SSV Normandy, Armstrong Nebula, A Few Hours Out From the Mass Relay, 2183
"That's four geth outposts and their base destroyed. Good work, everyone," Shepard said, her voice echoing off the bulkheads in the stairwell down to the crew deck. "I think we can consider their foothold in this system effectively wiped out."
"One less thing for the human colonists out here to worry about," agreed Garrus. "Sure, they still have pirates and slaving rings to deal with, and your standard minor scuffles with the batarians, but those? A day in the life in the Skyllian Verge. Throwing the geth in the mix too, though: that was a little excessive."
"I know it's because of Saren, but I still have a hard time believing they've ventured this far past the Veil," Tali said, trailing behind them by a pace or two. "I can't say it isn't satisfying to push them back a few steps." It wasn't as monumental -- or as personal -- an accomplishment as she imagined reclaiming Rannoch would be, but it was still a victory over the geth. Tali thought she was justified in feeling some measure of satisfaction about it.
"Enjoy it," Shepard said, as they reached the doors to the cargo bay lift. Of course she had time to fit in one more quick speech, with as much time as it would take the elevator just to come up one deck, and from the hint of a preoccupied expression on her face Tali knew the Commander was already thinking about the bigger problem of how to deal with Saren. "Now get some rest. You earned it."
She turned and headed toward the medbay like a woman on yet another mission, and just as the lift doors opened she and Garrus could hear her assuring Dr. Chakwas that she was fine, she wasn't there to get patched up.
. . . Okay, maybe Saren wasn't what was on Shepard's mind right now.
They stepped into the lift, and Garrus chuckled knowingly. "Our illustrious leader's developed quite the newfound enthusiasm for -- ahem -- Prothean history lately, hasn't she?"
Tali snickered. "There's one conversation I have no intention of barging in on."
"Aw, come on," Garrus wheedled. "Not even a little bit?"
"Absolutely not."
"I can't deny I wouldn't mind, personally."
"That's because you are terrible," Tali informed him.
She did have a good reason to talk to Shepard after that mission, but doubted it would help her cause to go chasing the Commander down on the ship like a demented pyjak. (Besides, she saw what happened to those pyjaks on Eletania.) Shepard would come around for a visit sooner or later anyway. She always did; it was important for her to get to know her crew, she said, and made the rounds of the ship between missions, taking the time to talk to all of them.
Tali left Garrus by the Mako, where he was probably going to spend the next few hours calibrating its cannons because that was his idea of relaxing, and waved across the cargo bay to Wrex and Ashley on her way to the engine room. By now she was used to how quietly the Normandy ran compared to the Rayya, but Tali still thought it was the most familiar-feeling place on the ship and spent most of her downtime between missions there.
Engineer Adams looked up as she entered and laughed. "Sorry, Tali, I still don't have any new tricks to teach you," he said; as quick of a learner as Tali was, and how easily she'd absorbed everything there was to know about the Normandy's systems, it had become a bit of a running joke between them by this point.
"It's okay," she assured him. "I had some ideas on boosting the capacity of the internal emission sinks, anyway -- don't worry, it's all purely theoretical for now."
She went over to the terminal she'd claimed as her own and pulled up a set of drive core schematics, but she couldn't stop thinking about the geth base on Solcrum, and the terminal that had sent a broadcast back to the geth-controlled worlds beyond the Perseus Veil. The surprising part was that the broadcast had been a song, a recording of a quarian lament. She booted up a music program and turned up the audio receptors in her suit, but the memory of that song stuck with her as she worked.
"Ma'am," she heard faintly over the sound of her music and the drive core's hum at some point later -- she wasn't sure how long, she'd been caught up in working out some calculations -- and glanced over her shoulder to see Adams salute Shepard before she engaged him in a brief conversation. Whatever Adams had to say must have met with the Commander's approval, because she nodded and patted him on the shoulder, then moved on toward where Tali was standing.
"Shepard," Tali greeted her, glad that her mask kept it from being obvious that she was trying to gauge Shepard's mood. She seemed relaxed, was almost grinning a bit the way she usually was after talking to Liara, and that was a good sign. Quickly, before she could second-guess herself, Tali went on, "I need to talk to you. It's important."
A flash of concern showed in Shepard's eyes. "Is something wrong?"
"You know the data you took from those geth control nodes? The information you uploaded to Alliance control?" Tali asked, and Shepard nodded. "I want a copy of it."
Shepard was quiet for a very long moment before she finally said, at least sounding apologetic about it, "Tali, I can't pass out classified information."
"Please," Tali persisted, "you don't understand what this could mean to my people! Those files have information that could be vital to our efforts to understand the geth. It could be the key to helping us reclaim our homeworld!"
The look on Shepard's face was resolute but utterly sympathetic, and that almost made it worse. "It'll take years to decipher and analyze the data."
"Maybe even decades," agreed Tali, "but it's worth the time. This information will give us new insight into how the geth have changed and evolved over the past centuries."
Shepard shook her head. "Until our cryptologists decipher that data, it stays with the Alliance. After that, you can make an official appeal for access to the files."
