The way back down to the salarian camp appeared almost surreal to Tali. It was as if she were returning to an entirely different beach on an entirely different planet. Maybe even in an entirely different galaxy. After all, she would never have thought there could be any possibility of a relationship with Shepard in this galaxy.
And yet just that had just happened.
Whenever the small path of stepping stones allowed it, the two would close up to each other. She would lay her arm around him, or he would grab her hand. It was a game, and Tali's feelings went from intoxicating happiness back and forth to frustration that her suit did not allow them more. She would have liked to rip out her visor right there and then, but of course that was just not possible. Such an action could quite possible kill her. It was annoying – yet her mood always swung back to happy when Shepard reached out to her again.
They were almost down at the beach again when Shepard let his hand glide over her back, a pleasant pressure that could be felt, if diminished, even through the envirosuit. She smiled content at that, but when Shepard hand playfully glided even lower she reacted startled – surprised, her hips swung sidewards, away from the Commander. This let him almost lose balance – he came to a stop only shortly before the edge of the stone he was standing on.
"Careful," Tali laughed and grabbed his arm, even though he already had stabilized himself again "We're not completely down yet. Falling into the sea here could still hurt."
"Yeah, that would not be the most dignified of deaths," Shepard answered sheepishly and took a hold of Tali's hand.
"And don't you think this would count as casualty in the battle against Saren," Tali joked. The beach was only some few steps away now, and the path broad enough that they could walk besides each other, so she kept holding his hand. It felt odd, his hand with five curiously small fingers, but it was quite pleasant nonetheless, even despite her gloves.
Bringing said battle up made her almost glum again, though. However Shepard picked up the joke and ran with it: "Death by quarian hips. That would be quite undignified indeed."
"We're more dangerous than we look," Tali claimed humorously.
"Oh, that's for sure," Shepard answered grinning.
Stones made way for sand, and the two had reached the beach again. "So..." Shepard prompted still grinning and looked at their intertwined hands.
Tali was about to withdraw hers, but instead Shepard took it, led it upwards and kissed her glove's palm. In order to retain as much manual dexterity as possible that was where the suit was at its thinnest, and Tali was quite surprised by the gesture. When he looked up again his grin was, if any possible, even wider now, and a bit cocky, while she looked downwards, unknowing quite what to say.
However, after a pause she cocked her head upwards and commented: "I know what must be done now. Go talk with Kirrahe. Battle is upon us. And if we come through... when we have come through it, then we can see where to take... this."
Shepard nodded. His grin was still there, but it had become lopsided. "Seems appropriate. War and... well, you know." Tali did not quite know, in fact, but did not comment on it. "We'll see this through together, once combat begins."
And with that, both walked to the camp again, now separate - Shepard to find Kirrahe, and Tali to wait for the fighting to begin.
The battle would still be bloody, nothing had changed about that. However, there was a very clear and definite hope shining at the end of it, and that made it appear in a new light. For some reason their chances did not look as grim as before. We can't fail. Not now. Not after we finally... finally found to each other.
Both Shepard and her had known about each other's feelings for some time now, but neither had spoken up about it. Tali had even thought it better that way, since she had seen no chance of a relationship working. She had watched Shepard, she had been as good a friend to him as she could, she had supported him when necessary, and he had supported her. But she could never have thought anything more could come out of it.
And all the while, her feelings for the Commander had grown. He was not how she had imagined her first serious romantic interest would be like. After all, he was an alien, which made this all even weirder. However, for a non-quarian he did not look bad; elegant and physically fit. What was more, she admired his idealism, his decisiveness, his caring, and even, on the other hand, his utter indifference about what others thought about him – that was an attitude so far away from the norms and restrictions she had grown up with. Seeing that attitude work, seeing Shepard making it work, had been and still was like a whole new world opened up to her - by him.
Stop overanalyzing this. That was something her mind always did when she was nervous or unsure. And nervous she was. After all it was a very welcome, but also rather sudden and unexpected new development that was taking place.
In fact she had already been surprised when he had begun to suspect that Shepard had similar feelings as she did. Due to her restrictions (her suit, her eventual return to her people and in general the interspecies barrier) she still had thought any ideas of relationship impossible, and hence had considered it better not to speak about those topics. However, now that a chance had opened itself up, she was determined to grasp it with all her strength.
As she walked through the camp she had the impression that others were looking at her, especially people from the Normandy. She was not quite sure, though - it could well be that in her nervousness her mind found a pattern where there was none. However, rumours about her and Shepard had widely circulated through the crew for weeks now. And people surely had noticed how he and she had been absent for some time.
She did not know for certain if people looked at her, or talked, but even if it was just her hyperactive imagination it made her somewhat self-conscious.
After a while, she heard somebody approaching from behind. Looking over her back, she could see Shepard walking up to her.
He came to a halt directly behind her, looked out far onto the ocean and said: "The salarians are leaving to stage the assault right now. Ashley is with them. We will depart in an hour." His voice sounded grave and heavy. There was no doubt that his mind was now on the duty ahead of him - just as it should be.
"Don't worry," Tali reassured him, "Everything will go alright."
"I don't think we had such a difficult objective yet," Shepard pondered, "I'm not sure..."
"I am," Tali stated decisively, "We'll destroy the base and... fulfill your secondary objective, too."
Shepard grinned self-deprecating at that and answered: "Tertiary objective: Surviving."
"You're not getting out of... what we talked about anymore, Jon," Tali joked. Not that it was a particularly humorous subject, but what more could they do about it than to make light of it? "I'll haunt you in the afterworld if you should die!"
