I haven't been able to shackle it as effectively as I could if the team could assist me. That is irrelevant now, however. There is simply no time to find an alternative or to follow a proper procedure. Overlord's success hinges on this adaptive VI working with David's mind."
The officer took a step back at the revelation. That bastard! If I didn't need that data... She swallowed her emotions as she swiped the final OSD. Miranda set a final log playing as she entered the armory.
"Archer's Log 117: One of the other cells got a hold of an experimental weapon from the Alliance and sent us specs on the gun. While I cannot deny its killing power, I have to question why Halsey and Mendez sent them here. Devices of this sort have only limited effectiveness as a last-resort when you're targeting synthetics from inside a geth cruiser.
"I've sent my report to the Illusive Man along with a request for a high-yield electromagnetic device. The people in engineering have started drawing up plans for it, but the timetable we've been given for Overlord doesn't give us the luxury of building it ourselves. In the meantime, the recovered weapon's plans have been stored in the armory. I can only hope that we'll never need it."
Miranda's mouth dropped as she found the mentioned blueprints. She quickly pulled up her omni-tool, opening a video call. "Commander, I've found something you'll want to see."
"What is it, Miran..." He trailed off, his eyes growing wider as she showed him the specs.
"That's a big gun."
Why did I agree to this?
Tali furiously worked the engineer's station within the Hammerhead tank, her fingers dancing on the console as she directed the repair protocols. "Integrity at sixty-three percent and climbing." Her mind flashed to the time Joker had chastised the commander after picking up the crew on Therum two years ago. Volcanoes are such a pain. "Can you please try not to fly us directly over the lava flows, John?"
"I'll work on it."
Before she could reply, the vehicle jumped underneath her. She struggled to stay upright as the G-forces attempted to slam her down into the console. Her stomach began churning in freefall as an alarm blared. She swore under her breath; her hand had bumped into a switch during the rushed ascent. "Can you give me a little more warning next time you jump like that, John?"
"It was that or eat a rocket." He was too absorbed in his actions to turn toward her; she could feel the craft swaying from side to side as he dodged more incoming fire.
She fought to keep her most recent tube of nutrient paste down as the maneuvers continued. It had been bad enough for her during the diversions to pick up data from out-of-the-way areas on the plains between the stations, but the active volcano around Vulcan had made the the trip into a form of hell for the quarian. Between Shepard's evasive actions and the random boosts of speed -both forward and upward- needed to cross the lava flows near Vulcan Station's geothermal plant, it was miraculous that she still held on to her lunch.
"We're here."
"Thank the ancestors," the exasperated quarian breathed as the squad began to exit the tank.
Miranda was glaring cheekily at her as Tali shakily stepped on to solid ground. "What's wrong, can't stand a bumpy ride?"
"Riding in the Mako was a bumpy ride. This... thing is far worse."
She arched an eyebrow. "We still have to make the return trip, you know."
The quarian's stomach squirmed uncomfortably as she tried to force the thought out of her mind. "Please shut up."
"That's enough, Miranda."
Shepard drew his SMG as he led the squad into Vulcan Station's main facility. He had been hoping that pairing Tali and the Cerberus officer on the squad would help with venting some of the tension between them.
So far, the attempt had been a total bust.
At least I didn't bring Jack too.
Thane followed him in, his own SMG ready to fire in the confines of the plant's network of catwalks. The two of them waited for the women to enter; Miranda had hovered over the quarian until she drew her shotgun, but had stopped verbally abusing her on Shepard's orders.
He chanced a quick word: "Ready to go, Tali?"
She gave Miranda a sidelong glance that would've melted ice faster than the lava flows just outside the door. "I'm ready to kill something if that's what you mean."
The operative acted as if she hadn't heard Tali's comment. "There's a lot of steam built up here. It'll be hell for visibility."
"It's a geothermal plant, Lawson. Of course there's steam. If there wasn't, that would mean something was terribly wrong." John tried to hide his grin; the engineer apparently couldn't resist a chance to take Miranda down a notch.
Thane intervened before the situation could spiral into an argument. "There may be a chance to use it to our advantage, but we should continue."
"How?"
"You will see."
True to his word, the drell impressed the commander, strategically shooting pieces of exposed machinery to vent the high-pressure steam on several attacking mechs that were hidden among the catwalks. He single-handedly turned an ambush into a massacre as the mechs were blown away by the hot air.
