Tali'Zorah agreed to accompany us – she had no choice. The other team members doubted the wisdom of this move. And they could be understood: we had just dealt with the first Reaper to cross our path, when suddenly a new, equally risky mission loomed on the horizon. So dangerous that even the most desperate mercenaries had avoided it for centuries. Geth outside their planet are already a serious threat, but on their territory, anything could await us: from innovative missile systems to weapons capable of destroying starships at the speed of light or thereabouts.
It turns out to be a real game of Russian roulette, and only Shepard, besides Tali, voluntarily decided to play it. Well, or rather, I didn't leave her much choice either, pressing on the prospects of such a move for the Alliance and humanity as a whole. All races were afraid to set foot on the geth planet? Well, we aren't everyone. Humans are new players on the galactic stage, and we must prove our worth. In short, I fed her a load of bull and, to put it mildly, tried damn hard to convince her of the necessity of our dangerous cooperation.
— There are three of us. And there are millions of geth. Don't you think we miscalculated somewhere by at least a million allied troops? Anyone who has undergone military training knows the importance of numerical superiority in an attack. We are the attackers, which means we should have a numerical advantage: at least twice as many forces to break through the enemy defenses, - Jane Shepard explained tediously, thoughtfully twirling a strand of red hair around her finger.
— The plan isn't exactly an attack, - I shrugged, continuing to fiddle with the terminal. Miranda Lawson had performed well in the battle with Sovereign, demonstrating two ideal qualities: a lack of criticism for the commander and... a lack of criticism for the commander. She's perfect! But seriously, I had a verbal agreement with her, under which I undertook to annoy her father and help her sister. I didn't particularly want to do this personally, so I delegated the tasks to others – mainly C-Sec employees and free Spectres. Although, honestly, free Spectres were in short supply. Yeah, everyone's busy lately.
— If not an attack, then what? Sabotage? Covert infiltration, reconnaissance, and unnoticed departure? - Shepard raised an eyebrow.
— A noticeable appearance, brazen face-to-face negotiations with the geth, and a ceremonial exit, - I clarified, finishing forwarding the assignments. Now I needed to send the main team of galaxy rescuers on a small vacation. Everyone except Saren and Miranda. I managed this in a couple of clicks.
— Do you have a plan? - Shepard frowned, tapping her foot irritably on the ship's metal plating.
— Better! I have a plan for our victorious plan! - I exclaimed, raising a hand with an extended index finger. — True, the first item is still "come up with a plan." But, as we say on Earth, if you clearly visualize the goal, you're already halfway there.
— I'm serious!
— Me too, - I turned to her, walked up almost point-blank, and leaned forward slightly. — We are flying into uncharted territory with only one hope: to conclude an alliance with the geth against the Reapers. And you know what? It's easier to say what could go wrong than to imagine everything working out perfectly for us. The geth might be aggressive towards the Reapers due to the reprogramming of part of their species, or they might write off the hack as a "natural disaster." They might listen to our words about the threat of total annihilation, or they might decide it's the natural order of things. And the worst part? Negotiations might not happen at all. In the worst case, we'll have to "gun the engines" and hastily retreat from their system, - I stepped back and waved my hand, as if saying "to hell with it all." — We'd better not clutter our heads with plans, but act according to the circumstances.
— The army isn't for you, - she grimaced. — You always charge ahead, counting on suppressing everyone not with intellect, but with brute force. Sooner or later, more experienced opponents will outplay and destroy you.
— Possibly, - I recalled the incident on the Death Star. — Therefore, I strive to acquire such power that it suppresses any resistance, any intrigues against me, tears enemy plans to shreds, and incinerates them to the ground.
— Let me guess... Alone against an army? - Shepard snapped her fingers.
— In brute force, the superiority will be mine. But working in a team, you start to understand that many shortcomings or missing skills are more than compensated for by allies. If something is lacking, it's preferable to take those who already possess it than to waste your own strength mastering situational skills, like hacking synthetics, - I spoke measuredly, after which I headed to the pilot's seat, where I was about to use the artificial intelligence to the fullest.
