• Published 27th Mar 2019
  • 11,264 Views, 3,483 Comments

Mass Effect: Element of Kindness - CommanderApplejack



[CYOA] While exploring an old ruin an unfortunate accident sends Fluttershy halfway across the galaxy, how will the shy pegasus cope with being stuck away from her friends?

  • ...
26
 3,483
 11,264

PreviousChapters Next
Message

Chapter 164

Message

Investigate the lights. 43%

I have time to take a quick peak, right? Fluttershy did say she wasn’t a child anymore and if a drone is on that elevator I can always slam my claw on that screen.

Taking a step away from the console, Gilda went over to the blinking lights further up the control panel and investigated the buttons around there.

”What are you doing? There is nothing of necessity there, link my systems up.” the central node asked as Gilda pressed down on the blinking light, the pannel it was on flashing green. The room dimmed as holograms of various griffins sprung to life all around the room.

”Godscalc! get that door closed!” the hologram standing inside of her at the control panel shouted at another who stood and fired out the door. Gilda instinctively backpedalled out of the hologram, somehow feeling wrong about having shared the same space.

“They’re almost here! A few more seconds!” the griffin shouted back, his peculiar weapon cracking in rapid succession. Two more griffins entered the security office, one being dragged along by the other. Every single one of them where wearing the same type of armour Gilda was as well.

“CLOSE THAT FAUST DAMNED DOOR!” The griffin at the control panel thundered as she rapidly tapped commands into the console.

“You cannot lock me out, Godiva, surrender now.” Gilda looked around in confusion but quickly realised that was the central node as a recording.

”Damnit, I need medical supplies! He’s hit bad!” The new griffin shouted, trying to stop the bleeding on the unconscious, fallen griffin. Godscalc slammed the door closed and shot the controls for good measure, running to a storage locker at the back of the room after and pulling out various components.

“This struggle is futile Commander, any attempt you make of locking me out I can counter.” the central node said again, manifesting itself as a griffin hologram above the console.

”Really now? Did you think we wouldn’t prepare for this eventuality after hearing the prothean’s experience with AI?” Godiva asked, looking at the hologram as she slammed down on a button. ”Override subroutine Alpha-Nine.”

The hologram flickered, freezing completely for a second. “O-Override instructions active, what is your command.”

The griffin wasted no time tapping commands on the console, placing her claw on the same screen outlining the clawprint now. ”I’ve locked you out permanently and set the defenses to blast away anyone stupid enough to get close.”

”Uhh, Commander, where does that leave us?” Godscalc asked, stepping next to the other griffin. ”Göran needs medical soon and if the defences are going to shoot at us...”

”We try the hangar, those defenses might take enough time to get up for us to get out.” Godiva turned and walked over to the elevator, helping to drag along the wounded griffin. ”If we’re lucky we can get out there and warn the rest of the evacuees, hopefully the ponies have that plan to hide from the reapers up or we’re screwed.”

The room returned to normal, becoming brighter again as the holograms disappeared. “I was momentarilly locked out of the room, are you all right? Your heartrate is up.”

Gilda’s breath was going wild as she processed what had just happened in front of her. Those must have been the original griffins around here... They blocked off that AI from accessing this place and now it’s asking me to reconnect.

The elevator came to a halt at the security office, Gilda jumping around to face whatever was on there. A small swarm of five of the smaller drones floating into the office. “Link my systems, you can avoid this fight.” the central node calmly said again as the drones powered up their weapons.

“Oh yeah? Was that why you were attacking Commander Godiva?” Gilda asked, dodging one of the drones’ shots and jumping right on top of it. Her now armoured and powered claws dug into the metal sheets surrounding the drone, crushing the plate as she pulled it off and exposed the insides of the machine to be destroyed immediately after. Holy crap, this suit is awesome!

“I’ll rephrase. Link my systems or I’m killing the pegasus.”

That would have made Gilda pause is she wasn’t busy ripping apart the little drones with a scary amount of ease, the machines only scratching the powerful shielding of her armour. “And what would stop you from killing her with drones after I reconnect you?” she growled, smashing the last drone into the floor. “I think I have a better idea.” Gilda tapped the same button she’d seen the old commander press in the holographic playback. “Override subroutine Alpha-Nine.”

“Do you really think I did not remove that section of my C-C-C-C...” The AI stuttered and died, not making another sound.

"Contact with the central node lost," the VI reported. "Awaiting new command."

"How do I stop these damned drones from attacking me all over the place?" Gilda asked, hoping to get an answer that didn't involve her putting her claw on that particular panel.

"Registry in the security database is required. Follow the instructions highlighted now." Gilda's eyes widened a bit as the VI started running her through the buttons she needed to press. She was slightly worried that she was being taken for a ride by the central node but since she didn't really see another option, risking it in case the central node really wasn't there for the moment seemed worth it. "Move onto the platform at the centre of the room to be scanned."

Gilda looked back at the floor, a blue circle of light marking where she was supposed to stand. Here goes nothing.

A blue field rapidly moved up across her body and back down into the floor, a ding coming from the control panel. "Under what name should you be registered?"

"Gilda Grimmfeather," She answered, a hologram of her popped up above the main console with her name below it prefixed by three letters and a symbol she didn't recognize.

"Transferring command designation as determined by previous commander's inputs... Completed."

"Wait, what did you do? what did the old commander want?" Gilda questioned as more options and menues opened up for her now.

"You have been designated active commander of this facility as per directive fifty-one." the VI answered.

"ME?!" Gilda exclaimed in shock. "I-I... WHAT!"

The griffin had to stop herself from panicking as she needed to know what happened to the AI and find out where Fluttershy was. Stepping up to the console she studied the holograms. "Say, can you bring up the layout of this place and where all the drones are?"

"Of course, stand by." Various layouts of floors appeared in front and around her, dots representing the different drones being marked in various colors. Most of the hundreds of dots were concentrated around the armoury, the rest were loosely scattered around the base with the exception of the AI core. Gilda finally got a sense of how massive the installation truly was as well, the base wasn't just contained within the mountain but stretched far away from it as well.

Wow, I wouldn't want to be in the armoury right now.

"Where is Fluttershy?" Gilda asked, a few more dots sprung up around the map.

"These are the last three sightings of the pegasus by security drones swiftly followed by their termination."

"Sounds about right, where do we think she is now?" Gilda asked as she followed the dots from oldest to newest.

"Unknown. The path of destruction and timing indicates she's located somewhere near the main fusion plant." The VI made a section of the maps red where it thought likely for Fluttershy to be. "Two heavy assets are closeby, do you wish for me to re-route them?"

Gilda looked over to another section of the base, the central node AI core in specific as it was quite close to the reactor too. Maybe I could figure out what is going on with the central node with those drones as well. Fluttershy can clearly handle herself and with me in control of the drones she's not in direct danger...

1. Send Drones to find Fluttershy

2. Send drones to investigate the AI core

3. Split up the two drones.

[Vote link]

Author's Note:

I mean... this came within 1 vote of a tie... I expected at least a little more distrust than that.

^Timestamped
I nearly verbatim quoted Julian there, congrats on making that connection from that single comment btw.

[Paragon] or [Renegade] are colored when available, though normal options might also contribute to one or the other. As for the shippers under us, [Romance] is now also a thing.
When an option is not available due to various reasons it will be coloured [Grey]

https://www.strawpoll.me/42222303
[Certainty: 70]

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

PreviousChapters Next