Nusquam Alius Res (Nothing else Matters)
Chapter 19
They reached the relay and both ships entered for the Valhallan Threshold. As they came out on the other side a quarian scout ship interrogated them. Lia and Kenn said they were heading for the Fleet. Shepard stated he was on Council business investigating the quarian and corporate conflict, and would appreciate any information they could provide. The scout ship thanked him on the behalf of the quarians for coming to check the incident out. They would pass on his request and information. As the Lik'Me Al'lot headed for the fleet, the Normandy headed for the fuel depot.
There were several quarian ships ahead of the Normandy, it would be a few hours. Shepard decided to check on the new crew members. He hadn't heard anything from Miranda yet, so things must be okay. He came out on the 3rd deck and saw the quarians sitting at a table eating. They stood as he approached.
"Sit, don't worry about it on this ship. Settling in yet?"
"Yes captain." Liadi responded.
"Commander."
"Commander? We all got to send updates to the fleet, thank you. Your ship is fantastic."
"Thanks, we all try." Shepard smiled, putting them at ease. "Liadi, Zan, and Opel, I would like you to move in to the normal crew quarters, you should part of the crew. It's not as quiet either if it helps you sleep." They all nodded.
Miranda came out of her quarters in her new uniform and headed over as Shepard introduced her. "And here is our XO, Miss Lawson." Again the quarians all stood and greeted her with a Ma'am. Kal looked the woman before him, he guessed Shepard didn't have much of a dress code. It was tight like a quarian suit, but her cleavage almost made him stare. The outfit was jet black with red and blue trim near the edges. The woman knew how to wear a suit.
"Welcome aboard the Normandy, I'm Miranda Lawson, the XO. You'll find we are a pretty standard ship. We are covered by Shepard's SPECTRE status and operate independently among many factions. Your alliance is to this ship and crew, not the Fleet or anything else. You will never have to choose between the two, you can ask Miss Zorah if you want confirmation. You are free to leave when you want; we only want you here if you want to be here. We'll be stopping at the fleet once our investigation is over. Liadi'Ketnil, you're with me. Your resume is very good." She wasted no time starting in on her. "Come with me, what's the procedure when outnumbered by 1 larger and 2 similar ships with less firepower." Liadi'ketnil fired back and followed her out of the mess hall.
Grunt came in and sat down near the four. "Shepard."
"Grunt, say hello to our new crew members. You remember Kal from Haestrom?"
"Right, only survivor, had the rocket launcher. That was a glorious battle, that Colossus never had a chance."
"Good to see you again." A shape appeared behind him. "You too Miss Goto."
"You remembered. I'm touched, glad to have you onboard Kal." She disappeared again.
Zan and Opel were speechless. Krogans, disappearing humans, they hadn't seen this, even on pilgrimage. Tali showed up. "Zan, Opel, you're with me. I know you'll make quarian engineers proud; you did well in school and got on spec ops teams, so you must have some talent. Let's see if we can find it." Tali may not want to lead an army in to battle, but leading people to her engineering plant was a different story. The three engineers left.
Kal got out a "Ma'am" and watched her leave. She seemed so much happier than on Haestrom and the Fleet after her pilgrimage. Werl, watched him, something didn't sit right with her about this Reeger. She'd keep an eye on him.
"Kal, go up to the 2nd deck and see Jacob in the armory. He can show you the weapons we have. If you get bored you can always help him out. "Ahhh..Garrus." Garrus sat down with his lunch and looked at the new quarian.
"Tali, I like the new look, very bold, manly, nice colors though."
"I thought turian females were supposed to be submissive to there superiors, guess I was wrong."
Garrus's mandible flared and then he laughed, "The great Kal'Reeger, we've heard about you. Single handedly holding off hordes of Geth, I think you'll fit in fine here." Kal was laughing and they shook hands. "Always glad to have another crew member with the right amount of digits."
"Garrus is who the ground team reports if there any problems. You'll be on a 3 person team whenever you're ready to gear up."
"I'm ready when you need me commander. I'll head to the armory, excuse me."
"Well, I'm glad someone finally has a bigger stick up there ass then me."
"But you beat people with yours now, you hadn't heard? We're going to investigate soon so both of you be ready."
