|Moments later...|
|Date: 4/01/2183|
|Location: SSV Normandy/Frigate Class Vessel|
|Alliance Command CCEDF Number: 33DEFZE9-87541JSN|
"Tali... what are you doing back here?" Adams asked as Tali entered engineering.
Tali couldn't think of an excuse in time. So she said the the first thing that came to mind.
"Uh..."
Adams crossed his arms and gave her a look. "Your shift is over with. Oksana's already here. You've been relieved. Go."
"But..."
Adams gently led her to the door and pointed to it. "That wasn't a suggestion. I'll see you tomorrow morning Tali."
The doors shut behind her.
Damnit.
Seeing as there was nothing else for her to do, she went to go and retire for the night.
After the ride up in the lift, she went to her room, waited for the anti-septic jets to do their thing, and finally stepped inside.
Then she took off her suit before putting on a pair of sweatpants to get comfortable.
After she brought her hair under some semblance of control, did she decide to sit at her desk and do some research.
With a knee under her chin, she typed the word 'Feros' in a search engine.
Her results showed up on the screen.
The first thing she learned was the colony had been backed and founded by Exogeni to research whatever relics that'd been left from the Prothean Empire.
Which made Tali wonder what the geth could have wanted there.
Tali then typed 'Current Events Feros' and clicked the first link she found.
CURRENT EVENTS:
ATTICAN BETA/ THESEUS SYSTEM
KEPLERIAN RATIO: 0.971
ATM. PRESSURE: 5.44 ATM
SURFACE TEMP: 10 °C
FEROS
Founder: ExoGeni Corporation [Founded 2178]
Pop: 300
—FEROS has Been Recently attacked by the geth ("Servant of the People" in Khelish)
which are a race of networked artificial intelligences that reside beyond the Perseus Veil.
Contact was lost with ExoGeni Headquarters Sixty-Four hours ago. Casualties are assumed
to be high. (For more information on Synthetic life forms, access wiki-net: Synthetic Life Forms)
Tali shook her head. A colony only three hundred strong?
Would anyone be left on that planet?
Before she could think any more on the matter, a voice croaked through the PA in her room.
"Hey. It's me." John greeted.
Tali faced the door to her room and wondered why John had come all the way down here just to speak to her.
"Hey... What's up?"
"Well. You said you were going to be in engineering. But Adams already told me you were done for today. Thought I'd find you here."
Tali bit her lip."...Oh."
"I got you something." John said to change the subject before stuffing his hands into his pockets and smirking slightly.
Tali couldn't help but blink in surprise. Got me something?
"What is it?"
"Food." He answered.
Tali stared dumbly at the door. Did I just hear that right?
"You brought me something to eat?"
"Yes." He said before frowning a little.
He sighed quietly.
A while back, John had been going over the supplies coming aboard the Normandy and came across a box labeled as 'Purified Oral Paste-Aide: Version 9 [D.C/E]'. Garrus, who'd been standing next to him at the time, unboxed the food-stuffs before showing John what exactly she was eating.
To John, it looked like modeling clay. The kind he used to play with in art class back in elementary school. And now that he mentioned it, he couldn't really remember if he'd ever told her what it reminded him of. But he was, regardless, instantly dissatisfied with her pale looking diet.
So John swore he'd get something better for her.
So he did. And this was the excuse to finally give it to her.
"I picked it up at our last stock point. It's good stuff according to Garrus." Shepard mustered to say with a small chuckle, "Oh. Pretty sure the Normandy doesn't have A0-Charge Ducts. Considering the Normandy isn't a tug ship."
She squirmed. And before she could offer a dozen mumbled apologies for lying, he continued.
"Look, I understand why you left, Tali. You don't have to apologize. And I felt bad. So I made some arrangements to get more of this for you." He offered with a smile, "And, personally? I think this is a much better alternative to the Op-Aids you've been eating."
"You called it modeling clay." Tali sulked quietly.
John hung his head. Oh... so he had told her that. He still couldn't remember.
"Yeah... Sorry." He said quickly when he glanced at the tray of foods, "Well this stuff isn't clay. Believe me."
Tali couldn't help but smile weakly at John's consideration.
"I believe you."
"Enjoy, Tali. I''ll leave it here for you. Good night."
