Back aboard the Normandy, Tali had been given the rather obvious 'welcome aboard' by a mass of people she didn't know, including a new Alien, a pilot-copilot pair for an electronic warfare dropship, a platoon of Clones and a four-man fireteam of supposed Supersoldiers wearing Power Armor that made even their gear seem obsolete in comparison, though with a certainly industrial and functional aesthetic.

Oh, yeah, Cerberus, too…

"... And that about sums up the events of what happened, Tali," Shepard spoke, leaning onto the holo-table displaying a three-dimensional hologram of the SR2. The Quarian engineer was kind of excited to be back aboard. Said excitement obviously mixed in with the sights of the flat holographic screens floating around, showing the ships they'd made contact with from the Republic, Colonial Navy and United Nations Space Command.

"This is incredible…" The girl was practically bouncing like a puppy at the sight of all the new tech she'd get to study and send home about. She was sort of thankful that the Migrant Fleet had allowed her to join Shepard again, especially after she'd showed up working 'for' Cerberus. She stared at Jacob, the dark-skinned man that was a member of the shady organization, with distrust, but everyone else she could very easily get along with just on looks.

"We said the same. It was honestly kind of terrifying to see them at first," Jacob spoke, turning his gaze toward the fireteam of four that was BLUE Team, all of whom she'd met on the ride from Haestrom. She had, however, never gotten their names. She just knew them by the ID tags that her HUD had somehow picked up.

Chief nodded to Jacob, then looked at Tali and explained, "Our people moved relatively fast to make sure nobody shot first," while images taken from on-board the 'Waystation', the very place built by the factions for their meetings and guarded by a combined Naval Force numbering at least a hundred ships strong, floated in front of her.

"Luckily for all of us, yeah," General Tano, the woman that had flown that incredible starfighter, added with a smile. She still seemed a bit rattled by the High-Gee maneuvers she'd pulled down there, fighting the Geth airpower to keep them safe, but she'd assured the Quarian that her inertial dampeners took the brunt of the turns.

While it was interesting to consider, her main question for all of them was, "And you are all currently cooperating…?" with the most innocent, calm tone of voice she could muster.

"Just about," Helo nodded, looking at the girl. He continued, "Though there's still a lot of stuff we're still working to solve together, we're pretty much holding hands," as he pulled up footage of the Galactica working side-by-side with the UNSC's naval forces and the Republic's Venators. She looked old, but wore nearly the same colors as the Republic's fleet.

"That's good… You always had a way with words, Shepard," Tali spoke rather happily, staring at his CO.

"Oh, this had nothing to do with me, heh," The Commander seemed to appreciate the compliment, her face a tinge red as she rubbed the back of her neck. She then told Tali, "They all realized that three fleets that wound up in the middle of nowhere, one of which has only one military ship in its ranks, would be better off not blowing each-other to kingdom come."

"Level-headed officers and leadership, among which we count you, too, Commander," Ahsoka interjected, looking at Shepard and offering her own kind smile, "Helped keep things steady. The only issues we've had so far have been minor complaints from the Citadel Council after our ships raided a Batarian colony… In response to them raiding us first, mind you."

"Huh. I guess they wouldn't change even two years later," Tali mumbled quietly, "Would also explain why you're working 'with' Cerberus, mind the air quotes," and she did, in fact, do the air quotes to signify 'working with'. She wiped some muck from the side of her helmet, then looked around at the rest of the team.

"We're already setting up our own embassies on the Citadel to discuss the issues they might have with us," The General spoke, waving her platoon of Clones off. She sighed, then looked at Shepard and told her, "Pursuant to that, commander, I do have to report that the Warlord keeps urging us to get to Tuchanka already. Grunt's also worrying me…"

"We've already set a course for it," The Commander nodded, then looked at everyone and said, "Let's get prepared and let Tali settle in. Dismissed…" she paused, looked at her old friend and smiled brightly, telling her, "And Tali? Welcome aboard," with a hint of melancholy in her voice.

"Glad to be back, Shepard," Tali replied just as jovially.

Fred, after being told to by Cortana, or by Chief, presumably, asked, "Need help, ma'am?"

"I'd appreciate someone showing me the way to engineering…?" She raised a brow. Like it was said, Tali had never gotten the Spartans' names, just the fact that they were with the team and they were friendly, but also kind of terrifying, going by the stories Shepard had told about them. Chief taking down a gunship on his own…

"Spartan 104, ma'am. Follow me," Fred offered.

"Thank you…" Tali nodded, a bit shy.

