Tali qued up the next episode of Avatar the Last Airbender as she adjusted her position on the couch. She was currently dressed in her alien-produced pajamas, deciding that it was best to spend some time out of her suit, especially with the stressful and quite possibly fruitless peace talks going on in the conference room on the deck below.
After they had managed to convince the Geth to halt their attack against the Quarians, Shepard had spent the next 42 hours arranging a meeting between the Admiralty Board and the Geth Representatives. They insisted on having five to match the number of Quarians and the Admiralty Board. Said peace talks were now underway. Tali had decided to sit them out. After all, "officially," she was back on the Citadel working on the Crucible. That and she really wanted to watch more Avatar.
Tali heard her stomach give a small rumble of hunger. The talks had been going on since this morning and had lasted through Tali's midday nap. Meaning that the Quarian had skipped both of her lunches…
Tali's tummy growled at her again. She had been waging a small war of endurance against her belly in an attempt to wait out the peace talks. Not because she was afraid of getting caught by one of the Quarian admirals, the kitchen was on a different deck than the conference room, but because she just really didn't want to get back into her suit. If it had just been as simple as taking the elevator down to the crew deck while just dressed in her pajamas, she would have been fine doing so. But being a Quarian, she needed to go through the cumbersome process of buckling, zipping, and strapping all of her suit's seals in place. Then, she had to put on her helmet's apparatus, which involved its own endeavor of sealing it to her suit. Needless to say, it was a lot of work to get one little snack.
Another growl sounded from her midsection, this time followed by an annoying pang of hunger.
Ok, maybe the whole process of getting into her suit would be worth it.
Tali hopped up off the couch and walked over to her side of the bed. She decided to let the show continue playing as she bent down to pull out her personal locker from underneath the king sized bed. As she did so, she felt a… draft.
Despite the fact that she was alone Tali let out a soft hiss of embarrassment as a faint blush colored her face. Ok, maybe she would have minded going down in nothing but her pajamas. Back when she had bought them a few months ago they had fit her just fine, but since then, she had undergone a bit of a growth spurt…
Tali opened her locker and pulled out her envirosuit. She placed the purple and black garments on top of the bed and reached down to take off the shorts she currently had on. The Quarian fought with the garment as she sought to get them to stretch back over the curve of her hips and her now larger butt. Almost any movement she made slightly exposed the pronounced curve of her ass to the open air. She hadn't been getting fat, however. All of the extra padding on her butt was pure Quarian muscle.
After a few moments of tugging, her pants finally fell to the floor, brushing against a pair of thighs and calves that Shepard had playfully compared to tree trunks on more than one occasion. Tali made to take off her shirt and bra. As she did so, she took a look down at her stomach and clenched her abdominal muscles, revealing the faint outline of a developing six-pack. As she set her clothes down on the bed, she flexed her arms, highlighting her biceps and triceps, thick with cords of muscle. If she had a mirror in front of her, she would have seen another layer of muscle on her shoulders, trapezoidals, and back.
Ever since the addition of solid food to her diet and the subsequent increase in protein, her muscle development had increased drastically. Despite doing as much running, exercising, and close quarters fighting as she had done during the hunt for Saren and the build-up to the mission through the Omega-4 relay, it was only now that her body starting to develop visible muscle mass. Not altogether surprising considering the fact that now she wasn't relying on processed slop made by uncaring corporations or triple-filtered algae goop made by the Migrant Fleet.
On the one hand, she was happy with her new gains.
But on the other…
Yeah, on the other, her new ass was getting in the way more and more often.
Tali was forced to into yet another tugging match in order to pull up her envirosuit's waist band up over her hips. This one was significantly more difficult as the sturdy, tear-resistant material of her suit was significantly less prone to elastic deformation.
After the ten-minute process of getting into her suit, Tali paused Avatar and left the captain's cabin. She took the elevator down to the crew deck and walked through the deserted mess hall over to the small kitchen's fridge. Opening it, she ducked her head inside to survey its contents. Due to the fact that most of the ship's crew were levo, she and Garrus were forced to stock all of their shared dextro food on the one meager shelf of that they had been allotted.
