"Well, what do you mean 'what do you want to do'? How is this even a question?" John legitimately had no clue.
They were still in bed in a private room within their little encampment. The lights were also off as Tali rested on her side facing away from him, content to press her body into his.
"You know," she began sheepishly, "for our ceremony. I don't want to…just force you into something that you don't want to do."
He pressed his forehead into her shoulder. "You're not forcing me to do anything, Tal. Most human ceremonies are based on religious traditions anyway. And the ones that aren't are just fucking boring. They're…sterile. I don't want that. Besides," he squeezed her hand and wrapped his other arm completely around her shoulders, crossing just above her breasts, "there is no human ceremony that incorporates what we are, saera."
She hummed in contentment. How had she gotten so lucky?
"So, you don't mind being…you know, tested?"
"What, grilled by Raan? Or Koris?" He snorted a laugh. "Please. I'm not scared of them." He tactfully left out his own private dealings with Shala'Raan, intuition telling him that she might want to divulge this to Tali herself.
She flipped over to face him, eyes narrowing. Shepard's hands immediately went to her hips. "Well, what if it was Gerrel? Or if my father was alive to do it?"
Shepard's eyes widened. "Well, I can handle Gerrel, I think. But your father? For a man I never actually met, I can't say that I would look forward to it. I believe you indicated that your father would have 'hated' me."
Her response was more somber than either expected. "Yes, I know. But I think…I think that at least mother would have liked you."
"How do you figure?"
"I'm not sure, really. It's not like I ever got the chance to talk about…this kind of thing with her. I guess it's just a feeling."
"Well, I'll take your word for it. And I would still bet on me winning over your father, by the way."
"I'm sure you would. He was a bosh'tet, like you." After her compulsory giggle (and a quick shot of immuno-boosters), she reached to unclasp her visor.
"Now if you don't mind, I've taken my immuno-boosters. But only the visor comes off for now…"
—
About an hour later, they were standing outside their little encampment, basking in the early morning light.
"So, what do you think you'll tell the others?"
"That is a good question. I'm not sure how much I want to insult them."
Liara, who had made her way toward them with a cup of steaming liquid in her hand, interjected. "Insult whom? The admirals?"
Even Shepard jumped a little at the sound of her voice.
"Good grief, Liara! Where the hell did you come from?"
Bemused by the question, she looked behind her toward the nearest of the buildings and pointed to it. "From over there, Shepard. Or did you mean more existentially?"
He blinked a couple of times, completely taken aback by this response. Was it a serious one?
"Because if you meant 'existentially', I could say that I came from my mothers."
That was it, Tali lost it. John simply looked at Liara blankly before he, too, began to laugh. A small smile crept over Liara's face. She thought she might be getting good at this.
When they tried to be serious again, Tali answered Liara's question. "Yeah, I'll try not to insult them."
"That is probably wise," she began with a solemn nod, "but I am curious - why would you do that in the first place?"
John felt a smirk form. This should be interesting.
"Keelah, where do I begin? Well, they put me on the board because I'm a Zorah and I was an expert on the Geth - something they thought would be useful with the stupid war they were planning. Then, when I advised that war was a terrible idea - you know, 'Reapers' - they ignored me. Everyone except - are you ready for this one? - Zaal'Koris ignored my advice. Then they, well, especially once I rejoined the Normandy, and then…stayed on Earth after…you know…"
"With Shepard?"
"Yeah…with him. They made it clear that they didn't really like that I was on Earth. Especially Gerrel, but they always just…I don't know. Gave me a feeling that I didn't belong. Do you know what I mean?"
The asari gave her a humorless, sad smile. "Even Admiral Raan? I know you two are close." Tali gave her a slow, somber nod. "Well, I do understand. More than you realize, Tali."
John checked his chrono. "Hey Tali, if you're going to walk there, you should probably get moving."
Tali had forgotten to take into account the time it would take for her to walk over.
"You're right," she sighed. He held her hand in his. "I'll see you later, John. Try not to miss me too much." She leaned in and tapped her visor to his forehead. It lingered there for just a moment longer than was necessary before Tali finally pulled herself away.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll do my best. And good luck with them."
A few steps away, she looked over her shoulder. "Luck? They will be the ones who will need it if they do not watch themselves." There was no hint of a joke. "Bye, Liara. I'll see you later." She offered a wave that her friend returned in kind.
Leaving John to his own devices had been a daunting proposition for Tali - especially this morning.
