Olasie, in the comfort of her bed, received a text on her omni-tool. Glancing over to get a look at what the message was saying, she read the message and rose a brow.
- ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴜᴘ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀᴛᴛᴇʀʏ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ. ɪ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴋ, ɪꜰ ᴛʜᴀᴛ's ᴀʟʀɪɢʜᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜ. -
It was from Garrus. And of everyone she expected a text from, it wasn't him. Teeth clenching only slightly, she groaned, if only internally. She didn't want to talk to him. Not because it was Garrus, she just didn't want to talk to anyone right now. But you couldn't really weasel your way out with an excuse when the only thing you had on your itinerary for the day was to vegetate on your bed.
She sat up, and clumsily typed a reply with her right hand. Grumbling, she elected to just slip on the bracelet to finish it.
- ɢɪᴠᴇ ᴍᴇ ᴀ ᴄᴏᴜᴘʟᴇ ᴍɪɴᴜᴛᴇs, ɪ'ʟʟ ʙᴇ ʀɪɢʜᴛ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ. - it said before she sent it.
A little trivia about Olasie. She was left-handed. She carried her gun with her left hand. She wrote with her left hand. She always put on her left boot first. Stepped off on her left foot too.
She threw things with her right hand though, of all things. Humans, like quarians, had a proclivity for right-handedness. She used it sometimes as an ice-breaker if the time ever arose to talk to new people. The little detail was interesting enough to spark conversation while simultaneously being pretty mundane.
She put her left foot into her boot and buckled the locks. She looked up to see Teri lounging on their shared loveseat with her legs draped over the armrest playing a video game while Darehk watched from the floor with a pillow to keep his head company.
Olasie put on her other boot and stood before sighing.
"Where you goin', boss?" Teri asked, barely dividing her attention, "Getting food?"
"Meeting up with Garrus. He wants to talk to me."
"Oh." Teri said, eyes still locked on the screen, "Want me to wish you luck?"
"I'll be fine."
Teri was too busy casting powers in her game to answer back.
Olasie walked out of their room and took the elevator up to the crew deck. Then she went to the battery. She couldn't see him.
"Garrus?" Olasie said as a way to announce herself, "I'm here. Do you need help? Is there something you needed?"
"Hey." Garrus said, his head peeking up above the array of instruments that flanked the main battery. He stopped what he was doing and walked over to her.
She never realized how tall he was. It made her feel like a dwarf.
"How are you? You okay?"
His tone sounded unusually caring and it caught her off guard.
"I'm fine." She said without missing a beat.
"No. Seriously." He murmured to show that he wasn't just throwing out a thoughtless platitude, "Are you okay?"
"...I'm okay." She repeated, eyes momentarily lost in a second long trance, "Why?"
"I have something you probably want to hear."
"What?"
"Our mission on Horizon. It's about the footage we gathered. Shepard sent it out to some people and now something's finally getting down about the collector mess."
He watched her chest rise and fall. It almost looked like a breath of relief.
"That's… that's great. I'm glad."
Garrus didn't show his deflation. That was it? He was expecting something a bit better than that.
...Was it his delivery?
"Olasie, this is me telling you that you made a difference. I want you to be proud of yourself."
"Sure." She stuttered, tone a whispered melancholy, "I guess."
His stare began to look concerned. "Olasie, you're being too hard on yourself."
"No, I… I don't think so."
There was a long pause. "Why?"
"I'm just...—I don't like to think about it." Was all she managed to utter with her one shallow breath, "I don't know. I just don't."
"You're thinking about that little girl. Or the people you were trying to drag off the street."
She didn't meet his gaze because she was blinking away tears she didn't really need to be dealing with right now.
"And… about Iwia." He added carefully.
She didn't answer him. At least, one he could hear.
"...Have you been attending your sessions with Kelly?"
"They're not helping." Olasie said unevenly, still looking away from him, embarrassed she was opening up this much to a man who'd been the most critical of her up until recently. She hadn't even opened this much to Juel, yet. And here she was doing it with someone she didn't know all too well.