Unfortunately, EDI had not bought her another Cipritini chicken, so cramming a giant bird down her throat and passing out into a food coma until the Geth-Quarian talks were over was not an option. Instead, Tali simply grabbed a tube of the dextro equivalent of chicken and rice and plugged it into her helmet. Tilting her head up, she let the food fall into her three-jawed mouth, and swallowed it whole. After a few seconds of eating, the Quarian unplugged the tube from her helmet and placed it in one of the kitchen cabinets for later reuse.
Her stomach now sated, Tali turned to leave but paused mid-rotation as a new thought came into her head.
Garrus had some Turian chocolates stored here. Didn't he?
Dr. Michel had been gifting them to him ever since he had rejoined the Normandy crew. The Turian, however had not been keeping up with eating them all and had developed something of a backlog his stash's respective cabinet. Shepard himself had already bought her some the last time they were at the Citadel, but she had already gone through them all. Tali turned around and knelt down to open the specific cabinet and contemplated the small pile of heart-shaped chocolate boxes. Garrus, being the romantically inept guy he was, had not realized the significance of the heart shape within human culture.
The Quarian tapped a finger against her helmet's grill in contemplation.
Was she really that much of a glutton that she would steal food that was meant as a romantic gift to her friend?
Before she could decide if that was the kind of Quarian she was, Tali heard her name being shouted from behind her.
"TALI!"
Tali shot to her feet, hands in a placating position, yelling instictually, "I didn't take anything!"
Then, Tali realized whose voice that was and turned to face Admiral Shala'Raan Vas Tonbay.
The older Quarian was standing at the entrance to the Mess Hall right next to the elevator. When she started walking over to Tali, she did so slowly at first. Each step was hesitant, as if Tali was an apparition that would disappear at any second. When Raan realized that she wasn't hallucinating, that Tali was really right in front of her the Admiral broke into a run and practically tackled Tali into a hug.
"Oh Tali, it is you!" Raan said as she squeezed Tali in an embrace comparable to that a reticulating python. She held Tali like that for a few moments before she realized Tali wasn't hugging her back. Instead her arms were locked firmly down at her sides with her hands balled into fists. Raan looked up to meet her adopted niece's gaze and saw two cold orbs of silver glaring back at her. "Tali?"
"Admiral," Tali's voice was cold as she pushed Raan off of her. "What are you doing down here? From what I heard, the talks haven't concluded yet."
"I-I-I-" Raan trailed off, caught off guard by Tali's standoffish attitude. "We took a small break. I came down here to empty my suit's waste filters. I hadn't expected to find you down he; Shepardrd had told me you were on the Citadel."
"I was a week ago," Tali said, crossing her arms, opting for a caustic sarcastic deflection rather than admitting her boyfriend had lied to the Admiral. "That was when we were docked for resupply after stopping Cerberus' coup. And I have been helping with the Crucib. I'm in charge of evaluating technology the Normandy's probes pick up on planetary scans."
"But why lie about it-" Raan's eyes shot wide open, and she took a step back from Tali. "It was you! You were the one who told the Geth about the LADAR jamming!"
"The Geth figured it out on their own. After all, it's a pretty basic trick." Tali lied nonchalantly.
"And they 'figured it out' right as the Normandy entered the system!" Raan threw her hands up in rage before slamming them down onto a nearby table. "I knew it was too much of a coincidence!"
Tali said nothing. Instead, she just stood there as she watched her former aunt seethe. After a few moments, the admiral whirled on Tali.
"We had them Tali!" Raan roared. "We were going to reclaim Rannoch, the homeworld! We were going to take back our home and finally destroy the greatest enemy our species has ever known! Why in the Ancestors' name would you throw that all away!"
"Throw it away?" Tali whispered under her breath.
"Throw it away?" Tali hissed again.
"THROW IT AWAY!" Tali screamed, her voice shrill. She stormed over to Raan. Her extra couple of centimeters in height and her newfound bulk helping her loom over the smaller Quarian in front of her. "YOU THREW ME AWAY!"
"Where were you when my father died! Where were you this past year when I was thrown out into the galaxy to die! If it hadn't been for Shepard and the Alliance, I would have died! I had nowhere to go!" Tali yelled, driving Raan back a little further with each step she took.
"Tali. I tried everything I could to get you back into the fleet. I really did. But I couldn't have contacted you for no reason. It would have appeared-" Tali cut Raan off before she could continue her defense.
