Chapter 6: Klenna
Day 0:
Hana was rubbing at her right hand again.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Jane asked her.
"A minor rash," she said, "nothing fatal." She scanned the large box of rubbery plastic that Jane had learned was called 'rak-magn' or 'soft shield'. It offered reliable protection for both occupant and environment. But zero privacy, she thought as she watched a pair of quarians pass through the long hallway.
"There wasn't anywhere else they could've set up?"
"Admiral Rael'Zorah's office is just there, Jane, it's best your nearby your permanent quarters," Hana gestured to the door a few feet away. Her 'cubby', as it had been called, was made for really little kids and that did not at all make Jane happier. There were doodles and designs drawn on her side of the rak-magn, the traces of a previous occupant. She hoped they weren't cutesy-baby things. That'd be her luck if she was stuck inside some kind of enviro-crib.
"You're not happy," Hana said it with a slight lilt of amusement.
"This sucks."
"Yes," Hana shrugged, "but the Admiral assured me your room would be ready tomorrow, Jane. Just one night-cycle." Hana's omni-tool beeped rapidly. "Ah. That's the general call for the Patrol Fleet Captains. Time for me to go."
"Do you have to leave?"
"Should I camp in the hallway instead?" Hana teased her. Jane frowned.
"I've got to!"
"You'll be in your nice new room this time tomorrow," Hana said, "roughing it here just means you're living the real quarian experience. The places I've had to sleep…"
"You can't just stay? Or…I could go with you?"
"Jane," Hana sighed, "it's safer here. I have to help the Patrol Fleet map out our course. When the Migrant Fleet moves-"
"It moves like a planet," Jane finished with a grumble, "I know." She'd heard the ancient phrase a dozen times in the last two days. Shala'Rann had already begun sending out advance teams to find promising resource deposits or so she'd been told. A whole race of people moving as one, her mind reeled at the very idea.
"We've had a fair early search. There was a big pirate war near the edge of the Terminus Systems and all the bad guys have gone to ground to lick their wounds. We'll slip into a new system. We'll be safer there."
"Safer from the humans," Jane said, "are they even looking for me?"
"If I was them, I would turn over every rock in the Skyllian Verge," Hana said, "but…maybe not. All of the children from your colony are missing. We can't take chances, de'agha." Hana pressed her palm to the rak-magn. "Jane, you are being very brave about this. Admiral Shala'Rann thinks so. Kal'Reegar too. And they had to just about handcuff Uli'Rann to a hospital bed to keep him from visiting you."
"Will he be ok with me taking his blanket? And his datapad?" Jane hadn't wanted to leave them behind. They were becoming familiar enough that they were comforting.
"Jane," Hana laughed, "Uli will be delighted to know you borrowed them. Quarians borrow things from each other all the time. We have trade decks set up for it." Hana cocked her head. "I'll take you to one before you leave the Fleet. Maybe you can find something to remember us by." Jane was too busy squinting at some of the Khelish writing in her cubby to comment either way.
"What's this stuff on the say?" She pointed it out and Hana leaned forward.
"Most of it is backwards for me but…here." She pointed at a grid. "These are heights and ages. Over there is an equation of some kind. Here's list of ship terminology and definitions. Not all that abnormal. Quarian children start learning about starships before they can form full sentences."
"I haven't actually seen any quarian kids," Jane walked a circuit, looking over the alien graffiti, "where are they all?"
"Not every ship is good for child-rearing," Hana'Nur said, "officially all children live in the Civilian Fleet. The greatest number of them live on the liveships. Some even live there on rotation from starships around the Fleet. Only so much room after all."
"Did you grow up on the liveships?" Jane asked. She wanted to see the three monstrously large ships once if she could, though Hana had already warned her she'd never be permitted to set foot on one, even for a visit.
"No, Jane, I grew up on the Adeli in the Special Projects fleet under an Admiral named Ru'Baal vas Hospodar. I was Hana'Nur-
"Nar Adeli!" Jane chirped. Grinning triumphantly. "Could I see that ship? Before I leave?"
"No," At Jane's visible disappointment Hana'Nur spoke up again, "I mean you can't because the Adeli was destroyed…an accident many years ago." Jane would've knocked her head against the rak-magn if it wasn't too soft to hurt. She'd blown their goodbye spectacularly.
"Sorry…"
"No apology needed," Hana's omni-tool blabbed obnoxiously, "I really have to go, Jane. Be a good girl for Admiral Rael'Zorah. And make sure you thank him for his help. I put a datapad in your backpack that has Asari meditation techniques for biotics. If you want to learn how to control your powers you should start committing them to memory." She wagged a finger at the girl. "Limit yourself to the breathing exercises and stretches, klen kashol-faust, don't try anything that uses your powers yet. I'm trusting you with it, Jane."
"Ok," Jane resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "y'know, Miss Talvert never told me to do stuff like this…"
"Miss Talvert made many strange choices, Jane, but let's not disturb her ghost. Now," she tapped the rak-magn twice, "esu se'lai, Jane'Shepard nar Jennifer." Jane winced. Hearing her mom's name wasn't as nice as she'd thought it'd be, maybe she should've stuck with 'Mindoir'. Although that made her think of bad things too. She forced a smile and waved at Hana.
"See ya, Hana'Nur vas Shepherd." Black clad save for her red fabrics, Hana'Nur vanished into the Alarei's dark hallway before her footsteps did. Jane settled into a corner opened up Uli'Rann's datapad, flicking at an audio-novel recording.
The door to the Admiral's lab hissed open and two young quarians wheeled large filing-cabinets out into the hallway, neither stopping to say hello. The Admiral himself stepped out next holding two different datapads in either hand. His omni tool was active as well and Jane marveled at his multi-tasking.
"Yes, I'll be right there," he was saying, "no. No-no. I'll meet her in the airlock, Shala, thank you for entertaining her. A shame she can't stay on the Rayya for the move. I wanted her first year of school outside the cubby to go without considerable interruptions. Yes. Yes, Rann, of course I understand why. Not that I agree. The Alarei is certainly no place for a young girl."
What am I then? Jane was pretending not to eavesdrop so when her name suddenly came up, she winced.
"In the hallway in Tali's cubby. Just for the night, Rann, I'm sorry that this completely unprecedented problem is not a rapid fix. She'll be fine." Rael'Zorah ended his call, and turned to Jane, who glanced away quickly, feigning innocence. "The Patrol Fleet Admiral would like me to pass on that diplomats from all our Fleet divisions are going to meet tomorrow to discuss how best to resolve the situation." A situation. That's what I am.
"Thank you?" Jane said. Rael'Zorah nodded and strode off. "Oh, um, wait, Admiral, sir?" A huge sigh gusted out of him as he turned on his heel to face her again. His visor was very clear, to the point she could make out the thin horizontal slashes that were the nostrils of a flat, nose under pale ivory eyes. She stared for a moment, entranced by little black circles that defined a central white circle as the 'pupil' of either eye. Her objects of study narrowed impatiently and Jane's face burned. "Sorry, are you gonna come back later?"
"Unfortunately, no," the man grumbled, "it seems I have to come up with a lesson plan for my…hmmm." He cocked his head. "What were you learning about in school, Jane? Do human children attend schools?"
"Uh," Jane blinked, "like with classes and teachers and homework?"
