The Normandy was sailing to the planet of Korlas. There was supposed to be a Korgan Warlord there. Miranda however, was in drill. She knew what to expect, and for once her pride proved an asset. She didn't sneer, scream or refuse. She had seen Jacob go though it. She had seen Mordin, Garrus and Tali go through it. She wasn't going to let them show her up. And so she focused and let Shepherd drive her to her limits.
It wasn't easy for her. Her father had, by pampering her when she was young, kept her on a leash. Her getting away from him had been the first step of independence but you can't easily break free from domination without learning something of it's tricks yourself. She had dominated in Cerberus, she was Cerberus personified. Jack picked up on it quickly and called her the Cerberus Cheerleader, when Jack wasn't describing her in words less polite. Jack however was deriving extreme satisfaction from Miranda's sweat. Shepherd on the other hand, was deriving extreme satisfaction from seeing Jack mock Miranda. Not that Jack actually knew about what John had in mind. But the more Jack was around to sneer at Miranda in drill, the harder it would be for Jack to say no to it herself when John put her into it.
That was the theory anyway.
Even so, Miranda had it harder than Mordin or Jacob. She was used to the soft life. She was used to things coming easy for her. Learning how to juggle guns and biotic powers in the rapid cadence of Shepherd's drill and having to deal with the fact that she was making mistakes and being told "BANG YOU'RE DEAD!" wore on her considerably. But she was good, she was on the top, she would not let it get her down. Like Ashley before her, there were no tears.
As the team neared Korlas, Shepherd put them all together and drilled them for two hours each day, letting them mesh. Tali was still Duck. Garrus was still Bugs. Jacob was named Hood. Miranda had the name of Cheers, which Jack incessantly mocked. John's first impulse had been to give Miranda the name of Tease, but thought the better of it. So he let Jack give her the code talk name, thought Jack did not necessarily know he had used her as inspiration. Mordin was Smoke.
"So what are you going to name Kasumi?" asked Tali one evening as they were settling down.
"I'm thinking of calling her Hai," answered John. "It's Japanese for yes, or I agree, or okay. Something which suggests agreement but does not necessarily obligate you to agree."
"And Yack?"
"Pain in the ass?"
"Kind of long to snap code orders to," observed Tali. "So will Miranda be a Wing-girl?"
"Spotter for Garrus," answered John. "Like Liara. Ashley was armored and fast. Miranda has only shields and paint."
"Then what about Kasumi?"
"Stealth Recon," replied John.
"And Yack"
"Pain in the ass."
"We've already gone there Yahn."
"I'm not looking forward to Jack," he groaned. "I like living pain free. Why couldn't she be like you were, cute and cuddly and easy to scream at?"
"Yahn?" she said soft and sweetly. "I have a fist."
"I know Kitten, I know."
Korlas was yet another example of double s double d. The mission was to recruit the Krogan Warlord Dr. Okeer. He was working on his project in a Blue Suns camp, which of course proved less than receptive to the arrival of Team Shepherd. It was a firefight all the way in. But the Blue Suns still suffered from the absence of team work, and now with Garrus reinforced by Miranda, who was both spotter and bio-shield, the team made it in and out with little in the way of collateral damage.
But not with Dr. Okeer. He died protecting his legacy, a single 'pure' tank bred Krogan named Grunt.
Grunt proved to be typical Krogan, that is, kill first and ask questions later. Shepherd, remembering his experiences with Wrex, was more than able to get Grunt's trust within a matter of moments after he opened the tank. And furthermore, Grunt was more than happy to begin drill, which enabled Shepherd to once again delay the inevitable issues with independent Kasumi and psychotic Jack.
Then they got a message from Tim.
"Shepherd," he began. "I think we have them. Horizon, one of our colonies, in the Terminus systems has just gone silent. If it is not under attack, it soon will be. Has Mordin delivered the counter measure for the seeker swarms?"
"Not yet," answered John.
"Let's hope he works well under pressure," suggested The Illusive Man. "There's also something else you should know. One of your former crew, Kaiden Alenko, he's stationed on Horizon. "
"The Collectors just happen to pick a colony with one of my former crew? I don't buy it."
"It shouldn't be a surprise that the Collectors are interested in you," retorted The Illusive Man. "Especially if they're working for the Reapers. They might be going after him to get to you."
John could not dispute that. There were wheels behind the events.
"There is such a thing as hatred, and malice of revenge," suggested a line from The Lord of the Rings.