His stare faltered too. He'd been too hard on her. She must've known what he'd said about her after their ordeal back on Horizon. It was so easy to get caught up in the duress of performance out in the field. While the inner part of him knew he wasn't wrong, his conscience made him feel guilty anyways. He didn't dismiss that feeling either. The guilt he had was warranted.
"I'm not going to tell you I have answers. Everyone here shoulders something. Sometimes part of that journey is dealing with it alone." He gave her a gentle touch along her arm. "But that doesn't mean it'll always be that way. You got people here that love you. And they'll always back you up."
She sniffled and nodded.
"Go on. Tell Lukh and Juel. Tell them they both get gold stars for helping. Maybe two for Talukh. I'll put it on their sticker sheets."
She smiled past the weary sadness in her chest and did feel a little better.
"Thanks, Garrus."
"Anytime."
She left, him standing stiffly. As he craned his neck to try and work out the kinked muscles, he noticed his cup from two nights before still sitting where he'd left it. Brow plates pushed together, he brought up his omni-tool and gave John a call.
…
…
"What's up?"
"I think it's time we talked about Legion."
"I'll be right down."
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"Garrus? Where you at?"
"Over here." Came Garrus' disembodied voice, "I'll be right there."
John took a spot next to Garrus' computer and waited for the turian to meet him.
"You look busy here." John said, staring at the cluttered mess of tools and random hardware.
"There's always something to do. Well. Usually. Not always." Garrus reared the corner and set down his crescent wrench.
"So you wanted to talk to me about Legion."
"I did."
"Something bothering you?"
"No." Garrus said maybe a little too fast. He put a hand on his forehead. "...Yes."
"Garrus, if you've got something on your mind, I want to hear it."
"It's nothing I need to be reopening. But I just… wanted to reiterate my concerns about the geth."
"I'm all ears."
The turian placed both his hands on the top of his table so he could lean up against it. Staring forward so he could think, he sighed. "The crew is scared. Hell, Shepard. I'm scared."
"Garrus? Scared?" A smile creeped up on John's face.
"Yeah. I know. You didn't hear me say that."
"I'm scared too." John's smile nearly went flat. "Scared something might go wrong. Sometimes I wonder why I'm so goddamn quick to trust anything about Legion. I know nothing about it."
"Think it could be lying about anything it said?"
"I don't know. Who the hell knows. Machine or not, motivations influence all decisions, right? If it had a reason to lie, we wouldn't even know what that reason might be. But the only potential lead we've got is Legion."
John put a hand around his neck and closed his eyes to try and squeeze the soreness away.
"Sleep wrong?" Garrus asked to try and lighten the conversation up a little. "I did too."
"Yeah. Have been lately." Shepard grumbled, still massaging, "Think I've been laying on my side wrong or something. Bad pillow maybe?"
"Have Tali give you a massage."
John scoffed and smiled before stretching to see if that might help the pain.
"Maybe Legion's in it for the long con." Shepard said to get them back on track, "Maybe it's an antenna for the reapers to indoctrinate us. Maybe it's already indoctrinated, but still high functioning."
What a horrifying thought.
"You're seriously giving me anxiety right now, Shepard."
John could only laugh. "You know I was just making shit up." He bumped his shoulder. "Garrus. Everything's going to be alright."
"Yeah. I guess you're right. I actually talked to Legion the other day."
John frowned. "Really? What about?"
"Why it's out here. What it wants."
"Did it say anything illuminating?"
"Think it was me that did the illuminating." Garrus said sheepishly, "I want to let that thing connect to the collective and find out if it has an IFF to give us or not."
"Alright." Shepard agreed, "Let's go. Right now."
"Right now?"
"We've waited long enough. I think now's as good as any. Come on."
John exited and Garrus followed.
"Do you think Tali would like to tag along?"
"I think she'll be fine if we just get it over with."
"Okay."
The went into the infirmary and into Legion's room. There it stood, staring. As usual.
"Legion." John greeted.
"Hello."
"Operating nominally?"
"Yes. How may we be of service?"
John gave Garrus a stare the turian also returned.
