Here's a heaping serving of Chapter 10. I have to admit that Paragon II is going on longer than I initially expected. Enjoy (however hard that may be.) and feel free to review. Oh, and I changed the rating to M for some future stuff. And maybe for some stuff in here. Maybe.

Liege Lord: Gracias. Here's another portion of the exotic stuff. (Seriously, I think I'm the first who put characters from the novels into their story.)

Mapped: Trust me, the change of pace is going to change. And be careful what you wish for.

Chapter 10: Baptism of Fire

Tali tried to slowly distance herself from this undoubtedly insane quarian. But the more steps she took, the closer he got. The devilish grin never left his face. Tali could try to run, but the quarian would run her down quickly.

"Looks like helping out Cerberus was more beneficial for me than them. I'm going to enjoy this." he laughed.

"Run Gillian." Tali whispered. The girl didn't respond.

"RUN!"

Gillian got the message and ran away. Tali tried to wrestle the gun from the quarian, but he was too strong. He yanked it out of her grasp and hit her in the stomach with the butt of the gun. Tali doubled over and fell to the floor, gasping for breath.

"Nice try." he mocked. He grabbed her by her hood and pulled her up to her knees. Tali tried to pull herself out, but he shook her violently to dissuade her from trying anything.

"You're a fiesty one, aren't you?" he laughed, taking pleasure in watching her squirm.

He's too strong. Have to play dirty. Tali thought as she stopped her resistance. As she had hoped, kept her in his grip.

With a grim smile she acted defeated, hoping that the ruse would work. A few tense seconds passed and the quarian pushed her hood up, forcing her to look at him.

"When I'm done with you, your own father won't recognize you." the quarian said. This maniac was truly a perversion of a quarian.

It's now or never.

Tali instantly punched him in the groin. The quarian dropped his gun and howled in pain. Before the quarian can do anything else. Tali rammed her head in his stomach. The quarian fell to the floor in the fetal position, whimpering and holding his stomach. Tali delivered a sharp kick to his chest before running away.

She didn't have any idea where she was going, and she didn't know which direction Gillian went.

Things went from bad to worst. She didn't have a clue where she was, she was injured, she lost her shotgun, and Gillian was gone in a ship full of human extremists. A ball of frustration formed when she realized that she hadn't found a single quarian that was on her side.

She flew down the stairs and leaned against the wall. She was feeling very-lightheaded. The infection was strating to take hold of her and her wound hadn't gotten any better.

I have to take a break. I can't keep pushing myself like this.

"Where do you think you're going, Zorah?"

Tali turned back and saw that the quarian was limping towards her with his assault rifle in hand. She cursed under her breath and kept runnning. She could hear and feel shots whizzing past her.

She could see ahead of her was an open door. It was her only hope of cutting him off. She ran as fast as her legs would let her. She felt the sudden ricochet of a bullet bouncing off the metal of her boots. The impact caused her to lose her balance but she quickly recovered, getting ever closer to her salvation.

As soon as she passed the doorway, she shut it behind her and activated her omni-tool. After a few taps, sparks flew from the door's hinges and the access panel went from green to a bright red. Only a few seconds later did she hear loud banging on the door.

"Open the door, Zorah! I promise to make your death as quick and painless as possible." the quarian shouted through the door. Tali kept quiet, silently praying that he would go away.

"Fine. Have it your way. But mark my words, you'll regret this. Hahahahahaha!" the quarian laughed. Tali heard the soft patting until the hall was competely silent once more. She sat there for what seemed like forever, her mind numb on the recent events. Desperation began to sink in.

Before this whole thing, before meeting Shepard, before leaving on her pilgrimage, she saw her life as worry-free. She viewed the quarians as a loyalty-driven people. She believed that everyone sacrificed for the good of the fleet, that anyone who didn't was just a fairy-tale.

She also saw the fleet as indestructible, something that no man would dare to threaten. That it would live on forever. A very naive outlook, but then again, she had lived a mostly sheltered life.

Over the past few days, that delusion came crashing down. Everything she knew, everything she was brought up to believe was either false or misguided. A fabrication made to make the young feel safe and secure.

What was she supposed to believe now? That the quarians were never safe and the fleet, like everything else, like Shepard, will die? The mere thought of her people being exterminated scared her, terrified her.

It's been said that the pilgrimage was the gateway to enlightenment. But Tali never suspected that being enlightened would mean knowing an ugly truth, that the quarians were far more vulnerable than she ever thought.

Forget about it, Tali. Think about it later. Right now, you have to find a way out of this mess.

