John Shepard, Freedom's Progress, Human Colony, Security Control

"Nope," John said, with a quick shake of his head. "Looks like Veetor is better than me."

There was a delicate snort behind him. "Of course he is. He's quarian," Tali said matter-of-factly. "After all, he was able to control the entire colony's mechs by himself."

"Yes, well," John stood, gesturing. "In that case, maybe my lady of machine's would like to try?"

Tali stared at him for a moment before giving a quick glance at the two Cerberus operatives. "I'd love to. But I blew out my omnitool while saving you from the giant mech," she said, holding out her arm and showing the blackened stipe of the tool's emitter band. "I have to say, being able to be on that end of the saving was worth it."

John raised an eyebrow as he looked at Tali. She stood so straight, so...strong. Her head was cocked slightly, indicating her amused smile. Her right arm was cocked with the fist on her ample hips….

Dammit, John, pull your shit together, he mentally slapped himself. This is hardly the time!

Then, with a glance at Miranda and Jacob, John stepped forward and lightly grabbed Tali's wrist. With a quick flick of his fingers, he popped Tali's burned out omnitool off and slapped the new one he had been wearing in it's place.

"Wha...Shepard!" Tali cried, surprised. But...he noticed she didn't pull away. In fact...did she step closer….?

Of course not! The mech must have hit you harder than you thought…..

"Commander!" Miranda exclaimed stepping forward with a dark frown. "Your omnitool has highly sensitive information on it!"

John just looked at the human woman for a moment, his expression was so blandly neutral, he almost looked asleep.

"Miri…" Jacob stepped forward and tapped the unhappy woman on her arm, trying to get her attention. "Shepard trusts her, and she was on his original crew. Let it go."

Miranda's face darkened like a storm cloud, and for a moment, John was sure she intended to press the issue. Which he was kinda looking forward to. It had been a very tense forty-eight hours for him. But then Miranda turned on her heel and walked away. When she got twenty or so feet away, she stopped, looking away from the group.

The move surprised John enough that he had to look to Jacob to be sure it actually happened. The soldier, for his part, met his eyes and shrugged.

"Shepard…" Tali spoke, getting his attention. "I admit wanting to take this just to spite the Cerberus...woman." Quarians were a very verbal people. They could convey a lot of information with the right tone of voice. And John did not need to be quarian to understand the tone as she said that last word. "But honestly, I can't accept…."

"Enough," John waved a hand cutting the engineer off. "I can't hack the door. Your tool was dead, so you couldn't hack the door. And unless you have a small cannon, we aren't getting through that blast door. So," he gestured to the door. "Hack away."

Staring at John for a moment, Tali's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Mmm…." she grunted, as she pushed past him, opening up the tool and skimming over the programs and stats.

"What the…" Tali's eyes shot open wide as she stared at the glowing interface.

Tali'Zorah vas Neema, Freedom's Progress, Human Colony

"What the…" Tali stopped mid step and stared at the omnitool's interface for a moment. Her fingers flew over the device, her eyes flashing over the data.

The tool itself was amazing! The omnitool that Shepard had given her two years ago was still nearly cutting edge, but this one was...well, it was nearly unbelievable. It's processing power and speed was like nothing she had see before, short of a geth network. And the programs…

The programs on the system were Shepards standard set. The same ones she remembered from when they worked on the together. An overload, tech armor, omniblade...even a cryoblast now. And the hacking protocol….it...it was the same program they had worked on together….

Tali's eyes misted slightly, but as she opened her mouth to say something, the omnitool connected to her suit's system directly, shocking her.

That was supposed to be nearly impossible! Granted, it was a powerful tool, but to cut through her suit's firewalls like that, the person would have to know quarian systems, and her programming styles in particular…..

Starting to panic, Tali looked over to Shepard, almost expecting a cruel, dark grin of some Cerberus infiltrator, or other trick. But, instead, he just looked back at her, directly in the eye, and nodded ever so slightly.

Then, the message screen popped up in her helmet's HUD.

Tali, I know this is an invasion, but I need your help. I am not sure what Cerberus may have done to me. The first thing I did when I got this omnitool was wipe the Cerberus tracking protocols, so it should be safe. I cracked the security at the station I was at and downloaded the full file of what they did to bring me back. I need you to go over it. See if they did anything weird.

