Tali was tossing and turning in her sleeping pod. The ship was quiet. Silent. The only sound she could hear was her own gentle breathing.
"What is wrong?" she thought.
She was exhausted. She should be falling asleep. After all she had been through.
She barely remembered her first night on the Normandy. She was told this was her sleeping pod, but she was too dizzy to pay that much attention to it's details. Wrex had lifted her up and half laid half dropped half tossed her into it. There had been the hiss as the lid had closed, a muffled drunken flirty, "But Wrex, don't we get to cuddle?" from her followed by a "She's got the hots for you Wrex you ol' smoothie you," from Kaiden followed by a "Heh," from Wrex and then she was waking up six hours later to a pounding headache and a struggle to get her suit to administer hangover remedies.
It had been five minutes of agony in the brain and a watery in the eyes before she was able to muster the strength and courage to get out of the pod. She had staggered to breakfast still coming to grips with her consciousness (not to be confused with conscious) and had sat down at the breakfast table across from Wrex and Joker who was getting his morning coffee for the pilot's chair ready.
"Um Wrex," she had tentatively said. "About last night."
"You were drunk, heh," Said Wrex.
"And cute." He continued.
"And you're a nice bucket head and all," he finished up. "But last night was just letting off steam. We needed that real bad, and you needed to feel like you were part of this, I could tell. So, don't worry about it. Just all in good fun. Glad you enjoyed your meal. But next time if Shepherd takes the tab I'm gonna make his eyes rattle. Hogging all the nicey nicey like that."
Tali had looked around for a tube of nutrient paste.
"Um sorry," began Joker. "Tali? It's Tali, right?"
Tali nodded.
"We only have human food today, last night was the first we heard about you and Garrus joining the team. We've got an order for a six month supply for the two of you. Naturally of course supply is running late. They can't deliver a warehouse load of food without two warehouse loads of paper work and they're only half way through the fifteen billion signatures last time I checked. Paste I'm afraid, but at least it won't be MRE's."
"Taste too dry and they are gummy and chewy," Wrex had grumbled.
"It helps if you add water and heat them in the oven first," suggested Joker.
"Takes too long to do that," Wrex had complained.
"But at least open the bag then?"
"You open the bag?" queried Wrex. "I thought that was it's skin."
"Of course if you have a taste for plastic, who am I to judge? I mean my Arizona cousins eat rattlesnake," concluded Joker.
"What's a rattlesnake?" Tali asked. She found Joker a curious human. He walked very slowly with his legs wide apart, sat down carefully, and this was the first time she had not seen him in his pilot's chair. Unlike Shepherd and Kaiden however, he had that human thick stemmed grassy hair on the lower part of his face. Kaiden and Shepherd seemed to cut theirs off though she didn't know why they bothered since it was clear it was growing back six hours after they had run that little mower over their skin. Joker's hair covered up a lot of the myriad holes which were in the human skin which Tali was having a hard time getting used to. Of course his eyes had that nice faceted colored ring about that little black spot. She noticed that even though Joker and Shepherd had nearly the same color, the two irises were still very much different in the way the colors shifted their hues. For some reason she could not put her finger on, she concluded that Shepherd's eyes were more pleasing.
"Well it's a type of what we call a lizard," began Joker. "Only it has no legs. It slithers on it's belly and is cold blooded. It's just like a politician and found under almost as many rocks. They are polite however in that they tell you they are there so you have a chance to freeze in your tracks and sweat ice cubes. And that makes the rattlesnake happy because it doesn't have to work hard at hitting a moving target with it's inch long fangs and burning acid venom."
"You mean there is something on Earth that actually can kill you while you're trying to eat it?" Wrex was animated. "That is MY kind of planet!"
Tali had absolutely no interest in trying to eat something that was trying to kill her. She would be quite happy with tubes of nutrient paste, thank you. But even so, she couldn't help feeling that Wrex was a nice guy in a 'stomp your fragile face into the cold steel surface of the ship's deck' sort of way.
But her stomach was growling and there was nothing on the ship she could eat without barfing it up in a matter of moments or dying from it. It wouldn't be the first time she had gone without a meal . . . or six.
"I hope the supplies come soon," she thought. "Or simple survival will force me to leave this ship and all these nice people."
Joker took a sip of his coffee and muttered something about there being not enough caffein in it.
"Okay team, listen up!" came Shepherd's voice over the intercom.
Tali had sat up straight and was thankful that the headache from the wine the night before was gone.
"The Captain just informed me that there will be a new council meeting at 0945. All members of my fire team are to suit and arm up and report for duty outside the ship's lock at 0925. We will then move straight to the council chambers where the evidence against Saren will be reviewed and we will wait for orders. Be ready for anything. Shepherd out."
"That's us, bucket buddy!" said Wrex at an animated volume to Tali. "If we're lucky Saren will have a whole ship load of assassins ready to ambush us on the way."
