ME2 Tali

Shepard moved through the doorway into engineering. She only ever came down here to see the people here. As she walked in she was met with two familiar backs facing her. The two were always hard at work, and she appreciated their dedication to their positions. It was often fun to hear the conversations they had before they noticed her. She had no such luck today. They looked back at her as she entered. "Oh, hello there, Commander," the man said in his familiar Scottish accent.

"Hey Kenneth. How are you and Gabi doing today?" Shepard smiled at them.

"Oh, we're doing just fine, ma'am." Gabi seemed surprised by the greeting. "We were just running check on those new fuel cells that you gave us. They'll give us a lot more range to explore the systems."

"That was the idea. Well, I'll let you two get back to your duties." Shepard nodded to them and moved away from the pair. She could hear them whispering to each other behind her. Something about how Kenneth was surprised she called them by their first names.

Shepard turned her attention instead to an old friend who she was glad to once more have on her ship. The Quarian was hard at work, cleaning up the engine. Shepard was sure she was a great help to the others as she had been on the first Normandy. Quarians lived their entire lives on ships so they knew a lot about them. They knew how to repair any kind of ship. Shepard had learned a lot from actually visiting the flotial, the collection of ships that made up the Quarian group.

The Quarians had a long and difficult past. Long ago they had created the Geth, who had been VI but had become aware AI a long time ago. They rose up against the Quarians and forced their creators off of their planet. Since then the Quarians had been nomads, just living on the ships of the flotilla. It was a large collection of small ships and one large ship that was their main ship.

The interesting thing about Quarians were their suits. They had to stay constantly in a clean suit or else they would get infections and illness that would ravage their weaker immune system. Tali had always worn her lavender armor and Shepard had never really see what she looked like underneath. In fact, she'd never seen any Quarian without their armor on. Tali had told her that linking their suits environment was the most intimate thing that two Quarians could do. She'd even met a Quarian who had done so when Tali's mother had given birth to her.

The Quarian suddenly looked up from her station and toward Shepard. "Oh, I didn't hear you walk up. I'm sorry, I must have been focused on my task."

"That's all right, Tali. I just came by to check up on you. I know you weren't the happiest after what happened." Shepard had just been glad that the fight with legion hadn't ended in them trying to kill each other.

"It's all right, Shepard. I don't know if I tryst that thing, but I understand why it was trying to warn its people. I mean, I would want to warn my people if the Geth were about to attack us." Tali shook her head. "I'm sure I'll get used to him in time."

"I'm sure you will. Have you heard anything back from the flotilla recently? They get everything cleared up?" It wasn't long ago that Tali had been called back to the Flotila, under charges of treason. Shepard had gone with her, taken her to the flotilla. What she hadn't expected was being Tali's legal advisor. She hadn't expected to find out that Tali's father had been activating Geth to work on them, to create weapons that could destroy them. Luckily they found evidence that would exonerate Tali, though Shepard hadn't used it. Tali hadn't wanted her father to have his name ruined by his experiments. It was just lucky that with a bit of shouting, referencing Saren, and using the sway of the coming threats that she was able to get the council to not banish her friend.

"I haven't heard back from them, though that might be good. It might mean that everything has blown over." Tali leaned back against the consol and shook her head. "I still can't believe what my father did. I keep trying to see reason, but I can't. I didn't ever want him to put the fleet in danger like that for me."

"At some time he lost sight of the fleet. He was focused, wanting to keep his promise. When people get too focused on one thing, they can lose sight of what 's important." Shepard hadn't liked seeing her friend in pain. When they'd found Tali's father, he'd left a recording. One that had apologized for all that he'd done. She remembered hugging the female Quarian to comfort her as she cried over the loss.

"What about you? You're so focused on this whole Collector threat. What keeps you remembering the big picture? What stops the great Commander Shepard from losing sight and focusing only on the Collectors?" Tali's voice was teasing. She was like the sister that Shepard never had, giving her a hard time.

"Oh, it's everywhere else on the ship. You can't tell me that you don't get the gossip down here in the engine room." Shepard smiled at her friend, knowing that she was just teasing her. "Maybe I should sent Kasumi down here. She seems to have all the best gossip."

"For all I know she has been down here. I can never tell if she's around when she's got that cloaking stuff on." Tali shook her head. She stopped, looking to Shepard and then looking away. "You know, I don't know if I've properly thanked you."

"For helping you beat the treason charges. It was my pleasure, Tali. You're my friend, and I wasn't about to allow you to be falsely exiled." Shepard moved over to the railing and leaned against it, facing the Quarian.

"No, not for that. For all of it. For saving me from the agents of the Shadow broken when we first met, for allowing me to help you against Saren, for the Geth data that you gave me for pilgrimage. I want to thank you for your help on Hope's Progress. I know that when they changed my title I was against it, but I have to say, I proudly am Tali'Zorah vas Normandy."

"I'm glad to hear it, Tali. No matter what, you'll always have a place on the Normandy." Shepard moved from the railing a bit.

"Well, It was nice to talk to you, Shepard. I should probably get back to the engines, though." Tali turned around, focusing once more on the terminal before her. Shepard simply nodded and left the engineering area to let her focus on her work.