SSV Normandy, March 26, 2183
Destination: Feros
Well, this was not at all pleasant for her. Not in the slightest. The coughs and sneezes she was throwing, and the extreme stomach pain was just accenting just how this sickness was definitely not going to go away.
Then again, she didn't care much for that. After all, how could she? It was over. She had won.
After 13 long years, and countless nervous babbles and backtracking, John was hers.
He was her Inszel.
And although to most species, it would mean a simple boyfriend or girlfriend, for quarians it did not. It showed a deeper connection than that of other species. A nigh-unbreakable bond between two souls.
Unlike human to human pairings, in the few hundreds of quarian and human couples, a break-up was almost unheard of; only in the worst conditions was it even a remote possibility.
After all, quarians weren't like humans. They didn't love someone for them to give them up, or even care about their status or power in their worlds. They cared about the person.
That's why she had been so infatuated with John. Why she had walked through Pemla'tiyl ever since that day on the Einstein. And while she wasn't so sure if he even knew what that was, or even walked through it himself, she was sure he had. The two had formed one of the most incredible friendships in what was likely all of galactic history. And now it was due for them to walk through Hecs'tiyl. Together.
Tali sighed in delight, even though her body felt as though it was on fire. Well, a minute of exposure to both John and that elevator environment were obviously going to result in some complications.
Worth it though.
"What's got you so happy?" A voice came from the far end of the room, Tali looked over to origin and saw Chakwas not even looking at her, instead holding a data-pad on hand and holding her gaze on it.
Tali's voice carried a rasp as she responded. "Well, how could I even put it? I guess winning at something makes someone very happy."
"And might I ask what you won in that makes you ignore how you are extremely sick?" Chakwas asked, placing the data-pad on a stool and walking over at Tali. "Because I doubt it would be the amount of geth you killed on Noveria."
A sudden blush came to Tali and her face felt as though it was on fire; not something good when her body was already on fire. "Oh, uh, well you see I uhh..." She tried finding the words to say she had finally won over John's heart, but she didn't know how Chakwas would take it, having apparently known John longer than herself.
Just then, the door to the med-bay opened, and of course it had to be John. Well, this was certainly not good for her nerves.
"Ah, John, just the person I was about to look for." Chakwas said as she locked the med-bay door, making sure he couldn't escape.
Well, he wouldn't be able to escape if John didn't know how to hack open doors. Courtesy of one very young Tali'Zorah nar Rayya.
"Yeah look, I'm just here because of the..." John however gritted his teeth and shivered as he pointed at his acid burn on his shoulder. "-the wound. Fuck it hurts." He hissed. Ever since getting out of Noveria, the acid burn he had gotten from the rachni had grown worse, even medi-gel hadn't helped.
Chakwas crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. "Yes, I assume the adrenaline would have worn off after a while, and the medi-gel too." She said as she grabbed some medi-gel and bandages and ordered John to sit on the bed next to Tali's. "It might have also been good to come here when the wound was exposed to freezing temperatures."
"Yeah, but we were in a warm place the whole time."
"No you weren't."
"What?" He replied almost incredulously. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Chakwas chuckled at his attempts of getting out of the situation and stood up. "Jane told me about your little elevator experience." Both John and Tali tensed up, had Jane truly told everyone about them kissing?
"You two were stuck in it for 15 minutes. I checked the status on your suit, and you were in a below zero environment for seven minutes, not usually something that is dangerous for wounds and your blood but Noveria isn't Earth."
John sighed. "Okay fine, maybe it wasn't the best decision, but I just need my arm back in service before we get to Feros."
Chakwas shook her head at him. "I'm afraid that is not an option Commander." She simply stated. "The things you went through on Noveria are enough for me to be able to order you to sit Feros out. Tali too."
"What? Saren is very likely there! They can't beat him without me." John argued.
Chakwas shook her head and sighed. "One: Jane can easily lead them. And two: They have Nihlus with them. I'm sure he can give them some pointers on how to beat that turian's ass." She replied smirking.
John grumbled something that Tali wasn't able to make out but Chakwas did. "It's not a question either. You may be a spectre, but I still get to order you to sit things out when wounded. And hey look on the bright side." She said as she walked towards her desk and opened one of the drawers. "The two of you get some alone time together."
John tensed up and Tali nearly chocked on her own spit when she said that. "W-what?! I- I don't know what..."
Chakwas laughed at Tali's attempts to throw her off. "Please, Jane couldn't shut up to me about the two of you finally getting together." She sighed and smiled looking down at the drawer she had opened. "I must admit, when Hannah told me about Tali all those years ago, I was so sure the two of you were already deeply in love. Imagine my surprise when you bring her aboard the Normandy and you two aren't a couple yet."
"Yeah... took a little longer than it probably should have huh?" John replied nervously, looking at Tali almost ashamedly.
