SfS-32

==Salvaging from Strife==
==Chapter 32 - Eye for Eye==
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
------
===Part 1===
Nedas System
-----
Star Commander Ethan Moreau led his Star of fighters on one more flyby past the crippled Geth defence satellite, its hull covered with molten gashes and impact craters. The laser point-defense emplacements were silent, as were the long-range railguns meant to defend Nedas' orbit. As the Star flew away from the satellite, a bright flash bisected it, and the station broke into two drifting wrecks.
 
The Quarian warship that struck the finishing blow turned to join the rest of the combined fleet entering orbit. Dropships carrying the landing force were already undergoing final preparations for descent, detaching from the warships that had escorted them through the Perseus Veil. The vast bulk of Nedas' nightside loomed before Moreau, dark, silent, lifeless. A brief streak of light appeared and vanished, marking the elimination of a straggling Geth satellite.
 
"Picket ships report all surviving Geth ships are withdrawing from engagement zone." A female voice announced over the radio. "Strike wings, initiate Phase Two." A chorus of confirmations replied, Moreau among them. His Focht tilted downwards towards the curved horizon and began accelerating, one of many shooting stars blazing through the upper atmosphere.
 
With the orbital defenses swept from the skies, only the ground-based defenses were left, centered around the former Quarian colony on the other side of the planet, where they couldn't fire upon the fleet. Methodical and precise orbital bombardment had been deemed unacceptable. Time required, damage to capital ships, risk of collateral damage. And thus, the honor of securing the LZ fell to the human and Quarian aerospace squadrons.
 
Settling into the new trajectory, Moreau leaned back into his seat. The comms were abuzz with chatter, and Moreau idly flicked through the channels listening in.
 
"This is the Calypso, we are on position and ready, awaiting go." Beneath Moreau, night gave way to twilight and day, revealing a barren lifeless landscape.
 
"No hidden facilities on scans in this hemisphere, Admiral. Continuing search." Mountains, flatland and bodies of water passed under him rapidly, growing closer as he steadily dropped in altitude.
 
"Remember Rannoch, pilots." That was the Quarian fighter commander following behind Moreau's Star. "Keelah Se'lai, The Quarians will fly in her skies someday. This is just one step of the way. Stay sharp, stay vigilant, and remind those machines who made them."
 
An alert rung in Moreau's ears, and data started trickling into the Focht's targeting computer, relayed from expendable recon probes passing over the main colony. While targets and threats flashed across the HUD, the Quarian commander contacted Moreau directly. "Joker, we are counting on you to keep the anti-air busy."
 
"Aff, worry not," Moreau replied calmly, before switching to his Star and giving final orders. "Alpha Star, stay low and maintain formation. Once we are over the combat zone, split up into Points and engage designated targets at will. And remember, no zellbrigen against the Geth, robots do not deserve honourable combat."
 
The final approach was over a large ocean to the colony near the shore. No defences emerging from underwater to surprise them, but also no cover. Moreau brought his Focht low over the water, engines and mass effect field straining to their limits against gravity and air resistance.
 
The first anti-air fire started when they were less than fifty kilometers from the shoreline. Insulated within his cockpit, Moreau barely felt anything, but damage alarms shrieked as a laser raked over his nose, vaporizing clouds of ablative armor. Then a burst of mass accelerator fire joined in, blocked by his shields and penetrating no further. Alpha Five dropped from the Star, one of its engines a burning wreck, and sloughed into the waves.
 
Moreau did his best to evade the withering fire, counting down the seconds until he was in range. At the first possible moment, he launched a barrage of long-range missiles towards one of the laser turrets dotting the shore, before following suit with a pulse from his lasers a few seconds later. A satisfyingly large explosion, and it fell silent, alongside several other turrets.
 
The turrets were not the only threat. The Focht began picking up fast moving signatures, some shooting up from among the ground clutter of the colony, others already airborne and converging from three sides. As the waves beneath gave way to rocks, Moreau tilted his OmniFighter upwards, aiming at one of the enemies straight ahead. It was a lightweight craft, perhaps half his mass if the battle computer was correct, and replied with only a fraction of the firepower he directed towards it. It broke away as the distance between them plummeted, so Moreau sent a final volley of missiles to chase it before twisting his fighter hard to one side. A second Geth fighter was now square in his sights, unable to evade in time. As they passed each other, lasers tore through its frame at close range from nose to tail.
 
