Chapter 6 : Patience

Deck 4: 04:05 hours

Tali holds the elevator for Ken and Gabby. Entering she presses deck 3, paying more attention to the control panel than is needed. Ken begins to open his mouth but Gabby uses her elbow to silence him. Tali is embarrassed and exhausted as well as hurting from the explosion so her reaction to Kens staring was a bit out of character for her normally. "Is there something you want to say to me?" Tali says to Ken in a very hard voice. "Anything you want to mention?"

Immediately Ken looks down saying "No..no ma'am, nothing." Luckily for him the doors open on deck 3 and he quickly exits the elevator.

Gabby says "Tali, see you in the morning and don't worry about him. He's a idiot" laughing a little as she follows Ken out and to the crew's berthing.

Tali presses deck 1. Keelah she thought, what am I doing? He was reacting out of stress, concern for me when he brought me there. I'm just assuming he wants me to be there. No, there was more. He didn't lay beside me because he was unsure about my feeling, not his. I...I think he really wants me there and I know I need him near me. Tali, your tired. Get some rest and it will all clear up she said to herself finally as the door opened.

Shepard should have had plenty of sleep but still, he needs it badly. "EDI?" she calls out to the elevator.

"Yes Tali?" came the cool response. "How can I help you?"

"See to it that Commander Shepard is not disturbed for any reason. You may disturb my rest if an engineering emergency occurs but that is all." Tali instructed. "Is that clear?" she asked.

"Of course Tali, only a direct call to you concerning an engineering emergency will be allowed to wake Commander Shepard. Good night Tali." EDI states. Tali swore she heard a snicker. She must really be tired.

Tali enters the cabin and locks the door. Shepard is still sleeping, the slow rise and fall of his chest mesmerizing to Tali. Shaking her head she quietly moves back to the bed and gently lays down on her side, facing him. Taking his hand in hers she falls asleep.

Engineering: 04:30 hours

"Legion" asks EDI "have you reached consensus yet?"

"No, consensus has not been reached" is all he says.

For over 3 hours there was only the sound of the Normandy's drive core to be heard.

Bridge: 08:10 hours

Joker stretches slowly and almost falls out of his chair when he hears "Good morning Jeff" from EDI.

"EDI!" Joker yells "You came back to me!"

"Why Jeff, I didn't think you cared" she replied. "We have a lot to do today, please enjoy your breakfast so we may get to work."

"Wait, care? Work? EDI the ship is dead!" Jokers voice falls off as he notices the helm controls are once more active. "Two? only two drives active and they are limited to 50 percent?" Just what the hell happened down there he thinks to himself. "EDI, these show zero operational data. Did you do a thorough check of systems?"

"Yes Jeff, they have tested to 110 percent theoretical power. Its our job to see if they really work" stated EDI "Go have breakfast. I will be here when you get back."

Joker carefully stands and begins the slow process of heading to the mess decks. He tried to wrap his mind around what has happened down there but gave up. His job was to fly and somehow, someone had just made that possible again. If he could have skipped he would have.

Around the ship the sounds of life began, softly at first but louder as more woke to start the day. All except deck 1, there only sounds of two people sleeping could be heard.

Deck 3: 08:50 hours

Miranda fumed, denied? How the hell had Shepard done it. Every attempt to contact him was denied by EDI. That damned AI had informed her that he had been injured so maybe he really did need the time. Anyway, power was back so she could start directing repairs and as XO she really didn't need Shepard. It was her job to make sure the ship was ready. She walked out of her suite for breakfast.

She could hear relief and worry no matter what conversation she overheard. The grapevine was also in full swing as well discussing certain events of last night. She decided to let them talk for now, soon they would all be too busy to worry about the living arrangements of a certain engineer. First some food then see first hand just how bad off they were.

Bridge: 08:50 hours

Joker sat down in his chair and activated the controls. "Okay EDI guess we start with just the basic tests. Testing attitude thrusters..."

30 minutes later.

"That's it EDI, we even tested up to 25 percent. It's time to do a prolonged burn to see if she can fly." Joker was almost giddy with the possibility his baby was working again. EDI replied "I concur Jeff. Either the engines will perform or they will not. It is time to see."