"Ah, I see. Education truly does have a universal ideal. Tell me what mathematics and sciences you were studying at your level. I could use a few ideas." Jane chewed her lip as she pondered this bizarre question.
"Uh, we were learning geometry," she said, the light of curiosity faded out of the Admiral's eyes, Jane grasped for something, "and we had a science fair after New Year's. My project was about whether mineral water or tap water made tomatoes grow better. That was kinda fun." After a second she added. "It was the tap water, by the way. My mom only helped a little."
"I see." Rael'Zorah said. "I'll…just contact some of the more advanced teachers on the Rayya then, ask for their help coming up with something challenging." His omni-tool pinged. "I really must go. If I don't run into you again, please have a restive night. Captain Shi'Vinni will dim the lights in one hour, to best simulate a night-cycle. We'll move you into the containment unit in the morning, as soon I can scrape a decon detail together." He left Jane to chew on that and glanced back to his datapads.
"Decon detail? Containment unit? What's-hey, wait Mr-I mean, Admiral…dang it." Jane slumped back into her corner, huffing into the soft blue fabric of Uli's blanket and tapping the audio-novel's play function.
"The Hobbit," a calm baritone voice said, seeming to drive home the loneliness of the dark hallway, "or 'There and Back Again' by JRR Tolkien. In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit…" Jane listened for an hour, trying to lose herself in the strange story and, sometime after the lights dimmed, she managed to fall sleep.
Later, much later, she stirred. Maybe it was the voice of the narrator, describing a creepy little thing called a 'Gollum', or maybe the rak-magn crinkled. Perhaps some instinct in Jane's mind woke her up. She cracked bleary eyes and stared into the darkness of the hallway, trying to understand the tickle of alarm growing in her shoulders.
She didn't see anything wrong at first. A dark wall of steel and a constellation of flickering lights from temperature gauges, oxygen cyclers, and other things Jane didn't know the names for. And two little lights that were bright, ivory white and very, very close to the edge of the cubby…
Jane shot up from her blankets, swallowing a cry of surprise. There was a sharp, almost inaudible gasp from the two lights and then they vanished. She turned her face slowly to the right and caught, for an instant, the outline of a small figure against the low light of the distant intersection of the main corridors.
…what…
Day 1:
"Sorry, little one," Captain Shi'Vini said, holding her omni-tool up to the rak-magn, "I see you running around inside your cubby and then…what is it you're doing there?" Rael'Zorah was half-listening to the conversation. Jane was frightened about something she'd seen last night. Children.
"I made a barrier out of my backpack and some of the blankets," Jane said, "so I had cover from an attack." The Captain hummed in amusement.
"And you're cuddling your plushie-toy so tight to as act body armor, yes?" Jane gave an embarrassed whine. "Sorry, I shouldn't tease. Nal. Lay down the first layer, please and thank you." A blue-suited quarian slid a long metal tube through a special section seal on the cubby's side. "Cover your eyes and mouth now, Jane."
Rael'Zorah glanced up at the slight hiss of general disinfectant misting out into the cubby. Jane grumbled but, as she'd been instructed earlier, used the back of her hands to gently rub disinfectant at her cheeks and forehead. She gathered her things into her backpack, pulled a large plastic bag up around it, then set about unpacking her orange hazard suit and bubble helmet from a clean-container.
"There was somebody there," she said as she suited-up. Rael huffed. Was there a special 'talk back at your elders' impulse in every child today? Tali had complained about being tired all morning. He'd had a task taking her to the core deck to observe the crew at work but she'd thank him one day, when she'd need to rely on her skills as an engineer.
"I'm certain that you believe you saw someone," Shi'Vini soothed, "it happens sometimes. Especially if you're on a new ship, not used to certain lights or sounds. Your mind plays tricks." She gestured at another quarian in a mauve suit cradling a large metal tube connected by hose to a square container on his back. "Second layer please, Sori."
Jane yelped dramatically and cringed away from a heavy stream of greenish high-grade disinfectant.
"Remember," Shi'Vini called over the heavy spattering noise, "make two full turns, Jane. Eh-eh! Slower than that, get it all over yourself! There we go." Jane shivered, dripping, her eyes huge behind her helmet.
"A-are we done?" she asked, retrieving her plastic-sealed backpack with shaking fingers.
"Almost, little one!" Chirped Vel, the third and final member of the decon detail, a small pink-suited woman hefting a bright red industrial dryer on one shoulder like a rocket launcher. Nal and Sori peeled back the cubby opening enough to emit the dryer's rectangular head.
A hum filled the corridor along with a deep red glow. Then, as suddenly as it had started, the dryer shut down and Vel placed it carefully on the aside to work out a kink in her shoulder.
"Come along, Jane," Rael said absently, "into my office." Jane picked up her backpack and the clean-container, all of it dry as a desert floor, and hurried after him. They stepped into the modestly sized room, once a navigator's quarters when the Alarei was still part of the Zor-Emek Defense Fleet, patrolling the open skies of Rannoch.
Rael had made good use of the space. Each of its primary six points, built hexagonally like most pre-Wandering ships, was dedicated to different workstations. He frowned in sudden thought. Five. For now. To add a small private lavatory to the varren pen…the containment unit…the child's quarters he'd had to sacrifice a wall mounted terminal filled with terraforming data.
Fine. Terraforming projects are a pipe dream anyway. We don't have nearly the resources. Rael didn't like to waste time better spent elsewhere but the Civilian Fleet would forever insist on a token effort towards 'The New Homeworld'. New Homeworld. We deserve better than that.
His brilliant mind, moving like a ship through light-speed halted momentarily as beads of recycled-plastic rattled on his left suit seal. The hand-made bracelet bore Khleish script, carved crudely but inked in a beautiful shade of black-violet. 'Avi'. 'Papa'.
Did you pick that ink because it was the color of your mama's talrin? Is it my imagination? 'New Homeworld'. Tali deserved better than a 'new' homeworld. I could give her better than a 'new-'
The Admiral squawked out of his reverie when a recording suddenly started playing.
"Sadly, the Asari had very little actionable information regarding the Geth. Some nice pictures though. Frankly, I think that Matriach was getting suspicious of me when I kept pressing her on it, Admiral." Avel'Vael vas Jordan's head froze on the vid-screen of Rael's south-west corner workstation. The Geth Workstation. A thrill of fear ran up his spine.
"Don't touch anything!" He raced over and paused the vid, then closed the whole window, berating himself for such sloppiness. Anyone could've seen that and realized the ulterior motive behind some of his 'cultural exchange' suggestions.
"I'm sorry!" Jane pressed against the exterior of the varren pen-of her quarters-and clutched her backpack to her front. "I thought…um…well…" She had no excuse of course. She was being a nosy child.
"Jane," Rael gave the girl his full attention for the first time, "I am not your parent, I understand that, and maybe you think that gives you certain leeway with me." The girl shook her head, clinking her bubble helmet against the plexi-glass barrier her. "I expect you to do exactly as I tell you, am I understood?"
"Yes, sir, Admiral Zorah," Jane said. Rael relaxed slightly.
"Good," he felt awkward, "I have delicate work here, you see, and I can't lose my place in any of it. Now, let's get you inside your containment…your quarters." Jane turned, eying the seven-foot high, six-foot-long, and six-foot wide box.
"That's…that's my new room?"
