Thankful

Shepard could not, for the life of him, understand why.

Why did Cerberus care to resurrect him? It's not like he's the second coming of. Based on his own investigation in the matter, Cerberus wasn't even after the Prothean knowledge that he had; it's more like they already knew and accepted what he had shared with the Council already. The mission they practically just dumped on him had nothing to do with another Prothean beacon, but it had to do with a vanished colony called Freedom's Progress somewhere out in the Terminus systems beyond Alliance space.

So, why him? Being a martyr was already enough. He's not some hero…as much as tabloids like to make him out to be. Was there no one else willing to step up to the plate? Worst of all, he only just got resurrected, and his physiology was induced with cybernetics that was causing a lot of aches and pains and nervous system pulses. How in the galaxy would anyone expect an N7 to operate like this? The Alliance would consider me a cripple. Damn it all.

Shepard had thought about all these things on the shuttle ride over, sighing, but then he drowned out those worries with his duty. Humans were disappearing; it was a mission, he was going to see it through. His duty was the only purpose he knew. If only Jane were alive, maybe they wouldn't need to resurrect me. I would've given everything if it meant she could live.

The objective was simple, arrive at the colony, investigate the premises and gather any intel. No forward recon or intelligence beyond a breakdown of the colony's layout. He and the two Cerberus operatives, Taylor and Lawson were the reconnaissance. Fine.

He wasn't too thrilled about being made to work for Cerberus and didn't like having Cerberus operatives watch his back; but he figured they spent a fortune trying to resurrect him for God knows what, so he could rest easy knowing they wouldn't betray him so willy-nilly; it just made no logical sense.

After touching down, they exited and started scanning the area, clearing rooms, using non-verbal signals. Their training was very similar to Alliance protocol, though he wasn't sure if that was all of Cerberus or if it was something they had specifically trained Lawson and Taylor in for the intent of working better with him. Nonetheless, however distant he was, he could work with them for now.

Eventually they came across hostile activity in the form of active security mechs; they were easy to mop up; their movement patterns were slow, predictable, and frankly suicidal. Picking them off from a safe distance was no issue; though the question arose, why were mechs activated at a complete ghost site?

Once they stacked up on a door, Operative Lawson on the opposite end, activated the door panel and it slid open, her backing up along with it to keep herself covered, while Shepard and Taylor poured in raising their weapons and covering their sectors. Lawson followed suit, and their attention was brought to the middle of a room where hooded figures were.

Shepard's tactical thinking crossed his mind as he trained his rifle on them. Were these hostiles? If so, they were sloppy, simply gathered into the center of the room like that without one covering the back door, which allowed them to slip in and get the drop on them. They were as sloppy as Batarian terrorists back in his J-SOC days. But rules of engagement were to fire only when fired upon; they would see.

From their suits, their coverings and some with all too familiar patterned hoods, Shepard quickly figured they were Quarians. What were they doing here? Their response was delayed, but nonetheless they responded by turning toward them and training their weapons.

"Stop right there!" Their lead shouted at them, their translators picking up the English with a distinct accent. Obliging, Shepard's team stopped in place intent on keeping the distance between them to better maneuver to a sudden hostile action, keeping their weapons trained on them.

"Identify yourselves!" Taylor shouted back.

"Drop your weapons now, Cerberus!" the lead barked. Others beside this one was also shouting demands at them, and Shepard and his team didn't budge, but none were willing to open fire, intent on following ROE.

"Drop them!" "I'll shoot, drop your damn weapons!" "You're dead if you don't drop them, bosh'tets!" "Det kazuat!"

Amidst the chaos of this one-sided shouting match, a familiar and all too…angelic…of a voice cut through it all, as authoritative as it could possibly be.

"Prazza! Stand down, I said I'll handle this!" The figure jumped in front of the group, swatting the rifle down. This Prazza didn't budge and neither did the others, but this didn't stop this new Quarian, their leader, from attempting to de-escalate.