Blinking a couple times, Tali cleared her throat and moved on to the security door. She was not the greatest actress in the world. In fact, her Aunt Shalla had always told her that she was a terrible liar. But, after sparing Shepard a glance and a small nod of her own, she settled down to hack this damn door.

John

Taking a deep breath, John's hand ran over the deep rents in the chest plate of his armor. He had taken a hell of a beating from that YMIR mech. A beating that, honestly, should have killed him.

"Shepard?" Tali's voice brought him out of his reverie. "Are you alright? Normally after this kind of mission you have a lot of holes in you."

Tali was crouched in front of the heavy doors that led to the security control room as she worked on hacking the control. Like she always did.

"Yeah," John sighed shaking his head. "Yeah, I'm okay. No holes this time. Probably going to need new armor. Jacob will be thrilled I'm sure."

Tali let out a rueful chuckle as she worked. "Jacob is the male? He seems weirdly nice to be Cerberus."

"I know, right!" John nodded, with a laugh of his own as he looked over at the man in question, where he had stepped away to discuss something with Miranda.

"And...got it," Tali nodded standing and stepping away from the door. "Should we tell the con'alds, and Jacob?"

Smirking, John raised an eyebrow. "I am pretty sure whatever it is that you called Miranda was probably not pleasant. But, yes, we should." As he said that he turned, raising his voice to get the pair of Cerberus's attention.

"No...I was just saying how wonderful she was…" John could make out Tali's quiet muttering. She always knew how to bring a smile to his face.

Miranda Lawson

The man was infuriating. Just...insufferable. The most irritating part of it was how damned good he was. At damn near everything. But she would be dead before she let him see how he was getting to her.

The landing had been nice and simple. The only resistance had been light mechs and aerial drones. Not a threat for her and Jacob, and would be a good warm-up for Shepard to get used to his upgrades.

That had been a resounding success. His speed, skill and endurance all seemed to fit his profiles from before his rebuild. Which, understandably, may have sounded nonoptimal, but considering that he had been woken a good six months early, that was pretty good. Adding in the lack of real calibration and the risk of body rejection, it was fairly amazing. As was standard for Miranda's work.

But then they had encountered the quarians.

Shepard's reaction was fairly predictable, given his history with aliens, and that race in particular. No, honestly, it was the presence of Tali'Zorah that threw everything out the damned window.

After that stupid 'Ineffectual Prince' crap, they had demanded to be alone, speaking about god knew what.

That was another thing that got her. Miranda had tried to access the backdoor programs that had been embedded in Shepard's omnitool, but it looked like he had somehow found them and removed them. Something she had been assured he wouldn't be able to do. And yet. There they were.

And then there was the business with the heavy mech. Shepard had been so frantic, miranda was afraid he would burst a blood vessel. Then, the moment the door opened, he was gone with a speed that literally left her speechless.

But then, when she and Jacob had caught up with the idiot, Shepard's display was even more ridiculous! He was using a level of biotic power close to her own! Something he should not have had!

And then! And then!

You know what? She snarled at herself as she turned on her heel and not quite stomped away.. You know what, fuck it. I don't even care right now. Let Shepard give the quarian the ridiculously overpowered omnitool. I'll just give him another one of the nearly unique pieces of equipment gathered for this fucking mission. Bury the rabbit hole deeper this time….

"Miri?" Jacob spoke her name softly as he approached from behind her. "You seem...upset."

At that, Miranda's eyes flashed open as she spun around to face Jacob, words of anger on her lips. Until she saw the man's small grin.

"Yes, well," Miranda sighed. "The project we had been working on for the past few years seems to have a death wish along with the urge to give out sensitive equipment to every random alien woman that shoves her breasts in his face."

"Heh," Jacob chuckled with her for a moment. "It's not that bad, Miri. It's the kinda thing that almost makes you think of fate really, if you think about it."

Miranda gave Jacob a look for a moment before she allowed herself a small nod. "Yes, the odds on running into a member of Shepard's former crew, here of all places, is staggering."

"Hey!" The man they had been discussing called out. "Tali got the door, let's go!"

"Ugh…" Miranda dramatically rolled her eyes at Jacob. "Are we sure we need him?"

John

"All gone. Monsters took everybody. Will be back. No, no, no, no...can't see them. Must be gone…." The lone quarian spoke rapidly, nearly nonstop, to himself. "All gone, all gone….Mechs, mechs...not working. Need my mechs...keep me safe from the monsters. Monsters...took them all…."

