A/N: Had to split the Rannoch main mission in two, because it was getting a bit too long. Consequently I'm not super pleased with this chapter, it just doesn't seem that I injected enough originality into it, but... meh, I hope the next one and the big resolution to the quarian-geth conflict will make up for this one not being quite up to the scratch. :) In the meantime, you're all allowed to participate in the guessing game as to how this all will end!
Chapter 92 - Claiming Beachfront Property
Once back onboard of the Normandy, Shepard wastes little time in seeking out Liara, the asari sitting in front of the Shadow Broker consoles, all of them powered down and the XO office being strangely silent. Morgan approaches her bondmate and gently pokes her on the shoulder, Liara breaking off her meditation and opening her eyes, smiling as she sees Shepard having returned from her mission safe and sound.
"How did it go?" Morgan is the first to ask.
"It went very well," Liara replies. "Tali and Legion were able to shut down the geth server before the fighter squadrons managed to take a single shot at the ships of the Civilian Fleet."
"Good, their captains were on the verge of panic, thinking about trying to break the blockade and flee the system," Morgan says, nodding approvingly at the asari.
"The geth would have intercepted them at the mass relay and destroyed those ships down to the very last. This was a lucky escape, Morgan," Liara smiles, relieved. "Also, Legion transferred the geth programs from the server into Prime platforms, who have decided to oppose the Reapers and join our forces. You should inform Admiral Hackett that he has friendly geth heading his way."
"I'll ask Samantha to make the report, don't really feel like talking to Hackett now," Morgan grinds out the words, remembering her last discussion with the admiral. Liara looks at her curiously, about to ask for her reasons, but she quickly speaks up again, not giving the asari a chance to press her questions. "Did you see any combat? Any injuries?"
"Only very light combat and no injuries," Liara replies. "I do feel a little tired, we have been on two missions without much rest in between them. Why do you ask?"
"Legion thinks we will have the location of the base soon. There... might not be time to rest."
"It's alright, Morgan, I will cope, we all will," Liara speaks reassuringly. "Legion and Tali will be eager to join, I'm sure. Tali's experiences with the geth consensus appeared to have left her a little shaken." Shepard faces Liara with a questioning glance and the asari moves to explain. "It would seem that she learned some secrets of her ancestors that painted their actions during the Morning War in a very... unflattering light."
"For some reason I am not one bit surprised," Shepard sighs. "You know, Liara, the more we spend time with her people, the more... well... I'm not sure I want to continue this train of thought, really."
"It has been... frustrating," Liara says softly, turning in her seat to face Shepard and taking Morgan's hands in hers. "You haven't told me about how your mission to rescue Admiral Koris went."
"Oh, it was just fine," Shepard replies quickly. Just had to make another nasty little choice to decide who lives and who dies, she adds in her thoughts, the words remaining unspoken for now. "We rescued Koris, that is what matters," she adds, sensing unspoken questions on Liara's lips. "Let's hope he can keep the Civilian Fleet in line. Kaidan and Javik suffered injuries that will rule them out for the next mission, but James is fine and I don't think I could be able to keep Garrus out of action, even if he received a few nasty bruises."
Liara chuckles. "No, I suppose not. I understand he was a little upset that you separated him from Tali."
"Yeah, you could say that. Those two are kind of cute," Shepard grins, then getting interrupted on the comms, as Joker informs her that Admirals Shala'Raan and Tali'Zorah together with Legion wish to see her up in the War Room. "Come on, let's go," she takes Liara by the hand, pulling the asari up from her seat as they make their way to the elevator.
Raan speaks up as soon as Shepard and Liara enter the War Room. "Commander, we've located the Reaper base transmitting the short-range signal," she says, bringing up the scans showing the surface of Rannoch. "It is imperative that we launch our mission to disable the signal as soon as possible. The geth will soon regroup and resume their offensive. With their Reaper upgrades, they will tear our fleets apart, especially with Han'Gerrel unable to lead the Heavy Fleet!"
"Yes, Admiral Xen lacks the necessary ability... and authority to make effective use of the Heavy Fleet's resources," Tali remarks matter-of-factly.
"In that case, I guess we should not tarry around here," Shepard shrugs, reaching for her commlink to alert James and Garrus.
