Please review! Also, there will be some mention to a story I have on DA in this chapter alone, you'll get the idea when you see it.
Chapter 1:
Trouble on the Horizon
On the planet Alpha Centauri, a large Gentek factory/laboratory was located only twenty minutes from a large colony. The people that live in the colony are workers at the Gentek labs, farmers, or worked in the colony itself. This colony was one of the first multi-species colonies, containing humans, asari, turians, krogan, quarians, salarians, volus, elcors, batarians, and even a few geth. The situation with the colony and the corporation was not dissimilar from the situation on Feros prior to the Thorian incident, but laws made on corporately-sponsored colonies have prevented such things from occurring again. However, in one of the high-security labs, a man was examining extremely sensitive data, a man that didn't care about such laws or any laws or morals for that matter.
This man was working on something far more important than some laws made by aliens and those traitors in the alliance. The man was once a high-ranking scientist working for the true protectors of Humanity, the so-called terrorist group, Cerberus. That data he was examining was something he'd found old Cerberus databases after the group had been destroyed with the fall of the Illusive Man. The data was the gene sequence for a powerful virus that was created many years ago, ironically through the actions of the man's own ancestor. It was like he was staring into the face of Fate itself. His ancestor had not only delivered the key to putting Humanity on top in the galactic power scales, but the key to godhood, not godhood as a concept, but actual, literal godhood. That's why he volunteered to work on this accursed 'paradise,' so he could have plenty of species to test its effects. He would bring Cerberus back, though not in the form that they were. As brilliant as the Illusive Man was, he virtually advertised which of the facilities were theirs. No, the man would bring back Humanity's protectors in the form of a vision from the past. It was a slow process, but one that was getting close to finishing.
He'd faked the science so believably that his 'employers' and any of the scientists not with him thought that the gene sequence was a virus that would alter the genetic code of all species so that the previous limitations would be eliminated, namely allowing interspecies mating, so that married couples that can't naturally have children would be able to. The 'higher ups' had been practically jumping with joy when he said he could provide this. It would make them wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. They'd provided him with everything he needed and gave him whatever and whoever he requested.
As the man examined the key to his plans as it ran through his computer terminal, he heard the door to the lab open.
When he didn't look up, a voice said, "Dr. Wesker?"
He glanced at the speaker for a moment, one of the doctors that wasn't with him and therefore wasn't worth remembering, before turning his attention back to his screen, "What is it?"
"We're ready to begin, sir. We'll be ready to produce it for animal testing."
Dr. Alan Wesker smiled. Animal testing indeed.
"I'll be right there," he said. After the scientist left, Dr. Wesker looked in one of the mirrors. He had Caucasian skin and his dirty blonde hair was slicked back. One of his hairs had fallen out of place, so he slicked it back again. He was going to change the very face of the galaxy; he had to look his best.
Once he was sure he could get the results that he needed, he would use the virus to bring Cerberus back from the dead and place Humanity as the rightful rulers of the Galaxy and there was no one that could stop him. Not the Council, not the aliens, not the traitorous Alliance, no one. Once he'd achieved his goals, there was one in particular that he would enjoy killing personally: the one responsible for the destruction of Cerberus, the so-called 'Hero of the galaxy,' that alien-loving traitor, Alexander Shepard.
Three days later, a male human was jogging on one of the few Rannoch beaches near any of the settlements. His brown hair was cut short. His tanned skin was glistening with sweat. His emerald green eyes focusing on the path in front of him, a habit that shows this as being part of a routine. As he approached a large rock on beach, he noticed something that made him slow to a stop. It was footprints, footprints left by a bipedal creature with two large toes walking around the rock to the side hidden from him. Realizing the implications of this, the man smiled and ran around the side of the rock opposite from the one he was going to.
Behind the rock, a quarian woman was waiting for her ambush target. Like many quarians, her everyday dress had changed from the envirosuits that they had been forced to wear to clothes that involved light, but puffy clothing that still showed a decent amount of skin. The woman was wearing an imitation cotton pair of purple pants that were light enough to allow the skin below to breathe, but heavy enough not be see through. The matching top she was wearing only went from the top of her breasts to the middle of her rib cage, the straps holding it in place wrapping tightly around her forearms. There was a golden band around her rightmost finger. Her husband often said her clothes looked like a princess from some old children's film, Jasmine she believed the name was.
