Melody ran up the stairs to the CIC, Ashley was knelled by the docking doors, gun out. Joker was behind Melody hobbling on his crutches to the cockpit. He threw his crutches into a nearby seat and pulled up his communications.
"Normandy to shore party." he said, starting a scan of the ship and Melody turned to Garrus, feeling concerned.
"I'll go cover the bay doors with Tali." Garrus stated, jogging back to the stairs. "You man up here Milan."
The Shore party hadn't responded, there was some static once in a while.
"Normandy to shore party." Joker leaned forward, looking over some of the external scans. "Melody there are people shoving the ship!"
Melody sighed deeply, "As long as the docking clips hold, prep the engines to suspend us if worse comes to worst."
"It sounds like Zu's Hope is getting angry." Ashley mumbled, not turning away from the door.
Melody could hear the worried mumbles of the crew in the CIC.
"Remain calm," she stood firmly. "XO Presley," she adressed the naviagtor. "Please bring the crew down to the deck below, we will give the all clear. Arm yourself."
He looked a little pissed but ushered the crew away. He probably didn't like being given orders. But he wasn't taking charge so someone with Alliance authority had to.
"I repeat; Normandy to shore party." Joker was drumming the console, looking concerned. "Are you reading? Anyone there?"
The ship shook violently again, she saw Ash grip her gun tighter. Melody took out hers.
"Normandy to shore party." Joker repeated, giving Melody a look of worry as she sat next to him. "Come on, Commanders, talk to me!"
Jane's voice came over the comm, "Is that you Joker?" she sounded worried just as much as they. They both sighed in relief. "Did you get our warning? What's going on over there?"
"We're in lockdown here, commander." he stated, running another scan. "Something happened to the colonists. They're banging on the hull, trying to claw their way into the ship. They're freaking out!"
"They can't do any real damage." John reminded them. "We're on our way back. Just hold your position."
Joker turned to Melody, his eyes wide, mouthing 'Really?' She nodded to him in reasurance.
"Uhh.." he started, sounding like he wanted to do anything else. "Yeah. Okay. Well, we'll just wait right here for you, commanders."
Melody nodded as communications cut, leaning back in the co-pilot's chair, she opened her omni-tool and radioed Presley. Who answered immediately.
"Presley." he answered.
"Shepard wants us to stay put." she said. "So we stay put. They are on their way; no given ETA. We'll man the entrances, alright?"
"Alright." he repsoned and sighed. "Everyone's good down here. A few have gone down to engineering, Adams and I are in constant communication if anything changes."
"Tali and Garrus are on that deck." she reminded him. "They'll send Adams and them up if that entrance is compromised."
"Good." he sighed. "Presley out."
She nodded and opened a channel to Garrus.
"Vakarian here." Garrus said, sounding very military for a moment.
"Garrus some crew went down to engineering." she stated. "If an evacuation is needed of that deck they need to head out first. You need to cover their asses."
"Yes. Ma'am." he chuckled.
"Shut up." she smiled and shook her head.
"Get any sleep?" Joker asked. "Either of you."
"I did!" Tali answered from wherever she was near Garrus.
"I didn't get a chance." Garrus responded, then chuckled. "Me and Ash were bonding."
Ash laughed, "If you call that bonding." she smirked. "That's just sharing gossip."
"Which is bonding." Joker and Melody coursed.
She smirked and leaned back onto the wall, gun still aimed at the door. "I guess you guys are growing on me."
They chatted for a while. Garrus talking about some C-Sec missions and his sister. Tali sharing about her aunt, Raan, and her birth ship the Ryaar. Ashley, Joker and Melody all shared their favorite missions and their memories of earth. Ashley of her mom, Joker of his sister leaving to a colony and Melody of her family seeing her off.
The ship had stopped shaking for a while. Nobody had noticed or cared to relax though. Guns out and waiting. There was a chime on the Normandy's computer for Joker.
"Normandy." Joker answered it.
"It's Shepard." it was John. "The colonists are back to normal. We're almost there. Unlock the ship and prep the squad for a meeting. There's a lot to talk about."
"On it." he nodded. "You heard the man."
"On our way." Garrus said over the comm.
"Head back to your posts." Joker announced over the ships comm. "The attack had ended."
Melody stayed put as Ash headed to the communication hub. She wanted to see the damage outside before she engaged in the meeting. She waited for Shepard's team to wander in and she exited the ship.
She looked over the Normandy, not a scratch. But it had blood on the sides of it. It looked as if a few of the colonists had bashed their heads on the hull. She swallowed the bile that rose in the back of her mouth and headed back in.
She marched to the meeting and sat down, not looking up. Garrus, Ash and Tali were all seated. None saying a word. Ashley was reading a data-pad. She nervously handed it to Melody who gasped as she read.
Exo-geni, the corporation that funded this colony, was feeding the minds of the people to a plant life form that was controlling them with spores. They were going mad over the thing when it was threatened. The commanders communicated with it through an asari thrall and received a cipher. Saren had already received it too.
Liara had entered the room with Wrex and Kaiden. Kaiden bounded to Ashley and pecked her on the cheek before sitting next to her.