Tim vanished and John went up to the Pilot's seat. Joker was as usual arguing with EDI.
"You're just mad that all your footage of me looks like a dream sequence," he said.
"What's this about Joker?"
"Hi Commander we're just arguing over the decoration of my personal space."
"Putting grease on my cameras does not constitute valid decoration of personal space," argued EDI.
"Set course for Horizon and Joker? You do realize there's a pool on for when you and EDI are going to be an item."
"Not Funny Commander!" shouted Joker.
John walked away chuckling to himself. Of course there was no such thing. But it did get a good rise out of Joker. And after finding out that there had been a pool for him and Tali, well revenge is a dish best served cold.
From there he went straight to Mordin's lab.
"Commander," began Mordin. "Enjoying the lab already found several spying devices bugs and monitoring equipment destroyed most gave the most expensive back to Miranda."
"Glad you're enjoying yourself. What's the news on the Seeker Swarm Antidote? Tell me you have something."
Mordin smiled and turning to his terminal said, "Yes."
John, glad that the last bits of work for the day was done, headed back up to his cabin. He half expected Tali to be there already, she was going to get fifteen minutes of out of visor time. So when he reached the door to the cabin and found it locked, he was briefly confused.
"One moment Yahn!" came Tali's voice from inside.
"Tali?"
"Dokey, entavo!"
John was somewhat confused. But he tried the door again and it opened.
Tali was seated on the bed, her knees up her feet bare, her two pairs of toes gripping the sheets. Her arms were wide open with her fingers spread and she had a big smile on her face. Her black hair was longer than he remembered it from brief periods prior, as if she were letting it grow. It was framing her face in a very pleasant manner. She looked more than cute, she was looking rather um . . . sexy. And this was in spite of the fact that she was still wearing the majority of her suit.
"Sukee do!" she said in a slightly sultry tone.
"What are you saying Tali? I don't speak Khelish."
"De go dotooli Khelish, Yahn. Sukee do!"
"Tali? You do understand me don't you?"
"Rho!"
John sighed.
"If you understand me, nod your head."
Tali nodded her head.
"Well I don't understand what you are saying. I am only hearing you speak Khelish."
Suddenly Tali understood, she giggled and held up her hand. Reaching up to her left ear, she pulled out a small unit and making a quick adjustment with her omni-tool, put it in John's left ear.
"Reah go dotoolou do wone Yahn?" was what she said.
"Do you understand me now Yahn?" was what the little bud in his ear translated.
"Yes," said John. "Now I can understand you."
"Fea! Won sukee do!"
"Good! Now kiss me!"
And he did. For a full five minutes, but then he pulled back, putting his finger on her mouth, since she was already beginning to show signs of arousal as she pressed herself closer and closer to him. He had noticed that the longer they kissed, the more intense she was at it, as if she were deliberately unleashing more and more of her emotion and passion and desire into each kiss.
"Tali," he said. "I hardly ever get to look at your face. I want to see you tonight for a moment."
"But Yahn, this is the only chance we have to kiss. This is the only time I get to feel your face with my fingers, to wrap my feet around your legs to . . ."
"I know Tali, but it's no good you getting all exited about it. It's going to be months before you get to leave your entire suit behind, and all you're getting is frustrated."
"I LIKE getting frustrated," she argued.
"No way!" he argued. He certainly didn't. Which was one of the reasons why he was trying to pull back. It hadn't been a problem when they were only allowed a few moments like this, but now that they were up to a quarter of an hour, her passion was getting him more than a little aroused, and while his new body did not have the same cravings his old body had, since this body had not yet made love with a women, he knew all the signs from his prior experiences.
"It tells me I love you," she persisted. "Why do you think I scream when it's over?"
"Because you're frustrated and you have to stop?"
"Well yes, but . . ."
John gave her another few seconds of kissing before he once more put his finger on her mouth.
"Well yes but what?"
"It's how I deal with it. I scream and it makes all the cravings go away, or at least settle down."
"Tali Tali Tali," he said gently rubbing her lips with his finger. She commenced to nibble slightly upon his finger tip. "I know you love kissing, but you're enthusiasm for this is really driving me crazy. I can't scream to make it go away."
"You can't? Oh my Yahn, I really have been driving you crazy haven't I?"
"Well not all the time," he admitted. "Sometimes I'm able to just lie back and enjoy the kissing, but the last couple of nights you seem to have been really unleashing all the . . . Mmm . . . What IS the word I'm looking for?"