Tali, perhaps now you can shut those stupid doubts up for good. He wants you. And you know that John does not say such things lightly. And he…said "paltec vis sur'den" to you! I don't know how he would have learned about that, but he is just…amazing. And then he did the human courtship ritual. He proposed. Keelah, he even did the one-knee thing. But I do wonder…where did he get those rings from? She recalled with precision just how they looked and felt before John had wrapped them back in their cloth before returning them to his pouch. He had said that they'd have to wait until they figured out what they were doing as a ceremony, though that seemed to be just a formality at this point. As she made her way through the main streets of the capital, arching her neck to try to take in the great buildings that still stood after all of these years, she would occasionally nod and sometimes state her greetings to others that passed her. She couldn't help but think that maybe after this meeting, she could finally slow down with him. We'll go over what was found, they'll put together their research teams - maybe I'll help Pomii. Maybe I'll just come out and tell them they'll need a replacement admiral, too. She smirked. Not sure if we even need a replacement for me now. Without realizing it, she gazed overhead, wondering just how many ships were still left in orbit. She knew that at least the Tonbay, Rayya, and Neema were still up there, along with thousands of others still waiting their turns. With a smile she returned her eyes to the city streets around her. Soon, the ships would no longer be "home" for them. It would take time, of course, but they could finally afford some.
And if we can get a team together to look at the Geth work on our immune systems…keelah, I'd help with that, too. Although, she thought with a little laugh, I'm not entirely sure what good I would be.
It was with these thoughts (among many others) rumbling through her head that she found herself at the base again. She smiled as she found Shala waiting outside, presumably for her arrival.
"Tali!" She stepped into a hug. "Oh, child. How are you?" Tali had picked up on something in Shala's voice. She was hiding something…but not well. It was almost like she wanted her to…
"Auntie," she began with a smirk, "you're up to something, aren't you? I can hear it."
Shala laughed at her perceptiveness. "Was it that obvious, my dear?"
"Yes," Tali began with another laugh, "it was. Now what is going on?"
The older woman shook her head. "Not now, Tali. We have a meeting to attend first. But after? Well, we have some things to discuss." She put an arm around her "niece" and led her into the building.
"As you can see, the Geth kept meticulous records of practically everything. I would like to note here that there was quite a lot of data that me and my team deemed to be superfluous. It merely consisted of weather patterns, orbital records, and other astronomical data. Garrus Vakarian, Doctor T'Soni and I reviewed them extensively and found nothing useful, or that we hadn't already been aware of."
"So, you discarded it." Daro had not even formulated it as a question.
"Yes, Daro. Considering the data storage constraints, it was the only thing we could do," came Tali's cold reply without skipping a beat, "if you wanted to see the really important stuff."
"Very well, that all sounds reasonable enough." Han actually sounded…polite, respectful. Tali shrugged inwardly. She wasn't about to question her good fortune. "What about farming, or defense?"
She nodded as she cued up another set of files. "As for farming, the Geth had thought of a number of ways to pollinate using unconventional means. They believed that if we were to strengthen our immune systems as planned, then it was possible that we would hinder Rannoch's way of naturally spreading plant life and seeds around the planet." There were a few nods from the admirals. "There are a number of files to sort through, and I would suggest assigning them to our farming teams."
Tali tapped a few more keys on her omnitool. "Admirals Gerrel and Xen, this will probably be of interest to you." The two admirals noticeably leaned forward in rapt curiosity.
Shala chuckled quietly. She was astounded at just how professional her Tali sounded. She was calm, cool, organized. It was apparent that she had prepared well for this.
"So the Geth had a number of defense projects in the works. Including individual weapons for soldiers, as well as planetary defense." She cycled through a few files and images. "Including weaponry that is similar to the Alliance's planetary GARDIAN cannons." She looked up at them and took a breath.
And now the big one.
"Finally of note, is…this." With a few more taps, she produced the image of the Geth stealth frigate. All four admirals gasped. They had all seen the Normandy in action, as well as sitting stationary a few hundred meters from this very building, and it sure appeared that they were seeing it again.
"Keelah, Tali. Is that…?"
She let out a humorless chuckle. "Yes, Zaal. It looks like the Alliance vessel that is currently docked right outside."
"But how…?"
She attempted to answer Han. "How did they devise it? I don't know. My only guess is that the mobile Geth platform known as 'Legion' was able to work out some, or most, of its design." She zoomed in on a schematic image. "Now, there do appear to be notable differences. Includ-"
"It's bigger, Tali'Zorah. And are those two Thanix cannons mounted to the underside of the hull?" Surprisingly, it was Daro who asked this.
"You're right, Daro. They are." Flipping to another page of info, she continued. "Now it does not appear that they were able to actually construct this ship. Keelah, I don't think the technology exists for most of what is laid out here. So I think that this is - was - largely theoretical. Daro and Han, I imagine you'll have teams that would like to study this."
"As would I, Tali." That had come from Shala.
