2026

En route to the Rayya – Five months before TSF Kevzin tour

The shuttle cruised on through the blackness, effortlessly gliding by the geth blockade which had graciously created a hole to let the tiny ship pass through. Inside, Alec and Tali were staring anxiously at their new passenger, as was the pilot, despite Alec barking to him earlier to keep calm and just fly.

Legion sat opposite them, appearing quite calm and stoic, despite the unconscious tension in the air. Alec drummed his fingers on his leg, to try and take his mind off what would happen within the next half hour. Tali, characteristically, was already ahead of him on that point.

"When we reach the Fleet…it's going to be hard to convince everyone not to shoot Legion on sight."

Alec grimaced, "I was just thinking that. It's going to be tricky to even get it an audience with the admirals."

Legion tilted its glowing head, "We do not intend to cause offense, Creator Zorah. We will gladly submit to any restraints you deem necessary."

Tali raised a hand, "I appreciate that, Legion. But I think that restraints might not calm my people down much."

"You anticipate that the Creators will lash out in anger."

"Yes. I do."

The geth dipped its head in an imitation of a nod, "Understood. We hope that they will adopt a more cautious stance when we arrive."

"I hope so, too," Alec said.

A shift in acceleration told them that the shuttle had arrived in the system where the Fleet was stationed. They heard the pilot give his access clearance and a short while later, a series of clicks and rumbles reverberated throughout the shuttle. They had docked.

Alec stretched his neck and sighed, unhooking his pistol from his holster. Tali, standing by the door, appeared shocked.

"You…you're not going to shoot them, are you?"

"No," Alec shook his head. "But if they don't relax, I may have to intimidate them some. Open it."

Gingerly, Tali lifted a finger to the release button, which proceeded to slide open, revealing a squad of quarian marines on the other side. The one in front immediately saluted.

"Ma'am. It's good to see that- Ancestors!" The marine fumbled for his assault rifle and pointed it at Legion. "Prepare to fire!" He shouted.

"No!" Alec yelled, walking between the marine and the geth. "Squad Leader, stand down. Right now!"

"I'm not letting a geth on board this ship!"

"This geth is not the enemy, lower your weapon!"

"Screw that! I have a duty to protect this Fleet and I will not let one of those bastards get past me."

In one smooth, fluid motion, Alec raised his arm to point the pistol at the marine's face, "Stand the fuck down, Squad Leader."

The quarian was confused, "What? What are you-"

"Don't make me do it, soldier."

"Kal!" Tali cried. "Do as he says!"

The human's and quarian's eyes were locked, a different battle clashing between them. After what seemed like an eternity, the marine lowered the rifle, "Stand down, men."

Alec also holstered his gun, "I apologize, marine. There's been a new development and we need to take this geth to see the admirals."

"A new development? Last I heard the admirals had already declared you dead on your mission and you come and bring this on board the Rayya?"

"Dead?" Alec's brow dipped, "We were only gone five hours. You mean to tell us that they think that we failed on our mission?"

"Technically they issued the statement four hours ago."

"Oh, that's just great," Alec sighed sarcastically. "Well, they'll be surprised when they hear what this geth has to say."

"You mean it talks? I can't recall if I ever came across a geth that was programmed to talk before."

"Your confusion is well founded, Creator Reegar," Legion offered. "We were constructed to interact with organics by adding additional runtimes within this platform."

The marine called Reegar exhaled explosively, "Keelah…I believe it now. But is this all you found down there? How did you capture a geth?"

Alec gave a smile, "Escort us to the admirals and you will get all of the answers to your questions."

"Trust us," Tali said. "You'll love it."

Compared to his first day on the Citadel, Alec could not recollect such a bevy of stares directed at him in his life before. Perhaps that had something to do with the geth that was now surrounded by a squad of quarian marines striding purposefully towards the courtyard. With each civilian they passed, he could hear a sharp intake of breath as they laid eyes on the enemy they had despised for centuries. He did admit, that if he was in their position, he would be scared shitless at this time.

