A/N: This story was originally written in 2010 as a stand-alone where Legion died at the end. In the spirit of Mass Effect's diverging story paths (and the ability to reload the game), I wrote an alternate ending where Tali managed to save Legion, which in turn became the launching point of the sequel, "For Tomorrow We Die." After finishing that, and the prequel "Dancer in the Dark," I gave "Tomorrow's Dawn" a rewrite to make it flow better as the middle story of a trilogy.
But, since FTWD begins with Legion alive and well, this original "Tomorrow's Dawn's" alternate ending where Legion lives became this rewrite's default ending, and I left out the original "Legion Dies" ending altogether.
As much fun as it was to continue Legion's life and story in FTWD, I have to say personally I feel the ending where Tali couldn't save Legion is my favorite. So, rather than relegate it to the recycle bin, I gave it some much needed editing, a little polish, and present it now as the official "alternate" ending of the rewrite.
This chapter picks up immediately after Chapter 7: "All Programs Terminated." I hope you enjoy!
Shepard flipped over in his bed. In spite of knowing exactly what the clock would read, as only minutes had passed, he looked at its glowing display: 0345. He'd seen enough to earn a lifetime of sleepless nights, but the events of the last day gnawed at him. Had Legion just obeyed the order to retreat, it might have been functional enough to survive the last attack. But had Legion not fallen behind during the sprint to the shuttle, the geth would have been crushed along with Zaeed when the praetorian slammed into the ground. Without Legion's entrapment of the praetorian, none of them would have made it back.
If you hadn't insisted on searching the complex, Shepard thought, Legion wouldn't have needed to rescue your ass. What if he'd listened to Zaeed at the top of the crater, and they'd returned immediately to the Normandy? Business as usual. Dinner, with Legion sitting between Kasumi and Jacob, trying to follow the intricacies and subtleties of organic communication as the crew shared a meal. Then afterwards, Shepard would have called Legion and Tali to his quarters so they could have the first dialogue between quarian and geth in three centuries.
Shepard rolled on his back with his hands behind his head. That was the real loss. Their only link to the geth collective was destroyed. As soon as you found Legion was willing to talk to Tali, you should have aborted the mission and come back to the ship. What would it have hurt? We would have found the collector outpost the next day. Who knows if the outcome would have been any different, but at least the geth and quarians would have already taken the first step toward peace.
Now, unless the geth sent a replacement mobile platform, the opportunity might be gone forever. The Normandy her crew would be going through the Omega Four relay in a matter of days. If they didn't make it back, who in organic space would be willing to listen to the geth? Would the geth even attempt to talk to anyone else? Legion's demise represented far more than an empty seat in the mess hall.
The sound of gentle rapping echoed from the door across the compartment. At this hour, it must have been something important, Shepard thought, but why didn't they get EDI to wake him? Dressed in boxer shorts and a white Saronis Applications t-shirt, he swung his legs out of bed and walked to the door. It opened to empty air. He leaned into the elevator vestibule and saw Tali looking back at him, her finger still on the call button.
"Oh, Shepard! I didn't ring the- I knocked because I didn't want to wake you. I did, didn't I? This can wait."
"No," Shepard said. "It's all right. I wasn't asleep. What's up?"
Tali took a step towards him, still carrying her tool satchel still over her shoulder. Her gloves and arms were encrusted with dried white conductive fluid. Her voice trembled as she spoke. "I couldn't save him. I'm sorry."
Shepard stepped forward and held Tali by her shoulders. If she'd been working continuously, she'd been on her feet at least twelve hours. "Look, we knew that was a possibility from the start. If you couldn't bring him back then it couldn't be done. I appreciate that you tried. I really do. You have no idea what that means to me."
"No." Tali bowed her head and let out a deep breath. "You don't understand. When I saw him destroyed on the shuttle, I was happy. I never had repair in mind. I just wanted to be sure he was gone. But then... I found what you asked me to find. His last day. And then I tried to save him. Keelah, I really did. But the damage was just too severe. I... He-"
Shepard watched Tali struggle, realizing the quarian was now referring to Legion as a he. But now, she couldn't even form a coherent sentence, and the last thing he wanted was for her to stop. Throwing out a technical question was the most reliable lifeline whenever his engineer was overwhelmed. "I thought geth wiped their memories on destruction?"
