Chapter 2
"Back in an hour, yeah, right."
Tali was currently in midst of her fifth hour out on her little errand. She really should have seen this coming. The Citadel had just been occupied by the Reapers, of course food would be hard to get. Truth be told, it was surprising that so many had survived the attack. The Reapers must have been more focused on preparing for the on coming allied assault and fortifying the London Transit Beam than clearing out the Citadel.
She sighed as the person at the front of the line finally finished checking out, and the distance between her and the checkout terminal was shortened by one. Tali, along with everyone else in line, took a single step forward and then stopped again.
Thank god I told Shepard he could go to dinner with Joker. At this rate it'll be another hour before I can get out of here. And that's assuming that I won't have to run any other errands…
Tali looked down at the surprisingly antiquated shopping cart. Ever since the attack on the Citadel, most of the available current technology had been used to assist in the ongoing station repairs, which meant those machines that had been disassembled had to be replaced with whatever substitutes could be sent up from Earth. That essentially meant that the station had been flooded with whatever the planet below could spare, including food, water, scavenged electronics, and even rusty scrap metal had been shipped up to help support the Citadel until more relays could be brought back online and reopen galactic supply lines.
Tali double-checked the contents of the cart.
"Bread, eggs, milk, not sure if that counts as lunch meat, could't find any ketchup but the chocolate syrup should work, some uhhh "red meat" that John said we can cook later, and my nutrient paste." Tali murmured to herself as yet another person left the line.
Another step.
Another stop.
Beep
All of a sudden Tali heard her omnitool chime with an incoming communication. She frowned in confusion when she noticed the caller id was as "Shadow Broker". Gingerly she turned off her helmet's vocalizer and switched on the suit's internal microphone.
"Hello Liara. Please tell me that you're calling to tell me that you sent a hit squad to this line-"
"I'm not the one who hired a squad of mercenaries, and they're most certainly not out to help with your shopping inconveniences." Liara snapped over the line. "About 3 minutes ago, a firefight occurred at Rêve Humide-"
"That's where Shepard and Joker went!" Tali screeched as she instantly recognized the name.
"Correct. And you're the only one close enough to help. I'm sending you Shepard's coordinates and patching you into the communications channel I picked up between and an Alliance Staff Analyst." Liara said as Tali's omnitool began to flicker from the lag caused by the influx of new data. Meanwhile, Tali started running.
Tali's boots hammered against the metal floor panels as she left the line and charged her way past a Turian couple coming into the store. Disregarding any possible obstacles in her way, she shoved her way past cursing pedestrians, slid over parked sky cars, and practically trampled a C-Sec officer who had tried to stop her in her mad dash to the nearest elevator.
"Sorry!" She managed to squeak out to the still-prone officer as she skidded to a stop in front of the elevator. Using her omnitool, she activated one of its several sabotage programs to override the controls and redirect the closest one to her level. Two seconds later she was squeezing through the still-opening doors and mashing the blue-tinged holographic controls to get the lift moving. She could barely hear the doors close over the heaving of her breath and the thundering of her still-racing heart.
"Shit, shit, shit, SHIT!"
Tali reflexively wrung her hands together as she paced around the elevator car like a caged animal. She glanced down at her omnitool and brought up the information Liara had sent her. A small holographic map came up with a small red dot indicating Shepard's omnitool signature. Said dot was currently moving toward a small strip mall that was a couple of levels below Rêve Humide.
"Shepard, you bosh'tet why can't you just stay put! By the Ancestors, you need a cane to walk now, and you're STILL running all over the place!" Tali ranted to herself as she jammed her omnitool against the elevator's control panel and overrode her previous commands. Unfortunately, in between the deletion of her previous sabotage program and the installation of the new one, the elevator briefly reverted to its original programming and slowed to a stop as it sought to let two new passengers aboard.
