Chapter 5:
"So, how the hell are we going to kill a Shepard clone?" Wrex asked as soon as the sky car lifted off.
"How the hell should I know?" Garrus responded. "I've spent the past three years keeping the original's ass alive!"
"Exactly! We've been saving Shepard while he's been saving the galaxy. We know what's gonna be able to kill him." Wrex said holding up a finger, a proverbial light bulb going off in his head.
"What are you suggesting we do? Scream at the top of our lungs, teleport behind him, and disintegrate him with biotics?" Garrus sarcastically asked before making a Banshee-like scream.
"Well… I could do that last part." Wrex responded confidently.
"I knew I should have brought Javik." Tali moaned as she rubbed the front of her visor. Tali had considered the option but had decided on bringing Wrex for his Krogan vitality, and Garrus for his skill with the Typhoon machine gun. The former would be able to draw most of the enemy's fire while the latter mowed down anything smaller than an ATLAS. Still… Javik would have taken this more seriously.
"You know, Tali, under normal circumstances, this would be pretty funny. Only these aren't normal circumstances because Shepard's evil twin IS TRYING TO STEAL MY SHIP!" Joker screamed into the small confines of the vehicle.
"Well, technically, it's Shepard's ship," Wrex said a matter of factly. "I don't hear anyone calling you Commander Joker."
"Actually, it would be Commander Moreau." Garrus corrected Wrex.
"Wait… Are you telling me your name isn't Joker?" Wrex asked, bewildered. "Have you been lying to me?"
"It's a nickname!" Joker groaned before turning his attention back to the sky lane. "Of course, this happens. We leave the Normandy for a single day, and then someone tries to steal it."
"ENOUGH!" Tali shouted, silencing Garrus before he could make what was probably going to be another snarky remark. "We've all spared with Shepard dozens of times. Garrus and I have the highest mission count with him. And Garrus here is a better shot than even the Commander."
"I still think Shepard threw that contest," Wrex mumbled under his breath.
"What I'm getting at," Tali continued with a growl. "Is that we know Shepard, the original Shepard, the best out of anybody. That means we know how this clone is going to think. More importantly, this clone doesn't have anywhere near as much combat experience as any of us. I mean, c'mon, he's only been awake for what, a few months at best?"
"Does that mean we're killing a child?" Garrus asked. "Cause… wouldn't make us the bad guys?"
"No, you're killing a ship thief before he can steal my girlfriend's body." Joker gritted out. Tali felt the black leather seat underneath her shift hard to the left as Joker yanked on the controls. She grunted as her shoulder slammed into the side of the Skycar.
"I thought we left EDI back at the archives," Wrex asked, visibly confused.
"That's just her mobile platform, Wrex! Her servers are in the Norman- ASSHOLE DON'T YOU DARE CUT ME OFF!" Joker shouted before slamming his foot onto the accelerator. Tali felt herself get pulled back into her seat as the loud-mouthed pilot zoomed past the other driver just trying to change lanes. A loud synthesized air horn sounded from behind them voicing said driver's annoyance. Joker ignored the noise, however as he flew into the Normandy's dry dock.
"Ok, we're here. Get out." Joker said shortly as he thumbed the door controls. The ceiling above the Quarian opened upwards on its hinges. With a deep breath, Tali lifted one of her bowed back legs up and out of the car and placed it onto the metal flooring of the maintenance scaffolding beneath her. Swinging her other leg out, she gripped the skycar's door above her and pulled herself out onto the dry dock. Tali could see a small detachment of mercenaries below her on the catwalk. CAT-6 was currently in the process of loading supplies onto the Normandy and had not noticed the sky car's arrival. They had most likely not expected her and her friends to escape the iridium vaults their commanding officer had locked them in.
"Well, you're not getting a tip from me." Garrus huffed as he heaved his Turian bulk out of the vehicle.
"Enough. We've got work to do. I'll focus on the engineers and snipers, Wrex, make sure none of them get too close to us, and Garrus… it's time to break out that machine gun you wanted to smuggle into that charity event."
—-
Tali, Garrus, and Wrex skidded to a halt from their mad dash up the boarding bridge to the Normandy's airlock. The fight on the catwalk had been a short but bloody one for the now forcefully retired mercenaries. There the collection of aliens saw Specialist Samantha Traynor whimpering to herself as she stood outside the door they had been so desperate to get to. The now locked door.
