Kal stood at the edge of the balcony atop the stone tower with Vel'Lara by his side. In the far distance they could make out the outline of a single Geth dropship. To better examine it, Kal brought his two fingers to the side of his helmet and activated the magnification feature of his visor. Any Quarian civilian wouldn't have this feature built into their enviro-suits, but Kal, being a veteran marine of many years, had picked up many upgrades along the way.
"What is it? What do you see?" Asked Vel as Kal's visor greatly increased magnification of the dropship in view. Kal instantly became aware of a squad of Geth troopers positioned in guard positions around the dropship and several Geth Primes lifting heavy equipment and assembling it a few hundred yards from the dropship.
"They're building something. Looks like some kinda...beacon." replied Kal as he continued his observation. He zoomed out slightly and noticed another squad of troopers performing a sweep-search pattern toward their position. He placed the reticule of his visor over the Geth hunter that seemed to be leading the squad and zoomed in on it's head.
"Looks like we're gonna have company soon..." Kal said as he watched the hunter look to its left and right. No more than a second later the Hunter's head looked straight into Kal's eyes even from it's mile distance as it's center eye rotated; the Geth impression of a glare.
"Real soon!" yelled Kal as he deactivated the zoom feature.
"What's wrong?" Vel asked nervously as Kal turned to face her.
"Geth recon squad, we gotta get out of here before-" The rest of Kal's words fell silent before the loud humming of the Normandy SR-2's engines as it flew overhead in the opposite direction and the outline of an object dropped out of its cargo bay doors.
"I'll be Keelah damned..." Kal whispered to himself as he watched the Normandy break off and fly back up into low orbit.
The M-44 Hammerhead dove to the ground rapidly; the friction of the air causing it to scream as it went. The hover engines kicked in a few hundred feet before hitting the ground; slightly bouncing off the grassy land and sending sparks up in the air upon impact but doing no damage to the vehicle itself.
Inside the cockpit, Shepard griped the two handles tight as Tali, sitting in the co-pilots seat, began to flip dozens of switches bringing the rest of the vehicles systems online.
"Stabilizers active, engine temperature normal, weapons online. Garrus?" said Tali flatly as she turned to look at Garrus sitting in the gunner seat behind her.
"Targeting system looks good, hit it Shepard." said the excited Turian; eagerly awaiting something to shoot at. Shepard threw the throttle up and the Hammerhead shot forward as the thrusters engaged. A moment later, as the Hammerhead softly hovered over several hills, Shepard picked up a familiar voice coming through his com link.
"This is squad leader Kal'Reegar to unidentified hovercraft, come in, Shepard you there?" Shepard adjusted his communicator to transmit through the Hammerhead's computers so his team mates could hear as well.
"This is Shepard, good to hear from you Reegar." the commander responded enthusiastically.
"Shepard, you crazy human bastard, you have a bad habit of showing up right when I need you." Shepard chuckled as Tali joined in.
"Reegar, it's Tali, what are you doing here?"
"Was about to ask you the same thing Ma'am. You probably noticed the Geth frigates in orbit. They've got three dropships in the region. They're setting up some kind of beacon and deploying recon squads."
"What are they doing here Reegar?" asked Shepard.
"Your guess is as good as mine. We've got a squad of troopers headed our way. Think you can assist?" replied the Quarian marine as he and Vel'Lara made their way down the spiral steps of the 5-story high stone tower.
"Find a safe place to take cover, we're on our way." said the Spectre as he hit the booster controls for the Hammerhead's engines.
"Make it quick Shepard, I don't know how long we can-" Kal felt all the air leave his lungs as he and Vel exited the tower and found themselves at gunpoint before two Geth Prime units.
"Reegar?" Shepard called over Kal's communicator. "Kal what's wrong?" The Quarian marine didn't move a muscle as he tried to formulate a plan of escape. Vel stood next to him with her hand shaking; barely able to keep her pistol in her hand.
Kal slowly reached for the grenade hooked to his belt and held the button on it down. "Vel'Lara..." he whispered.
"Sir, I'm scared" she said anxiously.
"Listen...as soon as I throw this grenade, I want you to run, you hear me? I want you to run as fast as you can and don't look back..."
