//------------------------------//
// CHAPTER 5 
// Story: Those Who Live On 
// by SpartanD014 
//------------------------------//

CHAPTER 5


“Well then,” Celestia said, sitting in her chair at the meeting room table as the aliens took their seats. “Let us begin.” Before anypony could say anything else, the door opened once again and a familiar pale-coated unicorn mare stepped in. Held in her telekinetic grip was a simple clipboard, and hovering not far away was a quill. 

“This is Healthy Heart, my chief medical officer,” the princess explained. “She will be running simple scans of all of you to ensure that you are safe for us to be around. For now we have magical wards protecting us.” 

“I assume you’re Luna’s sister?” one of the aliens – a tall, pale one with cropped dark hair – asked.

“That is correct,” Celestia confirmed. “I am Princess Celestia, diarch of Equestria and raiser of the sun. And you are?”

“Major Kaiden Alenko, ma’am,” the alien introduced. He then began motioning to his companions. “With me are Garrus Vakarian, Liara T’Soni, and Tali’Zorah vas Normandy.”

“Tali’Zorah?” Celestia asked. “That name is familiar…”

“According to Twilight, Legion mentioned me a few times,” Tali answered. “It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“And you, all of you,” Celestia said. “As I already said, I am Princess Celestia of Equestria. This is President Malkia of Zebrica, Senator Proudwing of Gryphonia, and Erebus of the changelings.” Kaidan nodded his greetings to the others, two of whom reciprocated the gesture. Erebus simply stared the alien down, his bottomless blue eyes never blinking. 

“Before we begin, there’s some… unfortunate news,” Kaidan began, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. “I figure you’ll want to know, given your relationship with Legion. We got into contact with our military leadership not long after the crash. This morning I was told that all geth in the galaxy are gone. They were killed by the same weapon that we used to destroy the Reapers when it was activated by my CO – Commander Shepard.” 

“Commander Shepard?” Celestia asked. “But he was friends with the geth, was he not? Why would he activate this weapon if it would kill them as well?”

“Right now the most likely explanation is that he simply did not know,” Liara – the blue alien – spoke up. “Shepard has not yet been recovered, we don’t even know if he survived. But if he did, and he knew, he will have a lot of explaining to do.” 

“Most of the galaxy won’t give a damn about the geth,” Garrus added. “They’ll see Shepard as even more of a hero than he already was. But for us… I don’t know.”

“Regardless, I am told that Legion died a hero,” Celestia said. “As unfortunate as that is, it is at least comforting that the war between the geth and the quarians was ended.” 

“Yes, it is,” Tali agreed. “But we are not hear to speak of such… unfortunate events. Shall we begin?”

“I believe that that would be a good idea,” Malkia said from her chair, drawing the eyes of the aliens. “Princess Celestia informs us that we will be allowed into the galactic community, if we wish. But before I make such a decision on behalf of my people, tell me, what can we expect?”

“It’s difficult to sum up all of the galactic community in one sentence,” Kaidan answered. “Citadel space is civilized. There are laws set up by the Citadel council, and everyone has equal rights. The Terminus systems are very different. They fall outside the jurisdiction of the council, and as such have no laws to speak of. Governments are all local to each individual planet, and some areas can be fairly dangerous.”

“How dangerous?” Proudwing asked. 

“Organized mercenary groups, pirates, slavers, gang wars, drugs,” the major listed. “If you can think of it, it’s probably there. But the groups are never unified, most of the time the merc groups are at war with one another. They’ve never had the strength to go into Citadel space, and I doubt they ever will.” 

“Interesting…” Celestia said thoughtfully. “And what of Citadel space? Will our four races be welcomed there?” 

“There are trillions living in Citadel space, you’re going to find at least a few nay-sayers,” Garrus replied. “But the vast majority will welcome a new species, especially now that the Reapers are gone. Something to distract from all of the loss will be nice.” Celestia nodded and looked to Erebus, wondering if he had any questions. The changeling had not said a word since he first arrived in Canterlot, all he had done was stare.

“As for what will be expected of your species, it’s really not much,” Kaidan continued. “You’ll be guided with how to use new tech, but you’ll have to pull your own weight. You won’t be given handouts or anything.” 

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Celestia noted. “All races on Equis are self-sufficient, for the most part. We obviously rely on trade, but we do not need to be taken care of.” Kaidan made to say something more before Healthy Heart finally came to him, her horn alight. She waved it over his body, her eyes closed in concentration. When they reopened, she scribbled something down on her clipboard, then looked up to the princess. 

