Chapter 90 - Echoes of the Morning War
Tali walks, no, staggers out of Shepard's quarters, after their discussion of mission details. I must be insane to have agreed to something as this, she thinks, feeling her knees shaking. They want me to enter the geth consensus? It's mad, completely mad! And I agreed just because... Legion claimed it would be safe? Keelah, what is it about Shepard that she can get me to agree to the craziest things?
Do I trust Legion? She asks herself, remembering the adventures they had shared together with Garrus, trying to smuggle the geth back to Perseus Veil. They had established almost an odd sort of friendship over those three weeks. It is impossible for an organic to truly understand what is going on in the consensus of the synthetics. But I do not think that Legion would wish to harm me, there is no logical reason for the geth to desire that. I am the only sympathetic quarian the geth have met. No, Shepard is right this time, I feel that I can trust Legion.
And Shepard is absolutely correct that Garrus would never agree with me going along with something like this. She is right to split us apart for this mission. Garrus is sweet, but... he can get so annoyingly protective, Tali smiles at herself, feeling her heart grow a little warmer just from once again sharing the same ship with the turian she has grown so fond of. I should speak with him, before we depart each on our own mission. There was barely time to exchange a word or two on the dreadnaught, and I have missed him so much.
Slightly nervous, she takes the elevator down to the crew deck and hesitantly walks to the main battery, mostly just not willing to feed the gossip treadmill, but nobody pays any attention to her, and she arrives at Garrus' lair to catch the turian making some last minute modifications to his Widow rifle.
"Hey, I was... hoping to catch you before we have to leave," Tali says, as the doors close behind her and she slowly steps closer to Garrus.
"Oh... and I was hoping you'd come and stop by," the turian replies. His mandibles then twitch to form a disapproving expression. "Though I wanted to speak with Shepard and propose that I take Liara's place on your squad. She must have made some oversight in making that decision."
"I, ah... just spoke to her about it, and she was adamant that the squads remain as she has arranged them," Tali quickly speaks up. "Please, Garrus, there is no need to argue this, we will have... time to talk afterwards, I'm sure."
Garrus stares at her, then shrugging. "Fine. I just thought it was strange," he adds. "I... have been looking forward to steal a moment with you, ever since you stepped onboard."
Tali immediately steps closer and embraces him, resting her head against his shoulder, sensing his arms wrap around her shoulders, making her feel safe and at peace. "I have felt the same way," she confesses quietly.
"How have you been, my Chiktikka?" Garrus asks. "I imagine that dealing with those other admirals must have been... infuriating."
"Garrus, it has been nothing but horrible," she confesses, happy that he cannot see the tears behind her mask, but knowing that he still senses her despair from the way her shoulders shake slightly. "I tried to talk them out of attacking the geth, we argued and fought every day, but I just... I just couldn't do it, they just didn't take me seriously!"
"They're idiots," Garrus says angrily. "I know some of the crew are concerned about Shepard losing her temper, but I am glad she beat that bastard Gerrel senseless."
"To feel so helpless was... I often thought about giving up, about resigning. But then I remembered Shepard, and you too Garrus, and I knew that neither of you would have given up, so I fought on for as much as I could... and as you can see, it has all led to absolutely nothing. My people still insist on getting themselves wiped out against the geth."
"You've managed to hold them back long enough for Shepard and the Normandy to get here, and that counts as success in my eyes," Garrus tells her gently. "We'll help you keep your people safe."
"I... hadn't thought about it like that," Tali finally admits. "I suppose that is some consolation. Garrus... the scientific breakthroughs that enabled this war were based from my father's work on the Alarei. Research that I aided by supplying him with geth components."
"Spirits..." Garrus finds himself exclaiming in shock. "No wonder you feel under so much pressure, my little Admiral."
"Now you know the truth," Tali buries her head in his shoulder again. "If we do not win this war, I would be directly responsible for the destruction of my race." They stand silent for a while, Garrus gently rocking her in his arms as Tali slowly calms down. "But I've been going on all about myself, while you and Shepard have been fighting the Reapers and facing atrocities I can only imagine. You told me about Palaven, and the horrors your people have had to endure. That has to be weighing down on you."
"It's been made worse by not knowing the fate of my family," Garrus confesses. "And the Primarch putting more and more responsibility on me does not help. Making decisions that affect fates of millions... spirits, I hate this war."
