High above Rannoch, the remnants of the formerly Migrant Fleet gently coursed its way around the planet. "Gently", because there was quite a bit of what remained of the Geth fleet that they had been unable to dislodge that the ships had to maneuver past. Elsewhere, a steady stream of smaller ships were flitting to-and-fro, making supply runs or ferrying quarians between their ships and Rannoch itself. To the untrained eye, it was chaos. To anyone that understood the inherent majesty of the Migrant Fleet, it was organized chaos.

It had its own beauty.

The lives of so many, woven together in this beautiful tapestry of hope and purpose was something to behold. Sure, other races worked together, but this was far beyond "working together". This was working for and with each other.

It was teamwork, flavored with a large helping of hope and a dash of dedication.

The bulk of the fleet these days was comprised of the Patrol Fleet - the defense arm of the quarian space-faring vessels. Overseeing this fleet, which was now charged with the defense of an entire planet - and not just any planet, but Rannoch - was Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay. And on his way to see her was the one man charged with trying to oversee an organized resettlement of the homeworld - Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-qwib.

If he was asked why he was not yet recognized as "vas Rannoch", he would simply reply that his job was not yet finished, and until every last quarian man, woman, and child had a home of their own on the planet, then he was still a proud member of the good ship Qwib-qwib.

This was, of course, not the first time that Zaal'Koris had visited the cruiser Tonbay, currently in orbit above the (at present) unsettled northern continent of Min'Ixan. Indeed, he and Shala'Raan had met here dozens of times (he had indeed noticed the quiet disparity regarding her visits to the Qwib-qwib), and he was quite fond of her ship. Relatively-speaking, it was sleek and modern and a worthy flagship of the Patrol Fleet.

As he walked steadily to the lift that would take him to her office on Deck 1, he wondered if he would see her mate, Geru, in person. He knew that he was a busy man, since he was a lead researcher for the quarian "botanical task force". Zaal chuckled idly to himself. What a stupid - yet typical - name for such a thing. They were scientists - specializing in botany, yes - but "task force" seemed a bit too rich even for a blowhard like himself.

He laughed again.

If there was one trait that he would have never denied, it was that of "blowhard". He knew that he often came off as pompous or even self-absorbed - a cardinal sin amongst quarians if there ever was one - but he hoped that he offset it with enough care for his race to be forgiven for such things. He knew that it was a defense-mechanism, probably nothing more than compensation for being saddled with such a proud ship adorned with such an unfortunate name. Still, it had its uses. The defense-mechanism, that is. There was a human saying that Tali'Zorah had taught him during one of their first private conversations after she had accepted a position on the Board.

Just how did it go?

Something about a noisy wheel and lubricant.

He shrugged, and smiled at the thought of the youngest admiral among them.

How wrong he had been about her.

She had told him - likely during said conversation, he thought - that they could not afford a war with the Geth. That there were bigger concerns - galactic concerns - in the form of the Reapers that were well on their way. Furthermore, she had told both he and Shala about the Geth that she had served with. She had called it "Legion" then, and they had been told that it was a reference from an old human religious text. "For we are many" it had implied. Based on what Tali had explained about how exactly it had worked - that it was a partitioned group of Geth platforms acting within it - it was indeed an appropriate metaphor.

Shala had remained quite skeptical, which wasn't a surprise. After all, she had likely been the closest thing to a friend or confidant that the late Rael'Zorah had had. Despite the evidence that Tali had presented - and there was a mountain of it, he thought - Shala could not reconcile it with what she had known. It was not a surprise then, that she had her reservations about a purported ceasefire, or Ancestors perish the thought, an actual lasting peace. Even the combined persuasive forces of Tali and himself could not dissuade her from agreeing with Han and Daro.

He arrived at the lift and pressed the little icon to take him to Deck 1.

He thought of their recent meeting via QEC, and he had thought that Tali was hiding quite a bit of animosity toward them. Well, trying to hide it anyway. He wondered just how transparent they had been. He knew that Xen and Garrel got under her skin. He was quite fearful that she would just throw her hands up and tell them that she'd had enough. Enough of their relentless politicking, enough of the pettiness, enough of their bullshit.

He had learned enough from her to know that she had not wanted to be an admiral at all. She had only accepted it as part of her duty. For her, he was truly thankful. Without her, he would have stood alone against the tide of war.

Dismissing her from the rest of the meeting under the guise of her "still being on Earth" was a mistake, of that he was certain. Why he had gone along with it, he could not say now. All it would likely do is alienate her even more, and they would have lost a valuable asset - keelah! Did he just refer to her as that? - a valuable admiral and a hero in her own right. He shook his head again, disappointed in himself. Maybe it was the stress that led him to go along with it? Because she was a hero, maybe the greatest they had seen since they had fled Rannoch. She and Captain Shepard both. How dare he demean her in this way.

