"The first is the otherlander, or utlanning, the stranger that we recognize as being a human of our world, but of another city or country. The second is the framling... This is the stranger that we recognize as human, but of another world. The third is the raman, the stranger that we recognize as human, but of another species. The fourth is the true alien, the varelse, which includes all the animals, for with them no conversation is possible. They live, but we cannot guess what purposes or causes make them act. They might be intelligent, they might be self-aware, but we cannot know it. "

Orison Scott Card - Speaker for the Dead

SSV Carl Jung - Hackett

Five days. Had it really only been that long? Hackett could hardly believe it himself. Here he was, sitting in his hospital ship's officers mess with two aliens. Six days ago, he hadn't even really known aliens existed. Oh sure, everyone had been fairly certain there was intelligent extra-solar life after the discovery of the prothean cache, but there hadn't been any actual contact. Now, there had been; in just a few hours, leaders from both the quarian and human fleets would meet right here, on the Carl Jung. Hackett was witnessing history.

"Can I have some more juice, mommy?"

Hackett smiled down at the little tyke perched on Chief Shepard's lap. He was invited to the board meeting by virtue of the fact that his mother was currently the foremost expert on quarians, and both Rael and Gerrel seemed to really like him. Besides, it wasn't like this was a serious meeting. Well, it was, but it wasn't one where a three year old wouldn't be welcome. Currently, they were learning about human and quarian culture by exchanging customs, pics, vids, even a few stories. As Rael had said, "Who are we to say that a child does not have insight to offer on such things?"

Well, he was pretty sure that was what Rael had meant to say. It had come out more like, "We think we are wise, but child Shepard, he teach us more then vids or pics."

Currently, human quarian dialogue was not at the place where waxing eloquent was possible. They were making progress though, and between Hannah's surprisingly large Keelish vocabulary, what Hackett had picked up, and whatever English Rael and Gerrel had between them, they did alright.

Actually, now that Hackett thought about it, little Johnny was a foremost expert on quarians himself. After all, he and his mother had spent most of their waking hours with quarians since the Belari had arrived. They had needed to jury rig and envirosuit small enough for the kid, but the quarians had been very helpful there after seeing the boys difficulties. They didn't have any children onboard a warship, but they were experts and modifying tech. What they had done with the Alliance gear they had got their hands on was nothing short of incredible. They had already created crude translators for themselves, and for the Alliance, as well as showing the Alliance engineers how to optimize their drive cores, and a dozen other things.

Leaning toward Gerrel as Rael and Hannah fussed over Johnny, Hackett whispered, "You know something, I think this is the start of a beautiful relationship."

Gerrel jerked back. "You wanting to be linked suits with me?"

Now it was Hackett's turn to jerk back. "Link suits? What are you talking about?"

"To have relationship with me. To link our suits, ah, air, and um, things in air that are too small to see. Ts'alfum."

"Woah, not that kind of relationship!" Hackett laughed. "No, I mean friendship. Alliance. Our people, working together."

Gerrel chucked as well, waving his three fingered hands to show no offense was taken. Funny, those hands didn't even look that strange to Hackett now.

"Learning new language, is strange, yes?" Gerrel said. "When I learn sari, ah, many confusions there."

"Sari? Is that another language of your people?"

"Oh no, is language of asari. Different people. Ah! We not tell you! We not only two species in galaxy. Rael, we not tell them about asari! Ah, asari. Everybody love asari. Want relationship with them! Too bad asari not love quarians."

Gerrel made a picture of a strange blue alien woman, at least, with a rack like that, Hackett hoped it was a woman, standing on a platform of some kind.

"What do you mean, Gerrel, asari don't love quarians?" Hannah asked, now that her son was happily sipping from a tippy cup.

"Quarians, we ah, we no loved." Rael answered. "When geth take Rannoch, we kicked out galactic family. Citadel Council, they think they run galaxy. Quarians once part of Citadel, allies. Provide aid, support, military, economic," Those had been two words Hackett and the quarians had taught each other in a hurry, "like what we wish with Alliance"

"So why didn't they help you when the geth rebelled?" Hannah asked.