*****N.A.S.*****
Miranda lead Liadi to a terminal on the 2nd deck.
"This is your station. You'll go through some scenarios to make sure you now more than book knowledge. EDI, set her up."
"Yes Miss Lawson."
"Who's EDI?"
Miranda was pissed no one had told Liadi about the AI yet, oh well, they'll have to get over it. Legion would come soon enough. "EDI is the ship, an AI. She's a crew member." Liadi thought she must have heard wrong.
"You mean VI?"
"No, AI. Very advanced, like I said, you can leave when we get to the fleet."
"No ma'am." She just might, but if Tali'Zorah could do it, so could she. She adjusted the interface to her needs and the scenarios began.
In engineering, Gabby was coming on to relieve Ken for lunch when Tali and the new engineers showed up.
"These are engineers Donnelly and Daniels. You'll be training with and reporting to them. They know their stuff; you'll do well to listen to them. Opel, you'll tag along with Gabby, Zan, you'll shadow Ken. I'm sending you the information on the Tantalus core, the heart of the Normandy. Human or not, any ship depends on us, the engineers." She led them down the walkway to the core itself. Zan and Opel where amazed.
"It's so large for a ship this size, it's amazing." Zan was astounded.
"How did they do this?" Opel followed.
Tali responded, "It is a good feat of engineering, and you'll be running it." They walked back to the main area where Ken and Gabby were still turning over.
"Ken and Gabby will show you your crew quarters too. I know you have a lot to go over. I'm here for any questions. Listen to these two. So far just the three of us are here, having you two will bring us back to a full complement and will be a great help." Tali's omni-tool beeped. "I have a meeting to attended, I'll be back. If you need anything let one of use know." She turned and left them alone with the humans.
"Just call me Ken, and this is Gabby. Welcome aboard." There was silence. "Never seen a human before?" They shook their heads no. "Well ain't that grand. You know, we have four…"
"KEN!" The women shouted. "We are here to train these two, not make up stories. I apologize for my coworker's behavior. Opel you can look over the core as we go to lunch, come on. Zan, don't believe anything he says, especially about humans. Opel, are quarian men as hardheaded?"
As Opel began to laugh Ken replied, "Ey' I wasn't a coworker a few nights ago."
"KENNETH!" An oomph was heard as Ken got an elbow in the ribs.
Opel smiled, "Oh, you too are together." Maybe humans wouldn't be so bad after all.
"It's that obvious lass?" He still held his side.
"Well, Zan and I are together too, we're just waiting for the official ceremony, it's hard on spec op missions."
"Well, ain't that nice. That keeps engineering a couple only place. They'll fit right in." Ken chuckled.
"Wait, Tali'Zorah is with someone? But, there's not another quarian on the ship." Zan looked at Opel, "Maybe the Kal rumors where true, now there together, that's great!"
Ken and Gabby stared at each other, Gabby spoke, "If that's true, Kal better be smart. He won't say or do anything. Tali's with the commander." Opel stood rigid, Humans and quarians can be together? She's with Shepard? No wonder why she won't leave. "It's known on the ship, that's it, and it doesn't leave it either." Gabby had a stern look on her face.
"What commander?" Zan asked. Opel sighed, men.
"The only commander on the ship." Gabby stated.
"But that's Shepard, he's a human..right?" Ken and Gabby nodded.
"Where does she stay?" Zan asked still confused.
"In their cabin on the first deck, commander's quarters." Ken smiled as he answered.
"But, where does she sleep?" They could tell he was still processing the information.
"I would assume in his bed. We know he's seen her face, but he won't tell us anything else." Then to hit home Ken made it crystal clear. "He made his room a clean room."
"Ken, save the rumors for the crew quarters, not on duty."
Zan and Opel were stunned. Tali was going to more than famous once this got out. They both wondered how the fleet would handle her not picking a quarian to bond with. Gabby left with Opel for the mess deck. Zan stared at Ken, who smiled and pointed next to him. Zan went to the open terminal and started reading on the core. Amazing, what a ship he thought as the information start to scroll by.
