Chapter 10
Kaidan's eyes opened to darkness, the only light coming through the window from distant stars, and he glanced over at the small clock on the wall. Four hours till we get to the Migrant Fleet. He smiled, feeling the weight of Shepard's head still on his chest.That stuff really did a number on her. I should thank the doctor. His smiled faded as he realized she hadn't moved at all since falling asleep. Wait. Shit. He shifted his weight to move his arm, and held it gently against her back. Okay, she's still breathing. God. What if I had killed her? The horrible thought drifted away as she stirred under his touch. Blinking slowly, she looked up at him, already looking more rested than she had in a long time.
"Hey." She said, stretching her shoulders. "What time is it?"
"0500."
"What? Really?" She rubbed her eyes, and rolled over onto her back. Kaidan reached up and turned the lights up slightly so he could see her better. "I haven't slept that long in years. You should keep that stuff handy."
"Maybe. You can't rely on it, though. You're going to have to deal with things eventually."
"I will. Eventually." She stared out at the stars, breathing deeply.
"Everything okay?"
"Yeah. Just letting the last of that stuff wear off. I react weirdly to meds now."
"Chakwas mentioned something about that. Something Cerberus did?" Shepard nodded, her hair rustling against the sheets.
"It's actually come in handy a few times. When I was dealing with Doctor Kenson, right before the Alpha relay blew up, they gave me enough tranquilizers to knock out a Krogan for a week." She laughed. "I woke up three days later. Scared the shit out of them."
"Why did they have you under so heavily?"
"They... weren't super happy with me."
"Ah. Seems a lot of people end up not happy with you."
"Yeah. Wonder why." She grinned at him. "But I've also got quite the fan club. Well. One fan. With a shrine."
"No. Not that Conrad guy again."
"Oh yes."
"A shrine? Really?"
"Apparently he says its very tasteful. Just a poster, and some candles."
They both dissolved into laughter, letting the absurdity of Conrad Verner sink in. Its good to see her laughing, actually being happy. Its amazing what a full night of sleep will do. I haven't seen her this happy since shore leave.
"I love you like this." He leaned over her, kissing her gently on the forehead. "When you're not Commander, and I'm not Major. When I'm just me, and you're well, you."
She rolled her eyes at his lame attempt at a joke.
"I never should have told you about that."
"Why not? One day, we're going to muster out, and its going to be weird if you're just 'Shepard'." He leaned back, taking a moment to ponder things. "I mean, what if we actually got married? Would you stay just... 'Shepard?' Would you make it your first name? Or do you want to become a whole new person? Keep the 'Yu' that Staff Sargent gave you when you enlisted, and take my last name?"
"Yu Alenko?" He watched the thought cross her face. "That doesn't actually sound too bad."
"Hey, are you knocking my last name?"
"No... I've just... not had a name for so long. I mean.. Shepard isn't even really a name. It was given to me as a title, a job. Like Commander. Yu Alenko... she's a person."
"A person you might want to be one day?"
"I don't know yet. Maybe. No one knows who she is. No one is going to ask her to put her life on the line for the sake of the galaxy, or fly halfway across the galaxy to retrieve some stupid artifact." She looked thoughtful. "It might be nice to be her."
"Well, we'll keep her secret, and locked away for now. When the war is over, we'll think about letting her loose on the galaxy." Groaning, he pulled himself to a sitting position. "But now, I need to head down and take a shower. We have to make ourselves presentable for the Admiralty Board."
Shepard laughed, pointing to the upper level.
"One of the perks of dating the Commanding Officer. I have my own shower. Go get cleaned up."
Kaidan kissed her warmly, and climbed out of the bed.
"I think I'm going to like being all domestic with you up here."
Shepard laughed, stretching her arms again.
"Yeah. Can you imagine if we had tried to pull this off during peacetime?" She got to her knees, and mocked standing at attention. "So, Admiral Hackett, the Major and I are going to be shacking up for the duration of this tour. Any mission briefings will have to be suspended during the downtime hours, as we will be unavailable for obvious reasons." She ripped off a textbook perfect salute, and grinned wickedly. Goddamn she's adorable. She's a battle-hardened marine, back from the dead. How is she so fucking adorable? Kaidan saluted back.
"Commander, I feel I'm going to have to report you for insubordination, and abandoning your position."
She cocked her head to the side and looked at him curiously.
"What position?"
"This one." He pushed her back on the bed. The shower can wait.
Twenty minutes later, Kaidan finally made his way towards the shower.
"I walked right into that, didn't I?" Shepard asked, pulling the sheets up around herself.
"Yeah, you kinda did." Kaidan laughed. She threw his pants at him.
"Hurry up with the shower. You're not the one who has to talk with the Admiralty Board. They're pretty big on cleanliness." She absently flicked a stray piece of hair into place. Kaidan nodded, and let the door close behind him.
