If things had been awkward before, now it was twice as bad.
Fha'Ora was staring openly at Lucky when Zha entered with him. He was sitting at the same table as before, but was looking considerably more drunk if the empty bottles were anything to go by. It was what Zha had been hoping for on the first time, but now she wasn't as sure anymore. But she wasn't going to let that stop her. She squared her shoulders and walked to the man.
"What do you want?" she asked and crossed her arms. Lucky stood behind her, staring at the swaying man and adopting his movements by swaying more himself.
Fha looked away from the mech, meeting his daughter's eyes for a second, then looking down at his finished drinks.
"I thought you might have left already," he said.
"Yeah, but then you contacted me."
He shrugged. "Thought that maybe there was still time." He didn't say more.
Zha sighed and rubbed the front of her visor. She was too tired for this shit. Lucky moved to stand next to her, remaining just a little bit off to the side. Visible enough to offer his support, but not close enough to be a part of the conversation. Fha was looking from Zha to the mech, before settling on his half-empty glass. Neither of them said anything. After a while a waitress came by, a surly looking old human woman. Zha asked for some turian cider, Fha went for brandy. He was going to feel terrible in the morning.
They drank in silence, neither looking forward to breaking it. They both knew that they didn't really know how to talk to each other and for now they weren't looking break this… whatever this was. Zha sipped at her drink, the dry liquid making her throat tingle. Her father didn't look like he tasted what he was drinking. Not that he looked like he was here to savor his choice of drink anyway.
"Mechs," he said slowly.
Zha bit her tongue and pushed her drink aside.
"Yeah."
Few minutes of silence passed over them before Fha said anything more.
"AIs? It had to be AIs."
"Wasn't my choice. But I don't regret it."
He hummed quietly, staring at the bottom of his glass. He ordered another drink, drank some of it and lifted his eyes to look at Zha. They stared at each other in silence for quite a while before Fha dropped his gaze.
"So," he said slowly, turning the half empty glass in his hands, leaning against the table with his full weight. "This crewmember of yours. Another robot?"
Zha licked her lips and let out a quiet: "Eeh…" waving her hand in a "so-and-so" motion. "It's… it's a bit more complicated than that."
Fha chuckled humorlessly and looked at Lucky from the corner of his eye. "You aren't going to tell me?"
"You wouldn't like it," Zha said.
"You mean more than I don't like this whole thing you got going?"
"Yeah."
Fha let out a sound, a gurgled mix between a sigh and a groan. "Just lay it on me," he said like a man who has given up all hope. "Let's get it all out there."
Well, if he insisted. Zha lifted her hands on the table, leaning a little closer.
"So you remember how the last time I came around I told you about how I'd found something to take to the Flotilla?"
The loud slurp of her father drinking his drink through the straw was followed by a tired: "Yeah?"
"You know... the geth tech I talked about?"
Fha coughed his mid sip, shoving the glass away from him, the straw dangling awkwardly from his mouth port.
"You didn't," he said disbelievingly.
"Did what?" Zha asked, guilt crawling on her back.
"You built something out of it, didn't you? Oh Zha, how could you be that stupid? You do not mess with geth technology, no matter how chummy you've gotten with your own mechs."
"What? No, that's not it, not really. You see… Heh, I kind of didn't tell you the whole story last time around and the tech I got… ah, it's a bit more… uh, advanced than I might have let on."
His silence wasn't promising, but Zha had to keep going. She drew in a long breath, planning on just letting it all out in one take.
"So anyway, it turns out that I may have picked up a fully functional geth platform that I was carrying around on my ship and it wasn't as offline as I thought it was so it turned on in my cargo hold and then I had to lock it up but it turns out things weren't so bad and we kind of started getting along and they got broken a bit and I helped building them a few new parts and then the scientist guys wanted them back so they sent this asari – who is a total bitch by the way – and she comes crashing through but we managed to avoid her that time but she caught up to us later and stole my crew and held them hostage and I tricked the geth so that I could make the exchange and now the humans have them and I need to get them back."
If she had thought that letting it all out in one loud breath of air was going to make it somehow easier for her father to digest, then clearly she'd been wrong. The stare Fha was giving her was frigid, she could feel it burrowing under her skin and into her bones, pinning her to where she was sitting.
He looked like he was about to say something, then clamped down. Opened up his mouth again, then closed it.
Zha could understand. She'd have too many questions in his place as well. So she just sat there waiting for the floodgates to open. When it became clear that nothing was coming out any time soon, she sighed and rested her arms on the table.
"I know," she said. "It's… It's pretty messed up. Trust me, I've thought about it and I know it could have ended a lot worse than it did. But I need to get them back. It was my fault and they did not deserve what I did. And… before you start yelling again, I just… I've made up my mind. I'm going to go after the humans and try to get the geth back. I'm going to do it whether you'll help me or not."
