Mass Effect: Vindication
Chapter 10: Dying is for Amateurs
Lost Prophets – Can't Catch Tomorrow
"You know, I really hate geth," I note with a light tone while holstering my pistol. We all file on to the metal elevator as it begins its slow descent farther down into the cave. Ever since we'd entered the mine shaft that led into the rocky crevice, we'd be assailed by way too many flying geth drones and hoppers. I don't know if they were coming from the metal tower at the far end of the cavern or what. "Annoying little fucks."
Ashley leans in the corner with her arms loosely crossed and her pistol still drawn. "Do you ever stop whining?" The harsh words make me flinch a bit, but it's not like I don't deserve it. Actually, that's the first thing she's said to me since she sent me sprawling back above ground.
I lean in towards her mockingly. "Oh ho! So she does speak! Pray tell, what wisdom might spew from yonder maiden's mouth?" I say, adopting an old British accent, much to the amusement of both Tali and Garrus.
Ashley tinkers with her pistol. "From mine? Nothing of note. From this pistol… wanna find out?" I back off, hopefully not showing any of the intimidation that I feel. Women are scary.
"Relax, Chief," I say soothingly. "All I want is for you to loosen up a bit. Accidents happen so don't go holding circumstances against me." I note Shepard standing off to the side with Tali and Garrus. Is he whistling?
…Ass.
Ash turns to me. "Listen, Rook. When we get back on the Normandy, you and I are gonna have a nice chat," she informs me threateningly.
"Lovely."
The elevator grinds itself to a screeching halt, revealing a broken catwalk in front of us. Shepard waves Garrus down toward the lower catwalk beneath us. He lands securely and begins securing the area, taking a sniper position overlooking the main dig site in the middle. Shepard follows him down, inspecting the blue film of energy next to him and the occupant on the other side of it.
"Hello? Can someone help me? …Please?" the asari's voice rings out. I hop down off the cat walk and glance at the floating blue woman. She wears green and white clothing in a fashion that labels her as a researcher, unless I misread that codex entry. "Can you hear me out there? I am trapped. I need help!"
"That's some rather proper language she's using," I mutter to Garrus, glancing out over the staging area. He just grunts back in agreement. I can hear Shepard talking with the asari back by the force field. Guess we have some time to kill while the boss man thinks up our next move. I settle in next to the turian sniper. "Any movement?" I ask through my mask's voice filter.
"I can see a couple more rocket drones down there. Best if we do like we did with the battle on the ridge outside," he mutters thoughtfully. I guess he means that Tali and I head down into the fray and the other three flush everything out with sniper fire.
"Works for me. See if you can kill those little drone bastards quick, because I really don't feel like taking a rocket to my face," I say sarcastically.
He chuckles a bit at this as Tali comes over to join us. "I can't say I would want to try that out either." I turn to Tali, giving her the heads up on our possible plan of action, to which she gives me a simple nod.
"You okay, Ben?" she asks with some measure of concern in her voice.
"Uh, Tali? Name. Open mic channel… rather not have to explain all this right now!" I chatter out nervously. She just giggles at me. Giggles? Why can't women laugh normally? Why does it have its own word?
"I set up a private channel between you and me just for little chats like this," she says, obviously pleased with herself. Then her posture becomes more cautious. "U-unless, you don't really want to talk like this," she said rubbing her helmet nervously.
I look over and see Ashley and the Commander walking our way. I guess it's time for us to move on then. "No Tali, it's fine. I think it's time for us to move on though. Thanks for your concern."
She nods and fiddles with her omni-tool briefly to disestablish the link. At least, that what I assume she did. "Alright, people," Shepard's voice hails over the mic. Yep, she fixed it. "The captive asari is our Dr. T'Soni. Seems that while she was digging up these Prothean ruins the geth showed up. She tripped this metal tower's defenses and now she's stuck inside. We need to get inside from further down and work our way up to unlock her from there," he concludes with some finality.