"You sure you know the way, Fred?" Shepard quipped, grinning. She knew that reaction. Tali was the type of girl to react like that to someone she liked, obviously. The Commander made a mental note to keep tabs on that situation the same way she would on Jack and Fives. No reason to not let the kids have fun, especially since this was the one thing she could be lax about. Hell, if she wasn't, they'd judge her when she inevitably… Nah, best not continue that thought.

"I've been on board long enough, Commander," Fred replied calmly, "Not to mention Fives showing me the area because he and Jack were playing Sabacc," and Shepard could hear the slight happiness behind the otherwise calm voice of the Supersoldier. Or, well, that was what she thought she was hearing. She'd have needed to inquire about it to Doctor Halsey.

Still, she couldn't say no. She told him, "Heh. Was just kidding. Go ahead," before leading the rest of the team out toward the CIC so they could talk about Tuchanka and their next objectives. Fred and Tali soon caught up with Blue Team nearby the elevator and took it together, with the young woman, who was much shorter than the Supersoldiers, staring up at the four.

"Cool, huh?" A disembodied female voice called as she connected to Tali's suit, causing her to jump. She staggered, then looked around. The four Spartans, seemingly knowing who called out, simply stared at her while the 'person' that greeted her made her presence known on her HUD. An AI manifested itself, a human face, human hair and a human body, staring at Tali with a smile. The AI greeted, "Sorry for the scare, Tali."

"... Okay, I got that we have an AI on board already, all thanks to Cerberus playing with fire, but-..." Tali breathed, calming down, "Is… Who is this?" and she stared the AI dead in her blue, mechanical eyes, which, ironically enough, seemed so much more vibrant and full of life than she'd have thought possible.

"Cortana. Chief's personal AI," Fred told the girl as he hit the button for the descent. The elevator's doors slowly closed and it began to move down slowly due to the weight limit of… Approximately four five hundred kilogram Supersoldiers being stuck on the same elevator as a dainty young Quarian in a maybe 5 kilogram suit with her own added maybe sixty-seven kilograms?

Regardless, AI. An AI that could hack into her suit. Panic.

"She's helped us out of quite a few binds and she's loyal," Spartan-087 Reassured her, her own voice mildly kinder than that of what she assumed to be normal Spartans, all while the team's sniper, ho looked like a Spider for all intents and purposes and was giving Tali the creeps, stared at them. She chose to not acknowledge that one and instead focus on 'Cortana'.

So the girl uneasily greeted, "I see… Hello?" again, all while staring at the AI with her bright, shining eyes from behind the fog of her gas mask. The woman-err… AI… Seemed kind enough going by her smile and the way her avatar seemed to visibly relax when she was finally acknowledged, but Tali's internal instincts were going off, simply because she could shut down her suit's systems…

"Hey. Again. Don't worry, I'm as friendly as they come," Cortana smiled, probably detecting her elevated heart rate. Her suit's systems were giving her ample warning about that, too. Could she really be blamed, though? She was meeting combat-capable AIs, human supersoldiers, Clones, a whole new alien species in General Tano… And her dead former Skipper.

"I see that… I suppose you and EDI are friends?" She decided to ask, breaking the ice.

"We're getting to know each-other, yeah," The AI shot back calmly as she pulled up some suit diagnostics right in front of her, as if she was trying to prove that she wasn't hostile. Her suit's climate system, which had been uppity until recently and causing her to get both warmer and colder at random, was suddenly fixed by some in-software adjustments. Something she could feel the moment she tried breathing, the cool air inundating her lungs and causing her to relax.

"Wasn't that long ago that you suggested we take EDI's shackles off," Chief added quietly as the elevator gently continued its trip down. For it being only a couple of levels below the CIC and Bridge, it was surprising that this thing was taking as long as the standard Citadel Elevators back in the day, honestly…

Wait a damn minute, "WHAT?!" Tali barked.

"Relax," Cortana chuckled, then rubbed the back of her neck and explained, "I trust EDI, which I know may not mean much to someone who went through basically the same thing the Colonials did, but…" she shrugged. The fact she was defending some of her choices almost like a living being caused Tali to blink, stunned.

She spoke, "I-It's fine… I'm just surprised at how prevalent AI has suddenly become," Which got a hum and a nod from the AI. She then asked, "Do the UNSC use your kind a lot?" while making a mental note to actually ask about the Colonials later. Namely ask Helo about their situation, seeing as he was one of the two Colonials on board.

