Authors note: Hey there guys! It's me, Porygonman. And I have a few things I'd like to tell you. First of all, I feel like I should apologize for not making the deadline last sunday. I know it's no excuse, but I was really, and I mean really tired. I spent the entire morning out of town, I couldn't write, I couldn't sleep, I was pretty much a mess. And I'm also stupidly lazy. So, I'm sorry.
Second of all, I'd like to ask you guys (someone will probably reply one day) what you think of my current upload schedule. Is it ok? Should I go faster? Or should I ease up a bit to make better content in a larger span of time? You guys choose and then let me know.
Finally, I'd like to know what you think of the series itself. I've gotten a few great reviews recently, which are always nice, specially because they give me a lot more insight into what I should be doing, and I thank everyone who's done that so far. So, on that note, is it ok to bring in these little episodes that don't break canon, or should I go for something more regular? Or something more exquisite? Again, it's all up to you.
Thanks for your patience, everyone. I promise I'll try my best to avoid missing deadlines from now on and take all of your feedback into consideration. Yours truly,
Porygonman.
…
"Good, you're here."-Garrus said as he put the datapad down and walked towards Shepard. The Commander had just entered the CIC and was looking mildly concerned, but he instantly kicked in his "badass-ready-for-anything-commander" mode.
"Give me a list of every crewmember that's out on the Citadel, give them a sitrep on the situation and have Joker plot a course to the Charon relay."-he said as he moved towards the galaxy map. When he got there, he activated the ships speakers and spoke to all the crew. –"Attention! All crewmembers are to report to their stations immediately and prepare for take off. We have an unscheduled department in about half an hour. We will be heading for the Sol system to investigate and contain a dangerous disturbance in an Alliance training facility back on Luna. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill. I want those engines ready to go and a course plotted in ten minutes tops. Shepard out."-after finishing his small speech, he headed to the pilot's cabin. Garrus was already there giving Joker the mission details and helping him plot a course. Besides him was, beautiful as ever, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya.
"Shepard. I'm glad you're here. I think I'll need your help on this one."-she said as he approached them, expecting a normal, warm welcome from his end. However, she sensed something strange in the way he moved, in his stance. He stopped and looked at her from head to toe. She stared into his eyes and saw the same compassion that was usually there… but something else entirely too. There was a fiery passion in him, something fierce that loomed over him. She could read his determination, his anger, and his concerns through his body language, and she suddenly felt as if she was meeting a completely new side to him. The air around them seemed to get thicker all of the sudden. She hadn't seen him act like this ever, not even back on Feros.
"You've been doing great Tali, but I'm going to have to ask you to step down of the Commander shoes. Now. Let me handle this."-he stared her down with an intensity she could have never foreseen in him. It was as if he was about to fight her out of the blue. She could still see that he was clearly trying to keep his emotions in check and act as friendly as he could, but he appeared as someone ready to battle for something extremely precious to him. He did not seem to take this burden lightly at all.
"S-sure…"-she felt frankly intimidated by his sudden burst of motivation, but refrained from commenting while he was around. After speaking to her, Shepard nodded with a clearly fake smile and stepped out of the cabin to immediately broadcast orders throughout the ship yet again. His militaristic attitude and tone, the way he walked, the very look on his eyes as he picked up Garrus' Mantis rifle from one of the CIC terminals and immediately startd checking it and loading it, all of this was new to her.
She stared over at Garrus and heard him gulp slightly. The turian had been unwittingly reminded of his training instructors back at the turian military. They'd strived for discipline through intimidation and appealing to one's sense of duty, but no matter how good they'd been, they had nothing on Shepard right now. The man had never treated any of the crew members wrong, but for a guy who's usually pretty laid back and likeable, he now had an aura around him capable of shattering a ship. He didn't just look intimidating. He was pissed. Which meant that during all the time they'd been fighting the geth, he'd kept his cool and hadn't given in to his inner anger.And that scared Garrus more than anything. Specially since the Commander was a biotic. Spirits knew he was strong enough in his passive mindset.
Then, she glanced at Joker, who'd been perfectly dumbfounded by these events. Yet, he still muttered:
"Oh crap… I'm sorry for whoever gets in his way today."
Tali felt his apprehension and went on to question him.
"Joker, what is it? Do you know what's up with Shepard?"-she promptly inquired while Shepard finished adjusting the weapon in the background. Joker cautiously glanced over at him as if to make sure it was safe to speak, and replied hesitantly:
"Well, you're probably better off asking Kaiden about this stuff, but… rumor around the Alliance has it that the Commander gets a bit touchy when it comes to threats to the human home system."
"Wait, there have been more than just this one?"-she asked him incredulously. Could it be that the humans had been attacked while Shepard was on service? She decided to ask. –"As there been any… incident involving aliens and the human home system?"
To her surprise, it was not Joker, but Garrus who replied.
"You quarians don't know much about the world out of the flotilla, do you now?"-he had a bit of an arrogant smirk on his face as he said it, Which lead to Tali instantly reaching towards the spot on her suit where her shotgun usually was, but on second thought his comment didn't seem malicious, so Tali decided to just lay off him this once. He seemed to notice it and pretended not to be bothered, but still he continued. –"Well, I guess there's no harm in educating you for once instead of lecturing you. Fine."
