Same Old Song and Dance [Tali]

Tagged : tali | Words : 917 | Notes : I'll tell you about Kaddi tomorrow! Since...I had to look it up myself. >>;

Kal’Reegar had once read a human adage, one of those rare nights when he found himself with idle time. The adage went, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results.” Kal thought it to be a pretty good definition, even if it was a little limited in its scope. Then again, maybe humans went insane in a totally different way from quarians. And humans did love to repeat themselves, didn’t they? Kal had seen some extranet vids of their current councilor, Udina. Keelah help the galaxy if a man like him held any power. The point was, though, that Kal was finding that someone on the admiralty board – someone possibly named Admiral Gerrel – was starting to fit the definition that the adage spoke of. Never did Kal think that he’d be dragging his team out to help Tali’Zorah with yet another highly dangerous mission that might be worth nothing to the fleet in the long run.

What Kal thought would happen and what actually happened were two very different things lately. Kal sat quietly in his seat on their shuttle, toes splayed out on the floor as he leaned forward and stared at his reflection on the silvery surface. Across from his reflection, a second distorted form intruded. Kal typically gave Tali’Zorah her space as best he could – he, as well as anyone, knew that all sorts of amazing things were going on in that amazing mind of hers when she was quiet – but as he ignited his omni-tool long enough to call up the current location of the shuttle into his visor, he decided that letting her know their ETA was probably the right thing to do. ”Current speed has us set to arrive in three solar minutes, ma’am,” Kal spoke aloud, immediately cringing under his visor not because of the tacky solar time that the decommissioned Alliance shuttle was feeding his to his omni-tool, but because he immediately remembered that Tali’Zorah had asked him not to call her ma’am if he could help it. Apparently, he couldn’t help it. His head shifted up to regard her before he sniffed quietly, the mouthpiece in his helmet not picking up the sound of it as it would pick up his voice, and turned to glance down the length of the bench he was sitting on at the men he was leading. Hopefully Tali wouldn’t pick up that particular slip-up. He really was trying to work on treating her as a friend more than a superior, even if she was an admiral now.

Heh, here he was worrying about his etiquette with them about to plunge into territory that the fleet knew was being regularly monitored by geth. Yeah, he’d never read a mission briefing like that one before. It was Haestrom all over again, except the stakes were higher. This wasn’t a simple research mission that happened to be in geth space. No, they were taking action against the geth this time around, and the geth were probably going to know about it no matter how quiet Kal’s team managed to be. Kal wasn’t one to question orders, but he also wasn’t a big fan of suicide missions – he’d been sure to ask plenty of questions when the admirals had asked him to accompany Tali on what they (meaning Gerrel) claimed was a “simplistic mission in geth space.” The marine would hate to break it to them, but no mission in geth space was ever simplistic. Even if Kal had been waltzing in with half the fleet at his back ready to raze the planet, it wouldn’t be simplistic. Geth were too dangerous to regard any potential fight with them too lightly.

Still, Kal and his team were ready, far beyond how ready they’d been on Haestrom. At least this time around, they knew they were going to have to fight geth instead of waiting on pins and needles for the geth to find them out. The thought of the fight brought Kal’s three-fingered hand over his back and had him again grasping his rifle, his heavy weaponry, his pistol behind his waist, all attached to their magnetic holsters. The pistol he tapped lightly before pulling it free and holding it in his hands, checking the heat sinks again. As if taking his actions as an order, Kal noticed the squad all making a last check on their weapons, as well. Yep, every damn one of them was ready for a fight. Kal simply didn’t know if they were really ready for the geth, but he had to have faith that his and Tali’s experiences with the damned flashlight heads would be enough.

After tapping his limber toes against the shuttle floor and standing as he felt the shuttle rock against the atmosphere of Kaddi, Kal tapped on the side of his helmet to signal everyone to check and make sure their comms were up. The shuttle illuminated with the artificial light from fifteen omni-tools as the men followed his orders. ”Listen up! Now’s a good time for questions if ya got ‘em. And if ya got ‘em, you’re stayin’ on the shuttle.” Fortunately, not a one even looked up from working on the omni-tool. Kal just had to assume they were ready. That meant there was only one person left to check on. ”Tali,” he said, especially pausing after her name. At least he’d remember to call her that once today. ”Your call. We leave the shuttle when you’re ready.”

