Disclamer: I don't own Mass Effect.
AN: I try not to give away Tali's looks due to the fact that we will find out what quarians look like in the second and third games.
All was quiet and peaceful in the engine room of the alliance ship Normandy. A few beeps from the control panels and the swooshing of the rotation of the drive core were the only noises that were heard. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya suddenly heard a loud growl. She looked down, putting a hand on her stomach. 'Oops. With all the excitement, I haven't had a chance to eat. Better get something before I pass out.' Tali began to make her way out of the room. Chief engineer Addams noticed this.
"Where are you off to Tali?" he questioned.
"Oh, just up to the mess to get a snack. I'll be back soon." And with that she left. A sudden question was left in the air unanswered of the crewmembers.
"Wait, did she just say she was going to eat something?" one asked. "Then that means…"
"She's got to take off her mask!" Another eagerly replied.
"This I have to see." Said another. Chief engineer Addams held up his hand in protest.
"Now hold on everybody. We need to respect her privacy." Ever since the quarian had become part of the crew, Addams had taken an instant shine to her, due to her extreme knowledge of engines. He didn't think it would be nice for her to become a spectacle of the other crewmembers.
"Come on Addams." One of the engineers whined. "Don't tell me you're not curious."
"Well…" Addams trailed off, scratching his chin in hesitation. "I suppose we could all use a snack break." Everybody cheered.
In another part of the
lower deck, Garrus was knelt at the mako, making some configurations.
He quickly turned his head at the sudden scuffle of noise to see the
entire engineer team hurriedly scampering into the elevator. Muffled
voices of protest could be heard as the humans, now squished
together, tried to avoid jabbing into each other.
"Grey! You're closest. Get the button!"
"I would if you would back up a little Martin." Grey growled. After a bit more grunting, the elevator door shut.
"What the hell was that about?" Wrex asked out loud to no one in particular.
"Wait. Wasn't that the ENTIRE engineer team?" Ashley asked. "If they're all there, then who's keeping an eye on the drive core?" Wrex's eyes widened at the realization of the statement. Garrus was already running toward he engine room.
"God. Can't this elevator go any faster!?"
"Enough complaining, or we go right back down!" Chief engineer Addams declared. Everyone fell silent.
The door to the medical bay swooshed open. Dr. Chakwas looked up from her paperwork to see none other then Tali walking in. She held a tray of assorted hot food in her hands.
"Hello Tali, is their something I can help you with?" Dr. Chakwas watched as Tali looked around before nodding to herself and put her tray of food on one of the tables in the room.
"I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to have my lunch here. With this being a medical room, I figured it would be the most sanitary place for me to take off my mouthpiece."
"I thought you couldn't take off your suit due to your weak immune system?" Dr. Chakwas stated. Tali nodded slowly.
"That is partially true. Going without our suits for an extended period of time out of the flotilla can cause us quarians to become ill and even die if we are not careful. Thankfully, before we go off to our pilgrimage, we are fitted with special implants to help fight off disease, and strengthen our immune systems. My suit is able to keep me clean and sanitized, as well as flushing out any waste products. However, I still need to take off my mouthpiece or entire helmet in order to eat. We haven't been able to figure out a way to get food though our suits yet. " Dr. Chakwas was intrigued.
"Can you tell me more about these implants? Something that strengthens the immune system could be most useful for the alliance." Tali crossed her arms and cocked her head to the side in thought.
"I don't know much. I'm an engineer, not a doctor. But suppose I could. I doubt it would do you much good though. It's geared toward quarian biology, not humans."
She pulled on her round mouthpiece until she heard a click and a whoosh of air, then turned it clockwise, unscrewing it. She carefully placed it on the small table next to the tray of food and sat down. Dr. Chakwas gave a side-glance to her face, but with the shadow the visor was creating and the metal sides of her mask, she couldn't make out Tali's mouth at all. Tali suddenly took a huge gasp of air, which startled the doctor.
"Tali? Are you alright?" While she had taken several classes on alien biology's, she had no clue on quarians, due to the fact that the flotilla hadn't visited any human colonies yet.
"I'm alright." Tali's voice didn't sound robotic at all. Nor did it sound human. It sounded similar to the alien warble that the turians had, only softer. "I'm not used to being able to breathe so much air at once. It's a nice change." And with that she turned back to her tray and began eating. Carefully putting spoonfuls of food through the small opening to her mouth.
Meanwhile, after an extremely long elevator ride, everyone stumbled out and ran towards the mess hall table. Tali was nowhere to be seen.
"Where'd she go?" Martin asked. The other engineers talked amongst themselves. Grey noticed Kaiden working on one of the panels nearby.