"It's okay Joh-" Tali rasped before stopping as she entered a coughing fit. John immediately stood up and helped her sit up on the bed. Dear God she was shivering a lot. The coughs could even be seen in wet clumps on her visor, and that had been from barely a minute of exposure. He could only wonder how much worse it would be if it had been longer.
Chakwas walked over to Tali with a syringe in hand and sat next to her. The doctor held Tali's arm in place as she injected the syringe into one of the quarian's suit injector ports. As the fluid was pushed into her body, Tali stopped moving as much and her breathing slowed as John lay her back down.
Tali continued coughing just a slight bit before looking at John. "I wasn't really upfront about how I felt about you. Not until we both were faced with possible death."
He smiled at Tali and saw Chakwas hold what looked like a data-pad in her hands. "Still, I'm glad to see at least you found somebody. And you're lucky I'm not tearing you a new one for kissing her and putting her in danger." Chakwas said sternly at John.
"Yeah, I'm surprised by that too." John admitted without even looking at Chakwas.
"Since I know this relationship will be long term, her kissing you and getting sick is good for her to adapt to you. But I do have to ask you to please keep exposure at a minimum next time." Chakwas whistled at him and threw the data-pad at him which he caught with his undamaged arm. "Preferably only hand to hand contact for the time being. When the reactions are minor, then you should be able to remove the helmet for short periods."
"You've been studying how to decrease risk?" Tali asked as John turned in the bed to face her same direction, showing her what information the data-pad held.
Tali felt herself blush. It contained information on the quarian body and immune system. As well as erogenous zones and comfortable sex positions. She could even see John look embarrassed as he read it.
Chakwas shrugged at the two and sat up, unlocking the med-bay door to leave. "I've had to work on many quarians after the treaty. And sometimes that's meant having to deal with quarians sick from being intimate with a human." Neither John or Tali were surprised by that. Human and quarian couples were surprisingly numerous among ships and intimacy between the two was surprisingly less dangerous than with other species, especially after the hundreds of treatments to improve their immune systems.
"Now, I'm going to go find that idiot Jenkins since he's overdue for me to check his wound from Eden Prime. And what is it that I heard about him getting into a firefight?" She asked looking at John and Tali who tried looking innocently at her, making her groan in frustration. "Shouldn't have asked. I better not see either of you walking around out there. Especially you John or I'll make sure that the whole crew knows about your biotic cereal incident." Chakwas threatened him.
John let out a mock gasp. "You wouldn't!"
"Try me." She said, walking out of the med-bay and leaving the two alone in there.
"Biotic... cereal incident?" Tali chirped amusedly despite not knowing what Chakwas meant.
John groaned and patted her on the shoulder. "I'd rather not talk about it."
Tali chuckled, but was stopped when she entered a second coughing fit. Not as bad as the first, but still pretty bad. She felt John begin patting her back, trying to calm her. As the coughs finally subsided she began holding her chest tightly as it ached, and she raised her legs to be in an almost baby position and groaned. She turned on the bed to look at him and they locked eyes, his blue eyes carrying the hint of guilt she knew he had.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have put you in danger like that." He said looking down shamefully.
Tali frowned behind her helmet and sighed. She raised her hand to his cheek and stroked it. "Hey, it's not your fault. It was my idea, and I already told you. It was..."
"Totally worth it." Both said at the same time eliciting laughs out of both of them.
She smiled when his face finally left behind that guilty look and continued stroking his cheek. "Honestly? The only bad thing about kissing you?" Tali pulled him closer to her and leaned in to his ear and whispered despite the fact nobody could hear them. "Is that I can't do it again yet."
John raised his hand and placed it above hers on his face. "It's okay. It may not be soon, but I promise it'll happen."
"Mmm, and I would like you to see some more parts of my body when that happens." She purred, her want for him still ever so present despite being ways away from becoming intimate yet.
"Planning ahead already Miss nar Rayya?" He asked. The name he used for her made Tali blush, it wasn't a very inventive name by any means, but the way he said it filled her with tingles throughout her body.
Tali gulped and she let go of her chest to wring her hands furiously. "Well... I may have been planning for... four years now."
"So you've wanted me for 13 years, and you've wanted me to 'dance' in the bed with you for four?" He chuckled at her tensing up from his question.
"It sounds a bit crass when you put it like that, but yeah, that's the basic gist of it." She admitted nervously before sneezing, the pool of mucus evident even through the visor before being washed away by her suit's systems.
John leaned in closer to Tali and bumped his forehead with hers. "Hey, it's okay. I'll admit even I am kind of hoping for it, and honestly I would only entertain the idea if it is with you."
Tali's face felt as though it was back on Therum, oh how the cold of Noveria would be a welcome feeling right now.
