Chapter 15
"Left side, Shepard!" Garrus yelled, ducking into cover.
John tumbled to his left and unloaded several shotgun shells into several geth. The geth retaliated with a barrage of fine so Shepard ducked back into cover to let his barrier recharge. He looked to his right, Garrus was pinned down, while Tali was taking care of the right side.
"I could use some help here!" Garrus yelled, leaning over to use an overload.
"Working on it!" Tali yelled back.
The ship was infested with the geth, it must have taken Tali's father months or possibly years to collect the parts to make this many. Tali did make her contribution to it, but John was sure her father had other sources.
Shepard leaned out and threw a biotic shockwave towards the group of geth, launching them in different directions. John kept going around the left side of the large hall they were in, taking shots at the geth when necessary. He soon reached the end of the hall, Tali was already there with a hacked geth near her. Garrus quickly caught up to the two, "Friend of yours?" he asked, looking at the geth.
"No, we just met." Tali replied, activating her omnitool and frying the geth.
Tali walked up to the door leading further into the ship, she used his omnitool to hack it, "Door's unlocked."
"Alright, let's get moving." John replied and opened it.
As the doors opened, the team saw a dead quarian on the floor, his envirosuit looked a bit different from other quarians Shepard has seen on the ship. That only meant one thing.
"Father!" Tali cried out and ran up to the lifeless body. She kneeled down and used her omnitool to scan the suit and run a diagnostic at the same time, "No, no, no! You always had a plan. Masked life signs, or, or an onboard medical stasis program, maybe. You! You wouldn't..." Tali's voice started trembling, "They're wrong! You wouldn't just die like this! You wouldn't leave me to clean up your mess! You can't..."
John kneeled next to Tali, "Hey. Hey, come here." Shepard reached out to Tali, she quickly grabbed John sobbing.
"Damn it! Damn it... I'm sorry." She let go of Shepard.
"You've got nothing to be sorry about." John replied.
Garrus walked up and placed his arm on Tali's shoulder, "We are here for you Tali."
Tali nodded, she stopped sobbing and regained her composure, she turned to her father's corpse and leaned down to it again, "Maybe... He would have known I'd come. Maybe he left a message." Tali scanned his omnitool and sure enough there was a recording addressed to Tali.
"Tali, if you are listening, then I am dead. the geth have gone active. I don't have much time. The main hub would be on the bridge. You'll need to destroy it to stop the VI processes from forming new neural links. Make sure Han'Garrel and Daro'Xen see the data. they must..." the was a noise of rifle fire and the recording cut short.
Tali turned off her father's omnitool, "Thanks, Dad."
John walked up to Tali, "He knew you'd come for him. He was trying to help you. It's not perfect. It's not what you wanted. But it's the best he could do."
Tali shook her head, "I don't know what's worse, thinking he never really cared, or thinking that he did, and that this was the only way he could show it.", Tali stood up, "It doesn't matter. One way or the other, I cared. And I'm here. And we're ending this."
Both Shepard and Garrus nodded and the squad quickly went up the stairs leading into the bridge. Tali hacked the doors open again and the team moved in, the geth hub was standing in the middle of the bridge, guarded by a Geth Prime and a couple regular platforms.
Garrus looked at the Geth Prime, "Makes me wish Legion was here, maybe he could just talk them down and have them self destruct or something."
John smiled, "Nothing is ever that easy, Vakarian. On three." both Tali and Garrus nodded, "Three!"
The squad rushed the hub, taking out the regular geth and focusing fire on the Prime. The gigantic geth could not handle incoming fire and soon succumbed to the damage it took. Garrus walked up to the geth hub and placed a grenade on it, the rest took cover, Garrus followed their example and then detonated the grenade remotely.
Tali quickly walked up to the several consoles that were standing near the hub, she activated one of them, "This console is linked to the main hub Father mentioned. Disabling it will shut down the geth we missed. It looks like some of the recording remained intact. They'll tell us how this happened, what Father did."
Shepard walked up to the console, "You don't really want to hear it, do you?"