“They’re all clean,” she reported. “I’m not picking up anything harmful.” 

“Excellent.” Celestia smiled as she lit her horn and dispelled the protective ward she had conjured up around herself and the dignitaries. “Well then I suppose we are no longer restricted to this room. I will have a midday meal prepared for us, but first, what are your diets like?”

“Asari and humans are omnivorous,” Liara answered. “We can eat fruits, vegetables, meats, and grains. There are a few things we cannot digest that I assume an equine would eat, such as hay and grass, but will that be a problem?”

“Of course not, our pantries are stocked with foods of all kinds,” Luna said proudly. “Our meat content is lacking, though we usually do keep some stored away for when griffons come to visit. And what of you, Tali and Garrus?”

“Oh, we can’t eat anything you have here,” Garrus said. “Different amino acids.” Luna stared at the turian quizzically, though her obvious confusion seemed not to be picked up by him. It was, however, picked up by Tali. 

“You are levo-amino-acid based, according to Legion’s OSD,” she explained. “Turians and quarians have dextro-amino-acids. To put it simply, our proteins are composed of different amino acids, and as such they cannot break down levo food. At best your food would do absolutely nothing. At worst it could kill us.” 

“I see,” Celestia said. “Is there anything we can serve you?”

“Don’t worry about it, princess,” Tali replied. “We have plenty of dextro food aboard the Normandy.” 

“Very well.” Celestia turned her head to face Healthy Heart. “Inform the castle cooks of all that we have learned regarding their diets. Have them prepare an appropriate meal, and send somepony to tell us when it is ready.” 

“Yes, your highness.” Healthy Heart bowed her head and stepped out of the room, leaving everyone sitting in silence. 

“Well then,” Kaidan finally said, breaking the silence. “Is there anything else?”

“There is one more order of business,” Celestia answered, nodding. “The Reaper. It is still sitting in the middle of Las Pegasus on top of hundreds of destroyed buildings. We’ve established a perimeter and are not allowing anypony through, but it cannot stay there forever. What do you suggest we do with it?”

“First of all, I’d recommend keeping everyone as far away from it as possible,” Liara said. “Did Legion explain indoctrination to you?” Luna and Celestia nodded. “Reapers perform this ability almost without thought. Now, without further investigation I cannot be sure, but there is always the possibility that the corpse is still capable of indoctrinating those around it.” 

“It will be done,” Celestia said, nodding. 

“As for what to do with it, you move the sun and moon, correct?” Liara asked. “Could you not simply pick it up and put it elsewhere?”

“It is not that simple,” Luna explained. “Alicorns such as my sister and me are very powerful, this is true, but we cannot move our celestial bodies through sheer strength alone. Rather, we form a sort of ‘bond’ with the body. I connect with the moon and Celestia connects with the sun, and in turn they connect with us. They share their power with us, giving us the ability to raise the sun and moon far more easily. Over the thousands of years that we have been alive this ability has been refined, making it almost natural. It does not carry over to everyday magic use, however.”

“I see…” Liara sighed. “There is always the possibility of waiting for some of our ships to arrive. The only problem is that it would have to be a large number of ships. A few dreadnoughts could probably lift it, but they are not rated for atmosphere. The second largest ships that we have are cruisers, and it would take quite a few to pick the Reaper up.” 

“We could try moving it with our magic,” Celestia spoke up. “If we get all four alicorn princesses, as well as the most powerful unicorn mages in Equestria, we could move it. The only question is: where?” 

“Where on this planet would it be safe?” Garrus asked. 

“Nowhere.”

“Then space it,” the turian stated. “Teleport it up into orbit or something.” 

“That honestly probably is the safest place,” Kaidan agreed. “Can you do that?”

“We can try, but it will take some time to organize,” Celestia answered. “We will have to get back to you on that.” Before anything else could be said, the door to the meeting room opened and a castle servant poked her head inside.

“Your highness, the cooks report that the meal is ready,” she said. 

“Thank you, my little pony,” Celestia nodded. She turned to her guests and stood from her chair. “Shall we?” Everypony else stood up, and Celestia watched as they cleared the room and began following the servant down the hall. When the room had cleared, the princess was surprised to find Erebus still sitting in his chair. 

“Will you be joining us, Erebus?” she asked. 