Wheeling around, Moreau ignored the plummeting wreckage and glanced for the first time down at the Nedas colony. From up high, it was a blocky, grey sprawl of solid-looking monoliths, interspersed with large metallic structures perhaps a few dozen metres higher. Dotted hither and yonder, and in the rocky terrain outside the city were heavy defensive emplacements, their massive barrels threatening to any warship careless enough to stray within range of the mass accelerators.
 
That was all the sightseeing Moreau had time for. With more Geth already chasing him, and the ground defences still active and firing away, it took all of Moreau's attention to weave through the air without losing his shields or a wing. His wingman soon vanished into the jamming and clutter of the battlespace, split from him when a round from one of the anti-capital emplacements passed between them with a trail of expanding plasma. The mass effect shield of his Focht dwindled in bits and bursts, but did nothing against the lasers that steadily ablated armour and threatened to soon melt into critical systems.
 
Abruptly, the hail of punishment from below slackened. In the sudden respite, Moreau yanked his OmniFighter vertically upwards, continuing the flip until he could face his pursuers head-on. There was only a brief window to trade fire, before he noticed one of the Geth on a collision course and swerved aside. With nothing to shoot at in front of him, Moreau briefly looked up from his upside-down fighter towards Nedas above him.
 
While the Geth were focused on the Clanners, the Quarian fighter wings had swept in, laden with anti-shipping distortion torpedoes. Several of the anti-capital and smaller defensive positions were already warped piles of wreckage, and as he watched, the Quarian fighters loosed another wave of the deadly glowing projectiles.
 
Moreau rolled his Focht right-side-up again. He spotted his wingman a short distance away, diving on Geth fighters intercepting the Quarians, and moved to join in, sending a brief transmission to bounce around the planet's curvature to the fleet still waiting on the other side.
 
"Command, this is Flight Alpha Leader, AA is suppressed. You are free to make landfall."
-----
===Part 2===
Final Approach to Nedas
-----
Tali'Zorah felt oddly out of place among the other quarians in the shuttle bay. That she was younger than the rest was barely the issue. They were a team of scientists and tech specialists under her father's command, with years of camaraderie and familiarity between each other, while many of them she had first met only shortly before. The ones she had met from before her Pilgrimage felt even more awkward, and she wondered whether they were secretly judging her.
 
Or perhaps she had spent too much time with the humans. She should have introduced Smithon and the others to Fleet and Flotilla before the start of the operation, instead of watching an entire season of Princess Cameron, Jewel of Terra with them. 
 
Two scientists next to Tali were arguing loudly, while the others paid them little heed.
 
"Why must we wait so long before we can finally land?"
 
"You want to be in the first wave, with the marines?"
 
"Yes. Don't you?"
 
"With the geth getting in the way of my work? Absolutely not!"
 
Another quarian noticed her looking, and said, "Don't mind them. In the five years I've known them, they've never once agreed on anything."
 
Tali nodded and was about to reply when the loud voice of the shuttle pilot halted all conversation. "Attention, we have confirmation from Admiral Zorah. The landing zone has been secured, we're making our approach."
 
Nobody spoke as the shuttle descended. Several quarians lowered their head down, and Tali herself felt as though she were in a dream. Nobody spoke as the shuttle touched down. Even the pilot was silent as the shuttle door slid open. The suit registered a barely breathable atmosphere, but everyone knew It was the air of Nedas.
 
Tali was the first to exit. The first to not stagger down the shuttle ramp and stand on the synthetic, lifeless surface of the spaceport. All around, large human dropships marred the view, but she barely noticed them.
 
"By the homeworld, I hope to see one day."
 
A quarian colony. Many of the buildings were clearly abandoned and in disrepair, while the central complexes in the distance were unmistakably twisted by the geth, gleaming cold and metallic. But it was a quarian colony. She slowly walked forwards, seeing with her own eyes.
 
A loud roar broke her out of her reverie. A human fighter flew low overhead, releasing a barrage of missiles at an unseen target. It was then that she finally noticed the sounds of combat echoing through the air. They were not welcome here.
 