"Remind me not to get on your bad side, Thane," John commented as he surveyed the destruction.
"I would prefer I didn't have to, Shepard."
The four of them formed up on a doorway up ahead. Miranda peeked in, then jumped back as half a dozen shots slammed into the door frame. "We've got a YMIR."
Shepard drew his grenade launcher. "Tali, we'll need you to distract it with your drone so we can get in. Thane, cover us from here. I want you three to focus on everything else so I don't get shot before I can take out that YMIR."
The quarian's eyes widened as the others nodded an affirmative. "John, you're not going to-"
"Yes, Tali, I am." He knew that she was thinking of the time he took down one of the hulking mechs on Freedom's Progress.
"Wait for me to help weaken it at least."
He shot her a sly grin. "Will do, ma'am."
He did not just call me that.
Tali sprinted into the room after calling her combat drone, her shotgun drawn. She fired a couple of quick shots at a green-lit LOKI mech as she slid into cover. Miranda followed, Throwing another one over a balcony and into a lava pit as a rocket streaked by her head.
Guess they finished off Chiktikka.
She stepped around her cover, but had to dive back to avoid a maelstrom of enemy fire. A rocket drone! That sure beats an overload. She waited for a lull in the fire, then assaulted it with a hacking protocol. She grinned to herself as it fired at the YMIR, denting its armor. "John, there's your opening."
He fired his weapon, stumbling the massive mech as it slowly turned toward its hacked ally. Tali turned away from the sight, focusing on another LOKI. Calm down. He'll be alright. It wasn't long before the mech she targeted exploded, a victim of a grenade. She looked back toward where the YMIR had been, seeing nothing but an empty expanse of floor space and a Spectre wielding a grenade launcher. Where did it go?
Thane finished off the last LOKI with a headshot, allowing the squad to regroup. They ascended a staircase, finding a lone mech. It was shooting and kicking the machine in front of it, a vain attempt to destroy the security override for Atlas station. They removed the threat with a series of well-placed shots, literally disarming the LOKI.
It's almost funny, the way it's running around. Tali put it down with a single headshot, then turned toward Shepard, curious. "What happened to that YMIR, by the way?"
"It tripped and had an unfortunate smelting accident."
She shook her head in annoyance. "I swear, you Charge into the most dangerous situations."
"All part of the job, ma'am," he replied with that grin. "But I don't do it without thinking first."
"Right... and John."
He paused in front of the override console. "Yes?"
"You're not Kal. Next time you call me 'ma'am', I'm setting Chiktikka on you."
"Point taken," he laughed.
Bang
Miranda whirled around. "Could you please stop doing that?" she half-asked, half-demanded.
She glared at Tali as the offending quarian stepped away from a collapsed geth trooper, a fresh hole in the center of its optics. "I'd rather not, Miranda."
"They're all deactivated, for goodness' sake. There's no danger here."
"I'm sure the staff here believed that as well."
"I don't see any bodies, do you?"
"Enough chatter," Shepard's voice barked.
The quarian had been following the squad at a snail's pace, jumping at the slightest of sounds and double-tapping any deactivated geth platforms they came across. "Cautious," Thane had called it.
"Excessive" is more like it. Still, the commander had seemed to share some of the quarian's caution, having the squad form up at every corner and doorway in case of hostiles. They never ran into any, however. This geth ship is completely dead.
It wasn't a claim she made lightly; Prometheus Station was kept on a separate network from the rest of the base for security reasons. Even if they lost control of the station, the facility had been equipped with an emergency electromagnetic pulse generator. The fact that the geth turret outside had been inactive when they arrived was a testament to what she considered an essential truth: that the EMP had been detonated and there was no way for the VI to take and hold Prometheus.
"Tali, can you take a look at this?"
Miranda watched as the quarian walked over to the commander. Before them stretched a wide expanse of water. "What is it, John?"
"There are several platforms out there. I'm thinking this console can control them and make a bridge across."
Thane spoke up. "I would prefer not to swim."
"Good luck with that," Miranda stated. "You can't hack a console with no power."
Tali shot her a quizzical look. "What do you mean? The terminal's active."
"What?"
Instead of replying, the engineer activated several controls in sequence on the console. Sure enough, the platforms slid into place, forming a walkway.
How?
