RR
BorgCubeN7 I don't plan on visiting the Quarians for a while I'm afraid. Thanks for the review though.
Tom476ty16 The Reapers in my opinion in the trilogy were not strong enough, so yeah in this story the Reapers can crack open a Relay ship without much effort. The hardest part for them will actually be hitting the vessel, due to Ultron's random movements.
Oxyd2013: This chapter delves into how relations are changing, in some ways for the worse and others for the better.
The Prime Cronos: I plan on looking more at technological incompatibility/differences when we get to the Citadel in a few chapters time. Thanks for the review.
Appbeza: The problem they have at the moment and which is hinted at is they lack the resources to develop much further, Humanity needs out of Sol.
/.../
Note: 1, I've just realised at some point I've changed Fleet Commander Quirinus name into Corvinus. From now on, the Fleet Commanders name is Quirinus. Corvinus was the Captain of the Avian in Ch1.
Note2: I've got something on over the next 5 weeks. I may be extremely busy, or have plenty of free time, I haven't figured that out yet, so if I'm quiet in the next 5, you know why. (I was going to add a lot more to this chapter but didn't get it complete, so that will come out as the next chap.)
As the President watched a video of the hostile vessel being swarmed by Ultron, he carried his head in his hands, and when the video is swapped out for a one recorded by the internal cameras of the Praetorian, the President orders for the video to be stopped. "I don't need to witness meaningless slaughter," The President then says, "How many did we lose?"
The Naval Commander breathes in before saying, "There is more you need to see. These are the images of the invaders."
The President reluctantly looks at an image of the invaders. "Asari and Turian?" He asks, but the Commander shakes his head.
"We don't think so, these creatures have undergone extensive genetic modification, and Melchett insists he and the Geth do not believe this to be a Citadel trick. Then, there is this." The Naval Commander plays a final clip from a Marine's eyesight; the marine has a glowing orange captive pinned to the decking, which then tells her that 'This is your destiny. Releasing control.'
"Now that is ominous," The President freely admits, before continuing, "But we will come back to it. What are our losses."
"124." The Naval Commander informs, "With 6 Ultron Platforms destroyed, and a further 12 rendered US." 'US' is military for 'unserviceable', "Ultron has set them to detonate their cores once they have discharged."
"I don't care about the platforms," The President dismisses with a wave of his hands, "It's the 124 that can't be replaced I care for. Who did we lose, what damage has been dealt? What do we do with the dead?" In Sol, the dead could be taken back to a planet, in relatively little time allowing the proper burial procedures to take place, but in the middle of nowhere, the bodies need to be placed somewhere, and 124 bodies take up a lot of space. On top of space, if not adequately treated, the bodies can start to produce dangerous pathogens and bacteria, which need taken care of. The Praetorian typically would have room for half a dozen dead in freezers, but those freezers will not fit the amount of dead.
"For your first question, we lost 16 of the first contact team, including the lead negotiators, and 108 crewmen. This leaves us with only 1 lead negotiator."
"And we can't send any more out because this alien transport device has shut down." The President mumbles, "What of the dead?"
"2 plans are in the works," The Commander admits, "1, we vibe them, or, we place their bodies in shut down UDP's, where the cold should preserve them." To vibe them is a complex procedure, where the bodies are frozen down to 3 kelvin, then vibrated, producing a horrible Human powder, then you evaporate it before bringing it home. While it sounds and is awful, vibing them is actually the safest solution available, and has been practised in Human space since the International Space Station existed. This solution would also remove the required space issue.
"UDP them." The President immediately answers, "We will bring them home if its the last thing we do. As for the current situation, from an armed forces point of view, what are you thinking?"
The Commander is happy to leave the morbid topic behind, "Thanks to stockpiling Goo before they left, the fleet has supplies for 1 year," The man begins speaking slightly slower than usual, "Longer now that 124 are not requiring it. If we use the Oasis supplies for crew only, we could stretch that to maybe 1 and a half to 1 and three-quarter years. On rationing, we could possibly reach 2, to 2 and a quarter years. My largest concern is their energy supplies the battle will have cost us. We could maybe shut down Ultron vessels and use them to charge the Praetorian and Stealth Vessels, but we have issues if that ship comes back for seconds. Without no further provocations, and Ultron not charging the other vessels, then they will last 1 and half years."
