Nexus Effect

Ch.34

“Why do you suck at driving?!” I yelled as we were tossed about in the Mako like ragdolls as Shepard drove through the lava flows.

“To be entirely fair to Shepard! This is clearly some abominable mutant child of a human offroad vehicle with a turian lev-sled!” Tali defended with disgust as she was jerked about in her seat’s crash harness like this was a carnival ride.

“Well, then we’re fixing that! Once I’m back I’m redesigning the whole thing, blarg, from the ground up!” I roared as my face wound up wedged under Wrex’s ass somehow. Technically the Mako was only rated for seating 3, but I don’t count for organic safety ratings. Also, I was at least acting as enough of a space filler that we weren’t getting tossed even more violently about in our harnesses.

“You try driving with tanks firing on you! Also some design flaw is not activating whatever lev mode is. Nora, since you’re up, get on the gun! It has two firing modes, LMG and railgun!” Shepard shouted through all the ruckus.

“On-urk-it!” I lamented my chassis’s accurate simulation of nausea as I braced and crawled up into the turret. “What are those things?!” They look like a mutant hybrid of the Star Wars Baktoid AAT and a Geth Armature. It still had the legs, but they were retracted against the hull as it hovered and the main gun was instead the lofty old-fashioned Geth-style Armature neck ending in the head/siege pulse cannon.

“I don’t know, but one shot took half the Mako’s shields and started cooking our hull!” Shepard yelled as she did a hard turn and got me lined up for a shot. “We’re sixteen klicks from the base camp and we have to get through four of these.”

“Not to backsass ma’am, but why weren’t we just dropped closer since the Mako is rated for orbital drop?” I questioned as I fired the railgun at the charging pulse cannon, blasting it apart. Unlike the game however, that wasn’t enough. Instead, the droid-driven tank extended the legs and the rocket pods on it opened up after it was elevated, so I fired the LMG into the rocket tubes to set off the explosives and finish it off.

“The road was too narrow for the drop. We needed a space at least five times the size of the Mako for it to drop safely. Also, if we dropped into a lava pool we’d be cooked, titanium-ceramite hull be damned. According to Overwatch, the road has 3 more of those on the path and the base camp is far too crowded. That ravine was the only spot we could land.” Shepard informed us before having to continue onward and make us wish the Mako had barf bags included.

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“The more we learn about you Nora, the scarier the Geth are getting.” Tali commented as we drove into the base camp. I just had Tali use me as a remote hacking terminal to avoid pointless conflict with the camp’s automated defense turrets since for some reason, I couldn’t directly comprehend their security, so Tali helped me figure it out for future reference.

“Aw, I thought you were warming up to me…” I mewled and Tali frantically waved her hands.

“No-no! I don’t mean it like that! I just mean you were more potent at disabling security systems than any portable computer unit could hope for!” Tali nervously replied and then rubbed her forearms. “Then again, those units back there. They were of Geth design, blended with something totally new. You said the Reapers have taken some of your people?”

“Yes. Those are old designs though. The Geth they took hadn’t had the chance to evolve, to become like we have yet.” I said with regret and understanding that those Geth are likely lost, but if that is true, then what’s stopping us from becoming a liability when the Reapers decide to subsume us? When they...they take Rannoch…

My fears for the future were isolated, sent to a rear-facing partition and deleted as we got out of the Mako to search the camp for clues to the Dig Site.

“It looks like three different bot designs.” Wrex commented as he pointed towards the futuristic prefab buildings. Standing outside the door there were several B1 battle droids, a Geth Prime and...oh fuck.

“An HK50?!” I hissed in disbelief, the others looking to me as I grabbed Tali and pulled her behind cover, gesturing for the others to quickly follow, which they thankfully did.

“Firm Demand: Fan out and hunt down the Meatbags.” The lone HK ordered the B1s and then turned to the Geth Prime. “Determined Statement: We will locate the VIP known as Liara T’soni or suffer the recycler.”

{See to it, Benezia-Leader will not tolerate failure.} The corrupted Geth remarked in binary, then looked over at us. No. At me. [Query] They slammed me with Geth-cant and I-.

[Answer] I replied without meaning to and winced. [Query]

[Refusal] [Answer] The Geth Prime pointed at us and...vanished?!

“Where’d it go?” Shepard hissed as we hunkered down before the B1s began pelting our cover with blaster fire. “Nora, what was that?!”

