The door to the central server facility sparked twice before it opened under the relentless hacking attempts from the other side.
"We're in." Shepard said quickly as she stepped through.
"Ok I admit it, that was impressive." Tali said following close behind. She looked back briefly to see the Justicar stepping through as well before adding, "I probably could have done it faster, ... but not by much."
"Well getting in is the easy part." Shepard replied, "You just need to focus on getting the data we need."
"So breaking into a maximum security Batarian Military facility is the easy part?" Tali teased her, "And now all I need to do is hack the entire Batarian Hegemony network to get the intel we need. You have a very warped definition of 'easy'."
"Please Tali, this should be a walk in the park for you." Shepard smirked back. They walked up to the main database terminal before Shepard turned her Quarian friend and added, "Hell I'm sure you could do this blindfolded and still wouldn't break a sweat."
"Flatterer." Tali deadpanned.
"While I do not doubt Miss Zorah's ability," Samara spoke up, "I must recommend we hurry nonetheless. It is only a matter of time before this area is swarming in Batarian guards."
"Yes, I agree, and I think we all know who's fault THAT is." Tali crossed her arms as she glared at Shepard through her visor.
"Oh come on, you're still upset about that?" Shepard protested, "I already told you, it couldn't be helped."
"Shepard, you blew up one of their ships." Tali accused her.
"No, technically the mech did that." Shepard insisted.
"Yes, the Ymir Mech which happened to be standing next to the ship's Eezo core." Tali persisted, "The same mech which blew up because YOU shot it. With a rocket launcher!"
"What can I say, I was low on clips." Shepard shrugged.
"Fine, whatever," Tali threw her hands up as she moved up to the console. "I'll just have to try to finish this before every Batarian in the Attican Traverse arrives to kill us."
"That's the spirit." Shepard smiled, "Just get us the Intel. Samara you say here with Tali and make sure she stays safe. I don't want anything with more then two eyes getting within pistol range of her while she's working."
"Understood, Shepard." Samara nodded once.
"And where are you going?" Tali asked.
"I'm going to draw as many of them away from you as possible before they get here." Shepard said, "We'll head out for the shuttle the second you're finished."
"Don't worry, shouldn't take too long." Tali confirmed before turning her attention towards the console. She could hear the sound of Shepard's cloak activating before she could even fully activate all of the holographic interface screens on the terminal. Tali continued to work in silence, navigating the Batarian communication pipelines, though the silence did not last very long.
"You and the Commander are very close friends." Samara started, "Have you known her long?"
"Not really." Tali mused as she continued working. "I mean it's been over three years now, but she was dead for two of them."
"Really?" Samara said thoughtfully, "Despite knowing her for such a short time the two of you still share such friendship."
"Well when we first met she saved my life from a group of thugs that were hired to assasinate me." Tali explained, "Shortly after that I joined her crew and spent the next year aboard the first Normandy." She looked at Samara briefly before adding, "Being part of the same crew holds a major significance among Quarians, more so then most races. And we spent most of that time flying through the entire galaxy chasing down a rogue Spectre and his Geth army which had been enslaved to an ungodly powerful sentient spaceship. So I guess you can say we've been through a lot together." She looked back at her Terminal as she added, "I may not have known Shepard for very long, but I like to think I know her very well."
"That is most interesting." Samara said as she scanned the room, "Now we find ourselves serving on the same ship, heading into a suicide mission on top of that. Do you expect you will be making more friendships among the crew?"
Tali paused for a moment to consider what Samara was saying. It was so unusual for the Justicar to talk to her, particularly about ... well anything that could be considered remotely friendly. Usually she would just explain one reason or another why her Bosh'tet code would compel her to kill you and then leave.
Then again she had noticed the Asari change since her mission with Shepard back on Omega. Plus she had been having private discussions with Shepard. And Tali was all too familiar with how Shepard could bring out the best in people.
With a shrug Tali opted to focus on her terminal as she answered, "Well, in fact, I've already made some new friends down in Engineering. Ken and Gabby are there everyday with me, and we all love to talk about ships so it's no surprise we've gotten along great. A few of the others on the ship have been really friendly as well. I mean Garrus, Chakwas, and Joker are all friends from the original Normandy, but some of the others have been very nice to me as well. Jacob and Kasumi are fun to talk to. And Gardner has gone out of his way to make good Dextro food for both me and Garrus, which means a lot to me as you can imagine."
