It has been nine days. My dear friends left me alone for nine whole days. I know the mission is important, but seriously nine says. A guy can only meditate so long before he needs to stretch his legs. I had to take "breaks" to release all my stored-up energy. I cleaned the entire frickin ship, reorganized the fridge, talked to Joker some more, and tried to Google things on my omnitool. I couldn't figure it out.
Shepard radioed the Normandy to pick them up near the station. The storm cleared and it was safe to land, although the terrain was uneven. If you ever been in a shifted room, you know how unnatural that feels. I head down to the cargo bay and see everybody. They must have missed me. Tali and Wrex are out of the mako cleaning their weapons and Garrus is messing with something in the back. Shepard is in the driver seat and looks concerned.
"Did something happen?' I quietly ask.
Tali explains how Liara lost her mother and is taking it very hard. Asari live much longer than other species and familial deaths are excruciating. Liara won't be joining us for the debrief.
"You missed a lot *********. Ah man you should have been there. We had to…" I interrupt Wrex.
"Spoilers man come on."
Garrus slams the mako backdoor and emerges with his new toy.
"I love this gun. It is probably my second favorite weapon. The first is the pistol my dad gave me when I went to boot camp" Garrus said as he carefully stores his baby in a protective case.
Shepard, Ashley, Kaiden, and Liara exit the mako. Liara has tear residues all across her teal cheeks. Shepard walks her to the elevator. A couple of muffled sobs are let out, the kind when she is almost out of them. I remember that feeling.
Ashley starts to speak "Debrief will be on hold for a while. Liara…" I hold my hand out and inform her that Tali told me what happened. I ask if there is anything I can do. Kaiden told me how the day after Benezia died, Liara would cry herself out until she passed out and would continue repeatedly. I'm going to give her some time to recoup and offer a shoulder to cry on.
A little while later Shepard came back down and had a very quick informal debrief. Since I was the only one not there, Shepard told me the order of events. He skipped over the details, I guess most of the are unimportant. I don't know how exactly he got the garage pass but he did. How they found the thought to be extinct rachni and the queen shortly after talking with the real Benezia and learning about the conduit.
"I hope you're happy Shepard. The Krogan won't be cleaning up that mess again" Wrex said.
"Ancestors I don't want to even imagine. Quarians don't have insects on the ships and seeing those give me shivers" Tali folds her arms and shivers.
I ask "You didn't kill the queen?"
"No, I didn't. It didn't feel right. In my book she didn't do anything wrong, and besides, how much harm can one queen do on a frozen planet?" Shepard said.
"You'd be surprised. If the stories I grew up with are true, what is that human phrase about an andor lid you can't seal once it is open?" Wrex said.
I scrunch my brow "Pandora's box you mean" I said.
"Yeah that. I'm warning you Shepard this won't be the last we hear of them, and the council will rip you a new one. I want to be there when that happens" Wrex walks off.
"God I can already hear the turian councilor reprimanding me for my choice" Shepard said. He places his hands on his jaws to emulate the mandibles of a turian and proceeds to imitate him.
"You let loose a threat to galactic security? How could you be so irresponsible? This is why humans should have no say. I need someone to pull this stick out my ass" Shepard-turian councilor said.
"Dude it is like he is right here" I said. Shepard chuckles harder then normal.
"Thanks. I needed that. I have tried to help Liara through her mother's death, but nothing is working. It is taking a toll on her. I wish I could make things better for her" Shepard said.
"She isn't going to be ok. She lost her mom. It took me months to heal when my mom died, and I was never the same afterwards. Do you want me to talk to her. Tell her what she needs to hear?" I said.
"Do you think it will help?" Shepard asked. I can tell he doesn't think I should, but he's desperate to try anything.
"It won't get rid of her pain but may help her get through it" I said.
"Screw it. Talk to her after she has rested. She needs it. I'm going to tell Joker to take us back to the citadel. Let me know what happens" Shepard waves goodbye. His steps pound the floor harder than usual. He is furious. I hope he doesn't blame himself for what happened. Shepard needs to let go of all that tension he carries.
I turn to Wrex and ask him what he has found out. If those Rumors where true. Wrex said he found evidence Saren cured the geophage on a salarian owned planet called Virmire. He claims he thinks it is just propaganda to swing the Krogan to his side, it appears to me, Wrex knows Saren cured the geophage and doesn't like where this is heading. His thoughts are eating his insides. He snarls at the thought Saren may have saved his race. Just what would be the price?
I enter the engine room and see Tali hard at work doing something important I don't even want to bother guessing. Her head is inside a panel with wires of all colors in multiple directions.
"This is so much better than dealing with those bugs" Tali said to herself.
