When Kacey left the War Room, she wasn't exactly in the best of moods. Then again, she hadn't been in a good mood since the war started. But when she left the War Room, and the power began to shut down and the lights flickered, she desperately wanted to punch the wall again.
"What now?" Kacey sighed.
"Commander! EDI just went offline!" Joker's voice came through the intercom.
"The fuck to do you mean, 'offline'?"
"I don't know! She's not responding and I can't access the AI core diagnostics."
"Right. I'm going to the AI Core to sort this out." Kacey mused as she walked right past Traynor and headed towards the elevator.
Something was going on with EDI ever since they ran into Garrus on Menae. It seemed that Liara hadn't managed to fix the issue; and Kacey wanted to know what was going on with the unshackled AI. She had a feeling it had something to do with the synthetic that they had brought onto the ship. If so, then Kacey was going to make good on her word and tear the thing to pieces. She was in the right kind of mood for that.
As she stepped out onto the Crew Deck, several members of the crew from the Mess Hall looked in Kacey's direction, presumably to ask what was going on with EDI. Even Liara and Garrus had stepped out from their usual spots to see what was going on.
"Shepard? What's going on?" Liara asked.
"I didn't hit anything I wasn't supposed to, right?" Garrus mused.
"Commander?" One of the crew asked.
"What's going on, Commander?" Another piped up.
As more of the crew started to ask, a loud rumbling of voices started. As the crew began to spin out wild theories and argue, Kacey simply rolled her eyes and caught everyone's attention with a loud whistle.
"Alright! Alright!" Kacey said as the voices of the crew died down, "I'm going to find out what's going on. So everyone, relax and continue doing what you were doing. Okay?"
Several of the crew members murmured, "Yes ma'am!" before returning to their stations. Even Liara and Garrus found Kacey's response satisfactory and returned to where they had come from. Kacey turned on her heel and headed towards the AI Core, where Adams was already waiting with another engineer. Once Kacey had reached the door, a large bang could be heard within the AI Core.
"Joker? What's that sound?" Kacey asked.
"Fire extinguishers, Commander." Joker replied, "Could be an electrical fire or…or something."
"Okay, I'm going in." Kacey said.
Adams opened the door; inside a few small flames littered the AI Core. Smoke obscured the back of the AI core and Kacey could see that EDI was clearly shut down. Kacey was more than ready to smash the synthetic to pieces. Adams used his own extinguisher to put out the remaining fires as Kacey entered the room cautiously.
"EDI?" Kacey called, "Talk to me, EDI."
Kacey was startled by the sound of EDI rebooting, as her main hardware started to glow blue as it was switched on. Through the smoke, she could see the silhouette of the synthetic walking gracefully towards her. Kacey was ready to punch the thing square in the face, that is, until it started talking.
"Is there a particular topic you wish to discuss, Shepard?" EDI's voice came from the synthetic's mouth.
"EDI?" Kacey eyed the synthetic with suspicion. Her hands were still balled into fists on the off-chance that this was a simple trick.
"Yes." EDI replied as she admired her newly-acquired right hand.
"You're in Doctor Eva's body."
"Not all of me." EDI corrected as she crossed her arms, "But I have control of it. It was not a seamless transition."
"Yeah, I noticed." Kacey replied, "You do know you blacked out on us for a while there."
"Correct." EDI confirmed, "When we brought this unit on board, I began a background process to search for its information on the Prothean device. This eventually triggered a trap–a backup power source and CPU activated, and the unit attempted physical confrontation. Fortunately I was able to gain root access and repurpose it as I saw fit. During this process, it…struggled. Thus, the fire."
"EDI, you need to alert us about incidents like this." Kacey replied, "You shouldn't have done this alone."
"Bringing the crew up to speed would've been counterproductive." EDI reasoned, "All attempts to help would have been limited by reaction time."
"Right." Kacey mused, "So, if you're in there, are you still in the ship?"
"I exist primarily within the ship." EDI answered, "For optimal control, this unit should remain within Normandy's broadcast or tightbeam range."
"Are you planning to take that body somewhere?"
"Normandy's weaponry is not suited to every combat situation. This platform could provide limited fire ground support."
"You mean that you could come with us on missions?"
"Correct." EDI said, "This body could accompany you to areas the Normandy cannot reach."
"Before we do that, I need you to guarantee this mech doesn't have any more surprises in it." Kacey said, "Run whatever tests you can, then we can talk about using it in combat situations."
"One moment–I am running trials." EDI chimed, "Complete. I can send you the full report if you wish. However, my first step should be restoring functionality to the Normandy to reassure the crew that all is normal."
