Thessia had fallen.
EDI hadn't seen it with her own eyes, but she had still experienced it. The Commander had only taken a small squad with her, but EDI had observed their progress through the vid and comlinks from armour feeds of the squad members. She watched as Kai Leng stole the prothean VI, destroying the supports of the temple to secure his escape. She saw as Shepard ran towards the fleeing assassin, shooting her pistol at the retreating gunship and roaring her defiance and rage at the sky. And then she heard the call for help from Lieutenant Kurin and Shepard trying to reply to her and failing. EDI heard the Lieutenant's call turning into screams of fear, desperation and terror as she was slaughtered. EDI watched as Shepard watched, seeing more Reapers descend to the planet and the link with Lieutenant Kurin was lost.
It was a sound and sight that chilled EDI. She had witnessed death before but mostly that of her enemies. Yet to heard the final scream of an ally and to see a world such at Thessia be taken was...EDI had trouble finding a word to describe it. She wasn't the only one having difficulties with the turn of events either.
The atmosphere aboard the Normandy was especially subdued. The asari were the most technologically advanced species in Citadel Space and they had lost their homeworld. True, humanities homeworld has also been taken but they did not see it as lost and fought tooth and nail to deny the Reapers. But also, the chance for saving Earth had been taken too, stolen from out of Commander Shepard's grip. Hope was ebbing away from all those aboard, all except Specialist Traynor.
'I can find him EDI, I know I can.' Traynor had told her, and EDI had diverted any resources she had available to her to help Traynor. She was a talented young woman, and if anyone could find the Cerberus assassin, it was her.
Another portion of her attention was diverted inwards too, to the crew. The chance to observe them all during this crisis peaked EDI's interest.
Liara had withdrawn completely, even more so than usual as her computer links to the Shadow Broker's network were powered down, only her VI, Glyph was activated. She instead sat upon her bed, frantically pouring over datapads. No one had spoken to her since she had had a blazing row with Javik in the cargo bay. Shepard had intervened and managed to smooth things out. But from what EDI could see, it had done little to soothe the Doctor of her hurt.
Tali seemed pensive and had spoken to the Commander briefly about the guilt she felt. She was torn. Her people had regained their homeworld, just as others were losing theirs. It hurt her to be so happy when everyone else was so sad. She had pledged her help to Shepard in retaking Earth and Shepard had gratefully accepted the offer from her friend. Sometime later Tali had contacted Garrus, once the Commander had left the main battery, to speak with him. She was doing that a lot lately...as was Garrus and the content of their conversations had been of great interest to EDI. But now, Tali was trying to convince Garrus that he should speak to Liara, to try and give her some comfort over what had happened. But the turian was hesitant, despite knowing Liara for quite some time, he confessed he had no idea what he would say or do.
EDI had found this a common reaction from people when faced with others in distress. Some would step up to the plate straight away, mainly females...while other, mostly men, would struggle when faced with another in such a state. Jeff was a prime example of that. He had been concocting jokes about what had happened since the squad had returned. He hadn't shared any with EDI, but he was muttering under his breath and EDI caught much of what was said and the gist of the rest. He suffered as much as the rest but hide it as well as he could. But even he was starting to buckle under the pressure. EDI wished there was a way she could comfort him...but how? Her attention returned to the crew.
James was being stoic for once, his natural banter with Flight Lieutentant Cortez missing. He'd expressed relief that the Commander had returned safely, especially after the bitter disappointment of being left behind. He'd not even bothered taking a cheap shot at Major Alenko at being left behind either. Even the exceptionally mouthy Private Westmoreland had not taken as much relish at the fall of the asari as she seemed to over the failures of others, much to Private Campbell's relief as she had been shaken by the turn of events.
Garrus had spoken to the Commander when she had appeared in the Main Battery, speaking of the news that he had heard from his family, rather than having her dwell on her defeat. The turian had become exceptionally adept at reading Shepard's moods and he had noticed the heavy weight she bore and did his best to try to help her. Garrus made the Commander smile in the way that only a true friend could. Only Major Alenko made her smile more...but for a completely different set of reasons. It was after she had left, that Garrus had received a call from Tali and had baulked at her suggestion, only to be saved in turn by the timely arrival of Shepard.