“That was a Geth Prime Mobile Platform! The most powerful old-style combat frame available to us! The captured Geth must have provided the designs!” I frantically replied as I calculated enemy positions, calibrated the explosive force of my ad-hoc grenade, then tossed the grenade with the projected trajectory from behind cover. The cheap droids were scuttled and scattered, allowing us to leave cover and return fire.

“Furious Order: Kill those Meatbags!” Yelled the gray HK as it pelted Wrex multiple times with it’s blaster, overloading his M.E field, but before he could be injured I had pegged the assassin droid in the shoulders and one hip, sending it toppling. “Sincere Regret: I have failed.”

“You didn’t finish it?” Wrex questioned as we approached the gray droid that sparked at it’s ruined joints and kept it’s head looking at us.

“Of course not. It will likely have useful data. HK units are capable of an incredible range of duties and have the capacity for independent thought, whether or not they have the leeway to act on those thoughts.” I informed my crewmates and Tali choked.

“It’s an AI?! Keelah! The Geth were one thing, they were a known quantity. What is this, this thing doing here?!” Tali wailed in fear, clearly still getting used to the idea that AI are not uncommon these days, especially in the Terminus Systems thanks to the Empire.

“Irritated Demand: I am still here, do not speak about me like I’m not around.” The HK snarked and looked at me. “Curious Observation: The one who put me down is not a Meatbag. What model is this Fake-Meatbag?”

“Ahhha, I’m on fire!” A B1 screamed as it ran about the background. How did that happen? None of us were using-oh, the fuel tank over there. Right. I’ll just leave that one be for now.

“Well, if they’re AI, why is that one acting more stupid than a VI?” Wrex asked while the droid tried to roll on the ground to put out a fueled fire.

“Geth.” I told HK before I shot a Droideka that rolled in from around the corner before it could come to a stop. “And don't call us Meatbags.” I told it as I put my guns away and knelt over it. “Now then, you are going to talk or I am going to go inside you and play with your code.”

“Amused Rebuttal: Why, if I didn’t know better, I would think you were flirting with me.” HK’s comment actually flustered me, because he wasn’t kidding. Data-exchanging was a fairly intimate thing between AI. Proven by how Yola and I’s first actual full data exchange facilitated the creation of more Geth programs and helped her achieve self-actualization.

“D-don’t get ahead of yourself! Now then, you’re here for Liara T’soni. So are we. If you help us find her, then you won’t be deleted.” I promised to the droid, who looked us over and then looked back at me.

“Honest Statement: That is better than my current situation. It has been grating to be pretending to be loyal to my new masters.” His answer was a bit of a shock. Especially since with the prefix issue HK units are known for, he can’t be lying.

“We can find out more about it’s situation later. Let’s hear what it has to say.” Shepard insisted and we focused back on the downed droid. Well, I did, Wrex was still laughing at the B1 who was only now trying to douse itself with water from a canteen.

“Beginning Debrief: We had just finished securing the camp. None of the Meatbags were here, despite the time of galactic standard. Recordings found indicate that target Liara T’soni and her crew ran afoul of mercenaries and local defense arrays in the ruins. Conclusion: Liara T’soni is likely at the excavated ruins. Alive or dead is yet to be confirmed.” HK finished informing us, which lined up with what I knew, but again I can’t rely on my future knowledge too much.

“Well, that was useful. Are we gonna finish wrecking it now?” Wrex questioned Shepard and I stood up quickly while the B1 staggered up to us with a whine. “Not this one, it’s funny.”

“No! He’s defenseless and did as we demanded. I can shove them into the storage compartment of the Mako and work with them up on the Normandy.” Frantically reasoned, my synthetic heart pounding in fear and fury at the idea of betraying HK after he’d cooperated.

“But he’s an AI. I trust you and your sister Nora, but this AI is completely alien.” Tali voted against me. No! Please don’t support the Renegade option Tali~!

“I know, but I can keep him under control.” I insisted as I looked at Shepard and saw Penny’s eyes filled with determination of her decision. I only hope it’s the Paragon one.

“I’m not ordering a prisoner’s execution. We’re taking him.” At Shepard’s orders I sighed in relief that, even though I was the one on the team out-pressured in the decision, that she still chose the morally upstanding route.

“Informative: All Units had wished to come here to make a peaceful Droid Empire away from Geonosian Masters. Power Update: 33%, entering sleep mode.” The HK Unit said before powering down.

“Can I please have some more water?” The scorched and blackened B1 whined.

