Laryna
"Garrus!" I called, unable to contain my excitement.
"Yeah?" he asked, looking my direction from his conversation. He was leaning against the open door of the battery, Gardner at the bottom of the short stairs that lead up into, as I rushed up. I smiled at them both, waving the dossier I was reading.
"Cerberus found intel on where Tali went," I said. "She's only just arrived there, and we're not far. I already have Joker in route. Gear up. I think we'll give her hand."
"You mean swipe her off her feet and then lock her in Engineering," Garrus joked, and I shrugged my confirmation, earning a slight round of laughter from those around. "Who else are you taking?"
"I was thinking Grunt," I replied. "There will likely be geth, and I think he'd enjoy facing down a prime."
"Good call."
We were touching down on planet less than an hour later.
"Laryna, our data indicates that Tali is somewhere in these ruins," EDI reported as the shuttle settled for drop off. "There is considerable geth activity, and an environmental hazard. Solar output has overwhelmed Haestorm's protective magnetosphere. Exposure to direct sunlight will damage your shields."
"Thanks, EDI," I replied as we lightly jumped off in a nice heavily shaded spot. I looked around, not liking the feel of this place. There was a haze to the air. The heat was so intense I could practically smell it. The shuttle had left us off at a high point, an uneven slope of concert and steel leading down into rough buildings made of stone, most of which were falling apart into rubble. The way down itself was exposed, but there were a few structures tall enough to cast a few long shadows across its length in a couple places.
I gave my legs slight shakes to loosen them up, and sprinted for the first shadow. Immediately my combat visor showed my shields draining, but I made the safety of the darkness before they were little more than half drained. Garrus was hot on my heels, but Grunt lumbered beyond a bit slower, and barely made it.
"This next one is longer," I warned him, earning me a slightly hostile glare.
Going first again, I sprinted down a metal grate that sloped into the buildings below. Stone walls rose up on either side as I made their shade, wondering at their simplistic style from a race that had such a rich culture. Perhaps they have always enjoyed the simplistic, even before being banished to space. Or perhaps it wasn't always so gray and lifeless, as it was now, hundreds of years later.
"I'm having serious issues with my shields," Garrus growled as he joined me in hiding from the sun. He brought up his omni-tool and started to do some adjustments to the power draws on his shields as Grunt lumbered up, too. He had picked up the pace, but I swear he looked a little rosy around his head plates, but I figured it would be safer not to comment.
"So we'll fight from the shade," Grunt grumbled, almost in defeat. "But no hiding."
Still holding my tongue, we approached a gatehouse in the closest wall. A faded red door with a lot of foot prints and scuff marks marred the dirt at its entrance. I could hear a recording playing through the door, but it wasn't clear until I had it opened.
"Emergency log entry," it was saying. "The geth are here. I've stayed to buy the others time. Anyone who gets this, find Tali'Zorah. She and that data are all that matters. Keelah se'lai."
The quarian who must have made the recording was slumped down nearby, a couple geth scattered about. I checked my visor, but there were no life signs. "Keelah se'lai," I repeated to him. Garrus hit the command on the gate console, and I could hear it slide out of the way. Grunt lead the way out then, eager for the fighting to start, I'm sure.
"Incoming dropship!" Garrus warned as we crossed into the loading area beyond the gate. We scattered, taking up defensive positions as one of the wasp like geth ships made a wide sweep nearby, dropping several geth from its gut. None of us hesitant to open fire. As we were taking them down though, more were converging on us from their posts nearby. I saw all the small red dots very briefly before my visor went to static from common geth jamming outputs. I quickly turned the function off before it could give me a headache.
I took a hard look around after I dropped a few more. I spotted another metal grate ramp, just like the one that had lead us into this compound, off to our right. It lead onto a balcony that stretched the length of the area, with lots of solid metal railing and stacks of pipes poking up above those. Should be good enough cover. I quickly joined Garrus in his cover nearby, and directed his attention to the ramp. He nodded his understanding and I provided some cover fire as he made a run for it. The upper parts were in direct sunlight, but it was brief enough that he had plenty of time to get up and into shade before his shields could drop.
