"Wait… Shepard?"
Shepard felt a strange jolt at another apparent stranger using her name. The quarian who had addressed her had lowered her weapon and was standing in front of her companions.
"I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives!" snapped another of the quarians, gun still pointed threateningly at Shepard's head.
"Put those weapons down!" the first quarian ordered firmly, the tone of command apparent even though, to Shepard, her voice sounded quite young. Her two comrades reluctantly lowered their guns and Shepard signalled to Miranda and Jacob to do the same.
"Shepard?" the leader said again, her tone softening to something close to wonder, "Is that… you're alive?"
Shepard felt another strange tug at her mind at the familiarity and even affection in the voice of this quarian. It was almost as if she had known her once, a long time ago, but couldn't quite remember. The frustration that had been building ever since she had woken up, under fire on a strange station, with no idea who she was or who she had got there, bubbled up again.
"Shepard?" the quarian repeated again, her tone puzzled now. "It is you, isn't it? It's me… Tali."
Shepard jumped, realising that she had been staring, trying to find something, any memory, that would explain how she knew this person who she instinctively wanted to trust, despite feeling as though they were meeting for the first time.
"I'm sorry, uh, Tali, did you say? Look, I should explain…"
"No need," her belligerent comrade sneered, raising his gun again. "She obviously has no idea who you are."
"Prazza, weapons down!" Tali snapped again.
"And anyway", Prazza continued, only half lowering his gun, "Why would your old commander be working for Cerberus?"
"I… don't know," admitted Tali slowly, as if noticing for the first time that Shepard, not just her two companions, was dressed in Cerberus uniform. "Maybe we should ask," she added, looking pointedly at Prazza's still half-raised gun. He huffed, but lowered it back to the ground, as Tali turned back to face Shepard.
"I nearly died, Tali," Shepard began quickly, wondering how on earth she was going to convince her that she was Commander Shepard. "Cerberus spent two years rebuilding me. They want me to investigate attacks on human colonies. Only problem is, while they were able to save my life, I've lost a most of my memories, at least for the moment."
"Likely story," Prazza sneered, "No organisation would commit so many resources to bring back one soldier. And memory loss? How convenient."
"You haven't seen Shepard in action, Prazza," Tali retorted, jumping to the defence of her friend. "It would be money well spent."
Shepard felt a small rush of hope at this. Tali didn't have to fully believe her yet, just as long as she didn't consider her a threat.
"Ok, look," she began, with her usual straightforward manner, "There's nothing that I can say to prove to you that I am Commander Shepard or that I know you, Tali, because I don't remember anything. I have a strange feeling that I should recognise you, but that's all. But as far as we're concerned," she glanced over her shoulder at Miranda and Jacob, "We're just here to find out what happened to this colony. There's no reason why we should interfere with you, or you with us," she added, with a pointed look at Prazza, who, despite himself, took a half-step backwards. Tali smirked quickly at Shepard, who grinned back.
"Right," Tali agreed, turning back to Prazza and their other companion. "Let's get on with the misson."
"But…" Prazza began.
"NOW!"
Muttering to himself, Prazza led the third quarian out of the small building. Tali followed them, but stopped before the door.
"Shepard? I'm sorry, I wish we could work with you in this, but, well…" She glared at the door that Prazza had just gone through.
"It's ok Tali, I understand. I wouldn't trust me either. Watch yourself out there, ok?"
"Thanks, Shepard."
"I hope you know what you're doing," Miranda muttered later as they headed to the LZ. "You don't remember that quarian, she has no way to know if it's really you, yet you let her walk away with the very data we came here for and trusted to her word that she'd send it on to us?"
"I don't remember her but I think I remember trusting her," Shepard replied thoughtfully. "Besides, we helped her rescue Veetor after her squad of soldiers were killed by those mechs and didn't drag him off to be interrogated. She owes us a favour."
"That's true, I suppose," agreed Jacob.
Shepard sighed. "Any idea how long this is going to last, Miranda?" she asked, as they got into the shuttle. "If I keep meeting people I've forgotten that I know, it's going to drive me crazy."
"Not really," Miranda replied, looking at her keenly. "At least meeting people you knew might help to bring back some of your memories more quickly. Has anything come back to you about Tali yet?"
Shepard struggled with it, picturing the quarian in her mind and trying to think of anything associated with her. Even with the brief background Miranda and Jacob had given her, there was still nothing solid, just elusive flickers now and then that vanished as soon as she tried to concentrate on them. She shook her head, deflated.
"Nothing."
Jacob looked at her sympathetically and Miranda sighed. "Ok, well the worst thing you can do it try to force it to come back. Your body is still healing, so for now, all I can suggest is that you concentrate on getting back up to full strength - that can only help.
Shepard nodded. "That makes sense."
"Miranda, how did it go?" the Illusive Man asked, with his usual air of nonchalance.
"Well, on the whole. Shepard recognises the threat, she'll keep working with us to save lives, if nothing else."
"That's a start. What else?"
"We met that quarian from the Normandy's old crew there."
"Did Shepard remember her?"
"No. It seems to be working still. She said that she seemed vaguely familiar but that's all."
"That's good. It seems that you were right in your calculations."
"Of course. I'll give her a blocker tonight, tell her it'll stop nightmares from her death triggering."
"Will it?"
"Possibly. It might accentuate them. But it'll make sure that her unexpectedly meeting an old friend won't upset our plans."
"Good. Do whatever you need to do to keep her to the mission, Miranda. Humanity needs her to deal with this threat. Nothing and no-one must get in the way of that."
"Understood."