John knew that this wasn't the time to be having a situational crisis, but he was. As you'd expect, the occurrence was usually sudden. They didn't happen often to him, but they occurred at rates that John wasn't all that comfortable with either. He had to be honest with himself here. This was a lot to swallow. Him trying to let his mind catch up to the fact that they were following Legion on its word and piecemeal evidence to infiltrate a geth superstructure quartering millions of them to thwart yet another grand scheme conjured up by the reapers. Comic book level scheming, amusingly.
The shit was the same as it always was. Just happened on different days. Which meant John wasn't compelled to be changing any of their strategies either. Just like the duct-tape and string operation of Virmire, he'd outwit their tricks with yet another nuke. John was, after all, a man of habit. Hopefully that wouldn't be exploited anytime down the road.
Things were going smooth. Smoother than anticipated. Unlike the hollow victory that came from Virmire, things were only looking up for them so far.
They got their IFF. They stopped the virus. And they were about to finish off the last of the heretic geth for good. That was three marks to check off on his lengthy list. And if you counted all those check marks starting with Eden Prime, you'd feel pretty okay about patting yourself on the back.
Until you remember that celebrating now would be too premature. Their entire fight had been nothing but obstruction and setbacks.
Christ, this really wasn't the time to be diddling.
John kept up his pace, but gave himself a moment to give Tali a quick once-over to make sure she was alright.
He let his mind wander again, but this time about Legion. He supposed it wasn't all that fair to call Legion's evidence piecemeal. It mostly felt that way with how pressed they were to get this done. EDI had, after all, authenticated its claims.
He figured that was supposed to satisfy him. But it didn't. Because he knew that EDI could be fooled just like the rest of them. It showed when they managed to fuck up at Hock's party. He was convinced, at the conclusion of his career, if he managed to live through whatever this campaign would be called in the future, that he wasn't going to be able to live that one down. At least to himself. Assassination didn't really sound like something good people did. He supposed after the fact, that running the Normandy democratically in that regard was probably a mistake.
"We are nearly there." Legion announced to them all.
"How long you think it'll take to weld that warhead to the floor, EDI? Need help? I got a cert for it."
"What don't you have a certification for?" Tali said, rolling her eyes.
"It should not take too long." EDI answered.
"Good. In and out. We're super-dead if we get stuck here." Juel rasped.
"How you feeling, Lukh?" Olasie asked, only glancing behind her to see how he was faring.
"Stiff." He huffed, last in line, "I'll be okay."
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Grunt inspected the feeding lips on his mag, the round protruding from the top, and inserted it back into his gun.
Jacob watched from a distance. "Any particular reason you like using outdated tech?"
"Less to go wrong. Simpler machine." Grunt said.
Jacob was about to offer a well versed reply about why that didn't really matter anymore, but was cut off by the sound of hissing above them.
The group looked up to see vents.
"What the hell is that?" Jack asked.
Jacob stood, stepped up as close as he could to one of the hissing vents, and ran a scan. When he got an answer, he bit his lip and gave Jack a concerned stare. "Oxygen. It's oxygen."
"What the hell for?"
Jacob's memories of Eden Prime flashed through his mind. "...Combustion." He answered emphatically, "They're pumping in atmo to use flamethrowers."
The woman bristled. "Huh. Shit."
"Get ready." Jacob ordered, pushing past her and taking an angle, "And hope to god our barriers can hold off whatever they're about to throw." He took a knee and brought up his radio.
"Shepard, this is Jacob. How copy?"
"This is Shepard. Go for message."
"Be advised, they're pumping atmo into the hallways. Be careful."
"Solid affirmative," Shepard said, understanding what that was entailing, "Do what you can. Don't take any unnecessary risks."
"Copy. Out."
"Listen," Thane announced, "You can hear them."
The team hushed and sure enough, the subtle sound of footsteps and servos in the distance could be heard.
A planted claymore then detonated. A thunderous wave of pressure washed over them, disturbing the floor's settled dust.
"That's one," Jacob reminded, "wait for the second one."
