Chapter 91

"Bray what was that?" Aria asked, holding a finger to one ear so she could hear the communicator in her other.

"Something big just showed up and is heading towards the Omega 4 Relay!" Bray shouted.

"Fuck... Send any armed vessels..." Aria said but was cut off.

"Aria, Stop! Please!" an alliance-issue security mech cried.

"Excuse me?" Aria asked.

"It's Rothschild. Their main weapons can easily destroy this station!" The mech cried.

"Come in here!" Aria said. The mech stomped over to her and settled.

"What should we do?" Aria asked.

"Let it go through, don't let anyone get close. Enough people have died today." The mech said. Aria nodded

"All forces, return to Omega. Do not engage, I repeat, do not engage!" Aria ordered.

"Seriously?" Bray asked.

"Don't fuck me on this Bray." Aria said

"Shit... Returning to base." Bray said, cutting off comms.

"Don't fuck me on this?" Rothschild asked.

"It's kind of a code between us. Bray has been a friend for a long time, we'd make bets on different things and then when one of us tried to welch, the other would say 'Don't fuck me on this.'" Aria said, folding her arms.

"Bray and I butt heads on almost everything, it's part of why he's so effective as my second in command. He's kept me from making some stupid decisions around her. When something is dire and we don't have the time to hash it out, we'll say that, and the other person knows shit is serious." Aria said.

"Tell me the long story some time. Right now I just want to make sure nobody else gets killed." Rothschild said. Aria nodded and brought up a display on her omnitool of the space around Omega, watching a huge dog slowly move towards the relay. Her eyes widened.

"Holy fuck that's huge..." Aria said.

"Bigger than the Destiny Ascension, though slightly smaller than the Mayhem. Much better armed though." Rothschild said.

"Rothschild you have emitters all over the station, why are you using the mech?" Aria asked.

"Not in personal spaces, domiciles, restrooms and operations stations. That was part of our agreement, remember?" Rothschild said. Aria grimaced.

"We might need to change that. In the meantime can you ask the Geth to send you a proper platform? I have a feeling we're going to have a lot of don't fuck me on this moments before this collector shit is done." Aria said

"Good idea." Rothschild said.

"It's gone." Bray reported. Aria looked at the mech curiously as it emitted a mechanical growl.

"I'm sorry." Aria said. Rothschild looked up at Aria

"There's an infiltration team and several Geth units aboard, hiding in waste reclamation. We're working on a plan. I just.. I just hate sitting here and letting them go." Rothschild said.

"Can't stop that now. Like I said to Jane, Omega is at your disposal." Aria said.

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"What's the plan?" An Alliance Marine said as he stood with squad commander and a Geth stalker unit.

"Bob I need you and the guys and scout around, see what the situation is. Geth, can you lend a hand?" Lieutenant Jacob Taylor said.

"Affirmative. Will... follow... orders..." The stalker said, pausing.

"You ok?" Jacob asked.

"Not many Geth. Processing slow..." the Stalker said.

"What's the status of the QEC uplink?" Jacob said.

"Operational. Bandwidth limited..." The stalker said.

"I want all Geth programs to congregate on this unit, and establish contact with the Alliance." Jacob ordered.

"Acknowledged." The stalker said. The other units went limp and fell over, whereas the stalker's lights brightened and it stood up straighter.

"Uplink established." the stalker said.

"Is this Lieutenant Jacob Taylor?" A Quarian asked, emanating from the Geth.

"Yes sir. Admiral Gerrel?" Jacob asked.

"Correct. We're damn glad to hear you. Everyone ok over there?" Gerrel asked.

"Yes sir. Just about to send a team out to do some recon." Taylor said.

"Keep your heads down. How many of the Geth platform are with you?"

"All seventeen sir. Five Infiltrators and a dozen stalkers. They're not heavily populated though." Taylor said.

"We can send reinforcements, however bandwidth is limited, it will take time." Gerrel said.

"We'll take anything we can get, sir." Jacob said.

"They are en route." Gerrel said.

"Can you direct traffic for us? We should concentrate on infiltrators first since they have better stealth capabilities." Taylor said. The stalker nodded.

"Acknowledged." the stalker said.

"ETA three hours. Hunker down for then. Once the Geth are there, send back any data you have." Gerrel ordered.

"Understood, sir. We can't tell where we are but it's a part of the Galaxy that hasn't been charted by the Council worlds. I'm detecting almost a million derelict ships, and that's just in my omnitool's range." Taylor said.

"Ancestors... Are any suitable for a return trip?" Gerrell asked.

"Unknown, but once we have more Geth here we should be able to take a closer look." Taylor said.

"Understood. Your first priority is to ascertain the condition of the colonists. We're working on a plan." Gerrel said.

"Glad to hear it." Taylor said.

"Keep us posted. Gerrell out." Gerrell said.

"Lieutenant Taylor, we should have an adequately populated stalker within fifteen minutes. Recommend deploying one to perform reconnaissance." the Stalker said.

"Not until we have two ready. Nobody goes anywhere here alone." Taylor insisted.

"We are not alone though.." The stalker said.

"Having a thousand programs all sharing one optical sensor isn't helpful. I need one of you scouting while the other watches both your backs." Taylor said.

"Acknowledged, Lieutenant." the stalker said.

"Alright people, remember your training. Consider this a survival situation. We need shelter, water and food in that order. I want an inventory on everyone's gear, including food, ammunition and water." Taylor said.

