|Chapter: 10|
|Date: 6/1/2184|
|Location: Gemini Sigma/Julas Cluster|
You know what Tali liked?
Tea.
The good kind.
The kind that was made with real herbs grown from the rich soils of a garden world and not from some unsightly hydroponic duct.
And definitely not the synthesized kind. It may have tasted the same, smelled the same, looked the same... even identical in every way to the soil grown herbs... but it just... wasn't.
She cradled the hot mug with both her hands and took in its sweet scent. And just before she could kiss the mug and savor its sugary notes, her father walked into the room from behind her.
"Tali." Her father greeted as he entered from out the hallway.
"...Dad? Hi?"
He sat down on the sofa and delicately reached for the mug in her hands before setting it down on the coffee table.
"Um... Okay...?" Tali's stare finally left the cup, "...Yes?"
"Tell me about John."
Tali immediately frowned.
"What?"
"John." Rael repeated, "Tell me about him."
She stared dumbly at him with a perplexed look on her face. "—Uh... Well—"
"—Stop stammering."
"Sorry. You just caught me off guard."
"Maybe the vid-screen is distracting you? I know you adore the soap-operas at nine."
She stared at the large vid-screen and the opening sequence of the soap-opera in question. "...I do?"
"Of course." He smiled, or as faintly as one ever could smile, and turned off the vid-screen before looking out the window to the cityscape, "The one with the human and quarian falling in love."
"...? —Erhm..."
"How could you not remember?" Her father continued before staring to the kitchen to his wife, "Honey! You know Tali loves the soaps at nine right?"
"Of course. And she has to watch it with her favorite tea every day." Tali's mother peeped her head out from the kitchen to look at her husband, "Would you like some, Rael?"
"That's okay. I have coffee in my office." Her father turned back to face Tali, "Now, tell me about John."
"Well... he's smart... and strong... and courageous... "
"A soldier, if I remember."
"Mhmm." Tali agreed with a nod. She pulled the sleeves of her sweater up higher to her elbows. Keelah, she hated it when her sleeves went past her wrists, "And I spent my entire pilgrimage with him."
Tali's dad picked up a magazine that was sitting on the coffee table and couldn't help but frown at its picture. "Why do you like this soap, Tali? It's rubbish."
Tali didn't know why, but she felt quite offended by his rude pass of opinion.
So offended in fact, that she felt it necessary to argue. "No, it's not! It's a fantastic story, dad."
"But the quarian is falling for a human. It's... odd. Don't you think?"
"What's wrong with that?"
"It's not natural."
"Wait." She shook her head, "Where are you getting at with this?"
"I don't like your relationship with John." Her father admitted finally, his smile leaving his face instantly, "It may work on the vids, but not in real life."
Tali felt a knot grip her stomach.
Just as she expected.
Another facade to get in close and destroy her hopes and dreams again.
Her mother must've overheard from the kitchen. But like always, she stayed out of these arguments to keep the peace for dinner later.
"...What do you want me to say, dad?" Tali nearly whispered as she felt herself sweat slightly.
"You need to stop pursuing a relationship with him, Tali. ...He's not your future."
"Worth pursuing? Not my future? Who are you to tell me what my best interests are?"
"Because I'm your father." He said sternly, his hard-jawed frown and icy eyes holding firmly against her, "There are a lot of things you don't see now that will affect you both later in life."
"As with every relationship?" Tali countered, "You don't think I've already considered these possibilities? Or the consequences?"
"You don't have to consider them at all anymore, Tali." Rael said, standing up, "I've already told him you're no longer allowed to see each other."
"What?"
"You cannot see him anym—"
"—How could you?" She stood up immediately and felt her eyes brimming with hot tears.
The way her shoulders shook told her she was already well into sobbing, "Is this some kind of... joke?"
"No, Tali. It's not."
She cupped her hands against her face and wiped away the tears from her eyes.
"Had I known earlier Tali, that you were this intimate with a human? I would've stopped this long before it'd gotten this far." He explained with his even glare.
"I can— can't believ— you don't even have the decency to mind my privacy do you? What'd you do? Look through my omni-tool? My computer?"
"No. It was the message from Garrus that I sent to you while you were on your way to Primerah. Your turian friend. The one with John's last message before his death."
Her world crashed down upon her.
