69

The frigate Normandie-SR2.

I stood quietly in my cabin, going through all sorts of letters sent to me. I did it slowly on purpose to distract myself. Everyone was asleep anyway. Suddenly the door opened, and Shepard came in.

- Captain," I turned and said hello.

- Legatus, we need to talk. It's about Grant," she began at once.

- Oh, yeah? What about him? - I thought I understood but didn't want to interrupt the conversation.

- It's hard to explain. He doesn't understand. He just wants to break things or kill people. He just smashes the walls in his quarters, and he can't explain why he does it. And he says something about his blood boiling. You know, something like that?

- I see. He's going through a period of growing up and transition. We should go to Tuchanka. You know someone there, Rex. He might be able to help.

- Yeah. You said he's a clan leader, one of the strongest clans in the world. What would help Grant anyway?

- The rite of passage to adulthood. All krogan undergo it," I explained.

- I see. We have to go to Tuchanka," Shepard said in surprise.

- Really? Why?

- We need to rescue Mordin's apprentice, Melon. Somehow he got stranded on Tuchanka, and then the link went dead.

- A Salarian on Tuchanka? - I pretended to be surprised. - He sounds depressed.

- What do you mean?" the Captain didn't understand.

- I mean, he's decided to kill himself. Even Rex would have killed him, and he's the most adequate of the chiefs.

- Yeah, you're right about that. "I respect you, but that doesn't mean I won't kill you," she quoted Rex.

- Crogans, they are like that," I seconded.

- Aren't you afraid to cure their genophage? - She suddenly changed the subject.

- I can't say I'm a hundred per cent sure. However, Mordin and I have come up with an alternative. Cure the genophage partially so the Krogan women can give birth to about one egg a year.

- A retardation in fetal development," she stated, and there was a noticeable sadness in her eyes.

- Yes, only not fatal to either the foetus or the mother. What? Is that bad?

- No, it's even good; it's just... It's just a memory. I-- I had the same thing. That's why the baby died," Shepherd was hard to look at now. There was pain in her eyes. Deep pain. And then a tear came out of her eye. And that's what made Shepard kind of break up. - Oh, hell, no! No! I-I remembered it again! No, no, no, no! - In a burst of such strange emotion, Shepard slammed her fist into the metal wall with all her might. And then another and another. When the bloody marks on the wall began to remain, and their number exceeded a dozen, I could not stand it and came up to her and then forcibly pushed her away from the wall. - Shit... Why... Why did it come back to me again? I mean... I've been forgetting it for so long, haven't I?

- It's the neural implant. You have a good memory with it," I explained to the Captain, who had suddenly broken down. The subject of her child was too painful for her. So much so that she was letting her emotions get the better of her. At times like that, I realised that Shepard wasn't a killing machine but a man with his own painful issues.

- His... Is there any way to turn him off or set him to make those memories disappear? - I hated telling her the truth. I could hear the pleading in her voice. A real plea for me to help her.

- I'm sorry, Captain. The neural implant has only two modes, "On" and "Off". There's nothing I can do.

- Mrrrrghhhh..." Shepard cursed to herself, and I couldn't do much to help her.

- Captain, if it helps you, I know what it's like. Remember the things that bring you pain.

- What do you know, you're a Geth. You can delete your memory in peace.

- No, Captain. I can't. To put it plainly, my programming code is constantly shaped by my memories and experiences. To attempt to remove any of it is to actually remove a part of my personality. And this is fraught with consequences that even I cannot foresee.

- So that's how..." the Captain pondered. - Why... What... What have you seen that hurts you? - I thought about showing her the video but decided to. Putting my palm forward, I activated the tape. The first time I killed... Out of pity.

When the tape ended, Shepard was... nothing. Just staring at me with a blank yet sad look in her eyes.

- You're going to judge me, aren't you? I'll understand," I said sadly. I didn't like remembering it, and I wasn't in the best of moods right now.

- No. I won't. You... You did the right thing. All right, everybody, I'm gonna-- I'm gonna go. Tell Joker to fly to Tuchanka.

- Will do, Captain. And I'm sorry to bring that up.

- No, Legatus. It's not your fault. And I'll see you later," Shepard said as she left the cabin. I decided to distract myself by reading about what was happening on my homeworld.

****

The Krogan Demilitarised Zone. Planet Tuchanka. Clan Urdnot.

