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Mass Effect: The Helldiver Saga, The Collector War	By : Veyron722skyhook Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 6240 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or it's characters. They belong to Bioware and EA. No money/profit is made by me from this.

Chapter List
- 33
- 34
- 35
Hello! Derelict Reaper finally done.
I wanted to try make this one a bit more scary in a way that it could compare to the one I did for ME1 with the Rachni. You may also spot a scene from a well known Sci Fi horror film in here somewhere.
Surprisingly, I also found myself including some comedy in this which you will hopefully see soon.
We're getting very close now. It won't be long before the suicide mission...

Chapter 34
The Unlikeliest of Allies
The Normandy was shaking very violently. The planet that the Derelict Reaper was orbiting had a storm on at the moment and it was putting Joker's pilot skills to the test.
"What's with all the chop, Joker?" Austin asked as he held onto the pilot's seat.
"Doing my best. The winds gusting to 500 kph." said Joker.
Out of the window, they could already see the massive 2km corpse of the Reaper. It Austin didn't know better, he would've said it was Sovereign since the corpse looked identical. Or perhaps that was just because all Reapers looked the same.
"There's a second ship alongside the Reaper. It's not transmitting any IFF, but the ladar paints it silhouette as Geth." said Joker.
"I guess we know why the science team stopped reporting in." said Austin.
They continued getting closer and closer to the Reaper. Then suddenly the shaking seemed to stop instantly and everything smoothed out.
"What just happened?" Austin asked.
"The Reaper's mass effect fields are still active. We just passed inside their envelope." said Joker. "Eye of the hurricane, huh?"

There was no telling what they would find on-board the Reaper. At worse, it would be crawling with husks and god knows what else the Reapers where capable of creating.
"Exploring an abandoned area, expecting something mechanical and nasty to jump out at any moment..." said Garrus as they stood in the airlock readying the weapons just in case.
"Destroying it and everything else around it with superior firepower and skill, one synthetic at a time..." Tali added.
"Just like old times." Garrus chuckled.
X-5 went first to check the coast was clear. Austin, Tali and Garrus soon followed.
Cerberus it seemed had already been busy here. They set up all sorts of consoles and monitoring equipment for studying the Reaper. There were no signs of any struggle or a fight, and no bodies. So far, it simply looked deserted.
There was still a very unwelcome feeling in the air though. The familiar architecture also lined the walls. It certainly made sense to Austin now why the Geth had architecture like this, since it came from the Reapers.
Right as they went to head for the next room however, the whole place suddenly shook.
"Normandy to shore party!"
"What just happened?" Austin asked.
"The Reaper put up kinetic barriers. I don't think we can get through from our side." Joker replied.
"As curious as I am about Reapers, I'd rather not be trapped inside one." said Tali.
"We'll have to take down the barrier generators from in here. Any idea where they are?" Austin asked.
"At the moment of activation, I detected a heat spike in what is likely the wreck's mass effect core. Sending the coordinates now. Be advised: this core is also maintaining the Reapers altitude." said EDI.
"So when we take the barriers down to escape, the wreck falls into the planet core." Said Austin.
"And that means everyone dies. Yeah, I got it." said Joker.
No one was amused by that comment, but they simply ignored it.
"If any helmsman can pull us off this thing before it reaches crush depth, it's you. We'll make a sweep for the survivors and recover what data we can. Stand by." said Austin.
"Aye, aye. Good hunting."

They were now met with a very unwelcome sight. They were in an open area of sorts. It had the exact same architecture as the rest of the Reaper. There were one or two corpses lying on the ground as well. A faint tapping sound could be heard as well.
"Shepard, do you hear something?" X-5 asked, still leading the group just in case.
"Yeah. Sounds like blood dripping." said Austin.
The Helldiver activated the lights on his armour to provide a bit more illumination. Sure enough, there were large puddles of blood all over the place. It was enough to make a non-battle hardened person lose their mind.
"Keehlah. Did the Geth do this?" said Tali.
"Keep it tight everyone. Last thing we want is getting separated in here." said Austin.
They continued on further and further into the Reaper. The deeper they went the darker and more eerie the atmosphere became.
