Chapter 12 : Liara

Engineering: 13:01 hours

For almost 5 seconds the engine room was bathed in shifting multicolored lights emanating from the salvaged equipment. It was enough time for Tali to look up from her console, gaze about the room and utter "Keelah". Then in a blink of an eye, the visual display was gone and the ships normal lighting was able to resume its function.

Bridge: 13:01 hours

Joker breathes in slowly then exhales and then Stares. EDI says "Transit complete. Verifying location. Verified. Jeff, we are back in normal space."

Joker starts breathing normally with a smile on his face.

"EDI, please spread the word to all terminals. Transit successful. We're home." Joker says.

"Yes Jeff, gladly" replies EDI.

Normandy: 13:02 hours

Cheers began erupting throughout the ship as word spreads. Almost as one, every crew member aboard relaxes and allows the tension that had held them fade.

Engineering: 13:02 hours

"Propulsion holding steady at 75 percent. Feed controls nomi..." Gabby see's Shepard walk up behind Tali and turn her to face him.

Tali looks up into his smiling eye's and almost has the time to smile herself before he wraps his arms around her as he says "You did it Tali, you brought us home."

Caught off guard by him even being there her response was a bit broken. "We..we did it Joh..Shepard. A...All of us" she stammered. Her heart though was racing because he was there for her.

"You hear that Gabby, John is it now" Ken teases.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be on the bridge or something?" Tali asks as her emotions come under control.

Still looking into her eyes Shepard says "For this trip, I wanted to see you, be near you, through to the end."

"Oh John, you don't know what hearing you say that means to me" she responded softly. Realizing where they are she pushes away from him saying "Shepard!"

Even Gabby joins in some teasing saying "Tali, it's waaaay too late for that."

Looking at Gabby and Ken she says "Well, since you two like to laugh together I'm sure you two won't mind standing watch together." Looking at Shepard one more time she leaves engineering.

Shepard just follows Tali out.

Ken and Gabby just break into a new round of laughing.

Legion stands at his station monitoring the console. The geth however just added more data.

Shepard walks out to the elevator and Tali turns to him. She softly hits his shoulder saying "Bosh'tet" but her eyes held smiles. Once they entered the elevator she threw her arms around him hugging him tightly. "John, I was so scared I had missed something. Had made a mistake that would kill all of us. Thank you for being there with me."

Smiling gently he says "Tali, I was scared too. Scared of losing you just as I found you but I never thought you would fail." then he touches his forehead once to her visor.

Tali see's his gesture saying "Oh John" and hugs him tighter.

Reaching out he presses deck 2. "Let's go find out where we are."

CIC: 13:06 hours

Shepard walks off the elevator and Tali follows heading to the holoscreen. Before they can reach the steps the crewmen around them begin clapping. It spreads around the combat information center. Tali just stands there looking at everyone before looking at Shepard saying "What?"

Kelly had been clapping but stopped as she walked up to Tali saying "It's their way of saying thank you for getting them home Tali. They know we made it because of you."

Tali just looked around for a few seconds when Shepard leaned over and whispered "Tali, say thank you."

Jarred by his whisper she stammers out "T..thank you." as her hands move to her visor. The crewmen slowly stop clapping but a number remain standing and smiling at her.

Shepard knows it been enough as her embarrassment is clear. "Alright people" he calls out "where not in dock yet so back to your stations." Moving to the holoscreen he speaks into the pickup there "Joker, take us out some. Away from the Omega 4 relay and normal lanes so we can plan whats next."

"Roger Commander" Joker replies.

Looking at Tali he see's she's recovered from her embarrassment. "Tali, anything we really need at Omega? I mean anything we need asap?" he asks.

"No, we have what we need for now. We really need a space dock though." she says.

Shepard says "Okay. Lets get some lunch then it's time to plan. And Tali, for what its worth, I didn't know they were going to do that."

"It's okay John, I just didn't know what to do. Thank you for telling me. Lunch sounds good" she finishes.

Turning he addresses Kelly "Please have Miranda meet us in the Conference room at 13:30 hours."

"Will do Commander" comes her cheerful reply.

Deck 3: 13:12 hours

Tali grabs a food tube, inserting it into its slot under her mask as Shepard grabs a sandwich. Sitting down at a table Shepard starts to take a bite and looks at Tali just sitting there. He has done this countless time before but now it just feels wrong.

Tali notices his hesitation and tilting her head a little to right asks "John, what's wrong? Your not eating." "Sorry Tali, just had a guilt trip there. It just feels wrong now, eating in front of you." he explains.

"Please John, please don't worry about me. It's the way I am. Enjoy your lunch" she says while reaching out and putting her hand on his.

Realizing she is right he takes a bite but somehow the food just doesn't taste that good.