Shepard laughed. "Now, that's an enticing prospect, actually."
Tali lowered her head and said, now softer and graver: "Just... don't die, okay?" And more humorous-confident again: "That would make things much easier."
"I... I can't exactly promise it, but..." Shepard began.
"I know," Tali interrupted him softly, "Sometimes people just die." That Tali knew with a certainty. People like her mother, or other quarians she had known who had fallen to the dangers of living in overaged ships.
However, now it was Shepard's turn to speak up confidently: "Not if I can help it. And very much not after what we've talked about."
"I had the same thought," Tali admitted, "but I don't really think the universe cares about awful timing."
"Well, no," Shepard conceded with a faint half-smile, "Caring is up to us."
"Always trying to make a difference, huh?" Tali asked rhetorically. "Speaking of timing we still do have an hour."
Shepard grinned at that. "Unfortunately I don't think we can do much with it here at the beach."
That was all too true. Not with her in the envirosuit, anyway. It made her wonder if there were any place where they could - do something. However, she already had brought up those points to Shepard. Repeating them would just have made her sound whiny. So instead, Tali joked: "It... ah, it would be a bit public, maybe?"
"That would be one issue, yes," Shepard said smiling. "Mind, I think most people suspect already anyway..." He did sound a bit concerned about that.
"Well, you said we'll try this out once we're finished with this mission," Tali commented. "So I think we should keep any... thoughts we may have until then. Then we can also worry about what the crew does or doesn't know."
Shepard laughed. "Good advice. Well then, I guess I hardly need to tell you how to prepare before a battle. Just - prepare well. So that we do have an 'after the mission'."
"I will," Tali promised. "We will. Don't worry about that Jon. Keep your head clear."
Shepard nodded at that and left. Tali saw him going to talk to Garrus. As it should be: The Commander making sure of his team. As for her, she began to check her omni-tool and her shotgun.
…...
Water splashed around Tali's feet, and high cliffs with overboarding vegetation loomed over her. She and the rest of the team had entered the network of saltwater canyons that surrounded Saren's base. These canyons were a convenient path to the backside of the facility, well-covered but unfortunately also well-defensible, as they were narrow and full of chokepoints. Too narrow for the Mako, in fact. Shepard had contributed it to the salarians. Tali could just imagine Garrus face' if both he and the vehicle were to make it out of this alive; the turian had grown quite fond of the armoured car and indestructible as the Mako usually was she doubted this time it would come out without a scratch.
She was tense, but calm. The battle would be difficult, but that just meant there was no time for any panic attacks or the like. She would not fail, not against geth. She kept her thoughts focused, her head clear and her attention sharp. Most of the time anyway. She could not prevent herself from glancing over to Shepard now and then. And to her hidden delight she caught him glancing back relatively often. Still, she was reasonably sure she was concentrated on the mission for the most part.
Shepard's team, 'Team Shadow' in Kirrahe's plan, was unusually large compared to earlier missions. Shepard had his entire Spectre entourage with him, Garrus, Wrex, Liara and Tali, plus Kaidan and two more marines from the Normandy's regular ground detachment. Eight people, all in all, a size definitely on the upper end of infiltration actions. However, considering what they would go against maybe on the lower end on what could be necessary.
Shepard had split the team in two groups: Kaidan led the marines plus Garrus, while he himself would directly lead the rest. This allowed for very close coordination within those groups, which moved in a very compact manner. At the various junctions of the waterways, both Shepard and Kaidan would wave their groups which route to take. Both were in constant contact with the Normandy, which monitored the situation from space. As Shepard had explained to Tali, Pressly was constantly giving them directions and a summary about the area they were in.
Shepard's group had just passed a further junction, when Tali saw a movement.
"Enemy sighted!" Garrus announced. His reflexes were good: The shout had come not a full second after a geth patrol of three platforms had just come around a corner.
So far, resistance had been very light. The team had disabled a number of patrols like this one, and they had no trouble with this particular instance, either. Kirrahe's plan to draw most of the geth's attention to the facility's front side seemed to be working.
When, very quickly, the last geth platform of the patrol had fallen down, Garrus commented: "That were all, we should advance while the distraction teams still draw fire."
Tali knew what Garrus meant: While their advance was quick and smooth, the distraction teams reported trouble. Especially Kirrahe's own team, Mannovai, was taking heavy fire and had to dig in, and Ashley had reported that her Aegohr Team was unable to reach and relieve the Captain due to the excellent coordination of enemy fire.
However, Shepard stopped any debate short by silently raising his hand. He seemed to focus on something intensely.
After a while, he turned again towards the team. "Alright, Pressly just informed me there is a single building not far off our plotted course. We have no idea what it is, but we cannot allow any geth concentrations to remain in our back once we force our way into the facility. So, new objective: Capture the building and eliminate the geth concentration there."
A chorus of "Aye-Aye, sir" answered him.
"Good," he said, "then let's go!"
The team went straight northwards at the next junction. Forming a single file, they advanced closely along a cliff, with Shepard at the top.
"Target building in sight," he announced after a while. "Group 1, assault on my command. Group 2, give us fire cover... Now! Go, go!"
The building turned out to be little more than an elevated platform, accessible only by some stairs. As she ran towards them, Tali noticed surprised that several geth shields had been established, placed very well at strategic location to give the synthetics cover. This will make getting us fire support difficult.
Shepard and Wrex stormed towards the stairs from which already geth were pouring. Liara and Tali stayed slightly behind to provide support. Tali worked frantically on her omni-tool, trying to crack the geth's network security. She managed to disturb the geth's defense by overheating some of their weapons, but that was not enough - the group was getting into a crossfire as geth began to assemble at the building's railings and opened fire on them, too.
