Feral and Tali were sleeping peacefully in the engine room until there omni-tools started flashing and beeping, they were set to go off when the ETA to the Mu Relay was at 35 minutes. It'd give them 5 minutes to wake up and then the engineers could come and get the Normandy ready for its stealth run into Ilos.
Slowly the two started to stir, Feral groaned at the noise made by the omni-tool. They were loud and annoying and because he had only just woken up his senses were flying out of control, making them painfully loud until he took control completely.
He was about to sit up when he felt a small amount of weight on top of him, Tali was slowly starting to wake up as she laid on his chest. Slowly pushing herself up onto her elbow but staying next to him. "Well that is a view I could definitely get used to waking up to" Feral purred quietly, still half asleep as they both started to sit up.
Tali stretched her neck slightly by rolling her head around slightly before looking back down at the man she'd fallen asleep on. "Keelah I could get used to all of that! I haven't slept that well in sooo long" that time she stretched out her shoulders, raising her arms in big circles in the air before she collapsed back down onto Feral's chest playfully. "Thank you for letting me sleep on you Feral" she purred happily, rubbing her finger around in small circles on Feral's sternum.
Feral just grinned as she gazed up at him, he could see the dreamy look in her eyes even through the visor "No need to thank me Tali, that was easily the best night's sleep I've had in…..over 4 years. No nightmares nothing…..but I could hear your heartbeat the entire night" he purred at that, the sound had been incredibly comforting "It was wonderful"
Tali just kept smiling and gazing at him dreamily as the warmth rushed to her cheeks yet again, knowing she was having such a huge impact on him just by being there…it was slightly overwhelming. He'd been so troubled, so damaged and broken and now not only was his fear of elevators being conquered but the first time they had slept so close together he hadn't had nightmares. Instead of saying anything she just pushed herself back onto her hands and knees and leant forward, rubbing the top of her visor happily into Feral's forehead.
The two just lay together for a few more moments before Tali quietly said "We need to get up now Feral" she slowly pushed herself away, sitting back up onto her knees. Squeaking in surprise as Feral followed her up and wrapped his arms around her waist, pushing his chin onto her sternum and looking up at her.
"Yeah yeah I know Saren….." he sighed as he turned his head, breathing deeply as the firm sounds of her heart slowly got louder and louder. Letting the noise fill his senses before he leant back and placed a kiss onto her flashing vocal unit. "Let's go get the bastard" he growled slightly as a large grin etched onto his face. Tali matching it inside her visor as they jumped off the bed, Feral quickly putting the pieces of his armour on and the small woman folding away the cots.
Tali smiled back as she watched him dress before she quickly moved the cots into the side rails and unlocking the doors. It wasn't long before the engine room crew was back and prepping the engine for the silent run for the Mu Relay. Tali was back at her terminal and Feral was at his, in full armour he was quickly checking that the systems were as fast as could be. It only took a few minutes of his time but he was satisfied that all the systems were as clean as they were going to be, smirking to himself as he saw the blockers he'd put in place to stop some of Joker's more questionable extranet searches had worked.
He clicked off his terminal and stepped over towards Tali "So how are we doing?"
Tali kept on tapping away at her holographic keyboard before replying playfully "We are doing wonderfully, temperature is slightly raised but within normal parameters. Considering a couple of the couplings got a little close together I'd say that a small raise in temperature is pretty good"
Feral blinked before looking down at her "….Ok so we're still talking about the Normandy right?"
Tali just purred and wiggled her hips slightly as Feral stood close by her "Of course we are but….it doesn't mean that last night wasn't wonderful either"
Feral snickered and grinned down at her as he turned towards her and leant onto the rail next to her terminal "I think I'm having a bad influence on you Ms Zorah" staring back playfully into her eyes as she looked back.
"Oh please, if anything I'm a bad influence on you. Remember I do have a shotgun and just because I'm young doesn't mean that I'm innocent by any measure" she raised an eyebrow at Feral who just laughed in response before standing up.
"Yeah well I should get the results to Shepard, he'd like to know that the Normandy is ready" Feral started walking up towards the back of the ship, before he completely moved away from Tali he left her a parting gift. Grinning to himself as she squeaked from the quick but firm squeeze to her bum; he also noted that she hadn't begun typing again by the time the door had shut behind him.
As he was moving through the cargo bay he noted that both Wrex and Garrus were there, getting all their equipment ready. Garrus working on the final calibrations on the Mako and Wrex cleaning his weapons and armour. Feral just stepped into the elevator giving the pair a nod as they looked over at him, before the door shut in front of him and the elevator slowly started moving.
