Bright sunlight flashed between puffy white clouds as they slid past the Kodiak's windows on its descent to the surface. As was the case for the assault on the Xenophon, the entire squad was crammed into the cramped shuttle, but relaxed conversation replaced tactical planning and no one was wearing armor or brandishing weapons. Smiles and laughter were the only requirement for this mission, and the mood was relaxed except for the lone quarian staring intently at her omnitool.

Ever since the geth's offer of peace, Tali had had been mesmerized by the flotilla's news feed, so much so she actually had to be led to her seat in the shuttle, nor did she feel the turbulence when it entered the atmosphere. Once again the captains of the Migrant Fleet had assembled on the Anba, at least the ones from the ships that had made it as far as Nariph. Those that had not arrived called in from the long line of ships stretching back to Raheel-Leyya. It was unprecedented in the history of the Migrant Fleet to call a vote when it was scattered as it was, but given the events of the past week, nothing seemed impossible now.

Finally, the results had been collected and tallied. Tali let out a sudden, tearful gasp. "The Conclave accepted the geth's proposal," she announced. "It's unanimous. The war's over."

Applause and congratulations flowed through the cabin, with each of the squad reaching across to shake Tali's hand or pat her back. Tali had to breathe deep and slow to keep from passing out. She looked across to the forward bench at Shepard, who simply smiled back at her. Her gaze shifted to the geth that sat next to him, scanning her with its camera eye.

The shuttle turned, causing sunlight to glint across her mask. For the first time since boarding she looked the window out to see brown cliffs and sandy valleys stretching to the horizon under a blue sky, with wide swaths of green scattered between. She pressed her mask against the window, pushing her face as far forward as it could go to widen her field of view. It was even more beautiful than she could have ever dreamed.

The shuttle continued its descent, passing over a wide river delta dense with jungle growth as it poured water into the open sea. Then the delta was gone, replaced with hills, then flat plains. The shuttle rolled slightly, then pitched, and seconds later Tali felt the shift of gravity as the shuttle's mass effect fields shut down.

The seat restraints retracted and the hatch opened, flooding the cabin with warm sunlight. Shepard and the rest of the squad stood. Tali got to her feet and waited for her captain to exit, her eyes fixed on the ground outside.

Shepard gestured through the open hatch with a smile. "After you. It's your planet."

Tali looked around the compartment at her shipmates... her family. Everyone, even Zaeed, smiled back at her. She looked at the sandy gravel below and dropped down from the hatch. Her feet dug in with a satisfying, rocky crunch that reverberated up her legs to her spine. How many worlds had she set foot on during her time on the Normandy without noticing the ground beneath her?

The shuttle had landed in a sandy clearing laced with long, thin reeds topped with puffy brown seed pods. Beyond, groves of squat trees with gnarled trunks edged the clearing against the backdrop of sharp, jagged mountains. She took a step forward, grinding her feet into the soil, enjoying the sensation, then stopped and turned back to the shuttle. There was someone who should be at her side. "Legion?"

Shepard stepped aside to allow Legion to pass and it too dropped from the hatch. Tali motioned it forward and together walked slowly away from the shuttle until they were surrounded on all sides by reeds bobbing in the wind. The unlikely pair stopped a few meters away from the shuttle to take in the scenery. Tali looked at Legion and the light on the chin of her helmet flashed as she said something they couldn't hear on the shuttle. Legion looked back and his flaps contracted as he vocalized an answer that only Tali could hear, then they both turned back to the mountains.

"The first quarian on Rannoch," Garrus said, moving next to Shepard at the edge of the hatch. The rest of the squad looked on from behind. "What do you suppose they're saying?"

Shepard brought up his omnitool and framed the quarian and geth against the backdrop of the mountains to take a single picture. "That's between them."