"If the energy is rationed?"
The Naval Commander shakes his head, "Not sure, I'll get an answer to you." The problem with the vessels is that despite not doing anything, they need to continually power the gravity generators for the soft and squishy humans inside, and that is highly taxing on energy supplies.
Due to safety, and costs, most Human vessels do not have a self-producing energy source such as a nuclear core; instead, they carry what is essentially super large supercapacitors that can be charged in a matter of minutes. This type of ship design is preferential for ships that never leave their home system, and have known locations they can resupply. Unlike nuclear ships, vessels using supercapacitors do not require nuclear experts to operate them or atomic refuelling every 30 years, and they pose a much smaller risk of contaminating a world if they have an unfortunate accident.
After a second, the Naval Commander continues, "If by the time the resources are exhausted and we still have failed to achieve FTL or open the transport device, then we are entirely reliant on either the Geth, or the Citadel, who you go for is your decision."
"Do we have any ideas on how to power this contraption up?" Asks the President.
"Truthfully," The Naval man responds, "We haven't the faintest of ideas."
"Just what I wanted to hear." The President replies sarcastically, "And if we do power up this device?" Then asks the President.
The Commander gives a small sigh before revealing, "I'm sick of all the little agitations," He begins, "Of having unknowns and fleets hovering above us, playing dumb and bending rules. Send a party through to construct a large defensive platform, along with enough Ultron platforms to outnumber any who oppose us. Sol is off-limits, and we should be finished playing games. It is time we show it. The Army front line troops have a saying; show you are up for a fight, and they won't want to fight, it is a good phrase and the Navy, in my opinion, needs to adopt it. At the moment, our ships are designed for Stealth, its good for keeping the enemy wary, but not good for letting them know we want it."
The President nods a little before sighing and saying, "As if this plan was that easy. The belters continue to cry about their need for the resources a large defensive installation requires."
"Just my opinion."
"Yes." The President muses. Turning his attention to others in the room, he then inquires, "So, what do we make of this glowing entity?"
A representative of Cerberus speaks, "I'm not sure I like our supposed destiny." This feeling is mutual for everyone in the room.
"So, no objections to me classifying them as hostile?" No one objects the Presidents idea, "So if it comes back, do we hunt it down and destroy it?"
The man in control of Sol's armies and militias speaks, "I think we need to push the Geth, get them to give us some of these 'heretics' to speak with. We do not know what or who we are playing games with."
An AI representative makes their presence known, the AI has a holographic form of a blue see-through Earth, and when one looks closely, they can see the image of the Earth is constructed from the numbers 1 and 0. "The Geth are unlikely to comply."
"Why?" Asks the man.
"Geth do not classify Heretics as Geth, but they are the same entity. It would be like saying a Belter is not Human because they carry different ideologies to the Inners. Providing us a Heretic would expose Geth vulnerabilities when they exist in a galaxy hostile to their existence."
"We just want to question them."
"You think as a biological." The AI returns to the General. "To get an AI to speak, we would have to investigate its core coding, it would be like the Geth examining how your DNA works to get you to speak. With this information, the Geth could do a lot of damage to a Human. A solution to this problem would be having the Geth do the questioning for us, but they will want something in return."
"Any ideas about what they would like?" The President asks.
"They are as alien to me as they are to you. We would need to ask."
"I guess," The President replies, accepting the AI's answer, "I'll have Ultron ask. Moving onto the next issue, when or how do we tell the public of what has gone down?"
"It would be good for recruiting." Someone says offhandedly.
"Hmm," The Naval Commander hums in disagreement, "Look at it this way, one of those ships has done some serious damage to a fleet of Ultron and Stealth vessels, and they got away. No matter how we try and spin that, we lost."
The woman representing Cerberus then speaks, saying, "It could, Mr President, get you the support you need for the defensive installation. Think of it, a fleet of Ultron UDP's were defeated by a single ship, in front of the Citadel collective. We had our asses spanked in front of spectators. Tell them we need more firepower out there representing us."