John inhaled. "We're going to let you connect to the collective, Legion. I'm going to allow it."
"Thank you, Shepard-Commander."
"EDI?"
"Yes, Commander?"
"Give Legion what he needs."
"Understood. One moment."
The three of them waited.
"You may connect, Legion."
"Acknowledged."
John stared between Legion and EDI's avatar and crossed his arms.
"How long will this take, Legion?"
"We are already connected."
"Oh. That was fast."
Silence ensued. And the two organics waited. Clearly, whatever conversation Legion was having with his pals back home wasn't a conversation that Shepard or Garrus could hear.
"So…?"
Legion faced John. "Asset retrieval on the old-machine was successful. All packets accounted for. The data has been disseminated. Shepard-Commander: We regret to inform you that the IFF you seek is not present."
John ran a hand through his short hair. "…Shit."
"However, the information has revealed to us where one can be acquired."
"Where?"
"An abandoned superstructure left by the quarian creators during the morning war. It was called The Haratar. This once abandoned station is located in the Phoenix Massing nebula, in space no longer charted by Citadel species."
"And why would this be a place to find a reaper IFF?"
"It has been acquired by heretic geth."
"And heretic geth probably use reaper IFFs. That about right, Legion?" Garrus asked.
"That is correct." Legion answered.
"Why'd they do that? Why'd they take this station?"
If Legion had a way of looking more serious than usual, it was doing it.
"Shepard-Commander, the collective has compiled evidence and believes heretic geth are planning to tight-beam a virus designed by the old-machines to alter geth's most basic runtimes. This station is where it will originate."
That was something John really didn't want to hear.
"We estimate that when this weapon is launched, its time-to-completion will be within one standard galactic day. Upon our revival as heretic geth, this new collective, under the control of the old-machines, will, en masse, open theaters of war against all members of the galactic community. We would not win, but that is not the goal. The old-machines' intent is to cripple your militaries."
Holy fuck. John's heart was palpitating. "Dear god please tell me you have a plan to stop this."
"The collective was preparing contingencies and mobilizing several armadas to target the station. Insofar, probability of successfully stopping the virus from propagating is slim to none. Sub six percent chance of success given our most conservative estimates. However, we believe there might be an alternative. It would require the Normandy's stealth capabilities. If we can infiltrate this structure and destroy it from within, the chances of success will stack in our favor. As this is the heretic geth's headquarters, its destruction will also likely end any remaining capacity they have to assail organics."
"Why can't you just.. firewall it off or something?" John questioned.
"It would be no more the same if we asked you to deny the old-machines control of your mind through indoctrination. It is not feasible within the projected time-frame."
What an asshole question of him to hurl. "That... makes a lot of sense. Forgive my ignorance. Do you know at least when they plan to launch this virus?"
"Unknown. We only recommend haste."
"We've already lost too much time." John turned around while Garrus was still trying to get his bearings, "We needed to be there days ago. Send the coordinates to Joker and give EDI everything she needs to know."
"Acknowledged."
Garrus, realizing he was still standing and staring at Legion, followed John's brisk pace.
"Spirits, I hope it's telling the truth." Garrus said after the doors to the AI room closed behind them.
"Hopefully EDI can confirm everything. Right EDI?"
"Yes, Shepard."
They continued all the way to the elevator.
"How long until we're there, EDI?"
"Six hours."
"That's six hours to rest and get our gear ready."
"Fighting geth for a change." The turian crossed his arms as the lift ascended, "Who would've thought."
"Don't know how we're going to make this work." John admitted, "But once we're at CIC, head down and tell your team. I'll have Miranda tell Dan to get his detachment ready."
They arrived and Garrus stayed behind. "Keep me posted when Legion actually tells us the plan." John said as the doors closed on Garrus.
John stepped up to his podium and watched the course EDI plotted before giving Miranda a call over his omni-tool.
"Miranda?"
"I'm here."
"EDI needs to brief you of a new development. Get Dan's detachment informed and ready for possible deployment."
"Aye, Shepard."
He closed the call and stared grimly at the map before rubbing his eyes and face.