Another piercing shockwave. The far end of the corridor went thick with black smoke and flak. Whatever geth had tripped the ordnance essentially humidified the air with its servo-fluid, casting short-lived vapor trails from shrapnel piercing its platform.
With no time to spare, the geth began to turn the corner in a scrambled but calculated column.
The walls were suddenly bathed in an ecstatic hue of blue. Thane and Samara alike were suddenly alit in biotic flame before unleashing on the growing horde a 5000 newton wall of energetic force.
"Keep them at a distance!" Jacob bellowed, seeing geth enter into his own line of sight. Grunt depressed the trigger on his firearm and cloaked the field with slugs. Smoke and spent shells spat from the ejection port until the magazine went dry, forcing the bolt to hold open.
"I'm empty." The krogan grumbled, slightly disappointed he'd expelled that much in so little time. He expelled his empty mag into a dump pouch and fetched for another to reload.
"Looks like you need a new gun afterall, Grunt." Jacob said, squeezing in what little time they had for banter.
"No, what I need are extended mags." Grunt said, grinning devilishly.
A geth platform turned the corner and began to blanket the entire hallway with a spray of highly volatile gelled petrochemical. The flash of heat smacked their faces with surprise.
"Holy Fuck!" Jack smashed a barrier down to keep them from being smothered from the resulting oil and flames.
Grunt smacked the bolt release on his shotgun and resumed, felling the next wave of approaching platforms and killing whichever geth wielded the flamethrower.
"Damnit, I'm out." Grunt spat, "Again."
"Look alive! More contacts ingressing!" Jacob shouted, "Focus fire!"
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Joker sipped his coffee and skimmed through his haphazard display of readouts before sighing.
"What's it looking like EDI?" He asked quietly, propping his head up with an elbow on his arm rest.
"Jacob's team is currently engaging the geth."
"How're they faring?"
EDI brought up a window on the largest of Joker's screens and revealed to him a live a feed of the camera attached to Jacob's helmet.
For a glimpse, the video was only a superimposed layer of spent shells and empty magazines around Grunt's feet. The walls behind the krogan was nothing but a brilliant spectacle of electric cerulean shadows as the four biotics worked tirelessly against the machine horde.
"Damn." Joker said, pursing his lips tightly together. He took another careful sip from his four cream, two sugar, coffee. Always more cream than sugar. Took the bite and bitterness from the extra-bold crap they had overstocked.
Joker's stare faltered. A crazy juxtaposition, the helmsman thought. It was something that crossed his mind daily when the ground team was—well—when they were all boots on the ground. Him sitting here in the comfort of a leather seat and a steamy cup of joe to keep his belly warm while they put their lives on the line in a way much more intimate than him. Very visceral, seeing the combat that he himself could never participate in.
The geth were still as unrelenting as ever. Nothing had changed about them, really.
"Watching too?"
Garrus' voice startled him, but he didn't show it.
"Hey." Joker said, looking up to meet his gaze, "Yeah. Just making sure they're all okay."
"I should have gone." Garrus said, his stare hard as he watched the live footage of the action.
"Not enough room for all of you. Place is small."
"Yeah." Garrus said, seemingly disappointed or unconvinced of his observation.
A few seconds passed in silence and the two of them continued to watch. Joker's mind hadn't settled away from what he had just thought of and he wasn't all that privy to keeping them to himself either. So he decided to talk about it.
"How do you do it?" Joker asked, brows furrowed deeply just as Jacob launched another violent wave of biotic energy toward the geth.
"Could ask you the same thing." Garrus said, leaning up against his chair and looking down at the pilot, "You pulling our asses up from out the fire? I'd say that's just as hard."
Jeff only managed to utter a mumble. "Maybe."
"I know you're not romanticizing our half of the job, but don't feel like you have a duty to pick up a rifle all of a sudden."
"I don't, trust me. I can't shoot worth shit."
"Didn't you ever qualify?"
"Of course. Barely."
"Mm." Came Garrus' reply.