This time she'd catch her target unaware, he'd never see her coming. She was forced to hide completely behind a large rock as her purple skin that was only slightly lighter than her clothes, her silvery eyes, and black hair didn't exactly blend into the scenery. When her target seemed to be taking longer than she thought he should, she risked sneaking a little peek around the boulder, not hearing her target sneaking up behind her. Instead, she only found out after a pair of strong hands spun her back around and pinned her against the rock by holding her arms above her head.
Her target's face filled her vision as he brought his face close to hers, "Gotcha again, Tali," he said smiling.
She giggled, "Alex! What gave me away this time!?"
"You forgot to erase your footprints in the sand. One might think, my darling wife, that you want to be caught," Alex Shepard said smiling.
"Maybe I did, so what are you going to do with your captive?" she said teasingly.
"There's only one thing we do with POWs in the Alliance," he said smiling deviously before picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder to hold her in a fireman's hold, one arm wrapped around her waist and his other hand on her butt, "Bring them in for interrogation."
"Oh, Admiral Shepard, I can assure you that you won't get me to talk, no matter what you do," she said jokingly.
"There's a saying on Earth, my dear Admiral Zorah: I have ways of making you talk," Alex said in a cheesy Russian accent as he carried her towards their home.
"We'll see about that, Admiral, and watch where you're putting your hands!"
He lightly spanked her and said, "I did. Now quiet, prisoners don't get to complain!"
Tali giggled, "We'll see if you still say that after I escape and take you prisoner instead!"
The 'interrogation' lasted for several hours and ended with the happy couple in their marital bed, covered in various bodily fluids of both levo- and dextro-based origins.
"You ready to talk?" Alex asked smiling, gently running his fingertips along her arm that she had wrapped around his chest.
"Sorry, Admiral, guess you'll just have to try new methods to get me to talk."
"Still with the back talk, I guess I'll jus-" the playful banter was interrupted by someone knocking at their front door, "Knowing his skill at interrupting us, I'd have to guess that's Joker," Alex said before moving to get up, "Don't move."
Tali'Zorah-Shepard smiled and said, "I won't."
He pulled on his clothes, while his quarian wife watched him from beneath the covers of their marital bed. He gave a quick, but loving kiss, saying, "I love you," which she responded to with a giggle and a reply, "I love you, too."
Before he left the room, Tali said, "Alex!" causing him to turn back around. "Still totally worth it," she said with smile.
Alex laughed at the little reference to their first time together. It was one of his favorite memories.
When Shepard answered the door, he was greeted with a sight that would have had him reaching for a gun four years ago, well, six if you count the two years he lost while being dead. A geth platform was standing at his door, a geth platform that he recognized.
"Hey, LJ, what's going on?" Alex said with a smile.
The platform's eye flaps moved and it said, "Greetings, Shepard-Admiral. May I enter your domicile? I need to speak with you and Creator Zorah." LJ, or Legion Jr., was actually discovered in an old Geth facility by Quarian and Geth forces after the Reapers had been destroyed. The original Legion had apparently wished to understand organics' desire for propagation and created a "son" of his own that had an amalgamation of geth programs, just like his "father" did. Unlike his father, the gifted sniper, LJ, the nickname Shepard gave him, decided to aid in medical services and become a doctor.
"Sure," he said, motioning him to enter.
The Shepard house was a humble home on the southern continent. It had two floors: a bedroom, a guest room, two bathrooms, and two offices, one for each of them, on the second floor, on the first floor was a living room, a kitchen, and a family room.
As LJ walked to the family room, Alex shouted up to Tali, "Tali, honey, LJ's here!"
"I'll be right down!" she shouted back. Alex couldn't help but notice a hint of disappointment in her voice.
A few minutes later, the woman of the house came down the stairs, fully dressed, to greet their guest, "Hello, LJ. How are you?"
"I am at optimum efficiency, Creator Zorah," the geth said.
"So, what did you need to speak to us about?" Alex said, sitting on the couch and pulling Tali to sit next to him.
"I have finished analyzing the data from Creator Zorah's last physical examination," LJ said.