Rael made a noise reminiscent of a human fart, probably something Johnny had taught him. It was cultural after all. "Council, they no good. They say they help, they say we have to follow their rules. But when we need help? They laugh. Kick us out, no help. No food, no medicine, no planet. Call us suit rats. Not good word, bad, like word you not say in front of child. But is what they call us. Council only interested in what you do for them."

"Hmm. How many races on this council are there?" Hackett asked, playing for time while he thought. The revelation that there was a galactic body of some sort was interesting. The quarians also sounded like outcasts of some sort. Why, Hackett couldn't be sure. They seemed nice enough, but what was the whole story? It had something to do with the geth he was sure, but why kick the quarians out if they were the victims?

"Plenty races. Turian, salarian, asari, big three. They big, tell every other race what to do. You follow rules, or turians attack you. Kicked out quarians, gave krogan sickness that kill babies, do lots of bad things. Other races, they do what turian, salarian, asari say. Elcor, volus, hannar, drell, sometimes batarians, they all do what big three say."

"Don't the other races have a voice in galactic policy? What about humanity, what would be our place?" Hackett pressed.

Gerrel laughed, then shook his head. "You new. If turians find you trying to activate relay, they shoot you. We not shoot, we not care if you activate relay. Humans free to do what humans want, quarians not tell them what to do. But against council law to do so. Turians, quarians, we not get along. Turians strong men of council. They have big ships, big guns. Lots ships, lots guns. They shoot first, ask questions maybe."

"No negotiations?" Hackett asked, stunned. That was a stupid policy. To his mind, if you found a child, which at this point was what humanity was on the galactic stage, playing with fire you didn't try to kill or hurt them. You took them out of danger, then taught them what to do.

"Turians think guns work good for negotiations." Rael answered. "You new, Hackett. Turians, asari, salarians, they not give, ah, cannot say, child here, but they not care. Asari maybe act like they care, but they let turians kick you plenty before they act. And when finished kicking you, not give you voice. You do what they say, or maybe asari not care so much if turians kick you."

"That's rather disturbing." Hannah murmured, frowning down at her son who was happily coloring a new picture while the grownups talked about boring things. "So they wouldn't give humanity a voice in galactic policies at all?"

"Council not change since before quarians leave Rannoch. Long time." Gerrel stated. "About 12 quarian lifetimes. Think quarians probably live same time as humans, little more, little less. When quarians part of council, we not have seat. Just do what council say. We screw up, not help. Just kick. All council good for. Kick."

HWS Stern Judicator

Admiral Sparticus frowned at his display. "Hmph. That's the Belari alright. And it's little friends. Look pretty primitive, don't they Saren?"

Sparticus's aid, Corporal Saren Arterius, nodded. "Indeed. Shouldn't be too much of a problem, Admiral."

Sparticus let out a heavy sigh. "Primitives. They never learn. And consorting with suit rats? It's like they WANT to get into the galaxies bad graces. Gunnery, give them a salvo. Teach them who the real power in the galaxy is."

MFBS Balari -Berga

There are moments in time that become more than just fading memory. They are where history is made, instants were the direction for an entire galaxy is determined. Encapsulated forever in the hearts and souls of nations as reminders of why we fight, why we live.

First Lieutenant Berga'Otorus was experiencing such a moment. Turian warships had just popped out of nowhere. They were barely on the Balari's scanners, and they certainly were not on the Alliances. Berga had just snapped off a warning to the humans, when a call came from her gunnery station.

"The turians have fired! One of their dreadnaughts rounds is headed straight for the Carl Jung! It will cut right through their barriers!"

"Move to interpose." Berga snapped, not even pausing to think about the implications for her of what she was saying. "Warn the humans to get out of here. Now."

"Aye aye, ma'am." Turl answered, his voice steady.

Berga felt nothing but calm in the few seconds she had remaining. Her ship could not take a direct hit from a turian dreadnaught, which in her last few seconds of life, was what the Balari was moving to do. What the Belari could do was absorb enough of the impact to allow the Carl Jung and its crew of innocents to escape. She closed her eyes and thought of the grinning, bright eyed young human who had been on the bridge the day before. He was on the ship she had just saved.

