Shepard felt his knees weakening. The last time he had felt so nervous before landing on a planet had been two years ago, at the mission to Ontarom. Back then, he had dreaded what he would learn on the planet, and in fact it had left many of his convictions shattered[1]. His nervousness now was not quite as bad, but he still felt miserable.
Who wouldn't? I return to the site of my death…
Shepard had wanted to leave Omega behind. His planned next target had been Korlus, to find Okeer. A scientist with rumoured connections to the Collectors seemed like somebody who would be useful for the mission. Any scrap of information on the Collectors was very valuable. However, Lawson had advised him against that: Zaeed Massani, the elite mercenary Cerberus had hired, was poised to arrive on the station in three days. It would be a waste not to just wait the time out.
Shepard had finally agreed, even though he did not like the prospect of staying on the run-down Terminus station. It was Tali who had suggested they could use the time: Omega was in the Sahrabarik system, which was quite near the middle of the Omega Nebula. Nearby was the Amada system, which had a secondary mass relay they could use and which included the planet Alchera… the planet above which the Normandy had been shot down. Since then, no other Alliance military vessel had dared to enter the Omega Nebula. The Alliance feared provoking the Terminus Clans, and hence would not enter the political centre of the Terminus Systems. Nobody had ever visited the crash site.
If at all possible, Shepard would have liked to avoid this planet, this entire system, at all costs. But he felt a responsibility to the people who had died there. They had not just been his crew. At the time of her destruction, the Normandy had been mostly manned by a force of volunteers from Fifth Fleet. All those people had joined explicitly in support of him. He owed it to them to see what remained of them.
As the shuttle, piloted by Garrus, began its landing sequence, Shepard wished to shut out the world around him. The only reason he did not was Tali. She seemed to be just as badly affected as him. They held each others' hands and tried to reassure each other with smiles and gestures… but it did not really work, and just created a rather awkward situation. There was no comfort in each other, not here, not where he had died.
Shepard stood up, donned his helmet and waited for its airtight seals to lock in. He breathed in and out heavily, then opened the shuttle door.
Alchera lay far outside Amada's Goldilocks zone. It was a freezing world, and most of its surface consisted of ice. A world as cold as death. Garrus had landed right in the middle of the Normandy's wreckage field. The metal remnants of this once glorious ship were now all around Shepard, scattered on the ground or arching into the sky.
Slowly he walked towards the largest piece of wreckage: The burst hull. The Normandy's name still stood proudly at its side, a painful reminder of what the ship had once been. Apart from that, it was torn all over, with metal beams and arcs sticking into the sky. Their ends were charred and frayed. A dead skeleton. A husk. That's all that remains of her.
While Shepard had stayed a distance from the ship, viewing the signs of its destruction, Tali had passed him by. She looked at the ship's name tag and then leaned against the wall bearing it. Her movements were stiff, and now she seemed lost in thought. Shepard closed up to her and laid both arms around her.
"Jon," she spoke up in a faint and unsteady voice. "This… this is where you…"
"I'm still here," Shepard comforted her.
"The Normandy… all those people," Tali continued.
"I know," Shepard just said. "I know."
For some reason, he could not feel anything. It troubled him, but he just remained cold and apathetic. He could appreciate the destruction and death he saw, but it triggered no emotional response. Even his reaction to Tali's distress seemed oddly mechanical to himself.
After a while, the two walked on, as closely intertwined as their spacesuits allowed. Garrus apparently had set out to explore the site on his own. Behind a snow covered rock, Tali and Shepard found what looked like an entrance to something. The cockpit! That's the ship's cockpit. It must have been ripped off. It was in a relatively good shape, all things considered. The ruins of the navigation terminals were still readily identifiable, cables lay loosely on the ground, even some chairs had survived. Everything was covered in thick snow. Carefully, Shepard and Tali entered the wreck.
The Spectre froze when he reached its end.
The pilot's chair! Moreau's chair has survived… the chair from which I… I… Memories flooded over Shepard. Fires everywhere. A shockwave, blasting me away. All I can do… save Joker. And then… I'm all alone. Surrounded by darkness. Nobody but me, for an eternity. I'm falling… falling towards the planet. I'm dying. His breathing became haggard. I need to get out of here.
