Chapter.2
Hotspot.
Shepard walked to Jokers station and immediately was concerned about the scan EDI had picked up from the planet's surface.
"EDI do you want to tell me what the hell I'm looking at" said Shepard obviously confused.
"I have performed the scan three times and there is no fluctuation in the reading. However I cannot focus on the object making the energy spike due to a large amount of unknown material blocking my scan" EDI sounded a bit curious even for A AI. Shepard had a look of discontent on his face. "Have any ideas on how you can get passed the anomaly."
Shepard was hopping the process would turn up some valuable information but he didn't like the idea of a material that EDI couldn't identify, she had some of the most advanced databases at her disposal. This anomaly would have to be very rare. "It is possible to plant a beacon at a certain location near the anomaly that would allow me to do further scans. However doing so would be a timely process and would require the Normandy to land near the beacon so that I may interact with it properly."
Joker looked up at the Commander with a look of confusion and sarcasm. "So you want us to land on a uninhabited planet and wait for you to come up with a analysis…yea great idea, I'll put that one next to me being the next Spectre."
Shepard looked down at Joker "don't worry I'm taking a ground crew to make sure it will be safe enough." Shepard was trying to look professional in front of Joker and the crew since they were all a bit unnerved about landing on a strange planet.
Shepard turned and started walking to the cargo hold. When he arrived he saw Garrus and Tali already making final adjustments to their gear. Shepard was already ready; since most of his gear was stored in his quarters he had made it a habit to get ready for a mission as soon as he possible. "You two ready?" asked Shepard sternly. Garrus shifted his weight off the side of the small drop ship and stood up. "Have we ever left for a mission and forgot something important?" asked Garrus trying to break the post mission tension.
"Thiers a first time for everything. Now get your ass on the ship." Shepard decided to ease up with looking professional since Garrus and Tali were the closes thing he had to family.
Tali stepped in the ship first taking a seat next to the window. After Garrus and Shepard had set down across from each other, with Shepard sitting beside Tali the ship lifted up and rotated around making its last preparations before exiting.
As the ship headed toward the planet Shepard opened up the pilot hatch and asked the young Marine that Anderson had stationed on the Normandy along with about 15 other Marines, If EDI had posted where they were going to land on the ships computer. After the Marine answered Shepard in a stern harden voice that everything was set, Shepard closed hatch." I forgot about how much protocol and standards Alliance soldiers have, makes me glad all I have to worry about is fleet homicidal starships."
Shepard was hoping to break the silence, since sitting next to Tali made him feel uncomfortable. Shepard kept trying to correct his posture and look thoughtful, but his eye's kept creeping over to Talis expressionless mask and he wondered what she was thinking about as she starred out the window and into the great void.
As the ship neared the drop position Shepard pulled down his visor on his old N7 armour. Cerberus and the Alliance both had offered him a new more advanced suit of amour, but he had modified this suit so many times that it could stand toe to toe with any of the new suits.
The ship touched down briefly on the lush green world and the ground crew immediately disembarked and took a knee in a circle around the ships main hatch. "I am detecting no life signs near your current position besides native wildlife, proceed northeast." EDI voice clicked off the mike. Shepard stood up and started a slow cautious walk toward the direction EDI had informed him of. Tali and Garrus followed close behind him, keeping a sharp eye out along the dense jungle. Shepard could see a mountain looming over head and assumed it was the one that contain the anomaly.
He looked around the jungle as he headed toward the imposing mass of rock ahead of him, Shepard's keen eye saw numerous places to take cover behind but he also noticed many ambush position that a unknown enemy could easily hide behind.
He dismissed this thought and quickened his pace. As he neared the mountain a icon appeared on the upper left side of his helmet. "Follow the coordinates to the best possible place to position the beacon." EDI voice filled the silence that just moments before had been making everyone so nervous.
The small team arrived at a slight enclave in the mountain. The facing of the mountain was flat and covered in moss that had appeared to long ago start claiming the area."EDI were at the coordinates what now?"Shepard voice sounded a bit anxious. "Directly in front is the only part of the anomaly not covered by the mountain. Can you see it?" EDI's voice sounded confident and very monotone as always.
Shepard slowly walked up to the sheer wall of the mountain and brushed his hand against the moss, as it fell away the team was astonished by what they saw. "My god this looks like the ruins we saw on Illios when fighting Saren. " Shepard was obviously amazed by what he saw.
Tali stepped forward and stared into her Omni-tool. "I'm detecting a slight reading from this wall; it appears to be some sort biotic mineral." Tali's voice sounded distracted as she typed into her small tool.
"EDI look for a spot near here and land the Normandy." Shepards voice sounded loud and professional again, and he felt glorified that they had found something new to work with.
"Were on our way. It looks like there is a small plateau to the west of you position, there's no forest around it and appears to be wide open with plenty of room." Joker's voice sounded excited as he looked for a place to land.
"Take her down there then, Joker. We'll wait here for the transport to drop off the beacon." Shepard was excited as Joker but he kept his in reserve. "No reason to get happy yet, don't even know what we have." Thought Shepard, as he started peeling back more layers of the moss that was growing on the wall.
Garrus took off his helmet and sat down on a nearby root beneath a large green tree that appeared to have the same kind of moss growing on it as the wall.
Shepard eventually stopped taking the moss off, after he noticed that the wall looked the same all over. He resided to sitting on the ground with his back propped up against the same tree as Garrus.
Tali was still typing into her Omni-Tool as she turned around and laughed at the two veterans sitting down.