"Cerberus, state your intentions," she demanded, before she turned her visor fully to face them. It was then that Shepard couldn't mistake her anymore. It was his engineer. From her sudden silence and withdrawal of her neck as they both stared upon each other. "Sh-Shepard…?" She clumsily let out.

Immediately, he gave up on ever responding with a threat, dropping his rifle and standing up straight, keeping his eyes trained on her in this disbelief, his teammates shot a glance at each other in confusion; were they to stand down? But him, from her voice, her look and to her bewilderment of his presence, he could not deny it.

' Tali…' he let out, no questions, no doubt, he acknowledged her with her name.

"I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives!" Prazza went.

"Put those weapons down!" Tali ordered, shooting a glare at him, but was immediately drawn back to the image of Shepard.

"Is that…you? Shepard?" Tali croaked. Shepard adopted his determined expression, and his sense of prudence kicked in. A simple yes or no wouldn't be a fair explanation to her.

"The Geth data…" he said, drawing the eyes of everyone. "It must've helped your pilgrimage, didn't it?"

"It did…" she responded. But Shepard didn't feel she was fully convinced.

"Antibaar," Shepard said. "The Mako fried. I tasked you and Garrus to fix it while I drew the Geth away. You asked what would happen if I died."

"And you said…we would live." Tali said, staring upon him a good while longer.

But her last doubt was answered by his face; the determined expression that was so characteristic of him. Pair that with the piercing blue eyes that could stare right into her soul. From there, she was convinced…no…relieved, almost ecstatic. Angry. Tali turned toward her Quarian underlings, giving them a wrathful glare that, though unseen, can be felt. She ordered in a low tone, "Don't point those weapons at him. Stand down." Slowly, but surely, the Quarians eased up, and so did Lawson and Taylor.

"Yes, Lieutenant Zorah," one went.

From the way Tali turned back to him, Shepard could tell she wanted to speak with him, and so a smirk had graced the corner of his mouth, and with a slow stride he approached within arms distance. He eyed her up and down, taking in everything that had changed from when he last saw her. Her hood was more colorful, a vibrant purple with swirling patterns that reminded him of a wind motif. The collar had jutted out which gave a roomy puff to it compared to other Quarian women who kept it with a simple drape, like she had done before. Her suit's pattern had also changed to the same design of the hood being embroidered surrounding the breast region and moving down over her hips.

There was a moment of silence between them taking it all in before Shepard tenderly broke it.

"You've changed."

Tali reacted to these words from him, clearly complimentary, by breaking eye contact and bowing away in shyness. Briefly he eyed the Quarians who were there with her, who had gazed back in alert. "Lieutenant, huh? Your own command?"

"I had a high example to live up to," Tali said, fiddling her hands together, something that he noticed she did when she was nervous. She looked back up to him again, intent on getting some answers. "I-I still can't believe it, I thought you died."

"I can't believe it myself either," Shepard said, as he eyed his comrades behind him whom were glancing back at each other then back to him awkwardly. "Long story short, Cerberus spent two years rebuilding me; why? I don't know."

"Likely story," Prazza sarcastically cut in. "No organization would commit so many resources to bring back one soldier." Tali shot another glare at him.

"You haven't seen Shepard in action, Prazza. Believe me, it was money worth spent." She cut her glare and looked back up at Shepard. "Especially if it means keeping the galaxy from losing a good man." Shepard smiled and nodded in appreciation, but his expression turned back to its determined setting. He turned away and paced back toward his team, back to business.

"Human colonies are disappearing, like this one." Shepard then turned back to face her. "I intend to find out why."

"Maybe we can help," Tali said, as she started to pace back and forth. "My team was tasked with bringing back a young Quarian named Veetor; he was here on Pilgrimage."

"A Quarian visiting a remote human colony?" Shepard said.

"You had a Quarian that served on your human ship, remember?" Tali wittingly said.

"Point taken," Shepard replied. "But still, what were they doing here?"