Tali did not hope that there would be anything of the sort, but she was glad Wrex would be there if there was. She clipped on her pistol and headed for the air locker when the ship's quartermaster, Levin, interrupted her.
"Commander's orders," he said as he gave her a nice brand new oiled up shotgun.
"This is too nice a gift I can't possibly . . ." she began.
"Not a gift ma'am," he said. "Standard issue for self defense. Mess it up or abuse it and I have to fix it and I will not hesitate to do something unmentionable to your face. Lose it and your skin will be hanging off my rack to dry and then be sewn into a set of matching lampshades. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"
"Sir, yes sir!" she snapped mimicking Ash's responses to some of Shepherd's orders the day before. She hoped that was what she was supposed to do.
"And I am not your commander. I am your fellow soldier who has ass chewing rights on all weaponry. You do not call me 'sir yes sir,' you say 'thank you' and 'please' and 'I will lovingly treasure the weapons you have given me and will die to protect them from all scratches.'"
"Okay," she said.
"Carry on soldier," he said, saluting her.
She tried to salute him back but she didn't have four fingers to press against each other to produce that finger plane. As a result her two fingers sort of crossed and didn't look at all professional. She was glad she had a visor because she was certain her eyes had gone bright pink from embarrassment.
And that was just the beginning of that first morning. They had gone to the council and Shepherd had been made the first human specter after a brief ceremony. Her heart was pounding during it, she wasn't sure if it was because she felt Shepherd deserved this, or she was a part of it and the fleet would be proud of her. She stood a little straighter afterwards and stopped the little hopping on the balls of her feet thing which she normally reserved for long elevator rides. After all, there were all sorts of people watching the ceremony from the balconies which surrounded the council dais and there were cameras recording the historical event. Some time soon, this recording would reach the fleet and her younger friends not yet going on their pilgrimages would be watching her, and so would her father.
Udina showed absolutely no happiness about the turn of events, which surprised no one. He merely told Anderson that Anderson was now his paper boy and Shepherd was to be given command of the Normandy. Ashley had said something along the lines of "Captain, oh my Captain," which Kaiden grinned about and they returned to the Normandy where the cook informed both her and Garrus that the food had arrived.
Shepherd gave everyone an hour of down time to eat and Tali and Garrus both strode purposefully to the galley where they helped themselves to the myriad tubes of food. There were brown tubes which tasted like old stale meat, green tubes which tasted like old stale vegetables, and white tubes which tasted like old stale tubers. And there was flat water tubes to wash it down with or colored water tubes which pretended to possess some fruit juice additives for flavoring. Tali didn't care, she was starving. Garrus muttered something about already missing the annoying qualities of C-sec paper work because at least there were grocery stores where fresh food could be purchased and the paper work was perfect for wrapping up the leftover fish from last night's meal before throwing them into the waste bins.
Shepherd had apparently spent the hour conferring with Anderson and Udina outside the ship. According to Kaiden, later that evening, Shepherd had protested Anderson's sack but Anderson insisted that it was for the best. It was now Shepherd's job to do right where Anderson had done wrong back when he had been in the running for the first human specter. Shepherd needed the Normandy now, it was the best the Alliance Fleet had, and the best would be needed to track down Saren.
Then Shepherd made a general announcement to the crew. They were going to hunt down Saren, but it would not be easy. But this was humanity's chance to prove to the galaxy that humanity was ready for such responsibility. And the first job they would have would be to deal with Saren's chief associate, the Asari Matriarch Benenzia. She was supposed to have a daughter somewhere in the Artimus Tau cluster. They would be searching there first. Then came the next announcement, the fire team would report to the open area between the sleeping pods and galley for team training. Everyone was to be in full armor with an unloaded pistol and longarm for drill.
Tali picked up her emptied tubes and walked over to the galley and began to wash them.
"My job ma'am," said the cook, who, with sufficient force, removed them from her hands in a manner insistent enough that Tali realized it would be futile to protest.
Kaiden showed up at that point and as Garrus was busy emptying his sniper rifle and checking his sidearm pistol, she walked over the Kaiden who smiled as she approached.
"What is this about drill?" she asked.
"Well you remember that part yesterday about Ashley's butchy ass in the mud?"
"A little," she answered.
"Well your's is going to be joining hers. It's a hard steel floor. But by the time Shepherd is done with you all, you're going to feel like it was mud you were in."
"What about you?" asked Tali.
"Been there, done that, got the t-shirt ripped up from the fans," answered Kaiden. "But if I know Shepherd, he'll be using me as the training dummy."
The words and phrases 'mud' 'ripped' and 'done with' did little to ease the uncertainty.
"This sounds rather, umm, intimidating," suggested Tali.
"That's a good word for it, though Hell's Fires And Chain Saws To The Brain is less of an understatement," answered Kaiden.
