And then they were gone, Tali thought to herself, tears forming in her eyes.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of opening doors in the corridor to her right.
"Creator Shala'Raan," Tali heard. "Tali has requested your presence."
"Thank you, Cypher," Raan's voice came. "I received your notification."
"Do you need assistance, Creator Shala'Raan?"
"No, thank you."
"Understood. Please let me know if you need assistance." The voices ceased, and moments later, Raan appeared around the corner.
"Tali," the admiral said, as in awe of the sight of the girl. "It's so good to see you finally awake."
"How long have I been asleep?" Raan's movements were subtle, but Tali could tell, even through the visor, that the admiral had looked away. Slowly, Raan walked to the side of the bed and sat down, keeping her eyes averted.
"Almost a year."
"A...a year?" Tali stammered in disbelief.
"You've been in a coma. For about three months, it was medically induced, until the possibility of you being awake was deemed 'safe.' Though, we believed you slipped away even before the medication was applied."
"Auntie, what happened?" Raan sighed at the question, lowering her head.
"Are you sure you want to know, dear? There's a lot of detail. Your vitals still say you're weak. Perhaps you should rest some more before we dive into this."
"I won't sleep until I know. I'm asking myself too many questions I can't answer. It would help if I just knew."
"I suppose it would," Raan replied. "Alright. Much of what we know is second-hand knowledge from a few different people, but I'll do my best to fill in the gaps."
"James! Kaidan! Somebody help me out here!" Garrus yelled into the cargo bay. At this point, he was practically dragging Tali along beside him, the quarian seeming to have lost consciousness completely. Garrus would have picked her up and carried her himself, but he was dealing with his own injuries, one of which being a forearm that shouted misery to his nerves. Most of the crew had assembled to assist in whatever way they could as the Normandy had descended for Shepard's emergency call, but all they had really done was stand and watch in horror as Harbinger wreaked havoc in the background.
"Yo! Somebody!" Garrus shouted again, having finally broken Kaidan's thousand-yard stare. James broke on sight of the Major's movement and followed him over.
"What the hell happened?" Kaidan asked as he took Tali's free arm over his shoulder.
"A reaper happened, Kaidan," Garrus snapped back. He shook his head as he rested Tali's other arm around James' shoulder. "Sorry. Just get her to the med bay."
"Right," Kaidan replied. He and James practically sprinted to the elevator. Fortunately, it was already waiting on deck five, but the two couldn't resist impatient fidgeting as it climbed casually to the crew deck. As soon as the doors parted, the soldiers were sprinting once more, leaving Tali's feet to drag against the ground.
"Chakwas!" The Major yelled as the doors to the med bay came in sight. The doctor appeared with a confused look on her face.
"What... Oh my goodness," She said upon sight of Tali. "In here, quickly." The doctor retreated and immediately began rummaging through drawers and cabinets, pulling out all sorts of supplies.
"Put her on the bed. Kaidan, there are databases on quarian suit structure and physiology in my files. Pull them up for me, I'll need your help."
"Sure thing," the Major replied as he and James laid the unconscious quarian gently on the medical table. "Lieutenant, go up to the bridge and let me know if something goes wrong."
"Yes, sir," James replied, hurrying back through the door toward the elevator. Kaidan sat down in front of Chakwas' computer and began searching for the files she had mentioned while the doctor pushed a cart full of items she had just dragged out over to the table Tali rested on.
"I have those files up, doctor," Kaidan said.
"I need the location of an emergency injection site," Chakwas replied as she examined the body in front of her. Kaidan typed a few things into the keyboard, and the computer responded with a numbered list.
"I have multiples. Does an arm work?"
"Yes, yes, that will be fine." Kaidan clicked the link, revealing an image with access instructions.
"The clamp just above the elbow has to be sealed off first," he said. Chakwas searched the quarian's upper arm until she found the seal, then activated it. It let off a hissing sound as it complied.
"It's sealed," the doctor said.
"Twist the clamp to the left, then pull down." Carefully, the doctor twisted the seal. Once it turned, she pulled it down the inch it would allow, revealing a small square opening in the suit material where the skin was exposed.
"Thank you. I need you to grab an oxygen tank, an air filtration unit, and an oxygen mask," Chakwas said as she picked up a syringe and stuck it into a large vial, extracting a bluish liquid from it. She turned back to the quarian and carefully stuck the needle into the exposed skin.
"Hang in there, Tali," the doctor said softly as she tossed the needle into a containment unit.
Kaidan returned quickly with the supplies Chakwas had asked for and began to assemble them- first, the oxygen tank to the filtration unit, then the filtration unit to the oxygen mask.
"We're pushing it, but I don't see any other options," Chakwas said. "The suit is shredded to the point where it's not going to provide her any protection, and we don't have the materials to repair it. We'll have to remove it all to get to these wounds, anyway. Help me with her helmet, Major." Carefully, the two worked off the damaged mask, revealing Tali's pale and colorless face, standing in contrast to the vivid red blood that streamed from the gash in her cheek. Kaidan returned to the computer and gave the doctor instructions as to removing the rest of the helmet, then returned and placed the oxygen mask over the girl's nose and mouth.