"I-I-I can't believe this," Traynor muttered as she turned around. Her self-pity quickly dissolved into anger as she stormed up to Tali. "YOU! Y-Y-Your boyfriend is an asshole! Everything I've done for the Alliance, for him, and I get a dishonorable discharge for 'unbecoming conduct.' Well, he can decrypt his own classified transmissions from now on, and let me tell you, they are HELL!"
"Keelah Traynor, please calm down! That wasn't Shepard," Tali said, readjusting her audio filters back to normal after she had turned them down due to the data analyst's rant. Traynor paused, looking confused.
"What do you mean that wasn't Shepard? It definitely was. I've served with him for six months; I know what he looks like!" Traynor snapped indignantly as she crossed her arms annoyedly.
"Nope. That was his clone." Wrex said as he fired his shotgun into the door controls, forcing the airlock door to open. Tali cringed at the casual disregard of the ship's hull integrity but pushed her feelings aside as she moved to open the airlock's interior door.
"When you serve on the Normandy long enough you get used to stuff like this." Tali said as she loaded a sabotage program into the door's holo panel. It turned red as the program failed. "Stupid Bosh'tet, they locked down the ship."
"Can't you hack into it?" Garrus asked.
"No. Even without EDI the Normandy's cyber defense suites are more advanced that what my viruses can handle. I might be able to crack it if I had more time but they're about to take off." Tali said wringing her hands in frustration. It couldn't end like this. There had to be another way into the ship or through this door.
"I know!" Traynor said, kneeling down and beginning to examine the floor panels. "There's an emergency exit hatch used for evacuations. It should be right… here!"
The data analyst pried one of the panels up off of the floor, revealing a small locked hatch. Traynor gripped her hands underneath the handle and pulled. The hatchway refused to budge. "Damn! It's locked."
"Hmmm. Do you think that my Mantis could blow it off? It's not as high powered as Shepard's Widow but with tungsten rounds it might be able to punch through the lock." Garrus pondered aloud as he idly scratched at his scarred mandible.
"No. The plating's too strong even for an anti-material rifle. Silaris armor, even at low thicknesses, can withstand most small arms fire with minimal plastic deformation." Traynor rsaid hurredly.
"We might be able to trip the lock with biotics," Wrex proposed hesitantly. But I don't know if I can make a mass effect precise enough to do it."
"How small does it have to be?" Tali asked impatiently. Every second they spent talking was more time they gave the clone to fire up the Normandy and leave while they were standing here chatting in the airlock. Not the best place to be when boarding an enemy ship.
"It'd have to be pretty small," Wrex responded.
Traynor slowly lifted her hand. In it was a small cylindrical object that took a second for Tali to recognize. It looked kind of like Shepard's toothbrush… but this one had a small mass effect field glowing on its end.
"I think I might have an idea." The analyst said nervously.
—
"Set Reminder: Tell Shepard to reimburse Specialist Traynor for her toothbrush… which was accidentally crushed," Tali said sheepishly into her Omnitool. Garrus had almost snapped it in half, trying to open the hatch when Tali had intervened. Being raised on the migrant fleet, she had a great deal more appreciation for delicate tools and exercised a great deal of care when handling them… At least she did at first.
After opening the hatchway she had asked Traynor if she could hold onto the useful hygienic device in case they ran into any similar situations later. Given the situation, Traynor had given her consent on the condition that Tali be careful with it. While giving her solemn oath that she would bring Traynor back her toothbrush intact she had stowed it away in one of the many pockets her suit had to offer. More specifically, she had placed it in one of her back pockets. Looking back she had no idea why she didn't just put it somewhere else.
Tali held up the smashed Cision Pro Mark 4 and lamely dropped it to the ground. She couldn't have known that she was going to need to take cover behind one of the emergency barricades built into the Normandy's floors so quickly. She couldn't have conceived that rolling behind said upraised floor panel would cause her butt to temporarily come into contact with the ground as she returned to an upright position. And she certainly couldn't have predicted that what looked like quite the sturdy instrument would break underneath the weight of her ass.
"Damn. That poor woman lends you her toothbrush to help us save the Normandy, and you decide to sit on it." Garrus said in the same tone that a father would use to chide their clumsy toddler for reckless behavior.