We all nod an affirmative. Garrus moves up towards Shepard, saying, "Rocket drones downstairs. Inactive right now, though. I figure if we three snipe and send Fenrir and Tali down to clean the floor, we can take the area with little difficulty."
"I second this plan!" I say raising my hand like a fool, hoping to add some levity to the situation. No one laughs. They all stare at me like I'm a retard. Shepard actually facepalms! Dick. I lower my hand slowly and shyly . "I'll shut up now."
"Finally," I heard Ashley sigh exasperatedly. I can't catch a damn break...
###########
A minute later Tali and myself are positioned behind a couple rocks on the dirt floor. "In position, Commander," I mutter into my mic.
"Alright," came his reply. "When we fire, you two start to move. Use mid range weapons as well as you can and check every corner. We can only see so well from right here."
Tali glances at me briefly before nodding. "We understand. We'll stick together in case anything happens."
"Good. Garrus, Ash, mark your targets… and… fire!"
The sound of sniper fire rang out and Tali and I slipped around the edge of our cover, her with her pistol, me with my Banshee, covering opposite corners. Garrus' voice comes into our masks as we pass some giant, overturned machine, saying, "We've got a formation of rocks blocking our view just ahead of you guys. Left flank."
I slink to the corner of the rocks that Garrus mentioned. "Stack up, Tali," I order. She stands behind me and grabs her shotgun before tapping my shoulder to indicate that she's ready.
Let's do it.
I round the corner, aiming down my scope. Two, no, three geth stood against the wall. I fire two short bursts of Banshee fire into the first's shields before all of them are aware of our presence. Tali blasts the now unshielded synthetic with a single round of shotgun fire before sending a charged Overload at the second who had now opened fire. Its shields hold barely, judging by how visible the thin blue film is.
I roll out of the way to hide behind a rock before my shield catches too many shots. I glance at the corner of my mask's readout. 86%. That'll be fine for now at least. I pop up and fire a fresh salvo at the second geth. The weakened shields disintegrate and a few shots make neat black holes right through that flashlight "head."
"Ha!" I hear Tali cry out in triumph. I turn quickly to see her standing up from pinning the third geth to the ground. Well, what's left of the machine anyway. She must have straddled it and put her shotty to the damn thing's neck…head… whatever that appendage is called on them.
I look at her wide eyed (not that anyone could tell). "Remind me not to get pinned to the ground by you," I say to her in awe and fear. She just chuckles lightly. I think for a second before coming up with a brilliant follow up. "Well, unless you aren't armed. Then it wouldn't be so bad."
I swear to God her mask just turned red.
"Done flirting down there, you two?" Ashley asks curtly over the radio patch. Ugh…
"Yes, dear. Getting jealous, are we?" I snipe back at her. Ha, snipe… irony…
I hear a scoff over the radio patch. "Hold on everyone, I see a hostile asshole right by Tali. Let me peg that blue armored bastard real quick."
Suddenly that ironic sniping pun doesn't seem so funny. "Ash, Fenrir, cut the bullshit and let's finish what we're here for," snaps Shepard. Damn, I guess he's getting tired of this.
Well, I'll be honest, so am I.
"Aye aye, Commander," I groan flatly as I check down a few pathways between the structures around the site. "All clear over here. Any more movement?"
Garrus responds first. "No. It seems you're all clear. Hold down the fort while we make our way down there," the turian says simply. Well, no problem there. All this is getting old real quick, honestly. The spats of fighting with Ash, the fucking geth, the amnesia…
The amnesia is the worst of it though. How should I act? I don't know how I was before so how should I be now?
Uh, you kinda were an insane mass murdering soldier before. We've gone over this.
You know what I mean. Before all that. I had to have been normal enough in the Alliance. What kind of friends did I have? What kind of things did I like to do? Did I drink a lot? Gamble? Did I have someone waiting for me on Earth? A wife, family, parents? Maybe that's why I'm a joker one second and depressed the next. My personality has nothing to go off of.