The shower was wonderful. In the military, you quickly learned not to be shy and to take quick showers without looking around, so to have a whole private room to himself was a fantastic luxury. After getting clean, he opened the small cabinet to grab a towel, and started laughing. Wrapping a towel around his waist, he opened the door and called out to Shepard.
"How long did you think we were going to be out here?"
She jogged up the stairs to see what he was pointing at, and her face went bright red. In her cabinet were twenty large bottles of vanilla scented shampoo, twenty bottles of body wash and ten bottles of red nail polish.
"Wasn't sure." She muttered, looking down at her bright red toenails. "Wanted to stock up last time we were on the Citadel."
"Did you buy out the store?"
"Maybe. Now get out. It's my turn."
Still laughing, he stepped aside, letting her scowl mockingly as she shut the door in his face.
A few hours and a large meal later, they docked with the Quarian Envoy Ship. Kaidan sat in the crew lounge with Garrus while Shepard met with the board. He watched his friend pace nervously in front of the window.
"Calm down, Garrus. We'll find out what's going on in a few minutes."
"Sorry." The Turian sat down in a large chair. "I just don't like being out of the loop."
"I know the feeling."
"Major, Shepard needs you at the airlock. You will be accompanying her and Admiral Tali to a Geth dreadnought." EDI called out through the ship's speakers.
"Admiral Tali?"
"Why is everyone getting promoted but me?" Garrus wondered out loud, but his face lit up at the mention of Tali. "I'll, um, walk up with you to the airlock. See what's going on."
"Right, but I have to go get my armor on first. Do you want to meet me up there?"
"Nah, I'll go with you."
Kaidan shook his head as they left the lounge.
When they reached the bridge, Shepard and Tali were already at the airlock. Kaidan was glad to see the young Quarian, as they hadn't had any contact since before the destruction of the SR1.
"Kaidan!" She called out, taking his hand firmly. "It's been too long!"
"It has! We'll have to catch up once we get back from where ever it is we're going."
"Of course!" She tilted her head, spotting Garrus lurking awkwardly behind Kaidan. "Garrus? I didn't know you were on board too!"
"Yeah, been here for a while now." He said, twitching like he didn't quite know what to do with his hands. At first it looked like he was going to hug her, then he pulled back, and ended up shaking her hand vigorously. Kaidan looked at Shepard and raised his eyebrows knowingly. Shepard put her hand on her face.
"I'm glad you got off Palaven okay." Tali said, gently pulling her hand back.
"Thanks." Garrus said, shifting his weight nervously. "Its good to have you back. Maybe with another dextro aboard, they'll get better Turian food."
"As long as it's sterilized."
"Yeah. Oh, last time we were on the Citadel, Dr. Michel did get me some dextro-amino chocolate. You're welcome to it, once you get back."
"She got you Turian chocolate?" Tali almost sounded jealous. Is that because he has chocolate, or of who gave it to him? Does she like him as well? Kaidan shook his head. I swear this ship is turning into a middle school.
"She said she saw it, and thought of me. Why?"
"Oh... nothing." Tali turned back to Shepard. This would be so much easier if I could see her face. "So, the Geth Dreadnought."
"Oh. Right." Shepard looked at Kaidan. "It seems like the Reapers are sending a signal from this ship that's controlling all the Geth surrounding the Quarian home planet of Rannoch. The Normandy's stealth drive is going to get us in undetected, then we are going to board the ship, and disable the Reaper command signal. That should give the Migrant Fleet enough time to retreat to a relay. You got all that?" Kaidan nodded, and they secured their helmets. "Right. Joker, let's do this!"
The pilot turned around and gave her a nod.
"We're approaching the Quarian home system. ETA to Rannoch, five minutes."
"What've you got from the comm buoys?"
Joker threw his hands up with disgust.
"Pretty much a big ol' shitstorm, Commander." Kaidan shook his head. Ah, the casualty of wartime. EDI turned her head to look back at the squad.
"I have detected several hundred unique ship signatures engaged in active combat." Rubbing his temples, Joker sighed.
"Yeah. Like I said."
"Take us in, Joker." Shepard patted him softly on the shoulder.
"Stealth drive engaged. Only way they'll detect us is if you all start singing the Russian national anthem."
Shepard snorted, and they hit the relay.
"Holy shit." Kaidan said, gaping out the window. They sky was full of ships in combat, debris everywhere.
"My cyberwarfare suite has accessed their docking protocols." EDI said calmly, staring at her console. Joker nodded, expertly piloting the Normandy through the chaos and towards the largest Geth ship.
"All right." Shepard said, motioning Tali and Kaidan over. "Once we're aboard, we find whatever's broadcasting the Reaper signal and shut it down." They stepped into the airlock, letting it seal behind them. "Tali's our expert on Geth software. She'll be handing hacking and security."
