Chapter.4
The Key.
Shepard was checking his armor and equipping it slowly, making sure there were no problems with the kinetic barriers that he would be trusting his life to. The door to his cabin sprung open with a quiet hiss and Garrus stepped inside with an angry look on his face.
"What have you been doing Shepard! EDI has been calling you for 2 hours trying to tell you th." Garrus's face went from anger to shock as the covers on Shepard bed were moved and Tali Zora's masked face popped up, she had the rest of her body cuddled up in the soft silky fabric as if she was cold even though her suit kept her warm at all times.
"Hello Garrus." Said Tali innocently. Shepard looked worried at first but when Tali had acted like it was nothing a smiled spread across his face. Garrus still looking stunned slowly looked over at Shepard.
"Uhhh…I'll just wait for you at the CIC deck." Garrus turned around and started out the door, before the door shut Shepard heard Garrus start to laugh uncontrollably as he waited for the elevator to open. Shepard turned around and looked at Tali still sitting in the bed with only her head exposed.
"Think he'll tell anyone?" Shepard didn't sound worried just curious.
"Well if he does tell can I hug you in front of the crew?" Tali cocked her head to one side as she talked.
"You." Shepard said as he walked to the bed. "Can do whatever you want to with me." He sat down beside her and rubbed his hand against the side of her mask.
"Oh, well I guess that just gives me even more motivation to find some anti-biotic shots." Responded Tali as she crawled out of the bed and sat beside Shepard on the edge.
"There's no hurry at all." Said Shepard trying to sound compassionate, which was very difficult for him since he had been without physical contact for many years.
Tali shifted her weight as she slid closer to Shepard. "Well….you don't sound very convincing commander." Responded Tali suggestively as she put her arm around Shepard shoulder.
Shepard looked down at her. "Whenever you're ready…I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to." This time Shepards voice was filled with care and love.
Tali met Shepards gaze and spoke softly and slowly "Trust me Shepard…I'll find a way."
Shepard stood up slowly and unwillingly letting her slide out of his arms as she stayed on the bed. He walked over to the rest of his armor and continued to suit up. Tali eventually got up and walked over to Shepard and gave him one last hug before she left for engineering. After Tali left Shepard put his helmet under his arm and headed to CIC.
As Shepard stepped out of the elevator doors he saw Garrus talking to Thane and walked over to them.
"Well if you would have told Shepard that Mordin knew how to op*" Thane stopped talking as he saw Shepard approach.
Garrus glanced over at Shepard. "Well good morning Shepard, how nice of you to join us." his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Yea, sorry I needed some rest…anyway so do we know how to get into the ruin yet?" Shepard was obviously trying to change the subject to something less personal.
Garrus shifted his weight and lost his smirk grin. "Yea, Mordin wants to see you at the wall. EDI found a door a few yards away from the wall and he's waiting on you before he searches it. "
"Alright, you're coming with me Garrus and EDI tell Tali to meet us at the Hammerhead." Shepard sounded stern and eager. It had been a while since Shepard had done anything but scan old data so it was understandable that he wanted a change of pace.
Thirty minutes later…
Shepard stepped out of the Hammerhead and approached Mordin who was sitting on a camp stool reading something.
"Ah, Shepard good you are here. I assume Garrus has told you EDI found a way in?" Mordin sounded excited which was rather normal for the quick talking Salarian.
"Yea, he told me. Let's figure out what's so damn important that it drug us down here."Shepard motioned for all the Marines that had been stationed with Mordin to gather around.
"EDI mark on my HUD where the door is." Once EDI had done so Shepard informed the Marines what was going to happen. He had 2 Marines man the Hammerhead and the rest were to follow behind it while he and his team kept point.
As the small team reached the area on Shepard HUD they saw Legion waiting by a large tunnel that would have been large enough for the Hammerhead to get through with no trouble.
Sheppard turned on his comm link to the crew of the Hammerhead and told them to wait outside. Shepard's team and the rest of the Marines continued to go inside the tunnel. Everyone had turned on their helmet light so they could see, and began a slow walk with Shepard in point followed by Garrus and Tali.