Tali sighed, "No. We have to, I know. I just... this is terrible, Shepard. I don't want to know that he was part of this." she activated the console and one of the recording played.
The recording of Rael'Zorrah, Tali's father, played, "Do we have enough parts to bring more online?"
One of the quarian scientists replied, "Yes the new shipment from your daughter will let us add two more geth to the network."
Another quarian added, "We're nearing a breakthrough on synthetic viral attacks. Perhaps we should inform the Admiralty Board, just to be safe."
Rael replied, "No. We're too close. I promised to build my daughter as house on the home world. I'm not going to sit and wait, while the politicians argue."
The quarian scientist spoke again, "We'd have an easier time of it if Tali'Zorah could send back more working material."
Rael replied, "Absolutely not. I don't want Tali exposed to any political blowback. Leave Tali out of this. Assemble new geth with what we have. Bypass security protocols if need be."
John looked at Tali, "It sounds like he was doing this for you."
Tali placed her hand on her mask, "I never wanted this, Shepard. Keelah, I never wanted this. Everything here is his fault! I tried to pretend it didn't point to him, but this... When this comes up in the trial, they'll..." Tali turned to Shepard, "We can't tell them, not the admirals, not anyone."
John was conflicted, "Tali, without this evidence you're looking at exile!"
"You think I don't know that?" Tali snapped, "You think I want to live, knowing that I can never see the Fleet again?" Tali clutched her fists, the mere thought of exile was painful to her, "But I can't go back into that room and say that my father was the worst war criminal in our people's history. I cannot."
John shook his head, "We're not going to decide anything here. Let's see what the admirals say, once we get back."
Tali sighed, "You're my captain in this hearing, Shepard. It's your decision. But please. Don't destroy what my father was." she headed for the exit, "Come on, if we wait too long, they'll think we're already dead and none of this will matter."
John walked through the doors into the large hall where the hearing was taking place, it seems that the Admirals were impatient and started the hearing without them. John and Tali moved through a crowd of quarians to their place in front of the Admirals. Many were surprised to see them alive.
Tali gave Admiral Koris and angry look, she heard him wanting to exile her even post death, "Sorry we're late."
John did not hesitate, he spoke while he had the attention of the admirals, "Tali'Zorah vas Normandy saved the Alarei. I hope this proves her loyalty to the quarian people."
Admiral Koris replied, "Her loyalty was never in doubt, only her judgment."
Admiral Raan continued, "Perhaps Tali'Zorah can offer something to encourage more trust in her judgment."
Admiral Garrel picked up, "Did you find anything on the Alarei that could clarify what happened there?"
Tali looked at Shepard, her eyes were begging John to not tell them what has really happened, and he could not betray her trust, he walked forward to speak to the Admirals.
Tali reached out behind Shepard, "Shepard... please..."
Admiral Raan spoke, "Does Captain Shepard have any new evidence to submit to this hearing?"
John decided to try and go for broke, "Tali helped me defeat Saren and the geth at the Citadel. That should be all the evidence you need."
Admiral Koris tried to argue, "I fail to see what relevance..."
But John interrupted him, "You're not really interested in Tali, are you? This trial isn't about her. It's about the geth."
Some of the crowd started talking agreeing with Shepard.
Admiral Koris was outraged, "This hearing has nothing to do with the geth!"
John pointed his finger at the Admiral, "You want people to sympathize with them!" John switched his focus to Admiral Garrel, "Han'Garrel wants to go to war! None of you care about Tali!"
Some of the crowd started to cheer.
John continued, 'She knows more about the geth than any other quarian alive. You should be listening to her, not putting her on trial!"
John turned around and talked to the crowd now, "Tali'Zorah saved the Citadel! She saved the Alarei! And she showed the galaxy the value of quarian people. I can't think of stronger evidence than that."
Some of the quarians were not yelling accusations at the Admirals. Admiral Raan raised her hands, motioning the crowd to settle down, "Are the Admirals prepared to render judgment?"
