Author's note: appreciate all the love and feedback for the first chapter! Here's the second one, it's a little shorter but I hope it's enjoyable.
As always let me know of any mistakes you see or any feedback you might have!
Appreciate the support.
Outer courtyard, Freedom's Progress, January 12, 2185, late evening local time
The marines had spread evenly throughout the courtyard in anticipation hoping to overwhelm and outflank the behemoth that been expected to greet them. Instead the contingent was met with an abundance of mechs and drones swarming their position.
The situation itself wasn't dire, Tali knew her team was capable of fending off the onslaught of the low-level mechs. But she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth as the human saying went, the addition of Shepard had been a boon.
The use of his biotics was impressive noticing the others staring in bewilderment amidst the lulls in gunfire. It was understandable, The existence of quarian biotics was infinitesimally rare due to the lack of the requisite element zero exposure. It was only in the instances of drive-core leaks, that the children of those exposed developed weak abilities.
The marines themselves encountered biotics rarely, save for the few batarian pirates and slavers that were encountered on retributive operations or reconnaissance missions. She hadn't known the entire service history of each marine but she knew it was highly unlikely any had seen a biotic with the pure power that Shepard had.
She peered at one such instance, where the man threw a biotic pull that separated and captured two mechs in his grasp, floating in the air helpless. He then subsequently drew the mechs towards him, holding them in their suspended positions.
"Overload, now!" He shouted, causing her to jerk back to attention, his voice through her comms startling her. She composed herself and quickly unfurled the requested program causing the mechs to fall to the ground in a pile of sparking scrap metal.
She marveled at him, he hadn't even used her shotgun once, solely relying on his biotics which had worried her. If what he said had been true, he had only been awake for a few hours and here he was exerting himself for the sake of aiding her and her fellow marines.
"Shepard, don't overdo it, we haven't even seen the YMIR," she shouted out, finding that her plea was ignored, the man unleashing a shockwave that cascaded and toppled an incoming phalanx of mechs.
"It'll be less to deal with once it finally comes," he shouted back, "is it even in this area at all?" She looked down at her omnitool, it was an honest question. She ran through the scans and found that the dreaded machine was behind a sealed door, guarding who she could only assume was Veetor.
"Shepard, it's on the other side of that door. The one separating the courtyard we're in with the what I assume is a cargo bay. I need to unlock the door, but once I do we'll be exposed."
The human thought a moment, "Tali, I'll cover you while you unlock the door, once it's open have the others rush to cover on what I assume will be raised scaffolding. I'll distract it enough so that they're not fired on, okay?"
She hadn't liked it, exposing himself to relentless machine gun fire or a flurry of rockets. "Shepard…" was all she managed before she saw him once again cloak himself in a field of rich purple. "It'll be fine, Tali. Do you trust me?"
There was no question she had but it wasn't a matter of her trust in his abilities, it was that he seemed determined on sacrificing himself to protect the others. She shook her head and responded, "yes, Shepard, I do."
"Good. Then let's hurry, we'll get that door open. No one dies today, I won't allow it. I won't let anyone die under your command." She stood there speechless, watching him run towards the dock at doors. She relayed the order to Prazza, "Shepard is providing cover for me while I open the door. Once it's open do not rush in, Shepard is keen on drawing its fire so that we're not as exposed and can find cover."
The marine was taken aback, "he's going to try and draw fire from that thing? That's suicide, we can provide suppressive fire, he doesn't need to do that."
She shook her head, "there's no changing his mind Prazza. He's adamant that no one dies today and I can't find an argument against that."
The harsh sigh echoed in her helmet, "okay. I hope your mate knows what he's doing." She nearly choked, the response had surprised her but before she could respond Shepard's voice rerouted her attention.
"Tali, I'm at the door, I've cleared it of what mechs I could, you should be clear to approach. I'll cover you in case others arrive."
She ran to the terminal, finding a smoldering pile of mechanical bodies welcoming her on her path. She began accessing protocols while Shepard had his back to her scanning the area for potential reinforcements.
The code ran across her screen, her own countermeasures appearing beneath it waging a war for access. The defenses were tight, surprisingly so for a simple docking door but then again Veetor likely strengthened the security protocol.
The door clambered open, slowly retracting into the wall. Shepard looked at her and gave a slight nod of his head before charging into the adjacent courtyard, she stood behind waiting for the other marines to join her.
Lena ran to her, "Prazza mentioned what he's doing, is he crazy? That thing is three meters tall and weighs nearly a thousand kilograms.."
"I know Lena," she snapped, "I know." She glanced at the empty prefab ahead of her, "he used to do this all the time. I'd worry then, but now? He died, Lena and he's back somehow and the first thing he does is take on an YMIR head-on. I can't do it again, Lena."
