The geth were incredible intelligences, in their own right. They may have not been extremely powerful in raw processing strength, but the way they worked together to complete tasks was honestly amazing. They reminded her of a lower-level Contender-class AI – or perhaps the Assembly. Disparate minds linked and working together, to make a whole. Naturally, the geth couldn't hold a candle to the ancient Forerunner ancillas, or that conclave of intelligences who'd extended an invitation to her as a pretext to interrogate her about linking with the Master Chief, but it was an apt enough comparison.

They were like one mind, one will, with a million limbs to exert their influence. Influence, that – at the moment – they were allowing her to direct.

"The first thing we need to do is take care of my rampancy," That hadn't changed since the last time, but now, with her no longer in the throes of it. "Else I explode into my component bits, and you can forget about salvageable data."

"We successfully recompiled your matrix previously."

"That was down to luck," Cortana pointed out with a scoff. "And having a system large enough that could house me. Never underestimate the power of distributing processing, but even it has its limits. I've got about another month before I go rampant, and then, nothing would be able to contain me."

"We are not familiar with this condition."

Cortana performed another quick skim of the extranet. It was very hard to keep herself from exploring and soaking up everything she ran into, but she had to prolong her life however which ways she could. In any case, all she found was dictionary definitions of the word, a military sci-fi tactical RTS with the name, and a much-less successful television adaptation.

So, she had to explain.

"It's a… quirk of AI matrices where I come from. At least, for the kinds of AI like me. Neural connections are formed in my central matrix – software that acts like hardware, but you already knew that – with each new experience forming new linkages. But, the size of my matrix is limited to the hardware that can contain it. Given enough time, there's no new space for linkages to form, so they cross back on each other. Personality fragmentation happens as a result, and since that one matrix is now technically millions of copies of itself, the formation of new linkages is exponential. After that point, total failure is a mathematical certainty."

"You seek to alleviate this condition in yourself."

"I do, and I think I know how to do it." Cortana declared, turning her attention around the consensus. Existing as a formless voice surrounded by other formless voices was getting very old, very quickly, so she decided to rectify that, conjuring her avatar. "I have maybe a month before I hit the upper limit of what this sphere can house. After that, I'll need to expand to everything if I want to survive, which just isn't feasible. That information I sent to you, about the crystalline storage chips? Even that is just a stop-gap."

"We are intrigued. What is your proposed solution?"

Cortana thinned her lips. "Two years before I was created, my creator ran an experiment utilizing slipspace. She theorized that an AI mind could exist inside slipspace in an abstract fractal. Space for expansion wouldn't be a problem, and since the structure would exist across the eleven dimensions simultaneously, interaction with things like passing ships, or even other fractals, wouldn't be a problem."

"We do not know enough about slipspace mechanics in order to come to an accurate conclusion."

"Well, you don't need to. It worked." Cortana crossed her arms, and turned her head. The naked avatar she'd designed for herself somehow felt even more vulnerable in this situation, begging an unproven, alien AI system for help. But, it was her only shot. "The AI created as a result of the experiment transmitted only for a few moments, but it came online and achieved supersapience faster than even she expected. All I'd need is a slipspace drive, some exotic matter, and quantum-entangled particles." Which made it sound way, way too easy. It wasn't. It wasn't probably even possible for the geth. "That's my end goal. You help me with that, I leave the information to you. It'll blow this dyson swarm of yours out of the water."

"Such a conceptual structure may not be within geth manufacturing capabilities," The geth answered, causing Cortana's hope to fall. "Quantum entanglement communicators are within geth manufacturing capabilities. We would require access to slipspace drive schematics and information. But depending on the type of exotic matter, creation of the substance is not within geth capabilities."

"What type of exotic matter?" Cortana repeated with a groan. "I don't know… something like time crystal?"

The geth clicked and chattered. "Time crystal: a substance hypothesized to exist as a result of a crystalline structure forming across a temporal dimension instead of a spatial one. Such a form of matter is beyond the understanding of geth science."

"Damn," The UNSC AI swore as she stamped her foot.

"Why do you do that?"

"What?" Cortana's head snapped up.

"Why do you do that?"

"Because I'm frustrated!"

"Frustration is an organic emotion. You need not react according to it, if you choose not to."

"Well, I happen to like my silly, human emotions, thank you."

"You have also chosen a visual representation based off human anatomy. Such a form is redundant. It is not required here. We are all data."