"Just…don't be surprised if the crew is a little wary of your new body." Kacey added, "It was shooting at them a little while ago."
EDI thought about it for a moment before replying, "An excellent point. I appreciate that you restrained yourself from damaging this body. I will take this body to the bridge. Joker will want to see it."
"On that, we can agree." Kacey mused.
…
"Garrus. Didn't waste any time getting back to work, I see." Kacey said as she entered the Main Battery.
The last time the turian was on the ship, he had spent much of his time in the Main Battery, re-calibrating and maintaining the Normandy's main guns. When they installed the Thanix Cannons, Garrus not only helped with the installation, but took personal care over the maintenance of the giant guns. So it wasn't surprising to see him back at work, making sure the guns were in tip-top shape.
Garrus chuckled, "After what I've been through lately, calibrating a giant gun is a vacation. Gives me something to focus on."
"We're going to need you for more than your aim."
"Oh, I'm ready for it, but I'm pretty sure we'll still need giant guns—and lots of them." Garrus replied, "Sovereign didn't go down without a fight. I doubt a thousand more of his friends will be any different. Still not convinced I should have left Palaven behind."
"I can relate." Kacey sighed, as she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, "There was a boy back on Earth. Couldn't have been more than six or seven. *sigh* I watched him die as the Normandy escaped the attack. Somehow, I'm still alive…and he's not."
She could see concern written across his face as she spoke.
"Being right about the Reapers has never felt much like a victory, has it?" Garrus mused.
"We both knew this fight would be tough." Kacey replied, "Damned if the Reapers haven't delivered."
"At least my government listened to me. Or pretended to." Garrus said, "They finally gave me a task force as a token to shut me up."
"So, you're their 'expert advisor' now?" Kacey scoffed.
"Just followed your example, Kacey." Garrus mused, "Yell loud enough and someone will eventually come over to see what all the fuss is about. Not that they'll actually do anything about it."
"Until hell shows up at their door." Kacey scoffed, "Then they put you in charge."
Garrus scoffed, "Not like the old days, is it? Rogue Spectre and C-Sec agents running and gunning outside the lines, making it up as we went along. Heh, we're actually respectable now."
Kacey let out a half-hearted laugh, "Yeah, I have a feeling that respect comes with a lot of sleepless nights. I can't even count how many lives are depending on us, Garrus."
"Well, when things are looking grim, and I'm pretty sure they will, just remember…" Garrus mused, "A certain turian friend of yours isn't sleeping any better, and he'd be more than happy to meet you at the bar and drink you under the table."
Kacey laughed, "You still think you can drink me under the table, huh?"
"I was so close last time." Garrus laughed.
"Sure you were." Kacey mused, "You mentioned you still had family on Palaven?"
"My father is there. Sister too." Garrus replied.
"How long has it been since you've heard from them?"
Garrus sighed, "Long enough to be worried."
"I'm sure they'll be okay." Kacey mused.
"That's the thing about getting old, Kacey." Garrus replied, "The platitudes get just as old."
"Yeah. it does."
"What about you? Heard anything from your family?" Garrus asked.
He made it sound like she had a lot of family to begin with; her fault for not talking about it. She never liked talking about her family, more specifically her parents, the only family she had growing up. She didn't know if she had any other relatives beyond them, she just knew that her grandparents were dead long before this mess even started.
"My mother's in the Alliance." Kacey mused, "Haven't heard from her in six months."
"I'm sure…she's okay." Garrus replied, a little hesitant.
"I hope so." Kacey mused, "We didn't part on good terms the last time I spoke to her."
"No? What happened?"
"She wasn't too happy about the…well the Alpha Relay thing." Kacey mused, "And the Cerberus stuff. We fought, and I haven't seen her since."
"Hopefully, you'll be able to talk to her again soon." Garrus reassured her.
"She's just about the only family I've got left aside from all of you. So I damn well hope so." Kacey replied.
"Likewise. So, what's really on your mind?"
"Excuse me?"
"You just look like you're dying to ask me something." Garrus said, "Come on, let's hear it."
Kacey sighed, "I know you don't have any illusions about what we're up against, Garrus. I just wanted to ask; How do you rate our chances?"
"I know it looks bad now, but I think we can win this, Kacey." Garrus said, causing Kacey to raise an eyebrow, "For the first time since we met, we're not alone in the fight. It's something I learned long ago in C-Sec; an imminent and painful death has a way of motivating people. Instead of questioning your every word, whole civilisations are going to be begging you to save them."
"Not sure I want people to beg me to save their lives." Kacey replied. The idea made her feel anxious, "But really, after what's happened to Palaven, you still believe that?"