"Grunt!" I yelled. He was to far ahead of me at the moment for me to make a break for his cover. "Let's make them dance!" I shouted as he spared a look at me. A wicked grin answered my order as he took in my meaning, and with a roar he charged some of the geth that were closing in on him. My biotics flared to life in response and I set up a singularity to protect his flank and rotated between warps and my pistol to provide him additional cover. He was successful in staying in the shade, and we were both able to grab the attention of the geth on the ground. As they converged on our location, Garrus quickly got to work, destroying several units with head shots before he started to draw attention. Some broke away in pursuit, some for the ramp he had originally taken and others for the ramp that was on the far side of the square. I set up a new singularity at the base of our ramp, and he was able to easy pick them off as they were either caught up in it or milling about trying not to. But there was nothing I could do about the ones in the other direction; they quickly were beyond my gun or warp range. Knowing I couldn't abandon Grunt with the majority of the attackers, I turned to focus on getting them down as quickly as possible. Within minutes the head shots stopped, and I could hear his assault rifle going off. Only it's smooth, even firing told me he was alright and holding his position, which was helping me keep calm in turn.
Even knowing he had fewer to deal with than we did, I was still surprised when he came up behind the last few geth remaining. A quick look over showed he had no injuries.
Grunt laughed in his battle fervor, stepping over a fallen geth to give the turian a good rump on the shoulder. "You're good, pointy."
"One of the best," I agreed. "You weren't to shabby either," I was quick to add. He rewarded me with another krogan grin, which was pretty menacing considering he had oil still dripping from his plates.
"We should keep moving," Garrus said, turning and walking quickly back the way he had came. Grunt gave me look, like he wanted me to contest the loss of point, but I just shrugged my shoulders.
"You heard the man."
There was another gate set up on the far end, but no gatehouse with it. A quick look around though showed a hall that curved around the gate, looking like it should connect to the other side. We took it without hesitation. It was swarming with geth. Garrus and I moved smoothly from the limited cover while Grunt acted as our battering ram. We progressed steadily through the darkness, and instantly rushed forward when we heard gun fire ahead of our positions; shots not meant for us.
We came upon a handful of geth troopers that had survived the assault just as the last defending quarian fell. Angry, I sent a rare shockwave towards them, scattering the geth. Only my battle discipline had me taking cover instead of charging in with Grunt. The quarians were so few; I hated not being in time to help.
There was radio chatter coming from a hard linked radio next to one of the fallen quarians. "Break-break-break. OP-1, t his is Squad Leader Kal'Reegar, do you copy? The geth send a dropship towards OP-2. Tali'Zorah's secure, but we need backup. We're bunkered up here. Can you send support? OP-1, this is Squard Leader Kal'Reegar, come in, over!"
"This is Commander Shepard of the Normandy," I replied into the radio after gently prying off it out of the dead quraian's hand. "Can we provide assistance?"
"Patch your radio into Channel 617 Theta," he instructed. I quickly did so, looking over at my squad to make sure they did the same. They both signaled when also patched in. "We were on a stealth mission. High risk. We found what we were after, but the geth found us. They've got us pinned down. Can't get to our ship, can't transmit data through the solar radiation."
"What's the status of your team?" I asked. Besides the first gate, these were the first fallen quarians we've come across. "How many of you are left?"
"We were a small squad. Dozen marines, plus the science team. We're down to half-strength now. Made the synthetic bastards pay for it, though."
So few against so many. "Any idea where the geth came from?" I inquired as we cautiously moved forward.
"One of their patrol ships found us. Dropships started raining geth down on our heads before we could get off-world. System's under geth control. We knew they made planetary sweeps periodically. We'd hoped going low-emissions would hide us."
Risky. To risky, apparently. "Do we have to worry about the geth sending in reinforcements?"
"I don't think so," Kal'Reegar responded as we came to the end of the hall and viewed another square. It was smaller then the last, but had more debris, stacks of unused blocks, and old building equipment. "Their patrol ship hasn't lifted off again, and the radiation blocks all off-world communication."
"What brought you this deep into geth-controlled space?" I asked while looking around, trying to pinpoint where I was hearing more firing.
"You're asking the wrong person, Shepard," he answered. "I just point and shoot. Something about the sun. It's going bad faster than it should. Some kind of energy problem."
"How are you holding up? We can be there in a few minutes."
"Take it slow and careful," he cautioned. "Direct sunlight fries your shields all to hell. We're bunkered down at the base camp across the valley. I left Tali'Zorah at a secure shelter, then doubled back to hold the choke point." I could see where the quarians were now, with the information. "Getting Tali out safely is our top priority. If you can extract her, we'll keep them off you."
"You've got confirmation that the geth haven't reached Tali yet?" I asked, unable to keep the concern out of my voice. Garrus put a hand on my shoulder, but I could see the same concern in his eyes, too.
"Affirmative," Reegar replied, and I sighed in relief. "Left my best men with her. When you get here, you can talk to her on the comm. Every marine on this rock is sworn to protect Tali'Zorah. Long as one of us is still drawing air, she'll be safe."
While I was glad they're going to keep her from harm, I was shocked at how much effort, and death, went into this study about a sun. "You're going to throw your life away for research?" I demanded.