"But as much as I know you probably want to tear your suit off, I'd rather wait until it's safe. Even if it means just touching hands, or a single finger, if it means you will be safer when we do it, then I'll happily wait for you." He finished while stroking her arm and smiling.
She smiled and felt tears well up in her eyes. She knew John cared about her, but him going into his 'protector' mode always made her very giddy, and when it was directed at her, then it always felt like she could melt from just how incredible it felt.
But of course, as per custom at this point, their nice moment just had to be ruined as the med-bay door opened. John groaned, thinking Chakwas was already back and ready to pester him about getting himself in situations or putting Tali in danger. But when he turned, he instead saw Liara walk by. She looked incredibly pissed, and didn't even stop to acknowledge either John or Tali.
They saw as Liara walked towards the storage room and locked the door behind her. Both of them exchanged a look, knowing what she was likely feeling. John had after all murdered her mother in cold blood, even if it was at that point mercy.
"You should go talk to her." Tali said.
John groaned and looked back at the storage room. "I know. But I doubt she wants to talk to her mother's killer."
"Maybe, but right now you're the best option for her." She took one of his hands and rubbed it with her thumb. "I'll be okay John. Just go and make sure she's okay."
John sighed and nodded before standing up to walk to the storage room. Even though Tali used to sorta hate Liara, after winning John's heart, she wasn't too worried, knowing that even if she tried to pull a move on him, he would very likely reject it.
Well, it was John after all, and he had already showed her how much he cared for her, being willing to wait until she could get out of her suit, and uncaring of the fact he couldn't kiss her whenever he wanted to. She wasn't worried in the slightest anymore.
John pressed the speaker button into the storage room and cleared his throat. "Hey Liara? It's me, you got a second?"
There was no answer from the asari, simply silence. "Liara, I just want to talk." John tried again, but received the same silence as before. He sighed and looked down at his wrist.
He could very well hack open the door. It really wouldn't take long, especially when Tali herself had helped him improve on it, but he wasn't sure if ignoring her privacy and not letting her mourn how she wanted was even right.
"Look, I know you're mad at me for what I did. But it was her choice." He said, leaning above the speaker and sighing. "If she was telling the truth, and there was no way to reverse it, would you prefer her to stay like that? Or would you grant her a quick and painless end?"
Just then, the door to the storage room opened and Liara came out pissed off at the commander. "Yes, and that's a big if! Now we will never know if she could have been brought back!"
John frowned at her and signaled Tali, who was trying to stand at the sight of a furious asari, to stand down. "Jane told me you said you wouldn't let it interfere. Yet had you actually managed to do something when I was about to kill her, what if she had gone back under Saren's control and killed someone?" He asked in his deep commander voice.
"I..." She sobbed but was cut off by him.
"You could have endangered that operation Liara. And I know, it's hard to lose a parent," He said and glanced over at Tali, remembering how she had been when the quarian had lost her mother to the Rayya incident. "-but it was her choice. At least respect that." John said without ever having moved from his spot.
As he finished, Liara finally gave in and burst out crying. "I just... I didn't want her to die."
John sighed at her cry. "I know. But unfortunately we ourselves are never prepared for the loss of someone we care about." He spoke and began walking over to Tali before looking back again. "If you don't think you can handle it, you can sit Feros out. I'll tell my sister, and she will probably understand. Give you some time to figure everything out."
Liara nodded at him. "Of course. Thank you Commander." And with that, Liara walked back into her cabin and disappeared back inside, locking the door behind her.
John opened his omni-tool and messaged Jane about Liara's unavailability. However, just as he was about to close the interface, he came upon another message.
03/26/2183
Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh: Commander Shepard, uploaded are schematics on what parts will be good for you to send back to us. We will have someone waiting for you at the Citadel for when you can deliver them.
If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to contact me or even Tali'Zorah on your crew.
Good luck.
Attachment: 1.87 MB
Right, he had nearly forgotten about that part. He still didn't feel good about sending geth parts over to Earth, but if they were lucky, maybe it would end any war with the geth before it even started.
"John? You okay?" Tali asked from the bed and he closed his omni-tool to walk over to her and grab her hand as he smiled.
"With you? I'll always be okay."
Garrus leaned against the Mako with his head on his forearm. He couldn't stop replaying the events on Noveria on his head. More than anything, he couldn't stop thinking about managing to piss everyone off.
Ever since they had returned to the Normandy, he and Nihlus had received some very harsh glares from everyone. Hell, he had even heard Ashley talking with Wrex about how much of an asshole he was.
Incredible how he had managed to take the person most in the crew thought was a xenophobe, and make her cooperate with a krogan just to go against him.
Still, what he hated more about all he had talked about was so calmly mentioning sterilizing all of humanity in front of five humans. And one of them just had to be Jane.