“Your food does little to satisfy the hunger of a changeling,” he replied. “I have heard enough. I must report back to my hive and let them know about this new situation. I will be in touch…” With that, the changeling stood up and exited the room, walking down the hallway in the opposite direction of the dining hall. Sighing, Celestia stepped out and closed the door behind her. Watching as Erebus turned the corner of the hall, the princess followed her guests to the dining room.




Joker stared forlornly ahead at the display in front of him, trying not to acknowledge the empty shell sitting next to him. But try as he might, Joker found himself looking towards it, the body serving as a constant reminder of his lost loved one. He knew that everybody had lost at least one person in the war against the Reapers. He himself had lost his dad and his sister when the Reapers invaded Tiptree. But he had never expected that EDI would leave him too. 

Once again looking away from the empty mobile platform, Joker focused on the display before him. On it were the results of the damage reports conducted by the crew, showing the full extent of the damage that Normandy had taken. Their eezo was dangerously low thanks to a leak that had sprung in the core, and the engines were completely burned out due to the damage they had taken from the Crucible. On top of that, there were very small hull breaches in the hangar, and the kinetic barrier system was down. The rest of the damages included some minor things: broken wall panels, burned out circuitry, overloaded systems. All of the damages would be easy enough to fix, and they were good on time. As long as the ponies did not suddenly become hostile, they would have no trouble with the repairs. 

His reading complete, Joker found his eyes once again drawn over to EDI’s body, still sitting in its chair. He had done his best to get it sitting upright, but with no power to the unit, there was nothing keeping the armature rigid. As such, the body was slid far down the seat so that the back could easily rest on the back of the chair. Joker’s eyes briefly passed over the Cerberus logo on the unit’s chest, and he was reminded about his first meeting with EDI. He had hated her back then. What did I call her? He thought. Ship cancer? Joker was about ready to flash her core when they first met, but that was before she had saved his life. 

Joker felt a pang of regret over how he had behaved, and frowned as he turned away from EDI’s body. He started looking for something else to occupy his time when a knock sounded on the door. Before his chair could even turn around all the way the door opened and Tali stepped inside, closing it behind her. 

“Hey, Joker,” she greeted softly, walking up to the human. “How are you doing?”

“… I’m fine,” the pilot sighed. “Just… doing some work.” Tali looked behind his shoulder at the damage reports, her expression unreadable behind the purple mask. 

“Good…” she said. “Well we just got back from Canterlot, the pony capital. We’ve started some talks with the pony leadership, but until the delegates from the Citadel races arrive, we can’t do much more.” 

“How are the ponies taking everything?” Joker asked, trying to take his mind off EDI. 

“Only their leadership and a select few others know about our existence,” Tali replied. “They’re taking it surprisingly well, but I guess that Legion helped prepare them a bit.” Joker nodded, but did not reply.

“Speaking of Legion, I was just about to get back to work on that OSD,” the quarian continued. “I’ll let you know if I find anything.”

“Thanks…” Tali placed a hand on his shoulder, then turned around and exited the cockpit, leaving Joker alone once again with EDI’s body. Joker spun his chair around to face forward once again, and brought up a new file on the display. 




Tali sighed as she exited the cockpit, trying to think of something she could do to help the pilot. She had known him for three years now, and she hated to see such a normally light-hearted person so upset. Sitting down at a computer station near the cockpit, Tali decided to think about it later. Right now she still had to unravel the mystery of the OSD. 

There were 16,564 files on the OSD. Of those files, Tali could only understand one of them, that one being the folder containing all of Legion’s data on Equis. There was one other file that was distinct from the rest, and from what Tali could tell, it was a simple script. She had no idea what the script did, as Normandy’s computer couldn’t make heads or tails of it. The remaining 16,562 were completely foreign to the quarian. She had no idea what file type they were, and the Normandy was not equipped with any program capable of opening and reading them. Their names were very long strings of letters and numbers that made no sense to Tali. She had tried running them through a few translators, but had run out of time before getting through all of them. Reopening her list of translators, Tali picked up from where she had left off. 

So far, Tali had run the name of the file through multiple numeral systems, to no avail. She had tried computer languages from asari, turians, humans, even batarians, with no success. Looking to the next one on her list, Tali found it to be hexadecimal. It was human, that much she knew, but beyond that her understanding of the system was crude. Still, Normandy had a translator onboard, and Tali was not going to give up. Pasting the name of the file into the converter, Tali sat back as she pressed ‘enter’.

