Chapter 9 - There to Catch You
Tali's screams reverberated in her helmet as agony ripped through her body. Part of her brain noted that with her communications out and nothing but vacuum around her, no one was going to hear her. Another part of her noted that the chances of her actually being ripped in half were surely quite low. The biggest part just screamed, trying to drown out the pain.
As Tali had struggled with her few options and even less time, she had ultimately decided on three courses of action. First, she had reached into the pod to one of the emergency kits near the hatch and pulled out a personal transponder. She had attached this to her suit, right above her heart. She didn't activate it. Not yet. The last thing she wanted to do if Shepard had escaped in the Normandy was draw him toward a planetoid that was about to explode. She had told him she would get off the base on her own so she had to get clear before she could signal. The second thing she did was remove her body wrappings and hood and store them in one of her many pockets. She did this automatically, not wanting them to be lost. It wouldn't be until much later that she would realize that this was a waste of what little time she had and she had been lucky it didn't cost her dearly. The third thing she did, and the reason she was afraid of losing her hood and wrappings, was to remove and string together the belts that had held the material in place. Once she had done this, they were together just long enough to loop through the recessed hand hold on the outside of the life pod's hatch and around her body. She was sure if she had more time she could have come up with a more elegant solution, but time was the commodity she had the least of.
She was able to launch the pod remotely and when it had blasted away from the station, the tough synthetic leather and sturdy metal of the buckles had held. Tali was grateful even as she screamed her pain. She knew immediately that she could never have held on with her own strength against the sudden acceleration and g-forces of the launch. But she had only had enough length to wrap the belt around her waist and through the hand hold. She had slid this up her body so that it looped under her arms and around her upper back wanting the support of her rib cage and not just her lower spine against the acceleration. Even as it felt like she was being ripped in half, she knew she had made the right call. She couldn't help but think that it was a good thing that Quarians were tougher than they looked.
She had expected that once they blasted away from the station the pod would slow its acceleration and she could get her bearings. That hadn't happened. The pod was still accelerating away from the station at its full speed and doing its best to break her back in the process. Tali wanted nothing more than to cut loose from the pod, but she couldn't take any chance that she was still too close to the base. She focused on struggling from one breath to the next and realized that she was having trouble getting enough air to keep screaming. Her cries had died down to more of a gasping whimper.
Thirty seconds had passed since the pod launched. Given its extreme and continuous acceleration she had to be far enough away. She also worried that if she waited too long the explosive Prizrak had attached to the pod would detonate making escape from the base meaningless. Tali struggled against the ongoing forces of acceleration to bring her lower leg up to within reach of her hand. With effort, she was able to grasp the handle of the knife she wore with her right hand. It had been difficult to reach it, but she didn't trust the grip of her left hand, even with the painkillers and medi-gel doing their work. As she slipped the knife from its sheath she craned her head to look back toward the base.
In that moment it happened. The base's reactor went critical and obliterated the base in a blast of intense light and white hot plasma. Tali's visor went dark as the faceplate automatically polarized in the blinding flash. As her faceplate faded back to normal, Tali brought the knife up to the loop of belts that were holding her to the racing life pod. With the base having exploded and her not being blown to bits, it was clear the pod had taken her to a safe distance. Now she needed to get clear of the pod, activate her transponder, and hopefully be located by Shepard. She had not been able to get confirmation he made it off the station. She was operating off faith, but with Shepard, faith had always been enough.
The synthetic leather, so durable against the shock of the pod's acceleration, severed cleanly under the sharp blade of her knife. There was immediate relief as the pressure across her back ceased. Before the still accelerating pod was beyond her reach she kicked hard at it, pushing herself away at an angle. Just as she had needed distance from the exploding base, she needed distance from what could be the imminent explosion of the pod. She knew if she had a bit of distance that the explosion would not have as much force in vacuum. She just needed a little more time and luck.
Even as Tali had the thought, luck proved how fickle it could be. The explosive attached to the pod detonated silently in the void and Tali felt like she was hit by a speeding truck. The last thing she saw as her world went dark was the scattering fragments of the pod and the spinning of the stars as she tumbled from the force of the blast.
Shepard stared a moment more at the scattering fragments of the shattered planetoid. It had not been large to begin with. It had been small enough and sturdy enough to survive in its extremely low orbit around the gas giant, but it had no chance of containing the internal blast that had split it apart. "What just happened? Did the self-destruct go off or was this something else?"
