Author note:

So... yea hi. So this is my first time making a story on FanFiction, in fact, doing something out of my comfort zone in a long time. I'm not trying to give any "rate my thing five stars or else I cry myself to sleep" or something like that crap, just saying go easy on the new guy alright? I appreciate you for taking the chance with me and any comments/feedback on what I could better, more of, just whatever, would be much appreciated

So anyway this is a Tali x Shepard(M) who is paragon (I know how original), and um enjoy:)

Much love. Brutaka12000

Chapter 1: The start of a long ride

"L-look, I don't know anything I swear" Fist squeaked out. his wide eyes focused on the massive Krogan right next to the Shepard.

"Uh-huh" was all Shepard said, nodding slightly to the Krogan, the Krogan shoots next to fist, really close Shepard notes "The next shot's on you if you don't spit out where the Quarian is"

"You promise you won't shoot me if I tell you right?" Fists eyes look to the only exit in the room, blocked by a Turian leaning on the door frame, what must be a smug smile forming on his mandibles as he notices Fist looking.

"Yes, you're skimpy ass won't get shot by me if you hurry up and tell me where that damn Quarian is!" Shepard grabs Fist by the plate protecting his neck, holding him closely, face to face to each other.

"Alright, just get your hands off of me" Shepard pushes Fist back, who has a victories smile on his lips. "look she wanted to see the Shadow Broker in person, no one has, not even me. but she didn't know that, and Saren is paying heavily for that information. So when she gets there, it's not gonna be the Shadow Broker, it's gonna be Saren's men waiting to take her away."

"Where is she" Shepard seethes through clenched teeth, he wanted to punch Fist in his face, but knew better than to do that right now, he'd probably crumble under it

"Oh shes at the alleyway on the way to the wards" Fist puts on a very big smile "but you won't get there in time, Saren's men will be there any minute now"

On hearing this Shepard moves to full gear "move it, we need to get to her before Saren's men do" he turns around but the whir of the shotgun to his side draws his attention

"Wait wha-" was all Fist could say before a shotgun blast tore through his skull, dead before he hit the ground.

Shepard eyed the Krogan, waiting for an explanation. "You didn't shoot him, and I complete my bounties" he said. Shepard sighed, he should've known this was going to happen. Wrex did say he was an agent of the Shadow Broker, contracted to kill Fist for betraying the Broker

"We gotta go Shepard" Garrus, the Turian, he was now over Fist's body, picking up a device from his body

Shepard nodded, putting the death of Fist as his own for his negligence. they ran out of Fist's room and back to the bar he owned, Chora's Den, which was now swarming with Fist's thugs

His team dispatched the poorly trained thugs with ease and were now running out to find that Quarian before it was to late


"Where's the Shadow Broker? Where's Fist?" Tali eyed the Turian warily, she tried to sound as menacing as possible, but her body language betrayed her. She was unconsciously wringing her hands together, something she always did when nervous. She just wanted some piece and quiet, some time to think through everything that has happened, and for that she needed this data gone.

"Don't worry babe, they'll be here soon" he put his hand on her shoulder and started to slide it down "do you have the data?"

Tali knew it was trapped, but did she? she's been fighting for her life for so long now, she could be just paranoid right now, they could be just late knowing Citadel traffic. No, she's survived this far trusting her gut, she wasn't going to stop know. she slaps the hand off her "No way, the deals off"

The Turian flicked his head and the two Salarians he came with started to bring out their guns. Tali knew it was over, her pilgrimage training didn't train her to defeat three well-trained men all by herself, but she won't go down quietly. she threw one of her concussion grenades towards the Salarians and ducked to cover, before it went off she heard the door behind open up. 'a bit overkill to kill just one Quarian isn't it' she thought. The grenade went off as she turned to face her new threat, pulling out her shotgun. She did not expect a Krogan, a massive Krogan, to be charging right at her.

She was so stunned that she forgot to shoot her shotgun, luckily for her the Krogan ran right past her, forgetting about the other enemies that could possibly be behind the Krogan she turned to look where he went. He seemed to be aiming for the two downed Salarians, who were just now starting to get up, the Krogan lifted one of his hands up and a purple aura appeared around him, a Biotic. The two Salarians were lifted into the, affected by the Biotics to have no gravity, the Krogan blasted one with his shotgun then rammed the other, crushing him against a wall, the Krogan never seized to stop laughing Maniacally

The Turian started to run away but a deep 'thoom' sounded and he dropped to the floor, Tali looked at the direction of the sound and saw another Turian putting his sniper rifle away. It all happened so fast, Tali was still didn't understand it all. She looked at the Krogan, nudging the dead bodies with his foot, one twitched and he instantly shot him. Should she trust these people who saved her life? Or were they just another player in a game to big for her, going to take her away all because of this damned data

"Hey are you alright?" Tali jumped, she turned around and saw a Human male looking at her, he had a reassuring smile telling her that everything was okay, her body instinctively calmed upon seeing it but her brain remained tense, she saw that same smile from Fist when he set up the meeting, but this one felt... real to her.

