A little longer than I had expected :)
I hope next chapter will come sooner.
As always comments are highly appreciated.
'She will probably wake up in an hour or two' Chakwas said when she entered the sickbay.
Shepard nodded.
'It's my fault she is in this position' Shepard said, bowing his head.
'Shepard, both me and you know that's not true, there's no way you could've known about the bandits' Chakwas.
'Easy for you to say' Shepard said.
'Well look Shepard, you still have the mission, so it would be wise if you finished that' Chakwas said, looking straight at Shepard.
'I know' Shepard said, and he walked out the door.
But not before looking one more time at Tali.
Chakwas had saved her from death.
If she had died, her death would have been thanks to him.
'I should have known' Shepard said to himself.
Miranda approached him.
She was not wearing her usual outfit, she had abandoned it slightly after the battle for earth.
'Shepard, how is Tali doing?' Miranda asked immediately.
'Better than I feared, worse than I've hoped' He said.
'I'm glad she's alive, losing her would be extremely sad' Miranda said.
'Unbearable' Shepard quickly said.
After a few seconds of slightly awkward silence, Miranda said:
'I delivered the box to EDI, she can decode it'
'Thank you Miranda' Shepard said, he put his hand on her shoulder in an appreciating manner, and walked past her to the cockpit.
Some of the crew were looking at him.
Obviously everyone knew about it.
Shepard reached the cockpit and got in.
'Have you decoded the box EDI?' Shepard asked to Edi, who was sitting in the right drivers position, right beside Joker.
'Is Tali okay?' Both joker and EDI asked.
'Not as okay as I want her to be, but she made it' Shepard said.
'Great, the Normandy just doesn't fly the same without her' Joker said.
'I think the correct expression would be: thank god' Edi said.
'Exactly, you're right EDI' Shepard said.
'And Shepard?' Edi asked.
'Yes?' He said.
'I managed to decode the information on the box, and yes, Cerberus is still alive, very weak, but still alive' EDI said.
'Just like I thought' Shepard said.
'Any idea on their location?' Shepard asked and he stroked his now pretty long beard.
'Yes, we know exactly where they are hiding' Edi said.
'Set a course for wherever it is' Shepard said, and he left the cockpit.
'Will do commander, ETA four hours' Joker said.
Shepard walked straight back to the sickbay.
Tali was still laying on the bed.
Her position hadn't changed.
'What if she gets sick?' Shepard asked.
'It would be fatal, but I have some of the most powerful antibiotics on board, so you shouldn't worry about that' Chakwas said.
As he held her hand tightly, Shepard could swear he could feel Tali trying to grasp his hand as well.
It continued for a few seconds, before it ended again.
'She is fading in and out of consciousness, she lost to much blood' Chakwas.
'How long will the Normandy's supply last?' Shepard asked.
'The artificial quarian blood supply will probably last a day or three, but it's not as good as real blood, it's just an imitation' Chakwas said.
'My angel' Shepard said, and he touched her face.
Tali's brown eyes were closed.
'Come back to me' Shepard said, and a tear rolled down his cheek.
'She will commander, just give her body some time to repair itself' Chakwas said, her voice was somewhat comforting to him.
'Commander, we've reached the Cerberus base, but you might want to check on this' Joker said.
'Finally' Shepard said.
'It's a small moon above a gas giant, perfect place to hide' Joker said.
He gave Tali one last kiss on her forehead, and made his way to the cockpit.
Joker, Edi and Ashley were waiting for him.
'The bastards' Ashley said.
They were watching a vid that was displayed on a small screen Joker was holding.
Shepard looked at it, and what he saw shocked him.
'Since declaring war on the hegemony one day ago, the system alliance fleet has started to convergence in systems close to Khar'shan' A reporter said.
'The alliance high command has said that the continues attacks by the hegemony will now be punished harshly, the alliance also demands an unconditional surrender of all hegemony forces' The reporter continued.
Joker closed the vid.
'It seems like the mission just got a that bit more tense' Joker said.
'Even though I don't like the Batarians, they don't deserve what the alliance is about to unleash upon them' Ashley said.
Shepard thought for a second.
'Then we will have to make this quick, ready the shuttle, signal Wrex and Javik and to be ready, it will be a hard fight' Shepard said.
'You're coming with me as well' Shepard said as he looked to Ashley.
'How do you think you'll penetrate the base?' Ashley asked.
'We knock on their front door and ask them nicely to come and fight us' Shepard said and he smirked.
