I climbed up the upper stairs that leads to a marketplace. I ran hard and fast. I ignored the aliens around me as I shoved past them. I heard their protests distantly.

I couldn't stop. That death squad could be chasing after me for all I know. My breathing was hard and heavy. If I stop to rest, then I would get killed too. Tears were leaking over my eyes, blinding my vision.

This is all a dream, I thought. It had to be. I just want to wake up from this nightmare.

Down the large hallway, I noticed a clinic. It wasn't a church, but it'll make a good sanctuary. I walked through the automatic door and ran inside.

There was a lady with short red hair and dressed in a futuristic, medical suit. She dropped her clipboard when she saw me.

"Who are you?" the lady asked, shocked at my sudden intrusion. She has a French accent.

I didn't answer. I took a few steps away from her. I huddled in a corner behind a pillar, trembling badly.

I feel so guilty for running away, leaving that quarian woman behind. I was so scared. I'm such a coward! I shifted back from the French lady, unwilling trust anything she might have up her sleeve.

"Don't be scared." she assures me calmly. "My name is Dr. Chloe Michel. I run this clinic. What happened to you?"

I looked at Dr. Michel with my puppy eyes, as I try not to cry. "Please, help me." I said in a quavering tone. "I just want to go home."

Dr. Michel looked at me pitifully. "Don't worry, you're safe here." she reassured, offering a helping hand.

I took it as Dr. Michel has kindly led me to a chair that I can sit on instead of the cold floor. I was exhausted. I wanted to close my eyes and get some sleep.

Dr. Michel was comforting me before promising she'll come back with a drink of water and talk about my current problem.

A woman in a red-grey military armor entered the clinic, accompanied by a man, a male turian and a female quarian. It was the same people from the orange alley. They found me. My breathing suddenly labored. I wanted to run, but my body was frozen. I was frightened of trusting someone that I might regret it.

I stood up from my chair and trap myself in a corner. Dr. Michel seems to recognize them. She talked to them and said. "Commander. This girl is scared out of her mind. Don't do anything to upset her."

This woman soldier looks exactly like my best friend Emily Robbins. She has the same sky-blue eyes, blonde hair and warm smile. She was almost an exact duplicate. I couldn't help but study her similar features.

The turian in the blue armor approached and kneeled in front of me. "Its alright. I'm a C-Sec officer, or I was an hour ago. We're not here to hurt you."

I read the expression on the turian's avian face and recognized the concern for my life. I knew that he meant no harm. I calmed down and listened.

"Who are you?" I asked, looking at the soldier woman.

"My name's Commander Shepard." she said professionally. "I'm looking for evidence that proves Saren's a traitor."

Saren? Who's Saren? Must the bad guy of this game, I thought.

The man in the grey armor introduced himself. "I'm Kaidan Alenko, a soldier of the Alliance."

"Alice." I said, clutching my backpack. "Alice Turner."

The quarian woman approached me and rudely stood in the way of the Commander. "I'm Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. The same quarian who you stole from."

I expected this accusation, but I was put off by her angry tone.

"It's a geth's memory core and I want it back." Tali demanded angrily.

"I accidently took it." I explained calmly. "I was trying to find you and give this thing back. But I was stalked and attacked by those thugs."

"You good-for-nothing, lying thief." Tali accused.

"Technically, I didn't steal it!" I argued. "If I did, then I wouldn't have come looking for you. It wasn't intentional, believe me."

I handed the 'memory core' back to the quarian woman called Tali. She seems to believe my story, but didn't say a word of it. I could see the sympathy and appreciation in her eyes, knowing exactly what I've been through.

"Who were those thugs?" I asked, changing the subject.

"They were Fist's men." Kaidan explained. "He sent them to kill you and Tali."

I felt really worried. "Why does Fist want to kill me?"

"Actually," Kaidan said. "It was a turian Spectre called Saren who wanted you dead. He just paid Fist to do the job so that the information is never delivered to the Council. Fist told us where you and Tali were."

This was getting me so confused. I don't understand what's going on in this weird video game. I was suspicious of all this. "And did he tell you willingly?" I asked.

"Yeah." Kaidan said. "Right before Wrex killed him."

That name sounds awfully familiar. It couldn't be, could it?

"Wait a minute." I said. "Isn't Wrex the same krogan in the red armour?"

"You've met him before?" Commander Shepard asked.

I nodded. "Briefly. At Clora's Den, I think. I was hiding out there because Saren's thugs were stalking me. Didn't work."

There was a short pause in the room.

"After killing Fist," Commander Shepard explained. "Wrex went back to the Presidium with Ashley until we return with the evidence."