Looking over his shoulder, John shared a look with his team. The man didn't seem to realize the door had even opened. He just kept talking and shifting rapidly through screens of security feeds.

Turning back, John stepped forward and cleared his throat loudly. "Veetor? Are you alright? We are here to help you."

"All gone…. Took them all. The monsters will be back. They will be back. Must hide. Need my mechs. Mechs, mechs, where are my mechs? Monsters will take me, need my mechs…."

With a shake of his head John gestured to Tali, who nodded and stepped forward, keying her omnitool, and overriding Veetor's control of the screens and shutting them down.

The quarian went still as he seemed to stare blankly ahead at the darkened displays, seemingly uncomprehending what had happened.

"Veetor?" John asked again. He had said it quietly, as calming as he could, but the young man jumped as he spun about, and nearly toppled from his chair.

"No, no, no, no….you're not here. They took them all. Am I gone?" Veetor asked, his eyes large, and glowing under his visor. "Did they take me too? Did it hurt when they took you?"

"Umm...no, Veetor," John spoke quietly, his hands open at his sides as he slowly walked closer. "We aren't from here. We heard something happened, so we came to help."

Veetor looked at John for a moment before seeming to deflate somewhat. "Oh," he said, with a slight nod. "Yes. Too late. Yes. All gone. Monsters. You should go. Before they come take you too. They will find you. They found everyone."

"Who did this Veetor," John asked soothingly. "Did you see them?"

Nodding slightly, Veetor turned back to the security command console, reactivating the system. "Yes. Yes. Saw them. Saw them take everyone. All of them. Hid here. But they will be back," Vettor rambled as he brought up footage from several security cameras and angles. From the looks of the vids, Veetor had stitched together the footage manually, to form a complete start to finish narrative.

"My god…" Miranda spoke quietly. "Those look like...Collectors…"

Turning, John frowned. "Who?"

"Collectors," Tali cut in, before Miranda could elaborate. "They are a rarely seen species that lives beyond the Omega Four Relay. They only seem to come out to do some strange trading, something, usually people, in exchange for an advanced piece of tech here, or there. Everything they have is far beyond the galactic standard."

"And now they have decided to do the work themselves?" John snorted as he watched the footage loop. "This has some...odd timing. Wonder what the odds they are involved with Reapers is?"

"We have what we came for," Miranda sighed, with a frown at the quarian engineer. "We should take Veetor with us, see what other information he has on…"

"NO!" Tali cut Miranda off and stepped between the Cerberus woman and her kin. "Veetor is sick! He doesn't need an interrogation!"

"Ma'am," Jacob held up his hands in a placating manner. "We won't hurt him. We just want to answer some questions."

"You bosh'tets," Tali snarled as she set a hand on the handle of her shotgun. "You aren't...Shepard! You can't let them…"

"Whoa!" John inserted himself into the fray, placing a hand on Tali's shoulder. "Calm down Tali. I won't let them take Veetor."

The quarian in question seemed to be sitting, watching them in silence. John felt like he was involved in some sort of play. Written by a mad man. Or one that didn't like him very much….

"Commander!" Miranda complained, loudly.

"Enough!" John spoke, loudly this time. "Veetor goes with Tali. That's the end of it. She can send us his omnitool data and we can take what's in the mainframe. That will be plenty of information. Tormenting a sick man won't get us anywhere. And besides, Cerberus seems to have done something to the quarians."

"That," Miranda started with a frown. She did that a lot. "That was a rouge faction and was dealt with."

"Well, I don't like you either," John snorted, crossing his arms. "It's done. I want you two to head back to the shuttle. Get it ready for flight. I'll help Tali and the wounded from her team, then meet you there."

"I…" Miranda was going to speak again but seemed to think better of it and closed her mouth with a click. "Fine. Jacob, Let's go."

"Yeah, sorry about the mess Commander. We'll be ready when you are."

Tali

As the human fre'eg, and Jacob, walked out, Tali sighed and dropped her head slightly. "Keelah...what a day…."

"Yeah?" John chuckled, clapping a hand on her shoulder. "I've been dead for two years. Wake up and within forty-eight hours I am punching giant mechs and being exploded."

"Ha, ha," Tali couldn't help but laugh as she looked up at Shepard. Couldn't help but feel the warmth of his hand. Humans were so much warmer than quarians…. Her hand slowly reached up as she began to take a step closer to his body. Tali's eyes tracing every curve of his armor, to his neck...she felt her mouth wet itself as the urge to bite rolled through her like a wave.

