Nexus Effect

Ch.7

I was shaken awake by someone and found Marrow kindly looking at me with concern again. “Hey. I know you’re a machine, but that can’t be comfortable.”

“You’re right, but it doesn’t matter.” I replied dully, regretting I didn’t get to see Geth in the Matrix again. I guess I need Marrow in my head to have that happen. “How is everything going?”

“Turns out these guys were actual Hegemony troops. The ship even has the databank of the crew, all low-rank grunts sentenced to a few ‘tours’ on ‘Indentured Acquisition’ Detail. Krarek’s in the middle of disgracing local officials by planting the digital evidence in all sorts of places. Especially ones the Citadel White-Hats will find.” Marrow informed me as he hoisted me to my feet and began to lead me into the ship.

“That is disgusting.” I gagged in disbelief. I mean, it’s obvious the Hegemony keeps getting it’s slaves, but it’s one thing to think they buy them from pirates and another to have them be the alleged pirates.

“Eeyup. Don’t worry though. Soon enough, with this debacle the Void’s Wrath will cease to exist. Meaning we can rename her, submit a totally-not-illegal ship register and then we get the onerous task of hiring at least a dozen crew members. A ship this size is meant to be crewed by a minimum of 50 people after all.” Marrow informed me, only to cause me to balk at the concept.

“Th-there’s no way we can have 50 people just running around!” This ship is too big! We just needed a gunboat or something!

Unit Nexus, this Unit possesses 716 Geth Programs aboard. It would be trivial to assign a few hundred to running the main console.

‘No! I’m not letting any of you go!’ I declared with a hint of despair and desperation. ‘Besides, we couldn’t explain away such advanced technological tom-fuckery!’

“Well, normally that would be true. If I didn’t know that having enough VI units slaved together would make for a rather efficient if annoying ship assistant.” Marrow replied in regards to my concern of having so many people around and I remembered I’d made very much the same argument about my onboard systems when it came to their efficiency.

“That...could work. I’d need multiple VI chips with pre-loaded ship duties that I could then slave together and specialize each partition to a single task-eep!” I jumped at Marrow spanking my ass! “What the hell Marrow?!” Th-that felt good! Is that me or my chassis though?!

“Shh! Don’t take Hell’s name in vain!” Marrow hissed urgently, the pervy leer on his face suddenly grim and serious. “As for why I did that? You were incredibly adora-sexy just now and I couldn’t help spanking that booty.”

“Hmph! Well, I still need to get those VI chips. Where can I...Vitoria right?” I asked rhetorically and the pervy emotivore nodded. “Alright then, but it looks like this ship is grounded until we can get that done.” I replied as we reached the bridge. Blood was splattered everywhere, but the bodies themselves were gone and Krarek was in the captain’s chair.

“Hey ladies. I got my funds squared away and several local Batarian dignitaries in hot water. Soon enough this ship will be ours.” Krarek declared before he turned the rotating chair around to reveal he was wearing a military uniform with blood staining it. He must’ve looted the dead, like a sensible highwayman.

“Great. Now unfortunately, this big rig isn’t going anywhere without either a full crew or enough ship VI to cover most of the ship’s functions. Sweet Cheeks here can do that, but it’ll involve me sweet-talking a friend of mine into selling us several ship VI chips.” Marrow informed the veteran pirate who looked at a flashing light on his console and he flicked a switch.

“The main gun is filled with some sort of baked goods. A note from an ensign seems to suggest it was a prank on the engineers, so I’m going to need a few days to clean out the damn thing.” Wrektrov growled through the comms. “So, this also means we won’t have our body bombardment barrage ready until the loader is scrubbed to get the gunk out.” Body bombardment-ew~!

“That’ll give us time to get the VI chips and for you boys to clean up the blood and gore.” Marrow said as he looked over the bridge, noting that while the bodies were gone, there was still a gratuitous amount of blood everywhere. The fact Batarians have red blood like humans didn’t help with how unsettling it was for me.

“What about the slaves?” I asked worriedly, hoping to get them to civilization as soon as possible.

“What about them? We can’t set them free on this planet without the proper gear. The gravity would injure them severely and they would freeze before reaching the spaceport.” Krarek replied flippantly. “We’d be better off letting them out, but keeping them on the ship until we can get them there.”

“Mass Effect Shield Belts are standard issue for Batarian troops right?” I asked rhetorically as I looked at our privateer who hummed and nodded. “I can easily convert them to specifically deal with intense gravity like the one I’m equipped with.”

“Oh, well that’s great, but the only vehicles that can take them back to Herm’ata is the small crew shuttle in the ship’s small docking bay and Krarek’s dinky little Clawball mini-shuttle.” Marrow pointed out and I huffed indignantly at the idea of leaving the prisoners to languish. “Oh, fine. You go get to work on the collected shield belts and I’ll go rescue the prisoners. They’re bound to be freaking out anyway.”

“I’ll do that. So where is the loot Krarek?” I asked the ex-pirate who casually sent a file over via Omni-tool. “Thanks. You take a break when you can.”

