[video]

[indoctrinated]

[ the feed flickers once, twice, before it settles on Thisavrou's latest Turian resident. ]

I have heard of machine-gods that could harvest entire civilizations and render them into nothingness in nanoseconds, or even create a symbiotic relationship between machines and organics...but I have never heard of the likes of machinery that could resuscitate the dead.

Yet, I am led to believe the technology here is so highly advanced that it is as common as any other glitch in a program. Is that right?

[ here, Saren pauses, clearly disbelieving. ]

I seek more credible answers, which surely someone must have uncovered by now. Is there more to how we arrived here? What is known about our gracious hosts, is there information regarding them or their government?

Humans are known for their arrogance and non-compliance. I cannot imagine that all of you have been content to act as no better than cogs in a machine, submitting so that our gracious hosts could reap the benefits of your contribution.

Comments

ACTION FOR NOW

[squadgoals]

[It's another beautiful Ingress Complex day! Shepard is up early, sitting at her Normandy Securities desk enjoying a breakfast.

The breakfast is coffee.

Pushing aside some datapad paperwork, she pulls open the network feed on her desktop, scrolling through for various announcements and missions--

--and stops dead, mid-sip, stomach already twisting.]

Son of a bitch.

[Flipping open her tab, she gulps down the rest of 'breakfast' before opening several message tabs, fingers flying.]

audio;

[alan_1]

[What gets Alan’s attention first is the appearance of the newcomer. Of course, after a couple of years aboard a spaceship and now on an alien planet, he isn’t so fazed by non-human faces. But what stands out is that this person is clearly of the same race of Nihlus—a first, as far as Alan’s experiences go.]

I can tell you a little bit about our hosts, [Alan says, cautious in the face of the man’s belligerent words,] if you don’t mind hearing it from an “arrogant” human.

[indoctrinated]

By all means. From your phrasing, however, I suppose I should be prepared to be underwhelmed.

[Saren's voice doesn't sound any more or less pleasant. He's after information and if its humans he has to get it from, so be it.]

video

[yablueit]

Wow, space racism is super not a good look on anyone, man. Ever try not making broad assumptions about what an entire species is known for?

[indoctrinated]

Given humanity's history of being aggressors, it's merely an observation of the way your species behaves. I'd have thought that defiance would have extended here, seeing as how I assume you were taken against your will.

video;

[shiro2hero]

"Submitting" is a little strong of a word for what most of us are doing here.

A lot of us are trying to figure out why the Ingress works the way it does.

[indoctrinated]

And have a lot of you figured out how it works? Or has the effort proven futile due to the lack of hierarchy among your species.

video;

[redshitlord]

[Someone heard "machine gods" and... well...]

Wait wait wait.

You think stuff like cars and bots are gods? Dude! Does that mean you're gonna like, leave me offerings and stuff?

[indoctrinated]

No.

[what. what kind of busted up looking geth are you bro]

Perfect. The only non-human appears to be an idiot.

video

[gentlemenpreferblondes]

Aren't you making friends already.

You know, it might not be the wisest move to insult one of the biggest group of people on looking for information.

[indoctrinated]

I am aware that your species already overpopulates this galaxy.

[Geez, Saren, friendly choice words.]

It was hardly an insult. I offered nothing but an observation, which is clearly one you just happen to disagree with.

audio;

[brokeassgoing]

Humans may be rebel-raising shitheads but they know when to keep their heads down and fight another day, too. We know about what you'd expect.

[indoctrinated]

Fascinating.

[Saren clearly doesn't find that statement about humans interesting at all.]

No one's attempted to find out more? Is it due to a lack of a threat, or because those of you here believe in the good intentions of our hosts?

Private; Data Drop

[beautifulspaceraptor]

[ A week after being pulled through the Ingress, Nihlus had written up a bit of code. It's sole purpose was alerting him of Saren's arrival at the earliest possible opportunity. Detection of the name being mentioned on the Network, on the now nonexistent Directory, detection of a voice pattern match.

He'd been prepared. Had been. It'd been an internal and eternal push and pull of hopes and horrors that he'd braced for every month, every time the Ingress opened.

One year had passed now, however. Nihlus had given up long before he'd burned Saren's head wrap after the Moira's crash.

Groggy from medicated sleep, he stares blearily at his TAB in uncomprehending horror for a long... long while.

Saren is here.

Saren is potentially Indoctrinated.

It suddenly all clicks and Nihlus forces himself to move, rapidly typing away on the TAB's holo interface before going to clear off the living room table. Halfway through, he receives Shepard's text and hesitates for just moment.

A few minutes after his network post goes up, Saren receives an encrypted ping... tagged with his dead pupil's old handle.

Inside are coordinates that will take him to the edges of the R1 metro area- and a time. 5 hours. Should be enough for him to figure out R1's transportation system, huh? ]

[indoctrinated]

[ Despite the composure Saren exhibited over the network, he was more unsettled by his current situation than he let on.

He was a Spectre who prided himself on always being a step ahead of his enemies, and always having all of the details. It let him be in control of any mission, even the ones where he lost control of the situation. Yet here, in this strange uncharted territory, he was forced to be the one to adapt because he truly didn't know anything. Nothing about the inhabitants of this galaxy, nothing about the Reapers' potential involvement. No whisperings' of Sovereign. Like everything presented to him was as he was told.

Some part of him couldn't help but presume it was all part of a deeper indoctrination. Why else would he have survived his final encounter with Shepard. The ping he received from Nihlus' old handle only moved Saren more to the idea that perhaps the Reapers were involved in some form. It crossed his mind that Nihlus might actually be here, but well, he wasn't sure how likely that was.

There was only one way to find out and only one source point with any potential answers.

