The Troublemaker
By the goddess, can't this thing move any faster!
Liara fidgeted impatiently as she stared intently at the crowded elevator's holographic display. She only had a few decks left to ascend, but somehow the elevator seemed to be moving slower than she ever thought possible.
It felt like an eternity had passed since her omni-tool had alerted her to a sudden and drastic change in Shepard's condition, and to Liara it seemed as if the universe itself was conspiring against her.
No matter where she went or who she turned to, no one seemed able, or sometimes even willing, to help her get to the Ginsberg in a timely manner. Neither of the Normandy's pilots were anywhere to be found, and none of the pilots she could find were scheduled to go anywhere near the large hospital ship.
Eventually, Liara made her way to one of the supply ports on the Citadel not far from where the Normandy was docked, and went searching for any shuttle she could find headed in the general direction of the Ginsberg. After hours of searching, along with a little bribing, she finally found a willing shuttle crew and got her ride to the Ginsberg.
Liara had thought she had finally made it, only to be nearly thrown off the ship when she was confronted by the Ginsbergs chief security officer, a surly human man who didn't appreciate unscheduled visits to his ship, especially from ones he considered to be "stowaways." Fed up with the constant setbacks, Liara resorted to using her security clearance given to her from Admiral Hackett to force the man to back down. After a long argument, the security chief finally relented, but the encounter had still cost Liara precious time. Precious time that the ships elevator system seemed intent on wasting.
The elevator grumbled to a halt on the next floor, and its silver door noisily swished open, letting the others riding alongside her to hastily exit, only to then be replaced by yet another influx of new doctors and med techs to immediately fill in the gaps.
Liara let out a silent groan as she was once again forced to sidle up against the wall of the elevator. To make matters worse, the elevator was stopping at every deck as she made her way up the Ginsberg, and she could feel her already strained patience growing thinner and thinner.
Trying to shift her thoughts off the slow moving elevator, Liara activated her omni-tool. Ever since her first visit to the Ginsberg, Liara wanted to make sure that she always had a direct line to Shepard's condition. While she knew Admiral Hackett would be more than happy to accommodate this desire, Liara didn't trust the staff of the Ginsberg to be prompt or entirely forthcoming with every little detail. So before she had left the ship previously, Liara had secretly installed one of her more discreet monitoring programs within the ship's network that could directly feed her omni-tool data on Shepard's condition. Data that she was now carefully combing through.
Liara frowned trying to make sense of what she was reading. Dozens of various body scans and vital readings were flashing across her omni-tool's display. Everything from heart rate readings, brain activity, and even blood sugar levels had been cataloged by the program, but she had difficulty finding what exactly it all meant. As far as she could tell, everything was reading normal, normal for a patient in extensive recovery anyway, but there was one set of vital logs that nearly made Liara's heart skip a beat.
It was as if Shepard's vitals had all gone haywire. His heart rate had immediately jumped to a level that would have killed a krogan, let alone a human. And his brain activity seemed to dance between levels of high alertness and a vegetative state.
Shepard's vital logs abruptly ended after that, her program indicating to her that it had stopped recording after the event.
Liara was unsure as to why her program had suddenly stopped working. She hoped it was merely an error, but she couldn't deny that part of her feared that the true reason was far more serious than a programming glitch.
You don't know all the facts yet, she thought, taking deep calming breaths through her nostrils. I can look at the program later. Find the doctor and get answers. That's all that matters right now.
After thirty of the longest, most agonizing seconds later, the door to the elevator once again swished open, a gap appeared in the throng of passengers, and Liara immediately sprang forward. Gracefully avoiding the next wave of doctors and med techs entering and exiting the elevator, Liara hooked to the left and sped her way down the hall, moving as fast as she could without breaking into a full run.
Liara's eyes immediately went to work, darting from door to door, quickly scanning the names and room numbers in the holographic displays for any that indicated she was getting closer to her target, but the further she went through the deck, the less familiar it became.
Liara's brisk pace slowed and she turned to look up and down the crowded hallway. The deck seemed much busier than it was when she was last here. There were more gurneys and cots lining the walls, along with more frantic med techs rushing past.
A worrying thought slowly crept into Liara's mind. Carefully, she reached out a hand to stop one of the nearby med techs, nearly causing the poor human woman to trip over herself as she tried not to run into her.