The three Admirals activated their omnitools and submitted their votes. Raan looked over at the results on her own omnitool before speaking, "Tali'Zorah, in light of your history of service, we do not find sufficient evidence to convict. You are cleared of all charges." Raan then looked at Shepard, "Commander Shepard, please accept these gifts in appreciation for you taking the time to represent one of our people."
John nodded, watching his omnitool lit up with uploaded schematics, and with a short pause, added, "If you appreciate me, then listen, the Reapers are coming. I'm going to need your help to stop them. Please don't throw away your lives against the geth."
For once, Admiral Koris agreed, "Thank you, Commander Shepard. I hope this board carefully considers your advice."
Admiral Raan spoke, "This hearing is concluded. Go in peace, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. Keelah se'lai."
As the crowd dispersed, Tali walked up to Shepard, "I can't believe you pulled that off. What you said... I've never had anyone speak like that on my behalf. Thank you for being there for my father and me even when..." Tali paused, her father's death took a toll on her, "Thank you."
John replied, "Tali, about what your father said, what he did... You deserved better."
Tali shook her head, "I got better Shepard. I got you."
John smiled, "Come on Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. Let's get back to our ship."
Tali nodded, "Thank you, captain."
John walked into the engineering, Ken and Gabby were busy arguing about something, so Shepard greeted them and quickly moved past as to not get involved into their argument. Tali was busy at her console, working on some issue, John couldn't help but notice an open chat session on her console, however. He took a quick glimpse at it, before Tali noticed and shut it off, the last two sentences were from L.T., which stated: "I am glad the issue was resolved, Tali, once again, you have my condolences about your father. And thank you for telling me about Shepard." it didn't take Shepard long to realize who Tali was chatting with. Tali turned around to face Shepard.
"Keelah, I am sorry I dragged you into quarian politics, Shepard."
John shook his head, "Don't be, I'm glad I could help. I am sorry that we were too late to help your father."
Tali looked Shepard in the eyes, "Me too, Shepard, he was not perfect, and not the best father, but he cared about me. Thank you for not destroying his memory, for allowing me people to remember him for who he was, and not who he became."
John smiled, "You don't have to thank me, Tali, it's what friends do, besides, Garrus helped too, couldn't have done it without him."
Tali placed her arms on her hips, "That bosh'tet almost got us killed, like three times on that ship."
Shepard crossed his arms, "Something I don't know?"
Tali was steaming, "I told that idiot about Legion trying to upload the data about the flotilla to the geth, and he said that Legion was right!"
John sighed, "Tali... you were doing the exact same thing."
"Ugh, you two are hopeless!" Tali turned around, "Go have a drink or have a chest pumping competition or something.", Tali pretended to be busy.
John shook his head with a smile and turned around, "Take it easy, Tali." as he walked through the engineering doors he turned his head, "Tell Liara I said hi, okay?" Tali quickly turned around, but the doors already closed behind Shepard.
Shepard walked up to the elevator, Grunt was standing near it, "Hey Grunt, where are you going?"
Grunt turned to Shepard and grinned, "It's Urdnot Grunt now, Shepard." he looked at the elevator again, "My favorite part of the day, lunch."
Shepard smiled, "I heard Rupert was making ramen today."
John never seen a krogan shiver before, but he thought he just seen one. Grunt turned over to Shepard again, "Don't even joke like that, Shepard. There are very few things that can make me physically sick, that is one of them."
John let out a laugh, "Don't worry Grunt, I made sure Rupert always had an alternative for you. He keeps varen venison in stock just for you."
Grunt smiled, "A great battle master always thinks of his troops, I'm proud to call you mine, Shepard." he paused, collecting his thoughts, "Thank you for giving me a clan and a purpose, Shepard."
John replied, "You give yourself purpose, Grunt, I was just there to shoot things with you."
Grunt let out a loud laugh, "I like you, Shepard."
The elevator arrived, Jack and Samara were standing in it. "Well? Are you going to get in or just stand there all day?"
"That depends, are you going up or down?" John replied.