"Quarians can go anywhere they choose for their Pilgrimage. Veetor liked the idea of helping a small settlement, he was always…nervous in crowds-"

"She means he was unstable," Prazza interjected. "Combine that with damage to his suit's CO2 scrubbers and an infection from an open-air exposure, and he's likely delirious." Shepard didn't particularly like the attitude of Tali's subordinate, Prazza. Given he's all too willing to 'correct' her words, he had a feeling that he doesn't respect Tali. Such relations with a CO is dangerous.

"When he saw us landing, he hid in a warehouse on the far side of town. We suspect he's the one who activated the security mechs."

"That means he's the only one that could tell us what happened here," Shepard said. "We should work together to find him." Tali nodded.

"Good idea, we'll need two teams to get past the drones anyway—"

"Now we're working with Cerberus!?" Prazza interrupted, once again. Shepard's brow furrowed, and with the best possible composure he could maintain he sharply stepped forward into Prazza's space. The commander towered over the Quarian underling, the top of his helm reaching only his nose. In a low, intimidating tone, Shepard went:

"You're working with your Lieutenant, I suggest you show her some respect," he said with his assertive command.

"Is that a threat, Cerberus?" Prazza sought to match his tone.

"It's a plea for all of your sakes," Shepard replied, before Tali got between them.

"Enough!" She shouted. "Stand down Prazza. If you can't follow orders, go wait on the ship."

"You're taking the human's side?" Prazza accused. "After all Cerberus has done to the Fleet?"

"No!" Tali said, placing a hand on his chest and pushing him out of Shepard's range. "I don't trust Cerberus. But I DO trust Shepard." Prazza looked back and forth between them, then shook his head and let out an annoyed scoff before jerking back and regrouping with the other Quarians. Shepard leaned in to Tali and spoke at a low tone so only she could hear the words.

"It's great when people speak their minds," Shepard said. "But insubordination is dangerous for a reason. Make sure you keep him in line, Lieutenant." Shepard's emphasis on her rank was deliberate, to remind her of her authority over them and thus her responsibility.

"Of course…Commander," Tali said. She stepped away from him and piped up her voice pitch to resemble some sort of commanding tone. "I have a larger team, we can act as a diversionary force and circle around the far side of the town and try to draw the mechs off of you while your team heads for the warehouse."

"Roger, but don't take any chances," Shepard commanded. "Hold back, keep to cover, pick your targets and check your corners, this is urban combat parameters now. And for God's sake, if you're going to hold in a room, keep every entrance covered by one man each."

"Roger," Tali said. The other Quarians' gaze darted between her and each other in obvious confusion.

"Keep in radio contact and provide actual, you'll be designate Alpha, we're Bravo; radio in when you're Oscar Mike."

"Roger," Tali said, pulling out her shotgun and cocking the mechanism, performing a system's check. "Shepard…" Tali looked up at him. He was already turning away to get to his team, but her call had grabbed his attention one more time as he looked at her sideways. A brief moment of pause came over them.

"… It's good to have you back."

Shepard gave her a small smile of appreciation. Shepard didn't understand why Cerberus brought him back; it was something he was unhappy with, but only now does he appreciate what he had lost when he by coincidence happened to run into one of them on this mission.

"It's good to be back," Shepard said. "Get it done, Lieutenant." And he turned away to carry out his mission, a newfound vigor in him.

Tali also turned away to her team, and they began questioning her. One of them went:

"Oscar Mike?"

"Alliance phonetics," Tali said. "It means 'on the move'." Tali heard Prazza scoff.

"This isn't a human mission," he said. "Quarians say 'on the move'."

"Fall in line, Prazza," Tali ordered. "We're working with the best now."

"Ma'am, I mean no disrespect, but…" another Quarian, female, softer voiced, someone who's more respectful of her authority. "Are you certain that this plan is sound for the fleet? We're letting Cerberus get to Veetor first, what if they just take him without warning?"

"Shepard wouldn't do that!" Tali said, her command of respect waning, her competence and authority subtly being questioned. "I know he wouldn't."