All Quarians have had to get physicals once a year (originally once a month) to make certain that their immune systems had adapted to the outside world and weren't going to relapse into their weakened state. Tali, being one of the few Quarians that didn't allow Geth platforms to upload into her envirosuit to speed up the process, had to have a check-up twice a year (originally every other week).
"Is there a problem?" Tali said, grabbing one of Alex's hands in her own.
"Negative, Creator Zorah. The data has results that are anomalous. We had to check these results multiple times to ensure accuracy. The results were accurate, but…surprising."
"What were the results?" Alex said.
"Creator Zorah's birth canal has expanded slightly and has begun to produce numerous hormones associated with pregnancy," LJ said.
"Wait, are you saying that Tali is-"
"I'm pregnant!?" Tali exclaimed, "How? Alex is the only one I've been with and he's levo-based!"
"Correct, Creator Zorah," LJ said, "As you may be aware, Quarians' bodies are more adaptive than any other species and it appears that yours has adapted to the continued exposure to Shepard-Admiral's reproductive cells in your reproductive organs. In other words, you have adapted to be able to be able to produce both levo- and dextro-based offspring. It appears that the offspring will not be hybrids, but either a normal quarian child or a normal human child."
"So, I'm having Shepard's child?" Tali asked still in shock at the news.
"Correction: you are currently forming a pair of fetuses: one human, one quarian. With technology available, we have found that the human will be female and the quarian will be male."
"Twins?" Shepard said, shocked.
"Affirmative," LJ responded.
The couple looked at each other in shock. Tali recovered first. She squealed and grabbed her husband in a hug, tears of happiness streaming down her face. She kissed her husband, the taste of the tears mixing with the familiar taste of her lips. She then grabbed LJ in a hug as well, saying, "Thank you, thank you!"
LJ's eye flaps flipped in surprise at the sudden physical contact, "Gratitude is unnecessary, Creator Zorah. I merely discovered and reported the results."
After Tali separated from the geth, Shepard shook his hand, "Thanks anyway," he said smiling.
The geth doctor nodded, "I will be available for any medical aid that Creator Zorah might require," before moving to exit the abode.
After Alex shut the door behind the geth platform, he was pushed against the door by Tali, who pressed her lips to his, kissing him in a long and deep kiss.
When she finally came up for air, Shepard smiled at her and asked jokingly, "I take it you're pleased?"
"Are you kidding!? I'm thrilled! I thought that my life was as good as it was going to get when I moved into a house on the Homeworld with my husband, the man I've loved since the moment I met him, and now I find that I am pregnant with his children! I couldn't be happier!"
"Well, I guess we should start preparing for the little ones and start calling our friends to tell them about this."
"You're right, though there is something else we need to do first," she said smiling seductively.
"And what might that be, my beautiful wife?"
"This," she said, once more pressing her lips to his before pulling him by the hand back to their bedroom.
Their "celebration" lasted two hours before they started contacting their various friends, namely former squadmates, to inform them of the good news. Liara quietly smiled and congratulated them. Garrus nearly fainted. Wrex offered to buy them each their first weapons. Joker asked if they were planning on leaving any more impossible tasks for the next generation. Grunt said that he couldn't wait to see them fight, since, with parents like them, they're no doubt going to be strong fighters. Dr. Chakwas offered to work with LJ to ensure Tali's and the babies' health. Miranda offered to help them with receiving any supplies that they need for the children. Jacob wasn't really surprised that Shepard managed to be a part of the first time quarians and humans mated. Samara said that she was happy for them and knew that the two children would be of noble spirit, just like their parents. Jack congratulated them, using very gratuitous language. Kasumi offered to come and visit so that she and Tali could buy maternal clothes. Javik said that he wouldn't be surprised if they turned out to be the next generation's heroes. Vega said that he could wait to see "Baby Loco" and "Baby Sparks." Ash was happy for "Skipper" and her "little sister" and she offered to babysit whenever they needed it.
The couple was about to call Alex's old friend, Admiral David Anderson, when they received a message that said bhe/b was trying to contact them!
"Anderson's calling us," Alex said in surprise.
"Could he have found out already?" Tali asked.
