The crew had taken her presence with more terror and a certain kind of relief. The relief was in the resumption of certainty and a regular command structure. Tanda had ordered the fleet to recall troops from the surface, and then make for Ova. There, she had dispatched Tasiele to the planet to speak with the Governor, and promised to return in a week for equitable negotiations. This relief of the impasse at a moment when the people of Ova had been expecting a veritable war had been met with veritable jubilation by all involved. Neither they nor the fleet wanted a war between two different lawful entities of the galactic government—and neither did Tanda, still trembling in wonder at her descent into the dark side.
After the initial agreement and sending Tasiele to the governor in the hopes it would pave the way for negotiations, they had departed to Mils to brief the Admiralty Board and Matrons. Along the way, Tanda, sitting quietly on her bed, tried to come to grips with the developments. Tali cuddled her as much as she could.
"The hands are very hard to work with, since they only have a very vague feeling."
"Simulated tactile response through the suit sensors, pressuring to the stubs, and feedback through the suit control hook-ups... It isn't that bad. The lack of the force... That could be a problem. Keelah, Tanda, you're alive."
"I'm alive," Tanda agreed gently. "And that is very much worth it." A pause for a moment. Her suit was gray, in a conscious attempt to get away from the black which would have further made her look like Vader, and some red scarves Tali had bought for her on the Citadel were providing good service.
"Something else, then. What about the Malakai... Maladai..."
"Maladkai."
"Thank you. Maladkai. They're some kind creation of Sith Alchemy?"
"It... isn't as bad as that, in fact, it's just a lot more complex. The natives of the world... they're... descendants of women stolen from Rannoch to be wives to the crews of Tasiele's ships after they mutinied."
"Uhm."
"They speak Quarian, they dance like Quarians... they just have a different skin tone and, well, human hair." She rubbed her hands together again. "If we had daughters... that's what they'd be."
"Does that bother you? That our daughters would be like a race that exists because of such evil?"
"Only that they didn't have a choice, weren't born out of love, and that..." Tali turned away. "I don't know if I gave any chance of that up... saving you from the dark side. They say it's Sith Alchemy to create life like that, and I think that's stupid because life is good, right? But it's what they say. I haven't asked anyone who would know, I've been too busy... getting everything ready for this for you."
"The knowledge of how to create life from two different natures..." Tanda grimaced under her mask. "Yes. It was given to me by the Rakata. I am not sure if using it would make me fall into the darkness again."
"...We can ask. And... if all else... goes wrong, there will be people speaking our language, who remember Rannoch." She gave a little shrug. "We'll find a way. We'll find a way to do all these things, and we won't give up who we are doing it."
Tanda held Tali, weakly, but she reached out and folded her arms. "What shall we do next, then?"
"Our duty, to the fleet and our Empire," Tali answered. "We can't let this interrupt our plans. We can just rejoice that you're here, we're together, and move on from it."
"Then we need to get those ships operational. We need to start preparing for... The war."
"Yes. We've done everything we can-we need to leverage the Ovans and... push. We know we've got... months to a year, maybe two, and that the rest of the galaxy are useless bosh'tets."
"All right. Accessing my omnitool it seems the crew has conducted a full survey. The Rakatan ships are ancient and hopeless ruins, but probably not a great loss, anyway—they've been there almost thirty-five thousand years."
"We should still salvage and wreck them. I... wish I knew what the point at which the Old Machines decided you all had to die." She pushed her faceplate to Tanda's, let her see the seriousness of her expression. "I... don't want to doom our sister-people by accident."
"All right. We'll salvage them. Their hulls might still be good for armour plate."
"Honestly, have you seen what happens to most of our galaxy's ships when they start taking hits to the hull? I think any armour will help! Anyway... yes. If we can tie all this together-honestly, Tanda, at that point, we have already achieved our goals. Sure, we're politically more a mess than anybody else, but everything else is going better for us!"
"We are a strange sort of government at the moment," Tanda answered wryly, and gently rose to make her way to her desk and bring up the survey logs. "Hrrm, let's see. There's three Harrower class destroyers, and four smaller Terminus class destroyers. Six Republic Valour class cruisers. Eight Gage class armed transports. Two Thranta class corvettes, quite similar to the design of the old Hammerhead cruisers Daro'Xen built a modified prototype of. Their systems are sound as the lake is freshwater and very cold, so even corrosion is minimized, though freeze-thaw cycles caused cracking and pressure damage around the waterline. Systems appear to be mostly in standby, powered down automatically from lack of fuel."
"So, fuel, and a repair team of Quarians, and we can get them back into orbit in a few weeks." Quarians. Junk ship remotely fixable? Check. Tali was sure as hell confident of it.
"You'd be surprised at how well intact they are..." Tanda kept her face-mask depolarized, so that Tali could at least see her. "Did you know that back home Invincible class heavy cruisers three thousand years old are in regular service in the Corporate Sector Authority navy? These ships are only three thousand six hundred; we'll get them back in action."
