Astrosecond~ .498 seconds, milli-cycle~1 sec, cycle~1 min, breem~ 8.3 minutes, mega-cycle~1 hour, meta-cycle~1\2 hours, solar cycle~1 day, day~ 20 hours, orbital cycle~ 1 month, gigacycle~ 1 year, deca-cycle~10 years, vorn~ 83 years, stellar cycle~400 year, mechanometer~ 1 meter, vun~ hectometer, hic~ 1 kilometer
Thoughts, 'binary code', (alien language), "talking"
Laserbeak had been spying on the Autobots for gigacycles and he knew all the tricks to avoiding detection. The Decepticon H.Q., Kaon, had several architectural designs for Laserbeak to enter and leave through. Megatron, Soundwave, and Starscream were eagerly awaiting Laserbeak's return. Megatron was the leader of the Decepticons and the most feared being on Cybertron. Starscream was the Decepticon's Air Commander but he has tried to usurp Megatron whenever the chance presented itself. Unfortunately for Starscream his plans have all failed, but he has managed to maintain strong enough ties within the Decepticons to not be destroyed, yet.
Soundwave was one of the Decepticons' highest-ranking members and loyal to Megatron. Soundwave may have been the Decepticon's communication officer but he was a deadly fighter capable of calling a number of Recordicons like Laserbeak. Megaton first spotted Laserbeak enter, "Ah, Laserbeak, report. What are the pathetic Autobots planning now?" Laserbeak transformed into a compact unit and entered Soundwave's chest that had opened after seeing him. Soundwave replayed everything Laserbeak had recorded. With a sadistic smile, Megatron said, "Excellent. Soundwave take as many drones as you need and whoever else to stop those Autobots."
Starscream interjected with objection, "Megatron we should wait until they find a new source of energon. Then we destroy them, leaving the energon for us."
"Fool!" Megatron responded with a punch, sending the surprised Starscream falling to the ground. "If we wait for the Autobots, they may find allies who could turn the tide of the war in their favor. No, we will find these new energon sources ourselves. After that we destroy the Autobots and the galaxy will be at our mercy."
"If we do things my way, the Autobots would be doing all the work for us and all we would have to do is destroy them." Starscream replied in a silent hiss. Starscream believed he could rule the Decepticons better than Megatron any day. The only real reason Megatron was willing to deal with this sniveling slaggin' traitor was for his combat prowess, along with a rare cunning Megatron found intriguing. But more over it was Megatron's arrogance that led him to believe himself the undisputed ruler of the Decepticons until the end of time.
Turning away from the Air Commander, Megatron then ordered the Recordicon, "Laserbeak, return to Iacon and find out which Autobots are making the trip and when they will be departing." Soundwave launched his minion from his chest as Laserbeak, in his bird-like form, raced off stealthily retuning to the Autobot base.
Back on the Normandy, Shepard went straight to his cabin, expecting to find both a pill of designs and his quarian lover. Entering the quarters, Shepard didn't find Tali but the pills of papers were sitting outside the door on a stand. Looking around shortly, Shepard grabbed the stack from its stand and brought them shortly to his 'office', setting the pile down near the starship-model collection he spent time on every now and then. Sitting down with a sigh, he checked the first paper that lay neatly on the top. The signer of the request brought a smile to him, as well as the plan.
Garrus wanted to give the Normandy a turian 'makeover' as a joke with his preferred design on the other side. It mostly had the original colors from the SR-1 but it also carried marks that combined turian and human symbols. Sliding the paper to the side, he checked the next paper, this one from the biotic in the hidey-hole. Even with Jack gone, she still tried to perpetuate her idea of going pirate with the upgraded Normandy, even drawing skull and crossbones over a Cerberus symbol; a cliché of pirate themes, if ever there was.
Wondering what else the pile included from his team, he put Jack's proposal over Garrus' and checked the next set of papers. Grunt wanted to have a giant Urdnot symbol across the Normandy's bow. Thane proposed to have the symbols that represent the drell god Amonkira. Even Legion had a suggestion marking the Normandy with Citadel and several different species related marks. Shepard gave another sigh, something he found himself growing to, and put his teams' requests from the many crew of the Normandy, Shepard checked the first one on top and, seeing it was a normal request, pulled out a pen. It was going to take a while.
