Ok, I'm trying to get this back on the road, I have many ideas for this chapter. If anyone is wondering, missions will slightly change, it might be more than slightly at times but hopefully they will change for the better. Lets have some fun with this chapter.
Chapter 14: The Scientist.
He had told Joker to set a course for Liara, it would take a couple of hours to get there from their current position but that was fine. He was already hungry for adventure and for a fight. Over the course of his time on the Normandy, he had spoken with Garrus, Nihlus, Wrex, Ashley, Kaidan, and multiple members of the crew.
Garrus had helped him multiple times on the Mako, he always checked the system to see if anything was out of order. Their friendship was growing fast. Wrex had called him over to recite the battle he had on Akuze. It was hard for him to do this so he left out all of his time in the desert, how he got there, and the Marines that died in the fight.
His friendship with Wrex was growing fast also. Kaidan... Kaidan. He seemed clueless at times but at least he was not a racist bigot like Ashley. Ashley. She was beginning to trust John more but still was her racist bigot self.
Then Nihlus, in his spare time he is busy sending reports to the Council because he is a very important person a Spectre. Bah. The Council and their Spectres could go to hell for all he cared.
He had not talked with Tali after they had found each other. John still cared dearly about Tali, but he had no clue if Tali still liked him. He tried to reassure himself over this matter a couple of times but every time he reassured himself the thought popped in his head. 'It has been 5 years. She could have met someone else.'
Now they were getting closer to Liara's position. John had still not talked to Tali at all, Tali thought of leaving her work to find him, to talk to him. There were many questions she still had for him, like why did he have a crack on his visor.
Was he okay when she accidentally shot him down. She had those and many more. Every time she told Engineer Adams she was done, he just gave her an impressed look and gave her even more work. Not that she didn't like working on one of the most advanced ships in the Alliance fleet, she just wanted to see her friend.
Tali continued to work as a hiss came behind her, indicating that the door was being open. She turned her head to the side to see who was there. It was John, he was talking to Engineer Adams.
She looked at him remembering the boy that use to play with her on the flotilla. 'Keelah! He had grown from when I last saw him.' He started to walk towards her, his walking had changed, he now walks like a soldier.
She saw John's eyes flutter into her own. 'Keelah! I stared at him too long!' She turned back to her work and began frantically typing on her console.
John put a hand on Tali's shoulder, he remembered she must be hungry after a day of basically no food. She turned, feeling John's hand on her shoulder.
"Tali, do you need anything?"
She had noticed how tall he had gotten, the top of her head only reached up to his voice transmitter. She fidgeted before she answered. "I'm fine right now."
"Are you sure? Do you need any food or water?"
Now that she thought of it, she was kind of hungry. "I could go for some nutrient paste."
"I'll bring her back Adams!" He yelled over to Engineer Adams.
Tali and John both walked out the door, catching up on old things with each other.
Garrus and Wrex watched them walking out. They also noticed the enthusiasm in their talking.
Garrus started the conversation. "I knew it, they were mates. That hug on the Citadel was too friendly for just friends."
Wrex let out a low pitched grunt, that sounded like. "Yeah."
Wrex tinkered with his shotgun a bit longer, and noticed Garrus still watching him. "Get back to work, Vakarian."
Garrus reluctantly moved back to attend to the Mako.
Tali and John arrived at the Mess Hall, as they walked in a couple of seated crew turned to look at them. Tali was a little nervous, what would they think of the two of them together? A couple of the female crew members giggled and talked behind their hands.
Kaidan had been watching them all day, they had been talking about Shepard. John appeared to have his own fan club on the Normandy already.
Tali noticed this too, but John was completely blind to this.
Tali wasn't going to let a few human crew members stand between John and her. She glared at them with her eyes behind her mask. They turned back around.
They reached a smaller table, with only 2 seats to it, the one where John had sat before when he first arrived on the Normandy.
Their conversation had spiked when Tali had mentioned the fleet. They were now talking about all the fun adventures they both had on the Rayya.
Tali began to get up to get some Nutrient Paste.
John grabbed her arm. "Wait, I have something for you. Sit back and I will get it down."
She sat back down confused. She watched John move across to the Mess Sergeant. What was he going to give her? A tube of plain nutrient paste?
The Mess Sergeant reached down to one of the lower cabinets and grabbed two tubes on nutrient paste, then handed them to John.
