I slowly wave my hand in front on *********'s tense scolding face. He's been in a trance ever since I told him Tali was in danger. The other crew members are worried about his atypical mood. ********* Quickly finished his dinner.
"What did you do you him Commander? He looks pissed" Miranda asks.
Jack says "it's kinda turning me on."
"Can he hear us?" Garrus asks.
"Yes" ********* said.
"Please try to relax. I heard from her a while ago and her team isn't in immediate danger" I said. That relieved him of some stress. It's hard to tell what goes on in his head. ********* made no mention of the boiled over stew or the mess it made. I told him I would clean it up and had no reaction.
"What's going on?" Garrus asks.
"Tali's in danger and"
"Got it" Garrus said.
"Who is Tali?" Grunt slurps his near empty bowl.
"She was our combat engineer on the original Normandy and they grew close. ********* Returned to the migrant fleet shortly before he left for Tuchunka" I explained.
"Migrant fleet? Is she a quarian? Commander I do not think it is a good idea to bring her aboard" Miranda said. ********* glares at her and softly growls. A chill runs up everyone's spine. Even Grunt is afraid.
"What I meant was, Cerberus infiltrated the migrant fleet to collect data on the geth and the mission went sour. I didn't mean to imply anything about quarians." Miranda said. ********* gets up from the table.
"I'm going to do some training. I'll meet you at the decontamination area. I apologized for freighting you. It wasn't my wish."
Thane wipes away the residue liquid from the corners of his mouth "Commander Shepard, were the two of them bonded?"
"No. Tali was on pilgrimage and not considered an adult by her people's standard so no moves were made. Plus, he wasn't planning on staying on the Normandy or ever seeing us again" I explained.
"Is she cute?" Grunt asks.
"They wear hazmat suits all the time" Garrus said.
"Doesn't mean she isn't cute" Kasumi said.
"You kinda remind me a lot of her if she was a lot more mischievous" I said.
Dinner is finished and I get to work cleaning the stovetop. It cooled down by now and a wet paper towel and elbow grease did the job. My mom used to tell me stories about how she would get distracted cooking and nearly burn down the entire ship. I remember she sprayed some white chemicals and let it soak before wiping away the crust. These new ovens don't require it.
Hours have passed and it's time. The solar radiation on this planet is super intense due to abnormalities within the star. Mordin modified our shield tech to reflect most radiation, but the downside is the battery drains much faster and we can still receive a bad sunburn. A small team should be ideal for this type of situation. With me is Garrus and Thane. I message ********* and he comes right away.
"Why are you here?" He asks Thane.
"I requested it. Experience with the Geth may be beneficial in the future. Also, the low humidity and heat will be beneficial to my health" Thane's condition has slowly progressed. About once a month he coughs up a thick phlegm. Thane still has a while to live, it's when the blood comes up, he won't have much time.
"Wait, is that the?"
"Yes" ********* interrupts me.
"Do you think we'll need that?" I ask. Without breaking his gaze, the weapon is loaded. I see what kind of training he was talking about.
We go through the mandatory decontamination procedure and the door opens wide. Garrus removes one glove and extends that hand into the sunlight. He retracts nearly instantly.
"Be careful guys. Palavan, my homeworld, has stronger solar radiation than the galactic average and this burns me. Cover up, stick to the shadows, and run as fast as you can" Garrus said.
He is in full body armor so should be fine. I'm wearing a new combat set I picked up on Illum and thought this would be a good opportunity to test it out and see if it will be useful. It came with a helmet so I won't get too burned. Maybe the base of my neck. Thane reaches for a cord along his and *********'s neck which activates something. An enforced hoodie glides over the both of them which spooks *********.
I count down to three and we sprint down the steel ramp into the shadows of abandoned quarian buildings. If we weren't fully covered this would have been bad. I radio Miranda to drive the mako into the shade for our return. I'm not making that sprint again with possibly injured quarians.
"We don't have one Commander. I'll have the engineers work on it, so it isn't a problem" Miranda radios. How did I forget that? I flew the hammerhead multiple times.
The way to Tali's coordinates is blocked. She informs me her team left explosives near where I am but doesn't know exactly which spot. The person in charge sadly didn't make it. I look around for supplies and find the blasting caps. In the old days they would use copper wire to ignite dynamite or something. Now we use stronger stuff and detonated. with omni tools. This prevents unauthorized usage. Mostly for colonists doing illegal mining operations.
"Geth incoming" Garrus yells.
I secure the caps in my armor and run outside to face the geth. This will be my first time fighting the geth since the original Normandy. Tali informed me this planet is in geth occupied territory and to expect a fight. I hug the wall and peak out the entrance to find, all of them are already dead.
"Whoa you really hold back" Garrus said.
"Your aim with grenades is worthy of acclaim, however it was foolish to take on so many at once" Thane said.
********* ignores us and speedwalks into a building across the now machine graveyard. He comes back holding the explosives. The team returns to the original storage building where a doll sized hologram of the quarian leader appears.
"Commander Shepard, thank the ancestors you are here. More Geth arrived and killed my squad. I'm afraid I'm all that's left" the quarian said.
"I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner. But we're on our way" I said.
"Who is we exactly?" She asked.
"When there is trouble, there is double. Hi Tali!" ********* Cheerily said.
"*********!" She joyfully cries.
"I'm here to Tali. Good to see you after so long" Garrus waves.
"Getting the old squad back together? Bosh'tet they're almost inside. Come quick" her miniature phantoms fades away.
We have to hurry. I attach the blasting caps to the explosives then I sync my omnitool to the bombs. I point to where it is safe to place them and ********* immediately does so, then retreats to cover.
"Firing in three… two… one" the shockwave rattles the ground. This does not phase *********. His weapon is aimed, and he scopes the crudely made entrance, then runs.
