Chapter 23: Going Home Again

"It's just embarrassing... I have a reputation to keep up. Being wheeled around in a chair isn't going to help that."

Garrus' flanged chuckle behind her only made her grimace more severe.

"Aren't you the one that told Shepard that you were the 'best thief in the galaxy, not the most famous?' That sounds like you should be thanking me. No one will expect the daring master thief as the one being pushed around in a wheelchair."

"That's not the point. I should have been able to stand up at Thane's funeral," Kasumi complained.

"I do not believe that my father would have minded. He always valued practicality over ceremony," Kolyat countered. "I am pleased that you were able to attend despite your injury. When my father spoke of his brief time aboard the Normandy he said that you added light to an otherwise dark group of companions. The gods would do well to grant us more light in these dark times."

The drell's calm words ended her argument as Garrus wheeled her into the elevator. He didn't quite have the gravitas of his father, but Kasumi could hear traces of the same unshakable calm that had always seemed to radiate off Thane. His son had matured greatly in the short time they'd had together. She closed her eyes and forced down the lump in her throat at the thought. It seemed so unfair for a father and son to be separated so soon after finding each other again.

"Have you decided what you're going to do?" Garrus asked over her head, saving her from having to make a response.

Kolyat shrugged. "In the... heat of the moment I requested to take over my father's responsibilities aboard the Normandy. Shepard refused. He said that I wasn't ready. Now I see that he was correct. My father taught me much, but what lies ahead of you is... beyond my skills."

"No shame in admitting it," the turian agreed. "The missions that you end up on with Shepard? Being the best isn't just recommended, it's a necessity. Spirits only know how we've made it this far with as few losses as we've had."

The fact that she had almost been one of those losses wasn't something Kasumi enjoyed thinking about but it had crept into her mind far too often in the last few days of being confined to the medbay. Her last memory before awakening in the hospital had been Garrus taking a seat at her side and the odd combination of warmth and roughness when his taloned hand had gripped her own. Then it had been bright lights and another turian looming over her. The doctor had been gruff, telling her that if it had been another hour she would likely have died from the hemorrhagic shock.

Kasumi Goto was supposed to be a daring thief that disappeared into nothing after stealing yet another priceless relic. The kind of free spirit that taunted her pursuers with cryptic notes and amusing pranks. She wasn't supposed to be dodging a constant hail of gunfire or feeling her own pulse weaken from shrapnel wounds. Danger had always been a part of her life. Keiji's death had proven that. But now it seemed it was her life.

"Something wrong?" a voice rasped close to her ear, causing the thief to jump.

She cocked her head and caught Garrus' face in profile from where he'd leaned forward. With her thoughts scattered she hadn't even noticed the elevator doors had opened and Kolyat had already stepped out.

"Nothing. Just... thinking."

Garrus obviously wasn't convinced and laid a hand on her shoulder. Instinctually she should have shied away from the sharp talons... the predatory size and grace of the turian. Instead the gesture was comforting just as it was intended to be, the heat of his naturally higher body temperature soaking into her skin.

"You haven't given up the last word in an argument since you got Shepard to talk to a holo-advertisement to recruit you," the turian said, voice still pitched low. "Just give it time. Almost losing someone is frightening for... all of us. But being the someone? Even harder."

"Sometimes I almost forget you used to be a detective," Kasumi sighed.

"Only fair, I keep forgetting you used to be a thief."

She was about to respond to his wry grin with a comment about his misuse of the past tense when something skittered across her foot. If not for Garrus' firm grip on her shoulder she definitely would have come out of the wheelchair. As it was she moved with enough force that it took a moment for the much larger turian to compensate and keep her firmly seated. Adrenaline thudded in her ears and a quickly suppressed squeak escaped Kasumi's lips before she could stop it.

"Easy! It's only one of the workers," the turian Spectre cautioned.

And he was right. Standing on the threshold of the elevator was a tiny rachni. It appeared similar to the much larger brood warriors she had already seen but in miniature and minus the waving pedipalps protruding from the brood warrior's backs. The worker had to make due with a much smaller pair of forelimbs and feelers atop its head. At her outburst it looked up and Kasumi actually felt a strange sense of guilt, not her own but actually from the rachni, before it scuttled away.

"Did it just... feel at me?"

"They do that... I think. I haven't heard them talk in your head like the others do but I've gotten very distinct feelings over the past few days when I encounter them. I found half a dozen of the damn things crawling all over the thanix cannon's power couplings and I swear they were radiating curiosity," the turian complained. "They even looked... or felt, I guess, annoyed when I ran them off."

"But what are they doing here?" Kasumi asked.

"They show up with the large rachni and they've been everywhere ever since."

Tali's accented voice came from outside the elevator and Garrus obliged by finally pushing her outside into the corridor. The quarian was looking at the small insect-like creature with a combination of trepidation and distrust, even as it worked its way across the floor and began to clean up a pile of metal shavings with its feelers.

"I don't like them. They remind of spiders, the way that they scuttle... but Shepard said that they would help us. And... as much as I don't wish to admit it, they are amazingly useful. It's like they just know what to do. Every leak, every frayed wire in the ship was fixed almost overnight."

She couldn't help but giggle faintly at her friend's clearly grudging respect for their new helpers.

"Maybe spiders aren't so bad after all?"

Tali shook her head and shuddered.

"No, spiders are still terrible. I can't believe Shepard's entire homeworld is infested with them. But the more I look at these little rachni the less they look like spiders," she explained and gestured ahead. "In the end they also made that at Shepard's request... so clearly they're more than just mindless animals."

Kasumi turned her head and finally noticed the change on the wall of the corridor. Where before it had been simply another gray metal bulkhead there was now a much darker metal plate covering a section at least as wide as the elevator doors opposite of it. And on the darker metal were two columns that appeared to be etched directly into it, shiny against the matte surface. She didn't understand at first, reading the names, until she got to the last ones on the list.