Tali's head shifted rapidly from Kaiden, to Garrus, to Ashley with a curiously smug and confidant look upon her face back to Wrex who was just haphazardly pounding his two fists together. She only had sufficient time to gulp once before Shepherd came in with all the volume of a heavy metal band in front of ten thousand screaming fans and the vibrato of two kamikaze dreadnoughts slamming into each other after plowing through an asteroid field.
"All-right team listen up," he shouted. "We are going after one of the deadliest bastards this side of the Persius Veil and that's after he's killed every other badass on the other side. If you are not ready to take him on and every single damned Geth he will be throwing at you before hand, you will get killed and I will be so pissed I will rip your scabby head off your droopy shoulders and drop kick it into the first black hole Joker can find, and that will be AFTER I shove it up your ass!"
Tali gulped. She found herself rapidly rubbing her palms together. She had never experienced the drill training first hand and barely remembered any of the drama vids on the subject from the fleet.
"Do you understand me!" he snapped.
"Sir, Yes, Sir!" snapped Ashley. Garrus and Wrex and Tali just stood there.
"What the hell are you supposed to say?" snarled Shepherd straight into Wrex's face.
Wrex was entirely unintimidated by this behavior from Shepherd. He simply looked back into Shepherd's face and replied. "Oh? Did you say something little man?"
What Shepherd did next nearly caused Tali to metaphorically leap not only out of her suit, but skin and first muscle layer as well. Shepherd grabbed the top of Wrex's head plate, used it to heft his entire body up so that he could bring his knee into Wrex's jaw and jumped back out of Wrex's fists. Wrex bellowed, swung a fist which Shepherd grabbed and pulled forward causing Wrex to fall forward into the hard floor of deck and swivel kicked Wrex's behind for good measure.
"Get off the floor, rocks for brains," shouted Shepherd. "You think it's nappy time for toddlers like you?"
"Raugh!" shouted Wrex as he got up, raised his arms, balled his fists and faced Shepherd . . .
. . . and smiled.
"What did you say?" shouted Shepherd right into his face.
"SIR, YES, SIR!" shouted Wrex right back. He resumed his place in line and kept smiling.
"What the HELL are you looking at BUCKETHEAD?" shouted Shepherd at Tali who was looking at Wrex. She turned to face Shepherd and his entire face filled her visor. Every single pore in his skin was visible and the chaps around the edges of his mouth were starting to crack and bleed on a capillary level.
"I was yust . . ." began Tali her voice cracking.
"You will look at ME at all times! I don't care how ugly you think I look you will ALWAYS look at me do I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"
"Um . . ."
"I said GEEK FOR BRAINS YOU WILL LOOK AT ME AT ALL TIMES DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?"
"Sir, yes, sir!" whimpered Tali.
"YOU THINK SAREN IS GOING TO GIVE YOU A LITTLE FLORAL HANKY FOR YOUR TEARS WHINY GIRL?"
"SIR, Yes, SIR!" Screamed Tali. This was followed by a "Whift Whift Whift" from her visor cleaner system.
"YOU THINK HE'S GOING TO GIVE YOU A FLORAL HANKIE?!"
Tali could hear Ashley smirk.
Tali was shaking. She didn't know to do. Shepherd's head was almost all she could, see, every single hair follicle breaking out of the skin, every single blackhead, every single pore, every single flake of skin, but behind Shepherd's head was Kaiden mouthing a 'Sir, No, Sir'. Then she understood.
"SIR, NO, SIR! (wift wift wift).
"Damn straight bucket head," snapped Shepherd.
Tali was upset, angry, grieving, and thinking about the horrible things she would do to him once she got over this. The transformation from a friendly buy you dinner make you feel like part of a team you are going to be so valuable to me to a snarling insulting head slapping butt kicking sneering in your face screaming at the top of your lungs beast was more than she could handle. Ashley was enjoying this. Tali was certain she was.
Garrus was being given the riot act but that was over in a matter of seconds. Tali kept her entire vision on Shepherd for fear of him yelling at her again so when he got into Ashley's face, Tali was entirely focused.
Ashley knew what was going down. She had endured nine weeks of this back in Marine boot camp, and she proved more than capable of handling everything Shepherd threw at her. He even flipped the questions around in a deliberate effort to get her to answer yes when she needed to answer no, but she was on him every time and got it right. Tali's anger was so intense that she barely caught that Shepherd was throwing more at Ashley than he had thrown at Wrex, Garrus, and her combined. And yet Ashley kept her eyes focused on Shepherd, answered at the top of her lungs correctly each time, and remained perfectly at ramrod attention.
It just . . . wasn't . . . fair.
"Now," said Shepherd in a softer, but still demanding tone. "Are you wusses ready to learn how to survive in a gun fight with the Geth?"
"SIR, YES, SIR!" all four of them shouted at once, followed by yet another "RAUGH!" from Wrex.
"DID I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO GROWL, ROCKHEAD?" screamed Shepherd.
"SIR, NO, SIR!" screamed Wrex back.