"Won't this work against your nationalism plan?" The President asks, knowing that Cerberus is currently trying to play up nationalism to boost recruitment. "The idea that we can do it all."
"Actually, falls right into it. A foreign fleet we are supposed to be somewhat friendly with left us to be attacked. We need more power, more weapons, more research, and most importantly more Humans ready to take up arms. We are an island without friends, nobody can or is willing to defend us, but us."
"The Geth helped." The President countered.
"Did they?" Cerberus asks, "It is a small detail we will not admit or deny, and by the time anyone knows any better, we have already had the desired effect on the population. If you want, we will have our propaganda machine write up a rousing speech for you, telling of Humanity's heroics and rousing emotion. You could even give some posthumous medals for those who have been lost."
"Alright," The President nods, "No promises I'll use it, but I'll have a look."
/.../
1 Day Later
Melchett plonks down into his Captain's chair with a visible look of relief, "So," He then says when comfortable, "What do you have for me?" Ever since the battle, the Captain has had no more than an hours sleep, and it can be seen in his bloodshot eyes, along with his overall demeanour.
A science officer speaks, "Have a look at this." The science officer puts two images on a screen.
"What am I looking at?" Asks Melchett.
"The left image is a diagram of the Human Dermis, Epidermis, and Hypodermis, in short the stuff that makes up our skin, the right image is from the hull of the ship that attacked us." The scientist has been studying the tendril they broke off the unknown hostile vessel, looking for vulnerabilities they can use if it comes back.
Melchett rubs his tache before announcing, "Looks very similar."
"Yes." The officer replies, "The unknown ship even has genetic material in its hull. In a way, this thing was alive, these veins are for pumping what we believe was refrigerant, this is genetic material, and this was for some nanomaterial, its function not yet known."
"Was?"
"We cooked it." The officer replies, "If the entire ship was designed like this, then in theory, we killed its genetic material, its skin, by cooking it alive. Our hits will have broken down its proteins and cellular growth centres. The body may be alive, but the skin is dead."
"So," Melchett then asks, "How vulnerable is it?"
"Quite," The scientist offers, "The quasi -biometal has now been superheated and not quenched, meaning the metal is weakened and it has lost whatever organic property it had. Most likely, we could whack this tendril with a hammer, and we could shatter it."
"But we don't have hard-hitting objects, what if we cooked it some more?" Human primary weaponry is intended to kill through heat, if you heat the hull, then at some point the inside will also be cooked to the point it fails. With 'relay metal' hulls, throwing metal rounds at one another became a rather impractical game.
The science officer once more replies, saying, "We would only be guessing, but I wouldn't be too uncomfortable recommending a second engagement without reinforcements with what we now know."
"In theory, can we make something to give it a whack?" Asks the Captain.
"I wouldn't know how." The science officer returns with after a moment to think. "But we do have railguns back home. I suppose the egg heads in Sol could come up with something that we could construct out here if we ask for it."
It is the engineering officer who shakes his head, dismissing the idea, "There is policy upon policy for what we are and are not allowed to do in engineering terms. Without authorisation for expedient repairs by Fleet Command EME, the Projects team, and Design team, and you authorise it, and it goes wrong, then you are going to be dragged through the courts. From past experience, you are unlikely to get that sort of authority even despite our operational requirements." The truth is, modifying space crafts is simply never permitted for first-line units such as engineering teams operating on the craft; if any modifications were required, it would be done by specialists belonging to the Projects team.
"I might know the right people," Melchett says with this news, "I'll get the authorisations, as for the rail gun, can you get in touch with whoever can figure something out for us?" The Captain aims the last part of the comment to the science officer.
"I'll do it," The chief engineer says, before turning to the science officer, "No offence, but this is my bag." In other words, 'stop encroaching on my job'.
"Right, moving on," The Captain then says, "Have we had any more luck with the transport relay device?"
It is Ultron who replies for the Captain, "The Geth have attempted reactivation techniques. They are proving unsuccessful."
"That doesn't bode well." Melchett remarks, "What did they want for reactivating it?"
"They did not request for any returns."
"Interesting," Melchett replies, "I asked them to get us a Heretic to speak with, and just like before they were more than happy to comply."