Again instead of groaning he just hummed to himself as he concentrated on the events with Tali. They kept him calm and it was stopping him from doing his normal ritual, he still noticed that his foot twitched slightly but it was a very good improvement. The trip went much quicker than normal for the man as he stepped out and walked his way around to Shepard's office. He figured he'd still be asleep but it was probably best for him to start waking up now anyway, stepping up to the door he knocked on it firmly and waited.
Eventually the door finally opened and Feral stepped in without even looking up at Shepard as he pulled out the data disk "Sorry if I woke you but we're 15 minutes away from the Mu Relay and I figured you'd want to hear that we're all systems go….." he finally looked up at the last statement and "….you look very awake….." Shepard was still only in a shirt and boxer shorts but he looked wide awake, there was no way he'd just been asleep.
That was when something hit Feral's senses and he jumped slightly at the realisation "Oh god….please….please tell me Liara is in here somewhere because otherwise….you know what I'm not going to even say it" he was holding his noise and it made his voice comically squeaky.
Shepard could only sigh and try to stop his cheeks flushing in embarrassment, Feral had promised not to spy on them with his abilities but he had to admit…the smell was obvious even to him as they hadn't showered yet. "Feral look I didn't expect anyone and I'm sorry you had to find out….like that but yes Liara is in here" Shepard smirked as Feral let out a small sigh of relief.
"Oh thank god….otherwise that'd be…unsanitary" Feral shuddered slightly "Look there's the report, we have 15 minutes before we get there….and for the love of all things holy have a shower" He turned to step out of the room "You both need it" he gagged slightly as he quickly ran out of the room. "Oh but…..congrats….you two are good for each other" he said just before the door shut.
Shepard just started laughing at the whole exchange, Feral must be cursing his overactive senses right now. He looked over to the shower in his room as Liara's head poked around the corner "Did you hear all of that?" he chuckled as the blush on Liara's face grew and she gently nodded.
"Don't worry he won't tell anyone and besides a shower together would be a good idea" he smiled as he walked towards her and pulled her into a close hug, his lover covered in only a blanket.
Liara just smiled through her blush "While I do agree I have to ask what he meant by…..unsanitary?" she raised an eyebrow at John.
"Let's just say that while we're together that really isn't an issue" he snickered at her confused look before they both headed into the shower. They had 15 minutes and 10 would be plenty to have a nice long shower together.
- 10 minutes later, Normandy's Cockpit –
Shepard was walking with Liara to the cockpit where he caught the end of a conversation with Joker and Feral. "Look all I'm saying Joker, other than the fact most of those were completely illegal, all of that data took up a lot of runtime in the Normandy's system."
"Oh come on how much could a couple of terabytes of po-Oh! Hey commander" Joker suddenly changed the subject as he saw Shepard enter the cockpit "Feral and I were just talking about….the Normandy's…..runtimes…." he coughed and sat facing forward again before becoming serious again "We're at 5 minutes ETA to the Mu Relay Commander"
Feral couldn't help but laugh at his console as he was checking the engine's systems quickly "And we are all good across the board for a nice long stealth run" he grinned as he spun around in his seat "So good shower?" he grinned at Shepard and Liara playfully before he tugged at his hair
Shepard realised his hair was still slightly wet and just shook his head slightly "yes thank you Feral, I find it an extremely good way to help me wake up"
Feral just chuckled again "Oh I bet, I love a nice, long shower in the morning" sticking his tongue out at the two as Joker just raised an eyebrow at the pair's strange choice of conversation.
"Anyway…..I'm going to get Pressley up here, we can help us scan for a landing site on Ilos when we come out of the Mu Relay and that way I don't need to worry about doing 5 things at once" Joker sniffed as he cracked his knuckles, the spinning blue light coming into view quickly.
Soon the cockpit was inhabited by 5 of them, Shepard, Liara, Feral and Joker had been joined by Pressley and they were all ready for the jump through the relay. Joker was quiet as he was concentrating on 'shooting them across the galaxy at a target the size of a pin' as he so eloquently put it.
"And we're hitting the relay in 3…..2…..1…contact" The entire Normandy shuddered as it suddenly burst forward as the Mass Relay fired them across space like a cannon. Feral was already engaging the stealth drives and he had Tali on a video link so they could communicate between the two rooms faster than normal. Before too long the ship suddenly lurched forward as they re-entered normal speeds.
The small ship came into space above Ilos, and it was a good thing for the Normandy's stealth drives because the small planet was surrounded by Geth ships. "How we looking Tali? I've got all green on my end for stealth drives" Feral spoke as he immediately got to work along with the engine room crew.