John moved back to the table, sat down and handed her the nutrient paste over the table.
"Here, try that. A little bit flavored nutrient paste I found on the Citadel."
They both hooked it under their mask, to a tube leading to their mouth. They both squeezed it into their down to their mouth's.
When Tali first tasted it, she was surprised at the taste. It still had that plain, nasty taste but you could taste a hint of flavor. It was much better than the regular paste you get a Turian shelters. They both finished their tubes of paste.
"I never tasted anything with flavor in my life before." Tali said, putting the tube on the table.
John smiled behind his visor."Well now you know what it feels like."
"Thank you, when I was on the Citadel I had to eat the Turian Shelter's nutrient paste. It's worse than the normal kind."
John chuckled at this. "All nutrient paste is bad."
This made Tali smile behind her visor.
"So how has your family been doing, Tali?"
This made Tali's smile turn into a frown, she looked down sadly. "My mother died from an airborne virus."
John had never really met Tali's mother, but knew she was a nice woman. 'What to say...What to say.' he thought for a moment.
He put a finger under Tali's chin and raised it so he looked into her eyes. "Your mother is in a better place, she is on the home world with the Ancestors."
The feel of John's finger under her chin cheered her up slightly. She looked around John, and noticed he had knives on him.
"Isn't it a little dangerous to carry sharp objects near your suit?"
John looked up and down his body, acting like he was just noticing them. "Yeah...I guess it is. That's why I carry them."
He looked around her, trying to find something to call her out with. "Hah, talk about dangerous your still carrying my shotgun."
She fidgeted with her hands. "Do you want it back?"
He chucked at Tali's innocence. "Nah, it's yours I gave it to you remember?"
She fidgeted again, remembering when he gave it to her. The pain in his voice. Where he left her for 5 years. "I don't like to remember that day."
"It wasn't that bad...we got the ship at least."
"I didn't care about the ship! I cared about you. Why did you try to play the hero? Everyone was worried about you! Shala was worried sick about you! You were so stupid and stubborn if you only let me open that door-"
"Tali, Tali. I'm here now. We got a ship for the fleet.. a ship that was intact a good ship we didn't-"
"You were shot! Shot! Because of me!"
"Tali, if it is anyone's fault it is mine. I didn't kill them fast enough. They were after me anyways. They had contacts infiltrate the fleet and learn about my biotics. But everything is okay."
"You're a bosh'tet. You talk and act like nothing happened."
John sighed. "Five years happened. So how is Shala?"
Tali noticed he was trying to change the subject. She let out a sigh. "I was going to tell her that I'm with you but I think it would be better if you did it."
Tali gave John the information to Shala's omnitool over the table.
John fiddled with his omnitool over the table. "I wonder what she will say after 5 years."
"Where were you those 5 years...I mean after Cerberus and...after you.. were shot down."Tali could almost see in John's eyes he was looking for words.
"Wait! How do you know I was shot down? The Citadel and the Galaxy News dismissed it as a fighter that lost control."
Tali was at a loss of words, her heart dropped. She could say she heard it off someone that a Quarian had crashed inside a fighter. No. He deserved the truth.
"I...I was on the Passenger ship...that..that shot you down." Tali stammered out. "I.. I was the one who... told the Pilot to...open fire.
Anger was the first thing that fled into John's mind. Those shots from that ship, caused him to go through Batarians, Thresher maws and endure long hard 5 years on his own, nobody to care for him.
Tali saw anger flicker through John's silvery eyes before they were extinguished.
John called himself down, it was not Tali's fault. If Tali was taken by Cerberus agents, he would want to give them a small kick in the balls.
He took an inaudible deep breath. "I understand." was all he said.
Tali was puzzled. Shouldn't he be mad? "You..you do?"
"Well, yeah. If I was you, I'd want to shoot it down too. If anything I should be thanking you. I met friends, found demons in my path and conquered them. It made me stronger."
Tali became relieved. 'He was not mad!' she repeated in her mind. She wondered how he could move through all the pain and obstacles that he had on his 5 year journey.
"How...did you keep moving through.. all of the obstacles that you had." It sounded better in her mind when she said it.
John relaxed his hands on the table. "To tell you the truth, I had one thing fueling me through all the 5 years. Seeing your eyes again, seeing you again."
