Chapter 9
Tali'Zorah awoke to the pleasant background humming of the station's machinery and for a moment forgot how she got where she was. Not seeing the familiar barracks around her or hearing the snoring of her fellow refugees, she popped up abruptly and started looking around frantically only to realize she was in complete and utter darkness. Without a second thought she reached up and activated the night vision feature on her helmet and found herself in the clean, somewhat spartan bedroom of a military apartment. She got out of bed and made her way to the kitchen only to find a sealed container literally with her name on it. Shepard had prepared breakfast for her before leaving for her shift. She grasped the container and removed the label with her name on it, flipping it over to read the short note.
"Tali, I hope your translater can read this. I let you sleep in, since you had a big day yesterday. I hope this breakfast is ok, I know everything you eat goes through a straw so I made a fruit smoothie, it's an earth food made of blended fruits. I hope you enjoy. -Jane."
Tali was touched by the gesture, Jane was so kind to her, she hoped one day to return the favor. She took the container as she went back into her bedroom to find her toolkit, and was suddenly shocked by the explosion of flavor offered by the fruit smoothie. Jane had already established herself as Tali's favorite human, and now she had introduced her to her new favorite food. It was almost too sweet, but at the same time refreshing. Normally foods this sweet contain nearly toxic levels of artificial sweeteners, but she saw recipe sheet left behind next to the still dirty blender and it was nothing more than blended Earth with unsweetened fruit juice. After emptying the container she gazed longingly at it before discarding it in the garbage incinerator and cleaned up the mess Jane had made. That at least would be a start in repaying her kindness.
When she arrived at her post, the nearly orgasmic bliss she'd felt from her delectable breakfast evaporated immediately upon seeing her favorite human standing ramrod straight at attention with no color to her face while an older human male with scars on his face and an aura of authority surrounding him addressed her. Behind her on the ground lay a human male civilian wearing a maintenance coverall clutching his clearly broken arm, and off to the side an elderly quarian woman with two younger quarians attending her stood by
"What happened next, Lieutenant?" the older man asked.
"Sir! The man approached them and made disparaging comments about their heritage. The Quarian in the blue suit attempted to guide the woman away while the other man tried to defuse the situation by apologizing. That is when we arrived." She recited clearly as though she'd rehearsed it.
"So now we're in the business of breaking civilians' arms when they're rude to our guests?" The older man demanded.
"Sir, No Sir! We asked the civilian to leave before he said or did something he'd regret. At that point he looked at us and said "Like this?" and punched the Quarian in the green suit in the visor, which caused it to crack. At that point I moved in front of him and he attempted to punch me so I reacted by breaking his arm and disarming him." She said, her eyes never moving from an imaginary point behind the older man's head.
"I see." He said. He walked over to the quarians one of whom was dilligently helping the other repair a cracked visor.
"Sir everything Lieutenant Shepard said is true, I don't want to get the man in trouble, but she did nothing wrong!" The old lady pleaded. He smiled at her and thanked her for her input, then went to the men and asked them to corroberate which they did.
"Son, go get that checked out at the med center, this place is pretty clean but I don't want you getting an infection." the old man said to the injured Quarian.
"Th... thank you sir. I'll go right away. Come grandmother." he said, as he helped the old lady along
"Lieutenant if I let this man go and he bothers those quarians again what are you going to do?" He asked Shepard.
"Permission to speak freely sir?" She asked.
"Granted." he said without hesitation.
"The motherfucker's got two arms, maybe I'll have to tell him twice." She spat
"That's not the first time I've regretted granting that request." The old man said "Ok, Shepard, the bastard is alive so you clearly used restraint and you acted in defense of honored guests, honestly I see no wrongdoing here. Except maybe your liberal interperetation of "speaking freely." " He added
"Hawkins, Mercer, go drag this idiot down to the med center, make sure he's not gonna die then get his ass off my station." he ordered the men behind him. With gruff "Yes Sirs" they both sprang into action and began maneuvering the crying idiot out of sight. She smiled but wisely said nothing.
