Wow, it's been a while huh? I'll spare the details beyond the fact that for a while my 360 was dead and things were happening. But I have it back and have banished some writers block for now so who knows? Maybe I'll be less delayed. I'd appreciate feedback of course, assuming anyone out there remembers this story at all. Sorry for the long dry spell for any readers out there who have been following this. Hopefully you wont be too disappointed. Oh, and to address the reviews of the last chapter: I considered rewriting the elevator scene but it grew out to 3 pages in no time flat. Even the Citadel's elevators aren't THAT slow. See this chapter for what I did instead. I hope this helps clarify things a bit. Edit: In response to a review, looked around online. Found this sentence: " With a mass effect drive, roughly a dozen light years can be traversed in the course of a days cruise." Needless to say, I'm changing some details now.

Read, enjoy/hate and possibly review either way.

Tali watched the drive charge slowly counting higher and higher as the power cells stimulated the Element Zero core into generating the mass effect needed for FTL flight. If she had been impressed with the Normandy before, now she was truly in awe. They were currently traveling at a full 1 light year per hour and she could still barely even feel the engine vibration through the deck. The average person would probably not be impressed at the difference between .7 and 1, but the power needed for FTL increased exponentially the faster the ship went. Even at this blinding speed the galaxy was a huge place. None the less, Tali couldn't help but feel excited as she marveled at the ships performance. I wish the Flotilla had ships like this. I'd do anything to serve on a ship like the Normandy for the rest of my life. If we only had more resources...

She sighed heavily as she tapped her way through the various checks on the drive systems. But we don't. We used to be one of the most technologically advanced races, now we have to scavenge for anything we can use. Maybe one day we can finally start building things of our own again. If we could just get the rights to one planet with enough resources... The Council would never allow it. They kicked us out, but the moment we try to get a planet suddenly they're leaning over our shoulders and threatening us. Tali's omnitool beeped, interrupting her sour train of thought. She powered the display and saw the cause: A message from her father.

What? Why would father send me a message? She and her father had never been close, and the last thing she expected while on Pilgrimage was a message from home. A message from him in particular hadn't even occurred to her as a possibility. Has something happened? I can't think what would make him contact me out of the black like this. Tali hesitated at the point of opening the message and glanced around at the rest of the engineering crew. It doesn't matter what it is. I'm on duty. I'm not going to just drop my work to check messages. Especially since father was the one who drilled that rule into my head in the first place.

Tali tried to turn her mind back to her duties. Every single time the readings lulled her thoughts drifted to the message. Father is a busy man. If he's taking the time to tell me something it must be important. Oh keelah, I hope nothing's happened. What if someone is sick? I don't even want to think what it'd be like coming home without Auntie Raan there. Tali bit her lip anxiously as she considered the prospect. The harder she tired to banish it, the more insistent it became. Calm down! Worrying wont change anything. You're supposed to be a trained member of the Migrant Fleet. Father had you trained by the marines as well as by some of the best engineers we have. You've been taught to deal with this sort of thing with discipline and reason. You are NOT supposed to be standing around, wringing your hands like an idiot!

Tali wrenched her hands apart and forced herself to still them. There. Focus. It's time to stop acting like a child and start behaving like an adult. You will do your job until the shift ends. Then you will see what your father has to say. It's also time you stopped this childish crush-

"Good morning, Tali." Shepard's familiar voice completely derailed her thoughts in an instant. She turned to see him walking past on his way to speak to Engineer Adams.

"Good morning, Shepard." Tali replied with new found cheer, even giving a small wave as he walked by. Her mood had finished its 180 before she even turned back to her terminal, leaving her smiling like an idiot. It took her a few moments to recall what she had been thinking about, at which point she dropped her head into her hands with an exasperated sigh. Damn it, Tali!

When the next meal time came around Tali didn't go to the mess with the rest of the engineering staff on her shift. Instead, she settled into an unoccupied corner of the hold, seated on the deck with her back to the wall, and powered up her omnitool. She stared at the heading for a long moment before summoning her nerve and opening it. Reading the first line drew a sigh of relief, as surely any terrible news would have been the first thing to be said. Reading further into it crushed that relief to replace it with the usual disappointment. She shut down the display with an angry wave of her hand and fixed the deck in front of her with a glare. I should have known! The only message on my Pilgrimage and he spends it telling me how badly I've done so far. I find a functional ship for the Flotilla and all he says is that I should have held onto it as part of my gift. Tali drew her legs up to her chest and crossed her arms over her knees. What if someone else found it first? Then the Fleet doesn't get a ship at all! He told me himself that a ship wouldn't be enough, so what does it matter anyway?