Tali's synthesised voice, even more so due to the video feed, replied quickly back "We're good down here too, unless they look out of a window we're completely hidden"
Shepard nodded at the news "Ok good work people. Pressley scan the surface and see if you can get anything" he turned around to the elder crew man who was sitting on one of the terminals in the corner.
It was a few seconds before Pressley spoke up from the computer "I'm picking up some very strange readings on the surface commander" he kept his eyes on the terminal, tapping away as he tried to decipher them.
Shepard just smiled, strange probably meant Saren "Alright, Joker lock in on those co-ordinates and take us in"
"Negative commander, the nearest landing zone is 2 klicks away" Pressley firmly stated before Joker could do anything
Feral spoke up this time "2 klicks? I'm not even fast enough to make that on foot, we need something closer" he started looking back at his terminal as he joined in on the scanning, trying to look for anything better.
"There is nothing closer! I've looked!" Pressley shouted over at the super soldier, he was being bossed around by the 'nameless' man and it rubbed him slightly the wrong way.
Shepard interjected before the two could start arguing more "Then drop us in the Mako and we'll work our way towards Saren in that. Tali get Garrus and wait for me by the Mako" he looked up at the screen before the quarian nodded and closed the link.
"Commander you can't! You'd need at least 100 metres to pull off a drop like that and the best I can find near Saren is only twenty!" Pressley was getting more and more aggravated, this was quickly becoming suicidal.
Liara spoke up from the corner "But that's insane! There must be a better option" she was doing the calculations quickly in her head, her knowledge on the subject was limited but even she could put 2 and 2 together.
"There isn't one!" Pressley was typing away at the terminal as frantically as he could, sweating slightly as the Normandy quickly got closer and closer to Ilos.
Shepard was about to speak up again but Joker cut him off, calmly stating "I can do it, I can make that drop" he didn't even look up from his terminal, he just spoke slowly as he concentrated.
"Joker?" Shepard raised an eyebrow at the back of the man's head, looking over to Feral who was also just staring at the pilot.
"I can do it Shepard" he stated again, speaking as if it was a matter of fact.
Feral just grinned and looked back at Shepard "He's not lying Shepard, I believe him" he was starting to fidget in his seat slightly, clearly all this excitement was getting to him. Shepard had to wonder if he was picking that habit up from Tali or if he always got like this before a high adrenaline drop.
Shepard matched Feral's grin "Ok then, Joker take us in. Feral get down to the Mako, Liara and I will join you as fast as we can. Tell Wrex and Kaidan that I'm sorry but we can only take a 5 man squad this time" Feral just nodded as he sprinted off down towards the back of the Normandy, heading to the elevator as fast as he could. Garrus and Tali would be waiting in the Mako by now and he'd have to brief them quickly on the insane drop they were about to perform.
"Good luck Shepard, and don't worry about us. I can take care of the Normandy" Joker cracked a smile from his seat as both Liara and Shepard turned and ran to get their armour on. Ilos was fast approaching and they had just over 5 minutes until the drop would be coming. Luckily their armour was easily fitted and before too long they had made it to the cargo hold and had joined the other three in the tank.
Garrus had taken the gunnery seat, Feral and Tali were both sitting in the back and locked in as tightly as possible. Liara joined them in the back as Shepard quickly moved to the driver's position, strapping himself in as tightly as possible. This was going to be a very sharp, hard drop and they all had to be strapped down as tightly as possible to prevent injury. Feral had even put a helmet on because he didn't want to have his head smashed into the sides of his seat from the quick descent.
The inside of the Mako was silent, save for the deep controlled breathing of all of its occupants as they waited for the elevator ride into hell. The tension in the wait was unbearable and eventually Feral just sighed, looking around at everyone in their locked seats. "So….what are everyone's plans for this evening?" the moment he had thrown his question out, the Mako suddenly roared into life as it was shot straight out of the cargo bay.
Everyone was bolted right back into their seats as the g forces of the drop rapidly increased. On the ground, Saren Arterius just watched in quiet surprise as he watched the Normandy fly overhead, dropping the small tank straight towards him and his company of Geth. He ordered them to keep moving, the door was already shutting and he'd left plenty of Geth between it and the controls. Even if the Geth couldn't stop Shepard, they'd slow him down enough for him to reach the conduit.
