Lost For the Moment
"I hope he'll be alright", Tali thought.
Shepard had left the Normandy to investigate a downed Collector Ship with Miranda and Mordin, and Tali was upset about it.
"I can't believe he'd take that Cerberus bosh'tet over me. She looks like she should be working the late shift at Afterlife. Plus…She's fucking Cerberus! Then to add insult to injury he takes some Salarian…", she paused, "I bet he can't even hold himself in a fight." She knew why Shepard had left her here, but it still upset her that he was babying her. Shepard had left her on board because she was suffering from a fever and he wanted her wounds she took taking back the Alarei to fully heal. She was sitting the mess hall alone as Garrus had left for Palaven to visit his sister in the hospital. She thought about talking with Dr. Chakwas but she looked into the Medical Bay and saw that she looked busy.
So Tali sat there all alone. No one to talk to…she was stuck with her own tormenting thoughts. She was forced to sit on her ass as she watched her fellow Quarians being slaughtered on Haestrom. Her friend Kal' Reegar had died because her. Then there were the horrors seen upon the Alarei like seeing her father lying dead on the floor. Seeing other Quarians she had once known dead with their entrails spilled out on the floor. She knew that she had put Shepard's life at risk because she made the mistake of underestimating the accuracy of the Geth. He had to sacrifice the last Medi-gel to heal her instead of healing his own wounds. To top it off, she realized that she would never be able to see the Migrant Fleet or any of her friends again. She was exiled because she decided to jump on the grenade for her traitorous father. Tali began to tear up.
"Would you like something to eat", asked a strange voice.
Tali turned around quickly and saw that it was the ships cook Rupert.
She replied, "Do you have food for Dextro-DNA species?"
"Well of course little missy", Rupert replied. "What with that turian I had to stock up on food so he wouldn't starve. So would you like a bit to eat?"
"Umm… sure, thanks", she replied nervously.
About fifteen minutes had passed and Rupert came back with a couple of glasses filled with what looked like blended food.
"Well I figured with the suit, making a steak seemed a little redundant. So I made you some mash potatoes, vegetable juice, and a protein shake."
Tali was astonished that Rupert had managed to make a full meal for her. She looked back and said, "Thank you so much Rupert. I didn't think anyone other than Quarians knew how feed one."
"Well, when you came aboard, I figured your little belly would need some filling so I read up on how to feed your species." He paused for a moment then finished, "Now eat up little missy. Let me know what you think when you're done."
"OK", Tali replied. She started with the protein shake and after one sip she was taken back by just how good it was. She began slurping down the shake as she alternated between the shake and the mashed potatoes. She washed it down with a gulp of the vegetable juice. After she finished eating, she took the dishes back over to Rupert.
"Keelah, I haven't had food that good in ages! You are amazing Rupert!"
"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed your meal. Don't hesitate to ask for something to eat if you ever get hungry."
"I won't… thank you again Rupert."
"No problem, and don't worry about the dishes. I'll take care of them."
"Are you sure?"
"Yea, I need something to keep me busy. Get on outta here, I'm sure there are more important things you've got to do."
Tali nodded and left. She was in much better spirits than she was a while ago. She was going to go back to Engineering, but decided to do something else a little more fun. She headed up to Shepard cabin to snoop around. She felt a little guilty about snooping through Shepard's things, but figured it was harmless. She starts going through Shepard's terminal and sifting through his e-mails. Most of it was uninteresting, mission reports, mail from people he'd helped out, spam, and even a hanar chain mail. Then near the bottom of the list she noticed something. It was the subject line of the e-mail she sent him after meeting up on Freedoms Progress. She clicked it open and began reading what she wrote. She was touched that Shepard had held on to it after all these months. She closed his terminal. She looked around and saw a journal sitting on the table. She begins sifting through the pages.
"Wow, Shepard you old-fashioned bosh'tet, you can't even shell out the money for a holographic journal", she joked.
She was getting to the end of the journal and came across something shocking. She saw Liara's handwriting in it! Had she saved the journal from the SR1's explosion? She jumped back to the front of the journal and noticed that the early entries were from their mission to find Saren. Liara had saved the journal and as Tali read her entries she was shocked.
"I can't believe it's gone! Just like that the Normandy was destroyed! I can't believe he's…"
Tali notices that there is a tear stain. She continued reading.
"It is unbelievable! Cerberus wants me to give them Shepard's body and in return they promise to bring him back. Can I trust Cerberus? They were behind a lot of terrible things. I swear if they do anything to him… I will tear them apart! They better make sure Shepard has this journal."
Liara's entries ended there. She had given Shepard's body to Cerberus in hope that they could bring him back. She couldn't decide whether to be angry at her or glad. One on hand, they did bring back Shepard, on the other, they are Cerberus and could have turned him into some kind of sick science experiment. She then started looking for his latest entries. When she found them, she noticed he was talking about her! But before she could submerge herself too deep into it, the alarm went off. The ship started shaking violently. She shuts the journal and runs down to bridge to see what's happening.
She reached the bridge and screams, "Joker! What's happening?"