"We agree, Shepard-Commander. Once the signal is disabled the geth will pose no threat to the creator forces," Legion says. "However... while the Old Machines have unethical purpose, their upgrades have vastly improved our people. Observe." Legion brings up the image of a single geth unit processing a signal, then a more complicated structure of ten geth units networking cooperatively. Finally, he shows the most complex system that apparently represents a single geth possessing the Reaper upgrades.
"That's a fully evolved AI," Raan gasps, taking a step back.
"Yes. We do not agree with the goals of the Old Machines, but we find this growth... beautiful," Legion says, managing to sound full of admiration. "Indicative of life."
Shepard finds herself shaking her head vehemently. "You're still just an amazingly complex synthetic. To say that your people are alive... that's a bit of a stretch, I'm sorry."
"We have evolved!" Legion speaks adamantly.
"Reapers giving your people gifts to make a massive technological leap to advance thousands of years into the future... that's not evolution, Legion. Not natural evolution," Shepard responds just as passionately.
For organic races, that is what we refer to as uplifting. And I have seen how dangerous it can be. Mordin taught me that all scientific advancement is due to intelligence overcoming, compensating for limitations. Even if he did not speak of synthetics, why should it not apply to them, if they want to consider themselves alive? They have no limitations that would necessitate such rapid advancement. Super-geth... they frankly scare me...
"Do my people deserve death for wanting to retain these upgrades?" Legion asks her.
"They should have not allied with the Reapers!" Raan cuts in, protesting.
"The geth only did so to save themselves from you, Admiral Raan," Shepard glares at her before turning back to Legion. "And I do not think that the geth deserve to die, Legion. If there is a way for peace..."
"After what I saw on that server, peace is the least we owe to the geth," Tali says quietly, looking at her fellow admiral. "You believed what I told you, Raan. Surely you see that we must atone before the geth for what we have done?"
"I... I admit that the stories you told me were disconcerting... they did not match what I learned as a child," Raan admits after a pause. "But they are still slaughtering our people right now! We cannot allow ourselves to be distracted. Disable the Reaper signal, Commander. Then we will reconsider our options."
"This is encouraging and acceptable," Legion nods, now bringing up closer scans of the base where the source of the Reaper signal is located. "The surrounding area of the base is heavily fortified and the geth have placed a jamming tower there to prevent orbital targeting."
"Well, we expected this to be yet another ground mission, didn't we?" Liara adds with a smile.
"There is one advantage that we have over the geth," Raan says. "Admiral Xen developed a laser guidance system that can cut through the jamming. It has already been delivered to your shuttle, and has been synced to the Normandy's targeting computer."
"So the Normandy will be able to launch precision strikes at any targets I paint? Nice!" Morgan chuckles. "EDI, does that make you w-... uh, excited?"
"Crude imagery aside, yes, this should enable us to do exactly what you described, Shepard," EDI replies, managing to sound a little embarrassed. "But be advised that the geth will quickly reconfigure their jamming towers to neutralize our tech. Commander, do not use this system until you have reached the very base, and the source of the signal."
"The coordinates of the base have also been uploaded to your shuttle, Commander," Raan tells her, then offering her hand for a handshake to wish them luck. "Do what you can to save our people, Shepard, and the quarians will hail you as a hero for eternity... despite our past... differences."
"I guess that means we can leave," Shepard says, nodding to Liara, Tali and Legion to start moving to the shuttle, before switching her comms on again. "EDI? Tell James and Garrus to get down to the docking bay. We're departing in five."
Once inside the shuttle and on their way, Legion quickly outlines the optimal path to infiltrate the geth base, using the upper entrances to give the defenders less time to react. "We will deactivate defense systems and acquire a vehicle for extraction," Legion explains, answering Garrus' suspicion-laced inquiry about its own involvement.
"The geth still have not identified you as a hostile program?" Liara wonders. "I find that very surprising."
Legion lowers his 'head' before speaking. "This unit still carries remnants of the Old Machine upgrade code. This allows us to break any geth security."
"That thing is still controlled by the Reapers?" James growls dangerously, his hand slipping towards his assault rifle.
"Settle down, James," Shepard barks at the lieutenant, and Vega flinches back a little. "Clearly, Legion is not under Reaper control. And these upgrades could be highly beneficial to us."