Then her eyes met his. The same deep blue she had loved so long ago. Tali could feel her body need him, with all of her soul.

"Umm…." a slightly mechanical voice cut through her mind as Veetor spoke. "Who...who are you?"

John, Quarian Light Freighter Jim Dandy, Freedom's Progress

"And here you are, Xera'Raan, one quarian insertion ship jump seat," John gently lowered the injured quarian into the copilot seat of the human made ship the marine unit had used to jump to Freedom's Progress. "Hold still while I strap you down."

"Fuck, Shepard," Xera giggled as she swatted John's arm with her uninjured hand. "I know I'm adorable, but not in front of Tali!"

With a long suffering sigh, John shook his head as he struggled, far more than expected, given Xera's size, to strap the quarian into her seat, despite her flailing. "Yes, yes, you're quite the catch there, lefty," John smirked as he finally clicked the last buckle into place, and somehow managing to not make the injury to her arm worse.

An injury that was his fault. He didn't move fast enough. He didn't convince the Migrant Fleet marines properly. He didn't….he didn't….

But then John's cycle of self loathing was broken by a low growl from the pilot's seat as Tali stood up stiffly and brushed past John.

"I'm going to check the engine load," Tali grunted before pausing and staring at Xera for a moment. "Keep your straps in the right place." Then, Tali turned and stomped into the rear of the ship.

"Wow!" Xera exclaimed, as she watched Tali's exit, before turning back to Shepard. "She's fucking pissed."

John stood frowning at the door that led to the main body of the ship. "A lot of marines got hurt and killed. I'm not surprised."

"Noooo!" Xera laughed slapping John on the rear, making him jump.

As he spun to face the small quarian, John battled to push down the furious blush that overcame him. "What do you mean, 'no'" He asked, clearing his throat.

"I mean, Prazza was a fucker. Sucks he took some marines with him, but they weren't the greatest people either. They disobeyed direct orders from the mission leader after all," Xera explained with a half shrug. About all she was capable of at the moment. "Well...and my right fucking arm, here," Xera added looking down at the shattered mess of her right arm.

The suit breach and wound were sealed with almost an entire roll of sealing tape. The limb itself secured with even more tape across her belly.

With a shake of his head, John couldn't help but smirk. "You seem to really be taken with that word."

"What?" Xera asked looking back up at John. " 'Fuck'? It's a great word. Tali told me earlier today. I like 'bad' words." Xera attempted to make air quotes, but it lost a lot of meaning when she only had the one hand. "Quarian ones are boring. I can't say turian ones, can't do the dual harmonic thing. Krogan ones rip up my throat, and asari ones sound weak. But 'fuck' is great!"

"Well, then, here," John smirked as he brought up his omnitool and transferred a file to her. "Maybe this will help you feel better while they fix your arm."

Xera tilted her helmet in the way John had come to recognize as confusion, then brought up her omnitool, staring at it for a moment.

"Oh! I'm really sorry," John grimaced as he rubbed the back of his head with a hand. "I forgot you can't open it freely with your injury…."

"Pfff," Xera shook her head and looked back up at him. "Please, like quarian's wouldn't have optic controls built into our helmets for situations like this….oh! Neat! Thanks!"

"What did you do?" Tali's voice came from behind the pair.

"He gave me a lexicon of human words!" Xera beamed. "I can't wait! 'Shit'...ooo, that's neat!"

"Really, Shepard?" Tali crossed her arms over her chest and sighed dramatically. "If she gets herself exiled from the Fleet, I hope you will take responsibility."

"Yes...well," John rocked back and forth on his heels a moment before grinning. "I can always use a good quarian on my crew."

John had meant it as a joke, he knew that Tali had to get her battered team back to the Flotilla, and that she wasn't able to join him in his mission. At least not yet. But he was slightly taken aback as Tali's eyes narrowed dangerously. And she...growled...quietly?

"Hey! Piss bucket!" Xera yelled looking back at Tali. "Calm the fuck down, alright?"

Tali's head snapped to Xera, locking onto the smaller quarian. Then, after a moment, Tali shook her head, placing a hand over her visor. "Keelah….What's come over me…"

"Oh, shut up!" Xera snarked, turning back around. "You know."