"You had to appear loyal to the fleet. You had to make it appear that you weren't doing anything 'suspicious'. You had to make it appear that I was a valuable asset to the Fleet. You had to make it appear that my reaction to my father dying was genuine! That's all you care about, appearances!" Tali shoved an accusing finger against Raan's chest.
"That is not true!" Raan snapped back. "But I have other responsibilities beyond just you. I thought that if I could use your service record as proof of your capability, I could reverse your banishment with the stipulation that you would help with the war effort."
"And there we go. It all comes back to politics." Tali threw her hands up in equal parts frustration and exasperation.
"That's what the world is Tali. Politics. We have duties to things greater than ourselves." Raan said crossing her arms. Before she could continue with her lecture, Tali's anger exploded again.
"HOW DOES YOUR DUTY TO THE FLEET KEEP YOU FROM TALKING TO ME!" Tali roared, a slight reddish tint coloring her vision. "A vid call. An email. A fucking text message was all I wanted, but I got nothing! Do you know what it's like being alone on an alien world after the only family you've ever known has thrown you away? It was Hell Raan. My life was a living Hell! It was only made bearable because the Alliance of all people took me in."
Tali pointed to the System's Alliance Insignia emblazoned on her envirosuit's right shoulder. "But I'm glad you exiled me. Because it helped me see the truth. The truth is that the Admiralty Board doesn't care about the Quarian people. Koris is a pacifist who's so obsessed with non-violence that we'd all be Batarian slaves if he got his way. Xen is a psychopathic maniac who wants to re-enslave the Geth. And you and Gerrel are obsessed with wiping them out and taking back Rannoch no matter how many of us get killed in the process. The truth is you and my father hated the Geth more than you loved me. Hell, I don't think either of you loved me at all!"
Genuine pain radiated from Raan's eyes at those words. Her voice went from an argumentative shout to an agonized whisper. "Tali, that isn't true at all. Everything we did was for you."
"Everything you did was for yourselves." Tali hissed back. "My Father was so obsessed with building a home for me on Rannoch that he forgot about the home he already had. He chose to use me as his puppet, sending me out on missions that could have gotten me killed so he could play with the toys I brought him. And you… You decided to see me as a tool against the Geth rather than as your god-daughter."
"Tali… You aren't anyone's tool. Both I and you father loved you. I swear on my ancestor's name that you are like my own flesh and blood Tali. You're my family." Raan reached out to place her hands on Tali's shoulders. An ache swelled in Tali's chest at Raan's words. She had been dying to hear those words for the past year.
It didn't stop Tali from shoving her former aunt's hands away.
"You aren't my family." Tali responded coldly. "My name is Tali'Zorah Vas Normandy, remember?"
Tali walked back into the kitchen and grabbed one of Garrus' chocolate boxes from the cabinet where it was stored. Garrus could forgive her this one moment of weakness when she needed it this bad. Afterward, she stalked back towards the elevator, before taking a moment to pause and turn back to Admiral Raan. "I'll see you upstairs. Now that the secret is out, there's no reason for me to sit out the peace talks when the other Admirals will have questions for me."
She left Raan alone in the Mess Hall. Tears streamed from the green-clad Quarian's eyes as she buried her masked face into her hands. She was brought out of her misery by a flanging voice sounding off to her right.
"Well, that was dramatic," Garrus said as he walked out from his eavesdropping position by the sleeping pods. "I could hear you two from the main battery."
Raan's eyes narrowed. "Do you really feel the need to mock me Turian, when I've just lost the only family I had left?"
"You lost her a long time ago. You forget I was with her and Shepard during the trial." Garrus said, walking over. "You weren't there for her then, but that wasn't when she really needed you. It was afterward on Earth that she needed you."
"I think I got the message." Raan hissed softly, too defeated to manage anything more than a soft stream of air.
"My father wasn't there for me either. We've had… a strained relationship to say the least. But when I asked for his help with preparing the hierarchy for the Reapers… he stepped up. It didn't fix all of our problems, but it was a good start." Garrus said, placing a taloned hand on Raan's shoulder.
"I think my relationship with Tali is too far gone for that now," Raan whispered.
"Not if you vote for peace."