"Good night."
He left the sterilizing hub and let the anti-septic jets do their thing.
When the jets finished spraying down the hub, she opened the door and saw the tray of saran wrapped dishes sitting neatly on the cart John had pushed in.
She picked one of plates up, smiled lightly at John's thoughtfulness, and removed the lid off a bowl before taking a deep sniff at the steam wafting off the buffet.
"Keelah." Tali mumbled at the mouth watering smell.
She'd smelled this once before.
It was quarian food.
Quarian. Food.
Not even quarians had quarian food on the flotilla.
So where in the galaxy he'd gotten this was beyond her.
But what did that matter?
It was here. In her hands.
Ready for her.
And right there, on the tray next to some dextro rice, was a plastic wrapped fork.
Her smile brightened.
...
Fourth plate... I'm gonna die.
Her hands clumsily placed the last dish onto the cart and let out the biggest burp she ever had the pleasure of releasing.
Her eyes widened in surprise from the terribly obnoxious sound.
She wouldn't have been surprised if someone heard the belch from a deck above.
"Wow..." She massaged her jaw absently as she thought over the food she'd just got done eating before deciding it was time for bed.
She brushed her teeth, took another shower, and scrambled into bed before turning on her music OSD, with its dozens of ambient tracks of crowded hallways, creaking engines, and working filters.
This had to be, hands down, the best day on the Normandy yet.
Nothing could beat this.
Nothing.
|Chapter 2|
|Date: 4/02/2183|
|Location/Attican Beta/Theseus/Planet Feros/Exogeni Corporation/Zhu's Hope|
Tali dove behind a pile of melted asphalt.
Normally, a dive like that would have hurt her elbows and chest... even with the suit.
But the armor Shepard requisitioned for her did the job well.
Though she'd be lying if it wasn't heavy as hell.
"You good Tali?" Shepard yelled out.
"Yeah! I'm fine!"
Garrus screamed for the quarian. "Can you see anything Tali? We're kinda pinned down here!"
"What do you think, Garrus?"
She eyed both Garrus and Shepard behind their slab of concrete. She was surprised it was holding up to the gunfire...
Both of them looked ghostly gray; having been powdered with soot from the fist sized chunks flying off whatever remained of the building they were hiding behind.
John keyed his radio. "Red-1 actual, interrogative: where the fuck are you Kaidan? Over!"
"Blue-1, we're on the far wall to your east... preparing to flank. Stand-by, over."
"Tell him to hurry up." Garrus exclaimed after flinching from a fleck sized piece of concrete that hit his head.
Tali felt a body bump into her.
Turning over to the offending source, she saw that someone had jumped into cover next to her.
She frowned. The bruises and tattered clothes he was wearing was a testament to days of fighting without rest. He looked like shit.
"Sorry," He mumbled, "But this is the safest place I've seen all week." He got up and fired his rifle, "Hope you don't mind."
"Sharing is caring." Tali replied.
"The name's Tom. Your friends got any bright ideas?"
"The other half of our team—" A giant explosion cut her off. Soon after, a giant cloud of ash washed over them. "—is running a flanking mission... this should be over shortly."
Tali glanced behind her just in time to see a woman, no older than her, throw a grenade before getting lit up by a pulse rifle.
"Shi— Sarah!" The man next to Tali dropped his gun and tried to run to the girl. Tali grabbed onto his arm and yanked him back down.
"Are you mad? Stay down!"
"Get off me! That's my fucking sister!" He wrenched free and bolted.
"Suppressive fire! I need suppressive fire!" Tali screamed. The quarian reared the corner and fired in a steady sweeping motion to buy the guy some time to get his sibling. John and Garrus caught on and joined soon after to help.
Tom managed to drag his sister back behind the wall next to Tali while swearing the entire way.
As soon Tali caught wind of the bleeding girl, Tali felt her heart drop. Sarah was dead. Tali could easily fit a foot into her stomach and touch the floor.
And at that moment, Tali's ears failed her. Everything and everyone around her slipped away from sight. All the quarian saw was the gory mess and Sarah's pale & empty stare.
From across the walkway, John cast his gaze to see Tali staring distantly at the dead woman like a statue would a wall.