Joker turns his head and replies, "The Collector ship is coming back online! They set a trap and I think they may have hacked our systems. I need you to get down to Engineering and make sure they aren't overloading our engines or shields! Go!"
Tali runs back to the elevator and gets back down to Engineering. She sees Gaby and Ken working frantically and she joins them. She vents the drive core to keep it from overheating. She analyzes the systems to make sure the Collectors hadn't hacked them. Thankfully, they hadn't reached main systems yet.
"Joker", exclaimed Tali, "they haven't gotten into our main systems. Any hacking would be found in the AI Core."
"Alright, then we are clear because EDI has wiped them out of her systems. I need you to make sure the engines and shields stay operational."
"Roger that Joker", she replied. "Ken! Gaby! I need your help. I can't do this by myself."
"Aye, aye", they both replied.
The three were frantically working keeping the ship operational. Minutes seems like hours as they warded off any potential hack attempts. Any overloading could result in an instant death for all of them. A half-hour passed and they were drenched in sweat. Tali activated her cooling system to keep herself from overheating.
Tali got on the intercom, "Joker what's the situation?"
Joker answered, "It looks like we are clear we are just waiting for Shepard to get back, but he has to hurry. The weapons are coming along and those weapons will fuck us up if they hit us."
They all waited frantically for that shuttle bay door to open. When they saw it open Tali informed Joker and then he came back on the intercom.
"Normandy SR2 crew, this is your pilot speaking. We are going through some turbulence, so I would recommend that you all strap in unless you want to be thrown like a rag doll when we make the desperation jump."
"Leave it to Joker to be humorous at a time where we could be killed", thought Tali.
She looked out upon the shuttle bay and saw Shepard and his squad heading for the elevator. She looked closely at Shepard and noticed his right arm was dangling loosely and he also had his left hand to his chest. She was worried because the injury Shepard suffered on the Alarei was near the chest. What made matters worse was that his arm was just flopping around. She had no time to think about it. She had to strap herself in before Joker made the jump.
Meanwhile up on the bridge, Shepard was running to Joker.
"Joker get us the fuck out of here!", shouted Shepard.
Joker turned to EDI, "Get us out of here EDI!"
"Is there a specific destination", it asked.
Both Joker and Shepard looked at each other and yelled back, "Anywhere that isn't here!"
"Acknowledged."
Joker then turned to Shepard, "Strap in Commander. We make the jump in 3…2…1."
A massive pull hit the ship for a few seconds before they decelerated gently.
Joker sighed, "Too close Commander… Commander?" He turned around and saw Shepard's grimacing in pain. "Commander! Someone help! We got to get him to the Medical Bay!"
Some of the members on the Flight Deck rushed over and helped him up. They carried him to the elevators. Joker look down and saw that Shepard had been staining the floor with blood.
Tali rushed to elevators to get to Deck 3 hoping Shepard was only in minor pain. As she boarded the elevator, she heard a small splash. She look down in horror as she saw a pool of blood at her feet. She started panicking. Shepard was severely hurt; there was no doubt of it. The doors slid open and the second she stepped off the elevator she was hit by a piercing scream. She had never heard Shepard scream like that before. She ran to the Medical Bay and she joined Miranda, Mordin, Joker, Kelly, and a few others. Shepard let out another heart-wrenching scream.
Tali yells, "What happened to him?"
Mordin turned to her and sighed. He began explaining, "As we were leaving, we were attacked by Collectors. Collector weapons tear through barriers and pierce his shoulder, but continued to fight. Brave…would have been unable to fight myself. Problem probably escalated as he used arm for biotic attacks putting more pressure on wound."
The machines began to beep faster and at that point Dr. Chakwas ran to the front of the room and began screaming at them, "I need all of you to get the bloody hell out. Mordin, you stay. It will help to have another doctor on staff. We need to get this wound healed now or we might have to amputate it."
Mordin pushed everyone out and the group stood by the window watching as the two doctors continued working. Tali stood there and watched as Shepard was bleeding all over the floor. She began crying and then Kelly came over to comfort her. Any other time she would have pushed her away, but right now, she needed someone to hold her. She looked over at Kelly and saw that she was crying as well. She looked over at Miranda and even she was tearing up. They continued to watch, but then a beeping sound starts getting louder and faster.
Chakwas began telling Mordin, "His heart is beating too fast! He is going to die if we can't slow it down! A shoulder injury shouldn't be causing a rapid heart beat, if anything, it should be slowing it down."
Mordin pondered it for a second and then he answered, "Could have been Harbinger Collector attack. He took a powerful biotic attack to chest. Was intended for…me. Threw me out of the way…shields were down…direct hit would have been…problematic."
Chakwas shocked asked, "Wait did you say he took it in the chest?"
"Yes why?
"Earlier, Shepard came for treatment for chest wounds, but I couldn't give him treatment before leaving for the base."
"Ah… biotic attack combined with all the pain he was in causing stress on heart."
They were about to operate, but then a deep silence fell over the Normandy. Shepard had just flat lined. Shepard was…lost.