And so, a week after opening the capsule and waking up Grant, we are on Tuchanka. Of course, we could have been here sooner, but we had to fly to Illium and install a new refrigerator, hire a new cook, and load up on groceries. As it turned out, Susie had grossly underestimated Grant's appetite. He wasn't eating; he was chowing down. In two days, ALL of our supplies were emptied. And on another day, everything we had stashed away. He had a good sense of smell. So we had to go to Illium. But now we were there.

And I wish we hadn't come here at all. Even Rahana was prettier. This place is fucked up. Alkaline oceans, dust storms, solar radiation, radiation, destroyed cities, deserts, scorched wastelands, hoards of local warriors whose relatives on other planets were not even close to them, fire-breathing Klixenes, dozens of threshers and Kalros. And I have yet to mention the plants. The devastation in the Clan's shelter here was staggering, but it wasn't unsanitary. It looked like Rex had done a good job ensuring his Clan didn't swim in its own de... juice.

Shepard,, Tali, Liara, Zaid, and Grant went to Rex's place. Samara didn't want to come, and Garrus and Mordin didn't go for obvious reasons. They would have been ripped apart on the spot. So they were now having a quiet time on the Normandy.

- Halt. This one won't go through," the krogan said when he saw me. I decided not to wear my armoured suit after all. I should have shown myself to Rex immediately because Shepard wanted to bring him along, and he didn't like surprises.

- Why not?" Shepard asked, staring at the krogan in confusion.

- I don't need a geth here," the guard said firmly.

- A krogan from the strongest Clan in Tuchanka is unafraid of a geth. Are you sure you're from this Clan?" I said, and the krogan was ready to kill me, but when he saw the mocking smile of his fellow krogan, he didn't turn me into a bagel.

- Come on in. But one more move, Geth, and I'll make a shotgun out of you," he blurted out and stepped away from the entrance. We went inside and through a tunnel into a large hall. Here we saw Rex sitting on a stone "throne" and a krogan who was talking to him animatedly. And by "animatedly" I mean "Mats, mats, mats, mats, mats, mats, mats, mats, preposition, mats, mats, mats, mats, pronouns, mats and mats". Yeah, that's about right, and half of it was still in Krogan, which I didn't understand.

- Are we sure we're on time? - asked Tali, who wasn't intimidated by these bogeymen.

- We're fine. He'll be pleased with the Captain, you'll see," I consoled, but Tali's heartbeat was still racing.

- Halt. The chief is talking," Another krogan stopped us, and we didn't argue with him.

- Rex, you're out of your fucking mind! How the fuck do you know you bought fucking cereal instead of those fucking grenade launchers! - one krogan was outraged, but Rex had already reached the consistency of "Rukalitzo".

- Listen, Grig, go; you know where you're going with your..." Rex saw a glimpse of the Captain, and he was fucked. - What" He got up from his throne and walked towards us.

- Hey, where the fuck are you going?" the krogan was indignant, but Rex wasn't listening.

- Shepard," Rex said shortly and succinctly, expressing his displeasure and shutting up everyone listening to us. They just stared at us, and some opened their mouths in surprise.

- Hey, Rex. How are you doing? - Shepherd said with a little smile.

- What the fuck? Shepherd. Shepherd!

- Rex! - Yeah, it was the same in the game. Rex came up close, squeezed the Captain's hand tightly, and hugged her.

- Tali! Liara! - He noticed our girls, and he hugged them both before they could even squeak.

- Re-ex... My bones..." Tali squeaked, and Rex luckily didn't have a hearing problem, so he quickly let them go.

- Hi, Rex," Liara said, and Rex looked at me.

- Who's that?

- Remember Terra Nova," I said quietly so only he could hear. Rex only growled in response, also quietly, and then looked at Shepard.

- Where's our turian, huh?

- On the Normandy. He'd be here, you know.

- What's he gonna do? I'm in charge here, and if you brought the turian here, Shepard, he'd be safe. But only Garrus.

- I'll keep that in mind," Shepard replied. - But let's cut to the chase," Rex got serious, "Legatus.

- Yes. Rex, this is Grant. Grant, this is Rex," I introduced the krogan, and they shook hands, surprisingly.

- To what do I owe this big guy? - Rex asked

- Grant's going through puberty. He needs a rite of passage.

- Rite of passage? That bastard's seven hundred years old, if not more. What does this dirty piece of scrap metal know about our traditions? - Grieg was outraged.

- What did you say? - suddenly asked Tali, and I was directly frightened by her voice.