"We are headed for the cargo hold." Samara replied calmly.
John looked at Jack, puzzled. She sighed, "Samara agreed to give me some tips on biotic control."
"I'll make sure to tell Joker to fill out a request form for a new cargo hold, then." John smiled.
"Screw you, Shepard!" Jack smiled, and pushed the button.
John thought about how much Jack has changed ever since she joined the crew, she was a lot more open now. The trip to Pragia really changed her, luckily for the better.
The elevator came back and the two walked in, John pressed the crew quarters button and the doors closed. Once at the crew quarters level the doors opened.
Kasumi and Mordin were passing by towards the flight deck and the bar. Mordin going off as his usual self, something about secret Salarian cipher used during his STG days, while Kasumi just nodded and slowly coaxed him towards the bar.
"What is she up to now?" Shepard shook his head. Him and Grunt walked out of the elevator. As the two turned the corner, they were greeted by this scene: all the tables were moved to the side, many Cerberus crew members were standing around cheering, in the middle of the makeshift ring were Thane and Garrus, going at it in hand to hand combat. John saw Jacob and started walking towards him, several crew members moved aside, letting Shepard through.
"What's going on here? Settling some argument?" John asked.
"Nah, they're just having some sparring matches, and since the cargo hold is already in use they are doing it here." Jacob replied, watching the fight, "Want to place a bet?" Jacob turned over to see the look on Shepard's face. "I was just kidding, Commander." he smiled.
John looked at the fighter and replied, "Twenty credits or Thane."
"I heard that, Shepard!" Garrus yelled, panting and dodging jabs from Thane.
John moved in closer, "Sorry, Garrus, you have reach, but you are no master assassin."
"If I win..." Garrus dodged another jab and proceeded to unleash a series of swings at Thane, "You're buying me a drink!"
John smiled, "I will have to buy a drink for your sorry ass anyway."
Grunt walked up behind Shepard, holding a tray full of food, "They are both puny, everyone knows I'd win the fight."
John turned around, "Are you sure about that? Grunt?"
Grunt grinned, "More than sure."
"Alright, you and me, next round." John replied calmly.
Grunt put down the tray on one of the tables, "You don't know what you're getting yourself into, Shepard."
John replied, "Likewise." he turned around just in time to see Garrus take a punch to the healthy side of his face and go down on the ground.
"The winner of this round is Thane." Jacob announced, several crew members sighed, disappointed.
Thane walked up to Garrus and helped him up, "You are a good fighter, Garrus, you have skill, but your armor gets in the way, if you wore something less restricting, you would have had a better chance at winning."
Garrus rubbed his mandible, "Thanks, but I have to wear this armor into combat, what's the point of being better without armor if I will be wearing it anyway."
Thane nodded, "You have a point."
The two shook hands a cleared the ring for the next fight.
Garrus walked up to Shepard, "So... You're still buying me a drink right?" he grinned.
Shepard let out a laugh, "We'll see, I have a round with Grunt, if he wins, I'll buy you a drink."
Garrus sighed, "Come on, Shepard, that's not fair, he is going to wipe the floor with you. That's combat 101, never get in close range of a krogan."
John smiled and walked into the ring, "Have a little faith, Garrus."
Grunt followed John into the ring, the two prepared themselves for sparing.
John knew that Grunt had an advantage of size and strength, but he had speed and flexibility, plus his own strength was a lot higher than that of a normal human, he had a lot of time to test and gauge it.
"Fight!" Jacob yelled.