She noticed only peripherally the devastation that Wrex and Shepard caused, or the arrival of Kaidan's team which moved in to provide more close-range fire support. Finally she managed to find a more substantial hole in the geth's network security to exploit.
The geth resistance was thrown into disarray as one of the platforms turned against the rest. Tali breathed out, relieved. As she had hoped, this provided the opening for the team to move in and finish the synthetics. With Shepard and Wrex remaining at the top of the assault, the entire team was soon able to storm up the stairs and finish the remaining platforms.
"Nice building," Shepard commented grinning after the skirmish, "I wouldn't have thought the geth to have such a nice sense of architecture. They seem to have come some way since what we see in the Armstrong Nebula; they even have ceilings now. All that's missing is walls, and maybe some windows in them."
"The geth have no need for either ceilings or walls," Tali explained, "And windows - just a structural weakness to them."
"Yeah, I've come to that conclusion as well," Shepard agreed.
"But I don't understand why the geth defended this position so heavily," Tali continued, "It's not even strategically well located."
"Don't grow too attached to your battle price," Wrex advised humorously, "I doubt anything here will escape the nuclear blast."
Tali did not answer and instead looked around. Something drew her attention. "Commander, over here" she said, and pointed to a geth terminal in corner, "This looks like..." She began a cursory query of the terminal's programs "...like a communication hub of sorts."
"That explains matters," Shepard commented, "Maybe you should..."
However, he stopped when he noticed the quarian had long since already begun working. Since geth themselves were software, they had an intuitive grasp on system structures and defences. However, with the battle over Tali now had time. Methodically she whittled down one security program after the next, until finally she had access to the terminal's core programs.
"That's done," she announced, "If I read that thing's program structure right it represented a good volume of the geth's communication capacity. Which is now gone."
"I suppose it makes some sense for the geth to position defence-critical installations on the far side of the facility's main approach way," Kaidan analyzed.
"Too bad they forgot to properly guard their back entrance," Garrus commented.
"We have Kirrahe to thank for that," Shepard pointed out, "I agree with you, Lieutenant. If there are other such installations on or near our way we should definitely try to take them, too."
As the team went down the stairs again, Shepard was able to casually intercept Tali. Without the others paying attention, he quickly touched her hand and said quietly and softly: "Well done."
"Is that all you have to tell me?" Tali asked in response, quietly but provocatively.
"Hey now, remember," Shepard answered and grinned, "We said to first see this mission through"
Tali harrumphed jokingly, and the two went to join up again with the rest of the team.
The march through the saltwater canyons continued. Guided by Navigator Pressly the team made its way through the geth-infested maze of possible routes. At the same time, the salarians and Ashley, too, advanced, according to the comm chatter Tali could hear. With their communications in disarray, the geth proved to be far less capable enemies.
However, the Normandy found no further critical installations for Shepard's team to take out. And the geth still had additional resources to draw on.
"Incoming enemy aircraft," Tali could hear Ashley's voice in the communication channels, "I repeat: Enemy uses aircraft!"
"Bunker in!" That was Kirrahe, "They'll... what was that?" A pause. "They're using sat strikes!"
That sounded bad. Really bad. "Combined air and satellite strikes," Tali analyzed. "It seems the geth employ every resource they have now. They must be getting worried."
"We could call in the Normandy to assist them," Liara proposed, "The ship could surely destroy the enemy satellites and aircraft."
"Yeah, but we can't give away her location," Shepard pointed out, "We've committed ourselves to a ground strike now, and we need to keep the Normandy hidden until she can transport the nuke. Or until the backup plan is needed and she needs to strike the facility from orbit. No, we continue as before, and let's hope we find something that will help the salarians and Ashley."
As the team continued, geth patrols intensified. Mostly it were drones now, which often appeared as if out of nowhere.
"I hate those things!" Shepard complained at one point, "You never know when they'll come swooping out of the sky."
"Yes," Kaidan answered, "Swooping is... bad."
After further navigation through the area they could, after some time, see a further building in the distance. It was larger than the one they had stormed before, and a giant satellite dish was on its ceiling.
"Okay," Shepard announced, "Pressly told me about the installation in front of us. We're about to enter the immediate perimeter of the facility, which consist of a network of bridges over the canyons - and this building is where we can access that network. Additionally, that dish has to go. Lieutenant Alenko, your group will fire at it from afar until the target is destroyed. Then you'll rejoin and support us. Meanwhile, my group will storm the place."
"Always the best roles for us," Tali muttered, drawing a grin from Shepard.
She gripped her shotgun a little bit tighter and her mind went through the command shortcuts on her omni-tool. Combat had become a routine for her, especially combat against geth. The prospect of battle with them held little fear for her anymore.
Shepard began first walking and then running, and Wrex, Liara and she followed him. Their aim was a ramp directly in front of the building, which led to it and presumably also to the bridge network Shepard had spoken of. While Tali had her shotgun in her hands, she also already began calling up the necessary combat programs on her omni-tool. She fully expected to again stay in second line in the battle. Over the charging group bullets flew towards the building's satellite dish.
Tali noticed a movement behind the ramp. She ordered her retinal implants to focus, to get a better look on the enemy. Geth as she assumed - wrongly. The enemy was larger than a standard bipedal geth platform, larger and bulkier. Tali was surprised, but only slightly. Krogan. Of course. Kirrahe warned us. It appeared she would have to fight in the foremost frontline now.
