Now I've started getting in the swing of things with these chapters, I sure hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.

*Dedicating this chapter to Robert Sachs, the voice actor for Zaeed Massani, as he unfortunately passed away this month at the age of 61.

Beta read by fallenangel8794 on 5/31.

Chapter Six: Damsel in Distress

Kal'Reegar:

At first Kal was unsure whether to believe Quinn's claims or not: The odds of a person finding a Quarian squad, that was on a stealth mission, in a Geth system, were next to nil. These doubts soon dissipated as a Human and a Turian arrived, just like Quinn had said, "Over here! Get to cover!" Kal'Reegar yelled at the two, Shepard swiftly sprinted to cover besides Kal. Just in time too, several bullets passed over where Shepard's head had been moments ago. The Geth, by now, had focused in on their position and we're putting round after round into the barrier, Kal'Reegar extended out his hand towards Shepard, which he respectfully shook, "Squad Leader Kal'Reegar, 78th Migrant Fleet Marines." Kal introduced himself, "I still got no idea why you're here, but now ain't the time to be picky." Kal gave Shepard a run-down of the situation, "Tali is inside over there." he nodded his head towards the Observatory to indicate the direction, Shepard discreetly peeked over cover, "The Geth killed one of my squad, the other one is alive but pinned." Kal pointed to the door directly behind the Colossus, "They're trying to hack the door, if they do, the scientists and Tali will be massacred. But, heh, it's hard to hack a door when someone's firing rockets at you!" Kal exclaimed with a less than heartfelt laugh.

"Did you try to take out the Colossus?" Shepard said, cognizant of the huge Geth guarding the door.

"We did, it has a repair protocol. We tried to get in closer but... I got shot." Kal said as he revealed the suit puncture on his leg. "Thankfully, it missed both major arteries in my leg."

"I understand, stay here Reegar, you've done more than enough." Shepard dictated.

Kal was slightly miffed that Shepard just got here and was already ordering him around, "No can do, my job is to keep Tali safe. The Geth killed Daala." Kal rashly stood up and took aim at the Colossus with the ML-77, Shepard grabbed him and forced him up against a wall so that he was out of enemy fire.

"If you want to honor Daala, then stay down! I need you here to watch my back in case the Geth bring reinforcements." Shepard released his grip on Reegar.

After a moment of consideration, Kal'Reegar consented, "All right Shepard, we'll do it your way, hit 'em for me! Keelah se'lai!" Kal said with an enthusiastic pump of his fist.

"Will do." Shepard saluted Kal and in an unspoken command, both the Human and the Turian were off. Kal peeked over cover and watched as they bolted off to the left, darting between cover to cover, making their way towards the Observatory. They did make one stop however, when they made it to the pillar that Gerren had hunkered down behind.

"I'm Commander Shepard of the Normandy, are you hurt?" Shepard questioned Gerren. Gerren was surprised, his concern seemed genuine, which was something a Quarian did not receive often from members of other species.

"Gerren'Lakko vas Tonbay. Been better, got shot in the arm." Gerren said while rubbing his right arm. It hurt like hell, but he'd survive. "Um... Do you know if a female Quarian named Ralin is still... Isn't hurt?" Gerren said anxiously, hoping that Shepard could offer some respite to his distraught mind.

The Turian's eyes darted between Shepard and Gerren, "I think I overheard Mordin saying that she was unconscious, but unharmed." The Turian informed Gerren.

Gerren's reaction was immediate, he exhaled the breath he had subconsciously been holding in, relaxed his muscles, and rested his head back against the pillar. 'Thank the Ancestors.' He felt positively exuberant that Ralin was unharmed, however, he did feel a nagging sense of concern at the unconscious part. He hoped that whatever had caused her to lose consciousness hadn't produced any severe mental trauma.

Shepard bent down and applied medi-gel to Gerren's wound. He sighed with relief as the soothing effects of the medi-gel spread across his arm, increasing the rate of tissue regeneration while numbing the nerve clusters. "That'll have to do for now. Stay down, once we take care of the Colossus make it up to Reegar." Gerren nodded, he understood perfectly what Shepard told him and he had already gave his word to Ralin that he'd stay safe. He intended to keep this promise, especially now that he knew that she was unscathed.