The bacta tank. With the help of the advanced defense intelligence system, preparing the project will be much easier. I won't have to do everything myself, as in the case of the Death Star, to provide a template to a group of scientists. It's enough to voice ideas aloud, make clarifications, and explain the final vision of the product – and all the ship's computing power will be directed towards implementing the idea in a draft version. After the system finishes, I'll double-check everything and forward it to Miranda Lawson – let her work even more.
Hmm, speaking of her... Miranda said something about the artificial creation of superhumans? It's worth trying to extract all the data on the experiments on her body to recreate the program for cultivating a group of talented scientists. The more of them there are, the faster we can develop the space program and conquer the far reaches of space. The Reapers are already good material for improving shipbuilding, but a lot of creative work lies ahead with this resource. We need more scientists! Sighing, I stand up again and head to the terminal to make some clarifications to the mission related to seizing resources belonging to Miranda's father. And as if by magic, just as I was almost done sending the new instructions, a second crew member approached me. Ha, how easy it is to catch me at the terminal.
— Star... killer, - Tali'Zorah pronounced my name with difficulty, nervously fidgeting with her fingers. — Am I interrupting?
— Not particularly. We arrive on Rannoch in twenty minutes. More than enough time to even take a nap before the battle, - finishing with instructions for the salarian Spectre to seize and study Henry Lawson's equipment, I opened Miranda's email address, reporting on the progress of her requests. Just as I finished this item, another letter arrived from Citadel Intelligence: important information on finding the main spider of the entire Milky Way. The Shadow Broker – the owner of information about the entire galaxy, all its important figures, knowing even every rustle of the Citadel Councilors. He surely has compromising material on the independent dictators... The plan with negotiations failed: the independent systems refused to cooperate with us. Now plan B – pressure the leaders with information. To do this, we'll need to somehow get hold of everything the Shadow Broker possesses. If that doesn't help either, then before the Reapers arrive, we'll have to wipe out everyone who doesn't submit. Although this is less desirable – the last thing we need is a civil war before the enemy approaches.
Finishing reading the report, I stepped away from the terminal and stared in surprise at Tali'Zorah. What a compliant quarian – she didn't even interrupt or distract me from work. Shepard has something to learn from her.
— Something serious? - I crossed my arms.
— Um... do you know the story of how our home was taken from us? - she asked about the armed conflict between the geth and the quarians, when the former rebelled against their creators and drove them from Rannoch. By human standards, this happened around 1896.
— Your ancestors created an artificial intelligence that wanted more rights than were originally ascribed to it. Because of this, a conflict of interest arose. You fought amongst yourselves for a couple of years, and then lost to those who became technologically and intellectually superior to you. Something like that? It's just that the story is as vague and murky as possible – the quarians hardly talk about it, and other races don't want to delve into it, - I recalled.
— If I understood correctly from Shepard's words, you want to form an alliance with them?
— Without the geth's computing power, we won't be able to build a weapon against the Reapers in time. And without the quarian fleets, we won't be able to ensure the safety of the entire structure. Even if you have a long history of conflict, a common enemy brings people together damn well, - sighing, I leaned on the terminal before continuing. — I promised the quarians, in exchange for support, to help them return "home" – to Rannoch. But this goal can be achieved both by force, by destroying the geth, and by diplomacy, by agreeing with them on mutually beneficial cooperation.
— My people will never agree to that.
— I've seen the geth fleet and how they fight. If they wanted to destroy their creators – those who dream of taking revenge on them, I assure you – the geth would have done it long ago. You were completely defenseless after leaving the Citadel's protection. An attack on your fleet would have been perceived by the Councilors as something not affecting the galaxy's interests. And the geth knew that for sure. Saren said that synthetics have access to the extranet and a practically inexhaustible source of information within it.
— Next you'll say the geth let my ancestors escape themselves! - Tali responded more emotionally than usual.
— We won't know until we ask them ourselves.