"Hey Alenko! Have you seen Tali?" Grey asked.
"I have to know what she looks like under that mask." A young female engineer stated, shaking Kaiden like a rag doll.
"Woah! She's in the medical ward." Kaiden stammered. Everyone ran for the door. "Wait, is it alright for you all to be up here?" No one heard him.
"And that's pretty much how the implants work." Tali said, finishing her lecture on the immunity implants to Dr. Chakwas. She was already half finished with her meal. Taking her time between bites to answer the doctors questions.
"Interesting." Dr. Chakwas stated, typing away at her electronic notepad. "I'll be sure to send this info to the head alliance medical facilities. Theirs so little we know of your kind. As a medical expert, I'm always curious about the medical practices of other species. Perhaps you could tell me more?"
Tali laughed.
"Well, I can't tell you everything about us, but I'd be happy to tell…"
The door suddenly opened and the crew burst in, startling Dr. Chakwas and Tali.
"What's going on here?!" Dr. Chakwas demanded, seeing everyone in a huff. The engineers ignored her, instead looking at Tali, who now seeing that the room was full of germ carrying humans, was covering the hole in her mask.
"Can you see her face?!" someone in back called eagerly.
"Please leave. I don't want to get sick." Tali pleaded in panic. Dr. Chakwas realized what was going on.
"Alright. That's enough!" She stated, pushing the people out. "Leave her be. Shouldn't you be working at your consoles?" The ship gave a huge lurch knocking everyone down. Red lights began flashing along with a loud siren.
Warning…Warning…Drive core unstable. Please make proper adjustments. Warning…Warning…
In all the commotion, Tali managed to get her mouthpiece back on.
"Hurry, we need to get back to the engine room!" she announced. Not wasting any time, she jumped over the crewmembers lying in the doorway and made her way to the elevator. The others soon got up and followed suit.
Back in the engine room, panic was the biggest emotion at the moment. Garrus looked at consoles, pressing buttons randomly, hoping he wasn't making things worse. Ashley and Wrex were with him at consoles of their own. Wrex grimiced, putting his hands to his head to shield him from the loud sirens.
"Don't you know how to work this thing?" Ashley shouted, eyes darting from her console to Garrus.
"I'm a soldier. Ship engines are not my strong point!" He shouted back. He opened his omnitool, using it to make sense of the drive cores controls. Pressley came on the intercom.
"Addams! Just what the hell are you and the others doing down there?!" he bellowed. Wrex grunted and covered the sides of his head even harder.
Back in the elevator:
"If we make it through this, remind me to take a look at you're elevators control panel in order to speed it up." Tali shouted. Despite the noise and being squashed in a small space with humans, she seemed to be calm about the whole thing.
"Agreed." Addams and the other engineers said. The elevator reached the lower deck and everybody rushed out towards the engine room. The three of them backed off when they saw the engine crew coming in, going to their consoles and making the proper adjustments. The flashing lights and sirens stopped. Garrus, Ashley, and Wrex gave sighs of relief.
"I repeat, Addams, can you hear me? Is everything all right down there?" Pressley said over the intercom. Addams sighed.
"I read you Pressley. Sorry about that, the crew and I were…uh…preoccupied with something." He stole a glance at the young quarian. Although she had a mask on, her body language told him that she was pretty angry with them, and was expecting an explanation. Ashley noticed this as well.
"Would you look at the time, we should really get going. Have a nice day." She pushed Garrus and Wrex out of the engine room. There was an awkward silence.
"Well?" She demanded. "What was with everyone bursting into Dr. Chakwas room like that?" Everyone looked down guiltily. Grey piped up.
"We were curious. When you said you were going to eat, we thought we'd get a chance to see what you really looked like."
Tali blinked in surprise. 'All this, just to see what I look like.' She shook her head in disbelief, and gave a big sigh.
"That's no excuse for leaving such an important post. A ship can't function without you guys. I can't take my mask off in front of you for fear of contamination, but I can describe what I look like if you're that curious." She stated matter of factly. Everyone looked up in shock and surprise.
"Then, then you're not angry at us?" Addams asked uncertainly.
"Mad? Well, I am a bit upset that you were being irresponsible, but I think you should be more worried about Shepard's wrath than mine. Addams gave a grim smile.
"Fair enough. So…about describing what you look like." He began. Tali grinned and began her description.
Meanwhile, an angry Commander Shepard tapped his foot impatiently while in the elevator. 'As if I don't have enough on my plate, all this chaos happens.'
"Can't this damned elevator go any faster!" he shouted to himself.
The End