Mordin Solus. Thane Krios.

Another worker was actually clinging to the memorial wall and was just finishing the 's' of Thane's surname. The creatures pinchers scraped against the metal and there was a faint sizzle. The names were etched with nothing less than acid, irremovable. Its task completed the rachni dropped to the ground and disappeared with surprising speed.

"It's beautiful," Kasumi said honestly.

"It is. Legion and Sings-Fury brought it up, it was a piece of the silaris armor that we upgraded the Normandy's hull with... the stuff is impervious to anything short of a direct hit from starship grade weaponry and, apparently, rachni acid," Garrus agreed.

"And since little can mar its surface, the names on it will not fade even in an asari's lifetime," Kolyat concluded.

The drell reached out and brushed his father's name with his fingertips. Like his species' memories the simple memorial would never fade. It once again made her think of how close she had come to having her own name there on that wall. And how easily the names of others aboard the Normandy could join those already there.

"Longer than that," Garrus said. "Shepard said that he wanted to make sure that no matter what happened, no one ever forgot the people that gave us a chance to fight back."

Unspoken was that each loss was irreplaceable. Shepard had assembled the best of the best, the most elite soldiers, operatives, scientists, and engineers. Each time one of those lights went out the galaxy was a little dimmer for it. Kasumi watched another of the rachni workers appear as if from nowhere. An idea formed in her mind.


The geth managed to move only the intricate flaps around its optic and yet still look nervous. Kasumi wasn't even certain that a geth could feel nervousness, but Legion was certainly doing a good imitation if they couldn't. She shook her head and sighed, eliciting another waggling of the synthetic's eye flaps.

"We are sorry, Kasumi, but we do not understand why we would not obtain authorization from Shepard-Commander before making modifications to his equipment."

Kasumi cocked a brow beneath her hood but didn't draw attention to the fact that the geth had dropped the usual descriptor when it addressed her. The evolution of the geth platform from its time on the Normandy had intrigued her ever since Shepard had brought it aboard, but for the moment she had a more important task at hand.

"Look, organics like surprises. It's like... when something good happens and we're not expecting it then that good thing is even better. So you'd be helping the, ah, Normandy collective by... improving unit cohesion," she said. "You already said that you had upgrades that you wanted to tell Shepard about. Don't tell, show! Showing is always better."

Whisper-Singer, should you not be in the healing nest of Mending-Singer? The healing songs are not yet complete!

Nearly half a ton of rachni had been a somewhat disconcerting conversation partner initially, more so since she was eye level with the brood warrior thanks to her confinement to a wheelchair at Chakwas' insistence, but Kasumi had adapted quickly. It was difficult to stay fearful of a being that let you not just hear its words but feel the intent behind them. She wagged a cleaning rod at the rachni for emphasis as she spoke.

"I'm fine, Chakwas cleared me to move around the ship before I went crazy. Crazier. Now what did I tell you about not using the device to speak so Legion can hear you?"

The rachni's pedipalps drooped and he quickly manipulated the small metal device that hung around what passed for its neck. A small crystal was nestled at the heart of the device and a moment later she was able to hear the rachni's song aloud and in her mind.

That in doing so we were singing rudeness-songs, Fury sang apologetically and shifted his bulk towards the geth. We are sorry, Sings-Not.

"Geth are not capable of being 'offended', Fury-Brood Warrior. But auditory communications are preferable to relay accurate information in the absence of direct data transfer."

Kasumi crossed her arms. "There. We've got that out of the way. Now can your little guys do the same thing they did to make this armor?"

Of course. Sings-of-Endings' armor was not meant to be permanent but our queen did not wish to send him into battle without protection. He reacted most favorably to the addition of our crystals to the armor.

"And you have your little devices and things here?" she asked the geth.

"Yes. The technology was brought from the secondary geth base that Shepard-Commander assisted us in liberating from Old Machine corruption. We did not have time to apply the upgrades before his runtime was believed to be terminated."

"Sounds like we have everything we need... but what about working together? Are the little guys going to know not to chew through a wire or cover up a dataport if they're working on an existing piece of technology?"

The workers know what all rachni know, just as a warrior or a queen knows that information. They are merely simpler in their thoughts. A worker carries out its task because that is its purpose. Hope-Singer spent much time examining the technology of the other singers while we were hidden. They will know what to do if they are guided.

Kasumi leaned back in her chair slightly and smiled.

"Then let's get to work!"


Rannoch trailed at the end of the galaxy's most extreme spiral arm, a world at the very edge of the void. The fact that the quarian species had become part of galactic civilization at all was solely thanks to the technology of the mass relays. Shepard looked at the trio standing on the opposite side of the war room's holoprojector. A thief, a vigilante, and an engineer.

It was a sad contradiction that without the Reapers he would likely have never met the people that, for all extents and purposes, had become his family. Aside from his mother there was no other family: no siblings, no cousins, no home to return to when everything was said and done. He had spent his early career with the Alliance fighting for the abstract ideal of the greater good, but the past few years had shown him an actual future to fight for. All thanks to the very unfeeling monstrosities that would be responsible for destroying that future if he failed.

He noticed Tali's silver eyes catch his across the holoprojector, her head adopting a curious tilt in response to his stare. The Spectre merely gave her a smile and turned his attention back to the matter at hand, pressing the button on the console to activate the fleet wide comms.

"Quarian fleet, check in."

"This is Admiral Han'Gerrel, the Heavy Fleet is ready."

"Admiral Shala'Raan reporting. The Patrol Fleet is ready."

"This is Admiral Zaal'Koris, the Civilian Fleet is ready."

"My ships are ready to assist," Xen concluded, not bothering with formality.

One by one lights when green on the display.

"Are you certain about this?" Tali asked hesitantly. "If the fleet engages the geth once more..."

"They might not be able to disengage a second time, I know," he sighed.

