Author's note
A little shorter than normal, but right now, I'm shooting off all the chapters I've managed to get on paper and have typed out. Hope you guys enjoy it and review.
Beginning Life Anew
Chapter 3: Homecoming
Tali couldn't believe it. But there it was outside the window of the starboard observation deck. The blue orb known as Earth, homeworld of humanity. More importantly, the homeworld of her love Commander Setsuna Shepard.
She was aware however that seeing his homeworld wasn't a joyous moment to Shepard. She had been there at Chora's den two years ago when Shepard was approached by a gang member he was formerly affiliated with during his childhood in the slums of Earth. The commander had restrained himself from throwing a biotic push at the man who was insistent on dredging up Shepard's past, a past he was no longer interested in. But to Shepard's credit, he had kept his temper down and even managed to push a rational discussion into the other human's head. The gang member had thrown the towel in the argument, unwilling to accept the truth of Shepard's words.
"I never thought I would see that ball of dirt again," Tali was startled when he appeared next to her.
"It's strange. Most of my people envision and pray for a time when we can finally reclaim our homeworld from the geth and place our weary feet on organic soil once more. We love the idea of having to live on a planet instead of a fleet. Yet here we are, orbiting your race's homeworld and you take no special joy in it," she said this as a statement, not in a judgmental way.
Shepard shrugged. "We have a saying back home: home is where the heart is. I was born in a gutter somewhere, probably abandoned by my parents at the doorstep of an orphanage in the poorest quarters of a city called New York. My name Setsuna? It's actually a Japanese name, a culture which Kasumi is a native. But I took it for my own when ran away from the orphanage and joined my first gang, the Reds. To become one of them, I beat four of them with my bare hands even though I was only 10 years old and for what? A lump of plastic. A robot toy. Actually I think it was a model but with what I could read off the toy, there was a name on it called Setsuna. I claimed it as my own and gained entry into the gangs."
Tali looked at him, the tilt in her head indicating her confusion. "What about your surname Shepard? Did you take that name later on as well?"
He shook his head. "When I snuck off on a transport to another colony, the Alliance security found me and once again, I was put into an orphanage. To my surprise, the orphanage wasn't anything like the Earth slums. People there actually cared for the children. After I reached the age of twelve, I finally met my stepparents who adopted me, and so I became Setsuna Shepard.
"Your parents are alive? Keelah, you never mentioned them," Tali exclaimed.
"Well, I didn't feel like rubbing the fact I still have living relatives on you, especially after your father's death. Besides, after I enrolled into the Alliance, we drifted apart somewhat. I went into N7 training while my parents are both ship captains. Mum is the captain of the dreadnought Orizaba while dad is captain of a frigate, similar to the Normandy but not as advanced."
"Do they know you are alive? How come I don't remember seeing them during your funeral..." Tali gasped as she realised what she was saying. "I mean the silly ceremonial celebration of your death, well, not celebration but even then, we were all angry at the Council's insistence on covering up the Reapers and using your death as an excuse to let dead dogs lie... Keelah, how did I blunder into bringing up your death?" Tali was truly flustered for touching on this topic.
Shepard laughed and wished he could see Tali's face unmasked when she was embarrassed. To Tali's surprise, he moved and hugged her from behind, locking his arms around her smooth firm stomach.
"You don't have to be embarrassed Tali. Any regret or negative feelings about my death and resurrection went out of the window the moment I saw you on Freedom's progress. I'm not exactly a God person but there hasn't been a day I haven't been thankful for you being alive and on my side."
"Besides, you brought up the perfect subject. Yes, my parents know I'm alive. Dad's still part of the Arcturus Core fleet so he's still there. Mum on the other hand... "Shepard paused and seem to be looking out of the window. Tali turned her head to look at Shepard and saw an uncharacteristically wicked grin on Shepard's face. He followed his gaze out the window and beheld an approaching flotilla of Alliance ships approaching the Normandy.
At the centre of the fleet, was a huge Alliance Dreadnought.
Tali gasped in horror. "Shepard, you didn't... I thought we came to Earth to convince the Alliance to prepared for war with the Reapers!"
Shepard's face became serious. "The System Alliance parliament and government headquarters is at Arcturus Prime, not Earth itself. Seeing the data on the Reapers collected by EDI finally got made me figure out my priorities. I'm fighting for you Tali. For the family we could have and WILL have. And to do that, I need to introduce you to my mother: Captain Hannah Shepard of the SSV Orizaba.
to be continued.
Author's note
I know, a little short. But I promise the next few chapters will be longer and hopefully, more interesting if you don't find it already. Constructive criticism are greatly appreciated.