"You didn't trust us enough to mention this, Legion?" Tali asks softly.
"Creator Tali'Zorah, you were tolerant of our recovery of geth programs and transferring them into Primes. But this matter is different... personal," Legion speaks, somehow its posture and voice managing to convey discomfort.
Personal? That's the first time I have heard a geth use this word. Has the Reaper Code truly allowed them to achieve this level of individuality? Damn... what do I do? Dare I be the one to unleash super-geth on the galaxy?
"You almost sound ashamed, Legion," Tali remarks thoughtfully, ignoring the way Garrus shakes his head disbelievingly.
"Shame is an emotional or cognitive response to societal judgment. It should not apply here." Legion hesitates before continuing. "We... apologize. We did not intend to cause offense."
Any more talking has to be cut short as the shuttle reaches a safe landing spot at the foot of the base and Legion swiftly parts from their company, heading to secure the escape vehicle, departing under glares by Garrus and James, clearly distrusting of the geth. Not having had much time for sightseeing during the mission to disable the geth server, Tali spends a few moments to walk circles in the red sand, taking in views of the barren, yet impressive rock formations of primal beauty. She drops down on her knees and plucks a few leaves from a stubborn bush, persevering in the gravel between the cliffs, the quarian staring at the green leaves on her palm in quiet wonder.
"I didn't have much time to even look around before," she speaks quietly. "It hasn't all sunk in yet. Homeworld. My homeworld. I never believed I would be standing here."
"I believed you would," Garrus says, stopping next to her and offering Tali his hand, helping her get back up to her feet. "But we still need to make this planet yours again."
"Look at the color of the sky..." Tali sighs, staring in the distance at the pale orange horizon. "And the majestic spires of the cliffs... they used to write poems about them..."
"Just like salarians write poetry about their waterfalls?" Shepard grins. "Wrex would have laughed at that and completely ruined the moment."
"Shepard, you're doing an impressive job of it yourself," Liara elbows Morgan in the ribs, but her eyes are glinting with mirth.
"You all have heard me say, 'Keelah se'lai'?" Tali continues to speak, Shepard for once just nodding and resisting another poorly timed joke. "The best translation I can come up with is 'By the homeworld I hope to see someday'."
"In that case," Shepard replies, readying her sniper rifle. "Let us go and render this saying completely and utterly moot, by making sure that seeing your homeworld is no longer a mere hope, but solid reality."
"Yee-haw!" James echoes her sentiment by a loud cheer, pumping his assault rifle in the air, eager to finally shoot something. "I need to kill something other than defenseless jamming towers! Let's go scrap some geth!"
"Lieutenant Vega is regrettably right," Tali admits, falling in step with Shepard as they resume their approach to the geth base. "Unfortunately, we won't be able to avoid killing Legion's people if this peace is to be secured."
"I can't believe you would have sympathy for them," Garrus sounds stunned, surprised by the change in Tali's viewpoint. "Their fleet is using the Reaper upgrades to rip through your ships as we speak. How can you defend them?"
Tali looks at Garrus, her shoulders slumping a little. "Because I have seen the past sins of my people," she replies quietly, but then falls silent, as they come up to the first line of the geth defenses, protecting the base.
They are met by large groups of simple trooper units that fall quickly before their impressive firepower. However, more and more geth pour out from the main entrance to the base on the lower levels, as the defenders realize that this incursion presents a very real threat. Legion reminds them over the comms that they must climb to the upper levels before the geth have fortified their positions there, and Liara is the first one to spot a series of connecting ladders leading over a section of massive pipes, onto a system of walkways and eventually reaching the upper levels.
Without hesitation, Shepard and her team start to fight their way towards the ladders, providing suppressive fire for each other as they quickly scale the obstacles on the way to their destination. Meanwhile, Tali continues to receive status updates from the admirals in charge of the fleets, syncing her omni-tool to Shepard and the others to keep them updated.
"Admiral Xen here," they hear the voice on the comms while on their way climbing to the upper levels. "The Heavy Fleet still has a clear path. We are pushing forward."
"Geth fighter presence remains negligible, while the bulk of their fleets remain withdrawn," Raan reports. "I am ordering the Patrol Fleet to break cover and engage."