Behind Shepherd, Kaiden remained with a little grin on his face. Shortly thereafter he was joined by Joker and the XO Pressley who leaned on the walls by the galley watching. Pressley helped himself to a glass of water with ice and Joker seemed to have found a stick of something meaty. He was taking tiny bites of it and gently chewing each one while he watch the proceedings grinning and exchanging knowing looks with Pressley.
"Blue!" snapped Shepherd. "Forward so these girls can see you."
Kaiden stepped up and placed himself between the four and Shepherd. He was at ramrod attention facing all four of them but he had that gentle smile upon his face that Tali was beginning to draw strength from.
"Now," continued Shepherd walking circles around Kaiden as he spoke. "Blue here is at the center of a clock. This is his Twelve."
Shepherd pointed right in front of Kaiden. Then moved slightly to the left, and continued to take small steps to the left until he was behind Kaiden and then proceeded around Kaiden's left as he advanced. All the time he continued to shout numbers.
"This is his one! This is his two. This is his three. This is his four!"
And so on through to 12 where once again Shepherd was standing in front of Kaiden.
"When I say, 'Your One' you WILL face your one. You will DO THIS because I SAID SO. Once you face the number I call, you had better NOTICE what's in front of you because if you don't IT WILL KILL YOU DEAD and you think I'm a bastard now? Wait until you see me when I'm PISSED OFF BECAUSE YOU'RE DEAD!"
"Alright," continued Shepherd. "Blue here will now perform on cue because he's proven he is a real soldier and not a pack of wusses like you losers."
"Blue, Pistol!"
Kaiden drew his pistol and aimed it directly in front of him staring down the barrel. Suddenly Tali knew why Shepherd had commanded that all weapons be emptied. A pulled trigger in the stress of the pressure and someone goes home in a body bag. Kaiden's smile was so subtle that Tali could barely make it out.
"Blue your Two! Blue to Four! Blue your Six! Blue to Eight! Blue your Ten! Blue to Twelve!"
Kaiden's whole body danced to the chant and each number led him to face a new direction going around the clock. It was so graceful that Tali was mesmerized.
"How can he do that when his legs can only bend one way?" she thought.
The numbers got more jumbled and Kaiden performed on cue, turning this way and then flipping to his opposite and then shifting almost to the right but not enough yet exactly where he was supposed to face. And it went on and on and on until Tali wondered why Kaiden didn't just collapse on the floor.
Then Shepherd ordered, "At ease Blue." And Kaiden straightened up, holstered his pistol, and walked back to behind Shepherd.
"Okay, we're going to see if the Marines know how to train their soldiers," said Shepherd. "Little Girl Ashley? Your code talk name is Ash."
"Sir, Thank You, Sir," barked Ashley.
"Ash, Longarm!"
"Sir? Assault, Shotgun, Machine Pistol, Sniper, Sir?"
"Ash, Assault!" snapped Shepherd.
During this time, Dr. Chakwas had joined the gang along with Engineer Adams. Two other crew members were also around. It was as if they were on display . . . Or was it.
Tali scanned the crowd, very carefully while Shepherd was sending Ashley through the same sort of dance that Kaiden had been put through. Her head would be screamed off if Shepherd caught her looking at anything other than Ashley. But in her sudden gentle shifts of her head she was able to notice the crew who were watching. It seemed to her that while there was some entertainment value in what Shepherd was putting them through, there was also a sort of initiation rite quality to the entire affair. It was as if they had gone through something like she was going through and there was, in the eyes of all of them, a certain, "Come on, you can do it girl," gaze. It helped her stop shaking. But only for an all to brief moment.
For Ashley was more than capable in the dance of the numbers. She pirouetted, pivoted, shifted and about faced with even more grace than Kaiden. And all the while looking down her rifle with steel in her eyes. Tali had no doubt that if she ever ended up in Ash's sights in battle, Tali would be dead in an instant. That made her start to tremble again.
"Looks like the Marine is almost as good as the Army," barked Shepherd.
"Sir, Thank You, Sir," snapped Ashley. She kept a straight face in spite of Kaiden's sniggers.
"BUCKETHEAD GEEK!" snapped Sheperd right in Talis's visor.
"Sir! Yes, Sir!"
"Your code name is DUCK."
"Sir, thank you, Sir!" answered Tali. Her whole body was trembling.
"Duck! Longarm!"
Tali had been so rattled by this that she grabbed her shotgun before she even knew what he meant by longarm. She suddenly realized she did exactly what he wanted her to do without thinking.
"You going to just hold that weapon like a girly purse or are you going to use it to kill Geth?" shouted Shepherd.
Tali leaped and aimed it.
"Duck your three! Duck your seven! Duck your eight! BANG! YOU'RE DEAD, DUCK!"
She had gone to nine and not eight.
"Duck your ten! To four! To seven! To six! To nine!"
"In your dreams, Commander," snarked Joker.
Every one of the audience was laughing.
"What! What! What! Why are they laughing?" thought Tali frantically.