"Good to have you around again, Tali!" Kaidan said, happy that he wouldn't have to deal with the tech. As competent as he was with hacking, the Geth technology still tripped him up.
"You too, Kaidan! How's the omni tool? Still using the Logic Arrest?" Kaidan laughed.
"It's still the best model."
"Not for running multiple attack processes simultaneously. You need a Nexus." She held her own omnitool up, the soft orange glow reflecting off her helmet.
"Nexus shield enhancements are years behind the curve!"
"That's why you overclock the micro frame!"
EDI's voice came over the comms, interrupting the debate.
"Shepard, there is a problem. All tubes except one are physically secured."
"I see the free one." Joker added. "Pretty torn up though."
"Too risky for the whole team. I'll secure the docking area. Everyone else can follow me over."
"Roger that, Commander." Joker rested the Normandy against the dreadnought with a gentle thump. "We'll just stay here. You know, quietly."
The airlock door opened, and Tali rushed over to open the tube doors. As they waited Kaidan turned to look down at Shepard. Resting his forehead against her's, he gazed down into her eyes.
"Be careful, okay?" She nodded, blinking up at him.
The doors opened, and they stared down the long tube. It was riddled with holes, exposing sections to open space. Kaidan heard Shepard breath in deeply, then she turned away from him to face the dreadnought.
"Hang tight, it'll just be a minute." She stepped out, the tube moving ominously. She looked back at him, gave him a tentative thumbs up, and slowly started moving away. After a few feet, she reached the first of the major holes. She learned forward, looked out into space at the raging battle and whistled under her breath.
"No wonder the Quarian's were having trouble. That ship is enormous."
"It is thirty percent larger than an Alliance dreadnought." EDI added, helpfully.
"Hmmm..." Her voice buzzed over his comms. "This is going to be weird." She reached down, checked something on her boots, then slowly started walking up the round wall. Kaidan turned to look away, seeing her standing at a ninety degree angle somehow made him feel nauseous.
Tali looked over and tapped Kaidan on the arm.
"You do know we are going to have to follow her, right?"
"Yeah. I'll just be happier when we are all over there."
"Hey, Tali?" Shepard called. "You're going to like the view!" She was upside down now, looking out towards Rannoch.
"Better than a vid?"
"Much!"
She shook her head slowly, holding her helmet with her hands.
"How are you doing, Shepard?" Tali called out, the glow of her eyes wide under her helmet.
"Um... The lack of gravity is a little disorienting." Shepard responded and Kaidan forced himself to look. She had made it past the first hole, and was standing on what Kaidan thought of as the ceiling.
"The dreadnought has artificial gravity. You should be okay once you're onboard." Shepard sighed.
"Till then, I'll make do with mag boots." She pressed on, stepping over the smaller gaps gingerly.
"You should take your time, Commander." Joker's voice sounded impatient as it crackled over the comms. "You're fine until they, you know, look out a window." Shepard laughed.
"Geth don't use windows, remember? Structural weakness."
"Like the Geth are just sitting there saying, 'Those organics would never try the no windows thing twice!' "
"Just hang steady... Oh crap!"
Shepard pitched forward as the tube cracked in half and Kaidan held his breath as she grabbed onto the side still connected to the dreadnought. He watched helplessly as the part linking her to the Normandy, and to him, drifted off to join the collection of other debris on the battlefield. She pulled herself to safety, and Kaidan exhaled.
"Well... shit." He heard her say, breathing heavily. "Look like the rest of the team isn't using the docking tube."
"So I'm guessing you'd rather not solo the dreadnought." Joker sighed.
"Not if I can help it." There was a pause, and Kaidan felt the Normandy start to move. "Tali, can you get on the dreadnought schematics? If you can point me at another docking tube, I'll override the controls and let you on."
"On it!" Tali brought up the information on her omnitool, and started scanning it frantically. Kaidan looked out at Shepard, and raised his hand to her.
"We'll be there soon, Shepard."
"I'll be here." She raised her hand back, then the airlock door slammed shut, cutting her off from sight.
"You guys just stay put in there." Joker said, groaning with irritation. "I don't want to have to re-pressurize the airlock."
"We're obviously not going anywhere, Joker." Tali replied, folding her arms across her chest. "There should be another tube about a hundred yards back. Can you take us there?"
"Back up a few hundred feet? I think I can manage it, Tali."
Kaidan imagined her rolling her eyes as she leaned against the wall, and stared at him. "So... how are things?"
"Things are good, considering the circumstances. I thought I felt a migraine coming on today, but I should be fine. I have some medication upstairs."
"Upstairs?" Tali tilted her head and her eyes narrowed. "Did they add more officer's quarters during the retrofit?"
"What? Um... No..."
"Ha!" She cried triumphantly. "I knew it!"
"Knew what?"