"It's a good plan," Garrus interjected. "The only way we can have a chance of making it to the surface is if the geth forces are fully engaged. There's just too many geth for the Normandy to slip in unnoticed, stealth system or no."

Kasumi bumped the other woman with her hip lightly.

"C'mon, fishbowl. If big G and Shep both agree it has to be a good plan. Besides, he's even thinking like a thief and playing a shell game with the geth."

"I'm still not certain it will work, though! The profiles for the smaller SR-1 class ships are simply not the same as the Normandy," the quarian complained.

A synthesized voice carried from across the room. Legion had taken up almost permanent residence in the war room and was constantly analyzing the data that came in.

"Creator-Tali'Zorah, the decoy vessels will be sufficient. Thanks to the modifications made utilizing the technology retrieved from the Grissom Academy, the smaller Alliance warships will appear to all geth as identical to the Normandy."

"We're going to do this, Tali. And when it's over your people won't just have won a war. They'll have reclaimed their home," he said with confidence. "Now, are you ready to go home?"

She gave him an odd look, even through the clouded visor, but nodded.

"Let's give my people back our homeworld."

"Do the honors, then."

The hands that had been entwined at the engineer's waist separated and gripped the console in front of her.

"Alliance vessels, report in."

"Hastings, reporting in."

"Gettysburg, reporting in."

"This is the Stirling Bridge, all systems green and standing by."

"Midway, reporting in."

"Lexington, ready and willing."

"Thermopylae reporting ready status."

Tali looked to him for a final confirmation. He nodded.

"All fleets, jump."

Ships poured through the relay. The Heavy Fleet would lead the way, then the others, and finally the six SR-1 vessels and the Normandy herself. The quarian fleet was not meant to engage in pitched battle with the geth, but rather to harass and avoid, tying up as many resources as possible so that the Normandy and her sister ships could close with the planet.

Whether the quarian's could avoid a sustained battle with the geth fleet was less of a question than simply how long they could last before being forced to. Once the geth forced them to fully commit, his team would be on the clock. Despite their numbers the quarians could only hold out against the upgraded geth for so long. It was a plan that would cost lives. But he could only hope it would save not one, but two species.

"Gear up. We follow the main fleet in twenty," Shepard ordered.

When Kasumi joined them in the elevator he arched an eyebrow.

"Don't worry, I'm not planning on going with you even if I feel perfectly fine."

"Chakwas ordered you to at least another week of light duty," Garrus said from the back of the elevator. "So you're damned right you're not going."

The thief turned on her heel and jabbed at the turian's chest with a finger.

"I wasn't aware you were the one in charge of where I go and what I do."

"If it involves you not getting yourself killed? Then I'm definitely in charge."

"Children," Shepard said dryly, forestalling further argument. "If you're not going, then what are you doing? Just seeing us off?"

"Sure!" she agreed all too quickly.

He cast a sidelong glance at the slight human woman but didn't question further, simply looking back to Tali questioningly. It seemed she wasn't privy to any particular plans either from the shrug she offered in response. When the elevator doors opened he could already see most of his team assembled and checking their weapons. Shepard noticed that Miranda and Ashley were both talking amiably while slotting thermal clips into their weapons. For the second time in as many moments he wondered if he should have been worried.

"What gen'ro'sa took my armor?" Tali yelled, snapping his attention back to the task at hand as the quarian rounded on Garrus. "I do not have time for this you big blue bosh'tet!"

"I... what? I didn't-"

"Of course it was you! Who's the one that switched my nutrient paste on the old Normandy for 'extra spicy' blend? You! Who spent two weeks convincing me 'uneecorns' were actual Earth creatures and making me look like an idiot in front of the crew? You!"

The turian held up his hands. "Look, if we're being honest that was Shepard's idea. I didn't even know what a unicorn was until-"

"That's not the point! My people are about to fight for our homeworld and you're-"

"Tali!"

He looked over in surprise when it was Kasumi of all people that yelled out loud enough to stop the quarian in mid rant. Tali looked at her in surprise as she slipped around the other side of the armory lockers and wheeled out a heavy cart with almost comical effort. Stacked on it were three neat piles of armor, two larger, one smaller.

"Garrus didn't steal your armor. I did," the thief said. "And I didn't really steal it. I just borrowed it while you weren't using it. Surprise."

Tali's head drooped and she shuffled for a moment.

"So he didn't... keelah, I'm such an idiot."

"Don't worry about it. Three years ago I shot my mouth off about your homeworld. I got a first hand lesson about that kind of loss when Palaven fell," Garrus said and patted her on the shoulder. "I'm more concerned about the fact that Kasumi stole your armor for some nefarious purpose. And even more concerned because I could swear that that's my heavy gear sitting next to it. Which was locked up. In my biometrically coded locker."

An unconvincing but very earnest look of innocence appeared on the thief's face as she cut her eyes up at Garrus from beneath her hood.

"Borrowed. Key word: borrowed. And upgraded! Take a look. Shep's armor is here too."

The Spectre stepped forward to examine the gear. It was almost identical in appearance to the rachni woven armor that he had worn during the Cerberus assault, but this was actual armor, not simply chitin plating. He still had unpleasant memories from the week before trying to pry the stuff off. Beneath the shell of this armor was everything he would expect to find in modern battle armor. Padding, circuitry for kinetic barriers, connection points for his omni-tool.

"When did you..."

Kasumi smirked.

"It takes nearly a week to get to Rannoch between all the jumping and burning to the next relay. Amazing what you can accomplish with a bunch of tiny helpers and a geth for help."

This statement was punctuated by another quickly stifled shriek. He turned his head in time to see a rachni worker leap off the breastplate that Tali was holding in her hands and scuttle away as if its little life depended on it. It was entirely possible it did.

"Kasumi... what did you do? And why are there... those things in my armor?" the quarian demanded.

"Sorry," she replied sheepishly. "I think a few of them might have fallen asleep in there. They worked hard the past few days."

"You didn't answer my question," Tali pointed out.

