Chapter 7
Later that night across the station, Captain David Anderson was eating dinner in the military mess hall with Captain Shala'Raan discussing recent events. Shala'Raan was feeling pretty useless now that she was without a ship, unfortunately failing to understand her diplomatic overtures with Captain Anderson were moving Human/Quarian relations ahead faster than the diplomatic talks between the PM and the admirals.
"David, I don't know what I'm going to do after this." She said
"What do you mean, Shala?" he responded.
"My ship is gone, what is a captain without a ship?" She said, remorsefully.
"Well what do Quarians usually do if they lose a ship? I've heard you mention before your fights against mercs, raiders, Batarian slavers and the like."
"Usually, the captain goes down with the ship, but in my case my people were so used to imminent death being a possibility they were already close to their pods before the reactors blew, I didn't have to drag anyone to their pods." She said.
"Really? You know I almost lost my last command in an FTL accident. We came out 2500km short of our target and slammed into an asteroid the size of this table we're at. It was just hard enough to crack the hull, we were venting gas and I ordered everyone to their life boats. Just as I was about to chase after an engineer who disobeyed and was sealing a bulkhead, my XO conked me over the head with a spanner and I woke up an hour later with a pounding headache in a floating life pod. The section I was in peeled open like a tuna can minutes after and I'd have surely died if I'd given chase.
"Oh my, I'm sorry to hear about your engineer and XO." Shala said.
"Oh don't be. They both made it. The Engineer had a plan the whole time, there's a reason we called her "Lucky" Lucy Martinez, one of the finest engineers to come out of MIT. She's actually serving aboard the Mayhem now." Anderson responded.
"And your XO?" she asked
"Despite saving my life, she struck a ship commander. In times of war, that would have been an immediate death penalty, but she did save my life and that counted for quite a bit. She served a month of hard labor our Lunar colony, and was then demoted and reassigned." he said.
"Oh?" she said
"Yes, even though we live in a time of abundance, we are careful about wasting resources, and this XO was the best officer I'd ever had working under me. I demanded leniency, even threatened to turn in my commission" He mused.
"She seems like quite the soldier. I'd love to meet her." Shala said
"You did, she's the one attached at the hip to your young Engineer." he said gesturing behind her. She turned to see , with one arm draped over the diminutive form of Tali guiding her over to the residential sector, pointing out different things along the way.
"Oh wow. I know they are friends, but I've never seen Tali that close to someone." She said, startled at the implications. "Keelah they can't be together." She started to stand, but was stopped by David s hand on hers.
"Why?" he asked.
"What do you mean?" She responded
"Do your people have objections to homosexual relationships?" David asked, his face devoid of judgment, just curious.
"No, not at all, I've even had a girlfriend in the past myself, but Tali is the daughter of an Admiral. She'll be expected to have a child some day." she said.
"Oh." David's expression dimmed slightly. "Well nobody's demanding they get married, and even if they eventually did what's to say they couldn't adopt? Or artificial insemination? Humans have been doing that for 200 years now." he said.
Raan found herself alarmed, not at the implication of Tali and dating, but at the Captain's crestfallen look. Had she misjudged the situation? Did he feel the same way that she did? She then thought over at what she'd said and put two and two together. "Keelah he thinks I'm not interested in men." she thought.
"I suppose. It's every parent's dream to have their children grow up and raise a family of their own, but we've learned to not be picky about how we go about that. Perhaps someday I may find the right man and have a family of my own." She said. His expression brightened, and under her mask so did hers as she confirmed her suspicion. Perhaps that time will be closer than she thought.
The next day the PM and Admiral Hackett met with the admirals again, minus Admiral Noran who was resting for the day in the med center. Human and Quarian physicians looked her over after the meeting and were concerned about her blood pressure. Upon hearing about this, Hannah started this round of meetings by asking about the elderly Admiral.
"She is, um. I am reluctant to speak plainly but it must be said. She is old, and she is dying." Surprising the usually reserved Daro'Xen responded "It is to be expected, she's the oldest of our people, we still don't know how she has persisted so long. Her family is known or being long-lived, her grandmother was born on the homeworld. They're always been stubborn, which is why they've always been admirals." That last was met by a chuckle from the rest of the Admirals.
"Do you think as long as I don't bring any surprising revelations, she'd be ok with a visit after our meeting?" Hannah asked.
"Of course, but we should consult her doctors first. You Humans are fascinating, during the short months we've known you your people have learned about Quarian physiology what it usually takes years to master." Daro continued.
"Yes, and I suspect your physicians are learning the same about our physiology. We've discovered through scientific exchanges that we are shockingly similar, under the hood so to say."
The Quarian didn't understand this metaphor so she explained it. "Our biochemist actually thinks with a small amount of processing our blood would be compatible for transfusions in an emergency. I'm not educated in the life sciences but its fascinating nonetheless."
"Yes, I'm looking forward to digging into the data you've provided us with after the conclusion of these talks. Thank you by the way for being so open with our scientists." she said.
"Not at all, the data you've given us in return has them all excited with the possibilities. Despite our advances in medicine, propulsion and energy we're still quite behind your people technologically in a lot of ways." she responded.
"Yes,but it seems like we both have complimentary gaps in our understanding of things, as though if we found something beyond our reach we'd no doubt find it in your journals and vise versa." She continued. Hannah was no scientist but she could see the barely restrained enthusiasm in the young Admiral.
"Well that sort of leads into the next point I wanted to bring up. About the Geth." She started. The Quarian contingent braced themselves, expecting the hammer to drop. This was the main thing that caused their conflict with the Council.
"Rothschild has been going over your records and has a few questions, if you're willing to hear them." She said.
"Of course" Zaal'Korris answered. He was clearly more accepting of the AI's opinion than the other admirals.
"Ok ,I'll ask Rothschild to join us. I did ask him to be reasonable and presentable, but I'm sure you've read about his, eccentricities. Despite them he is a valued member of our society and enjoys all the rights and privileges that come with that so please be respectful." They nodded, as she clicked a button on her PDA and asked for Rothschild to join them.
For a few seconds, nothing happened, and right when the Prime Minister was about to page him again the door burst open and the room was flooded with clearly artificial smoke. Then suddenly loud, discordant guitar music filled the room as the AI this time in the form of a tall, thin, shirtless man with spiky black hair wearing leather pants and platform boots slid into the room on his knees hammering mercilessly at the artificial instrument in his hands.