Tali had set her omni-tool to wake her, and by extension also Shepard, five hours before their estimated arrival at Haestrom. He was grumbling a bit about that while getting up; the human metabolism was slightly slower and hence humans needed more sleep on average. Furthermore, while quarians could do quite well with several short-term sleep periods, an evolutionary advantage that had allowed them to be active throughout the entirety of the very long day/night cycles on Rannoch, humans did best after having slept for a single, long period. Fortunately, differences were not all that large. If Tali let the part of her mind given to worries free reign she could name a dozen potential problems for their relationship but that was not one of them. Quarians could also sleep in few long periods instead of several short ones, and the difference in needed hours of sleep was not that great. Still, it made Tali more tolerant towards Shepard's sleepy grumbling.
What was slightly more awkward for her at the moment was getting up from the cuddling position they had slept in. The Terrin had a small captain's office, but she had no captain's cabin. With her interior redesigned for her current purpose to transport Marine teams, the ship was even more cramped than habitat ships. This meant the berth Tali had just shared with Shepard was actually just one of six in the room, the officers' sleeping room, and there were other people present. Sharing a bed for physical contact like she and Shepard had was not completely unusual, at least among the lower ranks, but among officers it could be seen as slightly odd, as they were usually held to higher standards.
Could be worse, though. At least quarians had no explicit rules against fraternization, and besides, her relationship with Shepard meant that she would always be seen as a bit "odd" anyway, even by those who held no objections. Might as well take full advantage of that. At least that was what her mind told her; emotionally she was in fact slightly embarrassed by the situation. She did not regret it, though. She had dreamed of the Normandy, and when she had woken up in Shepard's arms, her sleepy mind had at first assumed she was still there. Then she had realized things were even better: She did not need to pine for a lost time; he was back in her life now. And she would not hide this ever again.
While she let her mind wander, Shepard got up surprisingly quick after his initial protests. As always, his first trip of the 'day' would lead him to the medbay. This was not so much for health purposes; rather it was the section of the ship that could be most quickly and most easily disinfected - which meant that it was pretty much the only place where Shepard could care for his hygiene or eat open food without becoming a health risk to the quarians around him. This was a concern Tali had definitely not thought of when she had invited him aboard, but fortunately matters seemed to work out so far. She followed him with a nutrient paste in hand; she had had meals with him often enough that she did not fear the effects on her, and it would be nice to share a breakfast with him again.
In the medbay they met Rekem, who worked there, and Marre, who had come to see him. Marre's gestures upon seeing the couple were still unbearably smug - or at least, would have been unbearable in any other situation. As it was, Tali thought she had earned the attitude.
"Ah, finally up?" Marre greeted them. "So are we soon going to see the famous battle couple who defeated Saren in action?"
"Oh hush, Marre," Rekem silenced her. "You're lucky yet again, Shepard, nobody's here, so you can take your meal. If you were to stay much longer I'd recommend seeing whether one of our non-personalized spare envirosuits fits you... but I doubt that, honestly."
"There are some people on the crew who could modify an envirosuit. I think Nator can," Marre said, naming one of Kal's marines. "But I doubt you'll return with us all the way back to the Migrant Fleet, so..." She interrupted herself. "Hm, what will you do, actually?" She looked with some genuine sympathy to Tali, expecting a dilemma.
However, this time things were actually not as problematic as they had been in this regard on the Normandy, when the couple had feared what the end of her pilgrimage would mean.
"We talked about that," Tali explained. "We'll drop him off somewhere where he can get a transport to the Citadel, and once I'm back on the Fleet, I'll apply for a temporary release from my ship duties. I... we have reason to believe the Board will agree. I can't really talk about this, sorry. If this works I could then join him again within two or three weeks."
As much as a close friend Marre was, Tali could not reveal classified information to her, like the mission she had done for Anita Goyle during the Alliance's Non-Compliance Crisis. Back then the Council Chairwoman had asked specifically for her, and since she had paid in resources, and since the goodwill of a person in such a powerful position was certainly a good and rare thing for the quarians, the Admiralty Board had agreed. The plan Tali had now hatched with Shepard was that as soon as he would reach the Citadel, he would ask his political ally, Goyle, to again request Tali's skills from the Admiralty Board; there was little reason to assume they would now suddenly change their political course.