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #171818; padding:20px; border-top: 10px #171818 solid; border-bottom: 10px #171818 solid;] Past the point of no return, no going back now {WORDS } 1098 {TAGGED } Kal! {WEARING} Her body suit This was all hard to take in, even still. Tali sat in her place in the shuttle, unusually quiet while she too stared down at the reflection of her mask. And despite being deep in thought, it was really the silence that made it worse. And though there were the few sounds around her to make sure there was not a void of sound, Tali couldn’t help but feel her nerves tense periodically. And yet despite that, she didn’t raise her voice, though she could have done so. From behind her mask, the young quarian flickered her eyes up to look at Kal across from her, also peering down at the silvery surface beneath them. She more than anyone realized the danger her and their entire team would be in when they reached the surface of Kaddi – if not before. The last mission that she had been sent on in this level of danger with a crew to do so with hadn’t turned out so well. Kal being the only survivor was a testament of that, and while she didn’t envy him of being sent once more to protect her with this, it did make her feel better to have such a familiar face going along. And despite realizing that she should be lifting this silence, Tali couldn’t quite do it. It was one of those moments where she was feeling her youth, or cursing it. She had seen more than most would in their entire lifetimes, and yet here she was, acting the part of a quarian before departing from their bubble for the first time. A lot was riding on this, though. She realized the danger, but on her mind was the fear that once more she would be leading a squad to their deaths. Lifting her hand in the same nervous gesture she had done a few times now, Tali brushed the back of it against the side of her mask and then returned it to clasping the other on top of her knees while her toes tapped against the floor. Sometimes she did wish she could be just a young girl back on the flotilla, with her biggest problem as wanting to take her suit off constantly and being scolded of the dangers that came with doing just that. The thought put a smile on her lips for a brief moment, before Kal’s voice broke the silence. Tali scooted back in the seat slightly and lifted her face to look at his reflecting mask while he mentioned how long it would be until they reached their destination. Instantly the smile slipped off her lips, and instantly she felt the nerves popping back up again. Igniting her omni – tool quickly, Tali tapped at it a few times to get the same information into her visor and check it out herself. “Thank you, Kal.” Feeling her mask start to fog up a bit in response to her increase to her pent up energy and slight sweat glistening her forehead behind her mask, Tali noticed a moment later that her dehumidifiers kicked in to deal with that. It was almost on an afterthought with her tense body that she realized he’d once more slipped into that horrible habit of calling her ma’am. “You called me ma’am again, Kal.”, she reminded, though she couldn’t quite get an annoyed sound in her voice. After all, Kal was once more risking his life to protect her. “Call me Tali.”, she said for what might have been the fifty millionth time, though her mind was far away from what he wanted to call her. The time to move came all too quickly. When she felt them entering the atmosphere, Tali tapped at her omni-tool once more, until she now had one of the cameras on the outside of the ship sending her a live feed of where they were going to be landing. At the same time, she pushed that to the side to observe and still be able to see what was happening in the shuttle. She was just in time to see all of the omni-tools light up as the men scrambled to listen to what Kal had to say. Oddly, that comforted her and made her smile once more behind the mask. She knew this had to be better than what had happened at Haestrom, as they were prepared to be actually fighting the geth. Or at least she hoped so, she still wasn’t sure how each of their crew would hold up under the actual firepower of the geth. But…she had tried to prepare them as best she could, and knew that Kal had done the same thing. If she could help it, she wouldn’t be returning with any less ambulating bodies than she went out with. When she was called, Tali stood up, straightened her shoulders back and tipped her chin up, once more in command of her own nerves and self. Tapping at her omni-tool to get her live streaming away, she addressed the crew, happily noticing that she hadn’t been called ma’am. With her left hand propped up on her hip in a moment of teenage girl drama, remembering the time when she had listened to Kirrahe give his speech. And though she wasn’t exactly an expert on giving them, she figured they deserved to hear something from her. Right? She should give them sort of pep talk...shouldn't she? Well, why not! “We’ve been assigned a mission that is of the utmost importance to the flotilla. I’m sure you have all been thinking of that while we were flying over. All that leave, are coming back, no arguments.”, she said forcefully, before nodding her head toward Kal. “I’m ready.” She was rather proud of herself for that speech that she had just given, and felt that it was very leader-worthy. An echoed “Yes ma’am!”, came from one of the men, making Tali’s eye twitch, and while she was brushing past Kal, she softly spoke to him, slightly teasing. “That bad habit of yours keeps rubbing off.” {NOTES} Iiiiiick. I can't imagine Tali giving a speech, but I kinda figured it was appropriate. I'm not going to reread this or...yeah. Also I'll put in a picture once Photobucket stops being evil

table by CALIFORNIA DREAMING of CAUTION 2.0, lyrics by Evan’s Blue

Tagged : tali | Words : 1161 | Notes : Man, I had as much muse for Reegar as I did for Garrus. XD