"That you and Shepard would get back together! How long did she hold out on you? She told Garrus and I that she-"
"Tali, You do know that I can still hear you, right?" Just from the tone of her voice, Kaidan knew Shepard was rolling her eyes. "Just so you know, I'm inside, and I've got gravity again."
"Good, There should be a hull breach not far from your position. The nearest undamaged docking tube is on the other side."
"Yeah, I think I found that hull breach you mentioned."
Tali put her hand on her face and shook her head.
"Admiral Gerrel tried a frontal assault. We lost six frigates. That tiny hole was the only damage we did."
"Um. I wouldn't call it tiny. Not the way you'd have done it?"
"No. he was too aggressive." Tali starting pacing in their confined space. "I argued, but as admiral of the Heavy Fleet, it was ultimately his decision."
"What about the other admirals?" Shepard made a small grunting noise, as if she was climbing over something. I like that she's talking. Let's me know she's okay over there.
"Xen backed the invasion, largely as a chance to test her toys. Raan gave provisional support. Only Koris opposed the war with me. And he was right." Tali stopped pacing, and leaned back against the wall. "We could lose the whole fleet, Shepard."
"We'll get your people out of here safely." Shepard was using her reassuring tone, but Kaidan wished he could see her face. "Okay, this looks tricky. Hang on a bit, I'll be right back."
"Hey, Shepard, leave your comm line open, okay?" I just have to know she's alright.
"If it makes you feel better." She said, giving a small laugh. He leaned against the wall, listened to her breathe, the sound comforting in his ears. I wish I was there with her. I hate this. A loud crashing noise jolted him alert, and he called out to Shepard.
"Is everything okay? What happened?"
"I'm fine, Kaidan. The ship's taken a lot of damage, and things are collapsing. I just have to... jump this gap..." She grunted. "Right. I've found another airlock. I think we're good to go."
"Great." Tali said, opening the Normandy's airlock, looking down the docking tube. "If you override the controls, we'll be right there." She nodded at Kaidan. "Let's go, but carefully."
Slowly, they made their way down the tube, following Shepard's method of climbing up the walls to avoid the large gaps. Reaching the end, Kaidan paced nervously outside the dreadnought's airlock.
"Got it. You're clear to board!" The doors slid open, and they rushed in. Kaidan looked frantically for Shepard, finding her on a raise platform several yards away.
"You okay, Commander?" She climbed down the ladder to greet them.
"Better now." She was so close he could see her eyes wrinkle with a smile. He bumped her forehead with his.
"Let's not do that again."
Tali coughed.
"Here. Let me see if I can get that open." She passed by them, studying a large door with her omni tool. "There, it's open. We're clear to go."
"So where are we headed?" Shepard asked, dropping her voice.
"We're looking for an operations center. I can disable the Reaper command signal from there."
"Where's the closest one?" Tali checked the schematics on her omni tool.
"Past their defense network and through a sensor cluster." She shook her head. "Gah, vents. Always the vents."
"You did fine at the Collector base." Shepard patted her on the arm.
"I got set on fire!" Tali said indignantly. Okay, maybe I'm a little glad I didn't go on that mission.
"Just a little bit! Your suit barely got singed."
Tali snorted, and the squad fell into silence. A Geth patrol was passing, but Shepard took cover and held up her hand.
" Let's do this quietly, and try to disturb as few Geth as possible. Once one knows we're here, they all will."
They waited until the patrol passed, then snuck into the next room. Shepard and Tali brought up a console, and studied the screen.
"Look, the signal's hitting all Geth processes. The Reapers have them completely under control."
"This code is incredibly complicated. No wonder we haven't been able to disrupt it."
Kaidan stepped over to another console, and did his best to interpret what he saw.
"Hey, Tali. We may be able to extract combat data from these sensor panels." The Quarian came up behind him and glanced over his shoulder.
"This will come in handy. We're taking heavy losses. The Geth have a planetary defense cannon, and its ripping through our fleet."
"Is there anything we can do to help them?" Shepard asked softly.
"Just make their sacrifice worthwhile."
Shepard awkwardly punched some buttons on the nearest panel. I wish she wouldn't do that. Things tend to blow up when she hits buttons. "Why do we need to find the operations center? Wouldn't any access console do?"
Tali shook her head. "Not likely. Consoles like this are accessing programs being used by hundreds of Geth simultaneously." She sighed, and checked the schematics again. "They are all networked cooperatively. To disable the Reaper signal from here, you would need to override all the Geth." She hesitated outside a large door. "The dreadnought's operation center is just ahead."
"Good. Let's cut the Reaper signal and get the fleet out of here." Shepard pried the door open, to the alarm of several Geth on the other side. "Oh damn." Kaidan and Tali sent out tech bursts at the same time, frying the nearest few Geth.
