This choice: All goes well, Shepard returns before tali wakes up • Go Back...Chapter #4All goes well, Shepard returns before tali wake... by: Hotline Dave   Originally posted by Indianajones393
While the recovering Quarian slept soundly in her bed, Shepard and his team raced to the aid of the seized Volus frieghter.
"Okay, here's the plan. We go in fast and quiet. Scanners indicate that the majority of the hostiles are centered around the main cargo hold. There are a handful further up where we believe the two Volus are being held with their crew. Garrus will set up a line of fire from a secluded position on the back of the ship. I'll act as the distraction and draw them into his kill box.
When he fire starts it's likely to draw the majority of the merc forces away from the hostages. Thane, your job is to sneak up to that positins and eliminate anyone remaining."
"Copy that Shepard." said Garrus. Thane simply nodded. After Thane prayer, the trio stealthily docked at the aft end of the ship. Thane slipped into a nearby vent, and Garrus lined up his shot as Shepard took up position infront of the largest concentration of hostiles. His radio crackled slightly as Garrus signaled him. "Ready when you are Commander."
Five minutes later and the whole ordeal was over. Without so much as a hiccup, the plan had worked flawlessly. After the inital detonation of Shepard's incendiary grenade, a nifty trick he had learned from his mercernary cohort Zaeed, Garrus had been able to eliminate most of the mercs with a few quick shots from his Viper. All the remaining mercs were gunned down in the cross fire.
Thane had easily slipped passed the panicing guards, dropping down from a ledge behind the only two remaining members who watched over the prisoners. With a subtle crack, one body fell limp to the floor, neck broken. His partner was quickly followed by a bullet to the temple.
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Shepard, on board the shuttle back to the nearby Normandy, thought over the results of the conflict. The two Volus had been quite gracious. Thanking him for their rescue, they offered a fair amount of credits. More important however, was the cargo they were transporting. An experimental omni-tool upgrade, it was supposed to increase the amount of time one could hack a security system before the firewalls rebooted. Shepard would have to have Mordin to take a look at this to see if it was compatible with their systems.
Speaking of Mordin, Shepard wondered if the Salarian had had any luck analyzing the side effects of Tali's new body. He had assured the commander that it was nothing major, but at the same time Shepard was worried. He had almost lost Tali once. If there were complications...
Docking with the Normandy, Shepard exited the cargo bay, heading straight for Mordin's lab. As the sliding door opened infront of him, the salarian looked up from his work. Smiling, he greeted the Commander.
"Shepard. Congratulations on the success of the mission. Glad you're here. Wanted to talk to you. Been analyzing tissue samples. Mentioned new chemical pathways being formed, yes? Apparently changes more systemic than previously thought.
Quarians usually contained to biosuit due to fledgling immune system. However, upon reconstitution of hybrid cells, reintegration occured on greater scale than anticipated. Fusion between new and old DNA spread through entire body.
This jumpstarted her natual immune system. Thus she can survive outside of suit; modifications made by new DNA spread through whole body.
Here comes unexpected effects. Quarian body dextro-amino acid based. Fusion with new code opened up new chemical pathway for the absorbtion of nutrients.
Also, upon further inspection, discovered other unforseen result. The nervous system connection between the stomach and the brain in quarian physiology different than in humans. New nervous system not compatible with brain reciever. Howerver, brain still in contact with nervous system. See problem?"
Shepard looked at Mordin with a confused look. He understood a little of what the doctor said, but all this medical terminology was almost like a foreign language to him.
Luckily he was saved by the appearence of Dr. Chakwas. "Let me try to explain what Mordin's saying." she said, aware of the Captain's confusion. " Tali's original cells were based off of different compounds than those a human is made of. Thus, these cells got food from a different source. However, with the fusion of the two types of cells, both chemical pathways to absorb food still work. So in turn, Tali can process a new type of nutrients than was she previously was able to.
Also, her nervous system was damaged in the explosion. The one we replaced it with is fully functional, but not entirely compatible. Her brain is still able to send out signals to her body, but the opposite is not true. Parts of her body can not send signals back to her brain. This causes problems where the body uses what's called a negative feedback loop.
The body is a remarkable thing. Most of her should be able to adjust just fine. The only area that will really be affected is her digestive track.
When food is eaten, it ends up in the stomach where the food is broken down. When you're full, the stomach messages the brain saying "Stop". As long as the brain doesn't recieve that message however, it still thinks your hungry. Despite the fact that she'll still be eating, her brain won't realize it. Understand?" Shepard nodded.
"Now bear with me. The brain has what are essentially "feel good" horomones it can release to the body. If it thinks that the body isn't getting enough food, it will encourage eating by releasing those horomones when viewing food or eating.
Essentially what this all means is that not only is Tali's body going to seek food constantly, but it is also going to recieve about double the nutrients that it normally would. She's going to have to watch her food consumption if she wants to maintain her current weight."
Shepard imagined a heavier Tali. Something about that...intrigued him. She looked so thin and frail without her biosuit on. Perhaps it would be a good thing if she built up her frame a little...
"...Commander?" Chakwas looked at him with a quizzical look. Quickly snapping out of his day dream, her looked over at her. "This is all well and good, but it's not the reason I came up here. I wanted to let you know she'll be waking soon."
Shepard gave a sigh of relief. "Thank you doctor." And with that, he followed Chakwas down to the medical bay.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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