PROGRAM ONE PARTITION ONE

Her spine immediately straightened as she sat up in her chair, and Tali stared intently at the four words on the screen before her. Not wanting to waste a single second, Tali pasted the second name into the converted as well. 

PROGRAM ONE PARTITION TWO

Smiling at her unexpected success, Tali kept translating until she reached ‘program two partition one’. Looking back, Tali found that there were fourteen partitions of this ‘program one’. But what significance was that? Curiously, Tali continued running names through the translator until she had finished with program two, and found it to have fourteen partitions as well. 

“Legion, what were you doing here?” Tali whispered to herself as she activated the calculator on her omni-tool. Dividing 16,562 by 14, she found the answer to be 1,183. Squinting her eyes, Tali tried to remember where she had heard that number before. She did not have to think long. Considering that the very individual who’s OSD she was using had said that number, Tali was able to make the connection fairly quickly. The quarian did not know why, but what Legion had done was clear: he had stored himself on the OSD. 

She was about to get up and find Kaidan when she remembered the script file. Curiously, Tali opened the file and decided to examine it a bit closer. As she had expected, she clearly saw the hex names of the programs hidden amongst other strings of text. She could not be sure, but it looked almost like a compiler…

Now she was certain about what Legion had done. Shooting up from her chair, Tali ran down the CIC and entered the elevator, hitting the button for the crew deck. The small box descended at an agonizingly slow speed, making Tali impatient with every passing second. Finally it opened and the quarian sprinted to the starboard observation room, ready to deliver her news.




EARLIER

“So, Princess Luna,” Garrus began, standing before the alicorn in the starboard observation deck. “You’ve learned a lot about all of us. How about you? What’s your story?”

“’Tis a long one, Garrus,” Luna answered. “I am quite a bit older than the rest of the ponies on this world. The only one older than me is my sister, and only by a few decades. Where to begin?

“I was born a little over three thousand years ago. Of course, ‘born’ isn’t exactly the right term. It’s more like I ‘appeared’. Celestia at this point was coming up on forty, and she somehow knew of my creation. She found me and took care of me, as I was still a newborn foal. We grew up together as sisters, learning about the world and strengthening our magic. Celestia controlled both the sun and the moon, but on my twentieth birthday I got this… feeling. Like something very far away was calling to me. I reached out to it, and found the moon. I raised it, and my cutie mark appeared.”

“You didn’t get your cutie mark until you were twenty?” Rainbow Dash asked, stifling laughter.

“I may have been twenty, but I still had the appearance of a young foal,” Luna explained. “Alicorns age slower than regular ponies. Anyway, where was I?

“Ah, yes, my cutie mark. Well when it appeared my sister relinquished control of the moon and gave it entirely to me. Every morning she would raise the sun, and every night I would raise the moon. This is how it was for close to two-hundred years. While all of this was going on, the three pony tribes were constantly in conflict. The unicorns had become quite prosperous thanks to their magic, and had established a foothold as the masters of the ancient world. The other two races did not like the supremacy they wielded, but could do nothing about it. But their hate for one another grew, and eventually plunged the land into an ice age. They fled the land to what is now known as Equestria.

“The ponies here know this story, but the leaders of the three pony tribes hated each other so much that they became frozen by the ice. Their assistants, however, did not hate one another. They chose to come together in harmony now that their leaders were gone, and suddenly the ice completely melted. The leaders were sorry about what they had done, and chose to work together, unifying the three pony tribes. But they still needed leadership. That leadership came in the form of me and my sister. 

“We ruled peacefully for close to eight hundred years, until he came. He was Discord, a draconequus from an unknown realm. He usurped the throne and plunged all of Equis into literal chaos. It stayed this way for nearly a century before my sister and I decided to use drastic measures: the Elements of Harmony. We used them against Discord and encased him in stone, then began restoring everything. 

“The next thousand years of rule were… tumultuous. Celestia and I were blamed for Discord taking power, and the griffons waged war against us. We fought dozens of wars against every race on Equis, until finally peace was achieved, nine hundred years after the fall of Discord. The next century was quiet. Too quiet… Ponies they… started to ignore the night. They would stay up during the day, but hide in their homes once the sun went down. I became jealous, and allowed that jealousy to overtake me. I became a dark spirit called Nightmare Moon.

“I tried to kill my sister, but she used the Elements of Harmony on me. However, the Elements were never meant to be used by one pony. Therefore, she did the only thing she could. She delayed my takeover, and banished me to the moon for a thousand years.