So, Saren showed up at the meeting point after he worked out the logistics of the transportation system. Fully armed, of course. He could be seen pacing, muttering irritability, the perfect picture of lost composure. ]

What is the point of this? Some ploy of Sovereign's, perhaps? To test my resolve one final time?

text

[inconsequence]

[Wowie! A fellow misanthrope. Will wonders never cease?]

As you are already so wise to humanity's manifold failures, I fail to see why you must continue to question their tendency to complacence.

[indoctrinated]

Merely curious to see if their attitude to demand rather than earn their place extended here, which is as I understand it unexplored territory for the most part.

[nishizono]

you sound like a skynet lure. it's pretty impressive.

[indoctrinated]

A what?

I presume that's a remark toward my stance on humanity.

[Sorry dude, Saren doesn't get that reference.]

text; encrypted

[notglitching]

[...That sure is Nihlus' subtype of user. And that sure is a suspiciously well-secured transmission... coupled to an utter lack of public data.

It's enough to make at least one network creeper curious.]

Import method, relevant host IDs: largely unknown.

Savrii claim no centralized administrator. "Intermediaries" used to resolve local disputes.
However, combat functions previously sent to purge other systems with Ingress data.

Organizing party: unclear.

video;

[indoctrinated]

Hm. I sense a trend there. That's unfortunate, but at least it is some sort of answer. I suppose that'll suffice.

How do these intermediaries function? Have you seen what they look like? What sort of local disputes do they deem worthy enough to take action against?

video;

[survivra]

[ Katsa has met someone so clearly non-human one before: his name was Javik, and they didn't have the easiest of relationships. It's clear enough that Saren isn't exactly the same as he was, but he's the closest reference point that Katsa has. She'll just... assume he's pretty much the same. That makes sense, right ]

You're confident you'll receive credible answers, and that we've much more access to information than you.

[indoctrinated]

[ Oh boy, Saren wouldn't know what to think if he knew he was being compared to a Prothean. ]

I presumed some of you would have spent enough time here to have acquired something more substantial. My mistake. I should have known better than to expect competence from humans.

video; displaying as being from "Jane Shepard"

[petridish]

[No flickering here, just snapping onto a woman in N7 armor with crossed arms and a scowl.]

Saren.

[Saren is a figure she was taught to recognize in imagery, so she'd have the correct response. There is, after all, a Saren statue in the galaxy Shepard was involved with. The correct response is easy: He's turian. He sabotaged a potential human Spectre. He destroyed one of humanity's first colonies. He brought back the rachni. He found a cure for the genophage. He furthered the plans of the Reapers. He should be dead. Of course she hates him.]

Seems like the glitch in the program was resuscitating you of all people.

[indoctrinated]

Are you sure it isn't cursing this galaxy to not one but two of you? I hardly think that's necessary.

[ One Shepard was irritating enough, but two? Really. They even looked exactly alike. How uncanny. ]

I wonder, which one of you is the original?

video;

[liberaltus]

[Dorian is not easily offended and so he simply laughs, after all he comes from a world where everyone thinks they are better than everyone else. Is that not the way of it?]

I think that you are going to be sorely disappointed to find that in spite of our insurmountable arrogance and our gift for non-compliance, some things yet remain a mystery. It hasn't stopped us from trying, we are curious little things, are we not?

[Are you feeding this, Dorian?]

[indoctrinated]

So it would seem. I know to keep my expectations low when it comes to dealing with your kind, so the disappointment is not too crushing.

[ Is Saren being sarcastic? Why yes, he is. He would be more irritated but it seemed he squeezed out as much info as he possibly could from the network. ]

Are you a researcher or a scientist, then? Do you intend to act on that curiosity?

[ It couldn't hurt to try to make professional contacts, even if said potential contact was part of a species he didn't like...]

video

[wallride]

[despite the space racism, lúcio answers cheerily.]

Hey, man! A lot of people - very highly trained scientists of all races - have been looking into what they can. It seems like these Ingresses are a mystery to people, though. We're pretty good at keeping each other updated when something big is discovered.

Are you doin' okay? You mentioned coming back from the dead. Do you need help with anything?

video

[indoctrinated]

I have applied to join the ranks of your current researchers, so I suppose you have one more looking into the mystery.

[Though he loathed the idea of working alongside humans, Saren couldn't exactly afford to be picky about his potential contacts, so he responded professionally. He could always discard them when they no longer proved to be useful or once he gained access to whatever research they had.]

I am...fine. [A lie.] I hardly need assistance from a human.

video;

[a_perfect_end]

[He lacks Bradley's thirty-plus experience on this side of the screen, but he's not bad with a script, and this post is just crammed full of relevant keywords.

Especially all that kumbaya stuff about symbiosis and AI relations.]

Greetings!

[Big, big, pretty smile; all the teeth and check out this hair. Car salesmen and Serengeti lions, man.]

You know, you look just like a guy I know.

The government here is...nil...but, ah. Some of us are into that.

Programs, huh? What exactly were you looking for?

[Please, please don't be another glitching software engineer.]

But where are my manners...I am Clu.

[With the lean of the head that would imply the handshake, if they had haptics.]

And you are?

[indoctrinated]

[What...why is there a strange human smiling at him.]

I'm not looking for a program. I was merely making a comparison.

What relationship do you have with Nihlus?

[Yeah, sorry Clu, Saren's a rude boy. He's just going to ignore everything else and not introduce himself.]

( voice )

[polyphobic]

Not everyone is, but some have to catch up first.

( She knows nothing about aliens and space. Also undecided if she is okay living here or not )

video

[indoctrinated]

Catch up with what exactly?

[Poor choice of first contact, Claire.]

It would be more prudent to take initiative then fall behind and become deadweight.