Well, I'm sure you could find all that out. See if Shepard can get you reports. Medical, psychological, write ups. It'll all be in the database right next to the arrest warrant.
Why are you such an asshole?
Why are you such a whiny bitch?
Ugh, never mind. It's pointless to argue with you, you… you… actually, what are you Lycan?
I'm your conscience.
Bull fucking shit. You'd be the worst conscience ever.
Alright, that much is true. What am I? Good question. I'm sure when you're memory comes back, you'll figure out when you developed schizophrenia.
I can't argue with you.
You can't win an argument with me.
Shepard and the others had finally made their way over to Tali and myself nearby one of the metal tent like buildings. The Commander glanced around at the whole squad. "Well, now that the geth are gone, any ideas on how to get into the tower?"
I shrug. Garrus starts tapping a talon against his head, apparently thinking. The Gunnery Chief pipes in, "Well, there's no way for us to drop one of those force field windows things is there?"
"No way," Tali blurted at her. "We'd need something ridiculously concentrated to break through one of those. I think our best bet is trying to find a window where the shield isn't activated. After all this structure is around 50,000 years old so I'm sure some portion of it doesn't work." Now there's some sound thinking.
Garrus decides to join the battle of words now. "But how do you suggest we find one of those? All the visible windows are blocked! We'd have to dig another one out and who knows how long that'd take?"
Dig. Force field. Concentrated firepower. Man, what a headache! Why can't things be simple? I start pacing off, muttering something to Shepard about inspecting the tower. I walk past all the ground we'd covered earlier. Quite a bit actually. You tend not to notice these things when hostile gun toting machines could be laying in wait. I guess there weren't that many geth in hiding down here. They all were probably topside when we came and only a few fell back here as we advanced.
That's how those freaking logic machines work. Tactics and everything hardwired into every last circuit. They only do what they need, never taking the important variables into their calculations. Hell, if they had any ingenuity, they could've used this damn machine I passed earlier. Well, then again, it did fall over.
What the hell is it anyway?
Not sure. I think it's a mining laser…
Hold the phone…
Mining laser?
"Uh, Shepard? I think I might have an idea!" I call back to them. The four turn their heads at me and begin a light jog in my direction.
###########
"This is stupid, crazy, and genius all at once," Garrus says dumbfounded as we set to work. Such high appraisal! Almost makes me feel smart.
Ashley, of course, is nowhere near satisfied with my plan. "And if you have the estimates wrong and we end up causing a cave in?" Oh, I'm sorry. Did you have an idea? No? Then shut your face!
"Then we'll cross that damn bridge when we come to it," Shepard retorts tersely. I can't help but feel grateful for the defense, even if it's just because he wants out of here more than any of us. "Tali, are you almost through the laser's firewalls?"
The quarian glances up from her omni-tool over by the laser's control panel. "Actually, I finished a few minutes ago. It was kinda fun hearing everyone shout. Anytime you're ready, we can do this." I swear this girl is just so odd sometimes.
Shepard goes over and smacks a giant red holo brought up by the control panel. Slowly, the giant digging apparatus hummed to life, shooting a seemingly harmless stream of light into the dirt. How does this thing burrow caverns like this again?
The light got bigger and brighter as the machine got louder and hotter. Maybe a few steps back is in order. The rock and dirt are being eaten away by this thing. Man, I'd hate to see what it would do to the Normandy.
"Shut her down, Tali. I think we found the tower," Shepard ordered lightly. The laser's hum died down quicker than it came and soon we had a clean view into the hole it had dug. The shining metal that shown through matched the rest of the walls of the tower we'd passed on the way down.
It also looks like I had been right about us finding one of those windows here too! Good, I needed a break from being reminded of my unreliability. Shepard climbs through the hole, stepping to a console stationed at the center of the tower.