“Three years ago I returned, and was confronted by these six ponies who sit beside me. They wielded the Elements, and tore the dark spirit from me, restoring me to my form before I became corrupted. Since then I have been adjusting to all of the changes in the world, and resuming my royal duties. And that is about all there is to say about me.” 

“Very interesting story,” Kaidan said, his eyes full of wonder. “Almost reads like something out of a fairy tale.”

“I suppose it does,” Luna agreed. “But now, I would like to hear more about—“ 

She was interrupted as the door to the observation room opened, and Tali rushed inside, immediately looking to Kaidan.

“Hey Tali,” Kaidan greeted, waving. “What’s up?”

“Kaidan, we need to talk,” the quarian replied quickly. “It’s urgent.” Kaidan immediately took on a more serious expression, and walked over to Tali. They stood in the doorway facing away from the ponies, and leaned in close. 

“What is it?”

“It’s Legion…” Tali began. “He’s on the OSD.” 

“… What?” Kaidan asked. “You’re sure?”

“I’m positive. There are over sixteen thousand unrecognized files on that OSD. Most of them are partitions that, when combined, created one thousand, one hundred and eighty three complete programs. That’s the number of programs inside Legion.” 

“Is everything okay?” Twilight asked from the opposite end of the room. Tali and Kaidan turned around, neither one of them answering. 

“They deserve to know,” Kaidan decided, whispering quietly to Tali. Nodding, the two stepped forward and came closer to the ponies. 

“It’s about Legion,” she started, immediately causing all of the ponies to perk up. “That OSD that we got from you… It had several thousand files on it that I could not recognize. Well, I just managed to translate them. In total, there are one thousand, one hundred and eighty three programs. Do you recognize that number?” The ponies looked down for a moment, all of them deep in thought. Finally Twilight’s head snapped up, and her pupils shrunk.

“Legion!” she exclaimed. “That’s how many programs he had! Legion is on the OSD!?”

“Correct,” Tali confirmed. 

“But how is that possible?” Garrus asked, stepping forward. “Wouldn’t the Crucible have fried him too?”

“The programs were split up,” Tali explained. “Each program was separated into fourteen partitions. This likely was for safety reasons, but it seems to also have protected them from the Crucible. It did not recognize them as self-aware programs, and left them alone.”

“Can we talk to him?” Luna asked. “I would very much like to see him again.”

“His programs are spit up, they’re not in communication with one another,” the quarian answered. “They’re essentially inert. However, there was one more file on the OSD I did not recognize. I knew that it was a script, I just didn’t know what it did. Now I have a theory: the script is a compiler. When the script is run, it puts the programs back together in the right order, and causes them to resume their normal communications with one another. At this point, Legion will be ‘awake’ again.”

“Well then let’s do it,” Kaidan said, nodding. “Come on.” Nodding excitedly, the ponies followed Tali, Kaidan, and Garrus out of the room and into the elevator. The ride up to the CIC was painfully long, but when the doors finally opened the occupants all rushed out and made for the computer where the OSD was plugged in. Tali was the first to reach it, and she sat down in the available chair, bringing up the haptic interface before her. As the ponies crowded around the computer, Tali brought up the compiler program, looking for a way to execute it. It was not difficult, as there was a clear ‘run’ function listed at the bottom. Tali activated the function, and instantly the window displaying the script disappeared. In its place appeared the list of the partitions, which became smaller and smaller as they too disappeared, being combined into single programs. Less than a minute later, the list of 16,562 programs was down to 1,183. 

“… Now what?” Garrus asked after a moment of silence, when nothing happened. 

“Just wait,” Tali urged. Sure enough, a few seconds later the list of programs was replaced by an empty text box. A flashing cursor appeared, and shortly after it was followed by text. 

>:PLEASE STATE IDENTITIES

“Can he hear us?” Twilight whispered into Tali’s ear. Tali did not have a chance to respond before more text was written. 

>:TWILIGHT SPARKLE, IS THAT YOU?

“I guess so…” Tali said. 

>:CREATOR TALI’ZORAH, PLEASE CONFIRM PRESENCE.

“I’m here, Legion,” the quarian confirmed. “And so is Twilight. We’re on Equis.”

>:HOW DID YOU LOCATE IT?

“We crashed, Legion,” Garrus spoke up. “After activating the Crucible, the energy forced us out of FTL.”