This was another dream.
She wasn't wearing her sweater and jeans anymore.
She was wearing an enviro-suit.
And she wasn't living in some big city. She didn't have a living room, or kitchen, or even a goddamn house.
And her mother was dead.
The dream went black and the dysfunctional utopia was gone.
She opened her eyes and listened for the Neema's ambience.
There was a subtle conversation just outside her dwelling. Probably Olasie or Enyah out there speaking with one of the other neighbors.
Coolant pipe nine that ran along the ceiling tremored from pressurization.
Fuel inductor four, the smallest of the dozen or so on this side of the Neema, was ready to dump its solvents into a tank for future fuel injection.
Just as Tali settled in to try and go back to sleep, she heard soft footsteps approach her little home.
"Hey, Tali," Olasie called from outside Tali's drapes, "You awake?"
Keelah. She was too tired to be holding conversations with people right now.
Even if they were her friends.
"...Ugh."
"I know, I know. Sorry. I'm not one to wake you in the middle of your sleep cycle, but Juel's here at the table and he wants to speak to you."
Tali yawned and forced herself to lay on her side. "Just... come in. Both of you."
"You sure?"
"Keelah, yes. Just come in."
Olasie yanked the curtains aside and waved for Juel to come into Tali's humble abode.
"What do you want to show me." Tali said flatly with her eyes still closed and her blanket still covering half her head, "Tell me it's important at least."
"The Rayya's engines, or one of them, failed." Juel said.
Her eyes shot open and she sat up from her bed. "What?"
"Well, that got your attention." Juel said as he set his laptop down on Tali's desk, "I'm lying. I've just got something to show you."
"God damnit Juel." Tali groaned before falling back into bed and fluffing the sheets around her, "What is it then?"
"It's an article I found on reddit I wanted to show you."
"You woke me up three hours before my shift and lied to me about the Rayya's engines. Just to show me something on reddit."
"Believe me, when you read it, you're going to be glad I showed it to you."
Tali looked at Olasie and the woman shrugged. "Sorry, Tals. He told me the same: That it was important."
Tali sighed, sat upright in her bed and urged for Juel to hand him the laptop.
When he did, she started reading the article.
(A(lliance)_N(ews)_N(etwork)—A:lukehilliard:Id/333 45-44-A444[Artcl#=]Updtd:06:43:01GeST_ip/tcp:198.68.29.****
A.N.N.
-BREAKING NEWS: HUMAN SETTLED COLONY ALLEGEDLY DISAPPEARS. NO TRACE OF COLONISTS' WHEREABOUTS-
Posted: 5/31/2184 by Luke Hilliard
A colony bordering the Traverse in the Swampea Cluster was recently investigated by Alliance authorities and their findings prove quite troubling.
The city of New Sierra, known for its rich platinum boom of 2174, culture, and its Capital of Oman, has disappeared. Or the entire population of over three hundred thousand people at least. While no evidence suggests what happened here, many experts turn toward the possibility of mass suicide. However, the last confirmed mass suicide of this scale was in 2100 in the multi-cultural city of Saleh within the Kaloo Nebulae from religious fanaticism; all before humans had entered the galactic stage.
What makes this more troubling is that there are no bodies or any confirmed signs of struggle.
"They're gone… as if they got up and left to leave for another planet." Says Lieutenant Motorola; a member of an Alliance division for Colonization Efforts, "Everything's normal. Except for, you know, the lack of people."
As stated previously, any evidence that could indicate the specific whereabouts of the missing population has yet to be found.
The Alliance News Network will provide more updates as the situation progresses.
-End of article-
Topics other viewers found interesting:
1.) Retired Sergeant reveals his life as a soldier and his experience during the Battle of the Citadel.
2.) Volus expedite Yandé trade agreement between salarians and turians: A marked increase in comparison to last fiscal year.
3.) Omega: Was it the same as it was ten years ago?
COMMENTS (40,305)
sᴏʀᴛᴇᴅ ʙʏ: [ᴛᴏᴘ] ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴛs|
░ ArCHmster89 | 6 hours ago:
░ experts.. riiiiight. Snce when did teh
░ alliance ever get anythin g right when
░ it comes 2 colonize or science they
░ all probably got taken by pirates
░ Battarian ones maybe the alliance
░ kiled them those bastards
░ ▲1,305 ▼10,034
░░ Numberwhiles | 6 ʜᴏᴜʀs ᴀɢᴏ | In reply to ArChmster89:
░░ What the hell is this? Would it fucking kill
░░ you to spend the extra eight seconds it
░░ would take to proof read this shit smear of
░░ a run-on sentence?
