"Captain, the pirates who left the main building have been liquidated."
A short report from Rebecca Lee followed once we had already begun searching the building; fortunately, one of the bombs was in plain sight. However, Tali'Zorah forbade touching it; according to her, she had encountered such bombs before, or rather, read about them. The Batarians had tried several times to harm the Migrant Fleet. To do this, they had several times left abandoned, supposedly damaged ships in the Fleet's path, which were meant to explode once inside the Fleet. Their explosion was intended to damage some of the ships, making it possible for the Batarians to attack ships that had strayed from the main Fleet.
And if it weren't for the Fleet's security measures, where a ship is first searched and checked by all possible methods, no one would have known they were mined. True, several boarding parties were still lost because, upon finding a clearly planted bomb, they would start defusing that specific one, and as soon as it was deactivated, it sent a signal to detonate the other bombs.
This was what prompted us to look for the other bombs, although Tali'Zorah still extracted the time from the bomb after which the explosion would occur regardless.
Ten minutes—that's exactly how much we had. But if the Batarians thought we couldn't do anything, they were very much mistaken, as Tali'Zorah found the frequencies on which the bombs connected to the central one, after which she tracked them all.
"Non-removable..."
Jane Shepard shook her head, and Garrus Vakarian, who had volunteered to help her, also looked somewhat frustrated.
"But you'll manage, right?!"
The civilian had been walking with us this whole time, as sending her off somewhere wasn't the best decision.
"We'll manage."
I nodded calmly.
"Liara T'Soni, use Biotics to move the bombs to the central one. Be careful so the bombs don't shake, in case there's some special mechanism."
"John..."
A note of caution was heard in Tali'Zorah's voice.
"...it's better not to. They might react to even the slightest shaking. I don't doubt you can move one bomb; I don't even doubt that Liara T'Soni will succeed in repeating it. But are you sure you'll have time to move all five bombs?"
I grimaced.
"And what do we do then? We still haven't found the civilians."
"I... don't know..."
Tali'Zorah shook her head.
"Fine, let's keep searching; if anything, we'll just leave."
"You can't!"
"Shut up, will you?"
I glanced at the civilian.
"Tali'Zorah, Garrus Vakarian, you continue trying to defuse the bombs, or at least delay the timer so we can find the civilians. But if there are two minutes left, get out immediately!"
"Yes, sir!"
Garrus Vakarian didn't argue, but Tali'Zorah was clearly not thrilled with such an order; however, she didn't dare to contest it either. So we proceeded to search for the civilians.
"I found them..."
Chifuyu Orimura's voice was not happy.
"...it's a nightmare. The men were killed, and the women are sitting on a large pressure plate; if even one of them steps off it, the bomb will go off. And if they don't step off, then..."
I closed my eyes. I wanted to scream profanities, but I held back.
"Everyone out! Tali'Zorah, Garrus Vakarian, inspect the place where the civilians are, where the bomb is, how it's set up..."
At that moment, we heard the last engine stall.
"Apparently, one of ours found the control panel during the search."
"On it!"
Garrus Vakarian and Tali'Zorah hurried toward the civilians, and I headed in the same direction, while the others, following my order, hurried to leave the building.
"How's it going here?"
"It's bad. Of course, the bomb isn't under them, but next to them..."
Garrus Vakarian nodded toward a bomb that was clearly somewhat larger than the others.
"We won't have time to save them."
"We're leaving."
This order was very hard for me to give, and the people began to scream and demand to be saved, but I could do nothing. The bomb was large enough, and the location itself was situated so that the other explosions would reach here too.
"Understood."
Garrus Vakarian nodded and hurried to depart, but Tali'Zorah continued to tinker with the bomb.
"Tali'Zorah..."
"I can do it!"
"Tali'Zorah..."
"I'll defuse it!"
"Don't stop her! She's saving us!"
Some lady started screaming at me, but I didn't care about her. I didn't care about any of them at all, because I'm not a hero who rushes to save everyone. I save my own first, and only then the rest. And right now, Tali'Zorah.
"I said we're leaving!"
I grabbed Tali'Zorah by the shoulder, but she jerked it sharply, breaking free from my grip.
"I will save them!"
"To hell with you..."
Realizing there was no point in trying to convince her, and judging by the timer, if we ran now we would barely make it out of the building... But it wouldn't work that way because she would resist; I had to make a decision. Tali'Zorah, hearing my words, flinched almost imperceptibly, and her shoulders slumped slightly.
Less than a minute...
Ceasing to be gentle with the girl, I sharply threw her by the shoulder toward the civilians.
"I already..."
But I didn't listen to her; standing in front of the civilians, I sharply gathered all the Biotics I had and formed them into a Barrier around everyone in the room.
"If I die here, I swear to you, I'll haunt you at night and give you a kick!"
I literally growled these words, tightening the Barrier more and more, which caused us to be pressed tightly against each other, but it wasn't enough...
I didn't have time to finish the thought before everything around was engulfed in fire. The Barrier was thrown aside, into a wall that was destroyed, but it slowed us down slightly, and then the explosion from the other bombs reached us.
"Kha!"
I felt very bad. And blood was pouring from my mouth. However, I continued to hold the Barrier, while perfectly understanding that I was risking my own skin... But this was Tali'Zorah, and it wasn't about being in love with her in the game, but about the fact that I already considered her part of my family here. And abandoning her meant giving up on those plans of mine.
"A-a-a-a-a!"
Several civilians screamed in pain, as the Barrier couldn't hold back everything happening around us.
