This is the alien sex scene just before the Omega 4 relay.

There is basically no limit to the amount of alienness one could put into this kind of thing, to the point of making it very bizarre/creepy (if so desired).

Here, I tried to take into account: 1) It's Tali's first intimate experience (some clumsiness should be expected). 2) Tali is well prepared (the theory of it at least, as she has done her research). 3) Tali's translator is located in her helmet (most likely in my opinion – see added note further down). 4) Quarians have facial expressions that would be, at best, hard to interpret for an untrained human (seems a reasonable assumption). 5) Human and quarian genitals are not compatible (seems a reasonable assumption too). Hard to avoid a minimum of details though, and for writing purposes I thus assumed – sort of between the lines – that quarian action is at skin level and involving lots of rubbing. But these details are not important; the main point being that anatomical limitations would not stop two open-minded lovers. 6) Tali is not incredibly beautiful (I'm not against her being so, I just think it makes the story less plausible if she is).

I chose a good ending to this chapter… because I like good endings. But it could be sad, funny or just plain confusing! For a time, I toyed with the idea that, for some reason (him being constantly under stress, his coming back from death or any other reason you can think of), Shepard would suffer from erectile dysfunction. Just imagine Shepard feverishly rummaging through drawers for a 'blue pill…' and Tali shaken by what she would interpret (based on her research) as an absence of desire for her… Also, Tali could be smelly (you know, the suit having to recycle everything…), but the suits are marvels of technology and must have a 'wash cycle' of some kind. I would expect Tali to use it - insert dishwasher sound here - during the elevator trip to deck1.

Added note (Feb 8 2012): The part where Tali removes her helmet is a little bit tricky because of the translators. Shepard's translator is an implant while I assume Tali's to be in her helmet. I don't think it would make sense for quarians (in terms of resources) to invest in implantable translators if their use is limited to the duration of the pilgrimage, and considering that quarian helmets already have audio I/O components - the perfect location for a translator. In this chapter, Tali uses her helmet as an external translator, picking up what Shepard says and outputting it in khelish… but Shepard hears it too, and his own implanted translator does its job. What he hears from the helmet are his own words having gone through two different translators, hence the slight change in wording as the two different softwares do their job. Hope this explanation helps… Anyway, such a relationship should be anything but easy, so bear with me.

Enough rambling. Here it is. Please review.

Chapter 4. Aliens in the Night.

John Shepard was coming to grips with his situation. When Tali's visor finally came off, he barely had a second to see her alien features – to be more precise, he had stared at them - before she pounced on him! He had been stunned by this completely unexpected... 'aggression', but his lips had responded reflexively to hers. As he recovered, feeling her lips moving about on his face, he decided to go with the flow; he had wanted this, after all. He moved his hands to the young woman's back, stroking her encouragingly.

Tali had secretly hoped for a smile from him, but had also feared a negative reaction. Stumped by his completely neutral face, her instinct had been to… pounce. Now, her fears forgotten, she was in raptures. She had wanted this for so long! His lips were softer and warmer than she had expected, but the feeling was exhilarating. Her gloved hands holding the sides of his head, she now moved her lips to his cheek, feeling the roughness of his nascent beard and the slight irregularities of his healed scars, then to his eyes, feeling the smoothness of his eyelids and the soft hair of his eyebrows. Her nose had been brushing against him too, and he smelled... not bad. Her heart was racing. She wanted to take all these sensations in at once. Leaning more into him, feeling his hands moving on her back despite her suit, she was overjoyed...

"Ouch!" shouted Shepard as he suddenly jerked his head away.

"Oh! I- I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, quickly pulling back. Concerned, she searched his face, trying to see where her helmet had struck. The magic of the moment had vanished and she now felt stupid and clumsy, as if she had broken a delicate piece of equipment by being too eager. "Are you hurt?" she asked, her voice shaky.

He half raised and leaned on an elbow, looking back at her while he massaged his cheekbone with his other hand. His perplexed expression gradually changed to a reassuring smile "It's nothing, Tali... more surprise than anything else."

Still feeling bad, she stammered "It's my damn helmet! G-give me a minute..." She sat beside him, quickly pulled-off her veil, and started on the methodical process of removing her helmet and the tubes attached on its back. Her hands were shaking, slowing her down and making her even more nervous. This is taking too long! Why is it so long! Damn it!