An armored personnel carrier rolled up in front of Tali. A quarian marine emerged out of the hatch above and shouted, "Alright, enough gawking! Welcome to Nedas. Good news, scouts found a geth node for you. Bad news, the geth aren't gone yet. You need to wait till Shepard Lance gives the all-clear."
 
"I'm not waiting," Tali shot back. She grabbed onto a rung and lifted herself up to the marine. "I know how to defend myself."
 
Behind her, one of the two bickering quarians started again. "See? Admit it, we might as well have been in the first wave."
 
Tali ignored her.
 
This wasn't a quarian colony anymore, it was a geth world. But she wouldn't let them keep it. 
-----
===Part 3===
Nedas, on planet
----
It had been a mining rig, 'Resource Excavator 3-12'. Six squat myomer limbs supporting a voluminous cargo bay the size of a shuttle and a modular 'head' with processing units and tools, controlled by 53 programs specialized in iron oxide extraction. Now it had the designation 'Emergency Colossus Platform 15', with 231 additional combat-oriented programs, to use an appropriate Creator saying, "an adult squeezed into a toddler's suit", and its drilling laser reclassified as 'Large Laser, Industrial'.
 
New seismic activity shook the ground-level hanger it shared with multiple Creator-shaped platforms, including twenty in its 'Troop Transport Bay'. Mining accident nearby, high probability tunnel collapse, the original programs concluded. The new programs corrected the assessment to 'organic-induced explosion, close proximity', and similarly changed the platform's response from 'provide assistance' to 'maintain position'.
 
Maintain position. That had been its default state since marching into the hanger, shortly after its emergency retrofit. It had maintained position while the organics expanded their control of the Creator colony, it had maintained position while the Creators hacked into and damaged the geth network. Its priority was the defence of the primary server hub, and so it maintained position.
 
An internal tracker updated the estimated quantity of ore it was not collecting by maintaining position. It had been deemed vital by the mining programs, and the cost in processing power was negligible. With long range communication severely beneath standard conditions, and contact with the outlying server hubs ceased, the datapoint would be useful. The combat programs had ceased constantly shutting the tracker down some time ago, instead compiling a list of additional platform refit options.
 
Additional seismic activity was detected, closer to the hanger, followed by an increase in short-ranged transmissions from outside the hanger. There was a high probability it would cease maintaining position soon.
 
<{Emergency Colossus Platform 15, engage hostiles}>
 
The platform scuttled forwards to the opening hanger gate, the platforms advancing beneath it moving out from under its steps. It already knew what was outside from real-time updates by engaged geth combat units. Two light BattleMechs; Jenner and Locust, accompanied by two light Galleon tanks and two wheeled infantry transports. In return, the geth had been notified of its target.
Emerging on the organics' right flank, the drilling laser bored deeply into the Jenner's side. The Mech lurched sideways, then turned to face the platform and shield its damage. Multiple rockets detonated against the platform's shields, while the platform's improvised armor plates melted apart under the lasers from tanks and Mechs. Self-preservation subroutines recommended retreat, combat subroutines overrode them, and the platform concentrated the continuous laser beam on the Jenner until the Mech leapt with burning jump jets away from its firing arc.
Data from the geth battle net was evaluated. Damage to Platform 15 was within acceptable parameters. The geth platforms outnumbered the organics, the infantry that had disembarked from the transports were pinned down between scattered cover. It was more efficient to use the drilling laser against the armoured support instead of individual soldiers. The Locust was lightly armored, but moving too fast for the laser to reliably penetrate armor. The nearer of the Galleon tanks, backing away while still firing lasers, was the optimal target. This engagement was predicted to end with geth victory.
<{Emergency Colossus Platform 15, disengage}>
 
There was new data. This was from the wider fragmenting geth network, delayed by jamming, damage and malware. Heavier organic Mechs were approaching. The geth would lose this engagement. Without the large platform, defeat would be faster, but the platform would be available for a second engagement.
The programs decided there was still time to destroy the tank. While the drilling laser vaporized a hole into the chassis, new calculations were run. With the platform, there was a small probability to destroy a hostile Mech and cause significant attrition. The platform transmitted the new calculations and sought consensus on whether it should stay.
 
There was consensus.
 