" Keelah se'lai, Johnny'Shepard nar Arcturus." She whispered, not noticing that she still had an open channel to the human ships.

"Keelah Se'lai," her bridge crew murmured.

Berga never felt the round that killed her, and all hands aboard the Belari. But the entire galaxy did.

MFBV Tonbay, Shala'Raan

"Ancestors, what was that!"

Raan stared at her screen, total disbelief was all she could think. "The Belari... She just entered evasive maneuvers, then exploded."

"RAEL!"

That was Kleeah'Zorah. Now a widow in all likely hood.

"Keelah, that was the turians! They just opened fire on the humans and on our ship! Three human ships destroyed and the Belari!"

"All ships, this is Admiral Vexxu'Herato. Engage the turians. Don't let another one of those human ships get destroyed!"

Raan was glad for the orders, all she could see was her new niece, now fatherless.

"You heard the Admiral!" Raan roared, facing her crew. "Get over there and blow those metal faced ancestor fuckers out of the skies!"

HWS Stern Judicator -Sparticus

"Admiral Sparticus, I just picked up multiple quarian ships on my scanners. They appear to have entered the system from just outside our range. They... They appear to making an attack run on us, putting themselves between us and the surviving alien vessels."

"You cannot be serious." Sparticus sneered. "Quarians, taking on a turian dreadnaught and her escort?"

"Yes sir. And um, sir?"

"What is it now?"

"Um, sir, an unidentified dreadnaught and its attendants just entered the system."

SSV Everest - Grissom

"The hell am I seeing!"Fleet Admiral Jon Grissom roared, staring at his readout. This was supposed to be a mission of peace. The aliens were supposed to be their friends. What the HELL was going on?

"Sir! The quarian ship, the Belari, it took a shot for the Carl Jung! Unknown alien vessels fired upon them sir. Those other ships though, they appear to be attempting to interpose themselves between the aggressors and our surviving ships. I think the friendlies are the quarians sir. The other ones, I don't know."

"I know what they are Lieutenant. Dead meat. All ships, open fire!"

The Battle of 314, AKA, The First Battle of the Second Contact War, AKA, the Turian/Independent League Conflict

The Everest was the first ever Alliance dreadnought, one of two so far with two more on the way. Compared to a turian dreadnought, it was both laughably underpowered, clumsy, and with barriers that wouldn't do much against anything in the turian arsenal.

None of that mattered a damn though when the Everest was facing the enemies exposed underbelly. Underpowered in comparison to a turian dreadnought, the Everest still packed a punch. Her first shot was blocked when one of the other aggressor ships sacrificed itself in the same manner the Belari had. The second and third drained the Judicators shields. The fourth crippled her engines.

After that, the turians claimed they performed a tactical withdrawal. The truth was different. The truth was, the remaining ships fled before the fury of their two enemies fleets, working for the first, but not the last, time in concert. By turian standards, quarian ships were pieces of junk and human ships were primitive jokes. The turians were not laughing though, as they were outnumbered by 3-1, and in a rather horrible position, caught between Grissom's task force and Herato's expedition, and now down in the dreadnought count.

Human and quarian ships rapidly fell into a classic pincer movement, trapping three turian cruisers and five frigates, forcing their captains to scuttle their ships and evacuate. To Admiral Sparticus's credit, he too scuttled his ship before evacuating, and along with his faithful aid Saren Arterius, was the last turian to leave on the last life pod.

SSV Carl Jung - Johnny

Johnny wasn't sure why is mommy was crying, or why the man with the blue hat was crying, or why the pink mask man was crying, or why the loud mask man was crying. He wasn't crying, but he was hugging his mommy. That's what she did when he cried, and maybe she would stop crying if he hugged her hard enough.

"Mommy, why are you crying?" Johnny asked, his lip trembling. Maybe he would cry too. He was feeling pretty sad now.