"As you were, Lieutenant. Back to work." He said she saluted and returned to her duties. Tali ran over to catch up.
"Tali!" She said, smiling and grabbing the Quarian into a hug. She was used to physical greetings from Shepard, but they still managed to stir feelings she couldn't quite identify. She was always happy to return them though.
"What happened Shepard, I thought you were in trouble there?" She asked
"Oh, yeah some dumbass got drunk and decided vent his racist spleen all over an old lady and her grandsons who were out exploring the station. Oh, it's a human saying for giving someone trouble because you're upset about something else. Long story short if someone calls you a "space gypsy" let me know so I can punch some sense into them." Shepard explained.
"What's a gypsy?" Tali asked.
"Gypsy is an old, derogatory term for a group of people who live on Earth called the Roma. They are nomadic, travelling all over Europe and Asia and since they don't put down roots people in the communities they visit distrust them and blame them for thefts, vandalism and sometimes murder. There are a lot of baseless stereotypes about them, and it's really rude to call them gypsies. We've come a long way as a people but clearly we have a ways to go." She said, her voice tinged with regret.
"Keelah, if half of the stories are true from what I'm hearing about the Quarians moving to Earth right now, we've got quite a ways to go as well. You'd think they'd be grateful but there are organized groups of people talking about commandeering what's left of the flotilla and attacking Rannoch." She said in response, then Shrugged. "Enough sad talk. That smoothie you left me was to die for, I've never tasted anything better!
"Oh man, wait until I find out whether ice cream is safe for you guys to eat." Shepard said her grin returning.
Across the station a certain older human Admiral was deep in conversation with Prime Minister Shepard and Captain David Anderson.
"So she broke the idiot's arm, right when I got there and I ordered her to stand down. We talked it out, and he's on his way back to Earth. His assigned housing is well away from any Quarians. I think we're going to have a few idiots to deal with but It's really not as bad as I' thought it would be. Disciplinary issues have been minor and for the most part the Humans and Quarians have been getting along like they grew up together." Hackett reported.
"That's good to hear, thank you Steven." Shepard responded.
"So this doesn't change the little surprise you have for Jane tomorrow?" Anderson asked Hackett.
"No, she showed restraint and acted in defense of honored guests, and her actions have been instrumental in making this transition as smooth as it is. I really can't think of a better candidate." Hackett responded.
"Oh my baby's growing up so fast!" Hannah said, wiping an imaginary tear from her eye.
"This is a big step, Steven. She may not thank you." Anderson said with a smirk.
"No she probably won't but I need someone in charge that follows the spirit of orders rather than obsess about them literally. I'll never tell her that but we have no use for officers that can't think for themselves." He added.
"Agreed, and are the Quarians on board?" Shepard asked.
"Most definitely, they're quite impressed with Jane and her squad, her even-handed handling of what could have been a logistical nightmare is an example of the best we have to offer." Anderson responded.
"Oh my god this is better than sex!" Jane Shepard moaned as she lifted another spoonful of the frosty dessert to her mouth.
"We'll see about that." Tali said as she plunged a metal straw into what Jane called a "chocolate milkshake." With her first mouthful, Tali nearly dropped the precious delight as her taste buds went into overdrive.
"Keelah, not that I have a basis of comparison, but I think you might be right." Tali said, as she set the milkshake down on the table in front of her, then upon realizing what she'd admitted in what was rapidly becoming known as her trademark gesture her hands went up to cover her face in combined embarassment and shock.
"Holy Shit, Never?" Shepard asked, totally forgetting her manners.
"Um. No, never. It's kind of hard in these suits, you know. Most Quarians aren't um... active in that regard until they're ready to have children and even then only if they win the lottery. Lots of Quarians never actually, well, you know." Her mortification was plain to see, mask or no.
"Jesus, how are you not insane?" she asked.
"Well there are nerve stim programs built into our suits and... oh Keelah!" She said burying her face in her hands again. After a few moments she returned to her amazing milkshake, that almost helped her forget.