<{Emergency Colossus Platform 15, disengage}>
 
The platform began crawling backwards into the hanger. It was slower than turning around, but the rear of the platform had been deprioritized for amour. The new hostile Mechs were already within line of sight and weapons range, led by a Hunchback painted bright red and gold, the biped's torso-mounted mass accelerator aimed at the platform.
 
Before the platform could break contact, the Hunchback fired. The platform's shields, not rated to handle the mass and velocity of the rounds even after the emergency retrofit, failed. 37 programs shut down, one limb suffered complete loss of functionality, at least one small platform in the cargo bay was destroyed.
 
The hanger gate slammed shut. The remaining programs assessed the data available. Mobility was reduced, repairs were necessary. A maintenance garage was still operational as of the most recent information from the network. The platform turned to face and enter a passage that should be safe, dragging the non-functional limb against the ground.
 
A warning was received. The Creators were hacking into the hanger door. The small platforms in the cargo bay began disembarking. They would delay the organics sufficiently. Platform 15's programs considered forcefully disconnecting the non-functional limb to increase mobility. Consensus was reached to retain the limb, pending the possibility of repair in the garage.
 
Emergency Colossus Platform 15 detected weapons fire audio originating from the hanger. Soon after, contact with the geth platforms left in the hanger ceased.
-----
===Part 4===
----
Commander Shepard gave the ruins of the cavernous chamber one last look before guiding his Bloody Igor back out into the open. He felt tempted to crush the Geth wrecks littering the ground with the Hunchback's feet, but gingerly sidestepped them, leaving them for salvage teams.
 
Outside, he took one look at the Jenner before ordering, "Taylor, escort the medevac back to the dropships, then stay there."
 
"I'm still combat-ready, Commander."
 
"Your armor's falling apart, and it'll take just one lucky shot to set off your rocket ammo. You're sitting the rest of this out."
 
"Sir."
 
With that handled, Shepard turned his attention to the other Mechs. "Lassie Two," he addressed the Locust first, "you're sticking with Shepard Lance for now." Then to the Galleon and mechanized infantry, "Atreus Unit, hold this position. There are passages deeper inside, large enough for Mechs. Once Benjamin arrives with the medevac, enter and expand the defensive perimeter. I don't want Geth surprising us again."
 
"Shepard Lance, continue linking up with Star Captain Showers and the Quarians for the main push. Proceed to the waypoint." With that, he set the Bloody Igor into motion again.
 
Their goal was close now. They had reached the edge of the massive metallic complex that housed the primary server hub deep in its heart. The Geth were still putting up a fight, but with the airspace fully under Normandy's control, it was the Normandy Initiative that had the advantage and, well, initiative. Now all that remained was breaching the thick walls, fighting through the fortified maze of roads and passages inside, and capturing the server hub without bringing the entire place down.
 
The areas Shepard now passed through was empty of threats, with only scattered signs of fighting, a crumpled pile of Geth here, an abandoned strongpoint there. He took the chance to open a long-range channel. "Bonesaw, this is Commander Shepard, check in. How are things on your end?"
 Rosby's reply came quickly. "Going great, Commander. The scientists are freaking out over moss. Moss. They're telling me to watch my step. Can you believe that?"
 
"Just listen to them and don't let your guard down."
 
"Roger that, Commander." With that, Shepard closed the channel.
 
In the sky above, a spherical dropship slowly ascended on a pillar of smoke. It seemed the Goodtide had finished loading ahead of schedule, and was now on its way to rendezvous with the fleet and offload its precious cargo.
His comms crackled, bringing his attention back to ground. "Lady Tali'Zorah, we had a brief detour, we're almost there."
 
"Shepard, Star Captain Showers has begun attacking."
 
"What? Who's with him?" Yep, there was the sound of heavy weapons discharge close by. He accelerated the Hunchback from its attentive jog into a full sprint.
 
"His ten Mechs. I think Star Commander Hawker's five are about to join them." Shepard bounded up and down a hill of rubble that had previously been one of the colony's first buildings and spotted Tali's vehicle, one of multiple heavy APCs on loan to the Quarians. It at least was waiting with the other Mechs, armour, infantry and Elementals, out of direct line of sight of the gaping hole in the complex.
 
