For something that was likely incredibly ancient - the three main components were mass relays after all - there was a decided modernity to the interior of the hub that connected the whole thing: from the sleek and smooth nature of the walls that hummed with low, white light that seemed to come from nowhere and yet everywhere, to the subtle shapes and designs that were visible just under the surfaces of the walls themselves. John wasn't sure what he'd been expecting to find here, but the sheer aesthetic of the interior made him uneasy. The idea that the Geth had created this seemed to coincide with the look - after all, they had been a product of recency - but when compared to the age of the mass relays themselves…? Well, nearly anything since the dawn of humanity over 200,000 years ago would likely have seemed modern.
Not far from where they'd entered, there appeared to be scorch marks along the walls -the long, black tendrils snaking and extending all the way up to what amounted to a ceiling. The burned blackness contrasted disturbingly with the faded blue that otherwise dominated the structure. "It looks like a bruise," John had muttered without even realizing it. If anyone had heard him, they didn't show it. Not even Tali had responded, lost as she was in her own sense of wonder. Stopping for a moment to discuss how best to proceed, After a quick conference, it was deemed best to continue moving inward in order to first scout the area before they explored this place properly.
"We can double back once we secure the area," had been Tali's reasoning. It was reasoning that was sound, and they followed her orders without a second thought.
With weapons drawn and at the ready, "securing the area" had turned out to be a simple matter and took only a few minutes more - there did not appear to be anything to secure against. The structure was the definition of sameness and repetition - the aesthetic persisted throughout. Once the securing was done, Tali had contacted the shuttle that everything was still okay, and to await further instruction.
Into something resembling a "main control center" they eventually entered. John, Garrus and Nat'Veral were left to stand guard (against what? John had wondered), while Tali and Liara had doubled back to where those strange scorch marks were located. Tali was running her hand along a section of a long wall that had clearly been privy to whatever events had happened here.
"Ancestors, that is a lot of eezo." Tali had her omnitool out now, studying it intently. She'd never seen a concentration of eezo like this in her life. Hell, she'd never even heard of one. Even the Normandy's drive core paled in comparison.
"Do you think it's simply due to the relay itself? After all, the thing runs on element zero." Liara was double checking the readings, cross-referencing it with Tali's omnitool's scans.
She radioed her saera over their open channel, who along with Garrus and Nat'Veral was exploring the main chamber by now.
"Shepard, take a look at these scans. Have you seen anything like this before?"
"Yes, Tali? I'm here. That's, uh, quite a bit of eezo you're looking at. What's up?"
"Shepard, what do the scans show where you're at?"
"Well, compared to what it looks like you and Liara are getting, the eezo concentration here is much lower. Still high, but it's not spiking the way it does in your area. Any ideas on what that could mean, Liara?"
She frowned at the fact that she did not. "No, I am not certain."
"Hmmm. All right, we'll keep checking up here. And also: it's so far just us. We haven't found evidence of anyone else."
"Okay, Liara and I will be done shortly." She gave a quiet nod to herself. Tali took a closer look at the walls. She felt her skin tingle, a result of the heightened tension here. As her eyes trained heavily on the scorched surface, she thought she saw something else in the walls. It was a little under the…
"Liara, can you come here please?"
She crossed to her side of the hallway. "What do you have?"
The admiral pointed a finger at a very specific darkened area of the wall. "Do those look like blast marks to you?"
"Hmm, maybe." Scanning again, she refocused the scanner's parameters. "Yes, that looks like scarring from a phasing-based weapon. It was hard to detect with all of the damage from…whatever caused the eezo spike."
Tali frowned slightly, her eyes narrowing as she tried to put pieces of a puzzle together. "Geth weapons fire, maybe? Look at the markings here." Turning the NerveStim up a little, she ran her finger along the wall itself. "This doesn't 'feel' like the kind of damage from a standard slug. This was done by something lighter."
Liara crossed her arms in front of her. "Why would the Geth have been firing inside of this thing?"
