Chapter 54

Shepard emerged from the service tunnel first, to find himself right in front of the Council Tower elevator's doors. A quick scan of his surroundings and his motion sensor told the commander that there didn't appear to be any nearby enemies. The layout of the Chambers also planted the seeds of a plan in his head; seeds that quickly began germinating into a fully-formed plan of attack. Several quick hand motions and a great deal of movement later, he was joined by Tali and Garrus. After the two newcomers had completed their own checks over the area, Shepard quietly began checking on his plan's foundation.

"Garrus. Do you know of a way to get up there?" The Spectre asked, as he pointed to the tops of the viewing galleries, where there was a large gap between those ceilings and the outside of the Citadel Tower.

"Yes." The turian answered, clearly confused. "But why?"

"Because I want you to get up there and watch for Saren. That guy's got an ego the size of a small moon, so you know there's gonna be a face-to-face meeting where he brags about how successful his plan was, and how humans are so insignificant, and how he's the Reaper's pet organic, and blah blah blah. When he starts monologuing, I would very much like it if you'd put a bullet through his brain."

Garrus was shocked. "You want me to kill him? Why? I thought you wanted to kill him personally; the way I felt with Dr. Saleon."

"Don't get me wrong, buddy, I would love to be the one to personally escort that smug sonuvabitch to the gates of Hell, and hand him over to the meanest, nastiest, cruelest demon I could find for an eternity of torment. But remember what I said about doing what was right, not what was easy? This is another one of those times. Saren's gonna be expecting me to fight him one-on-one, because I'm a human, and therefore incapable of subtlety or subterfuge. So all of his attention is gonna be on me, and preparing for my inevitable and fruitless attack. And then you will show him why he should never underestimate our team."

The turian nodded his head in understanding. "Similar to the plan we used on Virmire, then."

Shepard agreed grimly, remembering the outcome of Virmire and the hole it left in his team. "Exactly. I'll 'hold the line,' and you deliver the coup de grâce. And hopefully with a better ending."

Tali spoke up then, shocking Garrus who had nearly forgotten about the silent quarian. "And what will I be doing, Shepard?"

"Why, you'll be covering my rear, of course." He answered with a wink that only she could see.

Tali flushed beneath her helmet, and tried to compose a response. She ran through a litany of possible lines, but rejected each of them as either too suggestive for her to even contemplate actually saying aloud, or too likely to expose their fledgling relationship to Garrus's unwanted examination. Eventually, she settled for a light touch to Shepard's shoulder and a quiet, nearly-purred "Always."

Spike suppressed a shiver at Tali's tone of voice and forced his mind to return to the current situation. "There's one other thing, Garrus. I know you like your sniper rifle, but I don't think it has the punch to get through Saren's shields in one go, especially if they're being augmented by Reaper tech." He steeled himself for the next suggestion. "I think . . . I think you should take Inara with you."

Both of Shepard's companions stared at him, knowing the deep attachment that the Spectre had for his weapon of choice. For him to even consider allowing another man to touch his favorite gun, served to really hammer home how seriously he was taking Saren and the Reapers.

"Are you sure, Commander?" Garrus asked quietly. "That's your rifle. And how is that even possible, given the HMW series' protections?"

"I'm sure." Shepard sighed. "And I think that me and Tali, given the fact that we can hack a geth in mid-fight, should be able to circumvent the anti-use safeguards on Inara."

Seeing that no further argument was forthcoming, Spike unslung his beloved sniper rifle, expanded it, and set it on the ground. Then in tandem he and Tali activated their omni-tools and began poking and prodding at the electronic programs installed in the HMW SR. Twenty-five seconds later, their eyes met and they smiled at one another, sharing a quiet moment. "All set, Garrus." Shepard said as he motioned the turian over. After a few more commands were typed into his omni-tool, Garrus became the newly-authorized user of Inara.

As Shepard took Garrus's Volkov X sniper rifle and placed it on his back, Garrus reverently collapsed the HMW SR X and stowed it securely on its designated hardpoint. "I'll take good care of it, Commander." The turian said meaningfully.

"I know, Garrus. But if she comes back with so much as a single scratch on her, I'll be taking it out of your hide!" Shepard managed a smile at the end of his statement, slipping back into the easy banter he so often shared with his closest male friend. Sprinkled within that banter were the concrete details of exactly how and when Saren would meet his end through the combined efforts of a turian and a human.

Once again standing off to the side, Tali took in the scene with a smile on her face. Boys. Always so concerned with their toys. I hope that soon Spike will feel as reticent about letting me leave his sight as he does that rifle. I think there is a good chance of that happening, once we defeat Saren and have some time to just be together, without the fate of the galaxy hanging over us. When she looked up again, it was to find Shepard preparing his pistol for use and looking her way.

"Ready to go?" He asked.

She hurriedly activated her shotgun and stepped closer to him. "Yes." She answered unnecessarily.