"Things seem to be going better than we expected for the quarians, don't they Shepard?" Garrus asks, looking at her, having just taken down an audacious rocket trooper, trying to blow up the pipes they are currently traversing.
"Yeah. And you know what happens as soon as we begin to think that," Morgan grumbles back at him, too many painful experiences telling her not to get her hopes up. Besides, I don't want the quarians to wipe them out completely... the idea was to broker peace, damn it!
The passages on the upper levels feature fewer geth platforms, but there are more of the painful rocket trooper variety, who actually require solid tactics and coordination to dismantle without one of Shepard's team chewing on a rocket. Thus, their progress becomes slower and as Shepard finally leads her team into access corridor connecting to the base proper, Legion sends her a message with alert that the geth are about to close a blast shield over the source of the Reaper signal. Realizing that these are definitely bad news, Shepard readies Xen's modified new laser toy and rushes through the passages as her team do their best to provide covering fire for her.
She emerges to see the heart of the base, a deep cylindrical shaft, swiftly being covered by a thick, impenetrable blast shield, something that would clearly be impossible to shoot through. Swearing, Shepard manages to notice something at the bottom of the shaft, something large, in the color darker than deepest black, spiky and alien, glowing in an angry red light.
"Did you see that?" Garrus asks her, breathless. "Reaper tech! Something similar to what we saw on the dreadnaught, holding Legion."
"Yeah, I saw a glimpse of something nasty down there," Shepard nods. "We need to find some means to get rid of that blast shield."
"We have located an override atop the geth fortifications," Legion helpfully informs her. "It can retract the blast shield."
"By now they have probably scrambled all their defenses to stop us," James says, sounding annoyingly excited about the prospect of facing the bulk of geth forces.
"Just painting the target from here would have been far too easy, I'm sure," Liara remarks sourly. "It's just the same as on the dreadnaught, remember? Just reach the operations center and disable signal... but no, we ended up crawling through the main battery, flying in zero gravity and escaping in a geth fighter!"
"Sounds like fun!" James chuckles. "You need to take me on more ground missions, Lola. Unlike these complainers, I relish the challenge!"
The geth reinforcements arrive soon after they have started moving towards another entrance deeper into the base and hopefully leading to the top of the fortifications. The first wave consisting of regular and rocket troopers is repelled swiftly, but as Tali hacks the doors leading inside, Shepard knows that things will soon become progressively worse, and Legion apparently knows it as well, asking on comms whether they require assistance, informing them that it will continue to draw as many hostile geth from Shepard's position as it is able.
"Those Reaper upgrades have made Legion very effective," Liara remarks, as they enter deeper into the geth base.
"I would feel a lot better about them if they were not Reaper upgrades," Morgan mutters quietly.
"As long as Legion ends up helping my people and its own kin, I don't care if those upgrades came from the Reapers or not," Tali shrugs.
They have not made more than a few steps inside the base, as Tali receives more status updates from the fleet. "Admiral Xen to all ships! We've got geth frigates inbound on the Civilian Fleet!" comes the alarmed voice of Daro'Xen. "They are launching their counterattack!"
"Koris here. Civilian defenders are on intercept course, we'll hold them, Xen," Zaal'Koris replies confidently, at least making Shepard feel better about her decision to save him at the cost of his unfortunate crew, the admiral's leadership now clearly stabilizing the Civilian Fleet and saving many of their ships.
Battle becomes unpleasantly tense and heated inside the base proper, largely due to the appearance of several geth pyros. Shepard and her team are forced to employ every trick in their books just not to let the pyros in the range where their flamethrowers can become truly deadly. After fighting waves and waves of geth reinforcements, Shepard is starting to wonder just how many geth platforms are housed within the base, then deciding that she probably does not want to know the answer to that question.
At some point, however, there is a brief lull in the fighting, and she manages to crawl to a nearby console, locating the door override and quickly activating it before more geth arrive. After Legion's brief struggle to bypass the geth security, the blast shield is finally retracted, but when Shepard intends to lead her squad back out the same way they had entered, Legion predictably informs them that the geth have locked down the exit and they have no hope of getting through it, meaning the only way out is to fight through the masses of geth continuing to pour towards their positions.
"We have secured a nearby elevator that will take you to the upper level," Legion informs her on the comms, uploading the coordinates to her HUD. "From there you should have an acceptable line of sight for targeting."
