Change of Perspective Page 27
#30 of Change of Perspective
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Geth strike craft battle it out with smaller reaper drones. The void of space filled with a brilliant light show as the two fleets duke it out as the massive sovereign class reaper blasts through another one of the smaller cruisers while it appears to take on the attacks from the fleet without taking any significant damage.
"Process data... old machine capital ship significantly stronger than data suggested. Streaming combat data and sending it to specialize sectors for processing and analysis," reports 6518181222514 as the former anthropomorphic racoon platform goes through the data with lightning quick speed.
As the data is sent and processed 185144914 works with the ships under its direct command and the combat network under the command of the dreadnought ship. The smaller vessels of the reaper fleet were made primary targets. The geth ships focus down on smaller ship at a time while doing their best dodging enemy fire. It stands on the bridge of its smaller ship not so much watching the combat from any window, but processes stream of data from all the ships under its command, receiving information, generic data of ship status, enemy location, ect. The only ship the winged geth platform is directly commanding its own vessel, as its other programs are doing what they feel collectively on their own ship what is the best decision given the shared information.
Every moment that passes more of the first geth ship is destroyed by the relentless fire of the reaper ships, the dreadnought holding form keeping its position outside of the field of fire of the massive ship. Lesser reaper ships position themselves and fire at the dreadnought, their shots barely stopped by the dreadnought's shields as its rocked by repeated fire.
"Alert. Shield integrity down 68.19%," the dreadnought reports as it presses forward its assault.
"Acknowledged. Fleet 0002 has arrived," reports the second dreadnought fleet as the dreadnought and smaller geth vessels arrive guns blazing. The two dreadnoughts sync within seconds as they focus fire on the smaller reaper vessels. The beams of blue energy pierce through the reaper ships, tearing through them like the capital ship rips through their own vessels. The reaper vessel making light of this fact as it unleashes another blast before it unleashes a wave of data to cloud their sensors.
6110118 multi blue light lenses spins and focuses as it taps onto its control console from a safe location far from the battlefield, its fingers dance across the holographic screens as it analyses the data.
Timestamp: 9:08:15.09
"Alert. Alert. We know this attack. It was a prototype anti-geth warfare being worked on quarian-creators," reports 1885135 to its platform.
"Acknowledged. What do you suggest based on your knowledge of this attack?" the rest of the geth of platform 6110118 inquire.
"Tactical retreat till countermeasure can be created."
"Acknowledged. Consensus achieved," the platform self-reports.
Timestamp: 9:08:15.10
"Alert. This is a creator based attack to disable us. We recommend a quick retreat as we will work on a countermeasure. We did not process the possibility of the old machines using quarian technology against us," 6110118 reports as the fleet processes the new data and quickly falls back leaving only a few vanguard vessels manned by automated defenses as the geth were uploaded from the vessels to guard their retreat. The smaller reaper vessels fight with the other geth vessels as the reaper capital ship along with other supporting reaper ships pull back.
"The old machines do not pursue," the geth main consensus reports.
"Hypothesis. We have damaged the old machine fleet enough that it did not think further risk of damages warranted pursuing," suggests 211420151691, the former turian as it analyzes the data from the battle.
"We apologize we did not process the probability of the old machines using this attack. Program 1885135 already has a method to counteract the attack's effect as it was something that it has found great interest in before its uplifting. We will also study the combat logs of the battle to find any weaknesses in the old machine's vessels," reports 6110118.
"Acknowledged. The current losses to the fleet is unacceptable. Any suggestions to further improve probability of survival?" the consensus inquires.
"We are studying metal composites of the old machine vessels from scanner data obtained from the battle. We admit it will take some time to disseminate the data and make valuable conclusions from it," 101142119 states.
"Acknowledged. Keep the fleet combined and repair all ships as much as possible... alert. We have lost contact with the old machine fleet on the outskirts of the system... alert. Old machines detected planet side," the geth consensus reports as data of the attacking old machine's grunt forces is quickly sent over the network.
"Hypothesis based on recently processed data and military knowledge from program 49262695. The main old machine attack was a diversion to allow smaller vessels to land and strike at our planet side forces and other orbital structures," 11211851141 the newest geth platform, barely a few hours out of its pod suggests.
"We find this hypothesis acceptable. The old machines are in no rush to eradicate all sentient lifeforms in the galaxy. They will not needlessly risk their vessels when a more cost-effective option will do. They already know much about us from the other geth they currently control. They will know our weakness. There is a high probability they will try to exploit our weaknesses to kill us. Trying again to enslave us is also highly likely," 141895112 adds in.