"Negative. I'm going to give my life for the Migrant Fleet. All the difference in the world. I'm no tech expert, Shepard. I'm a marine. They tell me to shoot, I shoot. They said to protect Tali and the data. If you get them out safe, I've done my job."
It was a bottom line I could respect, if not necessarily like. Maybe I've grown to use to my command. "Hold position. We'll hit their back ranks." And we started to move into position to flank the geth the group we spotted were holding off at a distance.
"Wait!" Reegar suddenly barked. "Watch your ass! We've got a dropship coming in!"
Sure enough, one of their dropships managed to maneuver into the limited sky space close enough to the ground to get a direct line of sight on the quarian marines and their cover. Two plasma blasts send the defenders and much of the stone flying before flying away again, not even bothering to drop any geth. As we watched, knowing we were to far away to get past it, a heavy support column fell across the gate leading towards the choke point and Tali.
"Crap," Reegar groaned, echoing how I felt. "Doorway's blocked! We left demo charges in the buildings nearby! Use them to clear a path!" I looked at Garrus.
He shrugged. "Nothing I have will make a big enough of a dent. We may be able to scale it, but someone will have to be left behind."
"They're coming in through the side!" the squad leader suddenly reported. "I've got to fall back!"
"Stay safe," I replied, hoping he was still in range. "We'll be there as fast as we can." Static. "I guess the charges are our best bet. I am not splitting us up. There are to many of the enemy. Let's move."
We started off quickly but slowed down when we spotted several outlining buildings. There was no way to tell from where we were which ones we needed, and time was precious.
"Shepard," EDI suddenly broke in. "I have scanned the area and located the demolition charges the quarian commander mentioned."
"Put it on my radar," I requested as we were suddenly engaged with geth from the nearest building.
"Done. You will need both sets of charges to clear the rubble."
Both? I checked my radar, careful not to pull up hostile mapping while doing so to avoid it becoming scrambled, and noticed two points ping. Why the hell didn't they keep them together? When did they have the time to spread out their equipment so much? Surely organization wasn't just a human thing.
I shared the information with my squad, and we moved forward towards the closest. A lot of geth come forward to confront us. To many for all the bigger the building was. I was growing increasingly confused and frustrated until I noticed the stairs at the back of the room where they were descending from. Who knew how these building connected to each other and how many geth were patrolling them? They may have been trying to find a way to flank the quarians before and were now confronting us head on since we weren't holding any peculiar position.
We were finally able to take the room with a final charge, and I picked up the demolition charge. I carefully secured it to my waist and picked up a few extra thermal clips from the fallen geth to replenish what I used. I had a slight headache from using my amp so much, and figured I may as well allow it proper time to cool down.
A console caught my eye. It had an open log primed. I hit play out of curiosity.
Tali's voice filled the space. "We need a core sample to get a timeline on the rate of radiation increase, but our equipment keeps dying on us. Laryna once used a mining laser to clear some rubble back on Therum. Maybe I can do something similar with demolition charges."
"Teaching your people to blow things up," Grunt responded in amusement. "This is why I like you, Shepard."
"Oh, I've got stories," Garrus said in equal amusement.
"Yeah, yeah," I said while rolling my eyes. "Let's get a move on you sm...oh!"
A prime had suddenly dropped not three feet away. The ground shook and I lost my footing just long enough for it to unravel and raise it's weapon. Before I could react Garrus grabbed me around my waist, completely lifting me off the ground, and twisting on his powerful toes, spun us both out of the way of its barrage. I gasped slightly as I hit a heavy stack of crates, nearly knocking the breath out of me.
"Sorry," Garrus muttered before letting me go and moving to peek around our cover.
Knowing I should probably be terrified on how close I just came to being killed, I didn't think it was fear that wasn't allowing me to catch my breath at the moment.
Head in the game!
"Thanks," I said simply as I maneuvered past Garrus to provide covering support for Grunt, who had eagerly charged forward to met the prime. I tried my best to focus on the geth, but damn it, I keep looking over at Garrus, wondering at his strength. I knew turians in general were usually more powerfully built then humans, despite what their appearance may suggest, and especially in comparison to a human female, I would allow, but for him to lift me so easily, gear, weapons, the whole package, like that… And he hadn't hesitated. Watching my back. Again. Just like old times.
Perhaps some things never change. Then again, perhaps some things do, I corrected myself as I watched Garrus move forward with convenient strides.
