Errors of Life

Chapter I-Tali

"Testing sequence 2-B-4-D-6 in thirty seconds."

Aja fidgeted nervously beside Tali. The young quarian was staring intently at the ship waiting on the launchpad. Tali looked up at the screens displaying data from the sensors. All systems functioning within normal ranges. So far so good.

"Relax," She told her daughter, "This isn't a win-or-die situation."

"I know, Ma," Aja sighed, "But I keep wondering if there was something we overlooked. We should have double-checked the parameters last night."

Tali slid an arm around her daughter's shoulders. "You're fine, Aja."

"Testing sequence in twenty seconds."

Tali's omnitool beeped. She glanced at it for a moment, sparing a few seconds to open the message flickering to get her attention.

"What's that?" Aja asked.

"Message from Liara. Probably arranging some sort of get-together." Again.

After the Reapers, the crew of the Normandy dispersed, all of them making their individual contributions to reconstruction. The war had left wastelands for spoils, but nothing irreparable with time, and time was something they suddenly all had since the Change. Normandy's crew scattered to the various teams while the Reapers, in their new, docile forms, repaired the mass relays so that supplies could be shared throughout the galaxy. Before they knew it, five years had passed, so Liara had arranged the first reunion of the crew on Eden Prime.

It had been the first time Tali showed her face to her old friends. She remembered the jokes, the snide comments, but there was a sorrow underlying the genuine joy at seeing everyone again. They all saw each other, saw how much each of them had changed, grown, their lives taking different directions and their paths trekking across the stars. Liara, working on projects to recover and reconstruct physical remnants of cultures from cycles before Protheans. Jack, incredibly annoyed that she had softened enough to take responsibility for educating several thousand students in her academy. Miranda, advising the Council on grant dispersement for research and, due to the synthesis of organic and synthetic, able to show off her firstborn: a bouncing boy of two months at the time, hair dark like his mother's and eyes keen with intelligence as he observed everyone around him. Jacob and Brynn with their child, Shepard Taylor, a shy five-year-old girl who hid against her parents whenever someone spoke to her. James and Ashley had both been present, though it was the only time both Spectres had been able to attend a reunion. Joker, with his Vrolik's Syndrome cured due to the synthesis, EDI laughing hysterically at something her husband said, Wrex and Bakara, Cortez and Traynor, Hackett, the engineers, all changed, all thriving, and the one reason they were where they were could not be there to witness it.

People married, people had children, the children grew to become adults, the galaxy spun along its axis and Time continued on its path to the future. Five years, ten years, twenty years, and now everything, everyone, was even better than before the Reapers ever terrorized them all. Liara arranged gatherings every year, but not everyone attended anymore. There was too much to do, new issues, new problems, new discoveries, new concerns. Shepard faded into history the way all great historical figures did, as the galaxy surged ahead to the future she created but will never enjoy.

"Ten seconds. Nine. Eight."

"Come on…" Aja murmured. "All those all-nighters…"

"Hm," Tali chuckled.

"…Four. Three. Two. One."

A flare of light was all the warning they had before the ship shot into space. The scientists and engineers stared fixedly in the direction it vanished into. Aja grabbed her mother's hand and squeezed anxiously. Tali let her, though she was watching more out of curiosity than anything else.

Her omnitool beeped again. She turned it off impatiently.

"All systems within normal limits," One of the geth engineers announced, "Five seconds till transmission."

The screen that was supposed to display the transmission lit up on the five-second mark, showing the nose of the ship. More feeds popped up below the image. Among the staff, computers were showing feeds.

"Speed: Twenty-three hundred light years per hour. Acceleration: 0. All systems stable. ETA to Andromeda: 45 days. We did it, ladies and gentlemen!"

"Keelah!" Aja sighed in relief, then beamed. "Ma! We did it!"

"I told you you had nothing to worry about," Tali grinned as she hugged her daughter, while the whole room erupted into cheers, with the geth twittering to each other and bobbing their flashlight heads.

"Drinks!" Someone yelled, and soon everyone echoed.

"Drinks! Drinks!" And the commotion slowed a little as people fetched said drinks.

"Can you imagine, Ma?" Aja exclaimed, "Now we can explore a whole new galaxy! Who knows what we might find there?"

"I don't know," Tali chuckled, "But that just makes it more exciting."

"It does!" Her daughter nodded emphatically, before her colleagues dragged her away to celebrate. One co-worker tugged gently at Tali's elbow, and the quarian laughed as she followed him to where one staff member had opened a foaming bottle and was pouring into various glasses.

