A/N: Hey yo, fancy people of the Internet! Y'all looking fine right now! Anyway, today I was sitting in a testing room, bored as hell, and I decided to write this since I had nothing else to do. Well, besides work on other stories...Ideas do not come to me gracefully... Zero-san need better discipline...
In any case, this is my first foray into this series, so expect a few errors, breaking the fourth wall, and some goddamn swears.
Also this follows the 'Tali proven innocent' and 'Shepard destroys the reapers' ideas. I like both of the other two, but...I'm not sure how to bring back a character from material disintegration/too lazy to do it.
Now that we've mostly set up the frame story, let's hit the gas! Oh Kurt!
Kurt Cobain: I have no idea who this guy is, but he doesn't own a single thing mentioned in here.
Mass Effect: Dreams Beyond the Stars
A story by SumOfAllZeroes/ThatOneChickenGuy
Chapter 1: We Are Not Alone
Adrenaline wracks the Quarian's body, punching it into overdrive. Shrapnel flies like shuriken cutting through the air, shredding her suit. The impact and detonation proves too much and the Quarian blanks out.
Gurneys and stumbling encompass her vision. When she is finally able to see, what she sees knocks her heart into her throat.
There on top of the hill, wounded, battered and scarred, stands the object of her affections. They lock eyes for but fleeting seconds before the deafening sound of a new explosion rocks the rich soil loose. The Quarian's face freezes in a silent scream.
SSV Normandy SR-2, 01:02. Residence of Tali'Zorah vas Normandy
"AAAH!" Tali woke with a start, suit drenched with sweat and heart drenched in fear. Every night had been the same. The same horrible dream over and over. Someone, her loved one killed in battle before her very eyes and no matter what she tried, it never changed. It had all started at the end of her first cycle on the Normandy. Having known the apple of her romantic eye for a while allowed for a quick view into his emotions.
After news broke of the destruction of the Normandy SR-1, Tali nearly had a full blown heart attack. Desperate for more information, Tali inquired more and more frequently for missions in quadrants near the detonation site. Many, many moments had gone by that had worried her, but none more so than these vision, premonitions, whatever they were. Now, as she sat up, heart finally stabilizing, she stood and began to move to the one place she knew she could go to for an answer…
SSV Normandy SR-2, 01:12, Yeoman's Office
Tali hit the doorbell outside the yeoman's office. After 10 minutes of wait time and several muttered obscenities, Tali went to ring the bell again only for the door to slide open of its own accord.
"Kelly?" Tali called into the faintly lit room.
There before her, asleep at her desk, was Kelly Chambers, a piece of pink paper stuck to her head. Considering that Tali had spent the past three days waking up from horrid hallucinations, what would ordinarily be considered chuckle-worthy lost its luster considerably.
"Kelly." Tali gently shook the Yeoman awake.
"Huh...Jack, get your loopy ass back here. The purple dragon isn't real, it's just heroin. You'll never catch it."
Now that was something to laugh at. Tali couldn't help but to burst out laughing, causing Kelly to leap from her chair.
"Huh? Wha- Oh, Tali. What are you doing here?"
"Sorry to bother you, Kelly, but I have a bit of a psychological issue that couldn't wait till tomorrow." The Yeoman nodded her head.
"Step into my office."
"I think I did already." Tali inched forward, taking a seat across from Kelly.
"Alright, what is this issue you spoke of?" Kelly inquired, groggily rubbing her eyes, trying to wake up.
"Well...I'm not sure how to accurately state what these are…"
"Okay, let's break this down." Kelly brought out a blank data pad and stylus. "Is this a singular instance of occurrence, multiple instances of different occurrences or a repeating phenomenon?"
Tali brought her knees to her chest.
"It's the same thing...over and over." Kelly began scribbling frantically on the datapad.
"Is the phenomenon visual, auditory, tactile or all of them?"
"All."
"And what do you see?" Tali began explaining the scene as she left it. Explosions, flying shrapnel, a gurney. Shredded armour and one last look in her beau's eyes before he was consumed by fire.
"So this…"
"Man."
"Man...is someone you hold close to your heart?" Tali nodded.
"It seemed more than just a platonic thing."
"How could you tell?" Tali leaned back, resting her chin- or the helmet-equivalent of her chin- on her left knuckles.
"I…wasn't one hundred percent sure who but...the feeling I got from them was that of someone I had spent much of my time with." Kelly finished scribbling on the data pad, and rose to make tea.
After returning, she passed the tea to Tali.
"Well Tali, I have a hypothesis. Normally, the significance of seeing an unknown person in a dream signifies self-repression. A part of you is trying to express itself. Additionally, the sight of an explosion would normally act as a tell-tale sign of pent up aggression needing to be released. However, you described the explosion as auditory and then tactile. Auditory explosions are described as a sudden release of previously unknown information. It would probably be best if we started by trying to figure out who this person is." Tali began wracking her brain for details.
"I can remember a few things. First, he wasn't alien." Kelly raised an eyebrow.
"Also, he appeared to be the average height for a quarian, only slightly taller than me."
"That narrows down the search a considerable amount. Any other features?"
" Well...I can remember one more thing. The person appeared to be wearing N...7 ...Armor."
Realization came over both of them, albeit with the addition of a massive blush on Tali's end.
"Oh cosmos, it's Shepard!" Tali began motioning frantically for something to cool down her rapidly overheating suit and… bodily areas. Kelly obliged, pulling out a comedically sized water cooler bottle and handing it to the blazingly hot-heat-wise could easily be determined, and Kelly decided to let Shepard be the judge of attractiveness-quarian girl.
A full hour later, Kelly was fully convinced now that:
Tali had officially established the newest entry in the Normandy's longest blush and most extreme blush records.
Quarians could drink a shit ton of water when trying to avoid being embarrassed.
Tali had to have had multiple stomachs and kidneys to be able to drimk all the water cooler bottles in the west wing of the Normandy.
"Are you okay now?" Tali frantically nodded as the A/C in her suit kicked in.
"Alright now, should I tell Shepard or do you want to tell him?"
"NO! I'll do it; I have a strong feeling that I should be the one to tell Shepard." Tali objected. Kelly gave an unusual fangirl-ish squeal.
"Okay, okay, I know exactly what you need to say! What you need to do is take him somewhere private, take his hand in yours and-" Kelly dropped, as tired as the dead.
Tali sighed and gently placed a blanket over Kelly's shoulders as she left to get what little sleep she could and to ponder how to communicate her intent to Shepard.
A/N: And Chapter one is down! If you genuinely stuck it through till the end, I want to thank you for that. Please leave ratings and comments for the chapter including what you want to see happen. Expect more later including interactions with Jack and Mordin! That's all for now! PM me with any questions!
*elevator noise*
\M/-Zero-\M/