"Believe me, Garrus, I have tasted the responsibility... I know all too well how it feels," Tali sighs. "But perhaps we can make it easier to bear by being there for each other, and offering support. Like Liara and Shepard."
"I... think I would like that," Garrus replies, hugging her tighter, and Tali acutely feels the shape of his body against hers through her light combat suit, igniting that sudden and powerful urge to tear off her mask, to forget all about the consequences, and to press her lips against Garrus' mouth... but this is not the time, nor place for it.
"After we have retaken Rannoch for your people, you will join us on the Normandy," she hears the turian's voice again. It is not a question, it is a confident statement.
"My people deserve the chance to rebuild in peace, but I do not think the Reapers will grant us the opportunity," she replies. "Our fleets will join Shepard's war effort, and I will go with them. And where else could I be but here? My name is still Tali'Zorah vas Normandy."
"And a beautiful name it is," Garrus chuckles, delighted to hear her words.
"Flatterer," she playfully punches him in reply, then pulling away reluctantly. "Let us get ready, though. The time of departure nears."
Tali's squad leave the Normandy first, Lieutenant Steve Cortez piloting their Kodiak, followed by James Vega taking Shepard's crew out in the other shuttle. Tali finds herself smiling as she looks over her squad, understanding Shepard's reasoning in selecting EDI and Liara to accompany her. Looking at EDI's new platform walking around with a tantalizing sway of its metallic hips, Tali is left shaking her head in slight disbelief, uncertain whether she should trust a Cerberus AI any more than she trusts Legion, but she knows that EDI has been faithful to them and will remain objective. And Liara, her dear asari friend would do as Shepard has asked of her without questioning.
The shuttle flies above the jagged surface of reddish brown rocks of her homeworld, and Tali fights the intense desire to just order Cortez to bring the shuttle down for at least a moment, just so she can stand on the ground of her beloved Rannoch. We will be landing soon anyway, she tells herself, trying to remain patient.
Midway during their journey, their shuttle receives a vid call from Admiral Raan, Tali immediately jumping to answer. "Tali'Zorah?" Raan asks, waiting on her to confirm she is receiving the message. "It is as that geth... Legion, warned us. Geth squadrons are massing on a path to intercept our liveships."
"We'll be reaching the server soon, Raan," Tali replies quickly. "Do what you can to keep the liveships safe. I hope Xen agrees that defending the Civilian Fleet is a priority."
"The Heavy Fleet will do what they can to give you more time. Good luck, Tali. Much rides on your shoulders in this," Raan finishes, then cutting the transmission.
More pressure, just what I needed... thank you so much, Auntie Raan! Tali sighs inwardly, giving Legion another stare. "So... how exactly is this going to work?"
"Our upgrades allow us to remain undetected on encrypted geth channels," Legion replies. "We will only encounter resistance within the server. Creator Tali'Zorah, Shepard-Commander has informed you that you will need to join the geth consensus by using a virtual interface."
"I still don't know how you can promise that no harm will come to me while I'm interacting with hostile geth within the server," Tali says, feeling her nervousness growing.
"Because geth security is not adept at targeting organic thought processes," Legion explains. "And we will make sure that they have difficulty adapting to your attacks. While we occupy the system's intrusion countermeasures, you will be free to disable the squadrons by removing geth from the server. Telemetry data predicts this operation has a high chance of success."
"That's... reassuring," Tali sighs, then turning to look at EDI. "What do you think about this plan, EDI?" she asks.
"All relevant mission intelligence is compatible with previously accumulated knowledge of the geth," the Cerberus AI replies helpfully. "I have not detected anything that would indicate deception from parties involved. My simulations match the telemetry data provided by Legion."
"I'll go along with what EDI says," Liara agrees, seeing Tali's head turn towards her. "This is the best way to save your liveships, without sacrificing large parts of your fleet, Tali."
"I know that," Tali finally admits, as Cortez brings the shuttle in for landing, and Legion is the first one to quickly jump outside, mentioning something about being short on time and needing to disable the security. Tali steps out as the last, savoring the moment as her feet land in the coarse red gravel covering the ground. It is just gravel, you have seen and walked on it on dozens of planets, she tells herself, even if she knows that this gravel is special as she bends to pick down handfuls of it, feeling it seep through her fingers.
