The hanging wires draped down thickly in Shepard's view. He couldn't see from one side of the room to the other, but strangely that only made him smile. He remembered his two weeks of jungle living with Tali. Even though a crazy hell-bent Krogan tried to kill them, it was one of the most relaxing 'vacations' that Shepard had had in awhile. He flipped open his Omni-tool. Half an hour had already passed, but he didn't feel the least bit of concern.
He scanned the walls of the broken room. Each time he found a problem, he marked it with chalk. Eventually the room looked like a voodoo ritual circle. The arrows and lines on the floor followed by personalized pictographs sealed the deal. Shepard looked at his handiwork. He had only half an hour remaining. He followed his lines and arrows. Each converged to a single point in the middle of the room. Shepard unscrewed the floor panel to reveal a single misaligned subroutine.
With a quick flip, the room's lighting quit flickering and resumed a strong and bright glimmer. Daro walked back into the room and looked around. The bizarre lines and arrows with strange animals and people running on them confused her. She completely disregarded Shepard as she followed the lines up the walls and on the ceiling.
"Very… uhm… good Shepard…" Daro said examining the minute details of a perfect anatomically correct Vesuvian Turian. "Was this all necessary?"
"No. I found the mistake at the beginning of the first hour, but I had to make sure. I used the other hour to trace out the room and find the pattern in the room and how the power fluctuations were impacting the ships core." Shepard said rather quickly and in a single breath.
Daro stared at him with her mouth agape. "You may proceed to the ship…" she said at a loss for words.
"Don't you mean room?" Shepard asked.
"No. The next challenge is on a nearby planet. It was constructed just for such an occasion." Daro said, regaining some of her composure.
"Keelah Se'lai, Daro'Xen vas Moreh." Shepard said humbly.
"Keelah Se'lai, Commander Shepard vas Normandy…." Daro said staring dumbfounded at Shepard as he left the room.
"You Bosh'tet!" Tali screamed.
She pointed a menacing finger at Zaal who was now standing.
"Please, Tali, contain yourself…" Zaal said, backing up.
"Your playing Shepard! This is all a game! And you! You created it!" Tali said slamming her fist on the table.
"It's tradition Tali. We must keep our culture alive…" Zaal pleaded so she would calm down.
"I don't think 'tradition' means give my husband the hardest challenges that even a well trained quarian would have problems doing! I think your still mad at Shepard being my lawyer! You know… He's beaten you twice now…" Tali said mockingly.
Zaal didn't say a word. He stood in silence as he regarded the rigid form of Tali who clearly had the means to tear him apart. He turned and walked out the door.
"I'll let you think about it. I want you to see how you are treating us, your family, now that your in love with this 'human'." Zaal said as he closed the door.
Tali pushed the random ornaments and trash that was on the table onto the floor. She thought about her actions and her words. She didn't regret any of them. She was fighting for something that she wanted, and she was not going to be beaten by this. Zaal's words echoed in her head. "Your in love with this 'human'." How he had referred to Shepard by his species angered her, but the more she thought about it, the more she remembered what she had said to Shepard.
"I can't tell you how much what you said means to me, but I understand if you need to find something… someone else. Not that I'm complaining if your still interested… Are you still interested?" Tal asked hopefully.
"I don't want to risk your health, but I'm willing to wait." Shepard said with a smile at the end.
Tali's mind raced with happiness. He wants to stay with me! He loves me! She composed herself enough to respond.
"Thank you… I want you to see what is under this damned helmet. I need to feel your skin against mine. To share myself with you before we fly off into the final battle. I will find a way…"
The memory was still vivid in Tali's mind. Those few days when Shepard came down to visit her in engineering were her most treasured memories. She clenched her fist at the promise she made.
"I will find a way to make it permanent…" Tali said to herself.
She could feel Shepard's touch on her hands. The sensation even caused her to look down at her three fingered hands. She looked over at the reflective wall of the room and looked at her body. She followed her own curves and found herself to be strikingly beautiful, but the words from her memory nagged at her. Someone else. She looked at her quarian legs and back at her hands. Doubt began to take over her mind. She slowly sat back down in her chair; her hands were still stretched out in front of her.
"Why did you have to be a quarian Tali?" She asked herself. Something yanked in her mind, a protest, an outburst, an objection! What are you talking about Tali? He likes you because of who you are! He won't leave you because you have limitations. He loves you more than anything in this galaxy! Stop doubting yourself and stay strong. One day there will be a way!
Tali smiled at her own mental battle. She was being stupid, and had let Zaal get under skin. She fumbled with her hands only briefly before standing to leave. She opened the side door to find a cubicle sized room with a single cot laying in it. She sighed at the memory of the cramped living conditions. She remembered Shepard's cabin. She remembered Shepard's touch. She could even feel those securing arms wrap around her. She smiled as she felt herself drift off into a deep sleep. She felt her body fall into the peaceful darkness of a reminiscent dream, a fall of pure weightlessness and misdirection. She wondered how badly Shepard was destroying the tasks. She wondered until sleep took her mind to a faraway place.
Shepard ran through the dark corridors of a decrepit maze. Each turn seemed to be blocked by a door that needed to be hacked. Every hack felt harder and harder as Shepard strained his senses. He could hear them coming through the corridors. They gave small growls and yips as they ran though the maze. Shepard had been relieved of all of his weapons before he had entered so that he wouldn't damage the doors.