Anger flared in the pit of Raan's stomach. "Is this supposed to be some kind of twisted way to get me to vote for peace with the Geth!?"
The Turian shook his head. "No. I'm telling you that one of those Geth up there is Tali's friend. If you want to repair your relationship with her, a good start would be… stepping up, now that she needs you again."
—-
The reception to Tali's entry into the conference room was mixed. Shepard was initially confused by her appearance but was quickly informed by EDI about her and Admiral Raan's encounter down in the Mess Hall via the earbud in his ear. The Geth gazed at her impassively; they already knew that she was on the ship but had not said anything at EDI's request. Afterall, if it was statistically more likely to help achieve peace, why not let Tali's good deed go unnoticed by the Admirals? Except for Legion, that is, he gave her a friendly wave as she walked in. The Admiral's reactions were much more animated.
"Tali! What in the Ancestors' name are you doing here?!" Han'Gerrel exclaimed, getting out of his seat.
"Isn't it obvious, Gerrel? She's the one who revealed our LADAR jamming's secret to the Geth." Daro'Xen said dismissively.
"WHAT!" Gerrel shouted in equal parts, shock and outrage. "Tali, is this true? This was your father's life's work. You couldn't have possibly thrown it away just like that!"
"But that's why it makes so much sense," Zaal'Koris spoke up. "It was her father's work. Therefore, being someone who already knew a great deal about it she knew how to counteract it."
The last Admiral, the Admiral who had taken over her father's Intelligence and Espionage fleet was decidedly more… muted with his response.
"Hey Tali," Kal'Reegar said awkwardly. "Good to see that you landed on your feet."
"Kal? What are you doing here?" Tali asked in a surprised tone. "I apologize if I'm being blunt, but you don't really seem like the kind of Quarian I pegged for being spymaster."
"I'm not. I was just put here as a way to make sure another pacifist didn't get on the Admiralty Board… I don't actually know what I'm doing." Kal said. Gerrel slapped a hand against his mask in exasperation.
"Kal, you're not supposed to say it out loud!"
"But we're behind closed doors. Isn't this what politicians usually do behind closed doors?" Kal aske,d confused.
"A peace summit is not a 'closed doors' situation," Xen said with a disappointed sigh.
"Oh… Well, how was I supposed to know that? I'm a soldier, not a damned politician!" Kal barked.
Before the tangent could continue any further, Raan walked back into the room. After briefly meeting Tali's gaze, she looked down at the ground and moved to take her seat in silence.
"Well, I see that you two have caught up already," Xen said nonchalantly. "Let's continue with where we left off."
"The Geth will not submit to deactivation or return to servitude." One of the Geth representatives declared.
"But you're willing to give us the homeworld back?" Kal asked, placing his helmet into a gloved hand.
"Affirmative."
"I don't see what the problem is," Kal said, turning to the other Admirals. "We're here to retake Rannoch. They're willing to give it back. Why don't we just take the offer and go?"
"I agree. This is the best scenario we could have been presented with. Better than a military victory, as we can avoid laying siege to our own planet. They have already mentioned that they have restored a majority of the cities that were destroyed during the Geth uprising. All we need to do is accept their peace offer, and we can start resettlement immediately." Koris said. He sounded energetic. Whatever fatalistic mentality he had possessed after the decision to go to war, had vanished at the opportunity to avoid any further bloodshed. "We can end this stupid conflict and avoid any more violence. We can live in peace!"
Shepard cleared his throat. "Once the Reapers are destroyed, you mean. Remember that there is a bigger threat to the galaxy out there."
Koris shook his head in exasperation. "Yes. We will, of course, dedicate all of our, military resources to assisting your Coalition in combating the Reapers. But let's not lose sight of what really matters here."
"I think the Reapers are what matters most here," Tali spoke up. "Neither of you will get to enjoy Rannoch if we're all dead."
"I agree." Kal perked up. "This should be a strategy meeting. We should be discussing how to best combine our resources and be drawing up contingencies in case of a Reaper attack."
"We concur. We have several suggestions on how to best prepare for an Old Machine incursion." One of the Geth Representatives seconded.
"See! Why are we still arguing over peace when we're both about to get wiped out by the fucking apocalypse?" Kal said, getting frustrated. "An alliance is the only tactically sound option."
