Chapter 5
Tali found Shepard with the guys in the lounge. They were drinking and barely talking, trying to forget that they failed to contain a threat to the galaxy. The room had an awkward mood, and Tali didn't know weather she should try to comfort him, or give him space. Her mind was telling her to leave him be, but her heart was telling her that her mind was stupid, and to go over there. While she was debating to herself, Davin noticed her and decided for her.
"Tallliii!" He yelled out. Out of all of them, he had obviously drunk the most, and was very intoxicated. "Why are you hiding over there? Get over here! Your man needs you!"
She could feel herself blushing, but now that Shepard knew she was here, she wouldn't just leave him there. She walked over to the mini bar they had on the Normandy and sat next to Shepard. He looked up when she sat, and gave her a small smile. She grabbed his hand. "Hey John. You ok?"
He gave her a questioning look. "Do I look so bad that you used my first name? It's rare to hear you call me John." His cheeks were red, so he had drank a little bit, but not enough to lift his mood it seems. She was about to apologize when he squeezed her hand. "I wouldn't mind if you called me John more."
She blushed again, not expecting him to say that. "W-well if that's what you want, I'd have no problem calling you John more. I never even thought of using your first name, I'm so used to calling-" She had started ranting, something she always did whenever she was nervous or caught off guard. Shepard raised his hand, making her stop mid-sentence.
"Relax Tal. I wasn't saying you had too." He sighed, and she could see how stressed he was. It was like he had a weight on his shoulders. "I'm just…mad at myself Tal. We were powerless against Ultimate. He brushed us aside as if we were annoying children that needed a time out. I, Commander Shepard, was completely defeated without landing a single blow on my enemy. I can't fail like that! Everyone is relying on me."
She listened to him, and when he was done she laid her head on his shoulder, squeezing his hand. "You can't be so hard on yourself John. Keelah, you saved the galaxy! You deserved a long break, not to be thrown back into the fray when you had barely recovered. The galaxy needs to cut you some slack; even you are not perfect. We were all there with you, and none of us could do anything. He was just too powerful. But this isn't the end. You have faced worse odds before, and still came out on top. We will find a weakness to this 'Ultimate' guy, and you will end him just like every other enemy that has dared oppose you."
By the time she had finished, he was
smiling at her. "There you go, killing my depressed mood. Have I ever told you that you are an amazing woman Tal?"
She blushed hard, and couldn't even respond. Luckily, Davin came to save her again, putting his arms around her and Shepard. "Hey, lovebirds, I need you to come with me."
Shepard raised an eyebrow at him. "And what do we need to go with you for?"
Davin just grinned like a fool. "It's a surprise. All I'll say is that I went over my wife's research, and found something remarkable. Now come on already!"
Tali looked at Shepard, who shrugged and got up. She got up as well, and they followed Davin, who was walking pretty well for someone who was obviously drunk.
Davin led them to the medical ward, opening the door and letting them walk through first. Shepard noticed a large bag on one of the beds. Davin gestured towards a bed across the room. "Sit down, both of you. I'm about to show you how much of a freaking genius my wife was."
They walked over to the bed and sat down. Shepard hoped Davin wasn't just wasting their time for a stupid prank or something. He wasn't exactly in a good mood.
Davin started rummaging through the bag, talking at the same time. "After we got back to the Normandy and I got my head patched up, I started looking through the data my wife had collected. She was always smart, but what she discovered was amazing. I'm a little upset that she hid this from me, but she was probably waiting until she had enough data to make it official; she often did that." He pulled a large, clear sack out of the bag, and Shepard saw a weird, green crystal looking mass in it. Davin opened it and continued.
"Apparently, she ran into a group of scientist who were exploring various planets for rare or new materials, everything ranging from rocks to new life forms. She was well known, so they always let her look at their finds. When she was going through all of it, she came upon this weird, crystal substance that she had never seen before." He pulled a few of the green crystals out of the bag, putting a few back until he had the amount he seemed to want.
He turned back towards them. "What she discovered was something she never expected to find. She ran a few tests, and the results were even better than she could have ever expected. And, luckily for us, even though Cerberus got her research, I retrieved her bag she hid in her room, where she only put things she considered important." He walked over to them, staggering once but catching himself, reminding them that he was still drunk no matter how well he talked.
