Tali heard a ruckus coming from the lower level of the engineering deck as she passed through the hallway. Her ears picked up on grunts and curse words, with the occasional shouting. What had her going down the steps was the fact that nobody used that area anymore.
And she almost laughed when she saw what was going on.
Garrus, Kaiden, John, and James were running into each other, eyes to the ground and hands out in the open. They were looking for something, but what could they possibly be searching for that required four grown men?
"Garrus, what the hell, stop walking into me." Shepard growled, glaring at the turian.
"It's not my fault you lost your rat." Garrus scowled.
"It's not a rat! How many times do I have to tell you-"
"You guys are both loco! Stop arguing!"
"There it is!" Kaiden shouted, lunging right in-between the commander and the turian sniper. A loud thud resonated from the level before another curse word was uttered and a tiny animal scurried away from the soldier and towards the quarian, squeaking.
Tali bent down to the ground, opening her hands to the little feral creature. The hamster jumped right into her palms and nuzzled against the woman when she caressed him with her thumbs. All four men glanced up from the ground at her in utter shock.
"How…" Kaiden started.
"No way. No way it could've been that easy!" James interjected.
"We're idiots." Garrus sighed.
"He loves her more than he loves me!" Shepard frowned and crossed his arms. "He's my pet, too."
"You guys are ridiculous." Tali chuckled, glancing down at the hamster, scratching its head as she turned to leave.
Before the door to the hallway closed behind her, Tali heard her partner say, "Without women, we would be nothing." And she laughed to herself, inputting the captain's cabin command onto the elevator's keyboard. The little animal in her palm squeaked, sniffing the surrounding area as if he'd never been down here.
I acknowledge and am grateful to these developers for their contributions. Characters and world credit belongs to Bioware and EA, 2007-2012.