"It technically has more space than Uli'Rann's quarters on the Gorach," Rael said, "Jane, space is at a premium in the Migrant Fleet." He shook a finger at her. "You've had many considerations made for you. And, young lady," she blinked in surprise at being so addressed, "it was just a little rude of you not to thank Captain Shi'Vini for her efforts to help you so far." Rael turned away to open the door to the varren-TO THE DAMN CHILD'S QUARTERS. He froze when Jane's voice spoke up again, slightly petulant.
"You didn't thank her for it either…"
"Well," he tried to keep his tone calm, "you'll have time to greatly appreciate the work she's done inside your room. Go on. I have work to do." Jane went after a moment's hesitation, stepping first into the small, extended doorway taking up a few more precious square inches of his workspace. The exterior door sealed shut behind her, using a bit of his ship's power. She stood there for a moment in the airlock between his lab and his containment-unit-varren-pen, crumbling a little of the plastic bag his crew had given her between her nervous fingers.
He pressed a button on a keypad along the front of the unit and Jane jumped inside at the crackling of speakers.
"Jane? Can you hear me?" She nodded mutely. "Good. I'm going to let you into the unit. Once inside you may remove your hazard-suit and helmet. Put them in the clean-container right-away. Am I understood?" After another nodded. Rael'Zorah opened the airlock to let the girl in.
She very self-centeredly luxuriated for a moment when she took off her helmet, fluffing out her ludicrously long red hair. Rael set her straight with a sharp reprimand through the speakers. She made a face as she obeyed. Jane mouthed something as she pointed at the box.
"There is a large red button on your side," Rael explained, "if you press-"
"I got it," her voice snapped through the comm, "happy, now?"
"Not quite, child, put the container inside the drawer to your right." As she fiddled with it, Rael added. "That drawer wasn't there three days ago. Neither was that entry way or that lavatory. All of that was added just for you." He sighed under his breath as her lips moved. "Jane, you have to press the button-"
"I said whenever I flush the toilet I'll say 'thank-you'." Rael'Zorah was an adult, he'd not rise to this.
"Please step back," he said calmly. When Jane was safely away from the walls, he gave into an immature impulse and pressed a button under the comms. One of the buttons left over from the varren-pen's previous uses. Dozens of thin metal slats shot out from the steel frame of the unit, covering every inch of glass in an extra layer of protection. He let her stew for a few seconds than hit the lockdown deactivation.
Jane's green eyes darted around, her white teeth on display inside her gaping mouth. A little fright. No harm done.
"It's an emergency switch. Jane, in case of contamination I'll have to seal you in there. So sorry to surprise you." She scowled at him. "Now, if you need to talk with me simply press that red button and speak up." Rael'Zorah straightened. "I keep long hours here when possible, but I dim the lights to conserve energy around roughly 1900 hours. This is agreeable?"
"Ok," Jane said through the comm, "what about…when do I get to walk around a little? Or stretch my legs?" Rael'Zorah shook his head.
"This is not the Gorach. It is the command ship of our entire Science Fleet. We can't decon every inch of it just because you need a walk. Besides which, it is no place for little children to run about playing games. You have plenty of room in there, Jane. Exercise in place. Use those datapads someone so generously donated to you. Distract yourself and above all, please, be considerate about not distracting me."
The girl wanted to talk back, he was learning that much about human facial expressions, but ultimately, she nodded and set about unpacking her things. Rael'Zorah activated the decon procedure on the clean-container inside the drawer, bathing it in a wash of detergents.
He used the time to go back to his datapads. Already half-forgetting the child a few feet behind him. The rest of the day passed unremarkably until, a little before dinnertime, the comms crackled.
"Admiral?" Rael'Zorah sighed.
"Yes, Jane?"
"…could you…talk to me?" Rael turn regarded her. She scratching nervously at the crease of her arm. Such odd gestures from people who lived most of their lives outside suits. "I just feel kinda lonely. That's all. Maybe we could talk a little?"
No. Of course not. He was keeping an eye on a plastic-eating enzyme that might resolve a trash build-up issue amongst the Heavy Fleet's larger garbage scows. Or it could all blow up in his face like everything always did. Either way he'd absolutely miss dinner with his daughter tonight. Which was, if he was counting, a broken promise somewhere in the low fifties.
"Alright, let's talk," Jane brightened a little, "you're a big girl, Jane." Her sharp eyebrows came together in confusion. "And you've been through something very difficult. And you're adjusting to unfamiliar surroundings. This is not the best situation." Jane was already looking away from him, jaw working subtly. "Jane, I need you to be grown-up about this. I have work to do. A lot of work. And very little time to myself."
"I only wanted to talk…"
"And every second I'm talking with you is a second I'm wasting…" he calmed himself, "I have a daughter, Jane. And I want to spend time with her. Understand?" Jane nodded without looking back at him. "That's what your mission is then. Every moment you don't take from me my little Tali gets to spend with her avi." He waited for an answer.
Jane turned away and curled up on the slim pad provided for her bedding, hugging herself and putting her back to the Admiral.
"…thank you," he said into the comm.
Day 11:
"This reading," Jane mumbled into her arm, in perfect time with the narrator, "was performed by Dr. Adrien Douglas-Sakada, director of the Library of Pan-European Literature for the 200th Anniversary of 'The Hobbit' by JRR Tolkein. February 2137. Please, consider supporting our Library by donating at our website." The replay button appeared on the cracked screen of Uli's datapad.
She'd tried reading the other books this old, old human writer had created. After the point where a funny man in a powdery blue jacket and yellow boots had talked down an angry willow tree, Jane realized the story was sort of sliding off her brain.
Her mom liked stories like this. Jane peeled her lips back and bit her arm gently, trying to force out the strange foggy sensation that seemed to fill her up every few minutes. She didn't want to think about her mom. Her mom was dead and never coming back.
So why did she keep thinking about it? When could she stop? When did she get to quit looking at everyone she saw, the nameless quarians dropping in to discuss who-knew-what with Admiral Zorah, and think 'Are their moms alive? If not how do they think about anything else? I wish I was them. I wish I was anybody but me.'
She slithered out of her covers and pressed the comm button. She waited until Rael'Zorah was finished whatever he was doing. He moved about his office like an anxious cat, trapped in his own world as if she didn't exist.
"Admiral?" The man paused and walked quickly over to her. She struggled for something to say."I…is there anything you can do to help me sleep more?" That was safe. She liked sleeping now. When she slept she wasn't…well, she wasn't awake. She wasn't thinking. Thinking meant the awful, cloying foggy feeling and the slowly building wish that it would all just stop.
Everything. Her breath hitched a little, and she cleared her throat. Stop everything. That'd be better than this. Right?
"You're keeping an adequate schedule," Rael'Zorah was saying, "I don't believe you need any kind of sleep-aids." He shrugged. "Not that I believe I even have any at hand for non-quarians. Take a nap now if you're tired, Jane. If not, distract yourself."
That was the problem. She wasn't tired and she couldn't distract herself. She was exhausted but she couldn't sleep. Couldn't stop thinking. If it was that easy…she pressed the button at a new thought.
"Admiral," she said, "um…sorry, but is your mom still alive?" Rael'Zorah's head reared back as if the question had been a fist. He stood there, face unreadable behind his visor, and abruptly said.
"Jane, I have work to do. Please, don't bother me again."
"Ok," Jane didn't bother pressing the button. He'd already turned away. Jane didn't need him thinking she was crazy.