Tali sighed and let her head drop to her arms. She respected her father as a leader, a soldier and a scientist. In many ways she had looked up to him as an example when she was a child. He'd taught her duty, responsibility and that she should always strive for excellence, lessons that she'd taken to heart. For all that, she was acutely aware that he wasn't much of a father. Work had always been more important to him than family ever was. After Tali's mother had died he'd just become more distant, leaving Tali alone on the Rayya for months at a time while he worked out on the lab ships. She knew he cared in some way and that she was being childish. Try as she might, however, she couldn't abandon the hope that one day, he might give her the approval she wanted.

Tali's thoughts were interrupted by a voice. "Uh, Tali? You got a minute?"

Tali's head snapped up to see Garrus standing in front of her. "What?" she snapped before shaking her head. "Sorry. I was just... Is there something you need?"

Garrus shifted from side to side, flicking his mandibles erratically. "Yeah. About the other day. What I said in the elevator? I just wanted to apologize."

Tali stared blankly up at the turian for a long moment. "What?"

"Turians are brought up to own our actions. Denying a crime is worse than doing it in the first place to us. We also keep detailed history and own that as well. It's... just part of who we are. I shouldn't be holding another species to our rules."

"Didn't sound like you were owning the First Contact War, or the genophage," Tali said. It was a shot, and were she in a better mood she might have felt bad about it. At the moment she was still too angry to care.

"I'm still not convinced the genophage was a mistake," Garrus retorted, "That was self preservation. The Relay 314 Incident... That was a mistake. It's like arresting an infant for a crime, when they can't even read. Humanity didn't know the law, they weren't even subject to it before gaining an embassy. Whoever ordered that attack was out of line. I was being hypocritical for not admitting that." Garrus's posture assumed that same shamed stance he'd shown in the elevator. "It's not something I'm proud of."

That got Tali's attention. So, he was just ashamed he didn't live up to his species standards? "And what about my people?"

"I'm not sure what to think now," Garrus admitted, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "You didn't make the geth, but your ancestors did. If you were turian, I'd say you should share the blame. But you're not turian, and your people have already been punished for 300 years..."

"Yes. We have been. Every single one of us lives on ships, a hull breach away from extinction. We can't get jobs, we can't own a planet, we can't even take our helmets off anymore!"

"Why DO you wear that helmet all the time?"

Tali took a deep breath to steady her voice before going on. "Because we've been living in sterile environments for so long that our immune systems have atrophied. Taking my helmet off here would probably make me sick or even kill me. THAT is what we live with every single day."

To his credit, Garrus looked extremely discomfited with that revelation. "So, your people are forever wandering, and now they couldn't settle anywhere if they wanted to." Garrus' mandibles sagged in what Tali thought was a saddened expression of some type. "I'm sorry."

"Just remember that the next time you start talking about my people."

Garrus simply nodded and excused himself. Tali leaned back and rested her head against the wall, trying to let go of her anger. Maybe he's not so bad after all. I shouldn't expect everyone to drop their prejudice overnight, that's not fair of me. Shepard's right. I just have to be the best quarian I can be and show them that I deserve equality. At least Shepard already likes me. Well, he doesn't dislike me, anyway. I wonder how much he likes me...?

Tali finally headed up to deck two for her meal. It didn't take her very long to eat her concentrated nutrient paste compared to the other crew members meals, so her delaying wouldn't be a problem. On the other hand, she'd become fond of drawing out her eating time since she'd been on Pilgrimage. On the Flotilla most meals were usually hurried or taken on duty. There was always more work to do and they just didn't have the luxury of sitting around to talk over food. That's something I think I might miss when I go home. It's nice to have so much less pressure to hurry and fix everything. As the elevator door opened Tali picked up the various conversations via her helmets audio enhancers.

"...still don't feel good about having Vakarian, Wrex and T'soni aboard, LT."

That's Williams. I got the feeling that... wait. What about me?

Alenko echoed that unspoken question. "You didn't mention Tali. You're not worried about her?"

"Not... really. No." Williams said slowly.

"I'd have thought you might blame her for the geth."

That seemed to give Williams pause as it was a long minute before she spoke again. "I thought about that. But I've put up with crap for my family history for years. If Shepard can ignore that, I can ignore the quarian's past."