He really couldn't stop hitting his head against his arm. What the hell was he thinking? Well, insulting the quarians had also pissed her off quite a lot, so he was sure that even if he hadn't mentioned a human genophage and still insulted the quarians, she would have been pissed off regardless.
Bah, what was he even thinking anyways? This whole time he had been looking at her more than anything for her body. Not once did he truly ever feel as though it was love or anything else. More than anything physical attraction. Probably just like all the other males that had tried being with her.
Well, he shouldn't be disappointed about it though. After all, she was a human, and she had said herself she wanted someone she loved just like they loved her. And he had been more interested in her form than a romantic attraction. It never would have gone anywhere regardless.
But it was weird for him now that he had time to reflect. He wasn't really ever interested in aliens. He wasn't a xenophile, and he certainly had never looked at any human the way he had looked at her. Well, there was a first time for everything he supposed.
For now, he would just deal with being hated by everyone and thinking whether or not to calibrate this damn tank. Though he didn't even feel like doing so at the moment.
Then why in the hell was he still holding the wrench on his left hand if he wasn't using it? He should just place it down and...
"Hey Garrus." A voice came from behind him startling him and accidentally making him throw the wrench upwards into the air.
Before he could turn around he heard the wrench hit what was definitely not the Normandy's floor. Quite obvious when the very voice that started him yelped in pain. "Ow, fuck!"
Quickly turning around he saw Jane herself holding a very spot on her head and hissing in pain with her eyes closed.
"Oh spirits! Sorry about that." He tried raising his arms but she turned away from him. He looked up to see both Wrex and Ashley looking at him with narrowed eyes.
Garrus shivered at the sight but ignored it to focus on Jane. "You okay?" He asked, receiving slow nods from her. Great, so not only had he so beautifully mentioned a human genophage, now he threw a wrench at her head - though accidental. Could this day possibly get any worse?
"I-I'm good." She muttered through the pain before looking at him. "Jeez, you really know how to talk to girls huh? Just casually mention sterilizing her entire species, insult her friend, and then throw a wrench at her head."
Garrus's mandibles tightened and he leaned against the Mako. "I know... I'm not good with words."
"Yeah no shit." She hissed, the pain subsiding though still present.
He let her have a moment to come back to her senses before speaking. "Didn't think you'd come down here after Noveria."
"Believe me I really didn't want to. Just what in the hell were you thinking?!" She asked, and he had to admit, he was asking himself the same question. "You so beautifully say that a human sterilization plague would have been good if we were beating you during First Contact?!"
"Jane, just..."
"Just call me LTC." She said and his mandibles tightened, well he had to expect she wouldn't be fine with him using her name.
"Okay, LTC, I just think that if we had ever gotten to a point of full out war, it might have been necessary." He explained, but the look on her face made it clear she was less than convinced.
"Oh, so if we had gone to war for the mistake of your people, it would have been our fault?" She asked, narrowing her eyes and making him take a step back.
"That's not what I..."
"Then what were you insinuating? That we are just monstrous? That we would have attacked your colonies like you did Shanxi? That we would have nuked them maybe?" Every question was laced with a lot of sarcasm and venom coming from her voice. "Or even if it had just been regular war, would you still have sterilized us had we been winning?"
Garrus didn't even know if there was a reason to speak. Yes, he still wasn't convinced it wouldn't have been the right choice, but right now he was having trouble believing even himself.
Fuck. Had his kind truly been this monstrous towards all others? Yet everyone seemed so hellbent on saying they were heroes, and the best of the best, just behind the asari.
Were they? Or were they just hailed for stopping a war in what some might consider a brutal way?
"And don't even get me started with what you said to Tali. Properly contrite until it blew up in their faces? So, a VI becoming an AI and trying to stop it before it gets out of hand is just their fault. Sure, got it." She clicked her tongue and looked away. "Or is it that your kind and everyone else just prefer to blame everything on the quarians? Tell me, just how many have you placed in jail despite them saying they did nothing?"
Garrus looked down as he remembered the quarians that had done just that. He glanced up for just a second to see her narrowing her eyes at him with a very visible scowl on her face. The turian sighed and looked toward the Mako. "Three."
"Three." She repeated in a low voice before muttering it again. "Three..." There was a brief silence before she inhaled deeply. "And do tell, was it because they 'stole' something?" She asked using air quotes despite the fact Garrus couldn't see it. He nodded without looking back and she sighed. "Ever check if it was true? That they actually did it? Or did you just go by what some clerk or random person told you?"
His silence was enough of an answer for her, and she scoffed. "Shoulda known. Shoulda fucking known. So you do it to only quarians? Or did you also do it to humans as well?" Her question made Garrus slowly turn around. While there had been quite a few cases where the humans were indeed guilty as proven by evidence, he also remembered the few times there was no evidence and he still either allowed someone to take them in or did it himself.
