|Chapter: 9|
|Date: 5/8/2184|
|Location: Gemini Sigma/Han System/Aboard Corvette Class Ship: Event Horizon/ Housing Room|
"Still haven't unpacked your bag, I see." Juel mentioned before pointing at her stuff.
"I know, Juel, I know." She grumbled before reaching for the duffel, tossing it onto her cot, and opening it, "Just been holding it off."
"Uh huh."
She ignored him and went over it all over just for keep sake.
Inside were the usuals.
Stak-Aid-4 utensil packets.
Injection Medi-Gel.
Embuterolin Smear.
Thermal Clips, Suit Patches, Glass Sealant.
Back-up Omni-Tool, OSDs, Tablet.
Water.
The list went on with a dozen or more items.
"Yeah..." She said, suddenly disinterested in unpacking the stuff from her carry on, "I'm just gonna do it later."
Juel shrugged and thought little of her laziness.
"So. We've got a long while before we hit the Far Rim… how many relay jumps do we hit until we get there again? Five? Six?"
"Somewhere around there." She murmured before lying down.
Whew.
She hadn't realized how tired she was.
Her eyes flicker for a bit before finally closing.
"I'm tired..." Tali murmured, "Mind waking me if anything happens, Juel?" She turned over in her bed, slipped off her boots, and covered herself in a cheap comforter.
"Yeah." He nodded without sparing the chance to look at her, "When you wake up, we can pass the time by going over these eezo reports… I've been checking the spread sheet for days. Could use some help."
"I'd rather we play some blackjack." She mumbled sleepily.
"Black... Jack?"
"Human game John and I…"
"Tali?" He looked over to see she'd fallen asleep.
"Damn... Never seen someone just lose like that right in the middle of talking." He said to himself with a puzzled look on his face before returning to his tablet without a second glance.
|A week after the Mission on Noveria.|
|Date: 7/28/2183|
|Location: SSV Normandy/Frigate Class Vessel|
|Alliance Command CCEDF Number: 33DEFZE9-87541JSN|
...
'ʜᴇʏ, ᴛᴀʟɪ. ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴏɴ ᴜᴘ ᴡʜᴇɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ꜰɪɴɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴊᴏʙ. ɪ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛᴏ sᴇᴇ sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ.'
...
Her heart always seemed to flutter whenever she got a text message from him.
Excitedly, she opened a new box to reply.
...
'ɪ'ʟʟ ᴊᴜsᴛ ʙᴇ ᴀ ᴍᴏᴍᴇɴᴛ, ᴊᴏʜɴ. :)'
...
She sent the message and gussied herself up before making her way to the elevator.
She'd be lying if she didn't feel a slight stride in her step.
After the ride in the elevator with Ashley, the dainty quarian walked over toward Shepard's quarters and knocked.
"Come in." She heard him say.
She stepped in and saw John at his computer looking over the combat simulation John and Tali did a while ago.
"Hey." She greeted simply.
"Hey. How are you feeling?"
"Definitely better than last week."
"I'm glad."
"Whatcha watching?"
"Us, actually." He thumbed the monitor behind him, "The simulation we had around... two months ago I think?"
"Oh?"
"Yeah. You've got some skills, Tali."
"Thanks."
"No, I mean it. Exemplary stuff. You're a tactician on the field."
She leaned in next to him to get a better look of his monitor.
He pointed to the screen. "Look. Right there. Tech mines. Used them after you tried to lure me while you were reloading? That's smart as hell. A quarian almost got me… and I'm in the goddamn Special Forces."
She slapped his shoulder playfully.
"Need I mention that I'm a Spectre?"
She sat down and bristled. "Jerk."
"Yeah, I know. You know... Garrus was supposed to be here, but he said something about telling jokes with Joker." He shrugged.
"Telling jokes." Tali said with a weak smile, "With Joker."
"I know." John rolled his eyes, "Pretty sure the pun was intended there."
Tali's tone went serious. "Hey. I'm, uh, glad we're doing these talk more. I— I've needed it lately." She said as she stared distantly at the floor, "do this every other day?"
"I'd rather we do it everyday." John said before closing his eyes and leaning back, "Just... sit down and talk."
Tali felt herself mimicking John much the same way by leaning back and closing her eyes. "Thanks."
"For what?" He opened his eyes and looked at her, "For this?"
"Of course." She answered, "John... just last week I was— I don't know. But you were there. And I feel like me again."
"That what friends are for Tali." He murmured.