Tali realized that without revealing that detail her statement had to sound a bit strange. It certainly seemed to be for Marre: "Huh. You seem oddly certain. We all know your family links to the Board will only work against you here."
That was a possible problem, maybe the only one: Admiral Zorah could convince the Board to deny Goyle's request, if he disapproved strongly enough about the involvement of his daughter with a human. On the other hand, Tali was sure her father would see the value in continued cooperation with the Council Chairwoman of all people; having a good relationship to the head of the Citadel was a situation the quarians had not been in for centuries.
"She can't exactly appeal to it, but it's still something that can be used," Shepard argued as vaguely as possible. He grinned. "I'm sure she has learned a lot of political manoeuvring from me."
"Well, I hope things work out for you two the way you've planned them," Marre stated seriously.
"And just you see, we'll find out the great secret you want to keep hidden here," Rekem said. "Any secret that makes you so sure you can sway the Board must be quite juicy indeed."
"If it's really something that can sway even the Admiralty Board, it's best kept secret," Marre commented seriously.
"Oh, when you have your sudden flashes of duty and responsibility, you're nearly as bad as Tali," Rekem joked.
In a humorously defiant pose, Tali crossed her arms in front of her. But before she could answer, she got a message on her omni-tool. She was told to come to her captain's office, to expect a call - from Admiral Rael'Zorah.
"I blame your mention of duty for this, Rekem," she mock-accused him."It's calling earlier than usual." She looked to Shepard. "So much for our shared breakfast."
"We'll have all the time in the galaxy," Shepard assured her, "even if it'll take some weeks."
That was true, but losing some more weeks was nothing insignificant. With some longing she looked at the scene, at him and at her friends - and then nodded decisively. Duty was calling indeed. She turned to heed it.
Her father calling her was odd for several reasons. She doubted it was a private call, but even an Admiral of the Board contacting the leader of the expedition to Haestrom at this point in time was not something she had expected. The Terrin had already come close to Dholen, Haestrom's star system, and the geth could very possibly pick up the call. Furthermore, five hours before the ETA really was not the best time for such calls in general. By now it was too late to change any aspect of the plan, and she had work to do.
The Captain's office was only slightly larger than the life support control room. It contained a small desk, with a chair to either side and a computer terminal on it. She had to squeeze her way past the desk to get to her seat. She accepted the call. A holographic image of her father's head appeared on the desk, showing his familiar helmet. Tali had not seen his face in nearly two decades. Normally family members did now and then show their faces to each other, despite all problems associated with that for quarians, simply as a way to foster family closeness. But since the death of her mother, her father had not done so once. To be fair, neither had she, but then, she had not been taught better.
Familiar as his appearance was, it also made her uncomfortable. Prazza had confirmed that Rael had ordered him to keep her loyalty under check, which then had led to his mutiny. She did not know if she could bring up this issue to her father.
Instead she greeted him politely: "Admiral Zorah."
"Tali," Rael replied. "How are you?"
This was not the greeting Tali had expected. The question sounded almost rusty in Rael's voice, but it seemed to be genuine. And that was surprising. He never mixed business and private affairs, and he would never do such a call solely for private affairs.
"I am doing fine," Tali managed to answer after some hesitation. "But I have a lot of work to do. We'll shortly arrive at our target."
"I know. I ask because I've read the reports of the survivors of Freedom's Progress," Rael explained. "Is it really true that you have stumbled upon your pilgrimage captain, Shepard, there?"
So that's it. It's about Shepard. That was actually an issue where Rael could possibly have called simply for private reasons. Still, she owed him an answer, so she confirmed almost automatically: "Yes." She knew she should say something positive about Shepard, should maybe offer any comment of her own. But she did not find the words. Instead she escaped into simply reporting the facts, like a good quarian soldier: "He appeared there with a Cerberus team, but we turned against it in the end."
"This association does worry me a bit," Rael stated. "It appears too much a coincidence that you of all people would meet him of all people on such a mission."
"Somebody must have engineered the meeting," Tali pointed out. She did not like that her father would think Shepard could be in league with Cerberus, but this conclusion was inescapable. "The same somebody who had warned us about Veetor."
"Exactly," Rael agreed. "Still, whatever the cause, for you it must have been an extraordinary stroke of luck."
It has been. It very much has been. But Tali could not say this now. She began to worry about where her father was leading the conversation. Again it took some time until she answered: "Yes. It was. Shepard will be a real asset on the..."