This was not was he was anticipating for today. If he'd known how critical of a situation this was going to be, he would've let Legion talk to his family days ago.
Oh god.
He clenched his teeth. Back on the ol' SR1, the fight to stop Saren and Sovereign was a long and very drawn-out process. They weren't fighting the duo day in and day out. The battles they got involved in were spaced months apart from each other. And it was because Sovereign and Saren were a patient and scheming couple. Fortunately, that worked out in Shepard's favor. Stopping the two didn't burn him and the others out like it was beginning to do here, facing the collectors.
The pacing of their little war had changed and it was probably because they all had struck some kind of chord with the reapers. Now, you could hardly breathe without the collectors trying to fuck something up. And here he was, trying to pencil in the time to prevent another galactic war instigated by, yours truly, the reapers.
Ain't no rest for the wicked. The metaphor was about as appropriate as it could get.
"EDI. Please tell Tali to go up to our room. Whenever she has time."
"Yes, Shepard."
He went into the elevator and went to their cabin.
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Tali found John sitting at their nook. She stood at the base of the two steps that lead to their bedroom and watched him. He didn't look comfortable. Elbows on his knees and hands under his chin, she could tell he'd been thinking hard and not moving much.
"EDI told me you wanted me up here."
"Yeah. I did." He said softly, standing up and moving to her, "Hope I didn't interrupt anything important."
"No. I saw where we're going." She mumbled, "What's going on?"
"We found where we might be able to get our hands on an IFF."
"Oh." Tali said to show she was following on, "Where?"
"Have you ever heard of The Haratar?"
"No."
John sat back down, Tali still standing.
"Apparently it was an old quarian space station. Pre-uprising. Heretic geth have taken it and are using it as an HQ. We're going there to get the IFF and blow up the place. Big caveat though. They're planning on using it turn Legion's geth into reaper geth. So they jumpstart geth war 2.0."
"...Oh." She said again, this time with shock, "I'm assuming Legion told you this."
"It did."
"How did we verify this?"
John faced the panel where EDI's avatar would pop up. "EDI, have you authenticated Legion's information?"
"Yes. The information Legion provided appears accurate. All present markers denote reaper origin and are consistent with other found artifacts containing computational code."
"An AI telling us the other AI is telling the truth." Tali laughed a little, "Thanks, EDI."
"Of course, Ms. Zorah."
She sat down next to him.
"How long before we're there?"
"Six hours."
He saw her from the corner of his eye nod subtly. "Well. I think there's something we should do then."
Her omni-tool came to life and she brought out its camera function.
"We should send something to Ash."
John nodded. "That's a good idea."
"Do you want me to just start recording, or do you need to think of what to say?"
"Nope. Just start."
"Right. Okay." Her finger searched for the record button. When she found it, she gave it a press and waited for John to start.
"Hey, Ash. I..." John frowned and his brows scrunched up. "Well. I'm not sure what kind of rumors you've been hearing about me, but some of them might be true. Clearly, I'm alive. So. There's that. And I'm out here trying to stop the collectors." He sniffed and scratched his nose before pointing at Tali with a thumb. "And Tali's here. Garrus too. New development, Tali and I are together now."
Tali blushed.
"...Uh. I know you were on Horizon when it got hit." John recalled, "We were there. And we, by some miracle, stopped them from taking everyone. Apparently the recent call to real action from the Alliance is something you can thank Garrus and Tali's friends for. They went down first to find out what happened and to record everything they found. Anything you want to add, Tali?"
Tali cleared her throat and shifted around in her spot. "Hi, Ashley. It was really good to know you're still alive after everything that's happened. We miss you. Please be safe. Hopefully someday we can see each other again soon." She tapped her fingers up to her mouthpiece as a gesture of a sisterly kiss.
"We're off to something really important. Have some geth to kill. We really do miss you, Ash. Get well. Bye."
John gave Tali the signal to end it and she did.
"Think that was good?" John asked.
"It was perfect. Glad we didn't have to redo it." She answered.
John gave her a small grin and relaxed. "Send it to me and I'll send it to Anderson. He'll make sure it finds its way to her."