Then Shepard was off again, employing the same tactics as he did before. They seemed to be working successfully. It was only when Shepard reached all the way to the Colossus that he had to reevaluate. Kal thought he might actually need help, but then he pulled... A weapon of some sort off of his back, It was a strange, brownish weapon of a design Kal had never seen before. It didn't utilize thermal clips, instead it fired a straight beam of white light at the Colossus. Whatever it was, the weapon was effective. Kal's jaw dropped in astonishment as the weapon burned straight through the Colossus's shields and armor. Before Kal'Reegar knew it, a huge fireball replaced the Colossus, it had been completely obliterated by this weapon. 'I take back all those doubts I had about Shepard.'

Shepard and Garrus took out what remained of the Geth with ease now that the main threat had been nullified. The door to the Observatory unlocked. Kal lost sight of him as Shepard entered.

Gerren, seeing that the Colossus was nothing more than ashes now, and the remaining Geth forces were either dead or dying, followed Shepard's advice and hastily made it back up to Kal's position while clutching his right shoulder, weary of anything that might still be hiding that could ruin his day.

"Gerren, you go on ahead to Quinn, I'll get Tali." Gerren nodded as he passed Kal and Kal began to slowly limp towards the unlocked door.

Gerren'Lakko:

Once again, Gerren remained anxious, silently fearing what he would come across when he approached the shuttle. He was greeted with the sight of a now conscious Ralin sprinting towards him, that itself alleviated most of his fears, they met in an embrace. Gerren whimpered almost inaudibly as an effect of the additional pressure on his right arm, but it was loud enough for Ralin to hear, "Gerren you're..." Ralin said breathlessly as she pulled away from the embrace, her eyes drifted to the suit puncture on his right shoulder and she narrowed her eyes at it, "...hurt."

Gerren spared a second to inspect the wound more closely. It did look nasty. The wound was mostly a reddish-pinkish blob of injured flesh which greatly contrasted to his grayish-white skin. "It looks worse than it really is. Ralin, I'll be-"

"Wait here," Ralin turned back towards the shuttle and boarded it. She soon came back carrying painkillers and antibiotics from the shuttle's inventory. (With Mordin's consent of course!)

"What would I do without you?" He said while flashing Ralin a smile. Ralin handed over the medication and painkillers.

"I thought I told you to stop talking like such a pessimist." Ralin said, while feigning anger and crossing her arms across her chest, "Just think like this," Ralin started to press her body up against Gerren, "we both survived, we're both heading home, and we won't have to worry about the squad or those damn illnesses once we get there." With each reason she listed off, Ralin inched closer and closer to him until they were visor to visor and her voice got quiter until it was barely louder than a whisper. She rested her arms around Gerren's neck, "And we'll have all the time in the world."

"Erm... Lets not do anything too strenuous when we get back to the fleet," He added quickly, "at least not until my wound heals."

"Deal." She said as she pulled herself away from him and in unison headed for the shuttle, hand in hand, "Now, lets get you patched up."

The Observatory:

"Hold on a second Shepard, I'll unlock the door." Tali said into the comm, then tapped a few keys on the console. The door's light switched from red to green. As it slid open, none other than Garrus Vakarian stormed inside.

"My name is Commander Shepard and this is..." Garrus said while imitating Shepard's voice.

"...My favorite Quarian on the Citadel." Shepard finished with a cocky grin as he jogged inside, Tali turned around and shot Shepard a bemused expression under her visor.

"Long story. Endorsements." Shepard explained, sensing the facial expression going on underneath that helmet, "How have you been, Tali?" Acting as if they hadn't just single-handed fought off a Geth Colossus in order to save her. The last time Tali had seen Shepard was on Freedom's Progress, his face had been covered with scars. Now, all that remained was the faint outline of a fraction of those scars. She noticed that Shepard's comforting blue eyes were (staring) right into her eyes, 'Keelah, even after so long...' She resisted the urge to break eye contact, although her cheeks did turn a darker shade.