"Are you okay, Ash?" he asked.
She nodded, "It sounded rough." she looked at him fiercely. "I wish I was there to help."
He shrugged, "It was under control, John and Jane kept level heads."
Melody smiled, thankful that they were the ones calling the shots. She handed the data-pad to Garrus as Liara sat next to her and Wrex plopped down into his seat.
Jane and John walked in, battle-worn armour removed and already in civvies.
"Commanders?" Liara sat upright instantly. "You both look...pale. Are you suffering any ill effects from the Cipher?"
John sat down and Jane joined him shortly. They looked exhausted, like they hadn't slept.
"The cipher shook us up a bit." Jane said gently.
"I might be able to help." Liara smiled. "I am an expert on the Protheans. If we join our consciousness together maybe we can make some sense of it. I think that Beacon from Virmire was similar to the one you found on Eden Prime. It may have filled the missing pieces of the vision. I might be able to help put all those pieces together."
John stood up. "Do it. Hurry. We don't have much time."
Jane joined her brother and grasped his arm. Liara looked into both of their faces.
"Relax, Shepard." she said in a soft voice. "Embrace eternity!"
The asari's eyes went black and Melody watched the event unfold. They all swayed a little, as if being transported on a rocky bus.
Liara's eyes slowly went normal and she stepped back. "That was incredible!" she looked a little giddy. "All this time. All my research. Yet I never dreamed-I'm sorry." she shook her head. "The images were so vivid. I never imagined the experience would be so...intense. I need a moment to collect myself."
The asari sounded so enraptured, she sat and placed her face in her hands.
The quite stretched for a moment before she mumbled; "You are remarkably strong willed, you two. What you've been through, what you've seen, would have destroyed lesser minds. Everything I saw you already know." she sighed, rubbing her head. She finally looked up to the concerned faces in the room. She smiled gently.
"You were right about the Reapers." she continued. "The Protheans were destroyed by a race of sentient machines. I think it is obvious there's a connection between the Reapers, the Prothean extinction, and the conduit."
"Did the vision make any sense to you?" Jane asked, sounding as if she didn't want to push Liara too hard.
The asari stood again; "It's a distress call, a message sent out across the Prothean Empire. A warning against the Reapers, but the warning came too late."
"What about the Conduit?" John and Jane asked in unison. A rare thing they didn't do often.
"There were other images." Liara pressed her hand on the side of her temple as if trying to remember or organize a difficult thought. "Locations. Places I recognized from my research...Ilos!" she suddenly shouted as if it finally hit her. "The Conduit is on Ilos! That is why Saren needed the Mu Relay! It is the only way to get to Ilos."
"We need to get to Ilos." Jane said, sounding like she was about to roar a battlecry.
"Forget it!" Tali pipped up, arms crossed. "The Mu Relay's inside the Terminus Systems, Alliance ships are not welcome there. Neither are Spectres."
"The Conduit's on Ilos." John crossed his arms at Tali. "And that's where Saren is heading. I'll be waiting for him when he gets there!"
"Saren will have his entire fleet orbiting Ilos." Liara said, sounding scared. "You will never make it down to the surface without reinforcements. You must alert the Council. We need a fleet to—oh!"
The asari suddenly held her head, looking feint for a moment. "I'm sorry. The joining is...exhausting. I should go to the medical bay and lie down for a moment."
"Doctor Chawkas should take a look at you." Jane said, her brows knit in worry.
"That is not necessary." Liara said, smiling weakly. "I just need some rest. Somewhere quiet."
John nodded, "We're done here. Dismissed."
Everyone got up, Melody automatically took Liara's arm and walked her to medical. Not wanting her to get distracting by people asking if she was okay. She was too nice to wave them off and continue. She would stop to talk and explain.
Melody shook her head as she took Liara to the bed farthest from the Medical bay doors. She sat her down and patted her hand gently. Liara gave her a comforting grin and lay back.
Melody exited to find Garrus, looking a little concerned.
"Melody," he jabbed his head towards the sleeping pods.
She followed. Not sure what this was about.
When they were far from the crew area he turned to her. "Did you let Jane know about how I felt?" he growled, his subharmonics rumbling like a threat. "It's been bugging me since you've shown me that thingy you do."
Melody blinked. "No." she scowled. "Why would you think I'd interfere like that? After Kaiden getting pissed at me for meddling with his feelings for Jane-"
Garrus blinked and interrupted; "Alenko had feelings for her?" he grimaced. "No wonder he reeked a certain way...the smell has been gone since the party." he pressed on. "Which brings me to why I asked; Jane seemed very, flirty, with me in club. And she's made some friendly flirts since."
Melody almost laughed. "Garrus, that's all her flirting. I didn't say anything to her about how you felt."
Garrus' mandibles clicked hopefully. "Until I hear from her mouth that she's interested. It'll be friendly."
Melody smiled, "I respect that, Garrus. She's lucky to have a gentleman in her corner."
Garrus rapped his knuckles on her shoulder playfully, he flashed her the equivalent of a turian grin. "I'm in your corner too, shipmate."