*****N.A.S.*****
Kal arrived at the armory and found Jacob cleaning and inspecting a weapon. He looked up, "Welcome Kal, I've heard you know your way around some weapons."
Kal looked over the weapons, so many, so advanced, nothing second rate here. He looked at the table and the locker. "I do okay. Do you need any help?"
"I can always use some help. We abuse these weapons, and I've got to keep them going. They've seen a lot of action." Kal stopped in front of a table at the end. A Revenant? He had only seen Geth Primes with them. He reached for it. "Careful Kal. That table has weapons for specific people. Garrus's favorite sniper rifle, Tali's Geth shotgun, Legion's Widow, Kasumi's Locust, Grunt's Claymore, and the Commander's Revenant. Don't touch those; they get very protective of their babies. Almost everyone has one. Heard you can work a heavy, what's your regular weapon of choice?"
"An assault rifle." Kal looked down the line of weapons again. He was going to enjoy this while it lasted.
*****N.A.S.*****
As they waited for their turn to refuel, the Normandy was hailed. Joker patched it through to Shepard at his second deck terminal.
"Captain Shepard, this in the Kirrub. We will be escorting you to the attack area. We also are going to send all information on the incident. You can go ahead of any quarian ships to refuel. We understand the importance of your mission; the admiralty requests your presence when you are done."
"Thank you. We will review the information in route and stop by the Fleet when the mission is done. Joker, let's get fueled up."
After they finished, they headed out to the coordinates escorted by two frigates and the Kirrub, a cruiser. Shepard knew it was quite a show, maybe things where worse than he thought. As they headed out he reviewed the information and compared it to the corporate information he had from the Citadel. He signaled Garrus that there might be a ground mission and he would need a second team. What was on this planet they were mining, and why would a Reaper be here?
*****N.A.S.*****
The admiralty board came together. They had finished reading Captian Parl'hord's report on the second Haestrom mission. They all wondered what Shepard was doing there. The Lik'Me Al'lot would dock at the Neema and the crew could be interviewed personally if needed. They were all glad it was Shepard that was investigating the incident, if anyone would give a fair report with quarians involved, it would be him.
"Why are we still looking at this star? We lost two ships, over fifty people this time, it's not worth it." Implored Zaal.
"Something is going on. We need to know. It might involve the Reapers." Daro replied.
"Then give the information to Shepard and let's be done with it. It will only anger the Geth." Zaal retorted.
"Speaking of which. How does Shepard get the Geth to stop attacking us, and even help the surviving crew." Han wondered aloud.
"We'll ask him when he returns. If not, we can get the crew left behind to tell us when they return." Shala reasoned. "Maybe it wasn't so bad Captian Parl'hord transferred some crew members over."
"Bah, it's bad enough Tali is serving under a human, now four more? You need to reel her in Shala." Daro spat.
"I've got the men for the Razkel lined up. I've signaled them to come to the Neema as we speak. Tali will have to choose and leave this fantasy world she lives in, she needs to come back to the fleet. Maybe with Kal onboard he'll make her come to her senses. Both are becoming icons in the fleet."
Daro and Zaal agreed, Han said nothing; he had his own plan which was hopefully going well now concerning Tali.
"Well, be careful with Shepard. He's quite popular amongst the fleet now. Killing Geth, rescuing Tali and Kal when we couldn't, and now a second Haestrom rescue. Also, the Cyniad rescue, new rumors on the collector base, and what Tali may have done. She took a human ship name and grows famous, making us look worse. That damn vid of Shepard yelling at us is still number one. He's gone out of his way to help the fleet, the people know it." Han grumbled.
"Well, she'll be back soon and to stay. I'll make sure of it." Shala spoke firmly. Her omni-tool beeped. "Admirals, we have the footage from the Shadowbroker." They all looked at the large holo vid spring up before them.
The admirals were amazed at what they saw. They had footage from several of Shepard's team member's helmets. They were all proud when they saw Tali picked for the security shaft mission. They got tense as they saw and heard her pleas for help and Shepard rushing to save her. It almost sounded like it was more than just the mission, but they all ignored the idea. They saw Tali help save every one. Tali's fame would grow in the fleet. Next, they saw Shepard split the team again and Tali went with the larger group. Was that a Geth? Couldn't be. They remained transfixed on the images.