Having moved to sit in front of her, John was watching as she worked on her helmet's attachments, his hands tentatively touching her slender and strangely curved legs, the shin guards hard against his fingers. He could not help but stare at her face again, now that he had time to examine its details. She did not strike him as particularly beautiful. But, as he had noted on the old picture in Mordin's so-called 'advice booklet,' there was a definite harmony, and he could easily convince himself that she was cute... somehow. He liked the shape of her chin and that of her nose also. The color of her skin was… interesting. This is Tali, the woman he had fallen for despite everything that separated them. All that really mattered now was that they could share this precious moment together, their first and maybe their last...

She finally removed the whole contraption and dropped-it on the bed next to her, some of the attached tubes bouncing for a brief moment. She turned to him. "Damn helmet! Now I'm ready!"

He was not sure how to interpret her facial expression... The tone of her voice had been… serious or rather... determined. Locking eyes with her, he extended a hand to her cheek, caressing it lightly with the tip of two fingers. Her skin was firm, much less elastic than he would have expected of a human.. She closed her eyes and her expression changed... concentrated? contented? He had been used to read her emotions by the tone of her voice and by looking at her stance. Now, with a face to look at, he was at a loss. He moved his fingers to her lips, then along her chin and said "you're kinda cute, Miss vas Normandy." Her eyes opened again, her expression changed... was that a smile?

"I- I didn't understand what you said..."

She looked down at her omnitool, and Shepard observed her ...serious expression coming back. She paused for a moment before looking back at him with... definitely a smile – this time he could tell by the way she had moved her head and it was also in her voice.

"I have an idea. This should work!" She reached for both her visor and helmet, swiftly putting them back together with a few audible clicks. She then placed the thing - with its attached tubes - back on the edge of the bed and returned to drumming commands on her omnitool. Her job apparently finished, Tali straightened and smiled at him again. "So, John… what did you just say?"

Smiling also, he repeated "I said you're cute, Tali..." and it was weird because he could hear his words repeated, softly at first - then louder as she fiddled with her omnitool again - by the flashing mouthpiece of her reconstituted helmet. Obviously, she had rerouted her translator output. "And you're so smart also!" he added, laughing, but stopped abruptly and looked at the helmet again, surprised at the strange echo that had come out slightly different... It had said "And you're very astute also!" This was disturbing. Creepy even; the helmet was like Tali's head - lying on the bed, separated from her body - and it was speaking with something close to his own voice...

Smiling brightly, in part because of the compliments, but also because of the funny look on his face as he stared at her helmet, she decided it was the right time to pounce on him again.

Shepard was not taken by surprise this time, however. Moving faster than she expected, he managed to use her momentum to reverse their positions of a few minutes ago. "It's my turn, now!" he said, with a predatory grin, as Tali laughed. The way her features changed when she laughed was cute, and he started laughing also.

They locked eyes and both stopped laughing, becoming silent and serious again.

She was watching him expectantly now as he slowly leaned toward her. Closing her eyes, she sighed as his lips made contact and started to explore slowly and delicately every part of her face. She tried not to move, concentrating on the unusual sensations. This is so good. She noticed that, despite still having her suit on, the closeness of his body, his hand moving about on her right side and his warm lips on her face were eliciting what she could only describe as a slow shudder coming up her spine, accompanied by some kind of numbness that was slowly invading her four limbs. Also, her breathing was becoming more difficult as her chest slowly filled with a strangely oppressive but agreeable sensation. This was so pleasurable and completely different from what she usually experienced with her suit's nerve stimulation program. His lips were so close to hers now... She just had to move a little to claim them...

After having teased her enough to his liking, he was slowly approaching her lips for the finale. He was startled however when she suddenly put her hands on the sides of his head, and pushed their mouths together. Teeth impacted and both pulled away at once.

She felt foolish once more. She had not been hurt, only surprised... But she searched his face while he was inspecting his teeth with a finger, afraid of finding any trace of disappointment... or annoyance. "I- I'm sorry… Again" she stammered.

He responded with a reassuring smile. "It's nothing... Again." After massaging a tooth for a few more seconds, he looked at her and said "Let's try once more... but slowly."

And they did. And repeated again. Longer and deeper each time. She tried not to move, afraid of making another mistake.

After a few minutes, she pulled back enough to look at him. "This is good… But I want more. Let me remove the rest of my suit." It was a statement, clearly not intended to be discussed.

