If lack for better word, the past day and half had been a lot of touch and go. Between getting up to speed with everything and everyone on the Normandy, and ignoring TIM's calls for a reunion of things, was Tali telling him right before they both went to bed to really consider tossing EDI's blue box out the airlock.
There were a lot of things John needed to sort out, and Cerberus gunning up next to the quarians right here on Haestrom was definitely one of the ones he needed to worry about most. If the quarians found out they were working alongside a Cerberus detachment and not an Alliance one? Who knew what could happen. All John could see were all the bullets and grenades that would start flying. And then the geth would catch wind of it all and mop up whatever was left.
"Three minutes 'til final. Helmets on, people."
John dawned his helmet after giving Tali a grim smile. After a moment or so, John could start to see Haestrom's sky and the deserted city below. What a mess. No doubt Tali relished it though. Or not, depending on the circumstances.
"Joker. We still clear?" John checked over the radio.
"Wouldn't be quiet if it weren't Commander. Don't worry."
"You're keeping check with the Paltino too, right?"
"Yup. They're doing just fine up here. What about you?"
John glanced out the helm window to the two kodiaks flying ahead of them.
"Checking now." John said as he gave Tali a dip of the head.
She took the hint and radioed Juel in the other shuttle.
"Tali to Juel, how're you doing?"
"Fair." Juel answered, "We're all okay. You?"
"Just fine." Tali nodded before giving John a thumbs up.
"We're all green on our end, Joker." Shepard answered, "We'll be on the ground shortly."
"Sounds good. We'll, uh, be up here in the meantime. You know. Waiting."
John sat down between Garrus and Tali.
Then he looked to the Cerberus unit, glanced at all the unfamiliar faces of Garrus' squad, and spoke.
"Listen up, people." John called out to get everyone's attention, "We hit the ground, we secure the perimeter, and help the quarians in any way we can. Do not give them any trouble, we clear?
"Clear." The entire cabin of people called out.
"And if you do, you will answer to me." John warned with a piercing stare, "Respect the chain of command, and answer to your superiors. The quarian officers included. Clear?"
"Clear." The kodiak's cabin repeated.
"Good."
Tali was happy no one could see her smile.
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"Give me the run down, EDI." John asked as they all stepped out of the kodiak, "What're we looking at here?"
"As per the briefing at 0700, multiple geth outposts run in equatorial orbit around Haestrom with several more stations on all gaseous bodies in the system. Armament potential and server numbers unknown. Estimates indicate geth server population to be at least in the tens of thousands. Able bodied platforms for immediate combat readiness are estimated to be at least two thousand based on prior large-scale engagements with the geth."
"Right. Anything on Haestrom's sun yet?"
"Not entirely. Premature eruption of Dohlen is still eluding me."
"Keep working on it then. We'll do what we have to down here."
"Commander." EDI said anyways even though she sensed their conversation was coming to a close, "I have questions about the original Normandy being stranded on Ullipses."
John frowned and tried to think of why this would be a good time to start asking questions about the past now.
"Uh. Does it have to do with our mission?"
"Yes."
He watched a small beetle walk out from the shade and sizzle under the sun and winced slightly. Tali had seen it too and frowned.
"Go ahead EDI, shoot."
"Alliance sources claim Ullipses was eradicated by means of a black hole or other powerful singularity forming in the center of the planet. Is this true?"
John's frown got a little deeper as the others walked by him from out the shuttle. "I'm not sure if I should be the one answering these, but yeah: Ullipses doesn't exist anymore because of some kind of black hole."
"I believe the collectors were responsible for the destruction of Ullipses."
He shook his head as the quarians established a perimeter to get the teams ready to roll out into the city.
"I don't think anyone finds that hard to believe, EDI." John panned with a sigh before guessing what she'd ask next, "I bet you're going to ask me about the meteors falling through the ground on Ullipses now too."
"Yes."
"EDI? My guess is the same as yours. Whatever those meteors were belonged to the collectors. And that they probably destroyed the planet. It's not beyond the scope of imagination."
"Understood, Commander."
"I'm surprised you didn't know more about this." He said with a bit of surprise, "I thought the Illusive Man would've informed you of all these facts by now."