░░ ▲6,502 ▼885
░░░░ Dickerface | 6 ʜᴏᴜʀs ᴀɢᴏ:
░░░░ Numberwhiles. Asserting the real problems.
░░░░ Though honestly, reddit's becoming a real
░░░░ shit-show with this YouTube integration
░░░░ bullshit.
░░░░ ▲4,233 ▼614
[sᴇᴇ 1,307 ᴍᴏʀᴇ ʀᴇᴘʟɪᴇs]
~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶
░ HornyPony|8|Porndaddy | 5 ʜᴏᴜʀs ᴀɢᴏ:
░ Chilling to think of. Hope they find out what
░ happened. If I remember correctly, there's an
░ active volcano about seventy or eighty miles
░ away from the settlement. Maybe they all
░ jumped in or something. Source: I've visited
░ there about eight years ago.
░ (Holy shit I'm glad I'm not there now. AMA)
░ EDIT #1: You guys are fucking nuts.
░ EDIT #2: STOP. PLS. MY INBOX
░ ▲8,302 ▼612
░░ JigglyMarshmallow | 4 ʜᴏᴜʀs ᴀɢᴏ | In reply to HornyPony|8|Porndaddy:
░░ You make a very valid point with the volcano,
░░ but I'm obligated to disagree with you because
░░ your name is Horny Pony Porn Daddy. #Sorry
░░ ▲9,086 ▼658
[sᴇᴇ 8,200 ᴍᴏʀᴇ ʀᴇᴘʟɪᴇs]
~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶
░ Bigbutts&Pussy | 4 ʜᴏᴜʀs ᴀɢᴏ:
░ omg. pray for these ppl. god bless them
░ ▲1,402 ▼1,790
░░ WutduhH8 | 2 ʜᴏᴜʀs ᴀɢᴏ | In reply to Bigbutts&Pussy:
░░ Your name's fuckin' big butts & pussy.
░░ ▲7,554 ▼1,002
~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶~̶
[sᴇᴇ 1,478 ᴍᴏʀᴇ ʀᴇᴘʟɪᴇs]
ᴅᴇʟᴇᴛᴇᴅ | 3 ʜᴏᴜʀs ᴀɢᴏ
[ʀᴇᴍᴏᴠᴇᴅ]
▲85 ▼40
Tali finally looked up from the article to Juel.
Juel shrugged. "Don't pay attention to the comments."
"Noted."
"Anyways, you always told me you thought the collectors had some weird fascination with humans and kidnapping them. Thought maybe it was linked."
Tali didn't say anything and read the article again.
When she was done, she stared into nothingness for a long while.
What Juel said made sense.
A lot of sense.
"Tali?" Olasie said to get Tali out of her blank stare, "You okay?"
"I don't know." She answered with a whisper, "Just... thinking."
'Thinking' was putting it modestly.
She was haunted by it. Haunted by what the collectors had done to them.
And she remembered it all with perfect clarity.
In the span of mere seconds, Tali relived the fear and helplessness the same way she did on Ullipses. More so when the collectors had come and taken John away from her.
She forced herself out of the mind numbing trance and faced them both.
"When I was stranded on Ullipses, the collectors took the Normandy's entire crew. Took them and put them on their ship and left us behind."
Juel leaned in with a concerned look. "Left who behind?"
"Me and Wrex, Garrus and Liara. They only took the humans."
Olasie cut in. "But why? Why leave just you behind?"
Tali's stare went docile as she kept remembering. "I don't know, Olasie. But we went after them and got them out. Then the Alliance came. Then John died along with half the Normandy and the people who rescued us."
Olasie sat down next to Tali on her bed. "Keelah, Tali..."
Tali stayed quiet and leaned into Olasie's shoulder. "Yeah... it was bad."
Juel stood up from the office chair and sat down next to Tali too. "Hey. We're here for you."
"I know." Tali nodded sadly, "Thanks guys."
"So, in other news, I've been going through the OSDs we found on Primerah again."