'I've pinpointed the location of the Cerberus base on your map, it seems like it's somewhat defended' Edi said.
'Good' Shepard said.
Two minutes later in the shuttle bay.
'Shepard' Wrex said as he finished putting on the last piece of his armor.
Now he looked like a walking tank.
Normal Krogan were scary, but Wrex in his armor was something else.
'The sooner we resolve this shit, the sooner we can resume the search' Shepard said.
Javik nodded.
Suddenly Miranda approached them.
'I have to come with you' She said.
'You sure, it's a rough terrain out there for cheerleaders' Ashley said.
Miranda looked at her with a fury in her eyes.
'I could throw you out the airlock if I wanted to' She said.
The situation grew a bit volatile.
Until Javik said:
'Don't steal my quotes, make up your own' He said.
Both Ashley and Miranda couldn't help to laugh.
'In the shuttle all of you, and remember, focus your fury on the Cerberus troops' Shepard said.
The group got inside the shuttle, and it took off.
It exited the Normandy's cargo hold, taking a turn to the left towards the moon.
'Everyone put on your oxygen mask, the moon doesn't have an atmosphere.' Shepard said.
Shepard looked outside the window.
The moon was small, no more than half the size of earths.
From this distance the Cerberus base couldn't be seen, but the sensors on the shuttle indicated that there was indeed one.
The gas giant the moon orbited was almost the size of the solar systems Jupiter, just a tat bit smaller.
It also had a different color, instead of orange and red, this gas giant was almost completely blue, with some dark spots in between.
'Cerberus truly knows how to hide' Shepard said to himself.
The moon was approaching rapidly, and the base came within visual range soon after.
'Commander I'll land the shuttle as close to the base as I can' The shuttle pilot said.
'Great, everyone be ready' Shepard said, and the shuttle approached the base in an angular path to avoid detection.
But that didn't help.
Suddenly the shuttle pilot screamed:
'INCOMING ENEMY FIRE'
The shuttle took a sharp turn to the right as the pilot tried to evade the shots.
'The shock of the sudden movement knocked every one of their feet.
Then there was another massive shock.
'WE HAVE BEEN HIT, I REPEAT WE HAVE BEEN HIT!' The shuttle pilot yelled.
The shuttle took a sharp dive.
'I lost control!' The pilot yelled in panic.
Shepard didn't have time to properly react before the shuttle crash landed onto the moon.
The intense shock of the impact knocked him against the door, almost knocking him unconscious.
It took him some seconds in order to realize what had happened.
'Everyone alright?' Wrex asked.
'I'm fine' Ashley and Javik said.
'Put on your oxygen mask!' Shepard said.
Luckily for them the shuttle did land on its belly.
'You can wait here with the shuttle' Shepard said to the pilot.
But no reaction came.
Shepard made his way to the cockpit, and immediately found out why.
'Oh god' He said as he watched the woman sitting in her chair.
A piece of metal had buried itself from the front of her neck all the way through, coming out at the back.
Blood was spurting out from both the holes in the young lady's neck.
She looked once at Shepard, her eyes desperately asking for help.
Help Shepard couldn't give.
She reached out her right hand, trying to grab Shepard's arm, but failed as she suffocated to death on her own blood.
'Dammit' Shepard said.
'She's dead' He said.
'The Normandy will need to pick us up' Ashley said.
Shepard nodded.
'Who is ready to make these Cerberus bastards pay for what they have done?' Shepard asked.
'Is that even a question?' Ashley asked.
'Wait in front of the door' Shepard said before he carefully closed the shuttle pilots eyes.
'One more unnecessary death' He said softly.
He walked back to the door and opened it.
The four stepped out the shuttle.
The Cerberus base was to their left, about one hundred meters away.
'Let's make this quick!' Shepard said, he grabbed his rifle, and started to run in the direction of the base.
The moon's gravity was not as weak as Shepard had expected, but it was still much easier to run in this environment compared to on earth.
During his time training and becoming an N7, trainings in low-gravity areas were the easiest.
He had crossed the distance between the crashed shuttle and the first parts of the base in just a little bit less than twenty seconds.
Multiple Cerberus soldiers were already shooting at him.
He simply dodged their bullets and returned accurate fire.
The team followed Shepard as he carved his path through the Cerberus soldiers.
Dozens of them were gunned down by the group.
The Cerberus's soldiers didn't stand a chance against the fighting skill of Shepard, Javik, Ashley and Wrex.
After only one minute of fighting, they had killed every Cerberus soldier they could see.