It was late when Tali finally got to her omnitool. She had missed seven messages, two before the actual launch of the ship that could traverse between galaxies, and the rest during the after-party. One was from Liara, informing her of the impending reunion on Eden Prime. One was actually from Samara, stating that she will be visiting Rannoch within a fortnight, bringing her one remaining daughter with her, and if Tali wished to meet, the old asari would love get together at some point. Joker sent her a message with EDI's regards and the request that he be included on the first manned mission to Andromeda. Three were from other quarians.

The last one was from Garrus.

Shepard had left no body behind. They knew she was dead; the Reapers told them as such, and when they searched the remains of the Citadel they found the bones of Anderson specks of blood from Shepard, but not her body. Tali was not sure whether this was a comfort or a curse. She doubted Garrus could stand to see whatever could have become of Shepard's corpse. Anderson, who had not been the one to walk into the beam, had been disfigured to something unrecognizable as even a human form, so Shepard would have undoubtedly fared much worse no matter what. On the other hand, without that solid evidence, there was absolutely no feeling of closure, not even a horrifying one. There was no way to tell if Shepard had died in agony, or had died peacefully in her victory. Accounts, theories, deductions based on what the Reapers were able to tell them, all pointed to the latter, but there was no way to know.

Garrus had shouldered his grief with a strength that frankly shocked Tali. He dove into reconstruction efforts with the tenacity of any turian, and if she did not know better, she would have thought he was at peace with it all. When the Normandy dispersed, Garrus disappeared along with everyone else, and from accounts it seemed he behaved as normally as any turian would after a war with severe casualties and losses. However, when Liara arranged her first reunion, Garrus did not show, and while he did not disappear from the public eye, he withdrew from Normandy's old crew. He never even returned messages from his own friends, let alone proactively sent one on his own.

Heart hammering in her chest, Tali brought the message up to read.

Dear Tali,

Heard the intergalactic drive had launched successfully. Congratulations. I hope you and your family are doing well; it has been a long time. Something has been happening recently, I would like to get together to discuss in private. Please reply if you are willing.

Garrus.

That boshtet, Tali thought. Twenty-five years of absolute silence, and now this. She had half the mind to scold him in her response, but thought better of it at the last minute. Scolding could discourage him from meeting at all, and she did want to see him. She could compose a civil reply, confirm a meeting time and location, and figure out what exactly prompted him to contact her.

Besides, scolding was much more satisfying in person.

"Hi Aunt Tali," Miranda's son, Nicholas, waved on the screen. "Aja there?"

"No," Tali chuckled, knowing he was calling to congratulate them on the successful launch. "She's out tonight with her co-workers. How are you doing, Nick?"

"Great! Heard about the launch, congratulations! Mom would say it too, but she's currently debating with the salarian councilor over some funds," The young man turned his head to look, as if his mother were right off-screen, which Tali knew she was not. "Anyway, just calling to say hi, and, um, to congratulate you."

"Thanks, Nick. How are things going for you and your mom?"

"We're good. Mom's called out to Palaven tomorrow, apparently the turians want her there for some reason."

"Oh?" Tali was instantly reminded of Garrus and his message. Could this be related?

"Yeah, not sure what's going on, exactly. Mom doesn't know either, but since the Primarch requested her personally, she's decided to go."

Tali leaned forward and folded her fingers together. Maybe she should go to the Citadel to talk to the other councilors. Something about this did not sit right with her, though she was not sure what was the problem.

"Must be related to research." It was what Miranda did now, after all. "Maybe they want to negotiate a joint project with humans?"

"They don't have to do that through Mom though. It's weird that they want her along. She approves grants and reviews articles…she does her own research too, but nothing that turians would be interested in, I don't think. I don't know. We don't know. We're just going with the flow and seeing what happens." Nick shrugged. "No use speculating when we have no data."

Tali laughed. "True enough."

"Did you receive the message from Liara?"

"I did! Is your family going?"

"Depends on her schedule. Mom might have to give a talk. I know Jack's going, that's going to be interesting."

Tell me about it. "Do you know anyone else who might be going?"

"Heard James and Ashley might both show up this year! Mom heard that the council hasn't been sending Spectres on a lot of missions this year, so we're crossing our fingers."

This was true. Tali knew as much, because she was the quarian councilor. "Well, it is the twenty-fifth anniversary."

Twenty-five years. So hard to believe. Commander Shepard had been dead for twenty-five years. A quarter of a century had passed since the Reapers…maybe that was why Garrus contacted her?

"Have I ever mentioned how weird it was to be that kid in school whose parents actually worked with Commander Shepard? Even now I get weird looks, and not just because my mom's Miranda Lawson."