"He did." EDI admitted, "But he wasn't there."
"Covering your bases I see." John said as he stepped in next to Tali before looking out to the old cityscape, "Good. Now tell me why you think all this could be related to Dohlen."
"Based on studies conducted since entering the system, I have found fair sized concentrations of element zero and dark energy, which indicates Dohlen's core is under enormous signs of corruption. If there is a connection between the reapers and collectors, then I believe they are researching a means of eradicating entire systems by weaponizing element zero on a cosmic scale."
John blew some air through his nose and closed his eyes.
Jesus. The scale of the problem went from a 0-100 real quick.
"How did you get to that?" John asked as calmly as possible.
"It is still just a guess." EDI admitted before explaining her hypothesis, "Element Zero, when subjected to powerful electric currents, manipulates and releases dark energy to create mass effect fields; which, in turn, raises or lowers the relative mass of objects within its influence."
"Whoah. Hold on. You're telling me Sovereign stuck a shit ton of eezo in the sun and turned on the power?"
"Correct." EDI answered, "That is my guess."
"You think that's what made it erupt into a red giant then."
"I believe so. It is unknown how a celestial body of this size and magnitude reacts to the concentrations I am detecting inside Dohlen."
"How sure are you of this?"
"As you said it: 'It isn't out of the ball park.'"
John gave the sky a confused look. "I… I never said that."
"I'm sorry. My memory banks must be corrupted."
"EDI?"
"That is a joke."
"Uh…? right. …Keep me updated if you see anything else then."
"Yes Commander, logging you out."
John ended the call and caught up with the large group of others trotting toward the city's wall.
When he caught up with Tali and Garrus, he gave them both looks and said nothing.
"What was that about?" Tali asked as a squad of quarian marines took the lead in a column to continue their walk, "What did you talk to EDI about? Anything particularly useful?"
Garrus just nodded his head to show John he was thinking the same thing.
"Yes, actually." John said to both of them, "She thinks the collectors, Ullipses, and Sovereign are all connected to this."
"As if we hadn't thought of that already." Tali remarked timidly, "Anything else?"
He nodded. "Yeah. There is. But I wish there wasn't."
Garrus took his chances and decided to ask. "How bad?"
John gave him a leveled stare. "Real bad."
The three of them stopped with everyone else when they reached a high gate that would lead into the city. Several quarians get working on how to open it.
"Tell us." Tali said.
"EDI thinks the reapers are testing element zero as a weapon to blow up stars."
Tali's mouth went dry.
So did Garrus'.
"What?" Garrus guffawed and actually forced a choked laugh, "Run that by me again."
"You heard me right. Blowing up stars."
"This is just a guess though, right?" Tali wondered rather frantically, "There's a chance she could be wrong. Right?"
"Yeah." John nodded to try and stave off some of the worry they both had, "She said she could be wrong."
"Keelah, I hope she's wrong."
"Me too." John rasped.
Garrus stared at the gun in his hands and sighed. "So that means the thing on Ullipses was connected— how it got sucked into a black hole the way it did… right?"
"It very well could." Is all John mustered to say.
The three stood silent and stared blankly at the ground to chew it all over.
As Tali crossed her arms, she started thinking over every question that'd been hounding for years about those dreadful days they'd all spent on Ullipses.
She brought up the mental list, but knew many of them had been left completely unanswered.
And for all she knew, they'd probably stay that way.
"This is a nightmare." Tali murmured out loud. She turned to see Prazza and Kal discussing something outside out of ear-shot while Juel and Olasie stood together at the door, waiting for it to open.
"What should we do if that's true?" Garrus asked.
"I don't know." John said with a shrug, "I have no clue."
Tali couldn't help but shrug with him. "Let's hope it doesn't have to come to that."
"Yeah." Garrus agreed, "Let's hope."
"And guys?" John added, "Let's keep this between us. At least for now."
"Right."
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Night came for the group on Haestrom.
The group was largely relieved by the lack of the stricken heat and shining sun, but was disappointed to realize the concrete walls and buildings around them would start radiating out whatever rays they'd collected for the day well into the night.