"You forget, Admiral Kal, that alliances are built on trust," Xen answered cooly, placing her hands on the table and interlocking her fingers. "After what happened yesterday, we have no reason to trust the Geth."
"What do you mean? The Geth called off their attack. They want peace." Shepard said, crossing his arms.
"You want peace, Commander. The Geth do not want anything. They follow mathematical algorithms that determine their actions based on what would be the most logical course of action with the given data that they have." Xen turned towards Tali. "It was your father's findings that helped us realize just how data-driven the Geth are. So much so that if faulty data was constructed well enough, the Geth would accept it as truth, even if common sense said otherwise. That is why the LADAR jamming system worked so well. Even though it made no sense for there to be starlight surrounding the entirety of the ship, the data supported it as the only 'logical' conclusion. "
"But doesn't it make logical sense for us to unite in the face of the Reaper threat, given the evidence of how dangerous the Reapers are?" Koris interrupted. "The Geth realized that we would need to come together and face this threat as a united front."
"Incorrect. They would have already assessed the possibility of an alliance against the Reapers and determined our extinction to be the more preferable option to ensure their continued functionality." Xen shook her head. "It is also important to mention that it is far more likely that someone told the Geth the secret to our LADAR jamming system, rather than the Geth suddenly overcoming the fault in their programming on their own when they were unable to properly network with each other."
"Just what are you saying, Xen?" Gerrel asked with a slight growl in his voice. "Are you suggesting-"
"That our good Commander forced us into a peace conference by making a deal with the Geth to give them the information on how to overcome our LADAR jamming? I am." Xen finished for Gerrel, her voice frosty.
Gerrel and Kal whirled to face the Normandy's captain. Raan simply sighed, while Koris didn't seem to react at all. Whether or not he had already come to that conclusion or that he simply didn't care was unclear. The Geth answered Xen before she could continue or before Shepard or Tali could muster a defense or denial.
"This is correct. Shepard-Commander offered us the information in exchange for peace." One of the Geth representatives said.
"Can you define what a deal is?" Xen asked pointedly.
"Deal: An agreement between organics to accomplish a task, either together or separately, in search of mutual gain." The Geth intoned.
"Do you know what makes a deal binding?" Xen pressed, leaning forward slightly.
"A deal can only be considered binding if it is enforced via government intervention." The Geth said again.
"Wrong," Xen said. Her eyes were smiling behind her mask. Tali felt a small bit of dread pool in her stomach. What was Xen playing at?
"Explain." The Geth stated, its monotone voice laced with confusion. Its optics whirred and its face plates shifted as the Geth gave its full attention to this organic which had supposedly found a flaw within their logic.
"You say that deals are only binding if there is a higher authority to enforce them, yet even criminals can make deals with each other that last for long periods of time. The average person can make a deal with their neighbor and can rest assured it is fulfilled even without a guarantee by the government because of one simple organic evolutionary trait." Xen held up one finger. "Trust."
"Commander Shepard made that deal with you because he thought that he could trust you to abide by it. However, you didn't. You saw that the only logical course of action was to wipe us out to ensure your own survival." Xen turned towards Shepard. "I imagine you had to ask your ship's AI to intervene in order to find a flaw in the Geth's logic."
"I intervened on my own." EDI interjected over the intercom.
"You must care very dearly for your crew, I imagine." Xen said responded.
"I do." EDI proclaimed. "I would risk non-functionality to save any of them."
Xen's eyes shone just a bit brighter in that second. "The Geth have no such desires. Cerberus programmed the Normandy's AI to preserve and protect its crew. Organics evolved to preserve and protect each other due to the advantage that organized societies have. Our ancestors built the Geth to use logic chains and networked intelligence to solve whatever problems they might come across. We never programmed them empathy or any simulacrum of it."
Xen stood up and looked each of the Geth representatives in the optic as she spoke. "We cannot trust you. You have no notion of empathy or what it is to care for someone else. You only protect other Geth programs because you were designed to network with each other and build intelligence that way. The destruction of other programs inhibits that. If the Quarian people are to agree to ANY form of peace, all Geth programs would need to have additional code added to them to ensure that there will be no further betrayals in the future."
