Jaal gets curious about Peebee's biotics.
"Wait here!" Tann had said. "I have some very important people who want to meet the pathfinder's team!"
Immediately after he had said this, Pathfinder Ryder had quickly excused himself out against Tann's protests, insisting he had someone important he had to meet with, followed by Vetra saying she also had to go see someone about a crate of supplies that she was supposed to pick up, and then Cora quickly proclaimed that she just didn't want to be there and walked out against Tann's wishes, so they were the ones who were left. This was an hour ago and they had yet to meet a single "important person" since they got to Tann's office.
Jaal remained out of politeness, even though he disliked Tann from the moment he met him about as much as everyone else did, Liam stayed because there was free food, and Peebee couldn't come up with a valid excuse to get out of it and apparently "I don't want to be here" only works when you're Cora. It might have something to do with the fact that Tann seemed to be genuinely afraid of her ever since she biotically jumped to Scott's rescue when Tann tried to stop him from walking away from an argument. Drack tried to leave, but ended up coming back when Kesh asked him to, though they were sure he'd heard an earful from her first about how Tann would be on her ass if he left too and how he needed to help make a positive example for their species.
Jaal spun lightly in a circle on the swiveling office chair he'd taken from behind Tann's desk. He was bored. Peebee and Liam had already eaten all the snacks and Drack looked uncomfortable as sitting for too long began to aggravate his six dozen in a lifetime spinal cord injuries.
Jaal watched as Peebee used her biotics to push an empty glass back and forth across the table. To her, such a motion seemed to be as natural as breathing and didn't take any effort at all. He wondered if she even realized she was still doing it for as long as she had been.
"What does getting pushed by that feel like?" Jaal asked.
Peebee suddenly snapped out of her boredom by the question. "Hmm?" she asked.
"Your biotics. What does it feel like when you get pushed?"
Liam looked surprised at his question. "We've been fighting how many outlaws and exiles and in all this time, you've never been hit with a biotic blast?"
"I guess I'm just fast," Jaal replied.
"I don't know how to describe it," Peebee shrugged. "I guess it just feels like getting pushed by a wall of air. Unless the other person isn't holding back and is actually trying to hurt you, in which case it feels more like..."
"Getting trampled by an elcor," Drack interrupted.
"Yeah, like that."
Jaal still seemed confused. He had no idea what getting trampled by an elcor felt like, but he'd seen images of them and imagined it probably felt about the same as getting pummeled by an eiroch.
"Maybe you can show me so I know what it's like?" he asked.
"You want her to push you on purpose?" Liam asked. "Are you insane? What if you get hurt?"
"Not insane," Jaal shook his head. "Just curious." He was pretty sure every scientist in the history of existence had to convince someone of that at some point in their lifetime.
"Maybe you should just wait. I'm sure someone will hit you with a shockwave eventually," Peebee suggested. "Luck can't hold out forever."
"Maybe you should just show him," Drack suggested. "That way he doesn't get too curious and run out from cover with his arms outstretched like, HIT ME!" Drack mimed what that would look like, stirring a laugh from his companions.
"I don't know. I hit pretty hard. I wouldn't want to hurt you," Peebee said, though her tone was more teasing than apprehensive at the idea.
"I'm sure you won't hit me that hard," Jaal stated.
He gave Peebee what was obviously supposed to be a light and playful shove to goad her into hitting him back. It didn't hurt, didn't threaten to push her out of her seat even, and there was no aggression behind it. This made it come as a surprise to everyone when Peebee hit back with a biotic force so powerful that Jaal's chair was blown backwards until he hit the wall.
Peebee looked horrified. She only meant to give him a light push, just enough to push his chair back a little, but obviously she had underestimated how far the wheels on the office chair he was sitting on would carry on the smooth floor and he'd gone further and faster than intended.
This was it...she was certain she'd hurt him, considering how hard he'd struck the wall. He'd probably never forgive her for it either. He'd asked her to do it, but with the assumption she'd pull her punches and not actually injure him and she let him down. Peebee stuttered as she tried to come up with an apology in hopes of salvaging their friendship.
After the brief moment where the impact with the wall had left Jaal stunned had passed, he took her and everyone else in the room by surprise when instead of being angry, he looked impressed. "Do that again..." he said so fast they almost couldn't make out what he had just said.
Tann opened the door, an entourage of newly awoken bureaucrats escorted by Nexus security following behind him. "...and this is part of the team of the human pathfinder, who is working tirelessly to help us..."
The last of his words were strangled in horror as he saw the asari who insisted on being called Peebee launching Liam on a broken swiveling office chair across the room with a blast of biotic energy. They'd made a crash mat against the wall with some mattresses that they'd found in a hallway to break the fall and there was already a sizable indent on the outer one from having objects repeatedly thrown into it.
"Wow, you're right! That was fun!" Liam said to Jaal.
"Didn't I tell you?" he replied.
"Alright kids, move over!" Drack shouted. "Let Grandpa Nakmor show you how it's done!"
"...Drack?"
"Kesh?" Drack said as he noticed his granddaughter with the group that they now noticed was standing in the room. Peebee waved to them as though greeting old friends and didn't act like someone who had just been caught doing something weird or embarrassing at all.
Tann tried to speak, but it came out like a high pitched squeak that sounded like something emitted from the lungs of a newborn pyjak. The bureaucrats he'd awoken to help oversee a new outpost that Ryder had gotten up and running the other day all seemed much more amused by this than he did and a turian engineer in the back was eating a protein bar like he was enjoying a snack at a particularly entertaining movie.
"Having fun?" Kesh asked.
Without an ounce of shame, Drack replied, "Yup."
A few hours later…
Scott opened the first email in his inbox and took a moment to read it. "Is everything alright, Pathfinder?" SAM asked when he noticed his growing look of confusion.
"One second..." he interrupted the AI as he stood up and walked to the center of the hallway. One's voice could carry fairly well from there throughout most of the ship, so it was the best possible means of quickly spreading information through the Tempest. "GUYS!" he shouted, getting the attention of about two thirds of the crew. "Can anyone explain to me why Tann is now deducting 200 credits a month from my salary to pay for his blood pressure meds?!"
I was playing Mass Effect 2 and got the idea for this after listening to Chakwas' story about Jenkins. You all know the one.