Hmph. Tali. She was, as much as he liked her, still something of a quandary, though. She was undoubtedly a capable and thoughtful leader, but he wasn't sure if…whatever she and Shepard were, was a good idea. Well, "good idea" was probably not what exactly he thought. He more likely thought that it was perhaps "unprecedented". There were, of course, the momentary "flings" that pilgrims would have (one of which he himself had had with a lovely turian woman named Rinata), before returning home; but there was evidence (perhaps even a "mountain" of that, too) that there was something more between them.

Much more.

And that "much more" was, as far he knew, practically impossible to attain from a non-quarian. He did not begrudge her any of this, of course. It wasn't his place to impose an opinion one way or the other. Hell, as far as he was concerned, if she was to…bond (the idea of it would likely forever remain unbelievable to him) with Captain Shepard, well he couldn't think of a better person - alien or otherwise - for her to find. And if he made her happy? Completed her? Well, that was fine by him. Far be it for one Zaal'Koris, pompous blowhard extraordinaire, to begrudge anyone their happiness, or doubt the feelings that she held for him.

Or his for her, as more evidence suggested.

The lift stopped, as expected, at Deck 1. He stepped through as the doors opened and took the few needed strides to reach Shala'Raan's quarters. Pressing the intercom, he announced himself. She gave the okay, and he stepped inside.

She immediately stood up from her desk, greeting him from where she stood.

"Zaal, welcome. Please have a seat." She gestured to the empty chair across from her own, separated by her solid black desk. He sighed lightly as his butt met the chair. He rocked his head back and forth, trying to loosen the taut muscles in his neck, even if just a little bit.

"Thank you, Shala. How are you? Is Geru here? I have not seen him in some time." He rested his elbows on his knees with his six digits intertwined.

She tried and failed to mask a sigh. "Geru is on the surface, and will be for the next couple of days." Her shoulders slumped as she replied, a sure indicator that she missed her bondmate greatly. Such was the taxing life of a quarian admiral. "As for everything else? I am…not sure at the moment. I suppose I am 'well', but that does not feel correct." She took a breath, hoping to dismiss her non-response with an inquiring riposte of her own. "How are things on Rannoch? I know you're very busy there, trying to oversee what is undoubtedly controlled chaos. And how is the Conclave coming along? I read the reports, of course, but those are poor substitutes for hearing it first-hand."

Zaal produced a thin smile, punctuated with a slight tilt of his head that indicated as much. "Well, that sure was a mouthful, Shala. I, well…I suppose that things are ragged right now. Keelah, we had no idea how good we really had it, did we? Tech that worked. An entire army of Geth planetside who were willing to set aside three centuries of hostility to help us. And now?" He raised his hands in a defeated quasi-shrug. "It's draining, Shala. I've got half of the Conclave living and meeting in Jal'Himom while the other half is still trying to 'tie up loose ends' on their own ships. Ancestors, Shala, what in the hell does that even mean? What loose ends? Rannoch was the damn loose end!" During his little rant, he had stood up, and paced frantically behind the chair, his hands moving animatedly. He did not look at her, his head was instead angled slightly downward, looking at the floor. His voice had escalated into a shout, and if Shala was bothered by it, she hadn't shown it. He suddenly stopped, and sheepishly returned to his seat. She could easily tell that he was quite embarrassed by his outburst. Realizing how abrasive it had been, he moved to apologize. "Shala, forgive me, it has been -"

She cut him off.

"Zaal, stop it. There is no need to apologize. I had…hoped to make small talk before getting around to why I asked you here. I am quite thankful that you agreed to meet in private, by the way."

He smirked at her revelation. "It is quite all right, Shala. To truly answer your question - without the unnecessary bravado this time - it is draining. Trying to coordinate all of these people - our brothers and sisters - in what should be a joyous undertaking, is anything but. After three centuries as nomads, I believe we have let our excitement get the better of us." He chuckled lightly. "And I have grossly misjudged the difficulty of doing this without the - Ancestors forgive me - Geth to lend their aid." He paused for a moment, considering. "Shala, do you think that makes me a failure?"

She had listened to his words, especially his tone, and knew that he was pained by his perceived inability to keep things under control. Her own voice was warm with sympathy. "Zaal, I do not envy you your task. Yours is a job that is burdensome, and will most likely be thankless. But know that I have faith in you. You are up to the task."

He noticeably relaxed, buoyed at least a little bit by words that he could hear to be genuine.

"Thank you Shala. It does me well to hear that. Now, if I may - since we are both quite busy and my mate Pomii will be expecting me soon - what was it that we needed to speak in-person about?"

His fellow admiral felt guilty now. She hadn't even bothered to ask. "How is she, Zaal? I'm sorry I did not ask about her first."

He chuckled lightly. "She's well, Shala. She keeps busy as she's trying to make headway with our network problems." He sighed. "She is not hopeful."