Her father interrupted her, but he did not sound unfriendly: "Tali. I think you know what I mean."
"Yes. I do. And it's true," she hence confirmed. Her father was in the know, anyway. When she had returned from the pilgrimage, he had picked up the rumours of a relationship between her and Shepard, and she had confirmed them. There was no need to deny anything. And what was more, she would not deny or hide anything anymore, so she even added: "I'm happy he's here."
"With you?" Rael asked.
"Yes," Tali simply replied defiantly.
"Good," Rael answered. It sounded a bit stiff. "I'm happy for you."
This left Tali utterly speechless. She would have expected reproach, complaints, appeals to her duty. Surely her father had only accepted the fact that she had had a relation with Shepard because by then it had seemed to be over, ended by the Spectre's sudden demise? It was totally unlike Rael to simply accept this. The relationship was just too a large deviation from his plans for her life and besides it was too improper for the sort of good quarian he wanted her to be.
"Tali..." Rael began. He seemed to struggle with words. "I may not approve of your relationship with him. No, I definitely do not. I thought you'd find a partner to continue the Zorah line with. Or at least any quarian partner. This would make your life easier and... more respectable."
He paused. Ah, there it is. The rebuke. Tal decided to let it simply all wash over her. She would not outright resist her father, but Shepard was an issue where she would never back down either.
But to her surprise, Rael continued in a way she would absolutely not have expected: "But I lost the love of my life, your mother, years ago, and I still mourn her. It's not something I wish on anybody. It's definitely not something I wish my daughter to suffer. And you certainly must hold strong feelings for him, if they ignore the species barrier and even cause you to stand up to me. I was a fool - that was his influence, wasn't it?"
"Yes, it was," Tali confirmed. "And I do feel strongly for him."
"Then, even though I don't approve, I still wish you all the best," Rael told her. "I wish you two all the best."
"I admit, this is not what I had expected to hear," Tali said. She could not prevent sounding dumbfounded.
"I can't fault you. It isn't how I usually react," Rael admitted. "But all I've done in the last two years has just alienated us further and further, so maybe my usual reactions need to be corrected." Again he seemed to struggle. For a long time he seemed unsure whether to continue. Finally, he did: "Tali, I want to apologize."
"Apologize..." Tali echoed. She did not ask what for. Prazza seemed the most obvious subject.
"Yes," Rael confirmed. "For having ordered you away from your science project. And from Gillian. For how I reacted to your official protest against my orders. And for how I set Prazza on you."
Again her father surprised her: That was a more complete apology by far than Tali had expected. A pause ensued, in which neither side seemed to know what to say. Tali could not outright reject the apology, but neither could she just so accept it. It came too sudden for that.
Finally, Rael went on: "After having heard of his mutiny, of what happened on Freedom's Progress, and of Shepard's return... it became easier than before to see how wrong I've been. I wanted to press you into a clear career path, and all resistance be damned. And when you did resist, I reacted... ah, hurt, I think, even though I had no right to. I made wrong decisions, and you suffered the consequences."
That was probably the first time since the death of her mother, and maybe the first time, period, that her father had spoken about his emotions with her. It was just something he did not do. He keeps surprising me. He is different today. He seems to genuinely mean what he says. Maybe she could hence now also speak openly to him, about her emotions. That would even be ideal, despite the Haestrom mission starting in some hours. But she did not truly think herself able to do so. Only some weeks ago, her father had sent her on a death zone mission and then set a watch-varren on her. She could not so easily forget that.
On the other hand, she did not think he had totally failed her in her life, despite the pressures he had mentioned. Thus she answered: "You always did what you thought was best for me or the Fleet. You were often wrong in that regard, but I can appreciate that fact," But that's not enough. She looked down. Resisting her father was still difficult. "But there are two quarians now with the Ancestors who might not."
"I know, and that is more my fault than you even know," Rael admitted. "It's worse. It's my fault, as part of the Board, that your team was not properly equipped to deal with that human mech. Board politics, that's the reason." Surprised, Tali looked up again. Two deaths in my team, because of politics? "Zaal'Korris was dead set against the mission, called it a provocation of the geth. Fool. But we had to reach a compromise... a foul compromise: The mission would happen, but without the proper equipment: No heavy armour, no heavy weapons, no armoured transport, and so on, you know what you got. In his mind this was to ensure the mission would not turn into an attack run on the geth. Sending you to geth space with insufficient weapons... but I agreed. Thank the Ancestors Freedom's Progress happened. After what had happened there, even Korris had to relent and allow you to get heavier weapons and other proper equipment." [1]
"And you agreed with that," Tali said in a hollow voice. She could not believe what she just had heard. She knew her father could be cold and calculating, but this was more than she would have expected even from him.
