The noises of the Neema's brought little comfort to Tali. The whining of its engine, the arguments with the admiralty board, just the never ending crowd of people had been constant since she arrived back to the fleet.

She couldn't believe, but she actually missed the silence of the Normandy. At least that let her think in peace. Tali sighed and rested her head back into her office chair. Bosh'tets.

The Galaxy had lost contact with batarian space, and all the admiralty board was clamoring about was to prepare to take back Rannoch. Xen's tech, her father's work, was far too much to pass up on an invasion. Their homeworld was within reach, right as the Reapers seemed to barge down on the galaxy.

Having her mask off, her feet in the ocean's sand, to be actual to smell the air rather than be in a constantly confining suit, it didn't seem worth it if seventeen million lives were riding on the decision.

But the admiralty board was already taking action, even though she wanted to fight against the others with Koris, but she had barely just taken her father place, and public disagreement could divide the fleet. She was just the Admiral's daughter to them. Would they even listen?

And as much as she wanted to see her homeworld, all Tali could think of was Shepard, stuck on Earth and even through all her yelling and screaming at the board, she urged them not to go to war.

Tali took this damn position because of Shepard, and she couldn't even follow through with what Shepard had asked for. Frustratingly, Tali drew in the stale recycled air of the Neema.

Maybe there was a chance for peace with the geth. Shepard had put so much faith into it, Legion, Tali quickly corrected herself. If she had Shepard here, maybe she could yell some sense into them. If Tali even tried that, they'd probably see right through her bluff, that she had no clue what she was doing.

A message popped on her omni-tool, which Tali immediately opened, looking for any distraction from her thoughts.

GV: So is it Admiral Tali'Zorah vas Neema yet?

GV: Or is it still vas Normandy? I could never keep quarian names straight.

Tali laughed, she hadn't heard from Garrus in weeks and of course, this is when he'd finally get back to her.

TZ: Neema and I took the Admiral position a while ago, keep up Vakarian.

GV: Before or after every quarian on their pilgrimage all suddenly decided to pack up and head back to the fleet. Let me guess, geth?

TZ: Before, and I can't go into that. How's the "Task Force?"

GV: I'm still going to go with geth as the answer.

GV: Oh, wonderful. It's not like I've been dealing with the pathetic amount of resources they throw at me. Only now that contact with the Hegemony has gone silent that the Hierarchy is scrambling and finally throwing money our way. Just loads of fun.

TZ: Have you been able to contact her?

He took longer to respond than before on that one. Tali just wanted some get her advice or least just have a conversation that wasn't about the about bustling defensive, upgrading codes, or one of the many other of her responsibilities.

GV: What do you think?

TZ: Sorry, I just hoping she had, I don't know, figure some way to get a message out. How do you think she's handling it?

GV: Probably with a lot of yelling and cursing, you know the usual.

Tali laughed, The fleet had just been filled with infighting and meeting after meeting. She missed her friends and just being able to joke and talk and make fun of Shepard's dancing with Garrus, or the endless questions from Shepard, or discussing shotgun models with Wrex.

TZ: It's worked well for her so far.

GV: For the most part, not something that helps when she's driving.

TZ: Keelah, don't ever remind me of the Hammerhead, I'm can still hear those panicked alarm system going off in my head.

GV: How could you forget about the Mako? Remember that time it was on fire and fell off a cliff because she thought that was the best way to get away from that Thresher Maw? That was a fun one.

TZ: You're not helping.

GV: You also really missed out on the taxi ride with Liara.

TZ: Liara told me about, why did either of you let her drive again?

GV: Liara was rushing and evidently by the amounts of times I've taken the backseat with Shepard I have a death wish.

TZ: Who doesn't around her?

Several minutes went by without a response, it was getting close to her meeting, she tried not think about that. Tali was about to close her omni tool before another message popped up.

GV: Sorry, as much as I love to complain about Shepard's driving, things just started moving fast here. I need to go.

TZ: The demands of responsibility? It seems like we're actually being taken seriously for once.

GV: For you maybe, but for me? Never.

GV: Talk to you later.

GV-Signed out.

Tali closed her omni-too and sighed. She missed the Normandy. When tinkering with the ship's engines systems was the most responsibility she had and hunting down Saren and geth were the worst of her worries.

Another message buzzed on her omni-tool, signaling it was time to head to the meeting. Keelah, she could already envision where the bickering was going to go, which was nowhere.

Tali had to keep reminding herself why she took this position. She was doing this for Shepard.

It's what she would have done, to take the opportunity and use it as chance make things better. Because soon, it was going to be more than just seventeen million lives on the line.

Her hands rubbed on her mask in frustration, trying to calm herself down.

There was no way she was qualified for this, but at least for now she could push back against the more idiotic ideas, like arming civilian ships with cannons.