"Get to cover!" Shepard yelled, darting into the room, as they followed her, the door slammed shut behind them, locking with a hiss. "There shouldn't be many more!"
They made short work of the Geth, and when the last of them had been disabled, Kaidan stood up with a sigh.
"Well, I guess they know we're here-" He was interrupted by all of the air leaving his lungs. A large Geth had appeared out of thin air and hit him squarely in the chest, knocking him to the floor. Oh god not again...
"Kaidan!" Shepard barreled towards him, taking down the Geth in a hail of bullets.
"Hunters!" Tali cried, scanning the room carefully. "Okay, we're clear!"
"Oh god, are you alright?" Shepard threw her gun down as she knelt next to him. She grabbed his helmet, and stared in at him, her eyes wide with panic.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Just knocked the wind out of me." He wheezed.
"I'm sorry, I forgot about the damn hunters!"
"Yeah, since when can Geth cloak?" She looked at him guiltily through her helmet as she helped him to his feet.
"I probably should have mentioned that earlier."
"Yeah. Probably should have."
"Let's see if that console is operational." Shaking her head slowly, she grabbed her rifle, then jogged over to the large control panel. "Dammit. They've locked down the Reaper signal. We can't shut it down from here in the operation center."
Tali entered a few commands on the console, bringing up a large map of the ship. She studied it carefully before highlighting a large section.
"There! The Reaper signal's coming from the drive core!"
"So if we get there, we shut it down?"
"Right, but how do we get there? The Geth have sealed emergency bulkheads to block us off. We need a route to the drive core that can't be blocked. A path that runs the length of the ship." The squad circled the large map, carefully checking for anything that would help them. After a few moments, Shepard ran her finger across the middle of the ship.
"What about the main battery? It runs right by the drive core."
Tali cocked her head to the side.
"That could work."
"But?"
Tali waved her hands at the door they had come through. It was sealed tight, resisting her attempts to override it.
"But the Geth still have us locked in here. We need to get these doors open. They've locked high level processes. We need something basic... a ship wide emergency. Like a fire." Oh please tell me we're not going to set the ship on fire.
"What about the heat diffusion system?" Shepard brought up another panel.
"Wait... if I faked a thermal warning, it would open all maintenance tubes for emergency venting!"
"Would that override the lockdown?"
"Yes!" Tali quickly entered something on the exposed panel, and looked up. "Okay, I've got it primed. But be ready. I'm reading hostile Geth on the other side of the doors."
Kaidan sighed,and felt his ribs ache slightly. Damn.
"Why wouldn't there be?"
Tali executed the command, and the doors sprang open. Several Geth rushed in, and Kaidan caught the faint shimmer of a cloaked hunter. He overloaded that one first, forcing it to drop its shielding. I am not letting you get close to me again. Tali sent out her combat drone, which picked off another hunter, while Shepard mowed through the remaining troopers.
Calling her drone back, Tali ran to the doors on the far side of the room.
"Let's get to the maintenance shaft before more reinforcements arrive." Shepard nodded and followed, Kaidan on her heels.
"All that time we spent fighting the Geth years ago..." He mutter to himself. "I thought we took care of them at the Citadel." Shepard turned back to face him as Tali opened another door.
"Those Geth were being controlled by an error in their programming. This is different."
"What?"
"I'll explain when we get back to the Normandy. It's a long story."
As the door opened, Tali examined everything with a fierce curiosity.
"This ship is almost Quarian, but not quite. It's meant for synthetics, not organics."
"The contours are all wrong." Shepard agreed, shaking her head. "Shouldn't be much farther to the main battery."The conversation dropped off as they made their way down a long series of ladders.
Coming to a landing, Shepard cocked her head, like something was bothering her.
"I'm surprised they'd send you on this mission, Tali."
"Even Admirals are expected to serve. I'm better at hacking then I am at ordering ships around-" The Quarian froze and stared at her omnitool. "Dammit! Priority message. A planetary defense cannon just took down Admiral Koris's ship."
"Survivors?" Shepard asked tentatively, Tali nodded.
"They got to escape pods, and I've got Admiral Raan trying to establish a secure link."
"Put her through."
The voice of the Quarian Admiral echoed in Kaidan's helmet. her voice had the same mechanical purr as Tali's, but lacked the warmth.
"Shepard, this is Raan. The heavy fleet is collapsing. I don't know how much longer we can hold out."
"We'll have the Reaper signal deactivated shortly, Admiral." The Admiral sounded like she was going to respond, but the transmission cut out, leaving only the sound of Shepard and Tali's breathing. "Don't worry, Tali. We'll get it done in time."
"I hope so." She sighed. "Okay, the main battery should be through here."' She overloaded the door controls, letting them slide open.