"You are asking me? I don't speak English," she quipped.
"Well what ever it is that you're unleashing, it's an awful lot of it and it's overwhelming me."
Tali sighed.
"Why is it NEVER easy for us?"
"Because I'm Human, you're Quarian, and I want you to be healthy when we make love so that we can do it again as much as we like."
"Well I would like that," she admitted with a coy flirt in her voice. "No fun using you for your body if I can't use it all the time."
"You're a cruel and wicked Quarian," joked John.
"But you're okay with that," replied Tali with a giggle.
"But I was serious just a moment ago. I don't hardly ever get a chance to look at that very pretty face of yours. We spend all our time kissing and I can't see that black soft light hair, those two really exotic pairs of eye brows which go up your forehead in such a enchanting manner, those pretty thin pink lips and . . . And those sparkling eyes. Your eyes are so incredible. In the light they flash all the colors of the rainbow, tiny little sparkles here and there. And in the dark, they glow so softly, like the moon without the green craters. You just keep getting prettier and prettier the more I look at you."
Tali looked at him and was once again nibbling her lower lip with her row of little front teeth.
"You don't mind me telling you all this do you?" he said with half a grin.
"Oh Yahn, our love enables me to put up with it," She nodded her head smiling.
"In other words you eat it up?"
"Yeah."
They kissed a little more and then John rolled over on his back, Tali found herself resting on top of his chest with her arms folded under her. The two of them caressed each other's faces while John spoke as poetically as he could on the lovely features of her face and expressions, and she listened, all the while looking into each others eyes.
And then the Omni-tool beeped and with a sigh, Tali started putting her gloves and boots back on. It had become a little tradition that once her gloves were on, John would slip the little copper ring back upon her finger.
The team landed on Horizon, outside the main city, where a new set of anti-aircraft cannons were busy monitoring the sky. It was clear however that there was something wrong. First of all, the guns were not firing at a very large and alien ship which was landed right on the edge of the city. The second was that the air was filled with seeker swarms. The third was that there were no people.
Like most new colonial settlements, the housing was prefab and small, laid out in directly on the ground with only trampled dirt marking the pathways. The team moved out slowly and cautiously in spite of everything in Shepherd's psychology telling him that they needed to hurry. Hurry killed soldiers. And good soldiers were hard to make.
The team was now seven in number. The center formation was a five point star, Shepherd at point, Grunt and Jacob on his sides, with Mordin and Tali behind. Garrus was right wing with Miranda as spotter.
Miranda was wearing more and more leather. John had observed that her prior outfits would not protect her skin from scratches due to thorns and briars which they would be having to negotiate through on most surface missions. Likewise rubble with pounded metal would also have sharp surfaces. Scratches discolor and mar the skin, even if only briefly. He didn't have to point that out, Miranda recognized it immediately the moment he observed the existence of sharp edges. Her posterior in particular was considerably less a distraction these days. And, both he and Tali complimented her on the new look. Tali, once John had explained to her how distracting Miranda was to him, realized she had a vested interest in playing to Miranda's vanity. In fact, Tali noticed that the more she complimented Miranda the more Miranda responded favorably to her. It wasn't sparking a friendship, but it was sparking mutual respect.
The collectors were not expecting an attack. They were only used to dealing with colonists who were seldom armed, and always immobilized by the bugs. It was a long dull boring job of finding all the frozen people, throwing them into the processor pods, and pushing them back to the ship.
Miranda had excellent vision, especially with the Hud clip she was wearing over her eyes. Her vanity had made sure that the one she had picked looked like a very sleek and fashionable set of sunglasses.
"Hostiles on our eleven, platoon strength, ferrying paralyzed civilians, high probability of surprise," was her report. Garrus was already scoping for the lead officer.
"Cheers, Bugs, Flank," reported John.
"Star forward slow, keep cover," he continued.
Tali's heart was clipping along at a good pace. She kept looking at John's back. It was always hard at this point of the mission. Her tongue tasted bitter, her feet were itching, as were her fingers. Grunt was to her left and likewise shaking, but she knew it wasn't from fear. It was from excitement. This was going to be his first battle and as far as Tali knew, Krogan didn't know the word fear, let alone how to spell it. John scooted forward ten yards to a new spot of cover.
"Clear" he said.
Everyone else shot forward crouched to find new cover themselves.
"Commander," began Miranda's agitated voice. "They are taking the colonists all away! We've got to hurry!"
"Calm Cheers," was all John said. "Bugs? Position?"