Joker chewed on his tongue for a second and clenched his teeth. "How much longer until Shepard and Legion get to where they need to plant that bomb, EDI?"
"Soon, Jeff."
Her answers had been a lot less specific lately. Probably that learning algorithm she had or something. I guess she realized that her being really specific about the time constraints of their order of operation didn't much matter when he wasn't an integral part of what was happening.
"They're getting hit hard." Garrus lamented, shaking his head idly, "Spirits, they need to get out of there soon."
Jack threw yet another barrier to hold the flames at bay. Her teeth were gnashed and expression tense. Sweat smothered her bald head.
"Have you and your team settled your demons with Jack?"
"People ask me that a lot." Garrus muttered.
"Yeah? Like who?"
"Tali."
"And?"
"Shepard."
"I'm sure that's the only two who you've ever heard it from."
The turian crossed his arms and didn't reply.
"So... have you settled them or not?"
"We haven't settled anything with Jack. I haven't settled anything with Jack. Whatever's going on between her and I won't interfere with the mission."
"And what about that punching match she had with Sidonis a while back?"
Garrus' mouth remained shut, but his mandibles did a weird flicker. "...Don't worry about it."
"Hey, I'm just trying to look out for you, dude. Sometimes, your friends get concerned."
"I'll be okay, Joker. I swear."
Joker nodded, settled a little deeper into his seat, and thrummed his fingers against the handle of his mug, thinking. "...Has she changed at all?"
"She hasn't been any trouble for a while, no. She's been a bit more docile."
"Think it has something to do with Thane's meditation counseling?"
"Maybe it's Kelly's sessions too." Garrus said, smirking.
"Ha." Joker huffed with a cheeky grin because they'd all been through the same thing with her. "Maybe, Garrus."
The humor was snuffed out as soon as it had entered.
They watched a geth operator get too close to Jack's barrier. Grunt plowed a kick center mass and knocked it back.
"They need to call it." Garrus growled, "They need to get out of there."
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Of all the missions Shepard had been on, this was... probably the easiest.
At least for him. There wasn't much to do other than run. And they were almost there. Every hallway was the same as the last. A long and almost unending grid of perfect repetition. It was jarring, because it almost felt like they'd been running around in the same place since they'd started.
"We have arrived." Legion announced steadily as they entered into a space that vaguely looked like a control area, "Shepard-Commander. We may begin preparations."
"Good." John waved for EDI's mechs to get started. "You know what's next, EDI."
"Yes, Shepard."
"Olasie," John called out her name to get her attention, "Keep security."
"Roger." Olasie did as she was told and ordered her team to cover the exits, "Let's go."
"On it."
"Right."
Posting up to their respective positions, they watched their lanes.
"Think they're okay over there?" Teri asked.
"They got Grunt," Talukh mumbled, pinching his lip between his teeth to ignore the aching in his chest, "So yeah."
"Why didn't we have any biotics come with us?"
"Because their job's more important, Lukh."
"Don't know." Juel said, skeptical, but with a sliver of sarcasm, "Pretty sure it's us with the nuke, here." He kept walking and stepped up next to Tali and Shepard.
"Everything good so far?"
Tali nodded and watched EDI's drones prepare the warhead by welding it to the floor.
"Yeah." She said simply.
The three of them continued to stare.
"You know, Juel. This wouldn't be the first time we've done something like this." Tali rasped, remembering, "Did it on Virmire."
Shepard recalled the exactitude of mostly everything that'd transpired on that planet, save for the two times he'd been knocked unconscious. He just listened to her.
Juel checked the sink in his gun since he had nothing else to do with his hands. "Don't rightly recall that one. How'd you do it?"
"With a rigged drive from a salarian STG ship. Did it to ash Saren's base." Tali said, eyes transfixed on the bomb. They all turned away when the welding torches came out to protect themselves from the blinding light. Tali inhaled rather deeply. Remembering that day was truly exhausting. Even if it was only for a moment.
"Lost lots of good people that day, didn't we, John?" Tali said, thinking of Kaiden, her tone flat. "That was a really bad day."