Lena had taken a step towards her with open arms when a muffled explosions drew their attention, Shepard had made contact with the YMIR. The explosions continued, followed by bursts of machine gun fire. The marines held firm waiting for the all-clear, either from her or from Shepard in comms, despite the obvious danger that he was involved in.
"Tali, shouldn't we at least offer suppressive fire? It seems like he's taking a beating from that thing, he can't hold on much longer," despite his earlier doubts of the man, Prazza seemed worried offering his assessment.
"Prazza, I understand but trust me. If he said wait until he gave the signal, it's best we wait. He can handle himself, he is a member of an elite marine unit for humans." The man only nodded, but despite her words she wasn't convinced. It took every fiber of her being not to rush the courtyard and protect the man who had done the same for her numerous times.
It was then that the gunfire ceased and Shepard voice came crackling through, "there is little cover, only three buildings…one to the north and one to the south. The one in the east I assume is where Veetor is. Hug the wall to your right as soon as you enter and take cover in the prefab to the south."
A hail of gunfire cut him off, causing her to panic but his own voice remained measured and calm "I would enter now, I have it's attention in the north. Go quickly before it's sensors track you."
The marines did as instructed, following the length of the wall until they reached the designated prefab. Shepard had been right, she saw that the only cover was the thin steel of the prefab beneath two large plate glass windows. She looked around the crowded room, it was adorned with two large steel shelves, a bed and a couch.
"Take these and place them against the window," she pointed at the shelves, "once we've built a decent barricade we'll lay down suppressive fire while a group heads to that building in the north. We can't have ten people in one building."
Prazza nodded in agreement, "I'll lead a group of half and you'll lead the other. We'll let you know once we've established a foothold in the building. We'll take cover behind the crates if it directs fire towards us."
She nodded, waiting until the barricades had been established. When that was completed she patched herself into Shepard's own helmet radio, establishing a personal connection between the two. "Shepard, we're going to be fortifying ourselves in this building and Prazza's leading a team into the building in the north. Do you copy?"
There was brief pause, "copy. Do it quick, I'm almost against a wall here." The line disconnected and she gave the order, Prazza's team exited the building while hers laid down suppressive fire. It drew the attention of the YMIR which turned and directed fire at the building.
The gunfire pierced through the hastily constructed barricade causing their shields to flicker but it held. "Tali we can't hold out like this much longer we need to move," Lena said cowering behind the bookshelf.
Tali looked at her omnitool, "I think I can hack it, I just need to get closer." She made her way to the door, but Lena grabbed her shoulder, "are you insane? You'll get killed, that thing will focus on you once it recognizes you're attempting to hack it."
She scoffed, "it's not a geth, Lena. Just continue to fire at it, it won't take me long." She exited the building and made for a large crate mere meters from the mech. She opened her omnitool accessing her hacking program, she isolated the functions of the mech before her and it came to a whirring stop.
The machine seemed to power down, the machine's once glowing red "eye" now dark and unmoving. She celebrated shifting her position to motion for the marines to join her but it seemed her hubris was to be punished.
"Tali!" She heard Shepard yelling, before she turned to see the now revived YMIR lumbering toward her. She ran for cover but was lifted off the ground by an exploding rocket that had landed a few meters behind her. She managed to recollect herself and continued towards the prefab however another explosion landing far closer to her than the previous one sent her careening towards the corner of the prefab.
She crashed against the building's corner, falling with a harsh thud on the ground below. She attempt to continue inside the prefab but found she was unable to move, paralyzed due to the collision or perhaps due to fear, she didn't know.
The mech had now closed the distance and had aimed the machine gun at her prone form. She closed her eyes accepting her fate, her own brief flash of arrogance her downfall. Memories now flashed before her, images of her childhood merged into those from her pre-pilgrimage years until two from adulthood came into focus.
The faces of her late mother and that of the man who was now sprinting toward her. She had at least seen him once more, the smile she loved so much, now she welcomed a reunion with her mother amongst the Ancestors.
She imagined the plains of Rannoch, her mother's hand in hers enjoying the last rays of warmth from Tikkun as they spread across their unsuited skin.
But it hadn't come. She opened her eyes and saw a flash of dark blue charge into the mech causing the machine to lose balance. Shepard appeared at its side, climbing it shouting at the top of his lungs. He shot round after round into the back of its head, the red-eye dimming. He then reached his hands around the mechanical eye and pulled leaning back as the eye slowly came out of the socket, leaving the wiring attached.
To her shock the self-destruct protocol hadn't activated and the machine simply fell, a metal heap. Shepard ran to her side unaware of the presence of the two Cerberus operatives, his focus solely on her, and her alone.