And so it went. Tali was put through the paces. Then came Garrus, who was given the code name Bugs, which prompted Dr. Chakwas to say, "Nyahh, what's up doc? Tch Tch Tch" much to the amusement of everyone watching. Then it was Wrex's turn, and his code name was Bull. And then it was back to her.
For the next hour it was drill. Followed by drill, with intermittent drill, and ending with drill. After a five minute break there was drill. And then drill. And then more drill. Then a review of drill, followed by a recap of drill. Then there was a preamble of tomorrow's drill, with drill, and then more drill, and finally, drill.
And all the while Shepherd shouted, stamped, pushed, insulted, and drove them to exhaustion. But the worst moment was when Tali's suit scrubber kicked in.
"Thumph, Thumph, Thumph," went her suit, somewhat quietly but loud enough for Shepherd to hear it..
"What the HELL WAS THAT, DUCK!" Shepherd was once again entirely in her face and all she could see through his visor was a sneering mouth, flacky skin on the end of a nose, bits of facial hair missed by the shaver, and all those pores in the skin.
"Sir, My Suit Scrubber," began Tali shaking.
"BANG! YOUR DEAD, DUCK, AND BULL, AND BUGS, AND ASH!" shouted Shepherd. "You just KILLED THE WHOLE TEAM, DUCK!"
"YOU WILL BE QUIET AT ALL TIMES, DUCK. YOU WILL SWEAT, DUCK. YOU WILL PISS IN YOUR SUIT, DUCK. YOU WILL SMELL LIKE SHIT, DUCK. BUT YOU WILL MAKE NO NOISE BECAUSE IF YOU DO THE GETH HEAR YOU AND KILL YOU! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR OR DO YOU NEED THE COLORING BOOK BACK?"
"Sir, NO, Sir! (Whift Whift Whift)"
The drill ended at supper time and Shepherd retired to the captain's quarters. The door behind him closed and slid shut and gave all indications that it was to remain closed. Then Pressley came by with a vid which he broadcast above the dinner hall while an exhausted Garrus, Wrex, Ashley, and Tali tried to eat and drink before falling into their sleeping pods. Kaiden of course was there as well giving them moral 'pick you ups'.
"You're on the news tonight, kids. Enjoy the fame."
The news announcer appeared on the white screen above the dining table, "And in tonight's news we give you a piece of history in the making, the first human specter, John Michael Shepherd, was appointed to the position by the council after he revealed that a Turian Specter, Saren, was responsible for coordinating a Geth attack on Eden Prime . . ."
The camera panned to the council going through the ritual, focusing primarily on the Asari's part of the ceremony.
"With the Commander were several team members . . ."
The news vid with through Kaiden's history, his accomplishments and valor. And then spoke at length about Ashley's military history and family and her former unit, the well decorated 212. Then Garrus was on the screen and his history in C-sec, along with his numerous commendations was next mentioned.
"Only appropriate I suppose," mused Garrus.
"And also with the team were a Quarian and Krogan," continued the News caster. "And now for our analysis of the importance of this new development, we . . ."
"A Quarian and Krogan," rumbled Wrex. "Nice that we were at least noticed."
"You're the daughter of one of the Fleet's admirals right?" Asked Kaiden incredulous.
"Well yes, but," began Tali.
"That is so . . ." he waved his arms. "God, I hate the news some days."
"Really," protested Tali, who was secretly pleased that the camera had in fact caught her standing there with the rest of team.
"No I agree with Kaiden," said Garrus raising his hand to silence Tali. "While my accomplishments are pretty sterling, they did need to point out that it was your work which made Shepherd's appointment possible. Your skill at hacking that Geth, Tali, is the thing which was directly responsible for his appointment."
Tali didn't know what to say about that, except, "Thank you Garrus."
"All in a day's work for your friendly humble paladin Turian," replied Garrus. "Scratch the humble. When you're that good, calling yourself humble is just a silly lie."
By the end of the third day's drill, Tali was convinced she was in the Quarian equivalent of hell. She staggered to the table after finding a couple of stale tasting tubes to stop the gnawing sensation of hunger in her stomach. Shepherd would not let them break for lunch. He had yelled "Bang! Your dead, Duck!" so many times she had her funeral arrangements already worked out in her head. She was firmly convinced that long before they confronted Saren, she would get shot, and be a bloody corpse in a body bag sent back to the migrant fleet with with a little note from Shepherd which would say, "It is with great relief to report to you that this Buckethead Duck Tali'Zoriah nar Rayya was too stupid to fight and survive against the ultimate badass Saren."
"Hey Tali," said Kaiden, in his soft tenor voice. "Sit here next to me. You need a hug."
Tali didn't ask, she didn't think, she just sat with a 'whumph' next to Kaiden who put his arm around her and held her gently.
"Stupid Bosh'tet," she grumbled. "I thought he liked me."
"He does," replied Kaiden.