"On it Commander," replied Garrus.
"Scope Bugs," answered John.
"Locked and loaded," replied Garrus calm and sweet.
"At will Bugs," said John.
They made another push forward, only five yards. After Noveria, after Feros, after Virmire, after Ilos, after Omega, after Purgatory, after Korlas, you would think that it would be easier.
Tali's breath was screaming to be allowed to hyper-ventilate. But she had to control. Your enemy could hear you breathe, they would lock on your position, you would feel the bullets break through your armor. You would see your own blood on the ground, and then you die.
"Bang! You're dead, Duck!" came the memory. It was the craziest damned love song he had ever sung to her.
The crack of Garrus's sniper rifle resounded through the air. She saw a collector drop, suddenly aware of the movement 150 yards in front of her. There were at least fifteen if not twenty collectors ahead. They were trying to find the sound of the sniper shot. But Garrus would not fire from the same position again. The second shot always told you the direction.
The Collectors had stopped collecting. They were frantically looking around, trying to find movement. Garrus and Miranda however, would be cloaked by Miranda's biotics. He would move to a new position, further around the group of Collectors, and . . .
There was another crack of the sniper rifle and another collector's head exploded out the front. He had been hit in the back of the head. The collectors, seeing that wound, knew where to turn towards. And it was away from the John's star.
They pushed forward another ten yards.
John was watching the collectors from his own hud.
Another sniper shot. This one didn't hit, but it did keep the collectors looking in that direction. The team was closing the yardage, bit by bit.
"Open up," was John's order.
And all five guns resounded sending a wave of cold iron into the backs of the Collector platoon.
Tali ducked behind the cover John was at, reloaded her shotgun, and scanned with her omni-tool, tracking down the frequencies the Collectors were employing. She introduced a random jamming mod to keep their own communications in a constant state of channel shifting to avoid the sudden brief bursts of frequency. In combat, she always found herself getting as close to him as possible. Something about him made her feel safer. She knew on some level it was dangerous, it made two team members vulnerable to a grenade as opposed to one, but she found herself doing it anyway.
Reminding herself that if the Collectors got her and Yahn's 20, they would get special attention, she started to roll away from him. Bullets flashed around her but she was fast and knew to get to cover. Her shields covered her long enough.
The collectors had good shields. They had good guns. But they had absolutely no real combat experience. They were raiders, slipping in, immobilizing civilian populations, and leaving. Against a trained team, especially one trained by Shepherd, they were totally out of their league. Any one of them could be a good shot, and keep any one of Shepherd's team down. But as Tali noted, she had at least ten seconds to take her shot before her shields were in danger of being compromised, and she needed only six. She had gotten good over the weeks of shooting.
And then she realized she needed to be shooting every four seconds. Dozens of husks suddenly materialized behind what was left of the collectors and commenced to charge.
The husk was a creature that they had encountered when fighting the geth. Humans, put upon large spikes which were dubbed dragon's teeth, would be transformed over a period of hours into a cross between a synthetic and organic life form utterly immune to pain and entirely focused on ripping it's opponents to shreds. Their armored protection was practically nil, their employment was in massed numbers and their tactic was overwhelming. Geth husks were easy enough to deal with, but these were tougher. A single shot gun blast might be all that was needed, but everyone had to focus on shooting husks if they were going to have a chance at not being dog-piled and ripped apart. But as the mass of husks closed in on the team, a green glowing ball flew up and over them, and exploded sending a cloud of small bullets into the hoard and putting down over three quarters of them. At this point a human hoard would retreat, hide, get reorganized by their commanders and reinforced with more cannon fodder, and sent in again just as large. But these husks just kept coming, scattered out so that everyone, by shooting at the husk closest to them was able to take them out and leave them nothing but shredded up bits of flesh and electronics on the grounds.
"Grapeshot Grenade made it myself fun high school project done over summer vacation for extra credit," said Mordin.
In possession of the field, John and his team began to examine what was left.
"These husks look more advanced than what we encountered on Eden Prime," observed Shepherd.
"Looks like Tim was right," added Jacob. "We have Reaper involvement.
"Were these colonists?" asked Grunt.
"No Dragon's Teeth," answered Mordin. "These husks were brought in."
"Yes," agreed Garrus who was just coming up behind Miranda. "They were in a big steel container which was closed up when Miranda and I passed it. Otherwise we would have known they were there and could have warned you."
Then they reached the first of the frozen colonists.
