Before turning off her omni-tool, Tali saved some of the garbled data chunks, curious to try and see what further information she may be able to get from them when she had the proper time. It was possible, although not entirely likely, that some of the data was still yet salvageable but now was neither the time nor place to entertain her curiosity over the matter.
The light from her omni-tool faded, leaving only the flickering of the terminal to cast distorted light against her figure. Beyond the darkness, there was only the quiet sound of the cold wind, howling against the facility as the snow continued to fall. Even with Jace moving to be near her once more, to apprise the information she had shared, Tali could not help but feel the vast emptiness of the station. That the darkness stretched farther beyond what she could perceive.
It was an unsettling feeling, one that made her shiver slightly. But regardless of how she tried to reassure herself that she was merely being silly, the unease lingered. Unconsciously, she shifted closer to Jace, the pale illumination from his own omni-tool reflecting against her visor.
Tali waited patiently as he looked over the schematics, happy that she was able to successfully retrieve something useful from the corrupted files. She knew that the Commander would not have agreed to allow her to join the mission unless he thought she was capable of assisting, but her worry about proving her usefulness had persisted.
It was not often that she was asked or given permission to join the away team, which in some manner she could understand. Although she was an Admiral, Tali had no formal or extensive military training and even the time she had spent in the field did not qualify to make up for that. While likely Jace himself could handle most tech work out in the field, Tali wanted to be able to help in whatever capacity was needed. Sometimes having a few extra engineers was useful.
Jace’s nod of approval caused her eyes to warm, a bright smile tucked away behind her mask. She found herself shifting upon her heels, an excited little bounce in lieu of being proud that she had been useful.
Leaving behind the terminal, Tali began to follow Jace as his instruction. Ahead, the other soldiers had started to make their way across the expanse of the room, carefully navigating around storage crates and lifeless terminals. Settled on the far side of the room was an archway and, as indicated by the map, the only entrance into the second part of the topside portion of the research station.
Their footsteps echoed softly as Dawson took point, Jace and Tali taking up the rear. With her pistol drawn, but pointed away, she cautiously followed the dim silhouette of the Commander, keeping a close eye on the faint glow of the lights set within his armor.
The corridor which separated the two topside stations appeared to have been dug directly out of the mountain. With no embellishments, the narrow hallway was merely constructed from burrowing through the rock. A curious change from the well-polished interior they had seen within the main entrance. Tali wondered if perhaps this portion of the facility had been added later or perhaps had merely never been finished before it was abandoned.
Ice had crept further into the building as well, making the corridor a bit of a precarious walk. But Tali took Jace’s caution in mind and kept a careful watch on where exactly she stepped.
The hallway eventually gave way to the second room, which appeared to contain more darkened terminals and discarded storage crates, darkened doorways to offices and other rooms. Much like the entrance room, this one spanned two floors, but with a bit more light Tali could just make out the walkways which hung far above them. The size of both stations spoke of just how many workers must have once occupied the place. But now, now it was quiet and there was no sign that anyone had entered the station for some time.
If the map Tali had found was correct, then the elevators that would lead down to the tunnels would be located at the other side of the room. From where she stood near the Commander, however, it was far too dark to tell if this was true.
At Jace’s command, the rest of the ground team began to spread out, beginning a careful sweep of the large room. Tali lingered behind the soldiers, drifting over towards some of the stations to examine what had been left behind. She did not bother with the terminal, instead picking up one of the datapads that had been piled upon the table.
Her long fingers flicked over the device, turning it on with a flicker of orange light. The device sputtered briefly before dying, causing the quarian to frown, nose wrinkled in confusion. It was one thing for data stored within the terminal network to have been wiped, but it appeared that even the datapads had been corrupted or broken.
With a soft sigh, she set the pad back down, thoughts shifting over this new bit of information. What exactly had they found here that they wanted all knowledge of erased? What exactly was awaiting them in the tunnels far below?
The questions settled uneasily within her tangled thoughts, recalling stories of other ventures whereupon Jace had need to visit abandoned tunnels. They had been filled with the remnants of the workers, now turned to husks under the influence of the Reaper artifact they had uncovered. Could something like that have happened here?
Tali’s gaze shifted, glancing across the darkened room to seek out the Commander’s figure. He wasn’t very far from her, likely puzzling his own way through the unanswered questions this mission had presented.
Her lips parted, intending to call out to him and catch his attention, but Tali paused. Uncertain, she let the words grow quiet, not sure how comfortable Jace would be in her seeking out his reassurance. Not when he was currently in command and in present company.
So instead, she turned from his familiar visage, attempted to bolster her own courage and resumed her quiet search through the defunct research station.
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