Fha'Ora had buried his head into his hands and heaved a long sigh.
"Alright," he said slowly. "Alright. Let's just pretend for a moment that I'm okay with this. Start from the beginning. What do those scientists want with this… geth?"
"Um… That's a good question. So, apparently there's this group of renegade human scientists who want to learn how to control the geth, right? So they've captured geth platforms and experimented on them. And the one that I found? Happened to be one of those. So they wanted their investment back and… uh… now they have it, I guess."
"What are they doing, investigating the geth? That's not the humans' problem," he said.
"I guess not. But this Overseer guy told me when he offered a job for me, that they're looking to control the geth. Why, though, I have no idea. Maybe just because they want to? Could be, for all I know."
"They offered you a job?" Fha asked feebly.
"Some people can appreciate my technical skills." It wasn't supposed to come out as an accusation, but it did anyway, and there was no taking it back. Zha licked her lips and looked at the old man. He didn't even look like he'd fully registered it. They'd both had a long day.
"So what do you want from me, then?" Fha asked. "What am I supposed to do about this geth?"
"I don't…" Zha stopped, thought about it a moment, then sighed. "I'm going to go back to the Overseer's big ship and steal the geth from them. I thought I could hire some professionals to help me out, I… I don't exactly have the skills needed for something like that."
They both agreed on this. Fha hadn't touched his drinks for a while. Maybe that was good. He was looking confused enough as it was.
"So, what I'm saying is that… I need money. For the mercs. I… If you could help me in any way, I'd appreciate that."
Fha hummed quietly, staring at his glass with tired eyes. Zha sank back on her chair. Lucky was standing vigilant next to her, scanning the diner around them. He noticed her staring and turned to look at her with a chirp. She grabbed his hand in assurance. When she looked back at her father, the man was eyeing them with narrowed eyes. He didn't look angry, just contemplative. He closed his eyes, a pained look crossing his barely visible features. He drew in a long breath.
"Look, Zha," he said. "I'm an old man. I've had… a few years to think about things, living alone and I've realized that I don't want things to continue like they have been between us. I don't want my only child to hate me. When I found out that you'd landed on Gavannah a few months ago, I was surprised. I was so happy. I thought that maybe you had come to make things better between us, to talk about all the things that we said all those years ago. But… but it turned out you weren't there on purpose. You didn't even want to be there. And… I didn't know what to say."
This was not the conversation Zha had been expecting. Her hold on Lucky's hand tightened, seeking reassurance instead of offering it. Lucky didn't react to it.
"And Zha, I'm trying so hard. I've never understood your fascination with mechs. I tried to steer you away from it, I knew it would get you in trouble if you ever wanted to join the Migrant Fleet. It's not good, Zha. You're playing with dangerous elements here." Fha'Ora gave a guarded look at Lucky. "But I'm trying to understand. I'm trying."
She wasn't sure how it had gotten there, but it felt like something had lodged itself into Zha's throat again. She tried to swallow it down with little success.
"But this geth thing?" Fha said. "That's just crazy. You know that, right?"
"Of course I do, dad," she said. "But this geth… it saved my life when that asari attacked my ship. It trusted me and I let it down. I need to make things right. I'm going to do it, whether I get your help or not. It's just that… My chances of survival would be a bit higher if I got some money to hire actual professionals to help."
Fha sighed like a man who has given up. His fingers kneaded the side of his helmet, trying to dig through to uproot the headache that had no doubt lodged itself between his temples.
"Mercs aren't cheap, Zha," he said. "Unless you have credits already saved up, I can't give you enough to pay even one. I'm not that rich."
Zha sagged down. "Oh," was all she could say. She should have expected this, shouldn't she? Her father was not the richest man in the Galaxy, far from it. She let out a hissing breath. What did she have left? Not much. The location of the base, sure, but what else? Last time she had gone to them by herself had ended badly for them so she was not looking forward to repeating that little showdown.
"So you are telling me that these people are experimenting on geth tech and looking to gain control over them?" Fha said in thought.
Zha lifted her head a little, then nodded. "Something like that," she confirmed. "The man in charge said something along those lines."
Her father's fingers tapped against his helmet in a steady rhythm while the man stared at his empty bottle.
"I think I might actually have something for that," he said slowly.
At this point Zha was desperate for pretty much anything. She stared with empty eyes at her father, waiting for him to continue, too tired and annoyed to even tell him to go on.
"This is a matter that goes beyond you and your… geth… friend. This is something that would interest the Flotilla as well."
Zha perked up at that, her back straightening and fists balling under the table.
