THIS MARKS THE START OF THE ORIGINAL WORK. EVENTS FROM HERE ON OUT HAVE NOT BEEN REWRITTEN AND THEREFORE MAY HAVE LESSER QUALITY AND MAY NOT SYNCHRONIZE WELL WITH PREVIOUS CHAPTERS.
Tali thought her dreams were worst than nightmares. She hated how they toyed with her emotions, always dangling happiness in front of her and then swiping it away when she awoke.
But that was before she had her first nightmares.
All of them...every single one of them included John dying in her arms, looking up at her and desperately asking her why she didn't save him, or at least stayed with him until he died.
Then out from the shadows came all of the women that she was afraid of gaining his affection, her competition. They would surround her as he laid in her arms, screaming at her at how she didn't deserve all of the things he did for her, and how she did nothing in return. Then they would go on to tell her what each of the individual women themselves would have done differently, and how they would have done better. It made her sick...but the nightmares only got worse when the disappointment started to come from everyone she was close to. Yes, even Garrus.
She would shoot up from the bedsheets in the middle of those nights surrounded by a cold sweat. She would hug her legs closer to herself and whisper, "It's not true, it's not true, it will never be true," until she would get a grip of herself.
It was a very weak grip, for she finally succumbed to the depression that ate away at her.
She hated herself for being on John's ship, let alone his cabin. She didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve his hospitality or any of the things he had done for her. She always thought that she actually loved him, that she actually cared. But really she was just a rotten quarian girl that somehow wrapped the great Commander Shepard in her fingertips. I really am just a stupid bosh'tet.
She didn't deserve to be in the presence of his great crew, so she hid away in the cabin. The only times she ever left was to resupply on nutrient paste, or to help with some engineering problem that the crew would want assistance with. She would always walk away convincing herself that they didn't really need her help, that they could have gotten it done without her.
Sometimes they would try to talk to her whenever it was time for a meal, the obvious look of concern still evident in their eyes. But she would always use fixing EDI to as an excuse to away from everyone, and as of right now, that's what exactly she was doing.
EDI's body was lain down near the terminal where she was working on the finishing touches of her software. EDI's once smooth metal being was now opened, exposing all her intricate inner workings.
Once when Joker first walked in, he nearly fainted before Tali had to remind him that she was an A.I. rather than a living, breathing person. After that, he kept calling constantly for updates and progress, but because of Tali's depressive nature, she responded humbly without any sense of annoyance or irritation.
But today, EDI should be completely fixed. However, she wouldn't be able to use the mech body that everyone had gotten accustomed to. She would have to return to her old days of being a blue ball of light that controlled the ship.
Tali's thoughts were dark as she tapped away at the terminal. What if she tries to rebel? I am the stupid quarian working on her, after all. It would not surprise me if she wanted to kill me. She continued to type in her last lines of programming.
A knock at the door right when she finished made her pause. She sat up and walked over to the door that looked like discolored swirls and unlocked it. She was getting used to the mix of purple and gray the tint in her mask was making.
She took a deep breath and a small sigh as the tall figure of Garrus was revealed behind the door. She bowed slightly to the better person in the room.
"What do you need?" She didn't even feel worthy enough to call him by his name.
The turian grabbed her shoulders and gazed piercingly into her once fractured mask, making her heat up in wariness.
"Yup, this sells it," he said, and hooked her arm and lead her down the stairs. Before she could get any chance to protest, she was urged into a sitting position on the couch.
He took his own spot next to her and lowered his shoulders to become eye level with her. Again he gave her a piercing look. "Tali, do you know those chances you said that you will give me?"
Tali nodded in an ashamed manner.
"Well, I'm seeing one right now and I'm going to have to abuse it." He put his arm on his shoulder and leaned in close, as if to make sure that she would not try to escape.
Tali interjected, "Garrus, I don't think you even deserve my forgiveness," she took a moment to realize how wrong that sounded. "I mean, I'm just a quarian engineer, you didn't need those things I said."
Garrus's eyes narrowed and spoke firmly, "Okay, do you need to see Doctor Chakwas? Because you are definitely not acting like yourself."
Tali was reminded of the older woman, and one instance came immediately to mind when the doctor came by to check up on her health while she was working. She revealed some pretty interesting news that day.
"I did some extensive research on quarians when you first came aboard. Interestingly, by my studies, you should not have survived your wounds. I really think your time with...the Commander...really helped your health enough to save you."
At the time it felt like great news, but now it felt like a punch to the gut. Even after death, he was still taking care of her, and she felt like she haven't done anything in return. The best thing she could do was to waste away in this cabin.