"It's tough on everyone right now - especially our tech experts. But I'm sure they'll make progress soon. I've known Pomii for a while, and she is very thorough. If there is something that's been overlooked, she'll find it."

She looked down at her desk for a moment before releasing a deep breath.

Time for the task at hand.

"We need to discuss Gerrel. And Xen, too."

Zaal shook his head. He'd known this was coming. If she hadn't called him, he would have called her himself. "I agree. There is something going on, I fear. Xen, I can at least understand, on a basic level at least. She has always had an obsession with the Geth, especially their technology. But her continued obsession is concerning. They are gone. There is nothing left of them to fight. She should be focusing her energy on the present. Keelah, I could use the help."

Shala paused, considering, before asking her next question. "And what do you make of Han?"

"He is a soldier. He has led the fight directly against the Geth for nearly his entire life. He led the contingent of the Heavy Fleet at Earth. He is apprehensive, skeptical. I don't blame him. And I won't lie, Shala. There is a part of me that fears what they had tried to upload here. There was just so much that we didn't know. Keelah, Shala. Three hundred years of research and development. What if they had still held a grudge at the end, like Han thinks? Is such a thing possible?"

Shala considered this, too, for a moment.

She shook her head in defeat.

She just didn't know.

"I'm not sure, Zaal. And that is why I agreed to send Tali to do this. We need to know what the Geth had access to. Maybe it will calm Han down and satisfy Daro." Zaal scoffed at the proposition. "My other concern is -"

"Han's attitude toward Tali," he finished for her. He obviously didn't know her the way that Shala did, of course. He certainly didn't know about her relationship with Captain Shepard the way that his colleague did, either. What he did know is that it appeared to be as genuine as any relationship - any bonding - that he knew of.

And Gerrel hated it.

"Do you think that it's because Shepard kicked him off of his ship?"

She let out a mirthless laugh. "Keelah, it would not surprise me. It was his right, as the ship's captain. And secretly, I was happy to see him bring Gerrel down a bit." She slammed her fist down on the desk, causing her guest to flinch at both the motion and the sound. "Zaal, that bosh'tet dared to fire on that ship! With my Tali on board, no less!" Shala had become far more animated then. Collecting herself with a few measured breaths, she regained the softness to her voice, but it was still tinged with an abrasive anger. "As far as I was concerned, Shepard let him off easy."

He was not fazed by her outburst. "Shala, do you have any idea what she might find?" He caught himself with the vagueness of his question. "I mean, do you think that Tali will actually find anything? Do you really think that there will be anything left that will be beneficial?"

She let out a sigh. "I am not sure what I hope for more: that Tali find something useful, but that Xen might exploit - for Ancestors know what - or that she find nothing at all, leaving us to figure out this mess completely on our own." She leaned forward, resting her weight on her elbows against the table. "While our - well, at least my - desire to have a proper accounting of what happened is genuine -"

"And mine as well, Shala."

"Of course, my apologies." If she'd been bothered by the interruption, it wasn't shown. "Theirs is likely not. I'm sure that their appeal to sentimentality was merely an attempt to get us on board. I'm not so deluded to think that they were ever really interested in Tali's approval."

Her words hung in the air, a smoke that was indicative of a smoldering fire hidden just beneath the surface. They sat in a contemplative silence, trying to figure out what they would do when Tali returned. There were so many possibilities, so many variables.

Very few led to wholly positive outcomes, at least as things currently stood.

Breaking the silence, Zaal chuckled softly. "I still wish I had been there to see it."

Pulling her from whatever path her thoughts had led her down, Shala shook her head to clear her mind. "Hmm?" A little laugh escaped her as she registered what he had said. "I'll play the recording of it for you again later, Zaal. It is worth it." She folded her hands on her desk and returned to their earlier topic. "I am concerned about Han. He is very much like Rael - and you and I both know that he would have hated whatever Tali has with Shepard."

"You think it's personal, then?"

She exhaled sadly. "That part of it? I would almost guarantee it."

"And when she comes back to Rannoch, if Shepard has come with her? Do you think that Han would be brazen enough to do or say something publicly?"

Shala brought her hand to her mask. "'If'," she scoffed. "I do not think that there is a single 'if' in Shepard's body, Zaal. I am certain that he will return with her here. And when they arrive, I do fear Han's reaction." She shook her head in determined anger. "He may not like it, but she is an admiral of the quarian people, and he had better respect that. Besides, it is not his place to pass judgment on this. It is not anyone's place to pass judgment." Zaal heard this for the thinly-veiled threat that it was, not that he would do such a thing. "If he does not show respect, it will affect all of our people. And right now, we cannot afford such a distraction. And…there will be consequences. From me."

Zaal let out a little laugh. "Well Shala, just so you know, I would not want to cross paths with you if I were him. Keelah, the thought of your anger gives me chills."

Shala leaned back in her chair wearing a small and satisfied grin. "Good. That is exactly how I like it."