Tali paused for a moment, considering. Honestly, she had no idea - there were simply too many unknowns. Eventually she only shrugged. "Maybe Shio'Leth spooked them?"
"Hmm. Perhaps. But what about the eezo spike?"
To that question, she had no answer.
Sighing in apparent defeat, Tali looked around once more. "Well, we'll leave it as a mystery for now and bring back the data for the other admirals."
Liara concurred. "Yes, I am sure they will send teams over for study."
Tali gave a quick nod before they headed back to the main chamber with Garrus, John, and Nat'Veral.
While John continued to wander around the area, occasionally checking his omnitool for anything that looked out of the ordinary (relatively speaking for this place), Garrus soon joined him.
"Hey, Shepard. Find anything?"
"Hey, Garrus. Not really. Certainly nothing like what they've found. What about you?"
"No, nothing that sticks out. But…I don't know. There's something odd about this place, and it's bothering me. I can't quite put my finger in it."
"On it."
"What?"
"You can't put your finger on it, Garrus. You sound like a damn pervert when you say it like that." Shepard chuckled, and was relieved when Garrus laughed alongside him, even it was at himself.
"Right, well I'm still working on that."
"You're doing fine, don't worry about it. Anyway, what's on your mind?"
"Well, this place feels wrong, Shepard. You know, when we boarded that Geth ship near Earth, there were deactivated Geth everywhere. But here?"
"I don't see the problem. We have evidence that they were here, yeah, but we don't really know if they were here when I…uh…you know."
Garrus sighed. "Yeah, I suppose that's true. But I guess I…I don't know. I suppose I expected to find them here."
Shepard frowned, thinking about it. "No, that makes sense. It's in what would have been Geth space, we found it in a Geth database."
Before they could continue, the sounds of Tali and Liara's footfalls drew their attention.
Gathering around them, Tali addressed her team.
"Okay, so Liara and I have cataloged data from the eezo…'spike' area, and I know you all have made your own scans elsewhere." She looked from Garrus to Liara. "Now I'm sure you have noticed that we are seemingly alone here. There are no Geth, apparently -"
"So we have no Geth, but evidence of Geth? I don't understand."
John cleared his throat. "Obviously a valid question, Nat'Veral. Now, if I may, I have a suggestion. Let's finish our survey and make absolutely sure this place is safe. Then let's get Veetor in here and see what he can make of all of this. Admiral Xen specifically asked that he join us for this mission, after all. Let's see what he can dig up."
An hour later, they were back in the room that appeared to be a central hub - maybe even the command center, such as it was on this…whatever the hell it was. There had been no sign of any deactivated Geth, no other sign of damage apart from that found around the strange eezo concentration that they'd found…in short, the place was as empty as the vastness of space.
John had met the shuttle with Veetor at the airlock, and he was taking care to keep the young quarian reasonably calm in this very strange place. In truth, it hadn't been overly difficult to do so; he was amongst friends that had taken care of him when he'd needed it most. They were mostly passing the time answering Shepard's obvious attempts at small talk.
"So Veetor, thanks for coming along with us. Tali told me you've done some good work."
Veetor kept his head down as they spoke. "Th-thank you, commander…I mean 'admiral'. When Admiral Xen told me th-that you might come…come…that is, join her, then I thought that it would be…okay to go."
Shepard quirked an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued. "Uh, Admiral Xen?"
Veetor stopped for a moment, looking at Shepard in obvious confusion. "Yes, S-Shepard. She is my commanding…well, she runs our 'S-Special Projects' division. It was - is - my assigned area. She suggested to Admiral Tali that I join her."
They continued on, with John having to stifle a small laugh at the way that the young man had referred to his bondmate. He thought that he might have to use that on her later. It could perhaps be a suitable way to retire 'Miss vas Normandy" and perhaps even its more recent variant, "Miss vas Rannoch".
"Heh. 'Admiral Tali'…"
"W-what, Shepard?"
