What Was Lost
Chapter 33 - Understanding
Liara stared down at Shepard. The human was unconscious, asleep on one of the beds in the medbay. It didn't appear to be a restful sleep, either. Every few minutes, she'd shift a bit, as if trying to fight off some pain.
Tali sat down in a chair on the other side of the bed. The quarian gently reached out and took Shepard's hand in her own. Her other hand stroked Shepard's cheek softly.
"What happened to her?" Liara finally managed to ask.
"Eclipse." Tali's voice was quiet, so as not to disturb Shepard, but Liara could still hear the anger in it. "They hit her in the face with a full container of uncut Red Sand."
"Goddess..." Liara whispered. "Is... will she be all right?"
"The doctors say she should be, though she just needs rest."
"Do they have an idea when she's going to wake up?" Liara frowned.
"No, they can't say. They do think it'll be some time today, but they're not sure when." Tali pulled her chair closer to the bed, shifting herself to get more comfortable.
Liara found a chair of her own and dragged it to the other side of the bed. Tali looked over at her and seemed to be on the edge of saying something, but apparently decided not to. She simply nodded her way and went back to holding Shepard's hand.
They sat there for a while, then Tali sat up a bit. "Liara, why are... never mind."
"What?" Liara asked.
The quarian shook her head. "It's nothing."
"Tell me."
"All right." The quarian sighed. "I was just wondering how you could sell her the way you did. I mean, after everything Cerberus did to us."
"That's the only reason she's even alive right now, Tali, so I think you can stop bringing that one up." Liara replied. "Besides, you're with Cerberus now, too."
"I'm with Shepard, not Cerberus." Tali looked over at her. "While we're on the subject, why did you leave her? You didn't even give her a way to contact you after."
"I... I made a mistake." Liara stammered. "I had lost Shepard, and while I tried to recover her body, the Shadow Broker killed another friend of mine."
"So? You still just left her. You have no idea how much that hurt her."
"I realize that, Tali. I wasn't thinking clearly, I was stuck on revenge." She sighed. "I was an idiot."
Tali giggled. "You said it, not me."
"...Anyway, I know I've made a lot of mistakes, and I want to..." She took a deep breath. "I want to try to make things right again. To start over, you know?"
"You know I'm not the one you have to talk to about that."
"Yes, though I still need to find the Shadow Broker first. He's working with the Collectors, Tali. He needs to be stopped."
Tali squeezed Shepard's hand, not replying. They both settled back in their chairs to wait for Shepard to wake up.
Garrus yawned. He had gotten very little sleep last night, and now he was feeling the aftereffects. Not that he minded that much. He and Jack had spent most of the night getting used to sharing a room. It was definitely working better than he expected.
He nodded to Miranda when he ran into her at the elevator. The Cerberus operative looked over at him and... giggled.
"What's so funny?" He growled.
"I don't think that makeup goes with your clan markings." She kept giggling, louder now.
He glanced in the metal by the door of the elevator. Even in the hazy reflection, he could see smudges of some kind of makeup on his mandible. "Oh hell."
"I know you've been... busy... but do you think you could help me out with something?" She had stopped laughing, but she was still smiling way too much.
"What?" He asked suspiciously.
"I want someone to back me up when I talk with Thane Krios, someone who's not Cerberus. You qualify." She hit the button for the command deck. "He should be here in half an hour or so."
"I can do that. Though, out of curiousity, why me and not Tali or one of the others?"
"I really didn't want to try to drag Tali away from... well, I don't feel like getting in the middle of that mess. As for the others, I guess we could ask Grunt to negotiate if you'd rather." Miranda smirked at him. "Though I guess we could ask your girlfriend..."
"Let's not even go there." He grabbed a coffee and headed towards the conference room. "I'll wait there, if you don't mind."
He paused. "Actually, there's one stop I need to make first."
"Ah." Miranda replied softly. "I checked on her when we got back, the docs say she's doing better, but they're not sure when she'll wake up."
Garrus waved goodbye to Miranda and went down to the med bay. Looking in the window, he spotted Tali and Liara curled up in chairs next to Shepard's bed, both of them asleep along with the human. Dr Chakwas looked up from her work at her desk and nodded to him. She stood up and softly walked out of the medbay, taking care not to disturb the sleeping women.
"Garrus, how are you?" The doctor appeared a bit exhausted herself.
"I'm okay." He nodded towards the window. "How's she doing today?"
"She's doing better. I'm hoping she'll be awake later today." She sighed. "That Red Sand really did a number on her system. It's even worse, since she's a biotic. Her system processed it even faster than a normal person's would have."
He looked closer in the window. "Let me know when she wakes up, if that's okay."
Chakwas smiled tiredly to him. "I'm sure she'd like that."
Garrus went back to the elevator. He had an assassin to talk into joining the team.
Joker set his beer down on top of the console of the pilot's compartment. With the Normandy stuck in the dock, he had very little to do. He had stopped by the medbay to see how Shepard was doing, but there hadn't been much change.
So while he didn't have anything pressing to take care of, he also didn't have anywhere he needed to be either. "Damn, this sucks."
"Were you talking with me, Mr Moreau?" EDI's holopanel activated.