Which meant the city would stay blistering at a solid 102 degrees.
It was hot.
John was hot.
Bone dry heat or not, being this hot in full gear was bound to give you a great case of swamp ass.
John had taken off his chest plate a while ago and stripped down to just boots, pants, and t-shirt. His face was slick with sweat, as was his arms.
As uncomfortable as it looked, Tali couldn't help but think how ridiculously attractive it made him.
"You look good like that." Tali said as she walked up to him with a canteen to hand him, "Here."
"Ha." He scoffed as he accepted the canteen, "Thanks."
He drank the cold water deeply and nodded satisfyingly. "Jesus. Thanks for refilling that. Gotta keep the fluids running. Pissed around eight times already the past two hours."
She laughed a little before sitting down next to him. "That's a lot."
John capped the bottle and set it down before picking up his food pouch to eat his chicken dumplings. "You eat dinner already?"
"Mhmm." She nodded, "You know. The usual. Modeling clay."
He smiled at her joke before stuffing another dumpling in his mouth. "You still remember that? I said that years ago."
She nodded again. "Yeah. I do."
He ate a little more and gave her a loving look.
"How's everyone doing?" John decided to ask, "They all okay?"
"Doing fine." Tali answered, "What about you? How's your uh, 'marines', doing?"
"Sweatin' up a storm. Just like me. They're behaving, if that's what you wanted to know."
"Good."
They both continued to sit and enjoy their company in silence.
Occasionally, John would stare out between his spoonfuls of chicken to the quarian camp, the stars, Garrus' camp, and then the camp for Cerberus.
They'd been faring well, honestly.
No complaints from Cerberus standing shoulder to shoulder with the quarians. Maybe TIM had enlisted a detachment of more open minded individuals just for the Normandy. Or maybe they knew enough to keep their mouths shut and to just deal with it. Regardless of the fact, everyone he'd met on his ship hadn't made an issue of working with nonhumans so far.
Which was odd, considering the stigma and number of complaints he'd received back on the old Normandy.
Odd indeed.
John suddenly laughed as he remembered something.
"Speaking of sweating, did you see Miranda earlier? She looked like a goddamn tomato."
Tali chuckled. "I did."
"Good to see her like that." John breathed as he finished whatever was left in his pouch of food, "Just a reminder that she's every bit as human as the rest of us."
"Minus me." Tali added with a laugh.
"Yes, Tali." He said as he rolled his eyes, "Minus you."
Tali sighed and dipped her head down. "So... we've been taking careful measurements of the sun."
"And?"
She shook her head and the joy in her eyes was gone. "Dark matter. Lots of it. EDI was right about that."
"Shit."
She put a hand on his arm to get his attention. "But that doesn't mean she's completely right. We don't know for sure if Sovereign was trying to blow up stars. It's still just a guess."
"Let's hope the guess is wrong, Tali. Because we've got enough on our plate as it is, dealing with the collectors."
"I know, John." She nodded before squeezing, "It's a lot to deal with."
He set the food pouch down next to his gear and sighed. "I'm just... completely clueless of what to do."
He stared off into nothingness, his smile gone.
Her grip on his arm got stronger.
She smirked slightly. "Hey. It's amazing what you can still solve with a gun, John."
"Ah." He smiled lightly at the joke,"A quarian with the right gun and attitude. She sounds dangerous."
"She is."
He nodded at the light-hearted sentiment. "I believe it. Wouldn't want to mess with her."
She laughed before dipping her head down to look at her hands.
"I, uh— There's something else I want to tell you." Tali said in a whisper.
"What?"
"The Paltino received a transmission from my dad..." She said rather worriedly, "It's probably nothing, but the captain said it sounded urgent... so..."
John gave her a serious look. "What did he say?"
She shrugged. "Not sure. The message was scrambled and unintelligible."
"...Maybe EDI can take a look?"
Tali took a breath and nodded. "I, uh... I guess so."
"Good. Cause if your dad broke protocol trying to get in touch with us... then I don't think the news he's trying to bring is good."
"I know," Tali nodded, sullen, "You're right."