"It's not safe here. We have to go elsewhere." Tail said wisely.

"The Ambassador's office. It's safe there." Kaidan suggested. "He'll want to see this anyway."

I stayed where I was, frozen by indecision. The Commander noticed this and held my hands. She looked at me directly in the eye.

"I know you're scared, Alice." Commander Shepard assured me. "But if you come with us, we can protect you. It's your choice."

Normally, I wouldn't trust or go along with complete strangers. But in my heart, I believe these guys really want to help me. I have nothing to lose so I might as well go for it.


At the Presidium…

Commander Shepard and her squad took me to shelter at Ambassador Udina's offices on the station's Presidium Level. I was quite nervous to be meeting a very important political figure of humanity, especially since there never was one from where I'm from.

We passed the familiar receptionist at a desk and climbed the stairs. At the top of the floor, there was a Caucasian female soldier in pink-white armor and a krogan in red armor. I don't know this woman, but I recognized Wrex from before. His appearance scares me.

"Shepard." Wrex acknowledged. "About time." Then he turned his attention toward me.

I stayed shyly behind Commander Shepard. I was still nervous of meeting new people.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" Wrex asked me.

"Clora's Den." I reply.

The woman interrupted before Wrex ask any further questions from me. "What's with the kid, Commander?" she asked.

"I'll explain later, Ashley." Commander Shepard said. "Right now, let's show the evidence to Udina."

Nonetheless, Ashley chatted with Kaidan and asked all kinds of questions about the incident until we reached the Ambassador's office.

A man in a blue, military uniform with medal patches was there. I guess everyone's a fan of blue in the 22nd century.

"Who's that?" I whisper. I hoped that the squad could hear me.

"That's Captain Anderson." Commander Shepard said. "He's the captain of the Normandy and a good man. Don't worry, Alice, you can trust him."

A middle-age man in a white suit also was there. That must be Ambassador Udina. He looks very agitated.

"You're not making my life any easier, Shepard." Udina said uneasily. "Firefights in the wards? An all-out assault on Clora's Den? Do you know how many…?"

The Ambassador stopped in the middle of his sentence when he saw unfamiliar aliens in his office. "Who's this? A quarian? What are you up to Shepard?" he demanded.

I just stood there in the background. I listened and waited for my turn. I was too shy to speak up anyway.

Commander Shepard straightens herself smartly and said. "Making your day, Ambassador. She has information linking Saren to the geth."

"Really?" Udina enquired, changing his tone. He was looking at Tali. "Maybe you better start at the beginning, Miss…?"

"My name is Tali." She said. "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

"We don't see many quarians here. Why did you leave the flotilla?" Udina asked curiously.

Tali steps forward to talk about her tale. "I was on my pilgrimage, my rite of passage into adulthood."

Commander Shepard did me a favor of asking Tali questions about her quarian life. "I've never heard of this before."

"It is a tradition among my people." Tali explained. "When we reach maturity, we leave the ships of our parents and our people behind. Alone, we search the stars, only returning to the flotilla once we have discovered something of value. In this way, we prove ourselves worthy of adulthood."

"What kinds of things do you look for?" Commander Shepard asked.

Tali continued on. "It could be resources, like food or fuel or some time of useful technology. Or even knowledge that will make life easier on the flotilla. Through our Pilgrimage, we prove ourselves worthy that we will contribute the community rather than being a burden on our limited resources."

Her story remains me how much of a burden I've been to my family. I'm hardly adult, but that's no excuse. I don't talk much and I'm not of any use.

"Tell us what you found." Commander Shepard said, going straight to the point.

"During my travels," Tali began. "I began hearing reports of geth. Since they drove my people into exile, the geth have never ventured beyond the Veil. I was curious."

There was a short pause until Tali was ready to speak again. Everyone waited patiently.

"I tracked a patrol of geth to an uncharted world. I waited for one to become separated from its unit. Then I disabled it and removed its memory core."

The geth are a race of machines, created by the quarians, Tali's people? This was becoming more interesting. This must be why the memory core is so important.

Captain Anderson spoke up. "I thought the geth fried their memory cores when they died. Some kind of defense mechanism?"

"How did you manage to preserve the memory core?" Commander Shepard asked Tali.

"My people created the geth," Tali explained. "If you're quick, careful and lucky, small cashes of data can sometimes be saved. Most of the core has been wiped clean, but I salvaged something from its audio banks."

A transparent, orange gauntlet thing appeared on Tali's left arm. I have no idea what it is, but it seems to be a very useful device. She was fiddling with it for a moment and then somehow played the recorded evidence.

"Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit." said a sinister voice.

Wow. That was really creepy. Everyone in the room was totally shocked to hear the voice. What are they so afraid of?