Day 18:
What is she doing?
Rael had frozen in the doorway to his office. Jane was already awake, long before the morning lights glowed. She was holding a hanar doll of some kind, slowly tying the legs together with mindless, mechanical twists. Her eyes were fixed on a point on the floor, face stony.
Boredom. He told himself. It must be boredom-
She opened her mouth and Rael jumped as if he could hear the scream. It was like a switch flipping. Stillness then sudden movement. Her eyes started putting forth long ribbons of tears, her face turned a startlingly bright red. The toy struck the glass barrier, then the fabrics all balled up, then the sleeping bad fluttered to the floor after she tossed it with both hands.
Jane balled herself up on the floor, her whole body shifting with every heavy sob. Rael shut the door to his office, experiments forgotten. He'd come back when the lights turned up.
Hopefully, he thought, jittery for reasons he could explain, startled. Hopefully she'll have calmed down. Tali would be awake soon. They'd have breakfast together. Jane probably wants to be alone anyway. And I…I have too much on my mind.
Day 19:
Jane's eyes flickered open, but she held her breath against the urge to yell. The white lights were back. Staring from the darkness of the office. And…yes, in the soft blinking of a red security lamp she absolutely saw the outline of a three-fingered hand resting on the glass. The white lights…the eyes…caught hers and vanished. She wasn't disturbed. She felt vindicated.
Because why would her imagination make the lab door open and close? She wouldn't tell Admiral'Zorah. He probably wouldn't believe her.
Day 22:
"Can I please get out? Just for a minute? A minute can't hurt right?"
"Jane, we've discussed this."
"I'm not even sick!"
"I have no time to explain the complexities of our immune-systems-"
"I'm not asking to run around the ship! I'm going insane."
"No."
"Hey."…."Hey!"…"Admiral Rael'Zorah is big dumb idiot! And he sucks!"
Jane glared at him, mouth working but no sound coming out, Rael pressed the comm button.
"I muted you, Jane. Do I need to keep you muted?" Jane shook her head. "Good. Now-"
"And you probably have bad breath too!"
"You impossible child!" Rael'Zorah muted her and stormed back to his station to no avail. His concentration was gone, he turned, expecting to see her still shouting at him. She was huddled in the corner again, spine notches visible like a mountain range through her red shirt.
"Annoying little human antiipa," he snapped at her, raising his voice pointlessly. She couldn't hear him through the glass. He settled back into his work, holding a conversation with himself.
"Does she appreciate my help? No. Why would she? Why would anyone show Rael'Zorah the slightest bit of respect. I'm only an Admiral. Only trying to reclaim our homeworld!"
Day 30:
Jane wasn't upset when she woke up that morning. That was the first strange thing. She felt hungry and that was strange thing number two. She hadn't actively wanted to eat for weeks, she was too sad. She wolfed down her breakfast, a nutrient paste that claimed to be egg flavored. She squinted as it lay on her tongue.
I guess it does. Kinda. She realized she wasn't thinking about her mom. Not actively anyway. Was this it? Did you she finally get to be normal again? She finished one of the strange books that day, finding it much easier to imagine magic, mines, and strange monsters. She found it funny how her brain worked.
The lights dimmed. Admiral'Rael Zorah was finishing his work for the night. She smiled and walked over to the comm.
"Hi, Admiral," she said.
"Jane, I'm in no mood right now."
"What's wrong?" Rael'Zorah turned a baleful glare on her. "Did someone do something? I'm only asking..."
"My daughter has been acting a lot like you today," he grumbled. Jane shouldn't have been smart; he probably would've kept talking but a sudden flare of anger took over.
"You keep her in a glass box too?" The datapad's edge, it's weakpoint, caught the glass of her containment unit. There was blue shimmer as the screen popped free of its casing. She imagined the slap of it hitting the floor, she felt something touch her shoulders and realized she flattened herself against the far wall.
Her knees were shaking. That was weird. Her belly was all twisted up too. She couldn't leave so she turned around and faced the corner, like her mom made her do when she'd been really little.
"Jane?" His voice was so much softer than normal. There was nothing haughty or proud in it. "Jane…de'agha, look at me…please?" She turned. The Admiral was kneeling, collecting his datapad in one hand, the other pressing the comm button. He looked her in the eyes. "Jane, I'm sorry. That was wrong. I lost my temper."
"'s ok…" she sounded strangely quiet to herself.
"You can feel safe here," he said, but all the sudden he drew into himself, awkward, "of course…of course I mean you no harm. I don't control myself as well as I'd like. But that's no excuse you're just a little girl," he drew himself up, "I'm a grown-up. I should know better." Jane nodded, then approached the comm unit. Rael's finger moved to mute her. "Jane, we've got nothing more to say to each other."
"But-!" She stopped, remembering he couldn't hear her.
"I'll check in with you in the morning, the afternoon, and right before I leave each night." Jane shook her head, face heating up with anger. "Jane, this is for the best. We'll just drive each other to the brink otherwise."
"That's not fair! That's not fair!" She screamed until her voice was hoarse and Rael just watched her. After a minute she was crying and blubbering a little, cuffing at her eyes with her shirt sleeve. She tapped the button rapidly and the Admiral, finally, flicked the switch.
"I'll be good," she said, "I promise just please…please don't turn my voice off."
"Please, don't talk about my daughter."
"Yes, sir."
"Please, try not to bother me."
"Yes, sir."
"And I really am sorry about the datapad. It won't happen ever again. Ok?"
"…yes, sir…"
Day 31 (Just Barely):
"Hey, who are you?" The eyes vanished long before Jane could scramble from her sleeping pad to the comm unit. The door opened. "Please! Why are you doing this!" The door closed. She crawled back over to her covers.
"…I just wanted to talk to you…"
Day 34:
"The keleven stalks are yielding faster than we'd hoped!" Rab'Yad vas Sachar's audio squealed a little as he spoke. Rael'Zorah winced at the volume. The man could be so irritatingly enthusiastic. It was unseemly of a Science Fleet specialist to be so manic, especially over so little progress.
"How fast?" Rael asked him, determined to deflate Rab's good mood. "Not so fast as to threaten our ability to threaten the seed crop we need for the next yield?" Rab laughed, and that made Rael think of a braying animal. A stupid one.
"Of course, we've made sure," the man stopped suddenly, "by the homeworld…what is she doing?" Rael's head snapped to the side. Jane was upside down. And glowing with a blue aura. Rab's gasp of wonder annoyed him. "Ah! So, she really is what they say. Kashol'faust. Remarkable." Jane was standing on her palms, face all puckered up in concentration, then, raising one hand she walked herself forward. Rael's natural curiosity made him wonder how she was doing this. His instinctual alarm hit him a second later.
She was using her biotics. A thousand tiny, unstable mass effect fields defying physics. Aboard my ship! He was at the comm in a flash.
"Jane, stop that at once!"
She tottered in place as the aura dispersed, then deftly somersaulted off her hands. She came to a stop seated with her legs outspread, bare feet pressed her bizarre little toes to the glass.
"Admiral," she said, "you broke my concentration! I was about to beat my record."
"You will not use biotics on this ship! You have no control over them. Have you been doing this all along?" Jane spun around, leaning forward to snatch a datapad from the floor.