"Yes sir!" The marines said.

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Shepard sat in a hastily erected command tent in the center of Horizon talking with holographic representations of the leaders of the Alliance. Everyone, except for Rothschild who was still in his mech standing beside Shepard.

"The Oathbound informed us of a derelict reaper in the Attican Traverse, near Klendagon." Hannah said.

"What do they know about it?" Jane asked.

"Little, they are wary of it. They've known it was there for centuries, but only learned that it was a reaper after we learned of them. I hate it, but it's probably our best bet." Raan said.

"I don't have any better ideas. We'll make for Klendagon immediately." Jane said.

"Jane, be careful. We know so little about the reapers, it could be dormant instead of dead." Hannah said.

"Of course. I wish we had time for Tali to get better, Karg and Adams are amazing, but neither are combat specialists, we're gonna need a tech nerd when we board it." Jane said.

"I might have a solution for you there." Rothschild said, gesturing with his hand behind him. Shepard looked confused as what looked like a silver mannequin approached and stood beside Rothschild.

"This is EDI. She is the AI we rescued from Cerberus." Rothschild said.

"Ah! I didn't recognize you." Jane said. Edi nodded.

"We were concerned about potential sabotage devices in the old one, so my consciousness was transferred to this new body." Edi said.

"It suits you. Where is your mainframe?" Jane asked.

"On Earth, in a bunker underneath Ulaan Baator. We are installing a relay server in the Normandy now." Rothschild answered for her.

"I can speak for myself, Rothschild." EDI said. Jane laughed.

"Isn't she great?" Rothschild asked.

"I am fully trained in combat, electrical and software engineering, and feature an advanced cyberwarfare suite." EDI said

"You've only been free for a couple of weeks!" Jane exclaimed, looking astonished.

"We can speak, talk, think and learn at far higher rates than you, meatbag." Rothschild said.

"Right... Well, welcome aboard EDI. As soon as your infrastructure is installed we will head out. Gather your things and meet me at the Normandy.." Jane said. EDI cocked her head and looked at Jane strangely.

"I sure hope there is enough space for my extensive wardrobe..." EDI said. Jane stared at her, confused.

"That was a joke." EDI said.

"We're working on that." Rothschild said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

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"What's with the Krogan in the vat? He's just a kid..." Miranda said in a low voice.

"That's Okeer's pet project. He calls it his 'legacy.' Poor bugger's been bred to be the ultimate Krogan. Freeing him is on my to-do." Zaeed said, following beside Miranda as they headed to the armory.

"Are all of our assets in place?" Miranda asked. Zaeed nodded. They stopped to access a terminal to enter the Armory.

"Affirmative, Rothschild and the Geth are all over the network." Zaeed said. Miranda rolled her eyes.

"I know, I could recognize that bastard's cheek anywhere.. OW!" Miranda said as the console threw sparks at her.

"See?" Miranda said. A digital smiley face appeared on the screen.

"Try not to lose focus..." Zaeed said.

"Right.." Miranda said. They entered the armory and gathered their equipment.

"Let's go over the plan again." Miranda said.

"I'm heading north with a squad of Cerberus shitheels to catch a squad of 'geth infiltrators' and cause a distraction while you sneak out and hook up with the castoff clan leader." Massani said.

"Right. The platforms you'll be up against are automated, so don't hold back, gotta make it realistic." Miranda said.

"And remember the code phrase if you get into trouble?" Massani said with a shit-eating grin.

"Seriously?" Miranda asked.

"I didn't choose it, Rothschild did." Massani said Miranda sighed and rolled her eyes.

"That's not a knife, this is a knife." Miranda said. Massani laughed.

"Sounds better when I say it, and I'm not even Australian." Massani said.

"Just get going and don't get hurt, old man." Miranda said.

"You got it, Sheila." Massani said, laughing and rubbing his shoulder after Miranda punched him.

Miranda was creeping in the shadows outside of Okeer's compound, making use of her inhuman grace to move without making sounds. The cloak she equipped would keep her from being seen, but did not block out noise. She carefully slipped between two boulders in front of a cave and waited, looking at her omnitool.

"Lawson to Rothschild." She whispered.

"Lawson, report." Rothschild said.

"No issues getting to the cave, I'm just waiting on Zaeed's signal." Miranda said.

"Understood, and remember, Okeer's been playing with their genes, we have no idea whether or not they're mentally unstable. The Geth have two primes hidden in the catacombs, ready to respond if you run into trouble." Rothschild said.

"Acknowledged." Miranda said.

"Be careful in there, meatbag." Rothschild. Miranda rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Dad." Miranda said.

"Rothschild out." Rothschild said. Just then a loud explosion came from the north and she made her move. She silently made her way to the entrance of the cave and stepped in, deactivating her cloak.

"Experiment 0-2?" Miranda said. A juvenile Krogan waddled out of an alcove and approached her slowly.

"Lawson?" The Krogan said.

"Lieutenant Miranda Lawson, Alliance Intelligence." Miranda said, extending a hand. The Krogan looked down at it and back up to her without saying. She withdrew it.

"The mech told us you'd be coming." The Krogan said.

"I'm sure he did. Tell me, how many are there of you?" Miranda asked.

"Seventeen are still alive. Four just barely." the Krogan said.

"Shit, where are they? I can help." Miranda said.

"This way." the Krogan said, leading her into a chamber in the back of the cave lit by torches.