Rannoch:
The wait hadn't been the worst part about everything, despite the fact that time felt like it was passing oh, so very slowly.
No, the worse part had been the feeling of being helpless. Even though they were right there, both Kaidan and Tali could do very little to help Shepard while he was wandering around in the Geth consensus with only Legion as his companion.
Legion had seemingly powered down just a few seconds after its last words to Kaidan, joining with Shepard inside the Geth consensus. It was weird to think about so Kaidan tried not to think about it too hard considering that what they were doing… It wasn't supposed to be possible yet.
Tali didn't seem to worry about that fact, but Kaidan was still unfamiliar with the Geth, unable to place it. He wanted to trust it, but it was hard.
He wasn't sure how long they sat there in silence, both of them wanting to break the silence, but too unsettled to do so.
At some point Admiral Raan contacted them and Tali, thankfully, handled the call. Kaidan wasn't sure if he could have been as diplomatic as she was as the uncertainty of the situation was leaving him stressed.
"Whatever Shepard and Legion is doing in there, it seems to be working," Tali informed Kaidan, who did feel better when hearing that.
"The Geth squadrons are acting strange, a few are falling behind and stopping up."
"Keep going, Shepard," Kaidan murmured as he stood up to look at his lover. "You can do it."
"Of course he can," Tali said reassuringly, placing her hand on Kaidan's shoulder. "This is Shepard we're talking about."
Kaidan let out a small chuckle, smiling some at Tali. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right."
Still, as he watched his lover inside the pod, wanting so badly to be there for him.
All they could do, however, was continuing to wait.
xoxoxoxox
Things had escalated quickly after the first call coming from Admiral Raan.
It hadn't been more than maybe 10 minutes, though in a way, it still felt like a small eternity to Kaidan, before Raan called again.
Whatever Shepard was doing inside the Geth Consensus, it was certainly effective as Admiral Raan informed them that half the Geth fleet had suddenly stopped up completely, that no active programs were detected on the ships anymore. When she added that the liveships were safe, Kaidan was able to let out a breath he hadn't even realized he had been holding before looking up at Shepard.
"You did it."
The minute they had to wait before Shepard opened his eyes was the longest minute in Kaidan's life. He felt his heart beat hard in his chest, but when the pod finally opened, allowing a somewhat dazed Shepard to come outside, Kaidan couldn't help it. He quickly crossed the small distance between them and gently cupped Shepard's cheek. "Are you alright, Commander?"
Shepard nodded, still looking a little dazed before glancing over at the still inactive body of Legion. "Did it work?"
"Geth fighters have been disabled," EDI confirmed over the shared channel that Tali had left open for them. "Any remaining squadrons attacking the liveships have withdrawn. The server is offline."
Shepard nodded some before looking up as Legion's body started moving. The Geth looked back and forward for a moment, looking dazed before it looked directly at the pods that still contained Geth. Geth that were suddenly moving and were coming out.
Without even hesitating, the trio all drew weapons, aiming them towards the large Geth, ready to fire.
"Are you sure," Shepard asked, but Kaidan honestly wasn't sure who he was asking.
When there was no reply, Shepard aimed his weapon towards the nearest Geth, a hint of anger creeping into his voice. "What's happening?"
The Geth moved to stand in front of them, but none of them drew weapons. Instead they lined up with Legion standing in front of them.
"We have transferred Geth programs from the server into these platforms," it explained, gesturing to the Geth behind it.
"Why," Shepard asked, clearly not happy about the situation as more Geth came towards them, surrounding them.
"Shepard," Kaidan whispered, letting his biotics ripple. He was getting bad vibes from this, but it wasn't like the Geth to just surround someone. Geths didn't exactly believe in taking someone hostage.
Legion took a step forward towards Shepard, tilting its head. "They wish to join us."
"They what," Tali asked, the surprise and aggression in her voice mimicking Kaidan's own internal reactions.
"While Shepard-Commander removed the Reaper infection, we judged we could persuade hostile Geth programs to reunite with ours," Legion explained.
"We were correct. These Geth have renounced the Old Machines, and will oppose the Reapers. They are now us."
"Why didn't you tell me any of this," Shepard asked, his shoulders more relaxed, but still with a good grip on his gun. It was clear that this was not something Shepard had expected from Legion and that being kept in the dark was something he did not approve of.
"We did not doubt you," Legion replied. "We doubted your allies."
Both Kaidan and Tali tensed, but it was the next words that put things in a little more perspective for Kaidan. "The creators' actions have placed their species in danger, but they are unsympathetic to what it has done to ours. The Quarians sanctioned this operation to save their people. They would not have done so if they knew we wished to preserve Geth as well."
"I understand not wanting to leave anyone behind," Shepard said and Kaidan could hear the subtle, raw emotion in his voice.
Ashley…
It was still such a raw, bleeding memory for them both.
"You accept our actions?" Legion asked and Kaidan could swear that the Geth sounded almost… Surprised. Worried.