She was uncomfortably reminded of the painful encounter with the krogan battlemaster on Therum. However, since then she had also taken part in defeating other krogan, and in any case Therum had been before she had won most of her current expertise in combat.
Still Tali could not help but feel a bit useless surrounded by three biotics. Krogan were thrown into the air, pushed away, or hit with a biotic warp. It was a powerful display of dark energy, while all Tali could do was firing straight at the towering aliens. The maneuver left Shepard, Wrex and Liara exhausted, though, unable to quickly repeat their feats.
However, it had successfully made any krogan counter-charge impossible, and it had bought time for Kaidan's group to close in to Shepard's for support. Nonetheless, the krogan were still able to put up a spirited and endurable defence.
Bullets flew back and forth. The numerically inferior krogan were hit several times, but shrugged it off as if it were nothing. Tali felt frustrated about the apparent lack of effect of her and the team's combat efforts. She feared further enemies could use the chance to descent onto them.
When the team did get an upper hand it was due to the krogan's own shortcomings. They could have just bunkered in, trusting on their endurance and waiting for geth reinforcements to arrive. But instead they always tried to charge forward. A krogan rushing in, growling and firing, was a fearsome sight, but such charges always ended up with the alien gunned down before he could do much damage.
Methodically, the team put down one krogan after the next, always making sure to damage their bodies enough to not allow any regeneration. And finally, the way to the bridge in front of them was free.
"Kirrahe had a point," Kaidan commented as the team began to move again, "With geth and krogan Saren's forces could really become invincible."
"Yeah well, we won't allow that," Shepard replied. He shot an unsure glance at Wrex.
The krogan caught it. "No worries, Shepard. I know what we're here for."
Tali could have sworn he also grinned, but krogan facial expressions were practically impossible to read. Not nearly as varied and poignant as human facial expressions. Wrex had reason to grin, she knew. After all, he knew about Shepard's secondary objective - to secure the genophage cure, not destroy it. Tali was not quite sure whom else Shepard had told, though.
"Good," Shepard answered. "Right. The facility is right in front of us, but there may be concentrations of enemy troops on the right and left flanks of the bridge network. And I still don't want those in my back. We'll head right at the next junction. Pressly assumes the refueling station for the geth flyers is there."
The cliffs were standing very close to each other in the area the team now entered, which probably was the reason why building the bridges had been necessary. The bridges themselves were made of stone, with low railings and artful lights at the sides. In fact, the entire structure seemed strangely non-utilitarian for the geth. Even in the middle of an assault, Tali could appreciate the scenic beauty of the bridges winding themselves between the looming cliffs.
She had expected to meet heavy resistance. The narrow bridges would make ideal defence choke points, and the team now had come fairly near to the facility proper. However so far no geth or krogan could be seen. Maybe that's why no reinforcements came for the krogan at the satellite dish building - there simply were no troops that could have been spared.
The bridge network seemed to be nearly as labyrinthine as the not built upon canyons before. However, Shepard apparently knew the way, and led them without hesitation.
After a while, he announced: "That path should head straight to the geth landing platform."
"There seems to be a large tank there," Garrus stated. His visor allowed for periscope abilities. "Might be the refueling station."
"Why are no geth here?" Tali asked, "Shouldn't some platforms guard this place?"
"Good point," Shepard agreed, "Alenko, your team will cover us. Look out for any attacks from behind. The rest, we'll storm and destroy the refueling station."
Once again Tali began to run and follow Shepard, who together with Wrex formed the front of their group. What they encountered was a landing pad alright, complete with a propane tank for refueling - and a veritable swarm of geth drones.
Since the drones had less sophisticated firewall defences than bipedal or tank-level geth platforms, it was easy for Tali to turn some single drones against their brethren. However the swarm was large enough that nonetheless a fierce battle ensued. Single drones were easily shot down, but the mass of them managed to inflict grievous damage to shields and armours of the group.
The propane tank exploded in a rather spectacular fashion after enough bullets had pierced it.
With their primary task fulfilled, the group gradually retreated and fell back to Kaidan's group, drawing the remaining drones with them. Methodically, they were taken out one by one.
"No wonder the salarians got into trouble," Shepard commented grimly. Already several marks of battle were visible all over his armour. "Those things can ruin anybody's day."
Wanting to answer, but not wanting to draw the attention of others, Tali hacked into Shepard's visor. This is too easy, I need to take a look at its programs after we're done here. She let a text appear on the visor:
+++I know it's a difficult assault, but - even this day?+++
Shepard laughed, surprising the others. However, before anybody could ask, Garrus shouted: "Enemies sighted!"
The entire team swirled around - to see what amounted to a small horde of krogan stampeding towards their location.
"Shit!" Shepard cursed. "Fire and tech and biotic support at will!" he ordered. The bridge allowed no place for cover or complex tactics.
The fight was brutal. Tali was relieved not to be in the first line of combat. Wrex, Shepard and one of the marines formed the front, and very soon all three were bleeding from various wounds. But even she was targeted, and her shields gradually whittled down.
Please, not another suit breach!
Though with a respectable sized group of huge war machines directly in front of her, part of her feared even more than just that. She suppressed that fear, or any panic.
Some of the krogan pushed through all shots aimed at them, and managed to engage Shepard and Wrex in near combat. Oh keelah, that's not good. Tali feared hitting her team mates should she try to shoot at the enemy.
However, Kaidan and Garrus proved to be much calmer, with more oversight over the combat. "Hit the krogan further back," the Lieutenant ordered, no nervousness apparent in his voice, "The Commander can hold out for some time." And Garrus already was using his sniper rifle for just that purpose.