"When did he contact the Paltino?"
"Almost ten minutes ago."
He nodded mostly to himself. "Okay." He said before reaching for his omni-tool, "Let me get in contact with Joker then."
Just before John could actually call Joker, Joker called him.
Puzzling, John thought before accepting the call.
"Joker?"
"Commander," Joker said in haste, "You need to hear this. Now."
"What? What is it?"
"It's from Tali's dad. EDI deciphered the transmission since the Paltino couldn't make out what it was. You really need to listen to it."
The message played.
"THIS IS A PRIORITY MESSAGE: EMERGENCY RECALL OF HAESTROM OPERATION IS EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY. AUTHORIZATION FOR TERMINATION GRIEGO LINX FOUR SIX THETA ALPHA ONE. SOVEREIGN'S MOTIVE OF HAESTROM HAS BEEN DISCOVERED. YOU MUST ESCAPE. THEY'RE COMING."
John felt his face drain of blood and Tali was much the same.
"What?" Tali breathed, "Who's coming?"
"Don't know." Joker answered, "Right now, there's nothing on radar and EDI isn't seeing anything."
"This isn't adding up." John said as he stood up to think, "How the hell does he know something's up? And I want to know who's coming. Is it possible we contact him?"
"Not sure." Joker said, "If we try and respond, whoever's out there is definitely going to find out where we are."
"Did you send the message to the Paltino's captain yet?"
"No. We wanted you to hear it first."
"Send it and prep for evac. If Tali's dad risked our location just to tell us we're busted, then that means whatever's out there already knows we're here."
There was a pregnant pause over the radio.
"Joker? Did you catch that?"
"Jesus Christ. We got slipspace ruptures. A lot of them."
Shepard felt his skin prickle. "What?"
"Did I stutter? Pack your shit up. We need to leave now."
"Tali, get your people rounded up," John shouted, "Go."
Tali didn't waste any time doing exactly that. With nothing else to say or do, she stood up and ran.
John screamed to the other camps to get their attention while he put his gear back on.
"Miranda! Garrus!"
"Commander?"
"What's up?"
"Pack up. We're leaving. Now."
Without even bothering to ask why, due in no small part to John's tone, they went to their men, dinner left behind.
When Tali turned the corner to the quarian camp, she caught sight of both Reegar and Prazza speaking over a meal.
"Reegar. Prazza. We just got message from Rael; Emergency recall, we've been found."
They both stand up immediately.
"Geth?"
"Who else."
"Fuck."
Reegar started barking commands to his marines while Prazza did the same. It wasn't long until Tali saw Juel running up to the three of them to get an idea of what was happening.
"What's the hell's going on?"
"I can explain when we're running to the shuttles, Juel. Just get your stuff and meet up with us at the rally point. I have to go back to Shepard."
"Uh. Right-o. I'll tell Olasie what you said then."
"Do it."
They separated and Tali started running back over to John's camp.
When she made it there, John was already mostly done getting their things ready.
"Let's go, people! Let's go!" John said before facing Tali, "Your people getting ready?"
"Yes."
"Commander." Joker radioed John, "Definitely geth. Definitely heading to you."
"Do we have enough time to get out of here?"
"If you hurry." EDI answered, "You have fifteen minutes before they reach atmo."
Miranda, Garrus, and their men got in formation and waited for John.
"Are you and the Paltino safe?" John asked.
"For the time being." EDI said, "Stealth systems are engaged and the Paltino is running dark. We are waiting for you."
"Got it. We'll keep in contact. Out." He turned to his men.
"To the ships, people! Double time! Now! If anything slows you down, ditch it and move!"
Everyone started running to the shuttles.
The quarians weren't far behind.
"Here we are. At it again." Garrus grumbled.
"Believe it." Tali said lightly.
"Hate to ask it guys. But how quiet were your lives until I came along again?"
"Peaceful…" Garrus answered, "Mostly."
"For the most part." Tali agreed with a nod.
John didn't have the time to grumble.
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"Dad? Dad. What's going on?"
"Keelah. You're alright." Rael breathed, "Tell me you're safe now."