From his seat in the drivers position Shepard could see Saren moving right in front of him, the bastard was right there but until the Mako landed and the VI handed over control he couldn't do anything but glare back at the turian as they hurtled towards the ground. Joker's drop had been perfect, the mako's VI kicked in the boosters that quickly decelerated the tank as it hit the surface. The suspension taking a lot of the force out of the sudden stop but the steep descent made everyone inside jolt downwards.
Shepard was groaning at the sudden stop but his eyes widened slightly as he watched the door in front of him finally shut completely, he unlocked his seating straps and turned around to the rest of his team. They all looked a little sore from the drop and Feral had taken his helmet off before unlocking the dropping straps across his chest. "Everything ok Shepard?" he finally asked, panting slightly as he cracked his neck.
Shepard just nodded before saying "We need to dismount, Saren just went through the door ahead of us and we need to get through it. I don't think guns will get through it but Saren found a way through"
"So we find the control room and then Feral and I can figure out how to open it?" Tali asked, she was getting a hold of herself and had unstrapped herself as well. Liara was in the same sort of position and he could hear Garrus moving above him.
"That's the plan, so everyone make sure you're good to move" Shepard clambered out of his chair and moved towards the hatch, pushing it open "and then let's go" he jumped out of the Mako closely followed by Feral who was opposite the hatch. Then Tali and Liara jumped out before finally Garrus wormed his way out of the gunnery position and out of the mako.
The group spent a second just looking around at the alien world, most of them checking their weapons quickly and Feral was sliding his recon hood over his head. Liara was especially entranced as she was surrounded by basically untouched Prothean ruins until her trance was broken by Shepard "Ok we need to get moving, time is of the essence."
The rest of the team started heading up in the opposite direction of the door, Feral leading the small group as Shepard walked over to Liara "Liara, I promise we can come back and look at this place when this is all finished with" he put a hand on her shoulder and she just nodded. The two's heads suddenly snapped over as the sound of gunfire started beating out through the silence. They quickly raced off to join up with the rest of the team who were already neck deep in Geth activity.
Shepard and Liara managed to join up with Garrus as he hid behind a large rectangular rock, Feral and Tali were slightly more forward and holding the Geth at bay with rifle and shotgun fire combined with their overloads. Shepard told Liara and Garrus to stay back, Garrus would use his sniper rifle and Liara would provide barrier and general biotic support from the rear. He then bolted forward when Feral sprayed a quick burst into the nearest Geth troopers, taking one down for good and forcing the other to take cover.
Feral was knelt down as Shepard slid into cover between him and Tali, "Nice of you to join us Shepard" he grinned playfully as he practically screamed 'You can make out with Liara later' with the look on his face. Shepard was about to respond but the boom of Tali's shotgun and the synthetic screech interrupted him, kicking him back into his combat zone.
"Yeah I thought so too, now what do we have?" the question was open to the two, he would've asked Garrus but seeing as they were in a forward position they probably had a better grasp. He tried peeking up over the rock but immediately ducking again as a few shots zipped over him and ricocheted off the stone.
Feral watched as Shepard dropped back down before quickly firing another burst, this time Tali joined him and their combined fire took down another Geth platform before they both dropped back down. A sniper rifle shot flying overhead and taking a shield less platform's head off. "We have several Geth platforms and honestly at this point those aren't the issue. The issue are those armatures over there" he gestured to a small position ahead of them, where Shepard could see the two war machines folded up "They're clearly waiting for us to get closer before becoming activated….or until we take a shot at them, either way they'll be a pain"
Shepard nodded as Feral quickly brought him up to speed, in the slight lull of fire he could hear Garrus doing the same for Liara. "Ok then, we take out the smaller platforms and then we deal with the armatures" the two in the forward position just nodded, he'd let Garrus figure it out for himself. "But for now I want you to get closer Feral, push up as much as you can and Tali and I will keep them from flanking you" Feral nodded and waited for Shepard and Tali to give him the long sustained suppressive fire so he could scramble ahead.
Feral just took slow deep breaths until eventually the return of fire came from the two next to him, a few sniper rounds flying over his head, glaring at Garrus as he followed the streaks through the air back to him. The moment his second long glare was finished he rolled off to the side and sprinted forward into the next stone a little further ahead, a few shots bouncing off his shields until his shoulder came forcefully into contact with the stone.
Shepard watched as Feral made into the cover ahead of them, he quickly lost sight of Feral though as he snuck off to the side. He just smiled as the sudden burst of fire from the side hit the Geth off guard, most of the platforms fell down immediately and the others were forced out into the open. Garrus and Tali were quick off the mark and finished them off, unlikely for the group. The moment the last Geth dropped the armatures suddenly whirred into life.