"And I would, too," Zaal confirmed.
Tali smirked. "Okay, so maybe we all would like to study its design."
After a few minutes of quiet study - she knew that this would have interested them quite a bit - Tali brought up the last and most mystifying images. She cleared her throat in the manner that she'd seen John do so often to get everyone's attention.
"Admirals, I have one more item I'd like to highlight. It is, as far as I'm concerned, the most mysterious." Everyone but Daro leaned forward in anticipation.
With a few more taps on her omnitool, she produced the image of the three mass relays, tethered as they were. For a few moments, no one spoke - hell, Tali thought that they weren't even breathing - they simply stared at the image. Zaal comically raised a finger, limply pointing at the image.
"Keelah, what is that?"
"That, my fellow admirals, is precisely what I would like to know."
Tali took a moment to look them over, and her gaze lingered on Daro'Xen. It lingered there because her reaction had been different than the others'. While everyone else remained as they were, staring at it unbelievably, Daro nearly jumped up from her seat. Instead, she leaned forward, eyes narrowed. It looked like she…well, it looked like she might've recognized it.
"Tali, that, I believe, is the 'Kholas Array'."
All of their heads snapped to her. Just how the -
"How can that be? It's just a tall tale!" Zaal was incensed. How could Daro seriously expect them to believe that the damn thing not only existed, but that they were looking at it?
"If you'll shut up, Zaal, I'll explain. It had come to my attention a couple of years ago." She paused, trying to hide her excitement. If the previous revelations had piqued her interest, this had gotten her practically giddy. "Are any of you familiar with a former pilgrim named Shio'Leth nar Novarra?"
All of them shook their heads "no".
"Right. I didn't expect you to. Why would you have?" Her question had been flavored with the condescension that they were so accustomed to - and had largely been missing recently. "Anyway, Shio'Leth was on Pilgrimage in '84, and like so many other pilgrims before him, had focused on bringing back something Geth-related." She was speaking animatedly now. "So, I came across a report that stated that a quarian by that name had been exiled off the Novarra."
"Keelah, why?" Shala asked.
"Well, from the report that I saw from the ship's captain, he had tried to steal the Novarra."
Tali was floored and her jaw hung limply. She couldn't imagine anyone doing such a thing - let alone a quarian. And one just back from Pilgrimage?
Zaal scoffed at the notion, but Daro shot him another look from across the table.
"He tried to steal it because of that." She pointed at the floating blue visage of the relays.
"Do we know what exactly 'that' is?" asked Han.
She shook her head. "No. Shio'Leth had been going on about finding a 'new home', but his behavior did him no favors."
"I would think not, Daro," Tali muttered unbelievably.
She snickered. "Well, of course not. Which is why he was exiled." She rested her elbows on the table. "Which brings us to the real question, Tali. What did the Geth want with it? Because clearly, it is not just a 'tall tale'. And I should think that we would want to know as much as we can about it."
"How do we know that it's even still there? We all saw what happened to the other relays after the Pulse," Han started, "who's to say this thing wasn't destroyed too?"
Daro couldn't help herself. She angrily pointed once again at the Array. "Do those look like mass relays? Working mass relays?" There was no answer from any of them - even Tali was thrown off. "If they were part of the network, we would have found out about this long ago."
Damn it. Here we go again. She already saw where this conversation was about to go. Might as well preempt their request.
Tali let out a sigh. "I'll lead a team."
"Tali -" Shala had begun in apparent protest before being cut off.
"No, Shala. It has to be me. All of you already have responsibilities here. I've just gotten here, and we need to know what this is, what it does, and why the Geth had records on it - but little else."
"Tali, please. We can send -"
"Someone else, Zaal? Who would you send? Who knows more about the Geth than myself and perhaps Admiral Xen?" It was her turn for the rhetorical questions. "The answer, admirals, is 'nobody'. So, I'll go. And I still have my team with me, so -"
Daro cleared her throat. "About that, Tali."
She looked at Daro with surprise. Her tone had shifted, she almost sounded…sympathetic.
"Yes, Daro?"
"Thank you…for doing this. But I'd like for you to take along one of my researchers. I'll have to have a talk with him and make sure that he's up for it, but his skills would come in handy."
She cocked her head in curiosity for a number of reasons. Not only did Tali want to know who this mysterious researcher was, but she really wanted to know why Daro had almost sounded politeand even sincere. It gave her pause. "Do I know him?"
Daro chuckled. "Yes, you're acquainted. I'd have you take Veetor'Nara, he's one of our best researchers and scientists. His work on the Arc Pistol was invaluable, and his own knowledge of the Geth is extensive."
She doesn't waste time, does she? And Veetor?
