An actual relay...
Tali stared down the sudden slope of the tunnel, finding the scene surreal.
The water that had flowed through the tunnel was pouring down the slope before falling down into a small lake at the entrance of the room below, then snaking away in a curvy river running through a room of rolling rises of dirt and rock. The room was large though...the ceiling disappearing behind that of the tunnel, its walls far apart on all sides, walls bare of anything but worn stones, all save the one on the right where several large cylinders of steel glowed a hazy dark blue...
Yet the one thing standing out was the Relay itself. Tali was used to seeing them in space, back on the Flotilla or the Normandy...jumping through a Relay was a common enough sight. But this one was on a planet...its short end disappearing into the ground as the two long blades of it shot up towards a distant ceiling. Its head was aglow with blue energy...the two metal circles around it spinning in a dizzying pattern...active.
Even as she watched a column of Geth troops marched into the blue light...and disappeared with a flash of white shooting up along the two blades.
It works...
Tali swallowed, realising what that meant. Saren had already gone through to attack the Citadel...and they were about to follow.
Even as the realisation dawned on her she saw the Geth remaining – columns of them heading towards the glowing relay – turning their heads, cold eyes looking up at the Mako even as their bodies swivelled to face them. And at their flanks...half a dozen Geth Armatures turned to face them...their heads aglow with the charge of readying energy blasts.
"Sooo...this could get bumpy." Michael muttered.
Tali narrowed her eyes at him, knowing all too well what he meant, yet couldn't help sourly asking: "What?"
The reply with a screech that penetrated even their hull as Michael stomped down on the accelerator, the Mako jerking Tali back in her seat as it jumped forth. Oh by all the ancestors...
Ahead, a series of heavy energy blasts arched forth, only to strike the floor behind them as the Mako surged forth, its shields flaring up as the Geth platoons not yet through the Relay turned their pulse rifles at them.
A quick glance at her instruments and Tali's eyes widened even as she moved to stare through the windshield. "Michael! All those Geth are tearing through our shields!"
"Don't worry." Michael retorted, voice calm as ever even as the Mako reached the end of the tunnel...only to jerk upwards as its thrusters fired. The sudden jolt sent the vehicle over the water in a graceful arch even as more armature shots whizzed past, one nearly grazing its wheels before it struck the water below.
"It's a bit hard hitting them when you drive like this!" Garrus called out even as a grenade missed the packed column of Geth troopers around, instead sending up clumps of wet mud as a single clipped trooper fell into the nearby river.
"Don't worry."
They were bumping and veering through the mud...and Tali could only stare in horror as the armatures turned away from their difficult target, instead turning to face the cylinders lining the rightmost wall. Oh no...I think they're going to... "They're going to blow the power!"
A grunt through gritted teeth, Michael not sparing half a glance back: "Don't worry..."
Her console cried out, whistling a warning even as the hull in front of the windshield threw up sparks as flecks of steel and pain flew off. "Our shields are down!"
"Don't worry!"
They crested a slope of wet mud...and jerked as the thrusters once more fired, sending the machine hurtling over the column of firing Geth. The front wheel tore the head off the closest one even as the rest poured shots into the undercarriage of the Mako, drawing another cry from the computer even as they landed before the Relay. "Second wheel set is out!"
"I said, don't worry!" Michael's retort was almost lost in the sudden explosion as something in the back of the Mako broke apart, sending a cloud of black smoke flowing into the room.
A cough from Garrus, the Turian's voice tinged with just a hint of panic as he swivelled the turret around: "The Armatures are firing! They'll cut the power!"
The Mako shook, then jerked forth with a final shot of the thrusters...and white light filtered through the smoke...
"Don't-!"
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8
"-worry!"
With a sudden feeling of vertigo Tali found herself staring through the smoke and a cracked windshield behind which showed something new entirely, a green and white sky...arching walls to each side.
She blinked, arching an eyebrow. Is that...the Presidium?
Then they were falling, spinning...