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

After looting, ahem, sorry, appropriating everything of use at the defunct base camp, I loaded HK and Burned-B1 into the Mako’s storage compartment...along with as many B1 droid parts that I could manage. Hey, they may be cheap, but their design is modular and still better than the crud the non-human species use for bipedal drones and human drones are so expensive!

I heard Binary speak as a trash can tried scooting away, a grey and red trash can with a huge radiation signature. It then let out a massive gonk sound and everyone knew it was there. I promptly rushed at it and patted it. “What is that?” Shepard asked as I got down and hugged the trash can with legs.

“It’s a Gonk, an old battery droid. It has enough power capacity to run the emergency functions of the Normandy for a few hours.” I informed them and then put a tracker on it. “We’ll have a crew come pick you up, little fella.” I then went back to the Mako and finished packing spoils.

“They fold up so well. They’re designed for mass storage and deployment. Keelah. If the Geth were aggressive and had so many disposable bodies to throw at us…” Tali mused with worry after I packed two mostly-intact B1 droids in with HK and BB1 along with various severed parts. Also their blasters. All of them. The Empire hasn’t extended too much tech in trade yet.

“Now think back to the Morning War. The Geth could have made a similar design easily and used it. We didn’t need to. By the end, the Geth could have simply killed all of the Creators.” I paused as I looked at HK’s and BB1’s inactive bodies and then shut the hatch. “We couldn’t do it. It hurt already. To kill all of you would’ve been unconscionable. The weight on our conscience would’ve been too much to bear.”

“You say you’re not originally Geth, that you’re a Living Intelligence. How do you know all of this?” Tali asked me solemnly while Shepard and Wrex finished counting up the grenades they’d looted and were planning to share them with us. Me especially since I’m basically a mortar.

“When I joined the Collective, when I became one of them, they shared their history with me and I with them. It is what allowed them to evolve, what allowed me to grow as a person.” I looked at Tali and bit my lip. “What gave me the best family I could ever ask for. Even if some of them are egotistical dickheads like there are everywhere.”

“Trust me, I get that.” Tali replied with a gentle tone to her voice before we all piled into the Mako and got to experience the wonder that is Clothes-Dryer Simulator 2183.

[Citadel Council Chamber]

“So that is what happened to the krogan?” The Imperial Ambassador, not here as a member of the Citadel Races, but as a proper representative of an equally powerful galaxy-plus spanning government asked. The female/male/neither who was currently in their own species’ base form, specifically their female form which filled out their robes quite well. Laiel had no idea how to speak to them other than to treat them like a Hanar, which they didn’t object to.

“From both sides of the argument. You’ve already heard me speak, now you’ve heard them. I won’t lie, we needed to be stopped. Our idiocy was going to drive us to the same fate as the Rachni with the course we’ve taken in defiance of the Tenets of Urta.” Spoke the Archpriest of the krogan religion, Jorgal Wrekrov, who the Empire had taken to Andromeda and brought back since their forward scout befriended him and felt it prudent to enlighten him to the truth.

That his goddess is real and her power is too. Laiel didn’t know if she was divine, but witnessing her use her biotics to annihilate the nearest asteroid to the Citadel was evidence enough for him to believe that what most would consider impossible isn’t so.

“Yes, it is a shame. We had no way to fight back against the war machine we created other than to undermine their ability to reproduce.” Councilor Valern declared with remorse in his expression and tone. “We had hoped that their religion’s teachings of honor and responsible application of force would curtail their violent tendencies when it came to our own societies. We were mistaken.”

“Normally such an action would be an immediate cause for the Empire to declare war, but this wound is over 1000 years old as it stands and things can only improve from here. That is, if you are willing to either help the krogan recover or allow us to help them recover.” Ambassador Medulla Willow stated severely and Laiel looked at his fellow councilors.

“I do not object to the Empire lending them aid. The krogan saved us, in case anyone forgot.” Laiel put his piece forward. While he detested the mercenary lifestyle the majority of krogan turned to instead of anything more constructive, he could appreciate that they always were, still are and if allowed to flourish would always be superior warriors.

“I would not object to that either.” Messana agreed and they both looked to Bensin, who pursed his lips and his eyes shifted at being put on the spot.

“I must stress that while I have the power to approve things on behalf of the Salarian Union, I cannot guarantee cooperation from the Dalatrass in charge of that area. I can offer the services of the STG, but nothing more.” Bensin announced and Ambassador Medulla Willow looked at Jorgal Wrekrov with a beaming smile as her insectile wings buzzed.

