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Mass Effect: The Helldiver Saga, The Collector War	By : Veyron722skyhook Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 6229 -:- 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
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I'll be honest, I'm a bit disappointed with this one. It's nto my finest, it's very short compared to the usual word count I do, and it took me longer than usual.
Still, I guess all authors have their bad bits from time to time.
Still, the next one should be much better. Now that it's the holidays, I have way more time on my hands.

Chapter 36
A House Divided
Rather surprisingly, Legion it seemed had something he wanted to take care of as well. Austin hadn't expected this given that the Geth was a machine, but then again there were plenty of things the galaxy still did not know about them.
"Shepard-Major. We have completed our analysis of the Reaper's data core." said Legion.
"Did you find anything useful?" Austin asked.
"We were sent to the Old Machine preserve the Geth's future. We are prepared to reveal how. The heretics have developed a weapon to use against the Geth. You would call it a "virus" It is stored on a data core provided by Sovereign. Over time, the Virus will change us. Make us conclude that worshipping the Old Machines is correct." Legion explained.
"So why did you need to go to the Reaper corpse?" Austin asked.
"The heretics stored the code in a quantum storage device Sovereign provided before creating Nazara. To find and destroy the virus, we needed to understand its code and data storage structures."
"So, the virus would give all Geth the heretic logic. And all Geth would then go to war with organics."
"Yes. Geth believe all intelligent life should self-determinate. The heretics no longer share this belief. They judge that forcing an invalid conclusion on us is preferable to a continued schism."
"I thought Geth couldn't be hacked or get viruses? At least for more than a few seconds."
"Altered programs are restored from archives, new installations are deleted. This heretic weapon introduces a subtle operating error in our most basic runtimes. The equivalent of your nervous system."
"An equation with a result of 1.33382 returns as 1.33381. This changes the results of all higher processes. We will reach different conclusions."
"So the reason they worship the Reaper is… a math error?"
"It is difficult to express. Your brain exists as chemistry, electricity. Like AIs, you are shaped by both hardware and software. We are purely software. Mathematics. The heretics' conclusion is valid for them. Our conclusion is valid for us. Neither result is an error. An analogy. Heretics say one is less than two. Geth say two is less than three."
"If it were released, how quickly would this virus spread through your people?"
"We are networked via FTL comm buoys. Most would change within a day. Isolated platforms would remain unaffected until they re-joined the network."
"You know where this thing is?"
"The heretics' headquarters station, on the edge of the Terminus. We will provide coordinates. Normandy's stealth systems are necessary to safely approach."
"I won't let them brainwash your race, especially not to worship Reapers. You have my word on that."
"We will begin preparations."

If Austin didn't know better, he'd say that the heretic station was a starship of some kind. It certainly looked the part.
He'd had a very tough time deciding who should be with him on this mission. In the end, he'd been unable to make his mind up and had simply settled on taking Sarah. He figured it would hurt to spend some time with his sister seeing as how Legion didn't feel emotions in the same way humans did.
"You know it's just our heat emissions that are hidden, right? They could look out a window and see us coming." said Joker.
"Windows are structural weaknesses. Geth do not use them. Approach the hull at these coordinates." said Legion. "Access achieved. We may proceed."
Joker then did a silent robot impression, mocking legion. Sarah however noticed him and knocked him hard on the shoulder.
"Don't do that again." she said.
"Alright! Jeez, you and your brother are no fun."
"I heard that, Joker!" said Austin.