- I said, "Dirty piece of scrap metal," Grieg repeated more clearly. Tali got really angry at that, and in the next second, she was all blazing with biotics and sent a biotic blast at Grig. Krogan did not even have time to react. He flew ten metres away from the blow and flew into the wall, immediately losing consciousness. Everyone who saw this, even me, became mute as I simply didn't realise what had just happened.

- HA! And you didn't believe me that I was teamed up with a Quarian biotic. Well! Now who's the liar here, huh?! - he shouted across the room, and everyone quickly turned away, realising what kind of friends Rex had. - He's right about something, though. What makes you think Grant's going through puberty?

- Symptoms. He wants to break things or kill people, and he can't even explain why he wants to do it. He also complains about his blood boiling. - I explained.

- Heh, it's definitely puberty," said a krogan who had come up to Rex. I recognised him as the clan shaman.

- Well, that makes sense, but it raises another question. What Clan are you from, Grant? - Rex asked, to which Grant replied short and clear.

- I don't know.

- We found him on Corlus, in a krogan lab named Okir. Grant was used as cloning material and put into a coma. He hadn't been altered, but the drugs had wiped out his memory. All that's left is his theory of military tactics and strategy and his excellent combat and biotic skills," Shepard explained. We all decided not to talk about Grant being an Okira creation. We didn't want to get ourselves in trouble.

- Hmm, well. So we need a ritual, and we can only do it with one. And anyway, the Clan will need such a fighter, - said the shaman.

- Then it's settled. But one thing remains. Who will be your Krant? - Rex said, but we had already discussed that.

- All of us," Shepard said. Tali, Liara, Zaid, and I immediately aligned ourselves with Grant, and he smiled predatorily.

- That'll do. Come on, we need to get you to the site.

****

Tuchanka. The place of initiation.

Of course, I had to return to Normandy and, so to speak, change my clothes, but now I was fully armed.

And here we are. The field is a huge hammer, ruins, wind with sand, red clouds - in fact, that's it.

- Well, it's time to get started," Grant said and clicked the button. Everyone double-checked their gear, stretched their muscles and got ready. Krogan went to the button and hit it with his fist.

- Mih`tek cro`han krigin diligar kroldur. Hok prekun Croghan groshli bad'regan prajug roltag," was the speech as the hammer was raised. Then it hit the ground with all its might. The wave that travelled across the ground was such that I started to interfere in front of my "eyes", and I froze for a few seconds. Suddenly.

- That was a kick! - said Zaid, and everyone agreed with him.

- What kind of language is that? - Liara asked.

- A dead Krogan language. Groh'tag. It's the same as Latin for humans," I explained, looking through my sector. There was no one there yet.

****

In an hour. Same there

- What are they waiting for! - Shepard asked angrily. We'd all seen eighty warrens by now, staring at us and growling quietly.

- They're waiting," I explained. - They're hungry, but they're not stupid. They're gathering strength. They see we're strong.

- That's bad, we don't-" Shepard was about to say something when the warren howled in very low notes, and they all came running at us. We immediately opened fire on them. The lasers made quick work of their carcasses, burning through their tough enough skin that cold weapons couldn't penetrate them. There began the sharp screaming of these animals that saw us as mere food. They were dying quickly enough. However, there were too many of them. And so, we had to switch to hand-to-hand combat.

Three warrens ended up in Liara's singularity, and five more in Tali's singularity. Then both singularities were hit by Grant's warp. The explosions blew eight warrens to pieces, and the shockwave killed another ten warrens.

A warren pounced on Zaid and felled him, but Shepard took him and his mate down, then helped the mercenary up.

Grant kicked one toothy brazen man, another got a jump shot from his shotgun, and a third warren took a fist to the face from Grant. To the death.

Liara and Tali just danced around, throwing punches at the warrens that killed them on the spot.

And then the warrens just ran out.

- That was fast," Zaeed said.

- No, Zaid," I corrected him. - Not at all. Circle up! Now! They're underground! - I shouted, looking at the scanners, then shining the image onto everyone's helmets. It looked like a bright spot walking around underground. And there were ten such spots.

- What's that? - Shepard asked, watching one.

- Klixenes. Keep your eyes open, and don't spare a shot. These things are fire-breathing.

- Will the armour hold up? - Zaid was concerned.

- Not for long. Three minutes, then it melts," I said. - Don't stomp your feet; they can feel it. And calm down. You don't say," I kept my eyes on one particularly zealous individual who would surely attack me. And then it came out of the ground, and I pulled the trigger on my rifle. Klixen had barely had time to get ready to spit fire before he was dead, and I opened the valve because the magazine was all used up.