"But he's still Cerberus," Prazza said. "Are you even certain that's the same Captain of yours and not just some synthetic or a clone?" Tali finally lost her cool.

"Bosh'tet!" Tali let out, storming up to him. "I know him and who he is, and I know YOU'RE out of line!" She had calmed down but lifted up her shotgun close to her chest. "You follow MY lead." She hissed, then pushed past him. Prazza eyed the other Quarians, silently communicating their mistrust of their Lieutenant's competence. "Alpha team!" Tali called out, using the new moniker. "We're Oscar Mike!"

It went about as well as it could with an insubordinate. Prazza had disobeyed orders to hold position; he and a sect of the Migrant Fleet Marines under her command had mutinied, actively ignoring her barks at him to return to position, and they fought their way through the mechs, taking more casualties then if they would've just hung back. They were not intent on letting Cerberus reach Veetor first if there was any chance they would betray them. This desperation led to them half-assing their movement through the environment, until they eventually stopped checking their corners.

Then they ran into a plethora of light security mechs while out in the open, with the catch: they were reinforced by a heavy mech. Though they were able to take down the light mechs while they attempted to cover their retreat, the heavy blew right through their shields and started picking them off quickly. It wasn't until they reached the plaza where Bravo team was moving through that the heavy turned its attention to them.

By then, the majority of Alpha team had been wiped, save for Tali'Zorah and a couple others that held their position. There were 5 KIA's and 3 wounded. Usually there would be more wounded than killed, but for as slow and predictable that Mechs are, they were thorough in ensuring the kill, especially a heavy.

After Bravo made contact, Shepard and his team immediately opened fire, attempting to draw off the heavy and cover the retreat of the single survivor of the mutineers. It was the one that had respectfully questioned Tali'Zorah. The mech had hit her in the leg and she was crawling to cover, that was until Shepard, the very man who was the center of their mistrust, sprung out of cover and rushed to her position, receiving covering fire from his squad. The mech was momentarily distracted as it's targeting algorithm was set to respond to the direction it was taking fire in.

Shepard, not bothering to waste time, had grabbed the Quarian by the fabric of her hood and dragged her back to his original cover, leaving a trail of blue blood as she went along. He had given her a quick application of Medi-gel before her suit's decontamination process began; he wasn't sure if it was good enough, but it would certainly numb the pain while her suit did the real work.

This Quarian, out of action now, watched as Shepard and the rest of Bravo team worked to take down the heavy. Drawing fire, deploying Overload on the shields, flanking, eventually the mech went down without Bravo team receiving a scratch. It took only a few minutes, but by then, the effects of open-air exposure were seeping in for the Quarian. She was getting dizzy and started to cough.

Shepard had made his way back over to her, with concern in his eye.

"Are you okay?" He said, kneeling down to her.

"I-I'm…fine, just…dizzy," she mumbled. Shepard brought two of his left fingers up to his left ear.

"Alpha, this is Bravo, Tangos are down, we have wounded here, provide status."

"Bravo, this is Alpha, were setting up in the house adjacent to you, providing medical," came Tali over the radio.

"I've got one more here, bringing her to you," Shepard said, before quickly and forcefully grabbing the Quarian's wrist and pulling her up briefly on her feet the best she could do to balance on her bad leg and her sickness. He reached down and grabbed her by her thigh, the one that was still good, and slung her across his back in a fireman's carry and rushed over to the designated position.

Tali had been providing medical, and Shepard had set the Quarian down next to the wall on the floor.

"Now's your chance to go find Veetor," Tali said. "I'll stay here and try to stabilize the wounded."

"Got it."

After the fiasco was over, Shepard had gotten the answers he needed out of Veetor. It turns out the reason why the human colonies were vanishing was because of an Alien race called the Collectors, who lived beyond the Omega 4 relay. Why exactly they were doing it, they don't know.