"Right." Shepard took her job very seriously and was fiercely loyal to the Alliance Navy, Tali knew that, but she couldn't help feeling disappointed, and she couldn't help the bitterness that crept into her voice. "I'm sure the Alliance will have no problem turning it over to my people. Governments are always eager to work with the Migrant Fleet."
Ouch. That had come out a bit more sarcastic than she'd meant it to. She sighed.
"You're looking out for your own people. I understand that. I just . . . I wish it wasn't at my people's expense."
Shepard looked guilty at that, but never broke eye contact. "I'm a soldier, Tali," she said, in a softer tone. "I have to respect the chain of command."
"I know. I'm the daughter of an Admiral, after all. I understand how that goes. Making the hard decisions is your job." And she did understand, but Tali was still incredibly glad making those decisions didn't fall to her.
"Yeah." Shepard nodded, and all of a sudden she looked tired. "It is. I'm sorry."
And that was the thing about Shepard: she put her all into everything she did, and did it with such integrity that her entire crew would follow her into impossible odds without hesitation. So, even as disappointing as that answer was, Tali could respect it and the reasoning behind it.
"Don't worry," she promised. "I'll still do everything I can to help you stop Saren. But it's my turn to be sorry, because as soon as this mission is over, I have to resume my Pilgrimage."
"You're a valuable member of this crew, and I hate to lose you, but I understand," Shepard assured her. "I have my duty, and you have yours. I wish they could have been a little more in sync. But what are you doing working? You just got back from a mission. Get some rest -- and that's an order."
"And weren't you just on that mission, too?" Not that Shepard could see Tali raising her eyebrows behind the mask, but her crossed arms and the tilt of her head conveyed that just as well. "Then again, I'm not sure you were exactly working just now . . ."
Sometimes, not being part of the Normandy's Alliance crew had its advantages. Garrus and Wrex seized on that every opportunity they could get. They were a bad influence.
Shepard blinked in surprise, then laughed. "Yeah, yeah. I'm heading to my cabin now. Go. Hit the bunks."
Grinning despite herself, Tali watched Shepard walk off and caught Ashley's greeting of "Hey, Skipper!" before the engine room door closed, then shut down her own terminal and went to go claim a sleeper pod. She might be disappointed that the end of her Pilgrimage wasn't as close as she thought it would be, but -- assuming they succeeded in stopping Saren and came out the other end of that mission alive -- she was going to miss this ship and its crew when she went.
[OOC: Dialogue in the second half of this was taken and adapted from Mass Effect. La la la, putting a paragon spin on renegade dialogue options. Whoops, my shipping tendencies are showing. TBC, NFI/NFB, but I love me some OOC.]
"One less thing for the human colonists out here to worry about," agreed Garrus. "Sure, they still have pirates and slaving rings to deal with, and your standard minor scuffles with the batarians, but those? A day in the life in the Skyllian Verge. Throwing the geth in the mix too, though: that was a little excessive."
"I know it's because of Saren, but I still have a hard time believing they've ventured this far past the Veil," Tali said, trailing behind them by a pace or two. "I can't say it isn't satisfying to push them back a few steps." It wasn't as monumental -- or as personal -- an accomplishment as she imagined reclaiming Rannoch would be, but it was still a victory over the geth. Tali thought she was justified in feeling some measure of satisfaction about it.
"Enjoy it," Shepard said, as they reached the doors to the cargo bay lift. Of course she had time to fit in one more quick speech, with as much time as it would take the elevator just to come up one deck, and from the hint of a preoccupied expression on her face Tali knew the Commander was already thinking about the bigger problem of how to deal with Saren. "Now get some rest. You earned it."
She turned and headed toward the medbay like a woman on yet another mission, and just as the lift doors opened she and Garrus could hear her assuring Dr. Chakwas that she was fine, she wasn't there to get patched up.
. . . Okay, maybe Saren wasn't what was on Shepard's mind right now.
They stepped into the lift, and Garrus chuckled knowingly. "Our illustrious leader's developed quite the newfound enthusiasm for -- ahem -- Prothean history lately, hasn't she?"
Tali snickered. "There's one conversation I have no intention of barging in on."
"Aw, come on," Garrus wheedled. "Not even a little bit?"
"Absolutely not."
"I can't deny I wouldn't mind, personally."
"That's because you are terrible," Tali informed him.
She did have a good reason to talk to Shepard after that mission, but doubted it would help her cause to go chasing the Commander down on the ship like a demented pyjak. (Besides, she saw what happened to those pyjaks on Eletania.) Shepard would come around for a visit sooner or later anyway. She always did; it was important for her to get to know her crew, she said, and made the rounds of the ship between missions, taking the time to talk to all of them.
Tali left Garrus by the Mako, where he was probably going to spend the next few hours calibrating its cannons because that was his idea of relaxing, and waved across the cargo bay to Wrex and Ashley on her way to the engine room. By now she was used to how quietly the Normandy ran compared to the Rayya, but Tali still thought it was the most familiar-feeling place on the ship and spent most of her downtime between missions there.