Tali wrapped her arms around herself. "Legion's core programming issued a self destruct command, but his collective programs countermanded the order. He thought- he hoped we would save him, so he scrambled his destruct routine. But the memory where his programs resided didn't survive the attack. Only the log files. I'm sorry."
Shepard leaned against the door frame. "What was in them?"
"Everything." Tali took a deep breath, again fighting to keep her composure. "I saw what happened to you down there. The collectors, the fight to get to the shuttle. What Legion was thinking when he... he went back for all of you. I've never seen anything like it."
Shepard pinched the bridge of his nose, wiping away the moisture that had collected there. "Yeah, that was something, wasn't it? He disobeyed my order to retreat to back me up."
"He sacrificed himself for you." Tali's voice broke. "Machines don't do that. They aren't supposed to!"
Again, Shepard watched the quarian struggle as generations of preconceptions and hate cracked and came tumbling down. "It complicates things when you find out your enemy isn't the devil, doesn't it?"
Tali sniffed. "You have no idea." She lifted her satchel from her side, then let it drop as she looked back toward the elevator. "I should get back to the lab. Mordin will have a fit when he sees the mess."
Shepard noticed the hesitation. "Why don't you come in? Let's talk a bit."
"No, uh," Tali stammered. "Really, I shouldn't keep you up."
Shepard smiled. "I'm not going to get any sleep tonight. I'd appreciate the company."
Tali looked around nervously. "Okay. Maybe just for a little bit." She followed him through the hatch to his quarters. The room was dark except for the soft light coming from the fish tanks on the left. She followed him down the stairs to the sitting area beyond his office. She reached out to the battered N7 helmet sitting on the nearby desk and noticed the dried geth conductive fluid covering her hand. She looked down and to see her arms and chest were spattered with it. "It seems like I'm always a mess when I come to see you."
Shepard walked to the sofa next to the wall and raised the lights to their normal level. "You're an engineer, I'd be disappointed if you weren't. You want to wash up?"
"No, I'm okay."
"Have a seat." Shepard watched Tali sit on the second couch beneath the display case holding his model ship collection. She looked around with her satchel clutched to her chest. He sat forward on the edge of the cushion across from her. "You know, the geth don't want to be your enemy. They never did."
Tali looked at Shepard with a wounded expression, even though he couldn't see it. It was reflex. Everyone thought they were an expert on the war, usually casting blame on the quarians. But Shepard was as experienced as she was in this frightening new territory. He'd single-handedly destroyed more geth than anyone Tali knew, quarians included, yet he was still willing to accept Legion into his crew. Tali thought Shepard was crazy before, but there wasn't a single person, quarian or otherwise, she wanted in his place right now. "I know. I ran through every conversation he had with you since he came aboard. About the uprising, the heretics... Rannoch. He wanted to talk to me, but he couldn't. He didn't know how. And if he tried, I might have shot him."
Shepard smiled tiredly. "You almost did."
Tali chuckled and let her head fall back against the sofa cushion, resting her burning eyes. The catharsis of confession, along with the stress of the day, was catching up to her. "You must think I'm a monster."
"No. After everything you and your people have been through? You're entitled to bad blood. Comes with being organic. We can't forgive like the geth can. It's not in our programming." Shepard shifted around to sit next to Tali. "But a monster wouldn't be sitting here talking to her captain about it. She'd be down in the lounge buying everybody shots."
"I wish I could've said it to him." Tali's shoulders heaved with a heavy sob. "Told him I'm sorry for how I treated him. And thank him for saving you." She looked into the eyes of the most important man in her life, here only because of the machine she wanted to see destroyed. She held out a hand to Shepard and he patted it lightly. Before he could pull away, she entwined her two fingers into his four, at the same time sliding her other hand into the satchel she still clutched on her lap. Tears streamed down her face as she pulled out a small object and placed it in Shepard's open hand. She folded his fingers over it and held onto his hand, feeling his warmth through her gloves, then stood to leave.
Shepard opened his palm to see a charred, blackened square of plastic. "What is it?"
"Legion's static memory core. His log files. His memories. Everything he knew."
Shepard cradled the core as if he were holding the most delicate, fragile sculpture in the galaxy. "You don't want to send this back to the fleet?"
