Hey everybody, I'm back with another chapter for you. So its been a while since I last worked on this story. Had to redo this chapter a few times so that it would flow well. Anyway I won't keep you.
Chapter Ten
With the mission back on Horizon dealt with, the Normandy had made the jump back to the citadel space. When they returned, Shepard sent their mission report to the council. The council was worried about the batarian attack. They were reluctant to take any military actions against the Hegemony and decided that a diplomatic team should be sent to negotiate. Shepard agreed that was probably for the best but doubted the batarians would accept any sort of comprimise short of his trial. Once that was dealt with, the Normandy immediately left and started for the fleet's current position in the Typhon system.
Most of the crew had passed the time in the mess hall, taking bets on who would win in Kenneth's tournament. Unlike the other times they had all played poker, they had one person from each team pair up and play three rounds. The team that did the best would win. Kenneth had won two out of three against Hadley, while Gabby only won one of her rounds against Kelly. Both Tali and Shepard had won all three rounds against Matthews and Goldstein respectively.
"That's so not fair!" Hadley exclaimed as he threw his cards down on the table while most of the crew laughed and began exchanging credits.
"Ah stop being such a sore loser." Kenneth grinned as Hadley gave up his credits.
"You guys had Shepard and Tali. How are we suppose to beat that?" Matthews grumbled. Goldstein nodded in agreement.
"I told you I should have paired up with Tali. I can read her a lot better than you can." Kelly pointed out. Despite the fact that the ops crew had lost, Kelly thought that the game was a great way for everybody to blow off some steam.
"Well if that's all of the complaints, I'd say that team engineering wins!" Shepard laughed as Tali leaned up against him.
"I want a rematch!" Matthews demanded.
"Haven't you figured out that your not gonna beat Shepard? Only person I see Shepard willing to lose to is Tali." Gabby remarked. Tali shot Gabby a glare to which she only replied with a carefree shrug.
The crew laughed again and watched a fuming Matthews motion for Kenneth to deal again. Shepard only shook his head with amusement as he saw over a dozen omni-tools appear as the betting resumed.
Two hours passed by before the Normandy arrived at their destination. After several more friendly games of poker, Miranda had everyone return to their stations. Shepard had checked in on everyone and was in the CIC to make sure everything went smoothly. He didn't want the quarians to mistake them as pirates. Despite how advanced their ship was, the fleet could easily overwhelm them if they weren't careful.
The Normandy deftly cleared the relay and began its approach to the migrant fleet that was in orbit above Aite. Marine ships could be seen patrolling the ancient fleet, making sure none of the inhabitants of Aite would dare attack. It reminded Shepard of a school of fish. As soon as the Normandy was within visual range of the fleet, they were hailed.
"Unidentified ship. State your business."
"This is Tali'Zorah vas Normandy nar Rayya. Requesting permission to dock with the Tonbay." Tali said as she watched the fleet from the cockpit.
"Our sensors has your ship registered as a spectre ship. Verify."
"After time adrift among the open stars, along tides of light and though shoals of dust, I will return to where I began."
"Permission granted. Welcome home, Tali'Zorah. Proceed to docking cradle four, a quarantine team will meet you there." The ship operator stated before ending the comm channel.
"You think they would recognize the Normandy after our last visit. By the way, are we here because your in trouble again Tali? I don't wanna get spaced if something goes wrong." Joker spoke up as he pulled in closer to the aging ship.
"Just bring us into dock Joker." Shepard replied before turning towards Tali, "Did you tell your auntie that we were coming?"
"Yes. She agreed to come aboard once we have docked. What's the matter? Nervous already?" Tali teased.
"I just hope she will take the news well."
Shala waited in the cramped corridor as the quarantine team went about their task. She was eager to see Tali again, it had felt like years since she last seen her. They didn't exactly part on the best of terms the last time Tali had returned. She was glad that Shepard had defended her and that they didn't have to exile her.
Unlike the first time the Normandy had arrived, Shala examined the ship with more interest. She had only glanced at it for a short while before dismissing it because of the trial and also because it was Cerberus ship. But with the mark of Cerberus gone she saw that it was indeed a marvel of technology. If the ships in their fleet was as half advanced as the Normandy, they would be a force to be reckoned with.
As soon as the sanitation was complete, Shala entered the airlock alone. She had refused to have an escort because of their location. The marines were already spread thin and having even one marine with her could have meant the safety of the fleet. With the salvage teams in the ruins of the Cerberus facilities, the chances of pirates attacking their ships were high. The door slid apart silently as the decontamination cycle ended. Shala looked about cautiously before entering the unfamiliar ship.