"Funny," she groused. "I didn't know humans expressed fondness by calling you names while screaming their spit all over your visor not to mention making you work in your own excrement. I've run my suit scrubber three times since the end of drill and I still don't feel clean."
"Let me tell you about Jenkins," answered Kaiden.
"Yenkins?" She had heard the name and something associated with him being dead.
"He died on Eden Prime, the first casualty of the Geth," continued Kaiden. "I think we told you about him the first night."
Tali signed and absently worked on her food tube. The first night with the steak dinner and that wonderful wine seemed ages ago.
"You would never have known it phased Shepherd, "continued Kaiden. "He was calm and collected and professional during debriefing, but afterwards I saw him start to climb into one of the access vents."
Tali looked up at Kaiden.
Wrex walked by, paused to see Tali next to Kaiden with his arm around her shoulder and nodded to them.
"Humans rule, Krogan's drool," suggested Kaiden with a 'got her this chapter dude' grin on his face.
Wrex chuckled and shook his head.
"Can't wait for live ammo drills," he said. And walked off to the sleeping pod bay.
"Now what's this about the vents?" asked Tali. "I don't imagine it was to check a lubrication system for leaks."
"It was a quiet private place to bawl his head off," answered Kaiden very slowly. "I could hear him even twenty feet into the vent."
Tali just sat there. This made no sense to her.
"He's going to put you all through hell so you become the best team members he can have," continued Kaiden. "Because he can't stand the thought of losing anyone. He's doing everything he can to make sure we get out of this alive."
"But couldn't he at least show his nice side after drill? He makes me feel like I'm going to be dead in a just a few days because I can't do anything right and then we don't see him any more. He was so nice the first night."
"Oh you'll see that again," said Kaiden. "After you pass. Until then, he's Mr. Jerk with the spiky club to beat you over the head and sandpaper stick to shove up your, umm, well you get the idea. Once you 'make it;' and don't worry Tali, you will make it, then you'll see the nice steak dinner for the team guy."
"How can you be so sure I'll make it, Kaiden," she asked. She leaned against his chest and found his steady breathing relaxing.
"Because he won't quit until you do," said Kaiden.
"Huh? Me? Why?"
"He needs you, Tali," said Kaiden. "And I'm not thinking it's just because you're the team geek. You kind of remind him of the nice things he's fighting for. Hell, you also remind me and Garrus of the nice things back home; quiet hearths, relaxing couches, good books to read, and a mug of cold beer. Don't ask me to explain why because I have no way to do it. And don't even begin to ask me why Wrex likes you because I can't find a thing about you which makes me think of psychotics."
Kaiden shrugged and settled himself down so Tali could lean better on his shoulder. "Why do you think Ash is so hostile to you? She's jealous. She was 'the girl' on her force in the 212 and she was expecting to be 'the girl' in our team and with Garrus and Wrex, it was all smooth sailing. Now don't get me wrong, she's going to be a soldier's soldier, but she likes the guys being honey syrup on her. You stepped in and all she's getting is yesterday's cold clam chowder. That's why she's always so smug about doing it right no matter how much Shepherd throws at her. And he knows she's showing off. Which is why he's ragging on her in the drills so much. He's trying to push her past her limit if he can, and she knows if he can't do that, she's the better soldier and that 'proves' she's better than you."
"She doesn't have to prove anything to me, stupid bosh'tet. I know I'm not the soldier. I'm an enyineer."
"I didn't say it had to make sense," answered Kaiden.
Tali had to admit that when it was all said and done, Shepherd was throwing an awful lot more at Ashley than he was throwing at Garrus and her. Only Wrex got as much rag as Ashley and Wrex just got more enthusiastic with the pressure. It was no secret that Wrex was reveling in the fact that he was becoming a better soldier, a better team mate, a more dangerous adversary.
"The more I train! The bigger bugs I get to trample! The bigger guns I get to carry! The more Geth I get to kill!" he had roared at the end of a particularly grueling drill session.
Tali simply was silent for a moment. Kaiden continued to give her his shoulder. It made her feel warm and comfortable. But she did not for a moment imagine this was a come on. He simply liked her and was doing what he could to make her get through another evening so she could get through another drill day tomorrow.
And she needed it. It helped her get through the day after as well.
Back to the present. Still lying in her sleeping pod. Still not falling asleep. Wide awake and thinking about what Kaiden had said two nights ago and comparing it to this morning's events.
The drill had been hard and fast and nasty. Shepherd was snapping their code names off fast and screaming "BANG YOU'RE DEAD, ASH/DUCK/BUGS/BULL." every second it seemed. Then, twenty minutes into the drill, a set of complicated orders found her staring down her shotgun at Ashley while Garrus was staring down his sniper rifle at Wrex but Wrex had his back to Garrus. Shepherd lit into Wrex because Wrex had supposed to have been looking down the barrel of his assault rifle at Garrus. Tali knew this because she had reached the point that she was aware of the location of every single team member and their facing. Every team member had to know this, or someone would die from friendly fire.