Tali got up and inspected her wound. The bleeding had stopped, but that was in no way a relief. She heard the faint sound of more gunfire. Wherever there was gunfire, that meant that there were quarians that were, hopefully, on her side.

She raced down the hall as fast as she could, her hand wrapped tightly around her wound. a small sharp pain went up her arm as she touched it. She reached a hallway that broke off into three different directions. In front of her were three quarians waging a battle with five commandos down the hall. One of the quarians was the chief engineer, Ufler.

"Miss Zorah! It's good to see that you are still alive." Ufler said over the gunfire. He and another quarian were hiding behind a shipping container. Further down the hall, a quarian female hid behind an overturned desk.

"You might want to find some cover, miss Zorah. They don't take prisoners." Ufler warned. Tali dashed to an empty space next to the female quarian.

"Ufler, what's going on? I was working on the leak like you said and the next thing I know, this ship is infested with Cerberus commandos." Tali shouted.

"I'm about as confused as you are, Tali. I contacted Captain Mal about the attack, he said that these Cerberus rats are here for a little girl. I haven't even seen one."

Tali was instantly reminded of Gillian. She must have been the one Cerberus was after. What the commando said before made sense now. Tali had to find Gillian before they did.

"I saw the girl, Ufler. Her name is Gillian. We were going to a shuttle she was talking about until some commando's got in the way." Tali said.

Ufler noticed that Tali was favoring her arm. "Tali, are you okay? Cerberus didn't put their hands on you did they?"

"One of them got a lucky shot on me a while ago. I need some anitbiotics and medi-gel. I barely made it over here." Tali said while letting go of her arm, letting Ufler see the damage.

"Lera, give her some spare medi-gel. We need everyone at a hundred percent right now." Ufler said while pulling something out of his own pocket. The quarian woman next to Tali handed her a packet of medi-gel.

She hastily opened it and squeezed a large amount onto her wound. The stinging sensation of the gel was soon replaced with a cooling feeling as the gel's anesthetic dulled the pain.

Ufler fired his pistol blindly over his cover. The quarian next to him did the same. While the commandos were distracted, Ufler tossed a vial of anitbiotics across the hall. Tali grabbed it and inserted it into one of the containers on her arm.

Tali opened her omni-tool as fast as she could and injected the anitbiotics. She could feel a pinch as the needle inserted itself into her arm and injected the anitbiotics.

"Thank you, Ufler. That makes me feel so much better."

"Unfortunately, that's all we can do now. We don't have any omni-gel to seal that breach up. Tali, can you hold on until we get out of here?" Ufler asked as he checked his ammo in his pistol.

"Yes. Though I would really like to get this over with as quickly as possible." Tali muttered. The quarian next to her handed her a pistol. She tested it's weight and fired a few shots from out of cover, none of them hit a thing.

Ufler leaned out of cover and shot at a vulnerable commando. The bullet went right through his chest and he slumped to the ground. "Agreed. The more time we waste here, the more time Cerberus has to get their prize."

Feeling a little bit better from the medi-gel and anitbiotics, Tali leaned out and fired a couple of rounds. The first round hit a commando right in the knee. The commando fell to one leg and the next one entered his skull, killing him instantly.

"Ufler, we have a problem. A big one" Tali said as she went back into cover.

"It can't be any worse than Cerberus infiltrating us." Ufler remarked. He was about to return fire until his cover was pelted with bullets, keeping him in his place.

"I think there's a quarian with them. He found me and then he tried to kill me. He said that he was exiled and wanted revenge."

"What? There's a traitor working for Cerberus? Self-centered bosh'tet must have given them the codes to get this far." Ufler muttered. Tali thought about what he said and it made sense. The only way for Cerberus to infiltrate the flotilla would be to get the codes from a quarian. No doubt the traitor traded them the codes in exchange for a chance at revenge.

"Do you know where he is? Or at least where he's going?" Ufler asked. The quarian next to him popped out of cover but was shot three times by the commandos. Ufler cursed under his breath as the body fell right in front of him.

"No. I managed to escape. He seems to have a personal vendetta against me." Tali replied. She looked at the fallen quarian. His blood began to make a small pool from beneath him. Tali gritted her teeth and fired off more rounds, most of them struck the commando's cover, but one bullet managed to graze one of their arms.

"If he's only after you, we can use that to our advantage. I don't want to put you in harm's way, but it's probably the only way for us to catch this degenerate." Ufler said with regret.