Finally a break in the geth allowed us to push across the portion of the square towards the next building we needed. It was no more than a little tucked away alley. The second demolition charge was there, as well as a stash of thermal clips and medi-gel. We gladly restocked our stores, and I saw Grunt rip open a medi-gel and spread it on a gash on his left forearm to stop some bleeding, and we were off again. No sooner had we cleared the alley though that another squadron of geth found us.
They were able to effectively pin us here. Our backs were up against a tall stone wall with only a tiny space provided that would be suicide to hide in, a sheer drop off to our right that overlooked another portion of the ruins; luckily the sun was behind our backward wall, and a tiny set of stairs off to our left that lead to the catwalk that the geth were using so effectively.
"We're taking too much fire," Garrus shouted after he had ducked back into cover when his shields dropped. "If we head to the left, we can flank them!"
"Gotcha," Grunt hollered back, already moving.
"Understood," I agreed, providing Garrus cover to start moving as well. With a plan in place, we steadily made our way to the staircase. I went in first, putting a lot of energy into a barrier to met the resistance that was likely going to be meeting us on our way up. But the stairs were narrow, and no more than two geth were able to face me as I forced myself forward. Their bullets were stopped by my barrier effortlessly, and I forced them both back with an over-amped throw, and we were clear.
The sun touched much of the catwalk, but we were able to stay in cover to take out the heavies that had us pinned with their missile launchers, and then used the same height advantage to take out the remaining ones below. We descended the stairs again, all breathing a little heavier but I was proud of our teamwork. I was very pleased with how much Grunt has been able to adapt working and fighting with us when he hasn't been awake all that long. Points to Okeer, I suppose.
I was more impressed with Garrus. He had spotted a solution to our problem faster than I was able to. He would always wait for orders before, allowing me to lead fully. Now he had this battle awareness that far outstrips what he had before, and the convenience to voice his thoughts. His time in Omega changed him, honed him, made him a leader.
And I knew in that moment, if anything were to happen to me again, Garrus would be able to continue the fight. This time he would continue to protect, and I think most of the others may be willing to follow him to do it.
I allowed my thoughts to drift away as we made it to the fallen column, and I released the demolition charges from my belt and carefully set them up in the center of the dense block. We ran clear.
They did the trick, making a whole large enough we could have walked abreast to get through. I took point though, and opening the gate revealed that we were to late. More geth units littered the floor, and few more quarians, as well. One geth was slowly crawling our direction, it's lower body gone and most of it's right arm. Grunt finished it off by stomping down on its head. I checked my visor for life signs, but found none. I also didn't see anyone that looked like Tali. We started to look around.
"Quarian architecture," Garrus said softly, running a hand along a wall. "There's two words you don't expect to hear together."
"Why do we care?" Grunt asked, sounding bored. "Anyone choosing to come here should be on their own."
Ignoring him, I found another research console. It had another recording on it, and sure enough Tali's voice greeted us again.
"Our ancestors walked these halls with uncovered heads. The sun must have been normal back then. So much space. Walls of stone… It's amazing. I wish my friends could see it. I wish Laryna were here." I swallowed back some emotion clogging my throat. "Hello? Is anyone there?" I looked at the console in confusion before Garrus tapped my shoulder and pointed at another console near the back door. There was a faint hologram of Tali, and we both approached it eagerly.
I opened the comm. "Tali, it's Laryna. I'm sorry. Everyone here is dead. Any survivors must have fallen back."
Tali shook her head sadly. "We knew this mission was high-risk. Damn it. And what are you doing here, Laryna? We're in the middle of geth space!"
"I was in the neighborhood. I thought you might need a hand," I replied with a smile.
"Thanks for coming, Laryna," Tali said with feeling. "It means a lot to hear your voice. Kal'Reegar and what's left of the marines got me into the observatory. From where you are, it's through the door and across the field. I got the data I needed, and I'm safe for now, but I've got a lot of geth outside."
"Would it help if I brought in the Normandy?"
She didn't even think about it. "Doubtful. These buildings are centuries old. If you bring down heavy fire, this whole place could collapse on us."
"Is anyone else still with you?" I asked, not liking the thought of her on her own, even knowing how well she could take care of herself. "Or are you alone out there?"
"Reegar had a team of marines covering me while I ran for the observatory. At least some of them are still alive. I can hear them firing at the geth outside."
"What is this research you're after?" I asked, starting to feel mad again.
"It's about this world's sun. It's aging faster than it should. I can tell you more about it once we've got fewer geth shooting at us."
Lagging here only increases the danger she's in. I looked at the door, noting it was hard locked. But the console wasn't responding to anything I tried doing to it. I'm luckily to be able to talk to Tali at all. "It looks like somebody sealed the door against the geth, and the console is damaged. Can you get it open on your end?"