"Nothing, Veetor. I was just thinking out loud."
The quarian stopped and turned to him, eyes wide. "You…you do that, too?"
"What, talking to myself? Yeah, I do it all the time. Hell, it's actually pretty common. Why?"
"It's just that…it's just that I have not always been treated like that was the case. Admiral Xen is one of the few that s-seems to understand."
That little revelation damn near blew John's mind. If there was one word that he would have used to describe Admiral Daro'Xen vas Rannoch, "understanding" was pretty far down the list. He filed that little nugget away to talk to Tali about later.
"You said 'few', Veetor. Is there someone else who understands you?"
Why he asked the question, Shepard couldn't say with certainty. He was hoping that the young man had been able to find someone who might understand him. From their brief yet impactful interactions, Shepard had gotten the impression that Veetor could really benefit from having someone around who just 'got' him.
Again, Veetor trained his eyes to the floor. "W-well, Elan'Shiya has been g-good to me…"
Shepard perked up. He remembered her - she had helped Veetor recover from his experience on Freedom's Progress. But she was a doctor. Maybe quarian norms about a patient-doctor relationship were more relaxed than what humans typically had?
"Your, uh, doctor?"
"Keelah, she is not…that is…she cares for me, Shepard."
Cares. That was a word that Tali had often brought up when they had first begun discussing quarian bonding. That was usually how it began: by showing great care for another, often above what a professional relationship would have entailed (i.e., a commanding officer to his young, inexperienced engineer who quickly became his trusted confidant and friend). He secretly thanked Tali for explaining so much of what it was like for her, so that he could now put Veetor's words into context.
"That's good, Veetor. That's very good. I'm glad that you have someone who cares for you." If Veetor caught the implied meaning, he gave no evidence.
That was when they heard a low hum emanate from seemingly everywhere around them, causing both of them to glance around worryingly. A few seconds later, the worry was interrupted by the sweet voice of John's beloved…commanding officer…bubbling through his earpiece. "Veetor, Shepard. This is Tali. Apparently, the array is capable of producing a nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere. Keelah, I don't know why or how, but the thing is operational. Shepard, you should be able to remove your mask in a few minutes. Just, um, remember to double check your omnitool before doing it, okay?"
He smirked while looking over to Veetor. "Understood, Tali. I, uh, think I'll wait until we're back to your position before I try that, though. We should be back in a few minutes."
"Okay, Shepard. See you shortly."
A short time later, they were back in the "command center", seemingly the point of contact for all three relays. It was a large circular room with subdued white light filling the area from seemingly nowhere and yet everywhere. Running along the high walls, Nat'Veral had noticed subtle curved shapes - abstract designs, it looked like - that were etched into the walls and generally ran parallel to the floor. At the center of the room sat four computer consoles.
John met Tali and Liara in front of the nearest console. "Tali, can I ask a question?"
"Of course, Shepard."
Keelah, this is so weird. I've never commanded him anywhere…well, not on a mission anyway. Not like this. I hope I'm doing it right…I don't want him to think that -
"Did the life support system come on by itself?"
She looked down at her feet, her fingers doing a little dance. "Yes…it looks that way."
"Hmm. Okay, then. So it's got internal sensors, and it's capable of turning life support on, seemingly on a whim and with an atmosphere that we all can breathe."
"So the question is," Liara began, "at least one of them, is why was it off in the first place?"
"The implication is that there is an automated system to this place," Tali finished.
Shepard rubbed the side of his neck. "And…this thing wasn't built by the Geth. I mean, why would they have built something capable of a breathable atmosphere?"
Just another mystery to make note of in the report. Maybe the mystery.
"We'll…just add it to the report. Keelah." Shaking her head, Tali turned her attention elsewhere.
She turned to regard the four nondescript consoles that stood on the raised circular dais behind them. Deliberately, she walked around the full measure of them, omnitool out as she gathered whatever data she could glean. Indeed, there was precious little for her to inspect. Completing the circle, once again she took charge. "Okay. Veetor, Liara and Garrus - let's check these consoles."
