A/N: How're you all doing? By God that was a helluva couple of weeks, let me tell you. Stuff went down, got writers block, more stuff went down, hedgehog impaling my hand, regular stuff really. I feel that this was both rushed and delayed, and I'm not quite satisfied with how I wrote it, so any feed back on how I can improve would be welcome! So where were we...

Chapter 6:

Tali'Zorah vas Normandy was kneeling on one knee as she installed the new command console for the cargo deck. She heaved and grunted as she tried to secure a nut onto the new console unit's stand, bolting the device into the floor of the hold.

The Torvias Brother's Shipyard was just about as respectable as any other on the docks of Omega. Not saying that that was a good thing, of course. Fortunately for the crew of the Normandy, the proprietor, a vrolik named Ban'Torvias, owed Garrus a favor after the Turian saved his two sons from certain death at the hands of Batarian pirates a little while back. "Yes, yes, these are the lowest prices I can afford!" The vrolik had said excitedly, waddling alongside Tali after the ship had just docked. "Any friend of Archangel is a friend of Ban'Torvias!" He was friendly enough at first, but Tali shuddered as she recalled herself realizing he had been hitting on her the whole time.

After some trouble convincing him that his workers were not necessary for the deal, she hurriedly excused herself and ignored the penetrating glances he was casting at her. Since then, she and the rest of the crew had been spending the last 40-something hours hard at work on repairs. All around her were crates of newly shipped equipment being hustled upon by her engineering staff.

And by new, she meant second hand.

And by second hand, the seller meant mostly legitimate.

The Normandy deserves better than this. She took a lot of pride in the ship; it was as much a member of the crew as any of them were. But still, she conceded, it was decent enough to get the Normandy flight worthy again. Not to mention, with a little fine tuning and reprogramming, it would allow the Normandy to function even better than before. That is, if they could physically install the new parts first.

"Come on, you stubborn little bosh'tet…" she muttered as she pulled on the wrench with both hands, leaning backwards to gain leverage. Tali cheered inwardly as she felt the satisfying smooth twist of the nut finally locking into place.

Levels 4 and 5 were the places that the occulus had done a number on during the suicide mission. Wrecking a lot of the infrastructures during the ensuing firefight, it was a damn fine mess to clean up. The whole 'getting hit by enemy fire and crashing onto the Collector base' was merely icing on the cake. All around her, the engineers milled about welding, soldering and calibrating the entire level.

Several of the male staff had offered to do the 'drudge work' for her, but she had politely declined their aid. She was a quarian engineer, and she wasn't about to let her pride be tarnished by some stubborn little nuts. Picking up another one from the small pile next to her, she twisted it in one of the holes on the stand into the floor until it was too tight to do by hand. Giving the wrench a playful twirl, she slapped it on and started twisting again. Her newly acquired good mood slowly started to deteriorate as the nut, like it's brethren before it, started to rebel.

Tali didn't mind though, she needed this. She needed something to keep her mind and body occupied. Anything, just so her thoughts didn't all revolve around him.

Right now, Shepard was lying unconscious on this same ship, just a level above her. When he was carried back by Grunt late last night, he was bleeding and his armor was all but wrecked. Seeing him like that, it was like her world crumbled all around her. She stayed by his side all throughout last night, not getting any sleep herself, just watching over him. It was a painful thing to see, and she wanted to stay with him now, but she knew that the sooner they left this place, the better. Getting the Normandy space worthy again was the best thing she could do to help him.

But keelah, why did she feel so powerless right now? So… worthless?

She stuck her foot against the wall and leaned back, pulling on the wrench with both hands. It gave, but only just a little bit. She gave the console a small shake and it was still unstable.

"COME ON!" She roared, causing several nearby crewmen to look at her with in surprise. "Oh, um, I… Get back to work!" She said loudly after an awkward start, mostly out of embarrassment than annoyance. The men were startled and started to disperse in panic, then she yelled again, stopping them in their tracks. "Wait! Sorry! Sorry… I was just… I mean, um… Nothing to see here… Yes… Please return to your assigned tasks." The onlookers all looked at one another a little bit before shrugging, dispersing in a less urgent fashion. Tali took a deep breath as she turned back to the console and slapped a palm to her visor, blushing in embarassment. Smooth, Tali'Zorah, smooth. She sighed deeply as she plopped both her hands down on the floor and sat there for a moment, staring at the wall. Her ear twitched as she heard a familiar pair of voices bickering.