"And I agreed with that," he confirmed. His voice was stern. It was the same sternness he had always used when she had yet again failed to meet one of his expectations. Now he seemed to apply it on himself. "The realization of that is what made me think about where else I have been wrong. And it's a lot of issues."
"This... this is a lot to think about," Tali stated. "And that so shortly before the mission."
"I know. I can't expect you to think about it now," Rael conceded. "But maybe you'll be able to on your way back. So that once you've returned, we can talk about this. About all the things where I went wrong and how we can fix them up."
That was an entire new concept for Tali: Seriously talking about such issues with her father. As far as she could remember, she had never done so. After the death of her mother, she had always turned to her 'Auntie' Shala'Raan, a close friend of her mother, if she had needed to talk about something. Her father had always been either away or very distant. But why not? Things can only go better between us.
"It would be worth a try," she hence judged. "I'd like that."
"However, there is a reason why I called you right now," Rael said. He said it in a largely professional tone, but it also sounded somewhat apologetic. "I put that off very long, probably too long. But I have a request to make of you. I don't want it to be an order, not again, but it's a very important issue."
Immediately, Tali became suspicious. "A request. That is where all your talk so far leads to."
"I can see why you'd mistrust me," Rael admitted. "But this is the last chance I have to make this request, as it concerns Haestrom."
Somewhat disillusioned, Tali just asked: "What is it?"
"Ancestors be praised, the Flotilla has not had much contact with the geth for centuries," Rael began to explain his position. "They haven't come to hunt us down. But this means we have very little information about them. Your pilgrimage gift helped a great deal with that, but it mostly provided a theoretical insight. We need a more practical approach, too. We need to understand them not only from a software, but also an engineering angle: Not only their runtimes, their platforms, too. We need to study geth platforms and machine parts. But getting them would not be worth the risk of another expedition into our former space."
Tali noticed how much surer and even a bit passionate her father sounded now. Much more confident than he had been in his apology. In any case, it was not difficult to see what he would ask for.
"But I am already here," she concluded.
"Exactly," he agreed. "That is why I have to ask you now, it's a one in a century chance. Hopefully you'll only encounter light resistance, but chances are you will encounter resistance. I'd very much appreciate it if you could store any intact geth parts you can find after battles on the Terrin, and then send them to me. I'll be aboard the Alarei, one of our finest lab ships. And I'd also appreciate it if you could keep quiet about this. The geth are a very sensitive topic among our people."
"So this is a secret order?" Tali asked.
"No," Rael answered. "I won't turn it into an order. I made that mistake once. But think about it, Tali: All I've said is true. You are already there, and we do need to understand geth platforms better. My timing was bad, but I can't waste this opportunity out of embarrassment about that. I have to ask you."
He has a point there. This is an one in a century chance. My relationship to my father should hence not enter my judgement; I have a duty to our people. Still, it made her feel very unsure about how honest he had been with his apology. The timing was just a bit too suspicious.
Hence, she answered: "And for me, it would indeed make little sense to waste this opportunity just to spite you. I'll do it. I'll return with the geth parts... and then we will talk."
"We will," Rael agreed. "But, please, no word of this to anybody. Truth be told... it would be bad if my opponents on the Board were to find out about this. Better keep quiet to Shepard, too. I know you won't like it, but going by all reports he could get ethical qualms about 'dissecting' fallen enemies. Even if they're geth. He's no quarian. He might sympathize, but he just can't understand what they've done to us."
"I think he'd be more pragmatical," Tali answered convinced.
She remembered Shepard's story about how he had convinced a man named Samesh Bhatia to let the Alliance keep the body of his wife, a soldier in Ashley's platoon who had fallen to the geth on Eden Prime. The Alliance had wanted to study the injuries the geth weapons had caused, and in their typical fashion had not bothered to ask relatives for permission first. Despite this, Shepard had argued there was more value in letting them continue with this, for the sake of the still living soldiers. This had been before his alienation from and eventual break with the Alliance.