He swiftly turned around and ran out of the cockpit's remnant. He kept on running some distance outside, until he came to a halt - right in front of a battered armoured vehicle. The Mako… The Mako we 'requisitioned' from Binary Helix on Noveria… It had landed on a rock formation, but looked curiously intact. Its wheels and axis were weirdly bent out of shape, even for the vehicle's great flexibility, and its hull looked scratched, but Shepard could see no greater damage. He shook his head. He supported himself on his knees and breathed heavily. It took some time for Tali to catch up to him.
"Jon… you… maybe we should just return to the shuttle," she suggested. Tali sounded very depressed herself.
Again, Shepard shook his head. He felt horrible, but at least he felt something now. He walked on, in a more controlled manner, but without any clear aim. He just continued in the direction in which he was facing. After some time a mostly collapsed structure of steel and broken electronics rose in front of him. It took a while for him to identify what it was.
Tali was faster. She whispered: "The control unit… for the galaxy map."
The heart of the Normandy's CIC… Shepard remembered how he had stood there, giving orders, deciding their next moves - against Saren, against Cerberus, against pirates, against the Alliance. As if I'd not only commanded the Normandy, but destiny itself… Shepard was very self-secure with the decisions he had made back then. Most of them he would do again. And yet, looking back, the certainty he had felt now looked like hubris.
There was something else catching his attention. Buried under part of what used to be the map's steel railing, beneath other rubble and snow, he spotted a human hand. Shocked, he ran and knelt down besides it. It was frozen hard, but Alchera's coldness and lack of microbiological life meant that it would never actually decompose. Hastily, Shepard pushed aside rubble and snow. He unearthed a well preserved human, male corpse. He could even still identify him.
"Alexei Kiir," he whispered. "Communications specialist. One of the Fifth Fleet volunteers. He handled most of the delicate communication with the Alliance on the trip to and from Earth."
That was why he still remembered him: His daily updates on what the Alliance had to say.
Tears welled up in Shepard's eyes. He remembered how Kiir had shared the same pleasure as him at dumbfounding or embarrassing the Alliance. Kiir had not been very outgoing, but after some encouragement from Shepard he had not held back his biting sarcasm anymore. He came aboard just because of me! Because he supported me! And I led him to his death! Hell, the Normandy didn't even accomplish anything on her final mission!
The majority of the crew had been like this in the end. All bright-eyed idealists, and now most of them are dead. It had been his decision to take the Normandy to the Terminus, to the great concern of the Alliance. He had acted entirely independently, so what had happened was his responsibility - his fault. Shepard's body curled together slightly, and his tears were now falling freely behind his helmet. This outburst seemed to surprise Tali. Packed as Shepard was in a thick spacesuit, and curled together on his knees besides, she still tried to comfort him in an embrace.
Shepard leaned his helmet against her chest. For a time, he was entirely in the grip of his emotions, unable to control himself. All the feelings of frustration and depression that had built up over the last weeks now mixed with his mourning to break their way free of him. It took some time until he could even only form sobbing sentences.
"It was such a great ship. Such a great crew. And… and now… they're all dead and we're stuck with Cerberus and… ugh." He was so disgusted at himself that now self-pity entered his thoughts. Disgusted enough that he willed himself to calm down. This shouldn't be about me. With trembling knees, he came to his feet again.
"This must not happen again," he muttered, his vision still impaired by tears, "The Akuze must not become a second Normandy."
"Look," Tali told him. "Around his neck."
Shepard took a second look at the corpse. Angrily, he blinked away the last tears. Around Kiir's neck was a chain. "His… his dog tags," Shepard explained with a still troubled voice. "Sorry, I mean his…"
"Identification tag, I know," Tali finished the sentence. "I've been among human soldiers long enough."
Shepard paused. He may have failed his crew two years ago, but there was a tiny something, a small last service he could maybe do.
"Did… did you know they're made of a very special alloy?" he asked. He paused talking for a while, in order to catch his breath, so as to further calm down. "Not... for the alloy's properties. Simply so that sensors can be calibrated for it. Makes it easier… it makes it easier to find them… and hopefully the soldiers they belong to."
"You suggest… finding them all?" Tali asked. "I only meant to suggest to take his, but… yes, it's doable."