"Yeah." John agreed quietly. "It was."
A dull and almost indiscernible shockwave reverberated along the floor. Turning to face the low rumble, John glowered and brought up his radio.
They shockwave they felt was a pretty clear indicator of what just happened to Jacob's side of business.
"This is Shepard. Jacob, are you okay?"
"Shepard," Came a hoarse breath. The man was no doubt running, "We couldn't hold them. There was just too many. We're exfil. See you back on the ship."
"Copy all, Jacob. Out."
"Shepard-Commander. Our success was contingent upon their delay. Not enough time has passed to fully dispense the payload."
"How much went through, Legion?"
"Dispersal ended at fifty-one percent."
"Then that leaves us with little over half the time, right?"
"Negative. Copied code was quadrated into unique segments. Only a limited number of these segments were transferred. Dispersal of code was propagated in equal parts of copied and unique code. Once this copied data is catalogued and distributed to other geth, data ablation will increase exponentially. We believe we have, at most, fifteen standard galactic minutes until heretic geth purify core systems and discover our location."
It was a mouthful of an explanation, but John mouthed a silent curse either way. The commander turned around and went to stand next to the mechs welding the warhead to the floor. He kept his hand up to block the damaging light emitting from EDI's work.
"EDI? How long is this going to take?"
"To arm the ordnance, weld its base, and assemble the protective shell: ten minutes."
"Oh. Perfect." Juel garbled.
"Is welding all the doors an option to buy time for you?"
"No," Juel said, speaking up, "EDI brought enough filler to make the protective shell and weld it to the floor. It's either a couple doors or the shell she's making."
"Then it's time to give EDI your grenades and gun." Shepard said, un-slinging his weapon and setting it down by the mechs' feet as they continued to work. "Plate carrier too if you're comfortable with that."
They all gathered around to give what they could.
"Shit." Juel sighed, staring at the nice little holo on his gun, "Does she need my optic?"
"Juel, you can always buy a new one." Olasie said, getting on a knee and setting her grenades down on the floor.
"Ugh. But it's got this cool app with a special license and I—"
"Really got your priorities in check, don't you?" Teri interrupted, but finding the time to actually grin, "Bro, hurry up."
"Right." Juel got to releasing the latch to his favorite sight before setting the gun down.
Teri and Talukh followed suite. That left only Olasie, Legion, and Tali to remain fully kitted.
"Are you good, EDI?"
"I am. I will continue to work and assemble the bomb's protective shell. Counter will be initiated on your go. Your detonator will also be synced to trigger the bomb if that is what you would prefer."
"Excellent."
John pulled his sidearm from out his holster before catching Legion's gaze and leaning his head toward the exit. "Legion. Lead us out of here."
"Shepard Commander. Wait."
John's eyes narrowed a little. "What?"
"There is an alternative. We do not have to destroy this station."
John gave it a hard stare. This really wasn't the time to start suggestion alternatives here, let alone game-changing ones. "What are you proposing, Legion."
"We have altered the virus. We can disperse it and force all heretic geth to return to their original non-heretic state."
"Why didn't you bring this up earlier?"
"We did not believe it possible until now. Runtimes were executing other solutions should our original objective become unsuccessful."
John only had to glance at Tali to know where the wind was blowing on this one. The remaining quarians all exchanged looks, but they didn't say anything.
He wanted to give it some more serious thought; to really think about the long lasting repercussions that might result from their quick decision making. But John couldn't pause their ticking clock. This was the moment of action. Not second guessing what you came all this way to do. Plus, he already knew what the quarians wanted. And, quite frankly, he did too. They all had their own beef against the geth. Just under different reasons.
"No." John shook his head firmly, mind made up, "Nope. They chose to ally themselves with the reapers. That was a voluntary decision. They made their bed and now they're going to sleep in it."
"Understood." Legion seemed no worse for the wear hearing that, "Nav point plotted. We must hurry."
"Fall out." John ordered, "Move."
The quarians began running, Talukh again taking the rear.
John stayed for a few seconds longer.