- I got one," I said, and immediately another one popped out, this time for Zaid. He was still walking around with his rifle, so he had to shoot the whole magazine to kill it. A third critter appeared before Grant and immediately received a shotgun blast. Two more that popped out simultaneously got warped by Tali and Liara, and then Shepard nailed another. Four more popped out almost simultaneously, but two were vaporised by the girls' plasma charge, and two more were nailed by Grant, singularity with a warp.

- Grant. Hit the button. We need to survive three waves," Grant answered nothing and, reloading his shotgun, tapped the button. The hammer rose again, accompanied by a speech in the old Krogan language.

- Biklertun shog`rat nirgil gu kro`han. Yorg greshud bikrig negro. Gaofug rektan vus lidri. Fus'ro len Koldag," The next blow was even more powerful, and I hovered for five seconds, staring at the interference.

- Legatus, what's wrong with you? - Tali was worried.

- The vibration from the hammer. It makes me hover, but not for long," I said, but I immediately had to shut up. There were two of these things coming out of the ground. I couldn't see any eyes, but I could see the mouth, and it was jelly-like.

I managed to kill the first creature, but the second one shot a green ball at me, and I was immediately drenched in acid. The acid easily corroded me, so now, any bullet could reach my vital parts.

- Fuck! - I said as if it was a miracle that my head wasn't hit. - Those things shoot acid. Keep your eyes open," and I told them that for a reason. Five of these creatures came out, and then everything happened very fast. Liara's singularity picks up two of them, and Shepard takes them out. Grant, with his shotgun, managed to kill one with three shots. The last one was killed by Tali's warp.

- Legatus, are you okay? - Shepard asked, looking at me.

- Yeah. I'll have to rework the alloy," I reassured the Captain, then looked at the scanners. - What the hell is that? - A shrimp came out to us, a shrimp, that's for sure, with a chitinous plate on its head and one on each of its front legs.

- What the hell is that?! - Zaid asked, but the beast decided not to hesitate. Taking a special pose, it opened its muzzle. It fired a chitinous spike, thirty centimetres long, at me, hitting me in the stomach. Still, nothing was important there, so I didn't fall. We all opened fire on it, but it was covered by a shell that was NOT penetrable by lasers, and I'm not even talking about the mass effect.

- What the hell is wrong with this thing?! - screamed Shepard, who was about to overheat.

- Let's use biotics. There's another thing coming at us," I said, and Grant didn't wait long. He ran at it, going round the side, he went round it and hit it with his biotics. The creature didn't die but turned so no one could shoot it in the side while it slowly retreated. On the other hand, Grant had fired the entire magazine of his shotgun and was angry.

- Я! CROGAN! - With a blast of biotics, he jumped more than seven metres and began to fall on the creature. The creature only had time to fire a spike at him successfully before being crushed by Grant's foot. The krogan came towards us, with the spike sticking out of one of its main circulatory system hearts. He grabbed onto it and calmly pulled it out of himself.

- ZADDY! - Shouted Shepard, looking at the dark creature that was looking at us. It was the same height as Grant, with three-fingered hands, elongated fingers reaching the ground, powerful muscles, and a bald head. It was an underground creature that had come out to see what was happening.

- He's mine," Grant calmly put the shotgun on his belt and armed himself with the spike he'd pulled out of himself.

- Grant, are you out of your mind?! - Shepard was outraged.

- Not me. My blood," the krogan screamed fiercely and ran at the creature. It was just as it responded and took up a defensive stance. Grant was about to swing his spike when the creature stopped his hand with its own. And then the creature grabbed Grant with its other arm and threw him over itself, hitting him on the ground, then over itself again, and then again, reminding me of the Hulk and Loki. And Grant, lying on the ground, kicked the creature in the knee, breaking it causing the creature to roar and fall to one knee. The krogan grabbed it by the throat and threw it over himself, and then with a spike he kept in his hand, he punctured its head. The creature didn't die from that, so it took nine more blows to the head for it to die and all three of its hearts to stop. - OH YES!!! I'M CROOOOOOGAAAAAAAN!!!! - screamed, or rather growled, Grant, pleased with himself. - All right, it was time for the final wave!

- Reload the shotgun," Zaid said, and Grant began to reload.

- Are you ready? - he asked, getting ready to hit the button.