"Glad to hear it, Chief. I've not spoken to her much myself, but Shepard seems to think she's alright. Without her giving us that evidence this whole mission wouldn't be possible anyway."

"Got a point there. She's good in a fight, and hates those synthetic bastards as much as I do."

"Shepard says the rest are fine too. He's a good judge of character."

"Maybe," Williams conceded, before settling back into a more professional tone. "I'm still going to keep my eyes on the others, just in case. But I won't let it affect my duties either way."

"Good. We have enough problems with Saren and the geth."

Tali felt considerably better as she finally moved to the mess area for her food. That's two more people who don't think I'm some kind of threat or something. This day is starting to get a bit better.

–

Tali drummed her fingers on her work station impatiently. Logically speaking she hadn't expected to be on the ground every time a mission came up. She'd even been left behind once or twice already like when dealing with some slaving ring they'd been sent after. As it turned out the asari diplomat who'd made the request had lied to Shepard. Tali still had trouble believing anyone could try to kill one of their family members, never mind resorting to tricking a Spectre to do it, which was borderline suicide if the stories were to be believed. They'd picked up a fair number of supplies from them that would fetch more credits on their next stop, but just the idea of being an accessory to something like that made her skin crawl. Not that she blamed Shepard. He had thought he was taking out a group of slavers to rescue a hostage. It wasn't as though the slavers didn't deserve what they'd gotten anyway. At least, that's what Tali had told herself.

This time was different though. These weren't two bit slavers equipped for hit and run raids. Geth used large numbers and heavy artillery at every opportunity they got. Tali knew more about them than anyone else on the team and was certain that her skills could be invaluable in the fight. Alenko was competent enough with some tech, but Tali knew she was better. She hadn't had the nerve to point that out to Shepard, of course. She also had to admit that Shepard had made a good point before going that those were human colonists out there under attack by an alien species. If the first people to show up weren't human there could well be a misunderstanding ending in bloodshed. With that in mind it made sense to take Williams and Alenko, but Tali still wished that she could be out there. With the Normandy in dock there was quite literally nothing for her to do.

"No matter how many times you run that diagnostic it's going to tell you the same thing."

Tali jerked out of her thoughts at Adams words. I wasn't even paying attention to the diagnostic. What am I doing? "Right, sorry."

Adams cast her a sidelong glance. "You know you aren't exactly required to stay down here all the time. We had a fully staffed section to start with."

"Am I in the way?"

"Nah, nothing like that. Like the Commander said, you're a real asset to the team. All I'm saying is that I don't have any work for you right now, so you might as well relax."

"Relax?" Tali said with the same tone she might have used in reply to a suggestion to take off her suit and hang out in a hospital ward full of sick aliens. "There must be something that needs done!"

At that Adams turned to Tali directly with a lopsided smile on his face. "In all my years in the Alliance, this is the first time I've ever heard anyone complain about having no work to do."

Tali stared at him, dumbfounded. "This happens often?"

"All the time," Adams said casually. "Especially on a new ship like this. Even then everyone is always looking forward to their next leave."

"Shepard mentioned "leave" time before. Migrant Fleet Marines will get some time off combat duty to spend time back on their home ship, but they still work. Everyone works every day on the Flotilla. That just how things are."

"You don't have any holidays?"

Tali tilted her head as her translator failed once again to provide her with a modern khelish equivalent. "What's a 'haw-lee-days'?"

Adams looked distinctly nonplussed at the question. "Well, on Earth we have these days where we get time off work. A lot of them are anniversaries of specific events or from some religion."

If anyone could have seen Tali's face, they might have been amused at the slack jawed expression she sported. "Your people have entire days where you don't work?"

"Quite a few. Not everyone gets them off of course. Someone has to keep things running, right?"

Tali tried to process what Adams was telling her to little avail. The very concept of an entire day doing nothing constructive was more alien than a hanar control panel she'd been hired to help repair earlier in her Pilgrimage. Considering the hanar were about as physically different from quarians as it was possible to get, that was saying something. They have days where they don't work at all? How is that possible? I mean, what do they even do? "What do you do if you don't work?"

"Depends on the holiday. Each of the older ones has it's own traditions. Lots of food and alcohol is a pretty safe bet."

"Alcohol? But that's a waste of resources!" Tali exclaimed. To her mind Adams was piling absurdity on top of absurdity. It was nearing the point where she would suspect a prank was being played on her. "I was told that people out here drank it, but I never really believed... All it does is impair reasoning! It can even kill you!"

Tali had drawn the attention of most of the engineering team at this point. They looked at baffled as she felt.