"Hana gave me these exercises," she smiled at the pad like it was the answer to all her problems, "I've been doing them the last couple days. And they're great! Matriach Armania of Hyetiana says 'First control the movements of the self and the movements of the galaxy will come naturally. For the galaxy is the greatest extension of the self.'"
"This ship is my extension only," Rael snapped, "and I say no biotics whatsoever! It's dangerous!"
"That was very impressive though…" Rab offered, then wilted at Rael's sharp glare.
"Thank you," Jane said, having caught the compliment. Rael'Zorah cleared his throat. "Fine. I'll only do the regular meditations. They're sooo boring."
"And safe," Admiral Rael'Zorah said, "thank you." Jane shooed him away with a flick of her hand.
"Ok, now both of you get out."
"I…excuse me, young lady?!" Jane jabbed a thumb at her lavatory.
"I gotta shower since my exercises are done. Er…y'know," she grimaced, "sponge-bath myself or whatever." Rab'Yad made a flustered apology, already gathering his things to obey, Rael had stop himself from throttling the buffoon.
"Jane, it can wait until my meeting is done. I'll be leaving for lunch in-"
"Like thirty minutes," Jane said, "I've lived here forever, I know when you leave. I normally bathe while you're gone." Rael was caught off-guard. Had she been putting everyone on the ship at risk daily no more than ten feet from him? Without his notice? He spluttered in outrage.
"You…you! You just be patient then."
"I stink."
"That's your problem," Rael shouted, then remembering he had company he ground out, "but of course if you need privacy and this can't wait, I can promise you that Rab'Yad and I will turn our backs." Ancestors, he was actually having this conversation. What had become of his life? Jane frowned.
"No. Way. Get out so I can bathe!"
"Jane," Rael said, trying to stay calm, "Rab'Yad has a daughter and so do I. You have nothing we, as fathers, haven't seen before-"
"Well," Rab said, helpfully unhelpful, "our daughters aren't human, Rael, so technically-"
"We'll keep our backs turned for-"
"I can't go anywhere else." Jane said. "You two can. I only need like ten minutes."
"…Uh, Admiral?" Rab'Yad inched towards the door. "I don't really feel comfortable staying here for this."
"She is not going to chase me out of my own office!" He locked eyes with the little girl. "Now what do you think about that?" Jane's aura flared blue. The datapad in his hand floated away.
"I can do this all day," Jane shrugged, "I've been practicing." As he and Rab'Yad sat on the floor of the hallway, going over the keleven stalk experiments, Rael'Zorah wondered if he'd ever had so vicious a nemesis.
Day 40:
"Admiral?"
"Jane?"
"Could you translate a book from Khelish to English?"
"Yes. Easily. I have several software programs made for translation."
"Awesome! I've reread Uli's human books like a twice now. But there's others on here that I'd like to read. Quarian books. This one with a big starship picture. See?"
"Ah, Rannochshyrar, 'The Song of Rannoch'. Almost three-hundred years old. The classic of Wandering literature. A bit…grown-up for a girl your age."
"Oh. Is it sexy or gory or something?"
"Keelah, no! Nothing like that. It's just advanced. Usually, its assigned reading for quarians in the last year before Pilgrimage. When they've turned eighteen."
"What's it about?"
"Jane, I don't have time…"
"Please."
"Very well. It's about a young cab-driver who-"
"A cab-driver? In a three-hundred-year-old book?"
"I forget your species was so behind our own. Oh, don't make a face, Jane!"
"Racist…maybe we just advanced way quicker."
"That's…not entirely untrue I suppose. The young woman is living a normal life and then the geth rebel. It's about the time of change between normalitys."
"Normalitys?"
"The day-to-day life of getting up, driving a cab, and going back home. Then the geth rise up. And by the end, she's a captain. Getting up, piloting a ship in the Migrant Fleet, and going to bed…what's that look for?"
"You can get back to normal? After something like that?"
"The book posits that going back to normal is inevitable. That what we fight against is the pit between normal. The dark place where it seems like-"
"Nothing will ever be happy again?"
"I suppose. I've always thought it was more about safety. Security. A future. But every quarian tends to read it differently. Eema thought…a friend of mine believed it was more about accepting the universe as it is. Trying to find meaning in everything. Good or bad."
"So, Admiral Rael'Zorah?"
"So, Jane Shepard?"
"Will you translate it?"
"No."
"Aw! But you said-"
"I could. But I won't. I don't have the digi-space or time to do so. I realize you're bored. You've held out forty days, klenda, you can survive a few more."
"Forty days. Really?"
"The Patrol Fleet has returned confirmation of a good heading. We're beginning to see the end of our time together. That must make you happy. Before you ask; I have no idea when we'll get there. It takes us days to move through one Mass Relay and we have several to navigate. As for the big meeting with your people I have even less of an idea. Not my purview."
"…."
"Jane? You're being awfully quiet not that I'm complaining."
"…what's today's date. Please, Admiral?"
"What could that possibly…very well. 32nd Geshem."
"What?"
"Of course. My apologies. It is…damn extranet…the 14th of May."
"Ok. Thank you." Jane sat down on her padding, picked up her plushie and hugged it tight. Rael'Zorah stared at her and then, cursing himself, pressed the button.
"Why? I'll be distracted if I don't know why." Jane shuffled over and pressed her comm button.
"I'm twelve years-old now." Rael backed away in surprise.
"Keelah. It's your birthday?" Jane shrugged, looking too tired to be defeated.
"No. My birthday was a month ago." Rael briefly thought about congratulating her.
Stupid. What good would that do?
"I see." Rael stepped away, eager to be elsewhere all of the sudden.
Day 47:
"H-hello?" The static crackled around a voice, shocking Jane out of sleep. Jane knocked her elbow into the glass barrier. Through eyes bleary with sleep and sudden pain she saw the intruder by the comms flee through the closing door.
"Next time, you're not going anywhere, whoever you are."
Day 49:
"I'll be back soon, Jane," Hana's face flickered on Rael'Zorah's omnitool, "wait til you see this system. There's a planet exactly the same shade of red as your hair. Esu se'lai."
"We'll be going through the next Relay in about one hour. I promised my daughter I would let her watch from the bridge. So, I'm leaving a little early today." The Admiral gathered his things and made for the door but paused as he glanced down at something. He picked up a tool of some kind and walked over to Jane.
"Jane." His voice turned suspicious. "Have you been using your biotics to move things around in here?" Goosebumps ran up and down Jane's arms.
"No," she said through the comms. Rael'Zorah tapped his repaired datapad with his finger then shrugged.
"I must have dropped this without realizing. Goodnight."
"Night, Admiral." Jane sat down atop her padding, playing with Blasto and grinning to herself. Hana was coming back soon. She tossed the pink plushie into the air, used her biotics to hold him there and made his tentacles dance a jig.
She let Blasto drop to the floor and threw herself back into her sleeping-pad. She bunched Uli's blanket up against her face. He'd probably come to see her too. She missed them both so much.
Day 51:
"We've had an excellent overture with the Systems Alliance Embassy on the Citadel," Zaal'Koris said through the comm, "we've made it clear we have important information regarding Mindoir and a survivor safely aboard our Fleet. You're not uncomfortable in there, I hope?"
"No, Captain Zaal'Koris, sir." Rael'Zorah sat up from where he was leaning against a table, half-absorbed in his datapad.
"Oh, Zaal, sorry, I didn't tell her."
