Tali woke up hungover. She supposed that's what she got for trying to drink her feelings. She set her suit to start a hydration IV drip before heading over to the war room for an all-hands meeting.

By the time Tali entered the war room, most of the crew had already arrived and were gathered around the circular table that formed a ring around a large holographic display. Tali gave Garrus a nod before settling in with the Engineering crew, Adams, Donnelly and Daniels. She half-listened to Donnelly give his latest ranking of who he'd want to play strip poker with while observing the crowd. Her eyes passed over the room until they landed on Liara T'Soni.

The blue asari huddled alone in the corner of the room opposite Garrus. She hunched over her tablet typing away. Something about Liara's behavior set alarm bells off in Tali's head. As she let the gears turn in her head, she started to frown. Liara had always been a bit of a loner, but ever since the Crucible detonated, she had been especially cagey. Anybody who ran into Liara the past few days was given the vague excuse that she was busy working and she was very sorry but she really had to get back to her lab. Everyone's top priority had been getting the Normandy back into working order, so Liara keeping to herself more than usual wasn't really on anyone's radar. Liara's current work lay in dealing information; some of it acquired with dubious legality. With recent events, business would be booming for her. But the Extranet was down. So what information could she realistically be working with? Unless…

Tali wanted to grab Garrus for a sidebar discussion, but it was too late. It was time to start the meeting. She watched Garrus and Liara meet in the front of the room and prepare their opening remarks. Garrus threw up a star map of the inner Sol System on the holographic display.

Liara looked over at the last of the crew filing into the war room. "Will Jeff be joining us?"

Daniels yelled up at the war room's comm speaker "Yo, Joker! You coming or what?"

The pilot's voice chimed in over the comm system, "I'm gonna listen in from the bridge. Don't wanna waste time getting back."

Liara nodded, "Alright. Thank you, Jeff."

Garrus addressed the room. "Good news, everyone. We are officially back in the Sol System, as we have passed the Charon relay." A small cheer went up from the crew. "We were able to establish radio contact with a construction ship near the relay. They said they started work on repairing the relay. Unfortunately, they also predicted it'll take months to get the relays up and running again. So, anticipate travel to be limited to Inner Council Space and Alliance Space for the foreseeable future." The crew groaned. "Hey, at least they're working on fixing it. Back to the mission at hand. We're on track to get to Terra in about twelve hours. We'll be coming in on fumes, but we're depending on getting aid from the Alliance and maybe," Garrus threw a glance over to Tali, "the Quarian Fleet. Once we get close enough to resume contact, Liara has volunteered to handle discussions with both the Systems Alliance and the Council to figure out next steps for the Normandy and her crew. We're going to have to see what the state of recovery is when we get there, but as of now our priority is finding Shepard." Garrus gestured for Liara to share her part.

Liara stepped forward. "I have contacted the Systems Alliance and informed them we are on the way to retrieve Shepard from the Crucible."

Garrus whipped his head to face Liara. "How did you do that? The Extranet is still down."

"The QEC line to Admiral Hackett remained operational," Liara replied simply.

Garrus's neck flushed with anger. "And you kept that information to yourself?!"

Liara was unfazed. "Quantum Entanglement Communication only goes to one recipient, and it can only handle so much data. This line can only contact Admiral Hackett. None of the crew would be able to contact loved ones. No other governments can be alerted. The line needed to stay clear, and I wanted the crew to focus on getting the Normandy operational. I made sure to inform Admiral Hackett about the status of the crew and to tell their families they are all alive and well."

"When did you use it? Shouldn't you have been on the bridge?"

"I rerouted the line to my office. I deal in information, Garrus. Part of that is knowing the opportune time to share it."

The crew murmured amongst themselves. Donnelly turned to Adams. "Does it still count as insubordination if she's not military?"

Adams grimaced. "Within the structure of the Normandy, I'm going to say yes."

Tali fidgeted uncomfortably. She made eye contact with Garrus, and he looked pissed. She shook her head, hoping he'd take the hint to just move on and deal with it later. Garrus's mandibles flared and flashed his teeth. He wasn't going to let this go.

"And what about Shepard? Did you get any information about her?"

"Shepard never returned from the Citadel. The Alliance is strained as it is with rescue efforts on Terra. An initial effort has been made to recover the Citadel, but it has only been partially cleared."

"She could be injured. Did you tell them to look for her?"

"Garrus, Shepard wasn't the only person on the Citadel. They are looking for survivors, but I can't tell them to prioritize who they find. Regardless," Liara's next words were calculated. "I think we should be the ones to recover Shepard. I have the means to help her in a way the Alliance cannot."

Garrus slammed his hands on the table. "NO. You can't put her through that again. She doesn't want that."

Liara cocked her head. "Shepard should get the opportunity to enjoy the galaxy she saved; don't you think?"

"You just want a chance to redo saving her because you can't stand that things didn't turn out how you pictured they would," Garrus sneered.

A vicious smile spread across Liara's face. "I would think you'd be thanking me. If it wasn't for me, you'd have never had the chance to be as close to her as you are now."