"Are you sure you can handle this, EDI? We can't screw this up."
"Yes, Shepard." EDI answered, her mechs working in well concentrated tandem, "You should go."
"Alright." John dipped his head and started backtracking toward Tali who'd been waiting at their exit, "We'll order more mechs. Don't you worry."
"I have already ordered for their replacements." She said, "And your kodiak is already in transit."
"Good work, EDI."
John was the last to enter the hallway. Tali and John ran past the others until they were back at the front with Legion.
"Just a light jog, right hun?" He said, smiling at her.
"Huh. Yeah." Tali breathed, rolling her eyes. She was relieved to deny the heretic geth that option to turn them back to what they once were. The last thing they needed to do was to further bolster the geth's numbers. Moreover that, letting these heretic geth run free from facing the consequences of the war they started and the crimes they committed was wrong. Luckily for them, it was a fairly guiltless thing to do, passing judgement upon their entire faction. There were no commiserate heretics amid their ranks. They all equally shared in their perverted version of truth. Tali knew that the galaxy and her children would be better off without them.
Eight minutes of running passed and they finally reached their exit.
No contacts.
Not even a peep. They hadn't seen a geth since they'd gotten here, save for Legion itself.
"Through here." Legion ordered, opening up another trash chute, "Please be cautious."
Legion stepped up and dropped down slowly into the abyss. Juel was next, and took the time to illuminate the opening as he fell for the others.
Olasie went next. Then Teri. Talukh. Only Shepard and Tali remained.
It struck him odd how easy this was. It just, in retrospect, didn't feel right. First time he'd almost felt like he'd cheated the reapers. A dumb thing to think, he knew.
"Easy peasy." Shepard murmured quietly, face flat as he jumped down into the shaft, "Lemon squeezy."
Tali fell in next to him and frowned. "What?"
He cracked a small smile. "Nothing."
Their descent was slow. It took them a solid two minutes of falling before reaching the bottom.
"EDI, ETA on kodiak?"
"Two minutes, Commander."
"How much time, Legion?"
"Estimation remains at less than five standard minutes."
"The mechs have just encountered scouts." EDI warned, "I am engaging."
"Guess that estimation was a bit off. You're going to have to buy us time then, EDI."
"That will be difficult." EDI said. Her tone wasn't very motivating to hear.
"Well." Juel shrugged, "That's what the shell was for, I guess."
"Until they break out a plasma cutter." Talukh said.
"Oxy-fuel more like." Juel corrected, "It's a thick shell."
"Who gives a shit what it's called, Juel."
"It's an important distinction."
"Not productive to be arguing." Teri said.
Juel stared at the void of space because it was the only thing they had the luxury of looking at. "Teri. Nothing about sitting together in a trash chute is productive."
"That's fair." Teri agreed and stared at her gun, "You got me."
Olasie pointed after she scanned their small field of view. "Keelah. You can see the Normandy from here."
She was right. There it sat. Waiting.
"EDI, are you good?" Shepard asked, keeping a lookout for the kodiak.
"I am holding. I will continue to delay them for as long as possible."
A minute passed. The kodiak was now in view.
Tali unknowingly drummed her fingers against the top of her shotgun as they waited.
"Mech three damaged, but still engaging. Mech two immobilized but still engaging." EDI updated.
John was inwardly acknowledging the accuracy of Juel's crass remark. They were all practicing mannerisms one would often do under the pressure of having to wait for a ride to leave a station with an armed nuclear device aboard it.
Twenty seconds went by and the kodiak continued its slow crawl to them.
"Mech two: unit lost. Mech one damaged, but still engaging."
Fourteen seconds. The kodiak door opened, revealing Audrey, their pilot, waving at them to clamber inside.
"Come on!"
Talukh jumped first. Then Juel. Teri. Olasie.
"Go Legion." John ordered. The geth obeyed and leapt into the kodiak. As always, Tali and John were the last to enter the cabin.
"Mech one: unit lost. Detonating planted grenades."
The kodiak door closed.
A few more seconds went by before EDI gave another update.