"Looks like a simple lift. As near as I can tell, it's still working. Everybody on so we can get the lovely doctor and get off this rock," he sighs thankfully, impatience apparent. I'm with him. I've had enough of this place.
I wonder what this asari doctor is like anyway. I let Shepard do the talking earlier, so aside from her not using contractions when she talks, I got nothing. She's asari though, so she might be an amazing biotic. Maybe I can get her to teach me instead of Kaidan. That LT might not look like it, but his biotic training is ruthless. I think my nodes are still recovering.
Asari, though… I didn't look at her much, but I wonder if I really hate asari? Well, the few that came after me and Tali sure aren't getting Christmas cards, that's obvious. But, as a whole species, what could they have possibly done to me before that would cause me to slaughter them? Best to be mindful of myself around T'Soni.
The lift grinds to a halt. I glance ahead to see the suspended alien craning her neck to see us.
"How did you get in here? I didn't think there was any way past the barrier," she says with cautious awe in her voice.
"We blasted our way in with the mining laser," Shepard staets simply.
Liara turns away. "Of course… Yes, that makes sense. Get me out of here before more geth arrive. That button over there should shut down this containment field," She says as she looks at some kind of grey box with a vertical indentation on it. I jog over and access the green holo interface. Let's see… containment field… containment field… containme- Ah ha!
"Got it!" I chime as I hear an "oof!" from behind me. The asari pulls herself off the floor before clapping the dust off her hands. "So, Doc," I say to her, drawing her gaze my way. She's actually rather attractive.
For an alien. Don't go there dude… waaay to complicated.
Hush.
"Any idea how we'll be leaving this fine establishment?" I ask with casual sarcasm.
Doctor T'Soni thinks for a second before pointing back towards the core of the tower. "There should be an elevator at the center of the tower… A-at least I think it's an elevator. It should take us out of here. Come on!" she spouts out quickly. Well, now what? Are we taking orders from the doctor now?
Ha! Doctor's orders….
We head back to where the lift docked. It opened up into a larger floor that covered the entirety of the tower's inside. Shepard keeps talking with Liara. Guess it must be tough to be surprised by geth. Especially when they are looking expressly for you.
Believe me, it's not fun being hunted down by the wrong types of people. "The Conduit? But I don't know –" The asari's surprised voice rings out before an ominous rumble cuts her short. Everyone glances around cautiously.
"Garrus, buddy, please tell me that was your stomach," I say nervously glancing at the turian.
He shakes his head, still looking around. "No, and I don't think it came from any of us either," he says as a tremor runs through the tower disturbing everyone's balance.
"These ruins aren't stable. That mining laser must have triggered a seismic event," Liara tells Shepard. My eyes find a suddenly attractive piece of wall in the opposite direction of a certain gunnery chief. "We have to hurry. This whole place is caving in!" she continues as she operates the elevator's holo console.
Shepard's fingers are already to his ear. "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal. On the double, mister!"
Wow. I mean, I know it's not the time, but "On the double, mister!" doesn't suit Shepard at all. Joker probably picked up on it too, but had the common sense not to laugh in a time of urgency. "Aye, aye, Commander. Secure and aweigh. ETA eight minutes."
Ashley's voice sounds grim, "Not a lot of wiggle room."
"I wonder if there's any to begin with," Tali mutters sourly as the elevator begins its slow ascension.
The rumbling doesn't stop. Hell, it sounds even worse, like there might be molten lava bubbling out too. Great fucking idea, Karos! Let's get everyone killed on our first proper mission! The metal elevator moves faster than the ones in the Citadel or on the Normandy at least. We're up twelve floors before very long.
We level out with a force field connecting to a familiar catwalk; one we'd gone down to get to the rickety metal elevator. "Almost out! Let's move!" Shepard yells before turning around…
…and seeing the krogan and three geth walking through the force field towards us.