"Oh, be quiet, Garrus." Tali huffed as she placed the last thermal clip into her ammo belt. She tapped her foot against the deck in impatient irritation. Damn, she really needed to pee. She hadn't realized until now, but all the drinks she had had at the casino were really starting to bite her in the ass. Or rather bite her in the bladder. All the rushing around, firefights, and toothbrush destruction had continuously pushed the biological urge to the back of her mind. Now that they had a moment to catch their breaths, she realized just how badly she needed to go.
"You know humans put those things in their mouths, right? I would have thought that you'd be a bit more cognizant about keeping something like that clean." Garrus continued with a Turian shit-eating grin on his carapaced face. Tali glared at her dextro counterpart through her mask while swaying from side to side in an attempt to distract herself from the burning she felt in her pelvis.
"I'd be careful there, Garrus. Tali's the commander for this mission. If you're not careful, she might push you out a window." Wrex chuckled, referencing their mission to recruit Thane. "Damn, I wish I'd been there to see that."
"C'mon guys, let's go." Tali motioned for her companions to fall in as she left the weapon workstation the mercs had set up in the hallway to the now barren war room. As they made their way to the elevator, the Quarian spied something in a nearby trash bin that made her gasp in audible horror.
"They're throwing out Mr. Hamster! Those bosh'tets, how dare they!" Tali said, scurrying over to check on the little domesticated rodent. Wrex leaned over her shoulder to read the small sticker that had been placed on the pet's faunarium.
" 'Please send this to the nearest animal shelter for donation.' Well, at least they haven't resorted to animal cruelty yet." Wrex said, nodding.
"They're getting rid of him, Wrex. This has been his home for the past year, of course; it's animal cruelty!" Tali retorted indignantly. The elevator dinged its arrival, and the doors opened. They all stepped inside, and Tali keyed the control panel for the cargo bay.
"So… anyone wanna talk about their people's history?" Garrus asked, checking his Typhoon.
"Nope!" Wrex answered, scratching at a spot of dry blood on his shotgun.
"So I'm the only one who misses when we used to chat in the elevators back on the Citadel?" Garrus responded with what appeared to Tali to be a form of longing in his flanging voice.
"Yep!" Wrex answered again, still scratching at the stain.
"Can you two be quiet! Ugh, I really need to use the bathroom right now." Tali whimpered as she bounced on her toes, trying to relax her burning bladder muscles.
"Don't you think you should done that before we-" Garrus started to say before being cutoff.
"Done! Phew, now I'm ready." Tali chirped happily as her suit began the process of recycling the liquid waste that had just been released into it. Now relieved, she unhooked her shotgun from the holster on her belt and cocked it.
"Did you just…" Garrus hesitated in finishing the question.
"Well, Garrus, you said you liked learning about other cultures," Wrex responded as the blood finally came off.
"I now understand why you stopped enjoying our chats," Garrus said flatly as the elevator dinged open once more. All three aliens raised their guns as they stepped out into the cargo bay. Standing in the middle of the hangar was the imposter, fully decked out in Shepard's own spare N7 armor. He looked genuinely surprised to see them. Surprised and angry.
"YOU!? What are you three doing here? I was told that it was Shepard who killed my men!" The clone snarled at them. Two CAT-6 heavy mercenaries flanked him on both sides with Brookes off to his right.
"Apologies, but my boyfriend had an appointment with Admiral Hackett," Tali said confidently. She had been thinking about how to approach this confrontation, and while she was confident that her team could beat Shepard's doppelganger in a head-to-head fight, she didn't feel comfortable killing her boyfriend's clone. It felt too much like killing her Shepard. Still she didn't need to kill him per se, just stop them.
"Really? Let me guess, he's going to try and plead that he's the real Shepard." Clone Shep said lazily. It was clear that he was unimpressed by the idea.
"No he's going to report that the Normandy was stolen by a clone of himself that Cerberus made," Tali responded.
"And how exactly is he going to prove that?" Clone Shep held up his free hand, pointing to himself. "I'm the one with the Spectre codes."
"True… but you never changed his Alliance authorization." Tali took a couple of steps forward, shotgun still in hand but not yet brought to bear on the clone. She was confident that he wouldn't shoot just yet. Despite her boyfriend's sometimes ruthless nature, she knew that he always let someone speak their peace. Part of it was because of Shepard's sense of justice, the other part was simple curiosity. While it was debatable if Clone Shep had any sense of morality, he as most defnitely curious. After all, he had only been awake for a few months. He knew next to nothing about the galaxy outside what Brookes had told him. "According to the Alliance, he's the real Shepard."