I continued to hold the Barrier...
"Kha..."
Spitting blood once more, I held the Barrier with my last strength, but I knew I wouldn't be able to keep it up; the explosion was too powerful...
* Perspective from the side. *
"What the fuck happened there?!"
Jane Shepard stood before the cot where Tali'Zorah lay; the girl was in relatively good shape, she was very lucky that someone was covering her from all sides. From the back and sides, it was the civilians, who, even though they had no armor, protected her with their bodies, and in front was John, whose armor had to be literally cut off.
"I thought..."
"Thought?! You didn't think for a fucking second! Wanted to be a hero?! Did you?!"
"I could have defused it! If I had a little more time..."
"Fool..."
Jane Shepard closed her eyes, looking at this fool because of whom John almost died. He was lucky that the armor's Kinetic Barriers were powerful enough and held back part of the blast; of course, the explosion still reached the armor and even burned the skin. However, the armor also partially held back the blast, so he himself suffered much less than he could have. Dr. Chakwas swore she could have him back on his feet in literally a week.
"...I will petition the Captain for your discharge from this ship."
Tali'Zorah flinched at the words spoken in a completely emotionless voice, but she didn't dare look at Jane Shepard. Now, lying on a hospital cot with a mild concussion, she realized she had gotten off very easily. She also realized that even with her actions, forcing John—albeit unconsciously—to protect all the civilians, she hadn't been able to save anyone. The civilians died simply because none of them had armor. Only one girl survived, the one who was the hostage of the pirate leader and who had been put in the Mako with the help of a Barrier, thus shielding her from space.
However, even those who survived the blast died as soon as the Barrier vanished. What's more, her armor's systems also failed, and she was very lucky that there was already a certain volume of oxygen in the armor that she could breathe. This also saved John, but the others...
"Jane Shepard, I..."
"I don't want to know anything..."
Jane Shepard shook her head.
"...not only did you fail to follow an order, you also set up not just yourself, but John as well."
Jane Shepard glanced at the neighboring cot where the Captain lay and said nothing. Although it seemed to Tali'Zorah that tears glistened in the corners of Jane Shepard's eyes.
"Doc, this one... discharge her as soon as possible; she needs to be put in the brig."
"Jane Shepard, discharging her any faster won't work. Quarians have significantly weaker organisms than other races, so..."
Dr. Chakwas spread her hands, as if showing there was nothing she could do about it.
"Fine... to hell with her..."
Jane Shepard waved her hand and hurried to leave the medical bay.
"Well... you've certainly made a mess of things, girl..."
Dr. Chakwas shook her head with a hint of disapproval, looking at the young Quarian whose eyes welled up with tears.
"I just... I only wanted to save people."
"I understand... and I'm sure John will understand too."
"Understand?"
A note of hope was heard in the girl's voice.
"He'll understand... after all, he himself often risked himself for civilians. Only, as far as I know, he only risked it when he could actually do something. And you risked it when you couldn't... and you disobeyed an order on top of it..."
Dr. Chakwas didn't look at Tali'Zorah, preferring to focus on some data reflected on the holographic monitor.
"...so punishment will definitely be waiting for you. And you'll be very lucky if they keep you on the ship."
"I..."
Tali'Zorah sniffled.
"I..."
"You won't move me with tears, and I don't decide anything anyway. So save your tears for John; he seemed to like you... perhaps you'll be able to stay on the ship at least as a technician."
"Uh-huh..."
Tali'Zorah sniffled again.
"I will accept whatever punishment he chooses... I will accept it as Tali'Zorah vas Normandy..."
Meanwhile, Ashley Williams sat in the mess hall, gloomily chewing her lunch portion.
"Why so sad?"
A Krogan slumped onto the bench next to the girl, and if it were anyone else, especially a xeno, she would have definitely told them off. However, she wasn't that much of a fool and understood exactly what to say to whom. So she wasn't going to tell off this mountain of muscle that could tear her into two uneven Ashley Williams.
"The Captain..."
"Ah..."
Urdnot Wrex nodded understandingly.
"...yes, it turned out unpleasant, but it's his own fault."
"His own? His own?!"
"Don't you raise your voice at me..."
Urdnot Wrex said it calmly, but a shiver ran down the girl's spine.
"Sorry... just..."
"Forget it. And yes, it's his own fault, and if you think about the situation as a whole, you'll understand why I say that."
Ashley Williams frowned.
"He gave the order to evacuate and only stayed because that one... disobeyed the order."
"In general—correct."
Urdnot Wrex nodded.
"And if it were you, Jane Shepard, Chifuyu Orimura, that whiner Kaidan Alenko, or anyone else from this ship's crew in the little one's place, I would tell you that it was that specific crew member's fault. However..."
Urdnot Wrex looked closely at the girl.
"...actually, no, tell me, what distinguishes anyone present here from Tali... and me?"
"Um..."
"I see..."
Urdnot Wrex sighed.
"...then I'll explain. Tali and I haven't served. No, I participated in a war and am also a very strong mercenary, but I've never been in any army, and the same can be said for the little one. Only I have a hell of a lot of experience, and she doesn't have that experience. Only theory and life in the Migrant Fleet, where, of course, disobeying a captain is very bad, but in most cases doesn't carry such consequences.
"Are you trying to say..."
"If John himself signed the little one onto the team, then he himself bears the responsibility... and he accepted it when he didn't run, but covered her with his body. I respect that."
***
Read the story months before public release — early chapters are on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Granulan