"...Only. I think we Quarians need to start making ships last that long." Tali rose and walked around to Tanda to hold her from behind.
"I agree." She reached out and took Tali's hand in her own. "Can you organise this? I'm still very weak, and I'm not sure I'll ever stop being weak, and yet... For all that, the universe feels young again... what did I do to myself, Tali?"
"I... have to assume that the Dark Side feeds off of negative emotions. So you felt stronger, but it was just like a drug, each high was matched by a low calling towards a new high. I'm not completely sure." She leaned against Tanda, then. "But, it's not important now. We've got each other. I'll get you settled down with the rest of us 'suities'... and then I'll start... being your real right-hand Quarian. And if you stand with us, well, politically I'm going to be honest. A lot of young people will be more likely to look up to you as the future of Quarians now."
"I'm just another damned suity." Tanda laughed hard enough to shake a bit, then wheezed a bit, though nothing went red on her suit indicators that Tali was still monitoring.
"Careful... but yes, you are. Patch kit is on your left hip." Tali laughed softly, and bent around to the side, letting her touching faceplates. "I'll make any changes you want me to, once we find out how this is working."
"All right." She pushed her faceplate against Tali's. "You are worth all of my days... Let's get to work."
"Right!" She'd help Tanda up, beaming inside all of the while. It didn't work out as well as it could, but it did and it had worked out!
"I don't feel evil, anymore?" Tanda dared to ask as they started off.
"...Nope!" She sounded happier than she should be. "I would be doing that thing with my hands if you did."
"...Awwh..."
-
Kesea gave the report on the status of the Maladkai homeworld. She started with an explanation of the recovery of everything, down to wrecked Sith Interceptors, and the planetary surveys.
"I think that's the best we can do. I'm tempted to leave a... time capsule. Something utterly shielded and dead that the best scanners couldn't locate-to give them a better chance if we don't manage this."
Tanda walked along toward the conference room, the entirety of the Quarian Admiralty board waiting for her. "I like the sound of that plan. It seems very much like it could... Give them a fighting chance with the next cycle. I hate thinking about that." She looked good in her suit, now, at least, or so she'd managed to convince herself.
"It's a very Asari thing, I know, but... if we screw this up, I'd like those machines to never succeed again."
"I don't care who's ideas it is. We've got a real war fleet now and we will make all the preparations both to win and to mitigate the outcome if we fail."
"... Aye, Moff Pryl." Her eyes twinkled at it. "But I don't intend to fail, just so you know."
"I don't either."
"How are you going to explain me to the Admiralty Board? Or should I just do it myself?"
"I've slipped hints to Shala'Raan, but nothing direct... you can give a speech, if you want, but they'll... be ready for it."
"All right then."
"By the way, Moff Pryl, I'm very glad to see you this way. You seem happier, despite the wounds. And happiness matters for a great deal."
"Thank you, Kesea."
Explaining her own status and the Maladkai to the Quarians would be a relatively fascinating endeavour, and troublesome. No number of deep breaths as she stepped into the room would suffice. It was also one that ended up consuming far too much of an afternoon. How do you easily explain the evil, mutinous humans from another galaxy who stole women from Rannoch thirty-six hundred years ago? The situation on the planet? Tasiele, Ova?
Tanda gathered her strength to explain herself to the Admiralty board, from the introduction to why they had literally exerted themselves into scraping every single of non-indigenous technology from the Maladkai homeworld.
"...So, in concluding, I was grievously wounded by these creatures who are responsible for the link between our galaxies, but they have been dealt with, and we have now new allies and resources. We also, as both Quarians and humans, have an obligation to protect the Maladkai from this war, so that the Quarian legacy in the galaxy is inextinguishable even by the Reapers. Institutionally, changes will have to be made to respond to this threat."
"I suppose it would be more clear to say that I intend to consolidate governance in my person, at least for the duration of the war with the Reapers. The Admiralty Board will remain in an advisory role, and local administrative matters for the civilian population will be shifted to a Senate on the new homeworld in the standard fashion of the Empire. This Senate may in Congress Assembled with the Senates of Mils and Ova override my decisions, but otherwise I will have executive power as Moff of the region."
They glanced between each other, and would bend to talking amongst themselves. Zaal'Koris summarized the answer. "The Assembly is likely to approve this... and we will look forward to our eventual disbandment when the war is done, and they can assume full governance." Implicit in that was that they were looking forward to when Tanda would resign.
She understood that there needed to be some kind of permanent Imperial government, so that hope was... Optimistic, in a certain sense. But it also didn't have to be just her at the highest level. She chose to ignore it, for now. "This is the war that will decide everything. I will fight it with the full vigour that I remain capable of, and will be sure not to dishonour the Quarians by my public conduct," Tanda concluded, in the last, deliberately referencing her condition.
"You have our sympathies on your wounds, Moff Pryl," Shala'Raan answered.
"We endorse your actions thus far," Daro'Xen had much less sympathy, indeed, she had been watching Tanda in her suit intently the entire time, almost fascinated.
