Lazarus Project: Mass Effect 2 (Shenko)

Chapter 73

Milky Way/The Phoenix Massing/Typhon/Aite

Earth year: 2185 CE --- November

In the shuttle, Garrus was unusually quiet, watching her with an unreadable expression on his face.

"What are we doing here Shepard?" He asked, shifting his weight as the shuttle hit a pocket of turbulence.

"They received a transmission on emergency channels. Lost contact a few hours ago." Callie answered, wishing he'd drop it yet knowing he wouldn't.

"Lost contact? Like what happened at Peak 15 on Noveria? And Feros? And that ship we found in the Gorgon System?"

"Garrus... "

"I'm just saying Shepard." He replied, breaking eye contact. "Don't expect this is going to turn out any different."

"I know."

"Good." He replied, stepping out of the shuttle. "Just letting you know where I stand."

Callie said nothing as she joined him on the landing pad. A male voice could be heard coming over a  loudspeaker, directing them inside where he could give them an update on the situation. After listening a moment, he told them they needed to disable the communications array, something about a rogue AI that had taken over the facility which Callie couldn't grasp.

Shrugging off her confusion, she followed the man's advice and took out geth who were glowing with a strange green light as they made for the communication up-link tower.

She was cursing a blue streak when after destroying the final hardware block, the satellite dish made a horrific screeching sound and began crashing down around them. After a mad dash and a heart-stopping leap, they jumped to safety back onto the platform which surrounded the dish.

An older human male appeared then, sighing in relief that they were unharmed.

Scowling, Callie got to her feet, resisting the overwhelming urge to slap the smile off his face. "We deserve that explanation now Doctor." She seethed.

Oblivious to her mood, he nodded. "Of course. Follow me, we can talk inside."

While Garrus and Tali recovered the bodies of the other researchers and covered them with blankets, Callie spoke with the lone survivor.

"My name is Doctor Gavin Archer, I'm head researcher here at Project Overlord. Our experiment went south and we lost control. The AI has hacked our networks and taken over all our stations. I need your help to shut it down."

"Where'd this AI come from?"

"We were attempting to find a way to communicate with the geth. My brother volunteered to interface with the network, but something went wrong. He... it, won't respond to any commands. It killed everyone and is trying to upload itself off the planet."

"Why didn't you have a kill switch?" Callie demanded, not liking where this was going.

"This is new technology Commander! We can't be expected to know everything. This is beyond anything we've ever tried before."

"Then you shouldn't have done it." Callie retorted, wanting to shake him.

"And where would we be if you hadn't gone through the relay at Ilos?" He countered. "Sometimes taking risks are the only way to move forward."

"That's not the same thing!" She growled, even though she knew what she said now made little difference. "But whatever. How do we shut it down?"

After giving her coordinates to the other facilities and instructions, they headed out. Once they'd accessed the override command at Prometheus and Vulcan stations and restored power, they headed to Atlas station, where Archer had said they would find his brother. Once at Atlas station, they took a nerve-wracking ride down an elevator controlled by the VI. A walk down a short hallway led them to a room behind which they would find Archer's brother, who was now  somehow a rogue AI.