Tali saw the use of that. The krogan had effectively split their forces, and Wrex and Shepard did look like they could keep part of them engaged for long enough to have the rest shot down. But it was risky. She fired her pistol in rapid succession, always close to overheating it, to eliminate the krogan as quickly as possible.
When she saw no krogan outside the brawl move anymore, she rushed in toward that fight, one of the first to do so. It was certainly risky, maybe even foolish: She was one of the physically smallest members of the team, and she rushed towards several towering krogan. But the fact of the matter was that she was armed, and that Shepard needed help.
Closing in to the brawl she could fire at the krogan without risking the own team members getting hit. However, she drew attention - one of the krogan, who before had stood at the edge of the brawl and was hence still unhurt and in good condition, turned towards her - and ran. Towards her. His intentions were clear. A frightening mass of muscles and combat gear came close to her, and a giant mouth full of sharp teeth roared a battle cry.
Tali took a few step backs and kept firing, but eventually the wide open mouth was directly in front of her. She already prepared for a repeat of Therum - just as the krogan was stopped cold in its charge, pushed back by a hail of bullets. Tali did not dare look around, she just assumed and hoped it was the rest of the team who finally had intervened.
With more people rushing towards the thick of battle, things became even more chaotic. Both krogan and allies hurried past Tali, who simply focused on shooting the former as rapidly as she could. That task was the only immovable thing in this insanity.
And when it finally was over, when the chaos finally ended, all enemy krogan lay dead to their feet - and Shepard, Wrex and the one marine who had fought at their side bled from several wounds. The latter even appeared unable to stand, kneeling on the ground. Everybody panted, exhausted.
"So... what now?" Liara managed to ask amid heavy breathing.
Shepard rose his hand, signalling her to wait, and then said: "Pressly... ah... Pressly again. He said... said that Normandy got... good view of this... ah, damn... this fight here. Ap...Apparently they saw how the krogan rushed to here from... ah... just about... everywhere. The way to the facility back entrance should be clear now."
"But you're hurt!" Liara pointed out. "We need some time to..."
"We have no time!" Shepard protested. "The medi-gel... it will do its work... even while we're, ah, on the move. We have an opportunity to use!"
Tali could see the logic of what the Commander was saying, but she was not quite convinced herself. It was clear that medi-gel or not, he had been hit hard. Maybe too hard. And not only him. However, she did not protest. She could not be sure if she was biased, if her worries were based on emotion instead of logic. It would not do at all to have the new relationship with Shepard cloud either side's professionalism.
"Let's go!" Shepard ordered after some more seconds of gathering breath and medi-gel working, "Private Klein, Garrus, support Private Kowit best as you can. And let's hurry, we can't waste time, we have to be there before the entrance is guarded again."
The group set in motion again, but this time it was no professional, careful advance. It was a hasty rush, with people getting forward best as they could. And 'supporting Private Kowit' pretty much turned out to mean 'carry him'. The team did not offer a dignified view at all.
The facility was surrounded by a very high wall built along a water lane, which hence served as a sort of moat. The bridge crossing that 'moat' was filled with fixed geth shields, but just as Pressly has predicted there were no defenders left to hold the wall against Shepard's team. Hastily, the group entered the small door leading through the wall, and crossed a metal plank leading to the entrance of the central facility building.
Exhausted, they stopped there.
"That's it," Tali announced, "we've finally reached this damn building."
"We'll enter it in a minute," Shepard said, catching breath.
"It might take some time to open the door anyway," Tali pointed out, "I can hack myself in, but it won't be easy. Besides, I should probably find a way to disable the alarms, too."
"Good to see everything is in expert hands," Shepard commented grinning.
"I might need some help," Tali said, "There is a secondary console - Lieutenant Alenko, if you would please..."
"Of course," Kaidan confirmed.
Together, they began working their way into the facility's security programs. Neither rushed things or took unnecessary risks. They team had all the time in the galaxy now - and new enemies could only come through that door, which was now well guarded by them. In fact the team could even use some rest. Thus, both Tali and Kaidan worked diligently, gradually and slowly.
Or maybe not fully diligently. A text message popped up on Tali's console: +++You and Jon have finally talked?+++
Tali looked over to Kaidan. The Lieutenant was concentrated on his console, but Tali could nonetheless see him grinning.
Tali considered simply ignoring the message. After all, it was nothing if not unprofessional. Then she considered denying it or feigning not to understand. However, in the end there was no reason for any of that, thus she simply replied: +++Yes. How did you know?+++
Some seconds later, Kaidan's answer came: +++You two have looked at each other all the time during the assault. It's kinda cute, actually.+++
Cute? Tali supposed it was - the thought of Shepard literally looking out for her felt nice. Nonetheless it still felt weird reading Kaidan describing it as such. +++I'm glad then we could contribute to crew morale.+++
Kaidan's grin widened, but he showed no other sign of their conversation. +++To none as much as to yours and Jon's, certainly.+++
+++Usually we quarians hold curiosity to be a good character trait+++ Tali wrote back, +++Usually.+++
+++Well, for what it's worth I hope all the best for you two+++ Kaidan answered, +++Let's hope we all come out of this in one piece.+++
Keelah selai. Tali certainly hoped so, too. +++We will+++ she simply wrote, and that was the end of the conversation.
After some more work she announced to Shepard: "I have access to the alarm systems. I should be able to turn them all off from here. I might even be able to trigger alarms at the far side of the base. That would clear the guards for us, but would mean more resistance for the salarians, and for Chief Williams."
"Well, we've been battered," Shepard commented. Nothing but the truth. At least the medi-gel seems to have finally kicked in. "But I think the front assault teams might have it even worse. No, we'll fight. Just silence the alarms."