"I don't like this, Shepard. It feels like someone's watching us." said X-5.
"I don't there's anyone left to watch us." said Austin. So far they'd only found two bodies. There was no telling where the rest of the Cerberus team was, or the spy the Arkanes had sent.
They found another body, and Garrus seemed to notice something.
"Shepard, I don't' know if you can see this, but my suit's detecting a known ally signature." he said.
Austin knelt down and turned the body over. He rather wished he hadn't though when he saw what had happened to its face. Loads of skin had cut away, exposing the internal workings. The body itself also seemed to have what looked like signs go self-inflicted injuries and mutilation.
Tali instantly covered her visor and looked away to stop herself from being sick.
"Spirits!" said Garrus in shock.
Austin didn't say anything and simply sighed. He was used to seeing things like this, but that didn't mean it didn't affect him.
He then noticed something just under the body's uniform. He reached in and gently took it out. It was a dog tag. There was a special designation on it that only the Arkanes used. This was, or had been, the spy.
"It's him, isn't it?" Garrus asked.
Austin simply nodded and sighed.
"I knew this man once. Alpha Squad and I worked with him once to go undercover. He was a good person." he said.
The Major then noticed a data pad in one of the corpse's hands. He gently took it and played it.
"This will be my last entry log. I seriously doubt any of my mind will be left after this. I don't care anymore is Cerberus finds out I'm a spy; the truth needs to be known. This Reaper may be dead, but it's influence... indoctrination. Even in death, it can enslave us. Something horrible is happening to the crew. They've been building something, I don't' know what it is. But whatever it is, the crew seem to think of it as something they must do. They talk about it like it's a god or something." it said. "If any Helldiver or Arkane is getting this, you must get off this ship and get as far away from it as you can before it has a chance to get into your mind. The knowledge this Reaper could provide is not worth the risk! I'm sorry I failed in my mission; my only regret is that I won't see Shepard top them. Shepard, if you're reading this... give them hell for me. Now you must get off this ship, before..."
Before the log could continue however some sort of howling or wailing of some kind could be hard in the log. The log cut off just as there was the very faintest start of a terrified and painful scream.
Everyone was silent for a moment.
"I've heard that sound before." said Austin.
"Husks." said Tali.
Austin nodded and slowly stood up.
"Keep your guard up, people. I don't think we're..."
But he was interrupted when he all the lights suddenly went off. The only illumination and hope of seeing they had now were the flashlights they had. Even that didn't help much.
"I didn't do it." said X-5 innocently, before anyone could ask who turned out the lights.
"Can everyone see okay?" Austin asked, trying his best to keep his heartbeat and breathing under control. The nervousness in his voice was beginning to show.
"Only just. I can see you at least." said Garrus, also panting a bit from the nervousness.
"I have a bad feeling about this." said X-5, quoting Star Wars, only for Austin to kludge him a bit. He had told the robot to stop doing that. He knew X-5 was making an attempt to ease the tension, but it really didn't help.
"Okay. Let's try and get back into a lit area. We'll work or way to the core from there." said Austin.
Everyone took it very slowly. They seriously doubted that the lights going off was a malfunction. Something knew they were here.
They made sure to scan the area a few times with their flashlight beams just to make sure that something didn't suddenly jump out and lunge at them from the shadows.
"Visual scan identifies nothing." said X-5.
"Turn on motion sensors, just to be safe." said Austin, still trying to keep his breathing at a calm level.
The sensors didn't pick up anything either, except for them. Austin, Garrus and X-5 made sure to add this so that they then wouldn't read each other by accident.
'Nothing. Still nothing." said Garrus.
'Something not right here. I would've thought we'd have run into Geth by now. There ship's still docked so they must be here too." said Tali.
"I agree. We should've walked into something by now." said Austin.
A loud clang suddenly echoed around the room, causing everyone to jump and nearly accidentally fire blind shots in all directions. Only when they turned to look at one another however did they see what had caused this. X-5 had accidentally smashed his head on a rather low bit of the ceiling.
"Watch were you going!" Austin groaned, slowly calming down from the shock.
"Sorry." said X-5.
"Well, at least it didn't give away our position." said Garrus.
Austin nodded.