"You mean you've never had a drink?" a man named Carl chimed in.

"Of course not," Tali replied, "Wastes like that aren't allowed. If something isn't required, we don't have it. I'd never participate-"

"Relax, Tali," Adams cut in, "He wasn't insulting you. Things are different out here."

Tali shook her head in disbelief. "I guess so. I never imagined just how different it would be though. Days without work, spent eating plentiful food and drinking alcohol. It's like something out of fiction."

Before the discussion could continue, Jokers voice came over the comm system. "Attention ground team. The Commander wants everyone geared up and ground side ASAP."

"Well, that's not fiction." Adams said. "Good luck out there, Tali."

"Thanks." Tali logged out of her terminal and started up the hall to the cargo bay. I wonder what's happening out there? Doesn't matter. Whatever needs done, I'll do it.

–

Zhu's Hope was a wreck. Tali had expected the place to be damaged from the geth assault, but from what she could tell the place was already a ruin when the colonists had first arrived. Now it was little more than broken stone composite and scrap metal. The damaged freighter was the most intact piece of technology to be seen. At a glance she could tell that their water main was down and they were without electricity. That must be why I'm here. Hopefully I'll be able to help these people get up and running again.

"Colony's tougher than it looks." Wrex rumbled a ways behind her. To her left, she could see Garrus nodding in silent agreement.

"These people are brave, but the geth are relentless." Tali added quietly. "My people know this better than anyone."

"From what I have seen, they are in good hands now." Liara ventured. The asari looked slightly uncomfortable with the armor she now wore, but managed to retain some of that calm her people were known for.

The group rounded the end of the crashed ship to see the Shepard's team in discussion with a pair of colonists. Shepard turned to the rest of the squad as they closed in. "We've dealt with the main geth force in the tower for the moment, but this colony isn't secure yet. There are more in the tunnels, along with a transmitter that we're going to take out. The colony is also without power, water and their food supplies are low. Wrex, I'm guessing you're familiar with hunting varren?" The hulking krogan nodded his confirmation. "Then you're with me. Tali, I don't know what shape the water valves will be in, or exactly what to look for in terms of power cells."

"Right. I should be able to handle things if they're not totally destroyed."

"Good. The rest of you, team up and guard the colony perimeter. If those geth drop another wave I don't want them anywhere near the colonists, got it?" An assortment of nods, and affirming phrases answers his orders. "Alright, move out."

–

Tali brought up the rear as the team moved steadily down the stairs to the tunnels. She held her pistol at the ready in one hand, while the other hovered over a pocket full of tech mines. As they turned the corner onto the next flight her radar flashed erratically. "Commander, there's an active jamming field here."

"I see it," Shepard replied. "Stay sharp, and check your-"

"Oh God! They're everywhere!"

Tali's head snapped around to locate the source of the yell. Her eyes landed on a female human running up the stairs towards them. Before she could do anything a series of pulse rounds impacted the woman's back. A geth recon drone hovered into clear view only to be quickly dispatched by a blast from Wrex's shotgun. The sound of metal joints powered by synthetic muscles heralded the arrival of both a standard trooper and a wall crawling geth.

Tali made to fling an overload mine, drawing the disk from her pocket and pulling back for the throw. Her HUD dissolved into static, displaying only a system crash alert. What the- Tali stumbled backwards as several pulse rounds impacted her armor directly, doubling her over. My shields are down!She staggered into cover and attempted to power her omnitool, only to find that refused to respond as well. A glance at her pistol showed that it's overheat warning was on too. "Shepard, my... everything is down!"

"Stay down." Shepard ordered. With a swift gesture he biotically yanked the hopper out of the air and into line with the barrel of his shotgun. A single blast ended the fight as Wrex had already finished pulverizing the trooper. "Tali, you alright? What hit you?"

"I'm not sure but-" her HUD came back to life before her eyes. She raised her forearm to confirm that her omnitool was indeed working as well. "Keelah, that's better. Something that geth used made my equipment crash. It even caused a false weapon overheat signal. I've never seen such a comprehensive tech weapon."

"You back online now?"

"Yes, everything checks out. I'm ready whenever you are."

"Good. Keep an eye out for more of those hoppers. It was the one that hit you."

Tali's eyes fell on the wiry geth sprawled out on the floor. She'd seen them before on Therum, though not quite this close. It's not like any geth from the time of the rebellion. It's a totally new form. I wish I had more time to study it, but we have to keep moving.

"Here's the next water valve."