John piped up from behind her. "What should me and Nat'Veral do?"
She thought for just a moment. "Take a look around, see if we missed something. But be ready for…well, anything, I guess."
"Yes, ma'am," John replied with no hint of humor; he was all business and professionalism. He was not in charge of this mission; his bondmate was. He subconsciously ran his hand to his side where his M-25 Hornet was holstered, ready for action.
The consoles were arranged in a diamond formation, and Tali set up at the console that was closest to the main entry that they had come through. To her right was Liara, then Garrus, then Veetor to her left.
The quarian admiral let out a sharp breath as she hovered her hands over the console, causing the keyboard's holokeys and the console display to light up. Somewhere she heard John and Nat'Veral chatting idly.
Blowing out a breath, Tali greeted the screen. "Okay, you little bosh'tet, let's see what you've got."
As expected, since she figured that the Geth were the most recent occupants, the text on screen was very similar to her native Khelish, which gave her translator very little to do. Looking over the display, she found various menus for system's status, security footage, archives, log history, and what appeared to be a series of control commands. She flipped through each option, just to get a quick idea of what was going on.
All systems appeared to be online, but there was a gap of over six months in the security footage, with the most recent entry logged just a few hours before - when they arrived.
Curious. Why is there such a long gap? Somebody was here. What the hell happened here?
With a trembling finger, she accessed the latest entry prior to their arrival. It was dated for (what would have been in human terms) 7th June 2186.
What she saw gave her pause, if there was noise to be heard outside her suit, she didn't hear it. On the screen, she saw an image of what was clearly the room that they were in. A figure strode into view, it was grainy at first; the light was not great. Its movements were a little stuttered, and it looked very familiar. It looked quite a lot like -
"Legion…"
No one appeared to have heard her, which was probably just as well. In a few more seconds, Tali indeed got confirmation as the figure came fully into view. The Geth mobile platform immediately strode to access the very same console that she was standing at. It was definitely Legion, the strange N7 armor plating was readily visible. She couldn't make out exactly what it was doing but, whatever it was, it was done at this console. She had to see what else had gone on here.
Well that at least confirms our Geth theory. But what were they doing here? Legion, my friend, what were you up to?
She backed out to the main menu again.
"Garrus, Liara, Veetor," Tali called out, "what are you looking at on your consoles?"
They started to talk at the same time, before each of them chuckled a little (Veetor with a far more nervous one).
"Liara, how about you start," came Garrus's suggestion.
"Yes, well…Tali, I only have two menu options - one appears to be a set of controls with x, y, and z designations - maybe for positioning something? And the other looks like a command history."
"Okay. What about you, Garrus?"
"I, uh, have pretty much the same thing."
"S-same thing here, A-admiral."
Hmmm. "Right. Just, um, don't touch the controls, but go ahead and sift through the logs; see if anything makes sense." She got the confirmations she needed, then returned to her own screen. She accessed the archives menu, and then Tali forgot to breathe.
"Keelah…what is this?" She swallowed hard, trying to keep her nerves in check.
Displayed in front of her appeared to be entry after entry - articles, interstellar communications, private messages, financial records - of data with a single theme. It was a trove so unfathomably large and encompassing that Tali imagined that it would have made even Liara blush. The latest date that she saw was in early 2186. There were thousands upon thousands of such items at her fingertips, and they all centered around the -
"Guys," Tali croaked, "what the hell is the 'Andromeda Initiative'?" Tali felt her pounding pulse everywhere on her body. In her ears, through her wrists, even down her neck. Immediately, she felt the other sets of eyes boring into her, including John's. He and Nat both strode with purpose to where she was. She didn't feel John's hand on her shoulder.
Garrus and Veetor turned to her, a little unsure. The turian attempted to answer the question she'd nearly forgotten that she'd asked.