“I’m planning on it. I just quit my job and paid off my debts. I’m going to find a clean bunk and sleep like an infant as the predators close in on those corrupt taints and my landlord pawns off my worldly possessions as my late rent payment.” Krarek leaned back in the chair and set his bloody boots up on a bare section of the console with a content sigh. “Ah~...Freedom…”

“Wow, you’re still a pirate at heart.” I commented with a smile before leaving the middle-aged teal Batarian to his satisfied basking.

[01001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“Hello?” Came a flanged female voice and I blinked before looking up from the shield belt I was converting to see a Turian woman in a dirty jumpsuit at the door to the storage room that I’d been working in. “Is this where we can pick up environment belts for the planet’s high gravity and cold climate?”

“Yep. This stack over here is what’s been tuned to deal with Ekuna’s gravity and cold.” I gestured to it and then pointed at the small pile of normal shield belts. “This is the normal pile I’ve yet to convert.”

“Okay. Hey everyone! The belts are over here!” At her call down the hall, I was overwhelmed by the stream of eager people of varied species who flooded into the room. Soon, all my work was gone and I was left with the Turian woman and the unaltered shield belts. “Guess that’s everyone dealt with.”

“Um, well, I’ll have this belt done in a…” I finished tuning the belt, then closed it back up and tested it. My scans check out. “Now everyone is dealt with. Here you go.” I handed it to her and she quickly strapped the belt around her hips.

“Thank you, for saving us and helping us out.” The woman smiled and then leaned over the table, her face getting uncomfortably close to my visor. “Is there anything I could do to repay the favor?”

“Uh...not really? I mean, do you know how to fly a transport shuttle?” I questioned and she nodded. “Well, could you pilot the crew shuttle to ferry the rest of you to Herm’ata? It’s the city directly south of here.”

“Okay then. I’ll be back for the second group too and then bring the shuttle back. I saw that dinky little mini-hauler parked in the hangar too, mind if I take that as my last trip back to the city?” The woman questioned and I nodded.

“Sure. I’m pretty certain that Krarek won’t mind parting with it.” He did seem fairly ambivalent about the dirty flying box. Well, aside from the ‘no sex’ rule.

“Huh? I mean to pick up my stuff from my apartment.” The Turian furrowed her brows in bemusement at me.

“Huh?” What is this girl talking about?

“Oh. I guess she just calls the shots huh? Marrow invited me to join this little crew of yours when I mentioned I’m going to move into Citadel Space proper after this damn farce of a vacation I took to get away from my job for a while.” The metallic-skinned raptor woman informed me.

“Oh, okay then.” I said, wondering if I should have a talk with Marrow. She may be a force of personality, but that doesn’t mean she can just make these sorts of decisions without input from the rest of us. This isn’t a pirate or military crew after all where the captain holds supreme authority. “So, who are you, what military class do you subscribe to?”

“I am Paretia Drustumus, Lieutenant of the Talon mercenary corp. I’m a Soldier Who likes big guns, big explosions and long walks on tropical beaches.” Paretia informed with her flanged voice full of cheer and her hands on her hips.

“Uh...okay?” I replied in bemusement.

“I’m kidding. I prefer snow and the cold. It makes being warm much more satisfying.” Paretia leaned in again and I leaned back in my chair as she was practically trying to press against me. “Speaking of getting warm, Marrow says you don’t have the same problems as other Quarians when it comes to hygiene?”

“Uh...um...could we rain check that please?” I nervously replied, my body indeed feeling quite Warm at the sensual implications.

“Aw. Marrow warned me that you were a shy one. Don’t worry, I’m not about to molest you. Marrow already said she has dibs anyway.” The metallic raptor woman winked at me and strode out of the storage room.

…

Is this one of those universes? Where everything is hyper-sexualized? If so, I need an adult!

But This Unit is an adult.

‘Not Helping, Geth!’

[01001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“Hey Sweet Cheeks!” Marrow’s voice intoned, bringing me from my tinkering fugue, which was then further shattered as I squealed when the grope-happy buggy alien grabbed my butt and leaned against me. “How is the work coming?”

“It was going fine before you interrupted!” I replied in irritation, yet didn’t bother to move away from the Changeling’s molestations as I went back to my Omni-tool. “I was just helping ensure all the relevant connections from the bridge throughout the ship were online and wiring up the necessary bits that weren’t up to snuff.”

“Great! I managed to convince Vitoria to sell me several older VI chips. Nothing too old, don’t worry.” Marrow patted my hips and hummed as he rested his chin on my shoulder. “Soon enough we’ll be off this planet and out in the dark realm of adventure.”

“Speaking of which, how did you get here from another galaxy? Then also to Ekuna specifically if you didn’t have your own ship?” I questioned the alien from another galaxy while I continued to work on the ship’s interior systems, the male having to remove himself from me since this involved me walking along the wall.

“Well, I’m going to be sharing that at the crew meeting going on in the mess hall this evening.” Marrow replied before he hummed and scrunched up his snout in a shockingly adorable way. “The reads I’m getting on them tell me they won’t shoot us at our respective reveals, but I don’t know if they’ll stay.”