- Legatus, you shouldn't go on. There aren't many more creatures out here," Tali said worriedly. I seemed to have become her comrade in arms.

- It's all right. I'm Grant's krant. I can't leave him if he's counting on me," I explained.

- The words of a real man," Grant said and tapped the button to activate the hammer.

- Gir de klar cro`han var`trog geno`heg. Vder schgar. Vder krezh. Martognil prohop stograk. Vemprusoh ro three kuhag," The third blow was so strong that I hung down completely. My visual sensor was off, and only interference was visible, but my hearing was still intact.

- Hey, stay awake! - Grant said, shoving me, bringing me to my senses.

- Thanks. That vibration's really getting to me.

- It's not just you," Zayed said.

- So, where are they? - Liara asked, looking around nervously.

- I'd like to know," Tali said, and my scanners picked up something I didn't expect to see.

- AIR! - I shouted, and immediately fifty dots started dive-bombing us. I managed to get the first three off and then quickly scanned them. They looked like bats. Very distantly resembled them. The wings were the same, plus they were on their backs, and there were also arms and legs. The head looked something like a rat's head.

Ours were also able to take down a few. Tali's singularity was able to grab one critter, Liara had the same thing, and Shepard finished them off with a carbine. Grant grabbed one of them by the leg, pinning it to the ground and breaking its neck with his foot. Zaid killed two with his rifle.

Realising that the singularity wasn't working well, Liara and Tali started firing punches, which was more effective. Suddenly, two of the creatures flew right at me. I saw them too late. I killed one in the head, but I had to jump away from the corpse, and the second one still managed to grab me but immediately got shot in two hearts. Surprisingly, these things were so strong and fast that in two seconds, they managed to lift me ten metres, from which I fell to the ground. Thankfully, the platform was still functioning. But then I saw a strange sight. One of the creatures threw Tali to the ground and flew away. Still, the Quarian lost her weapon from the fall, then the second one tried to kill her, but I managed to shoot her, and then the third grabbed Tali's leg and flew with her. She wanted to do something, maybe nail her with biotics, but in a few seconds, she was twenty metres high; she was lightweight, after all. Now that thing was her only hope of staying alive, yet it was her undoing. Now that was all I needed.

I immediately saw the same creature flying at me as I stood up. In a second, I had my entire plan in place and ready. After another quarter of a second, I jumped up, wrapped my arms around its head, dropped it to the ground, and tried to ride it. It was the only way to catch up to the brute that had carried Tali away. After several attempts, I could still sit on the thing and command it to take off. It was easier than I thought, and luckily, they could hold 200kg of metal and synthetic muscle on them.

As I took off, I directed the creature behind Tali as far as I could see. The creature immediately flew forward at breakneck speed. In 10 seconds, we were already travelling at 110 km/h. But the other one, which had grabbed Tali, was travelling at 130 km/h, so we couldn't catch up with it, but I knew where we were going. It was a huge stone building, a skyscraper, still miraculously intact with its 147 floors. However, there was only iron and concrete left. It was a nest of those things.

We flew fast, but my transport somehow started to get tired, because of which it descended lower and lower. Here we are approaching a fairly complete motorway. Then we're flying below it. I'm trying to manoeuvre. I fly around one column, then another. I fly through a whole floor of a building. Then we drop even lower and fly through an underground tunnel, which, to my great fortune, turned out to be intact and only a kilometre long. Then we flew out, and the creature could gain altitude again. And then, during the flight, I could look at the ruins of a dead Krogan civilisation. Huge skeletons of buildings, highways, pyramids and just buildings were now at the mercy of all sorts of animals that must have managed to mutate. Some plants had even wrapped themselves around the buildings, but they were now covered in chitin, yet still alive. And it was truly astounding. Such an abundance of life, and yet such splendour of species of its demise and its evolution following it. It was strange to think this way, but these thoughts occurred to me. They made me realise I wouldn't last long here, even with all my skills and abilities. And that's why I had to improve. Not for life on Tuchanka, but in general. For my own survival.

After another ten minutes, we arrived at the site. It was indeed a nest. A huge pile of eggs, cubs and adults was proof of that. At my command, the creature soared sharply to the roof, where Tali was carried. And as soon as I was above it, I saw Tali, with her mask broken, convulsed in the foul, stifling air of the Tuchanka. Only a krogan could breathe that air for two hours at most, let alone a Quarian, even with her immunity. It won't help her here.