"Auntie Raan!"
"Tali. It's so good to see you again." Shala replied as she hugged Tali before turning to address Shepard.
"Captain Shepard. It is a pleasure to see you again albeit in a much more pleasant situation."
"Likewise admiral." Shepard nodded as Tali quickly nudged him. "Would you like a tour of the ship?"
"I see that you know our customs of welcoming outsiders to a ship. Yes, I would be delighted to see your ship in greater detail."
Shepard began introducing the crew as they passed by each person's station. Shala gazed in wonder at how advanced the ship was. She was astonished to learn that the ship had an actual A.I. Despite Shepard's reassurances and the pleasant demeanor E.D.I exhibited she was still wary of how dangerous an A.I. was.
The human crew was pleasant and nodded when they saw her, unlike many other species that looked down upon the quarians. She was somewhat thrown off by Joker's remark about not being able to tell the difference between Tali and herself if it weren't for the suit.
Shepard finished the tour of the CIC and had taken them directly to engineering. At this point Shepard allowed Tali to take the lead. This also came as a surprise to Shala. Usually it was the captain who had the privilege of showing off their ship to guests.
"Captain. May I ask you something?" Shala queried before following Tali in to the main engineering room.
"Of course and please call me Shepard."
"I will try to remember that, but it is difficult to break old habits." Shala replied before bringing up her question, "Why is that you let Tali lead this part of the tour? Among our people we generally leave this to the captain of the ship."
"I'll be honest with you admiral. If there's anybody on this ship who could tell you every little thing about it, it would be Tali. Seeing as she is my chief engineer, who better to give a tour of the engineering deck?"
The amount of empty space on the ship amazed her, her own crew could probably only fill a portion of the cargo hold let alone the rest of the ship. She listened to Tali as she rattled off a list of specs on both the shuttle and the Hammerhead. There were only three other people on the deck with them. Kenneth, and Gabby politely introduced themselves and Lia exchanged a greeting before returning to her work.
"Would you like something to eat auntie? We have plenty of food." Tali asked after explaining the amount of power generated by the core to Shala.
"Oh no. I don't want to be a burden on your supplies."
"Nonsense. Your our guest. We have plenty to go around." Shepard commented as they headed back to the elevator.
Shala was enjoying herself immensely. She was happy to see Tali again and she was touring one of the most advanced ships she has ever seen. This was a much welcome break to all of the debates and reports on supplies she had to deal with. Shepard led the way to the mess where Gardner had already prepared several meals for them. Everyone on the ground team was present except for Legion who was still in the A.I. core room.
Shala was surprised to see so many aliens here. The majority of the crew was composed of humans, but there was a turian, drell, asari, salarian, and even a krogan. She knew that Shepard was a remarkable leader, but she was surprised of how much respect they showed him. They all shared a meal together as Shepard and Tali continued to tell Shala more about the ship and what they have been doing since she had last seen them.
"It seems that you have done much since we had last met. I'm glad that you survived your mission through the Omega-4 relay." Shala remarked as she savored her paste.
"It was a team effort. I couldn't have done it on my own." Shepard replied, quickly glancing at his team.
"You mentioned a member of your crew by the name of Legion. That's a strange name to give to a human. I assume its a nickname, similar to your helmsman."
Shepard and Tali glanced at each other. This reaction aroused Shala's curiosity.
"Auntie. Legion isn't human." Tali said nervously before continuing, "Legion is a geth."
This revelation sent chills down her spine. That chill was quickly replaced with seething anger.
"A geth! They cannot be trusted!" Shala hissed.
"Shala, let me explain. We found Legion while we were aboard a derelict Reaper looking for an IFF to help us through the Omega-4 relay. We brought it aboard and when we reactivated it, Legion told us that it wanted to join us against the Reapers." Shepard explained.
"Legion explained that there are two main factions of geth. The true geth reside beyond the Perseus Veil while the Heretics, who worship the Reapers mostly operate in the Terminus systems. The true geth don't want to fight organics, they just want to be left alone so they can create their own future. They see the Reapers as a threat, so they want to help."
"I would like to speak with this Legion at once then. For all we know, it could be deceiving you into believing it's claims."
"We can speak with Legion in a bit but I need you to trust me admiral. The quarians have misunderstood the geth. The geth are opened to the idea of peace, they just want to know if the quarians are willing to put aside their anger. I don't think that Legion is lying, they wouldn't gain anything from it if they were."