Then Ashley's gun 'clicked'.
"Oops," whispered Ashley with a grin which possessed a side order of sneer. "Accidentally pulled the trigger. Good thing I remembered to unload this gun or you would be dead."
Tali was trembling with a mixture of rage and fear when suddenly Shepherd was right there.
"Ash!" he snapped "Ten' Shun!"
Ash was, of course, at attention, and Shepherd was at her face.
"Did you pull the trigger while pointing your Assault at Duck?"
"Sir, No, Sir!"
"That Bosh'tet!" thought Tali. "Lying little Bosh'tet!"
"I said, Ash, did you pull your trigger on Duck?"
"Sir, No, Sir!"
Tali was looking down her shot gun for Shepherd had not given the 'at ease' order or a new command to face. She could see Ashley's eye's twitching under the gaze of Shepherd's. Ashley was doing her best to keep meeting Shepherd's gaze, for to shift her eyes away would betray the fact that she was lying. She was, in Tali's mind, practically succeeding.
"Ash! I said! Did you pull your trigger at all?"
"Sir, NO, Sir!"
"At ease Ash," said Shepherd and turned away, entirely not facing her.
A sly grin spread across Ash's face as she relaxed.
Then Shepherd's fist came around and hit Ashley right in the temple knocking her flat on that 'butchy' ass.
"Don't you EVER! And I mean EVER! LIE TO ME, ASH!"
"Don't any of you EVER think you're smarter than me!" he snarled. "NEVER!"
"Sir, yes sir!" shouted all four of them. Even now Ashley was already up and at attention. She was just that damn good a soldier.
Tali wanted to cry. But she knew that was not a good thing to do at this juncture and choose not to. And since that was her decision, it didn't happen. But she knew what had just happened. It wasn't that serious an incident in the overall scheme of things. Ash had just taken the opportunity to be a bit snarky and take out a little resentment in a way that Tali would feel it. And Shepherd had seen it and come to her defense. Probably because it would affect team moral, probably because such behavior left unchecked would jeopardize the missions they would be performing, but still, he had done it.
Somehow, that little gesture had made her feel like perhaps Kaiden had been right. Perhaps Shepherd really was doing this to save her from death. Perhaps it was because he actually cared about her, at least as much as he cared about anyone else, and that's all she really wanted, acceptance.
But even now, after that good feeling that somehow, it was going to be alright, after supper, after she had crawled into the pod feeling like her entire body had been shaken out and strapped to the stomach of a charging buffalo in the middle of a mile wide herd of charging buffalos, she still couldn't get to sleep. She lay there.
The ship was silent.
"bzzzzzzz snark bzzzzzz snark," Wrex was starting to snore in the pod next to her.
She fell asleep. And before she knew it, the wake up call was sounding and she was tumbling out of her bed and getting ready for breakfast.
She finished breakfast, did her best to relieve herself and get her suit all scrubbed so she wouldn't have to feel so rancid the whole drill and they all fell in and once again Shepherd was shouting, screaming, ordering, commanding and she was switching weapons, producing her omni tool, facing her six or her twelve, moving three steps nine, ducking Garrus's swinging sniper rifle and suddenly Shepherd was in her sights, his back to her. And in Ashley's sights, and Garrus' scope, and being faced down by Wrex. All four of them were aiming down a central point with Shepherd standing at that point.
He smiled.
"Yeah Baby, Yeah!" shouted Joker and the rest of the crew that was watching the spectacle began to clap and cheer.
Before Tali could fully grasp what was happening, Shepherd walked forwards to Wrex and gave his scalp bone a buff rub with his palm, something which Tali had discoverd two nights before made Krogan happy, a gesture of comradeship.
"Congratulations, Wrex,' said Shepherd smiling. "You are now the best damn scary Krogan Point a Specter could ask for. I am proud to have you on the team."
"Don't you even think of kissing me, Commander," said Wrex grinning. He holstered his weapon and began to beat his fists together.
Shepherd turned to his right and walked to Garrus, taking his hand and pumping it.
"Congratulations Garrus, you are now the best Wing Sniper a Specter could hope for. I'm proud to have you on my team."
"Well naturally this was bound to happen," said Garrus.
"And all those times you dropped your rifle?" queried Shepherd grinning.
"Merely gestures on my part to make you feel like you mattered," replied Garrus with only the slightest twitch of his mandibles. "And thanks to Tali's skilled engineering, I was able to drop it way more than I could have afforded to otherwise."
Under her visor, Tali smiled. Garrus had been so embarrassed when he had asked her to straighten the barrel the first time he had slammed it's side into a strut he was standing by during the drills. And now he owed her six fancy restaurant of her choice dinners for all the times he had bent or scarred that gun.