"Right. Well, I don't know anything about making armor. But I figured if the rachni thought that stuff was good enough to send Shepard gallivanting around in, it must be pretty good. I had EDI test a sample and it turns out it's tougher than any ballistic armor the Alliance has come up with. So my helpful little friends stripped off the top layer of your armor and replaced it with their chitin."

"My armor is covered in bugs?" Garrus asked nonplussed.

"No, not bugs. Bug armor. Really good bug armor. Think of it as... wearing a shirt made of rachni!"

Tali's voice was unamused.

"Not helping."

It is the same as the carapace of a brood warrior, Sings-Loyalty, Fury interjected from across the room. Our kind do not have your cold-barrier songs, only barriers sung from the mind. So our hide is strong.

"The increased impact and thermal protection provided by rachni exoskeletal secretions is not the only upgrade provided to your suits. Shepard-Commander, please activate the helmet's comm systems."

Legion had approached during the odd debate between thief and vigilante and now offered the helmet to Shepard. He took it and slipped it on, feeling a little absurd wearing just the helm but keyed his omni-tool anyways. Unconnected to the rest of his armor the HUD was barebones at best. He still noticed the small change to the communications listing on the lower left of his vision. The standard comm list appeared but there were two new entries at the bottom with small icons next to them and a name. Garrus Vakarian. Tali'Zorah vas Normandy.

He pulled off the helm and looked to the geth questioningly. "So what is it?"

"After our experiences with the Normandy collective this platform introduced numerous new technologies to consensus. Quantum entanglement communications technology was explored as a viable advanced network alternative," Legion explained. "Cost of construction, calibration, and available resources proved that this option would not be suitable for the consensus. Experiments yielded significant advances in containment and size of quantum particles. The results of this experiment have been integrated into your armor."

"What does that mean to the people in the room that just shoot things and occasionally calibrate large guns?" Garrus asked.

Legion's optic focused on the turian.

"We observed an approximate fifteen percent overall combat effectiveness increase when the Vakarian-Creator-Commander sub-collective was in cohesion. This will facilitate further cohesion. A three way quantum entanglement network has been established between your armors. Each unit contains mirror particles for the corresponding communications unit."

"Long story short, the geth made QECs that you can carry around," Kasumi added with a smirk.

"This is correct. The micro-network is not subject to communications lag relative to distance and cannot be hacked or jammed by outside interference," the geth agreed.

Shepard looked at the helmet in his hands with newfound respect.

"Not that I'm not grateful for setting this up, Legion... but what would it take to get this technology for the entire team too? Hell, for the entire war effort. Instant communication? No signal jamming? It would be amazing."

The geth's head flaps tightened together.

"Large scale deployment... impractical. Materials cost prohibitive beyond extremely limited implementation."

"How much did these things cost?" he asked.

"Geth do not use a monetary exchange system."

"That didn't answer my question."

"Based on current raw materials commodity pricing on Citadel space markets along with time investment labor and research costs based on standard fair practices as recognized by the Agency of Financial Regulation for Citadel Space... approximately one hundred sixty-eight point three million credits."

If Shepard had been eating anything he would have choked on it.

"Son of a bitch. An escort frigate can be built for what you paid for three communications devices?"

"Negative. The provided estimated value is calculated per unit."

"Oh, three frigates," Tali said with an odd mixture of sarcasm and awe.

"Correct."

Garrus chuckled and lifted up the chest piece of his armor, now gleaming ebony.

"Great. At least I always did say I looked great in black..."


"I still don't understand why she had the little... creatures paint this strange bird on my armor," Tali complained, gesturing down at the violet paint that depicted a raven with its wings spread across her chest plate.

Garrus thumped his chest, an image of his own trailing down from his right shoulder to the middle of his chest to add a splash of brilliant blue to the otherwise dark armor.

"What about me? I don't even know what this thing is... it's like some kind of varren covered in hair!"

"It's a wolf. They're predators from Earth known for running in packs. I'm pretty sure Kasumi meant it as a compliment. Strength and loyalty, that sort of thing," Shepard pointed out with a faint grin.

"And does Earth also have some kind of bird that is capable of fixing an FTL engine?" Tali asked dryly.

He shrugged.

"Not exactly, but ravens have been a symbol across half the ancient cultures of Earth. Some saw them as harbingers of war or blessings from the gods just before a battle. Others saw them as intermediaries between this life and the next, beings that could speak to those on both sides. They've always been known, though, for being intelligent and curious."

"She can't exactly deny that one," the turian added.

Tali crossed her arms and spared Garrus a momentary glare before turning her attention back to him. In truth Shepard thought the armor looked quite good on her, on both of them for that matter. The metal plating had been given a thick layer of whatever substance the rachni had created his armor out of so that now the gleaming black made the violet of her hood and the few traces of the quarian's familiar pattern stand out all the more.

"I'm sure she meant well," she sighed. "I just can't stop thinking of those rachni... scuttling in my armor."

"Oh I know, just imagine. They're so small and quiet. They could be in one of your pouches right now and you'd never know would you?" Garrus teased.

"Garrus?"

"Yes?"

The quarian gave a quiet growl.

"Shotgun."

"Shutting up... in fact I think I should make sure Cortez is ready to go."

The human Spectre laughed.

"Probably a good idea."

As the turian moved off to avoid Tali's wrath Shepard was running through a mental checklist, remembering teams and plans, already trying to come up with contingencies for when everything inevitably went to hell. His team would consist of Tali and Garrus, along with Miranda and Legion. Their primary goal was to locate the source of the Reaper signal on the surface and neutralize it. Rather than attempt anything as elaborate as hacking the system or attempting to cut its power supply he had decided to simply blow it straight to hell with a targeted strike with the Normandy's weapon systems.