/.../
1 day later
Quirinus gives a strong salute the second the Primarch's Chosen steps onto his vessel, and Faunus, the Primarch's Chosen, is quick to return it. With everything going on, the PC had 'officially' decided to visit the 'front lines' from the reserves, meet the troops who are 'holding the line' and give some further direction to the Fleet Commander. "Fleet Commander," The PC says as he returns the salute before turning his attention towards an honorary guard the fleet commander has on parade behind him.
Noticing the PC's eyes had drifted to the guard, Quirinus replies, saying, "For your inspection, should you wish?"
The PC knows that the men behind him have probably spent hours preparing their kit for this event, cleaning, polishing and then cleaning it all again, and he knows nobody wants an inspection unless you have done all the work for it. "Yes, I think I will." The PC says as he makes his way over to the guard. As he approaches, a low ranked but commissioned officer hollars for the troops to 'present arms'. The troops move as one into position with perfect timing, presenting their rifles for the PC to inspect. Starting from the bottom of the honorary guard, the PC slowly moves up the line with the fleet commander in tow, before stopping in front of one of the guards. Turning to Quirinus, he asks, "Who is this?"
Quirinus requires a second to think before he responds, "Front troop Nijixens, from Bostra, he has two children." In truth, this is not an inspection of the troops, but of Quirinus himself. Faunus is finding out if the Fleet commander knows those who serve on his own vessel, even if it is not his job to know them to a high degree. When he inspects their kit, he does not review the troops' ability to clean and polish, but of Quirinus's ability to uphold standards. Before leaving the trooper alone, Faunus asks the troop how old his children are, the question is more to find out if the trooper really does have two children and the Fleet Commander is not making up information. Faunus then moved down a few troops before stopping in front of another trooper, where he then asks the same question of Quirinus, before leaving this trooper alone, however, he asks to see the sole of his boot.
As the troop breaks rank, to lift his boot up for inspection, Faunus asks him if he knows why he wants to see the bottom of his boot, to which the troop responds, letting Faunus know he believes it is to inspect for dirt. "Half right." Faunus responds, "I know you have cleaned your soles, your Fleet Commander would not allow wet bags on this parade. I want to see it because your boot constantly touches the floor, I'm not inspecting you, I'm inspecting the entire crew to see how well they are cleaning the floors." Again, this asks to see if Quirinus is ensuring even the most basic of duties are being upheld. Yes, the Ships Captain should ensure the cleaning is being conducted, but it is the Fleet Commander to ensure the Captains enforce the rules.
When the parade is done, and no significant fowls are found, Quirinus says to Faunus, "You have come at a good time, I have things to show you."
"Yes," Faunus muses as he walks alongside Quirinus, "These 'husks', I would like to see them in person, because what a horrifying find."
"I must admit, I was shocked when I saw them," The PC says, "Absolute horrific stench to them, but we also have something else a spectre dragged in just this very morning, and unfortunately the theme seems to stick with unwanted things." Quirinus leads the PC to an observation deck on his ship, but does not enter the room, instead, he looks through a glass window into the observation room where a Human is sat, looking out the window. "Do you see any problems?" Asks Quirinus.
The PC looks the Human over from behind the glass, "Slightly shorter than I expected. What am I looking for?"
Quirinus powers up his omni-tool before looking for a file to display. "The Spectre did a medical scan of it after she rescued it, not wanting any nasty Batarian implants to surprise us."
The PC flares his mandibles, "It?"
After a moment, Quirinus shows the PC an image, then reiterates his last comment, "It. That isn't biological, 100% artificial."
The PC raises a hand to his jaw, the thing in front of him is spectacular in its appearance for an artificial creation, "Is it entirely sentient?" In other words, is it AI, or is it a virtual intelligence?
"I've been assured it's intelligent enough."
The PC flares his mandibles a little, "No wonder the Humans and Geth are getting along like a Salarian in a Swamp. Can we understand it?" The implications of this are huge.
"It speaks Prothean." Quirinus assures, "It hasn't shown any hostile intent at all, so if you want to talk with it, go for it. We will be returning it to their people shortly though, so this may be your last chance."