Garrus's eyes betrayed the truth and Jane groaned as she began walking away. "That's great. One turian who hates the krogan, and another one who's racist. Fucking hell."
He really didn't want to believe so. Was he truly racist? Or were humans ignorant? Well, from what he had seen from her, he knew that couldn't be it. Besides, he had seen Tali in action and how she behaved with the commander. She could easily have every opportunity to do something that benefited her only, yet the only thing she had done that was even remotely selfish was trying to get with the commander. Never stolen, or even seemed like someone who would ever steal without permission from the commander.
Garrus leaned his back against the Mako and sat down on the ground. He stayed sitting down for what must have been hours. He hadn't seen Ja... the LTC leave the cargo bay after she had left to talk with both Wrex and Ashley.
But right now, his thoughts were focused on his stupid comments. Quite honestly he still didn't think he was in the wrong, but to have everyone against him made him feel otherwise. His mind was too broken right now to even think about it though.
He desperately needed something to focus on that wasn't thinking about whether or not he was in the wrong or J... the LTC. Damn it felt weird saying that. He barely got one week of calling her Jane before he lost the chance to do so. Still, his fault, and he knew it.
And quite honestly he really didn't feel like calibrating the Mako. And he definitely wasn't ready to go and say sorry to Tali. Not that she would probably accept it, and she had the commander to comfort her if she let his comment go to her head.
Well, if one good thing came from him was that since he took so long with the power, he had heard the LTC's squeal when she checked on her brother and Tali. He had also caught them continuously glancing at each other after the event, and it didn't require a genius to know they were finally together.
Good, because despite how he felt about the quarians, he at the very least thought Tali still deserved someone nice. And she finally had the best person she could ever be with.
And it was kinda pissing him off too.
Garrus must have been sitting down for hours, to the point he didn't even remember when he had closed his eyes and nearly fallen asleep.
He was only alerted to his condition when he heard a loud hit against the Mako, startling him. He looked over and watched Kaidan cross his arms at him.
"You didn't hear? We're ten minutes away from Feros." He said, watching Garrus's every move as the turian stood up.
"Sorry. I was just thinking about... other things." He admitted, grabbing his sniper and assault rifle and placing them on the back of his already put on armor.
"Noveria." Kaidan said. It wasn't a question, it was obvious that the lieutenant knew exactly what Garrus meant.
Garrus sighed and nodded, leaning back against the Mako to gather his thoughts. "I just don't know what is right and wrong." He shrugged and looked to Kaidan. "Years of turian training and being with C-Sec taught me quarians are not to be trusted. Humans just next to them, but I don't know anymore."
Kaidan stared intently at the turian, unmoving, yet seemingly empathetic towards him. Well, that was a surprise.
"Yeah... I guess that's more understandable." Kaidan said, leaning next to Garrus. "Humans have had that same problem for years. We can't even get along with our own people, no surprise that aliens might have the same problems, even if not against themselves."
"You've hated your own people?" Garrus asked incredulous at that revelation.
"Well. Not me, no. But humans don't exactly have the best reputation when it comes to not hating our own people just because they have a different skin color." He chuckled. "But I think turians are more hated than ourselves now though."
"Damn." Garrus muttered.
"Yeah. So I guess I can understand where you came from with your comment. Even if it was wrong." Kaidan stood from his place and nodded towards the elevator. "Come on. I didn't come here for a long chat, just to get you."
Garrus stood up as well and walked alongside Kaidan to the elevator. "The others couldn't be bothered to tell me about being near Feros?"
"I don't think any of them want to talk to you." He responded looking around and seeing the other's usual locations devoid of their presence.
"Even Nihlus?" Garrus asked as the elevator closed and began going up.
"Nah, he only likes talking when it allows him to insult Wrex." Kaidan responded in both a serious tone, but also one that carried a hint of humor.
"Yeah..." Garrus grumbled just as the elevator doors opened. Both of them walked upwards to the CIC and towards the cockpit where everyone else was currently waiting. Except for the Commander, Tali, and Liara.
So if that was the case, he could only assume who would be leading them.
And sure enough, the LTC was there, next to Joker as the Normandy began its descent on Feros's atmosphere.
"Still nothing?" She asked to which Joker shrugged.
"No. Communications are down and we still don't have any landing spot." The pilot complained without moving much from his spot.
"Well, spectre authorization won't land us a spot here then." The LTC stopped leaning and walked backwards. "Just find us somewhere and put us down nice and easy."
"Got it." Joker responded, giving her a nod with his hat.
Jane sighed as she walked towards the group before taking notice of Garrus and Kaidan being here. "Ah good you're finally here."
"Sorry. Fell asleep." Garrus answered nervously, knowing both Ashley and Wrex were currently holding grins on their faces.