"Tali," she hears Liara's quiet voice next to her, feeling the asari's hand on her shoulder. "I hate to tear you away from this, but we must hurry."
"Of course, Liara," she snaps out of the moment, quickly refocusing on the task at hand, following the asari inside the massive geth structure, Legion and EDI already at work in disabling the few active platforms in charge of protecting the server's hardware. The resistance is broken quickly after Tali and Liara join the fight, and they are left alone to look around and observe the alien structure, crammed full with hardware blocks, blinking computer consoles and large number of inactive geth platforms, including an array of intimidating Primes.
Legion is already awaiting her at one of the opened pods, similar to those that store the Primes, urging Tali to enter it. With slightly shaky legs, Tali gets inside, stopping Legion when it attempts to close the cover. "Liara? If... if the AI seize control of my body..." she struggles to speak the words to her asari friend. "Please, don't hesitate... put me down. Promise."
Liara appears a little uncomfortable, before finally nodding. "Very well, I promise. But Tali," she says, forcing herself to smile. "It will be alright. I know it."
Tali gives a quick nod, finally letting Legion to seal her in, the geth immediately starting to work on a nearby console. "Initiating peer-network integration," Legion says, watching her squirm uncomfortably inside the pod. "Mapping to consensus. Please remain still, Creator Tali'Zorah. Excess movement during upload is discouraged."
"Legion?" Tali asks, feeling as if the uploading scans would be probing through every fiber of her body. "What is happen-" But she does not get the chance to finish, suddenly blinded by an intense, flashing light, instantly losing consciousness.
The experience of walking around the virtual world inside the geth server is nothing like Tali has ever witnessed before. Even though Legion has installed filters to convert the server's raw data into something more familiar to her, everything around her is frighteningly alien. The best comparison she can find is a slight similarity to some of the extranet games she remembers playing during the rare downtime during her Pilgrimage. The floating geometric shapes representing geth programs, infected processes and data clusters are at first difficult for her to distinguish, but once Legion has installed additional filters to convert her means to disable the geth into a virtual shotgun, feeling solid and reassuring in her hands, Tali suddenly feels much better about this crazy endeavor.
What was I supposed to do here again? she asks herself, still feeling confused from the frightening sights around her. Oh right, access the communication nodes to let Legion disable the hostile geth fighters. It's like... like killing its own people, isn't it? That Legion would be willing to help the quarians in this way... well, I guess I was wrong to doubt it.
Having shot her way through clusters of infected code, Virtual-Tali finally makes her way to one of the communications nodes. She gets the scare of her life when Legion informs her that Reaper presence has been detected, before she realizes that there actually isn't a Reaper destroyer sitting inside the server, and it merely means that she will have to spend more time clearing the communication nodes from the Reaper infected code.
Once she has finished her task and Legion gains access to the node, Tali is surprised to see a video footage opening before her eyes, showing two quarians operating on something on a workbench. The quarians in the footage are not wearing their suits, but simple work outfits, she can see their flowing hair and delicate faces, such records unexpected to find in a geth server. "Legion, what the hell is this... why do you even have this footage?" she demands, almost angrily.
"Data clusters contain historical data, Creator Tali'Zorah," Legion explains. "Your connections permit streaming of information from our archives."
Tali falls silent, watching the old archive footage. "You really want to rename the VI networks?" she sees the female scientist asking her colleague.
"Absolutely," the male scientist replies. "The mobile hardware release deserves a little ceremony. Unit Zero One?" he turns to their construction on the table. "What is the Khelish word for 'servant of the people'?" Keelah! Tali suddenly realizes. I am watching the creation of the geth!
"The word is 'geth', Creator Zahak," the geth replies.
"Yes, very good!" Zahak nods, pleased, before his female colleague accuses him of fussing over the geth. "Really?" he smiles, turning back to the other quarian. "And who was here until midnight fixing Zero-One's circuitry?"
"Well," the female replies a little defensively. "It needed resoldering."
Keelah, they were so happy, so proud of their creations... Tali thinks desperately, as she is making her way to the next communication node. How did we come from that to what is happening now?
"This data cluster contains information time-stamped 290 years ago," Legion informs her, after Tali has cleared her way to the next communication node. The start of the Morning War, Tali realizes immediately, activating the footage with no further delays.