Tali could feel her temperature rise and her cheeks blush. She was happy she was behind this visor, at times like these so she could block some of her emotions.
Tali relaxed back in her seat. "Well now we can...finish our pilgrimage together like we said we would all those years ago. Maybe after we defeat Saren...we could go back to the fleet together."
"One step at a time, Tali. One step at a time."
People started to awake from their sleeping pods. Shepard had strictly said that everyone needed to get rest before they went and got the scientist. He was quickly becoming popular in the crew, with Aliens and Non-aliens.
The crew were surprised when they saw Shepard himself emerging out of a sleeping pod. He had told Tali, before he went to sleep he felt like he didn't deserve the Captains Cabin, he would rather be uncomfortable with the crew. Quarian nature.
"Good morning." John said to all after emerging from his Sleeping pod.
"Good morning, Shepard." Some of the crew said back, others saluting.
They made their way into the Crew's Quarters, most grabbed their food and sat down at their tables. John moved straight to a table and sat down alone, Garrus, Wrex, Nihlus, Tali, Kaidan and some members of the crew joined them.
"Are you going to get any food, Shepard?" Garrus asked with his mouth full of Turian food.
John just chuckled. "I'm not hungry."
John waited until they had all finished their food, for the debriefing which took a while, Garrus and Wrex kept going back for second's and thirds. He understood Wrex but Garrus? Hungry Turian or he really likes the food. They finally finished their food, most of the crew started to pile out of the Mess but Shepard held members of his team back.
"I've spoken with Flight Lieutenant Moreau, he said we will be arriving at the Scientist's position in a few minutes, I want you all to suit up and be ready. Nihlus and Tali, with me. Wrex, Garrus, and Kaidan be ready if we get into anything deep, we will call you in for reinforcements so be ready for anything."
John waited for this to sink in. "Geth has been spotted, this is not a simple grab and run mission. Any questions?"
No one responded, so he took that as a 'No'. "Alright get suited up."
They went in separate directions, John went to his locker, with Tali, Garrus and Kaidan. Wrex already had his armor on, but his weapons were in the cargo hold.
John went into his locker and retrieved armor pieces that he put over his suit. He then retrieved his rifle, and his pistol, then all of his knives. A motion he had learned over the years, he was finished before anyone else, Garrus right behind him then Kaidan.
He saw Tali was having a little trouble getting ready, he moved over in front of her, and took the armor from her hands. He placed the armor onto her body, gently then reached into her locker and gave her a pistol to put onto her belt. Once John finished helping Tali she gave him a "Thanks." and moved down to the Cargo hold.
He slowly moved to the elevator to take him down to the Cargo Hold. The elevator moved slowly down, giving him time to think about this mission. Matriarch Benezia's daughter, she could be a valuable ally or a major enemy.
The elevator reached the cargo hold where the Mako was, he moved across the hold in a swift motion to the Mako. Garrus and Tali were waiting outside. Garrus stepped up into the Mako, then John stepped up onto the Mako, then extended a hand for Tali. She took it, John pulled her up onto the Mako.
John took the drivers seat, Garrus controlled the guns, and Tali sat in the passenger seat. John gripped the steering wheel hard waiting for Joker to release them onto the planet.
The ride to the dig site was uneventful encountering Armatures here Armatures there, a few Geth Rocket Troopers. None of them stood a chance against the Mako and it's calibrated weapon system.
They had reached the dig site after having to climb out of the Mako and fight their way on foot to it. John raised a hand to stop Garrus and Tali as he saw a Geth hopper jump onto a wall. The noise of a Geth Drop ship came from over their heads, they watched it as it dropped a Geth Armature and a few Troopers with it.
Garrus, Tali, and John slammed their backs into any cover they could find, Garrus and John experienced in combat started to fire right away. John drained the shields and threw the geth with his biotics, while Garrus took shots at Geth with drained shields.
Tali poked her head out of cover to try to get a few shots out only being pinned back down with Geth fire. She had her back against the cold metal of a barrier. She had been trying to help in anyway she could, being able to drain the Geth's shields with John. While John and Garrus focused on the Armature she focused on the untouched Geth Hopper.
It was jumping all around, it was very annoying. While John and Garrus were distracting the Armature she managed to peak her head out of cover and she brought her pistol up with her. She was trying to follow the Geth Hopper in her pistol's sights. The Armature fell limp after all the shots Garrus and John had put into it.