"Shhhh. Shhhh. Come here, my little dino." Mommy whispered. She picked him up and cuddled him, and the world was warm and safe. Everything was always safe when mommy held you, and nothing bad could happen.

"Gone, they're all gone." The pink man cried. Johnny could understand him, even though he spoke a funny talk, not like mommy. He could understand a lot of talks, though the pink mans was the funniest. He had always been able to figure out the other kids at the day cares talks pretty fast, and they had lots of different talks.

"Who's gone mommy?" Johnny whispered.

Mommy hugged him tighter, and Johnny almost asked her to stop, but she was still crying, so he just hugged her back. "The quarians on that ship we visited yesterday, they just saved us from something very bad."

"Oh. But that's good, right?"

"Yes." Mommy whispered, planting a big kiss on Johnny's forehead. "But they got hurt when it happened. That's why we are sad."

"Oh. Well, I could draw them a picture. You always feel better when I draw you a picture."

"Why don't you do that sweetie. Your crayons are right over there."

Johnny set to work while his mommy went over and cried some more with the pink man. Everyone was very sad, but Johnny didn't really understand it. The loud noise and the bright lights were over, so why were they still sad? Me drew a picture of himself and the funny people on their ship. They had all been very nice, letting him push buttons, and spin things, and even crawl under stuff and get dirty! Mommy didn't usually like it when he got dirty, but since he had been in the weird clothes, she had said it was OK.

When he finished, he took the picture over to mommy and the pink man. "I drawed this for you."

The pink man stopped crying and bent down, carefully taking the picture. "Thank you, Johnny Shepard. May the spirits of my crew find it a suitable offering."

"Soup bowl off ring." Johnny agreed. For some reason, that made mommy and the pink man cry some more, but mommy picked him up and hugged him, so it was OK.

As long as mommy held him, it was always OK.

MFBV Saafa - Admiral Vexxu'Herato

"You're lucky, Sparticus. If it wasn't for the fact that I don't want quarian pilgrims getting executed by the turians, I would convene a court marshal right now and shoot you myself."

"You have no authority to do that. The Council would eat you suit rats for breakfast if you tried."

"YOU ARE ON MY SHIP. YOU KILLED MY PEOPLE. THE HELL I CAN'T TURIAN." Herato tried to remind herself that losing her temper wouldn't do her any good. But she had had a son on the Belari, who had been so excited to serve under Captain Zorah. Now her son was dead.

"In a perfectly legal action. Your ship was aiding in the activation of a relay. That's against Council Law."

"The humans have no knowledge of Council Law! How are they to learn if you kill them!"

"If you don't enforce the law, no one has any respect for it."

Herato could feel herself losing it again. "Get this bosh'tet out of my sight." She growled. Two marines manhandled Sparticus away, and Herato snorted.

"He actually thinks what he did was right!" Herato seethed to her aid.

"Well, perhaps in the brig he will see the error of his ways." Her aid, Zaal'Koris observed.

"Not likely. I've yet to see a turian bend his neck. And I have no idea how we will feed all these prisoners. The Alliance certainly can't."

"The emergency stockpiles will last until the rest of the fleet meets us at the humans Arcturus Station. We'll figure out what to do after that." Koris stated.

He was right, but that didn't make the fact that all her able bodied crew were going on half rations to feed their enemies any easier. "If only we could let the humans feed them. That would be a sight to see."

"You know, I'm not the blood thirsty sort, but I am halfway tempted to agree Admiral."

"Ancestors help us! Cool Blood Koris actually wants to see someone dead?"

"After what the turians did to the Belari and the humans, you're damn right I do ma'am."

SSV Carl Jung - Hannah Shepard

It was a historic moment, but for all the wrong reasons. Jon Grissom, leader of all of humanities fleets, was shaking hand with one of the leaders of an alien nation. But they were not meeting to discuss trade agreements, cultural exchanges, or anything good and healthy like that. They were meeting to discuss war. The Jung was already en route to Arcturus station, and due to the fact that quarian and human ships could barely communicate at sublight speeds, let alone at FTL, necessitated they meet on neutral ground. And after the Balari's crew had sacrificed themselves so that the Jung could live, both sides seemed to consider the Jung one of their own.