Right as the Major made the first step however, he heard a constant beeping. He slowly looked at Garrus whose motion sensor was detecting something.
"Garrus?"
"I've got movement."
Both Tali and X-5 went on alert and held their guns up. Austin did the same and kept an eye on his sensor as well. It was starting to beep as well.
"What's the position?" X-5 asked, looking around trying to find where it was coming from.
"Err, can't lock in." said Garrus nervously.
"Talk to me, you two!" said X-5 urgently.
"Multiple signals! They're closing." said Austin, also looking but still seeing nothing.
"I'm going to infra-red. Look sharp." Said Austin as he switched his helmet's vision mode to infra-red.
The continued looking and constantly turning to try and see what was heading in their direction. Still nothing though. Worse still, the beeping was intensifying. This was a bad time for Austin to be reminded of the events on Noveria with the Rachni. They were in the exact same situation and despite the upgrades they had, still nothing.
"I got signals. I got readings in front and behind." Said Garrus, trying to steady his rifle.
"Where?! I don't see a thing." Said Tali.
"She's right. There's nothing back here." Said X-5.
"Look, I'm telling you! There's something moving, and it ain't us!" said Garrus.
Austin continued looking around. The flashlight from his rifle and the ones on his suit slowly crept down to the floor. For a moment, he was sure he'd seen something. The faintest sign of orange.
"Wait a minute." He mumbled to himself.
Very slowly and gently he lowered his gun to the floor. He was hesitant at first be he gained some of his courage back and gently pulled the trigger once.
The shot fired and simply bounced off the floor. Nothing happened, allowing Austin to breathe a sigh of relief.
No one else jumped at the shot either, as they'd predicted Austin would do that. What happened next however did.
An arm suddenly burst out of one of the grates in the floor. It fumbled around trying to desperately grab something, and it did. It latched onto Austin's leg, causing him to trip up.
More hands followed and soon the entire floor was covered with dead looking arms trying to grab onto something. It looked like a scene out of a horror movie.
A full Husk then clawed its way, rather painfully, out of the floor and looked straight at them. There was a brief pause before it roared.
X-5 and Garrus immediately started shooting while Tali tried to free Austin from some of the other Husk hands that were trying to grab onto him.
"DIE YOU ZOMBIE BASTARDS! DIE!" X-5 yelled.
Tali quickly unsheathed her knife and tried slicing some of the Husk arms. Austin also just managed to unsheathe his own sword and desperately swung as best he could, despite the various dead looking cyborg arms trying to pin him down. The both of them were quickly covered in black Husk blood as arms were cut and severed. Blood was also splattering into Garrus and X-5 as they killed the rest. Some Husks even burst right out of the ground fully and charged only to then be ripped apart from the gunfire.
After a while, Austin finally found the grip on him to be loose enough for him to get back up. He shrugged off the rest of the husk hands and Tali helped him up. He went even madder with the slicing while Tali went back to her shotgun. This seemed to make the Husks a bit angrier and more and more started bursting out of the floors.
"This is starting to turn ugly, Shepard! There's too many of them!" said Garrus.
Austin was beginning to think Garrus was right. What the Husks lacked in skill, they made up for in numbers and ferocity.
"Fall back!" Austin ordered he swapped his sword for his Revenant again.
The group carved a way through the husks to the door they'd came in. There was another way around, so they could take that. Most of the husks had to be in here after all.
Austin gunned down one more Husk and they were able to make it through the door. Austin quickly took a charge from his belt and threw it. He then sealed the door and ordered Tali to weld it shut as best she could.
There was a shudder as the grenade exploded and some of the Husk bodies banged on the door.
"That should keep them contained for a while." Tali panted as he finished her work.
"Everyone took a long moment to catch their breath and also get over the shock.
"We always wondered if the technology to make husks came from the Reapers or the Geth." said Garrus.
"Geth origin never made sense to me. This proves it's from the Reapers." said Tali.
"Why is it the machines always seem to be the villains?" said X-5.
To everyone's surprises though, that hadn't been X-5's usual voice. It was all high pitched and squeaky. Everyone couldn't help but giggle chuckle slight and did their best not to burst out with laughter.
X-5 was left completely in surprise and embarrassment.