The group ran into where Veetor'Nara had been working and the man was so startled he backed into his console, causing a shrieking sound to echo throughout the hold. Cleaning up the mess, the quarian could only stammer as they continued to march forward, finally seeing the bright expanse beyond the dim corridor.

Blinking in the harsh light, there were more people seated in the room than Alec had anticipated. There were several gasps, a few curses, and even a couple shouts of "Security!" He could only chuckle as he moved down the steps to face the admirals standing on the dais, no doubt shocked at the return of the human, and more so the presence of Legion.

Alec threw up his hands in a grand gesture, "I apologize for the tardiness, admirals. I was unavoidably delayed while touring your world. It really is a beautiful place."

Gerrel sputtered, "You-you can't have been to the homeworld! It's been blockaded! And where did you find that geth and why is it still operational? Guards, seize it!"

Alec, rolling his eyes, turned around to point his pistol at the marines who were trying to sidle past Reegar and Tali, "No one touches Legion. Is that to be understood?"

"Legion?" Xen asked, "You named the geth?"

"What did you want me to call it, by its serial number?"

"That would be more accurate, for a change," Koris muttered.

Alec ignored the outburst and faced Gerrel, "To answer your original question, we found Legion on Rannoch. It offered to clarify a few misconceptions about the past few hundred years. I suggest you listen, admirals. This is meant to be in your favor."

"Misconcep- do you have any idea what they've done to us?" Gerrel roared.

"And did you ever stop to think what you did to them all those years ago?" Alec shouted back, "You tried to murder them! You were scared that you created an artificial intelligence so you tried to correct your mistake!"

Xen was shaking her head, "You know nothing about what happened, human."

"Wrong!" Alec snapped. "I saw everything! I saw the whole history, don't you stand up there with your pompous attitude and have the gall to tell me what I don't know."

As he was saying this, a hologram was projected behind him from Tali. She had recorded the entire incident when they were conversing with Legion. The images shown in the courtyard depicted the quarians going through their monstrous acts of desperately trying to terminate every single geth platform on the planet. The recording never turned away, never faltered over the cries of civilians, the tortured clicks and whirrs from failing geth, and the low rumble of the bombardments.

Alec gestured to the visuals, "You still want to stand here and try to make it look like your actions were justified? The fact of the matter is this, the geth do not want to fight you. You've been dragging on this war for too long because you were so stupid that you never realized that it was your actions that put you in this predicament. Yours, not theirs."

Koris defended, "How? How could we have known-"

"How? How about rushing in time after time to take back your world by force? Did you not connect the dots and determine that the geth only retaliate when provoked? When was the last time you heard of geth crossing the relay network and actually going on the offensive?"

Alec was bright red, furious, "And for that matter, take Legion's presence in this room. It's a geth, why doesn't he attack? Why not attack? The geth certainly have the firepower to wipe all of you out without hesitation, yet they never attack outright. I'll tell you why Legion doesn't attack, it-he doesn't attack because he wishes to live. The geth only want to survive and each time you return you bring death for them."

Raan now spoke for the first time, "But…what does this mean?"

Legion now answered, his electronic tone projected loudly, "It means, Creator Raan, that you can return to your homeworld. With us."

There was sudden silence in the courtyard. No one spoke. Alec could hear a few sobs coming from the civilians at these words. The admirals appeared stunned, as if they did not expect those words to come from a geth. Trying not to get to emotional, he continued, "It's your choice, admirals. You can either rush through that relay, guns blazing, and we will all die. Or, you can set aside your weapons, and return to your home. I'm done trying to convince you, I've given you all the information I have. It's on your heads now, make your choice."

Alec stepped back in disgust, trying to give his darkest look possible. They needed to see the truth of his words, they needed to see that they had been wrong this whole time. They needed to understand.

All four admirals slowly looked at one another. No one gave any trace of defiance. Sensing this, Admiral Gerrel opened his omni-tool and spoke into it, "Captain? Give us a heading for Rannoch. No battle stations necessary."

Alec slumped to a bench in relief, Tali quickly joining him to give a tight hug, "I can't believe it! You did it!"

All Alec could do was laugh.