"Friends don't just put something into my hand— something that could help me step foot onto my homeworld and say 'that's what friends are for.' That's more than a friend, John."
She felt her gaze meet the floor as if she were just realizing it now. "...You're the best thing to happen to me since… I don't know... I don't remember if anything was as ever good as this."
"I know. I'm just awesome like that."
She actually guffawed at him before laughing.
"Bathe in your glory." She said, nodding, "You've earned it."
"I'm just glad you got what you needed." John said with a thin pressed smile, "The best part is that you don't have to worry about it anymore."
"Of course. Well. Because of you."
Tali suddenly frowned.
She didn't have to remind herself that John had practically finished what she was out here to do.
Which meant she had no other reason to stay once they were done doing what they needed to do.
After that, she'd never see him again.
She inhaled sharply.
Tali sensed he was thinking much the same. "It might be a ways off from now..." John admitted, "But I'm gonna miss you, Tali."
"I'm going to miss you too."
"But for now," He said on a much more happier note, "We're together… and a whole fight to finish with Saren. And when we're done… I'll take you to the Migrant Fleet myself. You can show me around. I'll meet your dad."
"I'd like that."
He rose from his chair to pull out a deck of cards from his nightstand before spilling them across the table to shuffle.
"How do you feel about not having any leads on Saren?"
"Mortified and relieved at the same time." Tali answered.
John chuckled. "Unfortunately that's the case. We've got days until we hit up our resupply. Then we have to stop by the Citadel. Hopefully by then we'll have found something."
"Hopefully." Tali repeated.
"Hey, why don't you fetch Garrus. Think it's about time we do a little rematch."
"Okay." She said before standing up.
Before she left she turned to him. "Hey, John?"
"Yeah?"
She went over to him and squeezed him firmly around the neck. "Thank you."
He returned the hug and couldn't help but smile. "Of course. Anytime."
She let go and made her way to the door. "If I did that in front of Garrus, we'd never hear the end of it."
"No... I suppose we wouldn't." He said as she left to get Garrus.
Quietly, he shuffled the cards again while he thought about what the relationship between him and Tali was exactly.
There was something there.
Something more than just being a friend.
Not that it made complete sense.
It couldn't be that uncommon of a thing to have a relationship with someone that wasn't the same species.
Right?
He shook his head.
Was this even something worth considering?
John Shepard planned things for the long term. Including relationships.
And...
She was going to leave someday.
He shuffled the cards a little harder than necessary before setting them back down on the table and sighing.
He really didn't want her to go.
"I'm back!" Tali exclaimed before taking a seat next to John.
Garrus quickly followed and took a seat.
"Joker's crying, Shepard."
"Really." John said unconvinced as he passed out the cards, "You actually hurt his feelings?"
"Hurt? No. He's just never heard of turian stand-up." Garrus corrected before picking up his cards, "What game again? Mexican Sweat? What a disgusting name."
"No Garrus. BlackJack." Tali mused.
They all laugh.
John arranged his cards and gave them both smug looks. "I'm gonna kick both your asses."
Garrus gave John an unimpressed stare. "Oh? I actually remember you losing a five hundred credit pot. To Stacker."
John gave Garrus the finger. "You know what this is?"
"Yes. It means 'fuck you' in human." Garrus quoted with his fingers, "Classy, Shepard."
"That's right." John asserted with smile.
"Garrus is right though, John." Tali added, "Worst poker face I've ever seen."
John held up his hands in defeat before rolling his eyes. "Okay… so I'm not that good. I just do it to hang out with you guys."
"That just makes me blush, Commander."
John gave Garrus an odd stare. "…Turians can blush?"
"Of course we can. Though only the females do it. When they're in the heat."
Tali and John stare blankly at Garrus.
"What."
"I'm just joking, guys."
"How the hell are we supposed to know that?" John shouted, completely flabbergasted, "You've got twigs for a mouth."
"You mean these bad boys?" Garrus puts on a show by wiggling his mandibles.
"Keelah."
The turian laughed a little more.
"You know… I don't know how I'd do this without you guys." Shepard put on a sincere smile after the laughs died down, "Couldn't imagine chasing down the biggest bad guy in the galaxy without anyone else by my side."
"We're with you 'till end, Shepard. Count on that. Right Tali?"
"Absolutely."
John looked at his hand of cards and smiled. "We're going to kick Saren's ass. He's got nothing on us."
"He certainly doesn't." Garrus agreed.
"Though I can't make any guarantees of surviving the after party." John joked, "You're gonna have to give Tali here my last words after I drink enough beer to make me think throwing myself out an airlock is a good idea."
