They were studying the Vex when Chioma Esi realized that the machine was full of humans. It was vividly simulating an Ishtar Collective team studying a Vex unit. After much deliberation, they brought in a Warmind to "break them out". It rescued 227 identical copies of the team. Afterwards, the team of four used biomechanical proxy bodies to explore the land around the Citadel, protected from the Vex elements by distance and the Warmind's neural firewall. They release the copies of themselves into the Vex network to explore and maybe come back with insight