"Commander, we came running as soon as we heard extensive gunfire…" the man she had remembered Shepard calling Jacob paused, assessing the damage to the mech in front of him.
The woman known as Miranda was not as enthused, but Shepard didn't seem to care, his attention had been on helping her to sit against the wall of the prefab.
"Commander, that was insanely brash and near suicidal going into a fight like that with no proper back-up. And the quarians were of no help either. It figures…" she trailed off, but Shepard had enough. He addressed the woman in standard English.
"Ms. Lawson, I would guard your tongue. I'm sure one of these marines would be happy to shoot it off. And I wouldn't stop them."
The human woman ignored him, "Commander, if we're done here," Miranda said, as if she was bored, "we need to find evidence of what happened here."
"That evidence," Shepard said, "is with that quarian locked in that prefab across the courtyard and you're not going near him. Understood? We'll talk to him and I'll send the evidence your way."
"Commander, if that quarian has evidence we need to question him. We need to bring him back…"
"No," Shepard barked, "you're not interrogating a man who is probably delirious and has seen an entire colony abducted. Especially if he's to be interrogated by Cerberus."
"He wouldn't be harmed," Jacob interjected, but Shepard cut him off. "Enough. He's not going anywhere but the Migrant Fleet."
The woman started to glow blue, anger strewn across her face, however Jacob the calmer of the three grabbed her and pulled her aside.
"Miri, it's not worth it, let's go. He'll send us evidence if he finds it, we knew he'd act like this with us to start," he whispered, "and the man just took down a damn YMIR by himself. You're good, Miri, but not that good."
Tali saw the woman huff, her arms folded across her chest glaring at Shepard. "Fine. We're leaving. Good luck with these…people." She sauntered off toward the shuttle, Jacob stayed behind however to speak with Shepard.
"If you find evidence please send it to us to examine. I know you're wary of us, and I get that, but it might help us determine who is behind these abductions."
Shepard paid the man no attention, gesturing towards Lena to come and examine her. It was at this moment she felt the searing pain, her legs stiffened and she winced with each movement as she attempted to find a comfortable position.
Jacob paused while looking at Tali, "I imagine you're heading back to the Migrant Fleet with her?" Shepard looked at her, "yes. I won't abandon her, especially when she's injured," he sighed. "Jacob, I don't hate you, I don't. But I am not joining that organization, at least not yet. I need time," he looked at her, "she needs time and I won't let her suffer through this alone."
Jacob nodded in understanding, "I get it, Commander. Just contact us when you're ready, wherever you decide to go from here." The man gave a quick salute and ran back towards the docking bay door.
She looked back at Shepard, allowing a comfortable silence to settle between the two before she spoke. "You'd…come back to the Fleet with me?" He nodded, "of course. If they'd have me that is, I won't be a burden. At the very least I'll make sure you're settled and then figure out where I'll go next. Maybe try to find Garrus, or even Liara?"
She felt a slight orange of jealousy at the mention of the asari's name but she let it pass. "Shepard, I'm sure you'll be welcomed with open arms on the Fleet, but you don't have to return with me if you don't want to." She refrained from expressing her true feelings, she had hoped that he'd either accept her invitation to return or that he'd ask to return to her, carrying her in his arms…
Lena had reached Tali's side, a harsh prick shaking her from the pleasant thought. "It's a pain medication, looked like your back snapped in half," she cradled her face in her hands, "I told you not to engage that YMIR."
"But Shepard…" she trailed off, the effects of the medication spreading through her placing her in a near euphoric state.
"I was fine, Tali. It might've taken a bit, but the 'death by a thousand cuts' approach was working." He sat down beside her, "either way we handled it. Why don't you rest while I see to Veetor," he looked at Prazza who had now approached the trio.
"Prazza why don't you join me while I try to speak with Veetor, we should be fine since the YMIR is useless." The quarian man looked at the smoking heap behind the man, "I'd say so," he then turned to Tali. "Lieutenant, what are your orders?"
She barely heard the man her thoughts a whirling fog but she maintained some semblance of cognizance. "Go with Shepard to extract Veetor, and have a team look for scrap and new clothes and armor for the handsome human, yeah?"
She hadn't heard the snicker from Lena nor saw the uncomfortable shift in posture from both Prazza and Shepard. The men cleared their throats, Prazza offering a curt response, "yes ma'am." He shouted the order, while following Shepard to the far end of the courtyard. "I mean you aren't bad looking, minus the scars…"
"Prazza, stop talking." She giggled and noticed that Lena was shaking her head and laughing, "how're you feeling, Tali? The medication working?"
"It is! I feel great," she tried to stand but found she couldn't, "can't feel my legs though but that's okay, Shepard can carry me. She let out a dreamy sigh, "he's back, Lena. He's actually back and he's coming back to the Flotilla!"