As it had turned out since then, the large-scale study of geth caused wounds had in fact allowed the Alliance to improve their soldiers' armours against such weapons. The living had been helped, if by disrespect to the dead.
It was true that Shepard was very idealistic and could not abide injustices or callousness to people's suffering. But what he cared about was in fact people, and not abstract concepts like 'honour' or 'respect to the dead'. His righteous anger which Tali had seen breaking forth so many times rose when living people were hurt. That was was his idealism was all about: Not a well thought out philosophical doctrine, despite his very good ability to argue social and political points, but simply basic, emotional compassion. And while he had not definitely said so either way, she doubted he considered the geth 'people'. In any case he would not really care what happened to dead geth 'bodies'. But trying to explain that to Rael, who seemed to have a picture of Shepard as a more conventionally morally rigid person, could be difficult.
"Maybe," Rael admitted. "You'd know best. But it's a risk. Besides, if he knows and then maybe tells Council Chairwoman Goyle, and she tells others, who knows where this secret will end up? He may be trustworthy, but the best approach to secrecy is a need to know base."
Tali paused. Then she conceded: "All right. We'll do it your way. One last time."
000000
Haestrom had been quite an old quarian colony.[2] Founded as one of their first settlements outside Rannoch, it was hence relatively close to their old homeworld. Which in turn meant that these days, it was dangerously close to the geth homeworld. However, as the sparse records from beyond the Perseus Veil indicated, the geth had few permanent presence behind Rannoch's system itself. They would constantly patrol the rest of their space behind the Veil, but they had to cover an immense territory in these efforts. So chances were the quarians would discover no synthetics at all on the planet. Their plan was to come in quietly and slowly with as few emissions as possible and to hope that no geth patrol would detect them.
Shepard was not so sure about these chances. He agreed that there was no better option available to the mission. It was not like the quarians had stealth-capable ships, like the Normandy had been. And maybe for once luck would actually smile down on them. However, with his experience as a soldier he knew that it was always best to expect the worst possible outcome and prepare for that. He had little doubt he would face geth on the mission. And he would be ready for them.
He held out his right arm, looked at it, raised his lower arm and made a fist. The actuators of his heavy armour worked flawlessly, and his body seemed to be in top form. He was still uncomfortable with his body, especially in such moments when he actually spent time to think about it, but right now this feeling was just a mild unease, easily blended out when thinking of something else. He had a purpose, something where he could put his body to good use: He would ensure that even here, in deepest geth space, Tali would stay safe. If his body could do that, it would not matter who had created it.
In fact he could now even appreciate a certain irony in employing all those resources from his most hated enemy. His Cerberus body, his Cerberus armour, his Cerberus weapons - for once their tools would be used to do some good. More than that even: Using Cerberus resources to help some aliens get exclusive scientific findings other races, including humanity, won't get? I'd like to know what the Illusive Man thinks of that. The thought made him actually smile. It seemed that he was getting gradually more comfortable with the fact that his most hated enemy had resurrected him. It meant he could exploit their resources for his own ends by just living.
Currently he was sitting in a seat of the Terrin's only shuttle. The small ship lacked a docking bay and thus carried the vehicle below her hull, wedged between her engines and connected to her only by a small hatch at its ceiling. In fact, since the seats had been designed for quarians and since he was wearing his armour, he was rather sitting on two seats. This had caused some amusement among the quarian marines now sitting next to him when they had entered the shuttle. He had gotten to know them well enough that he had joined in with the jokes.
Soon, the Terrin would rush past Haestrom at high speeds. The shuttle's attachment to the ship would be severed during that manoeuvre, and the team would proceed to land on the planet. Its function was to serve as a scout unit, to ascertain that the chosen target area was safe enough to land the scientific equipment and experts they had brought along. If they gave the 'go ahead', the Terrin would then return to orbit, and the shuttle be used to ferry the equipment and personnel over. Then the ship would leave again and park at a position comfortably far away from the planet, leaving the ground team and the scientists to fend for themselves. That way, it would not get caught in any potential geth surprise attack or worse yet, on the ground.
Tali's insistence on preventing the latter had made Shepard smile. He recognized that particular tactical focus. Learned something from me, didn't you? And it made sense: If they lost the ship, they would all be doomed, cut off from all reinforcements in geth space, so protecting it had to be the highest priority.
