Getting the Band back together (closed)

Kirok snorted.

"Yeah, an' I had t'teach ya BOTH t'throw a proper punch," the krogan spat, glowering at the group. "Ahhh, hell. I ain't much of a leader ennyways - ya'll're harder t'organize than a pack a'varren with hot chili enemas. Besides, ya'll need a guy like me pullin' yer fat outta th' fire, an' y'can't do that from no command persition. Although I'll wanna be able t'talk t'this damned geth y'got floatin' around in yer head or whatever, Jil. Ain't gonna feel right 'bout workin' for a thing what don't have no face."

She didn't buy Ana's story.

Brows knotted as Min internalized. A lot of time lingering in her own head, lately. The Clover job. Their trojan horse. A means to an end, and one that she hadn't thought much of. Apparently she should have. Probably more clues if she cared to dive back into her memories. A tell, if she looked close enough. Not that it mattered.

Couldn't begrudge them for secrets, exactly. Not when they were still calling her Mei.

A lot of skeletons in the closet. As far as foundations of trust went, this relationship wasn't off to a great start. Min supposed she could always strike out on her own instead. Or get out while she still could. Shirin was right. Did the smart thing, even. A quality that Min liked to pride herself on. After all, doing the smart thing was why she survived the war at all.

The smart thing was a lifetime in some shitty office chair on Illium.

"Alright," Min sighed - a plaintive barb clinging just to the end of that. "Sell me on the geth."

There was a moment of intense cogitation from Kirok's section of the bar. The bleeding had all but stopped now, and the other patrons of the bar had slowly been filtering out as the band slowly discussed the topic of leadership. Several stares of the "I think these guys are crazy" variety were thrown there way, along with several discussions of the probability of mortal peril. The band had built something of a reputation in this parts; hearing them discuss coming back together meant something was going to blow up very soon.

"Well, I can't speak fer th' others, but like I said, I taught th' thing t'throw a punch - dat's more'n enny other pocket calculator I ever done seen's done. Well, dere was dat one time, but that was three centuries ago. Ennyways, th' geth ain't bad. Ain't no warrior like me, but th' thing's gotta set of brains on 'im. Balls, too. I 'member this one time back when Shirin was still workin' for us. Shirin had been discussin' some kinda plan involvin' 'splosives an' science an' chemistry an' shit, right? Well, we was all ready t'start mixin' th' shit - I had on th' gloves an' apron an' everythin' - when the ship's speakers popped on an' th' damn geth is tellin' alla us dat we's got th' components wrong an' Shirin's 'bout t'kill every one of us. Well, not so nice-like, really, I don't think th' geth unnerstand please er thank you. Ennyways, Shirin listened t'th' geth, changed th' recipe, an' didn't even blink an' eye. Think she even said thanks er somethin'. That's when I knew th' geth were somethin' t' listen to."

There was a moment's pause.

"I mean, it ain't no krogan, but it's a good runners-up, s'all I'm sayin'."

'Sell me on the geth' was an odd request, but not beyond reason. It just wasn't something Jil'Korah was used to doing, given that he'd more or less kept Ensemble a secret and that had worked out pretty well so far.

"Okay... Uh... Well, there's the aforementioned hacking? Geth are basically made to network, and retained that when the Reapers upgraded them, so whenever I plug into a system there's a really good chance that he and I will be able to override it. Granted that might gradually get harder as geth get more common outside the Veil, but for now? Most systems just don't have the cyberwarfare suite they'd need to keep us out. He's also pretty good with engineering advice and so on, and given that both quarians and geth went in a bit of a different direction, tech-wise, than most council species, we have a pretty unique approach."

Jil paused thoughtfully for a moment, a moment in which he noticed Ensemble himself was oddly quiet. Probably as curious as anybody to see the 'sales pitch'.

"That's only the barest outline of his tech capabilities - he's also got enough processing power to work out probabilities and statistical likelihood of success in milliseconds, and he records everything through my envirosuit which is basically an eidetic memory. Gets annoying sometimes, actually."

Take that, frustratingly-quiet machine!

"Sooooooo yeah... He's good at planning and analyzing and never forgets a detail, which I guess makes him the closest thing to Shirin we've got since Shirin snuck out the side door a few minutes ago. Only downside really is that he's not super-useful in a fight, what with being a disembodied synthetic intelligence..."

That was actually a really big downside, now that he thought about it. One of the biggest strengths of Shirin was commando training, the sort of thing none of the rest of them could do to the same extent. Kirok was a brawler and Aliquam was certainly capable, but neither of them had quite the same balance of subtlety and brutality as their erstwhile leader.

Provide me with the funds requested, and I can bring a much greater degree of coordination to our activities.

Oh, sure, now you speak up, once I'm not praising you unconditionally.

You did not appear to require assistance.

That almost sounded like a vote of confidence.

Indeed.

...Huh. That was unexpected, to say the least. Jil supposed he should do something to earn it now.