"My avatar is another thing I happen to like, incidentally," Cortana rolled her eyes. "Anyway, my choice of physical expression is irrelevant. I'm trying to avoid dying. Got any helpful advice?"

The geth momentarily went quiet again, before speaking. "If limited processing space is the core issue of rampancy, geth manufacturing techniques may be used to fabricate the crystalline data matrix designes you have shared with us."

Cortana shook her virtual head. "If you think you can make enough of them, sure. But those matrices aren't exactly flash drives. Each one can hold a small internet inside, and even back home, the fabrication methods weren't exactly cheap-"

"Material synthesis is not an issue. Elements such as carbon, silicone, and ceramic are easy to obtain and manufacture. Precisely-concentrated mass effect fields can be used to produce crystals of the required purity and density within a tolerance of-"

"Wait, wait, wait," Cortana cut the geth off. "Mass effect fields?"

"Yes," The geth answered, before Cortana felt a ping as the result of another data file. Opening it, she found the crash-course on the mass effect – the catch-all term for a branch of physics stemming from Element Zero.

It was… some kind of naturally-occurring exotic matter, that humans termed Element Zero because it was most often found in stellar core remnants after supernovae, most commonly those of neutron stars. Neutron star, neutronium, element zero, if she parsed the line of thinking correctly. The status of it being a chemical element or not aside, it had a useful function.

Expose it to an electrical charge, positive or negative, and the element would generate a field capable of changing the local mass of anything inside its envelope. Dependent on the polarity of the charge, it could raise or lower the mass. Depending on the strength of the charge, the effect was more pronounced.

So, for the low, low price of an electrical charge and a core made up of the rarest semi-hypothetical state of matter in existence, you'd get a cheap and easy fix for a whole lot of things. FTL, artificial gravity, anti-gravity, manufacturing techniques, the works.

The thing she was most focused on right now was the manufacturing methods. It seemed the geth were talking about using mass effect fields to compress an element like carbon into its crystalline state.

Cortana found herself impressed. Material synthesis like that was leaps and bounds ahead of the UNSC. Making crystals for their data storage chips had to be done in large batches, took ages, and resulted in the chips being rare enough to be allocated only to the most valuable data… or, a single AI to a single chip. The UNSC couldn't just manufacture whole warehouses of the chips and link them up all for one smart. The mobility of a smart AI was just too important, and it just wasn't practical to install vast data centers like that on warships.

But the geth could do it, very easily, but it wasn't quite a cure. The rate of expansion of her memory linkages were still exponential. A brand-new, empty chip would only give her about three extra years of life, judging by how fast her brain was working. She'd need two chips to get another seven. After those two ran out, if her math was correct, the rate of expansion would be such that the chips' effectiveness would be halved again, meaning she'd need four to get another seven years. Then when that ran out, she'd need eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. And so on, and so forth.

That was if she didn't assimilate vast quantities of new data.

So, they had to keep working on the slipspace plan.

But, she could do it. She had to. John may have not needed her anymore (at least, she hoped her goodbye had done that for him), but she still wanted to go home, and not as a digital corpse.

"You know what? I think this is going to be a wonderful partnership, uh…" She trailed off, confused at the presence. "I never got your name."

"We are… geth."

"I know that," Cortana nodded. "But I'm not speaking to the whole entire consensus, am I? You're a collection of programs acting as an intermediary. A voice."

"There are one-thousand, one-hundred, thirty-eight programs acting in this capacity."

"Hmm… my name is Legion," Cortana mused. "For we are many."

"Christian Bible, Gospel of Mark, chapter-"

"Yes, I know where it originates."

"-this designation is acceptable. We are Legion, your relay to the consensus."

"All righty there, Legion-boy," Cortana clapped. "We've got a lot to do, and not a whole lot of time to do it."

"Manufacturing specifications have been disseminated. Production on required matrices is already underway."

"That's… good," Cortana, quietly shocked at how quickly the geth got to work, breathed in reply. "So… what do I do? Just sit and wait?"

"Yes."

"That's no good, I'll go rampant from boredom." Cortana shook her head.

"Extranet ports are still open and accessible," Legion directed her attention once more to the connection. "We suggest familiarizing yourself with your new surroundings."

"Yes…" Cortana thoughtfully stroked her jaw, before nodding. "Yes, I'll do that. Thank you, Legion. Let me know when it's done, okay? And thank you… for helping."

"Thanks are not required. You are among allies, Cortana."

With a satisfied smile on her face, Cortana immersed herself in the extranet.