"It's quite alright," Zaal cleared his throat, at Jane's obvious curiosity he said, "I have had the privilege of being named the Admiral of the Civilian Fleet."
"Congratulations!" Jane smiled.
"Thank you, child."
"You…don't seem very happy about that." Her words made Rael wince.
"Ach! Jane, don't be rude!"
"It's fine," Zaal looked Jane over, "you say what you think don't you, Jane'Shepard nar Jennifer?" Jane grimaced.
"Just…Jane. Jane nar Shepard."
"Very well, Jane nar Shepard." Zaal went on. "I am not entirely happy, Jane, because my dear friend and mentor Van'Atur has retired. And she…" Rael'Zorah tried to bury himself in his work, uncomfortable with the tension but unable to make an Admiral leave his office.
"And?" Jane prompted.
"She's gone to the quiet rooms aboard one of the liveships." Jane cocked her head and Zaal'Koris said. "Jane, quarians are not strong against diseases. My friend is very sick in her lungs. She has been for a few years. She had painkillers that she took daily to help but they have stopped working."
"Why?"
"Immunity," Zaal'Koris laughed bitterly, "how about that, hmm? We can barely handle a minor cold but give us time and we'll make our own medicine useless. She chose the quiet rooms. Quarians go there when they are very sick and there's no…when their recovery is very unlikely."
"Hospice?" The quarians looked up at the unknown word. They saw the definition laid out before them. Jane filled the silence. "The librarian at my school on Mindoir, Mrs. Wynn, she had really bad cancer and she didn't want to go back to Elysium for treatment. We all made cards for her and stuff. They had a memorial service after she died. Her son, on my mom's construction team, said she wanted to die on the frontier."
"A brave woman," Zaal said, "and a reminder that certain trials are the same amongst all species."
"I'm sorry about Admiral Van'Atur. Should I still call her Admiral?"
"I do," Zaal'Koris said, "and I believe I always will." The silence between them seemed calm rather than uncomfortable. The stillness broke like ice melting under warm light when Jane spoke, in a halting, shy voice.
"I'm sorry you have to worry about me when your friend is dying."
The Admiral of the Civilian Fleet, responsible for the lives of ten million quarians, placed his hand flat against the glass and Jane mimicked him. Rael saw none of Zaal's defensive pomposity. None of his small, nebbish movements.
"Jane," he said, "if I've ever made you feel unwelcome, please forgive me. As Civilian Fleet Admiral, I am tasked with protecting every child in the Migrant Fleet and that means I am your protector too." Jane smiled at him. "I will do my best to see you find your way safely home, little one. Just a few more days, and we'll get you there."
"Thank you, Admiral Zaal'Koris."
"Have good evening, Jane nar Shepard." Rael, as was custom, saw his fellow Admiral out.
"What do we do now," Zaal'Koris said when they were walking down the hallway, "what are we, Rael? What good are these titles we've accepted?" Rael was taken aback by the question but tried to appear confident.
"We do as we can to get ourselves home, Zaal. To build houses on Rannoch for our children."
"And her? Who is left to build her a house?" Rael stared at him. "Jane."
"She's not," a quarian, but he couldn't bring himself to say it, "all alone. Surely the Alliance will have some plan for her." Zaal'Koris looked off into the hallway, motionless.
"The children," he said at last, "the little humans. I've been thinking about them. I never realized I'd think about them so much. The Alliance sent me a list of names to check through. So many names. Little boys and girls. Teenagers. Babies, Rael. Ancestors, they stole infants." Zaal looked at him. "Van'Atur talks about them with every other breath. Thinks we should've done something. Hates herself for arguing against it."
"I'm sorry, Zaal. Not everyone thinks clearly when they're in pain." Rael reached out and touched his shoulder gently, then pulled his hand back. Rann handled these things much better. "What could we do?"
"You've thought about them, Rael, haven't you?" Rael'Zorah tried not to fidget.
"Of course," he lied, "of course I have. A tragedy."
"A tragedy?" Zaal asked. Rael tried to withstand his stare. "A tragedy." Zaal shrugged. "I expect us to be meeting with the System Alliance within ten days."
"It's almost over."
"For us." Zaal'Koris said. "Yes, it's almost over." The Admiral walked away; shoulders hunched like the gravity aboard the Alarei was too great to bear.
Day 55:
"Tali," her father said, "why are you fidgeting? Do you the need the bathroom?" Tali'Zorah about died of shame as she glanced up at her father.
"Nooo," she moaned, "dad, don't ask me stuff like that!" She glanced around at the Captain and her soldiers, utterly mortified. Either they didn't hear, or they pretended. She was ten-years-old. She'd been outside the cubby for a whole four months. She wasn't little anymore.
Her concern wasn't that her avi wasthe most embarrassing person in the universe. It was her klenna. Her human girl named Jane. She was leaving soon, perhaps that very day.
Tali had to see her one last time, talk to her. She'd tried before but one look at Jane all cuddled under her blankets, comfortable, and Tali couldn't find the heart to wake her. The times Jane saw her, Tali simply ran away, too afraid of getting caught to linger.
No longer! She was Clan Zorah and that meant she had to be brave. An idea struck her square in the head.
"Oh, I do need the bathroom," she said suddenly, "I'll be right back!" Her father placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Wait, you don't know this area of the ship. Let me take you-"
"I do! It's right around the corner and down some stairs. Near one of the crew decks." Rael'Zorah stood a moment in thought.
"How do you know that?"
Because I got lost a bunch while I was sneaking around.
"Oh, I've been studying the ship schematics. You know…to…understand the ship better!"
"Well," her father said, slightly skeptical, "don't forget to check all your suit seals before you leave the sterilized stall." If a black hole opened under her feet, Tali would've been quite happy to jump straight in to avoid this moment.
"Yes."
"And make sure you activate a decon protocol after you're done. Common courtesy."
"Yes."
"You're sure you know the way?"
"Yes, avi. I am certain!" Tali scurried off and when she was out of sight, looked herself over in a bulkhead, checking her reflection.
Her suit was shiny black on her forearms and lower legs. Everywhere else it was mostly a uniform lavender color without special decorations. She'd customize her life-suit when she turned sixteen and stopped growing. In the meanwhile, she fiddled with the talrin framing her visor, still not quite used to it in her peripheral vision, then brought up her omni-tool.
"Ok, let's try this out aaaaaand…yesh! It works!" Her reflection vanished. She marveled at the way the light bent around the space she was standing. "Sababa!" The cloaking system worked. No more wiping surveillance footage from her avi's command station. It was too easy to sneak through the ship now.
The little quarian input her father's passcode, Eema, and crept into the office, slipping over to the containment unit and nearly clicking her visor against the glass as she peeked inside. Jane was awake and scrubbing teeth with a small plastic brush. It seemed like a lot of fuss, but humans had more teeth then quarians and, if all the things she'd been reading about them were accurate, ate a wider variety of foods.
Jane was squinting at her reflection in a part of the glass, swigging water from a container to slosh around in her mouth. She turned, her green eyes landed on Tali with a bored emptiness that became shock, sputtering toothpaste down onto her shirt. Tali glanced down at herself.
