The pumps hissed and beeped, and the clear white room felt, and looked cold. The hair on my arm stood up as I slowly opened my eyes. The room was empty, but it was obviously a medical room. A small panic took over me, and I frantically looked around and sat up. The machines started to beep louder and I heard commotion outside. Obviously it wasn't a human hospital, and the humming and slight crackling indicated I was on a ship. I started to panic more as I noticed I was cuffed to the bed with leather straps. I started pulling and yanking the straps, trying to free myself.
The door to the room opened, a masked figure standing in the doorway, wearing a white coat. "Hey hey hey, calm down, everything is alright" the figure spoke in a thick accent behind its mask. "You're safe, no need to worry"
"What the hell is going on?!" I asked, yanking the straps again. Why the hell was I on the Flotilla. The Quarian woman walked to me, laying her hand on my shoulder and gently pushed me down on the bed again. "Calm down, I'm sure you have a lot of questions"
"Yeah, like why the hell am I tied to this bed?" I scoffed and yanked my arm against the strap again.
"Exactly because of this. If you calm down I'm more than happy to remove the binds" the woman said.
I relaxed my arm, and the woman looked at me with a slightly tilted head for a moment, before opening the left strap and reaching over to the right one, opening it as well.
"My name is Yeemi'Neram vas Wayya, I'm the head doctor of this ship" she spoke softly. I glanced over her shoulder, seeing a team of Marines at the door.
"So this ship is called Wayya?" I asked, scratching my wrists and sitting up.
The doctor looked at me for a moment before chuckling lightly. "I didn't know humans teach about Quarian culture in the Alliance"
"They don't ma'am, but my parents were diplomats" I smiled sheepishly.
The woman turned to the Marines and waved them off, the team disappearing out the door. "Well maybe you can teach us something about your culture then? Look here" she said and pointed a flashlight into my eyes.
"Like what?" I asked slightly confused.
"Like what an alliance special operations team is doing in Geth space"
"What? Special operations? No no, I'm..." I cut myself off. Cold sweat started to rise to my skin. I couldn't remember!
"Yes?" The doctor inquired, looking to me, slight worry in her voice.
I started to panic, my heartbeat rising and the machines beeping faster. "Just calm down, it's okay" she spoke, laying her hand on my leg. "What's wrong?"
"I... I can't remember!" I said in a panicky tone. "I can't remember anything!" I tried and tried but drew a blank, not even my name!
The Quarian looked to me, and then down to her datapad before clicking open her omni-tool. My eyes darted around the room and my heart was beating fast and my mouth was dry.
"Just breath, everything is alright, you'll be fine" the doctor assured, another Quarian walking into the room. They whispered something for a moment before the other one nodded and walked out. "What? What's happening?" I asked, my breathing still fast.
"Do you remember anything from these past days? Anything at all?" She asked, walking around the bed and looking to her datapad. I closed my eyes tight and focused as best as I could. Slowly something started to emerge from the darkness. Echoes or dreams that I didn't completely understand.
This mission is a bust, I say ag-
We need to get out!
Water, incoming water! Seal your armor!
Suddenly a flash of explosion and a crash staggered me and my eyes shot open.
"Did you remember something?" The doctor was next to me quickly, her hand on my shoulder.
"I uh... there was yelling... and water... and... an explosion?"
"That makes sense" a quirkier, younger female voice spoke from the door. "We found you floating on a piece of cargo" she continued.
"Tali'Zorah this isn't the time! Wait outside, I'll get you in a minute" the older woman said sternly.
"Wait wait wait!" I almost squeaked and reached towards her. "Please tell me"
The young Quarian looked at the doctor who nodded after a short moment.
"There isnt much to tell. We picked up a distress signal from your shuttle and when we arrived, you were the only one there, no shuttle no nothing" she said and walked up to the bed. "I'm sorry..."
I looked at her facemask, I think I made an eyecontact with her but couldn't be sure. I slumped down on the bed, feeling numb, and to be honest, scared.
"Don't worry, we'll sort this out won't we" the doctor said warmly and squeezed my arm reassuringly. "Now try and rest, I'll be back in few hours"
I nodded lightly and looked up at the younger Quarian, who was already looking at me. She seemed to look away as soon as I looked to her. "Well I better go too, my father needs to talk with me" she said and turned around, heading for the door.
"Hey" I said when I finally found my voice again.
"Yes?" She said carefully and turned around.
"What was your name again?" I asked sheepishly and looked down to my hands.
"Tali'Zorah. But... you can call me Tali" she said, matching my tone, looking to her hands.
I nodded and smiled nervously as she turned around and left the room, my eyes following her and landing on her backside.
*Snap out of it, she's a Quarian* I slapped myself mentally before closing my eyes.
Commotion from outside the room woke me up from my sleep and I tried to listen. Muffled conversation was heard outside, many speakers, men and women. I recognized the doctor that had taken care of me, and the young Quarian, Tali.
"Father please, just let Yeemi'Neram and me talk to him first, explain things to him" she pleaded.
"Enough Tali! We're going in" the unknown man said and the door opened, Marines pointing their weapons at me. My heart jumped from the sight, my hands shooting up immediately.
"Whoa whoa hey" I tried to speak, probably sounded like squeaking instead.
"Quiet!" One of the soldiers ordered and pressed his pistol to my forehead. I don't know what happened but something inside me ticked.
I grabbed the mans hand, twisting his wrist, my other hand ejecting the thermal clip from his pistol before punching him on the mask and flipping the pistol around and aiming it at the Marines.
I blinked quickly few times as I realized what just happened and hastily dropped the gun, my hands shooting up again.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" I sobbered nervously and looked at the Quarians around me. The doctor and Tali shot between me and the soldiers, who were still aiming at me.