"It's a pity we can't transport the corpses, but I doubt we have coffins for... how many... a dozen people... aboard," Shepard stated. "Besides, it's unlikely we'll return to Alliance space any time soon."
"Eleven dead crew members," Tali provided. "Would… would a proper burial for them be important for you?"
"It wouldn't be for them," Shepard whispered. "But for their families. Just returning the dog tags… seems a bit insufficient. But I suppose it'll have to do."
"We can't take the corpses to Alliance space, but… maybe… eventually, the Alliance can send a mission," Tali mused. "Especially if they already knew where to pick up the corpses."
"You suggest transporting them here on the planet?" Shepard asked.
"If it isn't too disrespectful… sorry, I'm really unfamiliar with protocol in such cases," Tali answered. "But… if it's possible… we could use mass effect generators to transport them…"
"Yes," Shepard whispered and slightly louder: "Yes! We could. Calibrate your omni-tool for the dog tag's alloy, please. I'll call Garrus."
Finding all the dog-tags proved to be difficult work. For hours after hours, Shepard, Tali and Garrus walked through deep snow, crawled through the ruins of the Normandy or just stood around trying to make sense of their omni-tools' sensors' signals. None of them complained. With the tools they had at their disposal, transporting the corpses they found was easy in comparison, but it was also nerve-wrecking. Coming face to face with death like that, with the death of their old crew, was something that weighed heavily on all three. They all remained silent and focused on their work.
There was only one time when Shepard stopped and hesitated. His sensor registered a dog tag inside a larger piece of the ship that had apparently broken off from the rest. Despite the bad state of the wreck, after a while, Shepard recognized it. The mess… Shepard came to a halt. In a way, it all started here. It was here that Kaidan had first told him about what had happened at BAaT. All the crimes committed against him, his ruined youth, his never ending pains, the ruined relationship with his family… and he still just wanted to serve… to help people! Simply because he was a good man… and that cost him his life. Shepard breathed out. No. My decision to sacrifice him cost him his life. The Spectre felt miserable. Fortunately, his sensor now detected the dog-tag he had been looking for right in front of him. Angrily, he grabbed it, and began to lay free the corpse it belonged to. Just keep on working…
Shepard, Tali and Garrus managed to find all eleven dead crew members. They collected their dog tags and transported their corpses to the wreck of the ship's cockpit - the part of the ship still most intact. Then they filled the entrance to it with rocks.
All three stood in front of their work silently. As this was a makeshift grave, Shepard supposed this was a sort of burial, and Tali and Garrus indeed both looked as if lost in thought - or in silent prayer. Shepard, though, did not quite know what to say or think. He held no stock at all in the spiritual or the supernatural. If he cared to think about the topic, he thought of those areas as obsolete explanation models for the universe from ancient days, but most of the time he did not think about it at all. Which meant that right now, he felt out of his depth.
Tali seemed to recognize that. She looked at him, and then spoke up: "Traditions and beliefs seem to be as satisfied now as we can arrange it. We've done our duty. It's… it's time to return."
Shepard nodded. Before he could turn, though, he was approached by Garrus.
"Uh… Jon, I… I don't know if you're interested, but I found this," the turian told him.
He carried a helmet in his hands: The helmet of Shepard's old N7 armour. It was dirty and scratched, but it appeared to be remarkably intact. Immediately, more memories came to Shepard… too many memories.
"I'm no longer N7, and I have no intention to return there," he declared. In a whisper he added: "And I don't want souvenirs to my failures. Leave it here."
"Of course," Garrus confirmed. "I'll just put the helmet… hm." He looked around, and seeing neither a place to put it, nor Shepard caring, simply let it fall to the ground. "It's a pity, though. It seems nothing of the old Normandy remains. Except us, of course. I wish there was something useful here. Something to give a sense of continuity, a sense of just going on despite the odds..."
"Garrus…" Tali stopped him. She just pointed forwards.
To the Mako.
It's… possible, Shepard realized. The Mako… Something to move freely on a planet, with an old-style gun that would not be dependent on thermal clips. It would be useful, and beyond that there most certainly would be a symbolic value to it: The Mako would be a memory of how things should be, free of any taint from Cerberus, representing the freedom to go wherever he wanted without their interference.
"From the looks of it it should be easily repairable," Tali judged after a while. "Ancestors know what punishment our Makos[2] endured two years ago. They're built to survive orbital entry."