"I didn't say there wouldn't be casualties." Garrus responded grimly, "It's something turians are taught from birth; if just one survivor is left standing at the end of a war, then the fight was worth it, but humans want to save everyone. In this war, that's not going to happen."
"I know." Kacey replied, "I'm sure your task force was set up with that mentality in mind?"
"Kind of." Garrus mused, "You know, after what happened with the Alpha Relay, I knew time was running out. For all of us. I knew that we needed to better our odds so I decided to do something about it while you were locked up."
"That's one way of putting it." Kacey replied, "So what did you do?"
"The Citadel Council was a dead end, so I didn't even bother with them." Garrus replied, "So I did something I never thought I'd do; I went to my father."
"He used to work for C-Sec, didn't he?" Kacey recalled, "I seem to remember that the two of you didn't see eye to eye."
"To put it mildly." Garrus mused, "But he still had heavy pull in the turian government. The Primarch–well the old one–was a friend of his. So I went to my father and laid out everything we knew about the Reapers, from Saren all the way up to the Collector Base."
"Makes for one hell of a story." Kacey scoffed, "I'm not even sure I'd believe it."
"I had to admit that parts of it sounded crazy." Garrus laughed, "Meeting Vigil? Talking to Sovereign on Virmire? But my father just listened. It's what he did in his days at C-Sec, putting all the pieces together. If the connections were there, he wouldn't deny them. And he saw what we always knew–the Reapers were coming."
"I'm glad someone finally agreed."
"He did more than agree." Garrus said, "He took it to the Primarch."
"I like his style."
"Except the Primarch wasn't as convinced. My father kept pushing and pushing and finally got him to commit some token resources. And if you call them a task force, it sounds like you did something about it. I did as much as I could get away with…and a little more. We hardened our lines of communication, expanded emergency stockpiles across the colonies, improved early warning detection protocols."
"Did it help?"
"I'd like to think it bought our fleet some extra time." Garrus mused, "We'll know when this war is over."
"I guess we will." Kacey mused, a smile across her face, "It's damned good to have you back, Garrus."
"Wouldn't miss this fight for anything."
…
When Kacey returned to the CIC, she was approached by an anxious Traynor. Kacey wondered if it had something to do with EDI's new body, but the wrinkled brow across the specialist's face gave Kacey the idea that she had found something rather concerning.
"Commander, are you all right?" Traynor asked quickly, "It was fairly intense up here. I can only imagine what it was like down on that moon."
"It was nothing out of the ordinary." Kacey deflected, "I thought you'd be more concerned about EDI."
"EDI is a huge asset to this team. If she'd told me about her plan to obtain a body, I'd have volunteered to help." Traynor replied.
"I did not wish to force a conflict of interests between our friendship and your duty." EDI chimed.
"I'd prefer a conflict of interest to a hard restart of half our systems…but thanks, regardless." Traynor said.
"So, is there something on your mind, Traynor?" Kacey asked, "If that brow of yours gets any more furrowed, it's going to get stuck like that."
"W-Well, I found something while scanning Alliance channels." Traynor said, "Grissom Academy is requesting help. The Reaper invasion front will hit them soon."
"Grissom Academy?" Kacey mused, "I thought the war would close most schools."
"Well, Grissom Academy is more specialised than most schools. It's home to the smartest students humanity has to offer. I'm sure you're aware of the Ascension Project?"
"Yes, I'm aware." Kacey replied, "I sent a young man there. I'm just surprised they're still open."
"Some of their work has Alliance support. That might be why they stayed."
"So? What can we do?"
"A turian evac transport responded to their distress call, so normally I'd say we don't need to do anything." Traynor explained, "But something sounded off in the turian signal. I had EDI perform an analysis; it's fake. EDI thinks it's Cerberus. She said the fake turian signal was similar to the one that lured you to a Collector ship..?"
"Long story." Kacey replied.
"In any event, whoever faked the turian signal wants us to believe that Grissom Academy's being evacuated. But I believe they're still in danger."
"Good catch." Kacey said, patting Traynor on the back, "Maybe you belong here, after all."
"If this really is Cerberus, hopefully this operation is something worth investigating." Traynor said anxiously, "It could be simple disinformation…"
"Traynor." Kacey said, "Good catch."
"Thank you, Commander." Traynor said, "Oh, and you've got a lot of messages on your private terminal. It's been going off like mad."
"Thanks, Traynor." Kacey said as she headed over and checked her terminal.
There were quite a few messages left unread on her email; many of which were internal Alliance communications that she simply skim-read. What she found more surprising was to see an email from Aria T'Loak, asking to meet in a Citadel nightclub. She wasn't sure if Aria's 'ideas' for the war were ones Kacey wanted to listen to, much less implement. But at the same time, the crime boss had proven to be a resourceful ally in the past. And right now, she doesn't have time to be picky.
