Do we know which fleet Tali and her father commanded as Admiral?

[u/Jedi-Spartan]

For some reason in Mass Effect 3, Shepard can only ask Raan about 4 Fleets in the Flotilla: Heavy (led by Garrel), Patrol (led by Raan), Civilian (led by Koris) and Special Projects (led by Xen) but nothing is ever mentioned about what the 5th Admiral oversees. At least with Tali it's a case that it's a formality to give her the authority that fits her knowledge about the Geth but in Mass Effect 2 it seems somewhat redundant because her father seems to oversee the same type of fleet operations as Xen.

[u/Some_German_Boi]

My interpretation is that they reorganised their fleets in the meantime. With Rael'Zorah dead, they could've just divided whatever he was heading between the other four. Or maybe Special Projects used to be his, but Xen inherited it as the admiral most interested in science?

I wonder if they still conduct suspicious experiments on the Alarei. I have no doubt that the ship was reused, since they're Quarians.

[u/Jedi-Spartan → u/Some_German_Boi]

I wonder if they still conduct suspicious experiments on the Alarei. I have no doubt that the ship was reused, since they're Quarians.

Well Xen tells Shepard she salvaged some of the data/intel from the ship's experiments (which later got turned into the tech that made the Quarians do so well against the Geth early on).

[u/No-Garbage9500]

I have it in my mind that it's the Science Fleet, though I've no idea if that is from the game or too much fanfic back in the day...

[u/Jedi-Spartan → u/No-Garbage9500]

Wouldn't that overlap with Xen's Special Projects ships enough that they'd be a part of that Fleet and not require their own Admiral?

[u/No-Garbage9500 → u/Jedi-Spartan]

Not necessarily - as I said I'm going off very vague memories here, but "special projects" to me sits across all of the others: it might be science heavy on some projects, but then military heavy on another, diplomacy/politics heavy next time.

Like Cerberus, I guess.

[u/Stephen_Wilhelm]

The most logical fifth fleet would be for logistics and supply. But that doesn't explain her father running a science ship. It does sort of fit Tali's conflict with Xen about salvage, which could be under the purview of logistics.

[u/GravityMentor]

I believe he commands a maintenance fleet

[u/jackdiamond1271]

Didn't Tali say in 3 she was made an admiral for her knowledge on the Geth and its kinda 'honorary' due to her father. I dont think she actualy commands a fleet of ships.

[u/Angel-Stans]

I don’t think there were such hard designations before ME3, Quarian society is communal and utilitarian. I imagine every ship played a bit of every role and it was ultimately up to the Ship’s captain if their home could suit the particular need.

Remember, the Conclave of Captains is in charge, the Admiralty just has the power of Veto, which then ends their tenure.

[u/Manzhah]

I'd wager he commanded some special operations division/flotila/fleet, as tali worked udner him in top secret missions like in halestrom and on alarai.

[u/Investigator_Magee]

I have a theory that there's an optional 5th seat on the Admiralty Board. Assuming that Tali was exonerated in ME2, she becomes an Admiral and seems to fill a sort of specialist role. She has fought and interacted with the Geth more than any other Quarian since the Morning War, thus her expertise is brought onboard. This theory puts forward the idea that the fifth Admiral is always a specialist of some sort, relating to the current overall mission/goal of the Migrant Fleet.

As an example, if the Quarians were to attempt to colonise a new planet, the fifth Admiral could be a colonisation expert who offers advice to the rest of the board. As shown by Tali in ME3, the specialist admiral would have limited power. Perhaps Rael'Zorah filled this role at the time of his death, though what he specialised in isn't very clear, and Tali talks about him as if he held far more power and influence than an Admiral in this position likely would.

Though I have a sort of sub-theory that I subscribe to. It takes the general premise that the fifth Admiral is a specialist relating to the current course of the Migrant Fleet as a whole and switches it up slightly. With this theory I posit that, at the time of ME2, Rael'Zorah commanded the Special Projects Fleet and Admiral Xen is in fact the specialist. We know that the plan at this point was for the Migrant Fleet to retake Rannoch, Admiral Xen being the specialist for such a task makes perfect sense, as we see her inventions being responsible for the fleet's opening strikes against the Geth in ME3.

This not only explains how Rael managed to get the Alerei, outfitted with all the labs and technology he would need, it also explains why Xen immediately got her hands on it. Following the events of Tali's loyalty mission, Xen was promoted to Admiral of the Special Projects Fleet. This opened the way for them to then promote Tali as the specialist Admiral to fill in Xen's spot, rather than her father's.

[u/UnboundPlace67]

It's never mentioned, but his role could be head of logistics or maintenance. Admirals didn't necessarily command a fleet, they couldve just been assigned to one during wartime and thus there never was a fifth fleet division, with Xen simply taking control of Rael's assets.

As it was, each captain had the final say in their own ship, every ship followed the governance of the conclave, and the admiralty board was elected to keep the conclave in check, they never expanded beyond that.

[u/Jedi-Spartan → u/UnboundPlace67]

Fair point, it just seems like an odd outlier based on the dialogue available with the ME3 Quarians...

[u/TheDeathAngelTDA]

I’ve decided due to just how the quarians are they command the “geth fleet” aka do research to figure out how to fight the geth and eventually get Rannoch back. They only have a few research vessels, but they’re still an Admiral since they’re leading that sector of RnD.