"I'm just saying," Kenneth started, gesturing his hand across the room. "This is a rare opportunity to recalibrate the power output up by another 50%. It's not every day that we get to do a major overhaul like this."

"What for?" Her tone was strained, almost pleading. "The hold has been functioning in optimum capacity anyway, what's another 50% going to do? Make it so we can put up permanent Christmas lights?" She retorted, pulling out a datapad to show her calculations. "Besides the power would have too little routes to be vented through when it does overload."

"Why must you be so afraid of progress, Gabby?" He said despairingly.

"Progress doesn't involve the risk of mass electrocution!" She replied, smacking his head lightly with the data-pad.

"Well really now? Let's see what the chief has to say about that…" He replied, turning towards Tali and raising his voice. Tali sighed, as if the entire level wasn't already hearing him in his 'speaking' voice. "Oi! Tali! We need your judgment in solving a case of dire importance between us!"

"I suggest you take it to your quarters!" Tali yelled back playfully, much to Ken and Gabby's chagrin and the jeering of those around them.

"Hey!" Gabby yelled indignantly.

"Fine, be like that!" Ken continued, and then he turned to Gabby. "I still say we should do it."

Tali merely shook her head, smiling bitter-sweetly underneath her mask as the two once more settled for bickering with each other. Everyone on the ship practically knew how those two were perfect for each other. Well, everyone except Gabby and Ken. Her thoughts wandered to how Shepard was doing up in the med-bay…

No, no, no! she chided herself, shaking her head with each no. She needed to keep herself occupied. Shepard was stable when she left him. He was under the care of not one, but two brilliant doctors; Three really, if you counted Miranda. She grabbed the wrench and proceeded to deal with the problem at hand, finding the nut much more agreeable than a few moments ago.

A few twists later and it was all set up. Putting the wrench aside, she tore off the plastic wrap still around the new console and booted it up, calibrating it onto the ship's own systems. Tali put her hands on her hips and let out a deep breath. "Keelah, John…" She said to herself, "I knew things would be hard, but it's not making it easier to pick up the pieces of yourself afterwards."

She dearly wanted to be with him. She felt her feet begin to walk towards the elevator, no doubt to head towards the 3rd level to be by his side. She made it as far as a few steps before stopping herself and stamping angrily on the floor.

Moping by his side was a sure fire way of not getting anything done right on this ship. She was needed down here, where she could help Shepard best. But by keelah she couldn't just keep that bosh'tet of a man out of her mind.

That sweet, wonderful, caring, overly idealistic man.

It was that part of Shepard that made her fall in love with him most: The man brave enough to hold his ideals over harsh reality. It was also the reason why he would put himself in danger most of the time. But no matter the cause, the weight of the known galaxy couldn't just rest on the shoulders of one man.

Looking around, she brought up her omnitool to check the status of the various repair teams. She scrolled through the various things on the to-do list and looked for the most tedious and difficult task still underway. She needed to get her head back in the game and not up in the air like a damned teenager.

But, her thoughts innocently began, maybe there was another way I could protect him? She nursed the thought as she headed towards the elevator. The door opened, and she was startled out of her thoughts as Zaeed almost bumped into her. "Oh! Zaeed, I'm sorry, I was just…"

"Easy now, no harm done." Came his cool reply as he stepped aside and let her in. "Going down?"

Honestly, she didn't know what to think of the man. He was stern and blunt, but at the same time loud and boisterous. "Thank you, Zaeed." Was her reply as her hand went to press the button of the level she was going to.

"So formal." He said suddenly, making her freeze in her tracks. He just grinned at her. Zaeed had somewhat taken the lead while Shepard was incapacitated, even though the position officially fell to Miranda. Tali suspected that the other woman wasn't taking this usurpation slightly. "I don't suppose it's any of my business really, but..."

Tali cocked her head to the side, expectantly, but Zaeed just left it at that. Hesitantly, she said "But what?"

"You look like hell."