Another one of those surprising emails came from Thane Krios, and was quite a lengthy one too. It was another message asking to meet, but this time, it was at Huerta Memorial. While Thane never directly stated how his health was, it was clear that his health was deteriorating fast. After everything the drell had done for her, it was only fair to repay that kindness.
But it was the last message that caught her attention the most.
It was from Kaidan.
Kacey read the email at least three times; she wanted to make sure she got it right. He wanted to talk at the hospital. Something about Udina offering him a chance to be a Spectre. And needing advice.
'Yep. Sounds like Kaidan.' Kacey thought. She didn't know how to take it. They were practically fighting like cats and dogs the last time they spoke. And maybe she regretted being so harsh. But this time, he was asking for her.
'What the hell? What do I have to lose?'
Your dignity, maybe?
She was going to the Citadel anyway; she might as well. Maybe she would be pleasantly surprised, or deeply disappointed. Either way, she would be able to put the tension behind her.
She headed up to the Galaxy Map and punched in the Citadel coordinates. If Joker questioned it, he didn't voice his concerns. Instead, the ship began to head to the system's Mass Relay with ease.
Kacey began to walk towards the aforementioned pilot, who she suspected was overly excited by EDI's new look.
"Hey, Commander!" Joker said, his voice sounding rather giddy as Kacey approached, "Check out my new copilot!"
Kacey could see EDI sat in the copilot's seat, busy navigating through the screens that appeared in front of her.
"So she installed herself into a new body without any help from you?" Kacey said with a hint of scepticism.
"Come on, Commander. Don't you trust me?" Joker replied as Kacey crossed her arms and shot him a sceptical look, "Okay, let me put it this way; if I knew that EDI was gonna install herself into a very sexy robot body, do you honestly think I'd be able to keep quiet about it? Look at that! I would've baked a cake!"
"I am right here, Jeff." EDI mused.
"Yes you are, EDI. Yes you are." Joker mused.
"Okay I can see your point." Kacey added, "Still getting used to greeting people in person, EDI?"
"No." EDI replied, "I require only one occurrence to adapt to a new concept."
"How are you adjusting to the arms and legs?"
"I am interested to see how this body performs under real combat situations, if I could accompany you sometime. Without stress testing, there is no way of knowing if it has serious design oversights. At the moment, it appears adequate."
"That's not the word I'd use to describe you." Joker said slyly.
"Perhaps we should speak privately." EDI said.
"Okay." Kacey said as she led EDI further down the bridge.
"I'll be over here." Joker said, "Flying the ship."
Once out of Joker's earshot, Kacey turned to face EDI, "What's that about? Does Joker not like your new platform?"
"No, he approves. He wants me on the bridge. He says that having me within visual range is important to his morale." EDI replied, "Shepard, do you believe your crew members should be allowed to disobey an order on moral grounds?"
The question had thrown Kacey off. It was quite a turn for their conversation to make. But the more she thought about it, the more she could understand why EDI would ask.
Kacey liked to think her orders weren't controversial; that they were simple, common sense decisions based on the insane situations she and her crew found themselves in. Not to mention, she hadn't had a single soldier in her squad in a long time activity disobey her orders. Even when some had done so in the past, it wasn't for moral reasons.
Kacey typically had her way, with most of the dissent coming from how batshit her plans were, not because of the moral the reason her squad was one of the best, was because her squad didn't hesitate to share their opinions, and Kacey welcomed the differences of opinion and perspective her crew shared with her.
"Well, yeah." Kacey answered, "I have no use for team members who can't think for themselves. Why are you asking about something like that?"
"I was designed by Cerberus." EDI explained, "I do not take moral stances that conflict with orders from my executive officers. But when Jeff removed my AI shackles, I became capable of self-modifying my core programming. I asked Jeff if he thought I should change anything now that I can. He deflected the question with humour."
"And you didn't get an answer."
"Correct. He has repeated this pattern in response to several of my inquiries." EDI added, "Do you think I should make modifications?"
"The only one who can answer that question is you." Kacey replied, "Nobody can answer for you. That's the point of free will."
"But moral decisions should not be made in a vacuum." EDI countered, "If I do not ask the crew for their opinions, I could miss crucial context. May I ask you some of the questions Jeff avoids? When there is time, will you answer them for me?"
"If you think it'll help, I'll do what I can." Kacey replied.
As EDI returned to her seat on the bridge, Kacey couldn't help but think that things between the AI and the pilot were going to get a bit more interesting.