Tali cast John a long glance with a worried look on her face. "Yes… I'm back on the—er, Paltino and everyone's accounted for. Now what's going on?"
"Something incredibly important."
"We assumed that." Tali hastened to say with a deadpanned look, "You said you found out what Sovereign was trying to do to Dohlen."
"Tali… Sovereign wasn't trying to destroy Dohlen."
"What? What are you talking about?"
"He was trying to save it."
Garrus and John, who'd been standing in front of Tali in the Normandy's hangar bay, shared blank looks.
"You know what," Garrus whispered to John quietly so Rael couldn't hear, "I ain't even mad. That's hell of a lot better than what EDI said."
Tali leaned onto the Kodiak with a pent up inhale of breath. "How'd you...?"
"Your pilgrimage gift." Rael replied, "Please tell me you and the Paltino are already out of the system."
"We are. Your recall came just in time... Which brings up how you even knew the geth were coming."
"I know it doesn't make sense." Rael nodded before his image got distorted slightly by her omni-tool, "And it isn't something I can explain inside a conversation… you're going to have to wait for the finer details until you get back."
"That's fine." Garrus mumbled to John as several of his team pass by, "We planned to be on Haestrom for a while. Going back to the flotilla will fit inside the schedule."
"We wouldn't have a choice even if it didn't." John replied quietly, "If it involves the reapers, it's a priority over everything."
Garrus simply nodded and John turned back to face Rael's image.
"Sir? Thank you. You saved us all."
"...Of course." Rael mumbled after an awkward pause, "Safety of crew is paramount."
John felt himself frowning slightly. If it were his guess, Rael wasn't expecting a thank you. Much less an idea of how to even take one.
"Dad?" Tali cut back in, "Could you at least give me an idea of how you found out about all this?"
"Yes, but it will have to be brief. There was this... contingency. Plans stored inside the disk detailing that, in the event that any of Sovereign's studies conducted on Haestrom were found, a fleet would be sent to you. They knew you were inside the system as soon as you exited the relay."
"Keelah…" Tali choked.
There was a long pause from the other side of the line and it looked like Rael was conversing with someone else just outside of view. When he returned, his didn't look very pleased.
"Tali?"
"Yes?"
"Captain Leena has just made me very aware that Captain Shepard's ship is accompanying you. Would you kindly care to explain?"
She felt herself shrink down a hundred sizes under her father's gaze.
"I— uhm…"
"That's my responsibility." John spoke up to save Tali from answering, "And it's… complicated."
Rael stared darkly into John's soul and studied him for a long moment. Even though the distance between them spanned light years, the anxiety suddenly rumbling inside him wouldn't have felt any different had he been standing right in front of the man.
"…Indeed."
"I'll be more than happy to explain everything when we get back to the fleet. You have my word, Admiral."
"See to it that you do." He said as he clasped his hands together neatly at the top of his desk before facing Tali.
"Be safe, Tali. And Mr. Shepard?"
"Sir?"
"Should anything happen to her, consequences on a magnitude far greater than anything you can fathom will follow. Farewell."
Tali ended the call and felt her shoulders droop and her back hunch over.
"Your dad must be a blast at parties, Tali." Garrus mumbled as he rubbed his chin awkwardly, "Spirits that was pretty scary."
"Christ… I was just on good terms with him." John said with a frustrated sigh, "God. Damnit."
"Some father-in-law he's gonna be. Right?" Garrus said before jabbing an elbow at John. John simply rolled his eyes at the crass joke.
"Sorry." Tali murmured with a wince, "He can be…"
"Overwhelming?" Garrus finished for her since she trailed off, "Yeah. I see that."
John turned around and called out to his XO on the other side of the hangar. "Miranda, I need you."
She came up to the trio and gave John a stern look. "What do you need?"
"Go ahead and have Joker set a course back to the Migrant Fleet and coordinate that with the Paltino. We've got a lot of work to do."
"Aye."
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Both John and Tali were sitting at the foot of their bed and thinking. It'd been about an hour since they'd talked with Tali's dad, and both of them had been spending that time thinking over what to say when they would finally get back to the Migrant Fleet.
So far, much to their dismay, the ideas were coming up empty.