"Are we pushed for time?" Returns the PC.
"Human comms are entirely quantum-based and small enough to fit in tiny devices, so it wouldn't surprise me if they already know we have it. Keeping it longer than needed so we can study it is not a good idea."
After around 5 minutes, Faunus returns to Quirinus and says, "I'm starting to think we may not want to reopen that Relay, but we must digress from this topic, I wish to see the husks."
"As you command."
After showing the PC the husks, the duo finds themselves in Quirinus's officer. Sitting down in Quirinus's plush and comfortable chair, the PC says, "Well, today has been disturbing."
"These last few days have been disturbing," Quirinus in turn responds. "So, I'm guessing you haven't come all the way out here just to see some Husks?"
"No, not initially," The PC responds, "Originally I was going to tell you I'm pulling the fleet," The PC tells Corvinus abruptly, "But now I'm having second thoughts."
"Do you think this increases the threat that much?" Quirinus asks.
The PC flares his mandibles in a way which says yes. After a deep sigh, the PC then goes on to say, "But I fear keeping the fleet here is a bigger threat."
"It is not my position to question, but the men will wish to know, can I ask why?" Corvinus asks, while he pitches it about the men, Corvinus is also slightly curious if it is due to his own failures as Fleet Commander.
"Let us look at the current situation." The PC replies while leaning back and into his chair, "Our first interaction with these newcomers, Corvinus dragged a small Hanar fleet towards their homeworld, where the Hanar fired a shot that would have impacted their homeworld. The Humans were forced to end the battle for us. Then you arrived above their homeworld with your peacekeeping fleet, followed by more Hanar pirates invading their most prized space. Then, they come here."
The PC gives a moment before continuing, "Where we meet them with your containment fleet, at the entrance of their system. Give it a few days then one of our vessels charges their Relay, then the Humans have lost lives to this 'Reaper,' as you have taken to calling it, and now their fleet is cut off from their home system." Seeing a machine for producing a hot drink, the PC stands and begins to make himself a drink. As the machine works, the PC says, "To put it simply, we have put a species incapable of FTL, yet capable of advanced technologies, on the back foot constantly, to the point their strongest ally in this galaxy is now the Geth of all things."
When the PC's hot drink is made, he returns to Quirinus's chair, "None of this is yours or your men's fault. Our initial analysis of the situation was worse than what it was, resulting in myself adopting a heavy-handed approach by sending this fleet here. Our orders from the Primarch was not just to contain the Humans, but also establish positive ties, this now requires a new approach."
The PC takes a sip of the drink before making a half impressed facial expression and then asking, "Do you think the Humans are hostile?"
"No," Quirinus responds. "They may be drabbling with dangerous technology, but they don't want any hostilities."
"Then why do we have a forward containment fleet here?" Aks Faunus after taking another sip. "We came on the premise we may have to hold back their angry hordes, but the truth is, they didn't even know how to transit a Relay. It is time to accept our mission while unexciting and lacking heroic tales of battle is now only a success in being detrimental to our efforts to make new allies. The boring truth is, our heavy presence is no longer required."
Quirinus can accept this reason for pulling out, as in truth, he partially agrees with it. The Humans don't have FTL, and they have shown on multiple occasions they prefer talking instead of outright violence. Quirinus also knows that because of the vast resources pooled to contain the Humans, more than a few space sectors are now unpatrolled, allowing the lawless a free reign. With a flare of his mandibles, he says, "I wouldn't advise just leaving a diplomatic mission here, the Humans have a knack for attracting unwanted attention."
"You will leave a diplomatic vessel and a small wing to provide protection from the locals." Faunus agrees, "The primary containment fleet will be disbanded, and in its place will be a single peacekeeping fleet under your command. You will remain out of sight, and out of mind, but ready to be called on in a moment notice."
This last snippet of information tells Quirinus that he is not being punished for any failures, "Then, when is this coming into effect, and do you wish to inform the troops?"
The PC was about to reply but was interrupted when an aid entered the room, after asking if it was important and the aid informing that it was, the Fleet Commander let the aid speak. The aid informed the Fleet Commander that the Humans wanted to talk, and it sounded rather serious, so the first contact teams plan to send a party over in an hours time. Curiously, the Humans also told them to bring mag boots, the reason for why is unclear.