"The floor appears to have some carvings in it." Said Mordin back behind the Marines as he observed the floor.
Shepard replied sharply. "Yea it's the same as the ones on the wall, must mean were in the right spot."
They kept walking until they approached a wall in their path which was covered in markings that were different then the floor and the wall outside. It had a large obelisk in the middle with a light shining out of the top of it. Mordin brushed past Shepard and began observing it and scanning it with his Omni-Tool.
Shepard suddenly realized the beacon was the same on he had seen back on Eden Prime all those years ago. Mordin was sliding his hand across the wall feeling for something.
"I do not see a way past this Shepard." Said Mordin regretfully.
Shepard put a hand on his shoulder and motioned with his head to step behind him. "I don't know if this will work but it's worth a shot.' Shepard approached the door and narrowed his eyes as he reached out with his hand.
Shepard put his hand against the middle of the door and breathed out. For a moment he thought nothing was going to happen then suddenly the wall split in two and each half slid into the mountain side.
"That was…unexpected." Said Mordin shocked by what had just transpired.
Shepard shrugged and replied."I've been around beacons that resembled that painting, they probably marked me somehow which allowed me to open that."
It took the large doors a few seconds to completely move into the mountain. After the way was clear the team began slowly advancing cautious of whatever happed to be hiding in this long forgotten site.
The team had been traveling through the same kind of tunnel as before the door but after a few yards it opened up into one massive room.
"Oh Keelah" Exclaimed Tali as the team walked into the room.
Shepard told the rest of the team to wait there, and he advanced into the center of the room. The lights on the Marines helmets began dancing around the room trying to explore the room…and see if they were alone.
Shepard had not taken more than a few steps forward when he felt a low rumbling sound. He felt uneasy about this noise, but it sounded more like a generator powering up then anything.
He looked back at the team who were only about 12 yards away across the wide open room that seemed to contain nothing.
The room itself was large enough to house the entire Normandy with room to spare, its ceiling was a dome shaped with the markings they had seen before covering it as well as the walls. The floor however was a simple dark gold color that was surprisingly clean considering its age.
As Shepard continued his scouting into the middle of the room he spotted the only object that seemed to be taking up this vast room. It was a small sphere that was only high enough to reach Shepards neck. He cautiously approached the sphere and reached out his hand and touched it. As with the wall the Sphere did nothing for a few seconds, then it suddenly began opening up into several small rings that resembled the mass relays center.
Shepard took a step back and watched the amazing display as the sphere unfolded itself and began whirling around in a strange and rapid motion. As the rings speed up a light suddenly irrupted from the center of them. The light was bright enough to temporarily blind Shepard and the team behind him that was watching the same display he was.
Shepard motioned for the team to come to him. As they walked forward everyone was staring up and around the room trying to find something different in the pattern but the entire room was consistent the only thing that was different was the sphere.
"Shepard what is this?" Said Garrus who was as awestruck as anyone else.
Shepard glanced over at the Turian. "How the hell should I know?" Shepard was starting to say something else but the room suddenly and violently shook.
Small platforms started to unfold from the walls and parts of the floor began rising up to about waist high and then assembled themselves in what appeared to be terminals and various technological computers.
Mordin walked over to one of the terminals and began moving his long fingers along its front until a display came up. "It appears to be a research station" His voice filled with excitement and nervousness.
"Everyone fan out and secure this area, EDI get Councilor Anderson on the comms and tell him we found something big."
Shepard looked worried."EDI?....EDI can you hear me?...Damn it the mineral that blocked her scans must be blocking are comms…Garrus take two Marines and head back to the entrance, tell EDI to give Anderson a call…and tell him we stumbled on something big."
Shepard started to walk over to Mordin before turning around and shouting after Garrus. "And tell the rest of the team to get there asses down here, where going to need to figure out what all this is." Shepard voice trailed off as he began examining the new contents of the room that had sprouted up like plants.