Hannah was translating for Fleet Admiral Grissom, and Rael for Admiral Vexxu'Herato.

"So, the turians. What do you believe is their next move?" Hannah translated.

"Probably to move against both our peoples in force. Thank you again for offering to shelter the Migrant Fleet, Admiral. No other people has offered us aid in over 300 years."

"It would be an insult to the sacrifice of the Belari to do otherwise. Humanity sticks by its friends, and knows who they are. I cannot imagine a greater proof that the quarians are the friends of humanity then the actions of the Belari's courageous crew. I just wish it had not been necessary."

"I wish the same, but wishes will not bring back the dead. The turians likely do not know where your bases are, or where your colonies are. But by the location of the 314 relay, and the direction your fleet entered from, they will know where to start looking. And the course of the migrant fleet will be easy to chart, even with the planned evasive maneuvers. You cannot hide 50,000 ships entering and exiting FTL."

"Humanity isn't interested in hiding. If the turians want us, we'll be ready for them. But I say we strike first. They drew first blood. Time to pay them back."

"I could not agree more Admiral, but we must use caution. The turian ships are superior in every way to our own."

"Agreed. But you have some idea of the disposition of their fleet, and what locations are open to surgical strikes. The turians declared war when they opened fire on our ships. Let's give them one."

"Yes. Tactics. Just how many colonies does humanity possess at the moment?"

There was a bit of discussion at that, finally, Admiral Grissom answered. "That's a difficult question to answer, we have several colonies still in the developing stages, but I would estimate that we currently possess eight worlds with active colonies, not including any planets in the Sol system."

"That's incredible, how long has humanity known of the Relays?"

"Eight years."

That elicited murmurs of shock from the quarians, and Vexxu had to steady herself again. "So little time, yet you already have eight colonies and a dreadnaught?"

"We have two dreadnaughts actually, the Everest is the class leader, but the Fuji was completed a year ago, and the Elbrus is six months from completion. The Kilimanjaro will be finished about 18 months after the Elbrus, and contains several dramatic improvements and upgrades."

At this point, there wasn't much Grissom would have been able to say that would have shocked Vexxu.

"I see. And if the we were to assist with the construction?"

Grissom shrugged. "I imagine we could get the Elbrus finished in a few months, and the Kilimanjaro done in under a year. I'm more concerned about getting the carriers finished though. We only have one of those, it took us longer to figure out how to make economical fighters then capital ships."

"Carriers?"

"You know, ships that carry small craft into battle. Bombers, fighters, that sort of thing."

"I have never heard of such a ship. We will have to discuss that at length."

"The turians don't have carriers?" This was Hackett now, and his eyes gleamed almost as brightly as a quarians.

"No, no race fields a ship that is exclusively a small craft platform."

The two human admirals shared vicious grins. "Really," Grissom purred. "Well then. Perhaps this war won't be so impossible after all."

And so it went on, for hours and hours. Hannah should have become weary and sick of it, but she didn't. All she could think of was the fact that her son was still alive because a quarian crew had decided to save him. There was nothing Hannah could have done, no action she could have personally taken to keep the light of her life safe. But the Belari had been able. And they had done so. No sacrifice to honor them was too great. No act to much to ask. To avenge the Belari, Hannah was ready to do anything.

When the talks finally finished, Hannah and Rael both headed to the nursery. They stood outside a few moments, watching. Rael's wife, Kleeah, was playing with Johnny and Tali, her infant child. Tali was only about 9 months old, but she crawled around in what the humans had dubbed "the hamster ball," giggling and squealing with pleasure as Johnny chased her. Gripped firmly in three of Tali's chubby fingers was a plastic dinosaur.

"She's too cute." Hannah said, leaning up against the glass. "But I can't imagine my child having to spend her life in a ball.

"She's too young for a suit. She won't get one for a few more years, on her fifth birthday. It's what we have to do though. After so long in sterile environments, our immune systems couldn't hold off a fraction of the contaminates present on this ship."