"This doesn't look too bad..." Shepard walked out onto the landing, and stuck her head around the corner. "It goes on for a long ways, so we shouldn't have a problem-" She was interrupted by a loud roar that shook the floor. "What... oh hell!" She jumped backwards as a giant wave of lightning rolled down the corridor. "Watch the shock waves! That's a big gun!"
"What's the plan, Shepard?"
She hesitated, waiting for the next shock wave before looking around the corner again.
"Okay. Once the next wave goes by, we run like hell. There are enough places for us to take cover, so as soon as you hear that roar, get behind something. Tali, keep an eye on the schematics, so we know when to get out of the giant lightning deathtrap hallway. Okay... go!"
They took off like a shot, getting as far down as they could before the first wave hit. Even though he was behind cover, Kaidan felt it mess with his sensors as it rolled past them. Five minutes and twenty waves later, Tali called out that they had reached their destination.
"Okay..." Shepard looked around the small platform. "How to we get out of here?"
"I can overload the main gun, and then we can get out through that maintenance shaft..." Tali said with a shiver. She really doesn't want to go back into the vents.
"Hang on." Shepard turned to face her. "You can overload the main gun? Why didn't we just do that in the first place?"
"Well, it just puts a temporary maintenance lock on it. It will only last for about forty five seconds."
"Great. Do it, and we'll make a run for it." Tali nodded, and went to work on a small console.
"The main gun is offline." A small hatch next to the console opened, revealing a small tunnel. Shepard stepped in cautiously.
"We're safe as long as the maintenance lock is in place. Let's move." As Kaidan and Tali followed her, the floor shifted ominously.
"Shepard! The lock!" Kaidan yelled as they took off running. Shepard reached the exit hatch and pushed Tali through.
"Come on! Let's get out of here!" She grabbed Kaidan by the arm, forcing him ahead of her, then threw herself through the closing hatch.
"Okay?" Kaidan asked, helping her to her feet.
"Fine." She groaned, leaning against the wall to catch her breath. "This place is just a festival of things I never want to do again."
They followed a small hall to an open room, and Tali sighed.
"This elevator should be the last thing between us and the drive core."
"Great. You guys keep watch for any more Geth, I'll get the controls." Shepard made her way to the center of the platform, using her omnitool to start up the lift.
The trip up was uneventful, until Kaidan noticed a solitary Geth with a rocket launcher a few levels below them.
Shit, there's a pillar in my way! I can't get a clear sight on it!
"Tali!" He called out, pointing frantically. "Get it!"
She nodded, and sent off an overload pulse to disable the synthetic,, but it was too late, a rocket had already been fired. He and Tali managed to leap off before the lift dropped several feet, knocking Shepard to her knees.
"Shepard!" Tali cried, sending a last overload at the reloading Geth. She can't make that jump, she's too far down. Kaidan dropped to his stomach and moved himself towards the edge of the walkway.
"Grab my hand!"
Shepard nodded and ran towards him, jumping as the platform gave way beneath her. Her chest slammed into the edge, and he grabbed her under her arms, pulling her up towards him.
"I'm all right. I'm all right I'mallrightI'mallright." She collapsed against him, inhaling deeply. "Oh... that was not good. Let's not do that again."
"No. Let's not." They got to their feet, Tali reaching over to grab Shepard's arm. The Commander nodded at her, and Tali let go with a sigh.
"Good. Hopefully we're done with elevators." She scanned the door in front of them. "Come on. The drive core shouldn't be far."
The door took them through a long hallway, and then finally deposited them in the dreadnought drive core.
"Wow." Shepard said, staring up at the center of the room. Kaidan felt his jaw drop as he stopped behind her.
"What is that?" The center of the room was filled with a large glowing pod. The eerie green glow reflected off Shepard's helmet as she pulled up a control panel.
"That's definitely Reaper tech, But what's..." She stepped back, bumping into Kaidan as the pod slowly opened. A Geth trooper was locked inside, suspended by its arms. It looked up at them, small flaps moving around its single glowing eye.
"Shepard Commander. Help us." What the hell? Geth can talk? How does it know who she is? And why does it want help?
"Legion!" Shepard rushed forward, practically climbing up into the pod with the Geth. Kaidan grabbed her shoulder, and gently pulled her back.
"You're on a first name basis with a Geth?"
"Yes. It helped me fight the Collectors. It's on our side." She turned away from him, nodding towards the trapped Geth. I trust her, but something still doesn't feel right.
"Wait, even if that's true, all the Geth are reprogrammed."
"Legion helped us fight the Reapers before. There's no way it would have agreed to this." The Geth cocked its head and peered at Kaidan.
"Your caution is understandable. Once freed, we will submit to any restraints you deem necessary."
"I never thought I'd say this..." Tali leaned on the console, her eyes barely visible behind the glow of Legion's prison. "But...it's good to see you again."
"Likewise, Creator Zorah."