"Aye-aye, Commander," Tali confirmed.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Wrex commented, though it did not sound like he greatly cared either way.
"I can open the doors at any moment," Tali stated, "Just give the signal."
Shepard looked around and Tali followed his gaze. It seemed everybody was more or less in order again, if a bit worse for wear. Even Private Kowit was standing again thanks to the biological wonders of medi-gel.
"Do it," Shepard ordered, "Let's clean this place out."
The door opened, and the team rushed in, entering a cargo bay. Huge crates were positioned inside it.
"Disperse and seek cover!" Shepard commanded.
Here we go again. Yet, the fight was almost comforting to Tali. She had cover, and the enemies were geth. Heavy bipedal units, like rocket troopers and juggernauts, but nonetheless a known enemy and not something wild and unpredictable like the krogan. And this time there would be no bloody brawl.
It was good to have a known enemy again, and it was good to have the opportunity to shoot down geth.
The team displayed a well-honed professionalism. Soldiers advanced from cover to cover, flanking maneuvers were attempted and executed, and technical support was provided, especially by Tali. As both sides made good use of the copious amount of cover opportunities in the area the fight was drawn out but in the end rather one-sided.
"I think we got them all, Commander," Tali announced after a while. She could see no standing geth platforms anymore, and her suit sensors could not detect one, either.
"Commander!" Garrus called out.
The team came to look what he had found. A dead salarian lay to the feet of the turian, and it appeared that he had only recently been killed by a shot wound.
"A salarian? Here?" Liara asked.
"Captain Kirrahe said something about losing some men," Kaidan commented.
"But how did he end up here?" Tali asked, "And with a gun in his hand, too."
"Maybe he tried to escape?" Garrus wondered. "That would have been extraordinarily bad luck to run into this firefight just as was making his way out."
"If we can free some salarians here, all the better," Shepard commented, "But that's very low on our list of priorities. Let's move on."
There were several cargo elevators in the room, but that was probably not the best way to make ones' way through the base. Instead, the team found a surprisingly broad staircase that probably served as access for base personal.
The stairs led to a spacious plateau - and to everybody's surprise a group of salarians was standing there, obviously awaiting them. They were all armed.
"Finally a lucky break!" Shepard exclaimed, "We... - "
The rest of what he was about to say went down in a hail of bullets. The team immediately retreated back behind a wall corner.
"We're on your side!" Shepard shouted, but the salarians came charging at the team. Blindly charging, as Tali realized. And as they came and fired there was no room to think about how they were supposed to be allies; Tali simply defended herself and shot back, as did the rest of Shepard's team. The salarians had no armour and only pistols, and so went down very quickly.
"What the hell was that?" Shepard asked angrily after they had been forced to shoot down even the last single salarian.
"Indoctrination," Tali analyzed. "Must be." She was still slightly shaken, but not to the point where she would let that impair her abilities. She had a mission to contribute to, after all.
"But Shiala said Saren uses his ship for that," Shepard argued. "So either we have a super-dreadnought very near by, or there's more to that facility than we know. Neither option is comfortable."
"One more reason to stay alert," Kaidan commented.
"True," Shepard agreed, "So, remain vigilant, and let's go on. And much as it pains me to order so - all salarians encountered are to be treated as hostiles."
It was an uncomfortable order, but Tali knew that sentimentalities could not get in the way of the mission. And even Shepard's usual idealism could not help here. If the other indoctrinated salarians were like the ones they had just encountered, then they were no great threat, but still the team could not simply let themselves get shot by them.
At least the way to the interior of the base was now free. The team entered several doors, passed by several geth terminals, and walked through several corridors. There was one further unpleasant encounter with indoctrinated salarians, but apart from that no opposition was encountered.
After the team had went up yet a further staircase, they entered a large room. Screams could be heard. Turning right, Tali saw several cells, each filled with a salarian.
"Maybe now we'll get some answers," Shepard muttered and walked towards one of the cells.
"What do you want? I told you everything! I - " the salarian inside shouted. However, he then seemed to recognize whom he was speaking to and interrupted himself: "Who are you? Alliance, right? I knew somebody would come. It tried to break me, but it couldn't! I shut it out!" His voice was shaking and pressed.
"Slow down!" Shepard urged. "I need to know what happened here. Who are you? Were you with Captain Kirrahe?"
"Private Mennos Avot of the Third Infiltration Regiment STG, sir," the salarian answered, "Captured while on reconnaissance six days ago. Glad to answer, sir. Never any questions from these bastards, just whispers and poking and cutting. I'd have said anything to get out and get some payback. That's not asked too much, is it? A little payback?"
Even taken into account the famed (or infamous, depending on one's point of view) salarian ability for non-linear thought, Avot's answer was jumpy at best. Whatever had been done to him seemed to have affected him, despite his claims to the contrary.
Shepard seemed to notice that, too. "What did they do to you, soldier?" he asked.
"Experiments," Avot answered, becoming ever more agitated "but I don't know what for. The effects of incessant whispering on my shortening temper? Who knows? I just need out."
That might be a bad idea. "Something is not right here, Commander" Tali advised.
"I can see that," Shepard conceded, "but look at him! If we leave him there he's as good as dead."
"Yes, leaving me here would be bad," Avot agreed. And then his voice and speech began to lose any coherence: "Very bad, and the noise just - won't - go - away. Whispering is loud, you know? I need to get out. Let me out!"
Shepard rubbed his chin and sighed. "Let him out," he said, "but be careful."