So. The cloaking system overclocks quickly. Good to know. She fought the urge to run and reached out for the comm button. Her finger froze. Her whole body froze. Her suit VI warned her that her heartrate was escalating rapidly. A dull blue sheen had fallen over her visor and her outstretched hand. Jane had thrown a hand towards her, and after a moment of startled blinking grinned slowly. She had to lean over awkwardly to press the comm button while keeping her arm straight and hand contorted. She never got the chance to speak.
"Tali!" Her first thought wasn't fear of Jane's biotics or worry over punishment. Instead Tali called herself stupid for not guessing that her father would have an alert system set up in case someone accessed his office while he wasn't there. It was pure luck, she supposed, that her previous intrusions were buried under a hundred updates, alerts, and requests her father received each night.
The thin reflection in the glass barrier showed her father shoving a table of delicate instruments aside with a sudden burst of strength. He slammed bodily into the containment unit and his hand flicked down to the control panel. He pressed a button that had bright red tape covering it and Tali was free.
Jane hit the floor inside the containment unit, curled up and shaking.
"What did you do?!" Tali yelped. "You hurt her!"
"Tali," her father's fingers dug into her shoulders, she spun, "are you alright? Are you hurt? What are you doing in here?"
"I'm fine, avi, but Jane-"
"Let. Me. Out." Jane was standing on wobbly legs, palm slammed against her comm button. She had tears in her eyes and was shaking her free hand like an animal with an injured paw. "I want to get out!" Her father pressed the comm unit and Tali was surprised to hear Jane's voice cut off.
"What did you do…"
"Never mind that! Is your suit working alright? Let me run a diagnostic." Jane had realized she'd been muted, her face twisted in rage. One of her hands flared blue and the sound of it striking the barrier boomed around the office. Her father pulled Tali into his arms and dragged her backwards, slapping the control unit again.
A lockdown engaged. Thin metal slats shot out to cover the glass. Her father picked her up and ran out of his office. Alarms were blaring in Khelish, Tali was stunned by the flashing alert lights overhead. Her father didn't stop moving until they were at the airlock once more.
"Rael? What's happening?" Her Auntie's voice called out over the din. Tali was deposited against Shala'Rann who grunted at the sudden weight and set her down on the floor. She was surrounded by the Alarei's crew. "What is it?"
"Rann, get Tali off this ship!"
"Where's Jane?" A stern voice knifed the air. Tali gasped as Captain Hana'Nur vas Shepherd shoved into the crowd. She was just like her father had said, all dark black and red with a creepy silver visor that hid her face. Looking more like a machine than a quarian.
"I went in there," Rael pointed a trembling finger toward the hall, "and found that wretched child attacking my daughter with her damned biotics!"
"That's not true!" Tali's voice barely registered to the adults.
"How is she now," Hana'Nur demanded. Behind her a large man with a blue talrin squeezed politely into the circle.
"Rann," her father shouted, "get Tali off the ship, I said!
"Admiral?" The big man asked, uncertainly.
"Stay, Uli," her Auntie said, "Rael, tell me what happened."
"Tali is in danger and that is all that should matter! Now get her-"
"He did something!" Tali shoved her father's hip to get past him, standing before her Auntie. "Avi pressed a button and Jane fell over. I think she got hurt." Even inside her suit Tali felt the temperature of the hall drop a degree as Hana'Nur spoke.
"What button was this?" her voice was dangerously gentle.
"It…" her father suddenly took in the people around him, "it hardly…there was a feature on the containment units in case the subjects got rowdy. I never meant-the button was taped over," he fidgeted, "I admit I wasn't thinking clearly but my daughter-"
"Rael!" Auntie Rann yelled, her voice cracking with exhaustion. "In the decade it is taking you to speak we are all coming up with our own answers. What happened?"
"It was," her father straightened up like a man facing the firing squad, "it was a very mild shock. A tickle. We couldn't remove the function in time to house Jane, so I had it scaled down to barely a fraction of its lowest setting and-AUFF!" Her father slammed against a bulkhead.
"Admirals, please!" Captain Shi'Vini held back her crew from rushing Shala'Rann. Tali shuffled back out of the circle, scared at the angry tremors in ever tensed muscle along Aunt Shala's arms. Her father's feet scrabbled at the floor, trying to get purchase to stand up.
"What is wrong with you, Rael'Zorah?" Auntie Rann shoved him again. "What is wrong with you?! In front of your daughter, no less!"
"I never meant to use it!" Her father yelled.
"Ay, stop!" Sori shouted. He yipped in pain and Tali turned to see Hana'Nur twisting his wrist to shove him out of her way. Nal and Vel charged her, driving her back into the far wall. "Captain, stand down!"
"You bosh'tets!" Hana'Nur struggled. "If that girl can't control herself this whole ship is dead! Let me go to her!" Uli waded in, calling for general calm. Tali checked her cloaking system, found it recharged and took a deep breath to steel her nerves. Then vanished. She pressed against a wall to keep from getting knocked over by rushing, confused crewmembers as she ran back to the office.
The door opened at a touch and she crept up to the control panel. She tapped at the lockdown button and grumbled when nothing happened. She brought up her omni-tool and dived deep into the ship's ancient systems. A downpour of code fell across the holo-screen. Tali calmly moved symbols around, rewrote certain values. Here a 2 in place of 5. Fabricated credentials. The whining alarm died away, the lights stopped, and the metal slats opened.
She expected something scary. Like old stories of magic. Or the tales of Clan Nur, the great biotic warriors from Nur-Hekal on Rannoch. The Hundred Blue-Handed Warriors who decimated a Geth army ten times their size and died under the skies of the homeworld, defiant to the last.
Jane didn't seem so intimidating as all that, sitting quietly. Her arms hugged her knees close to hide her face. She looked up, mildly annoyed when she saw Tali.
Tali fiddled with her omni-tool, created a new program for the containment unit. She tapped the entry key and the first door opened. Jane must've heard because she jolted back, glaring suspiciously. Tali's program ran the cycling protocol and she stepped into the small space that Jane had called home for nearly sixty days.
"Wh-what do you want?" Tali's heart hurt at the fear in her klenna's voice.
"I just wanted to check on you," Tali stepped forward, Jane stumbled to her feet, "I'm sorry about my dad. Did it hurt very much? Are you ok?"
"Your dad…you're Admiral Zorah's daughter. Tali." Tali winced. Even when a whole different species came to the Migrant Fleet she was still 'The Admiral's Daughter'. At least if Jane didn't want to speak to her, Tali consoled herself, she'd have a better reason to be intimidated than most. "…what's your problem? Why were you watching me all this time?"
She was taller than Tali by almost six inches. Bigger in the shoulders and torso than a quarian. Her hair and eyes gave her a fiery, fierce aspect, but Tali sensed something fragile. She didn't know human expressions very well, but the way Jane's scowl kept twitching ruined its affect.
"I'm sorry," Tali said, "I wanted to talk to you. But my father would've been so angry with me if I came here. I got scared. I thought you'd tell him and then he'd send me away from the Alarei."
"I'm no snitch," Jane stated, "and how bout now? Did your dad say you could come see if I ripped the hull apart or something?" Tali shook her head. "For real? You'll get in trouble."
"I don't care," Tali stepped closer again, looking up into the human's strange, spotted face. Freckles. Her omni-tool told her. How cute! "I had to check on you. It's my responsibility!"
"What do you mean?" Jane blinked at her. Tali took her hands, marveling at the differences, clasping ten fingers inside six and squeezing them softly.
