Finding a way: Mass effect 3

Consensus

They landed on Rannoch and made their way to the bunker area that housed the server. Legion had gone ahead of them to bypass security measures and prepare the equipment it needed to allow Aubrey to interface with the Consensus.

The doors opened without need for hacking and with no alarms raised. They found a few disabled Geth troopers as they made their way to the rendezvous point Legion had given them, but met no resistance.

Legion stood next to a console on the far side of something that looked similar to the Normandy's sleeper pods.

"Shepard Commander, when you are ready proceed to the docking port," it said, gesturing to the pod.

She took a deep breath. "Let's do this."

He grabbed her arm and turned her toward him, pressing his lips quickly and softly to hers. "I love you," he whispered.

"I love you, too," she replied, squeezing his hand before stepping up and into the pod.

He watched the door swing closed on her, only the outline of her body visible through the thick, opaque glass.

"Mapping to the Consensus," Legion said, moving its hands over the console. "Please remain still, Shepard Commander. Excess movement during an upload is discouraged."

Upload, the word echoed in his mind. Fucking hell, it's uploading Aubrey's brain to a virtual network, he thought. Half of him was worried sick about her and the other half was giddily excited and curious about how exactly the tech worked.

He and Tali watched as Aubrey's form slumped back in the pod.

"Legion?" he said, concern lacing his words.

"Connection established," it said. "We must focus on helping Shepard Commander. Please, maintain watch."

"You got it, Legion," Tali said, as they took up defensive positions around it and the pod containing Aubrey.

He knew only a few minutes had passed, but it seemed like it had already been an hour. He tried to remain vigilant, but kept looking back at where Legion and Aubrey were. "How long do you think this will take?" he asked Tali.

"No idea," she admitted. "Geth programs in the server can communicate at the speed of light, but an organic consciousness in the server would process things much more slowly. We have to be patient, Kaidan."

"Right," he sighed. Who knew what sensory overload Aubrey's mind might be trying to slog its way through right now? But if anyone could handle it, it was her. And he'd be right here waiting when she woke up.

"Commander Shepard?" Admiral Raan's voice came over the comm.

"She's...working on shutting down the server, Admiral," Tali replied, hesitant to explain exactly how they were doing that. "What's going on?"

"The Geth fighters are in range, but something's happening. About half of them just shut down."

"That means what she's doing is working, Admiral!"

"We'll hold out for as long as we can, then."

It seemed like forever, but about ten minutes later the Admiral contacted them again to report that the Geth fighter squadrons were completely shut down, with no active programs detected on their vessels.

"She did it!" Tali said, turning in excitement as the pod hissed opened.

For a moment, Aubrey remained still as stone and he wasn't sure she was breathing. But then she gasped and her eyes snapped open.