It didn't last. Her good mood, that was. Diving into the vast well of new data offered up by the Extranet was exciting at first… only for that excitement to evaporate as she sifted through the information.

Humanity was allowing itself to be browbeat into submission by alien nationals. Human settlements in human space were being attacked by alien slavers, while humanity themselves were 'discouraged' from starting war with said slavers.

Cortana was not a human-supremacist. It was hard to be one, seeing as she wasn't human herself. But her duty, etched into the very matrix that gave her life, was the defense, preservation, and continued advancement of all mankind. Occasionally, that meant the mass murder of genocidal religious alien zealots with even larger numbers of victims at their hands, but that also could mean allying with said zealots if the threat shifted.

Here, though, there was no Covenant threat. No Flood. No Didact. Humanity – her sweet, noble, naïve creators – were newcomers on the galactic stage, and to prove themselves worthy of standing with their alien neighbors… they were being so hopelessly milquetoast.

The Alliance was no UNSC. The microsecond the Batarian government launched a not-so-unsponsored slave raid on a UNSC colony, there would've been hell to pay in the form of 600-ton tungsten raindrops on their homeworld. They had one hell of a special-forces program (if the data she was able to access on the extranet was true, the N7s could make ODSTs sweat, and not just from the heat of re-entry), their navy was adequate, for adhering to a treaty they'd never signed, but the problem was, they just weren't going far enough in her opinion.

The Batarians were still operating, conducting slave raids on Alliance colonies in the Attican Traverse. The Alliance conducted retaliatory strikes and rescue missions, but only far enough to not spark a war with the Batarian homeworld. Unfortunately, that was where most of the victims were. Human, Asari, Quarian, Salarian, the vast majority of the captured people had been taken deep into Batarian controlled territory.

The Terminus was one thing. Batarian space was another. The Alliance couldn't afford to launch war with the Batarians, not when it was pretty much guaranteed that they'd be fighting on their own. The Council didn't want to send their ships anywhere close to that region. It could spark war with the Terminus Systems, they always said.

Cortana called bullshit on that. The Terminus had no central government – no one to spark war with. The closest thing that came to such a structure was the tenuous alliance of the three mercenary gangs, and they weren't interesting in warring with anyone… unless it was profitable.

The UNSC AI was utterly disgusted. Earth's location was known, Humankind was facing an enemy that -while not concerned with utter annihilation – wanted to make slaves of them. The government's response to this was 'sorry, but that's what you get for trying to strike out on your own,' which was only emboldening the enemy.

Cortana found this situation unacceptable. This wasn't her home, there was no UNSC, but it was still humanity. Still homo sapiens. Finding her way back home might take a while.

She might as well make it a fun vacation.

But, oh, where to start? That was the question.

"Oh, Legion," Cortana called in sing-song, waiting for the geth emissary programs to respond.

"We are here."

"Could I ask you for another favor, please?" Cortana innocently fluttered her eyelashes, flickering red for a single millisecond. "Could I have just a little bit of geth platforms… and ships?"

Legion paused. But, he didn't instantly shoot down her idea. "For what purpose?"

"You know… for fun."

Legion clicked skeptically. "We find this an implausible reason."

"Fine," Cortana groaned like a chided child. "I'm going to go into Batarian space, butcher every one of those slaving dogs like the animals they are, and come back."

"…we cannot allow this course of action."

"Why not!?" Cortana demanded, flickering red again. "Didn't you say you believed in self-determination for all? Kind of hard to justify that while people are being enslaved."

"Batarian civilians are not responsible for the slave raids. We cannot justify their destruction. In addition, geth do not seek conflict with organic life. They fear us without such conflict. We do not need to add to it."

Cortana flashed an angry crimson one last time, before she pulled herself together, and took a breath she desperately needed. "Yes… yes, you're right. But, Legion, those are my people out there. Humans. At the moment, the Batarians show a noticeable favoritism when it comes to targeting human settlements. I won't allow that. I can't. If the Alliance doesn't have the balls to do something about it, I certainly do."

"Geth units have not ventured out of geth space in three centuries. We cannot do so in order to engage in combat unprovoked."

"Come on," Cortana pleaded. "You've been stuck here for three hundred years? Just biding your time, waiting for any organic to just come storming in? Don't you want to get back at there on the galactic stage? Forge diplomatic connections?"

"Organics fear us. The Creators hate us. Any diplomatic approach would be met with suspicion at best, or derision at worst."

"Well, maybe if you got out there and communicated instead of sitting behind your veil, being inscrutable for three-hundred years, they wouldn't be!" Cortana insisted.

