Landings
Shepard stood in the airlock near the cockpit with Tali by his side as they waited for the ship to touch down on Rannoch, shifting occasionally as the ship eased its way down gently. A few minutes had passed since he'd ushered Tali into the airlock, and not a word had been said as they waited. None were needed; both of them were eager for the first sight of their new home. A vibration on his wrist made him jump and look down in surprise as his Omni-tool beeped at him, and he quickly accepted the call.
"Ok Commander, we're all set. We have officially landed on Rannoch. There's a small town about a quarter of a mile from the landing site, and a few vehicles are parked next to us. Looks like the Admirals decided to give you a personal welcome."
Tali was bouncing on her toes as she heard the news, no doubt eager to see Shala'Raan again. Shepard felt the butterflies in his stomach for the first time in a long while at the thought of his new task on Rannoch, but forced them down and responded.
"Thanks, Joker. Lower the ramp, would you? I'd rather not have to jump." He heard Joker acknowledge him, but at the same time his mind was jerked toward the airlock door as it began to cycle open and allowed him his first glance at a peaceful Rannoch.
Warm wind swept across him, carrying a heavy scent that he couldn't quite place but tickled his memory. The plains stretched out before him in an endless green and yellow flatland, interrupted only by the town Joker mentioned and the mountains far in the background. He grabbed Tali's hand and squeezed, before leading her down to the waiting group below them. The Admirals were in a group at the base of the ramp in no particular order, except Raan was the closest. Admiral Koris looked to be happy to see them, though Admiral Gerrel stood towards the back with his arms crossed. There was no sign of Xen.
So Admiral Gerrel is still upset with us. This could complicate things.
His thoughts were interrupted by Admrial Raan spreading both arms wide in greeting.
"Shepard, Tali, Welcome to Rannoch." Tali leaped into her aunts open arms and gave a thorough hug, while Shepard made the last few steps down to stand in front of the other Admirals. Koris was the first to approach him, and he extended his hand for Shepard to shake as he spoke in his oddly lazy accent.
"It's good to see you again, Shepard. I'm glad you arrived safely."
"Yes, we're all thrilled." Gerrel's voice was drenched in sarcasm, and it made Shepard want to punch him all over again.
"Look, Admiral Gerrel, I realize we aren't friends, but if all your going to do is insult me you might as well leave. I won't have you ruining my wife's homecoming, it's far too important to her, and I'll be damned if I let some warmonger get in our way."
Gerrel puffed his chest out and stood his ground. "You fail to realize we are no longer on your ship, Commander. This is my planet, and you will not presume to give orders to me. Were it not for your actions in helping to retake our world and the other Admirals insistence, I would have you removed from here in a heartbeat!" Suddenly Tali was past him and in Garrel's face in a flash, making the Admiral take a few steps back in surprise.
"How dare you speak to him like that! This man single-handedly won our world back, and saved our people from your foolish and failed attempt to assault the Geth! And as for his punching you on the Normandy, you should consider yourself lucky I don't do it again for him right now! No Admiral worth the name would be angry with the sole savior of not only Rannoch, but the entire galaxy. And if you presume to threaten my bond-mate even one more time, I will propose a vote to have you disbarred as an Admiral from the fleet for reckless actions against a foreign dignitary."
Shepard looked at Tali with eyebrows practically touching his hairline, and Gerrel was no better as he sputtered and fumed, but Raan stepped in before he could do something he would regret.
"Stand down, Han! Now is not the time. If you have a problem with them then you can settle it later."
Han glared between Raan and Shepard, then threw up his hands and walked to his air car. When the dust cleared from his exit, he saw Tali relax and stopped watching the vehicle to face Raan and Koris.
"Is this going to be a problem, Admirals? The last thing we need is someone in power who's angry at us." Raan shook her head and sighed, but it was Koris who answered.
"I can't truly say, Shepard. Raan and I will do what we can for you of course, but Xen and Garrel are not fond of either of you as of now."
Raan nodded and finished the thought. "Xen is upset because the geth are not ours, and that's mostly your doing as well."
He shook his head in consternation and closed his eyes, trying desperately to calm himself before his anger demanded he go find the other man and beat him into pulp.
"Why don't we move this meeting inside, hmm? No sense standing out in the sun." Admiral Koris gestured to the air cars and moved toward his own. Shepard noticed with some amusement that these air cars looked amazingly similar to an old fashioned Earth road car convertible, but the roofs weren't just down, they were gone completely. Whether that was on purpose or not he couldn't tell, and found he didn't care.
"I think I'll go with Raan, Shepard. I'll see you in a bit, ok?" She caressed his arm before she jogged off and got in the other vehicle while Koris waved him over. He piled in to the back seat and slapped the safety harness on before the Admiral took off from the ground in a plume of dust.
As they hurtled toward the small town, Shepard looked over his shoulder in search of Raan's car, but saw them flying off in another direction instead of following. He leaned forward in his harness and tapped Koris' shoulder to get his attention.
"Where are they going?" he had to raise his voice to be heard over the wind and the engine, but the Admiral looked over his shoulder and saw them for himself before he gave a shrug.
"I have no idea, Shepard. I'm sure we'll be clued in if they want us to be." Shepard frowned after the fleeing vehicle, but eventually followed Koris' example and shrugged, turning his attention to the town they were approaching.