The thought stuck with her as the foursome approached Prometheus Station's override console. Why would it be active? Archer wouldn't have allowed an EMP that wasn't strong enough. The men here can't have been that incompetent; all the doors were still open for goodness' sake. They must still be alive.
Tali stopped in front of her, turning around. The engineer's eyes flared, her gaze focused on Miranda.
Great. What's her issue this time?
The quarian moved with an unnerving slowness, her hand moving toward her leg. Miranda's eyes were drawn to the blade on her left thigh as it was drawn out of its sheath. "Zorah, what are you-"
Tali gave the slightest shake of her head as she crept toward her. The knife gleamed as the engineer took a step forward.
"Miranda. Don't move."
Miranda's sure acting odd.
Tali wondered about the officer's behavior as she crossed the platforms to the security override. Her curiosity was even beginning to overwhelm the dread that had settled in her stomach the moment she stepped in the geth ship. I mean it's not like she had any reason to believe-
The data packets!
It made sense; if the data packets said that the power would be down, then Miranda would've believed them without question. That left one question however. Why would the ship be empty if the power's still on? Unless-
She stopped in her tracks as Shepard activated the security override. The engineer cautiously turned around, her eyes settling on Miranda. The air seemed to shimmer behind her as the biotic followed her and Thane.
It wasn't a biotic aura.
Tali slowly began to draw her mother's blade, hoping the hidden geth wouldn't notice her movements.
Miranda was not so blind, her eyes tracking Tali's every move. The operative was oblivious to the threat right behind her. "Zorah, what are you-"
"Miranda. Don't move."
The woman did the exact opposite, reaching for her pistol. A light began to glow from behind her as her arm moved.
Damn it.
The quarian lunged forward, swinging the knife in a wide arc. It passed within centimeters of Miranda's face on its path into the top of the hazy form. She felt her arm encounter resistance and kicked out at the blue-green light that was shining from behind the officer's back. A trio of plasma blasts impacted harmlessly on the ground as a weapon materialized.
Tali felt her head being jerked to the side as the sound of a gunshot echoed through the room.
Miranda saw the quarian leap at her, knife drawn and purpose gleaming in her bright eyes. Good God! Her training kicked in, reflexes honed from a time long since forgotten springing into action. She shifted her head to the side as her hand finished drawing the carnifex pistol from her hip. She slid around to the quarian's other side as she heard the unmistakable sound of a round being fired into the ground.
She tensed up, pulling the trigger.
Tali's head snapped to the side as her shields flared up around her. The momentum caused her to fall over as a second figure appeared next to her. Miranda looked on in shock as a geth followed the quarian to the ground, the engineer's knife embedded in its head.
"Oh my God..." she murmured.
The commander breathed a single word from behind her. "Tali?"
The quarian stirred, bringing a hand to the side of her head. She shot an accusatory glare at Miranda as Thane helped her to her feet. The officer also noted the look that Shepard was giving her as she lowered her pistol.
Did I just-
Miranda's thought was interrupted by her being Lifted by her throat. Her pistol clattered on the ground as she turned towards Shepard. Miranda struggled to speak.
"Commander, please..."
There was no mercy in his eyes as he continued to hold her in place. Miranda began to squirm as the quarian reentered her line of sight. She barely managed to cough a few words out as she pleaded her case.
"I didn't know, Tali."
The quarian remained silent as the hold on Miranda's throat tightened. Tali turned away, retrieving her knife from the fallen geth. Miranda wriggled as her windpipe was completely cut off. The woman turned to Thane in desperation, only able to mouth three words to the drell.
"My body reacted..."
Something sparked in the assassin's eyes as he put a hand to Tali's shoulder. A silent interaction passed between the two as the woman grasped fruitlessly at the dark energy binding her neck. Suddenly, the quarian's demeanor changed completely. Miranda gagged as she saw Tali shifting her gaze back and forth between her knife and the drell. Just as her vision began to darken, the quarian stepped toward Shepard.
"John, stop."
Miranda felt herself crash to the ground. She clutched at her throat, coughing heavily as air once again flowed into her lungs. The unmistakable whir of geth chatter began to fill the room around them as more troopers came online. The woman shakily returned to her feet, giving the drell a look of gratitude.
The rest of the squad reformed around Shepard, preparing to fight their way out. They worked their way back to the entrance, with Miranda using her biotic and tech abilities from the back of the group. The woman didn't dare to draw her gun again while they were still in the geth ship.
