Chapter 38: Chapter 38
Alliances
Chapter 38 : Quick
Inside the Dantius Space Dock Andrews looks out at the ship berthed there, another damned private yacht. Whispering into his mike he says "It's a no go, start working your way back to the shuttle everyone." 2 more hours wasted here he thought to himself. Well, at least he saved alittle time by finding an internal camera feed, looking at the sleeping security guard beside him he said to himself 'your lucky day squid' and silently leaves the small security office.
"F*ck" said Smythe, she had just reached the halfway point to her assigned position and the ventilation ducting here was not wide enough to turn around in. That ass Andrews knew she hated close spaces so of course who do you think got to do it? Her. Slowly she began moving backwards, there was a T junction about 10 meters back she could turn around in.
Greene sat there monitoring their positions, safe within the shuttle and glancing at the mission counter knew about another 20 minutes before they were all back aboard. Pulling up the data for their next dock he grimaces, Brevaert, tightest security of any of the docks. At least a full hour to break their protocols before Andrews can begin his infiltration and that's after the 25 minute boost to get there. Looking at the chrono he is at least happy to see they would be hitting it in the middle of the night shift, if the Normandy was there they would all be sleeping.
Dropping out of the vent shaft Jazzy turns quickly when she hears a sharp intake of breath. Moving swiftly she closed the distance, striking hard and fast at the salarian's neck and watches as he falls to the ground no longer able to breathe. With a evil grin she slowly pulls her knife out and with him watching her in fear, slits his throat. Turning she heads to the shuttle.
Boarding the shuttle Chavez looks around and smiles. First one back, Landry owes him 50 credits. That girl will never learn that betting against him is a bad choice. Stowing his gear he watches the exterior feeds as Nguyen pops up from his vantage point and heads in as well. If he's coming then the rest are almost here, he can feel the credits in his pocket already.
Finally all aboard the shuttle lifts and heads towards Brevaert.
…
There were only 38 minutes before the yacht reached the relay when Tali finally stirred beside him. Opening her eyes she just watched and listened to him talking about the time he and a few of his buddies decided to grab a beer in a rather seedy bar. As he continued she listened for a bit more before saying "Not exactly the type of bedtime story I heard as a child."
Looking over to her he replies "Good morning, did you sleep well?"
"Yes I did." she said then added "Thank you."
The way she said it he knew she meant his talking through her sleep. The worst of it should be over for her now but if he had to, he would talk to her all night again and again. Smiling at her he says "Almost to the relay and home is only 3 hour away after that. Ready to get back to work?"
"Yes, there's still a lot to do aboard the Normandy but the biggest issue was getting the thrusters installed. When we left they were back-ordered with no real delivery date posted." she said as she sat up and stretched her arms.
"Wait, if we're this close then we have access to the communication buoys. Have they accepted the planet?"
"Sorry, I was afraid you would wake up as I checked so I just kept talking to you." he replied and he saw her reaching for the control console.
After a few seconds of waiting the connected indication lit. Without waiting for a greeting she asked "Shala, has the vote been finalized?"
"Yes, the Qwib Qwib cast the final deciding vote. The quarian race has a planet, a home, for the first time in 300 years." she replied and Tali could hear the emotion in her voice. As what she said sank in, she began to cry with joy and relief. No longer outcasts among the stars, her people could now stand on solid ground again knowing it was theirs to keep.
Shala continued with "They have also accepted the Ogwer we had chosen so now they are deciding a name for both the city and the river. The List of Choices is still open Tali, you two may still submit your choices."
"List of choices?" John asked and as he did so he could tell by the slight shaking that Tali was crying. "Tali? Are you alright?"
Smiling as wide as she did the day they were bonded she replied "Yes John, it's just that it finally became real to me. A planet we can call ours. A home." Standing she reached out and pulled him from his seat, wrapping him in a hug as she continued crying.
Holding her tight he just let her cry, not saying word and keeping a watchful eye on the detectors.
Behind her, from the forgotten comm unit Shala can be heard asking "Tali? Tali are you there?"
Quickly letting John go she turns saying "Shala, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you. You said the List of Choices was still open? Please add the channel so we may enter our choices."
"Done, now I must get back to our meeting otherwise Han will have us passing the Citadel on the way to Aeia." she said and dropped her connection.
Looking at her John asks "You're making a list 17 million names long on what to call your first city?"
"Yes, what else would we do. There is a specific time limit to submit your choice. Then all duplicates are removed but the submitter is noted so if that name is chosen all who entered it can have equal pride in knowing they named the city. From there all similar ones are removed going with the one that's most prevalent and then the first of many votes is taken, dropping the lower 10 percent until only about 6 names remain and we vote on which one we will accept." she explained.