"Completely trapped in status, fully aware," observed Mordin. "Fascinating."
"What are they doing with the colonists?"
"Many possibilities," suggested Mordin. "All of them . . . unpleasant."
The team continued to move forward. Finally they encountered on survivor who was not yet frozen. He informed them of the location and issues surrounding the anti-aircraft gun emplacements. But he knew nothing of where Kaiden was, possessing the opinion that the Collector attack on the colony was Kaiden's fault.
Once again Garrus and Miranda moved ahead while the star formation proceeded cautiously behind them.
"You aren't going to believe this Shepherd," came Garrus' voice over the com. "The main problem with the guns is that they need calibration."
"Why do I get the idea that you find that problem . . . entertaining," asked John.
"Well it's always gratifying to know that had I been here the colony would have been safe," he replied, with a half jocular, half regretful tone.
The team moved into another plaza surrounded by prefabs, but likewise, filled with various boxes and crates which indicated construction. Garrus and Miranda were already there, Garrus busy setting up the tower which would direct the anti-aircraft guns which were scattered over the colony settlement. Shepherd contacted the Normandy.
"Sweet signal," quipped Joker.
"Commander I will be able to reformat the guns and power them up," said EDI, "But it will take time and I will not be able to mask the power surge."
"That means that the Collectors will try to stop us," chuckled Grunt. "Good."
Tali could see nothing good in that.
"You are such a Krogan, Grunt," was her opinion.
"Yeah," he replied with one of those massive toothy grins.
"Everyone, form a barricade around the control tower, we stand here!" snapped John.
It was chiefly Grunt who did the moving, but over the next five minutes the team managed to pulled most of the crates and gear into a rough circular ring around the control tower giving them decent cover. Against a determined attack it would not last long, but they didn't need hours, they only needed minutes.
And the Collectors came in swarms.
Mordin's application of smoke grenades encouraged the collectors to either bunch up so they could direct fire at the team or push through the smoke and become outlined against it, making them single targets vulnerable to direct fire. Of course you can defeat such a tactic as that easily if you happen to have a commander who is patient. You simply pick your own cover, shoot when you can see, go back into cover when you can not so your shields recover, lather, rinse, repeat. Because sooner or later, even a Salarian Special Opts Scientist runs out of grenades to throw. But the Collectors were not particularly skilled at small unit tactics and so they either bunched up to concentrate fire, or charged through singly. The husks were no better, they charged through until they encountered the barricades and then wasted valuable time trying to go around them and when that failed simply tried to climb over them which merely guaranteed a more through killing by the team.
When it became apparent to the Collector commander that this was not working, he concluded that what he needed were more Collectors and more Husks, and himself.
Tali did not know what it was. It looked like a flying bug, it was big, ugly, black, and it was talking.
"Shepherd," it said in a voice that reminded her of Sovereign's. "You will know pain. You will know agony. You will know defeat."
That voice echoed all over the battlefield.
"My attacks will tear you apart," it suggested.
"Trouble," observed Mordin behind her.
"You cannot resist," it insisted.
"What the hell is that thing!" shouted Grunt. "How many bullets do I get to fill it with?"
"Your form is fragile," it observed.
"My mother told me there would be days like this," suggested Jacob.
"We are your genetic destiny," it proclaimed.
"Spirits," groaned Garrus. "Could I even manage to miss that thing blindfolded?"
"Prepare to be destroyed," it announced.
"This is going to ruin my afternoon," replied Miranda.
"All guns on my 12," came Shepherd's orders. And then he stood up and jumped up on the raised platform he had been behind. And then facing the creature with his arms spread wide he shouted at the top of his lungs.
"I'm Commander John Michael Shepherd and I say you are a big black fat ugly flying BASTARD!"
The big black thing focused upon him, it unleashed it's energy beams at him. It charged. That was it's first mistake on the battlefield. And as is so often, also it's last.
"We are your genetic destiny. Shepherd you will know pa . . ." was what it said before it's body suffered too much bullet damage for it's vocal chords to continue being operational. It fell into a messy heap ten yards from John. And what was left of the Collectors fled as what was left of John' shields recharged.
And EDI finished powering up the anti-aircraft batteries who began reporting and pounding the Collector ship, itself which powered up and lifted off.
"I can't believe it," groaned Shepherd. "I simply can not believe it."
"Yahn? What?"
John looked at Tali and smiled. "We get to fight a genuine all earth Evil Overlord."