She couldn't help but notice how most of the synthetic units they passed were already disabled.
The trip to Atlas Station was a mercifully silent one. John had no wish to speak with Miranda, and he could tell that Tali was having similar thoughts. How could I have been so stupid? I should never have brought Miranda along. The Cerberus officer, for her part, sat quietly as the Hammerhead descended toward a landing pad.
"Looks like you're in, commander," Archer's voice chimed in over the radio. "I'm getting some troubling readings here though. The VI is trying to upload its program directly from your location."
Thane broke the silence before Tali or Miranda had to. "I hate to imagine what it's trying to infect now."
Shepard ignored the chatter as he led them into the facility on foot. The status light on the door in front of him glowed red as he walked forward. Without warning, it switched to green and opened.
"Must be Archer helping us along," Tali quipped. "I wonder how he got into the system remotely though."
He grunted an acknowledgement as they entered a hallway. A door stood open off to the right, while another one appeared to be locked. Thanks Archer, he thought as he approached the portal.
The door slammed shut in his face, its interface flashing a fiery red. An inhuman noise echoed down the hall, a mixture of geth clicking and a low hum.
"What the hell was that?"
Nobody had an answer for the commander as the other door suddenly unlocked. Miranda broke her silence. "I don't think this is Archer's doing."
Shepard acted as if he hadn't heard her, leading the squad into a small lobby. An elevator stood across the hall, a nearby sign announcing that they were on level seven. He casually pressed the call button, and a feminine voice flowed from a speaker on the console.
"Arriving at level two."
The rest of the squad stowed their weapons as they waited for the elevator. An uneasy silence followed as Miranda avoided looking any of the others in the eye. Shepard began to tap his foot. What's taking so long? He decided to try the call button again.
"Arriving at level four."
We can't wait for whatever's using this elevator. He hit the button once more.
"Arriving at level six."
He pressed it again.
"Elevator reset."
"What?" he yelped in dismay as the indicator went from six to zero. He jammed his finger into the interface repeatedly.
"Arriving at level two. Arriving at level fo- Arriving at level si- Elevator re- Arriving at level two."
"Maybe this can help?"
Shepard's biotics flared as he angrily turned toward Miranda. She twitched at the sight as she cautiously pointed toward the computer console behind her. "Who asked you ab-"
"It's as good a hypothesis as any."
He cut off his rant at the sound of Thane's voice, giving a small nod toward Miranda. She activated the console.
"Arriving at level three."
John turned toward the elevator's call button again.
"Arriving at level five."
He pressed the switch once more.
"Arriving at level seven."
"It's about time this thing w-"
"Get down!"
He looked up in time to see Miranda dive toward Tali as a torrent of flame sprang from the elevator door. The ambient heat scorched his skin as he spun away from the call button.
"They have a prime!"
Thane ran past him as he drew his shotgun. Shepard saw him striking at the flamethrower-wielding geth destroyer with his biotics as he took aim at the towering geth prime in the back of the elevator. The glowing synthetic opened fire, its machine gun tearing into his barriers before he returned to cover. "Tali, are you alright?"
"A little singed, but no breaches." He could hear the sound of another shotgun firing. "Go for the optics, Chiktikka!"
He peeked out again as the combat drone flew by. It drew the prime's attention as he poured round after round into the behemoth trooper. He saw the blue glow of biotics from the corner of his eye as the geth Thane had been fighting was Thrown back into the elevator.
"Shepard, the fuel tank!"
John shifted his aim, firing a round into the flamethrower's fuel canister. A wave of heat and pressure blasted him off his feet.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Ears ringing? Check.
Pain? Check.
Yup, I'm alive.
He slowly rose to his feet, grunting from the effort. A cooling sensation spread along his left side as medigel was applied by his armor. He looked down.
That's new.
Much of the armor on his left side had been blackened by the explosion, adding another scar to the metal and ceramic plating. Thankfully, none of the plates had buckled from the blast.
Might as well keep it like that.
"Tali, how're you holding up?" He looked over toward the quarian as he asked the question.
Some of her suit was covered with soot, but her armor and the detail lines on her headscarf still shone brightly. "I'm fine, Miranda took most of it."
He shifted his gaze toward the operative, whose bodysuit had also been blackened by the attack. Parts of it had been burned off completely, exposing reddened skin underneath. She looked him in the eye. "I'll be alright, commander."