"Come on, what happened to the fun loving little sister I had?" Garrus continued the conversation, giving a friendly tap to her shoulder.
A poor excuse of a sister I am, Tali thought darkly. She didn't respond.
Garrus inhaled deeply. "Tali, stop me if this isn't true, but I am guessing that you're depressed," he put bluntly. "I think you are beating yourself up for what happened. But I'm telling you that you couldn't have known, none of us did when we joined this war."
"No. That's not entirely it," she finally spoke.
"Then what is?"
She took her own turn for a long intake of breath, "Can you think of anything I've done for John?"
The turian looked confused, as if there were so many answers that he didn't know where to start, "You keep the ship running...and you always have his back on missions...You even made it easier to strip Saren of his Spectre status all those years ago."
"Yes, but nothing major! I never saved him from exile! I never gave his homeworld back to him! Keelah, I couldn't even take off my helmet and kiss him whenever he wanted!"
She looked on in astonishment when Garrus started laughing, hurt came very soon after. Why is he laughing? Aren't I right?
After a moment, the turian calmed down and spoke. "I'm sorry, but I think you have done something for him better than all of that combined!"
Surprised, she narrowed her eyes in serious skepticism. "What do you mean, what could I have possibly done that's better than all of those things?" She asked.
"You helped him think that there was more to war than just insuring everyone's existence! You made him believe, you gave him hope that there was a chance for him at a normal life. To be something more than just a hero."
"But-"
"Tali, if I had someone who was willing to give what little they had, all they had, then I would be happy that I would have something to return to when the hard days were over. If I told Shepard that one day he would fall so deeply in love someone that he would go on to retake her homeworld just to be with her on the old Normandy, he would most likey laugh and say that he didn't know if he would ever get out of the military. He was a battle hardened man, you softened him up into the brother I know...knew."
Tali reflected on his words, her spirits lifting slightly. "I didn't think about that," she admitted.
"You taught him love and patience," the turian added. "In a way...you saved him. You gave him a personal reason to keep fighting. You gave him a reason to keep living. You are so much stronger than you realize."
Tali smiled with a happy little bit of sadness and embraced her friend in a hug. "How did I gain a brother who knows me so well?"
Garrus chuckled and returned the embrace, "It's what you get for gaining a brother with sniper vision in the first place."
"Thank you, Garrus, I don't think our trust needs any more time to rebuild. To be honest, I shouldn't have allowed it to be broken in the first place."
Tali felt awkward afterwards when she said that, and Garrus easily picked up on what she was feeling. He gave her a reassuring nudge.
"That face of yours is too important to you, it is not for my eyes to see."
Tali felt relieved by his words as they both rose from the couch.
"I'll see you later," Garrus continued as he stepped into the elevator. However, Tali pulled EDI's chip from the terminal, stuck it into a cylindrical device, and followed Garrus out the door. She turned around and looked upon her work of synthetic parts lying over the room. Keelah, if this was an organic being, I would be the mad scientist in a horror vid.
She turned to see Garrus look at her with a question in his eyes, but she answered him before he could ask. "I finished working on EDI, so I'm going to Joker to inform him."
"Wait, we're getting EDI back, today?"
"Yes, if everything works out."
Garrus smiled. "I'm sure it will, you're the Normandy's engineer, after all."
Tali felt a little better as the elevator descended slowly. The same couldn't be said for Garrus as he sighed in annoyance.
"I know you hear me say this all the time, but this elevator is the slowest thing in all of the galaxy, I'm sure it would be a great park ride for an elcor."
For what seemed the first time in awhile, Tali laughed. It was something she didn't know that she was still capable of doing.
Once the elevator finally opened, Tali walked off towards the cockpit while Garrus stayed behind to wait for another floor to the main weapons battery. She felt uncomfortable as concerned eyes pierced her on the way through the CIC and past the bridge.
She reached the cockpit and tapped Joker on the shoulder, surprising him as he swiveled around in his chair. She in turn held up the cylindrical object.
"Joker, is the server room fully repaired?"
Joker fidgeted with excitement in his seat as he gazed at the mysterious object that was supposed to bring back his synthetic co-pilot girlfriend. "I sent some tech savvy people down there to get it checked out a long time ago, I would be surprised if they hadn't completed their work, or at least made some progress. But why wait? Let's go!" Joker hobbled quickly to get out of his seat, but Tali fearfully grabbed onto him as he seemed dizzy and was about to fall over.