Shepard nodded. "I'll call the Akuze. We have cargo for her."
…
"Is there a reason you wanted me to come along?" Garrus asked. "Omega is not exactly a safe place for me anymore."
"It's just a short walk from the dock," Shepard reassured him. "No need to get worried."
One final appearance on Omega, and then we can leave this festering sore of a space station for good. Shepard was quite happy about that. Zaeed Massini had finally arrived here, and now they only needed to bring him to the Akuze. In fact, Shepard could simply have waited there, but he had a reason to leave the ship.
"No? Is that why you told us to bring weapons and armour?" Tali joked.
Shepard grinned. "Well… it still is Omega, after all."
"You seem to be in very good spirits," Garrus remarked.
"I am," Shepard confirmed. "How's the work going on the Mako?"
It had helped him immensely that in the end he had done a job on Alchera - that he had been able to do something for at least the families of the fallen. It had lessened the burden of the visit. He had already arranged for the collected dog tags to be sent to Alliance space.
"Ah… good," Garrus answered, surprised by the sudden change of topic. "It's a bit ironic that I do have one to care about, now that you already got me a job aboard, but Taylor spoke the truth: Everything is well ordered in the armoury, so I could devote my time to the Mako. It should be ready for use on the next field mission."
The section of Omega they were walking through was comparatively well-off. There was the usual multispecies crowd of people that could be found anywhere on Omega, but the corridors were not cramped by them like in other parts of the station, and the illumination was bright and constant.
"You did remember to change all the access codes in the armory, though, right?" Shepard asked.
"If it's that important to you, you're welcome to do the job yourself," Garrus joked. "Yes, I did. The non-Cerberus personnel… us, essentially, plus that human thief you picked up… and what's up with that, anyway? A thief?"
"Garrus, the codes," Shepard reminded him. He was rather amused than annoyed by Garrus' topical drift. He just felt too good not to be amused.
"Right. We now have the primary codes, while Cerberus personnel need express permission from you or me to get weapons," Garrus finished his explanation. "Now, what's with the thief? And with your good spirits? It's actually creeping me out a bit..."
Shepard chose to ignore the turian's second question. "We're surrounded by Cerberus members in the ship, and you worry about a thief? She's been an art thief. Yeah, right, not exactly ideal, but come on: Some property transgressions against the rich pale in comparison to what Cerberus has done. And even I can't risk antagonizing everybody."
"She's quite nice actually," Tali spoke up. "A voice of reason on a ship which sorely needs just that."
Shepard smiled. "So, between her and you two, the company on the ship is steadily improving. I certainly would not have thought that only two weeks or so ago."
Tali stopped. "Keelah, could you finally tell us what's up with you? You're practically dancing on your walk! Not that I'm complaining, but… what gives?"
Shepard turned around and surprised Tali by hugging her and lifting her into the air.
"Jon!" Tali exclaimed. "What… put me down!"
Shepard did and coughed affectedly, but still grinned throughout. Around the trio, people were looking curiously, but he did not care.
"Why are you suddenly so… so… jolly again?" Tali inquired. She stopped herself and added drily: "Just who are you, and what have you done to Jon?"
"It's the exact opposite!" Shepard explained enthusiastically. He led his friends to a quieter side corridor and continued in a calmer voice. "I finally went to see Dr Chakwas. Her tests took hours, but that's not the issue. The point is, she had all my old medical files available. She could compare them basically cell for cell with, well, what's left of my natural body. And it all fit! I'm me, that's the point!" He grinned somewhat sourly. "She even told me how foolish my worries had been. Cloning exists, of course, but not like the typical copy clones you see in the holos. If I remember myself as me, have my personality and all that, chances always are that I am me. Chakwas explained to me at length that there is no such thing as a 'mind transfer' or anything like that. The technology to copy single memories exists, but not entire personalities. Certainly not from a dead brain, anyway."
"Seems you should have gone to her earlier," Tali stated drily… only to then herself start a hug.
"Heh, I probably should have," Shepard told her shoulder. "Anyway… even though EDI watched the entire thing, I wanted to tell the news somewhere outside the ship."