"Smart AI?" The AI asked almost rhetorically. She replied, "Yep. We're pretty common across UNSC space, especially for ship combat duties or, in this case, serving with Spartans. I and Chief have been a team for nearly a decade now," and she pinged the Spartan's IFF tag on Tali's Heads-Up Display. She saw the firmware was getting updated.

"Oh. Interesting…" The girl replied, a bit more giddy that Cortana was actually proving to be a nice AI. EDI, meanwhile, was a bit too robotic for the moment, though given enough time aboard the Normandy, she'd get used to it. The elevator dinged, stopping and allowing the Blues(sans Fred) and Tali to say Goodbye, with Cortana giving her a wink and disappearing off her HUD after the Firmware update was complete.

Quietly, she followed Fred through one of the doors, looking down upon the Hangar which contained the Clone Dropship, General Tano's starfighter, the Raptor EWAR craft and the Kodiak dropship assigned to the custom Stealth Vessel that she was gonna be working off of. She was glad that the Admiralty Board had also agreed to drop her off here…

Upon entering the core, she noticed the control consoles, the multiple injector systems and the core itself, sealed behind armored bulkheads and with its own diagnostics console. Fred told her, "This is Engineering, ma'am," as he motioned to the place. The two engineers beside them both smiled, then the man let out a low whistle. His partner, however, whacked him over the head.

Though confused by the sudden outburst, Tali decided to focus on the man in MJOLNIR, telling him, "Thank you…" before she fiddled with her three-fingered hands and asked awkwardly, "I don't suppose I could ask you for help, should I need anything else?" all while she stared right into his own visor, noting that she couldn't see any part of the man's face.

"Feel free. You'll find me and the others on the deck below," Fred replied, calmly nodding his head.

"Alright… Well, thank you again, Lieutenant," The girl spoke as innocently as she could. She hummed, then asked, "Do you have an actual name? I prefer to refer to people by their names," garnering a laugh out of one of the two engineers, the female one, who mumbled something about Tali being 'smooth', only to get another quiet comment from her male comrade… And slap him upside the head.

"... Fred," The Spartan introduced himself, choosing to ignore the obvious issues…

"Good to meet you, Fred. Just call me Tali," She replied kindly, "None of this 'ma'am' stuff. I'm not high-ranked, nor old enough for it," and the Spartan could see the faint smile formed behind the fog of her own helmet. He seemed to pause for a moment, registering that the girl's attitude toward him changed a bit…

"Sure… I'll be going…" He nodded, then walked off.

In the CIC, Shepard and Miranda sat, watching the Galaxy map continuously updating in front of them with new communiques and requests from the various factions. Shepard was about to ask her Executive Officer something, but her com system rang. She opened her omni-tool and spoke, "Shepard here. Go ahead."

"Commander," Chief spoke over the com, "Doctor Halsey requested that we await her arrival before landing on Tuchanka. She said she found something in this specific Star Road Terminus's database that pointed to the DMZ. The artifact is potentially made by either the Forerunners, or the makers of the Star Road itself and she thinks it might give us some answers to why our Galaxies were linked. She wants us and you to provide her with an escort."

"Tell Doctor Halsey we'll be meeting her there, then, Chief," Shepard replied. She and Chief gave each-other a quick, respectful salute, then the com shut off. The Commander then hummed and stated, "A whole lot of new requests coming in, whole lotta personal stuff and not a lot of time. Any news from the Data EDI pulled from the Collector vessel…?"

"The Illusive Man's agents are still deciphering it," Miranda replied calmly as she watched the ship's three-dimensional model gently gliding across the Galaxy Map's three-dimensional framework. She added, "It seems they got some sort of aggravatingly adaptive encryption scheme," and she shrugged, "One that's taking even our best decoding VIs time to parse through."

"EDI complained about something similar, too," Shepard hummed, "Maybe the Reapers figured we have Cyber Warfare capabilities exceeding local standards at this point, thanks to Cee-tee and EDI, and they're just adapting their troops…" before she blinked, her mind recalling something. She told Miranda, "I should go check on Mordin's progress with that Droid."

"Feel free, Commander," The woman replied, "I'll be heading to my office."

"Of course. Keep me posted on whatever the Illusive Man decides to give us," Shepard smiled. The two women waved at each-other, then departed. Shepard smiled at Kelly, too, patted her on the shoulder, then stepped off. It was honestly interesting just how quickly she'd gotten used to Miranda being her XO. The two women went from being at each-other's throats to decent work-mates in a very short time-span.