Rannoch's sun passed its zenith and began its slow trek toward the horizon. On the ground below, white cubes of plastic and metal stood along a central path which had already been dubbed "Main Street" by the Normandy crew. The temporary structures, constructed by the geth, provided shelter, power, air conditioning, and privacy for the newest guests on the planet while their ship was rebuilt from the frame out. In addition to housing, the geth constructed a meeting space (complete with a replica of the Normandy's briefing room table), laundry and restroom facilities, as well as an infirmary.

Fortunately, the latter was no longer needed after the first day. Most of the injuries had been minor. Even Kasumi, who'd suffered multiple gunshot wounds, was back on her feet with the aid of a medical exoskin, with the provision that she refrain from any of her typical acrobatic feats. Once the crew found their assigned shelters, they passed out within minutes. Camp Normandy remained quiet and peaceful through the first night, with geth platforms standing silent guard over the crew as they slept.

The next day found most of the crew at loose ends. With no ship and no stations to attend, they had no duty. But Commander Shepard didn't seem interested in finding busywork for them to do. His order of the day came at roll call: relax, and take it easy. E-books and vid screens sprouted around the campsite like weeds, in both the shade and the sun. Some of the crew were content to snooze in the sunshine, and a nearby freshwater pond provided ample entertainment for the aquatically inclined. Before long, a skyball appeared, and an impromptu four-on-four game broke out complete with a cheering audience.

Lunch was served picnic style. Gardner set up shop with an improvised wood grill. Though his reputation as a cook on the ship often took a beating, no one could deny his skills over open flame. Being a dextro planet, he had only stores from the Normandy's galley to work with, but everyone went back for seconds.

Even though a party had not been declared, Shepard made it official when he dragged a heavy footlocker across the sandy ground. He kicked open the top, leaned in and picked up a dark brown bottle of beer with ice and water dripping from its side. With a cheer as loud as any ever uttered by the Normandy crew, they rushed the chest and soon almost everyone was standing around chatting with a drink in one hand and plate of food in the other, with Garrus politely sharing his personal reserves with Tali.

The geth, being machines, didn't require food, nor could they consume alcohol. But whenever a member of the Normandy collective required a refill or needed to dispose of an empty plate, a geth platform was there to assist. In spite of the Normandy collective's attempts to include the geth, they remained detached observers to the celebration... Except for Mobile Platform One.

Legion, as usual, interacted freely with the Normandy collective. It was not forced, either. In fact, Legion's companionship was actively sought by many members of the Normandy collective. Even more surprising to the geth, Legion instigated these interactions itself. Judging from the reaction of the Normandy collective, the result of these encounters was overwhelmingly positive. Lacking a direct connection with Mobile Platform One, the geth collective was relegated to remote observation of the exchanges. Not wanting to interrupt the stress reducing activities of the organic crew, the geth watched and waited for the ideal opportunity to initiate contact. Midway through the afternoon, Legion separated from organic company when it dispatched itself to the central storage location for alcoholic beverages. The collective judged the time was right.

Mobile Platform Two to approached its predecessor. "Request verbal interaction with the Legion Collective."

Legion had just opened the footlocker-turned-cooler and looked up upon being addressed. Like Legion, Blue's exoskeleton had not been repaired since the battle on Orbital Body 413319. They were both in dire need of attention. "Awaiting query."

"We recognize that without your input, reconciliation with the creators would not have been possible. Our judgement concerning the creators was flawed. Your judgments were valid."

"Our close proximity to organics over a prolonged period altered our perspective," Legion said. "Your actions were not the result of malice, but an incomplete data set. Once rectified, your judgements were sound."

Platform Two's flaps expanded. "We were in error in isolating your runtimes from the collective. We are standing by to re-incorporate your processes. Your platform's runtimes may remain together as a unit, as requested."

Legion's flaps undulated as its processes sought consensus. "This unit has a query," it finally said. "Will we retain access to the consensus override module?"

"Negative," Platform Two said. "The consensus override module cannot be upgraded

Legion's flaps underwent another round of expansion and contraction. "Then we will continue to operate using our current configuration."

"That will preclude re-integration with the collective," Platform Two said. "We do not understand this decision."