"OH SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU LOVE TO PLAY GODDESS AND LORD IT OVER US BECAUSE YOU CAN'T ACCEPT THAT YOU DON'T CONTROL-"

"YOU INSIGNIFICANT FAILURE OF A C-SEC OFFICER YOU NEED SHEPARD TO TELL YOU WHEN TO SHIT LET ALONE-"

Tali silently walked over the door and held it open. The crew gladly took the out and fled the war room. As Daniels and Donnelly filed out, they mouthed "thank you". Within a minute, all bystanders had left. Tali exited last, closing the door behind her. She leaned against the glass door, arms crossed. She could still hear Garrus and Liara's muffled yelling through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

"Jesus, they're really going at it. Guess this has been a long time coming." Joker's voice crackled over the hallway comm speaker. "Think this is something hate sex can fix?"

Tali tilted her head up in the direction of the speaker. "Shut up, ew!"

"I mean, if it's asari sex, does it even count? It's just in your head, right?"

"Joker, seriously shut up." Tali pressed her fingers against her visor. "They have to work this out before we get to the Citadel. We can't have them fighting over Shepard like she's a toy."

"They're both just sad and scared," Joker's voice dropped to a mumble. Tali could barely make it out through the speaker. "It's hard losing someone you love."

Tali's heart sank. Most of the crew had been so focused on Shepard they had sidelined the loss of the AI. "I'm sorry about EDI. I know it's not much of a condolence now, but she did what she could to protect us. She had the foresight to make sure she wasn't so enmeshed with the ship that we'd be stranded without her."

There was a pause. "It's fine. I mean, I'm not 'fine'. But we saved the galaxy so...I don't really feel like talking about it if that's cool."

Tali nodded then stared at the floor. The yelling had stopped, but Garrus and Liara continued arguing in circles. Joker finally broke the awkward silence.

"Hey, aren't you an admiral?"

The question startled Tali. "I mean, technically, but that's separate from the Normandy."

"Mmm I disagree. Why don't you pull rank and tell them to shut the fuck up already?"

Tali didn't want to be in charge. She liked being in a support role on the Normandy. With all the upheaval and change happening in the Quarian Fleet, it was nice having a place where she could perform a specific set of duties and leave all the major leadership decisions to Shepard. But without Shepard, the sense of order was collapsing. Someone had to do something.

"Keelah se'lai," she muttered. Tali threw the door open and stormed up to Garrus and Liara. She stopped in front of them and stood as straight as she could with her hands clasped behind her back.

"Special Advisor Vakarian! Doctor T'Soni! As Admiral Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, I command you both to STAND DOWN."

To Tali's complete surprise, Garrus and Liara went silent. Realizing she could in fact control the situation, Tali pressed on. "You both love Shepard dearly. I love Shepard dearly. Everyone on this ship loves Shepard. You two have got to stop playing this game of who loves Shepard more. It's not productive, and frankly it makes both of you look stupid."

Tali pointed at Garrus. "You're in charge of the Normandy. The technicalities of who belongs to what species' military don't matter right now. You are Shepard's number two, and she's not here right now. Therefore, you're responsible for everyone on this ship. Fucking act like it. We're going to get Shepard back, but you don't have the luxury of reverting to your mercenary days."

She turned to Liara. "And you don't get to pick and choose when you're a part of this crew. You either are a member of the Normandy crew, and you share information as you get it, or you can be the Shadow Broker. In which case, you will be treated as a guest. You will not be included in crew meetings, and I will make it my personal mission to scrub the Normandy of any bugs, spyware, or malware you've put on this ship."

Garrus and Liara sheepishly looked at Tali and then at their feet. Silence pressed down on them like a weight. Tali wasn't sure how to wrap this up. She mentally flipped through memories of how Shepard dealt with interpersonal drama until she recalled Shepard's preferred threat. "Now apologize to each other, or else I'm making you guys wear the get-along shirt until we get to Terra."

That got a giggle out of them. Garrus turned to Liara. "I'm sorry. You acted out of what you thought was best for Shepard. I shouldn't have made it personal. I should be doing what's best for the crew, and I've been selfish."

Liara shook Garrus's hand. "And I apologize for not recognizing your leadership. It was petty and disrespectful. Shepard and I made our peace. I shouldn't continue to hold it against you."

They turned to Tali. "We're sorry."

Tali sighed. "It's okay, guys. Let's take some time to cool down so we can all go back to being the professional adults we normally are." Liara gathered her tablet before exiting the war room. Garrus held the door for Liara before heading towards the elevator. Once they were both out of sight, Tali slumped against the table. It was only now that she relaxed that she was aware that she had been tensing every muscle.

"That went pretty well! If you want, you can come up to the bridge and order us around for a bit."

Joker's voice made Tali jump. "Don't scare me like that, bosh'tet!" Tali glared up at the war room speaker and waited for Joker's laughter to die down. "I'm going to go watch Fleet and Flotilla five or six times. Nobody talk to me until dinner." As Tali walked back to her quarters, she could only wonder how the fuck Shepard did it.