"Oh, is he now? And how do you plan to explain that to my mother, or your father?" Tali shrugged, "I don't know, but all I know is that he's back and wherever he goes I'll follow. Be it on the Flotilla or not. I spent almost two years dreaming of this Lena, praying for it, that he'd come back to me and he has. I'm not leaving his side again."
Lena frowned she thought back to the countless nights of her friend screaming the man's name, reliving his death in a tormented, repeating cycle with sign of reprieve. She hoped that with his return that these nightmares would disappear, that her own mental torture would stop to at least a certain degree.
"I get that, and you know what, I'll join you. You're not going off alone on another adventure across the galaxy without me," she chuckled. "I was so jealous when you'd tell everyone your pilgrimage stories. You were out fighting geth, while I was stuck in a classroom teaching quarian biology."
It was Tali's turn to laugh, "yes, that's true. But think of all the great doctors that'll come out of it." She slapped her friends arm playfully, "yes, a new generation of doctors that think like me, what could go wrong?"
The women laughed until Shepard and Prazza appeared with Veetor in tow, the man babbling about not being safe.
"He…seems far gone. We calmed him down and he gave us his onnitool data regarding who abducted the colony, Shepard began, "but he needs medical help. Prazza said his blood oxygen level is dangerously low."
Lena nodded, "understood, Shepard. Tali's stable, I just ran a scan. She pinched a nerve which is making it so she can't walk, and she might have a fractured vertebra but that would need an X-ray not a scan to figure out. I'll take Veetor and get him settled for the flight back, though. It's a long one."
She came to his side and wrapped an arm around Veetor, "hello, I'm Lena'Raan vas Neema, you're safe now. We're going to bring you home, okay?" The quarian shook his violently, "can't stay here. Swarms. People gone, not safe."
She gave Shepard her a look, "I'll sedate him for the way back. He needs more than medical help, Shepard."
"Prazza, are the others almost finished with scavenging? Once word is out that there's an abandoned human colony it'll be swarmed with pirates. We could handle them it'd just be a rough time."
"I agree, Commander," Prazza said, "they're almost done. We seemed to have found a light armor set and some clothes that might fit, too. Though they might be a tight fit."
Shepard looked to where he was pointing, "it's not ideal but it's a start." He walked over to the suit, a set of black Colossus X light armor that appeared to be the proper size. He shrugged and began to take his own armor off, which drew an attempted wolf-whistle from Tali.
"Looking good, Shepard," she giggled and he could only shake his head, chuckling to himself while he finished putting on the last pieces of the armor. He returned to her, placing one arm underneath her knees and the other at her shoulder blades, lifting her and causing her to giggle again.
"Oh, commander, you're being a little forward now aren't you?" She saw the faintest shade of red appear on his cheeks despite the scars and she laughed at him. "If I remember correctly, blushing is a sign of embarrassment in humans. Are you embarrassed, Shepard? Does the meek little quarian have the human commander flustered?" Her tone was playful and teasing but it didn't help the blush that now fully graced his face.
He looked down at her to offer a response but found that her glowing white eyes weren't visible, having passed out, thankfully.
This'll be fun to explain to her when she wakes up. He chuckled to himself and followed the other marines to the quarian ship. He thought of the days events while Tali moved in his arms in a struggle to find a comfortable position, and he couldn't help but smile.
He had been on an operating table mere hours before, awakened to a station under siege. Then escorted light years from that position to an abandoned human colony where he met one of his former crew. One of his closest friends.
He hadn't known what was in store for him but knew that he wouldn't abandon her when she needed him most. That much he did know, whether he was accepted by the Flotilla or not.
Cerberus base, Location unknown, January 12, 2185
"It appears Shepard won't be joining us, sir," Miranda said coldly, "I'm sorry that we failed you."
"It was not a failure Ms. Lawson, in fact it was expected," the shadowed figure said between puffs of a cigarette. "We had wanted to bring Shepard back whole, no changes to his personality or psyche. If he had not gone off with the quarian, it would have aroused my suspicions, Ms. Lawson, do you understand?"
She nodded her head.
"Good. Based on patterns from previous attacks we find that the Collectors do not conduct operations in quick succession. These are done sporadically. These patterns indicate the next planned abduction to be, at the minimum, in 4 months' time. Leave Shepard be, do not contact him. No doubt he will contact the Alliance and the Council. If an another attack occurs, so be it. There is a larger war being waged, and Shepard needs to trust that that is our sole focus, understood?."
Again, Miranda nodded.
"I do not expect to hear from you until he is by your side. And I reiterate, do not contact him or otherwise jeopardize his willingness to join us."
The connection went dark. Miranda slammed her fists on the table. What am I going to do for the next four months?