SURPRISE! Here's another little update for the story before I take a week off to dog-sit for my grandparents while they visit family out of state.
Tali followed Shepard as they boarded the Normandy, Kal'Reegar staying behind to deliver the intel the Admiralty Board had requested. Shepard had been surprised that Tali had agreed to join her (and thus Cerberus) but Tali had her reasons. First and foremost, she had gotten all but one of her soldiers killed. She felt like a failure, and she didn't believe she had it in her to face the families of the lost. Not yet anyway.
They came to the comms room, and one of the Cerberus crew was waiting. He dipped his head in greeting. "Tali. I'm Jacob. I studied your history, and I'm glad we have someone with your skills onboard."
"I'm not here to help you Cerberus scum. You endangered the safety of the fleet, and my people. I'm here for Shepard, and that's it."
Jacob was taken aback by Tali's rebuke, and he wisely kept his mouth shut as Shepard turned to follow her to engineering.
As they entered the elevator, Shepard cast a glance at Tali, and saw that she was rubbing her hands. "Are you alright Tali?"
"What? Oh, yes… yes I'm fine, I'm just worried about Kal."
"Are you sure that's all?"
"Shepard?"
"You know what I went through on Akuze, right? My entire unit torn apart by thresher maws?"
Tali shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, I… I did hear about that."
"I remember going back to that place in my head over and over, asking what I could have done differently, if there was anything I could have done to save one of them." Shepard sighed. "But there wasn't. We were just… out of our depth. Sometimes that just happens. The enemy just… rips through you, and there's nothing you can do about it." Shepard turned, and placed a hand on Tali's shoulder. "What happened down there isn't your fault Tali."
The younger woman trembled for a moment, then wrapped her arms around Shepard as her grief broke her.
She felt Shepard hug her back, and they stayed in each others comforting embrace until the elevator came to a stop.
They proceeded to the reactor, and Tali took her customary position. She looked right, and Shepard could feel the scowl behind her mask.
Shepard followed her gaze, and saw two Cerberus personnel, a man and a woman, at their stations. They noticed her looking, and the woman stood at attention, smacking her male comrade a split second later, and he too stood at attention.
Shepard felt a smile tickle her lips, and she approached them. "Ma'am, Chief Engineers Donnelly and Daniels."
"At ease you two. How's the ship?"
"Could be better." The man, Donnelly answered. It earned him another smack from Daniels.
"Shut up!"
"How so?" Shepard asked, amused.
"The ship's power couplings require calibrations too often, and we could use a replacement."
"Is it vital? What would happen if we don't replace them?"
"Nothing." Daniels answered, glaring at Donnely out of the corner of her eyes. "He's just lazy."
"I'm not lazy!" He countered. "It would just make life easier for us down here."
Shepard looked left, at Tali. She shrugged. "Couldn't hurt."
'Alright then, any idea where we could find replacements?'
"The Citadel should have what we need."
"Then that's where we're headed." Shepard nodded, and turned to leave.
"So how long have the two of you been together?" Kasumi asked Rocket as she poked at her particularly unappetizing tray of food.
" I've known her most of my life, but we've been together for six years. So about half my life." Rocket said as he stuffed a spoonful of his own "food" into his mouth.
"Half your- your only twelve!?" Kasumi barked in shock.
"I said about half… I'm thirteen." Rocket said, his mouth full.
"And Kara's-"
"A lot older."
Kasumi shot a shocked glance at Garrus, who was just as stunned. "Isn't it a bit… creepy, to be married to someone that much older?"
Rocket scoffed. "Look, the age of consent between a Hunter and any other species is the age when that species' brain is fully developed. That way they can make adult decisions. So for a humie, they'd have to be at least twenty five years old before a Hunter could legally date 'em. Legal age would have been a long time ago, for me anyway."
"Fair enough. But it's still difficult to think that you'd still only be a kid if you were Human."
"Well I ain't, and thank flark for that. All I'll say is what two consenting adults do is nobody's business but theirs." Rocket said with an air of finality as he finished his food, and left.
How long do Raccoons live anyway? Kasumi thought to herself. She turned, and saw Shepard enter the mess.
"Shepard!" Garrus shouted, and beckoned her over. Garrus had read the after-action report on Haestrom, and he knew how bad it had gone for the Quarians down there. "How's Tali?" He asked.
"She'll be fine. Eventually." Shepard gazed down at her tray. She wasn't some prissy princess that ate only the best of the best of food, she was a soldier after all. But this slop? This was too much.
After everyone had finished eating, Shepard approached Sergeant Gardner, the ship's cook. He saw her coming, and snapped off a salute. "Commander."
"At ease." Shepard responded.
"Is this about the food? I know it's not great, but it's all I can manage with what I've got. Cerberus spared no expense when it came to this ship, except for the food supply."
"Do you know where we can get better ingredients?"
"The Citadel usually has a lot of high quality ingredients in stock."
How convenient. Shepard thought.
She informed Joker they'd be making a supply run to the Citadel, and after being informed the trip would take a few hours, she decided to head to her quarters for a much needed nap.
She awoke with a start, EDI informing her they'd arrived. Shepard forced herself out of the bed, and into the elevator. She decided to bring Tali, who'd have a better idea of what power couplings to look for, along with Kara and Rocket, who could probably smell the ingredients Shepard needed from a mile away.