"Okay. Sent."
She leaned back herself. Stiff leather was about the only thing they could hear.
John scratched the back of his head. "How have you been feeling?"
"Good." Tali said before glancing at John, "I gotta question."
"Yeah?"
She crossed her arms and smirked a little. "Was it really you who approved that whiskey Donnelly wanted so bad?"
"I... don't really recall." John tried to think, "I mean, honestly? Most of the requisitions I get, I just sign off on. Hard for me to say no."
Tali laughed. Hearing her do that settled him. His shoulders slacked and the anxiety started to simmer away.
"Why?"
"Nothing. He coddles it like a baby."
John grinned. "Really?"
"Apparently it's really old. Decades, I think."
"No kidding? That thing must've cost a pretty penny."
She took off her mask and set it carefully on the table. "It did. Six thousand-something credits, I think."
"Holy shit." John guffawed.
"When are you going to brief the ground team?" Tali asked, changing the topic and webbing her fingers together.
"Three hours from now when we start to get a better idea of what we're actually going to try and do."
"How big is this station exactly?"
"Enormous. We're going to need the mechs to carry a nuke with us."
"If the geth have taken it over, then they can scuttle the station. EDI can probably find a way to do that if I can't."
John nodded, though he did it through a tranced look. "Well. Should probably bring a nuke just in case."
"I agree."
John breathed in as deeply as he could and faced her.
"Can I get a kiss? Right here?" He pointed at his cheek.
She beamed at John and obliged him.
"Thanks." He said, all bashful, "How about another?"
She went in again, but John pressed his lips into hers midway.
She smiled through the kiss. Geth mess hovering over them or not, at that moment, everything was right in their little world.
Their little kiss of love got deeper. Her hand reached out to cradle his neck without her even realizing.
Then she was straddling him. Caressing his back gingerly, lips gracing his neck, she felt the first of her belts around her chest loosen. Then the second one.
Her smile got toothy between her kisses.
"Oh, is that where we're going?" She murmured happily.
"Maybe."
A mild gasp escaped her when she felt his hand slip between her legs. Tenderly, his middle and pointer teased her. She mashed her lips up against his and stood so she could kick off her boots.
"Alright, we're too far in. Get this thing off me." She tugged at the seals of her suit and split it from her neck before turning around and walking to the bed so he could do the rest.
He didn't argue. He reached for the fabric around her neck and peeled away her prison. He could feel himself beginning to throb, watching Tali on her hands and knees as he freed her arched back and perfect glutes.
She turned around to kick off the rest, pulled him down on top of her, and wrapped her legs around him as she tore off his shirt.
"I think we should make this a regular thing." Tali breathed, barely holding a moan with his hands exploring her.
"Whatcha mean?" He kissed the space between her breasts before gracing her stomach with his lips.
"Right before every mission." Tali's eyes were closed now, utterly at the mercy of John's touch, "A, uh, uhm...you know. A fuck n' fight."
John immediately stopped smooching her inner thigh and bellowed a laugh. "Oh, Tals. I love you."
She laughed at the stupid joke until he kissed her wet center.
"Oh, that's good." She hummed. She lost herself in the pleasure and the minutes went by. She had to stop him when she realized she was about to climax.
"Whoa, hold on," Tali reached for his hands to drag him back up and frowned after she gave him a peck, "...What are you doing with your pants still on, huh? Take those off. My turn."
"Yes ma'am." He smiled and did as he was asked. He dropped them and Tali dove in.
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Three hours later.
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"By now, I believe everyone has been relatively acquainted with Legion." John announced as he stood in front of them all. He gauged his audience and saw some nod their heads, most of them still glancing at the geth standing beside him.