"What?" she said with a gasp. Reegar slowly began to countdown the seconds.
"3...2...1..."
"Wait!" she yelled. Suddenly the Geth Primes lowered their weapons and a single Geth infiltrator stepped through from between the units. Kal carefully removed his large finger from his grenade; deactivating the detonator. The lone Geth infiltrator walked closer to the two Quarian marines and glanced at both of them as its face plates pulsed. It made a series of stuttering sounds and then finally spoke.
"Network download successful. Consensus: We do intend physical harm to Quarian-creators. Alert: Activating containment protocols, this area will now be quarantined."
"Quarantined?" Just as Kal spoke, a wave of blue energy flew across the sky; emanating from each Geth dropships landing zone and finally coming to the ground; forming a pyramid shaped shield with a hexagon texture. It was massive, completely engulfing the kilometers of terrain they now stood inside.
Shepard and his team mates could all see it from the windows of the Hammerhead. "Kal what just happened?" said the Spectre over the radio.
"I think it's best you ask the Geth when you get here..." Kal replied. Tali and Shepard shared a puzzled expression at one another before returning to the controls.
Moments later the Hammerhead pulled up in front of the ruins entrance. Shepard, Tali, and Garrus all hoped out just as Kal, Vel, and the Geth were walking toward them.
"Reegar, you alright?" said the Spectre as he suspiciously watched the movements of the two Geth Primes.
"Fine, but the way these guys put it, won't be for long" replied Kal.
"What are the Geth doing here?" Tali exclaimed. "And what is this barrier?" Before Kal could answer, the Geth infiltrator stepped forward.
"Containment barrier has been erected to prevent escape of Old machine platform."
"Old machine? You knew about Sovereign?" Shepard asked.
"Terminal Legion's anti-virus software sent out a network wide alert before succumbing to complete control of Nazara. We we sent to contain and destroy the malfunctioning platform."
"That explains why you came beyond the veil"
"Yes"
"But that doesn't explain why you didn't shoot us" Kal interjected.
"Harming Quarian-creators would affect future cooperation with Shepard-commander. It is our desire that a truce be maintained until existence of Old machine threat has been eliminated."
"I guess Legion did more for us than we thought" said Tali quietly.
"So what do we do now?" Garrus asked, giving an open hand gesture. Shepard glanced at the Turian then back to the Geth platform.
"You're sure Sovereign is in this area?"
"We detected anomalies in this region. There is a 98.3% probably" the synthetic replied.
"Let's get to work then. We can search the northern perimeter, you and your Geth troops can take the south" the Spectre suggested.
"We concur. We will execute seek and destroy protocols."
"Mind we hitch a ride Shepard?" said Kal using his thumb to point at Vel'Lara who shyly stood next to him. Shepard smiled and used his head to motion towards the Hammerhead. The Spectre and his team as well as the two Quarian marines then boarded the Hammerhead. After everyone took their seats inside, the engines fired up and Shepard boosted away toward the North.
The Geth platforms all watched as the M-44 sped away then all turned and began to march south. Before they could even take two steps however, a blue fire-ball emerged from the darkness of the ruins and impacted with one of the Geth prime units; disintegrating it in an instant. The second Prime unit and the Infiltrator platform both spun around to see a single Geth platform walk out of the darkness; blue colored energy spiraling around its body.
The Prime was first to react; lifting its heavy mass accelerator chain gun, it unleashed a merciless barrage of thermal shells onto its enemy. But this proved to be useless. Sovereign lifted his hand in front of the shots which caused them to deflect off an invisible barrier. The prime ceased fire to see that its attempt to damage its foe was futile. Sovereign responded by sending a ray of energy spiraling out of its finger which wrapped itself around the Prime and lifted it off its feat.
"Error, motor controls no responsi-" before the Prime finished its sentence, it was thrown hard against a stone pillar causing it to shatter into dozens of pieces of scrap. The Infiltrator began to fire its pulse-rifle; only managing to unload half a clip before a bolt of lightning fired from Sovereign's eye, sent it dragging across the ground on its back.