"Good, considering. Sometimes, I wish I joined you back on Freedom's Progress. But, I couldn't let someone else take a mission this risky." Tali said nonchalantly. Tali took the time to examine Garrus more closely, "Garrus, it's been too long, what happened to your face?" She said, aware of the huge impact hole in his armor and scar running down most of the left side of his neck.

Instead of responding to her question, "Your translator VI is still giving you a stupid accent." Garrus retorted.

"It's not my VI, that's my actual accent!" Tali said in an irritated fashion.

"I see it's still easy to get you off." Garrus smirked.

"Speaking of joining us," Shepard changed the topic, "How about right now? We need you to help us in the fight against the Collectors... and we did just kill a Geth Colossus to save you." He said with an earnest expression.

"Well..." Tali gave some thought to it before coming to a final decision, "I said I'd see this mission through. I did. I'll send the data to the Admiralty Board and they can go to hell if they don't approve..." Tali whispered, "I just witnessed the rest of my team die."

Kal'Reegar limped inside while clutching his leg, "Maybe not the whole rest of your team, Ma'am. Most of my squad and Urla survived." Kal looked in awe at Shepard, "Your old Captain's as good as you said. Damn Colossus never stood a chance."

"Kal!" Tali said cheerfully, she ran up to him and did something extremely unprofessional, she wrapped her arms around his neck in an embrace. Kal noticed that Shepard was glaring at Kal and Tali with what looked like hurt, confusion, and frustration all mixed together. "What did I tell you about calling me 'Ma'am?'"

"Sorry about that... Tali." Kal was feeling very uncomfortable with Shepard (staring) at him like that. "Shepard, do you think you could make a stop by the Migrant Fleet? Our ship isn't equipped with the medical stations that your ship is, and we need to deliver this data as quickly as possible to the Admiralty Board."

Shepard frowned, furrowed his brow, and didn't say anything, but he slowly nodded.

"Kal, I'm going to join Commander Shepard's crew, you're going to have to turn the data in for me." Tali said.

'Rael isn't going to like that his daughter ran off with Shepard, again.' But instead said, "Affirmative, we'd better get going then." They departed from the Observatory for good. Kal couldn't help but feel unnerved, he could feel Shepard's eyes fixated on his back the entire way to the shuttle. They made one stop before they continued onto the shuttle, Daala's lifeless body, Kal'Reegar had the duty of committing her to the Ancestors once they returned to the Migrant Fleet. Kal'Reegar grabbed the Quarian corpse. Tali solemnly looked down in respect for a lost comrade, it was dead silent the remainder of the way.

They arrived at the shuttle and was greeted with the sight of Mordin shouting and waving his arms for the group to hurry up, "All Quarians aboard, including dead. Venn losing blood. Suggest haste!"

Miranda walked out of the shuttle looking extremely irritated, "Why are we taking all these Quarians? We're only supposed to be picking up the suit-r... Engineer." Miranda said, quickly correcting herself when Kal'Reegar began to stare her down.

"Miranda, we're taking Kal'Reegar and his squad to the flotilla. Then we'll go get that Reaper IFF." Shepard explained in an equally irritated tone.

"I don't think we'll have enough time..." Miranda began, while looking over the six Quarians.

Shepard made a chopping motion with his hand across his throat for her to cease talking, "We'll make time." Miranda shook her head with aggravation; then boarded the shuttle.

Miranda turned around, not quite finished with her argument with Shepard, "Do we really have to bring the corpses with us?" Miranda whined while pointing at the dead bodies already in the shuttle.

"Shepard! Get on shuttle! Venn's condition worsens every second!" Mordin yelled.

Kal boarded the shuttle along with everyone else, he had been confused about what the Salarian had meant by 'Venn's condition', but when he saw Venn, he understood completely. Venn was a bloody mess, Urla was leaning over him saying words of comfort to him. Kal'Reegar felt the shuttle lift off as he made his way over to Venn's stagnant body and knelt down next to Urla.