This statement finally caused an animated reaction from the Geth. They turned to each other and communicated in a rapid series of clicks and buzzes. Legion joined into the discordant chorus of machine code as they debated this demand amongst could imagine what they were saying. Xen had made it clear that the Geth had already proven themselves untrustworthy and would need to be modified in order to ensure peace. The problem was that Legion knew very well what Xen was like. She didn't want an alliance, she wanted to re-enslave the Geth. The Geth wanted to avoid wiping out their creators, but they also wanted to preserve their freedom. Any update that Xen designed would take away their free will. Xen herself had sat back down and was leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed. After a few minutes, the Geth finally quieted down and turned towards Xen to speak.
"The Geth would be willing to self modify-"
"Not possible. You have no concept of empathy or how an organic emotion would be translated to code. The Special Projects Fleet, however, still has records of the Geth's original VI code structure. Coupled with the data from Rael'Zorah's research of modern Geth runtimes, we have an extremely good view of how the Geth 'mind' functions. Given that we are also organic and know what empathy 'feels' like, we are the only ones qualified to construct an update that would be likely to succeed at what it is trying to accomplish." Xen countered harshly, not even letting the Geth finish.
The Geth descended into another bout of debate with themselves. This time their clicking and buzzing was more frenzied. However, it finished after a minute. "The Geth would be willing to subject themselves to an update developed by EDI-"
"Not possible. EDI is an independent AI, not a networked one. Furthermore, EDI exists primarily within the Normandy's AI core. Geth exist as software within any platform. The code structures between the two of you are too different for a simple 'copy paste' strategy to work. I have no doubt EDI is capable, however, of translating her code structure into one compatible with the Geth's. Given enough time, she could do this. However, you are in the middle of a war, Commander Shepard. Tasking EDI with this project would take up most of her processing power. She would be unable to multitask between developing the update and performing her regular duties." Xen interrupted again.
Once again the Geth dissolved into internal debate. Koris drummed his fingers on his mask looking deep in thought. Raan sat silently, staring down at the table while Kal'Reegar just looked between the different admirals, a look of confusion evident behind his mask. Tali looked over toShepardShepar to see his own brow furrowed in thought. Probably, like Koris, trying to think of a good enough excuse to disprove Xen's argument.
"You can trust the Geth as they are." Tali blurted out. Soon, everyone's eyes or optics were on her.
"The Geth…" Tali wracked her brain for a way to back up her claim. "Are designed to learn from a task. Back when they performed menial labor for the Quarians, the Geth were programmed to identify when a preprogrammed method was ineffective and to develop variations on their original method to find a more viable one. Once one was found, the Geth would self-modify to add this new information to their shared network."
"I imagine that you are trying to apply the Geth's learning subroutines to developing emotions." Xen said, turning to face her.
"Why not? Trial and error is how organic evolution works. Why not task a few Geth runtimes to work with Quarians on mimicking their emotional responses and then add the… I guess you would call it the logic of emotion to the Geth's code." Tali said, cringing a bit as she did. 'The logic of emotion', what was she thinking? Xen actually laughed as Tali finished.
"I know of several Quarian psychologists who would be willing to work with the Geth on a project like this." Koris spoke up in support of Tali's idea. "They are too old to perform military-related duties and would be unable to participate in the future conflict with the Reapers. It would not be a drain on resources, unlike dedicating half of the Special Projects Fleet to writing code instead of developing weapons against the Reapers."
"I can assure you all the Special Projects Fleet would have a suitable update developed in a timely manner." Xen said placatingly. Most likely she had already been working on code or a virus that would return the Geth to slavery for years.
"I still don't know why we are debating an update for the Geth like its patch notes for a video game," Kal'Reegar interjected. "If the Geth are beings of logic then they only came here cause the Geth recognize the logic of cooperation. Now I don't like the Geth much. They've killed a lot of good men. Some of which I knew personally. But if we are going to survive the Reapers, then we need the Geth as they are. I don't want to risk breaking them with some stupid update that means they start feeling bad for the people they kill. If that happens they might not wanna fight the Reapers, and then we'd be screwed. I'd rather they talk with Koris' shrinks than anything else."
Kal stood up from his seat before Xen could respond and loudly stated. "I'm putting forward the vote for peace with the Geth, under the condition that we get Rannoch back. Who's with me?"