"Good. In just a few short hours, we will be arriving in the Phoenix Massing nebula. There, we'll find a geth superstructure called The Haratar. Our objective remains the same. Find an IFF to get across the Omega Four. But, there's more. We've come to learn that geth are split into two factions. Those like Legion, and those that have allied themselves with the reapers. These, 'heretic' geth, as Legion labels them, have prepared a weapon that'll pretty much indoctrinate the entirety of normal geth inside a day. And then we'll have an incursion that'll make the war of 2183 barely even register as a blip on the list of atrocities the Citadel has faced. That's the reason we've expedited this op into the timeframe you see right now." John looked down to glance at his notes on his omni-tool. Both so he could move on with the brief, and for people to digest what was at stake. "Legion anticipates the possibility of small arms resistance, but little else. Due to the confining nature of the station, we're only going to need a squad of ten to participate. We are taking nine volunteers."
All the quarians participating in the meeting rose their hands, save for Darehk. Grunt's hand also rose.
John nodded, expecting such a response from the quarians. It was, afterall, what they were best at. As for Grunt, there wasn't a time where he didn't volunteer.
"Alright. Your names are going up."
Grunt, Olasie, Juel, Talukh, Tali, and Teri were all put up.
Samara rose her hand, as well as Thane's. Jack did as well.
Jack volunteering came off as bit of a surprise to John. But he wasn't going to complain. Her behavior as of late had been a lot more mellow and cooperative. And an extra biotic never hurt to have when facing geth.
"Fantastic. Alright. As usual, we don't know much going in." He sighed and almost smiled. "I swear, we might as well just drop this part of briefing."
That got some chuckles.
Shepard stepped down. "Tell them what we know so far, Legion."
"Acknowledged." It did not nod at John or even move from where it stood. "Normandy will approach with emission sinks active. We will deploy and ascertain the parameters of our objective. This unit will then insert junk data of significant quantity that will need to be scrubbed from their network. Enough to inhibit any effective capacity to fight. Upon completion of all objectives, we will exfiltrate the station and terminate The Haratar from existence."
"Pretty simple." John concluded, "So, if your name's on the board, you've just been sent a packet to your emails. Check out your OT's and get your gear ready. Sorry Dan, but you've been demoted to stand-by until further notice. Sorry for stirring you all up earlier with this."
"No worries, sir. Maybe next time."
"That's it. Briefing adjourned. Eat dinner. Try to get rest. The rest of us, be ready for the call on the PA. Expect it at around seven-thirtyish."
They all haphazardly rose from their seats and mingled about.
Garrus was the first to come up to him.
"Surprised you didn't volunteer." John joked.
"I was giving it some serious consideration, but I think the quarians are best suited for it. I can still tag along if you'd like. Do it for old time's sake."
"No," John breathed, "No need, really. I'd rather you hold the fort with Miranda while we're gone. And if everything goes right, we'll barely even see any action."
"That never happens." Garrus said, voice flat.
"Yeah." John said, drawing out a sigh.
Garrus caught what he interpreted to be anxiousness. "Feeling uneasy?"
"Yeah. I'm also trying to process what the hell we're doing."
"Following a geth to blow up some other geth? How's that make you feel? Like it's an elaborate trap, huh?"
Shepard put his hands on his hips and stared at his feet despite the smile Garrus was giving.. Garrus was waiting for an answer, but John didn't say anything.
"What the hell do I know, Garrus." He said at last, "If we don't get an IFF, then we all might as well disband right now and go home. I wasn't joking when I said we've really got nowhere else to go with this."
"What has TIM said?"
"He hasn't had any other leads himself. This is the only one we've got. And it's all been at my discretion. Pretty scary, huh?"
"We'll be fine." Garrus said, "You shouldn't worry. You've never let us down."
Shepard scoffed. "That just makes it more likely I will at some point." John retorted, giving him a grin. He laughed at his self-made pity.
"I'm gonna talk to the team and get my gear ready." He said, now walking away, "Talk to you later."
"See you at dinner."
He joined his congregating group of volunteers with Legion already among them.
The way they stood around it made him believe that maybe the crew were becoming a bit more trusting of Legion. There was no wide berth anymore. At least for right now.
"Hello, Legion." Samara greeted.
"Greetings, Justicar." It replied, "Thank you for volunteering."
John crossed his arms and took a spot next to Tali. Seeing them all interact was weird. This was going to be different. Really different.
"Welp." John mumbled only within earshot of Tali, "Let's see what happens."