Tali scrunched her nose up and faced him. "What? We handed it all over to the officials when we got back. Everything we found is classified now."
"Yeah. I copied it. Well, some of it."
Tali rolled her eyes and Olasie did the same.
"Well," Tali said with a nod, "what did you find?"
"More of the same really. Spread sheets mostly. But there was some good stuff we didn't see before. That Dieeal guy was in charge of self-adaptation for the Geth too. To make sure they wouldn't wander off a cliff and the like."
"I see."
"Which makes me wonder," Juel decided to add, "why you're not more involved with all that post work up stuff like your dad is."
Tali felt herself wince.
His question was on the money. She should've been more involved. It's not like she didn't have the clearance or pull to be a part of her father's research division. Or Daro's for that matter. She was plenty qualified.
And just to drive the point home, she was the driving force behind all of this.
All the missions into geth space.
Or the recommitted drive to learn more about the geth.
Their doubled efforts in weapons research.
Her pilgrimage? That was what made this possible. Had she brought back a ship or a contract to some world instead, they wouldn't be here now, doing the stuff they did.
So why wasn't she more involved, indeed?
"...My father and Daro are more than capable of doing it themselves." Tali decided to answer.
"Three master minds are better than two." Juel argued with a small smile.
Tali didn't like how Juel was pushing what seemed to her to be such a mediocre issue.
"Look, Juel. I don't know why, okay?" Tali admitted with a slight growl, "At least I help in some way by joining up with the ground team."
Juel finally took the hint and backed off a little.
Olasie started to frown at the both of them.
"Tali, I wasn't questioning your capabilities." Juel mollified, "I'm just trying to help my friend."
"By questioning my decisions instead?"
He hung his head and scowled.
"Yes." Juel sighed in admission, "That's exactly what I'm trying to do. What we're trying to do."
He pointed to himself and Olasie to make his point.
"We just want you to be happy, Tali." Olasie agreed.
"Happy." Tali repeated flatly. She looked away from them both and didn't feel like saying another word.
"Tali..."
"I think it's best if you guys go."
"Come on," He murmured, "I'm sorry."
"Guys? Please go."
Tali ignored them and they both stood up from her bed.
"Okay, Tali." Olasie murmured, "We'll see you later."
And with that, they both left the room and she was left alone.
Minutes passed by and she stared at the wall across from her.
Tali kept thinking about it.
About being happy. And about what it meant.
The word sounded so... empty.
Empty because it died with the Normandy.
Because it died with her mom.
Died with her dad.
And her people.
But most of all, it died with John.
His death changed her. Changed her radically.
There wasn't a day that went by where she didn't think of him. Tali couldn't escape it. Nor did she even make an attempt to.
She wanted to think of him. To remember his legacy.
And if it meant bathing in grief just to do it, then she'd get by and deal with it. And because of that, she knew, that for her to be happy, she would remain, forever more, unhappy.
Surely, that was a disorder in some way.
"...John." She whispered as a tear welled in her eye, "what have you done to me."
Later that day...
Miya'Kahto nar Chasuk, recently arrived from her pilgrimage, walked down one of the Neema's hallways looking for a woman named Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Well, vas Neema now.
The turian didn't exactly know what her new name was. Fortunately enough, Tali'Zorah's reputation alone made her easy enough to find on the Flotilla's population roster.
Which lead Miya here to the Neema.
Miya kept walking and would, every so often, glance at the little black box in her hands to make sure it hadn't disappeared from her grip.
Finally, Miya arrived at engineering.
Around a dozen or so milled about the engine room. One of them had to be her.
Miya decided she would approach someone and ask.
"—ot it. Get the main out and we'll get that replaced."
"Excuse me, sorry to intrude, but I'm looking for a Tali'Zorah."
The engineer glanced at her for just a moment before thumbing the hallway behind him. "Yeah. She's right down there working on the power station to your left. The purple one."
"Thank you sir."
He went back to work and she went off after Tali.
When Miya went down the hallway, she took an immediate left and saw Tali's back facing her while she turned a dial and typed on a keypad.
"Tali'Zorah?" Miya said to get the woman's attention.
Tali stopped her button pressing and turned around immediately. "...Yes?"
Miya raised the box to her. "I— have something for you. Something your turian friend. erhm— Garrus, I think..."