"I remember," mused Garrus. "That talk . . . hard to believe that when we heard that thing talking it was just as you observed back before Ilos. After that talk Commander, you had me so curious I started reading all that 'pulp' literature you had been referencing online. And you were right, so much of what that thing just said, you would have thought it was reading campy kids comic books out loud to us."
"Will someone please explain to me what the hell you are laughing about?" asked Miranda.
"Observations we made about the Reapers back when we were chasing Saren," explained Garrus.
The colonists were beginning to come out or come to, and the fear and anxiety of survivors began to manifest itself. Mothers were looking for children, children were crying for their fathers, brothers desperately seeking little sisters, and friends calling out for each other. Each one hoping against hope that one of those whom they loved or cared for had not been taken.
Team Shepherd sobered up. John looked up at the sky.
"Flew to the moon," he whispered.
Suddenly Tali jumped.
"Kaiden!" she cried as she dashed towards him, her arms out to give him a hug.
"Back off Tali!" Kaiden snapped.
Tali staggered as if hit by a rifle.
"Garrus too?" Kaiden snapped. "What the hell has happened? Has everyone decided to sell out?"
"Kaiden?" asked John quietly walking up.
"Kaiden!" whimpered Tali. "We were friends. We cared about each other. We were there for each other. Why do you hate me?"
"Cerberus," spat Kaiden.
He turned to Shepherd, his anger almost palpable.
"I should have recognized the signs," he shouted. "I should have realized you'd sell us out, when you left Ashley to die!"
"Yahn cried when Ashley died!" shouted Tali back. "Yahn has always loved each and every one of us!"
John simply stood there and let Kaiden vent.
"It is the price of leaving oneself open to judgement,
by those limited by their time, place, and circumstance."
"Was your damned body merely an inflatable dummy?" continued Kaiden. "Was your funeral faked with your little Quarian crying crocodile tears? Was Garrus standing so still at your coffin trying to hide his smirks? What the hell happened, Commander? I thought you were a good man!"
To be accused of crying crocodile tears was more than shocking to Tali. She just stood there and trembled in anger and broken heartedness. A dear friend whom she had not seen in years who had stood with her through so much pain had just accused her of betraying him. She began to quietly cry.
"Kaiden!" began John. "You know me. You know I'd only be doing this for the right reason. Colonists are vanishing. The Reapers are on the move with a new plan. The Alliance is not doing anything. Cerberus is. I have to work with them if I have any chance to make a difference. You can see Garrus here. And Tali for the love of God. Are you ready to condemn her as well?"
"It's all a pile of crap," replied Kaiden. "I know Cerberus. I shot at Cerberus. We both saw what they were doing. For humanity? At What Cost? You turned your back on everything we fought for! What the hell did Cerberus do to you to make you do this? I'm leaving now. I'm going back to the Alliance, because I'm an Alliance soldier. If they believe your story, I'll see. Until then, out of here."
And Kaiden walked away while John placed his arm around Tali and let her lean on him as she quietly wept. Then Garrus put his arm around Tali as well. It enabled him to come in contact with Shepherd as well. The three of them found the mutual contact calming.
"I can understand him being angry at you," said Garrus quietly. "Because there is only one of you. Anyone can be a fool on occasion. But there were the three of us. Nearly all of his old team. How could he not believe the three of us?"
"He held me when I was hating drill. I held him when he was grieving Ashley. How can he yust . . ."
"I'm sorry Tali. Time has passed. He doesn't know the whole story."
John flipped on his Comm-link.
"Joker? Get us off this damned rock."
Twenty minutes of sweet and tangy kisses. Twenty minutes of taking comfort after loss and grief. Twenty minutes of having someone to hold on to when the world had lurched so hard. John and Tali had each other for times like this. The twenty minutes passed, and once again, in her helmet, she snuggled up to the crook of his arm as they turned off the lights to the cabin and prepared to sleep.
"I'm going to do something special for the crew tomorrow night, but I'm going to need your help, Kitten," he said.
"What do you want me to do, Yahn?"
"I want you to find an old classic movie vid I think will help enlighten the crew about what we are up against. I need it downloaded and prepared for projection on the crew deck display wall."
"What movie vid are you talking about?"
"And old American classic, The Wizard of Oz. It was a children's book written at the turn of the 20th century and was penned to be America's first original fairy tale. Turned out to be the only one. First book was the best, and the movie was, rather ironically, even better."
"Shouldn't be too tough," mused Tali.