The three of them finished their meal in silence. Shala was still reeling from this new information. She wasn't convinced that it could be that simple with the geth. The other admirals would probably want to know of this immediately but she wanted to confrim this for herself.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted another person padding silently towards them. She was a small human garbed in dark attire with a hood to match. Shala could barely see the rest of the young woman's face. If it weren't for several obvious physical differences, she would have looked a lot like a quarian.
"Ah you must be Shala. Tali has told me so much about you. It's very nice to meet you." Kasumi flashed a grin.
"You must be Kasumi then. Tali has mentioned you several times in her messages. The two of you must be close friends." Shala observed.
"Well not as close as Shep and Tal here." Kasumi gestured.
Despite her dismay, Tali tried to motion for Kasumi to stop. She was not successful and cringed when Shala turned towards her and Shepard.
"What do you mean?" Shala asked, her mild tone growing into a growl.
"Oops. Sorry Tal. I gotta run, bye!" Kasumi said hastily before vanishing.
"Tali. I expect an explanation for this."
"Auntie please don't be angry. I'm with the commander now. I have chosen him as my mate." Tali said in a barely audible voice.
Before anybody could react, Shala had quickly leaned over the table and slugged Shepard in the chest with enough force to launch him out of his chair. The pain that she felt was blotted out by the rage that coalesced inside of her.
"BOSH'TET! I TRUSTED YOU TO TAKE CARE OF TALI AND INSTEAD I FIND OUT THAT YOU HAVE BEEN TAKING ADVANTAGE OF HER?" Shala screamed as she quickly converged on Shepard.
A former Cerberus crew was one thing, having an A.I. was another, and having a geth aboard was borderline insanity, but this was the too much. She was about to thrash him to an inch of his life. She stopped as Tali leaped in the way.
"Stand aside Tali! Let me deal with this human!"
"No! I won't let you hurt my mate! I love him and he loves me!" Tali shouted defiantly as she stood her ground.
"How could you ever love him! How could he ever understand what we have to go through let alone be your mate?" Shala retorted.
"Your wrong! He understands us better than you know, he sees more than just a suit. He actually cares for me and I...I've already shared myself with him."
This stopped Shala dead in her tracks. It all made sense to her now. Tali did have feelings for Shepard. She should have seen the signs. Each time Tali mentioned Shepard after she came back from her pilgrimage. How she had mourned him when he was reported dead. How she had immediately requested to be transferred back to his command. The way they had looked at each other during the trial and how he had defended her.
There was a sudden roar behind them and Shala turned around to see the krogan advance on her. She suddenly felt fear as Grunt stomped towards her. The rest of the crew stood in shock as they watched the event unfold in front of them.
"Stand down Grunt." Shepard groaned.
Grunt still advanced on the elder quarian, intent on tearing her to pieces for assaulting his battlemaster. It was as if Shepard's honor and by extension his own was being questioned.
"I SAID STAND DOWN!" Shepard shouted before coughing up blood. Tali immediately turned around and took hold of him as she tried to help him back into his seat. At this point, Dr. Chakwas snapped out of it and rushed over to help.
"Your lucky that Shepard told me to stop quarian. If you try to attack my battlemaster again or take away his mate, I'll make sure that the fleet you love so much is nothing but scrap metal." Grunt growled menacingly.
Shala nodded slowly as she waited for the krogan to back away. Feeling weak she sat down and placed a hand on her visor.
'How could I have been so blind?' She thought as she watched Tali at Shepard's side.
Shala saw Tali relax when she was told that Shepard would be fine. The glance that Tali had shot back at her was full of anger. She had never seen Tali like this before. She knew she had made a grave mistake.
"Tali. I am so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen." Shala tried to apologize but shrunk back from Tali's piercing stare, "You know how much I care for you. It's just when you mentioned that you were involved with your captain, I felt as if he betrayed my trust in him."
"You had no right to strike him! He has more than earned our trust. I thought you would understand Shala."
"It doesn't matter now though. Whether you like it or not, I have chosen him as my mate and I will not let you take him away from me. He is mine!"
Shala was shocked at the anger in her words. It was obvious that the bond between them was deep. She could see how protective Tali was. The females of their race had always been protective of their mates. The steel in her words only furthered this conception.
"You are right. I have no right to interfere. Still I am sorry for what I have done. If you wish to renounce me for what I have done I will understand."
"No, auntie. I could never renounce you. You've done a lot for me in the past, but I need to make my own choices now."
"I understand Tali. Captain, I am truly sorry for this. I hope that this will not affect anything between us." Shala apologized.
"It's alright admiral. What's done is done, no need to worry about it. I gotta say though, you have one hell of a punch." Shepard chuckled before grimacing.