"Still, to never be able to hold her? Not to be able to share a touch, a kiss, a hug? I don't know how you do it."

"We do what we have too. And we hope that one day, our children won't have to grow up in a hamster ball." That was said with just a touch of humor. Once what a hamster ball was had been explained to him, Rael had taken to calling Tali "His Little Hamster." No one had had the courage tell the quarians that "Suit Rat" translated to something very close to hamster ball. Besides, the humans meant it in affection, not scorn.

"Maybe that will be someday soon. We've got an awful lot of scientists back on Earth. And humanity owes the quarians a pretty big debt."

"I pray it will be so. But that was not a way I wished to incur your peoples debt. I..."

Hannah put her arm around the ex-captain. "Hey, it's OK Rael. You shouldn't have been there. I'm glad you weren't. Without you, I would never be able to translate all that stuff. And that would set back our relations by weeks. Time we don't have."

"I know you're right Hannah. But that doesn't make things any easier." Rael sighed and stood. "Come on. At least our children can remind me why my crews sacrifice was worth it."

SSV Carl Jung -Tali'Zorah

The world was such a bright place, full of so many interesting things. The new person, the laughing one who growled, was so fascinating! Tali laughed whenever she saw him. He didn't look like the mother person or the strong person or the gentle person or any of the other persons. Something was strange about him, but Tali didn't really know what. The mother person and the strong person liked the laughing person though, so Tali liked him too.

Tali liked lots of things, though not the barrier. The thing that kept her from touching the mother person, or any of the other persons. Tali wished she could go back to the warm place, where the mother person had held her and given her warm food from the food place. But now Tali's food came from something else. It was still good, but she missed the mother person.

Just then, she was lifted up and she saw the father person. He was making the happy face, so Tali laughed and smiled. That made more happy faces, and Tali laughed and smiled some more.

The world was such a bright, happy place.

SSV Carl Jung - Johnny Shepard

"Mr. Zorah! Mr. Zorah! Babytali has a dinosaur! It's one of my old ones! Look it!"

Johnny was happy. There were lots of new friends to play with now, and they all talked the funniest talk. Some of them were bigger then Johnny, some of them were smaller, but they all seemed to be nice. The best one though was Babytali. She had one of Johnny's old dinosaurs from somewhere. In most three year olds, this would have provoked a fit. But Johnny was the generous sort, and not one to whine when someone younger and weaker than him took his toys. They didn't know any better after all, and Johnny would rather teach them what was better then try to force them to do things his way.

"So I see." Mr. Rael said, setting Babytali back down in her ball.

"Why is Babytali in a ball?"

"So she doesn't get sick."

"Will I have to be in a ball? I got sick one time."

"No you won't Johnny. Maybe someday, Tali can come out of her ball and play with you."

Johnny's face lit up at the prospect, and he bent down and looked Babytali in her glowing eyes. "You hear that Babytali! Someday we can play together with no ball!"

"Ba!"

"She talked!" Johnny shouted, and all the adults crowded around and made cooing noises. Johnny copied them, content in his own little world.

Many of the adults wished they could join him.

Palavan Command - Adrian Victus

"How did the primitives' dreadnought manage to cripple the Stern Judicator, Lieutenant Victus?"

"Sir, the primitives' dropped out of FLT on her flank, inferior to her on the orbital plain. We had no warning they were even coming. We were also unaware of the quarian presence beyond the Belari."

"Hmm. So your report says. Very well Lieutenant, explain why you were late in patrolling the 314 relay."

"Sir, I elected to extend my patrol to monitor Migrant Fleet activity. I thought the suit rats, er, the quarians were up to something."

"Your suspicions appear to be correct, as we have noted. You did well Lieutenant. If it was not for your warning, we would have no knowledge of this new threat. The quarians have long been a disgrace to the galaxy. Return to the barracks for your next assignment, Captain Adrian Victus."

"Sir!" Victus saluted, and executed a parade ground about face, marching out of High Command with all the poise he could muster.