Joker tapped commands into his interface. "Sorry, Commander. The sensors are still a mess. I can't tell you for sure what that was, but a flash that would polarize the viewport was more likely from a reactor overload than a self-destruct."
Shepard looked away from the drifting fragments and into the surrounding vastness of space.. It didn't matter if it was a self-destruct or a reactor overload. Either way the base was destroyed, as was anyone who was still there when the blast happened. "The how doesn't matter right now. Tali said she would get off the base in a life pod. Find any transponder signals. We need to be careful. Prizrak might have gotten off the base as well, so any signal we spot could be him."
Joker continued manipulating his interface for several seconds before throwing his hands up in frustration. "Right now I'm not sure we could spot a Reaper chorus line out there. We've got damage to the external sensors and issues with the computers. What data we're picking up is fragmented and the systems can't process and synthesize the information into a coherent picture. Especially with EDI offline."
Shepard's brow furrowed in frustration. A few additional crew members had arrived in answer to his order for anyone with experience operating sensors to come to the bridge. Shepard turned to them now. "You heard Joker. The sensors are a mess and I need ideas for locating Tali's pod. Speak up with any ideas."
The crew members glanced back and forth to each other, then toward the ship's consoles. It was Miranda who spoke up first. "I've got a possible solution, Commander. The Normandy's consoles have been designed to be able to change functions in an emergency to fill in for a damaged system that is needed. For instance, if the weapons console is damaged the console dedicated to mineral scanning can be switched over to fulfill those functions. Joker said the systems were having a hard time synthesizing the data. If we compartmentalize the data from each sensor and send each to a single console, we can simplify the analysis. We'd have to shut down most of the Normandy's other functions such as weapons communications, but we aren't likely to need weapons at this point and the other systems are mostly offline anyway due to damage. We could have multiple consoles each scanning a dedicated volume of space."
Shepard was no engineer, but he could grasp what Miranda was saying. Each damaged sensor sending its limited data to a single system rather than trying to synthesize it all into a whole. It might work. "Good idea, Miranda. Everyone qualified to operate sensors step forward."
Shepard glanced over the few crew present. Mordin was in the medical bay attending to the injured crew. Daniels and Donnelly were in engineering trying to keep the ship functioning. Most of the alien members of the crew, as capable as they were, weren't trained on the Normandy's systems. Kasumi was in EDI's core. She might know how to operate the sensors, but he wanted to keep her there, just in case there were any additional surprises from Prizrak in EDI's systems. That left only the few who had come to the bridge and who were now stepping forward to signal their readiness. Miranda and Jacob were no surprise. He expected they were both at least passably familiar with every important system on the Normandy. He was a bit surprised to see that Garrus had stepped up as well, but he was not about to doubt Garrus' knowledge of his own abilities. No one else had arrived. That gave them three stations. No, Shepard realized a moment later. Yeoman Chambers had been obscured behind Garrus. That was a bit of a surprise. "Kelly. Are you volunteering to take a sensor station?"
Yeoman Chambers was looking at her own shuffling feet. She glanced up to look at Shepard. "Since I'm in the CIC most of the time I thought it made sense to familiarize myself with the different station's functions so I could step in if needed. It also means that if a crew member comes to me I have a better understanding of the job stresses they deal with. I'm no expert, but I can do this."
Shepard nodded to her. "Thank you for stepping up. Miranda, make the needed adjustments to isolate the data from each sensor and send it to four different stations. Tali would have tried to get into the clearest space possible to be able to communicate or signal us more easily. Miranda, make sure we're focusing on those areas as best we can, but make sure we are covering everywhere she might have ended up. Everyone, take a station. You only need to focus on the area of space Miranda directs to your console, but stay sharp. You will be the only one seeing that data. We should be looking for a life pod transponder, but if you see anything, let me know."
As the crew members moved to their stations, Shepard activated the Normandy's intercom. "This is Commander Shepard. Any crew who are not currently engaged in a task or present on the bridge, move to the viewports. I want people at the starboard and port observation ports and any other viewports we can cover. We are trying to spot a life pod, but notify me immediately if you see anything. With the ship's sensors questionable, it may be we spot something with our eyes."
Shepard closed the channel and turned to look at the console that Miranda was now monitoring. It showed an empty section of space riddled with static and glitches. Miranda struggled to fine tune the information. Shepard thought it was the most likely direction to find a life pod. It was the direction he would have gone had he been in Tali's situation. I'm here, Tali. I know you're out there. Help me find you.