She joined the three of them by the docking tube, and they exited the Normandy and passed through C-Sec. As they did, Shepard noticed that Captain Bailey, the officer in charge she interacted with on her last visit to the Citadel, was missing.
Serina's voice echoed through the comlink in her ear. "Captain Bailey and some of his subordinates were charged, arrested and convicted on counts of corruption and excessive force."
"How did that get out?" Shepard whispered.
"Probably some upstanding citizen who didn't like dirty pigs." Serina said casually.
They took a shuttle to the market, and Kara and Rocket split up with Shepard and Tali, following their noses to find the ingredients for Sgt. Gardner.
As Shepard and Tali entered a store selling ship components and bought the power couplings, and made arrangements for them to be delivered to the Normandy. Shepard heard shouting coming from outside.
She stepped out, and turned her head to face the source of the sound, spotting a Human C-Sec officer, a short, stout Volus, and a young Quarian woman.
Shepard approached the C-Sec officer and addressed him. "What's going on here?" She asked.
The officer looked up. "This doesn't concern you citizen, move along."
Shepard was slightly amused when she realized this man had no idea who he was talking to. "I'm a Spectre, officer. Again, what's going on here?'
The man's spine snapped as straight as was humanly possible. "Sorry ma'am. I'm here to arrest this Quarian for stealing-"
"I didn't steal anything!" The woman shouted.
"Enough!" Shepard barked. She then turned to address the Quarian. "What happened?"
"I was just browsing the stores, looking for something to buy, when I bumped into this bosh'tet! Next thing I know, he's accusing me of stealing his damn credit chit!"
Shepard looked at the Volus. "Your turn."
The short alien let out an almost mechanical hiss as he took a breath from inside his environmentally sealed suit. "I was buying some upgrades for my ship. I walked out and then the next thing I know, this clanless bumps into me. I check my pockets, and I discover my credit chit is missing."
"Why do you think she stole it? How do you know you didn't just forget it at the store?"
"Because I'm not an idiot. Besides, you know what her kind are like."
"Excuse me!" Tali shouted from behind Shepard. She looked back and raised a calming hand. I'll handle this.
"Alright, stay here, and I'll see if you did forget your chit at the store."
"I don't see why you would bother checking, but if you want to waste all our time, fine."
Shepard entered the store the Volus had been shopping at, and waved at one of the employees, a Salarian. "How can I help you?" He asked, a smile on his face and in his voice.
"There was a Volus in here earlier, and he lost his credit chit. Did he leave it here by accident by any chance?"
"Oh, yes he did. By the time I noticed he'd forgotten it, he was already gone." The Salarian pulled the chit out from a container behind the counter. "Here you go."
"Thanks."
Shepard took the chit, and waved it at the Volus as she returned. "I guess you are an idiot, you forgot this back at the store."
The Volus shook his head. "Oh. Well she still could have stolen it somehow." He muttered.
Tali and the young Quarian both shook with anger, but Tali didn't bother to try to hide it. Shepard scowled at the Volus, then turned to look at the C-sec as he spoke up. "Well I guess that's settled then." He looked at the young Quarian. "As for you, I want you to find some kind of permanent residence, otherwise I'm gonna run you in for vagran-"
"Are you kidding me!" Shepard nearly shouted. She turned her head and glared at the Volus. "First, you accuse this girl of stealing your chit. Then, when I prove she's innocent, all you can say is "she could have" stolen it?" She gave him a rough shove, nearly toppling him.
"How dare you!" The diminutive alien huffed.
Shepard brushed him off, and then turned her burning gaze to the C-Sec officer. "And you! This moron accuses her of stealing, with no evidence, and when it's proven she's done nothing wrong, you threaten to run her in with vagrancy?"
"How about I run you in for obstruction?" The man responded, his cheeks flushed red with anger.
"You think you're going to "run in" a Spectre? Get out of here, before I get really angry, both of you."
The Volus and the C-Sec officer both muttered curses under their breath, and walked away, their pride thoroughly injured. Shepard felt heavy footsteps behind her, and knew Kara and Rocket had found them.
She turned to the Quarian. "You alright?"
"Yeah. Thanks for standing up for me."
"Are you here on your pilgrimage?' Tali interjected.
The young woman turned. "Yeah. I came to the Citadel because it's supposed to be the "Capital of civilization". But people have been looking down their noses at me ever since I left the Flotilla."
"Stay strong, I'm sure you'll find something to bring back." Tali said reassuringly.
"Perhaps I can help with that." Kara said, stepping forward. "You Quarians have weak immune systems, right? I could give you the blueprints for a stronger antibiotic."
"Really! That would be… Are you sure?"
"Of course she's sure." Rocket said. "Us outcasts gotta stick together, right?"
Kara tapped commands into her Ancilla, pushing the instructions to the young Quarian's omni-tool. "Keelah, thank you, thank you so much! I'll get this to the Flotilla right away!" The Quarian had to stop herself from running as she left.
Tali looked at Kara. "That was-"
Kara waved a hand. "Yes yes, I'm extraordinarily generous, now let's get back to the Normandy."
Tali looked at Shepard, who simply shrugged and smiled in response.