"Hey, Kal." Venn murmured frailly, acknowledging Kal's arrival, "Sucks to be the hero all the time." He winced, enduring the pain coming from his chest and torso that was directly correlated with his conversing.

"You aren't giving up on me yet, you unselfish bosh'tet." Urla whispered while stroking his helmet's cheek.

"Although, it does have its perks..." Venn smiled up at Urla and tried to laugh, but what came out was an unintelligible gurgling noise. Venn frowned, "You, Gerren, and Kal were shot, you all require medical attention."

"I'm already swimming in antibiotics, don't need to worry about me." Kal reassured Venn.

"Me and Gerren are fine. Mordin injected us with immunoboosters and treated our wounds. It's you I'm worried about." Urla said to Venn, for good reason too, even though he had been stabilized by Mordin, he had lost an abundance of blood.

Saying that Venn didn't look good was simply an understatement. Kal looked up to Mordin, "Is Venn going to make it?" Kal said.

Mordin devoted another once-over to Venn, accessing his current status, "Possible. Necessary to remove suit. Already injected with immunoboosters, antibiotics. But no clean room available." Mordin said quickly, "Will need to see wounds before final answer." He cleared his throat and whispered to Tali, "Do not wish to seem inconsiderate. But, would like to take records of Quarian autonomy and on immune system from observation of Venn while in surgery. For scientific purposes, of course."

"You'd have to ask Venn." Tali said lamely, not wishing to push Venn into anything.

Venn gave Mordin a nod, "Sure, whatever Doc."

"Thank you. Very interested in Quarians. How evolved differently. Weak immune system. Communal society. Glad will have chance to do research."

After a moment of silence, "So, what's the new Normandy like, Shepard?" Tali asked, curious to see if Cerberus screwed it up somehow.

"Just wait until you see it, Tali." Shepard said with a certain sparkle in his eyes, "It's beautiful."

It was a short ride up to the Normandy SR-2, Kal stared in awe as the shuttle came up to the altitude of the sleek frigate, 'Shepard is right, it is beautiful.' Kal thought as he gazed at the magnificence of the spaceship, drifting in orbit over the planet he never wanted to see again for the rest of his life, Haestrom.

Aboard the Normandy:

Mordin swiftly moved Venn out of the shuttle, where a Human doctor with silver hair was waiting. "Dr. Chakwas!" Tali said cordially, recognizing the crew member from the previous Normandy immediately.

"Ah, Tali, can we talk later?" Dr. Chakwas said as she rushed after Mordin who had just pushed two crew members out of the way in hopes to get to the elevator more quickly. If Venn weren't wounded, it would have been humorous to see that a Salarian was somehow managing to transport a fully armored Quarian by himself. Urla, Ralin, and Gerren followed Dr. Chakwas and Mordin in quick pursuit. Kal was about to run after Mordin too, but Shepard placed a hand on his shoulder, holding him back, "I need you to come up to the briefing room, you too, Tali." Kal hesitated and watched the medical group depart for a second before consenting.

Once they reached the elevator, Tali groaned at the sight of it, "I remember this elevator. Keelah, it was so slow."

They boarded the elevator and it took all of three seconds for it to reach the CIC floor. Tali's eyes widened in response, pleasantly surprised at the enhanced speed of the elevator. Shepard smiled, "Cerberus took the liberty of quickening the elevator. Obviously, they fixed some of the design flaws of the previous Normandy."

"And, they probably messed up all the upgrades I did." Tali sighed, "Looks like I'll be down in Engineering... a lot."

They walked past the unoccupied tech lab and into the debriefing room. Jacob was waiting for them, leaning on the table located inside.

Jacob stood up, approached the group, and shook the Kal and Quinn's hands. It felt... interesting to shake another's hand which had more fingers than he did. "Tali, I don't know if you remember me from Freedom's Progress, but I'm Jacob Taylor."