"Spectre authorization overrides Alliance protocol." Clone Shep said, smirking. He started walking forward as well.
"And common sense overrides everything." Tali shot back coldly. Clone Shep froze, a perplexed look on his face.
"What do you mean?" he asked, looking like a nine-year-old who didn't understand why the math problem he had just solved was wrong. Tali continued to advance.
"Before the Normandy docked at the Citadel, Shepard had a conversation with Hackett over the QEC. Hackett knows that Shepard is using a cane. He knows that his leg will never heal and that the fastest a cloned limb can be made is in three months. It hasn't even been one since the battle over London." Tali was now in the center of the hangar with Clone Shep. Everyone had their eyes locked on her. The clone, Brookes, the two CAT-6 heavies, and even the sniper and engineer she just now noticed hiding behind one of the cargo crates were watching her. Everyone except Wrex and Garrus. Both of them had split off in opposite directions, made their way to their respective walls of the hangar, and were now slowly creeping their way behind Clone Shep's posse.
The clone said nothing. Tali was only a couple of feet away from him now. The Quarian began to circle him like a wolf sizing up her prey right before she lunged for its throat.
"Hackett also knows that the real Shepard has extensive cybernetics. You don't. The real Shepard has the Prothean cipher and can interface with their technology. You can't. More importantly, the real Shepard has eleven credible witnesses ready to vouch for him. You have a bunch of dishonorably discharged Bosh'tets and a Cerberus slut to back you. Who do you think people will believe when all the evidence is laid out? Who do you think people will side with when the Council asks for both of you to submit to a mind meld with an Asari Inquisitor so she can examine your memories?" Tali paused to see the clone's reaction as she circled back to his front. Clone Shep's face was red. Not with anger but rather with embarrassment. He was also sweating despite not having done any actual fighting throughout the entire day. His eyes flicked briefly to Brookes, who herself looked like a rabbit ready to bolt towards to cover of a burrow and leave her companion to the mercy of the wolf pack.
"This whole scheme you two cooked up is just fucking STUPID!" Tali turned to look at the mercenaries. "And you guys are actually going along with this?"
The two heavies looked at each other. The sniper scratched the back of his head nervously while the engineer anxiously rubbed the front of his forehead. When she finished speaking she received an interstitial message on her helmet's HUD from Garrus. They now had leads on each member of her audience. Tali took a deep breath and made her final play.
"What's the human saying for a situation like this? Checkmate? Yeah, that's the one. You're beaten. You've lost. Even if you kill us here today, you won't even be able to leave the Sol system before you're swarmed by Alliance cruisers. Hell, you don't even have a crew anymore except for the people in this room and your pilot! Surrender. Throw down your weapons, and you can live." Tali stepped back towards the acquisition terminals in case she needed to dive for cover.
"I-I-I…" Clone Shep tried to choke out. "I-I'm Co-Co-Co-Co-Commander Shepard. I-I can fi-fight my way out of anything."
"No, you're not," Tali answered coolly, her accent enunciating the words in a way that no human voice could ever hope to replicate. "You're an idiot and a fraud."
The clone was silent, and for a few seconds, it looked like he might give in. Then Brookes spoke up. "Open fire!"
Gunfire erupted within the small confines of the cargo bay. But it wasn't coming from the mercs. Garrus' Typhoon shredded through one heavy merc's armored torso as the other scrambled to pry a proximity mine off the back of his head. Wrex, meanwhile, had blown the sniper's skull to pieces with a headshot of his own. The engineer fumbled with his omnitool to try and fend off the massive alien but was sent flying across the hangar from a blast of Wrex's biotics. He landed on the ground head first, snapping his neck as the remaining heavy's head finally exploded.
Only Brookes and Clone Shep remained. Brookes had disappeared, activating her tactical cloak. Clone Shep had the good sense to get into cover before his kinetic barriers went down. His choice was the other acquisition console right across the walkway from the one that Tali was hiding behind. Tali trusted Garrus and Wrex to deal with Brookes, and she could handle the clone on her own.
As the Typhoon fell silent, Tali brought her shotgun to bear on the clone and fired. The Krogan-made weapon bucked violently in her grip as it sent out a spray of shrapnel that popped Clone Shep's shield like a bubble. She wasn't given time to reload, however, as the clone lunged at her. Tali allowed herself to be pushed onto her back and rolled with it, channeling the momentum into her legs and kicking upwards. While humanity's ancestors were known for climbing trees, Tali's were known for running across the wide grasslands of Rannoch's temperate zones as pursuit predators. As such, the Quarians were known for having the strongest leg muscles out of all the known sapient species in the galaxy, including the Krogan. Clone Shep flew off her and landed behind the console, where it bent to connect with one of the room's support pillars.