Koris stood up as well. "That's not exactly how motions are put forward, but it's close enough. I vote in favor of peace."
"Without a guarantee of a Special Projects Fleet developed update I must reject this proposal," Xen said, staying seated.
"I vote against this as well," Gerrel said, turning his head to face Admiral Raan. "Right Raan?"
Raan, who had been silent for the entire second half of the conference, looked up from where her eyes had been fixed on the table. Slowly she turned her head to look at the room's occupants. Xen and Gerrel were fairly relaxed. Raan disagreed with them on a majority of things, but in the past, their shared hatred for the Geth was not one of them. Kal was tense with anticipation while Koris' shoulder sagged as he looked at the woman who had helped vote for war in the first place. The Geth were talking amongst themselves. They must have seen this vote as inconsequential given the odds of this pro-war Quarian voting for peace were non-existent. One of Shepard's eyebrows was raised as he looked at Raan, curious as to what she would say. Tali…
Tali was wringing her hands in worry. Just like her mother used to do whenever she was nervous. Just like Tali did when she was upset about something as a little girl. Just like Tali did when the Admiralty Board was voting on whether or not to Exile her…
Raan's gaze met her niece's. "I vote for peace."
"WHAT!" Koris, Gerrel, and Xen all shouted at once. The Geth's internal debate was cut short by the sudden, unexpected change in variables. Kal let out a small laugh before slapping Koris on the back, acting like his favorite Eezoball team had just won a game. Shepard let out a sigh of relief as Tali just stared at her aunt in stunned silence.
"I guess that settles it!" Kal'Reegar said before sitting back down. "Now we can get onto more important matters. From what we know of the Reapers-"
"That does NOT settle it!" Gerrel yelled. "The Heavy Fleet will not abide by this decision."
"Then you can carry on the fight alone, Gerrel. Without support from the Patrol Fleet." Raan said coldly.
"Or without the Civilian Fleet. I am taking my people home." Koris said, his voice cracking slightly at the word as a few tears leaked out of his eyes.
"I don't even think the Heavy Fleet will follow him. I know a couple of the Captains. If they were offered a choice of going to war against the Reapers for their new planet and going to war to destroy the Geth, they'd choose the Reapers." Kal said. Gerrel sputtered for a second as Xen seethed in silence. Eventually, Gerrel sat back down, an irritated look visible even through his opaque mask.
"Now then, onto business…"
—-
The peace conference turned war summit lasted for the next three hours. It was decided that the Civilian Fleet would stay within the Perseus Veil for the moment to settle its non-military population onto Rannoch before going to join the rest of the war effort. The Special Projects Fleet and Intelligence Fleet would report to the site Zeta in the Serpent Neubula where the Crucible was being constructed. The Heavy fleet would be redeployed to the Silean Nebula to assist in repelling a new Reaper offensive, while The Patrol Fleet would be sent to the Krogan DMZ to assist with transporting Krogan soldiers to Palaven. The Geth Fleet would be sent to the Attican Traverse, where the Alliance had been engaged in a fighting retreat since the war started. Legion had offered to join the Normandy crew once again, to which Shepard had accepted.
When the conference concluded, the Geth Primes filed out of the room with Koris in toe. They were deep in a logistical discussion of how the civilian population could be offloaded onto Rannoch. Xen had stormed off of the Normandy the first chance she got while Gerrel and Kal had gotten on an extended QEC call with Admiral Hackett over the state of affairs within the Silean Nebula. Raan, however, came up to Tali.
"Do you… have a moment to talk?" Raan asked as she lightly grabbed Tali's shoulder as the purple-clad Quarian made to leave the now empty conference room. Her husky voice was raw from how much talking had been done today. Tali turned towards Shepard who merely shrugged his shoulders in an 'its up to you' motion. After a moment, Tali nodded towards Raan.
With that, the two Quarians were left alone in the conference room.
"I-" Raan made the attempt to speak but could not think of what to say.
"You-" Tali tried herself to start the conversation but also failed.
Silence reigned for a few seconds before Raan finally spoke up.