"Fist set me up, I knew I shouldn't have trusted him" but her life in the Flotilla made her trust everybody, 'your in the real world know Tali' she thought 'you can't trust everybody, they'll always have their own agenda for helping you' she eyed the human warily. "who are you and why are you helping me?"

His shoulder stiffened "I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance marines, N7 rank" he said it all with pride, 'N7?, i should look that up, he seems to think it's important'. "as to why I'm here, i'm trying to find evidence that Saren is a traitor"

And there it was, Tali was all of a sudden the most important Quarian because of this data, important enough to kill it seems, Saren would not stop hunting her, until either she was dead, or he died. And judging from the audio file she has and the news feed of Eden Prime, Saren deserves to die, and these people were trying to stop him. She must help them, not just for her sake, but everyone else as well

"Yes, i have evidence that Saren is a traitor, but we can't stay here, we need to go somewhere safe" Tali hoped it was convincing. Truth was, she didn't trust these people and would rather not be in a dark alley stuck between a Krogan and a hard place.

"Commander, why don't we go to the Human embassy, they would want to see this as well" the Turian said curtly

"Sounds good" Shepard said already walking, and Tali reluctantly followed


Shepard eyed the Quarian in the cab. It was difficult to convince the driver to allow both a Krogan and a 'suit-rat' as the driver called her, in the cab, but with enough credits he finally complied.

"So what's your name?" he said to the Quarian, she seemed to be staring off into the distance at the moment with the occasional few pushes on her omni-tool, so he decided to start conservation

"Huh, oh it's Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya" she said

"Nar Rayya?" he always liked to learn about new species and people, growing up on the streets made him curious of the outside world

"Yes" she said suspiciously, he couldn't blame her, he also would be considering the circumstances but she continued on "the Rayya is the name of the ship I was born in, basically nar Rayya means 'born on Rayya', once we complete our pilgrimage we join another ship so now instead of nar Rayya it would become vas Rayya, well whatever ship I decide to join anyways"

"Whats this about a pilgrimage?" upon hearing this Tali sighed, pressed a few buttons on her omni-tool, and Shepard saw her helmet visibly become dimmer, 'Oh crap' Shepard thought 'she actually was doing something and I interrupted her.' He decided it would best to let her continue with whatever she was doing "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't realize you were doing something"

"No, it's okay, I was just... uh... looking you up" she was wringing her hands now and upon seeing Shepard's wide grin, realized how she made it sound "L-looking up your service record, seeing if you were... well you."

"Ah... okay, you know you didn't have to say what you doing." she started to wring her hands furiously now, her head looking down, Shepard found out he was making it worse. so he put on his best comforting smile "but thanks, for telling me"

Tali looked out the window 'probably is wondering when it's going to end... wait when is it going to end.' "hey I said we needed to get there quick!" Shepard yelled at the driver, he didn't even see any traffic beside him.

"Sorry sir, but there's a designated lane for all cabs with Krogan in them going to the Presidium" Wrex chuckled at that. Shepard looked forward and saw the large detector in front of them and several C-sec officers checking another car in front of them

"If it makes you feel any better commander" Garrus said from the front seat "they've been there for about 20 minutes now, should be any minute before they're allowed through"


Shepard has just become the first Human Spectre, the Councils right hand, he was now above the law. But most importantly he was now able to stop Saren from destroying anymore Human colonies like Eden Prime, and stopping the return of whatever these 'Reapers' are.

"Well I guess this is goodbye Garrus" Shepard gathered his squad around the the fountain just before the elevator taking them down the Citadel tower and back to the Presidium. And it was now time to say farewell to his squad, as they weren't actually part of the crew of the Normandy, and even though he was growing fond of them, he wasn't going to take them away from their jobs, journey,bounty hunting if they didn't want to.

"Commander, if you would allow it, I would like to join you". Shepard raised an eyebrow at that, Garrus took the silence as a sign for him to continue. "You've already shown you get things done commander, and now you're a Spectre, you can deal with the situation however you want. Frankly commander I'm tired of all the red tape that stops me from doing my job, joining you would mean I actually can stop somebody for a change, not just sit by filling reports and watch them get away."

"Well, welcome aboard Garrus Vakarian, it would be good to have a crack shot on the team" Shepard now turned to Wrex "Well what about you Wrex?"

"With all the things you squishy's are going to face you need a Krogan on you're team, and it's better than sitting on my ass all day waiting to shakedown some Volus or Salarian... or a human" Wrex chuckling at that

"And you Tali? You still have your pilgrimage to complete"

Tali seemed to think for a moment before seeing all eyes were on her, she straightened herself, forced her hands apart and at her sides "the pilgrimage shows us that we're willing to risk our lives for the greater good, how would this reflect on me if didn't join something as big as this"

"He-heh, knew you would come around Quarian" Wrex proceeded to pat her on the back, hard, shoving her forward. She looked up and saw Shepard giving the widest grin she'd ever seen

"Well team" he said clapping his hands together, looking at them all approvingly, "let's go see what awaits us"