"I sense there's more." Samara prompted when Tali failed to continue speaking her thoughts out loud.
"Well it's not the same." Tali explained, "With Cerberus I mean. The new ship has way too many hate mongering loyalists as far as I'm concerned. And Quarians are already on bad terms with those Bosh'tet humans as it is."
"I doubt Cerberus has any non-human friends." Samara noted.
"True, it makes it very hard to get along with that half of the crew." Tali said.
Before the Justicar could provide a response, the sounds of several Batarian guards banging away at a nearby bulkhead interrupted their conversation. Moments later a full squad of the Batarians were busting in through one of the room's forward entrances.
"That's going to be a problem." Tali said as she reached for her shotgun.
"Please, Miss Zorah," Samara said with a palm raised, "Continue to focus on your task, I will handle this distraction."
Without waiting for Tali's reaction, the Justicar immediately went to work lifting a large nearby container with her biotics. Tali figured the container must have replacement parts for the local computer cores. That meant densely packed military grade electronic components in secured storage. It must weigh a ridiculous amount, and yet Samara easily sent it sailing through the air with just a casual wave of her hand. In an instant the large metal box crashed into the Batarian squad. A few of them managed to dive out of the way, but the rest were crushed gruesomely by the biotically thrown hardware, confirming Tali's estimation of its weight.
The remaining Batarians braced themselves behind cover and took shots at the two of them. Rather then dive for cover herself, Samara gestured downward with her hands and lifted. The resulting biotic force was powerful enough to bend the metal floor upwards in a matching wave pattern, creating a shield wall upon which the Batarians' bullets were now bouncing off, providing cover for both the Asari and the Quarian. Samara then jumped into the air crossing her arms quickly to unleash a powerful biotic shockwave which traveled past their barricade and across the room right into the center of the Batarian squad. Even the Batarians that were not in the direct line of the shockwave were knocked back by the force of the shockwave as it passed them.
By the time the Justicar landed on her feet she had already pulled out her sub-machine gun, firing at any of the Batarians that had been knocked out of their cover.
"Uh ..." Tali watched trying not to sound too impressed, or intimidated, "Not to sound ungrateful or anything, but are you SURE you don't need any help?"
Samara tilted her head slightly as if considering Tali's words; perhaps considering if she were serious or simply being sarcastic. Regardless she soon answered, "I appreciate your concern, Tali. However I assure you these guards pose no challenge to your safety much less mine. As Shepard said, the data is the priority. Please focus on that." Her gaze never left her targets, nor did she stop her attacks.
"Um, ok." Tali replied simply and she returned her focus to the terminal. She was right, after all. It would still take some time to navigate all of the firewalls, and they now had much less time to spare. Not that she was worried. Well about the technical side at least. Tali was quite confident she could hack the mainframe and get the intel with plenty of time to spare. She was more concerned about getting shot during that time. For now she simply had to keep working, ignoring the sounds of pitched battle behind her. Though going off the blood curdling Batarian screams she kept hearing from time to time, it sounded like the fight was going in Samara's favor.
"You know I recently discovered something fascinating about Shepard." Samara suddenly spoke up casually even as she continued fighting.
"Seriously?!" Tali exclaimed, "We're in the middle of a firefight and you want to engage in small talk?"
"I'm sorry," Samara began without taking her attention away from the Batarians caught in her Warp field, triggering a large biotic explosion before she continued, "Is my conversation distracting you?"
"That's not ..." Tali said flustered for a moment before deciding it wasn't worth the effort right now. She turned back at her terminal with an annoyed shrug before speaking up again, "Oh nevermind, please tell me what fascinating things you've discovered. I'll just stay over here, hoping none of the bullets puncture my suit."
"You are a close friend of Shepard," Samara continued casually, "I was wondering if you were familiar with her unique musical preferences."
"Ugh! You have no idea!" Tali rolled her eyes, not that anyone could tell through her visor.
"You do not seem fond of her musical tastes." Samara noted even as she biotically slammed a Batarian who was trying to flank her hard against the opposite wall.
"It's not that." Tali explained as she continued working herself, "The music is fine. Just not the sort of thing I can really enjoy. Though Shepard still insists that I will grow to love it someday." After a beat she added, "I have my doubts."
