seekerwing4:

Tali ducked around the corner, from the security pathway into the common area, charging through with nimble feet, causing more than a little bit of commotion as she moved. Normally, one would try to blend in at this point - but being amongst the only Quarians here made that pretty tricky. No, she had to lose them, then maybe change her scarves. All Quarians looked pretty much the same to them, and as long as she could lose them now she’d be fine. It wasn’t like they could do much more…

She dove behind a rail for visual cover, rolling to her feet and padding down the stairs to the nearest vent. There didn’t seem to be too many people here, so she let her guard down slightly, not noticing he or she who had slipped in behind her. She was caught, and she didn’t even know it yet as she opened the utility function on her omnitool to remove the screws from the vent, one by one, working with deft and experienced hands.

They called Quarians suit rats because they thought they were all criminals - and quite frankly, if she was going to be arrested every time they stop at the Citadel, they may as well have a reason. EDI was playing with them, leading the guards on to give Tali a challenge and extra skills training. It wasn’t legal, but who would suspect that an AI was giving them orders and tips?

It was Tali’s job to escape despite this, and she had made it with varying degrees of success. EDI didn’t always make it easy, though she occasionally threw in a round where she actually helped Tali, just to keep the young Quarian on edge. Her tech made it hard to go too far into the vents, but she could go far enough to escape, and that’s all that mattered. She was very, very glad she was a small woman.

She would, if remaining uninterrupted, finish removing the screws at this point and remove the vent cover.

Shepard had been walking through the Citadel when she saw Tali running through a crowd of people. A lazy smile flickered across her face when she spotted the young quarian. With the grace that came from years spent on the battlefield she slipped after the qurian, her senses strained to focus on the fleeing cloud of purple.

It had only been a few hours since EDI had informed her of what was going on, and she had embraced the idea with open arms. She had spent the past few hours trying to find Tali on the Citadel, and had been close to calling it quits when she had finally caught sight of her. Now she was watching as Tali slipped into a vent. Without bothering to look around her she followed suit, keeping her actions as small and precise as she could so she didn’t make a sound.

Silently she stalked Tali through the vent, pulling her gun from where it hung on her hip. When the quarian stopped to fiddle with some screws she pressed the gun to the centre of her friend’s back. “Freeze,” she hissed, her voice echoing eerily through the vent. “What do you think you’re doing suit rat?”

The racial slur felt awkward coming from her, but EDI had asked her to play the part… She just hoped Tali would forgive her.