"That's Saren's voice!" Captain Anderson exclaims, pointing at Tali's device. "This proves he was involved in the attack!"

Saren? The one who tried to have me killed? I like him less and less. I hate to meet him face-to-face in a dark alley.

It was Commander Shepard's turn to speak. "He said Eden Prime has brought him one step closer to finding the Conduit. Any idea what that means?"

"The Conduit must have something to do with the beacon." Captain Anderson summarizes. "Maybe its some kind of technology, like a weapon!"

"Wait!" Tail interrupted. "There's more. Saren wasn't working alone."

Huh? I thought. While everyone's puzzling with his or her theories, I didn't expect more bad news to happen next.

Tali typed away on her orange device and played the audio file again.

"Eden Prime was a major victory! spoke Saren's voice. "The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."

Yes. I heard that before. It was less of an impact, but it still made me uneasy.

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." spoke a sinister, yet feminine voice.

That last voice made my blood cold and my heart stop. I didn't expect that. It sounded like an emotionless woman talking. And the Reapers? They sound even more dangerous than Saren.

Ambassador Udina looked very thoughtful as if he's slowly digesting the information. "I don't recognize that other voice. The one talking about Reapers." he said.

When I looked at Commander Shepard, I noticed how pale and uneasily she is. I know that look. It was just like how I was when I was haunted by my latest nightmare.

"Are they some kind of new alien species?" Commander Shepard asked Tail.

"According to the memory core," the quarian explains, "The Reapers were a hyper advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction and then they vanished! At least, that's what the geth believed."

I detected a hint of belief in Tali's voice. It couldn't be a coincidence. There's no such thing. It's hard to believe, but I'm willing to face the truth. If what Tali said about the Reapers is true, then we can't afford to ignore the danger.

However, Udina was still unconvinced. "Sounds a little far-fetched to me."

"The vision on Eden Prime…" Commander Shepard said, nursing her head. "I understand it now. I saw the Protheans being wiped out by the Reapers."

Tali wasn't surprised to hear this. "The geth revere the Reapers as gods, the pinnacle of non-organic life. And they believe Saren knows how to bring the Reapers back."

Udina crossed his arms. "The Council is going to love this," he muttered doubtfully.

Commander Shepard was determined to stick to the truth. "The Reapers are a threat to every species in Citadel space. We have to tell them."

"No matter what they think about the rest of us," Captain Anderson said. "Those audio files prove Saren's a traitor!"

"The captain's right." Udina admitted. He looked satisfied. "We need to present this to the Council right away."

"What about her? The quarian?" Wrex asked.

"My name is Tali!" she told him, sounding offended.

Then Tali turns her mask face to the Commander. "You saw me in the alley, Commander. You know what I can do. Let me come with you."

"I thought you were on your Pilgrimage?" Commander Shepard asked.

"The Pilgrimage proves that we are willing to give of ourselves for the greater good. What does it say about me if I turn my back on this?"

That was a very good speech. Tali has been very brave, unlike I was. It makes me wonder about how many things I've been missing out in my life.

"Saren is a danger to the entire galaxy." Tali continued. "My Pilgrimage can wait."

"I'll take all the help I can get." Commander Shepard said, accepting Tali into the group.

"Thanks." Tali said gratefully. "You won't regret this."

I could almost see Tali's smile through her purple mask. Why does she wear that suit? Before we could leave, Udina stopped us. "Wait, who is this girl?" he asked.

Oh, shoot. Udina has finally noticed me. I didn't speak at all. Everyone in the room was staring at me, questioning my existence. I was so nervous.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Udina asked suspiciously.

"No offence, sir," I said. "But I don't trust you. And I don't like politics."

"None taken." Udina grumbled with annoyance. "Its 'Ambassador', child. Know your place."

Child? I'm a teenager for goodness' sake! I thought angrily.

Commander Shepard stood by my side and spoke up for me. "Her name is Alice Turner. Saren's men tried to kill her. I'm keeping her safe until her family is contacted. Until then, she's my responsibility."

Ambassador Udina could've objected, but he bit it back. "Very well." He said.

I doubt he's concerned about my safety. I can hear the reluctance in his voice. I'm grateful for Commander Shepard though. She saved me a lot of trouble. Though I doubt my parents can be contacted in this day and age. I'm going to need an excuse.

"Anderson and I will get things ready for the Council." Udina said. "Take a few minutes to collect yourself and meet us at the Tower."

And then Captain Anderson and Udina walked out of the office, leaving us alone.

"Let's move out to the Tower." Commander Shepard ordered all of us.

Holy Lord. What have I got myself into?