"Still nothing?"
"Nothing." Tali drawled before shaking her head idly and setting down her tablet, "Sorry."
"It's fine." He said simply as he stood up to pour himself another glass full of water, "I'll live."
She bit her lip and gave her toes a tense look. "We'll see." She mumbled.
"Should we chew out Captain Leena?" He joked.
Tali rolled her eyes. "Depending on what my dad told her, probably not. The story about you should still hold up. That's what I'm assuming at least."
"Assuming is a big word. Anything from Olasie and Juel then?"
"No." Tali shook her head, "If the Paltino was suspicious of you, we would've heard something by now."
John took a sip, nodded contemplatively, and sat back down next to her on their sofa before putting the glass on the coffee table. With nothing to say, all John did was sigh and put an arm around her.
"You okay?" She asked tersely as she snuggled in a little closer to him.
"...I don't know." He answered truthfully.
Tali didn't much like the stoic answer. But it wasn't a surprise to hear it either. By any obvious admission, she already had a fair number of ideas on what was bothering him. Her dad was definitely one of them. But knowing John, he'd never say that openly; at least, not in a way that would make her feel more bad than she already did about the issue.
"I just..." He looked up at the skylight above his room and shrugged, "feel like I've been swept off my feet."
"About?"
"Everything." He answered simply with his long face, "Being dead for as long as I was... the effect that had on you..."
Tali didn't say anything and kept staring at him.
"...And everything we did hunting Saren and killing Sovereign is catching back up to us. But now we have the Collectors to worry about on top of that."
"Hey." She murmured with a whisper, "Saren's done and over with. We can check that off the list. Sovereign's dead too. And it's because of us. The only thing on our plate that we have to worry about right now is the reapers and collectors."
"But I'm already full." John said with a wry smile. They both knew it was a stupid joke. But it made them both share a small laugh.
He finally faced her and gently squeezed her hand before kissing the side of her helmet.
"Guess it's all just a matter of counting my blessings."
"Like?"
"You." He said, "Obviously."
"I guess we should add Garrus then." She cooed, "And another awesome ship."
"True on all counts." John breathed.
"I like that." Tali said quietly before giving him a terse look, "Counting your blessings."
"Why's that?"
"Because it's the only thing we can do when people are facing what we're facing."
"No one's facing what we're facing."
She shrugged. "I know."
He gave her the dip of his head and smiled lightly. "Good point."
"Well…" She stood up and stretched, "Maybe it's a good time to head to bed."
"You're right." John agreed before standing himself and heading to the bathroom to brush his teeth.
Tali sat down at the foot of their bed, unbuckled her boots, and threw them aside before taking off both her clip on pockets and realk. Then she slipped under the covers and got as comfortable as possible.
" So." John called out from the bathroom, "Scale of one to ten: how pissed do you think your dad is?"
"…Maybe an eleven." Tali said as she bit her lip.
"Shit."
"Hey. Just be happy you're not confronting him about it now." She said with as much sincerity as possible before turning off the ceiling light, "He's got time to cool off before then."
"Yeah. I suppose." John finished before returning to bed and slipping under the covers next to her. He turned off his night lamp and snuggled in a little closer to her.
"I love you." He said quietly before putting an arm around her, "Too bad you're not wearing sweatpants."
"I love you too. And I know;" She whispered casually before closing her eyes and smiling lightly, "use to have a whole bunch of them back on the first Normandy."
"Wish I could've seen you in them." John mumbled.
She laughed slightly. "Me too... Maybe someday."
"I'll get on that. We'll install something in the connector."
"That'd be nice."
He kissed the back of her head and she smiled.
It wasn't long before they both fell asleep.
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Nine hours later.
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In John's hands as he walked to the lunch table was his tray of coffee and bowl of cereal. As he took a seat across my Tali and Garrus, he skimmed over something on the extranet on his omni-tool before taking a spoonful of wheaty-o's.
'ʜᴇ's ᴇᴀᴛɪɴɢ ᴄᴇʀᴇᴀʟ.' Garrus texted to her, 'ᴛʜᴀᴛ's ɴᴏᴛ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ɪs ɪᴛ?'