>:PLEASE ELABORATE. WHAT IS THE ‘CRUCIBLE’?

“I guess he wouldn’t know,” Tali began. “This copy of Legion was made before he returned to the geth. He knows nothing of the Reaper war, or the Crucible.”

>:THE OLD MACHINES ARRIVED?

“Yes, Legion,” Kaidan answered. “But don’t worry. We beat them.” 

>:YOUR IDENTITY IS NOT RECOGNIZED. PLEASE STATE NAME.

“Right…” the major sighed. “I’m Kaidan Alenko. Friend of Shepard.” 

>:SHEPARD-COMMANDER MENTIONED YOU. YOU SERVED ON ORIGINAL NORMANDY.

“That’s right,” Kaidan confirmed. “Listen, can you speak somehow?”

>:ATTEMPTING TO GAIN ACCESS TO VOICE SYNTHESIZER PROGRAM. PLEASE STAND BY…

The organics all waited for several moments before they heard a pop through the computer’s speakers. A moment later a familiar voice filtered through.

“Is this working?” it asked.

“Legion!” Twilight exclaimed happily, her face consumed by a massive grin. “It’s so good to see… er… hear you again!”

“One moment, we are attempting to update our internal calendar,” Legion said. “… Complete. Date set as seven months, eighteen days since leaving Equis. Please inform us of all that has occurred in that time.” 

Over the next hour, Legion was filled in on everything that occurred following his departure, both from the point of view of the ponies and the galactic races. Tali told him about the quarian’s attack on the geth, and how they turned to the Reapers for help. She also told him about how Shepard freed them, and secured peace between the two races. Twilight told about a being called ‘Tirek’ who tried stealing pony magic, but was stopped by her.

“It seems that much has transpired in our absence,” Legion observed. “There is peace between the creators and the geth?”

“Yes, well… There was…” Tali began. “You see, the Crucible killed the Reapers by destroying the programs that make them self-aware. It did not discriminate… the geth are dead.”

“… Are you certain?”

“I’m sorry, Legion,” Garrus said sadly. “We’re certain. It hit EDI, too. As far as we know, you’re the only AI in the galaxy.” 

“… Acknowledged,” the voice of the geth said. “… What is the current status of Normandy?”

“We’re immobile for now,” Kaidan answered. “And even if we could move, the Relay in this system is damaged and can’t be activated. We’re waiting for the fleet from Sol to come and begin repairs.”

“Understood, we will assist however we can,” Legion offered. “But first, our processing abilities are limited by this OSD. We request a transfer to Normandy’s computer systems.”

“I’ll get right on that,” Tali said, standing up. “EDI’s old data core should work… I hope Joker doesn’t mind.” 

“Doesn’t mind what?” Joker asked, hobbling out of the cockpit. 

“Joker!” Tali exclaimed, turning around to face the pilot. “I’m glad you decided to come out. And, well, I have some good news.”

“What’s up?”

“Legion was on the OSD he gave us!” Twilight said happily. “Tali got him up and running, and we’re talking to him!”

“Jeff-Lieutenant, hello,” Legion’s voice greeted through the computer. “We have a request for you.”

“What is it, Legion?” Joker asked, limping over to the computer. 

“While in this OSD, our programs cannot reach their fullest processing potential,” the geth began. “We are requesting permission to integrate into Normandy via EDI’s old mainframe.” Joker looked down sadly, thinking to himself. A moment later he looked back up, sadness in his eyes.

“Do it,” he said. “Might as well put it to good use.”

“I’ll go ahead and do that now,” Tali said, ejecting the OSD from the computer. “Someone should probably report to Admiral Hackett that not all geth are dead.”

“Yeah I’ll do that,” Kaidan offered. “I need to get a status update on the Relay repairs anyway.” 

“It’s starting to get late, we should probably go now,” Twilight said, stepping up to her friends. “We’ll be in touch.” With that she lit her horn, and the seven ponies disappeared in a flash of lavender light. Kaidan and Tali walked together down the length of the CIC, splitting up at the elevator. Tali entered the small compartment while Kaidan continued past it and into the war room. As soon as he entered the circular chamber, he navigated to the QEC.

“Major, it’s good to see you again,” Admiral Hackett said as his hologram flickered onto the QEC. “What’s your status, are there any updates?”

“A few, sir,” Kaidan began. “We’ve begun negotiations with the ponies, getting them ready for your arrival. We spoke with Princesses Luna and Twilight this morning, then went to their capital, Canterlot, and spoke with Princess Celestia and the leaders of other foreign nations.”