It didn't take a genius to know what Tali was feeling inside. John felt a piece of him die watching her.
"Sarah! Sarah, wake up! Wake the fuck up!" Tom screamed as he held her face.
Tali continued to stare. It wasn't the same when they'd rescued Liara at the dig site. There were dozens of dead miners and archeologists strewn about the catwalks and tunnels. It didn't faze her much then. But she hadn't witnessed their deaths so personally and up so close like she did with this woman.
"Sarah? SARAH! Hey! Look at me! Jesus Christ, look at me! No! No. No. NO! Fuck! SARAH!"
The hail of gunfire finally ceased. Garrus peeked around the corner to see that Kaidan and his team successfully flanked the geth.
The scream Tom threw out from his throat cried for blood. He picked up his gun and tossed himself over the slab of broken rock to get up close to the geth.
"Tali," John ran over to her and wrapped a hand around her arm, "We need to move!"
Tali nodded and started running behind John to finish off the robotic fucks.
They needed to die. Now.
John's team took their positions and picked off the remaining geth until the last one crashed to floor.
"Kaidan!"
"Here commander! Able and ready!"
"Secure the perimeter. Establish security and relief efforts."
"Aye, sir!"
Shepard dropped his rifle to his one-point sling before taking a deep breath.
"Everyone okay?"
"We're okay." Tali murmured.
The three of them watch Tom busily pressing the muzzle of his gun into the dead geth and shouted insanities all while tears fell from his face.
-Present Time-
|CHAPTER 3|
|Date: 12/6/2183
|Location: SSV Normandy/Frigate Class Vessel|
|Alliance Command CCEDF Number: 33DEFZE9-87541JSN|
She'd been looking over her memories for the better part of an hour and decided it be best to get on with the day and be productive.
She stood up and made her way to the stairs.
"You're actually mad." Garrus said stupendously, "For that."
"Yeah. Kinda am. Get the highest honor in the galaxy with a tooth-pick in my damn hair."
Tali walked past Garrus and Ashley arguing about the toothpick while Wrex watched from a distance. Seeing that, she thought maybe it wouldn't hurt to go up to the bridge instead to see if anything was up.
She climbed the stairs, away from the ramblings of Ash and rude snorts from Garrus, up to CIC.
It wasn't a surprise to see John at the Galaxy map.
"Joker! Where you going?" Shepard jested with a wave when he caught the Flight Lieutenant hobbling on his crutches to the lower deck.
"To piss, Commander…" He threw a casual salute toward John between his limp, "I thought I'd let my baby drive by herself. I won't be gone long."
Shepard's eyes roll. "I know you won't. I've taken the liberty of expelling the 'secret' stash of Fornax you've kept behind some of the stalls."
It was Joker's turn to scoff rudely.
"Excuse me, madam." Joker mumbled to Tali as he passed her before disappearing into the Normandy's stairwell.
She gave John a quirked brow. "We have pornography on the ship?"
"Not anymore." Shepard said with a grin, "At least not that I'm aware of."
"Right." She remarked quietly with a smirk before stepping up next to the Commander, "What're you looking at?"
John shrugged. "Nothing really. Just wondering how we've had this long to just… breathe."
She nodded nonchalantly.
"It's nice, isn't it?"
"Yeah. It is. Why'd you come up?"
"Just because."
"Ah."
Tali peered at the galaxy map and the icons that John was watching. The Migrant Fleet's real time location was among them.
"…I keep track of them." He said, sensing that her stare was lingering on the blip, "They're just three jumps away."
Her arms crossed humbly over her chest.
She hated thinking about this.
"I know." She replied timidly.
"After this… We can always stop by. And drop you off. Hell. I'll even meet your dad like I said." He turned to face her with a sad and sincere smile.
Her head dipped lower.
"John… I don't— I'm not sure if I…"
Her mind was suddenly wracked with indecision. She'd thought about this a lot lately. More so now than ever.
When push came to shove, what would she do? Go back home and finish what she'd come all the way out here for in the first place? Or stay with John and fight against the reaper's coming?
The answer wasn't clear. And every day that would pass would only make it that much harder to decide.
Well?
She might as well start with what she felt like. John always did appreciate speaking your mind and heart.