"What happened? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," he responded, shaking his head, "Just got up too fast is all. I blacked out a little there...But come on! Let's go!"
Tali made a mental note to ask him what all that was about later as she followed the limping pilot back to the elevator and down towards the crew deck. She ended up being so focused on the device in her hands that she wasn't prepared for when the doors opened.
Tali flinched when she saw the memorial wall.
Shepard's name still wasn't up on it, so she gazed down slowly to see it still sitting there...on the floor.
She shut her eyes in a knee-jerk reaction. Tearing her mind from those thoughts to keep her heart unaffected.
I can't worry about that right now...
She grabbed Joker's shoulder and forced him past the wall without a second thought, with the pilot exclaiming as he felt his legs being rushed. "Hey! slow down a bit!"
But Tali didn't respond as they walked through the medbay's doors where Doctor Chakwas looked up. She let out a fearful sigh as the two walked in. A pilot with brittle bones and a quarian with a weak immune system just wasn't something easy to handle all at once, but Tali held up her hand and reassured her that there were no worries about bones or sicknesses.
"Just going to the server room to work on EDI. Nothing serious," she stated simply.
This time the older woman gave a sigh of relief but with a hint of slight irritation. "Why can't people find a better route? It's tough enough with technicians coming and going...Ugh, Fine, go along you two."
"Thanks, Doc!" Joker said excitedly as he hobbled to the server room. Tali followed him there and saw that there was nobody else in the room. No tools were laying around so she guessed that they really did fix the place up or maybe that they were on a break. But Joker did not pay attention to find out which.
"So where do we start?" Joker asked. Tali chuckled once more as he looked as jittery as a quarian child about ready to receive their first enviro-suit.
"We need to find a control panel," Tali replied. She stepped around the decontamination chamber in the room. She couldn't help but remember flashbacks from that one night, wounded and frightened. She took a sharp intake of breath in order to clear her head of what followed before she could remember it completely. This is getting too difficult. I'm going to have to avoid the crew deck altogether from now on.
She turned her focus on a newfound panel that hung on the wall.
"There it is." She walked towards it and tapped it, a few green flashes followed by a single red one appeared. She started to read the displayed data.
"Management Program Faulty, please install one of the following."
She read down the list and grimaced when she found no mention of A.I. Probably to keep EDI safe while the Normandy went under Alliance retrofits.
This reminded her of the geth, and how they went from being seen as cold hearted death monsters to a powerful addition in the fight against the reapers. Legion would be proud...or at least...find it beautiful.
The galaxy changed a lot since this ship was built, it undertook perhaps the most dangerous missions the galaxy had to offer, and she changed, as well. Victory does not come without sacrifice. Her eyes burned as she tried to keep her tears from building up once more. I can't...I need to think.
"It looks like the technicians fixed up the systems," she said after studying the panel. "Now we just need to figure out where to put EDI. Wait for just a few minutes." She turned her sights to the silver boxes that made up the wall and followed a random cord throughout them, interweaving herself between the boxes.
Minutes passed and Joker tapped his foot impatiently. Suddenly, Tali came across an unusually thick, blue electrical cord that appeared at her feet. Abandoning the one she was following, she traced the blue one to the center of the server, down into the maintenance ducts. Please let this be it!
She then stepped into a small space in between all the wires. Soft footsteps downwards told her that Joker had followed. Looking into the space before them, they found a small black box with all kinds of cords and wires attached to every end. She knelt down next to the heavy box and took out a mini screwdriver from one of her many pouches and started unscrewing the lid. The lid popped off with a metal CRACK, and she removed it carefully to get a look inside.
She found another cylindrical object in the box similar to the one in her hand. She pulled it out, and noticed that it was burnt and charred, a chip similar to the one that stored EDI's memories was inside and slowly crumbling. She unhooked it, and exchanged the two objects, plugging the new one in and leaving the charred one out. She stuffed it back into the box and turned to Joker.
"Go check the control panel and run diagnostics, but don't touch anything after that. Tell me what it says." His fading footsteps showed that he acknowledged her. She didn't screw in the lid just yet, just in case if there was more work to be done. Minutes passed and Joker finally spoke.
"It's green! It's asking me if we want to run the newly installed management program!"
Relieved, Tali screwed in the lid and hurried over to the control panel, evading all the cords. She passed Joker and indeed, the control panel was asking to wake up EDI. She scanned the panel in case if there was any data worth checking, but there was none. She brought her hand hovering over the activation button and paused. Well, here's the moment of truth.
She tapped it.