Garrus and Shepard looked at the small quarian, and were noticeably confused "I'm sorry, it's just that….well you two are always so cautious and now you're both lying down near a ancient relic that has not been disturbed for centuries. I'm sorry, I just find that humorous."
Tali went over to a tree that had fallen down due to the large amount of moss growing on one side, and leaned against it.
"Well since no one has been here for centuries I doubt they would mind us using their wall." Garrus sounded sarcastic, but he had a point.
Tali continued to type into her Omni-Tool looking for some clue into the strange wall, as Garrus stood up "Well I'm going to go find a hill and try to see were the Normandy lands."
Garrus did not sound convinced at what he said, as if he was looking for a reason to leave the two alone.
"Just don't go too far Garrus, I don't feel like wandering through the woods looking for you." Shepard sounded uncomfortable about Garrus's sudden decision to leave him alone, with Tali. Garrus lightly chuckled to himself as he tromped through the forest away from the little clearing.
Shepard looked at Tali, suddenly glad he didn't take his helmet off. He was afraid she would be able to see his thoughtful stare, even with the helmet on.
He snapped back to looking at the wall and thought" What the hell is wrong with you, we where suppose to get over this!" Tali stood up and walked over beside Shepard and sat down next to him.
"Shepard, what was your family like." Shepard looked stunned, as if someone had just told him the last five years were a dream. "Uhh…why do you want to know, Tali?" Shepard decided to take off his helmet so she could see the confused expression on his face.
"I didn't mean to pry it's just that you know so much about me and my people, and yet for the years we've been together you have told me nothing of your past."
Shepard lost his confused expression, and looked down at the ground in shame."Well, it's not exactly something you may want to hear." Shepard hated the idea of telling her about his past, she was so innocent and he was so ruthless.
"I would really like to hear it… that is if you're alright talking about it. I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to do." Tali sounded curious about the commanders past, as if she had been waiting for a moment to ask him about it.
"No, its fine. I guess since you've have told me about you I should tell you about me. What do you want to hear?"
Tali cocked her head to one side slightly, and looked at the tree across from her. "Do you have any family?" "No" Shepard replied fast and swift once he heard what she asked, more on the instinct of avoiding his past then anything.
"I'm sorry, I should elaborate…..Ok well, my Father was an Admiral in the Alliance, much like your father. I never really saw much of him our my mother; she was a Officer aboard one of the ships he commanded. Most of my time was spent aboard civilian star ships while they were off fighting whatever senseless war the Alliance had thought up."
Shepard gulped down a heap of air, having answered her question without revealing anything too sensitive. Then she bounced back with "So are they still in the Alliance?" Tali's curiosity was only fueled by Shepard's attempt to satisfy it.
Shepard looked like he had been punched in the kidney when he heard her question. There was a short silence before Shepard reluctantly spoke.
"No, they both died when the cruiser they were on was destroyed by a mercenary band trying to keep them from retrieving stolen cargo, I don't have any other family besides that and since there gone all I have is.." Shepard stopped himself before he got carried away talking about emotions, because he knew there was a good chance he would slip up and say something that pertained to his love for her.
"I'm sorry to hear that Shepard…I..I wish there was something I could say." Tali's voice had gotten quieter and softer and it pierced the resilient commander's heart like a knife.
There was a long silence, before the commander spoke up. "Well, if that had not had happened I wouldn't have met you." Shepard quickly stopped looking at her and stared at the dirt between his legs and thought to himself"WHAT!...Why did you say that you idiot." The commander mentally kicked himself for telling her that.
"I never knew I meant something to you shepa" EDI's voice filled both Tali's helmet as well as Shepard ear piece.
"Normandy has touched down, and the Hammerhead is in bound to your current position with necessary gear to build the Beacon." EDI's voice clicked off and Shepard stood up and then offered Tali his hand to help her up.
She looked up at him and her silver eyes connected with his, it was just for a second and then she took his hand and hoisted herself up. When she stood up she lost her balance and took an extra step forward and Shepard caught her before she fell into him. He held onto her arms as she regained her balance, she straightened up herself and once again looked into his eyes.
She thought to herself about how handsome he was and how much she owed him, she always thought that he viewed her as a weight on the team and tried to make her feel comfortable just to be kind, but as she looked back she couldn't remember him doing this for anyone else.
Every time something needed to be done he did it flawlessly and precise, she wanted to comfort this man who had given her so much and tell him that she felt something for him. She did not know if it was love, but she knew that she had not felt this way about anyone else and she thought about telling him right then what her emotions were."Shepard" she said as she kept her eyes fixated on his.
Shepard knew he should stop this before something happened. He knew she was just an innocent girl who deserved someone who would always be there for her and hold her and as badly as he wanted to believe that was him he knew his life was always being threatened.
Just as Tali began speaking again"shepard I fee*" Garrus ran into the clearing, and they both let go of each other as soon as they saw him. "Hammer is almost here, whew!..I must be getting old." Garrus straightened up his back breathing deeply, not knowing what he had just stopped.
Shepard quickly dismissed what just happened and tried to pretend it didn't. Tali took a step toward the tree she had been leaning against and thought about how foolish she would have looked if she had told him what she felt. "He could be with anyone, why would he want me. I can't even leave this damn suit and I want to selfishly have him love me. The man who has been through so much in his life deserves someone who can love him back."
Shepard and Tali both loved each other so deeply, and intimately but they were both new to this emotion of love. Shepard had never felt this way about anyone, yes he had been with women but most he had known were just a one night stand and he felt no emotional bond for them, but he knew he wanted to be with Tali and even if they could not consummate there love physically he didn't care. He loved her and she loved him even if they didn't know it yet.