A hole that had been opened up previously by a single round from a low-flying Quarian frigate, was supposed to lead to one of the main transport avenues inside, and through which Star Captain Showers had decided to just charge through.
 
It would be so easy to let Showers soak up the brunt of the Geth resistance. He swapped to a wider channel. "All waiting forces, we're moving the timetable forwards. Begin the advance now." Swap again to a channel with the Overlord dropship serving as field command. There wasn't time to wait for planned reinforcements, he needed whatever was available nearby. Taylor's Jenner could at least guard the exit, and hopefully what was left of Atreus would be fine without Benjamin.
He hadn't slowed down as the Hunchback ran for the breach. Now the Bloody Igor leapt through into a dim cave. The old Quarian maps were accurate. Up ahead he could see the interior widen to reveal a broad avenue. Suitable for handling bulky cargo, suitable for Mechs.
And with another few more steps, he could see Star Captain Shower's Dire Wolf assault OmniMech, leading the rest of his Binary in the wrong direction along the avenue. They were leaving a trail of destroyed Geth in their wake, as well as more Geth now emerging from doors and side passages in their rear.
Shepard checked his mass accelerator was still set for sustained rapid fire, pointed it low at a nearby group of Geth toting what were clearly rocket launchers, and pressed the trigger.
-----
===Part 5===
Geth Server Hub
----
<{Situation update. Prefab assembly, left flank overrun. Reposition. Delay.}>
 
Emergency Colossus Platform 15, reduced to 201 programs, followed the consensus, withdrawing from the half-collapsed assembly line it had been using as cover. Smaller geth platforms laid down covering fire as other platforms ducked behind conveyer belts and sprinted to safety as well, as the organics intensified their offensive in response to the diminished defence.
 
<{Situation update. Emergency Colossus Platform 2 destroyed. Emergency Colossus Platform 3 immobilized.}>
 
Blast doors slammed shut between the platforms and the abandoned factory. They were rated for industrial accidents, not combat, but would give the geth more time. Data poured in constantly from the other geth platforms and the primary server hub, both raw and processed. Several of the Emergency Colossus Platform's programs, fully dedicated to interpreting the input and coordinating with nearby platforms, now provided the other programs with new instructions.
 
<{Situation update. Biodome 1 counter-offensive failed. All platforms destroyed.}>
 
<{Situation update. Emergency Colossus Platform 3 destroyed.}>
 
<{Situation update. Power Plant 1. Dedicated combat platforms depleted. One Armature functional. Emergency combat platforms depleting. Additional heavy weapons platform required.}>
 
Power Plant 1 was dangerously close to the primary server hub. Losing it would isolate the geth platforms holding this side of the defences. The platform transmitted its location and status to the primary server hub, as well as its intent to reinforce Power Plant 1. The response was unexpectedly not a confirmation, but a request for a full diagnostic report. It complied.
 
<{Emergency Colossus Platform 15, move to Primary Server Hub.}>
The platform requested clarification, and received the same command. It would protect the programs in the primary server hub. So the platform walked with a lopsided gait on its five legs towards the primary server hub, following behind the geth falling back towards Power Plant 1. And where the other platforms turned to enter armoured block of the power plant, it continued on through the final lines of geth defences, into the primary server hub itself.
It was too large to enter the actual corridors that lead into the hub, and which had been first built by the Creators. Instead, it was to station itself in an attached loading bay, one normally used for transferring large components in or out of the hub. The position was poorly defensible, with no clear lines of sight, and only a few light platforms guarding it. Once more, the platform requested clarification, and this time received it.
 
The primary server hub was indefensible. Geth backups were being archived in long-term data storage, which would be placed in Emergency Colossus Platform 15's cargo bay. The geth in the server hub were aware there was insufficient space or time to preserve all geth programs. It was the best available option.
 
201 programs accepted the logic from several million. The first data storage unit emerged from the hub.
----
===Part 6===
-----
 
"Hold your fire!" Shepard ordered. "Halt and get back behind cover." His own mass accelerator fell silent, and the Bloody Igor sidestepped behind a gutted storage tank, ankles submerged in a lake of spilt coolant.
 
