Chapter 12
Shepard arrived an hour early to the training center wearing her nicest casual clothes and tastefully subtle makeup, anxious to see her favorite Quarian. She forced a calm expression onto her face but in her head a war was raging, back and forth between asking the Quarian out on a date, or ignoring her impulses and greeting her just as a friend.
"Lieutenant Shepard." a male Quarian voice tore her from her internal battles, she looked up to see Admiral Rael'Zorah before her, grasping a giftwrapped package, holding his hand out in greeting.
"Admiral Zorah sir, hello. Here to see Tali?" She asked, reaching out and shaking the Admiral's hand.
"Yes, Raan will be by shortly. Xen, Zaal and Han are still on earth working on their projects. Thankfully with the stresses and needs of life aboard the flotilla it's easier to get time off for the important things." He said, regret clear in his voice.
"It must have been hard raising a child on the fleet." Shepard said. Rael would have been offended but he knew of Shepard's compassion and sincerity from her daughter's letters home.
"Yes, it was. He responded. There were so many milestones I missed. Keelah I wasn't even there when her mother died." He said, slipping a bit too far into the old depression that once threatened to consume him. Shepard sensed that and decided to have mercy on the poor man.
"Tali is an amazing young woman." She said, steering the subject back to both of their favorite Quarian.
"Yes she is. We knew she would be a master engineer when she was a child, she nearly escaped from her bubble twice when she was very young, and as a teenager she kept hacking through ship communications when she was grounded from contact with friends on other ships. It's a unique experience to be both angry and immensely proud of someone at the same time." He said, causing Shepard to laugh.
"Please tell me you have pictures of her as a kid." Shepard begged. Rael responded by activating his omnitool displaying pictures of an adorable child with short blue hair in pigtails, pointy ears and bright luminescent eyes looking decidedly guilty surrounded by tools she'd fashioned out of eating utensils and pried into the emergency egress hatch at the base of the bubble she was in.
"She was six here. Oh the Lecture Lua gave her." Rael continued.
"Lua?" Shepard asked, immediately regretting it as soon as she figured out who it must be.
"Tali's Mother." He said, hitting another sequence on his omnitool, the image replaced by a beautiful Quarian woman out of her suit, drenched in sweat looking exhausted by smiling unreservedly at a tiny purple bundle in her arms. Clearly the photo was taken shortly after Tali was born since they were still in the clean room birthing suite.
"They're beautiful." Shepard said, trying desperately to memorize every detail of this precious image.
"Yes, they are." he said switching to another image, this time Lua in her suit and Tali in a bubble, probably around 2 years old, laughing at her own reflection in her mother's mask.
"Lua was an amazing woman. We met when she was assigned to the Alarei right after her pilgrimage. We hated each other at first. I was dead-set on retaking the home world and wiping out the Geth, she was against it, wanting our people to find a new path and maybe a new world. We fought constantly." he said, scrolling to another picture, this time Tali in her first suit, one clearly designed for an adolescent.
"If I may ask, Admiral. How did she die?" Shepard asked, her curiosity outweighing her reluctance to broach the subject.
"The Alarei was a research vessel, she was ordered to a system outside the terminus systems, a planet was found that was barely habitable, even in our suits we'd have had to limit our exposure outside, but because it was so hostile and out of the way we wanted to investigate its viability as a possible settlement Either that or at least somewhere to mine resources. Lua was the executive officer, and before disembarking Tali was dropped off with the other children aboard on the Tonbay, where she would eventually serve. The ship set out and immediately after dropping out of FTL a Batarian slaver ship and its escort group descended upon them. The Alarei was armed, but not well armored, and its eezo core's containment system was badly in need of repair. One round from the slavers and my Lua was taken from me." He said.
"I'm sorry, Admiral, I shouldn't have asked." Shepard said, resting a hand on his knee.
"No, no don't worry, Lieutenant. You are important to my Tali, and it's important that you know. Besides, as painful as losing her was, I will always cherish the memories we shared." He said, bringing up another picture, this time of Lua and Rael standing in the central chamber of an enormous vessel, probably a liveship, their hands bound in ribbon with Admiral Tiga'Noran resting a hand on both of their shoulders. Shepard smiled at this.
"Love is the best thing about this life. It's all that kept us going through this 300 year nightmare. It is the greatest and most worthy cause and is always worth fighting for. I regret that for a short time I forgot that and chased my ambitions." he said. Shepard was wondering why he was being so candid with her. He was silent for a a few seconds after this before continuing.
"You make her happy, Shepard. Happier than you know. Probably more than she realizes. I can see because I remember looking and acting the same way the months before Lua and I were married, and I can see you feel the same." he said. Shit. Apparently discretion is not her strongest attribute.
"Yes, sir, I do. I want to do things slowly, but I can honestly say I feel differently for her than I have for anyone else." She admitted.
"I'm glad." Rael replied "But if you hurt her..." he left the rest to Shepard's vivid imagination. Before she could speak the door to the training center opened and several dozen Quarians, most of their suits now adorned with Alliance rank insignia began filing out of the training center. Most had friends and family waiting for them, so all around there were tearful emotional reunions. Amongst the crowd, Shepard spotted Sergeant Dunn making her way towards her, a sarcastic smirk on her face. Shepard's smile soon matched.