"Tali, I think I've heard of it before, but I can't quite place -"
John raised his hands in mock innocence. "I was out of it for a good two years. Then we had the Collectors, then…" He sighed as he recalled precisely why he had been "out of it" for two years. His mouth twisted into a frown; he no longer felt like joking. "Yeah, I don't know."
Liara finally answered, and her voice chilled the entire room with ice creeping up their spines with every syllable she uttered.
"The 'Andromeda Initiative' was…it was an expedition to colonize the Andromeda Galaxy." She paused as every set of eyes lasered into her. "However, that was only what it was marketed as. What it really was though, was a last-ditch attempt to avoid the Reapers - and extinction - had we failed."
Tali felt her entire body shudder, and she had no words.
She'd never even heard of the damn thing.
Everyone left their consoles, gathering around Liara since it appeared that the former Shadow Broker yet had some secrets left to divulge.
"The Andromeda Initiative was a joint-venture. It would eventually involve all of the advanced species in the galaxy - human, turian, asari, krogan, salarian, drell, hanar, volus, batarians, elcor, and, yes Tali, quarians. It was founded by a human multi-billionaire named Jien Garson in 2176. Her initial intentions were precisely what the publicized mission statement was, but it took…"
While Liara went on about the particulars of the Initiative and its purpose, Veetor melted away. He quietly walked over to the main console that Tali had been using.
He was curious.
Glancing back over his shoulder, he thought about speaking up. They were all so engulfed in what the asari woman was telling them. While he was sure it was important, he knew that it didn't matter here.
He returned to the main menu before opening the "Log History" menu. The most recent entry was the same date that Legion had appeared, and there were seven separate entries. He opened the first file.
There were three sets of what appeared to be coordinates displayed along the top of the screen. Beneath those was a single image. It was a little grainy, and the light wasn't great, but it looked quite a lot like the -
"Citadel…"
The background conversation stopped dead in its tracks, as the sound of Veetor's voice derailed the whole thing as if smashed into a brick wall. All five heads turned toward him. Tali acted first, rushing over to join him at the console that she'd left unattended.
"Keelah, Veetor! What is this…" Veetor scooted out of the way, suddenly embarrassed that he had done something wrong. He mumbled some kind of apology. Tali gripped his shoulder in response. "It's all right, Veetor. It doesn't look like you broke it," she ended with a smile. It was one that looked like he picked up on, and she felt him relax a little. Shepard and Nat joined in alongside the others.
"Well, it's not the Citadel, but it is big," Garrus noted.
Indeed, it certainly wasn't the Citadel, and the title under the image gave its name as "Nexus".
"That was the main station - the hub - of the expedition," Liara explained, only getting a few distracted nods.
Tali jumped back to the list, quickly going through the rest of it.
"Hyperion, human…Leusinia, asari…Natanus, turian…Paarchero, salarian…" Tali stopped speaking as her hand flew to her vocalizer. Shepard stepped next to her, wrapping an arm around her waist. He stated the ark's name for her.
"Keelah Si'yah…quarian." He looked around at them, a bit dumbfounded, before asking the obvious question. "What the hell does that mean? 'By the homeworld…something?"
"Shepard," Nat'Veral replied, "it means 'By the homeworld I hope to find'." He appeared to swallow hard. "They had…they had given up on Rannoch."
A quick nod in understanding. "Somebody grab the OSDs," he ordered quickly and with the authority that he had exhibited throughout his whole career. Liara immediately began rifling through her utility bag, instinctive as it was to obey this man's orders. While she formatted an OSD via her omnitool, Tali worked at the controls once more. Shepard recoiled at her sharp inhalation, which was followed by a croaked voice that he couldn't recall hearing before.
"Nar'a'lah."
Tali remained motionless, having simply uttered the foreign word. John watched her hands start to tremble ferociously.