"I'm sorry, but where can I find room number IC-157? Is it down this hallway?" she asked politely but leaving a note of urgency in the question.
The woman stared awkwardly at her before shaking her head. "No, it's on C deck. This is sub-deck B. You gotta go one deck up."
Desperately needing to get back on her way, the woman abruptly sidestepped the confused asari and double timed it back down the hallway. Liara stared after her for a moment, an uncomfortable sinking feeling taking root in her chest as the woman's words repeated slowly in her mind.
She had gotten off the elevator on the wrong deck…
After all the trouble she went through to get here, after all the people she was forced to deal with, Liara had somehow failed to actually pay attention to what floor the elevator was on.
How could I be so stupid! She thought angrily to herself, unsure as to how she could have made such a simple mistake.
Liara groaned bitterly as she turned around, dreading the idea of having to fight her way back onto the slow moving elevator once again.
Her tired head began to dully ache as she walked, forcing her to reach her hands up and rub her throbbing temples.
"Just get to the elevator," she muttered quietly under her breath. "Just one more floor, just one more floor…"
Liara repeated the words mechanically as she walked back through the deck, hoping that the exercise might help relieve the compounding stress that was causing her head to pound, but all she managed to accomplish was to remind herself of her mistake.
Her relief did come, however, from a sudden and unexpected bout of shouting coming from an adjacent hallway she had just walked past.
"Let go of me you bosh'tet!"
Liara stopped dead in her tracks, the all too familiar voice causing her to forget about the bothersome headache.
"Stop resisting!" boomed a furious, this time unfamiliar voice.
Liara spun on her heels, quickly turning back to peak down the hallway and to make sure her ears weren't playing some kind of trick on her.
But sure enough, standing in the middle of the hallway was an extremely agitated Tali with an armed human marine clutching her left arm tightly in his hand. Behind the quarreling pair, was an open access panel in the bulkhead wall, along with several loose wires and circuit boards dangling out of it.
"I warned you!" the guard barked, forcefully tugging the quarian towards him and pulling her off balance. "I warned you what would happen if I caught you tearing the ship apart again!
"I'm not tearing anything apart!" Tali denied, furiously.
Tali shifted her weight to her other leg and tugged her arm back, twisting it in an attempt to wrench her arm free of his tight grip. "I'm just trying to fix this mess your engineers call a ship!"
"That's not up to you! Either come with me peacefully!" the man growled, making a not-so-subtle motion towards his side arm waiting on his hip. "Or I'll drag you off this ship!"
Tali, seemingly unfazed by the threat, activated her omni-tool with her free hand and deftly tapped several commands into it, causing it to hum and crackle threateningly. "Try it, bosh'tet! It'll be hard to reach for your pistol with 50,000 volts coursing through your nervous system!"
"Stop!"
Both Tali and the human turned with a start towards the unexpected voice. Liara, fearing where this confrontation would inevitably lead, raced down the hall and skidded to a halt just in front of the two of them.
"What is going on?" panted Liara, her eyes darting frantically between Tali and the marine.
"This doesn't concern you, asari," answered the human, his hand still idling above his side arm. "Back off or I'll throw you off the ship along with her!"
Liara scowled at him, refusing to budge.
"This quarian is a friend of mine, and I demand to know why you are restraining her."
"Your friend here," the man snarled, still struggling to keep Tali firmly in his grip. "Has been taking apart power relays all over the ship. She nearly knocked out power to an entire deck!"
"That's a lie!" shouted Tali. With one quick twist of her wrist in the other direction, Tali finally broke free of the marines' hold. "I would never cut off the power to an entire deck! It's all the shoddy wiring that your engineers installed that's causing all the blackouts!"
"Bullshit!" countered the marine, reaching once again to take hold of the fiery quarian, but Tali jumped backward, causing him to just narrowly miss her.
"Look!" she said, jamming her hand into the open access panel behind her and taking hold of some unseen component. Almost immediately the lights in the hallway began to flicker erratically, causing the nearby doctors who weren't already gawking at the trio to stop what they were doing and look up towards the ceiling.
"See! That shouldn't happen! The subsystems in the ship are in terrible condition. If I were the chief engineer on this ship, I would never have allowed it to leave the dry dock let alone turn it into a hospital!"