"We've reached Rannoch, admirals," the pilot's voice said over the intercom. "ETA to Rannoch, eight minutes. Geth blockade in sight."

The courtyard was rapidly becoming more crowded, filling with quarians as they congregated to hear the updates of the flight crew. The admirals were standing in their positions, frozen in attention. Alec and Tali were still seated on the bench, resigned. Legion was standing upright next to them, attentive and immovable.

Glancing up to the geth, Alec said, "You're sure that the geth will allow the quarians to rebuild on Rannoch?"

Legion merely looked down, "If the Creators do not attack, why would we?"

Alec shrugged at the response. He wanted to listen a little more, anyway.

"A few hundred kilometers to the blockade," the pilot's voice cut in, sounding a little strained. "We still have not received any enemy fire."

Xen said sharply, "Do not fire, captain. That is an order."

"Understood, admiral."

Alec slowly closed his eyes, he didn't want to see any more. He didn't want to know if he had been tricked, that it was all a geth ploy to lead them to their deaths. He just wanted to know for certain that everything was going to turn out all right, that he would get to live with his wife on her homeworld. That would be enough.

"The Rayya…has cleared the blockade, admirals," the pilot choked with relief.

There was a deafening roar that discharged from the audience. Cheers erupted from all over the courtyard. Alec opened his eyes. He could see quarians, a mass of colors, all hugging and embracing one another. The marines in the crowd were also jumping up and down like maniacs, all dignity forgotten. Several had sunk to their knees, praising whatever gods they believed in for their new world. The admirals were stunned. Xen's knees gave out and she collapsed to the floor, overwhelmed. Raan quickly knelt beside her to put her arms around her companion. Gerrel and Koris moved over in an awkward embrace, their body movement betraying their relief.

Tali's helmet was nuzzling Alec's forehead as she held him, starting to cry. The roar of the crowd was still going, continuing to erupt in the small space. Alec looked up at Legion and stood to offer his hand.

"Thank you, Legion."

The geth cocked its head, "We do not understand. We have done nothing to deserve this praise."

Alec shook his hand, "No, Legion. You fulfilled your mission." He gestured to the room, "They can go home now."

The geth hesitated before accepting the handshake, "We are grateful for your assistance, Lee-Human."

"And I'm grateful as well," Tali said, also standing to meet Legion. In a move that surprised even Alec, she too held out her hand, "I just wanted you to know…that I'm sorry for my behavior earlier. I…I didn't-"

"There is nothing to be ashamed about, Creator Zorah," Legion said calmly while also taking her hand. "You did nothing wrong."

Tali gave a nod and slowly sat back down before whispering, "Now, we're all home."

They stood back on the cliff, watching the waves below. They gazed around Rannoch, drinking in every sight to behold. Behind them were a mass of shuttles that were spilling out quarians from the Rayya. Many were on their knees, taking in the feel of their homeworld. A couple of the admirals were milling about in a daze, still barely comprehending that they were on their own planet.

Alec and Tali were not acknowledging them; they were concentrating on the flat bit of land that they faced.

"I think the living room should go right…there," Tali said, pointing.

"How many stories do you want it to have?"

"Three seems nice. I could do with a bit of extra space."

"And we need a water feature. All good houses have a water feature."

Tali laughed, "Is that some sort of Earth custom?"

Alec turned to her in a bemused expression, "It isn't? I would think that every civilization would utilize water in the landscape of their houses at one point or another."

"Well…not quarians."

"Yet."

"Fine. You can pick out the water feature. I wouldn't know what to put there anyway."

A crunch of rocks interrupted their conversation. Shifting themselves, they could see Admiral Raan coming their way with a long, thin package. Alec nodded his head in greeting and straightened his posture.

"Admiral Raan, how are you holding up?"

She shifted her weight from foot to foot before responding, "It's all so…real. We've never seen the homeworld in so long…I'm actually at a loss at what to do, to be honest."

"I'm sure the quarians will adapt just fine. They are a very hardy folk."

"As are you, Alec Lee. I was very impressed at how you handled yourself up there. You spoke with fire in your heart."