"A little celebratory suicide, huh?" Garrus shook his head, "No worries. The first person to know'll be Tali. Because as soon she hears it she'll be out there wringing your dead neck in space."
"Very funny, guys." Tali shook her head and couldn't help but laugh at the terrible joke.
|Present Time|
|Date: 5/9/2184|
|Location: Gemini Sigma/Han System/Aboard Corvette Class Ship: Event Horizon/Housing Room|
"Well good morning there, Tali." Juel called out as he sat down on his cot, "You've been out for seven hours. How do you feel?"
"Amazingly better." Tali said with a smile, "Had a dream. John was in it. And Garrus."
"Oh." Juel nodded, less enthusiastically, "We, uh, actually got a message from your dad from Garrus not just ten minutes ago."
Her eyes shot open and she got up from the bed.
"What? I need to see it. Now."
"We forwarded it to your omni-tool." He said before returning to his book.
She turned on her omni-tool and went straight to her inbox.
'
Inbox(1)
FROM: Garrus Vakarian
TO: Tali'Zorah
SUBJECT: It's from Liara.
Tali. I'm sending you that trinket Shepard made for you. Some quarian said she was returning from Pilgrimage and promised me to pass it on to you. Her name is Miya'Kahto nar Chasuk. I reminded her (Quite a lot I might add) to give it to you. I don't know your new ship name… I'd really like to know what it is.
And Tali… the Alliance just found a message from Shepard shortly after the incident on the Denmark. Found it in some floating wreckage on a black-box.
Yeah.
Liara sent it to me as soon as she got it from them.
They're his last words.
And it's for you.
[Audio File held within.]
Install [Y/N]?
INSTALLING
{…Link Established.}
||Enhancing Audio….Eliminating Electrical Noise./
||Integrating Internal Audio Receptors…./
||Initiating Recording….||||Begin? [Y/N]?||
"Lieutenant Commander John Shepard, acting captain of the SSV Normandy, Log... 843."
He closed his eyes and felt oxygen deprivation start to take its toll.
He had to make this fast.
"I decided to record this message in the event that someone does eventually discover my remains." John started.
"This is for my crew... sorry if it sounds rushed. I haven't had much time to think of a parting speech."
Tali saw him give off a glint of a smile before shaking his head slightly.
"The honor was mine friends. To lead you, to fight beside you, and be a part of the Normandy and her people. I'm gonna miss you all."
His breaths turn hurried and thin.
"I don't...— have much time…" He coughed as he thought of what he really wanted this message to be about.
"Tali…?" He said as he thought of her, "You have given me so much to look forward to in my life... I'm so sorry I won't be joining you in the end... and I'm sorry I won't be able to fulfill— anyofmypromises."
John took another empty breath of nothing and kept talking.
"Thank you, Tali… for everything… You live happy, long, and— Well… okay?"
Another empty breath, just to keep the words going.
"Everything will work out for you, Tali— take my word for it… for my sake… you have to move on—"
He squeezed his eyes shut and put every ounce of his focus in his memory of her.
In his final seconds, John took his last breath, and smiled sadly.
"—Don't you let me down. I'm so sorry this is how it ends. I'm sorry. And, Tali?"
There was a sizable pause as his gaze went glassy. "I love you."
End of Audio Message. Replay? [Y/N]?
||Ending Message…/
Tali. I am so sorry. But we know you needed to hear this. If you ever need to talk, I'm here.
-Garrus
'
Tali's mouth went dry.
Fear.
Pain.
Despair.
Nausea even.
Her trembling hand clutched her heart, while the other tried to muffle her sudden sobs.
Here, she realized they could have saved him.
He was alive.
And they could have saved him.
Tears fell freely from her eyes.
Time. That was all he needed. But time was the friendly ally of entropy. And entropy won. It always won.
John Shepard, the man who'd saved the galaxy, died at the hands of entropy's addiction to disaster with a little taste of irony at the end.
A part of her wished she never heard the message. The pain was real. And it hurt more than anything Tali could ever have fathomed in her short years of life.
...But... at the same time... hearing him one last time had—
God no.
nononononono.
No.
Walking to nearest airlock and dumping herself out into the vacuum of space sounded more bearable than this.
Anything at this point was better than this.
Anything.
"Tali. Come on. Down this way. There's a room down there for you." Juel said as he guided her out to the hallway to an empty room, "You need some time alone."
"Y…yeah... yeah I do." She murmured.
"Just say something when you need me."
"I will." She choked with a quiet sob.