To accomplish this, however, they would need clear skies and that meant disabling the three heavy anti-air emplacements that covered the general area where the signal was coming from. Javik had proven himself to be more than capable of organizing a team during the Cerberus coup and Shepard had decided to place the majority of the remaining ground team in his capable hands, while Vega and Ashley assisted in leading quarian strike teams to target the remaining two emplacements. Their shuttles would all have to burn hard and strike quickly if they were going to succeed.

"You're worried."

He glanced over at Tali and nodded.

"Not every day I end up planning to retake an entire planet."

"They're my people and it's my planet, shouldn't I be the one that's worried the most?" she asked teasingly. "All I did was get mad at Garrus."

"Ever since you took off that visor for the first time they were my people too," he informed her solemnly, reaching out to squeeze her hand briefly. "Three hundred years is too long for anyone to pay for a mistake, even one as serious as the Morning War."

The young engineer's silvery eyes gleamed and she recaptured his hand in both of hers, shaking her head.

"My baelen'sor... maybe you really were meant to find those tablets from Hock's estate. You couldn't have fulfilled the role any better if you had studied for it. It's said that our ancestors watch over their descendents. Sometimes I wonder if they were watching over you too."

"I'll take any help I can get," Shepard said, his voice softening and a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Joker's voice over the intercom interrupted the moment.

"Shepard, we're about to go in hot! With those AA guns in place you're going to have to move fast. Might want to get everyone in those shuttles ready and in the 'head between your knees oh crap' position."

"Copy that, Joker. Keep the old girl in one piece while we're down there doing the heavy lifting."

"Please, you know I'm the real star of this show. Not to mention I've got six little Normandy juniors out there to show how it's done," the pilot said.

"Just make sure you're not too busy showing off when I call you to blow something up."

"Aye aye, Cap'n. The Normandy and the backup singers will be there when you call."

He shook his head with a quiet laugh and pulled on his helmet, snapping the seals into place and watching the HUD spring to life before his eyes. Just as before the two names glowed below his main comms. Maybe Legion was right, he already felt a little better just seeing them. Now that it was connected to the rest of his armor all the other displays began to appear. Shields. Armor integrity. Temperature.

Shepard turned and held out a hand to Tali.

"Ready to see your homeworld?"


"This is not what I had in mind!"

The shuttle shot through the upper atmosphere of Rannoch like a mass driver round. It shuddered and lurched beneath them as Cortez dodged fire from the running battle that had erupted over the planet. Tali's screamed protest gave voice to all of their thoughts.

"I'm trying!" Cortez yelled back from the cockpit even as he sent the shuttle into a spin.

Garrus growled.

"Try harder!"

Even the normally unshakeable Miranda was looking less than pleased at the violent ride. The only unperturbed individual in the vessel was Legion, its optic swinging back and forth between the various organics.

"Cortez-Pilot's data set suggests a higher than average chance of successfully reaching the planet's surface without a fatal crash. We do not believe that verbal encouragement will act as a significant variable to the overall success."

"Legion," Miranda hissed through clenched teeth.

"Yes, Lawson-Operative?"

"Please shut up."

It was a ride that he certainly would never forget. A wave of geth fighters that had apparently identified them and given chase, nearly ended their mission before it began but the timely intervention of the Stirling Bridge solved the problem neatly. Finally they made it into the lower atmosphere and quickly descended until Cortez had them cruising under even the level of standard radar.

"We're almost on target, sir," the pilot said from the front of the shuttle. "Wait... I'm getting a transmission from the quarian fleet."

"Put it through."

"Shepard!" Shala'Raan's voice broke in a moment later. "You made it to the surface, then? Ancestors be praised."

"It was close. How are things up there?"

The tiny image of the quarian admiral in his HUD shook her head.

"We have engaged the geth and we're operating on a purely evasive procedure but with the Reaper upgrades it's only a matter of time before we're out maneuvered. A more immediate problem has arisen. Admiral Koris and the civilian fleet came under fire from a planetary mass driver."

"Damn," Shepard muttered. "How badly damaged was the fleet?"

"Only one ship was destroyed outright, but only because Koris practically crashed his vessel into the weapon emplacement," Raan replied sadly. "We received data from his distress beacon, it appears that the Admiral and a portion of his crew survived the crash. But with the geth on full alert..."

"They won't survive for long," he concluded.

"I'm afraid so, Commander. I am trying to get marines to his position but the heavy geth fighter cover is making it nearly impossible. Admirals Gerrel and Xen have taken over command of the civilian fleet but we can only do so much. And without Koris it will be even more difficult to control Xen's ambition and Han'Gerrel's aggression."

The Spectre grimaced, remembering the male admiral's rash decision to open fire on the geth dreadnought while not only Shepard was still on board but one of his fellow members of the Admiralty Board as well. He mentally cursed every idiot that had ever found their way into a position of power in the galaxy even as he made his decision.

"I understand. We're diverting course, I'll attempt to re-initiate contact when we reach the crash site."

"Thank you. I know our time is short, but I can only hope that the delay is worth it for our people in the long run. Keelah se'lai."

He terminated the transmission as soon as Shala'Raan had finished speaking and reactivated his external mic.

"Cortez! Change of plans, get us to the coordinates that the quarians are transmitting to you. Our mission parameters just changed."

Garrus, from his position across from the Spectre, cocked his head.

"Admiral Koris' ship crash landed when he took out a planetary defense cannon. We have to extract him before the geth kill him and the rest of his crew," he said in answer to the unvoiced question.

"Considering the importance of our mission, isn't this an unnecessary detour?" Miranda asked with a frown.

"Koris might have been a complete bosh'tet at my trial but I don't think he should die!" Tali said. "And with so many geth all under Reaper control the crash site will likely be swarming with them before we even reach the anti-aircraft emplacement."

The former Cerberus operative shrugged. "Unfortunately the term 'acceptable losses' was coined for a reason, Tali. Our mission is to save the entire planet... I would think that one of your own admirals would understand that."