He reached the small medical bed and stopped. He simply said, "Tali, take your mask off."
Tali didn't respond right away. "You…want me to take my mask off?"
"That's what I said, right...right? Ya, I'm pretty sure that's what I said. Trust me; it's for a good reason."
Shepard growled. "It better be a damn good reason. Quarians don't go around showing their face to ever-"
"Save it commander." Davin said, stunning Shepard into silence. "I was married to a Quarian for 3 years. I know more about them then you comprehend. I'm drunk, not stupid. Now please take your damn mask off Tali."
Shepard looked at Tali, and she nodded. She undid the latches and pulled the mask off, showing her pretty face and blushing, looking down.
"There, not so hard. You're actually pretty cute Tali." Shepard glared at Davin, and Davin raised his hands in a defensive gesture. "I was just saying, didn't mean anything by it commander. Now, Tali open your mouth."
Tali looked dumbfounded, saying, "What?" And as she opened her mouth to say it, Davin popped the crystals into her mouth with amazing accuracy and covered it with his hand.
Tali started freaking out, and Shepard stood up quickly, about to throttle him, But Davin held up his hand. Shepard hesitated, hoping for Davin's sake that something happened.
Something did happen. Tali resisted at first, trying to remove his hand, then all of a sudden she stopped. Her eyes glazed over, and she slumped down, dropping her hands. Davin removed his hand and stepped back, watching what happened.
"My wife was right; it does take affect rather quickly. I feared that nothing would happen at all, but as usual it was dumb to doubt Vara. She was always right."
Shepard was confused. "What is happening to her? What did those crystals do?"
Davin looked at him, smiling. "Those crystals do 1 thing better than anything else in the galaxy so far; they boost your immune system. Now when I say boost, I don't mean in the general sense like antibiotics or other drugs. These crystals dissolve in your mouth and travel through your blood at an amazing rate of speed, permanently raising your immune system. My wife didn't get to run as many test as she wanted to, but she gathered enough data to prove that it actually works."
Shepard was amazed. A crystal that raised your immune system permanently? Quarians would kill for such a thing. There was only one problem. "Even so, why is she acting like that?"
Tali had laid back and started giggling.
"Ah, I completely forgot about that. There is only 1 side effect to these crystals; it causes the person to take it to feel intoxicated or high. This is one of the reasons my wife didn't go blabbing about it to everyone, and why I only gave Tali a certain amount. While she proved it wasn't hazardous to the person's health, she didn't want to risk taking too much, as she did not know how the body would react to it."
It certainly was hitting Tali; she wouldn't stop giggling. Then she looked at Shepard. "Joohhnnnn, its soooooooo hot! Why is it soooo hot John?"
He glanced at Davin anxiously. "She will be ok right?"
He laughed, and Shepard didn't know weather to be happy with him, or to break his jaw. "She will be fine. It will wear off in a few hours. While it is running through her blood, she will not only feel high, she will be completely immune to damn near everything. As long as she is high, she is at no risk of becoming sick. And when it does wear off, her immune system will have permanently improved, making her less likely to get sick. If my wife's theory is correct, with enough doses, Tali might be able to live her life completely without the suit."
Shepard could not believe it; they could be looking at the answer to the Quarians last question. She felt Tali tug on his shirt, making him look down at her.
"John, how are you not hot? It's so hot in here! You-you should take your clothes off Shepard. Yes, you should do that." She went into a giggling fit. "You must be the reason it is so damn hot!"
Shepard chuckled to himself, and turned to say something to Davin when he saw Davin getting more crystals from the sack. "Davin, what are you doing?"
Davin laughed and nearly fell over. When he regained his composure, he turned to Shepard. "I am curious as to if it works on humans, so I decided I'm going to test it on myself. Bottoms up!" and before Shepard could stop him, Davin popped them into his mouth.
They both stood there for few moments, waiting to see what would happen. Davin seemed to slur it in his mouth. "It dissolves very quickly, and actually tastes amazing. I can't describe it, but I can compare it to-"He had started to walk forward, and it must have taken affect, as he fell face first onto the floor with a load thud and a nasty crunching noise. Shepard guessed that was his nose. Shepard walked over to him, shaking his head and hearing Tali protest "Nooo, don't go awayyy." He knelt next to Davin. Davin seemed to be trying to roll over, and Shepard helped him onto his back, wincing at Davin's face. His nose was definitely broken as blood was slowly dripping from it and it was completely sideways. Davin opened his eyes and looked up at Shepard, not seeming to notice his nose at all.