"Excuse me?" She said indignantly. He couldn't even see her face.

"It's the body language, see?" He said, turning to her, as if he had read her mind. "You're usually perkier than this, have you had any sleep since we brought Shepard on board?"

"I'm fine."

"And now you're lying to me, Miss Zorah."

"Look, I'm fine, Zaeed." She said heatedly.

"And now you're agitated, sure signs of exhaustion."

Her mouth was hanging open as she stared at him indignantly, looking for the right words to counter back. She dug and dug and dug, and suddenly, she felt tears welling up in her eyes. She slumped back down against the side of the lift and dropped to the floor, sobbing. "I've seen Shepard in these kinds of situations before." she began, between sobs, "Keelah, I even saw him die!"

Zaeed hit the emergency stop on the lift, sealing the doors, then sat down on the floor opposite to her.

Tali continued, "But this... Keelah Zaeed, It tears me up knowing that he'll keep doing this and one day his luck will run out!" She was close to hysterical. "And I... I can't even protect him. Not from himself."

"Oh I don't know about that..." Zaeed offered, softly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well... You are a quarian, right?"

Though in possession of two left feet, as Shepard had once said, the dance of death was one performance that Garrus excelled at. It was an art that did not leave much room for those who do it poorly to have a second chance. Unfortunately for Garrus, his current dance partner was also an artisan in the dealing of swift death. They had been at it for a while now, blades flashing in the fire. Each of their strikes were surgical and precise, the defenses and the last second parries more so.

"Too slow." Garrus said as he dodged to the left and retaliated with a strike of his own, causing the Salarian to back off, narrowly missing the blade. Garrus followed up the attack with a punch from his off-hand. As he had hope for, it was easily blocked by the salarian, giving Garrus the opening he needed to raise his leg and kick the eclipse merc hard in the chest, creating some space between them. "Way too slow."

Jantar sneered as he regained his footing, this Archangel was proving to be quite the competent hand-to-hand fighter, but he was no push over himself. "Well fuck you, too." He said as he ran forward, blades to his side. Garrus stepped back and drew the blade towards Jantar, but the salarian ducked into a roll towards his flank, dodging the blade which stabbed into air.

Garrus cursed as he turned to compensate but his flank was left wide open to Jantars knife. The blade wedged past his armor and through his chitinous hide, tearing through the flesh in his side. Bringing up an elbow, he struck the salarian hard in the head, knocking him back and dislodging the blade in the process. Turning around, he swung his knife wildly, catching the stunned slarian in the chest and cutting through his armor in a shower of sparks, but failing to draw blood. He staggered backwards, arm covering the gash on his side, blood running freely. He had run out of omni-gel ages ago, and the bleeding showed no signs of letting. He cringed as he pressed his hand harder against the wound, hoping to stave off the inevitable for a little while longer.

"What's the matter, Archangel?" Jantar said, as he stepped back, giving the blades a twirl in each hand. He ran towards him again, arms drawn back across his chest, and slashed furiously at Garrus, who could only just barely defend. "Where's your talk now?"

The flames were roaring now, and Garrus' lungs were starving for air and his side cried in pain. He hopped back as Jantar began a barrage of thrusts with his knives, each strike aiming for his vital points. Twirling the knife in his own hand, Garrus parried them in a wave of motion. Twisting in place, his center of gravity suddenly shifted towards the salarian and he went past his knives to deliver a solid punch to the face with his off hand. It caught Jantar unawares in the jaw and sent him stumbling back a few feet and onto the floor. Not wasting a moment, Garrus lunged through the air after him, blade held up high, ready to pierce Jantar's heart.

The salarian shook off the cobwebs in his head and raised both his legs, meeting Garrus' lunge with both his boots to the gut, sending the turian vigilante backwards and giving himself enough time to recover. With a heave, he sprung back onto his feet and flexed his shoulders, raising both knives in front of him. "Not bad, for a turian." Jantar mocked as he approached Garrus.

"I do try to liven things up." Garrus replied, getting back on his feet, knife pointed towards the approaching Eclipse captain. His gaze drifted towards their surroundings. A large part of the room was now covered in flames. The door and the vent he popped out of were practically impossible to reach at this point, and his options of exits were steadily declining the longer the fight took place. He clutched his side tighter, all this action making his wound worse, that kick to the gut making the bleeding more profuse.