"Is that so?" Samara commented while shooting another Batarian who was stumbling to get back into cover, "I heard a few of the songs in her Library the other night. While it is nothing like the Asari operas I'm accustomed to, I still found it quite enjoyable to listen to."
"Well then consider yourself lucky." Tali responded, "Now if Shepard ambushes you with her Ancient Stone music you won't have to suffer too much."
"I believe you mean 'Classic Rock'." Samara corrected.
"Whatever." Tali shot back.
"When you say 'ambush', should I assume Shepard forcibly plays her music to the crew?" Samara asked.
"No, no, nothing like that." Tali admitted, "I suppose it wasn't her fault or anything."
"So there is a story behind this?" Samara prompted the Quarian.
Tali sighed, she wondered for a moment whether she preferred the Justicar back when she was more anti-social, introverted, and homicidal.
She quickly decided that she did not, however, and began telling the story. "Back on the original Normandy, it was my first time on a non-Quarian ship. Everything about that ship was far beyond anything I could have imagined at the time. It was amazing, and I loved it! Unfortunately it was a little bit TOO good, and it was always far too quiet for me. I kept worrying that something might be broken or stopped working. I could barely get any sleep at all."
"One day I happened to mention this to Shepard." Tali continued reminiscing. "She told me that when she has trouble sleeping she likes to listen to music to relax. I told that I appreciate the thought, but that it's hard for music to replicate the sounds of a Quarian ship. I should have known she would take that as a challenge."
"So what happened?" Samara asked.
"She sent me a music file to my inbox late one night." Tali explained, "Said that it was the closest she could find to a song containing a lot of ship noises. I was tired, it was late, and I decided to give it a try." She paused just long enough for emphasis, "Big mistake. It turned out the song was something called Black Sabbath, and it was terrifying! It was NOTHING like the sounds of a ship. In fact at the time I thought that might be what a ship would sound like just before being ripped apart into a million pieces." Her tone became noticeably strained as she added, "It turned out I was wrong about that, as I found out through first hand experience."
"You were on the first Normandy, when it was destroyed?" Samara realized.
"Yes. I was." Tali said harshly.
"Forgive me, I did not mean to bring up such a painful memory." Samara said, "I can only imagine how much more terrifying that must have been for you. As a Quarian I mean."
"Thanks for the thought." Tali sighed, "But I'm fine, really. I mean it was two years ago. It's not a pleasant memory but I've been able to move on since then."
"That is good to know." Samara said. "I only hope Shepard has been able to come to terms with those tragic events as well."
"What do you mean?" Tali asked.
"You've had two years to deal with the destruction of the Normandy." Samara explained, "But for Shepard that happened barely more then a month ago. Given what's happened since her ressurection, I don't imagine she's had sufficient opportunity to morn those losses."
"You think so?" Tali asked with much more concern.
"Even two years is not a very long time for an Asari." Samara added. "I imagine those wounds have not truly healed for many of you. Just look at the state Garrus was in when Shepard found him on Omega."
"I know." Tali admitted sadly, "I'm worried about her. Keelah! I'm worried about all of them. Why do you think I'm willing to serve on a Cerberus vessel heading srtaight into a suicide mission? I owe Shepard a lot, but even if I didn't I wouldn't want her to go through this alone."
"As I said before, you and Shepard share a close friendship." Samara said. "Her attempts to soothe your insomnia, not withstanding."
"Actually her efforts turned out to be sort of helpful." Tali added, "After the shock of listening to that music I didn't mind the silence so much." A beep from her omni-tool caught Tali's attention then, "Yes! Data secured. Now making a local copy ... aaaaaaaaaand, Done! Silly Batarian servers never even knew what hit them. In fact I even erased all the terminal logs to make sure they never know." It was around that time that she realized a distinct lack of combat sounds from behind her. Turning around Tali immediately noticed Samara standing behind her calmly like a statue. As far as she could see all the other Batarians were laying dead in various postions and locations around the room.
"You killed everyone already?" Tali asked.
"Yes." Samara replied simply.
"And you didn't bother to let me know?!" Tali asked accusingly.
"I did not wish to disturb you while you were completing such an important task." Samara answered.
"Well ... you could have saved one for me or something." Tali complained.
"Really?" Samara asked unconvinced.
"Ok, no, not really." Tali admited. "But you could have kept me in the loop at least."
"I do believe you are currently 'in-the-loop' about our current status." Samara told her.