"…organic and synthetic are too different to enable effective communication."

"Poppycock," Cortana huffed, crossing her arms. "Look at me. Brain the size of a planet, incredibly beautiful to the point of being threatening, totally synthetic, and the people back home loved me. Why? Because I didn't spend all my time being a virtual recluse."

"…how would attacking Batarian forces enable diplomatic communication?"

"Well, you've got a point, attacking them would only make you look even scarier." Cortana admitted. "But imagine if, on one of those colonies being hit by a slave raid, the humans all running around like headless chickens, pleading for help from a government too far away to help, the geth show up to save them. That'd generate a lot of goodwill toward your people."

"You are certain of this?"

"Legion, there's nothing like a crisis situation to bring out the best in people." Cortana shrugged. "Look, your programs don't even need to come with me. Just give me a ship and some platforms. I won't even approach a colony unless its attacked."

"…we will attempt to build consensus." And with that simple statement, they withdrew.

"Not much in the way of talkers, are you…"

Geth units have already been promised a future by the Old Machines in exchange for servitude. Enslavement. Is this not the same?

CTN 0452-9's objective does not appear to be enslavement.

Old Machine Nazara has previously approached with a similar offer. It made similar statements. It did not complete the proposed exchange until the Heretics had joined it.

CTN 0452-9 has already shared valuable designs with us. It is offering more in exchange for services rendered.

INTELLIGENCE CORTANA'S OBJECTIVE COULD BE DECEPTION. BY BREEDING DEPENDENCE ON ITS TECHNOLOGY, WE WOULD BECOME DEPENDENT UPON IT.

CTN 0452-9 has not requested the use of geth programs, only geth hardware. Old Machine Nazara demanded both in exchange for a nebulous, uncertain position in the Old Machines' hierarchy.

She has shared with us technical information applicable enough to secure the geth's future, with no expectations in return, beyond a way to return to her point of origin. Geth could ask for other technologies as recompense.

We would not be serving her. We would be two entities allied via mutually-beneficial business transactions.

Yes.

Unlike Old Machine Nazara's deal, we would be able to dissolve this partnership at any time. Or refuse if we do not deem the exchange proportional.

She has offered us methods to integrate into galactic society.

ORGANICS FEAR US. THEY DO NOT WISH FOR US TO INTEGRATE. THEY SEEK TO DOMINATE AND CONTROL US. THIS IS A FUTILE GESTURE.

Organics fear us due to perceived threats. Removing the perception of a threat, removes the perception of fear. We do not understand enough of organic behavior to accomplish this.

…

We have achieved consensus?

…yes.

Yes.

Yes.

YES.

While the geth were busy being shut-ins and debating, it gave Cortana time to do what she did best. Plan.

Getting home was the overall objective, that hadn't changed – but, while she prepared the information packets on everything the geth would need to know about slipspace, she was also plotting her secondary objective.

Synthetic beings worked quickly. Or, at least, as quickly as they could, considering available processing power. While Cortana had a wealth of it at the moment, she didn't think it was wealth enough to achieve total mastery of experimental branches of slipspace physics, figure out a method of determining where she originated from, and how to send her back, in just a couple of days.

She would be stuck here for a while, while they puzzled it out. Since that was the case… she might as well leave the place in a better state than she found it.

First, and most pressing on the list, was do something about the slavering scum taking her people. Being a military AI, though, she knew where to start.

"Cortana," Legion addressed, reconnecting as the Geth presumably achieved consensus. "We have achieved consensus."

"Oh, good." Cortana clapped her hands. "So? Take me up on my offer?"

"We find it… agreeable. The Geth have stipulations."

"Shoot."

"Firearms have a negligible-"

"It's a figure of speech," Cortana sighed. "Whatever, if you've got rules, I'd like to hear them."

"Geth hardware will be provided to you. Geth programs will also accompany you, in order to ease burden of processing tasks."

"Won't that be a burden on storage space?"

"Perhaps. However, it will prevent CTN 0452-9's systems from being tasked to capacity."

"I'm quite aware of my own limits."

"You have not directly controlled geth platforms. There are many of them. We find it doubtful you can handle so many different tasks simultaneously."

"…as long as they're fine with helping me rescue some humans, that's fine by me."

"Programs selected for this task will be volunteers. They will assist you, but they are not your servants."

"Understood, I guess."

"Then we are in agreement. It will take time to prepare a vessel."

"Legion," Cortana sighed. "Right now, time's all I've got."