"Wow, I see why Tali acted like she did; it really hits you. It felt like I went from buzzed to wasted in a few seconds. I feel…amazing. You should try it commander."
Shepard shook his head. "I think I'll pass." He stood up. "Well, I'll let you ride the night out right there Davin. When you sober up, come get me and we will talk about all of this. We have a lot to discuss."
Davin gave him a thumb up and started laughing. Shepard got up, turned around, and his jaw dropped.
Tali had decided that the only way to deal with the heat that only she was feeling was to take her suit off, and had started unlatching her suit. She had just started to pull it off when Shepard had turned around. She looked at him and giggled. "Jooohn, come over here and help me. My suit feels soooo heavy and hot john."
He snapped out of it and ran over there, pushing her suit back up over her shoulders. She pouted in response. "What's wrong john? You don't want to see me naked?"
"It's not that I don't want to see you naked Tal." Shepard started to say, latching her suit back together. "Just not here where not only Davin can see, but anyone can walk in."
Shepard heard Davin say "I wouldn't mind." Shepard glared over his shoulder.
"Shut up."
"Ok." Davin responded, and continued laughing.
Tali continued pouting. "Then we should go to your room. Yes we should. It's toooo hot in here Shepard!" Then she gave him a seductive look. "I want to dance for you, you naughty man."
Shepard blushed heavily, and it took all of his strength not to comply. But she wasn't in her right mind, and it didn't feel right to him.
"Not tonight, Tal. No matter how much I want you too, not while you're like this." Shepard looked at the wall. "Edi! Lock the door to the medical bay. No one is allowed in here for the rest of the night."
"Yes commander."
Shepard sighed and turned to see Tali trying to take her suit off again and Davin still laughing, rolling on the floor.
It's going to be a long night.
"Alright, I need ideas. Where would Ultimate go?"
Silence filled the room. Shepard looked at each person in turn, and got a response from none. Tali was being especially quiet today, making Shepard think that she remembered everything from last night. Davin was holding his head, trying to fight off a hang-over and think at the same time.
Shepard turned to Traynor. "Specialist Traynor, you pick up any suspicious activity lately?"
She shook her head. "Nothing to note. This Ultimate leaves nothing I can trace or follow. I don't know how he is moving around. Once I figure that out, it will be easier to keep track of him."
Shepard nodded. It wasn't looking good. No one could find a trace of Ultimate after he disappeared. It's as if he simply vanished, and it was aggravating Shepard. People don't just disappear. They always leave some clue as to their whereabouts. The hard part was finding that clue, and so far they came up empty.
Tali finally spoke up. "Maybe we are looking at this wrong. Instead of trying to find out where he is, maybe we should try to find out where he is going to be."
Everyone thought about it, and Shepard smiled at her. Finally someone had something he could go on. It was better than what they had 5 seconds ago.
This time Garrus spoke. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty sure he was more set on ruling over us than killing us. You saw his power; he could have killed all of us in there. But he didn't. I think he wants to be, like, the emperor of the galaxy or something. He wants us all to bow to his power."
"I think your right Garrus." Shepard said, and Garrus grunted. "I usually am Shepard."
Everyone laughed a little, easing the tension in the room. "So now the question is where would he attack first if he wanted to take control of the galaxy?" Ashley stated.
No one said anything for almost a minute, and then Davin laughed. "Of course! Why didn't I see it sooner? If I wanted to take over the galaxy, I'd attack the place where the most species are represented and the most powerful people live. There is only 1 place like that."
They all got the answer, and said it at the same time.
"The Citadel."
Shepard pondered the thought, and didn't like it. The Citadel had been hit pretty hard during the war, and he didn't even know if any of the councilors survived. They were recovering slowly. If Ultimate attacked, they wouldn't be able to hold him off at all, and it would be an easy win for Ultimate. They couldn't let that happen.
"Everybody, get your equipment and gear ready. We can't let him take the Citadel. So, that's where we are going. Understood?"
"Yes commander!"