Since he had come aboard the Akuze, Shepard had hardly thought about the problem of his identity anymore. There had simply been too many other things to worry about for such an almost mystical concern to enter his thoughts again. He had gone on combat missions, he had opposed Cerberus influence, he had made command decisions… he had done all those things. He had gotten used to not questioning that fact anymore.
And yet, it had been an immense relief to hear Chakwas' argument.
"Understandable," Garrus stated. He seemed confused. "But… this was really a worry you had?"
"Cerberus basically resurrected me, as I understand it. So to me, this is all miracle science anyway!" Shepard justified himself.
"This news is something that could be celebrated," Tali suggested.
"Ah… normally, yes," Shepard agreed. "But we're just here to pick up that mercenary, Massani, and then we're off again. We can't allow any delays while the Collectors could strike again any moment." He sighed. "So, let's go find that guy."
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For a place on a station as rotten as Omega, the plaza Shepard, Tali and Garrus just entered actually looked very nice. The walls were still as brownish-greyish as everywhere else, but the illumination was nearly as bright as on the Presidium, and there were plants everywhere to further lighten up the scenery. The utilitarian design of the corridors was undeniable, but whoever was in charge of this district had done a good job of hiding that as much as possible under various forms of decoration.
But what was even more uplifting was Shepard's all around positive mood, which was an amazing change from the previous weeks. It gave some hope to Tali that things would work out again, but what was more, she was just happy to see him happy.
So it is him… Not that she had really doubted that anymore. She had not thought about this, period, maybe because she had not wanted to. Shepard had returned into her life in what had been a true miracle, and she had absolutely not wanted to destroy that miracle by thinking too deeply about it. Still, it was nice to have confirmation on this.
"So, why can't all of Omega be like this?" Shepard asked Garrus. The turian certainly was the local expert on everything Omegan in the group.
"If all districts looked like this one, which ones would get exploited to finance it all?" Garrus posed a sarcastic counter-question.
Shepard grimaced. "True. Sorry I asked."
"It's not all bad, of course," Garrus moderated his stance. "Many people here simply have… Look out!"
The turian jerked Shepard behind a large potted plant sporting huge, thick and fleshy, purple leaves. Instinctively, Tali followed.
"Trevia Dekimu," Garrus hissed. "I know that face. She isn't wearing her Suns armour, but it's her. A Blue Suns captain. And the guys around her… I bet my best sniper rifle they're all Suns!"
"So you think it's dangerous for you here?" Shepard asked.
"The mercenary gangs aren't allowed to enter this district in arms or in their colours," Garrus explained aggressively. "That's what helps make it so peaceful. So usually the Suns just ignore the district. If they gather here, then that must serve some purpose."
"I don't know how Lawson communicated with Massani," Tali mused. "Usually she's very careful, but I consider any type of communications I don't know to be not safe."
"Aren't you two a bit paranoid?" Shepard asked. Nonetheless, he took care to remain hidden by the plant, and had his hands ready to draw his shotgun at short notice.
"They're coming in our direction!" Tali exclaimed.
"...okay, yeah, that's a hostile look alright," Shepard concluded.
More than a dozen turians and batarians, plus one asari, were marching. Some had already drawn pistols, the others had their hands near their weapons. Their intentions were clear. People on the plaza were hurriedly shuffling away from the scene.
"We need to flee," Shepard decided. "I'll try to throw something at them, and then we run… hm. That table looks suitable."
Shepard was looking at a heavy wooden table from a nearby café. Tali was unsure if Shepard's biotic powers could really lift it, but he had told her that Cerberus had given him a stronger implant. She just hoped his hastily devised makeshift plan would work.
A blue light engulfed the table. Shepard took a step forward, out of his cover to face the enemy group, raised the table… and a fountain of blood sprung from his head. Suddenly everything appeared to move in slow motion. Echoes of a sniper shot resounded through the plaza. Shepard collapsed and landed on the floor. Blood was around his head. The table fell down a moment later. Part of its edge was frayed. Panicked screams filled the plaza. And the turians and batarians drew their weapons, took position and aimed.
"Jon!"
For Tali it appeared as if the world was falling down. No… no… not again. Not now!