Regardless of that, Shepard thought as she entered the small corridor between CIC and the Lab, it was better this way. Miranda was a good person and a kind woman. No reason to hate on someone for doing their job… Especially not with the Clone troops aboard having similar control chips. Thank the Maker she didn't, though.

She let that thought go as she entered the Lab, noting the weird pseudo-Geth Corpse laying on the operating table, behind electromagnetic shielding. It'd been opened up, revealing more of the internals, its photoreactive camouflage panels splayed across the table, too. It looked far too human to be Geth, though. A hand with five, sharp, skeletal fingers stained by dried Quarian blood, guns attached to the wrists with now-exposed ammunition feeds…

The blue, glowing tubules, the synthetic flesh and all that, however, gave her an uneasy feeling. Like the Reaper technology inside it was trying to reach out and touch her. She approached the monster, staring right into its V-shaped visor, gazing at its strange, grill-like, mouthpiece and at the armor on its body, in some parts reinforced, in others stripped away both by gunfire and by design.

She saw Mordin by a console farther back, then cleared her throat. The Salarian doctor perked up, turned around and smiled brightly, as he was prone to do, "Ah, Commander. Just in time! Was finishing first batch of analyses on our new friend!" before he approached the woman. She stared, surprised, at the alien man as he said, "Incredible piece of machinery…"

"It looks weird," Shepard murmured, then asked, "What kind of new Geth is it?"

"Geth? Not Geth," Mordin shook his head, causing the Commander to double over. The Salarian STG spec spoke, "Machine externals do not match Geth manufacturing. Specialization as stealth unit only superficially similar. Combat parameters, height and weaponry, between Infiltrator units and Primes, but nothing beyond convergent evolution and Reaper-assisted modification."

Shepard raised a hand, "Slow down. If it ain't Getht, then what the hell is it?"

Mordin hummed, then shrugged, "Don't know."

"What!?" Shepard blanked, "How can you not know?"

"Never seen design before," The man replied, "Aside from obvious Reaper 'enhancements'," he motioned broadly at the machine's form, "Nothing familiar. Ammunition is cased, high-velocity penetrators. Not fully magnetically propelled, but assisted by high-yield chemical propellant. Able to pierce ceramic plates. Claws reinforced with Titanium alloy… Most damning about lack of link to Geth aside from wider design basis?"

He showed Samantha to get closer, then pointed at the internals. The synthetic skin and bits. She blinked, noticing familiar shapes within, mixed with both Reaper and other technology. Mordin continued, "Possible reference from Husks? Reaper technology, nanites found inside. Inert, but… Within blood, Shepard. Living tissue."

He showed her a petri dish with congealed, blue-tinged scarlet blood and Shepard nearly gagged as she realized the implications. Mordin continued, "See…? Alien machine, internal organs. Bio-technology, akin to Reaper technology, but stranger, worse," then he walked over to the other side of the table and retrieved something strange, an almost almond-shaped device. He lifted it and showed it to her, "Restraint device. Disables higher central processing functions of machine brain… Can't think. Operates on orders."

"... So, it's a Reaper-corrupted biomechanical…" Shepard murmured, staring at the corpse as her mind started to swim with possible theories ranging from new Reaper toys, to maybe the Colonials' own rebel droids. She asked, "Where the hell did it come from? Is it something they previously subsumed and just decided to deploy now, specifically because they know we've gotten some backup? Or is it much older than that and the Collectors just pulled it out of the metaphorical ass-end of some Reaper warehouse?"

"No," Mordin shook his head, "Too modern. Recent? Not really, but close enough. Technology familiar, but different. Perhaps Doctor Halsey can tell more. If not her, maybe Doctor Baltar…? No, no, too busy. Too… Offputting."

"Good thing we're gonna meet Halsey above Tuchanka," Shepard nodded, "I'll ask her to come aboard the moment we get… There…" She paused as she saw Mordin's face almost imperceptibly shift to what she could swear was fear. He looked relaxed the very next moment, though, even smiling at the girl. She chose to ignore that for now, stating, "You're also gonna have to tell me what you want down there the moment I'm done 'fixing' Grunt."

"Of course… Will talk when we're there. Otherwise, wish to focus on learning more of this creature," Mordin spoke, jabbing a thumb back toward the alien. Shepard nodded approvingly, then bid a quick goodbye. She figured it was a decent idea to immediately go check in on Grunt and Okeer, make sure they weren't about to punch a hole through the hull…


Colonial One

Roslin would never get truly used to the jumps, but at least they were making headway toward the rumored location of the Quarian Migrant Fleet. The regime was 'jump three times, wait approximately thirty minutes for refueling, jump again'. They'd been at it for the past three hours, aiming for a system that was designated by the Systems' Alliance and the Citadel as 'Raheel-Leyya'.