Silence. Again. They all slowly turned to the quarian admiral, unsure if they'd actually heard her speak. While the non-quarians had all heard her utter Khelish phrases before, this one sounded decidedly unfamiliar…decidedly alien. Tali reached for and found John's hand, squeezing it tightly. Looking at him with wide eyes, she repeated the phrase. "Nar'a'lah."
"Tali, what are -"
Nat'Veral answered for her. "Shepard, it means…keelah, it means 'Children of the Homeworld'."
While John had turned to face the quarian marine, Tali placed her trembling hand on his cheek. Feeling the light pressure, he allowed her to turn his face so that their eyes locked once more.
Somewhere deep within him, his stomach began to twist.
"They built an ark, John." Her voice wavered, either through shock, fatigue, emotion, or a combination of all three. She gripped his shoulders hard, staring into his eyes with fire. "The Geth built an ark."
Slowly he began to process the words.
"Does this unit have a soul?"
He knew the Reapers were coming. They knew the Reapers were coming. Legion told me himself that they took my warnings seriously. I laughed, because the Geth were the only fucking ones that had.
John felt his stomach begin to pitch and roll amid the rollicking waves of emotion.
They built an ark.
They escaped.
They built an ark.
They escaped the Reapers.
They escaped the Crucible wave.
They escaped me.
Maybe they're not all gone. Maybe they're not all dead. Maybe I didn't kill…
Shepard's breaths came in ragged huffs, the air in his lungs felt heavy and…dirty. He doubled over, hands on his knees. Tali gripped his shoulder, clearly concerned. "John, are you -?"
Squinting his eyes shut, he felt his entire abdomen tighten and constrict. He hardly registered the tears in his eyes, or the whimpers that escaped him. He opened his mouth to try to speak, to try to say something befitting the gravity of the situation - of the revelation. Instead, it was at that precise moment that he unloaded the contents of his stomach onto the cold, unfeeling floor and simply tumbled over.
His world went black.
"Shepard-admiral."
He sat up with a start and a grunt, looking around him furtively. Where the hell was he?
Wherever it was, it was bright. He was outside, and it was hot as hell.
Were those…were those ocean waves he heard?
Possibly, because he could sure as hell smell salt.
And who had spoken? Who was "Shepard-admiral"?
"I…am." It was his own raspy and gritty voice that he heard. Was that really his own voice?
His eyes fell upon the form of a corpse, such as it was. Legion stood before him, metallic three-fingered hand extended, ready to assist.
Like a true Geth. Like a servant of the people.
Taking its hand, John was hoisted easily to his feet, which were covered in proper shoes this time. Standing now, he took appraisal of his surroundings, and to no surprise, he was once again on Rannoch, even in this place. But there was something else…the sound of waves that meandered its way into his ears. This was not the Rannoch of his Earthen delirium.
Looking down at himself, he wore a pair of blue jeans and an old, black N7 t-shirt. There was…he reached behind his head, fingers eventually falling on the warm metal of a -
He cast his eyes down again, and he saw the enchanting greenish-yellow ring hanging neatly in the center of his chest.
Tali.
"Shepard-admiral. You have returned."
His face shot up at the sound of Legion's voice, honing in on the brilliant white light that constituted its face.
He cleared his throat, feeling a soft cooling breeze tickle his skin. "Yes, Legion. It would…it would seem that I have."
Its facial flaps stuttered for a moment. "Why?"
"I'm not really sure, to be honest." He rubbed the back of his neck.
"We are beholden to this place, Shepard-admiral. We return because you demand it."
"I…what?"
"This place exists only in your mind. We are here as you command it. We ask again: why have you returned?"
What the hell? What was he supposed to say to that? Did that even make sense?
Maybe now, here and after all this time, he could do what he'd so wished that he could have done.
"Legion, you are here because I need to…I need to apologize for what I did."
"Shepard-admiral, you do not."
The man twitched his head as if in complete shock; like he had to clear the cobwebs that he had found there.