Disregarding the enemy group, she ran to… Jon… Jon's corpse?... Ignoring the bullets landing on her shields, she dragged his body into cover, frantically more worried about him than her own safety. At the same time, Garrus had unfolded his sniper rifle and was searching the direction the shot had come from. He himself fired two times. Tali could only hope that he was not accidentally shooting at innocent bystanders who looked like they could have been the assassins. Then again, she did not really care. If Shepard was dead, then all methods of revenge were okay with her.
While those thoughts raced through her mind, the mercenaries were still catching up to her and Garrus' position. It seemed Shepard's death was not enough for them. In response, she was working feverishly on her omni-tool. She had learned a thing or two about ventilation systems on Omega, and she decided to put that to use. Suddenly, a plate on the ground beneath the enemy group opened, and with a powerful, whining sound a ventilator below it began to operate. Tali could not see everything, but at least three mercenaries fell into it. She removed the safety measures on it.
The rest of the group was confused and unsure. And that was all the opportunity Tali needed. Blood calls out for blood. She did not know if Shepard was truly dead, but nearly all her life she had held to the doctrine of always assuming the worst. The one exception had been Shepard's resurrection and identity. Now, this did not seem to matter anymore.
Tali stormed out of her cover with her pistol drawn. She fired it relentlessly. When she closed up to the group, she simply threw it away and took her shotgun instead. The mercenaries reacted, but only belatedly. Between the opened ventilator and this one woman storm assault, they seemed to be a bit dazed. By the time bullets had Tali engulfed in the blue flames of her active kinetic shields, she was able to dance around the mercenaries and vanish behind the corner to a side corridor.
By her count she had gotten at least two of them, maybe another. It's a start. Old quarian legends automatically came to her mind: Tales of ancient days, now often romanticized, when clans held noble but bloody vendettas that mostly ended with nothing less than the total extinction of one side, or even of both. Nowadays, the galaxy only knew the quarians as rather humble engineers, but their culture was overflowing with poetic, yet brutal and gory epics, which reflected real events in quarian history. Those works glorified the world moving powers held by emotions like hate and love. At the end of most of those works, driven on by these heart wrenching feelings, nearly all characters were dead…. something which more often than not was historically accurate.
And in quarian history, different to humans or salarians, men and women had always gone into battle together. Female warriors were as likely in those epics to swear blood oaths of vengeance as their male counterparts. In fact, blood oaths of vengeance for a fallen lover were a very popular topic.
Tali never knew she could feel so sanguineous, but she was not questioning it.
Seeing an opportunity for her next move, she climbed on the porch roof of a nearby shop, and from there onto a thin supply pipe that went around the building. Kasumi would be better suited for this. While she hacked into the nearby illumination and killed it, she could see the remaining mercenaries running into her direction. Good. At least away from Jon and Garrus.
She turned off her helmet's illumination as well and pressed herself tightly against the wall, with her arms spread out against it, covered by a large shadow that now fell over her. Quarians could see better in the dark than any other sapient race in the galaxy. Below her she could see the mercenaries running past. Some looked very concerned, a few even confused. Good. Be scared. You have every reason to be. There's a monster in the darkness. She let herself fall onto a fruit stand below her. Blue, flower-like theanem from asari space and the cracking wood of the stand itself feathered her fall. She was able to land on one knee, awkwardly amidst smashed fruits, but without injuries. She immediately started to fire into the backs of the mercenaries.
Two or three of them stayed and turned around. Tali's main worry was the asari. She could use dampening fields around her, but only if she noticed the biotic soon enough. For now, Tali could not see the asari anywhere, though. She simply focused on those few mercenaries who made a stand. The rest was so confused and disorderly that they just fled.
When no living mercenary was nearby anymore, she stood up with the intent chase them. Just to be sure, she looked around… and saw the corpse of the asari lying on the still well illuminated open plaza. A puddle of blue blood was around her head. Did Garrus get her?
She was about to start sprinting when she felt a massive pain in her back. Unable to stand straight anymore, she simply fell flat over. She just barely managed to turn her head, so she would not land on her visor. She could not even wonder what just happened; she felt too much pain for that.
Looking up from her prone position, she saw a female turian standing directly above her, aiming a shotgun directly at her. Trevia Dekimu… The mercenary smiled, with her hand at the trigger…
...and had her head blasted away by a sniper shot. Her right mandible simply burst, as did her exoskeleton plate on that side of the face. It almost appeared as if her face would be severed from her skull. Blood, bone splinters and brain matter splattered in all directions, some of it on Tali. What remained of Dekimu fell down, also right onto the quarian.