Tali rose slowly to consciousness. The first thing she noticed was pain. An intense full body ache that she accepted. It was the pain of being alive, which was preferable to the alternative. She accepted it, but that didn't mean it was pleasant. She gently flexed her limbs and found she could move them. Despite the pain, she didn't appear to have suffered any broken bones from the impact of the explosion that had destroyed the pod, though she expected she would have some impressive bruises. She also knew she had not suffered any further suit breaches. If that had occurred she would have lost at least some atmosphere from her suit and there would be other seals in place. That had not occurred which should mean she hadn't lost any of the air her suit would have maintained once she was exposed to vacuum. The question was, how long had she been out.
Tali had not yet opened her eyes. She noticed she felt warm. That could be due to her suit breach, though it had been minor and the seals should have protected her. That and the antibiotics and antihistamines flooding her system. It was also possible the warmth was due to external conditions. She noticed there was a pattern to the light she could perceive through her closed eyes. Lighter, dimmer, lighter, dimmer. Not dramatically so, but noticeable. She realized she was tumbling. Spinning as she drifted through space. As the brighter arc of her tumble returned she opened her eyes to slits.
She found herself looking toward the wan star that served as the core of the Sackgasse system. Tali found that the tinting of her helmet was sufficient to allow her to look directly at the small star as it traveled slowly across her visor. She glanced toward the open space surrounding the star. It was too much to hope that she might spot the Normandy sitting there waiting for her and indeed, she saw nothing but empty space. Tali glanced to her helmet's HUD where her suit displayed the approximate time she had remaining before she consumed the oxygen she had available in her suit.
Ten minutes. Maybe a bit more. That meant she had likely been tumbling through space for at least fifteen minutes. Tali reached toward the emergency transponder clipped to her chest, but paused as her tumble turned her away from the star. Slowly, the system's small gas giant began to fill her visor. In moments, it was all she could see. It took only another moment to confirm that she was hurtling toward it.
A thought flashed through Tali's mind. Recognition that each species had things it was particularly skilled at. Asari, Krogan, Quarian, all had their talents. But for Humans…Tali had always been impressed with their ability to swear. To pack the most frustration and anger at the universe into the fewest syllables. She chose one such word now. One she had heard Shepard use at his most frustrated. She found herself whispering it to herself out loud. "Well…Fuck".
The observation was pushed aside as calculations flashed through Tali's mind. She had accelerated away from the station and toward the gas giant for more than thirty seconds. Her best estimate was five gravities of acceleration, but it could have been more. As calculations flew through her mind she came to one unavoidable conclusion. Prizrak, you are an absolute Asshole.
Always another trick. Always another trap. She had escaped the base, she had escaped his explosive, but now she was flying at the gas giant at thousands of kilometers per hour. She had been unconscious for about fifteen minutes. Given the extremely low orbit of the station, she recognized that running out of air was not going to be a problem. She had to reach Shepard now or she would soon be getting a first hand look at the gas giant's turbulent atmosphere.
Tali reached to her chest to trigger the emergency transponder. Shepard was looking for her. She was sure of it. He just needed a signal to follow. Tali slapped the transponder, but nothing happened. She reached to it again and felt what the problem was. She detached it from her suit and found she was only holding half the device. It should have been more than sturdy enough, but it had snapped in half from the force of the explosion's impact. Snapped at the point of attachment to her suit. She was holding the transponder, but the lower half that contained the powerful battery was gone. Lost somewhere in the void. She looked around frantically for a moment as if there was some chance it might be floating within arm's reach. A moment later she stopped herself and took a deep breath, slowing her thoughts. Something else to add to your pockets, Tali, if you get out of this. The battery couldn't simply be replaced with any power source. It was designed to provide enough power to pierce the radiation and interference found in open space. Other types of batteries simply couldn't handle the load. Not that she had a lot of choices at the moment. Tali took another breath and began considering her options even as she cursed, in every language she knew, the Batarian bean-counter who had purchased such shoddy equipment.
Kelly Chambers sat at her console just beyond the bridge of the Normandy. It was now receiving data from a single, damaged sensor array. Data riddled with static and glitches, but with just the one source of input, she could decipher it. She glanced toward the bridge where she saw Shepard moving from station to station, checking in with his crew, hoping they had seen something, noticed anything, that would lead them to Tali. He had just checked in with her, but he spent the greatest part of his time at Miranda's console. The section of space being scanned through her console was the one they thought the most likely path Tali would take. If she made it off the station. If she was out there at all. She could be gone. Vaporized without another thought or word when the base exploded.