He shifted his footing. He would have to end it in the next strike.

Their eyes met and no more words were said. Jantar broke into a run and slashed the blades wildly. Garrus deflected each strike of the assault with his own knife, falling back as Jantar's attacks seemed to come from all directions. Garrus' eyes darted around, looking for an opening in the flurry of knives. No such luck; Jantar's defenses were as tight as his offense. He felt the heat rise behind him and he knew he was being slowly backed into the flames. He needed an opening, and by the spirits if it didn't present itself, he'd have to make his own. The heat was stinging him now. It was now or never.

It happened so suddenly, and Garrus cringed as he felt the bite of cold steel in his flesh again. He was stabbed, but his mandibles twisted into a victorious grin. Garrus' right fist was clenched as he tightened his grip onto Jantar's left hand, the salarian's blade going through his palm and out the other side. In the span of the same second, his free hand, blade and all, rushed into Jantar's right shoulder.

He buried it into the hilt and twisted, dislocating the salarian's arm with a sickening pop, causing it to fall limply to the side, knife dropping to the floor. Jantar yelled in agony as Garrus pulled it out and swiftly began stabbing the salarian in the liver, heart and both lungs.

Jantar's knees were buckling, the sheer shock of it all, as well as Garrus' grip, being the only things that kept him standing. His yell of pain became a sickly gurgle as his lungs filled up with blood, bubbling out of his mouth in crimson foam.

With a groan of pain, he unceremoniously kicked the dying salarian into the fires, instantly consuming him. The heat was intense now, and Garrus found himself slumping against a wall, his vision blurring as the blood loss took its toll. He always knew his life style of gun slinging and merc-killing would catch up to him, but never like this. All the while, his communicator had been flashing non-stop to an incoming transmission. "Garrus here…" he answered weakly. Kasumi's voice was urgent with worry.

"Garrus! Thank God… That place is on fire!"

"I noticed."

"Well get the hell out of there!"

"Would love to," he replied weakly, leaning his head against the wall, "but I think it's too late for me."

"What are you talking about?"

"Tell Shepard I tried to take care of our problem…" It was starting to fade to black now. "You guys get out of here, Garrus out."

Kasumi stood there in the shadows, mouth hanging open as the comm-link disconnected. "He hung up on me." She started, baffled and confused. Her brow suddenly furrowed in anger and frustration. "The cheeky bastard actually hung up on me!" Legion was crouched beside her, eyeing the burning office through the scope of his rifle. They were both on the ground level, the building burning high above them, all the while dodging what remained of the eclipse mercs that scurried about panicking.

"It would appear that all routes of entry or exit have been blocked. Sprinkler systems have long been disable and unoperational." Legion began as he scoped the place out. "I cannot compute any favorable outcome to this scenario."

Kasumi rubbed her temples, deep in thought. Hell no was she going to be the one to explain to Shepard what the fuck just happened here. No, no, no. Garrus did not just put her in this situation. That bastard will not die today, not until she's through with him, at least. "Legion, lend me your rifle." She said urgently.

"Affirmative."

She looked through the scope and scanned the office. What Legion said was true; all conventional points of entry and exit were blocked. It was conceivably impossible to get to Garrus in time before the fires consumed him. Fortunately, impossible odds were her forte. She didn't become the best thief in the galaxy if she'd let a blazing fire and good judgment stop her. Her eyes fell towards the crane. Shoving the rifle back to legion, she flipped out her omnitool and scanned the office for Garrus' location. It took a second, but it finally gave her a lock on. "Legion, I need you to hack into that crane for me!"

"It is beyond my signal strength to influe-" He began, but was cut off by Kasumi's voice. Emotion was still a foreign thing to the geth, but after its stint with the crew of the Normandy, it could gather its nature, if not understand it. Kasumi's eyes looked at him pleadingly.

"Please Legion…" she began, "I need you to try."

"Very well. I will need to get closer."