Lawson had proposed that they take Veetor into Cerberus custody, but Tali heard this just as she arrived and objected to it, fearful if Prazza may have been right. There was a short back and forth between her and Lawson, with the cheerleader mentioning the Quarians' betrayal and not willing to take another chance. But thankfully for Tali, Shepard was still the same captain he had always been when he objected and ordered that Veetor will go with Tali, citing that the Omni tool data was more than enough to accomplish their mission. Tali was just glad that Shepard was still in control, and evidently wasn't being remotely controlled by Cerberus.

Shepard had insisted on helping Tali and her surviving team evac the wounded onto their shuttle, making Taylor and Lawson carry them. This certainly cut down on time, and their suits had already gone through decontamination and repair, so there was no chance of introducing human bacteria to their systems. Shepard had just finished carrying the same Quarian he had saved onto the shuttle, and as he stepped off he ran back into Tali, who was looking down, obviously in frustration. Now that there was a moment of respite, Shepard could talk.

"You okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine," she shook her head. "It's just…"

"Insubordination?"

"Yeah."

"Hmph," he said. "I tried to warn them."

"Prazza was a bosh'tet, and he got what he paid for," Tali said, angrily. "But I don't like losing people."

"Preaching to the choir here," Shepard said. "It's never easy, and never will be. Just remember to keep them in your heart, Lieutenant."

"Shepard, as much as I appreciate your respect…it's just Tali to you."

"If you insist," Shepard nodded. They both stood side-by-side, allowing the moment of respite to calm them. "Tali…" he said.

"Shepard?"

"This mission I'm on," Shepard said. "It's dangerous, I feel more so than usual. I'm working with a lot of unknowns here. Collectors, Cerberus. I don't know these people. I'm not sure I can trust them. But I CAN trust you." He turned fully toward her. "When your mission is over, I could rest easy knowing you have my back, just like old times."

Tali turned away and clenched her three fingered fist, regret befallen on her.

"I want that, Shepard, more than anything, Keelah, believe me." Tali said. "But I can't. The admiralty board is preparing me for another assignment, and I can't trust anyone else to pull it off."

"What's the assignment, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I can't disclose any information, it's a need-to-know thing," Tali said. "But it's in Geth space. That should tell you how important it is. But maybe when it's over… we'll see."

"Fair enough," Shepard nodded. "You have your people to look out for. Just stay safe. Consider that an order from your old CO."

"Aye-Aye, Skipper," she said, pulling the Alliance Gung-Ho language she had learned from Gunnery Sargeant Williams two years ago, before she had died, that is. "If I find anything that will help you, I'll forward it to you."

"And if you need help, don't hesitate," Shepard said. Tali had wanted to object, thinking of him, he had bigger things on his plate than worrying about a second-rate Quarian marine officer; but she knew they were friends, so she stopped herself from objecting.

"…I wont hesitate," Tali had said. She didn't know if she was being completely truthful. Maybe she would call him, but she would hesitate. She had always overthought everything; what a choice for the Admirals to promote to Lieutenant.

"Keep in touch," Shepard began to turn away, gaining some distance before Tali remembered something she had to do.

"Shepard, wait!" She called, raising a hand out to him. Shepard turned to her, having been the second time she had stopped him in his tracks today. Tali paused, but then quickly approached him and wrapped her arms around him, beneath his armpits, ergonomically nestling what would be her cheek on his right shoulder. Shepard was initially taken back by this, but prudently he returned the hug, placing his free gauntleted hand tenderly on her rear shoulder.

He wasn't there to see her mature, and yet he saw the result. Two years he had been gone…damn. It felt like just yesterday that he was making conversation with her as she eagerly explained engineering and Quarian dance to him. The very same yesterday he remembered suffocating while floating in space around a sea of fire. And then the next day, there she was, a Lieutenant and a Marine for the Fleet; she had matured, and yet was so eager to hug him that he couldn't help but feel that she was still the same energetic little Quarian she had always been.

Shepard still could not understand why Cerberus had resurrected him. To be alive to see a good friend: he's at least thankful for that.