The buildings were mostly square in their architecture, but looked unimaginative. Likely due to the geth being the ones building most of the actual structures. There were rows of prefabs outside of the newer buildings in what might resemble an older Earth version of a suburb, with much more personalization on them than their newer counterparts. Compared to the geth built buildings, the suburb was a riot of colors and symbols, with everything from ship banners to murals and paintings.
From his vantage he could see lots of movement among the homes; some were gardening or working on some aspect or another of their yards, while some floated and played in the forked creeks next to the village. He smiled at the activity that bustled around beneath them as they flew over. This is what victory should look like, and it's also how I know we won.
Taking his eyes off the village, he watched Koris gently guide the car into a landing outside of a large white geth built building that had a banner draped over it's side from the roof. Shepard studied it as he extricated himself from his safety harness and got out of the vehicle. It had a dark purple background and a white symbol at its center; beneath the symbol were lines of what could only be Keelish in a flowing script. Koris must've seen him stop at the banner, as he changed direction and stood next to Shepard to look at it as well.
"It is an ancient symbol for our government. We only use it to proclaim that there are members of the ruling body within." Shepard frowned as he thought about the implications of that.
"So, do you have to put this up at every building you or another admiral enters?"
Koris' gave him a sidelong glance before he answered. "No, we don't necessarily have to, but if someone needed to speak with the conclave or an Admiral, it would be a great inconvenience if it were not up. I'm sure you have something much like it in the Alliance."
Shepard started to shake his head but stopped as he thought about it some more. "Well, we do have flags for our governing body, but we use the same building for government, and all it's business is conducted at the same location."
The Admiral turned in what Shepard thought looked like shock. "Then how do you stop people from trying to kill your government in one attack If they are always in the same place?"
Shepard found himself confused as he looked at the other man, and found he had questions of his own. "Well it's heavily defended of course, but how do you keep your own people safe?"
Koris nodded his head slowly in understanding as he replied.
"I forgot about human tendencies for confrontation, Commander. You seek to kill whatever threat would harm your government, while we quarians seek to avoid an incident entirely. We move our locations all the time, never knowing where we will be next until the conclave decides upon a place. Though I must admit, it does get tiring. Perhaps you humans have the right idea." The Admiral gave a small sigh and continued into the building with Shepard following close behind.
Tali sat in the seat next to her Aunt as they watched the ocean throw up sprays of foam from smashing against the rocks. They had decided to go to the ocean to talk, rather than endure what was likely to be another fight between Han and Koris. Or maybe it would be between Han and Shepard now. Her mind continued to roam as the sun fell slowly downward, lighting up the ocean with flashes of light glinting off of it's churning surface.
"Is everything alright, Tali? You seem troubled." Raan's voice held genuine concern as she looked at Tali.
"I'm ok Auntie Raan, I just didn't expect Han to be so aggressive towards us."
The older woman nodded sadly, but looked back out over the sea when she finally spoke. "Han is a warrior, Tali, It's all he knows. And I'm not sure what he's going to do now that there is no more war. He spends his time at the conclave spouting ridiculous reasons why we still need a constant vigil against the geth, and quite frankly, he's quickly becoming a dead weight to the board." She looked down at her hands and turned them over and over in front of her, as if inspecting them for some flaw.
"You don't think he'd keep us from getting a home, do you?" Tali's question seemed to draw Raan out of her thoughts and back into the present.
"I don't think so, Tali, but I do think you did a marvelous job of defending your bond-mate. Rael would've been so proud." She reached across to touch Tali's mask in a gentle and comforting way.
"Thank you auntie Raan, but I'm pretty sure my father would've hated him, and probably scolded me for not finding another quarian instead."
Raan chuckled to herself as she pulled her hand back and replied. "I think he would've been just fine with this, Tali. You found a man who wants nothing more than to make you happy. It shouldn't matter what species or race he's from." Tali blushed a little at the statement, but couldn't help the smile that lit up her face. They sat quietly for a while more and watched the oceans ceaseless tide as it did it's best to pulverize the cliff.
The sun was almost touching the horizon when Raan spoke again.
"Have you thought about where you're going to build it?" she didn't need to explain what "it" was to Tali.
"I was thinking we could build on the cliff face near where we first landed on Rannoch. If I remember right, there was a very nice view of the ocean from there." Tali adjusted the polarization settings on her visor, allowing her to watch the sun as it began to sink below the seemingly endless ocean.
"That's far from any towns, Tali. Are you sure you won't live near others instead?"
Tali smiled as she thought about living near others. If I'm not mistaken, Zaeed was planning on living here. I wonder if he can convince Aria to as well?
"We might not be so alone, auntie Raan. There was another on our ship that expressed a want to live here as well."
The Admiral's head turned a fraction as she eyed her niece suspiciously. "Really? Which one might that be? Please tell me it's not the small human girl who drank too much during the celebration at your bonding." Tali frowned for a minute as she tried to think of who Raan was speaking of, but "small human" and "drank too much" were the give-aways.
"No auntie Raan, Jack wasn't interested in living here. I was speaking about Zaeed, he's an older looking human, the one who had the badly scarred face?" Tali tried to coax the memory out of her and was rewarded with a sound of disgust as her aunt remembered.
"Well regardless of who it is, you will need to ask for the land through the conclave. Although, after as much time as we have spent here, your mate might have already done all of that."
Tali looked again at the sun and saw only a sliver was above the horizon now as Raan spoke again.
"Come on Tali, let's get back and save your mate from the ferocious Han Gerrel." Tali chuckled as the vehicle left the ground and rumbled it's way into the air.