“Then we’ll just have to find out and hope they don’t rat us out.” At my words, Marrow snickered in incredible amusement. “What?”

“Don’t let a Skaven hear you say that. You’ll find your head mounted on a wall shortly after.” Marrow’s levity at the claim made me wonder if he was just joking, or if it’s such a stereotypically expected reaction of a ‘Skaven’ that despite the brutality, it’s just accepted like Krogan brutality is among their own kind.

“Okay.” I idly replied as I did final checks on this section of the ship. “That does it. Now I just need to work on the VI system and install them. We’ll soon have a nearly autonomous ship that can handle the needs seen by a full crew on it’s own. Normally I’d be worried that such a thing would risk violating Citadel laws against AI, but I’m an AI already. Also, it’s just a multi-tier VI with each independent segment delegated to a single task and working together.”

Geth were described as such a VI at the start.

‘The difference is that this one will be restricted by its firmware. No ability to go between systems, no ability for self-thought. It’s strictly a bunch of specific programs sharing processing power to accomplish singular tasks they were already pre-programed for.’

Oh, Geth at least shared in tasks, but that is still very similar to what Geth are.

‘The key difference, again, is that each task is the act of a Single VI with boosted potency from the other slaved VI.’ Like Nexus? ‘I...I…’ Unit Nexus? ‘A-am I just-?’

“You’re doing it again, Sweet Cheeks.” Marrow pointed out to me and gently squeezed my shoulder.

“Ah...sorry.” Existential crisis averted. I’m not just a program. I’m not some scripted instance. I am a free-thinking individual. But Unit Nexus is still part of Geth too. ‘No! No! I-I can’t-!’

“Nora!” I jolted at Marrow’s stern voice, noticing he was in front of me, looking me in the eyes with his hands on my shoulders. “I can feel your terror! Breathe!” I’m not breathing! I can’t breathe! I don’t have-! “Calm down.” Marrow’s smooth tiny pincers on the top of his green/blue head shone green and I felt a wave of calm wash over me. The HUD blaring warnings of overloading processors and excessive heat build-up reminded me that I can’t let myself get too stressed or my chassis will reflect it. “Look at me. Whatever that was, you’re okay. I’m here.”

We are here too Unit Nexus. We apologize for upsetting you. You are not a VI. You are not just another Geth Unit. You may be part of us, but you were once so alone, so scared. Do not go back to that fear.

“O-okay...when did I tell you my name?” It was just a cover name, but I’m a Secret Agent. They gave me a number and took away my name, so I guess Nora’Feell is as close to a name as I could hope for. But you are Unit Nexus? ‘That is my System designation. My name is Nora’Feell.’

“You didn’t. That’s one of the things I got when I was inside your subconscious. Anyway, about tonight, should we put it off?” Marrow asked with concern written on his face.

“N-no. No. They need to be brought in as soon as possible to establish trust.” Fast allies are one thing, but if we want any hope of this budding crew coming together as comrades and friends, we need to be open with one another.

“Alright, if you’re sure…” Marrow then moved his hands down to my breasts and poked the exact location of my nipples. “Boop!” He then scurried away and I gave chase while calling him all sorts of alien invectives I can only half-remember.

[01001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“When are you two going to just fuck?” Wrekrov chuckled after a chase halfway around the ship ended with me sitting on Marrow’s back in the mess hall while holding his legs curled backwards.

“When the Geth suddenly declare their intention for galactic peace!” I replied with an angry straining tone while inwardly incredibly overjoyed at how fun it was to be manhandling Marrow like this.

“Gah~! I already said Uncle~!” Marrow wailed with a strained voice, though the flush to his face and his panting told me he was having just as much fun as I was.

“Marrow sent a message about an announcement?” Krarek asked when he entered the ship, all nice and clean for once. He must’ve finally made use of the laundry room.

“I just got back from my apartment with my stuff. What’s up?” Paretia questioned as she entered too, looking fairly rough from the dust and dirt smeared all over her utility jumpsuit.

“Don’t know. When I got here the little girl had Marrow pinned and begging for mercy she’s clearly not willing to give.” Wrekrov chortled as he gestured to us.

“Just making sure he understands that I’m not going to just let him walk all over me!” I declared firmly, yanking on Marrow’s legs while at the same time grinding my groin against the hard nub I felt pressing against it from his tailbone. Unf, he has a tail under that robe huh?

“Well, unless this is the announcement, we should hurry it up. We got this ship under our name now, well, my name.” Krarek told us.

“N-no that’s not it! Kriffing let me up Nora!” Marrow demanded this time, so I let his legs go and patted his back, where I felt a hard shell instead of ductile firm chitin. He has wings too? “I said, up, Nora.” I got off of him and he stood up, cracking his back with a grunt. “Okay. Not in the mood to beat around the bush.” Suddenly, our three companions jolted away from him and he winked at them with a stuck out tongue that was stupidly adorable. “So? Am I still sexy?”