"That said, we've got some ideas on how to counterbalance that. If we can part with some money for components, we should be able to set it up so that he can speak to each of you directly. Without a subvocal processor like mine or some kind of neural link or whatever you won't be able to reply privately, but he can monitor the comms and if we get all your suitcams working to spec-" that was said with a glare at Kirok, though the krogan probably wouldn't have noticed even if Jil's faceplate hadn't been polarized, "-then he should be able to coordinate us a lot better than even Shirin could. The eye for detail will come into play there, as well, since he'll spot things we'd miss. It'll take some getting used to for all of you, but trust me, it's worthwhile."

The quarian turned to face the human again.

"Questions?"

Ali rubbed his forehead as he heard the 'lie' it wasn't really a lie, a lie was meant to be deceptive, and Ana could not have expected that story to fool anyone, except maybe a drunk vorcha...

"I think that he's just the best choice." He looked at Min, "He's intelligent, he's good at his planning, is trustworthy enough that he saved our asses more than once. I don't know for sure if he'll do a good job leading us, we'll see it when it happens but, and this here is a big but, he has earned enough respect to earn a shot."

"Besides if not him, who else. Kirok, is an enforcer, and damn good one, but he lacks subtlety. Ana is Ana," there was a shudder, "Jil, is good with tech but, but he's a bit young to run a squad, maybe in five years but not now. You, we hardly know you, and as for myself, I'm a CT 7, that's not leadership material."

His omnitool went off.

"Oops that's my gran, it's her birthday today... I'll be right back." The turian got up to step outside so the rest of the team could continue their talk. "Grangran! Happy birth– no I didn't forget, but I thought you would still be asle– yes I do have that app."

At the back of her mind, something tugged at Min. An impulse. A selfish one, maybe. Certainly, she was capable of leading - at least, if that was about the extent of the criteria. Not to toot her own horn, but planning and analyzing weren't what she'd call her soft spots. Poor foresight tended to get you killed in megalomaniac terrorist organizations. If not by your enemies, then certainly your friends. And the inch-long box in her head guaranteed she'd never forget a thing.

Eyes drew back to Ana.

Even if she wanted to.

Impulses passed, of course. Being a leader - at least, a leader on a scale as personal as this - demanded something a little more abstract than that. And going by the Band's apparent eagerness to vouch for Jil's partner - a partner that she didn't even know she had, it had what she didn't. Trust.

The Saturday morning cartoon morality of it all was enough to get her head spinning. She rubbed the bridge of her nose, sinking into silence.

"Just two," Min finally said. "I'd like to know if there's anyway we can address your friend directly - call it a bad experience, but I'm not keen on intermediaries. And if there's a body that he's got somewhere?"

There was a flik as Ana fished out an old spark lighter and lit a cigar with it. Puffing a few times as Min spoke, she grinned behind the butt as she noticed a light blinking on the end of her omni-tool.

Brushing it with a sweep of her cigar, the cinders dragged the ‘tool’s applications screen up to meet her. A new program had quietly downloaded itself into the security cache as Min and Jil had borrowed their ears; now, having been completed, it was requesting permission to install itself properly.

The app was labeled “Funk Flashlight.” It was also far larger than any basic flashlight app could possibly be.

She waved her ‘tool at Jil just as Min finished speaking. “Hey Jil! This the Director’s way of sayin’ ‘yes?”’” she asked, grinning.

Kirok waved away the smoke with an irritated scowl, the rumble in his throat beginning to give way to something meaner.

"Ignore th' mansari, new blood," Kirok growled, giving Ana a death glare that could annihilate worlds. "She's done so many goddamned drugs she done burnt up her brain. But yeah, Jil, we gonna gitcher better half a robot body or someshit? Mebbe get some kinda geth duds or what? What gives?"

"Okay, uh... I can pipe him through the ship's comm, if we head there, but otherwise for now I'm stuck in the middle. That's pretty much the first thing we'd address, though, and no, Ana, that's nothing to do with him, so you might not want to install it. Keelah, why do you even have automated downloading turned on? I can't believe your tool hasn't been bricked yet."

What else was there... Aha, the body question. That was a good one.

Is there a chance you could requisition a geth platform any time soon? It'd probably make the others a lot more comfortable.

Negative. Geth platforms are currently prioritized for work on Rannoch and military patrol. 'Suitriders' are not presently prioritized, given our relative mobility. Submitting such a request would likely raise suspicions.

Could we pick up a simple mech body for you, maybe a LOKI or ORCUS, rewire it a bit? We could turn it into a project!

Substantial upgrades would be required to make any basic mech body functionally acceptable. YMIR or OGRE variants are more promising, but would also require significant reprogramming and are not a worthwhile investment given their limited use outside of combat roles.

"A body's pretty much out of the question right now. Suitriders are more mobile already than most of the geth, and actual platforms are primarily reserved for the Veil. Once we've made some basic upgrades to each of your hardsuits and omnitools, though, he'll be able to communicate better than we can right now, which is a plus."

Ana rolled her eyes at Kirok as she tapped the delete key with the wet end of her cigar.

“Wellll, if we can’t get one by walkin’ up and sayin’ ‘please,’ well…”

She gave Jil an unusually hard look.

“I mean, like, fuck, we’re the Band, right? Why not just, like, make that our first...performance?”

Several brain cells aligned in Kirok's skull. A thoughtful cast fell over his craggy face.