"He always gets that way when he's angry," Tali said cheerfully as she sidled up to his side.

Raan nodded, "Nevertheless, the other admirals and I wanted to give you something so that people know that you're a friend to the quarian people." She held out the thin object in her arms. Curious, Alec took it and saw a hilt that protruded from the package. Alec gripped it and slid it out of the sheath.

The sword was long and sharp. It had been recently polished, its reflectivity intense. It had two serrated edges and a thin tip. It was a lovely weapon.

"I…I don't know what to say…" Alec gasped.

"You don't have to say anything," Raan said. "This sword was created over seven hundred years ago and it has been with the quarian people ever since. It is only fitting that we provide it to you for giving us back our homeworld."

Stunned, Alec managed, "But…I never…I don't deserve this honor, admiral. I only wanted to…"

Raan moved forward to put a hand on his shoulder, "You've done more for the quarian people than anyone else in history. It would be unfair of us to not let such an act go unrewarded."

Alec breathed in, sheathing the sword, "Thank you, admiral. It…it was my pleasure."

Raan tipped her head, "Thank you, Alec Lee. Keelah se'lai."

She suddenly turned on her heel to walk back the group, shuttles still landing to offload more civilians. Alec looked back at her and down again in the sword in his hands.

"Wow."

Four months later

The shuttle settled down on the now familiar dusty soil of Rannoch. Clambering off, Tali and Alec waved to the pilot who lifted off back toward the main settlement. A makeshift path had been created from where they landed and they followed it at a light jog, eager to see what was on the end.

Moving past a grove of shrubs, they could see their destination on top of a bluff. The house stood, three stories tall, as requested, made up of a combination of brushed steel and smooth granite. It had a modern flair to it, as was suggested by Alec, but also had a few contours that were decidedly quarian. Standing in front of the main door, to their surprise, stood Veetor and Legion.

"What are you guys doing here?" Alec asked in surprise.

Veetor shrugged, "I wanted to check out the house, is all. It seemed like an important occasion."

Tali turned to Legion, "You said that construction wouldn't take long but I didn't know it would be this quick."

Legion dipped his head at that, "Geth do not tire. We requisitioned the aid of fifty individual platforms that worked each hour of each day since you forwarded the floor plans. We only hope that we have constructed you establishment to your satisfaction."

Alec could only smile, "From what I'm seeing, it's fantastic, Legion." He moved to the door, which slid silently open to welcome them into their new home.

Veetor whistled, "You could fit a couple shuttles in here and have enough room for a nightclub."

The foyer was large and spacious, a small carped was installed in front. The floor was dark granite, smooth and hard. The rooms up ahead were the living room and the kitchen, both gleaming with the dark stonework that adorned it. Alec ran a hand across the counter, feeling the coolness of the surface. He gazed around the rooms before turning back to Legion.

"It's perfect."

Tali was awestruck at the fact that she now had a house to call her home, she was looking up the staircase, examining the two stories above her. She walked into the living room, glowing eyes wide.

"I…think it's the best house in the galaxy."

She tilted her head, looking into the backyard, "But, Alec…I thought you said that there was going to be a water feature. That just looks like a giant pond in the middle of the ground."

Alec laughed, "That's called a pool, Tali. It's used for relaxing when you want to swim outside."

"I can't exactly swim."

"I can teach you. You see that there's a clear surface extending over the backyard? It's environmentally sealed so you have the ability to go into the pool, if you were so inclined."

"You thought of everything."

Veetor and Legion had left them alone by now, most likely to explore the other rooms. Legion was probably examining the house, trying to determine if there were any faults that needed to be rectified before its new tenants moved in. Alec and Tali moved toward the window that overlooked the bay, the orange light of the sun hitting their faces.

"We're going to have to work out some furniture," Tali said.

"We can just grab some from the apartment to start and figure it out from there."

"Do we really need the apartment anymore?"

Alec shrugged, "It wouldn't hurt having a place on the Citadel. It might come in handy."

"If you say so. But that means that, if you decide to live here more, you will have to commute to your job at C-Sec."