"And then . . . some secret stuff," whispered John.
"You can't tell me?"
"Of course I can tell you," replied John, rubbing his finger over her face plate filter. "But you can't tell any one else."
"Not even the author?"
"Not even him."
"Okay" she whispered back and giggled.
And leaning their heads in close, they whispered their secret stuff plans for the next few moments before they got quiet and fell asleep.
The Illusive Man encouraged John at the next morning meeting. He pointed out that while the Collectors had taken half the colonists on Horizon, Team Shepherd had saved the other half. More recommends for team members were coming. But John was going to have to leave old relationships behind, he was going to have to forget Kaiden. John was not happy about that. But as it was pointed out again, and again, there was a good chance this was going to be a one way trip. Everyone had to be fully committed.
John turned away from the communique. He turned to Jacob who said, "Looks like it's really gonna happen. The Omega 4 Relay."
"Looks like it," said John. "But I don't know what it will accomplish. Taking the fight to the Collector's home world?"
"Tim's gotta know what he's doing," argued Jacob. "He's not going to spend his money to send us on a no success job."
"Deliberately," clarified John. "He's not omniscient."
"I'm going to have to do some serious thinking here . . . Think about getting some closure on things," pondered Jacob. "Mother told me that I'd have to think about dying sooner or later and if I didn't it would be too late to do anything about it."
"Tell me about it," chuckled John.
"Yeah, I guess you would know all about that."
"See you at the movie tonight," said John.
"Like, this is mandatory?"
"You are under orders to have fun, eat potato chips, and be entertained with really good musical melodies," replied John. "Trust me Jacob, there's a method to my madness."
"Very good Commander."
Kasumi was in the lounge, where she had set up her own little bedroom. She liked looking out of the windows. She liked talking to people and 'teasing' them a little. Teasing meaning stealing little things for about an hour or two, waiting for people to miss them, and then either producing them claiming she had just found them on the floor or slipping them back to their old places and siting in the corner cloaked waiting for the expressions on their faces when they found them again. She was careful to not take anything valuable, but she suspected she purloined some sentimental items which were very meaningful to her victims. Those she felt a tad guilty over, but she always returned them. After all, if word got out that there was a real thief on the ship how long would she remain above suspicion?
Tali walked in.
"Yusekoo," she said to Kasumi. Yusee was Khelish for hood, and Yusekoo meant an endearing sort of hood, like a hoody, or sweet little hood, or cute hood.
"Chou chou," replied Kasumi, which was Japanese for butterfly.
"Coming to the movie tonight?" asked Tali.
"We have a choice?"
Tali giggled. "I guess not. Yahn seems to think we all need to see it in order to understand what our enemy is really like, or something like that. It's a surprise really.
Kasumi sighed.
"I don't know about this Chou chou," she said. "I don't like all this drill stuff Shepherd is putting everyone through. I have a pretty good idea he wants me next. I don't like being yelled at, and I'm not the sort to take orders. I do things my own way.
"I didn't like it either," said Tali. "I hated him by the end of the first day. I thought I was going to be killed by Saren by the third day. And it was only at the end of our first few missions that I realized he had been doing it to save our lives. It's why you haven't been yoining us. He does not want you to get killed."
"I've been just fine so far," replied Kasumi. "I did just fine with Hock. I did just fine on my own. All he needed to do was bring me along and he have seen for himself."
She stared out at the window.
"I'm thinking I'm going to 'resign' when we reach the citadel. Head on out and do my own thing again."
"Yusekoo, who will I have to talk to? Who will I have to do girl things with? You're my best friend on the Normandy. You're my only girl friend on the Normandy."
"You'll find somebody," assured Kasumi. "I call you Chou chou because you're always flitting about and happy. Someone will come along you'll see."
"No," said Tali shaking her head. "I've seen the dossiers which Tim has sent us, there will be no more girls like you. Just some old Asari woman yustice thing or another. We might meet up with Liara, Yahn is hoping she'll yoin us."
"See? That proves it!"
Tali looked at Kasumi, and Kasumi read concern in Tali's body language.
"There's something else you've seen," suggested Kasumi.
"Tim," said Tali. "Tim has got a very long record on you. Yahn is afraid if you leave, Tim will turn on you."
"I can easily avoid Tim," replied Kasumi with a wave of her hand.
"Even if all sorts of crimes are attributed to you?" asked Tali. "Even one's you didn't commit?"
"What do you mean?"