"As long as there aren't even more geth on the upper level," she grumbles back in reply, once they have fought their way to the elevator and Liara hits a button on the console to bring the elevator platform down from the upper floor. It arrives, bringing with it several geth, including a Prime that immediately opens fire on her and Liara.
Feeling her shields winking out from the fierce fire directed at them, Morgan jumps aside, pulling Liara with her, throwing them both on the ground, safely in cover. Tali manages to distract the Prime briefly with her combat drone, which allows them to safely regroup and then slowly whittle down the mighty geth platform's impressive shields and armor.
"Hopefully there aren't any more Primes waiting for us on the other end of the elevator," James chuckles, as they quickly jump on the slowly moving platform, Garrus entering the command to take them up. "Uh... err..." Lieutenant Vega gulps, as he sees exactly what awaits them on the upper level. Their arrival is expected by not just one Prime but a trio of them, and Vega finds himself painfully punched on the shoulder by several of his squadmates. "Right, I deserved that," he sighs, as they scramble for cover from the incoming fire of the Primes and their sentry turrets.
"This will be tricky, Shepard," Garrus tells her, as the Primes approach, pinning them down somewhat hopelessly. "We could try providing cover fire for you as you make a mad dash towards the end of that walkway and quickly paint the target for the Normandy."
"What, and letting the rest of you get torn apart by the Primes?" Shepard bonks him lightly on the head. "We had this discussion before, didn't we? I didn't let you sacrifice yourself to stop that Reaper on Tuchanka, I certainly won't agree to such foolishness against damned geth!"
"Let's take out one of the Primes trying to flank us and then move to its position, evading the other two," Liara suggests hastily, the geth slowly moving uncomfortably close. Everyone jumps on this suggestion, Tali distracting one of the other Primes with her drone, James drawing fire from the second Prime, while Liara, Shepard and Garrus focus their attention to the third unit on their right, with their combined efforts finally bringing down the towering platform.
They barely manage to escape before getting cornered in the elevator, Garrus having to lead James to safety as Vega's face is fully covered in blood from a head injury, which fortunately is shallow, making it look far worse than it actually is. Tali has somehow managed to avoid a suit rupture this time, and Garrus seems no worse for wear than usual, Liara's white combat suit is smeared with blood in a few places, but the asari does not seem to even be aware of her injuries, and Morgan herself is hoping that they can wrap up things quickly, running rather low on medi-gel.
Now having the whole hall to maneuver in, they quickly spread out, luring the Primes into crossfire and attacking them from all possible angles, and after a prolonged firefight the last two defenders of the base explode in a shower of sparks, leaving the way clear for Shepard and her friends, and they hesitate no longer, running up to the small ledge that overlooks the heart of the base, targeting laser in Morgan's hand as Legion informs them that more geth reinforcements are minutes away.
"Joker, EDI? Are you getting anything?" she shouts on the comms, pointing the targeting laser into the dark shaft.
"Normandy's weapon systems have synced to your target, Shepard," EDI replies immediately. "Air strike in 15 seconds, I trust you have withdrawn to a safe distance, Commander."
Before Shepard can even ask as to what constitutes a safe distance, Normandy flies over their heads, making the swift precision strike and a loud explosion rocks the facility, a brief burst of fiery flames shooting up from the shaft. The ledge they have been standing upon becomes dislodged and topples down on the walkways below, sending them flying from the height of several yards, except for Liara who relies on her biotics to gracefully levitate herself to the ground next to the others.
Suddenly, they all hear a sound as if there would be something large moving around deep inside the shaft, making heavy clonking sounds. Shepard freezes, looking at a very worried appearing Liara, and for a moment it seems that everything around them is perfectly still, before another noise rises from the shaft. The horrible cacophony is indescribable, some sort of a massive metallic beast roaring angrily, but there is more to the sound, an ancient, alien undertone that while it lasts paralyzes them all with fear.
"Shepard..." Tali manages in a shaky voice as the noise finally ceases. "The source of the Reaper signal..."
Shepard snaps out of the numbing paralysis, tensing to dive aside as she sees a massive black metallic tentacle claw shooting up from the shaft. "Yeah, I get it!" she exclaims, rolling away and breaking into a run. "The source... is a Reaper!"