Both of them gasped in exasperation as a bar showed up and began to slowly, agonizingly fill it up with green light. Loading EDI into the system would take awhile. More minutes passed and both of them sat on the floor, tired of standing. They looked upon the bar like little kids waiting for a vid to start. Every once in awhile, they would look away in hopes that time would go by faster.
Tali would spend her time studying her surroundings, and it didn't take long for her eyes to land on a very uncomfortable and nervous looking Joker.
She decided to give her best at trying to reassure him. "Hey, no matter what happens, we'll be alright."
Joker shook his head, "No, I'm fully confident in your abilities, it's just that...I'm sorry for everything."
Tali's hair stood on end as she realized what he was talking about. Truthfully, she forgiven him a long time ago when she started internalizing her hatred, and all those previous encounters between them seemed like ash in her memory, recalling them to light made her recoil slightly.
"It's alright, I'll be fine."
"You sure?"
Her mind ticked at a rapid pace, and Tali could tell the same was going on behind Joker's eyes.
"You and I are, I mean, we'll be fine. I don't think I'll ever be fine...for...you know."
Joker let himself get a breath of relief, but his body continued to shake. "I know, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up, it's just that I..." His words faded, so Tali finished for him.
"It felt like it would eat you up if you didn't say anything?"
"Yeah."
They spent the rest of the time in the silence. They almost fell asleep. It was almost about a half hour since the bar appeared before it was close to being completely full. Their excitement increased once more as the bar edged closer and closer to the end until there was only a speck of space between the green light and its destination. They both stood up, ready to see of EDI truly came back to them.
The bar disappeared, and only a message was revealed. It was EDI's wake-up call. Tali and Joker gave a nervous glance at each other, both eager and frightened of the activation button that sat right in front of them.
"Would you like to do the honors?" Tali asked the pilot, half feeling like it should be him to reactivate her, since she meant the most to him, and half feeling like it wouldn't be completely her fault if something went wrong.
Joker took a deep breath, raised his arm, and jerked his finger forward. For a few seconds, the lights flashed and dimmed and the silver boxes on the wall started to hum louder. Tali and Joker looked fearfully around, waiting with anticipation.
"Oof...what happened?" Came the familiar voice of the beloved A.I. in the semi-darkness.
"EDI!" Both the quarian admiral and the pilot exclaimed.
"Tali? Jeff? What happened?" EDI asked as the lights returned to its full capacity.
Joker started stuttering and tripping over his words in excitement when trying to explain everything that happened since she was last shut off and the A.I. tried to get him to relax.
"Jeff...Jeff...Jeff, calm down!" EDI said sternly to shut him up. Her tone then returned to normal once she got his attention. "Jeff, please get a hold of yourself. You can explain to me everything in the cockpit, I'll wait for you there."
Immediately Jeff's feet started to carry him up to the bridge, before he hesitated to take a glance at the one who returned his much beloved A.I. to him.
"Are you coming?" He asked.
Tali just then realized how all the stress and tension from being on the crew deck and the relief from bringing EDI back had sapped her of so much of her energy. She was very tired.
"No, thanks, Joker. You go on ahead. I think I'll go take a nap."
He looked torn between urging her to come along or to run off to the cockpit by himself, but he ended up choosing the latter, rushing off. "Thank you Tali! Because of you, I have a name to tear off of a certain wall!" He yelled over his shoulder.
Tali smiled weakly and followed him slowly out the server room door. Before she could leave the medbay, Doctor Chakwas spun in her chair, catching Tali's eye.
"Joker seems happy, I hope he doesn't end up breaking something important," the old doctor said with a sigh. "I'm glad EDI's back, she's already gone around informing everyone about the fluctuation with the lights. I sense a boost in the crew's morale," she continued in a more positive note.
"Yes, it's good to have her back," Tali agreed.
The older woman's gaze turned more soft, "We'll be alright, Tali. You go get some rest."
Tali knew she wasn't talking about the crew when she said that they would be alright. She was more or less talking about Tali herself. She was skeptical, of course, but at least their chance of getting off this rock was blown sky high. "Thanks, Doctor Chakwas, I'll see you later."
As she walked out, her stomach growled in frustration. She hadn't eaten much lately, so she headed towards the mess hall.
After the success of bring EDI back online, Tali had a change in mindset wrought within her. Perhaps if she was seen happy and eating with people, then maybe she wouldn't get as many concerned glances. So her feet took her down, and she met Garrus already sitting there eating. She smiled once again as she sat down and ate and joked with her turian friend before going back to Shepard's cabin and falling asleep.