Several signed requests and reports later, hours' worth of signing, the muffled sound of the elevator's door opening was heard just behind his quarter's door. Shepard still eyed the paper before him as Tali nervously entered, but unlike last time, had more confidence in her steps. Shepard gave one last sigh and placed the signed document on the pile of sighed documents before scooting his chair out and turning to greet her. He knew how she wanted to greet, so it was of no surprise that she walked into his open arms and hugged him. Tired from simply sitting for hours and signing documented reports, Shepard gave a gentle chuckle. "Tali I'm glad to see you." Finding her arrival rather early, he asked, "Was there something you needed?"
"No" the quarian replied. "I'm just…I'm just glad to be with you." As she hugged him Shepard could tell she was lying. Her body was trembling. It was faint, but years of service made him aware of every little movement.
"What's wrong, Tali?"
Naturally, she would have avoided the question, but she felt little need to keep secrets or avoid questions, especially now that she and Shepard were an 'item'. "Now that we survived and we're here…I mean…it just that you and I…I don't mean to…"
When Tali tried to meet with the Shadow Broker on the Citadel two years ago Shepard had come to her rescue. Ever since, she had always thought about him. First as a protective figure, but eventually her thoughts became more and more in-depth. Back then however, she wouldn't dare talk about it to anyone, simply keeping it a secret.
Shepard got a feel of what she was trying to say. Ever since 'that night' she wanted to know if they'd stay together. Tali probably figured he went on with it due to the 'stress of the moment', even with the confession she went through in the core room. Shepard planned to set things straight.
"Tali I would never do anything to hurt you; physically or emotionally." Shepard replied evenly, creating a small gap in between them. Taking her hands in his, he added, "I never approached you before because I was unsure you even wanted me, I was afraid for your health because of your people's immune system, and that you would leave to return home anyway so I didn't want to hurt you." Shepard lowered his head, ashamed at himself for not looking past that. "I've never been with anyone I've ever loved before you, Tali. Of course there were the Reds…but I rarely had the feel of taking about…'them'."
She looked around the room, "Well maybe if you told me you might feel better and I…well I might feel better too." They both sat down on the couch.
Shepard took a deep breath, "Well I guess I could talk about them. But it's been so long," Shepard tried to remember, "I had two others that I liked, that never went anywhere." Tali was curious and afraid; other than what the extranet and his profile said Tali didn't know much about the Commander's past. "As you know when I was a kid back on Earth I was a part of a gang; The Tenth Street Reds." Tali remembered Shepard's encounter with Finch on the Citadel. "When I was with them we were just a gang, no political opinion, no nothing; we took care of the gang and members, nothing else. As far back as I could remember I was always on my own, no one to care for me and the only thing that I owned were the clothes I wore and the metal name bracelet with my birthday that I always kept with me."
Tali never thought that many had it worse than the quarians did in the flotilla, "I never knew that you had such a difficult childhood. If you don't want to talk about it I can understand…"
Shepard grabbed her hand stopping her from leaving. "No. Now that it's been brought up, I want to finish it. It's something I feel like talking about, even though I'm sure I don't want to. Please just listen." Why the hell did I just say that! Just keep going… "At first I tried to survive on my own; rummaging through garbage and alleyways just to find half-eaten or less-than-rotting food to maintain myself. Eventually one of the Reds saw me as I snuck an apple from a fruit stand in one of the more crowded market districts." Even with her helmet she still gave him the 'Really' look. "In the city I lived in, the Rayya could have been considered living in uptown and your people look out for one another, most humans just let you rot or help you rot faster."
Tali was starting to feel bad for Shepard, whose childhood sounded much worse than the disdain people showed her during her Pilgrimage. "So that's why you asked me about my mother and father before?"
"No, I asked because I was just curious how quarian families were like." He took a breath before continuing. "When the Reds found me I was in an abandoned apartment building where I lived with an old disabled soldier; he always had a pistol on him and he just stayed on the first floor, someone I think managed to escape the nut house because he was always drawing things all over the place and a drunkard that was always staying to his corners shouting at anyone that got too close to him. I never learned how to read or write yet so I never really needed to practice how to speak before. I think I was eight when they approached me; they wanted me to join to use my stealthy abilities. I couldn't understand a word they said but when they offered fresh food how could I refuse? The best I could do on my own find scraps but they just pulled it out like it was plentiful."