"DAMN IT WHO's… getting on?" Tali trailed off as two heavily armed and armored mercenaries shuffled aboard the elevator car. Both of which payed her no mind as they thumbed the exact same floor she was heading to.
"Sorry we're in a bit of a rush." One of the mercs said apologetically to Tali. From the way he was panting, it seemed that they had been running as well. "We're late for a job, and our boss'll have our heads if we don't show.
"Sorry? She should be apologizing to us! The suit rat cursed at us as soon as we got on!" The other merc responded.
"Woah, dude! Quit being so racist. She has places to be just like we do, and she was here first. Granted, it didn't justify her swearing, but we shouldn't ever use slurs." The two mercs continued to bicker. Tali left feeling extremely awkward, proceeded with the only logical course of action she saw fit. She reached for her shotgun.
When Tali finally put her Claymore away, she was standing in the middle of a sky car dealership surrounded by four dead mercenaries. Two of them were slumped against the walls of the elevator, which now resembled a butcher's shop. The other two were in the process of staining the blue-tinged dealership floors red as they continued to bleed from the holes punched through their bodies by Tali's weapon. Despite the rather gory results her shotgun always seemed to produce, she had fallen in love with the Krogan-made weapon due to its consistent ability to dispatch any threat she came across. As Tali turned to resume her mad dash to find her boyfriend, she froze as she saw him limping through the now broken glass doors.
"Shepard! Are you ok?" Tali asked as she rushed over to inspect his injuries. He had cuts in several places, and Tali could tell that he was leaning much more heavily on his cane than before he had left.
"Tali. Now isn't the best time for a check-up." Shepard gasped as his Quarian partner bolted over and began to grope his body, searching for injuries.
"Nonsense, you're still recovering. Keelah don't tell me you actually fought your way here. Next time, stay put so I can come and get-"
"Tali! I'm fine, really. Let's just focus on getting out of here." Shepard said, brushing her off. "Staff Analyst Brookes said that there was a C-Sec shuttle on its way."
"There's a landing pad over there. But we need to find a way to get those doors open." Tali said, gesturing to the heavy steel doors barring their exit.
We are not finished with this discussion, Tali thought as she followed Shepard over to a nearby door. It was locked, and its adjoining counter was shuttered. This did not deter Shepard as he raised his weapon in his free hand. "Stand back."
Tali rolled her eyes and put her hand on Shepard's arm. "I think I have a better idea."
She gingerly strolled up to the shuttered window and knocked. Her gloved knuckles tapped against the metal in the classic 'Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits' rhythm. "Helloooooo. Could you please open the doors to the landing pad?"
Slowly, the doors to the landing pad were opened, and what sounded like a Volus inside whimpered at them to leave. Shepard sheepishly put his gun down and began to limp over to the exit. "Well… I could have done that as well."
"Uh-huh." Tali said skeptically. She followed, passing him on their way to the vacant landing pad.
Before he could retort, the C-Sec shuttle Shepard had mentioned came into view. Tali slowed her pace to let the still cane-bound Commander catch up… and then tackled him to the ground as a hail of bullets erupted from the shuttle. Bullets racked against the column they dove behind, chipping away stone and ricocheting off of metal. As Tali was pulling herself up into a crouch and reaching for her shotgun, she heard a very familiar battle cry. Within a few seconds the gunfire ceased, and none other than Urdnot Wrex walked out of the now trashed shuttle.
"Shepard."
"Wrex! What are you doing here?" Shepard gasped as he tried to struggle to his feet. Key word being tried. Shepard's left hand gripped the column's stone base and his right was locked onto the handle of his cane while his one good leg futilely attempted to leverage himself into a standing position. His other leg stuck out stiff and useless. Tali let out an exasperated sigh and leaned down to pull Shepard to his feet. Once he was standing, Wrex shoved a Geth Spitfire into his arms.
A Spitfire; who the hell is arming these guys?
She never got an answer as more mercs began to flood into the dealership.