Every member of the group opened fire, doing as much damage on the machines as they could before the heavy fire came back at them. Feral slid back into cover as quickly as he could, getting as low as possible behind the small stone near him. "Shepard! If you can take out their shields and hold their gaze on you I can take care of them!" he screamed over the constant machine gun fire and occasional pulse of their main weapon. He had a plan and it was probably going to be a little bit painful.
Shepard eventually heard his shout and Tali clearly got the message as she started throwing overloads as fast as she could, Liara joined in with warps and singularities, ebbing away the strength of the war machines shielding as they kept hitting at them over and over. Eventually the armatures were solely focused on the group of 4 and before too long, the closest one's shields had collapsed.
Feral took that as his opportunity, the shields on those things regenerated faster than he could so he had to be quick. He sprinted towards the armature and before it'd even registered his proximity he had dropped to his knee and slid underneath the machine. Grenade in hand he punched through the under armour, priming the grenade and then leaving It deep inside the platforms machinery. He then quickly brought his hand back out and rolled onto his front, covering his head as he waited for the explosion.
Tali just watched the resulting explosion, she'd watched Feral take things out in stupid ways before; tackling a juggernaut at full speed, letting her shoot a Geth via his own head. This was the most insane so far, luckily for Feral the explosion went up and outward, not down, the armour doing little to shield the Geth from the explosion from within. She winced a little though when she watched the heavy platform crash down onto Feral, with his strength he'd be fine but she was sure it'd still hurt.
The remaining armature wasn't sure what to think, on the one side it had a group of combatants and on the other it had a soldier that had just destroyed its partner, and the human was trapped. It decided to take its chance, either way it was probably going to lose so it was going to take at least one of them with it.
However the moment it turned away, Liara and Tali knocked out its shield and the high powered round from Garrus' rifle ripped right through the side of its head. It didn't outright kill it but it knocked out its optics, leaving it circling around in confusion and firing wildly. Shepard finished it off with a H.E grenade, removing its head entirely before it finally crumbled down to the floor, sparks flying from its joints as the systems overloaded slightly.
For now the Geth threat was dealt with and Shepard and the rest of his team moved out of cover, slowly making their way forward as the armature on top of Feral was thrown off to the side. The super human quickly bouncing up to his feet and jogging over to the main group. "Why is it I always end up covered in Geth goo?" he shook his hand, trying to get as much of it off as possible
Shepard just laughed as Garrus and Liara headed off first before he followed after them, Tali just slowly walked off "Maybe it's because you enjoy getting so up close and personal with them so much"
She could see Feral grinning as they brought up the rear for the squad as they moved on, weaving their way around the structure. "I didn't hear you complaining about how up close and personal I can get earlier" he jogged ahead before Tali could respond, blushing inside her helmet as she remembered what he did that morning. Gripping her shotgun as she grumbled to herself, she really wasn't that mad about it but still, it was a good thing he was so carefree it made it almost impossible to be mad at him. That and the resounding sound of more gun fire just up ahead.
The following fire fights posed little threat to the quickly advancing group, the ground was more in their favour and the Geth probably hadn't expected them to make it this far. Tali and Feral's technical prowess proved invaluable and Garrus was helping out to a lesser extent, the turian was the best marksman in the group but he also had a limited amount of technical expertise as well. Liara's biotics were incredibly useful for slowing the advance of the synthetics or permanently freezing the annoying hoppers so they could be picked off by gunfire or by Feral's annoyed fist tearing out their circuitry.
The courtyard was big and had plenty of cover in the form of pillars and sheer rock faces strewn about it, but the team quickly stormed through. At this point simple Geth platforms weren't really an issue. Eventually after a few minutes of fighting they made their way into an elevator carved into the side of the rock, it even made a grinding noise as it moved down diagonally.
Feral sighed playfully "So even the Protheans had elevators…..would it really kill anyone to have stairs?"
Shepard turned and raised an eyebrow at Feral "I thought you'd gotten over your elevator thing Feral" tilting his head subtly towards Tali
"More or less, I'm not going to smash my head into the wall anytime soon….but I'd still prefer stairs" he smirked back at Shepard "Besides stairs don't need power, and this place is clearly still using it so…..guess we're nearly at whatever passes for a command centre" he was hypothesising but it made sense. Their scans of the ruins had indicated this was the last area that was easily accessible and it was reached by an elevator. The key to opening the door blocking the mako must be close ahead.