Deck 2: 13:30 hours

Shepard and Tali walk into the conference room to find Miranda already there. "Good afternoon Commander, Tali" she says to them.

"Afternoon Miranda. I wanted to discuss a few things and I need both you and Tali to help me. We need to get the ship into dock for repairs so where is first up. We also need to find a great deal of money as it's not going to be cheap getting the Normandy repaired. Any ideas?" he asks the two.

Miranda started first saying "Well we can't go to the docks that built her, Citadel is out due to EDI. Illium? They have the docks but I don't know if EDI or Legion will cause a big issue there."

"Illium is definitely a good option. They have a number of closed docks that the Normandy can fit in. But it will be expensive." adds Tali. "Also, since the AI core did not sustain any damage we could still use the Citadel. Just make sure its guarded. And Legion stay's there anyway.

"About EDI" Shepard says "What happens if she loses all power? The core will be down during refit won't it?"

"Yes, all power will be down for a time, how long depends on the amount of work required." Tali explains "With the work needed for the Normandy I'm estimating about 3 weeks minimum with no power and an additional 1 to 3 weeks with power before we can leave dock. Without power, EDI would cease to exist as we know her. There is no way to keep the matrix that is EDI working. We could rig up a portable generator to power a backup storage unit though."

"Good idea Tali, the unit could keep EDI active but contained so no one would detect anything unusual" says Miranda "so yes, the Citadel is an option."

Shepard says "The Citadel also gives us access to the Council and my Spectre status can be used to keep prying eyes away but we would be far more visible there as well. The Illusive man might try to retake the ship."

"Tali, would the migrant fleet be able to refit the Normandy?" he asks.

"Well, if we provided the materials I'm sure they could but the crew will need berthing and that's something I doubt they would allow. Remember, this is a Cerberus vessel." Tali responds.

Shepard states "Okay, all of the other docks are straight military or too dangerous to consider. So as it stands we have the Citadel or Illium." Continuing Shepard says "I'm leaning towards the Citadel at present. Convince me on Illium."

Miranda says "Illium won't have the council or c-sec to worry about. They did say keep to the terminus systems if I remember."

"A closed dock will keep prying eyes from our coming and going. At they have automated defenses to help protect the docks." adds Tali.

"Okay Illium it is. Now for the money part." Ideas?

Both Tali and Miranda say "none."

Thinking back to the idea he had while looking at all the wrecked and ancient ships he decides this may be the answer. Looking at Tali he asks "Tali, where any of those components you salvaged valuable? Anyway to cash in on some new tech?"

"Well" she says slowly "there are some devices that have greater capacity, others with improved control interfaces" Tali says. "Yes, most of them offer only slight improvements but the fuel regulators are 10 percent more efficient. That would be worth a lot to ship builders. There are also compensation coils that are half the size of our best and still produce the same level of functionality."

Shepard says "We will need someone who knows the right people to turn that salvage into hard credits. Miranda, know someone like that?"

"I've had dealing on Illium before, I might know a few people who would be willing to help." Miranda responds. Looking at Tali she says "If you can give me data to wet their appetites I can send out some feelers."

Tali nods at Miranda saying "I can work up something quick for you."

"Sounds good. Pass the prelim data to my desk when you can please." replies Miranda. "Then we have a plan. Let's get to Illium, we can park there until the monies are settled. Tali how long will it take to get something hard to show prospective buyers?" Shepard asks.

"Give me a couple of hours for the preliminary data, a day to work the rest up" Tali says with confidence.

Shepard says "Thanks Miranda. Let's get to work." Turning he leaves the conference room Tali right beside him.

Miranda watches them leave together. She had thought at one time that she and Shepard would have made the perfect couple but seeing those two together she had to admit she was wrong.

Walking back to the elevator Tali says "John, if its okay I'd like to go the your, our quarters and start work on the device." She liked the sound of our.

"Good idea. I need to see Joker so see you a little later." Shepard left her at the elevator as he headed to the bridge.

On the bridge Joker was monitoring traffic but EDI alerted him to his presence. "Hello Commander" EDI said.

"Hello EDI, Joker. Plot a course for Illium please. Lets say in system arrival time around 08:00 tomorrow morning?" Shepard says. "Don't take us in, but move us back out of the shipping lanes. I want to be in contact with the planet but not too close just yet."

Joker looks at the boards and says "It's only a 9 hour run, why wait till...Never mind Commander. 08:00 tomorrow it is. Um, have fun."

"Joker, some things are off limits even to you. Please remember that." stated Shepard, his voice firm.

"Sorry Commander." came his quiet reply.

"EDI, please send a message to Liara T'soni on Illium requesting a private meeting."

"Yes Commander" she replied.