"I can hardly believe your back!" Joker said for perhaps the hundredth time. "I missed you so much!"
"I wasn't even gone too long, Jeff," EDI stated.
"But there was a chance you could have never came back!" Joker retorted. "You could have been trapped in that chip for centuries, no one knowing how to wake you up!"
"But Tali did. She brought me back. I knew she could."
Joker smiled, "I'm glad she did. I owe her a lot for this."
EDI's tone then turned solemn, "If only we could do the same for the Commander...I can't believe he's gone."
Joker's mind flashed back to him earlier, running down to the wall, taking EDI's name down, snapping it in half, and chucking it into a corner. The people that seen him would have been shocked if they hadn't known about EDI returning.
But before he could return to the cockpit, his boot nudged something on the floor. He looked down and saw Shepard's nameplate still sitting there, exactly where Tali dropped it. She'll put it up herself...when she's ready. He fought back his own tears as he tried not to think how cruel it was that he lost his friend twice, and he still could not have done anything either times.
Trying to distract himself, Joker turned the conversation to EDI, continuing their conversation. "You can't?"
"Recent statistics of Shepard's adventures show that he should have survived."
"Really?" He asked doubtfully, "Even with the terrible odds? Near indestructible reapers that destroyed the galaxy of life over and over countless times versus one ship of weirdos and their mega-fleet?"
"He has the statistic of luck factored in," EDI added simply.
Joker thought for several long moments, Shepard was a very lucky guy, in more ways than one could count. Maybe all of it ran out on him this time. Still, now that EDI mentioned it, he couldn't help but think that their fallen Commander should have survived.
EDI interrupted his thoughts. "I gone over the reports of the ship, our estimated time of departure is within two days. Should I inform the crew?"
Joker was caught off guard by the sudden good news, and he began stuttering over his words again before he could form it into a coherent sentence. "EDI, two days? Yes! Yes! Tell everyone!"
It had been a long day restoring EDI. It was now near midnight, and Tali was sitting on the couch after her nap, admiring the aqua glow of the fish tank wall. When she woke up, she was happy to find the news that was on her omni-tool. She was excited to finally get the Normandy lifting off and away from this remote planet. Normally she would be counting down, but she no longer felt any need to return anywhere. All she cared about was admiring the water in the tank and its contents. She did this many times before, but this time, something caught her eye. She squinted to get a closer look at a specific pair of alien fish that were close to each other.
The first fish was black with red tips on its fins. It swam lazily, as if it had no care in the world other than just eating and swimming, it almost seemed bored. The second one, however, was straight violet, and was very energetic as it swam quick laps around and around the first fish. They did this around the fish tank for several minutes before they happened upon a solid red one. The black fish interrupted its partner's routine and swam as fast as it could around it. This frightened the red fish and it swam away in fear. The black fish then returned to its lazy swimming and its partner continued its routine.
Protecting its mate. Tali thought. She lowered her head. Her feelings were mixed. She had woken up from her nap just earlier, which felt more like a full night's rest. Yet her mind felt tired and exhausted. But every time she tried to force her eyes shut again, she found them reopening and full of energy. She was restless, she needed something to do, but she didn't know what.
"Good morning, Tali," came EDI's robotic voice.
"EDI, you nearly scared me out of my suit!" Tali said, trying to ease her breathing and shaking.
"Terribly sorry, Tali, but I couldn't help but notice that you were active and experiencing...turmoil."
Tali ignored the hanging word. She took what last deep breath and stretched herself along the couch. "It's alright, EDI. I'm glad to have you back."
EDI, however, wasn't going to give up that easily, "I know it must have been difficult to bring me back after everything that has...happened...But I appreciate it that you did. The crew's stress levels have decreased tremendously, especially Jeff's."
Tali sighed, giving her last attempt at changing the subject, "You appreciate, what does that mean exactly?"
"I may be a synthetic, but when my body is in the ship next to Jeff, fighting to save and protect those lives on board, that's when I truly feel alive. I know I will never be a breathing organism, but if it wasn't for Shepard, I don't think I would be here right now. I owe him a lot for my experiences."
Tali was surprised that the A.I. was speaking in such an organic way, but the pain of losing her bondmate was greater than her surprise.
"We all do. Mostly me...I won't lie, it hurts, and I don't think I will ever get over it in the years to come," she replied, succumbing to the topic.
"But you persevere, that's one of the many things he said why he loves you."
"He talked about me? To you?"
"Oh yes, plenty of times."