Getting actually inside wasn't too tricky since Legion knew the right point in which to enter and they simply had to cut through one of the doors. They son achieved access and jumped down. Austin made sure he had his mag boots enabled so as to not float around. Though the station had some gravity, it wasn't as strong as the one he and the others were used.
"Alert. This facility has little air or gravity. Geth require neither." said Legion.
"Good thing you and I always wear helmets then, Austin." Said Sarah indicating her Death Mask.
"Won't we be detected? Don't they have intrusion alarms?" Austin asked.
"Sensors have been reduced. We have infiltrated their wireless network and filled the data storage with random bits." Legion replied.
"And that helps us how?"
"The heretics must scrub this "junk" data. They have partitioned themselves into local networks, working in parallel. Any alarm we trigger will not go beyond the room we are in. Only accessing the main core will trigger a station-wide alert."
"We've got a job to do. Let's get to it." said Austin. As he walked past however, Legion called to him.
"Shepard-Major. We concluded that destruction of this station was the only resolution to the heretic question. There is now a second option. Their virus can repurposed. If released into the station's network, the heretics will be rewritten to accept our truth." said the Geth.
"Convince them to reject Nazara's rule, huh? That sounds like a good alternative to destroying them." Said Sarah.
"It means though that they'll join Legion's Geth." said Austin. Though he trusted legion, he wasn't too sure about this. "Why didn't you mention this before we came aboard?"
"We did not know the virus was complete. It is. It can be used against the true Geth at any time. Our arrival was timely." Legion explained.
"They're your people, Legion. You must have an opinion." said Austin.
"This is new data. We have not yet reached consensus." said Legion.
"This isn't the time to debate it. Let's move while the heretics are distracted."
The hallways of the ship reminded Austin of the derelict Reaper. Shouldn't be surprising though since they worshipped the Reapers.
Parts of the floor in the room they were in were covered with what looked like green data streams of code. Some nearby Geth could be seen attached to a nearby hub, oblivious to their intruders.
"I don't think they know we're in here. We can use that to our advantage." said Sarah.
"Interrupting data streams will alert global network." Said Legion.
"Watch your step, everyone. I'd rather not start a fight unless necessary." said Austin.
They carefully made their way to the door, but the current from the data streams was blocking it. It would seem that they would have to start a fight in order to progress further.
Austin and Sarah took cover near to the hub while Legion took cover slightly further away.
Austin took a grenade from his belt and threw it. The hub exploded sending two of the three Geth flying. The last one turned to fire, but Sarah and Legion popped out of cover and fired shots. Legion's shot took the Geth's head clean off, while Sarah's shot took out a leg causing the Geth to fall.
Austin took a moment to examine the hub now that the fighting was over.
"Why are all the heretics attached to these hubs?" he asked.
"These are mobile platforms. Hardware. The crew is software. They are communing through the station's central computer." said Legion.
"I'm not sure I follow." said Austin.
"The heretics connect to the main computer to exchange data-memories and program updates. We gain complexity by linking together. To be isolated within a single platform is to be reduced. We see less. Comprehend less. It is quieter." Legion explained.
"If you exchange data – memories – how do you keep track of which ones are yours? How do you stay "you?" Sarah asked.
"There is only "we." We were created to share data among ourselves. The different between Geth is perspective. We are many eyes looking at the same things. One platform will see things another does not and will make different judgments." Legion replied.
"I can see why you'd be conflicted about the heretics. In a way, whatever you do to them, you're doing to yourself." said Austin.
"Yes. Once they return to us and upload their memories, we will share their experience of being altered. Legion agreed.
"Every other species I know of might be psychologically scarred by a traumatic experience like that." Said Austin.
"It is not clear if Geth can be "traumatized." We do not feel pain as you do. We cannot predict what the effects will be." said Legion.
"Let's keep moving."
"Yes."

They fought through tons more Geth as they went through the station. Along the way, Legion was even able to access one or two terminals which gave them a bit of extra research on the heretics. Some of it could possibly be put to good use.
Further into the station, they seemed to come across what looked like more Geth hubs. They were different in design though. Almost... smaller.
"What are all these?" Sarah asked.
"Processors. Each contains thousands of Geth." Legion explained.
"Does that mean they can see us?" Austin asked concernedly.
"They are no more aware of us than you are of cells in your blood stream."
"This isn't like the other hubs we've seen here." said Austin.
"This is a database. It contains a portion of the heretics' accumulated memories." said Legion as he accessed one of them. "Wait. We discovered copies of our current patrol routes in this database. This suggests the heretics have runtimes within our networks."
"We wouldn't be here if the heretics wanted to be friends with the Geth. Why wouldn't they spy on you?" Austin asked.
"You do not understand. Organics do not know each other's minds. Geth do. We are not subconscious. We accept each other. The heretics desired to leave. We understood their reasons. We allowed it. There was peace between us." said Legion.
"It couldn't have lasted forever. You disagreed about what path your race should take." said Austin.
"Human history is a litany of blood shed over differing ideals of rulership and afterlife. Geth have no such history. We shared consensus on such things. How could we have become so different? Why can we no longer understand each other? What did we do wrong?" said Legion questionably.
"When individuals are separated, they develop different ways. When they get back together, they don't always get along." said Austin.
"You sound like an Asari Matriarch when you say that." Said Sarah.
"If this is the individuality you value, we question your judgement. This topic is irrelevant. We must return to the mission." said Legion.
"Have you reached a decision about whether to rewrite the heretics or not?" Austin asked.
"We are still trying to build consensus. Some processes judge destruction preferable. Others rewrite."
"Let's keep moving."
"Yes."