John looked away as he tossed her one of his emergency medigel kits. "Get yourself patched up. You look like you need it."
"John!"
Tali pounded fruitlessly on the door with her fists, calling his name.
"He can't hear you, Tali."
She didn't know what to think of Miranda's statement. Between a part of her being royally pissed that the woman had shot at her and the part that wanted to thank Miranda, the quarian wasn't sure of how she felt about the operative. A thousand alarm bells went off in her head as she felt a pressure on her shoulder. There was one thing she was sure of.
"Don't touch me."
The woman recoiled from the force in her words, leaving Tali alone with her thoughts. Could she be right? If only I had gotten a better look at- An epiphany hit as she turned toward Thane. "Did you see anything odd about the commander after he was shocked?"
The drell's eyes turned vacant. "A burst of energy. The man seizes and stumbles outside. Green light behind his eyes and within the scar on his face. The door closes. She yells as it locks, the system glitching and applying multiple door switches. None react to her touch. She screams again." He returned from the memory, his eyes deep in thought. "It is possible that the VI has found a way to corrupt his cybernetic implants."
She nodded. "Which means he may need our help." A pause, then, "I'm going to have to hack the doors."
"Are you insane?" Miranda piped up. "All of your people have cybernetics."
Tali gave an exasperated sigh. "Those are to interface with our suits, Lawson. Or did you think we'd be happy only knowing what hot, cold, and pain felt like?"
"What if it takes over your suit? Can we risk you attacking us?"
"It's an environment suit, not a weaponized exoskeleton!" Her hand covered her visor in frustration. Why doesn't she understand? She checked her anger and allowed her hand to drop. "We quarians have been fighting AI for 300 years. We know better than to leave a backdoor in our programming that can be exploited like that." She opened her omni-tool. "You will be fine."
"And what about you?"
The concern in her voice surprised Tali. She froze as she contemplated the question. True, all of my suit's life support systems are protected from cyber-attacks, but some programs aren't. NotePal 3.8, a few omni-tool games, reference materials... Nerve-Stim Pro.
Her eyes widened at the thought. The woman quickly uninstalled the program, fearing what would happen if it was taken over almost as much as death itself. She suppressed a shudder as she reopened the hacking protocol. "We will be fine," she corrected, half to herself.
Miranda fell silent as the minutes began to tick by. Tali was grateful for the quiet; the VI was putting up a good fight. It often put up additional firewalls and counterintrusion protocols to hinder her, but she steadily continued through them. It's scrambled the coding for door labels! she realized. No wonder the doors were acting odd. She pondered this information before changing her tactics. "It's relabeled all the doors in the system, so I'll have to open all of them."
Thane was not surprised. "Explains the elevator issues."
"I understand if you can't-"
"I can do this, Miranda," the quarian interrupted. With a quick selection on her omni-tool, she sent several hundred probes into the system. The simple programs automatically hacked through any firewalls they came across, but were defenseless against counterintrusion measures. That should keep it distracted. Tali redoubled her efforts, her progress hindered much less as the VI tried to cope with multiple intrusion points. "I'm in. Just have to isolate the system from the virus now." She quickly set up several firewalls of her own before triggering the door activation command. The portal opened, along with all others on Atlas Station. "We should go now. I don't know how long it will take before the VI regains control."
"Which way?"
The sound of distant gunfire echoed down the halls. The three of them raced toward it, their sidearms drawn. Several decimated geth littered the rooms, their forms riddled with bullet holes. The shooting grew louder as they sprinted along. If we get there too late-
They nearly ran headlong into a group of geth clustered in a small room. Tali and Miranda quickly unleashed Overload programs on the synthetics, causing them to explode violently from the sudden surge of electrical energy.
Noticing that there was an elevator under where the group had been standing, Tali ran toward its control console. Before she could hack into the controls, a green digitized face stamped itself across the interface. A roar of unintelligible tones cascaded from the console, interspersed with a burst of what sounded like a voice.
"Grrrrrai-mrrreze! Mrrai't-stop!"
Thane blinked in surprise behind her. "It definitely said 'stop' that time."
"Piece of hyelon!" Tali swore, punching the console in frustration. "It disconnected all power from the interface. I can't hack it."
"I can see the commander!"