"Alright everyone. Head back to what you were doing. EDI, would you please inform Legion that we are coming for a quick chat."
"Already done commander." EDI chimed.
Shortly after asking EDI, to tell Legion that they were coming, Shepard limped to the A.I. core with Tali's help. Shala followed close behind. Standing there in front of them was Legion. She had to fight the urge to pull out her side arm.
"Shepard-Commander. We detect that you are injured. Do you require medical assistance?"
"I'm fine Legion. Thanks for asking." Shepard replied as he leaned against the wall and nodded for them to speak.
"Greetings Creator Zorah and Admiral Creator Raan."
"How do you know me?" Shala asked suspiciously.
"We have learned of your presence when EDI told us you boarded the Normandy."
"How can you speak? A single geth should not be this advance."
"We are an advanced platform created to operate alone in organic space."
"Why did you leave the main collective then?"
"We were created to find Shepard-Commander. He is the most successful in his battles with the Heretics. However we did not find him until recently on the Old Machine."
"Legion has saved our lives several times. If it weren't for Legion we would have never made it out of the derelict." Tali added.
"Yes, Creator Zorah was present with Shepard-Commander on the Old Machine." Legion confirmed.
Shala circled Legion once, examining it in greater detail. The platform itself was similar to those that she had seen in the recordings the marines brought back from their scouting in various geth controlled systems. The only obvious differences was the large hole that had pierced Legion and the N7 armor it had used to repair itself.
"Would the geth attack the fleet then?" Shala inquired further.
"Only if we were attacked first. We oppose the Old Machines, we oppose the Heretics. We do not wish conflict with organics, only to understand them."
"Does that mean you are open to peace?"
"Yes. We did not want war with the Creators. The Creators attacked us first out of fear of what they did not understand."
"If we were to consider peace with the geth, would we be able to return to our homeworld?" Shala asked, a hint of hopefulness lacing her words.
The flaps on Legion's head moved in a way reminiscent of a furrowed expression. Legion was silent as it considered the question.
"Not until the geth receives more data that suggests coexistence is possible. The Creators have attacked us 100 percent of the time when they believed they could win."
Shepard and Tali watched the exchange silently, they could tell that Shala was still grappling with the situation. Shepard hoped that Shala could persuade the other admirals once she returned to her ship. He realized that it would be extremely difficult without proof.
"Admiral, would it be possible to get the other admirals to agree to peace with the geth?" Shepard inquired.
"Possibly. Koris would leap at a chance of peace with the geth while Gerrel would refuse the idea unless we could prove it to him. It is Daro'Xen I am wary of. She has been continuing her research on how to control the geth."
"I know that it may be a long shot but if it's possible you should consider it. The Reapers are coming and we need the fleet to help us in this war. The geth could probably help and would probably allow the quarians return to Rannoch. We need both the quarians and geth to stop fighting if we want any chance of surviving the Reapers."
"I don't know. I am convinced that there is a chance for peace but many of our people are still fearful of the geth. This is something we cannot rush into right away. I'll bring this matter up the next time I meet with the other admirals."
"Alright. Is there anything else you would like to ask Legion?"
"No. I have had enough excitement for one day. I should return to my ship." Shala nodded once to Legion before turning to leave with Tali and Shepard. Shepard tapped the button for the elevator to take them back to the CIC while Tali and Shala talked about the possibility of being able to return to their homeworld.
"Thank you for having me aboard your ship Captain Shepard. Again, I am very sorry about what happened earlier."
"It's nothing really." Shepard lied. To be honest he felt as if he got hit by a truck.
"It was nice seeing you again auntie." Tali said as she gave Shala another hug.
"It was nice seeing both of you again. Please try to visit more often. I hope that the two of you have many long years together. Keelah se'lai."
"Keelah se'lai." Both Tali and Shepard repeated.
Before Shala could turn to leave though Joker called out to them.
"Uhh commander? I got contacts coming from the surface of the planet. Unknown registry. Their heading towards the fleet."
All four of them turned and watch in horror as one of the quarian mining ships exploded. The rest of the mining ships scattered as several of the marine patrols traded fire with the hostile ships.
"EDI! Run a scan on those ships now!" Shepard ordered.
"Scans complete. They match the ship profiles used by Cerberus."
Everyone stood still as they absorbed this new information. Shepard was the first to recover.
"Joker! We're engaging those ships as soon as we are away from the Tonbay! I want those ships destroyed before they can escape!"
"Aye aye commander!"
Well that's all for this chapter. Hoped you enjoyed it. I hate to leave you all hanging but I promise that the next chapter will come soon. I'll see you all in the next one.