Taking the opportunity she won for herself, Tali drew a thermal clip from her ammo belt, jammed it into the Claymore, and cocked her weapon. Getting to her feet, she saw that Clone Shep had righted himself and had drawn his own Katana shotgun. They both fired. Tali's claymore tore off the right piece of Clone Shep's breastplate. The clone's Katana tore through her claymore.
The gun, thankfully depleted of its single shot, did not explode in her hands. Unfortunately, not even the hardy Krogan-made weapon could survive her enemy's attack. The gun would never fire again. Tali's kinetic barrier flared blue as her enemy fired off a second hasty shot into her chest rather than taking the time to aim for her head, where the integrity of her shields wasn't as strong. She gave her defunct gun one last moment of glory as she threw it into Clone Shep's face before he could fire again. He screamed and clutched at his face as the pieces of jagged metal tore into it.
Then Wrex joined the fray.
The Krogan Warlord charged full force into the clone and slammed him into the wall with a sickening crunch. Whether it was Clone Shep's armor that was responsible for the noise or one of his bones, Tali didn't know and didn't have time to think about as her shields went down at that exact moment. Instinctively, she ducked back down behind the consoles as more gunfire whistled over her helmet. She scowled in frustration. It looks like Brookes had managed to throw her squadmates for a loop with her tactical cloak. Let's see how the bosh'tet handled her other companion.
Ducking out of cover Tali deployed Chatika in the center of the room. The combat drone hovered idly in the air as its hard light optic searched the vicinity for a target. After so many battles against Cerberus Nemesis snipers, Tali had outfitted Chatika with a built in thermal scope for dealing with cloaked enemies. After a second, Chatika stopped rotating as its optic locked onto its invisible enemy and fired off an incineration blast. Brookes screamed as her cloak broke and molten plasma coated her body. Her shout was more out of surprise than pain, however, as her shield automatically absorbed the worst of the blast. The same shield that was quickly broken by Garrus' well-timed overload. Tali drew her Carnifex pistol, and the two dextro aliens opened fire as Brookes bolted for cover. She'd think twice before being so arrogant as to stand out in the open, even with her cloak on. Chatika continued her assault, discharging electric arcs as the drone chased Brookes.
Tali turned her attention back to the clone and Wrex's fight. They had both disarmed each other and were currently grappling with one another. Clone Shep surprisingly had the upper hand as he forced the warlord back with an assault shockingly similar to the original's N7 hand-to-hand combat technique, albeit far more savage and reckless. Cerberus must have somehow imprinted Shepard's marine training into the clone's brain. Tali dimly wondered if the psychological strain of having years' worth of combat experience forced into the young mind of the clone was what made Clone Shep so violent as she took aim with her pistol. She intended to put Shepard's doppelganger out of his animalistic misery quickly.
Suddenly, the ship beneath her feet lurched, and the doors to the cargo bay silently slid open to reveal the Citadel cityscape around them. The sudden motion had thrown off Tali's aim, and her shot pinged off a nearby cargo crate as she caught her balance on the nearby console. Delivering a roundhouse kick to Wrex's stomach, the now alerted Clone Shep rolled into cover behind a cargo crate close to the now-open hangar door. Brief muzzle flashes from the Normandy's main battery could be seen as the ship fired on what looked to be Joker's sky car. Most likely, he was trying to delay the Normandy's acceleration to its full cruising speed by staying in front of the ship's nose.
Tali vaulted over the console and sprinted forward, trying to get line of sight on the clone before his shields could reactivate. She dimly heard Brookes shout in pain, along with brief snippets of Wrex's new catchphrase. Clone Shep ducked out of cover to deliver a volley of assault rifle fire, but Tali was already within arms' reach. The Quarian grabbed the gun underneath its barrel and forced it upwards, causing the bullets to rake across the ceiling. Tali then ducked to evade the left hook she knew was coming. In her sparing sessions with the real Shepard, her boyfriend had instinctively responded to any and every attempt to disarm him with the exact same punch. Over time, she had learned how to dodge and counter the move. As she twisted her torso downwards, she lashed out with her left leg, kicking clone in his stomach and eliciting a distinct 'OOF' from her opponent. However, he did not relinquish his hold on the gun. Instead, he tore the weapon free from Tali's grasp, reversed his grip, and slammed the butt of his rifle into Tali's helmet.