Jane shrugged and looked back towards the Normandy's front window. "Yeah well at least you got here before anything actually happens. We got nowhere to land so we'll probably just take any available spot for ourselves."
Jane briefly explained all the details they knew about Feros. Unlike Noveria, at least the planet would be a comfortable temperature, but considering the loss of communications, Garrus knew they were probably too late to the party.
"Wouldn't be the Normandy if we weren't on a next to impossible mission." Ashley joked when Jane finished explaining the details.
She sighed and "Well, without Tali, my brother, and Liara this will be much more difficult."
Wrex chuckled as he took his shotgun out of its holster and gave it a quick look-over "Wouldn't have it any other way." The krogan then looked over towards Nihlus and grumbled. "Only thing I'd change was bringing him along."
Unfortunately, the spectre closed his fist and began almost shaking in what looked like contained anger. "It's as bad for me as it is for you to even be in the same room krogan.
Wrex laughed at the turian's visible anger. "Well, maybe then you'll actually be useful so you can stay away from me. Unlike Noveria."
Everyone looked over at the argument between the two and watched intently as the situation began escalating.
"Even as wounded as I am, I can tell you that I can still do a lot more than you can."
"Uhh, that's not..." Jane attempted to speak but was cut off by Wrex.
"I'm surprised then, because I'd think with who gave you those wounds you'd be bawling all day over that instead." Nihlus's head slowly turned to look at the krogan mocking him. "Oh Saren, I trusted you and you betrayed me. Why would you do such a thing wah wah wah."
Everyone was mortified by what Wrex had just said, especially when his next chuckle came.
"Too soon?"
Nihlus's gaze contained the evident hatred before he let out just the smallest of chuckles. "And you only have the genophage because your kind messed up after the rachni. Too soon? Or should I wait a thousand years?"
Jane heard as Wrex began growling at the turian. "Wrex. Don't..." Unfortunately, her plea had been in vain as Wrex raised his shotgun to point it at the turian.
Kaidan quickly took action by using his biotics to launch Wrex's shotgun upwards so the barrel faced towards the ceiling as it went off.
"Holy shit!" Joker yelled as he got distracted by the gunfire and turned to look at the group trying to restrain Wrex and Nihlus. "Hey! Would you guys mind not firing inside my ship?!"
Garrus looked over at Joker as he helped restrain Wrex, but just as he was about to speak, he noticed something in the distance. Through the yellow clouds of Feros, there was some form of giant red spot, almost like a flash. "Joker? I think you may want to look out." He said. Joker looked confused at the turian for a moment before noticing the fear in his gaze as he looked out the window.
Joker turned around to see what Garrus was staring at and noticed it, he stared for a few seconds at it, trying to comprehend what he was seeing until... the sky parted as a beam of red light shot at the Normandy, hitting the starboard side and burning off parts of the hull.
"Shit! Everyone hold on!" Joker yelled as the Normandy shook from the impact, he began maneuvering the Normandy around the consequent beams of red light coming from an unseen foe.
What the hell? The geth shouldn't be able to have anything of this caliber. Whatever they were being shot with was way more advanced than anything they had ever seen.
Either way, advanced as it was, Joker was doing his job in keeping the Normandy out of the beam's effect. But damned if it wasn't difficult.
The Normandy continued it descent towards the colony, but unlike before they were having to maneuver around this unknown foe firing at them. But just as they cleared the clouds, they could see... Not even close to a war zone, but a massacre. Just as they had thought, the geth had already arrived here, and there was no one firing at them, only them firing at whoever was even alive anymore.
"Oh shit! We've got geth fighters tailing us!" Joker announced from the cockpit as he turned Normandy downwards into what seemed like an endless abyss down to the planet's surface.
Although they couldn't see it, the ship was being bombarded with shots coming from the fighters alongside that red beam coming at them. At this point they were damn sure the beam came from some kind of god or omnipotent entity considering just how it seemed to follow them anywhere they went.
Whether it be below the bridges connecting the buildings of Feros, or out of what should be the sight of the beam, they weren't even close to safe.
"Can't we just shoot these bastards down?!" Garrus yelled from the back. Well, he had been hoping for a while to see what Normandy could do in a fight, buy definitely not like this.
"This is a stealth frigate, not a warship!" Joker yelled back, trying to concentrate on dealing with the geth. "Thankfully, I'm the best damn pilot in the Alliance."
Joker turned the Normandy until it was heading in the direction of one of the buildings, seemingly looking to crash into it.
"Joker, what are you doing?!" Jane yelled from the side when she realized their current heading.
"Hang on, this is gonna be wild!" He chuckled. Just before the ship could actually hit the building, Joker turned it downwards into the abyss, and the side computer told them that one of the fighters had been destroyed.