"Well, you're not the chief engineer!" the man shot back. "And you don't have the authority, or the right, to make unscheduled repairs or adjustments whenever you feel like it. Now get your hand out of there and come with me!"
The man finally took hold of his sidearm, causing it to automatically unfold as he pulled it from its holster. But before he could make any particular use of it, and before she even knew what she was doing, Liara immediately jumped between him and Tali.
"I warned you before," the marine growled bitterly at her. "Get out of my way or you are joining your friend in the brig!"
Liara's mind raced. Watching the marine grab his pistol had caused her to move purely on instinct. She didn't quite have a plan to defuse the rapidly devolving situation just yet. Several different ideas quickly flashed through her head. She considered reaching out to Admiral Hackett, but she doubted she'd be able to reach him before either of the two people flanking her did something foolish.
But the thought did give her another idea.
"Stand down, soldier!" commanded Liara, the abruptness of her action and the sheer authority in her voice catching the marine off guard. "Put your weapon away before you cause a diplomatic incident!"
The marine eyed her suspiciously, still tightly clutching his pistol. "Diplomatic incident?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Liara pulled her shoulders back to stand a bit straighter. "You are currently threatening to arrest a high ranking member of the Quarian Admiralty," she stated matter of factly. "You should be showing her the proper respect due to an Admiral."
The marine silently stood there for a moment, studying Liara and trying to decide if she was being honest or simply lying to get her friend out of trouble.
"Bullshit…" he answered after a long pause, apparently settling on the latter.
Liara's nostrils flared angrily as she gave him an icy look. The frustration from her troubles earlier in the day began to bubble up within her, and she was getting tired of humans doubting her.
"Maybe we should contact Admiral Hackett then," she threatened, figuring that it might actually be worth it to contact the human admiral just so she could watch the marine squirm under his scrutiny. "Perhaps you can tell him yourself why you pulled your weapon on Admiral Tali'zorah here, and why you refuse to-"
"Wait a minute…" he interrupted. "Tali'Zorah? Tali'Zorah vas… Normandy?"
"...Of course," she answered evenly, doing her best to hide her own surprise that the marine recognized the name. "She is also a member of Normandy's crew… as I'm sure you are well aware."
A look of horrified realization slowly crept across the man's face as he glanced back and forth between the asari and the quarian. A look that became more evident with each passing second as his mind connected the dots.
"If she's... then… would that make you?…"
"Dr. Liara T'soni," she answered confidently.
"... Oh shit."
Without wasting another second, the marine stashed his pistol back to its holster and snapped a quick salute. "I-uh… apologize, Dr T'soni," he fumbled, awkwardly. "And, uh… Admiral Tali'Zorah. I… uh… had no idea…"
Liara's lips curled into a satisfied smile. Notoriety was not something she was used to yet, nor was it something she was truly interested in, but she had to admit, it did have its uses from time to time.
"It's alright, soldier," she said, trying to keep her voice calm and professional despite the smug sense of satisfaction she was feeling at getting yet another human to back down. "You were just doing your job, I'm sure."
Liara could hear Tali scoff behind her but kept her attention squarely on the marine.
"Thank you…" said the marine, glancing dejectedly between the two of them before finally dropping his salute. "It's just that… I, uh… can't have people making unscheduled repairs to the ship without notifying the chief engineer. It, uh… goes against regulations."
"I understand," Liara reassured calmly. She waited patiently for Tali to add her own acknowledgement to the marines request, but when Liara realized it wasn't coming she continued, "as I'm sure the Admiral does as well. We will make sure to put our recommendations and complaints through the proper channels in the future. I promise."
"I, uh… that's great to hear," the marine stammered, desperately trying in vain to hide his embarrassment and regain his composure. "Just… uh… let me know if you need anything."
She breathed a quiet sigh of relief watching the marine make his way back down the hall, audibly muttering curses under his breath as he drew further and further away from them. Several onlookers who had been discreetly watching the whole event transpire not-so-subtly turned around and continued on their way, pretending to not even notice the quarian and asari still standing in the middle of the hallway.
Liara looked behind her, half expecting Tali to thank her for intervening and defusing the situation, but was stunned to see that instead, Tali had gone right back to fiddling with the wires and circuit boards as soon as the marine was out of sight.
