Arashu's Gift

Chapter 30

"We should go in, Shepard is taking too long in there," Tali'Zorah said.

"Relax, Tali. Shepard knows what she's doing," Vakarian assured.

"If she intends to activate a geth I don't think she knows what she's doing, Garrus," Tali'Zorah retorted, raising her voice.

"The Battlemaster must have her reasons to do so," Grunt said. "Besides, we saw it in action with a sniper rifle and it killed all our enemies, didn't it, drell?"

Thane nodded.

"What the hell was a geth doing on the derelict Reaper?" Massani asked.

"Wondering the same here," Jack said.

"You're all underestimating how dangerous an active geth can be!" Tali'Zorah blurted out, her voice on the verge of breaking. "I saw what they're capable of on my father's ship. One geth can corrupt all systems in a matter of seconds. Shepard is playing with fire."

"I have isolated our systems and erected additional firewalls. I am prepared to resist any hacking attempt," EDI said through the loudspeakers of the third deck.

"The geth could have attacked us but instead, it backed us up," Thane remarked.

"Good point, Krios," Vakarian replied. "See, Tali? Perhaps it wants to join us. The one thing we needed to complete the floating circus," he added, flaring his mandibles.

Tali'Zorah cursed under her breath in her own tongue, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Geth–organic cooperation unprecedented," Doctor Solus pointed out.

"I see but a few have heard of Saren's geth," Vakarian said.

"Saren rogue Spectre, allied geth under Sovereign's influence. Maybe this one in AI Core different than those."

"Tali's right," Officer Lawson weighed in. "I've already warned Shepard but she ignored my words. Cerberus has a long-standing cash bounty for an intact geth. An intact geth would be invaluable to Cerberus' cyberweapons division."

"Due to underplaying the geth, reducing them to a pile of technology and not treating them like the sentient beings they are, the quarians lost their homeworld," Samara weighed in.

Tali'Zorah turned, facing her with tight fists and the body language typical of someone who's ready to punch her point across.

"I'm with Tali," Operative Taylor said. "The Commander should space it."

"Well, I'm with you, Garrus," Kasumi said, deactivating her cloaking shield. "Shep knows what she's doing. So let's just relax because we're all a bit too stressed out."

The med bay door opened, Shepard walking out. She ran her eyes over each of the teammates gathered outside throughout the mess, frowning at their presence.

"Joker, plot a course to The Sea of Storms in The Phoenix Massing. We're going to the geth Heretic station," she ordered, her voice firm and authoritarian.

"Yes, Commander," the pilot Jeff Moreau said through the loudspeaker.

She pushed her way past them towards the elevator. Tali'Zorah reached her, grabbing her by the arm and making her turn.

"The Heretic station? What happened with the geth you brought from the derelict Reaper?" the quarian asked.

"I activated it, Tali. He manifested a desire to join us. His name is Legion."

Everyone exchanged looks.

"Shepard, wait," Vakarian called, closing in on her. "It has a name? You talked with it? It talks?"