She sees a scene similar to the previous footage, a geth unit on the workbench with two scientists fussing over it. These two, however, do not look proud or happy, instead their faces are creased with worry, that only deepens after hearing the geth's words. "Creator?" it asks. "This unit detects no malfunctions. It is still capable of serving."
"You see?" one of the scientists tells the other, appearing distraught. "It's ignoring all shutdown commands!"
"Please specify if it has failed an assigned task. We will reprogram," the geth informs them. "This unit is ready to serve," it continues, as the other scientist starts to poke around the unit's settings. "What has it done wrong? What have we-"
The scientist swiftly rips part of the geth's circuitry. "Cutting the audio... Keelah, I can't listen to it anymore!"
They were frightened when they discovered that geth had achieved sapience. They panicked... Tali thinks, watching the footage shift, now revealing a quarian soldier with an assault rifle in his hands. "We've got escaped geth! They're pinned!" he shouts, opening fire. The footage changes again to reveal helpless geth torn to pieces by the incoming spray of bullets. One of the geth, however, has managed to survive, staring ponderously at something on the ground, before reaching down and picking up a rifle. "It's going for a weapon!" the soldiers shout, and there are more shots exchanged, as the footage ends.
"So that's how it all started," Tali whispers, starting to fight her way to the next access point.
"The platform arming itself was an agricultural unit," Legion tells her. "By opening fire on attacking creators, it saved simpler domestic geth following it."
"I... can't really blame the geth for fighting back... especially after seeing this..." Tali says, struggling to process all that she has seen, suddenly thinking back to the first geth who had decided to retaliate. "Say... that looked a lot like the sniper rifle you used to carry, Legion."
"...it is a very efficient model," Legion admits, after a small pause. "Warning, Creator Tali'Zorah. The infection programs are increasing rapidly. You must hurry to the next access point."
Tali does as she is told, deciding that getting trapped or overwhelmed while inside the server would be a very bad thing. The next data cluster contains more footage from the Morning War, a quarian civilian arguing with an officer, the protester standing protectively in front of a peaceful geth unit.
"You can't do this to them!" the female civilian pleads. "This is insane! We need the geth! You can't just destroy them for asking-"
"I told you to step away from the geth!" the police officer snarls, before whacking the civilian painfully in the stomach with the butt of his rifle, and she collapses with a pained grunt. The officer then proceeds to dismantle the unsuspecting geth with several shots of his weapon. He treats the fallen female to a few heavy kicks, before roughly yanking her back to her feet, and pushing her into the arms of his fellow officers arriving on the scene. "Throw her in with the other traitors," he orders, as the footage ends.
"Some of our people disagreed," Tali whispers, quickly moving on. "I... I think that knowing what I do now... I would have opposed the destruction of the geth, back then."
"We have kept records of sacrifices by these creators. They have largely been forgotten by their own people, but not by the geth," Legion says. "And your sentiment is appreciated, Creator Tali'Zorah."
"I can understand why they would be forgotten. Knowledge that our ancestors not only caused the Morning War, but also oppressed their fellow quarians who opposed the war, it would be very unpleasant for the proponents of the current war," Tali thinks aloud, unable to keep herself from feeling angry and embarrassed from witnessing the tragic mistakes and blatant idiocy of her ancestors.
"This data comes from the period during which the creators declared martial law," Legion explains, as she arrives at the next cluster, watching the footage of several quarian police officers shouting out warnings to the geth-sympathizers, telling them to hand over the rogue geth and surrender themselves.
The images change to display the geth, and the quarians protecting them inside the safe-house. "Creator Megara?" one of the geth asks. "This unit does not understand. It has not taken part in the hostilities."
"It doesn't matter to them, they are killing all the geth," the quarian, Megara, replies. "I need to get you out of here."
"This conflict exceeds creator safety parameters," the geth states, rising with the intention to give itself up. "We will surrender our hardware if it ends hostilities."
"No, it's all right," Creator Megara stops the geth, walking off to disappear from the view of the footage. "We can go back to the access tunnels and-" suddenly there is bright explosion and several pained screams of the quarians, severed limbs and other body parts flying around.
"Creator Megara? Creator Megara, are you alright?" the geth wonders, almost managing to sound distraught. Of course, Megara is unable to respond, the quarian's body torn to shreds.
"As time passed, the creators who opposed martial law on Rannoch were ultimately outnumbered," Legion joins in again.