Shepard found a door to the inside.
After unsuccessfully trying to kick the door open with his combat boots, he shot a couple times at the lock.
Which did succeeded.
Immediately when the door opened the area quickly depressurized, throwing some of the rooms content in their face.
After the room was depressurized, Shepard and the other three got inside.
They looked around the room and found that it was connected to a hall to the right of them.
'Look at this shit' Ashley said, and she grabbed something from the floor.
It was an Normandy scale model.
'Seems like some in Cerberus still like you' Ashley said.
'They can, but I'm not with them, it was only mutual beneficial' Shepard said to Ashley.
'I know commander, just joking with you' She said.
'Have some respect for our shuttle pilot' Shepard said, and he continued down the hallway.
The approximately twelve meter long hallway led them into another room.
It was circular in shape and had a staircase leading down right in the middle.
'How on earth did the alliance not notice this?' Ashley said.
'It could be because of the massive invasion the galaxy was suffering, but I could be wrong' Shepard sarcastically said.
Shepard was the first to climb down the stair.
The room beneath him was lid up by the flashlight in his helmet.
It revealed rows upon rows of beds, more than enough to fit the entire squad they killed outside.
Javik stepped up right beside Shepard.
'How did they feed themselves?' He asked.
'And how did they drink enough?' Ashley asked.
'We will see' Shepard said.
The team walked down the entire room to the other side.
It revealed another door.
A quick salvo of Shepards rifle and it swung open.
'Wow' Ashley said after she got a look inside.
'That's how they got their food' Shepard said as he watched the gigantic algae farms.
'It would have been enough to feed them' Javik said.
The team walked through the hallway, inspecting the algae farms.
They were extremely advanced.
Even Javik was surprised by the technology.
'This is approaching the technology of my people' He said.
'Shepard, I think we should take it with us' Wrex said.
'Yeah sure, I still have some space in my backpack for a gigantic algae farm' Shepard said.
Wrex grunted slightly irritated.
'I mean the blueprints of the technology has to be inside this base' Wrex said.
'Wrex is right, we…' Ashley said before she was interrupted by a loud siren.
'Intruders detected, execute directive seven-three-nine-five!' The siren announced.
It was repeated after a couple seconds.
'What the hell do they mean?' Ashley said.
'Do you want to find out?' Wrex said, and he run in the direction of where the sound came from.
Shepard and the other two followed him.
The sound became louder and louder as the group reached the other end of the algae farm room.
It was closed off by another door.
Wrex took his shotgun, and aimed it square in the middle of the door.
He pulled the trigger, and the door was blown out its hinges instantly.
And the room before them was depressurized almost instantly.
Four Cerberus's soldiers and three what seemed like scientist floated around, desperately trying to keep breathing.
A big red light flashed in the top of ceiling, the source of the siren.
'To loud' Ashley said, and she aimed her rifle at the siren, firing two shots.
The two shots disabled the siren almost instantaneously.
Shepard walked to the middle of the room and reached a console.
'Edi are you there?' Shepard said over the com.
'Yes I am Shepard, but what happened, the landing seemed a little rough' Edi said.
'The bastards shot us down' Shepard said.
'Are all of you okay?' Edi asked.
'Apart from the shuttle pilot, no one is hurt' He said.
'Can you download everything you find on this console?' Shepard asked.
'I will Shepard, just establish a link between me and the console' Edi said.
Shepard did and waited.
'EDI, I have a question' Shepard asked.
'Yes Shepard?' Edi said.
'What does directive seven-three-nine-five mean?, we heard it just before we entered this room' Shepard said.
'Shepard you need to get out of here right fucking now' EDI said in slight panic
'Why?' Shepard asked.
'The directive indicates that the base will destroy itself with you inside using a nuclear warhead' Edi said.
'RUN!' Shepard said to the rest of the team.
Shepard ran as fast as he could, with his team right behind him.
'Run for you fucking lives' He screamed.
And they did.
They made their way back the same way they came inside.
But it was going to be tight.
The warhead could explode at any minute.
Incoming death has a weird way of motivating yourself.
They opened the door to the sleeping chambers, not even caring to close the door behind them.
Meanwhile another siren had started.
'Edi, how long do we have left?' Shepard asked while he ran.
'Judging by the sound of the siren, less than two minutes' Edi said.
Shepard jumped to the ladder connected to the upper floor and started to climb.
'The Normandy has to come and pick us up, the shuttle is to far' Shepard said.
