Chapter 4 : Salvage

Captains Quarters: 21:38

Shepard carefully lowered Tali onto his bed, the very same they had shared not 3 hours ago. A hiss escaped his lips as his side still burned fiercely. Pulling the covers up to her waist he turned to see Mordin scanning him.

"3 cracked ribs, multiple contusions, exhaustion" Mordin reads off the tool "rest will fix most now please remove armor." Shepard just stared at him, dumbfounded. Mordin paused for a bit then continued "Very well, unorthodox method, not sure treatment will even work. Let me get compression wrap for ribs, should fit around chest piece." Light dawned in Shepard's eye's.

A quick look over to Tali, Shepard begins to remove his combat armor. "Will she be okay?" he asks. "Why can't we wake her? Humans get knocked out all the time and they use ammonia under theirs noses to wake them." He looks again at Tali and realizes the mask would prevent it. Even what she breathed in would be filtered to remove something harmful. "Oh, right." is all he said.

"For a human yes, wake up, kick in pants, all that get back to work and stuff." Mordin continues "Quarians have different physiology. Mind must rest, heal before activity. May also be complicated do to fall on station. Residual effect, stress. Time will heal, worry not." Mordin looked impatiently at Shepard. "Now remove garments or I will sedate you."

Engineering: 21:38

Ken and Gabby struggled with the ships power fittings. It took a torch to remove the damage enough for them to make the final connections. "Nice job Ken" she says "now lets find out if she can take the load.

"Thanks Mum." Ken replies jokingly. Now that the emergency is over he falls back into his old patterns. "Can you open all breakers on panels 1s and 1p please. We need to test this without causing another explosion" he asks. "Sure thing." she calls back. Watching his omnitool Ken knows this is going to take some time to get ships power up to anything resembling normal.

Gabby moves over to whats left of her propulsion control panel and begins scanning. Her omnitool readout showed massive damage to the circuitry and control modules. Using whats still functional she might just be able to piece one or two thrusters back together. It might take days or weeks even but the Normandy isn't doomed yet. She looks at Ken saying "Ken, were not out of the running just yet."

AI Core: 21:38

Garrus slowly scans Legion again looking for anything he could have missed his broken arm more a nuisance than anything else. The plasma rifle had cut a deep path into the machine and damaged his legs motor controls cabling. Garrus still was not convinced to trust the geth but Shepard knew what he was doing. Garrus did respect Legion though. It was a hell of a shot with a sniper rifle. "Okay Legion, test it now." he said while watching his omnitool for signs of trouble.

"Crew member Garrus, internal diagnostics indicate 92.4 percent functionality." a slight pause then it continues "This platform is functional enough to provide assistance if needed." Legions head flaps ripple then asks "Query, did Shepard Commander and Creator Tali'Zorah survive with you?"

Garrus said sadly "Yes we all made it back but Tali was in the engine room. There was an explosion and I don't know about her now." Taking a deep breath Garrus continues "Shepard sent me here to get you back to full capacity so you can assist in engineering. We need all the help we can get now."

"Crew member Garrus, this platform is not at full capacity but only 92.4 percent as previously stated. Further repair will be needed but it will be able to reach the engine room to assist in repairs to this vessel."

The disembodied voice of EDI asks "Garrus, am I going to die?"

Startled, Garrus bangs his bad arm against Legion and lets out a growl. "GrraaaaEDI! Your back?"

"I never left Garrus, I am conserving battery power and communications drain it." EDI replies "Listening does not. I am unable to reduce my power requirements further and battery backups are not designed to provide long term operations."

Garrus was losing it, he knew it. First he actually repairs a geth and now he's trying to console an AI? "EDI, save your power. I know they are doing everything they can to get power back up. Just hang on." Waiting a moment to see if EDI answers he continues "Legion, Shepard wants you in engineering now. EDI um, stay calm."

Following Legion out of the AI Core, he finally lets Dr. Chakwas look at his arm.

Captains Quarters: 21:50

Shepard eased down on the couch, reclining slowly so as not to aggravate his side again. Mordin had stated that he either lay down or be placed on official medical leave. It was easier to just do it and wait for Mordin to leave.

"Why lie on couch? Bed softer, better support." Mordin asked.

Shepard replied with a simple "No."

"But bed designed for resting, couch for sitting." Mordin thought for a minute "Ah. Surely Tali would not mind after all you and ..." Shepard cut him off.

"Mordin! This is fine, please just let me rest." Shepard said firmly.

Muttering to himself about 'NOT a dalliance' he takes one more scan of both Shepard and Tali then leaves knowing both will be fine. "Shepard, bed rest for both of you. That's an order."

It feels as if he only closed his eye's a moment ago before he hears her call his name "Shepard? Shepard?"

"Tali" he says softly "I'm right here. How are you feeling?" Slowly sitting up he watches Tali on the bed. She has propped up her body on her elbows so she can see him.

"I'm okay, a little light headed but okay. Why were you laying over there?" she asks. She glances to her right at the empty mattress beside her. "There is plenty of room you know" she says playfully.

Rising from the couch he walks over to the bed. In a serious tone saying "Tali, what we did before the base. Well, it was special, very special and I didn't want to ruin that by presuming anything about this. About us." Never losing eye contact with Tali he sits on the bed and continues "Anyway, you needed to rest."

Looking at his face Tali can see the hidden emotions there as well as the pain. She also see's the bandage wrapped around his chest. "Shepard, lie next to me. Rest beside me" she gently says "We have time for talking but right now we need rest."

"What? No questions about did we make it? No worries about shirking duty?" he says in a lighter voice. He hisses softly as he eases himself into the bed.

"Shepard, if we were dead we would be with the ancestors and not in your bed" she states plainly. "Also, your here so no emergency exists. I can tell your worried but you will tell me when you need to."

Thinking just what to say he finds he can't lie to her. "Tali, the ship..." he pauses "the ship sustained a lot of damage. You saw the condition of engineering before the explosion. From what I could understand we may not have enough parts for even powered flight." He turns to look at Tali before saying "We are currently just drifting in space, according to Gabby it maybe forever" he finishes softly.

Tali shivers slightly when he tells her. She shivers again as what he said really sinks in. She looks out the cabins window at the myriad dead ships they pass. Parts, they need parts. She raises her left arm pointing through the window and quietly asks "Shepard, what about those?"

Shepard follows her arm and stares out the window. Ships of every size and make, from every race known and unknown float by. Still staring at the ships he loving says "If that visor wasn't in the way I would kiss you." To his left he hears the soft sound of an air-seal being released.