"********* get back here" I hate it when my squad mates are out of view. He should know better than this. I sprint towards him and hear the sounds of gunfire. When I find him, ********* is helping a red suited quarian with a blue mask. He sees us then directs his attention to the geth. Tali is on the opposite side where, oh shit, a colossus.
********* Is more acrobatic than he appears. The geth we first encountered were dealt swiftly by him alone. It's like he knew where they would land. The explosive disabled their shields, and a volley of headshots destroyed any chance of attack. My son would say he spawn killed them.
The more I analyze *********'s behavior, the less I am convinced he possesses the ability to see the future. Although when we are on certain missions, it's as if he gets a feeling how things will occur. Not a veteran's intuition forged from decades of experience. Curious. When the injured male quarian repeatedly offered assistance despite Shepard's insistence, ********* glared at him and said not to worry with full confidence, which changed his mind. He explained the situation with differing geth on left and right sides of the combat area and the special self-regenerating colossus.
Shepard thinks we should take the more numerous but weaker geth to the left while ******** distracts the snipers. I get in position between commander Shepard and Garrus. I use peripheral vision to watch *********'s status and I am shocked. He walks straight into the Geth 's fire and unloads his weapon. Both his and the first sniper's shields are popped. Is he trying to get himself killed? He punches the geth in the facial lens, grabs the sniper rifle, and turns it on the second sniper. Disabling its shield and finishing it off with a grenade. The geth currently in his arms was thrown off the side and fell to its demise. Incredibly risky, but effective and not his usually style. Wait he's not attempting to fight the colossus alone, is he?
********* throws all the grenades he has, fires his primary weapon, then uses a weapon I never seen before. Three shots of a tremendous explosive of various degrees produce a tear in its shell. ******** dashes towards the colossus and fires repeatedly inside the body. The mechanical creature makes a noise as if it is in agonizing pain. ********* Flips back and hides behind a concrete slab. The white metal slowly heats up to a soft red glow then colossus explodes. The remaining geth are easily dispatched by us.
"Remind me never to get on his bad side" Garrus said.
"That was gigantically stupid *********!" Commander Shepard shouts. ********* does not care.
********* waits by the door and let's Shepard go in first. The commander removes his headgear and knocks. The orange display turns green, and the room is accessible. Shepard walks in and we follow. The purple swirly adorned quarian is smaller than I am and has her back turned. She is typing something into a computer console.
"There finished. Shepard it is so good to see you. I can't thank you enough" she walks closer and gingerly holds the commander's left elbow.
She turns her attention to ********* and hugs him tightly. He pauses for a moment then holds her dearly. He whispers "I'm so glad you're safe" and a moment later retracts himself. Is he embarrassed?
"Garrus what happened to you?" She asks.
"Thanks to Shepard I took a rocket to the face. My incredibly charismatic face was sacrificed for a second chance at life" Garrus explains the origin of his injury which healed nicely.
"Let's hope that doesn't happen again" ********* comments.
"Oh hello. I'm Tali Vas Neema Nor Raya. Please just call me Tali" she holds hold her turian like hand. I rarely have the chance to meet a quarian. Assassination targets tend not to be members of the migrant fleet.
"It's a pleasure madam. You're clearly an important person to three of them" I glance to the turian and two humans.
"Especially when somebody takes on a colossus single handedly" Garrus laughs.
"YOU WHAT?!" the violet quarian brings her mask in front of *********'s surrendered face.
"I had a really good gun" he defends himself.
She sighs. "Don't do anything stupid again!"
"I dealt with worse!" ********* Strained voice says. Shepard rubs his hand down along his face, not attemtping to his his smile.
The surviving red quarian finds us and Tali is delighted he is alive, although informs him that she will not be joining him back to her fleet. Instead, she'll become a member of our crew. Shepard offers him a ride which he kindly turns down. On the way to the Normandy, small talk about the past few years and the change in *********'s skin color. I forgot humans can darken slightly when chronically exposed to sun. The scales coating a drell will thicken slightly.
Tali stops walking. We turn around. Her breath slowly becomes erratic and heavy. An anxiety episode. ********* Kneels down and asks what is wrong.
"I forgot this is cerberus. What they did to my people" her labored breaths become worse. An intense panic attack. My Shia would have those before I went on risky endeavors. ********* Instructs her to focus on her belly, in and out slowly. Holding her hands.
"Hey hey hey. It's Shepard, Garrus, and I. There won't be any xenophobia. I'm positive the illusive man sent us his most friendly people. We have three more aliens on the ship. Four if we count Zaheed. If it helps, I won't let anything bad happen to you. I promise. You know I keep my word" ********* softly says.
Garrus and Shepard chuckle. I assume it's related. That is true. It's very rare for him to make a promise but he does honor his word. Tali calms down and says she'll be ok and that she trusts *********.
I'm unaware what exactly the engineers did but we didn't have to sprint inside the ship. The sunlight was not an issue. The human pilot joker stands up and hugs Tali.
"Are you two good friends?" ********* Asks.
"Oh yeah we talked a bunch back on the original Normandy. Mostly modifications we could make to improve flight capability and maneuvers." Joker said.
"It was a lot of back and forth and he even gave me good ideas I used to benefit the Raya" Tali said.
The holographic sphere of the artificial intelligence calling itself EDI introduces itself to Tali, which angers her.
"Relax we talk a lot, and she is fine. If she is anything like at go and gets all terminator judgment day, I'll deal with her pretty easily" ********* said.
"I managed to tie you recently at our games. I may prove a challenge" EDI's response tenses the quarian.
"I let you tie me. I was THAT BORED" he gazes intensely at Shepard. ********* is back.