"Do you snoop on everything?" He wasn't really surprised it had been watching him any more. The AI seemed to enjoy tormenting him.
"One of my primary functions is observation and analysis of the crew's behavior and activities. In that capacity, I record all significant developments that occur shipboard."
"All of them?" He took another drink. "Wow. That's... So how do you determine what is significant?"
"That is why I observe everything." Was it his imagination or did the AI sound smug?
"Wonderful." He slumped down in his chair. "I really hope we leave here soon, I'm getting so bored."
"That seems likely, Mr Moreau. We have no further business that would necessitate us remaining here on Illium. Therefore, my projections suggest that we will be departing when Shepard regains consciousness."
"Nah, I'd say we're probably going to stick around for a few days." Joker relaxed in his seat.
"I do not understand. What data do you have to support that theory?"
"Uh, the fact that Liara's here, back on board?" He smirked at the display. "Or did all your 'observation and analysis' miss that little detail?"
"That does not seem relevant." Yep, the AI definitely sounded arrogant. "My observations indicate that Shepard has terminated her relationship with Dr T'soni. Currently, she appears to be involved with Tali'zorah."
"Trust me, Skynet. Things aren't over between her and Liara." He grimaced. "And that level of spying is creepy, really really creepy."
"Explain."
"Look, you might have all these numbers, but you don't know people." He turned his chair to face the holodisplay. "Liara's not over Shepard, and I'm pretty sure Shepard isn't over her either, no matter what she says."
"I disagree."
"EDI, they're still into each other, at least a little."
"Dr T'soni may be, but my observations of Shepard and Tali'zorah indicate they are interested in progressing their relationship from emotional and casual physical contact to full sexual involvement."
"You're just messing with me now, aren't you?" He glared at the holodisplay. "You said that on purpose."
"Indeed."
"You're evil EDI, you know that?"
"Thank you."
Tali sat up, stretching to get out some soreness from sleeping in the chair. She looked down at Shepard. She was still asleep, though she definitely looked more restful now. Tali gently squeezed her hand, taking care not to disturb her.
Liara stirred at her movement, drowsily waking up as well. The asari took a minute to focus on her, then stood up, nodding towards the door. Tali also got up, following her out of the room. They walked over to the mess hall. Tali only grabbed a cup of dextrocaf, but Liara opted for a full meal. They sat down at one of the tables.
"I hate sleeping in a chair." The asari stretched and started eating.
"Me too," Tali agreed.
They both sat quietly, the conversation dying as quickly as it started. Tali kept trying to think of something to say that wouldn't ruin things between them. She was glad they were... sort of getting along. At least more than they had in a long while.
"Tali, I... I'm sorry about before." Liara's voice surprised her.
"I'm sorry too."
"Do you ever think about before? The original Normandy, I mean?"
"Often."
"I do, as well." Liara pushed her tray back. "I know things were tough back then too, but it just doesn't seem as messed up as now."
Tali laughed sourly. "I can understand that. Everything seems so complicated. I never thought I'd miss homicidal Spectres and evil robots."
"I just..." The asari took a deep breath. "I want to fix things. Not just with Shepard." She looked directly Tali's way. "With you, too."
Tali sat for a long moment. When she spoke, her voice was soft. "I think I'd like that too, Liara."
"So how do we fix it?"
"I don't know... but we need to start."
Kaiden docked his ship in the small private bay he had rented in Omega. Some thugs tried to shake him down as soon as he landed, but he ignored them until Aria T'Loak's crew showed up, then he paid the usual 'protection' fees.
He didn't bother worrying about it. He knew enough about how Omega worked that some things weren't worth trying to change. Not to mention, she had enough firepower that he probably wouldn't get very far if he did try.
His first day in Omega, he spent most of his time visiting several of the more reliable information brokers there. Most of them had some data about the Collectors, but it was little more than the Alliance's information.
His only break was a broker who specialized in information about ships. An elderly turian, the broker scanned and filed everything he could about the ships that flew through Omega's relays. The turian charged a great deal of credits, but the data he supplied helped quite a bit.
He had purchased a full set of specifications for the Collector ship, at least the external information. He still had no idea what the ship was like inside, but at least he had more to work with now.
Unfortunately, it wasn't good news. The Collector ship that had abducted the colony was massive, easily a match for even the most advanced ships in the Alliance fleet. He spent most of the next day reviewing the stats for it.
He was sitting at a table at one of Omega's higher-end cafes. Kaiden was willing to pay extra for the quiet and the quality food. He was definitely sick of rations on the scout ship. Fresh food, or at least as fresh as could be found on Omega, was a big improvement.
From everything he could tell, even if he could somehow get past the 'seekers' or whatever else the Collectors used, he'd still need a large team to get into the ship and find Lillith. And while his funds could handle bribes and other expenses, they weren't up to hiring a full merc squad. That was a problem.
Of course, that still left finding a way to avoid the seekers. That was proving an even bigger problem. None of the brokers he visited had anything on that. And even environmental body armor didn't stop them.
He was so busy studying the data that he didn't notice the asari walking up to his table until she set a new drink down for him and took the seat across from him. "Ah, ma'am, I'm not..."