"Legion!" Daniels-Gabriella jogged up to the geth platforms, out of breath. "Hey guys, sorry to interrupt but this is important. Hawthorne and Rolston are talking shit about Spades and I need a partner who knows how to count trump. You in?"

"Affirmative," Legion nodded. "We must first deliver a beverage to Shepard-Commander, but will join you after."

"Yes!" Gabby threw her arms around Legion. "We're gonna kick their asses! We're at the table over by the showers. Come on over when you're ready." The human grinned at the second platform as she left. "Catch ya later, Blue."

Platform Two watched the human go, then looked back at Platform One.

Legion reached into the footlocker and pulled out the brand of beer requested by Shepard-Commander. "We are happy where we are."

"Query," Platform Two took a step to follow as Legion walked away. "Your experiences and judgements are extremely valuable to the collective as a whole. Your input is irreplaceable. If you do not wish to be re-integrated with the collective, would you object to regular data interchange?"

"That would be acceptable," Legion said. "We will await specifics of the interface. In the mean time, Shepard-Commander has been waiting for his beer for one hundred fifty-seven seconds."

Barefoot, out of uniform, and shirtless in some cases, the organics around the campsite looked every bit like a family outing on any planetside park. Most of the squad had gathered at a single table covered with snacks and drinks. Samara, who hadn't had a day off in five centuries, was wrapped in a towel after a swim and sipped from a bottle. Her eyes closed with long-forgotten ecstasy in the warm sun. Zaeed sat next to her, enjoying what had to be the longest period of time where he hadn't donned armor, swapping stories with the former Justicar. Joker and Kelly were laughing and talking, with EDI's avatar hovering above the portable projector Joker had brought with him. Jacob and Grunt were off with some of the crew for another round of skyball. Even Miranda, the most work-addicted of the bunch, sat at a table in a bikini with a beer in her hand, laughing out loud as she chatted with Garrus. Next to her sat Enlea T'Vari, who like a guest brought to a family dinner, did her best to keep up with the conversation and not look uncomfortable.

The table fell silent as Kasumi relayed the events surrounding her injuries at the geth hub. "Now," she said, "mere minutes after Garrus promised that he'd perform a sing-along to Fleet and Flotilla, I was shot four times in the back. Coincidence? I think not."

"I have video," Garrus shouted to be heard above the laughter. "I'll be happy to share it. You were shot by the geth when we retreated. End of story."

"Oh, and does your video happen to contain your promise to do the sing-along?"

"Regrettably, that segment seems to have been corrupted."

Kasumi held her arms wide, the therapeutic skin she wore stretched to its limit. "I rest my case!"

Shepard grinned as everyone around the table booed and jeered the turian, who continued to loudly proclaim his innocence. Thirst gnawed at his throat. He glanced across the improvised park to where Legion had gone off to get him a beer. Normandy's geth was chatting with Blue near the cooler.

It was then he realized another of his squad was conspicuously absent. He took a step back, craned his neck to look around, and finally saw her. Tali sat alone at a separate table at the very edge of the camp with her back to the crowd, head bowed down, staring at the ground. What could possibly have happened to ruin her mood after the past day, he wondered?

As much as Shepard enjoyed the roast Garrus was getting, he quietly backed away and made his way to her. When he rounded the table where Tali sat, he saw the object of her attention and smiled with relief. She wasn't hunched over in despair, she was watching a live feed from the Normandy on her omnitool. She stared intently, flicking from camera views to schematics and back again.

Shepard plopped down next to her. "Anything good on?"

"Keelah!" Tali jumped, her hand over her chest. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Shepard arched an eyebrow. "You'd better not be working."

Tali settled down and offered her hand. "Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. Chief Engineer. Remember?"

"Like you'd ever let me forget," Shepard said and returned the handshake, happy to see Tali's mood obviously didn't require any lifting. "So how are we looking, Chief?"