"Uhh, chief." Lera hesitated, pointing behind the commandos. There was a quarian with an assault rifle. Once he spotted them, he opened fire aswell.

"Scratch what I said. We found the parasite already." Ufler commented. He sprang up and tried to gun down the traitor.

The traitor seemed to expect it, since before Ufler even got up, he took cover behind a small crate.

"Bosh'tet." Ufler shouted. He aimed at the injured commando and fired several rounds. The wounded commando was hit with another round in the arm and fell to the floor. He groaned loudly and pulled his pistol off his pistol. He kept shooting as blood flowed freely from his arm.

Ufler crouched back under cover. Lera, armed with a shotgun, stood up and let loose on the group. The raw force pushed back the crates that the commandos were using as cover. One of the rounds pierced a wooden box and a splatter of blood sprayed from behind it.

Tali held her pistol in one hand and ended the wounded commando's life. Only one commando and the traitor remained.

"Keep it up, Tali. You're making short work of these pests." Ufler said. Encouraged, Tali stood up and activated her omni-tool. It beeped and she could hear the commando and the traitor cursing, the faint, rapid beeping of the gun's overheated alert accompanied them.

She bent back down. "We should take care of them now, Ufler. They're vulenrable."

"Excellent. Let's go and end their miserable lives."

Tali heard a sharp click and heard something clatter on the floor. A small disc skidded right in front of her. It began to pulse a blue light as it beeped faster and faster.

"Oh keelah..." Tali gasped.

"Run NOW!" Lera exclaimed when she was already up on her feet. The two girls ran out from their cover. The grenade exploded in a large fireball. The force knocked Tali and Lera off their feet. Tali hit the floor so hard the air was knocked out of her lungs.

Laying on her stomach, Tali opened her eyes just barely. Lera lay in front of her, motionless. Ufler was still under his cover. He knew that taking a step towards them would most likely result in his death.

Tali closed her eyes for just a second, but it felt like hours. When she opened them again, she saw the commando moving towards them. Her throat felt dry as she tried to warn Ufler.

"Ufler...behind..."

The commando hit Ufler in the face with the butt of his shotgun and the back of his head bounced off the wall. The traitor walked calmly towards them, pistol in hand. Lera tried to push herself up, but the traitor put his boot on her head and slammed it back down.

Lera tried to push his boot off. He did, but as soon as Lera tried to push herself up, he did it again. Tali saw her pistol in front of her. She slowly crawled towards it. Both the traitor and the commando were distracted.

Tali reached out and grabbed the pistol with one finger. She pulled it to her and aimed it at the traitor. He noticed and as fast as lightning, he aimed his and shot Tali's gun out of her hand.

"You never give up, do you Zorah?" the traitor mocked.

"How could you do this? How can you betray your own people?" Tali demanded. The traitor laughed and pressed Lera's head harder on the floor.

"You expect me to honor every word the admiralty board says? Like you? You're just a sniveling little daddy's girl who's never had to work in her life. The admiralty board can play god with the flotilla all they want. No matter what they do, the flotilla will die, one way or another. I was just enjoying life's spoils until it did."

Tali looked over and saw Ufler being held at gunpoint. There was nothing any of them can do.

"You're wrong. The flotilla can survive. It has for three hundred years." Tali said weakly.

"I can hear the doubt in you. You know just as well as I do that the Migrant Fleet will crash and burn. This infiltration proves it. The flotilla won't last another century, I can guarantee it. Maybe less if someone does me a favor and kills you all."

Tali was reminded of the reapers. How they wouldn't leave a single sentient being alive. They would have no remorse over killing them. "The Migrant Fleet won't die."

"STOP LIVING IN YOUR DREAM WORLD, ZORAH! You've been lying to yourself this whole time. Do you really think that the Migrant Fleet, in it's condition, will last? Think about everything you've been doing since your pilgrimage. All you did, all everyone did, was repair. And there lies the truth. The flotilla will crumble from the inside or burn from the outside."

"So that's why you betrayed us. You were tired of living our life? You wanted to go beyond that at the expense of others? Do you not care about your own?" Tali accused.

"I did whatever was necessary for me. That's how the world works. You think that I care for our people? This is how much I care for our people."

The traitor aimed his gun at Lera and shot her in the head. Blood splattered across the floor as the quarian twitched and finally lay limp. Tali looked away from the gruesome sight, breathing heavily as the image was burned into her mind.

"I only look out for me. If a man, woman, or child dies because of it, it wouldn't matter to me." the traitor said without emotion, removing his blood-stained boot from Lera's head.