Tali was taken aback with surprise and stared at the box in the girl's hands before finally accepting it with a flabbergasted stare. "...T—thank you... I wasn't expecting it so soon."
"Of course, ma'am."
"I have to ask. How did you—?"
"—Come across your friend? He's still on the Citadel." Miya answered, "And he asked me to pass this on to you when I was done with my pilgrimage."
Tali looked back at the box and couldn't help but scoff slightly at Garrus.
"Bless his heart, that bosh'tet." Tali grinned sadly before facing Miya again, "Thank you again. You have no idea what this means to me."
"Of course."
"Were you compensated?"
"Your friend was very generous with his money." Miya admittedly shamefully, "He payed me several thousand just to hold on to it. He didn't have to do that. He could've just used drone delivery."
"He's a sentimental man and he likes to help people. If anything, he should have given you more." Tali said jokingly. Miya giggled nervously at the joke and Tali took the hint the girl probably wanted to leave.
"Is this the ship you picked to stay on or are you just stopping by just to drop this off for me?"
"Just dropping it by, ma'am. I still need to get back to my home and see my parents."
"Welcome back to the fleet." Tali nodded, "Have fun at your after party."
"Thank you, ma'am. Enjoy your present thing." Miya said with a gracious smile before finally leaving.
Tali stared at the tungsten finish on the little box for a long while, her surroundings forgotten.
"Hiva?" Tali called to her left when she'd finished her inspection, "...Hey."
Hiva looked up from his computer to her.
"Mm?"
"Would you mind if I left for thirty minutes?"
"Why're you asking? Your shift was over with three hours ago."
Tali looked at her chrono. "Oh. well. I guess Yumah should come down here then."
"I'll call her. Good night Tali. See you in the morning."
"Bye."
She rushed out of engineering and felt her stomach churn a little from anticipation.
When she finally made it to her room, she went to her desk and pushed aside anything on that could've gotten in the way.
Then she sat down in her chair and took in a breath before unclasping the locks.
When she opened the little box, Tali's heart skipped a beat at the little black pendant resting delicately on rich plum colored felt.
It... It was beautiful.
She picked up the pendant and read the laser inscription that ran along its circumference.
ᴇ ᴘʟᴜʀɪʙᴜs ᴜɴᴜᴍ, she read through Khelish translation. Directly across the human phrase on the other side of the pendant was another inscription.
Tɪᴘᴇᴛʜᴇ'ɪɴs'ᴋᴀs Kᴇᴇʟᴀʜ Hᴡᴀs'Nɪʟᴀɪs.
'Time is a gift for the heart and hope for the home.'
She turned it around to see another engraving, this time of the Normandy.
And right below the silhouette was another quote from John that said simply: ᴛᴏ ᴜs.
Tali's eyes glossed over with tears after setting the pendant back onto the felt.
"...Keelah, John." She murmured between a slow cry of grief, "...God. Damnit."
To stop herself from falling any further into despair, she took the deepest breath she could take, held it, and closed her eyes.
As she brought herself under some show of control, Tali delicately grabbed the pendant again and started working on flash fabricating a metal chain to make a necklace.
Ever so carefully, with the help of her multi-tool, she connected the small chain to the pendent before clipping it around her neck.
By now, tears were rolling down her hot cheeks.
She wrapped a hand around the small black medallion dangling between her breasts before whispering in a choked sigh.
"To us, John..."
ᴛᴏ ᴜs.
Codex Entry: omni-tools
Omni-tools are handheld devices that combine a computer microframe, sensor analysis pack, and minifacturing fabricator. Versatile and reliable, an omni-tool can be used to analyze and adjust the functionality of most standard equipment, including weapons and armor, from a distance.
The fabrication module can rapidly assemble small three-dimensional objects from common, reusable industrial plastics, ceramics, and light alloys. This allows for field repairs and modifications to most standard items, as well as the reuse of salvaged equipment.
Misc. Information:
Olasie'Venn vas Neema, a Migrant Fleet Marine, is one of three of Tali's neighbors. While she is not mentioned nearly as often as Juel is, Tali has developed a relationship with Olasie as strong as Juel's.
The three of them have become close friends.
Olasie serves under Prazza's platoon as a squad leader. She will serve a bigger role later in the story.