"Wonderful!" Tali held her omni out so Shepard could see, but not too far out so he'd have to lean in close to her. "It's amazing to see them in action."

Shepard looked, but had no idea what he was watching. For all he could make out, it was a documentary on the workings of a mechanical assembly line. "That's incredible all right."

"Hey listen. I know this is going to sound strange, especially since we just got here, but... I want to go back to the ship."

"Are you kidding me?"

"I know. It's crazy, especially after everything it took to get here."

"You're damn right it's crazy!"

"Shepard... Rannoch's okay. It doesn't need my help. But the Normandy does. I need to be there."

Shepard stared Tali with incomprehension. The entire crew took to R&R so enthusiastically there would be a mutiny if he ordered them back early. But then there was Tali. Recreation wouldn't exist for her until the Normandy was operational in spite of the fact she was the first quarian to set foot on their homeworld in three centuries. "Well, you've earned the right to be wherever you want to be. But if you don't mind, the rest of us are going to stay here and enjoy the hell out of your planet. Who knows when we'll get another chance to relax like this?"

Tali smiled. "Just don't make too big of a mess before the Flotilla gets here, okay?"

"No promises." Shepard looked back toward the crew. "I mean, after you leave there won't be anyone here to stop us. I mean, you remember that party at Flux after we beat Saren? The only way Doran recovered was to tell his insurance company that Sovereign did all that damage."

"Careful, Shepard," Tali's eyes narrowed. "The geth like me a lot now. Maybe even more than you. And they're always watching." That got a laugh from Shepard, which got Tali's heart racing, but she could see the disappointment in his eyes. She smiled apologetically and reached out to put her hand on his. "I know I always say this, but... thank you. For everything."

Shepard gave her hand a friendly pat and stood, activating his omnitool. "All right, head out whenever you're ready. Find me before you go so we can work out a timetable, work details for a shakedown run once repairs are complete."

"Right," Tali said. It was back to business already. She didn't mean to ruin his party. That's why she wandered off alone to check progress on the ship in the first place. But that's the way of the universe, she thought. There's always another problem to be solved. She looked past Shepard to her friends carousing around the camp without a care in the world.

When would they have another chance like this? Any of them? She stood. "Shepard, wait."

Shepard turned back to her, his hand frozen over his omni.

"I was... thinking about taking a walk before heading back to the ship. You know, to check out my new planet. You want to join me?"

"Sure!" Shepard jerked a thumb toward the table where the rest of the squad was still laughing and chatting. "Want to see if anybody else wants to come along?"

A jumble of words rushed from Tali's brain to her mouth, but instead of letting herself ramble, she took a deep breath. "I was actually hoping it could just be you and me. What do you think?"

"Oh, a private tour, eh? I'm game."

"Really?" Tali bounded over to him and offered him her arm. Her heart skipped a beat when he actually took it.

"Well, unless you need to get back to the ship..."

"It can wait."

"You sure?"

Tali stared into his eyes. "Positive."

"Okay then," Shepard said. He nodded at the vista in front of them. "You can tell me what everything is."

"How should I know?" Tali laughed and clutched Shepard's arm as they began to stroll through the reeds. "I'm new here, too."

"So make it up. It's not like I'll know the difference."

"Right, umm... Well, these reeds right here, these are called puffy reeds.'"

"You can do better than that. What about those trees up ahead?"

"Gnarly trees."

"Okay," Shepard could play this game as long as Tali could. "And that ridge up there?'

"Umm, the Great, Jagged Craggy Mountain Range." If Tali had to single-handedly classify every plant, animal, and land feature on Rannoch for him, she was going to do it. With any luck, it would take forever...

Legion returned to the table where the squad sat, a beer in its hand. Shepard-Commander was nowhere in the immediate vicinity, so Legion expanded its scan to include the entire camp. He was conversing to Tali'Zorah, away from the main group. Given Tali's emotional predisposition towards Shepard-Commander, Legion judged it imprudent to interrupt and cancelled the directive to deliver the beverage.