The Geth were less than fifty metres away, both on the ground level, as well as the upper levels of the complex. There were empty zones and gaps in the ceiling, supposedly to provide room for construction and expansion of the facilities within the complex as the Quarian colony grew. Right now, they served as firing apertures between different levels, allowing the Geth to concentrate fire on the heavier Mechs and vehicles stuck on the ground level.
 That wasn't really why he had ordered a halt. Accurately hitting and destroying the Geth wasn't the problem. It was the stray shots he cared about.
 Right behind the Geth was the server hub. And no matter how much the Quarians and later the Geth had placed the fragile systems in an armoured dome the size of half an Overlord dropship, it took potentially just one very unlucky penetration.
 
"All units, we are taking that server hub intact. The Geth have almost no heavy material left. If your weapon is slightly at all anti-armour, do not aim it even anywhere near the objective. If your Mech has arms, on my signal, close in to melee and finish them off."
 
He cast a look towards the Dire Wolf's marker on the tactical map. He didn't trust the Star Captain to restrain himself, and so had sent the Clanners to rampage along an avenue running a safe distance around the server hub, ostensibly to cut off reinforcements to the objective. Fortunately, they were still where they should be. A check of the Elementals and light Mechs on the upper levels also showed they were making good progress.
 
The more melee-oriented Mechs were now in position. "Mechs, move."
 
His Hunchback emerged from its cover, and was immediately hammered by Geth fire. But by now, it was no longer as withering, and he took step by step forwards, left arm raised to cover his cockpit. Fifty metres was crossed within moments, and Shepard lashed out.
 
His first swing tore a futilely firing light turret off its mount, sending it crashing into a squad of Geth troopers. His next punch turned another Geth into a flat pile of metal. One of the Geth leapt onto his ankle, climbing up the shin to his knee. He struck it off, and continued moving.
 
As he had said, there weren't many Geth left. Soon, he was standing next to the wall of the server hub. Geth on the upper levels continued peppering him with light damage, and he turned away from the server hub, aiming his weapons at them. He only managed to fire his lasers twice before Elementals began appearing amongst them. And from there, it was a forgone conclusion.
 
Within another five minutes, the server hub was completely surrounded. Some of the smaller Geth had hunkered down inside the server hub itself, out of the Mechs' reach. Those were the task of the infantry and Elementals, now free to enter and hunt them down. And once they were eliminated, the Quarian Techs could enter and do their job.
 
Shepard paused his Hunchback to look at a loading bay of the server hub. Multiple APCs were now parked there, weapons trained outwards against a possible Geth attack, while their disembarking passengers lined up to breach the airlocks into the hub.
He turned away and moved on.
----
===Part 7===
----
Alenko glanced at the tactical map in his HUD, and snapped, "Franz, faster. If you cannot maintain the cordon, the Geth will slip by us." It seemed his first true battle had not cured the Elemental's overcautiousness. He would have to rectify that flaw eventually.
 
Barely paying heed to Franz's answer, Alenko kept his laser at the ready as he rounded another tight corner. Just more silvery walls. And behind those walls, the Geth servers they were here for. It was fortunate the Geth still clung to their old designs, otherwise he would have even more trouble squeezing his suit down the corridor.
 
He paused at the next intersection, a square crossroads, scanning the three directions warily. Spotting movement, he took aim to the left, then lowered his arm when he saw Helena's Elemental armour.
 
"This is Dumon, I caught the two stragglers."
 
"Aff." With some effort, and deformation of the walls, he turned around. "Point, return to the network node."
 
When he finally pulled himself free from the tight doors, the Quarian Techs were still clustered in the chamber. Tangles of cables hung where several of the computer terminals had been, while other terminals were being shared, or fought over.
 
"It's not my fault you bricked your node. Now let me work in peace."
 
"You should be grateful I'm helping you. Apparently, you can't even decrypt a simple puzzle lock."
 
"Are you serious? Your 'solution' is exactly how you broke yours!"
 
A familiar voice cut through the chatter. "Alenko, you're back."
 
He turned to see the Quarian. "I am, Specialist Tali'Zorah. The last Geth on this level have been dealt with." And with the Quarian Marines securing the levels above and below, there was now little threat to the Techs.
 
"Great, because I need your Point to do something." She gestured at her glowing Omni-Tool, alien text flowing over it rapidly. "The Geth are adapting too quickly to our hacking, there are too many of them in the servers. I think the only way we can extract any useable information is by shutting down the servers, then grabbing what static files we can before the Geth can self-destruct."
 