"If you were to contact them and – "
"Absolutely not," she said without hesitation.
"And why not?" her father asked irritably. "I don't see you having lots of other choices. The Migrant Fleet wouldn't like some no-name human scientists trying to gain control over the geth. They would want to shut down the project the moment they heard of it."
"Yeah, and they would shoot AI775 to bits before I could say: 'Hey wait, this one's with me.' It's too risky. I'm not going to risk getting the poor thing killed." Even though they would no doubt have preferred it that way.
"And how many helpers do you have lined up to take you through this mission then?" Fha asked, arms crossed over his chest and leaning back in his chair. "Don't be a moron, Zha. The Migrant Fleet is your best bet. They think you're still on your Pilgrimage. You tell them that you've found some secret information about a human group doing secret experiments on a secretive base. You and a group of them Flotilla quarians get on a ship and attack the base and during the confusion you snag your buddy and get out of there. It's that simple."
Fha made it sound simple. Things rarely were like that in her life, though. Zha gnawed at her lip, hands holding on tight onto the edge of the table.
This was the point where she needed to make a decision. It had been different when she had gone after her crew. She had thought that she was going to die and somewhat accepted it. But now? Guilt was clawing at her insides and there was only one way to deal with it.
Her father had a point, going to the Flotilla was probably her best bet. The idea hadn't even entered her mind before, but there it was now, taking root. The Migrant Fleet had weapons and people with better qualifications to deal with this and if she could get them to help her, she might actually have a chance at doing this.
Zha felt odd. Lighter. Her heart was beating faster, filling her veins with something she had not felt for a while.
Hope.
This could actually work.
"I can't believe I'm actually going to say this, but I think you're right," she said, leaning in closer. "I can contact the Overseer and tell him that I've changed my mind about the job and that I'd be interested in joining his ranks. Then when I get the current location of his ship, I can go to the Migrant Fleet and tell them that a group of rogue scientists has contacted a descendant of Ora to work on a secretive geth project."
"And they will do the job for you," Fha concluded, pulling back and crossing his arms in satisfaction.
Zha jumped up from her chair, feeling more energetic than she had in ages. This was going to work! She dashed past the table, scaring Lucky in the process and gave Fha an awkward side-hug. She didn't have time to feel shame, though. She was going to get on this project right away! No time like the present.
"Thank you so much, dad," she said, letting go of the man. She started off towards the "I'll be going now! Come on, Lucky. We have a lot of work to do!"
Lucky let out a cheerful chirp.
"Zha, wait!"
Fha had gotten up when Zha turned to look at him. His stance wasn't looking too good, his legs wobbly under him, but he was still making an effort following after her and her mech.
"Are you just going to leave?" he asked, making his way closer.
"Well… I have to. I've wasted enough time as it is. The sooner I get to the Migrant Fleet, the better."
He looked disappointed. "When will I see you again?" Fha asked.
Zha was jumping on her feet, ready to get running to her ship, but grounded by her father's careful words.
"If I don't die during the next few days, then…" she said, slowing her movements down until she was standing completely still. Zha looked at her feet. "I don't know, dad."
A look of determination filled Fha'Ora's eyes as he pulled his back up straight.
"In that case," he said, "I am coming with you."
Zha blinked, tilted her head to see her father's expressions a bit better, then blinked again.
"Come again?" she asked.
"I am coming with you," he said, squaring his shoulders. "To make things right. My daughter is in need of help. I think it's high time I do something about it."
"You're drunk."
"Not drunk enough to make a stupid decision like this!"
His declaration sounded awkward and it was clear that the man himself didn't have full weight of faith behind his words, but Fha didn't look like he was ready to back down either. He was standing up straight, looking Zha in the eye as if daring her to try to stop him.
Zha's stance deflated and her shoulders dropped. It wasn't like she had the manpower to turn down her father's offer of help. Honestly she needed all the help she could get. So there was no saying no to this.
"Look, dad," she started.
"Zha, I want to help you," he said quietly, looking her in the eye.
"Alright," Zha said, shaking her head and crossing her arms. "Alright. Fine. You can come. But!" she cut in at the sight of Fha's eyes growing brighter. "You're going to behave around my crew, got it? If you treat them like shit, your ass is off the ship. You'll be respectful or you'll be gone. Got it?"
Fha gave a quick look at Lucky, his eyes narrowing a little before he looked back at Zha.
"Of course," he said.
Yeah. Sure. Of course.
This wasn't how Zha had thought this would end up. But now she had a plan that actually might work and at least one other quarian besides herself. It might just be her dad, a man who left a lot to be desired in many aspects, but it was another gun at her side. So she wasn't going to complain.
This time she wasn't going to fuck it up. This time she was going to do everything she could and she was going to come out on top!