Despite this, he glanced at the clock by the side of his bed and asked "Is there enough time?"

"Don't worry... more than enough. I'll be quick!" She pulled him to her and, with a powerful and sudden twist of her lower body, rolled him on his back. On top now, she was straddling him, happy with her clever move. Extending a gloved hand, she caressed his cheek and looked into his eyes, saying "Remember... I want to feel your skin on mine."

Returning her gaze, he said nothing. That was exactly what he wanted too.

With deft hands, she started at once with the golden piece covering her neck.

Of all the things he had done and seen in his life, the quarian orgasm he had just been witness to - and instrumental in - easily ranked among the most... special. He felt good about it, even if he did not get his own release in the process. Was it pride, happiness at seeing his own... prowess? No, he had no illusions about that; Tali had guided his hand. She obviously had been well prepared and, even if they had to try several positions before finding one that worked, there had been much less fumbling than he would have thought. His happiness was at the thought of her first experience having been a good one. He smiled as he looked at her face so close to his, her eyes shut and her mouth slightly open. She's amazing. She seemed so calm now, in contrast to just a few minutes ago. He was not sure if she was asleep.

He shifted his left arm a little around her shoulder. In response, she sighed, adjusted her head on his shoulder and tightened her grip on his chest. In his mind, he could see her again as she had quickly removed her suit, piece by piece, with no apparent shame, and had given him a quick tour of her anatomy. So many things about her were strange and unusual… from the texture of her skin, to that of her breasts, the lines of her muscles, and even her body temperature which was slightly off. He smiled again as he remembered how enthusiastic she had been, holding his erect member in her three fingered hands as she proceeded with her own careful inspection. Her smile had grown even bigger when she learned he had condoms in a drawer, and had insisted on helping him put one on. "Just in case" she had said. But something did not add up... How does she know about these?. He would have to ask her eventually...

There was only one thing that had bugged him, in fact. Her helmet. He looked at it as it now rested on top of his bedside table. Its creepy echo had been too loud to his liking and it had not picked up most of the lovely things he had whispered to her. If circumstances allowed, and if they could do this again, he would have to convince her to get an implant. He shook his head as he realized how optimistic that idea was. They first had to survive the upcoming mission and then she - he glanced at her again - had to survive their 'activity.' He managed to force the gloomy thoughts out of his mind.

Flexing his right wrist, he felt the weariness in his forearm. All that rubbing with his fingertips had been hard work. The sensitive areas she had down there sure were tough - then again, quarian skin seemed much tougher than its human counterpart. He was glad it had worked though, even if he had only been able to 'stimulate' four of them. His hand felt sticky; her lower abdomen had oozed some kind of viscous fluid during their exertion, and some of the stuff was still on his fingers. Absentmindedly, he used a corner of the bed sheets to wipe it off as best he could.

This apparently attracted Tali's attention. She stirred by his side, opening her eyes. Smiling at him, she took a deep breath and planted a kiss on his cheek. "That was incredible… I knew those extra fingers of yours could be put to good use."

"You did put on quite a show! You must have to hide in a dark corner when you want to use your nerve stimulation program!"

She snorted "Thanks to you, now I know this thing is a rip-off! It's just a shadow of the real thing!" She chuckled. "If I could, I'd put you in my suit instead…" She leaned onto him and their lips met again. A long kiss ensued.

Her hand slowly moved down his abdomen to his now noticeably smaller and softer member. Interrupting the kiss, she turned her head and looked toward it. Chuckling again, she asked "Going soft on me?"

He grinned, "Ah... Hold on a little longer, it'll grow back, don't worry." In fact, he could already feel his hard-on coming back under her touch. Fast.

She turned back to him, bright eyes looking into his. "I see..."

They kissed again.

Breaking away from his lips, she changed position and said "Sharing goes both ways, John... Now let me try to even things out."

He must have looked particularly confused, because she chuckled and said, still looking at him "Remember when I said I would do some research to make this work? Well, I didn't mean for my immune system only…" Turning now to the part of him she held in her hand, she thanked her luck for the contraceptive device that would protect her from an additional and needless exposure. Slowly, picturing in her mind the human women she had seen in all those vids, she lowered her head. He would definitely remember this.

Stunned again, he looked on with a mixture of disbelief and anticipation. She's amazing.