"Shepard. So, Lieutenant now? You're still a spineless maggot to me so don't expect a salute any time soon." she said, crossing her arms in mock defiance.
"Seargant Dunn, it's been so long, put 'er there!" She said, reaching her right hand out to shake Dunn's obviously missing hand. At first Rael thought it was an accidental faux pas until Dunn grinned even more waving her stump around
"Very cute Jane." Shepard laughed and reached out grabbing the grizzled drill instructor into a hug. "Seriously, how have you been Alicia?" She asked.
"Not bad. It's good to be teaching again. Those Quarian kids are tougher than they look." She said returning the hug.
"This is Admiral Rael'Zorah, we're both here to meet his daughter Tali'Zorah." Shepard said, introducing the Quarian Admiral.
"Oh, excuse me sir, without rank insignia I didn't know." She sad, standing at attention and saluting Rael, who immediately returned it.
"At ease, Sargent, nothing to apologize for, until recently Quarians didn't wear rank insignia, we don't even have one for admirals yet." He reassured her.
"Thank you sir. Speaking of your Daughter, by the way, she was easily my star pupil. Some in her class had more battle experience, but there wasn't a scenario I ran her through that she couldn't adapt to." She said.
"I'd love to say she gets it from me, but that's all her mother right there." Rael said, not even trying to hide his pride in Tali.
"Father!" They both spun around to see Tali emerge from the building with a bag full of her possessions. She ran over and barely avoided knocking him over in a tight hug.
"Tali, congratulations I am so proud of you." He said "Did you get your orders yet?" he asked.
"No, it's strange because everyone else got theirs. At first I was afraid I had failed to graduate, but when that happens they ask you to sign up again for the next session to retry." She said.
"I think I can shed some light on that for you Zorah." Dunn offered
"Keelah, Sergeant Dunn, I didn't see you there." Tali stammered, saluting the instructor.
"There will be no need for that any more." She said, smiling punching a message into her PDA
"I had a conversation with Captain Anderson yesterday after your evaluations were completed. When I explained your performance and scores, he wasn't surprised in the slightest. I asked to promote you directly to Private first class." She said, Tali unconsciously stood taller, proud of her accomplishment.
"Captain Anderson disagreed with my assessment. Combined with your performance in training and your service record alongside Shepard here as well as on the Tonbay before, he felt, and I agreed, that someone of your caliber would do well with more authority and responsibility." She continued.
"Indeed I did." David's deep baritone said from behind Jane and the Zorahs, causing the three to jump.
"Tali'Zorah, please step forward." He continued. She did, saluting him before doing so and saying "Yes Captain."
"Your accomplishments in the accelerated training program along with your exemplary service record have proven your worth as a member of the unified Alliance military. As such I bestow upon you the rank of Ensign with all the rights and privileges that go with it. I'll have your commission paperwork sent to you as soon as possible. We expect great things from you soldier." He said
"May I?" David asked, gesturing at the rank insignia. Tali agreed, and anderson affixed the insignia above her left breast, then stepped back and saluted.
"Keelah, Sir, Uh Thank you sir!" she said, saluting him again.
"My child I am so proud of you." Rael said, forgetting military decorum entirely and wrapping his daughter in another tight hug.
"You didn't know about this?" She inquired, at the same time relishing the affection from her father.
"Admiral Zorah was kept out of the loop entirely. Your promotion is based exclusively on your own merit, and there'd have been doubt about that if he were brought into the decision making process." He explained. Rael immediately agreed with that statement. With that notifications appeared simultaneously, both on Rael's omnitool and David's PDA.
"Admiral, it looks like we're needed at command." He said. Rael nodded and turned to Tali.
"Duty calls, as it always does. I love you my daughter, and I am so very proud of you." He said holding her hands and giving them one last squeeze.
"I love you too father. Call me when you're free I have so much to tell you." She said. He nodded and followed Anderson to their transport. Sergeant Dunn, once again offering her congratulations, took her leave right after.
"So where's my hug?" Shepard asked.
"Keelah, Jane! How are you?" she said, tackling her friend in an enthusiastic hug.
"I'm a lot better now. Congratulations Ensign! Pretty soon I'll have to start calling you 'Ma'am'" She said.
"Yes, well it wouldn't do to be disrespectful to your superiors." She said in a false conceited voice. They laughed at this.
"Good, I'm not too late." Shala'Raan interrupted, walking over and hugging Tali'Zorah.
"Auntie Raan! Or Admiral Raan." she corrected herself and saluted.
"At ease Priv... Ensign?" She said looking down at Tali's rank insignia.
"Yes, Captain Anderson stopped by to let me know just before you got here." she said.
"David was here?" She asked, quite obviously distracted by that fact.
"Uh, yes, Captain Anderson and father were both here. They had to leave though, they both got orders." she said. As though that statement conjured it, a light on Raan's omnitool began blinking. She brought up the display and swore in Kheelish.
"They're calling me too, it must be important. Tali, I love you and I'm so proud of you. An ensign at your age? I'll be sure to rub this in Rael's face. Stay in touch dear, I want to talk more about how training went!" she said bidding farewell to Shepard and Tali.
"Shall we?" Shepard asked.
"Lets!" Tali agreed enthusiastically, eager to catch up with her friend.