"You're insane." Tali breathed.

"No, I'm a pioneer. My way is the only way for one to live successfully. Those who think otherwise have to die." the traitor replied.

"So you're going to kill me." Tali guessed. The traitor stared at her, long and hard.

"No. You can still be saved." the traitor said.

"You expect me to join you?" Tali grieved.

"You will, one way or another. You'll see just how flawed the admiralty board is."

"The admiralty board does what is best for the fleet."

"They do what's best for themselves. You'll soon understand. Until then, you have to see what their 'leadership' causes. Kill him." the traitor ordered. On cue, the commando aimed his shotgun at Ufler.

"Tal-"

A loud bang silenced Ufler forever. Tali gritted her teeth in hate. She could feel warm tears forming.

"Let this be a lesson to you, Zorah. No matter what you do, no matter what you try, the same will happen to every single quarian here because the Admiralty doesn't care."

"I hate you." Tali whispered.

"And in time, you will thank me."

"You're living in your own dream world if you think that will ever happen." Tali replied.

"Such defiance. You have a fire inside of you, Zorah, whether you know it or not. It makes me wonder if you will ever become an admiral." the traitor said. "If you did, I bet you'd try everything you could to serve your people, am I right?"

Tali didn't respond. She didn't want him to have the pleasure of a reply.

"Answer me, Zorah. If you were admiral, would you serve your people!" the traitor said in a much more serious tone.

"Yes, I would." Tali replied. The traitor laughed.

"You're so idealistic. That's what every admiral says when they start working." the traitor said. He walked up to Tali in a non-threatning way. He crouched down next to her.

"Trust me, Tali. You will see the truth. Until then, you have to suffer for the sins of your people." the traitor whispered to her. Tali looked up to him with a puzzled expression.

"What do you mean?" she asked. He chuckled.

"You'll see. You'll see."

He seized her arm and pulled her up. Tali didn't bother to resist. She was too tired to try. The quarian shoved her forward.

"If you're going to be an admiral you have to make some tough decisions." the quarian said. He led her past the door he came through and up a small set of stairs. Tali's mind raced with unanswered questions. Where was she going? What did he mean by making tough decisions? Why did he take such an intrest in her?

They reached a closed door and the quarian opened it. What was inside shocked Tali. There were atleast twenty quarian prisoners being watched by ten commando's.

The quarian must have gestured to the commando's because four commando's grabbed two prisoners from the far side of the room. One of them was a young boy, probably no older than twelve years old. The other was a very pregnant woman.

The commando's forced the quarians onto the floor, training their assault rifles on them.

"Being an admiral is hard, Zorah. You will learn that by the end of the day." the quarian said as he walked next to her. Tali already figured out what was about to happen and she felt sick to her stomach. She had to get out now before it was too late.

She turned her head and her heart sunk when she saw that the way out was locked.

"Look at these two, Zorah. See how innocent they are?"

Tali refused to look at them. The quarian grabbed her by the neck and forced her to look at them.

"Tell me Zorah, how far would you go to protect the innocent?" the quarian asked. Tali continued to stare at the two prisoners. She felt her throat tighten as the child began to cry.

"You won't answer? It doesn't matter. Actions speak louder than words." the quarian said. He pulled out his pistol and shoved it in her hand.

"Their lives are in your hands now, Zorah. Who will you save, huh?"

Tali didn't raise the pistol. She wasn't going to be a pawn to this sociopath's game.

"If you don't choose, I'll kill them both myself." the quarian threatened. Tali felt a tear slide down her cheek. How did she get here? What did she do to be put in this position? To decide the fate of a child and a mother. She couldn't kill either of them. But if she didn't, this heartless maniac would kill both of them.

"I'm running out of patience, Zorah." The quarian groaned. Tali shakily raised the pistol. The boy began to cry harder.

"Please, please don't kill me. Don't kill my daughter." the woman pleaded. The pistol began to shake more and more as Tali heard the boy's crying and the mother's pleading.

"Zorah, if you don't choose in five seconds, I'll do it for you."

I can't do this. I can't kill them.

"Five."

Tali aimed the pistol at the boy, who began to cry harder. "Please miss. I don't wanna die. I want to see my mommy."

"Four."

Tali quickly switched to the mother. "No, no please. I don't want to die. What about my husband? He can't go on without me."

"Three."

The pistol was aimed in between them as Tali's mind raced faster and faster. Another tear fell from her eye.

"Two."

Keelah please help me. I don't know what to do.

"One."

Tali qucikly aimed and fired.