The Commander spoke to Liara in her quarters after that. They had much to speak of, but for the most part Shepard just listened. Liara's heart was broken by the loss of her home and Shepard could sympathise, and did, however the Commander also realised that she needed the Doctor and couldn't risk losing her to grief. Not yet. And so, EDI was surprised with the force in her voice, when she had told Liara that she was not to blame for what had happened, that the blame rested on those who hadn't listened, but most importantly that all was not lost. She reminded her of what Javik had said:
As long as one asari is left standing, the fight isn't over.
This seemed to hearten Liara somewhat and she opened up her terminals with a determination to help those that had survived elsewhere and co-ordinate with them to fight back. Thessia may be lost, but its people were not. Doctor T'Soni had even managed a smile as she thanked the Commander for all she had done.
EDI regarded the Commander as she entered the lift to come up to the CIC. Her posture was rigid and tight and her biometics were decidedly low, despite what had happened. It was curious and worrying, made even more so when she reached the cockpit.
'So. Thessia, huh? Guess the asari are wishing they had fewer dancers and more commando right now.'
Even EDI winced when she heard the words leave Jeff's lips. Despite everything she knew about him, she never thought that he'd stoop so low and say a joke like that out loud. That would've been bad enough, but to say it to the Commander... EDI wondered if everything that had happened since Earth had shake Jeff's sanity loose. Was his judgement impaired? Was that why he saw such interest in her, an synthetic rather than another organic? No, that couldn't be right. The strain was taking its toll upon him, his biometics told her that...but he wasn't unhinged or suffering PDST, then what?
'Too soon?' he added. EDI was unsure if he actually was joking or not now and her attention turned to Shepard, though her platform remained impassive.
'In case you hadn't noticed,' she almost snarled. 'we just lost a few million people. This isn't the time!'
This outburst, as sudden and shocking as it was from the Commander didn't seem to outwardly phase Jeff, and EDI commended him on his calm as he shuffled through some of the astronomical files on his console and EDI had to suppress a gasp when she recognised the planet he showed the Shepard.
The Commander stood and listened as Jeff told her of his home and family and how they could very well all be dead. This didn't cool much of Shepard's anger as she demanded to know why, if that was the case and he'd potentially lost everyone, did he have to joke about everything.
'Because EDI says' EDI winced again, not liking being brought into this confrontation 'that according to your armour's metabolic scans, you're under more stress now than during the Skyllian Blitz.'
He continued to list all of the major fights that the Commander had taken part in to emphasis his point before telling her what Admiral Anderson had told him to take care of her and his worry at how he could possibly do that.
Shepard had countered by telling Jeff that she was ok, but her reply was too quick and waspish and he saw through that. Countering by saying as much and that it was his fault that the Commander had died. Again, she defended her actions by says she never leaves anyone behind...but again, her response was too swift to hide her annoyance. After all, it wasn't strictly true either. She had left Gunnery Chief Williams behind on Virmire, but EDI didn't dare mentioned that.
'Don't you have work to do!' she finally snapped, her annoyance reaching its peak when Jeff carried on quipping about his own importance, and thankfully, Jeff turned as focused on his console but this time in silence. EDI could see that he was hurt by what had happened, though she believed he blamed himself more than the Commander.
But contrast, Commander Shepard had stalked to the lift like a predator, ignoring everyone she passed and slapping the 'call' button before sliding in and shutting the door.
'EDI!' her tone tight and brisk. 'Where is Major Alenko?' she demanded.
'Major Alenko is in the Starboard Observation Lounge Commander.'
She watched Shepard hit the button for the crew deck and her jaw clenched as the elevation travelled to her destination. She hadn't thanked EDI for the information as she usually did. This was worrying. However, she hoped that seeing the Major might calm her ire, much like he had during the Rannoch mission...she just hoped he wasn't going to provoke her like before though, she might actually physically hurt him this time.