Fuck.
Fuck.
"Fuck," Shepard mutters. "A battlemaster."
Battlemaster. Wrex is one of those isn't he? The krogan in front of us is as strong as that mean old lizard? Well that settles it, we're boned.
"Surrender. Or don't," the krogan grumbles over the constant tremors. "That would be more fun."
I step out in front of Shepard. "You know, I've about had it with geth and petty little fights today! This damn tower is coming down and you want to get in our way? You really want to fight on a battlefield that can kill you faster than we can?"
The krogan battlemaster lets out a laugh. "You? Kill me? Unlikely. But fighting in a collapsing cavern, exhilarating isn't it?"
"Not my choice of words, scale breath. Now, how bout you be a good little newt and get the fuck out of our way?" Shepard yells back, clearly pissed at the time consuming road block.
"Hand over the doctor and we'll gladly do so," the krogan says in reply.
Liara stands shakily on the elevator. "Whatever you want, you aren't getting it from me," she shouts back defiantly over the din.
The krogan just grunts again. "Kill them. Spare the asari if you can. If not, doesn't matter." Doesn't matter? Did I miss something?
The krogan sure as hell doesn't as he and the geth open fire. I dive left behind a metal support with Garrus, each of us drawing our assault rifles. He glances at me. "Shields?"
"77%. I'll get the outside," I say, turning out of cover to fire at the only geth I could see: an oncoming rocket trooper. I snap quickly back into cover as the rocket drone fires at me. "Dammit, we got some firepower over here. Where's everyone else?"
Garrus is leaning around cover firing at another hostile. "Shepard and Tali have taken cover behind the elevator console! The doctor and Williams are behind the support on the other side!" he shouted back over the roar of collapsing earth and gunfire.
A slight hum in my helmet grabs my attention. Shields are back up? Alright, time for some payback. "Garrus, what's on your side? Geth or krogan?"
"Regular shock trooper, but it's gaining ground on us fast. Shepard's got the krogan… well, I won't say under control, but he's definitely got it occupied."
That sounds neither good nor bad. Adding in the factor of a collapsing battlefield and we're halfway down shit creek. "I'm gonna handle this rocket trooper as soon as it gets closer! Let them advance enough to surprise them from behind the corner!" I bellow at him. He nods, blind firing around the corner.
My hand reaches for the increasingly familiar hilt at my waist, smacking the pommel against my hip as I throw my Banshee onto its magnetic strip. A quick glimpse around the support rewards me with a face to face meeting with the bright red geth. Shit! It got here faster than I'd thought!
The synthetic raises the butt of its rifle, hoping to knock me down or out. "Not gonna happen!" I yell, unashamed of how cliché it sounds. I block the attack with an upward swing of the HVB's hilt, following it up with an elbow strike to the geth's torso.
I let out a slight roar as I plant my right foot down and make a large, sweeping, clockwise spin. The robot stumbles back, spouting out its geth language. The normally creepy clicks and hums become more and more distorted before the torso separates from the legs cleanly at the waist.
"Haaa!" I hear Garrus yell behind me. I turn to see him grappling with the shock trooper. Who knew that the cybernetics were trained in hand-to-hand combat? I start forward to help him only to be reprimanded. "Dammit, Fenrir! Go help the Commander! I can handle a geth, but I doubt a human can easily handle a krogan!"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it!" I shout, darting past him towards Shepard. I see what he meant now bout Shepard keeping the krogan occupied but not under control. It seems that the Commander decided to follow the same course of action and was currently exchanging blows with the overgrown lizard, both their guns thrown aside.
Tali was standing behind the console, aiming her pistol at the pair. "Dammit, I can't get a shot! Chief Williams?" her filtered voice says over the radio channel.
"Nothing! I can't fire without hitting Shepard! If only he- Fenrir!" Ash says, surprised at my sudden presence. She's holding back Doctor T'Soni too, who seems to be readying some biotics.