The elevator ride was quick enough though and as soon as it came to a halt Feral lead the way, edging around the corner before heading up the narrow corridor that opened out into a larger room. Liara and Tali were following close behind him, the biotic putting a barrier up around the point man just on the off chance and Tali ready to hit whatever popped out with everything she had. Garrus and Shepard would then rush forward and open fire.
It wasn't until Feral reached the end of the hallway though until anything popped up, several Geth platforms including a couple of destroyers. Feral instantly charged ahead to get into the closest piece of cover he could, throwing a grenade and an overload at the closest destroyer as he slid into the stone cover.
Shepard and Garrus ran ahead of the two women, who were currently in a support role throwing whatever powers they could to slow down the Geth advance, but they couldn't make it all the way to Feral's position. They both started to take pot shots at the Geth whenever they could, neither side able to put down a constant stream of fire. Instead there were exchanges of gun fire rapidly taking place, but the Geth were losing platforms rapidly.
It took a few minutes but Shepard finally noticed that Feral had disappeared from the cover ahead of them, he couldn't see the man but he saw the stone lead off towards the side and Shepard figured he must have been crawling into a flanking position. He would've preferred Feral had given him a signal but after all this time with the soldier he just figured that whatever he was going to do, it'd probably wipe the Geth out.
Tha being said, he didn't expect what happened next. An armature suddenly rose up from the position where he suspected Feral was currently in cover. Of the very many things Feral was, careless wasn't one of them. Shepard couldn't believe that he'd set off an armature trap especially because not even 30 minutes ago he'd so easily spotted them. Apparently Garrus had figured out everything Shepard had because he heard the eagle eyed turian groan "Damn…I hope Feral has a plan for that thing"
Before Shepard could even reply the armature opened fire, straight into the advancing Geth platforms. Who were just surprised as the rest of Shepard's team was, Tali and Liara had taken the opportunity that the strange action of the war machine had provided to move up into position.
"Tali! What is going on?" Shepard shouted towards the quarian as the war machine fired pulse after pulse into the retreating Geth.
Before she even had time to answer, Feral bolted across the courtyard with his recon hood in his hand. "You will never guess what I found!" he shouted as he ran sideways past the wide eyed group, laughing as he slide back out of view. All 4 of squad members in cover just sat there in silent until another armature rose up and again started firing into the Geth. The last destroyer didn't stand a chance as two pulse rounds ripped its armour apart, the last few platforms being chased down by the lumbering machines.
Shepard just shook his head as Feral sauntered back into the middle of the courtyard, his rifle slung up onto his shoulder as he watched the mayhem unfold in front of him. Shepard stood up and slid over the cover, approaching the super soldier and standing next to him "You could've given us a head's up Feral" he glared slightly at the super soldier but had to admit, using the Geth to fight the Geth was a stroke of genius and slightly hilarious especially after all the trouble the machines had given them.
Feral just awww'd "Oh come one Shepard, after all this time…hacking an armature or two is the least insane thing I've done" he grinned playfully as Tali eventually came up to his other side and slugged him in the arm "Ow! What was that for?"
"For worrying me you bosh'tet!" she grumbled to herself as she stormed off, shooting a Geth platform to 'make sure' it was dead.
"Did you do something to annoy her? Of all the people in the universe I wouldn't want to annoy, it'd be her" Shepard laughed as he walked off after the quarian leaving Feral standing there, wondering if he actually had annoyed her with his actions earlier. It was only when Garrus slapped him in the back and told him that hacking an armature was brilliant that he snapped out of it.
Eventually the entire team worked their way up into the upper level of the building at the end of the underground courtyard, a small room overlooking the recent battlefield was pretty much empty save a few security panels. Shepard walked up and the door controls were immediately obvious, he hit the controls and turned to step away before something flickered next to him.
"What is that? "Liara stared at the stuttering hologram; no one could understand a word it was saying until she saw Shepard's eyes. "John….can you understand what it's saying?"
Shepard just nodded before answering the next question was asked "I guess I can understand it because of the Prothean beacons, it's all broken up but it's a warning." He sighed "A warning about the reaper invasion"
"Anything useful?" Garrus clicked from the back of the group
Shepard just shook his head "Something about the conduit, but at this point the only thing we can do is get after Saren and stop him from using it" there was a collective nod in the group and he could see Feral grinning before they all started sprinting back towards the Mako. Double timing it all the way back to the tank, the once sealed doors now wide open. The group leapt back into the tank and took their positions again, strapping in as the tank roared into life and straight down the now open causeway.