"Let's see," teased Tali after the last repair to his rifle. "For the first time it will be Ryuusei's Sushi, and the second time Ryuusei's Sushi, then for the third time I think I'll pick Ryuusei's Sushi and for the fourth time I will be in the mood for Ryuusei's Sushi and then for the fifth time, we'll have a change of pace and go to Ryuusei's Sushi, and for the best and last time, I think Ryuusei's Sushi would suit us well don't you think?"
"You're a cruel and wicked Quarian," gasped Garrus. "But I'm alright with that."
Shepherd had turned to his right and walked over to Ashley, and hugged her.
"Congratulations, Ashley, you are now the best Wing-girl a Specter could want."
"Was there any doubt, Skipper?" replied Ashley.
"Only every time I told you there was," replied Shepherd grinning.
"Which was never," observed Ashley grinning back. She saluted.
Shepherd turned to his right and started walking towards Tali.
Tali's heart started to beat rapidly. How could he come this close? How could he hug her? She was hot, sweaty, certain she stank to high heaven. And there his arms were around her and giving her a good solid hug.
"Congratulations Tali," he said. "You are now the best Combat Engineer a Specter could hope for. I'm proud to have you on my team."
"Thank you . . . Shepherd," was all she could say.
Shepherd put himself on the ship's PA.
"This is Commander Shepherd. There are two announcements which are to be made. The first is that we have finished the final training of Team Specter, from henceforth, all members of team Specter have the informal rank of Lieutenant. Comport yourselves accordingly. Second, as a gesture of congratulations to the team, a beer barrel will be broken out tonight at dinner and all crew are invited. Shepherd out."
The second announcement went over well with the crew for they were already cheering before Shepherd was finished. Tali sighed. She and Garrus would have to watch from the sidelines since the beer would be levo and unsafe for her and Garrus.
And so there was a brief break period for the team to wash and wax as it were and Tali was feeling much better (and cleaner) when the beer barrel was broken out and everyone was laughing and joking and spreading rumors as to which of the Artimus Tau systems they would begin exploring in the next six hours. Apparently they had been in sector for six earth days, but so far the dig site they were looking for had not yet been determined. Tali had been so absorbed in trying to survive Shepherd's Team Specter drill that she had not realized that they had flown halfway across the galaxy.
Then Garrus put his hand on her shoulder and when she turned around, he put a tube of what smelled to be Turian Brandy in her hand.
"I knew there would be nights like this, and so I stashed a little something away for the occasion," he said. He lifted up a small bottle which clearly contained the same liquid. "Cheers Tali, and don't forget, you haven't let me snuggle you yet like Wrex or Kaiden. Hopefully this little of bottle fun will clear the way like some cheesy Fleet and Flotilla episode would have us believe."
Tali's eyes were shifting to a very bright pink, which was for the most part obscured by the visor.
"Just fooling of course," continued Garrus grinning, which on a Turian consisted in letting everyone see the two rows of needle sharp teeth in all their impaling glory. "My money is on Shepherd getting you in the end."
"Keelah," she groaned. "There isn't a pool is there?"
"Not yet," replied Garrus. "Give it a successful mission or two and people knowing us enough to start to make things up about us and sound like they actually know what they are talking about and then the speculation will run rampant."
"Garrus," she said. "After all the screaming in my face, that up close and personal view I have had of all those skin pores and blackheads and pimples and missed stubble from the shaving and nose hairs. What makes anyone think I would want to bond with him, let alone really like him? This is a human we are talking about. We can't even eat the same food, and love making would kill me."
"Ah yes," mused Garrus. "The ultimate turn of phrase in which has you going while he comes."
Tali tilted her head.
"It's um," Garrus tried to shift a half dozen invisible intangible bowling balls from his right to left hand. "Never mind, my mandibles twist just trying to think of how to explain it without your eyes exploding."
"Well if you are going to describe it that way, I don't think I want an explanation."
"You don't," Garrus assured her. "Trust me you don't."
"Me and Shepherd (hic)," she thought as she struggled to get one of her legs into the sleeping pod an hour and a half later. "Stupid bosh'tet idea, especially (hics) when Garrus is so cute when he tries to get me drunk (hic)."
True to his speculation, Garrus had gotten some snuggle time since he was the one with the Turian brandy; which was easier to pour into her tube when she was sitting next to him. As close as possible so none could be accidentally spilled of course. He even got a Quarian kiss, the top of her visor touching his forehead.
She tried the other leg, which was less successful since it was farther way from the pod than the first. She hiccuped a few more times and then leaned towards the sleep pod, and tried to belly crawl into it. That brandy had really gone to her head, especially after the third tube of it. There was of course a detox program in her suit which would work to scrub the alcohol out of her system but she had to consciously activate it, something she was forgetting about given her present inebriation.
Then some soft and gentle hands helped her get in. And closed the lid with a hiss as she said, "Than (hiccup hic hiccup) ksssssss." Then she was fast asleep.
The bay was to dark for anyone to see that it was John Michael Shepherd who walked away from the sleeping pod shaking his head and trying not to smile to much.