'Understood commander, Joker and I will hover the Normandy just above the ground so you can just hop in' Edi said.
'Always the same with you guys, we always have to run' Wrex said and he grunted once as he pulled himself up to the upper floor, helped by Shepard.
'No time for arguments' Shepard said, and he once again took the lead.
The path through the upper floor was easy to floor and short.
It took them less than twenty seconds to walk the way back.
The door was in the same open position as five minutes ago.
'Everyone outside!' Shepard said as he pushed Ashley outside.
'Ashley, Javik and..' Shepard counted everyone as they ran outside.
'Wrex hurry up!' Shepard yelled over the com.
'Fucking hell Shepard we Krogans are not marathon runners' Wrex said back.
After another four seconds Wrex also appeared outside.
'Joker come pick us up, and fast please, we don't have a lot of time' Shepard said to joker over the Normandy's com.
'Yes commander, we are coming' Joker said.
Shepard looked behind him and saw that the Normandy was indeed coming.
It was flying at a height of less than ten meters, with its cargo bay door open.
The cargo bay door almost touched the ground, it was less than twenty centimeters above it.
Within seconds the Normandy was right beside them.
Ashley, Javik and Wrex jumped inside.
But just before Shepard was about to do that, his mind returned towards the shuttle pilot.
It was safer to just leave her body here, jump inside the Normandy and fly away.
As Shepard grabbed the cargo bay door with his right hand, he sighed.
He couldn't do it.
He would hate himself for the rest of his life if he left the body of the woman behind.
After the war ended, he made a promise to Tali that he will never leave anyone behind anymore.
And he was a man of his word.
'I have to go get her' Shepard said.
He turned away from the ship, and he ran towards the downed shuttle.
'SHEPARD!' Ashley yelled.
'Come back you idiot, there's no time left, just leave her' Ashley yelled.
But Shepard didn't respond.
'Dammit' Ashley said to herself.
She dropped her rifle, and jumped from the cargo bay door.
Ashley ignored Javik and Wrex as they tried to keep her from running away from the cargo bay door, and followed Shepard towards the downed shuttle.
Shepard made it to the shuttle
He opened it, and went to the pilots seat.
The woman was obviously still there.
As he looked at her he saw he felt happy that he went back to save her.
He unbuckled her seat belt, and grabbed her with both his arms.
Suddenly someone else made it into the shuttle.
It was Ashley.
'You should have stayed back' He said to her, and Shepard lifted the pilots body from the chair.
'I promised to never leave your side again in combat, remember skipper?' Ashley said, and she helped Shepard lift the body towards the Shuttle's exit.
'Shepard you have less than ten seconds!' Edi said in panic over the com.
Shepard and Ashley lifted the body outside.
Joker had turned the Normandy's rear towards them.
'JUMP IN!' Edi and Joker yelled over the com.
Ashley jumped inside, and pulled the body towards her.
Once she had done that, she gave Shepard a hand to allow him to get inside as well.
Just before the cargo bay door closed behind him, Shepard saw that the Cerberus base suddenly dropped a dozen meters into the ground.
'Everyone brace!' Joker said.
Shepard, Ashley, Wrex, Javik and everybody else in the cargo bay were thrown of their feet's as the Normandy jumped towards light speed.
'Close call' Ashley said.
'Can you crack the data we recovered from the Cerberus base?' Shepard asked to Edi when he had made his way to the cockpit.
'No need to be insulting' Edi said, she laughed lightly to make him know she was joking.
'Inform me when you're done' Shepard said, and he left for the medical bay.
'It will take about ten minutes' Edi said.
Shepard nodded and he closed the door of the cockpit behind him.
He knocked once on the door to let Chakwas know he was here, before he got inside.
'Shepard' Chakwas said as she looked at him.
'How is she doing?' Shepard said, and he walked straight towards Tali, still laying on the bed.
'I have bed news' Chakwas said.
Shepard froze in his tracks.
'What?' Shepard said he turned his face around.
Chakwas swallowed once before she started to speak.
'It's like human with rhesus-factor, the baby's blood is attacking hers, its killing her'
'It only started a day ago, just after I had performed the operation, perhaps because of the trauma she suffered' Chakwas said.
'Can't you get the baby out here?' Shepard asked.
Chakwas shook her head.
'I neither have the equipment nor the skills to perform a quarian cesarean birth' Chakwas said.
'How long does she have left?' Shepard asked, he could feel tears starting to form in the corner of both his eyes.
'Twenty-four hours until Tali will suffer an heart attack' Chakwas said