"We've condemned all of you to this life, unfortunately," Tali joked, "Aja faced the same problem in school. Still does."

"It's more awkward because people expect us to know things," Nick went on, "It's not like we know any more than anyone else. We never met Shepard, so the stuff we know we just hear from you, just like anyone else. Only difference is maybe that I know some specific things Shepard said to Mom, or to you, but everyone's like 'ohhhh!' Anyway, twenty-five years, huh? That's a special anniversary. Do you think this time around, Garrus Vakarian will show up?"

Tali did not let her hesitation show. "I have no idea," She shook her head, "But I hope so."

"Yeah, me too. Anyway, take care, I gotta get to Mom before she starts yelling at the salarian." Nick waved, before the transmission cut.

Tali leaned back, musing that however much of a cold woman Miranda had seemed back during the days on the Normandy, she was a warm, caring mother. Nick was a cheerful, funny, and intelligent young man who looked like the splitting image of Miranda.

Such a shame Shepard could never meet him. She would have liked him.

Garrus replied to Tali with a time and location, and Tali had her secretary leave that day open. He had called her to Palaven, which was a relatively short distance away from Rannoch compared to other worlds. When the date arrived, Tali traveled to the turian homeworld. Since this was not official council business, she was not greeted officially when she landed, and she went to Garrus's meeting place without trouble.

The location turned out to be his home estate. Garrus himself met with Tali at the door. Over the years, the scarred half of his face had healed due to the synthesis, but otherwise, like all of them after the fusion, he remained largely unchanged. There was that visor over his eye, the blue armor that might be a newer incarnation of the one he wore back in the days of the Normandy, but it looked identical. Same tattoos on his face, eyes dark and brooding, fringe swept back behind his head. Tali stared at him with an open-mouthed gape for a moment, abruptly thrust back to twenty-seven years ago, when they were all on the Normandy SR-1 and their friendship had been strong, but nowhere as close to the solidarity it would become two years later, when the fate of the galaxy had been at stake and all they had was each other, and Shepard.

How young they had been then!

"You boshtet!" She suddenly exclaimed, and marched up to point a finger at his nose. "Twenty-five years! Do you know how hard it's been to keep track of you and make sure you weren't dead somewhere?"

"I imagine not very," He said dispassionately, "I haven't exactly been trying to hide."

The lack of emotion in his voice gave Tali pause. Twenty-five years, and it seemed Garrus was still hurting. His tons worried her, and her temper ebbed as quickly as it had risen.

"Is everything alright?" She asked.

Garrus stood aside to allow her inside.

The house was largely undecorated, with a few bare essentials required for living. There were no images of Shepard anywhere, nor any reminders of the Normandy. Tali felt saddened by this, and turned around when she heard the door close to regard her old friend. She wondered how much he had changed after twenty-five years all by himself, without the support of the rest of Shepard's crew.

"Is everything alright?" She asked again.

Garrus stood with his arms folded in front of him and his head bowed, as if gathering his control together.

"Turians are falling ill," He said at last, "And we don't know why."

Tali stared blankly. Ever since the synthesis, all of them had changed. Organics became part synthetic, synthetics became part organic. While aging and death still took place, their synthetic components made the processes much more gradual and gentle. New estimates suggest that everyone's lifespans had multiplied by ten, and the only reason death even existed was because the organic component would eventually die, despite synthetic workups, though that may actually change soon. Illness was…unheard of at this point. Life-forms could malfunction, but this could easily be corrected by an outside source.

"What do you mean, Garrus? What do you mean 'falling ill'?"

"I suppose this means that it is not happening with quarians," Garrus remarked wryly, "Or that it has not happened yet. I meant exactly what I said, Tali. Turians are falling ill, specifically the children and those born after the war. Their body components are breaking down, and we've looked at everything but nothing's stopping them."

"Breaking down?" Children? "What could be causing this?"

"It's why I called you here. We don't know."

"I haven't heard anything like this. Do you know if other species are suffering the same phenomenon?"

"As far as I know, turians are the only ones. We sent out feelers to the other species but we're thinking the dextros might be the only ones affected. It's why I called you over, but that's not the only reason I called you here."

"What's the other reason? And why do you think the dextros are the only ones affected? I don't know what quarians are affected at all. I've never even heard of this."

Garrus shifted.

"We spoke with the Reapers," He told her, "And they don't know. I have a suspicion that only one person might know."

Shepard. Tali did not dare voice the name, however. Her breath suddenly froze in her chest, and anxious silence hovered between the two of them for a moment as this sunk in.

"And," Garrus finished, "I think she is the only one who can stop this."