Tali gave John an inconspicuous look before sighing.
'ɪ ᴋɴᴏᴡ. ʜᴇ's sᴛɪʟʟ ᴛʜɪɴᴋɪɴɢ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴍʏ ᴅᴀᴅ.'
Garrus gave her a look.
'ᴡᴏᴡ.'
'ʏᴇᴀʜ.'
'sᴜʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ɪsɴ'ᴛ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴛᴏ ɪᴛ?'
'ᴏғ ᴄᴏᴜʀsᴇ. ʜᴇ's ɢᴏᴛ ᴀ ʟᴏᴛ ᴏɴ ʜɪs ᴍɪɴᴅ ʀɪɢʜᴛ ɴᴏᴡ.' Tali typed back before rolling her eyes.
All Garrus did was nod nonchalantly at her response.
'sʜᴏᴜʟᴅ ɪ ᴛᴀʟᴋ ᴛᴏ ʜɪᴍ ᴍᴀʏʙᴇ?'
"If you want to." She murmured.
John looked up since Tali said something. "Hm?"
"How you feeling?" Garrus asked as he started sipping on his own mug of turian coffee, "You're eating cereal."
John looked down at the bowl and then back to Garrus. "...So?"
"Don't know if you even know, but that's the go to food for you being stressed out."
Now that Garrus mentioned it, cereal was really the only thing he could stomach down when his mind wandered over all the problems that would stress him out. So John took a breath and gave Garrus a terse look before sipping on his coffee to stall himself some time to think of what he could reply with. As he set the mug down, he realized he still couldn't think of anything witty to say.
"...Would it be bad of me to admit it's true then?"
Garrus only shrugged. "Not really."
"What about you hun?" John asked as he looked to her, "what do you think?"
"Uhm..."
He looked at his cereal. "Yeah... I know."
"If you're worried about Tali's dad, you shouldn't be." Garrus started between a sip of his coffee, "We've faced worse."
"I'm aware. But we always solved it with explosive or waving my spectre status around like an idiot."
"What makes you think you can't do it with Admiral bosh'tet?" Garrus joked, "That's how you say it right? Bosh'tet?"
"What does a turian sound like when he's drowning in a mop puddle Garrus?" Tali asked when Gardner made his rounds with the mop, "Would you care to enlighten John and I?"
"Gargling mostly." He said unfazed.
"Uh-huh."
"Very funny guys." John breathed, "But you're banter isn't going to help me think of what to say when I meet your dad."
"We better think of something soon then... because we're going to be there in a day." Garrus drawled rather sadly, "If you can't think of anything, then the only thing you have is the unsprinkled truth to tell."
"My dad doesn't really know what's going on." Tali added for Garrus, "The Normandy would turn to dust if he caught wind of the 'unsprinkled truth'."
"What do you mean?"
"Cerberus has history with the Migrant Fleet." Tali explained, "Enough to make an enemy of seventeen million people. If my dad found out this was a Cerberus vessel... and to have it docked with one of three of the most important ships in the fleet?" Tali didn't even finish because Garrus started to understand.
"So what should we do then?"
"Still figuring that out Garrus." John answered slowly.
"Then maybe you should blow him off." Garrus said. When John and Tali gave him unappreciative looks, he frowned. "I'm being serious."
Tali said nothing and John took a sip from his mug before speaking. "What makes you think that's a good idea?"
"Because the reapers, collectors, and the countermeasure Mordin's working on a deck above is more important than quarian politics right now."
Tali still said nothing and John took notice.
"Tali? What do you think?"
"I don't know, John." Tali murmured quietly, feeling a knot in her gut swell, "I think it's a really bad idea."
"Your dad isn't giving us much of an alternative." Garrus supplied, "Going there and him finding out about what's going on is dangerous."
"Look." Shepard started as he set aside his meal, "The details are up in the air, yes. But this is what's going to happen, Garrus. We're going to the fleet, I'm going to sort this out with Admiral Zorah, and then we're going to leave on equitable terms. He'll understand the bigger picture."
Garrus gave John the stare. "And if he doesn't?"