The Infiltrator struggled on the ground as it tried to lift its torso, but with no avail. It's servos squeaked and sparks flew from its joints from the bitter amount of damage it had received. In in cyan-colored vision it could see amongst the static, the overpowered figure of the its enemy standing over it.
The Infiltrators voice cycled through several different high and low pitches as it tried to speak. "Critical-critical-critical error, damage-damage sustained, attempting network up-" Sovereign thrust his fist down into the chest of the Infiltrator and ripped out a handful of wires which immediately deactivated the platform.
Sovereign stood over the metal corpse for a moment; observing the damage, then knelt down next to it and slowly reached out with his glowing finger which proceeded to connect with the optic of the downed Infiltrator.
Energy flowed through his arm and entered the corpse of the Infiltrator; causing it to twitch radically.
"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL..."
Back inside the M-44 Hammerhead, Kal desperately tried to establish radio contact with the rest of his team. However, the Geth quarantine barrier was generating massive amounts of interference. Shepard had explained their situation; Sovereign's return and Legion's kidnapping. As much as it pained him to hunt the Geth that saved his life several times, he knew it had to be done, lest Sovereign grow more and more until finally reaching his full power.
"Squad Leader Kal'Reegar to teams 1 and 2" static was the only response. "Damn shield is screwing with my radio. Tali, is anything you can do?" Tali activated her omni-tool an accessed Kal's suit interface.
"Just a second..."
"Tali?" Vel said half-excited. "Tali'Zorah? The Quarian hero of the citadel?"
"Um, yes that's me" Tali replied showing little enthusiasm.
"Wow! I mean, it's pleasure to-I mean this is such an honor. You've done so much for our people."
"Well I'm flattered Ms..."
"Oh uh, Vel, Vel'Lara vas Neema" she answered trying to maintain composure.
"Thank you Vel'Lara" Tali said as she turned to look at Shepard. "But Shepard is the real hero to our people." she finished using a loving tone. Vel looked at Tali's eyes through her visor then turned to Shepard to see the loving smile on his face.
"Oh...I mean OH!" Vel found herself embarrassed at her realization and decided not to carry the conversation any further.
"Try it now Kal" said Tali, deactivating her omni-tool.
"Teams 1 and 2, this is Squad Leader Kal'Reegar, do you read?" two voices started to reply over the radio; garbled at first, but becoming clear after a few seconds.
"Corporal Sen'Chelor reporting sir" "Laan'Elra here, good to hear your voice sir."
"Listen up marines, mission parameters have been changed. Report back to the shuttle immediately." Reegar ordered.
"Roger that sir. Just need to clarify a few things with these Geth over here and then..." Kal could hear shots ring out over the radio. "Yuday no! Keelah!"
"Corporal! Report!" Kal shouted.
"Private Yuday is down! The Geth are-" static took over.
"Corporal? Corporal Chelor come in!" nothing but static. "Elra, whats your status!"
"Kal, what's going on?" Tali exclaimed with deep worry.
"My team, I've lost...Shepard turn to heading 327. I need to get to back to shuttle now!"
"Hold on." With a sharp turn, the group inside the Hammerhead was thrown out of their seats as Shepard jerked the vehicle in its new direction.
A minute later they passed over a grassy hill with the Quarian transport in sight. Shepard put the vehicle in hover mode as it came to a halt a few hundred yards from the transport. Reegar was the first to hop out of the hatch of the Hammerhead followed by Vel and Tali. Just as Kal began running toward the transport, Moro'Zenia leaned out of the shuttles side hatch. Kal stopped in his tracks.
"Thank Keelah..." he whispered to himself. His relief however, was quickly replaced by panic as a Geth dropship flew overhead and dropped a Geth Colossus behind the transport.
"No...Zenia get out of there!" Kal yelled. It was too late. The Colossus fired a plasma burst from its optic which impacted with the transport; causing it to explode with its contents being instantly incinerated by the engulfing flames.
The shock wave from the blast threw Kal and his fellow Quarians, Vel and Tali, off their feet. Kal's vision blurred as he hit the ground. Slowly, the sounds around him became muffled as darkness crept over his eyes until finally, he succumbed to unconsciousness.