Tali was having a bad day. She clutched her shotgun and worked out how many thermal clips she had left as she crouched behind an overturned crate. To her left, Prazza was breathing heavily.
"We need to get to that building," he hissed at her. "We need to figure out what is going on!"
Tali was supposed to be in charge, but Prazza had been disrespectful and rude since they had set off this morning. She suspected that he didn't much like being placed under the command of such a young, female quarian.
She couldn't argue with him now- he was right. She gave him a terse nod, and gritting her teeth she leapt up and opened fire on the closing LOKI mechs. The shotgun kicked back comfortably, reassuringly, against her and she watched with satisfaction as the mechs tumbled to the ground, sparking uselessly.
"Come on!" She led her squad to the door of the building. They piled inside and Prazza locked the door as Tali tried to figure out what to do next. "Have a look at that console," she said. "See if there's any security footage. We need to find out what's going on."
The quarians worked in silence for a few minutes before Prazza glanced at his omni-tool. "We've got incoming," he said. "Not mechs."
"I'll handle this," Tali said, and Prazza stared at her.
The door opened and three figures piled in. Tali found that her view of them was obscured by the quarians ignoring her order and drawing weapons.
"Stop right there!" Prazza ordered.
Tali pushed past him angrily. "Prazza, you said you'd let me handle this." She pushed down on the front of his assault rifle as she passed. The last thing they needed was another fight. She turned to face the intruders, raising a calming hand towards them, but her any diplomatic words she had to say died in her throat as she stared at that face.
It couldn't be her.
"Wait. Shepard?"
The woman with Shepard's face, Shepard's bright green eyes, stared back at her, lowering her weapon and raising a hand to indicate that the other human woman with her should do the same.
"I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives." Prazza raised his gun again.
"Put those weapons down!" Tali ordered. She would deal with Prazza later. Right now, there was a more pressing issue. She returned her gaze to Shepard. "Shepard- is that...? You're alive?" She had never wanted to believe anything more strongly than she did in that minute. Her stomach felt like it was full of ice.
Shepard stared levelly back at her. "Remember when I gave you that geth data, Tali? Did it help you complete your Pilgrimage?"
It's Shepard. She breathed in. "Yes, it did." She turned to her squad. "Prazza, weapons down. This is definitely Commander Shepard."
"Why is your old commander working for Cerberus?" The other quarian still sounded suspicious.
Tali's head was swimming. That was a very good question. Shepard had been gone- presumed dead- for two years, and now she turned up working for the enemy. For terrorists. "I don't know. Maybe we should ask." She looked back to Shepard hopefully.
"I nearly died, Tali. Cerberus spent two years rebuilding me. They want me to investigate attacks on human colonies."
"A likely story. No organisation would commit so many resources to bring back one soldier," Prazza sneered, folding his arms.
"You haven't seen Shepard in action, Prazza. Trust me, it was money well spent." She turned back to Shepard. "Perhaps we can work together."
Veetor fell asleep in the shuttle. Tali was exhausted but she knew there was no way she would fall asleep. Her head was heavy with ideas. Shepard's alive. It seemed impossible. And she was working for Cerberus. Tali thought back angrily to the beautiful human woman's insistence that they take Veetor to Cerberus. Shepard had refused her. There had been another human there, a kind-eyed male, but he had tried to take Veetor too. They couldn't be trusted.
Tali wondered if anyone else knew Shepard was back. She had lost contact with Garrus a couple of months ago- she knew he had headed out to Omega to try to deal with the injustice there. She assumed he was still alive; she had been monitoring carefully for any reports of his death. He must have gone underground.
Their last conversation had been rushed. Tali had been about to go and mend a problem on another liveship, and Garrus was... well, she didn't know, but he'd seemed distracted.
His eyes had glowed in the holographic projection of him. "I can't tell you what's going on," he had said. "I'm sorry."
"I'm worried about you, Garrus," she had replied. It was true. They'd drifted apart after Shepard's death, but Tali and Garrus still spoke with some regularity. She found herself missing him more and more.
"I'll be fine," he replied. His voice had been reassuring as ever, but he had changed. There was something darker about him, something Tali had tried to ignore. "Look- I've got to go. I'll contact you when I can. Goodbye, Tali."
"Keelah se'lai," Tali had said, and watched him flicker out. She hadn't heard from him since.
Thinking about it now, she assumed that Garrus probably hadn't heard Shepard was back. He would be thrilled, she supposed. After Kaidan, she thought Garrus had taken her death the hardest.
Kaidan. She decided to contact the human biotic to see if he knew. He must do. Kaidan and Shepard had been in love. She wondered how he was taking her return.
Tali had to talk about it with somebody who would understand. Kaidan might be a good candidate; he was calming and gentle. They had never been extremely close, but Kaidan had always been kind to her.
She hadn't spoken to Kaidan as often as Garrus since the crew had been split up, but they had stayed in touch. He had been promoted to the rank of staff commander and was moderately famous for what had happened with Sovereign. The last time they had spoken, about three months ago, Tali had been surprised to learn that he had started dating.
She found his contact details on her omni-tool and established a connection. There was a pause of about thirty seconds before his face appeared, projected above her omni-tool. He rubbed sleepily at his eyes.
"Tali, hey." Tali had thought for some time now that Kaidan had aged dramatically since Shepard's death, but he had clearly just woken up and looked, for a moment, like a small child.
"Kaidan, sorry to wake you. Where are you?"
Kaidan blinked. "I'm at home. On Earth, with my mom for a bit. You okay?"
He didn't sound, or look, like a man who had learned the shocking news that his dead girlfriend had been brought back to life by a terrorist organisation. Tali wondered if she should tell him. Seeing his face, she couldn't bring herself to. He was getting over what had happened. "I'm fine. I just... have you heard from Garrus?"
He shook his head. "Not since he left the Citadel. He's technically in a bit of trouble of disappearing with so many guns. That's probably why he hasn't contacted me. I hope he's ok, though."
"Me too." Tali suddenly felt exhausted. Why had she mentioned Garrus? Thinking about him made her feel even more confused and worried.
"Hey, Tali- don't worry. He'll be fine." Kaidan's reassuring voice was almost as effective as Garrus'.
Author Note: This was a bizarre chapter in that not a lot happened but I still needed to write it. I have Chapter 5 ready to go too, and it's much meatier, so I will get that up later today. Thanks to everyone who has read this so far. :)