"It's like you said yourself Yusekoo, you're the best thief, not the most famous. Tim plans on making you the most famous if you leave."
Kasumi leaned against the wall.
"Why are you telling me this Chou chou?"
Tali sighed. "I was going to have to tell you sooner or later. But it's kind of hard to tell that sort of thing to your only girl friend. I could have kept my mouth shut, said goodbye to you and trusted you would know how to handle yourself when Tim started giving out all your vital stats to the law enforcement agencies. And letting you think I had given that information out once you had left. Or, I could risk you thinking I was trying to threaten you now by telling you."
"What made you think I would conclude either?"
"Kaiden accused me of selling out to Cerberus. Now he hates me. I don't want to lose another friend."
Kasumi was quiet for a moment.
"Stupid of me to trust Cerberus," she said.
"Yahn doesn't trust him at all. We keep finding bugs and listening devices all over the ship. In fact when you were telling Yahn about that girl you rescued and that bust you replace at the museum, that all went into Tim's file on you. Even your Rose calling card when you first started out, and the books you have? Once you got on the Normandy, everything started to be known by Tim."
"Why are you telling me this now? If this room is so bugged?"
"We didn't know, Then we found out. Then we found out how extensive. I think we've gotten rid of them all. Mordin and I have run around the whole ship a dozen times. We keep finding new one's, but we're also trying to make sure some bugs are 'not found'."
"Why not?"
"Don't want Tim to see all his information dry up," said Tali. "Yahn and I talked about it a lot. So all the bugs in the dining area, Miranda's office, and the pilot's chair we've left. Also all the bugs on the outside of the ship."
"Never thought I would walk into a trap," sighed Kasumi. "Always figured I was the smart one."
"You were Yusekoo," said Tali. "It's just that while a police force can only spend a few thousand credits in labor to track down a theft you performed, Tim can spend a million. No one can escape that level of vigilance."
"I've been thinking about it Yusekoo, and I hope you don't take this as an insult, but we really don't need a thief for what we are going to do with the Collectors. I think we were bait, to lure you to us, so Tim could blackmail you into working for him. So that when the mission was done, he would be able to pull you in bit by bit until you were exclusively a Cerberus tool."
Kasumi was angry. She began to pace the floor. Suddenly she let out a scream and slammed her palm down on the table so hard Tali could see it vibrate.
"Chou chou," she said. "I could conclude you are behind this blackmail scheme, but I won't. I won't because everything you say makes sense. I keep my eyes and ears open, I hear people talking. I just kept thinking that this stuff was for the crew, that I was different, that Tim would respect me and what I did as a profession. You told me Shepherd was thinking about making me stealth recon, but Garrus does that already, and what am I going to do? Spot for him? That's not my style."
Tali was quiet.
"So I guess my only option right now is to play along, until the mission is over with, and then get the hell out of Cerberus's way," she concluded. "At least that will give me time to plan my escape route."
Tali gave her a hug.
"At least you will have a friend, and I'll be in drill with you every day, okay?"
"Chou chou? Do you um . . . never mind, of course you don't, but given how Shepherd drills, I can't help but wonder."
Tali left and returned to her and Shepherd's cabin. She looked at her omni-tool. There was an hour before the movie. She fed the fish, watched them swim a bit, and then sent a little note asking John to come up to the cabin for a 'consultation'.
"EDI?" she asked.
"Tali?" responded EDI.
"Forget everything you see and hear in this room for the next 24 hours," she said.
"Very well Tali, shall I inform you when the time is up?"
"No, I'll let you know."
Tali didn't like EDI, but at least EDI was willing to cooperate on some level. Or so Tali hoped.
John came in.
"Tali Duck?"
"I had a talk with Yusekoo. I think I persuaded her to start drill tomorrow."
"How did you do that?" asked John. His expression suggested he was pleasantly surprised.
"I think I kind of mentioned the possibility that Tim was collecting information on her in order to force her into a more deep involvement with Cerberus."
John paused for a moment.
"Tali you know we are not sure of that yet. It's only a possibility."
"I know, and you know, but she didn't. And it made perfect sense to her."
John looked at her.
"Is it . . . okay?" she asked rubbing her palms together.
"You are a cruel and wicked Quarian," suggested John with a grin.
"But you're okay with that," giggled Tali.
And shortly thereafter, she was in the crook of his arm listening to a classic character actress, in the black garb of a witch, point a thin crooked finger at an innocent looking Dorothy saying "I'll get you my pretty. You and your little dog Toto too!"