"Alright. We've got the antibiotics and the filtered air," Chakwas checked off out loud. "Would you have Liara come help me with the wounds? You need to be on the bridge anyway, Major."
"Yeah, right," Kaidan said, taking one last look over the bloody mess of a quarian on the table in front of him. " You need anything, you let me know." The Major turned and left the doctor alone in the med bay.
"I was really that bad?" Tali asked softly after taking in Raan's words for a moment.
"You were in worse shape than you could possibly imagine," the admiral replied. "It was nothing short of a miracle that Dr. Chakwas was able to keep you alive in such an unclean environment for so long."
"How long did I stay on the Normandy?"
"The mosaic fleet retreated upon Admiral Hackett's confirmation of the crucible being activated. When we were able to return to Earth, the Normandy was left unaccounted for, and the relays were moderately damaged. The repairs took at least a month, and after, it was another couple of weeks before the Normandy returned to Earth. Apparently, the energy from the crucible took the ship down over an unmapped planet in the Local Cluster. They had to repair most of their systems before they could return." Raan let out a soft laugh. "We met an engineer named... Adams, I believe. He told us that if you had been awake, the Normandy would have made it back before the relays were repaired... and then you would have repaired the relays." Tali humored the slight upward tug on the corners of her mouth.
"He sends his wishes, by the way," Raan added.
"I'll have to thank him."
"Right now, dear, you should rest. You look exhausted."
"But Auntie, I still-"
"I know, Tali. I know you must have many questions, and you will get answers in time, but right now you need to rest. We need to worry about your health, first."
Shepard had been Tali's next question. If the crucible had fired, that meant Shepard had made it into the citadel and gotten the arms open, but had he made it back to the Normandy before the retreat? Had someone else picked him up? The girl desperately wanted to ask, but Raan's eyes were pleading Tali to ease off the questions.
"...alright," Tali said reluctantly.
"We'll talk more later, I promise. Just let Cypher know."
"Oh, I can just..." the girl said, raising her arm and pausing when nothing happened.
"...the doctors took your omni-tool."
"But... I..."
"I tried to at least get you a limited use replacement, but they wouldn't allow it. Your old one is pretty badly damaged, anyway."
"I can fix it! I can recover the data and transfer it to a new one!"
"...which is exactly why they don't want you to have one."
"Do they suddenly not trust me with data?"
"No, they don't want you fiddling endlessly with anything. They said it would keep you from resting." Raan sighed. "You have to understand that their idea of 'rest' is almost perfectly synonymous to 'doing nothing.'" Tali sat back against her mound of pillows, arms crossed, a frustrated look on her face. Raan took note of how her cheeks seemed to swell with anger, the blood rushing to them having turned them a bright red.
"Fine," Tali said. "But you know, if I get bored enough, I'll just rewire Cypher or something."
"Tali, do you require assistance?" Came Cypher's synthetic voice as it appeared in the corridor. For a moment, Tali gave it a somewhat menacing glare before shutting her eyes and letting her head fall back.
"Would you bring me a glass of water?"
"Understood," the geth said, disappearing once more. Raan laughed quietly at the ridiculousness of what had just happened.
"Be patient, dear. Things will get better," the admiral said as she stood and took the few steps towards the head of the bed. She ran a hand through Tali's hair, letting her three gloved fingers come to rest on the girl's shoulder. "I had forgotten how beautiful you were... just like your mother."
"Thanks," Tali said softly, feeling the blood rush to her cheeks.
"Rest well, dear." Raan turned and disappeared into the corridor, the sound of doors soon following. Her absence was replaced less than a second later by Cypher's re-appearance.
"Here is your water, Tali," it said, holding out a clear glass about three quarters full of water. Tali took it, only taking a sip before sitting it on her bedside table. The feeling of the cool liquid in her throat was vivid, as if she hadn't drank anything for an eternity.
"Do you need further assistance?" Cypher asked.
"You can't get me an omni-tool, can you?" Tali asked, somewhat jokingly.
"I have been restricted from granting you access to an omni-tool. However, I can put in a request." The geth raised its arm and typed something into its own omni-tool. "Request sent, Tali."
"Thank you, Cypher," Tali replied behind a laugh at how seriously the geth had taken her request. "For your sake, you better hope they approve."
"Have I done something wrong?" to this, Tali felt a spurt of laughter, but it quickly subsided after it invoked a sharp pain in her ribcage. The sudden break of vocal sound sent her into an even more painful coughing fit, and by the time she finished, she found herself more upset than happy.
"No, Cypher. I was joking," the girl replied, her arms wrapped around her ribs.
"I am not adept in figuring humor in a situation."
"Obviously." To this, Cypher remained silent. Tali wondered if she had offended it.
"Tali, do you require further assistance?" It said after a moment.
"No," Tali replied, rolling her eyes.
"Please let me know if you require assistance." Cypher turned and walked back into the corridor, leaving Tali alone in the room once more.
Within the past few minutes, Tali had felt exhaustion creep up on her, though she wasn't sure why. With the lack of something else to keep her busy, however, sleep felt like a good option. She had hoped, perhaps, it might even take her mind off things, but as she allowed herself to be taken over by the illusive heaviness, all Tali could think about was Shepard.