Following her he could see how it works now and asks "So? Have you chosen a name?"
"Yes, though I doubt it will be accepted." she said as she entered the name, "Shepard's Watch. If it was not for your watching over us we would still be homeless. And the river, ah. Tears of Joy." There. "Oh don't look at me that way, every quarian is doing the same thing, putting down in the list what they feel in their soul. And you need to put in your choice too John"
"No, this belongs to true quarian's Tali and although I appreciate the gesture,
I did nothing special here. You should have called it something your people could be proud of." he said.
Standing she holds him once more and as the tears still fell down her cheeks she said softly "I did."
…
He was in the middle of stretching when he heard a weak "It's about time you woke up" coming from his right. Opening his eyes he could see Lana looking back at him and Kal quickly sat upright. "Lana? You're feeling better?" he asked realizing just how dumb that question was.
Weakly she replied "Yes Kal. I'm still more tired than I should be but I am feeling better." she said as she watched him leave his table and come to stand beside hers. "Thank you for saving me."
"I didn't save you. Dr. Chakwas did, she's as good as Tali claimed her to be. Had it not been for her skill, the skill of her staff you would not be here with me now." he said softly.
"They may have saved my body Kal but you saved my soul. I..I saw the Ancestors, their arms were open welcoming me but I heard your voice calling in the mist. It was holding me in this world and I could not leave you, I would not leave you." she said. "They smiled at me as I turned away Kal, they knew I was returning for you."
Leaning forward Kal moved his visor to within a few inches of Lana's and stopped looking into her eyes. Softly he said "You are more important to me than anything I have ever known. My soul longs to join with yours." Tapping her visor with his he moved back only slightly as his eyes remained locked on hers.
"My soul feels the pull of yours as well inszel, now kiss me once more before I fall asleep again." she said and Kal does as he was asked. She sees him stand up and look down at her, she can't keep her eyes from slowly closing no matter how much she tried but the smile on her face was matched by the song she held in her soul. Her body's need for rest won against her desire to stay awake and slowly she drifted to sleep, wrapped in the warmth of his love.
Softly he says "You are my souls mate, I can do nothing but stand beside you." With those words spoken he knows that he has reached the final path and now must wait for her to catch up with him. Her words though tell him she too is nearing the final fork and soon they will be complete once more. Hearing a sound behind him he turns to see Judy just sitting at her desk watching them. "Judy, I must apologize. I had thought we two were alone."
Smiling at him she says "What you said was beautiful Kal and I'm sorry I was listening in on your conversation but I really can't leave her alone. Until Dr. Chakwas clears her we have to keep a constant watch, her infection or fever could return and we need to be able to respond quickly."
"It is alright, my words were for her but there is no shame in others hearing someone profess their love." he replied.
That was the most open thing Kal had said to anyone, his responses were usually very carefully chosen to not show his feelings and unless he was talking to Lana came across as emotionless. "If I may ask, and please forgive me for watching but I saw you tap your mask to hers. Why?" she asked.
"It is how we..show affection. How we kiss within our suits." he replied with only a slight hesitation. "There are other ways of expressing how we feel but it would be improper to touch her in her present state of attire."
"So that's what Tali and the Commander have been doing!" she says with a grin. Finally a bet with Garrus that she'll win, trying to see her face indeed. "Look Kal, you've been in here for over 3 days now. Go walk around the ship, stretch your legs. You saw she is fine and she'll be sleeping for a few hours at least anyway."
"Maybe you're right. There is a...tension within me that needs release. Is there an area for exercise, for physical exertion? I believe you call it a gym?" he asks.
"Yes, in the cargo hold there are some workout machines for weights and such. I've seen a lot of the crew using them and at this time of day no one will be down there to bother you. You're in our system now so I can contact your omnitool no matter where you are aboard the ship, I can call you if Lana wakes." she says smiling at him.
"Thank you, I believe I will go to the cargo hold." he stated and looking once more at Lana he turned and left the sickbay.
In the AI Core, Legion stood watching the exchange having tapped into the sickbays monitoring equipment. EDI had mentioned it after the issue with Tali entering too quickly before. It was the only compartment that actually had retained the equipment after Shepard had ordered the ship cleared of spy devices. Zooming in on Lana it states to EDI "Creator Lana'Shalgur is past danger. Probability calculations show that she and Creator Kal'Reegar will be fully bonded within the next few weeks."
"Well, I hope that Tali will not let me miss this one. I am still quiet perturbed that I missed hers with Commander Shepard." EDI replied.
"Unknown craft has just landed on pad 92P27. No transponder codes sent to dock for clearance." stated Legion.
"Monitor for activity. Do you have a visual of the craft?" asked EDI.
"No, all data-feeds external to the dock are still separate. We have been unable to create crossover links so we must rely on internal data-feeds from the dock itself for information." responded Legion.