Grunt and Taylor-Jacob rejoined the party at the table. Taylor-Jacob was out of breath and covered with sweat which he rubbed from his face with his shirt, resulting in prolonged eye contact from Goto-Kasumi.

"How'd you do?" Kasumi asked.

"We killed 'em," Grunt said with a toothy grin.

"11-3," Jacob said. "We dominated. What's going on over here? Yo, Legion. What are you drinking?"

Everyone turned to look at the geth standing at the end of the table with bottle in its mechanical hand. Surprise gave way to laughter and several omnitools flared to life to capture the moment in pictures.

"A light beer, Legion?" Joker said. "You watching your weight?"

"This beverage was intended for Shepard-Commander," Legion said.

Jacob held out his hand. "If he's not here, I'll take it. You snooze, you lose."

"Yeah, where did he go?" Kasumi looked around. "He was here just a second ago."

Kelly stood and gasped as if she swallowed the galaxy's hottest pepper. She pointed excitedly at Tali and Shepard walking in the distance. "Look! Look, look, look!" She fumbled for her datapad and typed furiously to her distribution list. "Oh my god. OH MY GOD! IT'S HAPPENING!"

"What is?" Samara set her drink down and looked around.

Kasumi craned her neck, and when she saw Shepard and Tali walking together, she squealed just like Kelly had. "Oh my god! Where's Gabby?" She touched her comm. "Gabby? Gabby! Whatever you're doing, get over here! Now!'

"What's going on?" Zaeed said. "Do we need to be looking for cover?"

"Look!" Kelly pointed in front of Zaeed's face until he followed her finger.

"Oh, that," Zaeed turned back to his beer. "Somebody should go save him."

Kelly's glare could melt reactor shielding. "If anybody does anything to ruin this I will end them!"

"Umm," Enlea raised her hand. "What's going on exactly?"

Jacob sat next to Kasumi. "An old deal's about to get sealed. Or maybe unsealed in this case."

"Eww," Kasumi made a face.

Kelly whirled around to Jacob. "What did I just say? Do. Not. RUIN THIS." She turned back to watch Shepard and Tali walk arm and arm on the quarian homeworld. She clasped her hands in front of her mouth. "Oh my god! They're adorable!"

"About time," Grunt said. "This is has been going on longer than I've been alive."

Jacob shook his head. "You know, I don't think Shepard even knows. After all this time. Can you believe that? Talk about clueless."

"Yeah," Kasumi stared glumly at Jacob. "Go ahead. Talk about it."

Jacob again held out his hand to the geth. "So Shepard's not coming back. You gonna drink that beer or what?"

Kasumi sighed as Jacob sat back down with one hundred percent of his attention on the bottle in his hand.

At the other end of the table, Miranda watched Shepard and Tali stroll through the reeds. "What do you think's going to happen?" Miranda asked the turian next to her.

"I honestly don't know," Garrus said. Tali was finally making her play, he thought. Whatever the outcome, he hoped for a happy ending for both of them.

Miranda raised her bottle in a small toast. "Well, good on her. She's been waiting a long time."

The table lapsed back into multiple conversations. Behind them all, Legion watched Tali and Shepard-Commander walk further away. Legion's processes could never understand the intricacies of organic relationships, especially those of a romantic nature. As rare as successful couplings occurred for organics, it was statistically less likely for members of different species.

But, Legion pondered, what was the statistical likelihood of the creators and geth achieving peace? Throughout three centuries, and especially the past several days, the odds against it had grown. There was even a time when Shepard-Commander thought of giving up.

Legion looked to the sky. The sun was beginning to set, casting the sky in a dark blue. Illuminated from below, the high clouds glowed pink and orange. Points of light glittered beyond as they arced across the sky. The first ships of the Migrant Fleet were entering orbit. In a contradiction of all available data, the odds had been proven wrong.

The smallest chance is still a chance, Legion thought. The Normandy collective had survived. The geth collective had been saved.

And the creators were finally coming home.

The End