"Oh yes, careful," Avot commented as Tali activated the opening mechanism for all cells. "Always. Must be careful. Or else whispering gets too loud. Must be careful. Have to do - what - it - says!"
And with that the salarian stormed outside the cell - and drew a pistol from beneath his clothing. At the same time, further salarians were coming out of the other cells.
"Fire!" Shepard ordered.
It was a massacre. The salarians came out of their cells one by one, and one by one they were shot down without any problems. It was over in a matter of seconds.
"Damn it!" Shepard cursed.
"You couldn't help them anymore," Tali pointed out, "Nobody could."
"I know," Shepard conceded, "it's just... frustrating."
That it was. Tali felt it, too. To have to fight against people who were supposed to be allies, people who had been enslaved, whose entire mind had apparently simply been destroyed - and nothing could be done anymore to help them. 'Frustrating' was probably even an understatement.
"We'll avenge them," Garrus commented. "When the sun next settles here, this station will be dust."
"That's all that's left to do," Shepard agreed. "Let's go."
He's not nearly as calm about this as he pretends to be for our sake. Tali had become quite apt at reading Shepard's facial expressions and body posture.
They did not encounter any further enemy resistance, but on the other hand their exploration of the place only turned up dead ends. They had to walk back quite a bit to find a route so far unexplored, an elevator going downward.
The entire team had their weapons drawn and focused forwards, in case they would encounter a bad surprise on the lower side. Slowly, they stepped outside. Tali could see a longdrawn room, full of weird machines. And in one of them -
"Goddess, it's a husk!" Liara whispered.
In fact, all the machines seemed to hold husks. The team was noticeable nervous now, but Tali still tried to focus. With husks all around them that was not the time to lose nerves.
"Intruders!" a female voice sounded through the room, "Call the guards!"
"Damn," Shepard cursed, "Move! Move!"
The team ran towards the source of the shout. Shepard ran at the front - and was suddenly jerked upwards towards the ceiling, surrounded by a blue aura. Tali could glimpse an asari and a krogan, before seeking cover behind a crate. And then she saw the husks moving.
They had been loosened from their machines, and now they descended on the team from all sides, their otherworldly groaning filling the room. They came ever nearer, and one seemed to have picked Tali as its target. Tali tried desperately to fill it with as many bullets as possible.
The husk attack had the team in a disarray, but the technozombies themselves were uncoordinated, too. After the initial shock, the team soon had the upper hand. Tali's husk went down before it could reach her.
She heard a loud 'thump' near her. She turned around and saw how Shepard, who had just fallen to the ground again, got on his feet again. The only enemy left standing was the krogan, who growled terribly war cries, but who posed no danger anymore, either.
"What the hell..." Shepard simply muttered as the krogan finally went down, too. He made a gesture spanning the machines in the room. "What the hell is this?"
"It appears they were studying husks," Liara pointed out the obvious, "But this doesn't make sense. Huskification already is a known geth technology, isn't it?"
"A new one, though," Tali answered, "We have no records of them using it before the attack on Eden Prime." She was quite repulsed by what she saw, too, but hid it under her professionalism as the team's geth expert.
"This krogan here," Garrus spoke up, "He's no warrior. Can it be... was he a scientist? He almost looks like one."
"Did they - can it be they used huskification technology in their genophage cure?" Kaidan asked disgusted.
They all looked at each other, uncertain about that possibility, until Wrex spoke up: "There is no such thing as evil technology. Only dangerous technology."
"Let's not jump to conclusion!" Shepard hastily intervened. "We already know this base is more than just a breeding ground for krogan. They seem to study indoctrination here, too, so maybe this lab was for new applications of the huskification process? Who knows. Just a reason more to have the base destroyed."
"This base is an abomination," Tali hissed, her disgust at it finally pouring out of her, "Saren's research must be destroyed."
That made Wrex turn his head very suddenly to her, and she realized what she just had said. However, she could not take it back, either - she did not know whom Shepard had told about his secondary objective.
"We will destroy it," Shepard stated, and then added: "In the end." There was only the faintest of stress on the latter words, but apparently Wrex understood the reassurance, and turned away again.
Several ways led out of the strange laboratory, but most went upwards again, and away from the far side of the facility the team wanted to reach. The only way in that direction was through a door leading to the outside, to the inner yard of the facility. A metal gangway led to another part of the building.
"Wonder what surprise they'll have in store here," Shepard joked, "Thorian Creepers? Thresher Maws?" He opened the door.
It revealed a large, open and sterile room. Only the area near the window looked comfortable:: A table had been set up there in the natural light the window provided. It seemed to have been used for work, there were two consoles still running on it. No Thorian Creeper or Thresher Maw could be seen. However, it appeared Shepard had seen something.
He fired a single shot into the air and said: "Come out!"
And indeed, an asari came crawling out from below the table where she had hid. Tali mentally scolded herself for not having noticed her.
"Alright, alright!" she pleaded and came to her feet. "Please! I don't mean any harm. I just want to get out!"
"Who are you?" Shepard simply asked.
"Rana Thanoptis, neurospecialist," the asari answered, "But the job isn't worth dying for. Or worse."
"Stop being dramatic, lady," Garrus demanded, "That's an old and used up strategy in interrogations."
Rana turned towards the turian. "You think the indoctrination only affects prisoners? Sooner or later Saren will want to dissect my brain, too!"
"Indoctrination research," Shepard said. "Yes, I saw the prisoners. This is more than just a breeding facility, isn't it?"
"Yes," Rana confirmed. "Saren is elevated about the chance to get an entire army of krogan, but I think understanding how indoctrination works is even more important to him. Hence we're studying Sovereign's effects on organic minds on this level. At least, that's what I assumed. Saren kept us in the dark as much as possible."