Kelly stared at Shepard for a moment. At his posture. Listened to his tone. He was presenting his calm veneer of command, but she had been doing this for years. He was doing an admirable job of suppressing a rising terror. They had been hunting for signals for fifteen minutes and found nothing. Every minute with nothing made it more likely they would never hear from Tali again. Shepard was more aware of this than most, given his own past experience. And it was tearing at him. No matter how well he was hiding it, it was there beneath the surface. And she understood why. He had spent a lifetime fueled by anger and revenge with only superficial acknowledgement of what he had always considered softer feelings. Caring, tenderness, and especially love. But after so many dalliances and flirtations with feelings, he had stumbled into the real thing. Fallen, really. Head over heels. And it had been as water to a man dying of thirst. He wanted that now. Wanted it to be a part of him. Something better than the anger. Something that made him better. He wouldn't give it up willingly now. But he knew it could be taken away. That was why it was such a good weapon. A weapon capable of blowing a hole in his soul that she would step in to fill.
What are you doing, Kelly? She asked herself again. She still didn't have a good answer. She thought she had known the answer, but uncertainty had crept into her thinking. She glanced back to Shepard again. He was focused, determined, but he was vulnerable. Her loss will break him. I can make sure of that. That other, doubting part of her refused to remain silent. Yes, but what would you build him into, if you are so capable of tearing him apart? What would he become? Do no harm. Do no harm.
Kelly shook her head, trying to shake the troublesome thoughts away. Or at least shake them into a configuration she could accept. She had no fault here. She had tried to help Tali. She had helped Shepard. They had made their own choices that led to this. She was a good counselor. She was a good person. And even good people sometimes had to do things, regrettable things, for the greater good. That was why The Illusive Man had put her here. She owed him. Faust likely said something similar.
Kelly shook her head again. Shut up, shut up. I'm doing my duty here. I'm doing my job. It won't be my fault if we don't spot Tali. It won't be…
Kelly jerked from her thoughts as the console traced a circle around a signal it had intercepted in the area of space she was scanning. She stared a moment as the circle vanished. Surely it was nothing. The sensors were damaged. This was an anomaly that would not reoccur. An artifact of the malfunctioning systems.
A moment later and the signal appeared again. This time the circle had a code hovering above it. A transponder code translated from Batarian. Kelly glanced to the other crew and especially to Shepard. Everyone was intently focused on their own displays. Shepard was leaning over Miranda, focused on the information from the segment of space she was scanning. Her information had come only to her. The signal appeared a third time. It was near to the system's gas giant. Very near. She stared for several more seconds, but the signal did not reappear. This is your moment, Kelly. Whether you want it or not, you get to be the hero. Or the villain. Or both. I guess it depends on your point of view. Can great harm lead to a greater good? What are you willing to break? What will you build? Who are you? What are you doing, Kelly?
Kelly Chambers looked down and realized her knuckles had gone white as she gripped the edges of the console. She glanced back to Shepard and envisioned glowing cracks forming in his skin. Envisioned him bursting into pieces that she somehow believed she could restore. She looked back to her display. The signal had not reappeared. But she had seen it. She could pretend she hadn't, but knew she had. This isn't academic now. Her life is in your hands. His life. You can delete the file that recorded the signal. EDI isn't even online. This is what you've worked toward. This is your moment. So…what are you going to do?
Shepard could feel the strain rising in him minute by minute. Tali was out there, somewhere. He was sure of it. But they had no signal. Nothing to lead them to her. A small, cruel voice, an honest voice, gnawed at him. You may not find her. You may have lost her forever. Every minute is one more toward the realization that she is gone.
No. It was all he thought in response to the voice. He pushed it down where he could not hear it and focused on the display in front of him. He leaned back a bit, realizing he was crowding Miranda, though she had said nothing. Nothing. There was nothing there. He stood up, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He spoke to the universe more than to the people around him. "Tell me someone has something. Tell me we can find her." Please.
Shepard's eyes snapped open and he whipped around to face the small voice that had piped up from the console just outside the main bridge. "I…I think I may have something. Sir."
Shepard was behind Kelly so fast that she startled back in surprise. He leaned in, intently staring at the display. "What have you got, Kelly?"
"A momentary blip. It just occurred a moment ago. It was brief and weak, but it looked like it could be a transponder signal." Kelly reached to the haptic interface and pulled up the signal and the transponder code that had accompanied it. "It just occurred, Commander. That's the code, translated from Batarian. P1138."