Feral, Tali and Liara were sitting in the back, expecting a hail of gunfire to immediately hit them but to the occupant's pleasant surprise nothing happened as they rumbled down the water logged road. "Here I was expecting an army of Geth to be waiting for us" Feral smiled to himself as he tapped away at the terminal he'd swung out in front of him. Both he and Tali were keeping the shields up and watching out for the mako's systems.
Feral stopped smiling when Garrus called up from the gunnery position "Oh I'm sure there's one waiting for us Feral, we just haven't hit it yet" you could hear the turian smiling and Feral just muttered something under his breath as the rumbling of the wheels covered his words.
Liara was the next to start talking, she was peeking at Feral's screen and she could see a camera shot on the holographic screen "What are those things on the wall?"
"I think they are stasis pods, Protheans must have tried to survive by freezing themselves" Tali said, she'd obviously been curious herself and done a quick scan on them "But….the systems are dead and so are the beings within them" she sighed, this place was completely dead.
"What was Saren hoping to find in this place?" Liara asked, the idea of a living Prothean had excited her but then to immediately discover they were all dead had downed her spirits all at the same time.
Shepard shouted from up ahead "To find the Conduit, and that's exactly why we are here too. Just remember that" his eyes were constantly pointed ahead as he tried to figure out where this path was taking them.
The mako just kept on rolling; the water over the road was making a constant splashing noise that they could all hear. Occasionally the thumping of the machine gun could be heard but they never encountered anything but a couple of Geth platforms at a time, the tank was never in any danger and clearly Saren had been in far too much of a hurry to set up any sort of trap. 'Good' Shepard thought to himself, clearly Saren considered him a threat after Virmire. After they had blown up his base and he'd talked to the deluded turian himself.
Shepard swore he could see something in the distance, they had gone done a couple of inclines and now in the distance of yet another straight piece of road. He swore he could see a blue light. "Garrus, can you see that up ahead?" he heard the turian reply, but he had no idea what it was. All they knew is that it was a large and blue. It wasn't until they got up close to it and stopped in front of it that Shepard realised what it was. A force field, Saren must have erected it.
Shepard sighed, this trumped an ambush. An ambush they could destroy but a force field. Especially one of this size was a problem, it stopped them dead in their tracks before Garrus piped up from his vantage point. "Shepard there's a door over there. I have no idea where it goes but at this point it can't be a bad thing to check out" Shepard nodded and ordered Garrus and Liara to dismount. Feral and Tali would stay behind, they could keep the shields and long range scanners running and if any trouble did survive Garrus' trigger finger; Feral could take care of it.
Feral just watched the three of them file out of the Mako before wishing them good luck, pulling the hatch shut behind them and then watching the three file through the door. He then sat back down in his chair and before he pulled his terminal in front of him he looked over at Tali and sighed "Tali….did I annoy you by groping you this morning?"
Tali looked back at him before sighing herself, folding her terminal off to the side so they could both keep one eye on the sensor. "It's not that you did it Feral, I did enjoy it it's just that….you did it in front of the entire crew. I mean…what if one of them had seen and told Shepard he could've forced us to stop it all and we've only just become something and I didn't " it wasn't the first time she'd seen Feral with his 'stop talking you adorable rambler you' face, she glared at him "What? It's true!"
Feral just laughed and sat back into his seat "Tali really don't worry about Shepard. For one I'm pretty sure he already knows that we're getting…..closer mainly because of the elevator thing AND! After I walked in on him and Liara this morning there's nothing he can say to make us stop what we're doing" he pushed his tongue out playfully, it wasn't aimed at Tali but at the second thing he'd just said.
Tali just blushed behind her helmet as her eyes went wide open "You did what?...wait...walked in on them…while they were…" her own blush stopped her from finishing the sentence.
Feral chuckled as he could practically see the blush on her face "No they had finished but…but they had definitely been…..mingling" he smiled as he remembered the teasing back in Flux "But keep that between us, he won't be mad I told you if he finds out but just…keep that between us" he chuckled as Tali was still trying to get the image out of her hand.
Eventually she just managed to nod and Feral smiled gently at her "Thank you, Shepard wouldn't kill me but then….you know how hard it is to actually kill me" again his smile adorned his face before he continued "and I'm sorry for doing what I did in front of the crew Tali. I won't do it unless it's just us in the future" he smiled gently and put a hand on Tali's knee, giving it a small squeeze as they sat in silence in the mako.
Tali's blush subsided as a smile appeared on her face as well, Feral had an ability to instantly calm her just by smiling kindly. His eyes and his smile were just so comforting to the woman. "Thank you Feral….I'm just not used to….such a relationship yet that's all" she put her hand down onto his and just squeezed it back gently. She squeaked as he grabbed her hand and pulled her up and out of her seat, plopping her down into his lap and wrapping his arms around her waist as the side of her body pushed into his chest.