I landed the creature and immediately ran to Tali while my transport fled.

- Tali! - I shouted, but Tali couldn't give me any intelligible response.

- Le-le-

- Wait, I'll be right back," I took off the part of my face that housed the filter part of her already broken mask. I didn't need it, but I still attached it, afraid someone might need it. Now I realise that I was worried for a reason. Taking off the triangular contraption, I put it on Tali. The filter immediately stuck to Quarian's face, covering her mouth and nose, and she immediately sighed.

- Thank you... Thank you..." she said.

- It's too early to thank her," I said, fully aware of the futility of our situation. The communicator didn't work because I'd been spat on with acid. It wasn't critical, there was a spare, but it was also destroyed when I was dropped from 10 metres high. So I needed help contacting my people. Except for activating the emergency beacon, its signal weakened too much depending on the distance. At most, I could signal a kilometre away, but hopefully, they'd know where to look for us.

Suddenly, all the creatures in the building flew out of their nest and started circling around us. There were thousands of them. Big and small, old and young, half of the ones that flew were cubs that could already fly, and they all formed just a black dome around us, with barely any light slipping through it. Checking my weapons, I realised I was in the back of my mind. My rifle and pistol were broken, so I just put them back. No use throwing away technology. But I had two more plasma blades in my hands. But for now, I decided to make only one.

- Legatus! - Tali shouted and tossed me her gun. It was still working. Picking it up, I began to look around. The creatures were flying astonishingly, but I knew someone was about to attack me. And I was not mistaken. The first creature flew at me but immediately got a charge from the gun and practically disappeared. The second creature tried to attack from the back, but it, too, went to its kin. Then a third, fourth, and fifth, the charges ran out, and we had no spare. Tali couldn't do anything now, as she had managed to break her leg. And the worst part was that it was an open fracture, and the bone had managed to penetrate the suit. Luckily, the first aid kit built into the suit had painkillers, so Tali didn't feel anything. I activated the second blade and got ready.

The first creature flew at me, but I stepped back from its trajectory and decapitated it with a swing of my blade. Its corpse travelled to the edge, and I immediately spotted the next victim. It was flying sideways, so all I had time to do was swing and cut through its chest, both hearts and a few ribs, then push it away with my other hand to keep it from crashing into me. The third creature, on the other hand, was paired with the fourth. One flew at me, the other at Tali, and she had already grabbed her, but she didn't even notice it. I didn't think for long and shot my hand with a blade at the creature, from which Tali crashed hard into the concrete fence. Hard enough to break a rib, but it didn't puncture a lung. But because I was distracted by saving Tali, the second creature slammed into me, trying to eat me. But nothing was left to eat, so when it started gnawing on my head, I sharply plunged my blade into its throat, severing all three arteries. And then, throwing the carcass off me, I ran towards Tali, who was being approached from behind by another creature. And as it was about to take Tali, I grabbed the creature by the paw, toppled it over me, and gave it three swift blows. One blow to each heart and one to the single liver.

After that, something strange happened. All the creatures just flew away. The whole pack of them flew deep into the ruined city. And I got a disturbing radar reading and turned around. A huge sandstorm was coming at us from the wastelands. Only now, it was real, not like it had been in Virtuaal, in the battle with Nazara. Now this storm could hurt us badly; worse, there were lightning bolts. And Tali and I needed help to get down to the lower floors. There was no stairwell, it had collapsed 53 floors down, and there was no other way down. I couldn't break through the floor. Even Prime couldn't have done it.

- Tali," I said to the girl, running up to her. She didn't look so good. - What's wrong with you?

- My eyes... It's burning... I can't see anything..." Tali said in a low voice.

- I see. Listen to me. There's a storm coming. There's no way we can get down. We're gonna have to wait it out here. And to do that, I need you to get up. I'm gonna have to hold you, okay?

- Yes... Good... - Tali got up with my help and then sat up again, but I had to hold her with my whole body this time. And then I had to switch off her unic, -What... What... What are you...

- I'm sorry, Tali. We have to switch everything off, or it'll attract lightning. There's a small pin here, it'll act as a lightning rod, but if we have anything working, the lightning will hit us," I explained, looking at a small armature as thick as a rail.

- 'And how... what about... you...'

- I'm sorry, Tali. I'm going to pass out, too. Our guys will get here later. And you just keep your eyes closed," I asked, to which Tali silently agreed. The storm was upon us in another half a minute, and I forced all my systems to shut down.