"So do I." She said, suddenly disappearing from sight as her cloak activated. Kasumi ran out of cover, bolting out of the shadows and across a wide clear area, slipping past several mercs who were gawking at the burning structure. She sprinted towards one of the cargo trailers and ran up its side, her inertia allowing her to defy gravity. Once on top, she ran and hopped across the trailers, making her way towards the crane, whose hook was fairly above ground level. "Legion!" She said between breaths. "What… What's your status!"

"Negative." Legion replied as he slinked from cover to cover, rifle at the ready should his presence be made known. He brought it up and ran for the next spot, still unnoticed by the growing crowd of Eclipse. "I will attempt again."

Kasumi clicked her tongue in annoyance as she leapt across the gap to another trailer. She landed in a roll and smoothly got up, not losing speed in the slightest. She was hopping over a mountain of scrap now, taking a longer route to avoid running into the bulk of the Eclipse. There was a loud rumbling noise and a portion of the office exploded, sending fiery debris to crash down on those dumb enough to stand below it. Her eyes jumped to her omnitool and she was relieved to see that it was the was on the far side from where Garrus was lying still. "Jeez Louis Legion, how about now?"

"Negative."

"No pressure." She replied, her cloak flickering as the energy drained. "It's not like lives depend on it or anything like that!" She was running out of ground fast, and the winch lay almost ten feet away across the edge of the trailer. She only had one shot at this. With a last second push of strength, she leapt high into the air off the edge of the trailer, cloak deactivating as she desperately reached out for the cable. "Anytime soon would be nice!"

There was no response.

"Legion!" Time seemed to slow down as her feet left the ground and her outstretched hand sought the cable. She wasn't going to make it, she thought to herself. She always wanted to die of old age living in comfort, not in some cesspool of a space station while she was still young and beautiful. I guess she could add that to the list of things she'd berate Garrus with when they saw each other in the afterlife. All those paintings and works of art she would never have the pleasure of acquiring. Not only that, but there was still something more troubling than that; She still needed to talk to Jacob about, well, about what didn't happen that night they had a drink. Her gut wrenched at the thought, more so than it already had. She was losing her momentum, and the winch cable of the crane was still far from reach.

Damn it, Garrus, I can't die yet! She thought annoyed. At least she would see Keiji again.

Suddenly, the winch cable drew closer, and she barely had enough time to process the thought as her hand instinctively wrapped around it in a white knuckle grip. She swung like an erratic pendulum as both her hands held tight, trying to hold on. Her mind was on autopilot as she swung to and fro, not registering what just happened. A monotone voice brought her back to reality, and Kasumi let out a sigh of relief.

"I have assumed control of the crane."

"Legion, I could just kiss you right now!" She said, smiling ear to ear as she steadied herself.

"Be advised, your presence has been made known to hostile elements."

"Uh-huh…"she replied realizing she wasn't cloaked anymore, her smile fading as her attention drifted to the mercs who were starting to gather below her. "Oh, hey! Don't mind me, I just took a wrong turn on the last dank, sleazy alley way."

"Who the fuck are you?" A human merc said as over a dozen rifles were training their sights on her. He raised his pistol towards her, scrutinizing the thief. "Are you the one responsible for this disaster?"

"Steady boys, here, let me show you some ID…" She said as she stood on the hook of the winch, one hand wrapped around the cable and the other slowly reaching for something in her pack. She flung the flash grenade in the center of the group and turned away as white light enveloped the surroundings. "Take me up, Legion!"

"Affirmative."

Leaning back as the cable shot upwards, she secured the back of her knees on the hook and hung upside down, looking down at the mercs who were still stunned by the blinding light. Drawing her sub machine gun in one hand and her pistol in the other, she spun around and pulled the triggers, raining swift death on several of them. It didn't take long before the rest panicked and blindly ran for cover, firing blindly up into the air.

The shots whizzed harmlessly past her as she continued to ascend high up towards the burning office. Flipping around with ease, she was now hanging on to the hook with her hands, her body coiling like a spring, waiting for the inevitable. The cable suddenly stopped, and at the speed it was going, it snapped Kasumi high up into the rafters. With the grace of an acrobat, she flipped twice in the air, landing neatly onto the roof of the office. Luckily, her shields held as the heat swallowed her. She looked to her left, then to her right, eyes looking for… something? "Shoot, I didn't think this part through."