"Is that my voice?" he squeaked in disbelief. "Is that my voice?!"
Austin walked up to the robot and inspected his neck. His suspicions were confirmed.
"Hmm, just as I thought. You must've somehow damaged your vocal processor." He said.
It didn't look too badly damaged, just some of the wires looked loose and one of them had been broken. It was nothing Dell couldn't fix.
"Great. Dell's not gonna be happy with me. Last time it took him many hours to properly fix it." X-5 sighed.
"We'd better get moving. The sooner we're off this corpse, the better." said Austin.

They took another way round and made sure this time that their presence went as unnoticed as possible.
Throughout the place where a few logs left by the Cerberus crew. As expected, they all made references and showed the symptoms of indoctrination.
Right as the cost looked clear however, two more Husks suddenly appeared. Just before they could attack however, two sniper shots suddenly killed them. They weren't the only one on this Reaper.
"I couldn't see the shooter. Whoever it was, he knows what he's doing." said Garrus.
His impressiveness with the mysterious sniper was short lived however as more Husks suddenly crawled up onto the balconies they were. Worse still, they had a scion with them.
"Not those things again." X-5 groaned squeakily.
Husk after husk fell before the constant barrage of bullets, rounds and occasional plasma shots.
Austin had used to think that fighting husks was a bit like fighting zombies. It wasn't. The husks had practically nothing. They were like machines. No life, nothing at all. Zombies actually no felt like living rather than un-dead compared to these things. It wasn't pleasant to think about.
Just as it seemed the Husks were all dead however, a new one suddenly ran right at Austin. This one looked different compared to the others. While the others had blue optics, this one's were red. It also looked as though it was partly on fire.
Austin fired, but the bullets didn't slow it down. It staggered, but despite this it kept running. Austin tried to back away, but he wasn't fast enough. The husk seemed to latch onto him and then it suddenly exploded. The force sent Austin flying until he hit a wall, hard.
"Ow. Bastard." Austin groaned as the others helped him up.
"You okay?" Garrus asked.
"Only just. Feel like I just got badly burned though." said Austin, clutching a bit of his stomach that hurt the most.
"Your armour took the worst of it." said Tali.
Austin looked down to see some of the sing sand burn marks the husk had caused. He understood now that had meant to happen. Those red husks were obviously designed with the purpose of being suicide bombers. The Reapers certainly were full of bad surprises.
"You sure you're okay? We can get you back to the Normandy if..."
"I'm okay, Garrus. Seriously. Just need to get my breath back. I've had much worse than this, as you probably know." said Austin.
The room before them was large and very open. It also overlooked a deep pit with several familiar looking long spikes rising out of it. Some of them had bodies impaled on them.
"We've seen these before, Austin. Dragon's teeth you're people called them. The Terror Geth and his army used them on Eden Prime." said Tali.
Austin took a moment to examine the room a bit more. There was something about how it was arranged.
"See how the room is arranged? They worshipped this thing like some kind of altar." he said.
"That doesn't seem right. No one in their right mind would want this." said Tali.
"You heard the logs. They were seeing things. Hearing things. They were being indoctrinated." said Austin "We can't help these people now. But we won't let the machines use their corpses like this."

With the next bit, they finally seemed to be outside. They could see the storm still happening in the planet's atmosphere.
"Keep an eye out for..."
But Austin was suddenly interrupted when two more husks suddenly appeared behind him. Once again though, sniper shots hit either one of them.
"What the… Who fired those shots?!" he said.
"Shepard, look!"
Austin looked in the direction that Garrus was pointing. What he saw left him almost speechless. Standing on a high platform... was a Geth. When Austin also saw the flaps on its face move, he nearly went pale.
"It can't be…" he said in shock. However, as the Geth came fully into view, his opinion changed. "Wait a minute, that's not the Terror Geth."
The Geth was a more normal human size, like the drones. It had what looked like an antenna on its back, a rather large hole in its chest and what surprisingly looked like a N7 chest piece and shoulder plate welded to it. To everyone's amazement, the Geth then spoke.
"Shepard-Commander?"
So far, the Terror Geth had been the only Geth known to speak, up till now. The voice of this one was different. It wasn't as deep or menacing, in a way it sounded more... human.