Seeing Shepard give a brief pause, almost as though the rest of his story was becoming harder to say, Tali placed her arm around Shepard's shoulder in an attempt to show he wasn't back on Earth, in a run-down apartment or with the Reds. He was on his ship with her. A moment after her hand had rested, he finally responded, raising a hand and placing it over hers, firmly holding it in place.
"Thanks. I did some horrible things back when I was with them; I murdered people, destroyed things and beat people the gang targeted. I see it as horrible now but back then it was just thing I was accustom to all of it, seeing it on a daily bases, and I was doing it to survive. I had a crush on one of the members, her name was Jess; one of the prominent and strongest members in the gang. She was smart, pretty and she always knew what she wanted." His eyes had that same passionate look when he looked into Tali's reflective mask. "She would usually work on her own but I had the opportunity to do a few jobs with her. On the last job it was a simple shakedown; make a few threats, smash a thing or two and collect credits. When we got there it was a trap from a rival gang, The Ninth Street Blue." He gave a brief scoff. "According to Jess they formed around someone who was thrown out of the Reds, wanted to start his own little group. Well, since I met them, he apparently succeeded…"
"Anyways, it turned into a big fire fight but eventually we got out of there…but not without taking casualties. Jess was the first to fall, a sniper to the head. I have no idea how or when they had an actual sniper rifle in their possession, being the gang they were, but I disregarded it. A bullet wound was a bullet wound. I wanted payback and the gang wanted it too but they only helped because they hated them and we lost people, I did it for Jess. I never had the chance to tell her that I actually cared for her. We wiped the whole gang out but I saw some of them surrender yet some of the Reds still executed them. I was used to seeing death and I had seen friends die but something about Jess and all of these people that affected me. Soon after, the Reds wanted to hunt down some of the families of the [] to get some point across. When all that mess was done I knew I wanted out of that life of pain and death so as soon as I was old enough I enlisted with the Alliance."
Tali let Shepard have a brief moment of silence to himself, his gazed wondrous and staring blankly in no apparent direction. If Tali didn't know any better, she'd thought he was having a flashback. Waiting only a few seconds longer, Tali asked a question she wondered for only a little while. "What was this Jess like, Shepard?"
It took Shepard a full ten seconds to respond, finally snapping out of his daze. "Jess was smart, beautiful and really tech savvy; if you met her under different circumstances I think you two could have been really good friends. Despite what Finch said not everyone in the old gang hated aliens, but some were just idiots."
Tali felt bad for Shepard, he has always kept these tales to himself, never asking for help or comfort in dealing with it. "I see why you don't see Earth as your home," Tali now realized why Shepard suggested the quarians try and look for a new homeworld back on the Alarei. "So if she was your first crush then who was the other?"
Shepard let out a sigh of minor unpleasantness before speaking. "I was twenty-three when I lost her. Her name was Hiromi, she fought as hard as a krogan but during the down times she was usually as calm as a hanar. In a lot of ways both you and Ashley remind me of her. I think this was one of the reasons why military normally have rules against fraternization among members. The Alliance sent our unit to find out what happened to the pioneer team on Akuze that had just suddenly dropped out of contact. I just finished my N7 training and I just reached the rank of Operations Chief at the time too." Shepard couldn't help but chuckle as a memory came back to him. "The captain used to call us his 'Hell Raisers' because three missions that were supposed to be simple and easy turned into big nasty fire fights."
"What's so funny about having a name like that?"
Shepard reminisced, "This one time it was a simple pickup/scouting mission that turned into a frontal assault against a bunch of pirates. He figured one or all of us were cursed with bad luck when it came to thing like that." Shepard reminisced at the one bright, happy memory before he continued through the dark tale.
"It's appropriate, but I think it was more because of you than anyone else." Tali commented, trying to expand the fond memory while discreetly, yet noticeably regarding as to how often simple missions go to hell around the Commander. Catching on to what she meant, he gave another chuckle at the same time she did.