Jacob attempted to greet Tali as well, but Tali paced behind Shepard, visibly trying to avoid the Cerberus agent. "I assumed that you were undercover, Shepard. Maybe even planning to blow Cerberus up. If that's the case, I'll loan you a grenade. Otherwise, I'm here for you. Not for them." Tali jabbed one of her fingers at Jacob, "Cerberus threatened the security of the Migrant Fleet, so don't try to play nice with me."

Shepard spoke up, intervening between the hostilities beginning to brew, "I agree completely Tali, but Jacob isn't Cerberus, he's just a soldier like me. You shouldn't take out your anger of Cerberus on him."

Tali knew that Shepard was right, but it still felt satisfying to get that off her chest. That was what she'd wanted to say to Miranda since she left Freedom's Progress, "You may trust him, Shepard. But, I don't. Not yet anyways."

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Tali." Jacob looked down at his Omni-tool, "I'll let you into the ship's systems."

"Please do." Tali replied sarcastically, "I can't fix the ship if I don't know how it works." Tali blew off the agent, "If you need me Shepard, I'll be down in Engineering." She started to leave the debriefing room.

"Be sure to introduce yourself to EDI, the ship's AI." Jacob called after her, Shepard winced. Tali turned around and gave the Cerberus soldier a death glare, piercing him with her eyes.

"Your... your ship has an AI?!" Quinn squawked. Tali left the briefing room without a single word.

Jacob remembered that Quarians had an enmity towards AI, since they inadvertently created the Geth, "Sorry." He mumbled an apology, "Kal'Reegar, we need the flotilla's current position, we'll head there right away."

"Of course... But how do you know my name?" Kal'Reegar remarked suspiciously, he hadn't seen Shepard make contact with the Normandy, and he didn't remember Shepard mentioning his name.

"Cerberus has very detailed information." Jacob stated in a monotone voice that concealed any sort of emotion, or any indication as to how Cerberus knew.

"So I see..."

"Follow me, please." Jacob led him to the galaxy map to insert the coordinates. Kal'Reegar hastily checked his omni-tool for the fleet's current whereabouts, he carefully tapped out the long string of numbers that accompanied the system in which the fleet as located. He felt the engine drive to the Normandy heat up and begin to move.

"We should be there in a few hours, other than that, make yourself comfortable."

Kal felt a welcome relief, 'Finally, heading back home.' This relief, however, did not mend the depression that Kal was well aware of. He'd lost a very good friend on Haestrom, hell, Daala was part of Kal'Reegar's original squad, along with Quinn and Venn. 'The Rozu clan will be proud to know that Daala went down fighting a Geth Colossus.' Kal thought of Daala's malformed corpse, 'I hope your soul is in a better place, Daala. Keelah se'lai.'

Dr. Chakwas's Office:

Gerren, Ralin, and Urla were standing next to Venn who was lying on one of the operating beds inside the Normandy's Medical Bay. Mordin walked over to the group huddled around the bed, "Two minutes, then surgery starts." Mordin informed the group.

Venn struggled to sit up, he had to use his elbows to prop himself up, "Hey Mordin, you were with STG, right?"

"Yes..." Mordin said with a twinge of annoyance at Venn's stubbornness as he pressed Venn's chest back against the bed.

"If I don't make it -"

"Don't say that!" Urla nudged him.

"- Send a message to Captain Kirrahe saying that I 'Held the Line!'" Venn smiled, as he remembered his friend's famous saying, but then succumbed to a series of violent coughs.

Mordin nodded, then left the group alone to their private discussion.

Once Ralin was sure Mordin had left, "Why didn't you let me save you too? I could've done it!" She said uneasily.

"You're strong Ralin," Venn said weakly, "But, not that strong. Didn't want to risk it. Better to have one dead than three."

"You're acting as if you've already given up!" Urla said angrily, "I'm not going to give up on you that easily."

Venn grinned up at her, "Thanks... For everything." Venn wheezed sincerely.

Gerren had remained quiet during the entire conversation, "You kept your promise," He said with a certain reverence towards Venn.