"Ok, let's change the subject Tali, I didn't mean to embarrass you." Jane said, finally deciding to be merciful.
"It's ok, but yeah, subject change, sounds good. So um, How about those new power converters we got in for the antimatter cores?" She asked.
"Hey do they make those nerve stim programs for humans?" Jane asked, staring whistfully into the distance, barely able to stop from snickering as she heard her friend's helmet collide gently with the table in front of them.
"There you are" A voice from behind them said in a jovial tone.
"Ash! Holy crap it's been like a month, how is that possible on a station this size?" Jane said embracing her friend.
"They got us testing retrofits on the Quarian cruisers so they can be repurposed now that they aren't needed for living space. Oh hey who's your friend?" Chief Ashley Williams asked.
"Oh Ash, this is Tali'Zorah Vas Tonbay." She said, introducing the Quarian.
"Oh my, I was sorry to hear about the Tonbay." Ashley said offering her hand to the Quarian, who took and shook it automatically.
"Thank you Ms. Williams, and it was an old ship, nearly as old as our flight from the home world." She said
"Oh that's not going to work, any friend of Jane's calls me Ash. Ashley if you're feeling formal." She said. Tali could tell she was going to like Jane's friend.
"Ok, Ash then. What is it that you do on this station?" Tali inquired
"Well, normally I'm in charge of Sector 5's hangar, I'm invovled in repairs, maintenance, storing shuttles etcetera, but with the influx of Quarian vessels we've had to shift things around a bit. At first I thought we'd never get it done but then a bunch of Quarian volunteers joined up and Goddamn do you guys know how to fix a ship. I have my people taking notes whenever one of you spins gold out of straw." She said. Tali cocked her head not understanding the reference.
"Ah it's from a human fairy tale. It means turning something that looks worthless into something valuable." Ash expanded. Tali nodded.
"IS this a private party or can I butt in?" A warm male voice interjected
"Kaidan!" Jane squealed and jumped up giving him a warm hug. Watching it stirred up hostility towards the young man that Tali was struggling to rationalize. "Kaidan come over here and meet Tali!" She said.
"Oh so you're the famous Tali'Zorah Vas Tonbay." He said smiling, offering her his hand, which she took with slight hesitation.
"Shepard's told me all about you. She said you're the most talented engineer she's worked with." he continued.
"Yes. Well I mean I don't know, I'm ok I guess." She stammered, not used to being complimented by people she did not know.
"That's a grotesque understatement and you know it, Tali." Shepard said with a proud smile.
"Careful with this one, pretty sure she's got a crush on you." Kaidan said, winking and gesturing towards the now blushing Lieutenant. He got a solid elbow to the ribs for his efforts, but was laughing too hard to complain. Ash rolled her eyes and Tali remained confused.
"So anyone know what's going on tomorrow? Hackett's going from sector to sector to address all Military personnel." Kaidan said, possibly as a way of avoiding further blunt trauma to his ribcage.
"No, Anderson and Mom haven't said anything either. I'm not sure but they don't seem worried so I'm guessing it's nothing major." Jane said her blush slowly fading.
"Oh, I hadn't heard anything." Tali mentioned.
"Yeah they're being hush-hush. I haven't even heard Rothschild blabbing about it." Ash contributed. They continued conversing for an hour before Kaidan observed it was getting late and they all had early shifts the next day. As they gathered their things, Tali followed Jane down the road towards the residential section.
"Want to crash at my place again?" Jane asked. Tali's heart swelled, she'd been hoping to be invited again.
"Yes, please." She said, trying and failing to hide her excitement.
"Alright, let's get going, If we hurry we can catch the late show." Jane said, guiding Tali down a right- hand turn.
"Jane?" Tali asked.
"Yeah Tali?" She replied.
"What did Kaidan mean when he said you wanted to crush me?" Tali asked, seconds later an audible slap was heard as Shepard's face collided with her palm.