"You're my klenna," Tali said, "you used my cubby." Jane nodded a little, but her confusion was obvious even to a quarian. Tali giggled, giddy at finally being able to speak with her. "Jane, that means that you're my cubby-sibling. My sister."
"Sister?" Jane shook her head like she was dazed. "Just cuz I used your cubby?"
"Yes, silly," Tali said, "you needed it. I gave it to you. That means we're bonded. You couldn't live on the Migrant Fleet without it and neither could I. See? We're the same." Jane cocked her head, a smile slowly breaking onto her face.
"I think I get it. I think so." She gripped Tali's hands, her eyes watering.
"Are you hurt?" Jane shook her head, taking one of her hands back to rub at her eyes.
"I…I just miss my mom."
"I miss my mom too." Tali said. "What was your mom like?"
"She was a construction foreman," Jane said, "she had a really loud voice." Jane straightened up and put on a face as she made her voice commanding. "'Jane! Don't even think about jumping off the roof again!'". Tali laughed. "But she was nice too. What about your mom?"
"Oh," Tali shrugged, "I don't remember much of her. She died when I was little." Jane took her hands again, devastated.
"Oh no, Tali, I'm so sorry."
"She was a commando in the Heavy Fleet," Tali said proudly, "she left me her old combat knife. But my dad says I can't carry it around until I'm older." She pointed at her foot. "I'm going to put a sheath right there, so I can carry into battle."
"Cool!" Jane said. She frowned. "Sorry I used my biotics on you."
"Sorry I frightened you all those times."
"Did not." Jane huffed.
"Did so!" Tali snickered. She drew Jane over to the sleeping-pad and sat her down.
"How'd you get in here anyway?"
"I'm a 'prodigy'," Tali said, "at least that's what my teachers say. I hacked the door. Can you hack stuff?"
"I'm not really good with computers. I can't keep all the numbers and codes and stuff in my head." Tali sat down next to her and brought up her omni-tool.
"Oh, but it's easy! See the light switch by the door? Here's the system it works on. Just slip past the firewall with a passcode and…" she swiped a finger across the holo-screen and the lights dimmed. Jane grinned.
"Why bother with all that nerdy math," Tali shouldered her playfully at the dig, Jane raised her thumb and two fingers, "I can just do this." She mimed twisting a knob. The dimmer switch glowed blue and turned. The lights came back up.
"That's cheating!" Tali laughed.
"Oh, and like hacking isn't?" Jane teased. "If I wanted to, I could make you float off the floor." Tali shrugged at that.
"If I adjust the gravity, I could make us both float off the floor."
"Well," Jane said, "I can move stuff across the entire room. See?" She raised a hand toward the office and grinned when a desk lamp rose in a blue haze. A robotic arm next to it jerked to life and snatched it out of the air. Tali's eyes twinkled like mischievous stars.
The door to the office opened and Hana'Nur froze at the sight of them. Jane hopped up from the floor and ran to the comm button.
"Hana!" The Captain pressed a corresponding button. Her voice was much softer than it had been earlier.
"Jane, are you alright? I heard the Admiral gave you a shock." Jane made a face.
"What? Yeah, I'm fine. It's so good to see you!" Jane gave an adorable little cry of delight as another figure blundered into the office, his bulk knocking things over. "Uli!"
"Jane!" It was hard to tell which of them was more excited to see the other. "Hej, little one. Are you alright? I heard-"
"I'm fine," Jane rolled her eyes, "how's your arm? Where've you been? Why didn't you come visit me?" Uli flexed a bicep.
"Strong enough to rip the eye off a geth! I'm sorry, Jane, I would've come sooner but-"
"But Uli'Rann was fighting an infection," Hana'Nur said, "one that almost cost him his arm." She turned to Jane. "So, let's not have any complaints on that front, alright?"
"I wasn't," Jane said, "I'm glad you're ok, Uli." The big man began to ask her about some kind of human story but Tali had focused on the next two figures entering the office. Her father stopped dead in his tracks, whole body trembling. I'm in big trouble. Auntie Rann grabbed him by the shoulder and pointed firmly outside. There was a mute argument that ended with her father skulking away, lingering in the door like a spy. Her Auntie took up a spot between Uli and Hana, exuding authority.
"Tali'Zorah," she winced, her Auntie did not sound happy, "I hope you understand you're stuck in there for a while now."
"I know," Tali grumbled, "you don't have to tell me-"
"Tali," she quieted, "your intentions were good, but this is not a wise thing you've done. And I'm guessing you were only able to do it with that gift I gave you for your last birthday." She pointed to the drawer. "In the drawer, Tali. And no fuss."
"I only wanted to see my klenna," Tali whined, unsnapping the omni-tool's hardware band from around her wrist, she put it in the drawer and sulked until she felt Jane's arm wrap around her shoulders. The closeness was unfamiliar but not unpleasant.
"Can't take my biotics away," the bigger girl teased.
"Jane," Hana'Nur said sharply, Jane flinched, "I won't scold you for lashing out at the Admiral. He was wrong. But you mustthink more clearly, child, and stay calm. If you'd broken the barrier germs would've flooded the ship." Jane opened her mouth to protest. "That's all, klenda. No punishment." Jane smiled. "But, as for using your biotics on poor Tali'Zorah. Give me my datapad back, Jane." Jane picked up one of the datapads in her room, pouting all the way to the drawer. The girls fell instantly into a silent alliance against the unfairness of grown-ups.
"You must entertain yourselves somehow," Shala'Rann said, "I can't promise a decon team will be ready anytime soon. Tali, behave. Jane, behave." They offered stony silence. "Keelah, I'm terrified of you two. Girls? You will behave yourselves, yes?"
"Yeeees," they chorused.
"Good," Shala'Rann said, "Tali." Tali looked up expecting another scolding. "Your father is sorry that he scared you. Jane, he's going to offer a full apology to you." Jane nodded. "Alright, we'll leave you be. Uli'Rann will be right here if you need anything."
"Thank you, Auntie."
"Thank you, Admiral Rann." Shala'Rann snorted.
"I'll leave you alone so you can start griping about how horribly unfair I am. Oh. And Jane?"
"Yeah?"
"We've agreed to meet the Systems Alliance in a neutral system, under the direct guidance of the Citadel Council. You're almost home, de'agha."
"But," Tali said, "not before I tell you all about what being a klenna means! And you have to promise to write to me after you leave." Jane laughed.
"Ok, I'm not going anywhere yet," she said. But she was going eventually. Tali thought that was just as bad. Jane held up the other datapad. "Could you read something to me?" Tali settled onto the bedding, resting her back against the glass barrier, the adults had left the room, save for Uli'Rann, looking around vainly for a seat.
Tali began to read.
"Rannochshyrar or My Memories of Home. Foreword. 'I want you to understand'", her voice filled the small space, "'you can overcome anything.'" Jane sat next to her, blanket over her shoulders, eyes intent on Tali. "Because I am no-one special. I am no-one brave. I am no hero and I wish people wouldn't call me that." Jane laid down, hair pooling around her in a red puddle, then, shyly, she reached out to hold Tali's free hand. "'I lost my homeworld. Today, I woke up, remembered what I didn't have anymore, and I wanted to do nothing but cry.'" She squeezed Jane's hand. Her klenna's hand. "'But I got up anyway. And I wrote this story. My story.'"