"Let me see…" she muttered, and I saw her fingers fly in and out of few for a few seconds. "Yes, I can do it. Here. Should be unlocked now. Be careful, Laryna. And please, do what you can to keep Reegar alive."
The connection ended, and we quickly moved through the door and down the stairs. It lead to a long causeway, covered in crates and railings. Waiting for us were a couple primes, and a lot of cloaking drones.
"Garrus, take out the drones. Grunt and I will focus on the primes."
"Got your back, Commander," he replied.
Most of our battles up to this point have been rough, but this push was proving to be particularly difficult. Even as quick at Garrus was, the drones were numerous enough to keep throwing off my aim, forcing me to rely mostly on biotics, which were much more difficult to disrupt, and they were pestering Grunt like flies. He reach out and crush them bare handed if they made the mistake of flying in to close. My headache was slowly starting to return as I overclocked my amp attacking while also keeping a barrier on Grunt, which the primes had targeted as the biggest threat.
At one point Grunt went down, and I rushed forward and threw up the strongest barrier I could and quickly knelt down to him. A blast had torn into his suit and stomach after a brief moment of stepping into the sunlight was enough to take down his shields. I grabbed a medi-gel from my belt and ripped it open with my teeth, since my other hand was maintaining the connection to the barrier protecting us, and spread it on the wound. I couldn't tell how deep it was through the blood, but Grunt didn't seem to have any trouble breathing and barely flinched as the gel closed over the wound. As soon as I was finished, Grunt roughly pushed me aside and stood up. Roaring, he charged the guilty prime, knocking it over. Using his size and weight to their fullest effect, he stumped the geth to pieces. I let my biotics fade and watched, slightly fascinated and disgusted as my super krogan finished it off.
At some point Garrus came up behind me. I could hear his mandibles clicking slightly, though the emotion behind them was unclear since I couldn't see his face, nor tear mine from the scene before me to check.
"You're a monster," Garrus commented when Grunt was finally finished, long after the geth was. There was approval in his voice.
Grunt chuckled. "Let's find more to kill."
The way forward lead to another short set of stairs, which then lead into an overlook. All the shutters were closed though. Hitting the controls, they started at first to slowly lower, but something must have gave, because they all suddenly dropped with a resounding bang.
While every geth in the area below looked up at us, it's not what caught our attention.
"Colossus! Get down!" Garrus shouted, and we all hit the deck as it fired upon us with a plasma ball. The stone of the overlooked held up, just showering us with rubble as the entire structure shook. We made a break for the left door, past experiences reminding, at least for Garrus and I, that they needed time to recharge before being able to use that attack again.
"This is why I follow you, Shepard," Grunt said happily. "Big things!"
There was a short set of wrap around stairs, and I could see a quarian huddled in cover at it's base.
"Over here," he called. "Get to cover!" And he popped a rocket off to give us time to hide behind the low railing next to him. "Squad Leader Kal'Reegar, Migrant Fleet Marines. We talked on the radio before that dropship arrived. Still got no idea why you're here, but this ain't the time to be picky." He paused as a few shot came in close, scattering debris across his helm. "Tali's inside over there. The geth killed the rest of my squad, and they're trying to get to her. Best I've been able to do is draw their attention."
Considering how long he's been on his own, I was impressed. But worried. "Are you sure she's still alive?"
He nodded. "The observatory is reinforced. Even the geth will need time to get through it. And it's hard to hack a door when someone's firing rockets at you. The geth are near platoon strength, but the colossus is the worst part. It's got a repair protocol. Huddles up and fixes itself. I can't get a clear shot while it's down like that. I tried to move in closer, and one of the bastards punched a shot clean through my suit."
Crap. "How bad is your suit damage?"
"Provide cover, give her a chance to strategize," Garrus said behind me to Grunt, and I heard them shift a little farther apart and started to cautiously fire into the geth below.
"Combat seals clamped down to isolate contamination, and I'm swimming in antibiotics," Reegar assured me as he watch my squad over my shoulder. "The geth might get me, but I'm not going to die from an infection in the middle of a battle. That's just insulting."
"What can you tell me about the battlefield?"
"The right side's got a catwalk with a sniper perch. You could wreak havoc from there, but none of my men made it past the geth. The middle's got cover, but the damn colossus has a clear shot at you the whole time, and you've got geth coming in from both sides. The left gives you some cover from the colossus, but your ass is hanging out for the geth. That's how I got shot."
I considered that a moment. "Any ideas on how to deal with the colossus?"
"Standard protocol with armature class units is to sabotage the shields and whittle it down, you know. Kill it with bug bites. But the repair protocol blows that plan to hell. You try to wear it down, it just huddles up and fixes itself. So whatever we do has to scrap that bastard fast. Probably means getting up close, past that cover."