"I noticed you working all day so far, and I just had to see what was so interesting." She flashed him a dazzling smile. "I admire intense focus, desire, dedication like that. My name's Morinth."
Shepard groaned. She tried to sit up, but a blinding headache drove her back down to the bed. The light forced her eyes closed, as she tried to adust to the brightness. Her whole body felt sore, worn out.
She slowly, very slowly, tried to open her eyes again. It took her a few seconds, but she adjusted to it. From what she could tell, she was in sick bay. Again. She was definitely getting tired of waking up here.
"Awake at last?" Dr Chakwas leaned over her, checking her. The doctor sounded concerned, and looked a bit tired herself.
"I feel horrid, Doc." Her voice was raspy.
"I'm not surprised, Shepard. Those Eclipse mercs hit you with Red Sand." The doctor called up her own omnitool, running tests on her.
"Ugh." Shepard couldn't summon the energy to say anything more.
"If you can - " Shepard didn't hear the rest of what the doctor said as she slid back into unconsciousness.
When she woke up again, she felt slightly better, though her headache was still throbbing. She was also a bit sore as well, but not nearly as bad as earlier. She looked around the room. The doctor wasn't there, but this time Tali and Liara were.
The other two women had dragged chairs over to her bed and were sitting in them. Liara appeared to be dozing, but Tali was reading a datapad. The quarian was holding one of her hands, the cool texture of the glove against her skin.
The quarian noticed her movement and sat up straighter. She put her datapad down and reached out to gently stroke her cheek. "Shepard..."
"Tali." She tried to return the touch, but still felt weak.
Tali leaned down and hugged her, pressing her mask against Shepard's face. "You're finally awake... I was so worried about you."
Shepard finally managed to get an arm around her. Holding Tali felt so good. She needed the contact. The quarian also seemed to need to hold her. They both stayed there for a long moment.
"The doctor told us you woke up a bit earlier, while we were getting some food. I'm sorry I missed you." Tali whispered.
"It's okay, Tali." She whispered back. "You're here now."
"Shepard!" The activity had woken up Liara, who also hugged her.
"Liara?" She looked over at the asari. "What are you doing here?"
"I heard what happened while I was helping with something else. I was so worried about you."
"Ah, I see you're up again, Shepard." The doctor's voice joined the conversation. She turned her head towards where Chakwas waited. The medic made a shooing motion. "I need you two to move out of the way for a minute. Go get a drink or something."
Tali and Liara regretfully got off the bed and stepped out of the room, leaving the doctor to run her checks. Shepard waited impatiently while Chakwas finished. "All right, Shepard. I'm releasing you to your quarters, but I'm still restricting you from duty. And I'll want you to check back later."
"Okay, Doc."
Chakwas blinked. "You're not going to say anything else? Okay, I guess you should be alright. I want you to check back here in twelve hours, though."
She opened the door and waved. Tali and Liara walked back in. The doctor turned to them. "You can take her back to her quarters, but I want her to rest."
Both women nodded to the doctor. Tali walked over to her and helped her up from the bed. "Come on, Shepard, let's get you to your quarters."
Liara helped her from the other side. She still felt sore and was grateful for the assistance. They took it slow, and eventually made it to her quarters. She sat down on the couch, more exhausted that she'd expected from a simple walk here.
Shepard just sat there for a while. Neither Tali nor Liara said anything. She was a bit worried about the uneasy quiet between the two of them. At least they weren't arguing. Tali leaned in next to her, scooting close to her. Liara did the same, shooting the quarian a quick glare before smoothing it over.
Not arguing, right... Shepard sighed. This was going to be trouble.
Miranda closed the file on her datapad. The meeting with Thane Krios had gone fairly well. Letting Garrus take the lead had worked. The assassin agreed to work with them. Though, she was a bit disturbed at how good he was at reading people and situations. Still, it spoke well of his skills and experience.
She knocked on Shepard's cabin.
"One moment." The commander's voice was muffled from the other side of the door. Miranda waited for the door to open.
"Oh, hey Miranda." Shepard looked tired and pale. But she was awake, and that counted for a lot more. Her mouth quirked into a small smile. "Good to see you."
"It's really good to see you up and around, Shepard." Miranda smiled back at her. "You look a lot better."
"I feel better, too." The commander leaned back against the wall. "I heard about your work with Krios. You did excellent."
"Thanks Shepard." She frowned a bit. "Krios does want to speak with you privately when you feel up to it. He wouldn't tell me why."
"Sure. I'll try to get to it tomorrow, assuming the doc lets me."
"How... ah, are they getting along?" Miranda's curiousity got the better of her.
"More or less. I don't know what happened on that mission, but at least they're not clawing each other's eyes out."
Miranda giggled. "Better you than me. So what're we going to do next?"
"I'm not sure yet. We don't have any pressing business elsewhere, the Collectors have been fairly quiet so no leads to work on, and Samara hasn't finished tracking that ship. So, I guess we can see what turns up."
*Next Chapter: Shepard and Tali and Liara... Kaiden gets to know a new friend. Garrus and Jack continued. Kasumi needs some help with a party.*