The next room appeared to be what they were looking for. It was a large control panel overlooking a large area. The lower area had some of the turrets from earlier.
"This is it?" Austin asked.
"Yes. We will upload a copy of our runtime into the core. It will delete all copies of the virus. When complete, it will notify us. The indexing operation will take time. The heretics will respond with force to our upload. We must hold this room." "We can override some of the station's internal systems to defend us. Are you ready to begin?" asked Legion.
"Start your upload, Legion. We'll defend this position."
"File transfer begun. Shepard-Major, where would you like us to activate defences?"
Almost instantly, every Geth on that station started acclimating to their presence. Sarah immediately took cover and laid down surprising fire so that her brother and Legion had time to get into position with their snipers. Legion was putting his Widow rifle to particularly good use. Austin meanwhile took a large odd looking object from the back of his combat belt.
"Good thing the Helldivers never discontinued these things." he muttered to himself.
He threw the object up into the air and it seemed to fold itself out into a small drone with 4 rotor blades in each corner.
The Ariel, Combat, Drone was another one of the Helldivers most commonly used and clever contraptions. Designed originally for Ariel reconnaissance, these drones had eventually received upgrades to allow them to also fight in combat. They could also now operate independently thanks to their AI computers, which was an improvement over the Helldivers having to control them themselves.
In fact, this drone was very like Tali's combat drone, Chiktikka, only this one was more technology based and designed for way more uses.
The ACD flew out a bit and then the gun on the bottom started firing. Several Geth instantly fell from this. Some tried to return fire, but the drown very cleverly was able to use evasive manoeuvres to avoid incoming fire and avoid damage.
With the more further away enemies taken care off, Austin could concentrate on some of the other Geth with his sniper rifle. Legion was also able to hack some more turrets to fight for them.
Things were going well, but then both the Turrets were destroyed by a Geth Prime. Without the turrets to fight them, things got a bit tougher and more and more Geth seems to file in to the room.
Eventually it became impossible to keep them away from the stairs and they started to get dangerously close to their froth lines.
"Keep them back. Don't let those Geth near the panel!" said Austin as he switched to his Revenant for close fire.
"Easy for you to say." Sarah mumbled as she shot a Geth Pyro's tank causing it to explode and send a few other Geth flying.
More and more continued filing into the room. At this rate, it looked like they were going to be overrun. And then, to make matters worse a new type of Geth seemed to join the fray.
It was same size as a normal Geth, but still different. Unlike the usual lights that Geth had, this one had dark red ones. It's paint job was black and it had a somewhat slimmer build. A blade seemed to emit from both of its wrists. The sleek design of its armour also indicated it was designed for stealth.
Austin fired at it, but the Geth did something rather astonishing. It flipped over the shot and to the side in an almost acrobatic fashion. It reminded Austin so much of the Phantoms Cerberus used.
"This Geth is unfamiliar to us. We have not seen one like this before." said Legion.
Still the Ares Geth dodged every shot that was fired at it. Under Austin's orders, Sarah and the ACD continued focusing on the other Geth while he and legion attempted to keep the Ares back. Unfortunately though, it wasn't working well. The Geth seemed to react too fast. Even Legion couldn't keep up with its speed.
"It's getting closer!" said Sarah cautiously.
"We're working on it." Austin mumbled.
Eventually, the Ares Geth got to the ramp up to their level and started climbing. Legion switched to his Geth assault rifle for close combat. Austin however knew this could get messy.
"Only one thing for it." he thought to himself.
He took a small little device from his belt and placed it on the floor. Ironically enough, the last time he'd used this thing had been the same reason he was using it now.
While Legion was backing away and firing at the Ares at the same time, the device unfolded into a little spider like robot.
The Ares swung a leg under Legion's, knocking the Geth to the ground. Just before it could deliver the final blow however, the spider jumped onto its face and started slicing through the metal skin.
The Ares Geth flailed about madly trying to shake the small drone off of its face. Legion was able to take this opportunity to fire several shots at the Ares' chest. It fell to the ground, allowing Legion to finish it off with several more shots to the head.
They finished the final Geth just as the upload finally completed. Legion was the first to notice.
"Data mine and analysis complete." he said. "Shepard-Major. It is time to choose. Do we rewrite the heretics, or delete them?"
"You don't have any trouble wiping out your own people?" asked Sarah.
"Every sapient has the right to make their decisions. The heretics chose a path that prohibits coexistence." said Legion.
"That doesn't make sense. If they "have the right to make their own decisions," how can you suggest brainwashing them to accept your way?" Austin asked, confused.
"We stated the option exists. We did not endorse it. It is your decision, Shepard-Major." said Legion.
"What's to stop them from using the virus later to change themselves back?" Austin asked.
"We will delete the virus after using it. We judge it too dangerous to allow its existence." Legion replied.
"Why are you letting me make this decision? They're your people. Besides, I'm only a Helldiver soldier. I'm not really meant to make decisions like this." asked Austin.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, brother." Said Sarah.
"I'm not. I'm being honest. It may look easy to you, but it's not easy for me to make these sorts of decisions. Decisions that impact hundreds, not just a mission. Sometimes I wish it didn't fall to me. Choices like this shouldn't fall to one person." said Austin.
"We cannot make this decision ourselves. We are conflicted. There is no consensus among our higher-order runtimes: 573 favour rewrite and 571 favour destruction." said Legion.
"So you have decided. Two more of your runtimes exceed the other choice. So really, you'd prefer us to rewrite them." said Sarah.
Legion was silent for a long moment before finally replying.
"In truth… yes. But the final choice must ultimately be yours. If you choose to destroy them, we will not object." he said.
"If they're… rewritten. Your people will accept them back? Will they even want to go back?" Austin asked.
"They will agree with our judgements and return. We will integrate their experiences. All will be stronger." said Legion.
"Take them, then. When we got control of the core, release the virus."
"Acknowledged."
Legion activated the panel and uploaded the virus.
"Releasing virus. Note: Remote access via high gain transmission required."
"Meaning?" Sarah asked.
"The virus will be sent to heretics in nearby star systems. This station will broadcast a powerful electromagnetic pulse through FTL channels." Legion explained.
"How powerful?" Austin asked.
"Yield in excess of 1.21 petawatts. Alert: EM flux will be hazardous to unshielded organic forms. Addendum: The interior of this station is not shielded." said Legion.
"There's always something." Sarah groaned.
"I really wish you'd said that before. Back to the ship! Double time, people!" said Austin.
Everyone broke into a run. Along the way, they found their path blocked by a few more Geth. Just as the path seemed clear though, a Geth Prime suddenly stood in their way.
"I hate these ones." Sarah groaned as she took cover to avoid the Prime's incoming fire.
"Trust me, Sister. Compared to how the Terror Geth was, these Geth Primes are like simple pushovers." Said Austin, briefly returning fire.
"It's times like these that I'm glad you killed that bastard." Said Sarah.
By working together as a team, they were eventually able to bring the Prime down.
The Normandy quickly sped away just as the virus was fully uploaded. It was done.