"Ohh, this pilot's got a quad!" Wrex laughed when he realized what Joker had done to kill off one of the geth ships.
"I'd rather he didn't. This is worse than the LTC's driving!" Jenkins yelled just as he was flung downwards onto the ground.
Of course, everyone nodded at the corporal and Jane groaned in frustration. "Is now really a good time to make fun of my driving?!"
"Any time is a good time to do it!" Ashley joined in.
Garrus looked at each of them completely confused. Making jokes when they were being threatened by death? That didn't seem like standard procedure.
But then he realized it. Through their annoyance or playfulness was the obvious fear of their situation. They weren't making jokes for the hell of it, they were doing it because they were downright scared.
Was Wrex scared too? Not that he would ever try asking, but that was a surprising possibility.
"Hold on, we still got another fighter coming after us!" Joker yelled as he turned Normandy towards the direction of where the beams were coming from. At this point, they knew it was probably better not to question the pilot and what he was doing, so they watched as they went upwards towards the red flash.
Once in its path, Joker waited until the sound from the beam came through and instantly rolled the ship towards the right as the beam narrowly missed them, hitting the fighter instead.
"Take that you metallic sons of bitches!" Joker laughed as the terminal announced the destruction of the fighter.
But their victory was short lived as Normandy went upwards over the clouds and saw... it.
"Holy shit..." Jane whispered when she saw the gigantic figure in front of them. "That's the ship we saw on Eden Prime."
Ashley and Kaidan looked out the window and realized she was right, the black color, multiple legs, and weird shape being ever so evident as it was on where it all had started.
"That's the ship Saren told me about." Nihlus said when he got a look outwards. "That's got to be it. That has to be Sovereign."
Just as Joker was about to turn downwards again though, a loud noise came to their heads, almost as a ringing sound. And a harsh voice spoke to them.
"You can't stop us. You can't stop the cycle."
And as the ringing stopped, the ship once again fired its beam at them, hitting the Normandy's side engines, weighing them down towards that side and causing them to begin losing altitude.
"Oh crap. We've lost most of our starboard weight!" Joker announced as the ship began plummeting downwards. Saren's ship continuing its attempts at killing them while Joker maneuvered towards the buildings. "I'm gonna have to land it!"
"Is that even possible?!" Jane yelled, holding on for dear life as Joker used the Normandy's momentum to carry them over towards the bridge in the distance.
"With me? I assure you it is." Joker responded. The controls were going offline as power was rerouted to the shields, but was still semi-controllable. The Normandy nearly scraped a few geth frigates and fighters, all of which proceeded to chase after the falling ship.
It was honestly surprising just how well Joker was managing to dodge most of the hits from both geth and Sovereign, just narrowly avoiding them with the side weighing the ship down.
The systems began warning everyone of the impending impact as the Normandy went over a long narrow bridge, uncovered and perfect for landing without killing them. If that Sovereign ship or the geth didn't kill them first.
Everyone held on as tightly as they could to their surroundings as the Normandy's side touched down on the bridge and scraped against it. The insides shook wildly when the other side slammed against the ground, sending people tumbling to the ground and objects flying.
Unfortunately, the attacking ships then fired at the bridge, causing it to begin collapsing in front of them. As they began falling again, Joker was able to direct just the smallest amount of power the ship had left to its starboard engines, compensating for the weight and slowing down its fall enough for him to turn towards the building in front of them.
The sudden shake sent Jane nearly falling to the ground, only to be caught by Garrus. While she still didn't like him for his little previous comments, she still couldn't hide the faint blush that came to her cheeks as he held her up.
Although the ship's guns weren't the greatest, they could still do some damage. Something Joker used to fire at the building and create a big hole. Not big enough for the Normandy, but big enough to crash through without destroying the ship or killing them on impact.
The terminals blared in alarm and everyone argued with Joker's decision, which the pilot completely ignored as the Normandy hit the hole in front of them with a slow speed, but just fast enough to break through the building.
The ship shook as it crashed through the walls, only protected by its shields holding as best they could before the ship finally came to a stop in cover from both the Sovereign ship and the geth.
Most people aboard the ship were groaning as they stood up, everyone was filled with wounds ranging from little scrapes, to long bleeding furrows.
"Damn. Everyone okay?" Jane asked as Garrus helped her stand up.
"I think I broke all the bones in my body." Joker hissed from the front.
"Then maybe you shouldn't have crashed the ship into a building!" Ashley yelled looking out the window to see the surrounding debris covering the Normandy.
Getting out of there would be a challenge when they didn't have enough power left for the engines, but not impossible thanks to the huge hole the Normandy had created when they had crashed.
"Hey, we're not dead, so that's good. And we landed as best we could with that ship firing at us." Jane said, placing her hand on Ashley's shoulder to calm her down.