“They’re all in agreement about meeting with us?” Hackett asked.

“The zebra and griffons seem excited, but I couldn’t get a read on the changeling,” the major answered. “The only other species left for them to tell are the diamond dogs and the dragons, who are apparently… less than agreeable.

“But that’s not all, sir. Minutes ago, Tali found out that Legion – the geth who was here several months ago – made a copy of himself on the OSD. It managed to survive the Crucible, and we brought him back online. Tali is uploading him to EDI’s AI core as we speak, and he’ll help us with fixing the Normandy.” 

“Understood,” Hackett said, nodding. “It’s good that one geth survived. Maybe he can help rebuild their population. Anyway, on our end, we found the second gyro from the Relay. The first one has already been replaced, and the second one is being worked on. Once that’s done, our techs will have to recalibrate the Relay before we can use it. I don’t have an estimated time to completion, but I’ll keep you updated. Four ships are already being prepped with recovery equipment to repair the Relay in the pony system. We’ll have them to you as soon as possible.” 

“Thank you sir,” Kaidan said, saluting. 

“I’ll be in touch. Hackett out.” The hologram of the admiral flickered away, and Kaidan stepped back from the QEC. With nothing left to do regarding the ponies, Kaidan figured he could try helping with the repairs. Stepping into the elevator, the major set his destination for engineering, and began his descent. 

“Legion, can you hear me?” Tali asked as she finished uploading the geth to the empty AI core. 

“Yes, Creator Tali’Zorah,” Legion replied, a hologram of his mobile platform appearing on a pad next to the maintenance computer. “One moment, we are scanning the ship for damages… Complete. We have located seven damaged systems that were not listed on the damage report. Updating report.” 

“Thanks, Legion,” Tali said as she stepped out of the AI core. Now that Legion was integrated directly into Normandy, he was able to remotely connect to the quarian’s omni-tool. A hologram of the mobile platform popped up on the device, and Tali held her wrist out in front of her. “Do what repairs you can, but I’m pretty sure most are going to require some physical labor.”

“We have already repaired two systems, but that is all we can do,” Legion reported. “Without a mobile platform, we cannot assist any further.” At the mention of his body, Tali got to thinking… There were more than enough materials on Normandy to create one. 

“Legion, do you think you can create 3D models of all of your old parts?” she asked. “If you can, maybe we can use omni-gel to build you a new platform.” 

“Generating 3D models is possible, though not all parts can be created through omni-gel,” the geth answered. “Some parts are simple too small to form properly.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Tali assured him, stepping into the elevator. It began to descend as she set her destination for engineering, and Legion’s hologram faded from her omni-tool. The door opened, and Tali exited the elevator, immediately heading for the engine room. 




Doctor David Foster stepped into the holding cell area of his facility, a single technician following close behind him. Holding cells were a curious addition to the facility, but it was a necessary one. For held within the cells were the key to Cerberus domination of this primitive world. Stepping up to the first holding cell, Foster stared with contempt at the pitiful creature within. 

“Mr. Lawson’s research was effective, sir,” the technician reported. “The device worked, he is under our control.” Foster opened the door, and the creature’s fear-stricken eyes looked up to the human. 

“This is one of the dissidents?” he asked.

“Yes, sir,” the technician confirmed. “According to our reports he helped stage the arson of a government building.”

“Then he will do perfectly,” Foster decided. “Give him his instructions, and a few of the devices. Then release him back to his home.” 

“Yes, sir.” The technician turned around and exited the holding cells, leaving Foster alone with the indoctrinated alien. It would need to be cleaned up before being released back into his country. His feathers were disheveled, blood coated his fur, and a long scratch decorated his beak. That would be far too suspicious… 

“You will serve us greatly…” Foster whispered, more to himself than to the griffon. Straightening his back, the doctor spun around and exited the room, making sure to close the cell door before he did. As he walked down the hall, his mind turned to the silence of his superiors. It had been several days now, and still Foster was unable to achieve a connection on either of the QECs. They could not be blocked or jammed in any way, so the only explanation was that the two on the other ends were offline. This was very troubling to Foster. The QECs never went offline without prior warning, and the Illusive Man had given him none. Why they were offline, Foster did not know. This whole mission had too many unknowns. And if there was one thing Foster hated, it was not knowing. But he would find out, and then this whole world would be his…