"Of course I did, what else am I supposed to do when a friend whispers, Keep her safe, Venn. She means the world to me."

Gerren felt himself blush slightly when Ralin focused her attention on him, "I don't know if it means anything to you, Venn. But, thanks for keeping Ralin safe." Gerren continued.

"Awww... The big man Gerren getting all sentimental?" Venn teased, adding a little levity to the situation.

Gerren unleashed a small grin, "Ungrateful bosh'tet." Gerren said as he gently punched Venn on the shoulder.

Mordin returned with Dr. Chakwas, "Sorry, but request you all leave. Distractions... Problematic." He swiftly forced the three Quarians outside of the Medical Bay and locked the door behind them.

The three of them headed their separate ways. Gerren had one person in particular he wanted to converse with, 'Garrus Vakarian...'

Forward Batteries:

Gerren strolled into the Forward Batteries, a Turian was standing at the central console. Without turning around the Turian said, "Could you come back later? I'm in the middle of some calibrations."

"Perfect," Gerren said.

Garrus turned around and gave a thoughtful, "Hmmm... Not who I was expecting, it's Gerren, right?" Gerren gave Garrus an affirmative nod, "What is it that you want?"

"Well... thought you'd be up for a little challenge." Gerren goaded

"What sort of challenge?"

"Tali informed us that you're the Master Calibrator? How'd you like to prove that?"

Garrus lifted his mandibles into a smirk, "Challenge accepted. Winner gets bragging rights."

"You're on," Gerren said, 'This is going to be... Interesting.'

Garrus went over to the console and reset the system to a certain level, "We'll each have five minutes, whoever has the highest percentage will be declared the winner, you go first." Garrus stepped out of the way and Gerren approached the console.

Gerren worked fast and efficiently, furrowing his brow in concentration as his hands flew across the console. By the end of the five minutes he was thoroughly impressed with his score, "Top that." Gerren said with a competitive edge in his voice.

"If you say so." Garrus stifled a yawn.

By the three minute mark, Gerren already knew he was going to lose this bet, there seemed to be no end to the algorithms Garrus knew, he had done it so many times that he didn't need to look down once. Gerren watched in dismay as the clock hit the five minute mark, just as he had predicted, he lost by about 3.4%.

"Looks like today wasn't your lucky day." Garrus commented, fully aware of the score.

"You'd better keep up those skills, 'cause next time I'll challenge you again, the results will be much different." Gerren said as he departed the Forward Batteries, wishing to keep Garrus on his toes that he would be coming back for him.

"Next time, I'll be right here, waiting for you to challenge me!" Garrus called after him.

It had been entertaining while it lasted, but... Gerren wasn't about to go inciting another round unless he was sure to win, 'Next time.' He thought to himself as he poked his head into the Mess Hall, searching for some nutrient paste. He eventually found it thank to a certain Mess Sergeant Gardner. Gerren sat down at one of the nearby unoccupied tables, silently contemplating to himself about the future while gazing at the stars.

Someone sneaked up on him and quietly placed herself at the unoccupied chair to his right. After a moment of pure silence the newcomer spoke, "You...you really said that?" Ralin whispered as she shifted forward on her chair.

Gerren thought that Ralin would be angry, that he was being too overprotective of her. He found himself joyfully surprised, "Yeah, I was terrified of losing you. I can't stand to be alone again. Not after what happened in the Perseus Veil."

"What happened?" Ralin replied, listening intently.

Gerren drearily began to tell the story of his previous squad, "We were in a scouting vessel, taking readings, observations, stuff of that nature. The Geth found us." Gerren said as hard as steel, "It was a squadron of fighters that attacked us. I saw Eri and Zekke get sucked out into space before the containment shields and emergency bulkheads could be activated. I made it up to the bridge, Kazak was in the pilots' seat, hunched over the console, dead. I took control, evaded the fighters, and quickly made a jump to FTL. The Geth didn't follow us, I thought it was a miracle. I sent out a distress signal, after which I tried to comm Teryn, our squad leader, and Pax. I tried to contact them for thirty minutes. Nothing can prepare you for being the last survivor of your squad." Gerren's eyes were tearing up underneath his helmet, "I seriously considered suicide; survivor's guilt is a bitch."