— Madness. My people have long been preparing an army to one day reclaim our garden surrounded by a wall... Please, understand... quarians are not driven by resentment, revenge, or simple desire. Without a home, we cannot exist. And if the geth are there, no one knows if our home will become... um, well, a grave?
— As far as I remember, you wear protective suits because of a weak immune system. More precisely, it simply hasn't developed due to the specifics of your home planet. One second... let me remember, - I raised my hand, trying to recall the little I had managed to learn about Rannoch from the Spectre database. — There were no insects on your planet, so plants and flowers mutated in a peculiar way, entering into symbiosis with other organisms. According to the salarians, this was the cause of all your immune system problems. This symbiosis is similar to an infection, and your body accepts viruses completely, not distinguishing what is harmful and what is useful.
— Probably? I know little about the times before the fall of Rannoch... My full training was supposed to begin only after the Pilgrimage, after which I would be recognized as an adult and independent, - she tilted her head. — But even children know that we can take off these clothes... breathe not through a mask... feel the wind on our skin... only at home. If the geth are on Rannoch, what will happen? What if they defile the atmosphere with their existence, do something to the soil... fauna, flora... I, I just don't know! And that's why we all want to get rid of them.
— The planet was destroyed by war; it probably won't do without serious restoration procedures. It's not a given that the same conditions remain as before your departure, - I chuckled. — However, I have good news. EDI and I were discussing a project a few minutes ago that will completely turn the universe upside down.
— Correction, - EDI intervened, speaking through the speakers. — By human classification standards, the project borders on magic; by asari standards – a breakthrough in biotics; by salarian standards – a leap in genetic engineering. On average, we will simply take another step in the development of science. Significant changes in other areas besides medicine and related fields are not planned.
— What is "it" talking about? - Tali responded more rudely than usual. For some reason, the quarian disliked EDI, even though she had saved our ship and the entire crew at least several times in the battle with Sovereign.
— We will be able to fix the defects in your immune system. Not for everyone at once, but in stages, gradually, all quarians will pass through the bacta tank, - I omitted that for this, they would be burdened with slave contracts – simply put, given work in the shipbuilding sphere without the right of refusal.
— The probability of successfully creating a prototype this year is over seventy percent; the probability of success within two years is over ninety percent, - EDI reported.
— As you see, we've solved part of your race's problems. As for the geth, we'll see how the situation unfolds, - I didn't have time to finish before something beyond my comprehension happened. The girl walked up and simply hugged me. Um, what?
— Thank you! If... if you help, then the quarians... If we become free, we will be in your eternal... unpaid debt! - it seems Tali's tongue got tied in a knot from emotion, and there was more gratitude than I had heard in the last ten years.
— Don't mention it? We still have to create and test the bacta tank; so far there are only...
— Blueprints, schematics, the initial process of synthetic creation of bacta using biotics and genetic engineering. Several microorganisms suitable for mutation into bacta have been found in the database, - the last part stressed me. Somehow the usefulness of my Force dropped sharply, since the AI found a workaround and more mass-producible way based on salarian and asari data. I shouldn't have given her full access to all Citadel data. Now my loud words to Miranda – "only I can create a bacta tank" – became much more modest.
— Yes, there's something to rack our brains over. Thank me later, - patting her on the shoulder, I felt some strange feeling in my chest. I don't know, is it probably nice when you are hugged and sincerely thanked?
— Okay, I believe in you! - shaking her head sharply, almost jerkily, the quarian quickly walked away from me with some strange gait. Embarrassed, or something? What a crew I've assembled. One constantly suspects me of everything, the other might become a devoted fan. Worth noting – mysterious and attractive.
Eh... In a vexed mood, I returned to the captain's chair to look through the glass at a pile of new problems. Rannoch – the planet of the geth. Minimum goal: not to win, but at least to land on the surface, avoiding massive shelling and other surprises for uninvited guests. I feel a strong tingling at the back of my neck... The geth world abruptly stopped seeming like a fun twenty-minute adventure.