Feral's eyes were instantly staring into hers as she sank down into his lap slowly before she just accepted it and leaned into him "Feral….not that I mind but what if Shepard gets back and finds us like this?" she looked up at him from within her helmet.
Feral just smiled and then pulled the terminal in front of them "Long range scanner will detect any movement and! The camera is pointed at the door, as long as we pay attention we'll see them coming way before they knock on the door." He raised his eyebrows before he smiled again, this time Tali couldn't argue with that and she just cuddled into him. "Tali don't worry about anything ok? This is my first real relationship and…..I just couldn't resist this morning, you did say something very cheeky" he stuck his tongue out playfully and made her blush as she remembered what she had said "But if cuddling up like this when no one else is around that is more than ok with me" he purred gently as he rubbed his forehead against her visor.
Tali was beaming within her helmet at his words, how'd she gotten so lucky to find someone who could both tear a Geth in half and be so kind? She just cupped his cheek gently and stroked his skin with her thumb, "Thank you Feral…thank you for everything" she pulled his head closer to hers and pressed his lips into her vocal unit. She just watched as the man closed his eyes and felt him push into her a little more, squeezing her eyes shut and biting her lip at their 'kiss'.
The two just sat inside the mako, squeezed up as close together as possible. Taking turns to look at the monitor as they watched for the Geth or Shepard. Tali then shifted slightly as she sat on Feral's lap, looking out through the front of the mako, the force field had just turned off and then three dots appeared on the long range scanner. Feral just whined playfully and hit his head back against the mako's interior "Damn…I was enjoying this, hunting Saren has nothing on cuddling my shotgun toting girlfriend but I guess…duty calls huh?"
Tali just giggled slightly at that as she wiggled off his legs, hunched over inside the vehicle she cupped both of his cheeks before nuzzling against his forehead "Then let's get the bosh'tet and we can carry on where we left off" smiling happily as she retook her seat and pulled the terminal back in front of her. Eventually the hatch opened and the three shuffled into the mako as fast as possible.
"Have fun you two?" Garrus chuckled as he stepped back up into the gunnery position.
Feral laughed back at the turian "Oh you have no idea, we had such a rave. There was strobe lighting and dancers…" he trailed off as he glared at the turian playfully "Seriously though we had nothing up hear; only activity was you three. So how was your outing Shepard?" he looked over at the commander who was jumping into the driver's seat.
"Oh you know….talked to a Prothean VI called Vigil, turned off a force field, discovered the conduit is a back door to the Citadel and the keepers were reaper puppets designed to start the reaper invasion…..so I guess you did have more fun raving" before Feral or Tali could even start to respond he slammed onto the accelerator as they headed towards the conduit as fast as they could. Saren had probably already gone through the back door into the citadel with an army of Geth, they had to hurry.
The ride was largely the same as the road before the force field, the path was bumpier and because Shepard didn't have time to spare the mako was rocking all over the place. Large drops of rock faces and a couple of Geth made it a very bumpy ride, again it was nothing they couldn't handle. Feral, Tali and Liara had taken the liberty to lock themselves in place as if they were in the middle of a drop, it was stopping them from being ejected from their seats.
Feral and Tali were typing away and shouting the locations of the few, scattered Geth forces up to Garrus as fast as they could whilst Shepard drove like a bat out of hell. Eventually the ratting of the gun stopped and the mako lurched to a halt, everyone in the mako stared out of the driver's window. In the distance was a shimmering blue light, it looked exactly like a mass relay only a lot smaller. The Conduit, it was in sight along with several Geth armatures and colossi.
"Garrus shoot everything you have at them, Feral and Tali put all power into the shielding and try to keep it stable and Liara….just hold on tight" he ordered forcefully as he pushed the mako onward down the diagonal path towards the blue light. The Mako rocked from the force of the landing as the tank flew down onto the courtyard in front of the conduit, followed by machine gun fire pinging off the metal and the occasional pulse shaking it from side to side.
Luckily for Shepard, the combined efforts of Feral and Tali kept the mako in one piece and Garrus was annoying enough with the gun to at least distract the Geth for a little while. He kept on driving straight towards the conduit, taking the fastest route towards it before finally the light over took them. The roar of a mass relay coated the tank and everyone inside it just held onto the seating with all of their might as they were fired all the way across the galaxy towards the citadel. They were hot on Saren's tail now, it was only a matter of time before they had him in their crosshairs.