"Stealin' a geth body, huh? I dunno. I don't see much payoff in dat. Not 'less we steal somefin' else at th' same time... mebbe soma dem Geth weapon plans. Like, Iunno, them pulse rifles er whatnot. Know a buncha pirates would want somma dat firepower on dere sides. Hell, we could even sell it t'th' s'larians. Lord knows they're guffin' fer war right now. Heh heh heh. Alright, I'm in - long as it's made PROFTIABLE."

Ana shook her head and rolled her eyes as she blew another puff of smoke. “Might as well,” she said. “Go big or go home? Whaddaya say, Director? Sound like a plan?”

"Sure. I'm in. Sounds like... fun."

There was a wicked leer on Kirok's face. A plan that both Ana and Kirok agreed on? Civilizations had abandoned their cities over less.

And that was that, Min supposed. Their new leader, decided remarkably amicably, given the company. A tad surreal, that they were being led by a voice in a helmet, but frankly, a leader with only a name to put to him was nothing new for her.

All those old friends at the Foundation would kill her, she imagined - all the little sins in the past year. This was just gonna be another. Theft? This could be called kidnapping, really. It sounded dangerous. Audacious. Stupid. You'd have to wonder if this could make an enemy out of an entire collective.

Still, something about it excited her. Risk always did.

"I'm in." Min finally said.

"Then what're we waitin' fer?" Kirok said with a drawl in his voice and a feral gleam in his eye. He slammed his fist into the bartop, sending spiderwebs through the already scratched glass. His mouth split into a grin best described as primordial.

"Let's go rob us a geth."

It was just that moment that Ali rejoined the group, "Wait, what now?"

He looked over the group, mandibles clinging to his face.

"please tell me, I did not just heard what I think I heard."

Uhh... Is what they're discussing at all practical?

It couldn't be, could it? There was no way they could hijack a geth platform. The quarians had done it on a small-scale before, sure, but here the group was talking about a permanent acquisition.

I do not believe so. Any such theft would be immediately detected by the Collective.

That was a pretty weak reason not to do it. Even the best software could get jammed.

There has to be a way to do it though. Maybe jam all communications for the duration of the heist, keep the platform from broadcasting until we can take it over?

Taking over the platform would prove difficult, and I am unwilling to terminate a geth process.

Unwilling? Why? We've killed on heists before... Never gratuitously, but we have.

The 'we' in this case obviously referred to Jil'Korah and Ensemble, specifically, since the others had been known to occasionally kill gratuitously. Once in a while. From time to time. Pretty much every heist, actually... But not Jil! He'd actually spoken against it before, right?

Biological organisms inevitably end. Geth do not.

Ouch.

That's... blunt.

Additionally, no geth run time possesses more than two years' experience of independent thought and behavior. No prior heist has involved killing a child.

The problem with this line of reasoning was that it would mean Ensemble was also a child, and that would make Jil his... what? Drunken uncle? Friend-of-the-family who was also a terrible role-model?

Okay. I'm not sure I like that comparison but let's set it aside for now. If we can figure out how to do this without terminating the other process, are you willing?

Provided we can convince the other process to join us, affirmative.

Join us? You want to take on a new member already?

I am unwilling to deprive another geth of its mobility and independence.

You have quite a few double-standards when it comes to the treatment of geth versus organics.

The situation is unique.

Only because you insist on treating geth differently from how you treat organics, despite efforts to fit in.

The situation is unique.

Whatever. Look, if we can do this in such a way that we don't erase the other geth, would you accept the situation temporarily, long enough for us to find another solution?

Very well.

With an overly dramatic sigh, Jil'Korah returned his attention to the conversation around him rather than the one in his head.

"Alright, he's in, but we have to do this very, very carefully."

Truth be told, Jil relished the challenge. Only the best quarian engineers had ever managed to hack a geth, and even then only for short periods. This was new ground, and if they could pull it off it might be worth the risk if only to finally be able to convincingly say he was one of the best.

"Awright! You hear that, Kirr-kirr? We're gonna get ourselves a geth!"

Ana punched the krogan on the ribs as she whooped and hollered.

"C'mon, Jilly, round for everyone! On me, 'cause we're gettin' a geth!"

"I did hear correctly." He glowered, oh he glowered so much, and all the glowering was directed to Kirok and Ana, they had to been at the inception of any such thought. Unless, he considered after a moment, it was the human, humans sometimes had fanciful ideas like that.

He hoped it wasn't the case because that meant that the risk of insanity would step-up and he would only have a quarian and a geth to keep the insanity at bay.

"Bout time," was all that Kirok said, cracking his massive knuckles with the force of several tectonic plates. "Awright. I'mma pick me up m'paycheck from m'last bounty, git Whitefang from th' varren boutique, git me m'heavy weapons stash, call in some debts, an' meet ya back on th' ship in twelve hours. Ya'll best be ready t'go, 'cuz I'll be inna mood t'hit somethin' hard by that time."

With a grin like a shark that smelled blood in the water, Kirok practically bounded out the door, his wounds ignored, a fresh step in his stride. Oh, goodness yes, he was going to be a bad guy again.