Tali rushed to the window where Miranda was standing. Sure enough, Shepard was there fighting a large squad of geth. A large machine stood in the center of the room, a sphere of cloudy light protected by the unmistakable shimmer of a powerful kinetic barrier. The engineer could barely make out an outline, something silhouetted within the smoky ball. She drew her shotgun, preparing to shoot out the window.
"That won't work."
The three of them rounded on the intruder, guns drawn. They slowly lowered as recognition dawned behind Tali's visor. "Doctor Archer, what are you doing here?"
The man pocketed his own pistol as he stepped in. "I've been monitoring your progress from Hermes. Once the lockdown was lifted, I came here as fast as I could. The virus did something with the doors though, none of them were working properly at first-"
"I took care of that."
"So that's why they all opened at once." Gavin brought a hand to his chin. "I wonder, if we'd had a quarian on the research team all along-"
"QUIET! PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!"
The ball of light erupted with a crash, shrouding the room in a haze and fogging the window.
"John!"
Archer dashed over to the elevator console. "We've got power again. I'm lowering us now."
The window slid out of their view as they descended. The same line repeated itself over the speakers, filling Tali with unease. The smoke began to clear as they reached the room below.
"Quiet... Please make it stop."
Keelah...
The elevator ground to a halt, Gavin already sprinting toward Shepard. "Wait! I'm begging you, don't do anything rash."
Tali was dimly aware of John's words as she stared at the abomination before her. "Rash? Like forcing your own brother into an experiment?"
She stepped forward, her eyes transfixed by what lie in the center of the room. Shards of broken glass littered the floor, but she paid them no mind as she gazed through the smoke.
"Quiet. Please make it stop."
Multiple machines and apparati converged in the center of the room, where the glass sphere had been. A man hung there, strung up in the nude by several electrical cables. Tali grimaced in horror at the sight; the massive cords shoved in his mouth, the wires forced through his skin, the way his flesh looked discolored from his body rejecting the implanted electronics...
But the eyes.
His eyelids were fixed open by several rods. An endless stream of tears ran down his face, some natural, some dropped in from tubes just above his face. The eyes showed nothing but terror as they swiveled endlessly, as if he was surrounded by numerous invisible phantoms.
"Quiet, please... Make it stop."
She was momentarily distracted as Miranda socked Gavin. "The Illusive Man never gave you license to do this."
He looked up at her despondently. "Didn't he? Any war we fight with the geth will be bloody. I was asked to find a way to avoid that."
Not like this...
John cut in. "Who gave you the right to play God, Archer?"
"It was the people who were to afraid to make difficult decisions themselves. When they pray for a miracle, they're really praying for men like me to make the tough choices."
Keelah, not like this. A single tear made its way down her face as she screwed her eyes shut.
The men continued to argue as she looked once more at the sad sight before her. David's body reminded her of the first time she fought against husks with John; how their mouths and eyes were contorted into a look of horror as they charged at her. Like brainwashed slaves.
Except he's not indoctrinated.
"Quiet. Please make it stop."
John was yelling at Gavin now. "I've seen enough of your cruelty to know he'll never be free from it here. I'm taking him away."
The scientist drew a gun. "No! He's too valuable." Before he could fire a shot, Thane had disarmed him with a quick twist of his wrist. The drell shifted his hold on the man's arm, forcing him to his knees as Shepard introduced him to the business end of his own gun.
"You even think about coming after your brother, and this bullet will be waiting for you. Then we'll see who's valuable." He signaled to Miranda, who began to pull the scientist away from David. Gavin looked around at the squad members, but found no mercy in any of their looks.
"Where will you take him?"
"Grissom Academy. They can help special cases like David, minus the torture." He held up a hand to his ear as he conversed with Joker.
Miranda gave the quarian a respectable berth as she dragged the despondent scientist back toward the elevator. "But Cerberus still needs this. Overlord, the geth- we can find a solution."
"The Illusive Man can fire me if he doesn't like it."
"Square root of 912.04 equals 30.2... It all seemed harmless..."
Tali's hands balled into fists as the phrase repeated itself over the speakers. Her head hung low while she approached the poor man's restraints, prepared to do what she had to to free him.
Is the homeworld really worth reducing us to this?
Miranda escorted Gavin back to the elevator as the rest of the squad approached his brother. The lift took them back to the overlook where they had met up, away from the ears of the squad.