Shepard must have noticed me because he's putting in everything he has. Right, left, right, left, but no matter how many swing made contact, the krogan didn't flinch. Shepard was so tired that it's like watching a fly ram into a lion, expecting to hurt it. The krogan caught one of Shepard's fists with his hand. Dammit! If the Commander wasn't so tired he'd be doing better than this! The alien pulls Shepard close, rearing back its head…
…just before slamming it forward into Shepard's. The Commander goes flying a few yards back towards Tali, unconscious and bleeding from somewhere beneath his hair.
"Tali! Get some medi-gel on that injury right now!" I command as I rush forward, swinging with all my might at the krogan's back. A raspy, scraping noise causes me to glance back at the cut I made, only to find a silver scratch showing through the krogan's armor.
"Didn't I tell you that you wouldn't be able to kill me, scum?" he roars, spinning a left hook into my mask. Argh! Fuck that hurt! I take a moment to regain my balance before rushing at the alien once more, slicing here, there, and anywhere my blade could reach.
I'd pushed him back on the defensive at least. He's covered his face with his arms, knowing I can actually cut it if I can't cut his armor. I keep slashing and cutting, marking his armor all over. HVB's can only do so much I suppose. I wonder if his armor is designed to prevent cuts… is mine?
That moment of idle thought costs me though. The krogan takes that precise moment to barrel his full weight into me. I'm thrown back a tiny bit, falling to the floor. "Gah! Fuck!" I yell as I grab at my ribs. If they aren't broken, then those fuckers are bruised at least. "You're faster than I give you credit for scale head," I spit at the krogan from my position on the ground.
I must have lost my sword during the hit. What makes me say that? The fact that the krogan is picking it up. "This looks like a fun little tool meatbag," he says, looking at it amused. Aw, c'mon! Again with that shit? "Hope you're ready to meet whatever gods you have. Tell them there'll be a few more humans following," he announces as he raises the sword to strike at me.
The familiar feeling of time slowing down kicked in. Haven't I been in a situation like this before?
Omega. Just after you woke up. Batarian with a pistol.
Ah. Right. Well, I guess this is the real thing this time.
What makes you say that?
Well, Garrus and Ashley can't shoot because of me being in here. Even if they did, they wouldn't be able to kill him in time between his shields and krogan regeneration.
True. And Tali has Shepard to attend to.
Yeah. So are we in agreement that we're both screwed?
No. Are we in agreement that you give up to quickly?
Nope. I'd say when a murderous alien is about to behead us and we have no hope of help is a reasonable time to give up.
Well if you can't get someone else to help you, then help yourself.
…I hate it when you have a point.
You just suck at arguing.
True. Any ideas?
Think it through. Something might come to you.
Time slowly picked back up, the krogan's arm beginning its slow descent to kill me with my own weapon. No weapons. Except my fists and…
Biotics!
I focus on the arm racing towards me. A split second is all I have…
I want my sword back.
I want my sword back!
I want my sword back!
A blue aura surrounds me, propelling me towards the krogan like some sort of phantom. The short trip is ended when my biotic body collides with his armored one, throwing him back like a ragdoll as he drops my sword. I fall back to the ground, no worse for the wear from the impact.
Speaking of impacts…
"Goddammit! I think the whole place is coming down!" I hear Ashley yell through her helmet radio. Ow. My ears. I scramble to my feet, adrenaline numbing any pain I should be feeling. "Tali! How's the Commander?"
I grab my sword off the ground and hobble over to the krogan, still rolling on the ground. "He's fine, but we'll need someone to help carry him out!" the masked girl calls back.
No sooner had she said it than Garrus appeared at her side, slinging the Commander over his shoulder. "Is that all? Let's move because I don't feel like becoming a future archeological dig!"
"No…" I mutter quietly, still making my way towards the krogan. My mic must have picked it up, because I saw a couple heads turn towards me out of the corner of my eye. I don't care. "This krogan is dying right here and now."