Tali said nothing as she worked. She simply continued on as if Liara wasn't even there. After rearranging some of the circuitry, Tali made a quick scan with her omni-tool, checking to make sure her work was satisfactory before closing the access panel and storming off down the hallway in the opposite direction.
"Wait! Tali, where are you going?" Liara called out, bolting after her.
Tali didn't respond. Her eyes were glued to her omni-tool as she walked, somehow still deftly able to avoid oncoming people despite never bothering to look up. She kept her quick pace moving down the hallway before abruptly rounding the corner. Liara barely caught up just in time to see a purple and white hood disappear into an adjacent room.
Sidestepping an oncoming gurney, Liara jumped into what appeared to be a small utility closet only to gape in surprise as she watched Tali proceed to loosen yet another access panel from the wall.
"You have got to be joking…" Liara said with an exasperated sigh.
Tali again didn't respond. One by one, she angrily loosened the latches and bolts securing the access panel to the bulkhead, and once she had finally removed it, she began methodically scanning the mess of circuitry and wires within.
"Tali… You nearly got arrested for this."
"I had it handled…"
Liara scoffed. "Clearly… Why are you doing this? What is so important about these repairs that you'd risk getting thrown off the ship or worse?"
"I don't have time to explain," Tali answered irritably.
Liara crossed her arms in front of her and scowled. "Yet you have time to pick fights with security it seems."
Tali refused to look at her. "You are the Shadow Broker aren't you?" She taunted as she continued her scan. "I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out."
Liara had finally had enough. She wasn't sure if it was the trouble she had with Javik a few days ago, all the trouble she went through to get here, dealing with that marine, Tali's strange attitude, or merely a combination of it all, but something inside the asari had finally snapped.
Holding out one of her hands, she reached out with her biotics to take hold of the panel door across the small room and slammed it shut in Tali's face.
"Hey!" Tali shouted, wheeling around to finally face the asari. " I wasn't finished with that!"
"I just saved you from getting thrown off this ship…" said Liara. "You don't have to thank me, but the least you could do is give me some answers!"
Although Liara couldn't see Tali's face behind the mask, she easily imagined the agitated quarian shooting her a nasty look.
"I don't have time for this, Liara. I-"
"This ship is not your responsibility," pressed Liara, too angry to wait for yet another of Tali's flippant responses. "It has its own technicians."
"I know that! But if they had been properly doing the jobs then I wouldn't have to-"
"The Normandy still needs repairs, Tali. Why do you waste your time here when his ship, his crew, needs you more?"
"I'm not wasting my time here, I'm just-"
"Then why? Why are you doing this? Why do you continue to risk-"
"Because he almost died, Liara!"
A sudden, heavy and uncomfortable silence filled the room as Tali's revelation hung in the air. Liara's anger, her fatigue, her impatience faded as she stared, speechless at the quarian. Even Tali herself seemed surprised at the words that came out of her mouth.
"Died?..." breathed Liara. "H-how?"
Tali began fidgeting anxiously. "I… I was in the room when it happened."
Over the next few minutes, Tali went over everything that had happened in Shepard's room leading up to the incident, leaving out few details. She explained how she had been waiting for him, how the lights suddenly flickered in the room causing some strange alarm to sound for only a moment, then how Shepard began to move and then convulse, eventually ending on how she was thrown from the room so that Dr. Michel could perform an emergency surgery on him.
"And… did it work? Did the surgery stabilize him?" Liara asked cautiously, unaware that she had been practically holding her breath in terrified anticipation the entire time.
"I don't know…" she answered in a defeated voice. "They aren't letting anyone back in his room."
"Goddess…" Liara sighed, releasing her biotic hold on the panel and bringing up her hand to rub her tired eyes. She felt drained. The answers she had craved were finally given to her, but with everything that had happened during the day, Liara could only feel tired. Much of what she read from her program made sense now, and she found herself cursing it for not being able to give her an update on the Commander's current condition.
"So now you understand," Tali said solemnly. "If I don't find a way to stop these power surges, it could happen again."
Liara was about to agree with her, but then a worrying thought popped into her head. There was one detail that Tali curiously left out.
"What did Dr. Michel say," she asked, dropping her hand from her eyes so she could properly look at Tali. "Did she agree that these power surges are to blame?"