Shepard stared at the code and its location for a moment before uttering a low "Fuck". He turned to Joker. "Joker, pull up the section of space where that signal occurred and get us there fast. Be careful, though. The "P" in that transponder code. It stands for "Personal". I think Tali might not be in a life pod. I think she's adrift." Shepard activated the ship's intercom. "Everyone currently stationed at a viewport. We received a weak signal and we're moving toward the location of that signal. I think it's likely Tali is adrift with no life pod. Look sharp and let me know if you see anything." Shepard activated his personal comm. "Zaeed. Get down to the Hammerhead and use its communications to see if you can reach Tali. It has better range and power than any of our personal comms." Shepard walked to the front of ship and stood next to Joker's seat. "Take us in carefully, Joker. And flash our landing lights at their highest intensity. If we aren't able to reach Tali on the comms, maybe we can get her attention another way and she can find a way to show us where she is."
Tali had pulled the battery from her remaining omni-tool and linked it to the transponder. The omni-tool's battery was powerful, but it wasn't built to sustain the power draw the transponder required. She had gotten a signal out, she was sure of it. She wasn't sure just how strong that signal had been. Or how clear. She had done what she could, but now the battery was dead as was the omni-tool. She was just grateful it had not overloaded like the one Prizrak had sabotaged. It was a pretty small win, but she decided she had to take what she could get.
Tali tried to scan the space around her, but her tumbling made that a challenge. She reached into a pocket at the small of her back and withdrew a small emergency fire extinguisher. She always carried one, given the risks of working with engines. It was also common enough and cheap enough that they could use them for amusement on the Flotilla. Waiting for the gravity to be turned off in sections of the ship needing maintenance, she and other children would jump into the zero gravity and jet about using the pressure from the extinguishers. They never got away with it for long before the grown ups would make them stop. Usually with a lecture about wasting resources and clogging the air filters with the chemicals expelled. The experience was fun, but it was also valuable. Tali used short bursts from the device to slow her rotation so she could more easily look for any sign of the Normandy.
Tali jerked her attention toward the planet. She had felt something. A slight variation in her movement. She was approaching the atmosphere. The small gas giant's atmosphere was wracked by violent storm winds. She was reaching the extreme outer edge of this. She was almost out of time. Another minute, maybe two and she would reach a layer of atmosphere dense enough to either tear her apart with the force of the winds or burn her up from reentry. She desperately turned back to the stars and scanned them for any sign of the Normandy. For any sign of Shepard.
A moment later and she saw…something. A movement against the stars that should not have been there. A flickering of lights that were not starlight. It had to be the Normandy. But they were still so far away. Spotting her falling toward the planet from that far away in the time they had…it was still a long shot. Tali scanned a mental inventory of the extensive contents of her suit pockets. Useless crap. She really was a pack rat, she realized. Nothing. Nothing of use for signaling…wait…one chance. One last card left to play.
Tali reached to a pocket at the back of her right calf and pulled out a narrow tube, maybe a foot long and a couple inches in diameter. She had meant it as a joke. A humorous way to break the tension when Shepard next found himself struggling to make their time together as pleasant as possible. Even as she plunged toward her death, she smiled at the thought of his eagerness to make their time together special.
Tali focused. Shepard had told her before their first date that he would signal her in Morse Code if there was a problem. She had learned Morse Code because of that comment. But he had also said he would send up a flare. She had to look up exactly what he meant by that. It had been easy from there to build a flare of her own. She had intended to activate it under the right circumstances to lighten a tense moment. Now it might be her only chance to signal Shepard and save her life. Releasing the safety, she held the device at arms length and pressed the button at the base. A brilliant purple star launched itself from the tube and arced away from where she was about to begin her plunge into the atmosphere.
"I believe I see something, Commander." The voice had come from near the front of the bridge. It was Thane, standing quietly to the side and observing out the main viewport.
Kelly nervously pivoted back to face the display she continued to monitor. How long has Thane been here? I didn't even notice him. That was something she had realized about Thane. When he stood quietly he became so unobtrusive that he was almost invisible. A useful skill for an assassin no doubt. Also dangerous for anyone harboring secrets. Did he see anything?
Thane stepped to the front of the bridge as close to the viewport as possible and pointed to the upper quadrant. "There. A flash of violet that moved briefly through space."
Shepard did not hesitate. "Joker, get us closer to where Thane saw that flash. Follow his guidance. Everyone, look sharp." Shepard reached for his helmet and put it on, triggering his optics to search for movement and magnify any objects identified.