"Gerren, I'm so sorry, I had no idea." Ralin said compassionately, it was moments like this when she had a desperate urge to comfort him, to just be with him, to tell him that everything was going to turn out alright. It pained her to see him in such state.

"You're the first person I've ever shared... that with." Gerren muttered. He felt a burden lift off him, he needed to tell somebody that, about his feelings.

"At least some good came out of it." Ralin said after a moment of thought.

'What good could possibly come out of my squad dying?' Gerren was vexed, "Oh? And what might that be?"

Ralin leaned in closer to Gerren and uttered a single word into his audio receptor, "Us."

'She really can find some good in any situation,' Ralin pulled away from Gerren until they were face to face, their eyes locked, and he stared deeply into his Inszel's* green as emerald eyes; it was a moment of pure bliss, "Ralin, I feel as if I could share anything with you and you'd understand, hell, you found some good in my worst experience." Gerren said with great passion towards his Inszel, he caressed her affectionately. "That's why I love you. You complete me."

"Gerren, if you ever need to get something off your mind, don't hesitate to tell me. I want you to know that I love and care for you as deeply and as passionately as you do for me." Ralin cuddled with him, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks, "I love you Gerren and I'll always be right by your side, no matter what happens."

Words alone could not describe the bond that they shared for one another. Technically, with that declaration of love for one another, they entered the Felz'tiyl*. Although, that was the last of either's concerns as they gazed into each other's eyes, and out into the void of space, contemplating the future with their Inszel.

Tali'Zorah - Engineering:

She entered Engineering, unsure what to expect. There were two Cerberus Engineers, but other than that, the place was abandoned. The male of the two smiled at her as Tali entered, then quickly turned back to his console. Tali tried to log into the console, but there was a strange error popping up that was due to a continuous looping program. She stared at the screen, 'Well, already on my first error. That's always a good sign.' She got to work. It took her 5 minutes to fix the problem, which as it turned out, the program would reset itself if the console was reset.

When she figured out the solution, the male Cerberus Engineer came over with a slight smile on his face, "I was wondering how long it would take for you to get the obvious solution, the name's Ken O'Donnelly." Ken said in a thick accent.

"And I'm Gabby." The female Cerberus Engineer added, but didn't look up from her console.

"Tali'Zorah nar Rayya vas Neema, quite a clever prank program you got there."

"Thanks, I..." Ken was interrupted by the sound of the door opening unexpectedly, Quinn strolled inside and took in the engine room, "This ship is a marvel of modern technology!" Quinn said in a cheerful tone.

Gabby looked up from her console,"I thought we were only bringing one Quarian Engineer." She said as she inspected the newcomer.

"We're taking the remainders of Kal'Reegar's squad to the Migrant Fleet."

"I'm... Quinn'Zeeda vas Derrna," Quinn seemed to physically shrink back as he saw the two Cerberus Engineers.

"Ah, Do you want a rundown of all the Engineering Systems? Cerberus may be a bunch of fanatics, but they sure know how to build a ship." Ken offered politely.

"I...Um..." Quinn stuttered.

"What he means is yes, we'd love one." Tali said for Quinn, Ken spent about an hour going through the technology that was jam-packed into this beast of a frigate. 'Shepard was right, it is beautiful. Not only on the exterior, but the interior as well.' Tali quietly sighed, 'Now, if only he could see me without the suit, to see who I really am, maybe then he could see my feelings for him...If only...'

A Few Hours Later:

Tali was diligently working on recreating the necessary upgrades that she had created for the previous Normandy which could benefit the Normandy SR-2. That was until she heard footsteps approaching her from behind and soon after someone tapped her on her shoulder, "I swear Ken, if you talk about my 'skin-tight suit' or my 'mighty fine ass' one more time..." Tali turned around, it was Shepard standing behind her. "Oh, sorry Shepard." Tali's cheeks turned a slightly darker shade as she blushed and couldn't help but think to herself, 'Keelah, I really had to run my mouth in front of Shepard, didn't I?' She sighed inwardly, too late now, "Something you need?"