Their world crashed into something with a loud crack...only to spin even faster as the Mako rolled through the air like a broken toy.
A snap...and Tali heard Garrus scream as his bulk flew into her seat, the chair's riveting creaking in protest as her buckle dug into her suit. There was a crash of breaking glass, pieces of it bouncing against her visor, smoke clogging the room...ruining all sense of up and down as everything spun round, making her call out a warning as she realized what would happen.
There was a crump...and the world came to a sudden stop, Tali feeling one of the buckles in her seatbelt snap with the force of the stop as she was thrown upwards...and then came to hang there as a screech of metal sliding against metal slowly ebbed out.
Ouch...
Her ears rang, her body ached wherever her seatbelt had dug into her...and she wasn't quite sure how she had been able to stop herself from throwing up as she felt her stomach roll around and press up against her lungs.
Craning her head she found Michael gripping at the controls of the Mako, his seatbelt coming off the seat even as she watched, making him fall to the right wall with a grunt.
Then her ears stopped ringing...only to be replaced by the sound of a rapid clicking and hissing.
Unbuckling her belt, Tali managed to grip at her seat and twist with the fall, dropping feet first onto the floor of the sizzling interior of the Mako, a floor that technically was supposed to be the ceiling...and found the source of the sound.
The left side entrance to the Mako had been torn open, part of the wall around it missing...and Garrus hung from it by his right foot, blue blood in his mouth, a mouth rapidly moving as his mandibles clicked together in a rapid stream of...sounds.
"I think...that's Turian swearing." Michael grunted, the man dropping down next to her, his head turning lazily to the left and right, the man still jarred from the impact.
More clicking and hissing...before Garrus' pained words came through: "Of course it's swearing you son of a...ah!"
Exchanging a look Tali and Michael advanced, her face twisting into a grimace as she saw Garrus hanging out of the opening, leg at an...odd angle. "I think he's hurt..."
"REALLY!" Garrus cried out, followed by a rapid series of clicks. "You THINK!"
Michael shook his head, the marine advancing up to the Turian, Tali hot in his heels as she saw the green of a Presidium lawn below the hanging Garrus. Michael sighed at the Turian: "You're not being very polite you know..."
A hiss followed by another series of clicks. "Get me down!"
"Yeah, yeah..." Michael reached down, gripping Garrus' foot... "...crybaby." ...and pulling it free from where it had gotten stuck.
A gasp...and Garrus fell out, crashing to the ground with a thump and another series of clicks. "Damn it, Michael! That hurt!"
"Get me down he says..." Michael shook his head, a smirk in his voice as he swung himself out of the hole. "...and then he whines about it when I do...it's just a broken leg."
Tali shook her head, gripping at the edge before swinging herself down to the ground next to Garrus. The man had rolled onto his back and now clutched at his right leg, its foot turned in the opposite direction then it was supposed to be. "I'll break your leg and you'll see how it feels..."
"Yeah, yeah..." Michael's retort faded into the background as Tali stared around herself.
They had crashed into a corner of the Presidium, surprisingly near to the elevator leading to the Council chamber. Judging by the humming Mass Relay monument sticking out from the water nearby...it had never been a monument in the first place.
Yet all that paled in significance compared to the destruction around them.
Several bridges had collapsed, their debris clogging the water running through the Presidium...a Presidium that wasn't bright and white as before, but now dark, all lamps shattered by some unknown force. The only source of light that of the fires running rampant down fields of grass and broken computers...even a few corpses strewn around were aflame, grim torches in an oppressive darkness.
In such a fading light it was impossible to see across the Presidium as before...but the tell-tale lights of firing pulse-rifles showed ahead, accompanied by screams and a few bursts of return fire from the odd armed person trying to resist the flood of Geth having rushed into the very heart of the Citadel.
She could barely see a few Geth moving in the distance, their white armour standing out, making them look like white ghosts as they slid forward, weapons firing into screaming shadows.
It was complete chaos.
Just like with the Protheans...Keelah...no...