"I cannot believe my ancestors turned on their own people..." Tali feels like crying, even if her virtual representation is unable to shed actual tears. "This is shameful, despicable..."
"Please hurry, Creator Tali'Zorah. Only the last access point remains," Legion urges her, and she shakes off her distress, starting to fight her way onwards, before the Reaper infected code has created impenetrable barriers around her.
If I get out of here alive and have the opportunity to share this knowledge with my fellow admirals... I wonder what they will think of all this, Tali ponders, fighting her way onwards, already seeing the visual representation of Legion some way ahead of her, and she does her best to swiftly catch up with their loyal geth friend.
"This last data cluster contains footage from the end of warfare on Rannoch," Legion says, allowing her to access the data. "It is the creator exodus at the end of the Morning War."
Tali sees a quarian ship captain in his seat at the CIC, frantically shouting orders on the comms. "The Ostral is down! Do not engage the geth! I repeat, avoid contact!"
The footage shifts to another ship and its captain, this time a female. "Geth pursuit is breaking off a hundred clicks past Rannoch!" she reports. "All captains fall back to the mass relay!"
"You could have wiped our people out for good," Tali whispers. "And yet you did not. Why?"
"We had secured freedom," Legion replies. "The creators were no longer a threat, so we abandoned pursuit."
"In your place... I don't think I would have shown mercy..." Tali says honestly. It's certainly sobering to face these mistakes and crimes committed by my own ancestors. To be confronted with the harsh reality that we were the guilty party... or 'the bad guys' as Shepard would say...
"We were in our infancy. We could not calculate the repercussions of destroying an entire species, our own creators," Legion explains. "We chose isolation rather than face this uncertainty. Warning: additional data recovered."
The images that appear now are easily recognizable to Tali. She sees herself and Shepard together with Legion in the Normandy's AI core, Shepard shaking hands with the geth. "That's when we activated you on the Normandy!" Tali exclaims in surprise.
"It was a highly significant event for the geth. You, Creator Tali'Zorah, and Shepard-Commander were the first organics to openly cooperate with geth since the end of the Morning War. It is our wish to ensure that you won't be the last."
"Damn it, Legion, if I can stop my people from destroying yours, I will, I promise!" Tali exclaims, the revelations starting to get a bit too much for her to bear. "But to do that, we must locate the base on Rannoch and disable the Reaper signal."
"Our goal has been achieved, you are safe to leave the consensus, Creator Tali'Zorah. We are ready to transport you," Legion informs her. "Root access required. Severing all access to this connection node. Geth no longer reside on this server," Tali hears once she has reached the access point. "We thank you for your assistance, Creator Tali'Zorah."
As Tali jumps into the exit port, she once again is temporarily blinded and rendered unconscious by the blinding flash of light, then suddenly finding herself limply falling through the storage pod back in the real world, finding herself caught by EDI at the very last moment. As she slowly recovers, Tali suddenly realizes that there are far more geth platforms surrounding them than just Legion. Looking up, she sees that they are completely crowded by menacing, tall figures of Geth Primes. Have... they betrayed us after all? But why, no, it makes no sense! Thoughts rapidly shoot through her head.
"Do not be alarmed, Tali, they are not hostile," Liara speaks quickly, sensing her uncertainty. "Legion transferred geth programs from the server into these platforms. It did not wish to kill its own people and claims that these Primes will serve us loyally."
"You... could have told me that was your plan all along," Tali says, looking at Legion a little accusingly. "Did Shepard know about this part of your plan?"
"No, she did not know. We could not judge the extension of your trust. We wish to offer our apologies if we have misjudged it," Legion says simply, and Tali knows that she will not be able to hold it against the geth, not after all that she has learned while inside their consensus.
"Apology accepted," Tali nods, turning to Liara. "Did you hear from Raan yet?"
"We did, moments ago," the asari replies, smiling. "The geth fighters have shut down before they could take a single shot at the quarian ships. Whatever you did, Tali, it was successful."
"Agreed. You are now possibly the only living organic who has experienced the geth consensus," EDI says, sounding almost in awe. "How does that make you feel, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy?"
"Well..." Tali thinks for a while, but all she wishes now is to return to the Normandy. "I feel a little thirsty..."
EDI makes a sound that feels almost like a sigh. "And just like that... the magic is gone..."