Garrus and John looked to Tali, who was aiming in her pistol sights, they looked to what she was aiming at, a Geth Hopper. In mid jump from one wall to another she managed to get a shot off, which slammed into it's 'Flashlight head' making her look better than she really was.
The Hopper fell to the ground with a thud. Tali arose from cover, her stomach did a slight leap after she saw that she hit the Geth dead on. She holstered her pistol looking back to John and Garrus, who were looking at each other.
Garrus gave a small "Damn." as he and John exited from cover.
They made their way into a tube leading down into the Prothean Ruins, pipes on each side. As they made their way down the saw at the bottom of the tube were a few Geth soldiers. They easily took them out with their weapons. They stepped down onto the catwalk, rock on both sides of them.
They followed the catwalk to an open room, impressive the Protheans built this over 50,000 years ago and it was still holding together. As he was examining the architecture, two Geth drones popped out of nowhere.
John reacted first, grabbing at his pistol belt, he took both of his pistols and shot them both. By the time Garrus and Tali had their weapons drawn the drones already exploded.
John holstered his weapons and moved to the elevator. "Let's go."
They all moved into the elevator, John activated it. They made their descend down, the only thought in John's head at this time was.'Much faster than the Normandy's elevator.'
The elevator stopped just 4 feet above a catwalk, the door rose, John was the first one out, jumping down on the catwalk, following with Tali, then Garrus. In front of them, the catwalk was broken, they easily jumped down from the catwalk.
Once they were all down, they stood in front of a blue barrier curtain, with a Asari suspended in the air with her arms raised out.
She saw them and yelled out to them. "Can you hear me out there? I'm trapped! I need help!"
"I take it you are Doctor T'Soni." John replied.
"Are you real? Oh no don't be stupid, Liara. Quarians do not come here, your hallucinating. And talking to yourself." She did a reassuring laugh. "I'm going to die in here."
The first thought that went through John's mind was Dafuq? "Don't worry Doctor T'Soni, I'm real, the Council sent me to rescue you from the Geth."
"You're very vivid for a hallucination they don't usually-"
"I'm not a hallucination. I'm real and I'm here to get you out." He interrupted.
"Alright I will play along, if you are real as you say you are, get me out of here. It's a Prothean barrier curtain, I activated it because I knew it would keep me safe from the Geth, when I activated I must have hit something I shouldn't have now I became trapped."
"Don't worry you will be out in seconds." John reassured her.
John moved down towards the ground, where he saw some Geth and a mining laser. He had an idea, he didn't know if it would work but it was worth a shot.
A few Geth were near the mining laser, John drew his assault rifle and quickly mowed the Geth down. His 3 fingers ran across the mining laser controls, activating the laser, making a hole right under the Doctor leading to an elevator.
Tali and Garrus joined his side as they walked to the elevator leading to the Doctor's floor. When the elevator ascended to the Doctor's floor there was still one thought in John's mind. 'Still faster than the Normandy's elevator.'
They reached the room that Doctor T'Soni was in, she heard them approach.
"Now I am hallucinating you are in the tower with me. I must be getting worse I thought I heard thunder earlier on."
Tali looked to Garrus, Tali honestly thought the Asari was crazy, guessing by the look on Garrus's face he agreed with her.
"That was us, we activated the mining laser." John moved under the Doctor. "Garrus deactivate the curtain."
Garrus deactivated the curtain with a push of a button, causing Liara to fall into John's arms. Tali didn't like the sight of the Asari doctor in John's arms. Tali would prefer herself in John's strong arms.
"Thank you for rescuing me from the curtain. I never caught your name."
To a very relieved Tali, John tipped his arms down, allowing the Asari to get her feet on the floor. "My name is Shepard. This is Tali and Garrus."
Tali didn't want the Asari to do anything else with her Shepard. "Do you..perhaps know any way to get out of this place?"
"There is an elevator back in the center of the tower... at least I think it is an elevator. It could take us out of here."
They reached the elevator right on time, rumbling started from above them. They briefed Liara on the way to the elevator.
"I still can't believe this, why would the geth come after me? Do you think Benezia is involved?"
"Saren's looking for the Conduit, and your a Prothean expert of course." Tali replied a little colder than she expected.