The killing and destruction were unbelievable. Whatever they thought of Tali before, they knew she was a warrior now. The collectors never seemed to end, but they kept going, shooting, killing, and moving back to Shepard. They came to another safe place. They all saw various aliens on Shepard team work together and do heroic feats. Biotics, sharpshooters, Shepard's team was a small army and Tali was part of it.
The final stage was set. Shepard chose Tali first, they were shocked yet again. She was there when he defeated Saren with that Krogan, and now this. Then a real shock set over them. They had seen a Geth. It climbed the platform and was there with Shepard and Tali. They looked at each other. It spoke! What was this Geth? They saw the platform leave, and then the image split between the Geth, Shepard, and Tali's views. They felt chills as the humanoid reaper appeared. The battle was amazing. Shepard had the Geth using what looked like a canon for a sniper rifle behind him. Tali patrolled in front or next to him with her shotgun blasting anything that got close. It looked like a women protecting her mate she was so fierce. But again, they all dismissed the thought. Shepard switched between weapons and plugged away at the Reaper. At one point he brought out a weapon that seemed to release a small nuke. The explosion was huge, and the reaper survived.
Finally, the Reaper larva fell, but not before the platforms started to tilt and fall. They saw the platform and top of the Reaper cavern as Tali and Shepard rolled down the tilting platform. From the Geth's view they saw Tali start to slide to the edge and Shepard launch himself after her. Both had their arms out reaching for each other. The admirals where completely captivated. Something broke their arm hold just as they clasped. They had heard people shouting and giving orders throughout the vid. But, now they heard Shepard shout for her, from Tali's view his eyes large in fear as Tali screamed for Shepard. What happened next stunned them all.
They heard Tali say a small prayer. The prayer to have your Elz-hikic save you, knowing that nothing and no one else can, and you do not doubt they will come through. As she finished her screen looked down to see nothing but black. The Geth's view showed her disappear. Shepard's showed him reaching out and after missing, grabbing her hand and saving her. His eyes had a look of relief in them. Tali finished her prayer, I knew you would save me she finished. The platforms heaved again. They saw Shepard pulling Tali and the Geth out from some rumble after a jump forward in the vids time. He seemed to particularly concerned in making sure Tali was alright. Now they were running back to the ship, Shepard almost falling and Tali being there to pull him in and crying happily as he made it in. His face filled her screen and the vid ended.
The admirals all looked at each other, Geth, Tali and Shepard? One last image came up. It was a picture of Tali and Shepard embracing each other on an unknown ship. The image left no doubt as to their feelings for each other. Shepard held her around the waist smiling broadly and Tali had her arms around his neck, her head in his chest looking toward them. She seemed so relaxed, and her eyes seemed happy.
"BOSH'TET! HE'S TAKING ADVANTAGE OF HER!" Shala shouted.
Han wondered if his plans might go horribly wrong. Daro and Zaal had nothing to say. Shala continued, "This fantasy will end when they return. She'll stop acting like child and help us with the fleet. How could she do this? A human, even if it is Shepard? WHY was that image included? This is childish!"
Daro broke the silence, "We should not show the last parts. If it gets out we'll have to have another treason trail. She worked with the enemy, even if it saved everyone."
"It'll get out anyways; more information will come from the news and people returning from pilgrimage every day. It'll happen sooner or later. But, it proves my point; the Geth can be worked with." Zaal spoke happily.
The admirals stared at the image of Tali and Shepard embracing, what were they going to do about this? Shala shook with rage. She saw how Tali looked at him at the trial, but never imagined something would happen from it. After Shepard died, she was devastated, then so happy when he returned, and ecstatic when she joined his crew again. Did she always love him? Where they even compatible? Did he love her back? Well, she would find out, starting now. "Bring up the trail footage, I want every angle on Tali and Shepard we have."
*****N.A.S.*****
On the Shadowbroker's ship the assistant came up to Liara.
"The quarian admirals have received all of the images. Our informant says they were shocked at the last image as you predicted." It then moved on to update Feron. Liara smiled, that ought to help stir things up. Her latest money making scheme would be even better now that it was setup; she sent the plan to Shepard.