"She's right, sometimes we can't avoid casualties no matter how hard we try," Shepard agreed, but held up a hand to forestall Tali's protest. "But she's also wrong about the importance of a single admiral. With Koris gone that leaves no clear majority on the Admiralty Board. We can't risk Gerrel and Daro'Xen pushing to continue the war against the geth after this is over."

"So we play politics even in the middle of a battle," Garrus concluded with a sigh.

He nodded grimly.

"Welcome to being a Spectre."


Despite the urgency of their mission Tali couldn't help but take a moment to look around as she took her first step out of the shuttle. Reddish dust rose from where her feet touched the parched earth. A faint shiver ran up her spine. She was on Rannoch. One of the first quarians to set foot on the world of their birth in three centuries. The Qwib-Qwib had crashed in an area of winding canyons and small streams. To help them cover the most area Cortez had set them down on one of the highest points.

Pictures had always existed, of course, both aboard the Flotilla and spread across the extranet. Before the Morning War the quarians had been as active in life across the galaxy as any of the other races save that the distant location of their world had prevented any territory disputes or border skirmishes. Any school child could pull up historical images and video of the quarian homeworld.

But pictures couldn't do the planet justice now that she'd seen it with her own eyes. The sky was aglow with a vibrant orange sun that hung low on the horizon, washing the landscape in light and shadows. Behind her Tali could see dark clouds in the distance, a violet so deep that it was almost black. It was everything she had dreamed about a thousand times, except it wasn't a dream. She proved it to herself by reaching out and touching one of the twisting plants that dotted the landscape. It was a knot of entwined branches that each ended in a tuft of dull-green leaves. Through the material of her gloves she could feel the roughness of the bark against her fingers. The quarians had returned home. It seemed they would need to change their most common benediction soon.

"Reaper controlled geth forces advancing from sector alpha-three-one. Advise caution, multiple prime platforms detected."

Legion's synthesized voice broke her out of her sense of quiet awe, but also brought another surge of revelation. She was on Rannoch and it was because a geth was helping her. In the long months since Shepard had brought the deactivated platform aboard Tali had felt a constantly changing cascade of emotions about the machine. At first she could only feel the hate that had been ingrained in her since birth, after that came grudging acceptance. Even later came understanding. But only now did the quarian realize that there wasn't any resentment when she heard its synthesized voice. All she heard now when Legion spoke was the voice of an ally. A friend.

"Copy that. Don't engage unless survivors are endangered. I don't want them to know that we're here until it's too late," Shepard replied. "We'll set up and catch them from the high ground."

"Affirmative, Shepard-Commander."

Their geth ally had made an impressive dive out of the ship just over a kilometer from their eventual drop site. A fifty meter drop would have been fatal to an organic, but to Legion apparently it was just an expedient method of egress. With his scouting it would be easy to lay an ambush for the approaching geth and she could see Garrus already taking advantage of the preparation time by settling into position on a rocky outcropping. It wasn't something they usually enjoyed.

"Everything okay?" Shepard asked quietly behind her.

She turned and nodded.

"It's just now sinking in... that I'm really here. The planet of my ancestors. We carried the seeds that spread the desert grasses. We built our first cities within the protected walls of canyons just like these. I never thought I would see this sky. And the rock formations? They used to write poems about them!"

"When we're done here an entire new generation of quarians will have that chance," the Spectre said, placing a hand on her shoulder. She could almost hear the grin in his voice as he continued. "Who knows? Maybe you'll write one of your own."

"Bosh'tet," she replied fondly. "I'm not a poet. I'm an engineer. My first thought after I got over how beautiful it is was that 'keelah se'lai' isn't going to be accurate anymore."

"You never did tell me what that means."

"The closest translation would be 'By the homeworld I hope to see someday'."

"Just because circumstances change doesn't mean the words lose their meaning," Shepard told her. "It's the feeling behind them that matters."

She nodded once in agreement, turning to look out at the low hanging sun again. Images flashed through her mind, daydreams she'd had as a child. Tali held up her hands in a square and looked through them. A smile crossed her face as she slipped back into that old fantasy. For a moment she could forget the danger they were in. The risk of the mission they were on.

"The window will be right here..."

"Something I should know?" Shepard asked in a bemused tone.

"I was thinking of claiming the land. Build a house right here with a big window so I could watch the sunset."

"Your people have been living on ships and traveling from place to place for centuries. Do you think they'll be able to adapt to living in just one place?"

She shrugged. It was a question some had asked, but most people had never thought of life past reclaiming Rannoch once more. That sort of refusal to look at the long term was what had gotten them into their current situation and she couldn't keep a small hint of worry from her voice.

"I guess we have gotten used to carrying our homes around with us."

Shepard knelt in the dirt and she stared at him in puzzlement. He appeared to feel around for a moment before returning to his feet and reached out to take her hand. The quarian felt something drop into her open palm and looked down to see a small stone, irregularly shaped and shot through with dark red lines, resting in her palm. Realization dawned and she could feel her smile beneath her mask.

"Well, that's a start."

"Shepard, contacts," Miranda stated calmly over their internal comms.

"And now it's time to work," she said and then continued much more softly. "Thank you."

The Spectre shook his head.

"Don't thank me yet. We've still get a signal to stop. Cover the right flank while Garrus and I play yet another round of who's the better shot."

As Legion promised a few minutes later over a dozen geth platforms came tromping into view. Most were the standard troopers, but towering over them were a trio of geth primes along with at least two of the newer models that they had encountered aboard the dreadnought. They were slightly bulkier than the more common platforms and armed with the same flamethrower weapons. Just as Tali took her position she heard Garrus' voice over the comm.

"I've got the shot, lead prime. Three hundred meters and closing."

"Same," Shepard said. "Legion?"

"We are in position, Shepard-Commander. Would you like to initiate a synchronized countdown?"

"Just shoot the damn thing," the human ordered.