"I don't see how, but I guess the only way is to ask," Alex said before pressing a button the terminal and making an image of Anderson appear on the screen, "Anderson, I was just about to call you, we've got some pretty big news."
Anderson looked surprised, "What is it?"
"Tali's pregnant. She's going to have a quarian boy and a human girl."
"That's great, Shepard. I'm happy for you," he said, his voice saying that he meant it, "Though that does make the reason I called a bit…awkward."
The couple's smiles disappeared, getting a sinking feeling, "What do you mean?" Tali asked.
"Shepard, the Alliance has a mission that they need you to handle."
"What?" Alex said surprised. Officially, he was the Alliance's ambassador to the Quarians; unofficially, the Alliance wanted him out of the public eye because now everything he was involved in got news attention…whether he wanted it or not. Not exactly a good situation for someone that is typically involved in secret missions.
"I thought the Alliance retired Alex from combat!" Tali said.
"They had and I told them that we could probably have other soldiers take care of this, but the Council got involved in this as well and they insisted that it be you."
"What is the mission?" Shepard asked.
"Alpha Centauri has gone dark. No warnings, no distress signals. We need you to find out why and, if they were or are under attack, find survivors, and find who is responsible."
As soon as Anderson said the name, Alex and Tali understood how serious it was. If one of the first multi-species colonies was destroyed, it could cause problems.
"How big of a squad are we talking? When do I leave?"
"Six-man ground team, including you. A pilot for the shuttle and a three-man crew for the main ship while you are on the ground. I'll be asking old squadmates of yours that I know aren't on other missions to see if they can join you. You'll be picked up at 0900 hours tomorrow Rannoch time. For what it's worth, Shepard, I'm sorry that they picked now to reactivate you."
"It's alright, sir. I'll be ready," Alex said before deactivating his terminal, bringing up the normal screen that showed the old files he left open. The files were the ones about his various ancestors. At the urging of Tali, he had decided to take a look at his ancestry. The ones he was on were on his mother's side from mid-1990s. The husband and the wife had apparently been partners when they worked for some secret government agency. Their files were so blacklisted that only a few words were actually legible, words about some corporation called 'Umbrella.' Try as he might, he couldn't find anything about this Umbrella Corporation. It was so classified that even he couldn't access anything about it.
"Alex, I'm worried. What if you get hurt or die?"
"I won't, Tali. I'll be back…before our children are born. You have my word," Alex said seriously.
"Alright," she said before leaving the room.
Shepard spent the rest of the day preparing his armor and his weapons. Before he went to bed, he walked into their bedroom to find Tali preparing her new armor and weapons. Her armor looked like a combination between her envirosuit and Shepard's armor.
"And what do you think you are doing?" Alex said grabbing her arm to stop her.
"Getting ready for our mission," she said not looking him in the eye.
"No, my mission, not ours. I am doing this, not you," he said firmly.
She turned to him, angry tears in her eyes, "You are not going to leave me behind, Alex!"
"No, what I'm not going to do is let you put your life and the lives of our unborn children at risk!"
"They will need their father, Alex!"
"And they'll have it! Please, Tali, trust me. I'm coming back. Okay? I'm going to come back and I will be there when our children are born."
Tali gave up the fight and tears streamed down her cheeks, "I'm sorry, Alex. You're right. It's just-it's just that I have a bad feeling and it scares me. I don't want to lose you. I lost you when the Collectors attacked and I almost lost you at the Alpha World Ender. I can't go through that again."
"You won't, Tali," he said pulling her into the bed, "You won't. Never again."
With that, no more words were said, none were needed. The two just held each other close, the only sounds being Tali's quiet sobs. They stayed that way until they eventually drifted off to sleep.
The next day, Alex Shepard was waiting at the landing platform with Tali for the shuttle to take him to the N8 ship now in orbit over Rannoch.
When it did, Shepard turned to Tali and said, "Kasumi should arrive in a few hours to help with anything you need, alright?"
"I know. You just worry about getting home safely, okay?"
"I will. I love you, Tali."
"I love you, too. Promise me one thing," Tali said.
"Of course."
"When you're on this mission, don't be here. You will only get distracted."
"I promise," he said giving her a quick kiss on the lips before entering the shuttle and taking off to face a new mission.