Operating as part of a quarian team certainly would be a new experience. He was only all too aware of the problems that could arise from mixed units. In the worst cases, such units could mean uncertainty about what one could expect from one another, and confusion about differing combat doctrines. On the other hand, the ahead team would only consist of Fleet Marines, and none of the ship volunteers also participating in the mission. From what Shepard had been able to observe, Kal's men formed a highly professional team, so he was sure that if problems developed they could be overcome quickly.
The other unique experience would be operating in a tactical squad under somebody else's command for the first time in years. He looked at Kal and found the quarian had just been observing him in turn.
After a while, the Fleet Marine spoke up: "Hrm. I could give you some last minute advice like I did to the others here, but that would just be clearly have more battle experience than me."
"I hope it won't come to battle at all," Shepard answered.
"So do we all, but you know how these things go," Kal said.
"Oh, I do," Shepard confirmed. "The mission still seems a bit crazy to me, truth be told, but now that I'm here anyway, might as well start to pay off my transport fee." He grinned beneath his visor-less helmet. After a pause, he continued: "You know, it's funny. Back on my old ship, somebody would have commented about the mission by now."
This drew a chuckle from another marine. Nator, that was his name. "You don't know Reegar."
"There isn't much to say," Kal stated. "The Admiralty Board has given us pretty clear mission goals. We simply go and fulfil them, that's all there is to it."
"They tell us where to point our guns, and we shoot," a female marine commented.
"Exactly," Kal confirmed.
Shepard made a grimace the quarians could not see. This was exactly the kind of military attitude he despised. Of course soldiers had to follow orders, but there was a difference between keeping to command hierarchies and thoughtlessly following orders. The Binary Helix guards on Noveria had thoughtlessly followed orders when they had killed every scientist in Rift Station in a purge. When the Alliance Navy had cooperated with Conatix on BAaT, the military elements involved in that had most likely just thoughtlessly followed orders, too. And while Kal did seem to have a moral backbone, going by what Tali had told Shepard about his defence of Gillian against Cerberus, it was exactly the attitude he showed here which led to such crimes.
However, Shepard remained silent. He knew Kal meant well, and there was no use in starting an argument right at the start of a mission.
Nator seemed to sense his uneasiness, though: "Not exactly your approach, from all I've heard about you?"
Still unwilling to start an argument, Shepard shrugged and answered: "I can't speak for your people, but among mine, they sometimes do give bad orders." In fact, very bad orders. "So, yeah, I do think about the missions I've been given."
"Receiving bad orders now and then is as much a law of nature for a soldier as gravity," Kal commented. "I doubt there are exceptions to that in the galaxy. But better that then unclear command structures. Or doubts that can't be helped, but will weaken morale."
"No worry," Shepard reassured him. "I know why I'm here, and I know why I'll fight if need be. Tali helped me get away from Cerberus by letting me take part in this mission, so I'll serve it best I can."
"With all your mind focused on that, I hope," Kal said.
"Well, now that I'm here anyway, of course!" Shepard agreed. "I mean, now that we're all deep in geth space, do you think I'd just sit back and watch you all walk into danger? If I can contribute to it, I'll help to keep Tali safe... and everybody else..."
His addition came a bit too late. Nator interrupted him dryly: "I'm sure you will, yes."
Some marines chuckled. "Ah damn it," Shepard murmured. At least the amusement seemed to dissipate the quarian worries about his commitment, and solved the slight tension that had built up. Besides, why shouldn't this be my main source of motivation? Thus he said in a slightly self-deprecating tone: "Ah well. So you see why my morale will be top-notch, don't you worry."
"Fair enough," Kal judged, still slightly amused. "Not exactly military standard protocol, but if it means that the Hero of the Citadel will fight in my team, then I'll take what I..."
He stopped when the hatch leading to the Terrin was opened. In order to save space on both ship and shuttle, there were no ladders to aid in passing from one side to the next, so doing so could become quite the athletic manoeuvre. The person coming through the hatch did not bother with carefully sliding to the ground. Instead she let herself fall gracefully on her feet, bending her knees to absorb the slight impact.
"Ma'am!" Kal exclaimed upon seeing Tali. "Is something the matter? Do the communication systems act up again?"
"All systems work fine," Tali answered, straightening up again. "I've come to take over personal command over the scouting team."
"This is... unusual..." Kal commented, while Shepard simply exclaimed: "What?"