"The lifeships are safe, and we have more Geth on our side. We both did what we came to do," Shepard said as he placed his gun in its holster.
"We judged you would understand. Prime units will be available once the Reaper signal has been located and destroyed."
Shepard let out a small chuckled. "Remind me to warn Admiral Hackett he's got some primes coming." Running his hand over his face, Shepard nodded his head towards the exit. "Let's get back to the Normandy."
"I second that," Kaidan murmured, following Shepard and Tali as they headed outside.
And he had to admit… The way the Geth parted ways for his lover… That was pretty neat.
It was a sight to see.
xoxoxoxoxox
They didn't get much of a break once they were back on the Normandy. It felt like the second they set foot back onto the ship, it headed straight towards their intended target before Legion had intervened.
Rannoch.
Despite the intel Shepard had given them, the course was still set. They had come too far to back away now and the fact was, there was a Reaper-threat in the area. They couldn't just back away and leave.
Kaidan had managed to steal himself a cat-nap, just so he had enough energy to keep himself going, but he strongly suspected that Shepard was living on an unhealthy mix of energy bars and coffee. He couldn't remember the last time he had actually seen Shepard sleep, not even during the times when he and Shepard shared a bed.
The worse part was that he couldn't even ask Shepard to take a break because there simply wasn't time. He offered, of course, to take over part of the load, but even as Kaidan took some of the assignments from Shepard, writing reports for the Council, sending updates, requests, requisitions, arranging meetings and similar things, Shepard always found something else that needed to be done.
There were simply too many people asking too many things all at once.
They were all tired, they were carrying a load, but Shepard, without a doubt, carried the biggest part.
As they prepared for landing on Rannoch, Kaidan glanced towards his lover, taking in the dark shadows under his eyes and the tenseness in his shoulders.
He would have to remedy that as soon as they were done on Rannoch.
They would finish this now.
Shepard had requested for both Kaidan and Tali to join him as part of the ground-team and Kaidan was more than happy to come along. He had to admit, a small part of him was a little bit excited. Rannoch had been off-limits because of the Geth for years and this would be the first time Tali would see her home-world. He wanted to be there when she did.
Legion also joined them, upon its own insistence as they were having one major issue they had to deal with.
If they were to deal with the Reaper that was on Rannoch, they needed a big gun and the biggest they had was on the Normandy. They had calibrated it to perfection, but they still needed a clear target and as long as the satellites on the ground was disturbed, they didn't have that.
They needed a different plan.
One that Legion, apparently, had already prepared by holding back something quite vital from them all: the fact that it was upgraded with Reaper's code.
Shepard seemed as taken of guard with the Geth as Kaidan was and Kaidan wasn't sure if he was to be concerned or relieved that Shepard seemed surprised, even disappointed with Legion's lack of sharing its plan with the rest of them.
Yet, he couldn't fault the Geth for being reluctant with sharing everything. They were organics and organics were emotional, instinctual creatures. Geth dealt with the cold, hard facts.
And it was seemingly the somewhat emotional aspect of the Geth's desires that had held Legion back from speaking.
Shame.
It seemed like even artificial intelligent machines weren't immune from that emotion, even if they didn't understand it fully.
When the shuttle landed on the planet's surface, near the base they were heading towards, Legion left them to handle his part of the mission; getting them an escape vehicle while Shepard, Kaidan and Tali headed towards the upper entrance.
Kaidan watched as Legion as he left before his eyes were drawn to Tali.
The Quarian was slowly walking off the shuttle and that is when Kaidan remembered again.
This was the very first time Tali was walking on the surface of her home world. Her home. Her world.
A world she had only heard about in stories and songs, a world no Quarian had seen for centuries. Now she was there, the first Quarian to set foot on the rocky ground of Rannoch in three-hundred years.
Shepard glanced towards him and Kaidan could only smile, giving his lover a nod. He understood and he wanted Shepard to have that moment with their companion.
Giving Kaidan a smile back, Shepard stepped off the shuttle and walked over to Tali while Kaidan stood back for the moment to let them have their moment. It was private and while they were all friends, Shepard knew more about Tali's struggle than Kaidan did.
This was important for them and Kaidan was happy to step back and let them have this together.
This was just the beginning of a long list of things they wanted to do, but just standing there, on Rannoch, it was a victory.
Still, there was an ugly truth that was lurking at the back of Kaidan's mind, a possibility that he just couldn't ignore, no matter how much he tried to ignore it.
This… This could very well be the only chance Tali would ever get to set foot on her home world.
He had no illusions that this was going to be pretty.
There were Geth down with them, hostile ones and a Reaper.
Chances of casualties in one way, shape or form were high, almost undeniable.
Still, as Tali turned around to look at Kaidan, waving him over while clenching a rock in her hand, Kaidan couldn't help but smile, pushing himself away from his spot by the shuttle's door so he could join his friends.
They would win this.
They just had to.