"That is enough admiral! Take your brutes out of here, this is my patient and he's my responsibility!"
"He's a human, who cares what happens to him" one of the Marines protested and bettered his aim.
I had no idea what to do, so I just sat there like an idiot with my hands pointing the roof of the room.
"Father please, let us handle this" Tali bleeded again and stepped in front of a rifle, slightly defiant in her mannerism. Few seconds of dead silence before the man waved the soldiers down.
"You have five minutes Tali, that's all" he said dryly and walked out after the Marines.
"What is happening?" I asked nervously and looked at the women.
"The Admiralty board is having a hearing where they decide your fate. A human on the Flotilla is not a normal, or even welcome occurrence" Tali spoke.
"What Tali is trying to say is that you being here is highly different from out normal life, but I will do all I can to make sure you don't have to leave yet" the older woman quickly jumped in. "I don't think you'll be a problem, will you?"
I just shook my head and nodded. "Absolutely not, but if it's better for you that I leave, then I absolutely will" I said. "I don't want to cause any problems to your or to the fleet, that's the last thing I want"
"Good. I'm sure the Admiralty board will see that" she said reassuringly.
"I just hope my father won't be blinded by his human prejudice..." Tali sighed. "You'd think that after years of discrimination he'd be a bit more understanding"
"You're father, and the rest of the fleet have a right to feel whatever they feel about me" I sighed and tried to move my legs. One of them moved well enough, but the other one didn't. I threw the blanket off and saw a cast up to my right knee. "Great..."
"Your right leg was badly broken when we found you, it was all mangled and stuff" Tali said and shuddered lightly.
"Luckily we were able to fix it, it should be fully healed in a month's time" Yeemi'Neram said warmly.
"Wait, a month?" I asked slightly shocked. "A whole month? I can't be your burden for that long!" I protested.
"Oh you won't" she laughed. "If you're allowed to stay, we'll fit you with a exo skeleton for your leg. It will allow you to walk and such without putting pressure on the bone"
"Uh-huh..." I said and sat up, flinging my legs down from the bed.
"Here, I found a suit that's about your size. It has a breathing mask for you, but it's more to keep your exhaling in check than your inhaling" Tali said and laid an enviro-suit next to me on the bed.
It didn't have the mask like the one that Quarians had, but it was similar to the ones I had seen Asari wear when operating in the vacuum areas of our ship when I was a kid.
With some fighting I got the suit on and clipped on the breathing mask as the Marines came back. They gave me nasty looks, or atleast that's how I felt, and I couldn't really blame them. Here I was a memory sick human invading their home and now even their culture. Cold sweat crept to my spine as they escorted us to the main ship and to the Admiralty board.
At some point I felt Tali's hand take mine, and I gave it a light squeeze, but both of us kept our eyes forward.
The Migrant fleet in its whole being was an impressive feat of ingenuity. Thousands of ships housing millions of Quarians, all connected and like family. It made me miss my childhood days on diplomatic ships. A small smile crept to my lips as I remembered my childhood friends. Little blue Asari girls, Salarian bugbabies as my dad would jokingly call them and babybirds, as in Turian children.
The smile was quickly wiped away with the realization that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't remember anything past that. Not my name, not my parents names, not my life...
We arrived into a large hall where a lot of Quarians were waiting and talking. Tali let go of my hand but stayed next to me when Yeemi'Neram went to speak with the admirals before the hearing began.
"Don't worry, we'll be right here the whole time" Tali whispered. I turned to her, actually taking time to look at her. She was about my height, slightly shorter than me but not to any super significant degree, about as tall as most human women. She had a slim figure like most Quarians, but something about her made me feel funny and... better. I started to wonder how I looked and got worried immediately. My hair had to be so dirty and I probably had worse than normal stubble, not to mention everything else. I was built fit but proportioned, not super jacked like the soldiers in my favorite childhood vids. The week I had been out had probably done a deal on my health and I felt complete shit.
Slowly the Quarian mass started to flood into the large open room that was on the otherside of the large wall we were standing in front of. Soon Yeemi'Neram came back, and as the last Quarian civilians had entered the room, she turned to me. "They'll want to hear a solid reasoning for keeping you here, but I believe your medical state should be enough"
"And what if it isn't?" I asked nervously.
"Then they'll send you out on a ship, who knows where it will land"
"But I wont let that happen" Tali quickly said, her hand on mine again. I hadn't even noticed it, and neither had she apparently as she pulled it away as soon as I looked at our hands.
"Okay, lets go"
Soon they called us in and the large doors opened. The room was more of a hall, with Quarians sitting around, each row of benches higher than the previous one. It looked like the Roman colosseums we had seen pictures of in school.
First the admirals and the crowd said a prayer of some sort, and then they started.
"This hearing is to decide your fate, the one who Tali'Zorah found while unauthorised was adventuring in Geth space. First we will need your name" the admiral standing in the highest point in the middle.
Nervousness creeped in again and my hand started to shake, but I squeezed the walking kane I had to stop it. "I don't know" I said, trying to keep my voice strong.
"What he means, is that he doesn't remember. A mild case of amnesia is not surprised after what he went through" Yeemi'Neram said.
The crowd mumbled and someone yelled something before the admirals waved them to calm down.
"If he doesn't remember, how can we be sure he wasn't here to spy on us?" Other admiral asked and the crowd nodded slightly and mumbled again. "We all heard what happened in the infirmary today after all"
"It was a reaction! If the Marines hadn't provoked and attacked him, he would have neve-"
"That's enough Tali, thank you" a third admiral said, apparently he was Tali's father.
This went on few more times, the admirals asking questions and Tali of Yeemi'Neram defending or giving her medical assessment. They started to call me a Quarian name, Neel'Corah. Apparently it meant 'the nameless one', which was pretty fitting