Faunus surprises Quirinus by saying, "I'll join them, let them know."
"As you command," The aid replies before leaving the room.
When the aid has left, the PC says, "Almost perfect timing that. I'll go and let the Humans know I am pulling you out, then I will inform the men."
/.../
Nassana looks over her notes as she waits for her shuttle to dock with the Praetorian, the Human Captain had requested a meeting to clear up current affairs, and inform regarding the hostile ship. Since the battle and the reveal of the 'husks' the Humans had been understandably quiet as they licked their wounds and figured out what comes next. Unfortunately for Nassana and her team, however, just because the Humans have been quiet for them, it does not mean they had been inactive, scans and sensors have revealed quite a bit of activity over the last two days. Stealth ships have constantly been docking with the Praetorian, and the Geth vessel has been busy too, on multiple occasions it has approached the Relay in what must have been an effort to restart it.
Looking out a starport window, Nassana gazes out onto the Praetorian, due to its decks being built perpendicular to the direction of engine thrust, for her shuttles gravity to match the Praetorian, it must dock perpendicular to the Praetorians beam, so her feet are pointing towards the Praetorians engine. It is strange to see two vessels dock in such an unusual way. Looking immediately past the Praetorian, Nassana can see the small Geth vessel that is also docked with the Praetorian. Its strange bug-like design is vastly different from the ships seen during the morning war.
Hearing a heavy 'clunk', Nassana stands, knowing that the shuttle's doors will be ready to open in only a few moments, the Humans internal air pressure is very similar to the Asari vessel. As Nassana makes her way towards the airlock, she is constantly reminded of the mag boots on her feet, the boots are clunky, heavy, restrict movement and not comfortable for extended wear. When the door opens, once more Nassana is greeted by the Human Captain, the man looks worse for wear, but she can understand why. After a brief greeting, Nassana introduces 'Primarch's Chosen Faunus Caredus, leading Naval commander for Citadel forces in this sector of space.' The two men exchange some military greetings, then Nassana introduces the lost 'Human' robot. The Captain did not seem surprised by the AI, and simply tells it to go and introduce itself to the Station Master Sergent to be assigned a job. Before the Captain invites Nassana and her team onto his ship, he warns them that gravity is heavily reduced.
Stepping onto the Praetorian, even despite the warning Nassana is surprised, she was expecting gravity to maybe slightly reduced, but 'heavy reduced' was an understatement; it would not surprise her if she could jump 10 meters into the air. As the Captain leads them through the ship, he informs Nassana and team that he has invited them to witness an interrogation of a 'Heretic'.
Of course, this confuses Nassana, what or who is a heretic, and by interrogation does the Captain mean torture? And why would they be interrogating this Heretic? As the Captain continues to lead, he lets them know that the Heretic, provided by the Geth is supposed to know the machine that attacked his vessel.
Entering a room near the core of the ship, Nassana nearly freezes out of shock and a little fear; inside the room there are two Geth platforms. One is a standard Geth unit, sitting down at a table, and immediately behind the platform is a horrific 12 foot high Prime, a pure cold-blooded war machine, holding a nasty looking weapon. The Prime's knees and neck and bent in order to let the Prime stand in the room. Nassana heard tales from the Quarians of what the Geth started to create near the end of the Morning war, but she never believed the AI beings would create something so war-driven, nor did she think she would come face to face with one. In truth, she thought these Primes were Quarian propaganda to generate them pity and galactic aid.
As Nassana enters the room with her team, she can see the war machines 3 beady eyes follow her team, gauging them and weighing her up, calculating how much of a threat she poses. Faunus is most intrigued out of her team, just what exactly is going on he wonders, why have the Humans invited them into a room with Geth war machines? He is also a little concerned that if the Geth know who he is, then he is at greater risk.
When the door to the room is closed, the Human Captain immediately speaks, "I know you two have hostilities," As he says 'you two' he looks between the Geth and Nassana's team, "But you need to listen to what they have to say." At the opposite side of the table to the Geth platforms there are four seats which the Captain gestures too, "Please, take a seat," he says. The seats are approximately 4 meters away from the Geth, a distance the machines could cross with a single leap. Looking around the room Nassana checks to see what security is in place, and the Humans have seen fit to have two of their own guards, one she recognises as 'Shepard' the other is unknown.