"I trust your abilities, Kal," Tali reassured him. "But if there are geth down there, I need to see them with my own eyes and instruments. I need to find out what models they use. That's part of the ahead team's objectives, too. And I... I think I have the most experience in that."
That was true, but Shepard thought there was still something amiss. Tali could easily have identified any geth platforms and models from the team's records. And putting the expedition leader into the frontline scout unit defied every tactical and strategical logic. What was worse, she had to know this, too.
"I see," Kal answered her. "We'll follow your lead then."
Tali took a seat of her own. Shepard wondered if she had come for his sake. It was at least possible that she did not want to leave him alone on an ahead mission that could potentially turn very dangerous. But such unprofessional decision making would be very unlike her. The two had managed to keep to military hierarchy and professionalism despite their relation on the Normandy. There was no reason to assume this would change now.
He tried to look at her, maybe to find some unspoken confirmation or denial for his theories. She turned away and avoided his gaze. This made Shepard sure: This isn't about me. She's hiding something. Given how surprising the last minute call by her father had been, it was easy to deduce that it had something to do with that.
…...
Tali had chosen the ruins of a former quarian city as the target area for the mission. The remnants of the buildings there would hopefully be able to provide some cover for the team, and should there be a geth attack they could aid in their defence. The objective of the scouting unit was to check if the route between the shuttle landing zone and a certain group of buildings in this city was free of threats. From orbit, the buildings had appeared as a promising location to establish the base camp, but the quarians needed eyes on the ground to find out for sure.
Shepard hoped the buildings were in a better state than what he currently was seeing on his way through the ruins. In fact, 'ruins' was an all too generous term for what once must have been a proud quarian city. 'Rubble' seemed to be better fitting. Only some single concrete walls and much stone and metal debris seemed to remain. Even the millennia old Prothean skyscrapers on Feros, reduced as they had been to their bare walls, seemed to be in better condition than the remnants of quarian settlement on Haestrom.
None of the quarians spoke. Shepard wondered how they felt about seeing such a monument to their people's downfall. He would have to check up on Tali later; he could not leave her alone with such thoughts.
Then again, there were far more immediate worries they could possibly think about.
"Electronic aim support failed in my rifle," one of the marines reported.
As they had found out when they had entered Haestrom's atmosphere, its magnetospheric protection had become nearly worthless against the sudden onslaught of the expanding star's rapidly increasing radiation. Being exposed to direct sunlight for too long now was a death sentence for every piece of electronic equipment. In addition, the amounts of conventional energy set free by the sun were massive enough to also directly interfere with dark energy build-ups - like the ones every piece of mass effect technology used, including their kinetic barriers. Shield generators were able to compensate for that, but only by stabilizing the kinetic barriers at ever decreasing levels of strength - so essentially, standing in sunlight meant you were losing your shields. And the effect on my biotic powers could be... interesting as well.
But while this was bad for obvious security reasons, the damage done to electronics was even worse, as it threatened the entire aim and purpose of the mission: How could they observe a star, if the same star could fry all equipment doing so? Tali was obviously worried about that issue, but had decreed that for now they would simply finish the scouting mission. She would ponder what to do about the extreme radiation once the actual observation equipment had been brought down from the Terrin.
"Understood," she replied to the marine's report. "Just stay in the shadows and hope everything else keeps working fine."
"Well, we did come to find out what could have caused such a massive expansion of the star," Shepard commented.
"This is one effect of it, yes," Tali confirmed. "But it makes no sense! Three hundred years ago this was a normal star. Our ancestors walked on this planet without envirosuits. There should not be such a rapid expansion in such a short time, it goes against all galactic theories on star development."
"If it wasn't so extraordinary, they wouldn't have sent us into the middle of geth space, ma'am," Nator stated.
Kal made a small coughing sound, which caused Shepard to grin: No doubt the quarian was unhappy about the amount of unprofessional chatter, but with Tali instead of him leading the unit he was in no position to order it cut. Especially as she herself was participating in it, too.
And as far as Shepard was concerned, Kal really had no reason to complain about lacking professionalism. The way the team moved was a model example on how to advance into unknown territory: Marines formed small groups to have every angle of view covered, and the groups leapfrogged each other. There was little chance of them running into a geth ambush or surprise attack.
So instead, the synthetics tried to force the issue with a conventional frontal assault.