"Beautiful." He breathed, the double entendre sailing over Tali's head. She really is; with or without that shotgun out and ready to kick some major geth ass. When we're done here, I'm gonna take her out to dinner and just stare at her the whole time. I'll have to get some mirrored glasses to wear so she can't see how much of a creeper I am, but that's doable. Just imagine it, Spike old boy. Take her back to the Arc, spend a whole night with just you and her, make some small talk, have a nice quiet dinner (maybe something italian), and then go back to my apartment and spend the rest of the night cuddling and watching a movie or listening to music. Fucking perfection. Alright, I need to find Saren and get him killed ASAP, because I cannot fucking wait for that date. I'll probably have to run it by Tali first, but I can't see her having any complaints about it. She seems to like me as much as I like her.

Together the two fighters walked forward, prepared to respond to any threat with immediate and overwhelming force. Unsurprisingly, their first encounter with an enemy geth was at the first set of stairs, where the geth had fortified the natural chokepoint. The geth fireteam posed little trouble to the two well-versed commandos, though, and a quick plan was immediately created and implemented. Tali and Shepard took cover to either side of the stairwell, and began hacking the enemy AIs. It took the experienced hackers less than a minute to each take control of one platform, and begin focusing their fire on one of the non-controlled geth. The combined flurry of bullets put a quick end to that antagonist, and the two-man team from the Normandy switched their focus to the other foe. That geth trooper fared no better than its teammate, and also found itself ripped to pieces.

With similar grins, Tali and Shepard then turned their geth platforms on each other. Like they had several times before, the duo abandoned automatic weapons and directed their metal contraptions to attack each other with fists only. "Modern Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots" was how Spike had described it to his quarian companion when she had questioned his behavior the first time. By now, they both looked forward to being able to end a skirmish with the geth by beating each other's platform into a pile of scrap metal. The current tally stood at 6-3 in Shepard's favor, but Tali had won the last two fights.

Two blows to the shoulder detached the right arm of Shepard's geth, and then Tali went for the kill by hammering away on the exposed, less-armored side of the torso. Spike's wild flailing with his off hand wasn't enough to deter Tali's geth, and it finished the fight by blasting a fist through the weakened exterior and crushing its opponent's CPU. As Shepard's geth fell lifelessly to the ground, Tali directed her platform to flash its own memory, destroying the threat with as much effectiveness as a bullet.

At the bottom of the stairs, Tali stood up and did a small victory dance. "I believe that's three wins in a row, Spike."

"Yeah yeah yeah. You just got lucky."

"One time could be luck, but three straight? I think that luck has nothing to do with how I keep beating you."

"Whatever. You're only winning because I'm a chivalrous gentleman."

Tali's happy demeanor disappeared instantly, and her tone became icy cold. "Are you telling me that you've been letting me win?"

Spike recognized the danger signs with the speed borne of the fear of an angry woman armed with a shotgun she knew how to use. "What? No, of course not! I was just saying that I always make my geth into a meat shield - well, actually, a metal/polymer composite shield - for your geth. I was just kidding, Tal, I promise."

The commander's words had a mollifying effect on his girlfriend. "Oh. I understand, Spike. I'm sorry for getting angry with you over it."

Shepard moved over and gave her a quick hug that he was reluctant to limit to a socially-acceptable duration. "It's ok Tal. We're not in the most normal of situations right now. But when we're done, whattaya say we go to the Arc for a few days, just the two of us, and explore this new relationship?"

At her boyfriend's words, Tali's insides began doing a series of aerobics that she would be hard-pressed to describe. Remembering Shepard's earlier teasing, she decided to try her hand at returning the favor. "Only a few days, Spike?" She asked, attempting to mimic the sultry tone of voice she'd heard in some of the human vids she'd watched. "Are you afraid you won't enjoy sharing your living space with me?"

The commander felt his blood begin rushing south at Tali's words (and the way they were delivered). Visions of living together, and all that that entailed, swimming through his mind only exacerbated the problem. Several attempts at commanding his blood to resume its normal duties were only successful at holding the flow steady, and he realized that he had no hope of reversing the current state of affairs as long as he was in the presence of his extremely sexy significant other. At least, until a firefight erupted and his limbic system could re-take control of his bodily functions. "Of course not." He answered, forcing his voice not to quaver. "I'm sure I'll love sharing my apartment with you. But don't forget that it's a single-bedroom with the obvious accompanying furnishings." He watched her stiffen as she worked through what he meant, and rejoiced a little at being able to toy with her as effectively as she had with him. "I'm sure I can convince the Alliance to give me a week or two off, and you're welcome to join me in for as long as you want."

Both parties shivered at the implications of being in sharing the same small living quarters for an extended period of time. Instinctively, they understood that doing so would likely either cement their relationship as more than the attraction generated by a stressful situation, or reveal it to be nothing more than a passing infatuation. Either way, two weeks together would define their relationship for the foreseeable future. One could almost pity Saren and Sovereign, for it was evident that nothing would stop this pair from overcoming any obstacle standing between them and the chance to truly test whether they had the potential for a lifetime of happiness.

"Let's get moving, Tal." Shepard finally said. "Garrus should be in position soon enough, and then we have a megalomaniac to stop."