"No." The shakiness in Tali's voice changed to quiet determination. "I'll tell the Admiralty Board what they need to know. What I know, now. If I give them that, nothing good will come of it. Goodnight, Commander."
Shepard rose to his feet. "Tali, wait."
Tali stopped at the top step.
Shepard still held the core gingerly in his hand. "Can you set this up so we can access it here?"
"Sure." Tali reached into her satchel. "I've got everything I need in here. Why?"
Shepard beckoned as he walked up the stairs to his personal workstation. He touched a button to activate the screen. "EDI, a couple days ago you opened a link for Legion so he could communicate with the geth network. Do you still have the connection info?"
"Yes, Shepard," said EDI's disembodied voice.
"Open the channel using the same transmission protocol."
"The channel is open."
Tali gawked at Shepard. "You're going to call the geth?"
"I'm not going to call them," Shepard said. "You are."
"What?" Tali's heart pounded in her chest. "I can't talk to them!"
"You know, Legion didn't understand this either. It has no meaning if I do it for you. You need to talk to each other."
"But I can't speak for the whole fleet!" Tali backed away. "I don't have the authority. I'm not even crew aboard the flotilla anymore. I-"
"You're still a creator. They want to talk to you. And if you leave it up to the admirals, nothing will change. No one else is willing to take the first step."
"I can't do this!" Tali wrung her hands in front of her. "I- I can't- I'm not a diplomat or a negotiator."
Shepard stepped toward her, pulling her hands apart, holding them in his own. "You don't have to be," he pleaded. "Just let them know you're willing to talk. You want to thank Legion? I can't think of a better way."
Tali stood silently for a moment, mouth agape. "What do I say?"
Shepard picked up Legion's memory core from his desk. "Give this back to them."
Tali took the memory core between her fingers and cradled it with her other palm. She nodded, and sat in Shepard's chair. She fished around her satchel for the geth omnitool and an adapter that would fit the geth module. The omnitool's interface opened before her, and with a few quick taps she established the link.
"OK," she said. "It's online and patched into comms."
Shepard leaned over her shoulder, trying to make sense of the special contraption. "Transmit when you're ready."
Tali's finger hovered over the comm panel. She took a deep breath, and pressed a key. "This is Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. I mean, Creator-Tali'Zorah. I don't know if anyone is receiving, um..." She cleared her throat. "The mobile platform dispatched to find Commander Shepard is no longer operational. It and its constituent programs were destroyed while rescuing the Commander and his squad mates. They wouldn't have survived without the mobile platform's assistance."
She paused to allow a response. Would the geth even acknowledge a quarian transmission, even if it came from Shepard's terminal on the Normandy? "We- I... want to offer my thanks for saving their lives," Tali continued. "I've interfaced with the mobile platform's static memory core and made its log files available for download on this channel. If there's anyone listening... thank you."
Tali released the transmit key and slumped forward on the desk, her head in her hands. "Oh, that was awful."
Shepard put his hand on her back. "You did great. You said everything you needed to."
Tali looked up at Shepard. "Do you think they heard me?"
"EDI, any response? Audio or otherwise?"
"Negative, Shepard," EDI said. "I am detecting no activity on the channel."
Tali turned back to the terminal. "How long do we wait?"
Shepard grinned. "I've got nothing better to do right now. Do you?"
Tali laughed. All of the fear and sadness of the past day melted away, replaced with the anticipation of what was to come. After her brief glimpse into the mind of Legion, she couldn't help but be hopeful. After all, Shepard hadn't just been talking with one geth, he was speaking with all of them, and through Legion, they spoke back. A few minutes before Tali was terrified at the prospect of communicating directly with them. Now she was terrified they might not respond. How long would she have to wait to find out?
The geth omnitool chimed softly and its display glittered with light.
"Geth handshake received," EDI announced. "Data transfer commencing. Estimated time to completion: thirty-six minutes, fifty seconds."
Tali sat back in the chair. "Keelah..."
"How about that?" Shepard patted Tali's shoulder, a wide grin on his face. "Guess they're still awake too."
Tali clasped her hands under her chin as she watched the progress bar march across the screen. She had an open channel to the entire geth collective, and they were listening. "What do I say now?"
"Start off with 'Good morning,'" Shepard suggested. "Work your way up from there. And just don't stop."
The End