"Why are you helping him then?" Tali demanded to know.
"I didn't have the option of negotiating," Rana defended herself, "This position is a bit more... permanent than I had expected."
"That position - head of the indoctrination research efforts?" Shepard asked.
"Yes," Rana answered, "My first action was to dissect the brain of my predecessor."
Shepard turned to Kaidan. "Lieutenant, take your group and guard the door. We'll have a chat with this lady here."
"Aye-aye, Commander," Kaidan confirmed and turned to go. The other marines and Garrus followed him.
As soon as they were at the door, Shepard faced Rana again. "I won't kill you for the hell of it," he told her, "but I want answers. What were you studying here?"
And so Rana told him, and by extension told the entire group. About Sovereign, about its signal or energy field turning people into mindless slaves. She told how those affected lose ever more will and in the end just stop thinking for themselves, and how this meant too heavily indoctrinated subjects were of no use for anybody anymore. She told how the signal was too strong, how it affected everybody near Sovereign, not just the test subjects. And she told how hence even Saren feared the effects - she did not think the rogue ex-Spectre was in control of the process. That was why the indoctrination research here was so crucial to him.
"That's all I know," Rana finally pleaded, "Are we good now? Can I go?"
"Not quite yet," Shepard answered coldly. "You did help Saren. You did conduct brutal experiments on unwilling prisoners."
"But you said..." Rana protested.
"Maybe I lied," Shepard interrupted her.
That surprised Tali, shocked her even. Shepard was not normally one to mistreat prisoners. Not even such prisoners as Dr Wayne or Martin Burns. She wondered just what he was thinking now.
"You had quite an important position here, going by your tale," Shepard continued, "So surely there are more ways with which you can help us?"
"I - I can get you into Saren's private lab," Rana promised, "This elevator behind me leads right towards it. You'll get full access to all of Saren's private files."
"That's a start," Shepard commented, "But I want more. If you can get access to such important locations that easily, surely you can also give us access to further important information?"
"Wh- What do you want?" Rana asked. She seemed to get ever more fearful.
"Everything," Shepard answered, "All your files on indoctrination. Whatever the hell they researched about husks over there. The cure for the genophage. Everything."
"I don't have access to all of it," Rana protested, "I can try but..."
"You'll get help," Shepard promised.
Understanding this as being her cue, Tali stepped forward.
It was a surprisingly easy task. Clearly the computer network of the facility's research laboratories had not been constructed by the geth. Its system structure hence was much more vulnerable to hacking to begin with. And equipped with Rana's passwords and identification signatures it became a child's play to Tali.
As Shepard had commanded, she simply grabbed absolutely everything. Every file belonging to any of the laboratories in the facilities was taken and copied. She amassed a huge amount of data that way. She not only filled her own omni-tool, but had to store data on Shepard's, Liara's and Wrex', too.
After a while, she only encountered files she already had copied once, directories she already had been in, nodes she already had accessed.
"I think I've caught everything, Commander," she announced.
"Good," Shepard commented. "Now, Ms Thanoptis, you also wanted to open up the way for us?"
The asari hastily nodded and rushed to the elevator, where she typed something on it's console. "It's done," she announced, "You won't see me again!"
Shepard raised his pistol in response. "I'm sorry. You helped us a great deal here, but this still doesn't bring justice to your victims!"
"What?" Rana shrieked.
"Your brutal experiments require punishment," Shepard explained loudly. And more quietly: "I'm sorry. But you know too much."
"No... No!" Rana shouted.
Shepard shot, several bullets right into the neurospecialist's head. She fell down immediately.
Tali could hardly believe her eyes. This was very much unlike Shepard. She had seen what Rana had done, she had seen the destroyed minds of the salarians, and so she actually thought that Rana deserved death - and yet she still was shocked at Shepard's actions.
"Was... Was that necessary?" Liara asked shaken.
Shepard's posture slumped down. He held his pistol limb in one hand. "It was," he said quietly. "I wished to all deities it had not been but it was. She knew we have the genophage cure. It's... damn. You've seen what she has done, but, no, it still wasn't right. But the stakes - we play with too high stakes here. As far as the galaxy is concerned, the genophage cure was destroyed here. Anything else, and we'll all end up one morning with our throats slid ear to ear."
Tali knew what Shepard meant. She did not like at all, not at all, but she knew what he meant. Still, the coldness with which he had executed the asari... It made Tali wonder if she really knew Shepard. If he were just the Commander, she would have been shocked, but would have written off the incident as a dire necessity. However, he had become more than just the Commander. Far more, in fact, as of this very day.
That thought made her feel nervous, and even a little bit depressed. She knew Shepard was right, she knew the fate of an entire species was at stake here, and she even believed Rana had deserved death. And yet still... She did not dwell on it. Rather, she followed Shepard as he stepped into the elevator. Kaidan's group was rejoining them. They all looked on Rana's corpse, but nobody commented on it.
The elevator went upward, and when it arrived at its destination, the group stepped out into a dimly blue-lit room covering an enormous space, both in area and height. Metal gangways formed several levels inside it. Shepard waved his team to explore the lower levels first.
At first, Tali had thought the blue light omnipresent in the room, but that was not so. There was also a red light somewhere, and a billowing green flickering right in front of them. It was emitted from a large staff or rod of sorts erected on this level of the gangways.
The quarian did not recognize it, but Kaidan did: "It's another beacon, Commander. Like the one on Eden Prime."
Shepard stared at it with a look of it disdain on his face.