The report of a sniper rifle grinds on Shepard's ears, echoing through the darkened mine like thunder, One of the approaching geth drops like a rock. It's comrades, numbering around two hundred, swarm forward. Standing next to him, Garrus Vakarian fires another shot. On Shepard's other side, Tali'Zorah fires her pistol repeatedly, dropping one geth after another. Tali's combat drone dances from foe to foe, frying the synthetics' shins in what could be imagined as an eager manner. Behind Shepard, Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor try to stem the flow of geth behind the group, as well as the flow of blood from their own wounds. Above them runs a catwalk, and hanging from this catwalk like a cruel banner is the body of Samara, the asari justicar. Her body is riddled with holes from the geth weapons, and a length of cable had wound itself around her neck as she'd fallen, leaving her swinging like an executed criminal. A hand can be seen near the edge of the walk, all that's left of Jack, the biotic convict. As for Thane... the smell of roasted drell is the only trace of the asassin. Shepard forces the memory of Jack's final scream of agony from his mind and focuses on pulling the trigger, gunning down two more geth. Next to him, Garrus falls backwards over a boulder, landing between Miranda and Jacob. Another shot from the sniper rifle proves that the turian is still alive, just going for cover. Shepard moves a little closer to the quarian on his left, hoping to protect her as much as he can. Suddenly Tali falls back, sprawling against Shepard's leg. He drops to one knee and Tali falls onto the ground, a large smoking hole in her chest. A woman's scream rings out behind him, followed by Jacob shouting angrily. Shepard fires his rifle one-handed, holding the wounded quarian with the other.
"Dammit Tali, stay with me!"
The quarian's eyes glint behind her cracked faceplate, an indication of a smile. Her voice comes through her helmet's speaker, and Shepard shivers at how weak she sounds. "Don't worry about me." She places on hand on his knee, the only part of him she can find the strength to touch, then her fingers slip off of him as the life leaves her body. As if mimicking it's owner's demise, the combat drone explodes from an overload caused by a number of geth concentrating their fire on it. Shepard yells angrily and fires another volley, just as Jacob's gun goes silent behind him. One final shot from Garrus, then a cry of pain.
"Good news, Shepard," Garrus grunts. "Looks like you won't have to pay me those 50 credits you owe me." With that the turian slumps over the rock, leaving Shepard very much alone among his dead team and an army of geth.
"Shepard-Commander? Please reply." Shepard's eyes open to a bright light surrounded by head-flaps. Legion tilts it's head in what might be considered concern. "Shepard-Commander, the pilot has been trying to speak to you." Shepard shakes his head then sits up, looking up at the geth.
"So that made you decide to invite yourself into my quarters?" The tired Spectre rubs his face, trying to forget the nightmare he'd just had. The geth doesn't seem to notice anything, it simply apologizes then leaves the room, leaving Shepard to think. That had been one hell of a dream. He glances around at the room, spotting a data disk Tali had given him the day before and remembering the quarian's "final moments." No... he thinks to himself. That wasn't Tali. That was just a dream. Tali's fine... she's down in the engine room like always.
As if to re-assure himself, Shepard gets up and dresses quickly before heading to the elevator outside his cabin and punching the holo-key for the 4th level of the Normandy SR2. The doors slide shut and he leans against the wall, thinking. He'd been having the same sort of nightmares over and over again: vivid visions of his friends being killed. Sometimes it was the geth, sometimes the Collectors. Sometimes it was even the Reapers themselves, descending like hellish clouds and turning his ship and those within it into flaming wrecks.
As the door opens he finds himself face-to-faceplate with an overly-excited Tali, whose entire figure seems to quiver with energy. "Hello Commander!" she says, bouncing to the side in an attempt to let him by, only to find herself in his path. He tries to go around right as she bounces to the other side, then they both stop and stare at eachother for a few seconds. Tali breaks this moment of stillness and silence by darting into the elevator and touching the holo-panel, sending the box upwards towards the third level: the crew quarters. As the doors close Tali squeaks in embaressment as she realizes that Shepard is still in the elevator. "I'm sorry, Commander! I'm just a little excited, and I got ahead of myself."
"It's alright... I was only down there to see you anyway." Shepard's face breaks into the first smile of the day. Seeing Tali always lightens his heart, and seeing her this excited had completely wiped away his worries. "So, what's got you all wound up, Tali?"
Tali seems to become even more excited, which is incredible given the fact that Shepard had never seen her this excited in the first place. "I think I have a solution to my people's lack of immunity! I need to talk to Dr. Chakwas, but I think I can create an arteficial immune system!"
Before Shepard can say anything, an annoyed voice comes over the intercom. "Um, Commander... would you mind getting yourself up here? I don't feel like trying to explain to the fleet of very large turian ships off our flank that the commanding officer of this ship is too busy playing grab-ass in the elevator to talk to anyone." To this remark Shepard gives the security camera in the elevator the finger, then grins at Tali.
"Looks like Joker's having a bad morning. Best go see what he wants. We'll talk later Tali." He pulls the quarian into a quick hug as the doors open, then he releases her and starts the elevator heading up again. As the doors close Tali waves back at him excitedly then turns to go, practically flying towards the med bay.
As Shepard steps up behind Joker's seat, the pilot rotates his chair so that he can face the commander. "About time you got here, I've been calling you over the intercom for the last half-hour!"
The blue head of EDI, the ship's AI, appears in it's projector near the pilot's consoles. "Actually Mr. Moreau, your first attempt at contacting the commander was six minutes and fourty-eight seconds ago."
"Yeah, yeah, shut up." Joker suddenly shoots a glance at the AI, face suspicious. "Wait, I thought I muted you!"
"I considered the mute a safety violation while the ship was under attack by the collectors, and overrode it. The mute was never re-engaged, so I am free to speak as I wish."
Joker's face couldn't have communicated his displeasure any clearer. "Yeah, whatever. Anyway Commander, I thought you'd want to know that we're getting close to the relay. Do you still want to go back?"
Shepard grins and begins walking away away, pausing at the airlock and looking back over his shoulder at Joker. "Well, as long as there's not a fleet of turians wanting to kill us, then yes. I want to go back to Illium." He turns back and heads to the other side of Combat Information, stepping up onto the platform overlooking the galaxy map. As he does he whispers to himself, "I have an old friend I want to see."
END OF THE PROLOUGE