"Veetor? How is he? Keelah, I have not spoken to him in…" Tali trailed off as she recalled that she had not been able to keep in touch with all of her friends back on the Fleet after she'd rejoined the Normandy. She would think of him often. After his experience on Freedom's Progress, she'd been worried that his eccentric nature would only worsen. Thank the ancestors that John had made sure that he left with her and her team and not with those Cerberus asshats (another human term that she enjoyed). "Well, it has been a while."
"He is fine. He works hard, is focused, and he thinks creatively. I do not think there will be an issue, especially when he learns that you will be leading the team, Admiral Zorah."
"Speaking of which, Tali," Gerrel began, "who do you intend to bring along?"
She sighed. Gerrel had asked a good question. She could just bring Liara and Garrus again, but she was sure that John would have something to say about it this time. On top of that, could she stand feeling the way that she had the last time she was away from him? She shook her head.
"I'm not certain Gerrel. I think I will ask my team from the Normandy."
Gerrel looked decidedly more uneasy then. "Is it wise to involve them further? This is clearly a quarian matter, and -"
"Gerrel, with respect, something like that is not just a 'quarian matter'. I understand that this is sensitive, but I trust my team. Considering what we have seen and done already, I honestly wouldn't want anyone else." Tali thought for a moment before trying a different tactic. "Han, please, I know that things have been…strained between us. But let me help our people in the best way that I can right now. I know how to do this; I know these people - my friends. They will not let me down."
He visibly relaxed at her response. "Tali, you are right. I apologize. You are an admiral, and you know best how to do this." He opened his arms in acquiescence. "Do what you need to do to get the job done."
Hiding her surprise at how sincere he sounded, she simply nodded her head. "I will."
She cleared her throat. "And, um, there was one more thing that I wished to discuss before we close."
"Of course, Tali," Zaal replied, "what would that be?"
With a sharp inhalation, she answered him. "My resignation from the Board - after we return from the Array, of course"
Holy shit, I actually said it! In truth, it was out before she could give herself a counterargument. No going back now, I suppose.
It was already out there. She hadn't even fidgeted.
Tali watched as three out of four sets of eyes grew wide in surprise. Comically, only Xen appeared to be completely unfazed. If anything, Tali thought she heard a laugh from her direction.
After a few moments of uncomfortable silence during which the four of them exchanged uncomfortable glances, Zaal spoke.
"Keelah, Tali…why?"
Somehow the question of "why" struck her in a truly visceral way. It was so glaringly obvious, wasn't it? "Why? Is that a…a serious question?" Tali's voice was raising as her anger steadily became unshackled. "Because I think we all know 'why' by now, right? It's actually pretty straightforward." Tali whipped her head from side to side, clearly to make a point. "Do you see any Geth around here? Because I sure don't. And we all know that's why I was put here in the first place. Oh, I mean, besides being the daughter of my - let's admit it - traitorous father. Besides, it's not like any of you ever listened to -"
The way she had referenced her father had taken even Xen by surprise.
It was Gerrel that had an immediate reaction. He stood up in a huff, nearly knocking his chair over as he pounded his fist on the table. "Tali'Zorah, I will not allow you to talk about -"
Tali leaned heavily on the table, facing the man who had dared to defend her father to her. "You won't allow me, Gerrel? To talk about my own father?" The growl in her voice gave away the honesty in her anger.
"Enough! Please." Shala pleaded for everyone to calm down. She watched Han shake his head angrily, but he sat back down. As for Tali? Well, she still stood where she was, arms crossed in front of her defiantly.
"Now, Tali…before this goes any further, we should discuss this." Raan looked around the table, like she was talking to the others in a code only they knew. "We should discuss this privately."
Tali couldn't believe it. She had just essentially tendered her resignation, and they had still ignored it?
"Fine. Let's discuss, Admiral Raan." Tali glared around the room. "Is there anything further?" She spat out the question, clearly out of patience.
Zaal spoke up uncomfortably. "I, uh, do not believe so. Tali'Zorah, thank you for bringing this to us. Thank you for serving our people with such dedication." She almost laughed at him, but somehow caught herself before doing so. As the moments ticked by, her anger was perhaps being replaced with remorse for her outburst. Perhaps she could've been a little gentler about it. "We will immediately get to work on disseminating the information to those it needs to get to." He cleared his throat again but had a difficult time looking at her now. Keelah, what had she done? An apology to Zaal was likely in order. But that would come later. "I will inform Pomii that she can get to work on installing the hardware from the Alliance, and Ancestors willing, we can get these networks operational again. Go in peace, Tali'Zorah."
At that, Tali turned on her heels and practically stormed out of the room without a reply.
Shala was decidedly not looking forward to this.