There was no question about that. "We need to get to Tali," I growled in frustration. "Got any ideas?"
"Just one," Reegar replied, shifting slightly. "I'm not moving so well, but I can still pull a trigger, and I've got a rocket launcher that the sun hasn't fried yet. You move in close. I'll keep the colossus busy, maybe even drop its shields. With luck, you'll be able to finish it off."
I was shaking my head before he even finished. "You've done enough, Reegar. You don't need to throw your life away."
"Wasn't asking your permission. My job is to keep Tali safe. This is our best shot." And he jumped up, launcher raised.
Reacting quickly, I also stood and moved him behind the wall that connected with our cover, a few shots barely missing us. I had a hand firmly on his shoulders as I could feel him glaring at me through the tint of his helmet. "We don't have enough people on our side for you to take one for the team! Stand down!" I ordered.
Slowly, he lowered himself back down. I spotted the injury in his leg. Quickly, I took my place behind the railing.
"I'm not going to stand there while you run into enemy fire!" Reegar finally growled. "They killed my whole squad!"
"And if you want to honor your squad, watch my back!" I said back just as fiercely. "I need you here in case they bring reinforcements!"
"All right, Shepard," he said, giving in to my authority. "We'll do it your way. Hit them for me. Keelah se'lai."
"Count on it," I replied, and shifted around to face my team. "We're going to go left. Geth are no issue as long as that colossus can't hit us. Once we flank it, Garrus will drop it's shields. Put everything you have into your overload and fall back behind us. Once it's vulnerable, we'll hit it and any geth defending it with everything we've got."
"Here we go," Garrus said, sounding excited.
It started slow. We had to clear enough geth in the middle to be able to make the catwalk without any unnecessary risk. Once we finally got there, we pushed forward with leaps. I would move forward, take out a few geth to create an opening, and Garrus would move up and repeat the process for Grunt to move. It took awhile, but we made it across without incident.
We came up to the right of the colossus. It slowly lumbered to be able to face us directly, and Grunt charged forward to knock back the closest geth so Garrus could get a straight shot. Omni-tool at the ready, he put his full power draw into his overload, and the shields clearly fizzed out. Putting up a barrier, he retreated behind me as the bullets started flying and brought forth his assault rifle as I gave protection, my Collector Particle Beam already at hand. Grunt had forced the forward most geth back, and had his shotgun at the ready. We unloaded into the giant.
The seconds seemed to drag as we dented, then tore, and finally completely burst open its armored hide. Our attacks shredded it then, and it exploded with enough force to shake the ground and take out a few of the geth around it. I ducked behind cover to secure my heavy weapon to my back and bring forth my pistol again, Garrus shifting into cover to my left, shields restored. All the geth that hadn't attacked us on the catwalk were now filing into the tiny space that served as the entrance to the observatory.
None of them could withstand us.
Cautiously, I approached the door. It was still hard locked. They didn't get through.
"Just a second. I locked the door to keep more geth from getting inside," Tali said over comms, and I reevaluated my earlier thought. Clearly they didn't harm her though. "There, that should do it."
The door popped open, and I entered, leaving Garrus and Grunt to do a last sweep. The room was small, a lot of dusty old equipment lightly blinking at me from most of the walls. I secured my pistol and slowly made my way over to Tali, stepping over the numerous bodies of geth scattered over the floor.
"Just let me finish this download," she said over her shoulder. "And thank you, Laryna. If not for you, I would never have made it out of this room. This whole mission has been a disaster. I wish I'd joined you back on Freedom's Progress, but I couldn't let anyone take my place on something this risky."
I knew that feeling. "Before we get into it," I said and stepped forward, wrapping my arms around her slim shoulders. She hugged me back forcefully, and stepped back, laughing slightly. I smiled. "What can you tell me about your research here?" I asked. I figured I had time for a few questions while Reegar made his way over.
Tali tapped on her omni-tool a few times, and a hologram of a sun materialized. "Haestrom's sun is destabilizing. Back when this was a quarian colony, it was a normal star. It shouldn't change that quickly."
"Any idea what's destabilizing the sun?"
"If I had to guess, I'd say that it was dark energy affecting the interior of the star," she replied, thoughtful. "The effect is similar to when stars blow off mass to enter a red giant phase, but Haestrom's sun is far too young for this to be natural."
"A lot of quarians lost their lives here," I said sadly. "Was it worth it?"
She bowed her head. "I don't know, Laryna. It wasn't my call. The Admiralty Board believed the information here was worth sacrificing all our lives for. I have to believe that they know what's best."