"John. I don't want t—"
The PA clicked on, and, as a consequence, stalled her from having to finish her sentence.
"An unidentifiable object approximately 7 kilometers in size is increasing velocity toward predetermined route of destination." The Normandy's VI announced, "ETA 2 minutes until Collision. Calculating alternative route."
"Unidentifiable?" Shepard's hand scratched his chin worryingly, "How is it intercepting us? Our stealth's engaged… right Tali?"
Her stare remain fixed on the galaxy map.
"Yes. Absolutely."
"Pressly." Shepard called out, "Sound Battle-Stations. Now."
"Aye, sir!"
The Radar Intercept Officer gave John an update.
"Object is now on new heading, sir. Plotting trajectory. Course for contact with Ullipses, sir, the planet we're next to."
Lines of worry cross John's forehead.
"Maybe it's the Geth." He turned to Tali with a commanding stare, "Tali, radio Adams and run a full diagnostic on sensory equipment, emission bleed, and hull refrigeration." His frown deepened, "This can't be a coincidence. Intercepting an intended course is one in a billion."
"Aye, John!" Before Tali could even manage to take a step, the radar operator spoke again.
"Wait... Two more unidentifiable objects have been detected."
Shepard's eyes widen. "Two more?"
Flashing lights suddenly strobe around the Normandy's CIC.
"Sir!" Screamed the RIO, "Two-thousand plus unidentifiable objects have been detected entering through slip space!"
The VI controlling the Normandy was quick to respond. "Evasive maneuvers engaged. Brace for imminent and immediate collision." A small explosion ruptured against the Normandy's hull, the violent reverberations forcing a panicked yelp from Tali as she braced for it clumsily.
"Engine four is unresponsive!"
"Auxiliary power through subsystem eight and ten down!"
"Kinetic barriers are going down!"
"Mass effect gravitational fields are offline!"
Any who'd been standing during the ordeal suddenly floated off from the floor.
"Mag-boots!" Shepard screamed. Another explosion surfaced against the Normandy, violently slamming those drifting into nearby walls. Spherical droplets of blood from smashed lips and broken noses coagulate in the cabin before splashing around the Normandy's glossy interior.
Peace never follows the Normandy.
Codex:
-Quarian Cuisine is a scarcity even among the Flotilla. The consistency of a stable distribution of actual meats and vegetables are extremely infrequent. Diets are mainly vegan due to the lack of ability to maintain livestock.
"...Resources [are] strained enough; to stretch them just for the improvement over the quality of food was a necessary forfeit." Says an agricultural worker aboard one of three live-ships within the migrant fleet, "[It's] another sacrifice we've managed to overcome." She added.
Citadel Cuisine (Misc.):300 years ago, the quarian's cultural and economic influence on the Citadel had stagnated tremendously during the Geth's uprising and rebellion. Eventually, the quarians, as payment for their mistake of creating a rogue interfaced AI, were barred and expelled from their embassy and relationship with the Citadel Council. In spite of that, dextrose markets continued to provide quarian cuisine to dextrose tolerable races. Production of food goods were relocated to turian and volus industrial planets for farming and distribution of grown produce. To this day, quarian cuisine is still popular. Unfortunately, many of the consumers are unaware the recipes and ingredients were originally of quarian make.
-One-Point Sling
Standard TA-50 Alliance body armor allows for any soldier to stow weaponry onto their backs for better mobility and use of both their hands.
Although modern adaptations of stowing away firearms on a soldier's person is convenient, many soldiers on the field prefer older and more traditional methods of bearing their arms by using slings placed over their necks for easier access to their firearms.
Other soldiers, with the permission of their superiors, even modify standard armor to place magnetic holsters for sidearms, or for more rare cases, rifle systems, onto the chest of the wearer for even easier access to their weaponry.
Some have even been known to adapt magnetic holsters strong enough to situate crew-serve weaponry.
"It's easier," explains Sergeant Reynalds as he displays an M7 Lancer being held by his one point sling, "If you've got your rifle distended and it's on your back, and you're being fired upon, that's three seconds you're wasting before getting to fire back. Keeping the gun near my hands at all times is better and safer and it could save your life."
Corporal Kawakami agrees. "The only thing I really use my magnetic clips for is my shotgun. The rifle? It stays in my hands."