Someone says something. Tali? Or maybe Ashley? I don't hear them. They don't matter. Killing this lizard matters. Killing this worthless, regenerating sack of shit is all that matters. I'm standing over him now. I can see the fear in his eyes, reflected with my own image.
Am I smiling?
"Regenerate this, you son of a varren," I spit at him before driving the point of my HVB through his head plate. Then twisting the blade. Again. And again. And again. I'm laughing. Why am I laughing?
Because it's funny.
Yes… it is…
Then it hit me. And by it, I mean a three fingered, open hand slap from my best friend.
"Fenrir! Wake up!" Tali shouts at me. I shake my head, suddenly noticing Ashley, Liara, and the Shepard-laden Garrus running through the window that the krogan had come through earlier. "We need to leave!" I look at Tali blankly for a second more.
"Now!"
I nod silently, attempting to focus my thoughts on the task at hand, turning and heading for the window after my other squadmates.
###########
We'd escaped safely. I'm glad Joker was able to get here fast enough to pick our boots out of the fire. Yeah, there was fire too. The seismic event ended up as a volcanic one as well. Now, I'm shedding my armor and throwing it in my locker in the hangar bay.
I hear a groan from behind me as Garrus and Kaidan (who had rushed down to greet us) help our wounded Commander to his feet. "Glad to see you up and about Shep," I holler back to him, sliding my locker shut.
He let out a painful little chuckle. "Up, yeah. About… well maybe when I can count the number of you that I see on one hand I'll go for a little walk. Can we get Doctor Chakwas down here?"
Tali runs for the elevator opening her omni-tool on the way. "Hey, Tali! Hold up!" I call to her. I stumble my way over to the lift and nod at her as she hits the button to close the doors. She's fiddling with her omni-tool and I have the nicest feeling that it's just a way to ignore me.
"Say it. Whatever is bothering you is my fault, right?" The simple request catches her off guard. Either that, or she just really doesn't want to answer. "We're friends aren't we?"
She sighs. "Yes, we are. But I worry about you, Ben." I guess she opened that private channel again. Elevator cameras and such. "First you have a dangerous nightmare, then you almost kill me because of it, and now you're losing your sanity to brutally murder someone instead of worrying about your own life!"
I run my hand over my face mask. I don't know what's going on either, but telling her that would only cause her to worry more. "I just got too into it Tali. That's all. Lost myself in the heat of the battle."
She puts her hands on her hips. "Is that so? Because it seemed more like the bloodlust of a madman to me. Did you hear yourself?" she says, concern evident in her voice.
"Tali, listen. I appreciate your concern, but I'm fine! Honestly, I am," I say in my most reassuring voice. She relaxes slightly. "The nightmare was probably a mixture of all the stress I'd have since you found me on Omega. And, like I said, that whole deal with the krogan was just… taking it too far. Caught in the moment. I assure you that none of that will happen again," I smile at her.
I hope.
###########
A/N: Aaaaaaaand heeeeeeeeere's Kraidle! I'm sure plenty of you are incredibly pissed at me for not updating in over a month. Believe me when I say that College has not been very pleasant. Factor in that I'm working two jobs and enjoy my "me-time" leaves very little for story writing.
But believe me when I say that nothing makes me want to write more like a review. I love hearing how I'm doing and trying to improve myself to make a good story for you all. (archerstar, if you're reading this, I miss your reviews!) Please tell me how I'm doing.
So now we have the completion of Therum. I'm no Ian Shaw, so I have no intention to draw out every mission for 4 or 5 chapters (not that it's a bad thing. I'm just not that amazing of a writer.) Did anyone notice something odd about a certain line of Ben's that didn't appear correctly? Not a typo at all people. I'll let you all ponder over that until I get further into that particular incident.
Please review. Love you all,
Kraidle