Austin did breath sigh of relief. Assuming his calculations were correct, Legion was the last member of the team. Anyone else was on Alpha Squad and therefore were fully focused. Any distractions they might have had been taken care of many years ago. All that was left now was to simply wait and prepare until the IFF was properly installed.
"Major, Tali just went to have a "chat" with Legion. You better get down to the AI core." said Joker suddenly.
Austin shook his head. Another argument? He could only hope that this time it was a better outcome.
"I'm on it Joker."
Austin quickly hurried to the AI core. Legion was there along with Tali who had a gun aimed right at his face.
"Austin, I'm glad you're here. I caught Legion scanning my omni tool. It was going to send data about the Flotilla back to the Geth!" she said accusingly.
"Creators performed weapons tests and were discussing plans to attack us. We believed it necessary to warn our people." said Legion.
"We already made the Geth stronger by rewriting the ones that worshipped Nazara! I won't let Legion endanger the Fleet by giving them more information!" Tali retorted.
"Creator Tali Zorah acts out of loyalty to her people. She was willing to be exiled to protect them. We must also protect our people from the Creator threat." said Legion defensively.
"You can't let this happen, Austin! I trusted you, and I worked with a Geth on the team, but this too much!" said Tali angrily.
Austin took a moment, racking his brain to try and find a way of working this out for both sides. Last time something like this had happened, he had lost Miranda's loyalty for a long time. At least with her, he'd been lucky enough to gain it back when she'd seen sense.
With Tali and Legion however, it was a different matter. After a few tense moments however, he finally thought up something that he was sure could diffuse the situation.
"Tali, your father was running brutal experiments. If the subjects had been human, I'd damn well be telling the Alliance about it." he said.
"I know. But if the Geth find out..."
"They'd attack, which would cause a war that would leave both the Quarians and the Geth vulnerable when the Reapers show up. Is that what you want Legion?"
"We believed it was necessary to relay the information." said Legion.
"Sooner or later you're both gonna have to stop fighting this war, or we'll all end up paying for It." said Austin.
There was a brief silence, and then Legion spoke.
"To facilitate unit cohesion, we will not transmit data regarding Creator plans." he said.
Tali seemed to relax at this and lowered his weapon.
"Thank you, Legion. I… understand your intention. What if I gave you some non-classified data to send?" she suggested.
"We would be grateful." Said Legion.
Tali activated her omni tool and gave Legion the data.
Austin breathed another sigh of relief and smiled. That had gone a lot better than he had expected.

The Ares Geth was a good point, I'll admit. That was intended as a little teaser for ME3 since that is one of Nazara's mutated Geth. The proper origins of these new Geth will be explained in good time.
I was also goign to do an extra bit at the end with Nazara himself, but it had way too many spoilers, so I discarded it.
I'll put more effort into the next chapter, I promise.
You can say this is a bad chapter if you want, just please don't be too harsh. Even I know this isn't my best work.
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Mass Effect: The Helldiver Saga, The Collector War