Tali shook her head sadly. "No. She blames it on a faulty implant."
Liara tilted her head and gave her a confused look. "So… Michel said his life support was working properly?"
Tali nodded.
"Then… how do you know it was the power surge that affected him and it wasn't just his implant?"
Tali's body language instantly changed. Where before she looked somewhat agitated and partially dejected, she now looked positively insulted.
"I saw what happened, Liara," she said, indignantly. "He was fine until the power surge! It must- It had to have done something to his implant!"
Liara did her best to hide any look of potential doubt that might be on her face. Normally, Liara wouldn't question what Tali was telling her. She had only ever known the quarian to be completely honest with everyone, but the way Tali had been carrying herself made her question just what mindset her friend was in.
"Tali?" she asked, cautiously. "How much sleep have you had lately?"
There was another heavy pause between them.
"What are you getting at?" Tali asked suspiciously, seemingly fully aware of where Liara was going with the question.
"It's just…" Liara paused, thinking of a way to be delicate. "Is it possible you were… mistaken?"
"You think I would make this up?" Tali shot back.
"No. I was just wondering, if perhaps… you merely misunderstood what you saw."
"I know what I saw…" Tali said through clenched teeth. "You weren't there…"
"I'm only trying to understand what really happened," Liara said, defensively. "It's possible that the two events are completely unrelated. All this work you are doing might be for nothing."
Tali threw up her hands in frustration and shook her head. "So what should I do then? You want me to be like you? Just sit back and hope for the best? I'm not like you, Liara, I can't just detach myself and walk away! Not after everything that's happened!"
It was Laira's turn to feel insulted. She narrowed her eyes threateningly and clenched her fists tightly.
"I have never walked away, Tali… Never… And I would be damn sure to not do anything stupid or careless, like nearly knocking out power to an entire deck based on nothing but a hunch!" Liara hissed in a cold voice.
Liara very purposefully stepped up to Tali, their faces mere inches from each other. Close enough to where Liara could see Tali's bright eyes through the opaqueness of her mask and find that the quarian was matching her intense gaze.
"You have no idea of the things I have done, or the things I would do to protect the people that I love," breathed Liara, her words cutting into the tension like a hot knife. "Do not pretend you are the only one who cares… Don't you dare pretend…"
Tali remained steadfast, keeping eyes laser focused on Laira's. "Then you… of all people… should understand," she said quietly. "I can't sit back and do nothing… I won't."
The finality in Tali's tone told Liara all that she needed to hear. There would be no dissuading the quarian from her current course. And Liara no longer had the energy or desire to try.
"Fine. I'm not going to stop you, Tali," Liara relented. "But I won't be able to help you again."
"I never asked for your help," came her reply. "Nor do I need it. I know what I'm doing." Sidestepping Liara, Tali walked back out into the hallway without another word or even bothering to look back, leaving the asari alone in the utility closet.
Liara stood alone in the room for some time, taking advantage of the seclusion to collect her scattered thoughts. She slowly wondered if she had made the right decision in coming here after all. With everything that had happened leading up to this point, Liara considered that perhaps the goddess Athame may have been trying to dissuade her all along by throwing obstacle after obstacle at her.
Liara quickly dismissed the silly idea, taking a deep breath through her nostrils and letting her thoughts drift back to her talk with Tali.
She began to doubt if she had been right to push back so hard against her. Tali wasn't known for being reckless when it came to ship repairs. Innovative and eccentric, yes, but never reckless. But the marine's story about Tali nearly cutting power to an entire deck stuck out in her mind, and she truly feared that in her current mental state Tali just might make a foolish mistake.
Liara sighed. There was nothing she could do about Tali now, and all Liara could think about doing now was to once again fight her way onto the ship's main elevator and find Dr. Michel to get her side of events.
But before she could step out of the utility closet, something up above her immediately caught her eye and she stared upwards.
The lights were flickering. Much in the same way Tali had described it to Liara earlier. The flickering ended almost as quickly as it began, but the event, along with Tali's warnings, caused an uneasy feeling to settle in the pit of Liara's stomach.
I hope you are right, Tali, Liara thought quietly to herself as she turned to leave the room and make her way towards the elevator. For your sake… and his.