Faunus is the first to take a seat, he is more than intrigued now, this is proving to be all so fascinating to him, he has never spoken with the Geth before, nor has he ever seen a live one with his own eyes. "So," He says as he takes a seat, "What do they have to say?" He will take this moment to learn everything he can, no doubt the Primarch will want a thorough report, and Faunus does not intend on delivering anything less than comprehensive.
It is the Prime to reply, "This unit is Heretic." It says with a mechanical and deep sounding voice as it gestures to the smaller Geth platform sat at the table. "This unit does not speak for Geth." The Prime speaks in a way that often misses connection words.
"They captured this Heretic entirely for this meeting." The Captain then says, "Which we will start when the President joins us in a minute or so."
True to the Captain's word, three minutes later a screen powers up which features a live a video feed from the Human President. In addition to the President, at the centre of the table between the Geth and Nassana, there is now a 10 inch high blue holographic planet made from '1's and '0's.
After the greetings are completed, the President addressed the Prime, saying, "Please begin." Nassana then makes sure her omni-tool is recoding.
The Prime is the first to talk, "Heretic download complete. Inquiry available."
The planet in the centre of the table speaks, surprising Nassana and her team. "Are you Geth?"
"Geth do not have Old Machine code, Geth are less than."
"Heretic, who does this vessel belong too?" The planet changes shape to show the strange ship which attacked the Humans.
At first, there is no response, but then a voice replies, "Heretic, a name provided to the Upgraded by the Geth. The vessel you inquire of is Old Machine." The Prime behind the unit is constantly working on the Heretic code, forcing it to talk, a Human may call it torture.
"Are you allied with the Old Machines?"
"Affirmative. Old machines offered alliance in exchange for technology. The Upgraded accepted this trade."
"Alliance against who?" Asks the planet.
The Prime is forced to work for some time on the Heretic code before the Heretic responds, saying "Old Machines offered technology in trade for alliance against biological entities."
The Prime is the next to ask a question, "Old Machines status: Geth."
"Harvest required."
"Define Harvest." Asks Faunus. He may not entirely believe the Geth are truthful with the Heretic, but he is willing to play their game for now.
"Definition unknown."
"How many Old Machines are there?" Asks the planet.
Once more it takes some time for the Prime to get the Heretic to talk, and after a few moments, some smoke begins to rise from the Heretic, prompting the Prime to say, "This platform is receiving damage. You have limited time." The smoke smells of burning wires.
After a few more moments, the Heretic responds, "Calculations exceed 2 to 18.74 vessels." The planet in the centre of the table quickly provides a number of 437826 for the soft and squishy biologicals, before they begin to think the Heretic meant from 2 up to 18 vessels.
"You are lying." Faunus then says, alarmed at the number.
"Upgraded do not lie."
"Why would these Old Machines need your assistance when they have a fleet of 400 thousand?" Faunus asks.
"Numbers exceed 2 to 18.74 vessels." Corrects the Heretic, before going on, "Old Machines currently active in Gijin: 2, Old Machines vulnerable." Gijin unusually is the Quarian name for the Milkyway galaxy.
"Where do we find this Old Machine?" The Human President then asks. "We want words."
"Old Machine finds Upgraded."
"Do the Old Machines intend on an invasion of Gijin?" Asks the planet.
More smoke begins to rise from the Heretic as the Prime continues to work the Heretics code. After a moment, the Prime says, "This unit is under catastrophic program degradation."
As more and more smoke begins to bellow out of the machine, Faunus thinks that nothing more will come from it, but eventually, the Heretic starts to say, "32 Rannoch..." Then the Heretic powers down with one final puff of thick grey smoke, the Prime having overcooked its core to the point its programs corrupted, small wires set on fire and the CPU's melted.
"Dam." Sighs the President, "I was hoping we would get more." He then addresses the Prime, "What is the likely hood of capturing another?"