It felt like a weight had just lifted from his shoulders. Victus had thought the Admirals had called him in to crucify him, but instead he had just been promoted. The Overwatch had been one of the few ships to escape the aliens trap, and High Command was not happy with the situation. One thing about the turian military though, if you were a subordinate following orders, you were rewarded no matter the outcome. Victus wouldn't want to be Sparticus just now, and for the sake of the Admiral, hoped he had perished in the battle.

One thing was certain though: the quarians and their strange new allies had just bought themselves a whole galaxy of trouble. The entire Hierarchy was mobilizing, all the fleets were being called out. Full scale war was at hand.

SSV Carl Jung - Rael'Zorah

Even with the massive case of survivors guilt he was experiencing, Rael still managed to feel pretty good. The Jung was still a day out from Arcturus, and Rael was free for a few hours to spend time with his family. They were sharing quarters with Hannah and her son, which meant that by quarians standards, the accommodations were spacious and luxurious.

Right now though, Rael was alone in the compartment with his wife. Hannah had taken the two children for a few hours while Rael got some much needed time alone with his mate.

"When I saw the Belari destroyed... Rael, my heart broke. The thought of Tali growing up without a father..."

"I know. I should have been on that ship, with my crew. As captain..."

"You were doing your duty. It's not your fault. It was the turians."

"The turians. Anytime something good seems to happen to our people, those metal heads show up and try to destroy it."

"I don't think they can destroy this. I like Hannah, even if I have a hard time talking with her still. And her son, he's adorable. Tali seems to like both of them as well."

Rael chuckled and pulled his wife a little closer to him. "Ah yes, our daughter. I suppose between the two of you, I do have something to live for still, don't I?"

"You do Rael! I don't want to lose you. Being away from you, with the baby is hard enough. But if you died..."

"I can't promise I won't, my heart. You know there will be war with the turians now."

"Yes. And you have your duty." Kleeah sounded half bitter when she said that.

"No, I have you and Tali. Duty be damned. I'm not going to let anything happen to either of you. Our daughter WILL have a bright future. If her father has to sacrifice his to make that happen, then so be it."

Kleeah shuddered, and Rael knew she was silently crying. "I know Rael, I know. Its just, wouldn't it be a better future if you were there too?"

"I won't argue with that, I don't plan on dying. But I don't plan on letting others fight for me either. Hannah plans the same thing. We both will be needed on the front lines for battlefield communication. It won't be glamorous or even that dangerous possibly, but it will be vital."

"That's a comfort, at least."

"You'll probably be conscripted too. You speak better human then most with all the time you've spent in the day care. They might need you to translate as well. "

"I won't go into battle willingly, not with the baby, but I will do what I can. For our daughter."

"For our daughter."

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Christian Bible, John 15:13

There is no greater calling, no greater purpose, then one who would give up his life for another, though the other has earned it not.

The Book of the Ancestors, Fifth Scroll, the Wisdom of Ancestor Yttel'Venish

Authors Note:
And so the note for this fic is established. Yes, there will be heartache. There will trials by flame and ice that stretch the races of the galaxy to the limits. There will be severe concequences for the alteration in the ME timeline that will bring great sadness to those who know how things could have happened differently.

But there will also be hope. By the end of this fic, I want the reader to think, "man, I really wish the quarians had been the first contact in the games. Things would have been so much better..." Because despite the tragedy of the Belari, their sacrifice was worth it. It meant something. Ultimately, the Meek WILL Inherit the Galaxy. But it's going to be a long road there.

On another note, I cannot begin to thank my readers enough for all the positive feedback I've received. Originally, this was intended to sort of just be a one shot "what if" project that expounded on my love of the quarian people (and my inner Talimancer). But when you get more than thirty reviews on your first chapter all asking for more, and then your second chapter gets even more positive feedback, as an author, that does something for you. As such, as a thank you for all the support and because people obviously want to hear more of this story, And the Meek Shall Inherit the Galaxy will continue. For now, I'm putting it on the same update schedule that Keelah Se'lai has, which is every four days. Depending on how that works for me personally (and how it works for my readers) I might adjust that in the future.

As always, thanks for reading, and REMEMBER THE BELARI!