Yep…she picked up on his mistake. Of course, he was speaking with probably the brightest quarian he’d ever met, so he couldn’t think she would fail to notice. He covered for himself, buying some time to think up a response, by staring idly into the light of her omni-tool and avoiding meeting her visor-to-visor. Given the situation, he supposed giving her a lighter answer could go a long way to loosening the tension that all of them were surely sharing suit to suit. He clasped his hands, looking back up to her with a faint smile under his mask. ”I know. Still working on that, ma’am,” he said, as much humble humor in his voice as he could manage, before he again looked away from her. Everyone on the Karleeh that was around Kal’s own age had grown under the command of a captain who shared their accent and who was notoriously courteous – some joked he was the offspring of Admirals Koris and Gerrel at times, considering his personality. Kal well knew that he’d picked up his use of “ma’am” and “sir” for most anyone he respected, regardless of age and the relationship, from that captain. Breaking habits learned in youth was a difficult thing to do, especially in the flotilla. Heh, Kal could even remember when the asari that he’d helped serve had almost wanted to blast him out of the airlock with biotics for using “ma’am.” At least Tali wasn’t threatening him with that punishment…and she had a much better sense of humor than any asari that Kal had ever met, anyway. It was a good thing she did, because nothing that anyone in the shuttle was about to go through was particularly humorous, unless every geth on Kaddi managed to all drop into pieces from a short-range, undetectable EMP burst.

Kal did feel some relief at seeing the crew so sharp – pensive, maybe, and nervously energetic, but sharp nonetheless. After they’d tapped on their tools for a few seconds, he could hear each and every one of them breathing, and turned the volume down to a comfortable level for all of them. ”Give me confirmation if you can hear this,” he spoke softly into the communicator in his helmet, receiving, in turn, a perfect rendition of typical marine protocols as each reported in just as quietly. Kal smirked, pleased, under his visor. ”Damn good to know that no one’s screwed up before we’ve even hit planet-side for once.” By Kal’s count, the pre-mission prep was all but done, and it was his responsibility. Anything else they needed would have to come from Tali’s side of the command, and he opened the floor for her, stepping back and clasping his hands behind his back respectfully as she stood up. If he couldn’t go around calling her ma’am anymore, he had to show his respect in some way.

However short and non-military her speech was, Kal couldn’t help but feel a surge of pride course over him when Tali gave the men a few words. She was really growing into this leadership role that the flotilla had thrust upon her. She’d been through a hell of a lot, that much he well knew from what she’d told him after returning from the now-impounded Normandy, and Kal figured that all great people became greater with every trial they faced. Shepard was doing something right, because every time he sent Tali back to her people, she seemed more confident and more prepared for the coming fight. Kal didn’t know if that fight was going to be with the Reapers – the flotilla had heard a few muddled reports that earth and Palaven were both under attack from an extremely powerful force – or with the geth, but either way, Kal knew that with someone like Tali in charge, they would be in good hands. Keelah, he hoped Gerrel and the other admirals could see that they needed to heed this young woman’s warnings. ”Couldn’t have said it better myself,” he applauded her, as an aside, before returning her nod. Kal took in a deep breath, calming his nerves, before Tali’s last words about the troops struck him and unleashed a wide grin across his face. He didn’t respond, only gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder as she stepped past and the shuttle doors opened for them to drop out. As the EMP burst from the above ship had promised, the landing zone was devoid of geth. Hopefully the path to their objective would be, too.

Kal had never been on Kaddi, but the simulations that he’d been through on the flotilla, along with his men, had prepared him for the conditions. As he followed Tali out of the shuttle, his Avenger in his hands to make a quick scan over the majority of the area, he felt his feet ease down onto the rocks below. Kaddi was massive, so for it to have relatively low gravity was a testament to why it had so many signs of past civilization scattered around. Kal could see two houses that reminded him of those he’d seen on Haestrom, and something in the distance looked like it had to be a downed modular satellite, probably for resource acquisition. None of that mattered, though, for the time being.

Their mission was to find a very important geth radar dish and disable it without much fanfare. If Admiral Gerrel was going to launch his assault, he would need Kaddi as blind as it could possibly be, considering the massive geth space station that currently orbited it. Kal had spotted it once when they’d been approaching the planet – the thing could easily take down four or five of Gerrel’s cruisers before anything managed to dent it. Tali and Kal had been the natural choices to infiltrate the base because of their experience with geth, but Kal couldn’t help but think they’d been sent off for such a task just so Gerrel could gather more support for his attack plans without an admiral openly opposing him or a soldier explaining to anyone who asked why war with the geth was suicide for the quarian people. Still, Kal never questioned orders. Tali might, but if she did, he had even more respect for her.

The squad all funneled out until they had a perimeter established at the landing zone. No one reported in any stray geth. With things normal, Kal turned to Tali. ”That EMP did the trick. We’ll head out, just like we planned it. Keep scanning for us, Tali, and we’ll keep you covered.” He hefted his gun and motioned to two of his men to take the point and two to take the rear, as he fell in line to Tali’s side. If anyone was going to make damn sure she didn’t take a bullet today and be willing to take another gash to the suit to make sure that didn’t happen, it was going to be him.