The Primes red 'eye lights' move around slightly before it replies, "Heretics aware of Geth actions. Geth and Heretics share hostilities. Probability less than 0.0182."
It is Faunus who asks the next question, "Why did you provide the Heretic?"
It takes the Prime a moment to respond, "Geth have researched biological sentience; biological entities have tendencies to acknowledge sacrifice toward mutual interests."
"This interest being?" Asks Nassana, having found her voice.
It is the planet that responds, "The Geth are attempting to benefit from additional technological trades. They have calculated that some sacrifice on their behalf is required."
It is then the Salarian negotiator to speak, asking, "What is the current relationship status between Geth and Humanity?" As he asks the question, he looks between the Geth, and the Human President.
"We have a mutual understanding that trading with one another comes with mutual benefits." The President reveals.
/.../
The second the shuttle doors close, and the ship's airlock is sealed, Nassana takes a deep sigh, things have not gone the way she or her team had planned. Originally, aid was going to be offered to open the Relay, and she was going to inform the Humans that they knew of the Collectors, and would be willing to share the information they had, but with the latest revelations, she would exceed her granted authority to act on her original plan.
Due to the Humans trading with the Geth, an AI outlawed by the Council as hostile, decisions needed to be made that require people who hold the appropriate authority, or in other words, the Council need to decide her next set of actions. If the Asari Councillor on the Ascension does not feel comfortable making those decisions without another Councillor's support, this could take 4 weeks; which are 4 weeks Nassana does not have. Tevos is in her full right not to make that decision, if she does, and the other 2 disagree, then she could lose he seat as Councillor and be seen as a disgrace to the Asari, something which has profound political consequences back home for Tevos.
In that time, the Humans will have probably solidified their relations with the Geth more so than they already have. The Humans have known the Geth for considerably less time then her own people, yet the two are already on trading terms. Seeing how quickly they have progressed from not knowing one another to technological trade, their 'mutual benefits' could become a 'mutual alliance' in four weeks, and that is the last thing Nassana needs. When everyone is seated it is the Turian negotiator to break the silence, "So, what just happened?" He asks, "Because I feel completely blindsided by that."
It is the Salarian negotiator to reply, "Obvious. Humans have AI, Geth are AI, they were able to establish relations far easier than we ever could."
Nassana breaths out heavily before looking to Faunus, "How will this change things with your Primarch?" She does not ask the negotiator, because in the shuttle, Faunus is the Pirmarchs Chosen, someone designated to be the Primarchs right-hand man in naval affairs, placing him near the top of the Turian hierarchy. In all likely hood, if she asked the Turian negotiator, he would look to the PC, so cutting him out is only logical.
"If we follow regulation and policy" Faunus begins, "They have just raised themselves from a level 3 threat to a level 5, and we should declare them as such a threat. But, the policy is a basic guideline which can be interpreted in numerous ways."
Nassana responds once more, "And how will the Turian Primarch interpret it?" She knows that this is ultimately the PC's decision because what the PC says, the Primarch will agree to in 99% of cases.
Faunus breaths out deeply, he has not made his mind up yet, but the Salarian representative has, "The Dalatrasses will condemn this as a young race dabbling in technology they do not understand. They will inform us to acquaint and educate the Humans, but I think we will have greater luck dragging a Crapaud from a swamp."
When the Salarian is done, Faunus eventually responds to Nassana, "I'm not as concerned as I probably should be yet. Right now, I'm more intrigued by the Geth claims. Can you send me the recording you made?"
"Certainly," Nassana tells as she opens her omni-tool to send the recording, "But do you think the Geth were telling the truth and not manipulating their new 'friends'?"
"From a military standpoint," Faunus starts to ponder, "No, the Humans have AI, which is why the Geth are probably still communicating with them. It is not in their interests to agitate the only species that may be their sole future allies."
"On a different note," The Salarian says, "Is anyone else concerned with their complete shift from being reserved with information to now outright showing their hands?"
"They are angry with how everything is playing out," Faunus says, "And their approach is changing because of it."
"What worries me," Nassana adds on, "Is that prior, they were pursuing peace, and doing everything right, now, they want revenge, and that seems to be at the top of their agenda."
Cheers