John tensed, his adrenaline kicking in once more. He took in the details of the situation quickly. Geth, potentially Exalted-tier threat. Heavy weapons and stealth systems. Need to account for powerful Geth shielding. Close quarters. This could go either way. His first act would be to disable its shields with his pistol, whittling them down with fully-automatic fire. Next would be to disable its heatsinks and coolant feeds, while harassing its optic unit with explosive rounds. Explosive rounds and Sledgehammer Fist Punch technique ideal for disabling components. Slim chances of success either way. The terrain favored the Geth. But  it<span style="font-style: italic">did</span>request surrender before murdering the two of them. This one was, at least, rather polite.<br/><br/>John kept his gun pointed at the Geth. 'Sorry, tin man, but I can't do that. Can't exactly kill Collectors properly without bullets.'<br/><br/>He switched off external broadcasting, switching to unit comms. 'One, Four.'<br/><br/>'Four, One. You've stopped shooting.'<br/><br/>'Speed bump, boss. One Geth, big one with even bigger guns. Might give you a run for your money, probably even kill a Solar. Linking my armorcam to your optics.'<br/><br/>'Geth? What would the Geth be d--'<br/><br/>'Shepard-Commander, Del Pilar-Commander, wait.' That was Legion, its electronic tones somehow displaying a hint of agitation. Excitement? Fear?<br/><br/>'We recognize this platform. Jade Caste. Mechanical Exalt. The Collective sent an expedition into this system to attack the servants of the Old Machines. One dreadnought-class vessel, designated as<span style="font-style: italic">Excessively Righteous Blossom</span>. Aboard this dreadnought were runtimes designed for Exalted-tier calculations and maneuvers.'<br/><br/>John raised an eyebrow. 'Seriously? That's the name you give to--'<br/><br/>'It is difficult to translate Old Quarian. This name has other, deeper meanings. Other dreadnoughts include Adjudicator of Law, Thousand Facets--'<br/><br/>'Legion,' Shepard interrupted. 'This Geth. Is it friendly?'<br/><br/>'Potentially. We will attempt to establish wireless comms. One moment.' Legion's comm feed suddenly became awash with beeps and buzzes, the strange vocalizations of the Geth machine language. It sounded almost exactly like a dial-up tone. Not that anyone in this century even knew what dial-up was.<br/><br/>John shifted uneasily. He never did enjoy Mexican Standoffs. Still on internal comms, he switched to squad frequency. 'Lieutenant, just in case we have to resort to aggressive negotiations, just do what you do best, okay?'<br/><br/>Lambda had already begun scanning and highlighting priority targets on the Geth's body. John settled his crosshairs on a coolant feed. Well, if all else failed, maybe he could get Lambda to forcibly upload something horrible to distract it. Like Joker's porn stash. Or Mac OS X Varren.