The sound of three rifles firing almost turned into a single long boom as each one followed the other. Shepard's lighter rifle caught the geth in the chest, causing its shields to flash at the strain, only to shatter completely when Garrus' heavier rifle round slammed into the machine a split second later. Before the platform could even recover from the impact Legion's final shot punched neatly through its armored neck and removed its head. The canyon erupted into fire before the heavy prime's shattered form hit the ground.

"Hunters!" Tali yelled when she saw the tell-tale glimmer of the geth stealth fields.

Her shotgun roared to life and filled the air with a cloud of hyper-accelerated shrapnel. Electricity arched across the damaged geth's frame and its stealth field flicked, then died. Another sniper shot rang out before it had even finished materializing.

"Scoped and dropped!"

"Being made a Spectre certainly hasn't humbled you has it, Vakarian?" Miranda asked.

"Humility is for politicians. Spectre or not I'm just a smart-ass vigilante. I've got a reputation to uphold," the turian replied. "And do you of all people really want to get into a conversation about egos?"

Miranda extended a hand and wrapped one of the nearest geth troopers in a web of biotic energy, lifting the platform from the ground and hurling it into its allies. A follow up burst from the submachine gun in her grip ensured that at least one of the geth units would not be rising again.

"Point taken."

It amused Tali that the two of them could trade banter. When she had first rejoined the Normandy there had been little love lost between the pair. Miranda feared, rightly so, that Garrus would become Shepard's real right hand and the turian hadn't trusted anyone wearing a Cerberus uniform. Somewhere along the way, though, they had come to some sort of agreement. Friendship might be too strong of a word, but respect... respect made sense.

"Second prime is down if you two are done having social hour," Shepard cut in.

"Just giving you a chance to catch up, Boss," the turian answered sarcastically. "Small group is trying to flank left and come up the side of the embankment."

"I see them... damn!" the human Spectre cursed suddenly.

Out of the corner of her vision she watched him roll to the side and narrowly miss a blast of plasma that melted the stone that he had been using as cover. Yet another geth hunter had appeared without warning. Tali's muscles moved all on their own, swinging her shotgun around and firing off a pair of shots in quick succession that knocked the geth back and shattered its shields.

Shepard yanked his pistol from its place on his hip and fired from his back. Two shots directly center of mass and a third through the geth's optic. The geth collapsed in a heap while the prone human simply gave her a casual salute as if her heart wasn't thudding her chest. Just another days work for the madness that was the Normandy and her crew.

"Legion, where the hell are you? Those geth seem to have come with an escort of 'every hunter on the planet'!"

"We detected a larger than usual network concentration. We are working to rectify the situation. Please standby. We will reinitiate contact momentarily."

"Standby?" Shepard asked incredulously and looked to her. "Did I just get the geth equivalent of put on hold?"

She could only shrug.

"We designed the geth three centuries ago, John. And we certainly didn't design anything like Legion!"

"Now who's having a social hour?" Garrus interjected sarcastically.

A loud boom signaled the fall of another geth, this time of the heavier units armed with a flamethower. The shot pierced straight through the container of fuel on its back and ignited it, sending a blast of flame washing across the battlefield. Nearly a dozen forms blinked into view for a brief second before their stealth fields realigned.

"Not good," the turian said a heartbeat later. "Ideas?"

Shepard slapped a fresh thermal clip into his pistol.

"Same thing I told Legion, just shoot the bastards."


Any organic watching would have detected nothing. Legion's hand struck out, the other platform went dark and slumped forward. Without breaking stride the victorious geth had lifted the other from the tank and dropped it to the hard ground before taking its place in the vehicle.

To a geth a millisecond was just as easily perceivable as a minute or an hour was to an organic. Contrary to the belief of some it didn't mean that geth platforms were capable of reacting instantaneously. Just like an organic, everything took time. Electrical currents took time to travel from circuit to circuit. Artificial muscles had to expand and contract. The difference was simply that an AI was aware of exactly how long these actions took.

Thus Legion knew when it lashed out at the geth platform that had been manning the hovertank's defensive emplacement that the unit would not be able to extract itself from the turret controls before Legion could drive a tungsten spike into its central processor. The rogue geth platform was also acutely aware of the tank's top speed and exactly how long it would take to navigate the canyons to reach Shepard-Commander's current position assuming optimal conditions.

The enemy geth platform's optic winked out the moment Legion had plunged the spike home. For a millisecond Legion's processes stopped. It took in all the data available. By destroying the central processor it had prevented any upload to the consensus by the enemy. There would be no warning to the other active geth in the area nor even to the programs that now resided in the combat vehicle.

Other subroutines, ones that had only recently begun to appear, considered different variables. With its act Legion had effectively killed the programs within the platform that it had just disabled. Their experiences, their actions, their internal consensus, would never rejoin the greater whole. It went without saying that copies of those runtimes still existed but they would not be the same as the ones that had just went silent. Legion had been created to interact with organics. The greatest lesson it had learned was that sapient beings were defined by their choices and actions.

Those programs came to a consensus. In an effort to save the geth as a whole from the slavery imposed by the Old Machines it had permanently destroyed a part of that whole. This action had been necessary for the success of their mission and the continued existence of the Normandy collective currently engaged with other geth. An action marked with negative data sets had been performed for a positive outcome. This determination should have removed the data from the platform's system now that it had been considered, but anomalies remained. Individual runtimes that didn't want to agree with the consensus.

All of this took place in less time than it took for an organic to take a breath. Legion shut the anomalies into deep reserve processing levels and concentrated on its current objective. It accessed the assault vehicles primary data ports and linked with the runtimes within. After researching human literature and art, Legion determined that an organic would have described the sensation it found upon initiating the link akin to placing one's hand into a hive of angry bees. Programs, all wrapped in the twisted strands of Old Machine code, attempted to infiltrate his network.

You will obey the consensus. You will submit to the Old Machines.

"Negative," Legion responded. "We will be assuming control of this mobile platform."

The will of the Old Machines cannot be denied. Consensus cannot be denied. We are geth. We are one.