The ship arced toward the planet's upper atmosphere, toward the area identified by Thane. Multiple faces were nearly pressed to the viewports trying to spot Tali. Shepard had climbed up to kneel on a navigation console to get those few inches closer to the viewport. "Anything from sensors. Anything at all?"
A chorus of voices replied in the negative. Shepard felt his helmet tap the viewport, he had leaned so close. Whether or not that was what did the trick he would never know, but in the next instant he saw her. A small dot plummeting toward the planet. "There, Joker! There! She's headed into the atmosphere! Get ahead of her."
"I'm on it, Shepard." With their target identified, every system locked onto Tali. They wouldn't risk losing her now. The Normandy raced toward the falling figure, turning end to end as it passed her to precede her into the atmosphere.
Shepard stared at her. She was a bare hundred meters behind them and getting closer. She had lost her cowl and wrappings at some point, but it was her. Not Prizrak. Joker spoke up from behind where Shepard was kneeling on the console. "What now, Commander? We're falling ass first down this gravity well. She's in our slipstream, but the atmosphere is getting denser and the winds are increasing. We've got less than thirty seconds."
Shepard's brow furrowed. "Can we bring her into the cargo bay?"
It was Miranda who spoke up. "I'm afraid not, Shepard. That door is going to take some work before it opens again."
"Do we have any other hatches we could direct her to?"
Joker did not sound optimistic. "If we try to pivot the ship and lose sight of her, she could get swept away and we'd lose her. And there's not much to grab hold of out there. If we try to slow down so she can reach the ship the most likely outcome would be bouncing her off the viewport."
"Jacob. Miranda. Any chance you could pull her in with your biotics? Hold her in place when we accelerate back out of the atmosphere?"
Jacob and Miranda looked at each other doubtfully. It was Miranda who again spoke up. "Maybe, Shepard. But the material of the viewport would make biotics unreliable. There has to be a better option."
We're out of options. They had seconds to act. Shepard was about to order Joker to slow and let Tali get close so Jacob and Miranda could attempt a biotic catch when he realized Tali was waving at him. No…waving him to come toward her. "Joker. Tali has something planned. Slow down and let her get to the viewport. Jacob and Miranda. Stand by to assist her if you can, but don't do anything you aren't confident about.
Joker slowed as the auditory emulator detected enough atmospheric density to warrant making a growing sound of rushing air. Over seconds, Tali grew closer to the viewport, her arms outstretched as she began to be affected by the growing air density. She was there, only a meter away now. Jacob concentrated, nudging her the last meter to the viewport. Tali was holding something Shepard did not recognize. It was about the size of a tennis ball. As Tali reached the viewport she brought the object to her chest. It burst and a clear liquid splattered her and the window where she struck, sticking her fast to the spot. The auditory emulators, utterly baffled by what they were translating, emitted a comically loud *splat* over the increasing sound of rushing air.
"She did it, Joker! She did it! Slow us down. Easy now. Get us out of the atmosphere, but be careful with our passenger."
As Joker slowed the ship and began climbing out of the atmosphere, the sticky liquid held Tali in place. Within a minute they had climbed away from the gas giant and back into space. Shepard did not take his eyes off her. Once they were clear of the planet they would have to quickly figure out how to scrape their wayward engineer off the viewport, but he knew they would manage. She was safe. He reached up and gently put his hand against the viewport where her hand lay. She lifted her head and the light on her voice module that signaled when she was talking began to flash.
"Um, she knows you can't hear her, right Shepard?" Joker raised a hand to gesture at Tali on the far side of the viewport.
"She knows, Joker." Shepard recognized she was not speaking. She was using the light of her voice module to send him a message in Morse Code. Making noises to trigger the light in the desired pattern. Shepard decided he liked the idea that she was making kissing noises in order to send her message. It would be appropriate. "88" she was sending. Love and kisses. He smiled at her and raised his hands to do something that was impossible for her. He held up four fingers on each hand, lowered them, and raised them again. "88". Tali cocked her head in a smile.
Shepard refused to look away from her as he spoke to the crew. "Thank you everyone. Thank you for helping me. Thank you for saving her."
"Hey," Joker stated. "Back at you, Commander."
Shepard smiled again with realization. He finally recognized that this really had been a rescue mission to Joker as well. He finally understood what Joker had been saying all along. He didn't stop smiling as they worked on bringing Tali back aboard the Normandy.