Shepard and Tali had regrouped with Legion and Kal at the factory.
"Shepard-Commander, we have successfully protected creator Kal'Reegar." Legion stated.
"Good work, Legion. Are you alright, Kal?" Shepard asked Kal, who was sitting down on a crate.
"I've been better, but I'm okay." Kal replied, visibly aching from the previous battle.
"I'm glad your alright, Kal. Do you need any anti-biotics?" Tali asked, taking out and offering
him some of her anti-biotics.
"I appreciate the gesture, Ma'am, but I'll be alright." Kal said, rejecting her offer.
"Kal, I told you to call me Tali." She said back, a little irritated.
"I'll work on that, Ma'am." Kal replied back.
Shepard had been observing their surroundings, while Kal and Tali were chatting. The factory
had been riddled with bullets from Kal's previous battle with the geth. He started thinking
about his promise to Tali, and the time they were going to spend together here.
"Shepard, we should probably start heading back to the Hammerhead." Tali said, coming up next to him.
"You're right, Tali. Kal, you ready to go?" Shepard asked.
"I'm not that banged up, Shepard. Yeah, I'm ready to go. We should probably get
ammo from the geth here before we head out." Kal replied.
"Alright, let's gather some thermal clips. I have a feeling we're going to need it later." Shepard agreed, already starting
to go up the stairs to gather clips.
Shepard was gathering thermal clips when Tali had come up. He turned around and hugged her, holding her tightly.
"Shepard, I cannot wait for us to be here together." She said, holding him.
"I know, Tali. But we have to get Kal back to the Fleet first. I'll tell Joker when we get back to
drop us off somewhere remote. Legion will probably know a good place."Shepard said, letting her go.
Tali loved her Commander. She would give her life for him, as she knows he would do the same. She started to think
back of their past adventures. She remembered when they first met He had saved her from those mercenaries,
even though she denied it. He had given her the data they recovered from the geth, two years ago.
He had defended her at her trail, and helped her find her father's body. All she wanted to do was be with him,
without her enviromental suit.
"We'd better get going. Wouldn't want to keep them waiting." Tali said, hugging Shepard one more time before
heading back down.
2 hours later.
They were getting close to the Hammerhead. It had been hell trying to get back, but they were making it.
There were small pockets of geth along the way, but nothing they couldn't handle. But there was one thing
standing in between them and the Hammerhead, a Colossus surrounded by geth.
Shepard had run out of missiles long before they reached Kal. They all knew this was going to be tough fight.
Everyone was in cover, and was firing at the Colossus, whittling away it's shields.
"Kal, Tali and I are going to flank the geth, while you and Legion give us suppressive fire." Shepard shouted
over the hail of gunfire.
"We'll cover you, Shepard." Kal shouted back, still firing at the Colossus.
Shepard and Tali started running towards the right, while dodging gunfire from the geth. Shepard took out his
M-15 Vindicator assault rifle and started firing at the geth nearby. Tali followed, except with her Eviscerator
shotgun, blasting a hole into each geth that got too close.
The shields of the Colossus were nearly depleted, and the geth were either dead or retreating.
Shepard took out one of his remaining grenades and threw it at the Colossus. The grenade did it's job
and took off the head of the Colossus.
"Shepard, you continue to amaze me." Kal said, getting out of cover.
"That's one thing you should know, Kal. Shepard is full of surprises." Tali said, looking at Shepard,
who smiled.
"Apparently so, Ma'am." Kal replied.
They all got into the Hammerhead and went back to the Normandy. Shepard insisted for Kal to stay on the Normandy,
saying that Joker will bring him back to the fleet. Shepard was in his quarters, sitting on the couch waiting for Tali.
The doors opened to reveal Tali, visibly nervous.
"Shepard, I just got a message from the fleet. They want me to return with Kal immediately, and say it's very important."
She said, her voice carrying a mixture of anger and anxiety.
"We can' wait, can we?" Shepard asked, knowing the answer already.
"No, we have to go immediately. It's urgent." She said.
"Tali, I know how much you wanted to stay, but we have to go. I don't want you to get exiled." Shepard said, as
soothing as possible.
"I know, Shepard. But I wanted to do this. I wanted-" She broke into tears.
Shepard walked up to her and hugged her. She embraced him, still crying.
"It will be okay, Tali. If we can't do it now, we will do it when all this is over." Shepard reassured her.
"Thank you, Shepard. I just wanted to be with you. I was so happy before I got the message." Tali said, sniffling.
"We will come back again, Tali. I promise you that." Shepard said, letting her go, but holding her hand.
Shepard brought Tali over to the bed, and laid down with her in his arms.