"We didn't get a lot of time to talk on Freedom's Progress, or on Haestrom, we have a few minutes so... Let's catch up."

Tali gazed over at Quinn who was inspecting a nearby console, he was trying his best to make it look like he was completely focused on it. But, she could tell by the angle of his head that Quinn was actually listening in on their conversation, "Alright," Tali said as she indicated with her hand for him to follow her, she stopped when she reached the Engine room, where she turned around to face him, "What do you want to know?"

"Having any trouble adjusting back to the Normandy?"

"I like the quiet. I miss the old faces, Pressly, Engineer Adams, all of them." She began to nervously dry-wash her hands, "Are you sure it's a good idea to have Cerberus in control of the ship?"

"I fully expect Cerberus to betray us at some point. But, we'll be ready in the case that they do." Shepard said, confidant in his abilities.

"Is there anyone I steer stay clear of? Or meet?"

"Zaeed Massani is ruthless, but he seems in control of himself most of time. Grunt... I wouldn't mess with him unless I had to." Listing off the one's that Tali shouldn't accompany herself with, "You and Kasumi would probably hit it off; You already know Garrus; Mordin is interesting to talk to, assuming you can understand him.

"I see that you're still carrying around that shotgun," Shepard said casually as he pointed to the M-27 Scimitar strapped across Tali's back, attempting to make small talk away from the issue of Cerberus.

"Yea, I was offered an upgraded version, but I declined. This old shotgun reminds me of the previous Normandy, on all those missions we went on, especially Virmire." Tali said softly, her voice chock-full of emotions. Shepard winced at the word, 'Virmire,' a lot of painful memories had occurred there, where he had to sacrifice Ashley, who was assigned to arming the bomb, to rescue Kaidan, who was augmenting Captain Kirrahe's squad.

It was Tali's turn to ask a question, "What was it like... Being dead?" Quite a depressing matter, but she was interested, as he was the only person that survived death.

"There isn't much to talk about really, I was brain dead for a year and ten months." Shepard said uneasily, he began to squirm uncomfortably. Tali was vexed, Shepard was never nervous, even while under fire, she didn't understand why he would be now, "Um... Are you in a relationship with Kal'Reegar?" Shepard blurted out loudly, attracting the attention of the two Cerberus Engineers and Quinn.

Tali stood there visibly taken back, "Keelah, no Shepard, we're just friends."

"I feel happy for the two... Wait, what?" Obviously not the answer he was expecting. He recovered from his initial shock and sighed with relief, apparently that had been pent up inside of him, "But I thought- On Haestrom you-" Shepard slapped his forehead with his hand, "Now look who's rambling. If that's the case I have something to tell you."

He never got around to expressing whatever it was that he was going to say, because Joker's voice came over the intercom, perfect timing as always. "Commander, the Migrant Fleet is requesting some kinda' code, could you and Tali come up to the Bridge?"

Shepard scowled, irritated to be interrupted during the middle of a 'moment', "We'll be right there." He said to Joker through his Omni-tool, he severed the link and faced Tali, "Can we talk about this later?"

"Yea... sure." Tali scanned him curiously, confused over what the big deal was, and how it involved what kind of relationship she had with Reegar. They hurried onto the Elevator together and headed up to the CIC.

*Inszel - Trusted confidant or partner, similar to girlfriend/boyfriend.

*Felz'tiyl - Third stage of Quarian bonding.

Whew! What a chapter! So now it's on to the Migrant Fleet!

Disclaimer: Obviously, I'm only going to include some of the squad mates in conversations, as including all of them would be too time consuming.

Disclaimer(2): I felt my eyes water when I was writing the Gerren/Ralin part on the Normandy. Very emotional, adds a lot more character depth to Gerren and Ralin especially.

"Ah yes, 'Everyone will survive the suicide mission.' We have dismissed that claim."