Liara seemed unfazed by this. "The Conduit? But I don't-" Her sentence was cut out by a large amount of rumbling above them.
"What...was that." Tali asked a little nervously.
"These ruins are not stable. The mining laser must have affected it some way. We have to get out of here quickly."
Shepard pressed his sound transmitters in his ear to open his comms. "Flight Lieutenant! Wake up! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal."
Joker replied over the comm. "Aye, aye, Shepard. ETA 8 minutes."
The elevator started to rise. Still faster than the Normandy's elevator.
They reached the floor, as it stopped they saw a Krogan Battle master approach, with Geth at his side.
The Krogan started to speak. "Surrender or don't that would be-" He was cut off by John.
"Fuck off. We are getting the hell out of here." John pulled his pistol from his side and shot a Geth Trooper beside the Krogan.
"Kill them! Spare the Asari if you can!"
The Krogan was a skilled biotic, but no match for Shepard's crew. Having basically no cover they had to fight openly. They focused on the Geth first, John taking out two, Garrus taking 1 out and Tali, to her surprise managed to down one.
John yelled back to Tali while facing the Krogan."Tali! Shotgun!"
Tali grabbed the shotgun from the small of her back, and threw it to John who caught it with one hand. He fired a the Krogan with the powerful shotgun. The Krogan did the same with his Shotgun.
John had maneuverability over strength, as he rolled to the side to dodge the Krogan's attacks. A few shots with the Shotgun managed to down the Krogan, The Krogan was left on his hands and knee's spitting blood up. John saw his opportunity to finish him.
John got a running start, he ran at the Krogan, while the Krogan was on his hands and knees. Once John reached the Krogan, he brought his foot strong foot up to the Krogan's face with a crunch that could be heard all around the room. The Krogan fell back on his back, either because he was knocked out or either because his neck was broken by the powerful kick from the Quarian.
They all ran out of the huge elevator, leaving the Krogan and his 'dead' friends there. Chunks of rock started to fall from the roof, they all continued to run.
John, Tali and Garrus made it to the tube leading to the surface, as they started to move up it they heard a scream from behind them.
Liara! They must have left her behind. John turned to Garrus and Tali. "Get to the Normandy, I will be right back up with the Doctor."
John ran back, dodging rock falling from the ceiling. He was surprised the catwalk has not collapsed yet. As he rounded the rock corner, he saw Liara with her foot pinned under a large rock.
John ran to her, and tried to move the rock off of her. It was too heavy. He stepped back and threw the rock off of her with his biotics. He then picked her up and ran back to the tube, he put her down on her feet, in front of him. She managed to make it to the exit and get out, John right behind her. Right when John reached the exit, it collapsed in front of his face, leaving him with no exit.
"Fuck!" He remembered the Geth Rocket trooper at the end of the tube, they first killed when they came in. He ran as fast as he could back down the tube, to the Rocket Trooper laying with it's synthetic blood dripping off the catwalk. He quickly grabbed the Rocket Trooper's weapon, as a large boulder fell atop of the Rocket Trooper.
Liara made it back to the Normandy with Garrus and Tali waiting inside.
"Where's John!" Tali asked, they could tell she was scared for him.
"I thought he was right behind me!" Liara said.
They all looked to the entrance to the dig site waiting for him to reappear.
John ran as fast as he could with the rocket in his hands, the tube collapsing behind him. The rubble that blocked his path was straight in front of him. He fired the rocket, that slammed into the rubble, blasting it away. He threw the rocket aside, running through the rubble.
"Yes!" He had made it out of the dig site, but his happiness was short lived as he saw a new problem. Lava.
He could see the Normandy, it was not far. He could make it! He ran down the catwalk back onto the ground, lava was closing in on both sides. He could now see Tali, Garrus and Liara beckoning him forward with their arms.
He ran the Normandy was only a few feet away, the lava was getting closer. He ran and jumped with all of his energy left in him, into the Normandy.
"Go Joker! Go!" He shouted into his comm.
As they flew away from the accursed planet, John never wanted to see again Garrus spoke up.
"You called Joker, Joker."
"Looks like I did, Vakarian."
A/N: There was your little mission change, looks like Tali became a little jealous of Liara. Hopefully I will get more stories up a little faster. Until then, tell me how you feel about the Chapter.