"I didn't ask what some admiral thought," I pushed. "I asked what you thought."
"A lot of people died here," she replied, her voice harder. "Some of them were my friends. All of them were good at their jobs. That damn data better be worth it. The price was too high."
Maybe I shouldn't have pushed. "Whatever the reason, I'm glad I could help. Once you deliver that data, I could use you on the Normandy."
"I promised to see this mission through," she replied without hesitation. "I did. I can leave with you and send the data to the Fleet. And if the admirals have a problem with it, they can go to hell. I just watched the rest of my team die."
"Maybe not the whole rest of your team, ma'am." I turned to see Kal'Reegar limping towards us, Garrus and Grunt following behind.
"Reegar!" Tali said, relief in her voice. "You made it!"
"Your old captain's as good as you said," he replied, and I couldn't help but blush and smile in acknowledgment. "Damn colossus never stood a chance."
"If need be, the Normandy can get you out of here, Reegar," I offered.
"The geth didn't damage our ship. Long as we get out of here before reinforcements show up, we'll be fine."
"Actually," Tali interrupted. "I won't be going with you. I'm joining Commander Shepard."
If he was surprised, he hid it well. "I'll pass the data to the Admiralty Board and let them know what happened. She's all yours now, Shepard. Keep her safe."
"She'll come to no harm with us," Garrus promised, and Tali seemed to notice him for the first time. She laughed again and gave him just as strong of a hug I had received. I tried to push down the knot that formed in my gut seeing his arms around her.
"What happened to your face?" Tali demanded, touching his bandages ever so lightly.
"It's a long story," Garrus replied. "I'll tell you over drinks sometime."
I stepped up and place a hand on each of their shoulders. "Come on, let's go home."
Tali'Zorah
It's so weird, being back here. I walked the halls behind Laryna, both familiar and strange. I could easily see how the hallway was larger than on the last Normandy. The debriefing room I was taken to was on the main level now, just behind the CIC. We had to walk through an armory to get there, and how silly was that, having it all the way up here? Must be a human thing. I doubt Cerberus would have asked any turians for any additional input on layout and design.
There was a dark skinned human in the armory as we went through, and he followed us into the debriefing area. I think I recognize him being with Laryna when she appeared before me on Freedom's Progress.
The shock I had felt! I was always awed and even a little terrified of the human commander. She was strong, compassionate, and trustworthy. Over the course of our journey to face down Saren, Laryna Shepard had completely earned my respect. There were not many people in the galaxy that would have done for a quarian what she did for me. She became a part of my family, like a big sister.
When she was lost to space, I was lost for awhile too. The only thing I could do was complete my Pilgrimage, using the geth data she so willingly allowed me to have, and I was held up as a hero in my Fleet.
While the real hero was gone.
Now… here she is again. Garrus, too. It was starting to feel like home again.
"Cerberus saw footage of you in action, Tali'Zorah," the dark human said. Jacob I think his name was. He was polite enough, but he was Cerberus, and thus tainted. "We're looking forward to having you on the team. Your engineering expertise will really benefit the mission."
I started pacing, agitated. "I don't know who you are, but Cerberus threatened the security of the Migrant Fleet. Don't make nice."
"That's why you're here, Tali," Laryna said. "I need people who aren't Cerberus-people I can trust."
"I wasn't part of what happened to the Migrant Fleet, but I understand your distrust. I hope we'll get past that as we work together." I looked at Jacob, wondering at his composure. Why did he care so much? I wasn't buying it.
"I assumed that you were undercover, Laryna," I said, looking towards my friend, who had an amused look in her eyes. "Maybe even planning to blow Cerberus up. If that's the care, I'll loan you a grenade. Otherwise, I'm here for you. Not for them." Jacob took a few steps back, clearly uncomfortable.
"If it helps, check out the Normandy while you're here," Laryna suggested. "We've gotten a few upgrades."
"I'll get Tali'Zorah the necessary security clearance to access our systems," Jacob quickly added as another olive branch.
"Please do," I replied dryly. "I can't be part of your team if I don't know how the ship works." He crossed his arms at my words, and I think I got my point across well enough for now. I did stop in front of Laryna though as I made my way to the door. "Just remember, Laryna, Cerberus wasn't our friend when we went up against Saren. I'll be in engineering."
"Don't forget to introduce yourself to EDI," Jacob called after me. "The ship's new artificial intelligence." I stopped long enough to peer over my shoulder in more agitation before continuing on.