She turned her gaze over to Michael...who too stared out over the destruction, his humour gone, lips a grim line as he looked out over it all...hands tightening into fists. His voice was calm as he nodded to himself: "Saren will need to get to the Council chamber to reach the main controls for the Citadel, there's where he's heading, there's where I'm heading."
"Okay." Tali moved her freed shotgun up, resting it on her shoulder as she moved forth...
Only to stop as Michael raised a hand to signal a stop. "You're not going."
She blinked, then took a defiant step forth, eyes narrowing: "What!"
Michael turned to face her, eyes calm under the visor of his helmet as he looked down at the now silent Garrus, then up to her: "You have to stay here, keep Garrus safe, he can't make it here on his own."
"And what about you! You're going to take on Saren and his cohorts by yourself!" Tali took another step forward, her left hand darting up to shove a pointing finger into Michael's face. "This is about saving the damn galaxy!"
Michael looked back evenly...even as Garrus spoke up, voice a pained mutter: "I agree, I'll take care of myself as best as I can, you go and-"
"No." Michael looked down at Garrus, eyes narrowing in a stern look. "No more sacrifices, no more heroics, you'll live." His eyes moved back to Tali...and she felt herself shudder. "And you'll make sure of that."
"Keelah..." Tali shook her head, panic squeezing her heart tight, making a tear run down her cheek. "...no more sacrifices...? None but your own-"
"No." Michael interrupted her, hands moving up to grip her shoulders, calming...but not as calming as his stance. One of control, of inner calm, of inner strength. His voice echoed it all...conviction filling it: "No more sacrifices, no more losses."
"I..." Tali hesitated, feeling compelled by his order, by his calm...even as every cell in her body cried out to disobey, to follow him.
Michael's right hand darted up, finding the underside of her helmet, pushing hear head up to look up as he moved closer...and she felt her heart thud against her ribs as he smiled down at her: "We'll live, all of us, that's the objective."
Secondary objective you mean... Tali swallowed, unable to say it as she stared up at him, feeling an urge to rise up and...
Damn this visor...
And Michael's smile widened, perhaps hearing her thought, perhaps...echoing it.
It made her heart ache.
The moment stretched on...and Tali held onto it, wanting it to go on forever, fearing the future...
Then Garrus spoke up, a pained whisper: "Ten credits says Saren's gone completely nuts..."
Michael held her gaze...and then grinned as he shot Garrus a look: "No bet, I'm not an idiot."
A small chuckle, unseen by Tali as she stared at Michael, memorizing his face, just...in case he... Keelah... Garrus' voice was sombre however, fitting her mood: "Says the man about to take on platoons of Geth on his own...snipe one for me will you?"
"Of course." Michael stepped back...and Tali felt her hands, hands that had begun to reach up for his shoulders, drop to her sides...powerless to stop him. "Tali..." He hesitated, staring at her, drinking her in...perhaps realizing that his bold intentions might not come true...then offered her a nod. "...keep Garrus safe..." There was something else to be said, his mouth still half open...but no words came.
Another nod...and he turned to leave.
"Michael!"
He stopped, head turning to look at her as Tali's mouth worked, trying to form the words she so desperately wanted to say.
Should say it...I need to say it...but if he falls...it would hurt so much...yet if I don't...
"I..."
I'll regret it if I don't say it...I should say it...
Fear squeezed her heart, pushing all breath out of her.
Fear of what he'd say, fear of what would happen in the battle, fear of what could happen...
Her shoulders slumped, defeated.
"...I really hate your driving."
Michael blinked, staring at her in confusion...only for that irritating smile to flash forth.
And then he was gone, rushing after Saren...out of reach.
Tali looked down at the floor, shoulders shaking as she felt the personal defeat like a jab to the heart, and Garrus' soft voice didn't help: "You should have said it..."
"I know, Garrus..."
Shaking her head she crouched down besides the Turian, unwilling to meet his gaze as her hands moved to aid his stricken leg.
"I know..."
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Thanks to Abydos Jackson for her endurance.