"What the hell are you talking about, Legion? Of course -"
"We knew of this eventuality. That one way or another, the Geth could be destroyed. Either through the Old Machines, through the Creators, or through some other, unforeseen way."
"So I never…?"
"It is unfortunate that so many platforms were lost. But, we survive."
In a dozen words, this version of Legion had summed up the entire state of the galaxy.
Shepard immediately folded to the sandy ground beneath him. Thoughtless, his mind was a complete blank. He watched the small waves crash and the water roll forward at the behest of inertia.
"Legion, I am sorry for -"
John, for whatever reason, had looked to his left, hoping to find Legion once more. To find the single link to the Geth as he had known them.
But Legion was gone, and only the sounds of waves remained to keep him company.
John Shepard saw blue, which struck him as curious because the breeze and the heat and the salt in the air were definitely not participating in his sensory assessment of his current surroundings. There was hard metal beneath him, and his head was leaning against that same hard metal.
"I apologize, Shepard, but you are stuck with me."
It was the sound of a voice, familiar yet…
His vision focused, and he realized that the "blue" that he saw was, in fact, Liara. She flashed a soft, warm smile before turning abruptly to her right.
"Tali, he's awake."
"Keelah!" was her reply as he heard the still somewhat muffled sounds of her footfalls steadily and hastily approach. He still didn't -
"Ugh…hi, Liara. What the hell…?" Leaning forward, he rubbed the back of his skull. There was no lump that he could feel; no obvious signs of damage.
Three soft, gloved fingers brushed his cheek, then turned him to face their owner.
Those eyes - so soft, so overcome with concern.
"John…I'm so s-sorry. Are you okay?"
It was Tali, of course. Did she blame herself?
"I think so. What…what happened?"
As she and Liara helped him to his feet, she explained that after she'd told him of the Geth ark, he'd thrown up and then passed out; simple as that. Garrus and Nat had carried him over here, where Liara had kept an eye on him.
"So, what you're telling me is…we get to this crazy structure that we weren't even sure existed, and while we try to learn its secrets… I…barf on it. Is that about right?"
Liara shot her eyes to Tali before answering. She wasn't sure if he had been trying to pull a laugh from them. "I would not have put it quite that way, but…yes. That is essentially correct."
He laughed at himself. What else was there to do? "How long?"
"About half an hour, Shepard."
"Fuck sake. What did I miss?"
"Um, not much honestly." Tali held his hand as they rejoined the others. "Veetor has been working through some of the logs and security data. Keelah, he works fast. We're trying to transfer to OSDs -"
John had looked at Veetor in time to see the young man visibly…twitch, as if in subtle surprise. Veetor looked around in quick, nervy movements before speaking up. "Admiral…T-Tali…I think there is something wrong…or something…else."
She and John gave each other looks that were part confusion and part concern. John gave her a quiet nod, and she released his hand as she sprinted over to the center console.
Keelah, what is it now? What else is this place going to spring on us?
When she arrived beside him, he was simply looking at the screen's menu. He did not look up at her. "What is it, Veetor?"
He limply pointed at the screen. "There was something…something else. In the screen. Now it's gone."
She studied the display, and was not surprised that the display consisted only of the menu that she had seen upon first opening the system.
But his words struck a more primal nerve within her. It was a nerve encased in dread, in fear. Tali couldn't help but think of when they'd found him on Freedom's Progress. He'd sounded cryptically vague then, too.
It was the "monsters" then.
And it had led them to the Collectors.
"Did you press anything, or…?" She grasped at straws, in part because it was entirely possible that he was mistaken, but also because of that damn nagging dread.
He shook his head in annoyance. "It's n-not there, but I saw something. In the screen." Admiral Xen's cryptic words rang in his head. "There is something more…here."
Tali looked from Veetor, then to Shepard, then back. Tali looked again at the screen.
It didn't appear any different to her, but that didn't mean much. She'd seen and done enough unbelievable shit to discount absolutely nothing. For the hell of it, she ran a quick scan with her omnitool, hoping for nothing but expecting more.