I worked my way through the ship slowly, wrinkling my nose at all the Cerberus logos painted everywhere. I reached the elevator and took it down to the engineering floor, wanting to get a better look at this ship's eezo core. As I got off, I spotted Garrus leaning against a window just off to the side. He unfolded his arms and grinned at me in greeting.
"Thought you could use a friendly face," he stated.
"Thank you," I said warmly, wishing he could see the smile on my face. I followed him through a set of sliding doors into a short hall that only held a set of stairs that lead downwards. Garrus nodded in that direction.
"Jack spends her time down there," he said.
"Who?" I asked as he continued on through the next set of doors. This lead into the control area of engineering, and I looked around eagerly, for the moment ignoring the humans on the other side of the room. He continued on to the drive core, so I followed, and now was glad he couldn't see my face as I took in just how big it was.
"She's a freakishly strong biotic human woman," Garrus said once we had a little more privacy. "A Cerberus experiment, so she likely hates them more than you do."
"Then why is she here?"
Garrus shrugged. "She thinks she's using Laryna to get hold of information to get back at Cerberus while having a slightly secure place to bed down in the meantime. I think she likes the idea of taking advantage of their resources and ultimately using it against them." And he smiled. "But Laryna will break through her walls, just like she does to everyone. She's being tamed, even if she doesn't realize it."
That's true. No one can resist Laryna's charms and smooth tongue.
"Anyone else here from before?" I asked softly.
"Just Joker and Dr. Chakwas," Garrus replied. "That's why I'm so glad you're here. I'm always willing to watch the commander's back, but it's nice to have someone else to share the responsibility with."
"This mission is insane," I said thoughtfully. "It's hard to think about taking it on without all our friends.
"Agreed."
"So who do we have to work with?"
"Besides Jack, only Jacob and Miranda of the Cerberus crew come on missions. Jacob is ex Alliance, and a decent fighter. Hates red tape, which I can respect, but it lead him to Cerberus. Miranda considers herself the XO here, and I suppose to the Cerberus crew she is. She has an impressive skill set, though I doubt she's last long against Laryna if they went head to head. She is completely loyal to Cerberus. There's Mordin, an old STG. He's a handful. But smart. And deadly. With a very odd sense of humor. I don't suggest getting on his bad side. There's also Grunt, the krogan we had with us when we found you, that was created by a krogan scientist named Okeer, to be a super soldier. He does pack one hell of a punch. I've seen him shrug of attacks that kill most other people. Oddly insightful, and has a good grip on the concept of honor, and he respects the commander. Then there's Zaeed Massani, an old human merc that's really handy in a firefight. Has a bit of a temper, though. And lastly there is Kasumi Goto. Haven't seen much of her. Apparently she's a grade A thief with impressive hacking abilities. Not much use for her skill set yet, I suppose."
"That's quite a lot people," I observed.
"And we're not done," Garrus said, typing on his omni-tool and bringing up the dossiers Laryna had passed along to him. "We've still got two more to track down, and I was hoping to get Liara on board."
"What about Kaidan?"
He stiffened at the name, which I found curious. "Kaidan turned us down flat. Called us traitors and stormed off."
"Kaidan?" I asked in disbelief. "But, he loves the commander. What the hell is he thinking?"
"I don't know," Garrus grunted, switching off his omni-tool and leaned back against the railing surrounding the drive core. "But seeing him say those things right in Laryna's face… she puts on a brave front, but she's not taking it well."
"Garrus," I started, and paused to take a deep breath. "Is it really her? I mean, she has shared some memories that only our girl would know, and her personality is the same, but… she died! How do you bring someone back from the dead?"
"With an insane amount of resources," Garrus said. "I asked EDI for the files about Project Lazarus, it's what they called the program that brought her back, and while she couldn't give me everything, what I did read showed how much time and effort they put in. Her skeleton is mostly intact because of cybernetics, and I have noticed a strength increase as a result, both physically and biotically. But everything else took extensive processes of repairing damage tissue, cloning tissue from her cells and adding it on to work without issue with her as a whole. So physically, she's about as much of herself as she could ever hope to be under the circumstances. And as you said, the memories are there. Nothing seems to be missing or have changed. Her fighting style, compassion, even her silly love of cooking are all still there. I have no idea how Cerberus pulled that off." And he looked at me, an emotion in his eyes I've never seen before. "But it's more than all of that, too. I can feel it in my gut that it's our Laryna Shepard."
He's falling for her, I realized. I felt a little sad about that. Not that I had given it much serious thought, but I was always attracted to Garrus. I suppose I could just watch and see for now. All of this craziness doesn't make great terrain for new kinds of relationships. Not that it seems to be stopping him.
"I trust you," I said aloud, meaning it. "I have no reason to doubt your instincts." Or your heart.