For a moment, caught between a near death experience and a most gruesome death right in front of her eyes, Tali's thoughts just refused to work anymore. Then she came to her senses again. Garrus!
However, the blue-clad turian in fact came running towards the scene. And he had an assault rifle in his hands, not his sniper rifle.
"Get up, Tali!" he told her from afar. "There's more of them coming."
But as much as Tali struggled, she could not stand up. She did not even manage to get the dead turian off her. She could only turn her head around - and indeed she saw the mercenaries returning, apparently with reinforcements.
That's it then. Both Jon and I die. She was not content with that, not at all, but at least there was a certain symmetry to it.
"Get up, damn you!" Garrus cursed at her as he closed in on her position. "Jon is alive! Now get up!"
Alive? Jon is… alive.
With renewed power Tali tried to get herself free from Dekimu's corpse… but it still was not enough. Her body appeared to be broken; not even the immense will to survive that came with news of Shepard's survival was enough to change that. Ancestors, no. Please… please help me!
Hard claws clasped around her legs and unsoftly dragged her away. Garrus remained right above her, behind a cover, and fired on the oncoming mercenaries. Now newly reorganized, the plain-clothes Blue Suns reacted in a more logical manner. They sought cover, too, established fire support, and advanced. It was clear who would be the winner in this fight.
Tali saw one mercenary, a batarian man, running forwards, while Garrus had to keep still due to enemy fire. Soon, another, a batarian woman, followed. They'll soon be here…
Suddenly, the batarian man fell down. A sniper shot had finished him. What's going on here?
Tali decided to not wonder anymore. Her fate was now in the hands of the Ancestors, and they seemed to operate in mysterious ways.
So she was not even surprised anymore when a second stream of bullets, besides Garrus', kept the mercenaries in cover. Again, Tali moved her head. A human man had taken up position at the corner opposite to hers and Garrus'. He was armed in a quite eclectic armour in yellow and white. His face showed his advanced age and sported several scars. Massini… Zaeed Massini. Just in time.
"I arranged transport," Massani shouted over to Garrus. "We can get Shepard and the quarian to your ship in no time, as soon as we've finished off those bastards." He grunted. "They said this job was all about becoming big damn heroes. Nobody told me it would happen so damn quickly!"
Tali still did not entirely understand what was going on. More shots came from the mystery sniper, while on the ground Massani and Garrus soon won the upper hand. Maybe it was just the opiate equivalents her body released in reaction to her wounds, but she simply smiled. I'm alive, Jon's alive…
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[1]TFHS, chapter 14, the UNC:Dead Scientists assignment.
[2]For those who haven't read TFHS: The Normandy's original Mako was destroyed in the attack on Saren's base on Virmire. Later on, Shepard simply stole… err, I mean, as a Spectre simply requisitioned the Mako the team found in the garage on Noveria. Hence Tali's plural.
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I may become a bit too addicted to ninja-Tali.
Now, three new crew members, and hence here my list of their pseudo-game-mechanical powers! Remember, this only serves as a sort of characterization. Issues of balance or game mechanical logic do not apply here.
Garrus: Omega's best sniper, and probably the best sniper far beyond Omega. Garrus knows how to use guns, and not only sniper rifles. In addition, from his time with C-Sec, he has some experience with electronic systems and how to manipulate them, especially in combat situations.
Powers: Concussive Shot, Overload, Incendiary Ammo, [Armour Piercing Ammo]
Mordin: Mordin is an excellent scientist and doctor. Besides that, he is also a former SpecOps soldiers who has retained all his talents. His specialties and powers have all to do with his medical-scientific side, though.
Powers: Incinerate, Cryo Blast, (Unity), [Neural Shock]
Zaeed: This guy has seen it all. He is the archetypical soldier, who uses nothing fancy like biotics or tech. He's simply very good at shooting people while not getting shot all too often himself.
Powers: (Adrenaline Rush), Concussive Shot, Cryo Ammo, [Incendiary Ammo],
And yes, I'm aware that purely game technically, squadmates with Unity or Adrenaline Rush make few sense, but… work with me here! :p
Oh, and Merry Christmas!