There was nothing out of the ordinary that either she or the scanner could see. But…
"Okay Veetor. I'll include this in my report. And I'm sure we'll be sending teams back out here." But it won't be me. That is for certain. Noticing a subtle shudder, she placed a hand on his shoulder before saying quietly, "Veetor, you are not crazy, okay? Just because I didn't see anything doesn't mean it didn't happen. I believe you saw something, I do." He quietly nodded, thankful for her belief in him.
One more deep breath, then Tali looked around to address the team. She'd had just about enough of this place. "Okay everyone. This was…keelah…this was more than…" She sighed. What could she say to these people? Most of them had been with her for the measure of the most unbelievable shit that she had ever seen. They already knew how she felt. "Good work out here. We've got more than enough information…and keelah…let's just go home and see what the others want to do with it." She shook her head, bemused by the whole sequence of events.
And that nagging little dread still scratched at the back of her mind.
She squeezed John's hand. She hadn't even realized that she'd slipped hers around it.
"We'll wrap things up here. Start organizing the OSDs, let's make sure we've gotten everything relevant. And remember: we'll be sending people back out here. We don't need to get everything. We've done our jobs."
She chanced one more look around this alien structure, before she found her saera's eyes again.
The look on his face…keelah…what could possibly be going through his head?
"Let's…let's just go home."
The shuttle ride had been unnervingly quiet. All eyes averted each other, few words were spoken.
The act of processing what they'd learned was a quiet one, apparently.
When they'd returned to the Solara, Tali had given simple instructions to return home.
Now well on their way back to Rannoch, John and Tali were seated at the edge of the bed that they shared. The stars streaked past the viewport in the wall.
John sat with his eyes firmly trained on the metal floor, he was vaguely aware of Tali's loving caress on his arm. She rested her head on his shoulder.
"Saera, talk to me," Tali whispered.
"I don't know what to say," he wheezed.
Tali chewed on her lip. What to say next?
Do I say anything at all?
"Okay. Then just listen."
A small nod.
"They survived, John. The Geth didn't die." She wrapped an arm around him, pulling him tightly to her. Tali saw the tear that fell down his cheek.
"Tali…I never wanted to…" He tried to combat the sob that wanted to force its way out of him.
"Shhh, John. I know."
A sniffle. "What do you think they'll do? The other admirals, I mean."
She took in a long breath.
"I…what can they do? I'm sure we'll have teams out here trying to figure that thing out. Daro will likely want to learn all she can. Keelah, she'll probably go out there herself. And we'll just…"
"Tali?" He faced her, with his hands on either side of her visor and a pleading desperation in his eyes. "I can't do this anymore. Please don't…"
If she could have ripped her mask off then and there, she would have. Tali did the next best thing, pulling his forehead to her visor. Her eyes met his, and they sank into each other.
"Saera, it's over. You don't have to do this anymore. You've done enough, my love. You've done more than enough." That's when she decided to roll back onto the bed, pulling John with her. Tali made sure his head was nestled between her soft breasts.
"John?"
"Yeah?"
"Turn off your translator." Her fingers stroked his head, running soft streaks through his hair.
Perplexed, he had to ask why.
"No questions. Just do it. Please."
He did.
A few seconds later, notes of a sweet and soft melody filled his ears. The sounds danced around him, inside him. He couldn't understand a syllable of what poured out of her, but he recognized the love behind it.
The sound of it was beautiful beyond words he knew to describe.
Tali's fingers stroked his hair, and his body relaxed. Her words - these words that he did not understand but deeply felt - filled and relaxed his mind.
In less than a minute, he was asleep.
With her free hand, Tali released her mask and gave him a soft kiss on his scalp.
"I love you. Dream well," she whispered before replacing her mask.
With the light of streaking stars the only illumination in their quarters, a few minutes later Tali'Shepard vas Rannoch joined him.