"So... what is this thing?" Shepard walked around the console, running her hand over the strange technology.
"It uses our networking architecture to broadcast the Old Machine's command signal to all Geth simultaneously."
"Then getting you out of there will shut off the Reaper signal!"
"Wait. You cannot simply remove the restraints. We are secured via hardware blocks nearby that shackle our operating protocols. The hardware blocks are on the far side of the room."
Shepard jogged around to a nearby ladder, and started her way up to the second level.
"Far side of the room, you said?"
"Yes. Deactivation should be simple. The Geth protected them against viral attack, not physical removal." Shepard paused at the top of the ladder, and faced the trapped Geth.
"Legion, how'd the Reapers get control of the Geth?"
"They did not." The voice was emotionless, but the synthetic itself hung its head. "The creators attacked. The Geth wished to live. The Old Machines extended an offer." Kaidan felt a shiver run down his spine. The Geth are cooperating with the Reapers? That can't be good. But, they want to live? How self aware are they?
"So we went to that Geth station and rewrote the heretics for what? Nothing?" Anger rose in Shepard's voice as she stared at the Geth. "Legion..."
"No. You successfully rewrote the heretics. The decision to ally with the Old Machines was difficult. Had the creators not attacked, it would have been unnecessary."
"Oh, Keelah." Tali put her mask in her hands. "This whole thing could have been avoided. My people..." Shepard put her arm around the Quarian and pulled her close.
"It's going to be okay, Tali. We're going to fix this." She whispered. Tali nodded, and went to work on the console. "We'll have you out of there soon, Legion."
"Got it." Tali said, and used her omnitool to bring up another frequency. "Tali'Zorah to fleet. The signal is about to go offline."
"This is Admiral Han'Gerrel." The response came back swiftly. "We're in your debt."
A flash of light from the middle of the room brought their attention back to the trapped Geth.
"Hardware blocks offline. We are free." Its arms free, the Geth called Legion dropped to the ground, and approached them. "As a gesture of cooperation, we have disabled the dreadnought's drive core. All weapons and barriers are offline."
"Right! Lets get off this ship!" Shepard started to follow Legion down a small pathway, when Quarian chatter started up over the comms.
"The Geth fleet is destabilized! The signal is offline!" The relief of the female Admiral was evident in her voice, even through the mechanical filters.
"Civilian Fleet, prepare to withdraw!" Another voice barked. "The Patrol Fleet with cover you once the Heavy Fleet is in position!"
"Whenever you're ready, Admiral Gerrel."
"That should give the Quarian's a chance!" Kaidan said, patting Tali on the shoulder as they jogged through the ship. "Everything is going to be okay."
"Wait, Admiral Gerrel, what are you doing?" The frantic cry came over the comms, apparently startling Tali so much she came to a crashing halt.
"Raan, check your screens! The dreadnought is helpless! No barriers, and the main gun is offline. We can remove their flagship if we strike now!"
"Damn it, this is our chance to withdraw the Civilian Fleet safely!"
"Oh, no." Kaidan heard himself whisper.
"What are you talking about?" Tali yelled into the comms. "We're still on board!"
"We can't waste this chance." Gerrel called back. "Heavy Fleet, all forward. Take out the dreadnought!"
"Patrol Fleet, hold position!" Raan argued.
"You do that, and the Heavy Fleet get's wiped out! And if we die, a simple retreat won't save you from the Geth response."
"Damn you, Gerrel!"
Tali unsuccessfully tried to tap into the frequency, whipping through menus on her omnitool frantically.
"Damn it, what are they doing?"
"Focus on getting out of here! We'll worry about the Admirals later!" Shepard grabbed her arm, and they took off running again.
"Patrol Fleet, flanking support on the Heavy Fleet. Give them a firing lane."
"All ships, open fire!"
"Shepard-Commander, the creator fleet is firing upon this vessel."
An explosion rocked the ship, sending the squad crashing to the ground.
"Without barriers, this ship will be destroyed. We must evacuate."
"Get up, get up, we've gotta move!" Shepard pulled Tali up by the arm, looking back at Kaidan. "We need to get to the escape pods!"
"Geth transmit intelligences via remote signal. We do not use escape pods."
"Suggestions?" Shepard yelled in frustration.
"Geth fighters are docked in the port side fighter bay. We can pilot a fighter to safety."
"Just get us there, Legion! The ship is falling apart!" Tali cried out, dodging a pillar as it collapsed. Nodding, the Geth outpaced them, disappearing through a set of doors ahead of them. Several small explosions sent sparks raining down on the squad.
"Shepard to fleet! Hold fire! I repeat, hold fire!" There was a desperation in her voice that chilled Kaidan to his soul. She actually thinks we might die here.
"They're not responding!"
"Damn it!"
"Shepard Commander, we have taken control of docking protocols." Legion's mechanical voice echoed in Kaidan's helmet. I really hope we can trust this Geth.