The moment subsided after a few seconds of silence, Shepard continued. "Anyway I volunteered to go assuming it to be just a simple search & rescue or repairing some broken transmitter or something. Aside from those 'Hell Raisers' missions, this was one of my first missions. The shuttles dropped us off far from pioneer team's base. The captain had decided to join the fifty of us on this one. The mobile structures were untouched and there was no sign of the team but the odd thing was when the engineers examined the communication towers and they couldn't find anything wrong with them other than structurally. We were losing daylight so the captain ordered us to start setting up camp for the night so we could start looking for survivors outside the base camp. One of the senior officers went against it since the suddenly disappearances of human colony was naturally a sign of great evils, but the captain wouldn't have it. We set up camp anyways. That night I had a hard time sleeping because I was feeling tremors but I told myself it was probably just planetary stuff and not to worry about it until I heard Corporal James screaming. Since I couldn't sleep, I was the first to react almost immediately, grabbed my assault rifle and jogged out. As soon as I stepped out, I saw it, a thresher maw, it was the first I had ever seen. Apparently, everyone else also awoke and was outside. No one among us knew what the hell it was so we open fire at it, big mistake." Shepard breathed a shaky sigh as he mentally relived the moment. Steeling himself with a barrier of comfort Tali provided, he continued.
"I watched as Private Chris and Lieutenant Hendricks melted from the acid the maw shot at them. It was soon after their death screams subsided that another one popped up behind us. It dragged Corporal Toombs and Captain Logan away. The whole time they were shrieking and pleading for help, but it was watching, dumbfounded by the moment. I watched, Tali. I watched as men and women fall one by one around me as I did nothing. I was frozen, in shock. I don't know if it was me standing still or of they ignored me completely, but the Maw's did nothing to me. It was the screams of all my team that hurt the most. The scars that once lined my body, they were nothing compared to the pain I suffered by simply listening…"
Cerberus' Lazarus Project removed all of Shepard's old scares but Tali recalled the scares he once had on his face. Tali snapped to attention as he gave another lone sigh and continued. "I forced the shock from my system and started helping around, shooting, throwing grenades, anything we had that would kill the damn things. Our weapons were having little to no effect on them so we eventually had to fall back into one of the buildings the pioneer team had. By that time we had lost fourteen more people. We knew they saw us so we had to get back to the landing zone but the trek would be deadly. We counted at least three of them attack us but then again those were just the ones that popped above the surface. Some, like Private Rogers, were starting to lose it mentally so Hiromi, Commander Davis and I tried to calm everyone down. We could hear some of the maws starting to spit their acid at the building we were in and saw as it ate away at the walls fairly quickly. As a team we tried to get back to the LZ. Unfortunately it was all open space with no cover if one of the maws attacked. For a time we saw no sign of them. We were about fifty meters or so from the LZ when they started attacking us again. Soon after things start to get fuzzy, I just see flashes, moments, noise; nothing really solid. The only things that are truly vivid was watching one of the maws tendrils wrap around Hiromi as it dragged her down the hole and watching the other marines being pulled into holes or melt from acid, or, rarely, being close enough for them to be attacked by the thing's scythe-like claws. The walk to the LZ felt like a lifetime in itself."
"That's horrible! And Cerberus did this?"
"49 good men and women died just so Cerberus could study how those goddamn things act…When I was brought back and Jacob told me about the Illusive Man, I wanted to make him pay, even if it cost me my life to…I don't know." Shepard could normally control his emotions but he wanted to shot the Illusive Man if not at least punch him really hard in the face.
Tali was concerned with Shepard's tone, "What would you do now?"
Shepard kept a blank stare until he finally looked up at her, a weak smile on his face. "Well now that I'm with you I wouldn't do anything to risk your life but if I do meet the Illusive Man face to face I might shot him; it might kill him it might not, I don't know…"
There were no word that could help Shepard deal with these emotions but Tali could comfort him at the very least. Seeing Shepard resume his blank stare, Tali leaned in and hugged him. She felt his heart through the suit, beating at a fairly rapid pace from the memories. Gradually it began to slow. It wasn't until Shepard inhaled deeply and returned her embrace that she knew he was alright, and sure enough, he was.