The round started and Grunt immediately went on the offensive, rushing Shepard with a series of heavy punches and swings. John dodged most of them, blocked a couple but did not let any of them through, he had to keep backing off though, eventually ducking under one of Grunt's swings to change direction. Grunt was getting riled up by the fight and his swings became faster, but at the same time less accurate. John kept waiting, however, dodging and blocking his attacks. Soon Grunt's attacks started to slow down, that's when John switched his strategy, he blocked grunt's last attack and immediately delivered several precise punches to Grunt's jaw line, causing him to stagger. The krogan got angry and came at John with renewed strength, but John was ready, he ducked under Grunt's swing, and punched him in the side, several times. However, those had little effect, John had to go for the head in order to win. Meanwhile Grunt was reaching his berserk state, he started to swing around faster, but his accuracy went almost to nothing, he now tried to charge Shepard, but he had little trouble moving out of the way, a few more seconds of dodging and counter attacking and Grunt was down for the count, the last punch caused the krogan to stagger and drop down to one knee, his fortitude was monstrous. Shepard was exhausted, but barely beat up.
"The winner of this round is Shepard!" Jacob announced, the crowd groaned, it seems that all of them have bet on Grunt. Only one who let out a cheerful yell was Zaeed who showed up right after the fight started and bet on Shepard.
"Haha, pay up you suckers!" he then walked by John, "Good job Shepard, I think this was the easiest payout of my life."
John smiled and walked up to Grunt, reaching out with his hand. Grunt looked up and grabbed it, standing up, he grinned, "You only won because I didn't get to eat, Shepard." he shook his hand, "It was an honor, battle master." he then went straight for his tray of food.
John's hands were aching, Grunt's head was as hard as a rock. He walked up to Garrus, who already got himself a drink from the bar.
"I wish I had his vitality, look at him, it's like he never even fought." John complained.
"You asked for it." Garrus quipped with a grin.
John smiled, "Well you got to keep the krogan in line, especially a young ones like this. Who knows, maybe he will be the leader of krogan one day."
Garrus nodded, "Wouldn't surprise me, he has all the qualities, not as much ambition, though."
"Yeah." John switched topics, "You know, Tali is pretty mad with you."
Garrus looked at Shepard, "Don't you mean, us?"
John raised an eyebrow, "Let me guess, Kasumi already told you?"
"You just can't keep a secret from that girl." Garrus shook his head.
There was a long pause before Garrus spoke again, "You sure you want to leave it like this?"
Shepard pretended to not understand, "What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb, Shepard, you know exactly what I mean." Garrus replied.
"Is this the best time to talk about this?" Shepard asked.
"The IFF is almost ready for the first test run, if it works, we will be heading through the Omega 4 relay, Shepard. We might not come back from that trip." Garrus replied, and finished his drink.
"It's what she wants." John tried to end the conversation.
But Garrus pressed, "Are you sure about that? Shepard I remember how you two looked at each other back then, it wasn't a one-time deal, Shepard. She had some time to get used to the fact that you are alive. Maybe it's time to remind her that you really are back."
John looked away, "What would you do in my place, Garrus?"
Garrus shook his head, "Shepard, I can't answer that, but I'll tell you this. You always put the needs of others in front of yours. I'm just here to make sure that you are making the right choice, just like you did for me, on more than one occasion."
John sighed, "Thanks, Garrus, I appreciate the effort, but I think I've made up my mind. Perhaps when this is over and if I am still alive…"
Garrus didn't say anything, only nodded, he reached around behind him, grabbed the drink that was standing on the table and gave it to Shepard.
He then started walking over towards the forward battery, "If you do decide to talk about it, you know where to find me."
John nodded, he took a few gulps from the drink, it was some sort of liquor, but John wasn't sure what it was. He finished the drink, helped the few remaining crew members move the tables back into place and headed for his quarters, as he reached the elevator, Joker's voice spoke through the comm. system.
"Commander, we are ready for the Reaper IFF test, just come up to the war room when you are ready."
John opened the elevator door and pressed the captain's quarters button. The Reaper IFF test will wait as he headed to his bed for a much needed rest.
"Everyone? You lost everyone and damn near lost the ship too?" Miranda was furious.
"I know, all right? I was there!" Joker replied, he was rubbing his hands nervously, his voice lost a lot of his former cockiness, the guilt was weighing heavily on him.
Jacob came to Joker's aid, "It's not his fault, Miranda. None of us caught it."
"Mr. Taylor is correct. The harmful data in the Collector drive was even more sophisticated than the "black box" Reaper viruses I was given." EDI's voice came through the comm.