"Chakwas is going to have a field day with this." Jenkins said as he held his stomach. His scar from Eden Prime had slightly opened back up from the impact and was bleeding once again, but he seemed to refuse acknowledging it.
Jane's eyes flew up. Though not because of the corporal's wound, but because of him mentioning Chakwas. Who currently had both John and Tali with her.
"Oh shit." She muttered before going into a full sprint down to the crew deck and into the med-bay. The room was filled with littered tools and medicine, but looking to her left, she saw her brother holding Tali in his arms.
"You two okay?" Jane asked immediately as she noted the two. Tali and John turned to look at her and both nodded.
"What happened?" John asked, helping the quarian up in his unwounded arm and placing her back on the bed.
"We got shot to hell by geth and what we think was Saren's ship." Jane explained, looking around the room to see the storage room open with Chakwas holding a bleeding Liara in her arms.
As soon as the doctor saw Jane she sighed. "Just how many people are injured?"
Jane looked nervously at the annoyed doctor. "Uhh, nearly everyone on top?"
"Of course they are..." Chakwas groaned in frustration as she put Liara into one of the beds and began getting her tools and unbroken medicine from the ground.
"Okay. So engines are offline but we think Saren might still be here if his ship is here." Jane said, looking over at John.
"I can probably help with engines. You know Chakwas probably doesn't want me going out to help you." He grumbled.
"I can help too!" Tali tried to stand from the bed but was pushed back into it by John.
"No Tali. You got to stay inside the ship and rest." John responded, moving his hands from her waist to hold her hand in his. "Okay?"
"But..." Tali tried arguing but was stopped by John putting a finger over her vocalizer. It obviously didn't stop her from talking, but she got the idea.
"Please. Do it for me?" He pleaded, rubbing her hand lovingly with a small smile.
Tali lay back down in her bed and sighed. "Okay." She conceded and John's smile spread as he bumped his forehead against hers.
Tali giggled as they parted and smiled at him behind her visor. "I never did tell you what bumping foreheads meant did I?" John slightly smiled at her but also looked on in confusion. "It's a quarian kiss." She chuckled when his eyes went wide the realization for it. "You dense bosh'tet."
"Oh? So you've been kissing me since we were kids then?" He teased, leaning over her visor.
"Not that you ever could tell." She shot back, slapping his chest in a playful manner.
"Mmm, I'd say that someday it would be nice to actually have another true experience though." He leaned in and kissed her visor, she blushed at the sight and smiled as his lips left the visor, leaving a faint mark on it.
"Oh we will." She responded hungrily at him.
Jane smiled at the sight of her brother and Tali actually acting like lovers. And about time honestly. Looking to her right though, she saw that Liara carried an almost saddened expression while looking at the same thing Jane had seen. And it hit her. Liara had probably been interested in her brother too, but he had chosen Tali instead. Poor girl, but he had made his decision.
Once her brother and Tali finally stopped with their little acting like lovers thing, John went over to her sister and left the med-bay with her. Ironic that out of the two, it seemed like John was now the less damaged of the two, but of course Chakwas wouldn't say anything about it.
Jane ordered everyone down to the cargo bay and waited at least 10 minutes before the others got down to the damaged bay, where of course the Mako was the only undamaged piece.
Jane cleared her throat to address the group. "Alright, we have several problems here. The geth know where we are, so it's only a matter of time before they swarm the Normandy. But we still have to go and find Saren if he's still here. Or at least know what he wanted here. But we need some of you to stay behind while my brother helps fix the ship to get out of here. Any takers?" She looked around the group and Ashley was the first to volunteer.
"I'll stay behind to help." She announced, stepping forward and receiving a nod from Jane.
She at least wanted one other person, but no one seemed to be interested in staying behind. Well, no one but Wrex and Nihlus, if anything to simply stay as far away as they could from each other she imagined.
"I'll go with you." Nihlus spoke before Wrex could. "Besides, if we find Saren you'll need me."
Wrex was clearly unhappy with staying behind, but nodded reluctantly. "I'm sure I'll still kill more than you will turian."
Nihlus didn't respond, only looked away from the krogan as Jane cleared her throat to drag the attention back to her. "Okay, Ashley and Wrex will stay with the Normandy. Kill any geth that so much as lays their eyes on the ship."
Wrex nodded and grinned, seemingly satisfied now with staying behind.
"Good, now the rest of you with me. Joker, open the cargo bay ramp." Immediately after Jane said that, the ramp began opening slowly to allow them to exit. Jane led the group outside into the ruins of the building, the massive hole in front of them showing just how much the Normandy had managed to survive.
John watched the rest of the crew leave as he opened his omni-tool to check damage from the Normandy. And sure enough, the engines were shot to hell. But nothing that he couldn't fix with enough time given.
So long as the geth didn't swarm them. And that ship, whatever it was, did not come after them.