"Geth!" somebody shouted, "Enemies in second objective quarter."
Shepard was briefly stumbled by that description. Foreign military terminology. One reason I missed why working with other military forces might be complicated. But then he simply turned his attention to where the shout had come from. Everybody else seemed to do the same.
"Jam their communication signals if you can!" Tali ordered. "They mustn't give away our position!"
Never having had much technological aptitude, and carrying no equipment specialized in jamming, Shepard decided he fell outside the 'if you can' clause and instead concentrated on finding and eliminating the enemy. This was surprisingly easy: The geth all came from the same direction, and did not even try to choose alternate routes. Their neural network is overburdened with the new situation. That was good. It meant only few geth platforms were in the area, and those that were would be quite ineffective. They'll be quite stupid.
In addition to this, this time Tali did not lead a team of under-equipped volunteers against the enemy, but well trained and well equipped Fleet Marines. It did not take long for them and Shepard to dispatch the geth troops. In the end, not even a single of the organic combatants had even lost their shields.
Even after the last synthetic had gone down, Tali was still working on her omni-tool. She approached Kal and Shepard. "I hope they haven't called for reinforcements," she commented, "but I think our chances are good."
"What makes you so sure?" Shepard asked. That was his main worry as well: Easily defeated as these geth had been, it was possible they had already doomed the stealth and secrecy that were indispensable to the mission.
"With all the radiation in the magnetosphere, there is no way they can send a coherent signal offworld," Tali explained. She paused and then added: "Same way as we're cut off from the Terrin, admittedly, but now this fact works for us. And I think I jammed their communication successfully throughout all the battle. But if they have sent a signal before and if there are other geth already on this world, then we may have a problem."
"Understood," Kal acknowledged. "So we need to be careful."
"Always," Tali agreed. "I'll check those platforms to see if I can get access to their communication logs. Maybe I can see if they have contacted others. The rest of the team, proceed to the target area."
Neither Kal nor Shepard liked this, and they both protested at once. "Ma'am, you should have a guard with you, at least!" the quarian said, and the human: "You want to stay here alone?"
"You'll draw all the geth attention away from me," Tali justified her order. "I don't think I'll be in much danger here."
"Even so, a guard to watch your surroundings while you're busy with the platforms..." Kal began, before he was interrupted by Tali.
"This is an order, Kal'Reegar," she simply said.
After some hesitation, Kal confirmed: "Yes, ma'am."
Shepard in the meanwhile could only stare at Tali unbelieving. What is she up to? Remaining behind in what could possibly be a geth-infested area seemed almost insane to him. There had to be a reason for this, but clearly she would not tell. Carefully he approached her. But before he could say something, she told him: "That goes for you as well, Jon." She paused, and then added quieter: "I'm sorry, but I have my reasons. I hope I'll be able to tell you them soon."
This only made Shepard's worries worse. What is she hiding? He knew she had a right to hide matters, even from him. It saddened him that apparently she distrusted him, but he could not force the issue; she had a right to privacy. Normally, he nonetheless would of course still try to talk to her to bring her to reason, but he was in the middle of a mission at the moment, and under orders. Tali was not just his girlfriend, at the moment she was his commanding officer. And thus, even though he did not like it, he had to follow her orders.
Slowly, he walked away from her, joining up with the marines again. He looked back one more time and saw Tali, her omni-tool active, beginning to work on one of the downed platforms.
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[1] At least, that seems like a logical explanation to me as to why the quarians on Freedom's Progress had weapons that could not even scratch a single Mech, even though they had originally been sent into geth space (Tali says they are on a mission), and as to why despite this they then had decent equipment on Haestrom. It makes sense to me that this was all due to Board politics, especially considering what characterization of the Board we get to see during Tali's trial. Pulling stuff like this is IMO something Korris would do.
[2] I've been given to understand that ME 3 hints at Haestrom having been the only quarian colony. Seeing how the quarians had been in space for centuries, and that as a respectable Citadel power, too, this seems highly unlikely to me, no matter their problems in adapting to other biospheres. They would have had centuries of time for either finding just the right planets, or for 'Rannoch-forming'. So, not that it's important, but since I can be quite pedantic in these matters, we can assume for this fic that before the Geth War the quarians had a respectable colonial space of their own. Say, maybe en par with the elcor, who also have troubles finding fitting planets.