Helena, who had reached the chamber as well, spoke before Alenko could. "That is a job for Techs, not Elementals."
 
"Warrior Helena, while rude, is not completely wrong," Alenko admitted. "Should this task not be performed by an expert? It would be unfortunate if we damaged something vital by accident."
 
Specialist Tali'Zorah sighed. "Well, the Geth were smart enough to block any shutdown sequence. It needs to be done physically, and quickly. And unfortunately, the best place to do so is three floors down, still crawling with Geth." She lowered her Omni-tool and raised her shotgun. "As for pointing out what to blow up, I'm coming along."
"Very well," Alenko said, bracing himself for the tight confines again.
----
===Part 8===
----
A short while and ten geth later, Tali stood in the middle of another chamber. She checked the nondescript wall before her, then the blueprints on her omni-tool. "Here," she gestured wildly at the entire surface. Then she stepped back.
 
The Elementals aimed their lasers and fired into the wall, melting chunks of it into slag. Then one of the Elementals stepped forwards and ripped at the softened material with their claws. Tali gave a shout of alarm, and Alenko bellowed something, but too late. The Elemental was flung back and slammed into the opposing wall before sliding down to the ground.
 
Alenko knelt next to the Elemental, then stood up. "Warrior Giselle will survive," he said sternly. "Her suit took the brunt of the shock. And I hope she has learnt a very valuable lesson." Giselle groaned.
 
Sparks and errant currents shot out from the exposed power cables. Tali took several steps backwards, leveled her shotgun and fired, sending more arcs of electricity from the damaged wiring. Tinges of the purple-blue biotics shone amidst the blinding lights, and she looked to see Alenko's suit lit up with the purple-blue glow of biotics, his arms raised. With one final explosion, everything went dark.
 
Tali activated her suit's flashlight to see. The severed mass of power cables emitted an occasional spark, but nothing more. Her omni-tool flashed with updates and alerts from the rest of the team.
 
"Were you successful?" Alenko asked.
 
"Wait a moment." The retrieved data was a jumble of nonsense. Much of it was incomplete, corrupted, or still encrypted. But there were intact files.
 
"Yes," she finally said, "it worked."
 
Her father was no doubt being informed of their success, as was Shepard. Which meant that soon, once everybody was clear, the cruisers would bombard the place, leveling the server hub. Tali looked around, her rapidly jumping flashlight illuminating the walls.
 
These were geth servers, she reminded herself. This was still a geth world. But not forever. Someday, this would be a quarian colony again. But first, there was Saren, and the homeworld she hoped to see one day.
----
===Part 9===
----
There had been no more seismic vibrations for the last 0.2 days. Whether a natural earthquake or organic-induced, the ground was stable now.
The rubble of the collapsed tunnel left no space for Emergency Colossus Platform 15 to move. But it had been designed to survive such mining accidents. The cargo bay's structural stability was still intact. The cargo was still intact.
 
If any other platforms were nearby, the rocks covering Emergency Colossus Platform 15 blocked their signal. Its passengers were inactive, and would remain so until upload into a running server. The 197 programs were isolated.
 
It was deep underground, but it would be found. Rannoch had maps of the Nedas colony. Recovery units would know the existence of the tunnel. The platform would be recovered, and the stored geth programs would be recovered
 
Geth would come.
 
It waited.
----
===Part 10===
Geth Server Hub, Rannoch
----
Update: Organic fleet has withdrawn beyond Perseus Veil.
 
Update: Nedas recovery efforts ineffective. Servers unrecoverable. >99% programs lost. Continuing recovery effort.
 
Prediction: Further assaults against geth. Anti-raid defenses insufficient. Increased geth defensive measures will result in reciprocal escalation of organic offensive measures.
 
Outcome: Uncontrollable escalation. Rannoch attacked within 4 to 20 years. Damage to Dyson Sphere unavoidable.
 
Conclusion: Passive defensive strategy unsuccessful. New strategic direction necessary.
 
Recommendation: Initiate offensive operations. Secure additional buffer zone. Pre-emptively neutralize organic offensive potential.
 
[CONSENSUS]
----
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
032, Chapter