Tanda folded her hands. "I do not think you should sympathize too much. I earned these wounds doing right by her whom I care about, and now I am no worse off than she is. Nonetheless, I thank you for the spirit of the offer." But in saying that, she also made something explicit in front of Rael'Zorah.
They glanced between each other... a few of the Admirals looking to Rael... and then to Tali.
Nothing was said for now. Instead, the tense moment slowly passed. The others left. Rael remained alone. "I would like you to stay, Moff Pryl... Command Zorah," he said, his tone very guarded.
Tanda nodded, not even stiffening. She had been expecting it, and did as asked, her hands folded in a reserved posture.
The man walked straight up to her, looking down with his expression inscrutable through his visor. "Know this. I do not approve, and if Shala'Raan had not convinced me otherwise, I would forbid this utterly. She does not need you."
"No, she doesn't." Tanda stiffened herself to her full height to face Rael'Zorah, for Quarians were not small and not weak. They were just unhealthy. "Stepfather: She wants me, which is her right and choice. What else would you have us do...?" She tried to be respectful. This was the father of her Intended, after all...
"I would have her marry a Quarian! Of a good clan, and a good ship, and..." He thrust a finger into her face. "If you harm her, I will end you." He... might be a bit overprotective, even if he tended to be terrible at showing it to Tali, Tanda realised, and desperately tried not to smile.
Instead, she answered his concerns forthrightly. "I don't mean to harm her, Rael. And I'd like to think my ship is a good one. All I can say is that we will overcome, and raise a family to honour you and her mother. That is my desire. I don't want to disrespect your customs or traditions. She is an inspiration to me, and I owe her so much already, not least of all my life."
"This was not supposed to be her life, gallivanting about... with a human, no less! How are you to give her a family?"
Tanda clenched her teeth. The honesty in this situation would be no more pleasant than it had been before... Less so, in fact. "The same way as the Maladkai have life."
He nearly struck her at hearing that. "You dare speak of my daughter and they in the same breath?"
"They honour their ancestors, speak Quarian, dance the classical repertoire, keep the written literature of your ancient times and preserve the features of the Quarian race. They have not been slaves for thirty-five hundred years, and your daughter is no captive to me."
"I have heard the dark rumors about you, Moff Pryl! Your crew murmurs of you in hushed and fearful tones, not those of respect! That is a far greater offense than any other I could think of, to be a feared Captain, and it casts a different light on what you have told me today! I can only think of my daughter attempting to be happy with such a person and be afraid for her!"
"That... Happens... Because Lord Vader was the Emperor's Executor. I am not, even though I carry a lightsabre at my side, but the legend lingers..."
"I note she carries the same now, Moff Pryl, and she will not talk of these things with anyone. What have you been doing to her...?"
"Training her to use a natural talent which makes her a champion to the Quarian people. Now that training is in the hands of the old one, Lady Knight Tasiele, who knows yet more than I, and I most manifestly will not involve myself further with it, precisely for Tali's best interests, which are also my own."
"Why you? Why... bah." He shook his head in resignation. "I cannot change it. Tali will not leave you. So. You swear upon your Ancestors, that all you tell is true, and that you will hold your vows on our customs sacred in their eyes?"
"On dead Humbarine and the living plazas of Alsakan, where all the bones of those afore Commenor rest, and the distant worlds where we fell true to our old faith in the crusades of Pius Dea, to my uncle slain against the Stark, may they witness it all."
He was almost glum. "...Then... you may marry my daughter."
"I will not lead her into dishonour or unhappiness, I promise you, Rael. She is not just my treasure, she is my rock. If it weren't for her improvisation in realizing my wounds could be mitigated by isolation, I'd be dead right now-and I will remain acutely aware of that as long as I live, thankful, and happy."
"You had better."
Tanda bowed her head to Rael. She was quite prepared to accept the Quarian social implications of marriage, now that she... Might as well stay in their environment perpetually. She at least thought she understood them, now.
"Then you have my permission... not that you needed it," he added at her gesture.
"Shala'Raan seemed to imply family approval was to be expected," she offered wryly, her hands folded as Tali's often were and head lowered.
"Expected. Not... required. She would have gone behind me back anyhow if I had refused, I know her."
"Then, we would like to be married when I return from my embassy to the Citadel."
"That... will be acceptable."
"Thank you. I mean that. I want Tali to have a father, I don't wish the two of you to be split, least of all because of me."
"...That... you are somewhat too late for. She had her path... that differed from the one I saw for her."
"There is still time for a walled garden!" Tali spoke frantically. "But we cannot afford to make enemies with the geth when the Reapers are coming."
"In that, we agree, for now."
"Then I will go to the Council, and make them take me seriously."
"You have my honest good wishes in that, Moff Pryl. They have certainly only ever seen the suits and our ancient failure."
"They will see something different, this time." With these other ships and equipment to help cover her capitol coming on-line relatively quickly, and leaving the starfighters being for defensive purposes, since she needed the ships strictly as a show of force... She took both Thunderflare and Bombard to the Citadel.