John looked at Joker, the pilot was shaken up, "How are you holding up, Jeff?"
Joker sighed, "There's a lot of empty chairs in here."
EDI's avatar lit up on the nearest console, "We did everything we could, Jeff."
"Yeah, thanks, Mom." Joker tried to make a snarky reply but it came through flat.
Shepard decided it was best not to linger on the subject, "Is the ship clean? We can't risk this happening again."
Joker nodded, "EDI and I purged the systems. The Reaper IFF is online. We can go through the Omega 4 relay whenever you want."
"Don't even get me started about unshackling a damned AI." Miranda quipped.
"What could I do against Collectors, break my arm at them?" Jeff replied irritably, "EDI cleared the ship. She's all right."
"I assure you, I am still bound by protocols in my programming. Even if I were not, you are my crew mates." EDI added.
John nodded, "I have my confidence in EDI's loyalty, besides, we need all the help we can get."
Jacob spoke, "Sounds like we have everything we need to rescue the crew"
Miranda sighed, it seems she finally calmed down and decided to drop the subject, "We've done everything we can. It's time to take the fight to the Collectors."
Everyone turned over to Shepard, the final decision was his to make. John looked over everyone standing in the comm. room and nodded in agreement, "Joker, head back to the bridge. The rest of you, to you stations." John turned over to the comm., turned it on and spoke to the whole team, "Everyone, we are going to the Collector's base, we will have one final meeting when we reach the Omega 4 relay. I will need every single one of you at their best, so be prepared, Shepard out."
John was sitting in his quarters, it was quiet, the only thing breaking the complete silence was the gentle hum of the Normandy's engines. Shepard was lying on his bed, enjoying the quiet before the storm. His thoughts were occupied by the only person that kept him going through this whole mission. He stood up and walked to his desk, the picture of Liara lit up and Shepard approached it, she was smiling. John picked up the picture, the feeling of longing filled him as he looked into the beautiful blue eyes of the asari he loved. He put the picture down and sat in front of his console, the feeling of regret came crashing on him like a tidal wave, why didn't he just stay and talk with Liara, maybe he could have helped her, maybe she would have been here with him if he did.
"No." John whispered to himself, it wasn't about him, it was about her and what was best for her. He wouldn't want her life to be in danger when going on this mission, it was better this way. Perhaps he could do something for her, a final gift if he wasn't coming back. John turned on his console and called EDI.
"Yes, Shepard?" EDI's voice came through.
"EDI I want you to search the Cerberus database for any information on the Shadow Broker, any leads, anything that would help find his location. Make it your top priority to find until we reach the Omega 4 relay."
"Understood, Shepard." EDI replied without any questions, John was starting to like the AI better and better.
He then called Miranda, "Miranda, are you awake?"
The reply came through almost instantly, "Yes, Shepard, is there something you need?"
John smiled, "Do you ever sleep Miranda?"
Miranda replied coyly, "Sometimes."
Both of them had a short laugh, John spoke again, "Miranda I need a favor."
"Of course Shepard, what do you need?" Miranda nodded.
"Could you tap into the Cerberus communication logs?" John asked.
Miranda looked surprised, "Sure, but why do you need them?"
John replied, "I just need any information in the logs on the Shadow Broker, anything recent."
Miranda understood immediately why Shepard was looking into this information, "If I do find anything, what do you want me to do with it?"
"See if EDI finds anything as well and then send the whole package to a storage bank. If we do not claim it in ten days, have it mailed to Liara T'Soni."
John replied.
"Alright, Shepard, I'm on it." Miranda nodded.
"Thanks, Miranda."
"Don't thank me, Shepard, it's the least I could do. You helped me and my sister a lot more. I'll let you know if I find anything." she replied and turned off her comm.
John was left to himself again, he was tempted to call Liara, but she had her own problems to worry about and he didn't want to add to them. He gave himself a promise that if he would come back from this mission alive, he would go to Illium and help Liara find the Shadow Broker.