She doesn't know I am here. I look to engineer Adams and gesture to him to stay silent. I cautiously creep behind her. I'm not going to interfere with her work. I have no idea how important her task is, so I wait until she finishes screwing the panel back in. My mouth nears her left ear and I yell "RACHNI!"
The right part of my sacrum is met with a kind surprise of Tali's heel. She luckily hit the joint where my leg and pelvis join. It's such an unusual spot. I don't have any pain resistance there. I'm forced into the ground.
"OW OW OW" my body tenses up. Tali turns around and immediately apologizes. She then justifiable berates me for scaring the crap out of her.
"Don't you dare scare me like that. Are you ok?" She asks.
My voice is hoarse "I try to have a little fun and this is what I get" I said.
"Well, you shouldn't have done that. I'm going to have nightmares about those things. Can you get up?" Tali asks. I try to stand. My body attempts to cooperate. The pain wins today and only today. Tali supports my weight and aids my horribly damaged body into the elevator. She tries to make conversation to distract my thoughts on the leg I am probably going to lose. She kicks like a donkey.
"I hate those rachni almost as much as the geth" Tali said.
"Why do you hate the geth?" I ask.
"You know why. They took my homeworld" Tali said, trying to hide the despise in her voice.
"I think your hatred is misplaced. A. You were born on a ship, you never had a homeworld. B. The geth were defending themselves from genocide. And C. Can we move? The elevator door opened." Tali escapes from her mind and comes back to reality.
"I deserve my home. All quarians do. The geth took what belongs to us" Tali said.
"Your ancestors tried to commit genocide. That doesn't come without consequences" I said.
"What would you know about it?" Tali eases off and forces me to carry more of my weight. She is clearly doing it to irritate me.
"Are the geth sentient?" I ask.
"They are machines" Tali scoffed.
"Are they self aware? Can they think for themselves?" I said. Tali halts which force me to stop also. She's silent.
"I was taught to treat people equally. It doesn't matter who they are or what they believe and when I met aliens, I didn't see any reason to treat them differently and the same goes for inorganics" I said
"You killed dozens of geth" Tali reminds me.
"Hey if you don't respect my right to life, I won't respect yours" I said.
"Tali, I just want people to be happy. That is hard for me and I am searching for that. What I can tell you is a bigger room, nicer things, or a planet you can walk on won't make you happy. It will feel great for a while, but it will dissipate. I think it is more mental than anything" I said.
"What are you suggesting?" Tali asks. We arrive at the doctor's door.
"Heck if I know. I hope you find happiness. If anyone deserves it, it will be you" I said. The door opens up and Tali helps me onto the examination bench.
"What happened?!" Chakwas is surprised I finally came to her.
I extended my arm and point to the purple lady.
"SHE KICKED ME. SHE KICKED ME HARD CLOSE TO THE WEDDING VEGETABES" I try my best to sound like a whiney little kid.
"He came up from behind me and spooked me. It was a reflex" Tali explained to the doc.
"SHE ADMITS IT. Is she going to get detention?" I ask.
"I'll make her clean the chalk erasers" Chakwas said.
"Fair enough. Alright. Now to business. I need something to ease the pain. I NEED THE DRUGS! Give me the good kind please" I plead. Tali has had enough of my immaturity today and leaves the room.
"With your healing I'm surprised you're even here" Chakwas said. She is making me work for it.
"Give me the good kind pretty please cutie" I add.
"Not going to work" Chakwas examines my area. I'm going to have some swelling but nothing serious. She gives me a heating pad and orders me to massage it. I do so for at least 10 minutes. During that time, I ask about Liara.
"How is Liara? She is back there, right? Can she hear us?" I ask.
"No, she can't. She is; however, she is having a very hard time. It's only natural I suppose" Chakwas said
"Do you think now is a good time to talk to her? I want to help her, but I also don't really know her. We barely talk" I said.
"Do not do it today. I glanced over asari grieving processes and now is definitely not the time. You can talk to her in a week or so. She will be exhausted for a while. Until then give her space. I'm here if she needs anything. Now hop to it I need my office back" Chakwas forces me off her bench. I swing by leg in a circle a few times to move the fluid around. I send energy to the afflicted area to speed up the healing process and stop the pain. Why couldn't she have given me future pain killers? I would have liked to have some fun. I'll go take a nap. It's been a while since I had one of those. I like to turn off my consciousness every once in a while. I worked hard cleaning the ship while everyone was away. I can reward myself a bit.
I head to my room and lay down on my firm mattress. The cloth the manufacturers used is very pleasing to the skin. as I lay down and let my eyelids fall, my thoughts drift inside my mind. The next big mission is Virmire. The game changer. They are going to learn about sovereign and just how big of a mess the galaxy is in. I really hope this universe is one where neither Ashley or Kaiden will have to die. Whatever is going to happen, nothing will be the same.