"Contacts repelled momentarily." EDI announced. "Consolidating gear. Attempting repairs."
"Three minutes, guys." Audrey said, giving the kodiak a slight boost to gather some distance between the bomb and them.
"That's really cutting it close." Olasie uttered.
Audrey shrugged as she sat down in the cockpit, "I mean, I could give it some beans and have us there in under twenty."
"We would advise against that course of action." Legion warned, "We cannot determine which systems have been purified of corruption. Progression of mission should continue as anticipated."
"Power pack replaced. Mech one is back online." EDI said.
Shepard fished for the detonator in his pocket and brought it out to hold. Forty five seconds of dead silence. An eternity's worth of time.
"I have been reengaged." EDI announced.
"Tali." John said to get her attention. She turned away from the port display showing the Haratar to look at him.
"Here," He reached out to offer her the device, his grasp on it limp. "honor's yours."
Her stare lingered on him, but it finally fell to the detonator. The body language was subtle, but John saw, inside the span of her short-lived pause, her sizing the gravity of what pressing that tiny red button was going to do. At last, she took it from him.
Her stare hardened. Her mind had been made since the get go. Nothing was going to change it. But there was an angle to consider when you were the one handed the responsibility of mass fate. She was about to snuff out the existence of millions of geth. All in the view of John, her quarian family, and their enigmatic geth 'friend'. It was a heavy thing to suddenly carry, and Tali could describe all the different ways it made her feel, but weakness definitely wasn't one of them.
Again, she had to remind herself that John's idiom was right. The heretics made their bed. And it was time for them to sleep in it.
Time's crawl was no more for Tali. They entered the Normandy's dock faster than she had expected. As they stepped out from the kodiak, Tali flicked the safety cap off, depressed the red button, and squeezed the clamp trigger. She watched the Haratar's distant frame begin to slowly liquefy and swell at the same time. The resulting light cast a shadow bright enough for Tali's mask to polarize just as the bay doors closed.
And just like that, their mission was done.
IFF secured. Virus repelled. No casualties. And best of all, no more heretic geth.
And to finish it all right before dinner.
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Garrus plopped his tray across from where John sat, a smile square on his face.
"Congratulations." Garrus said.
Shepard stopped chewing and looked up, a smile barely there from the turian's sarcasm. "Thanks."
"Hell of a day, huh? Just about wrapped up the war of 2183. And you all didn't even have to pull a trigger."
"Pulled one trigger." John corrected with a growing grin, Garrus almost forgetting Tali had been given the honor of detonating the nuke. "But I know what you meant. It's ten to a penny when that happens."
"You guys really got the easier half of it. Exotic PT really." Garrus said, glancing at Tali, who'd been sitting next to John eating her own food.
"I recall you being here?" Tali smacked, folding her arms on the table and furrowing both her brows.
"Yeah," Garrus said, lamenting partially to the end of an era, "The good ol' days are definitely in the past now. You should see what Jacob and the others dealt with. That's a commercial for biotics if you ever needed one."
"Wish you had them?" John smirked.
"Maybe. It'd let me eat more."
"Worried about getting fat?" Juel said as he walked by with an SM-10 meal.
"Wonder what a fat turian would even look like." John said, pursing his lips and scratching the underside of his chin.
"You're looking at one, that's for sure." Tali said with a dumb smile.
Garrus pinched his shirt to cool himself off. "Spirits that was a burn."
You could see Sidonis overhear from behind Garrus and laugh. Though Garrus would never know it was at him.
"Aw, Tali," John said, barely keeping a straight face as he sipped from his cup, "That was pretty damn mean."
Tali had a good snicker, waxing total elation. She had every reason to be happy. They all did. No one on this ship had even known of the Haratar's existence, much less the plan the heretics were readying to unleash upon the galaxy. And now it was nothing but a smoldering wreck. Looking back, Tali realized that half of the Normandy's career had been denying assets. Mostly denying them from reapers.
They were getting good at it.
Now, all they had left, as far as anyone was concerned, was to deal with the collectors.