"Like what?" Tali asked, somewhat sheepishly. She nearly bit her tongue to keep her from asking the question, fearing that it might just give her more grief. But she wanted to know, she needed to know.
"He told me that you were strong, smart, strong-willed. That you are willing to protect everyone and their interests, even if they might despise you. That you always put your people first. That you put other people's needs above your own. He thought that you are the most interesting, fun, kind, and loving person he has ever known."
Tali's heart felt warm and fuzzy in a sad way, "Thank you."
"For what? I'm just telling you what he said."
"I know, but thank you for sharing it with me, it means a lot."
A pause occurred, but EDI was quick to follow it up with a change in topic. "We will be able to depart in two days time."
Tali nodded, "I heard, what's needed to be done?" She asked.
"Not much, just some maintenance and repair work," EDI replied.
A newfound surge of determination suddenly filled Tali. She did not know where it came from, only that she could put it to good use. "We can make that time shorter," she claimed enthusiastically.
"Are you sure?" The A.I. asked skeptically.
"Why not? I'm not tired, and i need something to do. Let's get to work!"
"After you, then," EDI joked.
THE NEXT DAY, LATE AFTERNOON
"I can't believe Tali shortened departure time by a whole day!" Joker said to Garrus, excitedly.
"She and I have been working tirelessly all night," EDI said, with some amount of odd robotic pride.
Garrus twitched his mandibles, they were all in the cockpit preparing for departure. "Are we almost ready?"
Tali was secretly behind them and she heard them talking about her. She only recently woke up from her nap after a long night of work, and she was anxious to finally leave. "Let's hope so," she answered, making her presence known.
"Good to see you up," Garrus acknowledged.
"Just about, let me just announce it," Joker said, answering Garrus's previous question. He summoned the ship's intercoms and spoke, "Who's ready to go home?!" He shouted excitedly. Cheers could be heard on the bridge behind them. "Alright, Garrus, give the word."
Garrus had been playing as the unofficial captain of the ship for the past two weeks, and he took much care in making sure it didn't seem like he was taking it over. So far, he had been doing a really good job at it. He comfortably laid himself up again the doorframe and gave a smile. "Take us out."
The ship rattled and shook for an instant, but as it rose into the air, it began to steady itself out. Joker pushed a lever happily and the ship lurched forward slowly. "Controls normal, thrusters are good, no fuel leakages... " He double checked each system as the ship rose higher and higher. Satisfied with the systems check, he started to speak with enthusiasm and pressed for departure. "I say it's time...to...go...home!" With that the ship rose even higher into the sky and shot off at FTL. The rich orange sky fading to the familiar black speckled with stars.
Moments later, Liara came in with a datapad in hand, setting it down in Joker's sight. It had a map of the stars that were currently in the sky, and she extended a finger to point at the bottom of the screen.
"We head towards the bottom of this constellation, and we should return to charted space soon."
Joker followed the directions and summoned EDI, "Keep watch, EDI. Let's hope things keep going the way they are."
It didn't take long for them to find themselves back on the map, and they quickly adjusted themselves towards the Sol system. It didn't take long for it to come into view, either. The Normandy was only flying at FTL for several minutes before the blast overtook it after all.
Instantly Joker pulled up the intercoms, "There it is, we're home!" Cheers again echoed on the bridge as the Normandy dropped out of FTL.
Tali watched as they passed by the planets. She saw the red storm swirling around on Jupiter, and took the time to admire the simplicity of the system. She never got time to pay attention to the small details because of the dire circumstances. Those damned reapers!
Looking forward, she held her breath as Earth appeared, with ash and orange fire still gleaming in some places among its surface. The Citadel was still there, some large pieces of it still hovering around it. As they got closer, they saw small ships zooming about the space station, they were in the middle of doing repairs. They got closer and closer until a group of human and turian ships took notice and flew to meet them.
"Unknown ship, please identify yourselves."
Garrus commanded Joker to pull up the call. "This is Garrus Vakarian of the SR2 Normandy, we-"
"Normandy? Where the hell have you been?!"
Garrus paid no mind to the interruption. "We suffered severe damage and got stranded on an uncharted planet. We managed to repair ourselves enough to return. Is there a place we can land?"
"Sure thing, Normandy. Follow us! The Commander will be excited to have his ship back!"
Shock filled the room and all the eyes in the cockpit turned towards Tali, who was experiencing the waves of force that came from shock. Her mind reeled and her eyes lost focus. She felt like vomiting.
She felt dizzy.
Then she fainted.