She stretched her arms out above her head, feeling her aging vertebrae snap gently into place as she straightened herself out. She'd ironed out her environmental suit specifically so as to not offend the Quarian dignitaries that might come aboard, or make them sick, Gods forbid. She yawned, rubbed her eyes and took her glasses off, before asking, "Billy, did we buy those Dextro-Aminoacid foods…?" as she set her tablet down.

"Yes, madam President," Billy, in all his youthful exuberance, replied kindly. He also smiled awkwardly as he added, "We're already setting them up in the meeting room, which we've thoroughly disinfected maybe five separate times along with the rest of the ship," whilst carrying his own personal touchscreen tablet with a checklist visible on the screen.

"Thank you…" The woman sighed, tired. She leaned back into her leather chair and looked at the closed bulkhead door that separated them from her 'office' and the future meeting area. She could even hear the staff, clad in their space suits, cleaning and setting up everything so it looked nice and welcoming for the Quarians.

"You should get some sleep while you can," The boy suggested, seeing the bags under her eyes. He told her, "I feel like we're going to be chatting with the Quarians for a while and they'll need you at a hundred percent," with his usually-innocent desire to help behind every word. The young man was more of an adopted son than presidential aide at this point.

"While I appreciate the suggestion," She chuckled, straightening out her hair, then continued, "I'm afraid that this greeting speech needs to be perfect if we're to make a good impression on an otherwise insular people," before she lifted the tablet. Attached to the speech 'sheet' was a picture of the Quarians, clad in their ornate environmental suits.

"And it'll help with your re-election campaign, heh," Billy chuckled a little, but the thought of those seemed to turn Roslin a little sour.

"Believe me, Billy, despite their proximity, the Elections are the last thing on my mind right now," She told him, interlacing her fingers together and setting her hands on her desk, "Ignoring the mass of issues presented by running talks between four different variations of mankind and four different militaries, we've gotten combined complaints from aboard the other delegates we've brought with us aboard the Galactica, many of them being concerned over the fact we're bringing a military ship to a meeting with a people that's supposed to be peaceful…"

"Commander Adama and Colonel Tigh are calming them down. The only problematic one is-" He was about to mention a certain famed 'terrorist-turned-politician' that everybody oh-so-loved(sarcasm ahoy) aboard the fleet, but the woman unclasped her fingers and made a sideways cutting motion with her right hand to make him quiet down.

"I know," She simply told him.

The boy took the hint, shrugged and changed his choice of words to, "... Plus, the Quarians aren't going to be exactly harmless…" while bringing up files on the massive strength of the entire Quarian Migrant Fleet. 50,000 vessels were nothing to scoff at, honestly. Even if a good lot of them were mostly civilian in origin.

"Indeed. Quite the opposite…" The President sighed, pinching her brow. She rubbed her temples again, took a sip of water from a nearby glass, then coughed a little, scratching at a certain spot pertaining to a certain disease she had that nobody else truly knew about. Truth be told, she hoped that maybe one of the sides they picked would find a cure.

She was still on the fence…

"To think they're not that different from us…" Billy mumbled, looking at the sheer numbers.

"They got to keep millions of their own," Roslin stated, mildly sad as she looked at the whiteboard, which she'd brought from within the meeting space just so that the numbers weren't wiped away with the cleaning. She whispered, "We only have maybe thirty thousand people left overall from our homes. Billions more from the UEG and Alliance, rather obviously, but…"

"Yeah…" The boy replied, well aware of their predicament. He also added, "At least we have a number of homes to pick from now, right?"

Roslin offered a kind smile at that. "Indeed," She chuckled, then sighed, clapped her hands together and stated, "Back to the speech," before lifting her tablet and starting to write away with an electronic stylus again. She ordered, "You go to sleep a little, Billy. I, Commander Adama and miss Dualla will need you at a hundred percent," before giving him a knowing smile.

"Heh… Of course. Thank you," Billy stammered a little, blushing, but he bowed out of the place after bidding a quick goodbye. A handsome boy with a beautiful young woman that also had a career in the military. She couldn't help but think of how glad she was that these kinds of relationships could still be formed aboard the Fleet.

"Sleep well," She mumbled, turning her gaze back to the tablet.