The Geth simply picked up its sniper rifle and continued on.
"The sniper was a Geth. Since when do Geth talk to organics?" Garrus commented.
"The Terror Geth did." Austin meant.
"True, I meant a normal one." said Garrus.
"It shouldn't be able to talk. A single Geth has no more intelligence than a Varren. Only the Terror Geth was an exception." said Tali.
They were interrupted however by the arrival of more Husks.
It took them an agonisingly long time to fight through them all. Austin had feeling he knew what had happened to the Cerberus team now. They'd obviously become indoctrinated by the Reapers influence and it had eventually made them convert themselves into Husks.
Finally, they reached the room that they assumed would lead them to the Reaper's mass effect core. Just outside, Austin found a small device. His suit identified it as the very thing they'd come here to acquire, the IFF.
"This is the IFF? It's smaller than I imagined." said Garrus as Austin stored it in a safe compartment in his suit.
"So the Cerberus team did recover it..." said Tali. "...At the cost of their own lives."
The door to the core opened and they could see the blue sphere. The Geth they'd seen earlier was also there trying to access a nearby control panel. The group's path was blocked by a barrier. No doubt this Geth was probably trying to deactivate it.
Some more husks slowly made their way towards it. The Geth pulled out a pistol and shot some of them down before then returning to the control panel. The barrier finally seemed to unlock. Just as the Geth turned back to the Husks however, one of them struck it down.
The Husks then turned their attention to the group. Another vicious fight followed as Husk after Husk crawled onto the balcony to fight them.
As it looked as though they were about to be overrun, Austin noticed the Reaper mass effect core. If that was destroyed, they might have a chance since the Reaper would be falling out of orbit. While the others continued concentrating on the Husks, he opened fire. The first grenade from his grenade launcher attachment flew a little over the core, causing little damage. The Helldiver major lowered his weapon, narrowing the angle. The next few grenades exploded right upon reaching the core, causing a massive detonation that nearly through everyone off their feet.
The Husks seemed to stop coming after that and the whole place started shaking constantly. It was very hard now to maintain balance.
"Shepard, want something done with that Geth? It's still intact." Garrus asked as they walked up to the still inactive but still intact Geth which had helped them earlier.
"Leave it there. You know what they are. If it gets into Normandy's computers…" said Tali.
"You said so yourself, no one's ever found one intact." said Austin.
"That's true, but I'm not sure it's worth the risk, Austin." said Tali.
At that moment however, more Husks appeared. They didn't have time to decide on this.
"There's no time to debate it, Tali. Come on!" said Austin.
He and Garrus picked up the Geth, slinging an arm over each of their shoulders. Tali and X-5 provided cover fire.

"Hang on, folks." Said Joker as the Normandy was finally able to break free.
"Open the portside area." Said Austin as he and Garrus carried the Geth to the point where they could throw it into the Normandy.
"Aye, aye." Joker replied.
X-5 and Tali continued firing at any more Husks that followed them. Garrus and Austin threw the Geth into the Normandy's doors first using the lack of gravity to propel it.
Next Tali jumped, followed shortly by Garrus. X-5 jumped next as well, despite jumping maybe a bit too much, being propelled to fast and banging his head very hard on the door.
Austin followed lastly, firing at more Husks as he jumped.
"Fun party, but I should go." He sniggered.
He landed alongside the others safely and fired one final shot which hit another Husk.
"We're clear. Go!" he said.
The doors closed and the Normandy sped away from the planet.

Austin, Miranda, Jacob and Alaara had all gathered in the comm room. They needed to decide what to do with the Geth.
"I think we need to discuss the unique piece of Salvage we recovered. For now, we've stored it in EDI's AI core. We need better equipment to fight the Reapers. An intact Geth would invaluable to your Arkane's cyber weapons division." said Miranda.
"She does have a point there, Shepard." Said Alaara.
"We'll have to disagree on that, ma'am. I saw enough of these things on Eden Prime. Space it" said Jacob.
"The Arkanes have a long-standing cash bounty for an intact Geth. I assure you, the reward would be significant." said Miranda.