"We'll be right there!"
They followed Legion through two sets of doors, and Kaidan skidded to a halt, where a large section of the walkway before them was missing. Shepard grunted as she leaped for the other side, but as she landed, it collapsed, sending her crashing down to the lower level.
"Shepard! Shit! Are you okay?" He called down to her, helplessly watching her struggle to her feet.
"Fine!" She looked back up at him. "You need to either get across that somehow, or get down here..."
"I can lower Tali, then slide down. Hang on!" He turned to Tali, and held out his hand. "Ready?"
She grasped him tightly with a nod, and he lowered her down, letting her drop the last few feet. Once she was out of the way, he grabbed walkway and slowly eased himself over the edge. Just like doing a pull up, hold yourself together. Once he was on the same level as Shepard, she nodded at him before they started their way back up to Legion. Another explosion nearly knocked them over again.
"This ship's getting ripped apart!" He called out, trying to urge everyone to move faster.
"Shepard Commander, we can only launch from the upper level."
"Let's go!" Tali screamed, as an explosion tore through the hull. "We're losing the environmental fields!"
"Double time, people!" Shepard yelled as their mag boots kicked in. "We're gonna make it!"
A large tank behind them blew, sending Kaidan to his knees.
"Shepard!" He heard Tali cry in alarm, and looked up too late. The explosion had knocked her off the walkway, sending her drifting past them towards open space. Before he could even get to his feet, Legion walked over and plucked her out of the air, pulling her into the Geth fighter.
"Ready?" Shepard asked him, her eyes determined behind her visor. Kaidan nodded, and she grabbed his hand, pushing off hard from the walkway. They floated towards the waiting fighter, Kaidan gripping her hand tighter than he had ever held anything. We miss this, and we'll end up spaced. But at least I'll be with her this time. Thankfully, Shepard grabbed the edge of the fighter, and swung him towards it. Crawling in, Kaidan tried to make room for himself in the back of the fighter. Okay, obviously these things were not meant to carry passengers. Tali had already wedged herself behind Legion, trying to make herself as small as possible.
"Normandy to Shepard, I'm reading a loss of gravity. You okay over there?"
"Fine. We're leaving in a Geth fighter. Transmitting rendezvous coordinates!" She dropped in after him, and looked around quickly.
"Does the storage compartment have adequate room, Shepard-Commander?" Legion asked, the flaps on his head twitching curiously. She shut the hatch above her, and Kaidan pulled her down onto his lap.
"We're fine." She called up to the Geth. "Go!"
The fighter shot out of the ship, Legion piloting it expertly around the debris of the battlefield. Shepard looked down at him, and laughed with relief.
"We cut that one a bit close, didn't we?"
"Just a little bit. Too many close calls, Shepard."
"Yeah... When that hunter hit you... I thought of Mars..." Her voice trailed off as they both remembered the brutality that had nearly killed him.
"Me too. My poor ribs are really taking a beating."
"When we get back to the Normandy, go have Chakwas check them out. Make sure you didn't re-bruise anything."
"Will do, Commander."
It isn't so bad, holding her like this. Part of me wants this Geth to take the scenic route back to the Normandy.
"Just waggle the wings or something so I know which one is you." Joker called out as they sped away from the exploding dreadnought. Kaidan felt Shepard relax in his arms, the tension of the mission melting away as she curled against him. He pulled her in closer, letting his head rest on her shoulder with a sigh.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"Just... enjoying the moment. When we get back to the Normandy, you're going to have to meet with the Admirals."
"Yeah. That's going to be a fun discussion."
"Just... don't punch anyone, okay?"
"Fine." She butted her head against him. "If it will make you feel better."
"Shepard, remember that I can hear you too." Tali said with a laugh.
"Sorry, Tali."
"And yes, please don't hit the Admiral. You might puncture his suit."
"I will do my best to contain my temper, okay? Besides. I have to check in with Hackett first." She groaned, shifting her weight. "But I'm not going to make any promises." In the silence of the fighter, she fiddled with her omnitool for a few moments before speaking again. "How's this, Tali?"
The Quarian made no response, nor any motion that indicated she had heard anything at all.
"Much better." Shepard said with a laugh. "I should have figured out how to block a frequency sooner. Gives us a few minutes of peace before we get back to the Normandy, at least."
Kaidan shut his eyes as he pulled her in tighter. If only this quiet moment would last forever. I nearly lost her so many times back there. I can't protect her, even when I'm with her. How are we going to get through this war?
"Kaidan, you're breathing really hard. Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Ribs a bit sore... and I'm just... worried."
"Aww... And just when you were getting the hang of being a supportive shoulder. Don't worry. Everything's going to be okay. We're gonna get through this. I can feel it."
I can't see her face... but I'm pretty sure she's lying.