He fumbled through the five layers of the door he was stuck at. His mind was a blur as the separate screens with blinking activation points flickered harmoniously. The lock clicked loudly out and the door was open. He had just walked through the doorway when a large Varren slid around the corner. Its large bulbous eyes stared at him as its mouth dripped with sticky saliva. Its lips curled as a low growl echoed out of its mouth.
Shepard never broke eye contact as he slowly approached the door switch. He lifted his hand slowly towards the button. The Varren watched Shepard's hand move up and out behind the wall. It growled louder as it took a few steps toward Shepard. In response, Shepard quickly pressed the button. His sudden movements brought the killing speed of the Varren forwards. The door slid shut just as the Varren made it to the door. Shepard listened to the dull thud and scratching noises as the Varren attacked the other side of the door.
He wiped the sweat from his brow and laid on a patch of soft moss that was growing on the side of the labyrinth wall. It was surprisingly comfortable. He glanced at both doors to make sure that they were both locked. Happily they were as he closed his eyes and instantly fell into a deep sleep. An image of Tali was first to appear in his mind followed closely by her voice calling to him. He followed the voice through the darkness and into a calm and soothing sleep.
Krog stood over the moist corpse of a thresher maw. The blood dripped from his fist where he had punch the beast in the eye. He breathed out and smiled menacingly at the corpse laying in front of him.
"This is no challenge…" Krog said to himself as he felt the scratch along the side of his face.
His new cybernetic eye had improved Krog's hunting ability, and it excited him greatly. He flipped open his Omni-tool and brought up a picture of Shepard and Tali. He smiled at the picture and chuckled to himself.
"Married her I see…" Krog said to himself. "Hopefully our next fight you will be more prepared."
Krog pointed his shotgun behind him and shot the side of the thresher maw's face. A piece blew off as the creature lurched one last time. He turned and walked over to the mystified colonists who stood wide-eyed and mouths agape at the feat that Krog had accomplished. He sneered at the colonists leader and rested the gun on his shoulder. He held out his Omni-tool as the leader fumbled through his to process the transaction. Krog smiled at the large balance that he had accumulated, but that never gave him any satisfaction. He gave the village leader a good-bye head butt that knocked him out and took his leave. These humans were making him sick.
He fired his ship up and looked at the galactic map. A small red dot flickered at the Migrant Fleet. He laughed and threw the ship into auto start-up. He folded his arms and looked up as he remembered Shepard's feisty quarian wife.
"She has some claws Shepard… I wish you the best of luck on your marriage…" Krog said to himself with a smile.
He set the ship on a course to Illium. He had a client, an asari client, who was paying well. He smiled as he looked at the last name of his client. He repeated it slowly to get a ring for it.
"T'Soni…" He fell back in a more relaxed state. He had heard that name before, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He shrugged and looked back at the progress of the ship. "Such a beautiful name…" Krog laughed as he punched the ignition switch.
Miranda and Garrus walked around the ships of the Migrant Fleet. They weren't much to look at, but the quarian symbols scattered around the walls and windows had such an artistic feel to them though Garrus and Miranda cared little for that. They walked to the ship's lunch room where a large conglomeration of quarian's sat socializing loudly. The smell in the room was thick and delicious smelling, something that Garrus and Miranda never would have expected on a quarian ship.
The seats were simple mess hall chairs and luxury did not exist. A young quarian waitress walked over to the table and pulled a pad from her pocket. She looked at Garrus and smiled underneath of her mask. She looked over at Miranda and noticed the Cerberus emblem on the side. She glared at that emblem before turning her attention back to Garrus.
"What would you like to have?" The waitress asked Garrus.
"I'll have the Turian special…" Garrus said as he folded his hands.
"That's very original sir…" The waitress said sarcastically. "And what… do you want?"
"Do you have anything that humans can eat?" Miranda asked.
"We have fish…" the waitress said.
"Then I'll have a fish," Miranda said with a smile.
"Cooked or raw?" the waitress asked.
"Cooked… with seasoning if you can," Miranda said with a smile.
Garrus had followed the waitress's gaze at Miranda's Cerberus emblem on her collar. He looked over at the waitress and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and regarded him for a second. Garrus motioned with his fingers that he had to tell her something private. She leaned in and Garrus whispered in her auditory receiver. The waitress gave her apologies and rushed to the kitchen.
"What did you say to her?" Miranda asked.
"Well, you know… Hey is that Tali?" Garrus asked looking over at a hunched over quarian who had just finished three turian ales. It had to have been Tali because her mask was sitting right next to her.
Garrus and Miranda looked at each other slightly confused. Miranda took in the three empty glasses that were sitting by Tali.
"Do you think she's drunk?" Miranda asked.
"She has to be…" Garrus said staring at Tali with cautious eyes.
"Should we talk to her?" Miranda asked.
"I don't know… She might be angry…." Garrus said.
"So?" Miranda said looking at the slim quarian again.
"She has a shotgun… and she is drunk… If she is upset, well… we may never get our food or have stomachs to put the food." Garrus said.
"I see your point." Miranda said. "But I still think we should talk to her. At least after we get our food."
"After we eat our food… The last meal before the execution?" Garrus asked.
"How bad could it be?" Miranda asked.