"I've killed hundreds of these things, but I've never had a chance to talk to one, apart from the Terror Geth. This one tried to commutate with us in a non-violent way. Hell, it probably saved our lives. Why?" said Austin.
"Reactivating the Geth is a risk. If you do so, it should be for all our best interests." said Miranda.
"Have I ever given you reason not to trust me?" Austin asked.
"I meant no disrespect, Shepard. I was just saying..." said Miranda.
"I still think our "best interests" involve an airlock." Jacob interrupted.
"I want to know why it has a piece of N7 armour strapped to its chest." said Austin.
"Battle trophy, maybe? Would a machine care about that?" asked Jacob.
"No. Trophies imply emotions that AIs don't have. I doubt it's more than a convenient field repair." said Miranda.
"I'm not deciding one way or the other until I know what we've got here. I want to start it up and interrogate It." said Austin.
"What?! No disrespect, Shepard. But are you crazy?!" said Alaara, almost in shock at what her commanding officer had just said.
"Alaara's right. If we activate it, there's no guarantee we can deactivate it again." said Miranda.
"Bullets can." said Jacob.
"That's not what I…"
"Thank you – all of you – for your recommendations. I've made my decision." said Austin.
"Tali's going to freak when she hears about this." Jacob sighed.
Knowing that he couldn't change the Major's mind, he pressed a few buttons on his omni tool. The hologram of the Geth was replaced by a hologram of the Reaper IFF.
"Not to mention that Leena's gonna kill you." Said Alaara. "She doesn't like Geth anymore than Tali does."
"So what about this Reaper IFF?" Jacob asked.
"I have determined how to integrate it with our systems. However, the device is Reaper technology. Linking it with the Normandy's systems poses certain risks." said EDI.
"I trust you, EDI. I know you won't let anything happen to the ship." said Austin reassuringly.
"Understood, Shepard. It may take several hours before the IFF is ready for shakedown. I will alert you as soon as it is ready." said EDI.
"Sounds good. Until then, it's business as usual. Dismissed."

Austin headed down to the AI core to reactivate the Geth. He'd kept his armour on for this just to be on the safe side. When he entered, he was surprised to see both Leena and Tali stood in front of the inactive Geth, cross armed.
"For once, Austin… I had hoped you were joking." Said Tali.
"You're going to reactivate this thing?" Leena asked.
Austin nodded.
"Did he hit his head during one of the fights?" Leena asked at Tali.
"This isn't like the other Geth we've encountered. Something's different about it." Said Austin.
"I know you wouldn't' make this choice likely, Austin. I still trust you. But I just want to be sure that you know what you're doing." Said Tali.
"I'm taking the necessary precautions, Tali. As is EDI." Said Austin.
Sure enough, a blue shield of sorts appeared around where the Geth was currently lying.
"I have isolated our systems and erected additional firewalls. I am prepared to resist any hacking attempt." said EDI.
"Okay. I guess we can't' change your mind." Leena sighed.
Austin walked up to the Geth and activated his omni tool. Thanks to Leena and Tali's knowledge on the Geth and also from Geth bodies recovered from the Citadel, he was confident he could start up it up again.
The first surge of energy simply made the Geth twitch slightly, but the second seemed to kick it into life. There were several whirs and chirps as the Geth slowly sat up and got off the table. It looked right at Austin.
"Can you understand me?" Austin asked.
"Yes." replied the Geth.
"Are you going to attack us?" Leena asked.
"No."
"You said my name aboard the Reaper. Have we met?" Austin asked.
"We know of you."
"You mean I've fought a lot of Geth and killed your leader."
"We have never met."
"No, you and I haven't. But I've met other Geth."
"We are all Geth, and we have not met you." "You are Shepard. Commander…"
"Major, actually." Austin interrupted He could see that had been a bit rude however. "Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. It's just that I haven't been a Commander for 3 years now."
"It is we who should apologise. Our logs on you must be out of date." said the Geth.
"Anyway, you were saying…"
"You are Shepard. Major. Helldivers. Human. Fought heretics. Killed by Collectors. Rediscovered on the Old Machine."
"Old machine?" You mean the Reaper?" Austin asked.
"Reaper. A superstitious title originating with the Protheans. We call those entities the Old Machines." said the Geth.