"Acknowledged. We calculate there is a high probability that old machine forces will attempt to highjack isolated programs and platforms and use them against us. The old machines will attempt to spread us thin and cause infighting in order to strike us down," the consensus calculates.
For the next thirty-seven days, six hours, twelve minutes and thirty-seven seconds the geth and the old machines spared, mostly on the ground with smaller quicker engagements in space, the massive capital ship no where to be seen. Each strike whittled away at the geth strike force. Attacks on the ground were brutal where the reaper attacks were aimed at merely breaking down the geth machines. There were attacks on the space station which took a full week to completely repulse, while sabotage on the repair docks crippled the pace of new ship construction and repair.
Each strike though was made with stronger resistance. Each attempt they gathered data, processed, learned, and executed improvements. Despite draining resources, the geth continued to make improvements, fight effectively, efficiently, pushing back the reaper forces on the planet, in the system proper. Every lesson learned was tested and applied at a breathtaking pace... then.
"Alert. Old machines detected," reported the geth consensus over the geth network as the sovereign class ship appeared with several support craft, several more than was previous calculated for the enemy fleet to have.
The two fleets met up once again on the outskirts of the solar system. A light show of lasers, plasma weapons, ships exploding into countless pieces lit up this small dark sector of space. Like before the reaper ship tore through the smaller vessels while the two dreadnoughts worked to remain outside of the field of fire of the geth attack ship.
Reaper drones and geth strike craft fought one another trying desperately to gain the upper hand. Despite the geth best efforts, losses of machine and program continued to mount as they focused on the lesser ships first the number of ships on both sides dropping quickly in a short order.
"Processing current fleet levels... Adjusting priority algorithms, target the old machine capital ship," states the geth consensus as it takes in the stream of information. The conversation between all geth remaining strong, but for many it is secondary to the current battle unfolding before them.
The two dreadnoughts worked closely with one another as they move into position. The reaper ship charging up as it peels back its tentacles and fires its primary cannon. At the same time the two geth capital ships fire at the cannon striking direct hits on the ship, causing a relatively massive explosion on reaper.
The explosion rocks the vessel as debris fly from the ship's hull, but this attack came at a price. The first dreadnought was hit by the reaper's primary cannon, the shot tore through the vessel causing a series of lesser explosions that completely destroys the ship. "21.58% programs recovered," the geth report as they press on despite the loss.
The reaper vessels proceed to disengage, the smaller ships providing a vanguard for the larger vessel as it retreats. The reaper attempts to use the mass data attack to blind the geth but quickly notes that it has no effect.
"Even an old machine makes mistakes. To think we fall for the same trick twice," self-reports 6110118 as it feels a slight sense of pride in the effectiveness of its upgrades to its fellow geth.
The damaged reaper leaves a small but easy to follow trail for the geth to follow. Follow the geth did all the way to the area's Mass Relay. The massive device the old machines created to guide intelligent life in a way that they could predict, and control was also part of their own life blood to move and attack the galaxy.
More of the reaper's smaller vessels were destroyed as they were used to slow down the geth fleet. 185144914 still commanding a geth cruiser stands on the bridge of its ship with increased worry, its wings twitching as it processes the probability that this could be a trap is ever increasing, but it was mixed with the increased probability that this may be their only chance to take down an old machine and study its technology up close to improve their own in their fight against them.
The geth fleet batters against the capital ship of the old machines. The fire seems to do little against the massive structure's armor but the strike from earlier is still showing signs of strains on the ship. As the fight is at the doorstep of the mass relay the dreadnought fires a salvo at the damaged core of the reaper as it prepares to fire off another series of blasts against the dreadnought.
The blue energy slams into the damaged area of the reaper as another explosion rocks the ship but still remains intact. The energy breams from its tentacles fly past the dreadnought only grazing its shields as smaller drones make direct hits on the dreadnought causing damage to the heavily built ship. The reaper uses this moment to limp its way to the gate and make its escape, the last remaining reaper forces quickly being dispatched as their overlord was no longer around to guide them.
The geth have won their first battle with the old machines, but it was a long drawn out processes that have left them in a far weaker position than they'd ever had anticipated, but despite the losses it was a victory and to them a proof in concept that they had the ability to learn, adapt and win against the old machines doing it their way. Despite this though the geth were going to discover that they had much to learn about the universe and their success was going to be short lived.