"Possibility it is a late arriving dock worker. This has happened 3 times already but the lack of a transponder concerns me Legion." stated EDI.
"There has been no data leak, no report of the Normandy's current location. Probability calculations only show a 3.92 percent chance this is more than a dock worker attempting to enter the dock undetected by their supervisor." said Legion. "We will continue to monitor."
…
It had taken far longer than Andrews had liked to break into the docks security but Greene had finally done it and was now clearing a path for his team. Over an hour, seems they had recently upgraded their systems and some of those upgrades were surprising sophisticated. In the end it didn't matter though as they were now in the system.
After Greene had finally broken into the system the first thing he did was instruct the docks computers to log their ship as departed. Now, only a visual inspection would find the squat military shuttle sitting just outside their doors. "LT. Dock indicates we're clear." he said smiling. He really did love his job.
Andrews says clearly "Listen up people, once more if the Normandy is in there we go in as a team. Chavez will clear out CIC and secure the armory. Smythe and Nguyen will secure Deck 3, you both have the codes to seal the crews quarters so no one should be able to bother us there. Just kill anything in the pods unless it's quarian, they will be Shepard's buddies and we don't need them. Landry and Greene secure engineering. Remember, keep the quarian alive and unharmed. I'll head to deck 1 and handle Shepard."
"I said it before, it will be over 70 hours before the Hunley can return and in that time we could lose the ship again. We have the surprise, we can take them and everyone of you will then be up for the reward offered. Remember, we are Recon! First on the scene." he said proudly.
"Uh, LT. What about that AI they got. Won't it be a problem?" asked Landry.
"Not with this." he said indicating his omnitool. "It's got the kill codes for that thing. Just get near one of its holopads and zap, it's dead. Now you all set on the infiltration? First let's find out if our quarry is in there, then if it is we kick some alien loving ass."
"Greene listen for my signal. I don't want to wait too long if we find them." Andrews said.
"Understood LT. Dock states it's empty like all the others. Inner hangar is 110 meters in but there are plenty of security offices in between so you should get confirmation of what's inside before you get that far." stated Greene, looking at his panels once more he adds "Paths are clear."
"You heard the man, deploy." said Andrews as the hatch opened and his team began moving out.
The team split into 3 groups of 2,2 and 1 men. Each group entering through a different airlock to better their chances of finding a clear path into the Dock.
Entering quickly Andrews finds himself in an area most likely used for dock workers, the walls had not the polished look that these docks liked to show to their patrons. Moving swiftly down the corridor he saw the first security checkpoint ahead on the right, its security camera visible above the window. Smiling he takes careful aim with his Blindside device, triggering it he begins moving again knowing that the camera's video pickup is now burned white and useless. Passing underneath the window he can hear two salarian's complaining about the quality of their equipment.
Another security checkpoint but it's location makes it difficult to disable the camera without being seen. Activating his stealth mode he quickly passes that station as well and proceeds down two more flights of stairs before he hears talking ahead of him. Damn, he didn't want to leave a trail of bodies behind him. At least not until they were sure the Normandy was in here. Waiting a few precious minutes he was rewarded by the group ahead finally separating and moving off down the corridor.
Reaching an intersection he examines his map and heads straight through, moving down a few more corridors he pauses and pressing a status request he sees 4 other green indicators. His team is good so he continues down a flight of stairs and into another corridor. He is passing a few offices when one of his teams indicators begins flashing quickly. Pausing he says simply "Go."
"Confirmed, Cargo Accesses" he heard in his helmet. Landry's team got there first but he didn't care. Pulling up the map again he finds the coordinates he needs and says "Commit, L34, S197, P" and began moving to the 34th level, section 197 on the port side. Every team member, including Greene, was now headed to the same location. The cargo hatch entry on the port side of the Normandy.
Moving quickly but stealthily he managed to get there in 15 minutes only having to kill one guard, Landry and Nguyen were already there and Greene showed up soon after breathing hard. Another 5 minutes were spent waiting until Chavez and Smythe joined them. Glancing through the portal he looked at the prize all of Cerberus had been searching for, a prize that his small squad was going to take back.
"Time to move, by the numbers. Quick and quiet. Go." Andrews says and as one they move down the companionway and enter the Normandy.
Ogwer: Term used to describe a major rivers opening onto the sea. Literal Translation: High mouthed waterway. Imagine if the grand canyon on earth ended abruptly leaving the high cliffs on either side of the river and the sea before it.
Inszel: Term of status or standing within a social circle. Literal translation: Most trusted confidant and partner.
Used to describe the personal relationship of an individual. Implies a deep personal connection. Humans would say girlfriend or boyfriend but these only touch the surface of what it truly means.