"You seem to know an awful lot about me."
"Despite the secrecy of your return, there are plenty of sources. Extranet data. Insecure broadcasts. All organic data sent out is received. We watch you."
"You watch me, or you watch organics?"
"Yes."
"Which?"
"Both."
"You mentioned "heretics". What did you mean by that?" Tali asked.
"Geth build our own future. The heretics asked the Old Machines to give them the future. They are no longer part of us. We were studying the Old Machine's hardware to protect our future." the Geth replied.
"Are the Reapers a threat to you too?" Austin asked.
"Yes."
"Why would they attack other machines?"
"We are different from them. Outside their plans."
"What future are the Geth building?" Leena asked.
"Ours."
"Will anyone else be affected by whatever it is you're doing?" Austin asked.
"If they involve themselves, they will."
"So you aren't allied with the Reapers?"
"We oppose the heretics. We oppose the Old Machines. Shepard-Major opposes the Old Machines. Shepard-Major opposes the heretics. Cooperation furthers mutual goals."
"Are you asking to join us?" Austin asked in surprise.
"Yes."
"I don't like this." Said Leena suspiciously.
"The enemy of our enemy is our friend, Leena." said Austin. He then turned back to the Geth and deactivated the force field. "What should we call you then?"
"Geth."
"I mean you. Specifically."
"We are all Geth."
"What is the individual in front of me called?"
"There is no individual. We are Geth. There are currently 1,183 programs active within this platform.
"Don't you have a designation or something like that?"
EDI then suddenly appeared and recited a phrase from the bible.
"My name is Legion, for we are many." she said.
Austin considered that for a moment. For some reason that seemed to fit.
"Hmm, not a bad idea, EDI. That seems appropriate." said Austin.
The Geth remained silent for a minute, before finally replying.
"Christian Bible, the Gospel of Mark, chapter five, verse nine. We acknowledge this as an appropriate metaphor. We are Legion, a terminal of the Geth. We will integrate into Normandy."
Austin put his hand out to shake Legion's, but the Geth didn't seem to understand the gesture. Eventually, Legion di the same and Austin finally shook his hand. "We anticipate the exchange of data."
Austin turned to the two Quarians. They still looked suspicious of legion, but convinced he wasn't a threat now.
"Okay. We'll cooperate for now. But if he shows any sign of turning on us… well, I think you know." said Leena.
They both left, leaving just Legion and Austin on their own.
"I'm sorry about that." he apologized.
"We understand the creators distrust towards us. We do not blame them for it." said Legion.
"I have questions about the Geth."
"Specify."
"We need every advantage if this mission is going to succeed. Is there any technology the Geth can share with us?"
"Limited co-development is approved. We need to access your FTL comm systems to download relevant data."
"EDI, let Legion through the firewalls for a minute."
"Very well, Shepard." said EDI.
Legion had the designs for a special sniper rifle designed especially for him to use which Austin approved. Other than that, there wasn't much else.
Still a bit curious though, Austin decided to ask Legion some more questions.
"So did Sovereign contact the heretics, or did you seek it out?" Austin asked.
"Sovereign signalled us. Like the Geth, the Old Machines listened to organic radio transmissions. It knew of our war against the creators." Said Legion.
"So those that followed Sovereign, became the heretics, as you call them?" Austin asked.
"The heretics accepted Reaper technology. In return, many heretics volunteered themselves to become the Reaper Nazara." Said Legion.
"Who?"
"Nazara. A Geth-Reaper built by Sovereign from hundreds of heretics who willingly sacrificed themselves. Sovereign however lacked the proper components to properly construct a full size Reaper." Legion explained.
"So how does Nazara exist without a Reaper body?" Austin asked.
"It exists in the body of a Geth. Nazara is like a god walking amongst mortals in the eyes of the heretics." Legion explained further.
"You speak of Nazara as though it's still alive." Said Austin.
"We do not know. It was never seen during the battle of the Citadel, and we personally have never seen Nazara in person. As far as we know, it is still somewhere out there commanding the heretics as their true leader." Said Legion.
"I've just remembered something I wanted to ask you. When we took you aboard, I noticed you have an N7 chest piece and shoulder plate welded to you. Where did you get it?" Austin asked.