Engineer Adams looked up as she entered and laughed. "Sorry, Tali, I still don't have any new tricks to teach you," he said; as quick of a learner as Tali was, and how easily she'd absorbed everything there was to know about the Normandy's systems, it had become a bit of a running joke between them by this point.
"It's okay," she assured him. "I had some ideas on boosting the capacity of the internal emission sinks, anyway -- don't worry, it's all purely theoretical for now."
She went over to the terminal she'd claimed as her own and pulled up a set of drive core schematics, but she couldn't stop thinking about the geth base on Solcrum, and the terminal that had sent a broadcast back to the geth-controlled worlds beyond the Perseus Veil. The surprising part was that the broadcast had been a song, a recording of a quarian lament. She booted up a music program and turned up the audio receptors in her suit, but the memory of that song stuck with her as she worked.
"Ma'am," she heard faintly over the sound of her music and the drive core's hum at some point later -- she wasn't sure how long, she'd been caught up in working out some calculations -- and glanced over her shoulder to see Adams salute Shepard before she engaged him in a brief conversation. Whatever Adams had to say must have met with the Commander's approval, because she nodded and patted him on the shoulder, then moved on toward where Tali was standing.
"Shepard," Tali greeted her, glad that her mask kept it from being obvious that she was trying to gauge Shepard's mood. She seemed relaxed, was almost grinning a bit the way she usually was after talking to Liara, and that was a good sign. Quickly, before she could second-guess herself, Tali went on, "I need to talk to you. It's important."
A flash of concern showed in Shepard's eyes. "Is something wrong?"
"You know the data you took from those geth control nodes? The information you uploaded to Alliance control?" Tali asked, and Shepard nodded. "I want a copy of it."
Shepard was quiet for a very long moment before she finally said, at least sounding apologetic about it, "Tali, I can't pass out classified information."
"Please," Tali persisted, "you don't understand what this could mean to my people! Those files have information that could be vital to our efforts to understand the geth. It could be the key to helping us reclaim our homeworld!"
The look on Shepard's face was resolute but utterly sympathetic, and that almost made it worse. "It'll take years to decipher and analyze the data."
"Maybe even decades," agreed Tali, "but it's worth the time. This information will give us new insight into how the geth have changed and evolved over the past centuries."
Shepard shook her head. "Until our cryptologists decipher that data, it stays with the Alliance. After that, you can make an official appeal for access to the files."
"Right." Shepard took her job very seriously and was fiercely loyal to the Alliance Navy, Tali knew that, but she couldn't help feeling disappointed, and she couldn't help the bitterness that crept into her voice. "I'm sure the Alliance will have no problem turning it over to my people. Governments are always eager to work with the Migrant Fleet."
Ouch. That had come out a bit more sarcastic than she'd meant it to. She sighed.
"You're looking out for your own people. I understand that. I just . . . I wish it wasn't at my people's expense."
Shepard looked guilty at that, but never broke eye contact. "I'm a soldier, Tali," she said, in a softer tone. "I have to respect the chain of command."
"I know. I'm the daughter of an Admiral, after all. I understand how that goes. Making the hard decisions is your job." And she did understand, but Tali was still incredibly glad making those decisions didn't fall to her.
"Yeah." Shepard nodded, and all of a sudden she looked tired. "It is. I'm sorry."
And that was the thing about Shepard: she put her all into everything she did, and did it with such integrity that her entire crew would follow her into impossible odds without hesitation. So, even as disappointing as that answer was, Tali could respect it and the reasoning behind it.
"Don't worry," she promised. "I'll still do everything I can to help you stop Saren. But it's my turn to be sorry, because as soon as this mission is over, I have to resume my Pilgrimage."
"You're a valuable member of this crew, and I hate to lose you, but I understand," Shepard assured her. "I have my duty, and you have yours. I wish they could have been a little more in sync. But what are you doing working? You just got back from a mission. Get some rest -- and that's an order."
"And weren't you just on that mission, too?" Not that Shepard could see Tali raising her eyebrows behind the mask, but her crossed arms and the tilt of her head conveyed that just as well. "Then again, I'm not sure you were exactly working just now . . ."
Sometimes, not being part of the Normandy's Alliance crew had its advantages. Garrus and Wrex seized on that every opportunity they could get. They were a bad influence.
Shepard blinked in surprise, then laughed. "Yeah, yeah. I'm heading to my cabin now. Go. Hit the bunks."
Grinning despite herself, Tali watched Shepard walk off and caught Ashley's greeting of "Hey, Skipper!" before the engine room door closed, then shut down her own terminal and went to go claim a sleeper pod. She might be disappointed that the end of her Pilgrimage wasn't as close as she thought it would be, but -- assuming they succeeded in stopping Saren and came out the other end of that mission alive -- she was going to miss this ship and its crew when she went.
[OOC: Dialogue in the second half of this was taken and adapted from Mass Effect. La la la, putting a paragon spin on renegade dialogue options. Whoops, my shipping tendencies are showing. TBC, NFI/NFB, but I love me some OOC.]