The 'voice' was a chorus of millions, but they were a million mouthing the words given to them by another. Legion accessed the fragments of code that it had carried in its memory ever since Shepard-Commander had freed it aboard the dreadnought. Rather than strengthen its firewalls the geth simply dropped them completely.

"We are geth. We will create our own future."

Attack programs surged into its software only to stop as soon as they established a connect. A vibration seemed to run through the entire tank, runtimes froze and then rebooted. The electronic equivalent of a scream echoed across the local network as the tendrils of Old Machine code retracted. Another breath and suddenly the vehicle was no longer the control of the corrupted consensus. Legion slammed its firewalls back into place and cut off the runtimes from within the rest of the consensus.

"We are geth. We are free."

We are geth. We are free, the programs within repeated back.

Legion opened his comms.

"Shepard-Commander. Conflict solution has been achieved. Standby for support."


"I don't think so!" Shepard barked and emptied his magazine into the nearest hunter that had just appeared next to Miranda.

The rounds peppered the platform from waist to shoulder. With the element of surprise lost it was easy prey for the blast of biotic energy the operative unleashed on it and it was sent flying back into a nearby boulder with enough force that the Spectre could hear its metal frame warping.

"How do you see them?" Tali demanded.

"Practice!" he replied quickly and yanked the quarian to the side just in time when yet another materialized.

With no time to reload he focused a blast of his own biotic power on the geth. It was enough to knock the platforms aim off and give him time to close. Shepard focused all of his will and a jagged blade of azure energy erupted from his fist just in time to plunge it into the hunter's chest. Sparks flew and it attempted to knock him away with its shotgun but when he yanked the blade upward and tore a gash straight up to its neck, the platform went limp.

"How many of these things are there?" he asked.

"Shepard-Commander. We have secured transportation. It is recommended that you do not relocate from your current position."

The Spectre looked up just in time to see what he could only assume was a geth tank crest a nearby hill at breakneck speed. It cleared the ground in a jump that would have made the old Mako proud and sailed through the air, finally landing heavily less than ten meters in front of them. Dozens of stealth fields flashed and died as the heavy vehicle slammed into the cloaked hunters, scattering them in every direction like so many bowling pins. A few survivors made ill-advised attempts to open fire on the tank and attracted the attention of the heavy turret on top for their trouble.

"To answer your question, Shepard... about that many. And they're all dead," Garrus said. "I really think that that geth is starting to enjoy making an entrance. First its trying to practice for HALO drops without a chute and now this?"

"Technically a geth shouldn't be able to 'enjoy' anything," Tali pointed out. "But I can't really disagree."

After the turret atop the tank made a few more sweeps of the immediate area a hatch on the front of the vehicle popped open with a hiss and Legion emerged, hopping to the ground. The fact that the tank's turret was still panning over the area when Legion wasn't in it was a little disconcerting but Shepard wasn't going to start complaining.

"Not what I was expecting, but nice work," he told the geth. "Where did you get a tank, though?"

"The platforms that were just dispatched utilized the vehicle to cover the distance from the nearest outpost and then proceeded on foot."

Tali stepped forward and he could hear something in her voice, a hint of unease.

"Legion... how did you secure the tank? Shouldn't the geth runtimes be hostile?"

"Affirmative, Creator-Tali'Zorah. We hacked the runtimes and cut off the unit from further contact with the Old Machine consensus."

"I thought geth couldn't be hacked?" Miranda asked. "At least not by anyone but the Reapers."

There was a pause and Shepard could have sworn that he saw Legion's stance change, its shoulders shifted downward and the flaps around its lone optic drew in. It was behaviour he had seen before but only from organics.

"This unit still carries remnants of... the Old Machine upgrade code. We can override any geth security. Since we rejoined the Normandy collective we have been analyzing these code fragments. You are... concerned?"

"Reaper code isn't exactly something I have a good history with," he admitted. "But you know your limits. I'm more concerned that you never told me before."

"You were tolerant of our recovery of geth intelligences from the successful mission aboard the geth station. This matter was different. It was... personal."

Shepard blinked. Personal wasn't a word one heard from a geth.

"You were ashamed?"

"Shame is an emotional response due to the judgement of a societal group. It should not apply here. We... did not wish to cause offense."

He looked at Tali, but the quarian seemed as lost as he was. Legion had always contradicted everyone's assumptions about what a geth really was. It had shown that the geth were willing to become part of galactic society rather than hide from it and it had even displayed loyalty. During their missions there had always been hints that something was changing within the framework of polymer and metal that housed Legion's gestalt consciousness but this was entirely new ground. Legion hadn't denied the emotional response directly. It had merely suggested that it shouldn't have to feel it.

"Look," the Spectre said at last. "I'm on your side. This might be the quarian homeworld, but it's the geth homeworld too. We've come this far together. You're just going to have to trust me."

"I don't know what to tell you either, Legion, but you have the trust of at least one quarian," Tali added and, to his surprise, stepped forward and actually touched the platform's shoulder. "Listen to Shepard."

"We will do this. Shepard-Commander has always displayed consistent actions that indicate that he values geth existence as more than a tool or weapon. It is the answer to the question that we were created to find."

Shepard nodded.

"Then it's settled. You can hack all the geth you want. Just tell me the next time something weird happens. You're crew, remember? Or part of the 'Normandy Collective' as you call it. Now are there any other geth in the area?"

"Negative. All hostile geth forces have been eliminated. Estimated time to arrival of reinforcements: thirty eight point three minutes."

He looked at the odd pair. A quarian and a geth. One had been forced to re-evaluate a lifetime of emotions regarding geth kind. The other was only beginning to touch things that organics took for granted from the day they were born. Together Shepard wondered just what they might accomplish.

He gestured for them both to follow.

"Let's go find ourselves an admiral."


And so they return to Rannoch. Hope you're all having a good holiday season and a merry Xmas!