"Right, I'll get it working again." Tali set to work examining the valve at once. While it would be faster just to turn them on and hope for the best, there was always a risk associated with such hasty actions. A quick safety check and possibly an application of omni-gel if needed were all it took to ensure that there wouldn't be a catastrophic rupture. The colony couldn't afford any more trouble right now. Tali looked up, about to tell Shepard that everything checked out when her radar went berserk again. "Radar is jammed!"

As if to punctuate that sentence, a pair of geth rockets streaked down the corridor and struck Shepard squarely in the back. The marine was thrown off his feet to land in a heap against the wall. A synthetic stuttering indicated more geth were closing in along the narrow passageway. Wrex charged into their ranks with an almost feral growl. His biotic enhanced punches tossed several troopers aside like toys until the battlemaster came toe to toe with a powerful destroyer unit. Four geth that managed to survive Wrex's passage rose to their feet, surveyed the scene and decided that the quarian crouched next to Shepard was their top target.

Tali watched the proximity display on her HUD as her counter jamming program began to clear the interference. Four geth were drawing ever closer to where she crouched beside Shepard. She drew and checked her shotgun and took a deep breath. Hard and fast. No mistakes. She primed a pair of tech mines one handed. Overload and sabotage. Don't give them a chance to get a good line of fire.The lead geth had closed to under a meter. Now!

Tali tossed an overload mine over the short wall between her and the geth. A loud snap of electricity later and she was in motion. She rose and planted a hand on the top of her cover, vaulting over it with her legs outstretched. Both feet caught the lead geth in the chest bringing it crashing to the floor. She let her momentum carry her with it and into a crouch, perched on its chest plate with her shotgun against its neck. A single blast severed the thick cable and triggered the self-destruct. Not missing a beat she drew her pistol one handed and started firing both weapons into the nearest geth. Without shields to protect it the pair of weapons made short work of the standard trooper model. By now the remaining pair of geth had trained their rifles on her and opened fire. Tali dropped the pistol and flung her second tech mine before her shields reached 50%. With their weapons disabled, the geth simply adjusted their grips on the sleek rifles and advanced, prepared to bludgeon her to death.

The closest unit was rewarded for its change in tactics with a series of shotgun blasts to the torso. The smooth armor buckled under the assault, white conductive fluid spraying from various ruptured hoses. As that geth collapsed in a sparking heap the second unit halted its advance. The aperture of its optics narrowed and, to Tali's surprise, the unit moved backwards, out of effective shotgun range. If it gets it's rifle working again I'm in trouble. What should I... An almost devilish smile formed on her hidden face as a solution presented itself. I hope I haven't lost my skill. She drew the knife from her boot and flung it at the backpedaling geth. An instant later she let out a "Hah!" of triumph as the sharp blade embedded itself in the geth's glowing eye. The blinded unit let out a stuttering sound and fell, activating its self-destruct protocol to prevent the now severely disadvantaged trooper's memory from being hacked.

Tali scooped up and holstered her discarded pistol and moved to assist Shepard. To her surprise he was already getting to his feet. "I'm alright," he said before she could even voice the question. "Where's-"

A geth shock troop smashed against the wall beside them in a spray of shrapnel and white liquid. Shepard tracked the flightpath back to its source before speaking again. "Never mind. You all right, Wrex?" The hulking krogan shot Shepard and Tali a glance from the far end of the hall. He gave a curt nod and went back to freeing his fist from the chest cavity of his last victim.

"What about you, Shepard?" Tali inquired. She craned her neck to examine the scorched back of his armor. "Do you need any medi-gel?"

"It just knocked the wind out of me. Those shield modulators you picked out were worth the investment." Shepard gave Tali a quick once over before going on. "Good work on those geth. You may have missed your calling as a marine."

"Oh, thank you, Shepard." Tali said, feeling a bit flustered at such a compliment coming from someone like him. "I actually trained with the Migrant Fleet Marines for the better part of a year before Pilgrimage. I've done a lot more training in these kinds of close quarters compared to someplace like Therum."

"I'll keep that in mind." Shepard stooped to collect his shotgun. "Form up, we're moving out!"

Tali fell into line behind Shepard as they started up the now geth strewn passage towards Wrex. She paused only to retrieve her knife and attempt to wipe off the white liquid on the geth's body. To her annoyance the armored shell was not very useful in a cleaning capacity. I'll worry about this later. Can't fall behind. She reluctantly sheathed the contaminated blade and hurried back into formation behind Shepard and Wrex.