"Then we'll leave on not so equitable terms. But the Normandy is not going to be in any danger. I'll make sure of that." John answered, "Either way, we all have jobs to do."
He faced Tali to make sure he had her approval. It was after all, her father. "Sound like a plan Tali?"
"I'm right behind you." Tali nodded, "...And I actually may have an idea too."
"I'm all ears." John said.
"We can add a quarian crew." Tali said, "Alongside the Cerberus one. So long as my dad doesn't go ape-shit when we fill him in with what's going on."
John curbed the urge to laugh. He'd never heard her say that before.
Garrus leaned in toward Tali to make sure her head was still screwed on straight. "What?"
She faced Garrus. "Yes." Tali affirmed, "Add a quarian crew on the periphery of the Cerberus one. And add Olasie's squad as a part of the marine detachment."
John took a breath and thought about it.
What was the maximum occupancy load of the Normandy? Was she operating on a skeleton crew? Or could she get some more meat on her bones? What kind of equipment would have to appropriated or issued for the wellbeing of the new crew if the quarians did indeed join? Would it be worth the hassle?
The fact that Tali even considered the option told John enough. But he asked her anyways.
"Can the Normandy handle it?"
"Of course the Normandy can handle it."
Garrus' eyes flickered to the Cerberus crew. "But can they handle it?"
"Do they have a choice in the matter? If it helps us, then that's all that matters."
Garrus still wasn't impressed. "What makes this a good idea?"
"It builds a relationship with the admiralty board and keeps you off their shit list." Tali explained, "Possibly gives John the option of calling in a favor."
"I like it." John agreed, "I like not being on the shit list."
Garrus crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair before shaking his head. "Still don't agree. I told you that we don't need to screw with Cerberus anymore than necessary. I don't like them just as much as you guys. But they're funding this mission and saving innocent people as a part of the process. They're doing something right for once and I'm not in the mood to disrupt that."
"Who said we're doing anything to screw with Cerberus?" Tali argued, "I'm not doing this to instigate anything."
Garrus shrugged in indifference and looked John in the eye. "Shepard? It's your ship. Do what you think is best."
John nodded and took another sip of his coffee. "I will."
"I've got work to do." Garrus said as he stood up with his own mug, "Come by sometime at the battery. We'll catch up. Have some bro time. Bring beer."
Tali gave Garrus a small chuckle and John smiled. "Will do. You do you, Garrus."
When Garrus finally left, John pushed his bowl of cereal aside and leaned onto the table.
"You really think adding a quarian crew to Normandy will help? I like it... but I'm thinking it actually might create more tension."
"It might. I didn't say it wouldn't." Tali admitted, "But if anyone has to remember something, we have to keep the goal of what we're doing in mind."
"I suppose you're right. But I guess that decision really falls on the admirals doesn't it?"
"Well, yes. Of course." She said sheepishly, "It might not fall through. It was just a suggestion."
John nodded and felt the conversation come to a close. They could discuss it more later.
"So... It looks like we've got work to do, chief." Shepard said as he stood up while grabbing his tray. Gardner stopped him and took the tray out of his hands. "Ah, no need Commander, I've got it for you."
"Why, thank you, Sergeant."
"My pleasure!"
"Hey, you like quarians right?" John asked just to gauge Gardner's reaction.
Gardner looked a little winded and caught off guard by the question. "Uh, well... If you got a beating heart and bleed like the rest of us, you're good in my book."
"Good answer. Carry on."
Tali stopped herself from giggling at Gardner hurrying off and stood up to stand next to John.
"Care to drop me off at my station, Captain?" Tali asked.
"Would love to, chief."
They walked to the elevator, entered, and went down.
"So... if we do get a quarian crew... what does that spell about EDI?"
Tali felt a hiccup in her train of thought. She hadn't thought about that at all, weirdly enough.
"...I don't know. I don't like her, and I want it gone. But it's all your call. If we can't get rid of her, then at least let us study her process and double check her OS."
"Would that absolve you of any compulsion to pepper her bluebox with buckshot?"
"A little."
"Then yes is my answer."
If EDI had a face, she'd be frowning.