He couldn't see it, but Tali had formed a smirk of her own underneath the visor. Over the last few weeks, the turian who'd never particularly liked her had started to pick on her more intensively than ever before. She didn't really care, since she knew the truth. His words might be poisonous a few times, but his body language told her a lot. She was starting to grow on him. And awkwardly enough, the obnoxious, once ruthless, prideful turian had actually turned out to be a pretty nice guy under the idiotic exterior. Who knew, maybe they could actually get along one of these days.
Meanwhile, Garrus had stopped Joker from accusing him of, and I quote, "stealing his thunder from under his nose", getting only a faint "get that pole out of your ass" when Joker finally shut up. Then, he began talking.
"It was about thirty Galactic Standard Years ago. The turian military, alongside some minor Council inspectors, mostly turian or salarian, were sent to investigate a sudden spike in element zero radiation emissions from the Shanxi-Theta relay, and also from another one known as Relay 314 in Council space. They were sent first to the later, expecting to find a drive malfunction or a leak, since no race we knew about was going to start running around activating Mass Relays after the Rachni war incident.
They were wrong. The turian scouts found what appeared to be an expansion fleet, heavily militarized and attempting to reactivate an inactive Mass Relay. With no other choice, and in a desperate attempt to stop the unknown species from unleashing whatever lay beyond the Mass Relay, they were forced to exact swift justice and wipe out the alien force.
They would later know that a small patrol cruiser made it out before being destroyed. That is, they learned it seconds before they died to the human retaliation forces, who completely eliminated the superior turian force with an ingenious and unexpected surprise attack. But our ships were equipped with QEC while the humans still relied on inferior means of communication, which allowed us to enforce a counterattack. I'll spare you the details, but we ended up capturing one of their colonies, losing it, and just before we could start an all out war, the Council intervened and a peace treaty was signed. Which is the only reason there are still any humans in this galaxy. Although I must say, they're supposed to have put up quite a fight."-he finished.
This was a lot of info for Tali to take in. Things outside the flotilla were usually kept under strict supervision and were generally not even interesting to any quarian, but she had just assumed that an all out war between a Council race and a new species would have made its way to them. Again, she was frustrated about the shackles that held her people down, condemning them to an eternity of suffering in the void. She longed for the day she and all of her people could live like any other species in the whole dam galaxy: free to participate in galactic politics, to have a seat in an embassy on the Citadel, to claim a homeworld and walk around and breathe without those tight suits hindering them. To feel less like a trapped animal and more like a person.
"Are you telling me that's what's gotten him so worked up?"-she asked him, attempting to get her mind off of things and focusing solely on her Commanders state.
"What are you guys talking about?"-silently, Shepard had creeped up behind them, and was standing there with a glint of irritation and disapproval in his eyes, despite of his yet constant attempt to keep a calm and friendly appearance. Tali was out of breath for a while, and he looked at her as if he was about to pounce and kill someone. But suddenly, he just sighed disapprovingly and started heading back, much to the other three's relief. –"I'm known for going easy on you guys, which I'm not even sure should be something to be proud of, but you should really get back to work know. Things will get ugly soon enough and you'd better be ready. I need people I can count on ready for a fight."
"Yes sir!"-Garrus said while saluting in the traditional human way.
"You know he can't see you salute if his back's turned to you, right?"-Joker quickly and ironically asked, which would have probably earned him a punch from anyone else, but Garrus just looked at him with the expression of a serial killer. The message got through and Joker quickly apologized.
"Hey there, Garrus, pal, amigo, no need to get pissed, it was just a joke! No hard feelings, right?"
"I swear upon the Spirits that one day I'll bring the joke down on you, Joker. You can write that down!"-he said as he stormed off, probably just to look cool.
"Geez, what's wrong with that prick? At least he' been getting a little better… a little."-Joker said while making faces at Garrus' back, which made Tali snicker.
"You realize he can't see you if his back's turned to you, right?"- she immediately said, not able to contain herself anymore. Joker looked flabbergasted and stared at her for a while before laughing it off.
"HAHAhaha! Talk about instant karma!"-he said, wiping tears from his face.
"Well, I'd better run. Since the Commander's taking over and this is the last day of our be… I mean, the last day of my captaining skills orientation… I should probably head down to engineering. See you later Joker."-sh said as she turned around and waved her hand.
"Hey, wait up. Does that mean I don't have to call you Captain Tali anymore? Because that was an experience I'd rather forget about."
"Yeah, sure."-she said as she headed out.
"Oh, and one more thing."-she heard from behind her, and got a little pissed off.
"What now, Joker? I'm busy!"
"Talk to Alenko about Shepard if you want the truth. Garrus just spouted out a bunch of nonsense about the war. I guarantee that has nothing to do with Shepard at all, but the details are classified so I don't know much. Talk to Kaiden, see what he can tell you."-Joker said with the most serious look she'd ever seen him with. She quickly felt a bit embarrassed by her attitude.
"Right. Sorry about that. Thanks a lot Joker!"
"Yeah, yeah, just don't forget to tell me afterwards! I've got a bet going with he armory guy over probable cause and I need that money, so go get 'em sister!"
Tali suddenly clenched her fist and stopped moving. Then, she started walking again, with only one thought flowing through her mind.
'Opportunistic asshole.'