"Are you going to continue reprimanding me?"
She resisted the urge to hit Archer again as she turned. To do that to your own flesh and blood... His actions reminded her all too much of her father. "I'm only talking to you because the Illusive Man wants to find everything on Overlord."
"Understood. Did you find the data packets?"
Her eyes narrowed as she nodded. "No thanks to your overstepping the bounds of the project. Using your own brother was one thing, but replacing the VI with an AI-based one without informing the rest of the staff? That was borderline suicidal, Archer! Your gambit nearly unleashed a viral plague on the galaxy."
"Ah, I neglected to mention that detail to Shepard. I take it you found the records in Hermes."
"Yes. Is there anything else?"
He drew an OSD from his pocket and opened his omni-tool. He transferred something over, nodding when it was done. "My personal notes." Archer flinched as Miranda swiped it from his hand. He looked out the window at the trio releasing David from the machine, his gaze settling on Tali. "He gave us only a year, when the quarians have been trying to solve this problem for centuries. I admit I let the pressure get to me. If not for David, we would've had nothing to show for it." The man turned back toward her. "Have you ever had to worry about one of his deadlines?"
Miranda's voice was ice-cold. "I get results so I won't have to worry."
"And what if Lazarus had failed?"
She was surprised by the question. "He gave us everything he thought we'd need. There was no way we could fail."
"That's exactly my- Gah!"
A blade sprouted from the man's chest. His arterial spray nearly landed on Miranda as she leaped back in surprise. The sword retracted and flashed through the air, allowing the body to slump forward. Archer's head still bore a look of shock and agony as it rolled across the floor.
"He's spoken long enough." Kai Leng materialized behind him as his cloaking device deactivated.
Miranda shook away her shock and tried to avoid looking at Gavin's remains. "Were the theatrics really necessary?"
"You needed to know the price of failure. The Illusive Man still trusts you, but I felt you needed a... reminder." His eyes narrowed slightly as he held out his disarmed hand. "But it's as you said."
"I get results," she echoed as she handed him the OSDs, including the ones with the data packets. "I'm not handing over David though."
Leng's eyebrows moved closer by a fraction of a millimeter as he spoke. His next word bore more than a spoonful of venom: "Why?"
"It's Shepard's decision, and the Illusive Man gave me orders to follow him until the collectors are dealt with."
"Very well. But in the meantime-" The blade flashed through the air again, too quick for Miranda's eyes to track. He dangled a single dark strand of hair from his free hand. "You would do well to remember where your true loyalties lie."
The Illusive Man paid no mind as Shepard terminated the link. The commander had been less than amused by the events on Aite. Losing Archer's brother to the Ascension program may have been a blow against us, he thought as he stared at the star outside his window. But we will recover.
"Sir?"
His thoughts were broken as a second QEC link opened in the room. "Leng, I trust your mission was a success."
"Gavin Archer has been eliminated, as per your orders."
"Good." The doctor had proven himself a liability over the past several weeks. "Using an AI's code to help interface with the geth was unacceptable. The goal was always to have an organic controlling them, not an organic-synthetic hybrid." He poured himself a drink. "The last thing we need is another Saren. His oversight merely proves how far he had fallen." He stopped to take a sip of his whiskey. "Still, it was a solid proof of concept. And what works against the geth..."
"May work against the reapers as well," the assassin finished.
"Precisely." He slipped into thought for a moment. "We will need more assistance if we're going to weaponize this for use against the geth, let alone the reapers."
"May I suggest Henry Lawson? His previous contributions-"
"Are out of the question," he interrupted, rising to his feet. "I have no desire to alienate my best operative on a hunch, Leng. Not while there's still time to pursue other leads."
"Apologies, sir."
The Illusive Man sat back down in his chair, taking the time to down another sip of scotch. "Luckily, I know of another who can help us. Overlord will rise again."
Note from the author:
Here's your Khelish word of the day!
hyelon = "rubbish", considered an expletive on-par with "shit"
P.S. And to those who've reviewed so far, I wish you tanks.
Many tanks.
Awesome tanks.
Ones that fire exploding,
Laser-guided,
Deep-fried,
Holy hand grenades of Antioch.
Yeah...
Something like that.
Just not hammerhead tanks.
They suck
So,
So,
SO Much.
(Don't believe Cortez.)
P.P.S. Yes, deep-frying DOES make it better.