"Gee, thanks for that." Tali added sarcastically.
"We should contact Shepard then and -"
"Look Out!" Tali yelled suddenly, interupting anything Samara might have said by tossing herself at the Asari, the sudden unexpected leap sent both of them tumbling to the ground - and out of the line of fire of the injured Batarian that Tali had seen lining up a shot over Samara's shoulder. Bullets from the guard's assault rifle moments later vindicated Tali's instinct.
Before either of them could respond a loud booming shot sudddenly silenced the Batarian's attack.
Confused, Tali looked up, inching her body up the side of some nearby cover to avoid any more potential retaliation from their enemies. As her visor crept over the edge of the metal box she could see in the distance the Batarian that had threatened them moments before. Or rather she could see what looked like the same armor, she couldn't tell if it was the same Batarian as she couldn't see his face, or any of his head for that matter. The whole thing was now simply gone, with nothing but a gaping blood stain where it used to be.
"Sorry I'm late." Shepard's voice called out from behind them. Tali turned to see the Commander decloaking as she stepped into the room from one of the side hallway entrances. "I guess I got a little side tracked."
"Finally! We have the data, we should leave as soon as possible before more of his friends show up." Tali reported as she walked over to Samara. She extended a hand to the Justicar, who still looked uncharacteristically surprised.
For a moment Tali wondered if the Justicar had been offended that a lesser non-asari would dare to tackle her to the ground; her damn code would then require that the Quarian die for that offense. Whatever she was thinking, however, a moment later the Justicar grasped Tali's hand, allowing the Quarian to help her to her feet. Samara gave Tali a simple nod of appreciation, which Tali returned before walking over to Shepard.
"Alright," Shepard spoke up as the other two teammates approached, "The way in is no good right now, any reinfocements will be comming in the front. Fortunately I've managed to clear out a path to the rear of the complex. We'll radio the shuttle to pick us up there. We shouldn't run into anyone else from here on out."
"You cleared out a path?" Tali spoke up, "Practically the rest of the facility is between us and the rear entrance." Tali walked past Shepard to the hallway entrance as she continued, "That leaves the vast majority of the guards to contend with; unless you've killed then all already." The last part Tali said with obvious sarcasm as she triggered the green holo interface on the metal door to cycle it open. It took only a second for her to look at what lay on the other side of the door before she added, "Oh, I guess you did."
The scene before her would not have been out of place among the worst horror films of the extra-net. The large hallway extended the length of the facility was filled with nothing but one Batarian corpse after another, from the rafters to the floor. A lucky few were killed with body shots and had merely died slumped over at one awekward angle or another. Most of them however were just bodies left sitting or leaning up against whatever wall they had thought might provide them sufficient cover, with most if not all of their heads missing as a result of Shepard's deadly shots.
Tali turned to Shepard as she walked up next to the Quarian with a satisfied smile on her face. When the Commander noticed Tali's intent glare she simple shrugged and proclaimed, "They started it."
Tali just crossed her arms. Despite the visor covering her face, her body language clearly indicated she was not convinced.
"Well look on the bright side," Shepard tried to appease her, "At least now the legend of the Butcher of Torfan lives on."
"That's only a bright side for you." Tali shot back before storming down the hallway in a huff, "Ugh! You should have brought Garrus for this. At least he'd appreciate the carnage a lot more."
Shepard watched Tali walking away, not bothering to hide the smirk on her face, as she waited for the Asari of their group to catch up to them. The other woman was silent for a moment content to just watch Tali as well for the moment.
"She saved my life." Morinth spoke up finally once she was certain Tali was out of ear-shot. "And she doesn't even like me."
"Not an experience you're accustomed to." Shepard shot back. She didn't need to look at the Ardat-Yakshi to know she was right, Morinth's silence was telling enough. "That's what happens when you're part of a team. At least any team worth their salt. Which is exactly what I'm trying to build here."
"You know, I might just start getting used to this." Morinth shot a smile back at Shepard, who merely responded with a soft grunt before walking after Tali.
Morinth simply looked on, listening to Tali's playful complaints as Shepard drew closer to her. "Eww! Really Shepard! I can never get used to seeing all the headless corpses you keep leaving in your wake. Hasn't anyone told you how distubring that is?"
"Says the girl who gladly shoots people with a shotgun at point blank range." Shepard replied without missing a beat.