"Don't worry about that," Alec said, waving a hand. "I'm actually planning on winding down work there, maybe even quitting altogether."

"What! But…I thought you liked working there. And aren't you worried about any financial problems this may cause?"

Alec hugged his wife, "Tali, I never did tell you this because it wasn't exactly the most important thing at the time, but when the quarians returned to Rannoch, Admiral Xen approached me and told me that I would be receiving performance royalties from my conduct for the rest of my life. She insisted on it because I helped them regain their planet."

Tali jerked, "So…that means…"

"It means we have all the money we could ever want for the rest of our natural lives…and even through the rest of our family's lives."

Tali drooped her head, "Alec…I know you have talked about starting a family…but I don't know. I'm not so sure about adoption…but I can't give you a child. I know you want one badly, but I-"

"Are you sure?"

Tali was getting a little puzzled at his behavior, "Yes, you know this. Our amino acids are different so it's impossible for me to start a family that way."

Alec leaned back, face passive as if deep in thought, "Let me tell you something, and we'll see what happens afterward."

"Okay?"

"A few months ago, I was looking on the extranet for inspiration to start a family. Looking at stuff to buy in preparation and what not. What I was also looking at were cases how dextro-levo relationships produced offspring. Like you said, they all ended up adopting, at least the cases I found going back six years ago."

"Why only six years?"

Alec leaned forward, tone serious, "Because, a new medical procedure had been developed and was implemented at Huerta hospital five years ago. It wouldn't have caught on our radar because we don't read medical journals but the procedure, I found out, was called Amcon and performed an extraordinary thing."

Tali also leaned forward, "What was it?"

"Well, I visited Huerta to find out more. I got to talking with a salarian doctor who, after I told him to slow his speaking pace, explained what happens. You see, apparently there has been a growth of dextro-levo relationships within the galaxy that Amcon was developed as a solution for potential parents. The doctor showed me how it works."

Alec was now speaking rapidly in a hushed tone, "Amcon basically takes a DNA sample from a male and places it in a centrifuge, where a beam of polarized radiation is positioned at the sample. The radiation destroys the amino acids in the male sample and at the exact moment of destruction, the DNA of the female is introduced. Now…here's the interesting bit. When the female's DNA is introduced, the bonds are negatively charged so that the nucleotides from the male connect to the female's, introducing the foreign amino acids to the male's. Now the sample has two individual DNA strands in it, both of the same chirality."

"And," Tali said, beginning to understand. "This means that…"

"This means that we can start a family. You and I. Together."

Tali sat perfectly still, trying to find a fault in Alec's argument. Daring to hope that she could give him the thing he wanted most in his life. There was simply no other alternative.

She raised her head, "When do we start?"

One month later

"You really want to go?"

"Absolutely. Garrus really wanted me to accompany him on this and I really want to see another world."

Alec and Tali stood in front of the gate to the Kevzin, a turian frigate that was preparing to embark for Tuchanka, the krogan homeworld. Behind them, the ambassador was already boarding along with an escort of guards, plus a few humans.

"I…I've heard bad things about that place, you sure you're going to be all right?"

"I'll be fine. I've been assured that the place we're going to is relatively friendly to visitors."

She shook her head, "That doesn't mean it's safe."

Alec cupped her head in his hands, "I'll be sure to call you. If you want, you can stay at the apartment until I return. That way you can be closer in spirit."

"Don't take too long, anywhere gets awfully lonely without you."

"Now how can I refuse an offer like that?"

"Oh, I don't know. Because you love me and I love you?"

Alec laughed, "Point taken. But seriously, don't worry. It's only for a few days and I'm just going to be in the background. I won't be shouting, shooting, or killing this time. Just staying out of sight." He checked his chronometer, "I better go. I'll see you when I get back, my love."

Tali's heart rate spiked for a second, "Alec!" she called.

He turned, "Yes?"

"Um…" she faltered. "Never mind, I'll tell you when you get back."

Alec grinned and gave a mock salute, "I'll hold you to that, then." He proceeded to enter the ship as the hatch closed behind him.