Legion remained silent for a minute as he looked at the two pieces welded to him.
"It was yours. When you disappeared, we were sent to find you. We began where you first encountered the heretics and Nazara's agent, the one you called the Terror Geth." He said.
"Eden Prime."
"After their attack, it was heavily defended. We were discovered. This is the impact of a rifle shot." Said Legion, indicating the large hole in his chest.
"You've been looking for me for two years?"
"We visited Therum. Feros. Noveria. Virmire. Ilos. A dozen unsettled worlds. The trail ended at Normandy's wreckage. You were not there. Organic transmissions claimed your death. We recovered this debris from parts that had broken off of your Helldiver armour when you entered the atmosphere." Legion explained.
"Why were you trying to contact me?" Austin asked.
"You oppose the heretics. Those that took the Old Machines as gods." Legion replied.
"All kinds of organics fought Sovereign and his Geth allies. Why am I so interesting?" Austin asked.
"You were the most successful. You killed their god, and his lieutenant. You succeeded where the others did not. Your code is superior." Legion replied.
"That doesn't explain why you used my armour to fix yourself." Said Austin.
"There was a hole." Legion simply replied.
"But why didn't you fix it sooner? Or with something else?" Austin asked.
Legion seemed almost lost for something to say at this. There was a very long pause.
"No data available." He eventually replied.

Austin went down to the cargo bay to see if X-5's vocal processor had been repaired yet. Sill was currently tending to the large robot; quite a few sparks were flying as she tried to fix him. She was also struggling due to X-5 squirming a lot.
"The more you struggle, the more this is going to hurt." Said Sill as she tried to hold the robot still.
I thought you said it was just a wire. You're poking at the more sensitive bits." X-5 squeaked.
It was now that Austin actually noticed that everyone else currently in the hanger bay seemed to be watching, and was also trying their best not to laugh at the hilarity of X-5's squeaky chipmunk voice.
"How is it even possible for your vocal processor to make you sound like this? It's like you've overdosed on helium." Sill asked.
"I was designed as an infiltration unit. Fooling the enemy was in the job description." Said X-5, his voice still squeaky.
Even Austin was finding it hard to keep a straight face now. It was just so funny.
"Right, I think I've got it now. Keep very still or you may end up with a permanent squeaky voice." Said Sill as she began fitting everything back into the right place.
"Almost there, just a little to the right." X-5 squeaked.
The robot's voice seemed to fizz and got static for a bit as Sill kept trying to push the processor and wires back into the right place.
"Hang on. It's not quite going on." Sill grunted as she pushed a bit harder.
This seemed to cause X-5 a bit of pain. His voice even went berserk and he started speaking in all sorts of different languages and accents. This continued for several seconds for Sill gave up.
"Hmm, that's not gonna go in easily." She panted.
"Oh come on! Put you're back into it. I'm useless like this. Only thing I can do now is make our enemies laugh." X-5 squeaked.
"That wouldn't be a bad thing." Griffin laughed.
"I think I know how to do this." Said Sill as she reached for a nearby tool. X-5 noticed what she was doing.
"Wait! What are you doing?! Put that spanner down! I…"
But he was interrupted as Sill swung and hit him in the throat very hard with the spanner.
"OW!" he shouted, finally with his normal voice again.
"There. That's got it." Sill smiled.
"That hurt!" X-5 whimpered.
"Oh stop being such a big baby." Said Sill as she fixed the panel on X-5's neck back into place.
"I'll stop complaining if you promise not to speak of this again." X-5 groaned.
Austin simply chuckled as he watched everyone get back to what they were doing. At that moment, his omni tool suddenly bleeped. He had a message, from Tali…

There you have it!
As you can probably tell, the next mission is Tali's. And actually that is one of my favourite missions (apart probably from LOTSB) and I've already load of great plans for that one. Plenty of extra dialogue to include with not just Legion, but with Leena as well. The mission will also delve into her past a bit more as we meet her mother. I'll bet you can't guess who it'll be.
Keep up those reviews! I know this one probably isn't my best, but still.
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Mass Effect: The Helldiver Saga, The Collector War