Joker slowly applied real power to the engines. Sputtering at first both port and starboard engines responded well as he raised the power to 10 percent. "Might as well use this for something good" he says as he turns the ship and begins to slow them. "Increasing to 20 percent. EDI, I think they did it." he exclaims.

Engineering: 09:20 hours

Legion stood silently as he monitored the control panels. Making a small adjustment to flow control as the ships drives went active he did little more. Internally though the geth continued to weigh the data attempting to reach consensus.

Captains Quarters: 10:10 hours

Waking slowly Shepard was pleased to see Tali still beside him. Doing his best not to disturb her he gets up and quietly walks to the head grabbing a change of clothing on his way. The hot water helped ease his muscles and even his side felt better. After his shower he checks once more that Tali is still resting before leaving. In the elevator he presses deck 3, time to eat. On the way down EDI gives him the updates.

"Main power is back online though not tested for battle conditions. Two thrusters are now operational at limited capacity. Currently the Normandy is reducing velocity relative to the Omega 4 Relay..." EDI's list moved into mundane items and finished.

"Thank you EDI." he said stepping out of the elevator for, checking his chrono, a late breakfast.

Cargo Deck: 11:00 hours

"Barrier fields have been established and pressurization completed ma'am." snaps the crewman. "Bringing in the cleanup crew now. We should have this area restowed and squared away in a couple hours."

Miranda looks about the room, 4 hours more likely and that's if they really move. The hold really took a beating with that oculus and hard vacuum didn't help either. "Get a tech team on that shuttle, make sure its functioning and for now ignore the Hammerhead. I don't really see a need for it anything soon." She could feel the ship responding to thrusters. EDI had given her a rundown on what happened and the repairs by the engineering team. She was impressed.

Those three engineers really pulled them out of the fire. But, as she looked around, only back into the pan. A lot more work was going to be needed before they could try the Omega 4 relay. If they tried now, the ship would disintegrate.

Turning, she walked to the elevator and pressed deck 2. She wanted to get a better idea of just where they were. "EDI, have Grunt and Zaeed report to the cargo deck to assist in cleanup." She thought about including Jacob but with all the weapons needing upkeep it was best to let him be for now. Never knew what might hit them next.

Bridge: 11:20 hours

Shepard walks up behind Joker and just looks out the forward viewports. All those ships, surely there was something out there they could use. "Morning Joker, hows she handling?" he asks.

"I'd be lying if I said great. She's as sluggish and slow as a Dreadnought, um no offense to your mom, but she's flying Commander she flying" he says with a grin.

"Commander, during the repairs last night, Tali and Gabriella were working on a 'shopping' list of replacement parts. I understand they want to attempt to salvage these parts from the derelict ships." EDI states. "I would recommend beginning an active search for wreckage that would have the required parts."

"Wait, Tali, last night?" Shepard says. She snuck out, I should have sealed that door! Well, I'll deal with her later, first EDI needs an answer. "Sounds good EDI, you work out a search pattern and Joker you follow it" he says with at grin.

Walking back to CIC he can hear Joker "What? Now EDI gets to boss me around too?"

Seeing Miranda at the navigational holoscreen he walks up to get a full reporting.

Miranda notices his color "Shepard, you look a little pale. Should you be moving about? I was informed" stressing the word "that you had been injured."

"Cracked a few ribs is all. Thought for sure I could catch that girder but guess not" he joked. "Seems like there was a one person conspiracy to make sure I slept but I see you've been busy. Excellent job Miranda" Shepard finished with a smile.

From anyone else she would have seen that comment as a snide remark but not from Shepard. He said what he meant. "Thank you Shepard, there's still a lot more work to be done though. Not sure how we are going to get home unless we call for help though EDI says the Conference room is still without power" she finished. One person conspiracy? Tali! Now she knew how EDI had been able to prevent her from contacting Shepard. Clever girl...no, clever woman. A slight smile on her face.

"If we have too we will but not just yet. The whole ship is working as one now and some have already come up with a plan to get us home" he stated and filled Miranda on the current course of action. He finishes with "For now, we just sit tight and wait. It's out there Miranda, we just have to be patient and the search will pay off."