"Umm…" John looked back and forth between the pair for a moment before he decided to change the subject….

"So, Xera," John began, forcing his voice into a more cheerful tone. "I'm impressed with the quarian abilities to handle pain. In the same situation a human would have a hard time staying conscious."

"What?" Xera blinked confused. "Oh! Right, with the arm thing, no. No, far as I am aware, and I have looked into it a little bit, we don't handle pain much different that humans. I'm just full of a lot of drugs right now." Xera's eyes twinkled in a way that John was sure meant she was smiling. "And I have the beginnings of a low grade fever."

"Really?" John asked, surprised. "You have painkillers that help with that kind of pain?"

"Nope!" Xera laughed. "It hurts a whole fucking shit ton. They just make me not care as much. Still. I'd like to get home and take a load off my shoulder." Xera paused before looking back and forth between John and Tali. "Get it? Cause they're taking the arm off!"

Tali'Zorah Vas Neema, Quarian Light Freighter Jim Dandy

"Really, Xera?" Tali shook her head exasperated. "A load off your shoulder?"

"What?" the other quarian leaned back, mock offended. "It's high humor. You wouldn't understand."

"Yeah...right," Tali sighed, probably for the twelfth time since leaving Shepard...Freedom's Progress, behind them. "Look….Sorry about how I acted. Anger just kinda...bubbled up…."

"Huh?" Xera blinked and looked over at her best friend. "Oh, that? Naw, that's why I believed it was actually Shepard in the first place."

Tali leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms as she watched the blue rippling glow of the FTL effects through the cockpit window. "I don't know how my growling helped you realize that."

After a long moment of silence, Tali looked over at Xera, mildly worried, only to see the woman staring back at her with narrowed eyes.

"Seriously?" Xera snorted, before turning to look at the instruments in front of her. "You reacted like you were on hecs'tiyl. You naturally went to him. There is no way you would have reacted like that if is wasn't really him. Your soul would have noticed."

For a moment, Tali's mouth moved, but no sound came out as she stared at Xera. "I...there's no way!" she yelled, finally finding her voice. "Quarians can't bond with humans!"

"Oh?" Xera said, distractedly as she brought up her omnitool. "You've studied humans long enough to know that for sure? In the small amount of time they have been in the galactic scene?"

"Well…no…" Tali admitted. "But...I…."

"Fuck off, you love him, end of story," Xera sighed, still staring at her omnitool, clearly doing something. "And...done."

"Done?" Tali asked, tilting her helmet in mild confusion. "Done what?"

"First, I want to say, I am severely injured, I am pumped full of drugs and have a growing fever, so I am not responsible for my actions," Xera started before looking over at Tali. "And I sent Shepard some pictures of you, straight suit."

At the pronouncement, Tali's eyes flew wide as she lunged at her friend, forgetting that she was still strapped in, while yelling. "You did not! Keelah! You did not! I'm throwing you out an airlock, and saying you jumped out with fever!"

To:Commander John Shepard

From: Xera'Raan vas Neema nar Ulnay

Subject: Hot Noods

Hey, since you sent me that file without a block, I assumed you thought it was fine for me to have your extranet contact. Either way, as thanks for the naughty earth words, and saving my other arm, I'm sending you goodies. For quarians this is pretty taboo stuff. Only those close to each other get to see it!

Xera

PS Not bare skins, even I am not that kind of bitch

PPS douche, ha ha! Humans have the best words!

Attachments: Tali_Shower

Tali_Drying

Tali_punchingme

[images consist of Tali, her bare suit, devoid of realk, utility straps or armor, under some form of liquid cleaning agent, that was streaming over her suit. The second is the same, but Tali with a towel as she dries off her suit. And the third is Tali throwing a punch at the viewer of the picture]

Quarian Lexicon

Hecs'tiyl: Term of courtship. Literal translation: Pathway to the heart. Second of three: Signifying the period where the needs of both begin to overrule the needs of self. Almost always leads to bonding though this phase is usually the longest of the three.

Realk: Cloth covering used by the quarians. It is used to describe not just the hood seen on most but any material adornment.

Con'alds: Curse word used in the same manner as humans use 'Bastard', but worse. Direct translation is 'product of a mating between siblings'

Fre'eg: Curse word. Literal translation: Clinging waste. In old earth english, a dingleberry.

AN: Before you ask, the showing joke is how they clean their suits