Crunch
Tali stumbled backward from the force of the blow. A large crack spiderwebbed its way across her visor, obscuring her vision. Not willing to compromise her ability to see, she flicked out her tongue and pressed the internal release on her helmet's visor. With a soft hiss, it popped off and fell to the ground. Clone Shep's eyes widened at the immunocompromised alien's audacity to expose herself to the harmful environment. Tali looked straight into those eyes… and began to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Clone Shep asked, wiping away a drop of blood trying to trickle into one of his grey eyes.
"Your eyes! Shepard's are sky blue, not storm grey." Tali giggled at the revelation that she had been unable to see through the purple tint of her visor. "I guess you aren't that perfect of a clone after all."
The clone narrowed his eyes in anger and began to re-adjust his grip on the Lancer, which he was still holding like a club. Tali, still holding her Carnifex pistol, raised the weapon and fired a shot straight into her enemy's head. The bullet tore its way through the already scratched and scarred face. His body toppled backward onto the cargo ramp and slid off into the vacuum of space surrounding the Citadel. Tali took a deep breath of non-filtered air and slowly let it out as the adrenaline in her body began to fade. Opening her Omnitool, she activated all of her suit's antibiotic and detox treatments before turning around to see how well Wrex and Garrus were managing Brookes. Said data analyst was lying dead on the ground while Garrus stood over her body, downloading the information from her Omnitool.
"So why do you get to loot the body when I'm the one who got the kill," Wrex asked, gesturing towards the corpse.
"I'm not looting her I'm just copying her Omnitool data to make sure that there aren't any more Mercs or ex-Cerberus agents waiting to come out of the woodworks," Garrus responded.
"Make sure to send that data to Liara. She'll be able to decrypt it if need be," Tali said, walking up. Her counterparts did a double take as they noticed her now bare face.
"TALI YOUR HELMET!" Garrus shouted in alarm.
"I'll head to the medbay! I'm sure Dr. Chakwas has some stuff lying around that'll help. Garrus, you head to her bunk and see if she has a spare mask." Wrex spoke quickly, panicking over his friend's current condition.
"Oh, calm down! I'm running every program my suit has for contaminant breaches. Besides, with all the Geth immuno booster treatments Dr. Chakwas has been giving me, having my mask off for a few minutes won't kill me. I'll probably get sick for a few days, but I'll be fine." Tali said reassuringly. Walking over to fetch her fallen cracked mask and taking a closer look at the visor, it became apparent that some sealant would need to be applied. Reaching into one of her suit pockets, she pulled out a small tub, opened the cap, and began to squeeze out a thick translucent paste onto the visor's purple glass and spread it around. It would solidify within four to five minutes.
"Wrex, could you go get the pilot to let Joker's sky car land? We're going to need him to fly us back to the dry dock," Tali said. Afterward, she brought up her Omnitool again and sent Shepard a quick text message.
All done here. Will be back at the drydock soon.
—-
Shepard was there on the dry dock to meet Tali, Garrus, and Wrex as they walked down the Normandy's cargo ramp. The rest of their crew were still disembarking from the C-Sec shuttles that had brought them here. In spite of his injury, Shepard had been the quickest to exit his respective vehicle and greet them. As soon as Tali got within armsreach, Shepard embraced her.
"Are you ok?" He asked as he hugged her, his voice soaked with worry. The sealant applied to Tali's mask must have made him anxious.
"I'm fine, Shepard." Tali gestured to her two companions. "And they're fine too."
Shepard let out a relieved sigh. "I'm not used to staying behind on missions. Is it always like this?"
"Pretty much. And now I know how it feels to tell you to 'Not to worry so much,'" Tali said, grinning. She grabbed her boyfriend's free hand, and they began to slowly make their way over to the rest of the Normandy crew.
"Well, I guess shore leave is ruined," Tali mumbled in disappointment.
"Not necessarily. We've still got a couple of days left. That's more than enough time to celebrate," Shepard said opptimistically.
Tali snorted in amusement. "What are you going to do? Throw a party to celebrate killing your crazy clone?"
"Maybe not that but a retirement party does sound nice," Shepard said thoughtfully.