Chapter 8

Location: Mess Hall, Quarian Starship Neema

Tali and Nala sat in silence as they ate what the Quarians passed off as food. Both were still a little sleepy from the naps they had both just finished.

Very rarely was a quarian able to eat food. Since resources were so limited, that had to make a nutrient paste that most quarians relied on for sustenance. This paste was grey and very bland, with almost no taste at all, but it was all quarians could do. On the Flotilla, very few luxuries were allowed, just because their resources and space was so limited.

As Nala sat there twirling her food tube in her paste, she thought about Kal. She hadn't seen him since he left their company in the elevator. She could tell that the loss of men was hard on him. Each time back, he seemed to get a little more isolated. She worried for him.

"Not hungry Nala?" She looked up. Tali had finished her paste, and was sitting there looking at her.

"I don't know, just have things on my mind." Nala continued to swirl the tube.

"Your thinking about Kal aren't you?" Tali had set her tray aside, and clasped her hands together in front of her.

"Yeah, I'm worried about him. He seems like he's drifting further away from us each time he comes back." Nala said as she took in a little of the paste. "I just wish he would talk to someone about it."

"You mean you wish he would start talking to you about it." Tali said with a giggle. She was always good at cheering Nala up.

"So what if I do? It's not my fault he had to go and save my life. Didn't your commander do that for you a couple times?" Tali sulked in her chair a little.

"Yeah, he did, more than once." She said with the sound of regret in her voice. She remembered the dream she had. He came out of nowhere just to save her. Just like the knights of medieval times she had read about while she looked over human history on the Normandy. She always liked those stories when she read them, even if a lot of them weren't fact. "Beside, Shepard was different; he was my Captain and a good friend."

"Yeah? So what, you still…" Nala was cut off mid sentence as her and Tali's omni-tools started beeping. They both had received a message at the exact same time. Nala wasn't sure what it meant. She couldn't figure out who would need to send the same message to both of them.

"Do you think it's the same message?" Nala sputtered as she reached down to check her message. "Who is yours from?"

"Auntie Raan, she wants to meet with me, what about you?" Tali said casually.

"Mine is, the same thing… this can't be right. Why would an admiral want to meet with me?" Nala said this with concern. She knew that Tali and Shala'Raan were close, but she really didn't know Nala. Why would she want to meet with both of them?

Nala stood up, and took her and Tali's paste trays to the return table. Tali followed her there, and then the two girls made their way to the bridge.

As they walked through the ship, Nala's mind was racing. She couldn't figure out why Shala wanted to see both of them. Did she do something wrong? Was someone they knew sick or in trouble? No, no, none of those could be it.

"Come on Nala, why are you falling behind?" Her's thinking had slowed her down, to where she was a good ten steps behind Tali.

"I'm sorry, wait up!" Nala quickened her pace to catch up to her.

"Nala, what's on your mind? I can tell when something is bothering you."

"I'm just trying to figure out why I'm being called to the bridge with you, that's all."

"Isn't it obvious?" Tali's comment struck like a bullet. She already figured it out?

"What is it then?" Nala looked at Tali in wonder.

"You finally get to find out what Kal and I have been up to on these missions you are always so curious about." The shock of her words stopped Nala dead in her tracks. She was going on their next mission. She couldn't believe it. Sure, she was a Flotilla Marine, but she was nowhere near as skilled as the rest of the team. She usually didn't go on missions with such high importance. The only one she did, Kal had to save her from being shot.

The two women made their way to the bridge. When they walked in, they saw admiral Raan, and Tali's father waiting for them.

"Hello Tali, how are you?" Her father asked as he opened his arms to embrace his daughter.

"Hello father! I wasn't expecting you to be waiting to greet us here." Tali hugged her father.

"Tali, I haven't seen you in weeks, I needed to be here." The two broke apart, and her father spoke again.

"Nala it is also good to see you, you did very well on your last mission. So well in fact you're going to be reassigned." She was still in shock. She didn't think anything was special about her last mission. She managed to pick off a few geth, but it wasn't anything she thought would earn her any special attention. That's when Shala broke her train of thought.

"We need you two to follow us; we are going to be briefing your team once we all arrive." She then turned and started making her way to the briefing room just off the bridge. Tali, Rael, and Nala followed and made their way inside the briefing room.

The room was set up just for marine meetings, though usually only used by the more important missions. Nala had only been in there twice before. It had fifteen or so chairs set up facing forward, with a display in the front, with a console to run it.

Nala made a quick scan of the room. The rest of the squad was already in the room, all eleven others, including Kal'Reeger. They were seated and awaiting instruction as Admirals Han'Gerrel, Daro'Xen, and Zaal'Korris we already standing in the front of the room waiting for them. Tali and Nala took their seats near Kal, as Shala and Rael made their way to the front. Han then stepped forward, and was the first to address the group.

"Welcome marines. For those of you who were a part of the last mission, good work. You all did very well." He stepped back in line with the other admirals, and Rael made his way to the front.

"To those of you who have not been a part of these missions before, I will get you up to speed. You are now a part of this special unit. This infiltration team is doing a very important mission for the flotilla. Its sole mission is to be sent out to locations deemed points of interest, and to infiltrate geth outposts in order to allow Tali'Zorah to extract information from their memory banks and information systems." Shala then stepped forward.

"Your primary mission during these operations is to keep Tali'Zorah safe, and assist her in capturing any geth data. She must be kept safe at all costs." As she said this, Nala was in a state of awe. She couldn't believe her friend was that important to the fleet, or that she had an entire squad sworn to protect her. That must be why she never liked talking about it, because never had everyone made it back alive. That is when Zaal'Korris interrupted.

"But do not forget about the rest of your squad. Each one of you is important. These missions are very dangerous. We have not had a truly successful mission yet, but they are of utmost importance to the fleet" Shala then chimed back in.

"You all are sworn to secrecy. You are not to talk about these missions to anyone outside of this room. Anyone found to be in violation of this, will promptly be charged with treason, and be subject to exile." All the admirals then, except Daro'Xen, took the open four seats sitting in the front of the room. Admiral Xen made her way over to the console, and fired up the display.

"Our scout teams have recently discovered a geth facility on the moon Tashol. This moon orbits the planet Ammut in the Ma'at system. Your mission is going to be to infiltrate this facility and protect Tali'Zorah as she extracts any data she can about the geth."

Nala sat there and listened to the mission details. Her hands had started to shake. The more admiral Xen explained, the more difficult the mission seemed to be. Were these the kind of odds Tali and Kal faced every time they went out on a mission? She was scared, and the more Daro spoke of the mission, the worse the shaking got, until eventually Tali noticed. She placed her hands on Nala's to help her hide the shaking, and to comfort her. She then leaned over and whispered to her.

"I know this sounds scary Nala, but I'll be here the whole way, don't you worry." This didn't stop her hands from shaking at all. Nala whispered back.

"Tali, I'm not scared because I might die. I'm scared because I never imagined that we could be this close to war, and that you two have been risking much for the fleet!"