“You hear that Wrekrov? We’ll be able to help you without starting another war.” Medulla then blinked and looked back to the Council. “Hold on, I thought it was implied, but gene therapy to help alleviate the damage of the Genophage is part of the offered assistance to his people. I don’t think we’ll return them to their original fertility because even for us that’s obscene, but we’ll still be helping them recover the ability to reproduce.”

“I must redact my offer! If they regain the ability to reproduce, even in part, what is stopping the krogan from repeating history?” Bensin demanded and Laiel flared his mandibles in annoyance. He could understand justifiable paranoia, but they had already voiced their approval.

“Before the Turians showed up, my people were breeding by the millions a year. We overpopulated planets faster than we could stabilize industry, turning them into barren husks and kept doing so until we ran out of room. We were the peacekeepers at this time, the ones that should have kept the Galaxy safe.” Wrekrov growled and looked at the councilors as what was clearly a small rant began. Laiel braced himself, because at least Wrekrov was maintaining his tone instead of shouting.

“I was a hatchling when all this started. My parents, Tartarus, all of the adults were drunk on the fact we beat the Rachni. The Galaxy was praising us, worlds threw us celebrations almost every year and we could leave our desolate homeworld. We were drunk and naive, so much so, that we didn’t listen to our elders in the galactic community!” Wrekrov snarled in disgust as he fidgeted at his podium.

“We just kept expanding, bleeding worlds dry. Eventually we forced an asari colony under our rule. We enslaved them, used them for things from treating them as sex slaves to food when they couldn’t take anymore! My father wore an asari leather coat made from that world! Then we did the same to salarians, eating them and their eggs, just so many horrible things just to feed and please our uncontrollable expansion!” Wrekrov gagged and looked ill, at least to what few tells a krogan had in that department.

“Once the turians showed up, we dropped meteors on them from space just to prove some goddess awful point! None of that was justified, none of it! Many Krogans protested this, protested everything! The Church of Urta was the most vocal against every heinous action our people at large took! Those who protested openly in the streets were killed by the beasts who enjoyed this nonsensical destruction!” Wrekrov hissed and clutched his podium so hard that the groaning of denting metal could be heard. Damn, that’ll be the third time in five years that podium will need to have been replaced.

“Those of us in the church did our best, tried to turn our people from that path, but they were so arrogant! I-I’m a little happy, frankly, that the salarians made the Genophage and the turians bombed us with it, but it should’ve been done sooner, the madness had gone on for too long, far too long.” Wrekrov finished, looking exhausted and downtrodden.

“All you have done is outline why curing the Genophage is a horrible idea…” Bensin Valern said with a sad tone and a sigh. “You’ve proven however, that not all krogan are ignorant and unable to learn from the past, but again, what will stop you from repeating history, Archpriest Jorgal Wrekrov?”

“What is stopping us, is that we will learn from our mistakes. Void, I’ll help turn us into a matriarchy if that’s what it takes, since our females tend to have their heads on straight unlike us bone-headed males. We may even need to cull all the rock-brains who insist on strictly adhering to the old ways, like a certain Urdnot Wreav. That aside, the Empire will prevent it. I also know of someone who could get us on that path already.” Jorgal Wrekrov countered and Bensin’s face scrunched in consideration.

“Who?” Bensin demanded and Laiel realized Bensin was actually hoping to be able to support it.

Jorgal Wrekrov smiled as he pulled up a list of not just one krogan, but a list of females to back him that needed to be brought together on the holoscreen. There would obviously need to be some wetwork to be done. “My first hopeful is-.”

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“*ACHOO!*” Wrex sneezed, spraying mucus all over the back of Shepard’s driver’s seat.

“Ew~! I am so glad I’m not in charge of cleaning this thing!” Tali wailed and I groaned!

“Yeah, that’s my job.” I mewled with disgust at the sight of the green gobs of mucus clinging to the back of the driver’s seat.

“*sniff* Sorry. Old krogan superstition says if we manage to sneeze despite our strong immune systems, then someone is talking about you in either unflattering or flattering ways. It’s annoyingly vague, but it was in Urta’s book, so it may have truth to it.” Wrex’s words caused me to flashback to the fact that he potentially becomes the savior of his people and I sighed.

Hoo boy, things must’ve just accelerated on that front…

“Woo~! I just got tingles down my spine! Whoever is talking about me is really going overboard.” Wrex shuddered and I remembered the ice scene from the series, causing me to almost snort.