"I'm sorry." Raan said, her voice cracking slightly as she lightly rubbed her own shoulder. "I shouldn't have cut contact with you after your trial. Your mother asked me to look after you, and with your father gone, thats what I should have been focused on. Instead I… I left you to wander the galaxy on your own. It was wrong. And I am so, so sorry Tali."
"I'm not going to lie, its going to take some time for what you did… or didn't do, to heal. I was miserable whenever I was given the chance to think about what happened to me, and these past few months have been the most difficult of my life. But…" Tali trailed off for a second. "Why did you vote for peace? Back down in the Mess Hall, it sounded like the only thing you cared about was destroying the Geth."
"I realized that there are some things more important than personal grudges and petty politics. I wasn't there for you before. I just wanted to try to be there for you today." Raan murmured softly. To the surprise of both Quarians, Tali wrapped her arms around Raan in an embrace. Once the older Quarian realized what was happening, she hugged Tali back.
"Thank you…" Tali whispered to her aunt as they stood there alone in the conference room. "Thank you for helping me."
The two stood there like that for a time before separating. Raan held Tali by her shoulders, looking her over. Finally, Raan took a chance to observe how her niece had been faring these past few months. After a second, she moved her hands down to Tali's biceps and squeezed them slightly. "You look umm…healthy."
"Y-Yeah." Tali laughed slightly. "I got the chance to transition back to solid food while I was on Earth. All the extra protein has really helped fill me out I guess."
"It looks good on you," Raan said, her voice not holding a hint of jealousy towards the rare dietary privilege her niece had been given. "When this war is over, you could become the first Quarian bodybuilder in the past three hundred years."
"Keelah no!" Tali laughed as she lightly brushed her Aunt's hands off of her. "I've seen what human bodybuilding is like. I don't wanna become some roided-up meat head obsessed with her own muscles."
"The entirety of Rannoch would be obsessed with your muscles, Tali. I'm sure that once this war is over, a lot of men would want to get to know you better." Raan said slyly with a wink of a silver eye.
"I've already got a boyfriend Auntie," Tali said proudly. "And he's got quite a bit of muscle on himself too."
"And who would that be-OOHHH!" Raan exclaimed. "You mean you and Shepard!"
"He's been good to me. And we love each other." Tali said simply. "At that point, what more can you ask for."
"Fair enough, I suppose." Raan shook her head, laughing slightly. "I can just imagine what your father's reaction to this would be."
Tali began to laugh too. "He would have hated Shepard."
"He would have lost it when he heard you were dating an alien!" Raan devolved into a full-on belly laugh. "He was always obsessed with stupid shit like that."
"Yeah… he was obsessed with a lot of things…" Tali trailed off. After that, silence fell back over the room. They both stood there remembering the not-so-good things about Rael'Zorah.
"How about I walk you to the airlock? Your ship should be here by now." Tali offered.
As they walked back to the airlock, they caught up on some of the more mundane happenings in their life. Raan talked about the book she was currently reading, while Tali talked about her new cartoon obsession.
"Keelah… A human kid's cartoon from a hundred years ago? That's a bit strange, don't you think?" Raan asked as they waited at the airlock. Raan's transport was waiting to dock but was currently being held up by a Geth ship delivering something.
"C'mon Raan. It's such a good show! You'd love-" Tali was cut off by the airlock door opening and a massive hulking form stepping through the doorway. It was a Geth Prime with dark grey painted armor plating, blue lighted optics, a Widow antimaterial rifle built into its shoulder, and an N7 logo painted on its chest. "Wait… Legion?"
"Creator Tali'Zorah. The platform is combat-ready." Legion's voice sounded from the Geth prime as it ducked slightly and stepped out of the airlock.
"I-I thought you had gone downstairs to engineering," Tali stated, baffled at the new hulking form of her friend in front of her.
"Our previous platform has been deposited into storage. We have transferred all runtimes to this one."
"You decided to… switch bodies?" Raan asked.
"Our previous platform was built for infiltration, not built for open war. This platform is built to sustain significantly more damage and carry heavier weaponry. I will report to the cargo bay where the ceiling is higher." With that, Legion lumbered off.
"Well… in that case I shouldn't have to worry about your safety," Raan said as her ship docked and she stepped into the airlock. "I look forward to seeing you once this war is over."
Tali gave her aunt one last hug before stepping out of the airlock and heading back to engineering.