RANNOCH, 1895 CE
They hadn't made it far before he heard gunfire, Tasi had been like a mother to him since his own mother had died and now she was gone, too. He stopped running a minute to dry his eyes and thought of his little sister, she was the only one he loved still alive. He wondered if that were even true any more, he had left her in another safe house months ago to run off with Tasi, she had cried and begged him to stay and he had pushed her away, claiming this was something he needed to do.
As he looked to the three domestic Geth that he had helped keep safe, he couldn't regret it. They were just like his sister, in a strange way, they needed protecting just as she did. He took a few deep breaths to collect himself then started running again.
"Come on, it shouldn't be far now"
As he entered the house something small and heavy collided with him, knocking him clean off his feet.
"Daro!" She squealed in delight as she tried to hug the life from him.
"Ziera?" He gently returned her embrace "What are you doing here?" He had left her in a safe house far from here, panic began to settle in his gut at what this likely meant.
"We should speak about this in..." Ket'Adas, an older Quarian and the man he had left to care for his sister, tried to speak up but was cut off by one angry little girl.
"No!" She let him go and faced Ket with a fire in her eyes, she was only 11 but she had the spirit of one much older, in this moment she reminded him so much of their mother. "Everyone is always hiding things from me! I'm in this fight, too, I deserve to know what's going on!"
She was right, of course, she had given up as much as anyone to defend the Geth without ever complaining. Ket looked to him, silently asking what to do, He nodded. "She needs to know".
"Okay" He took a deep breath and looked around the room, there were 7 Geth standing off to the side, silently watching the exchange and there were 3 other Quarians, 2 of which weren't much older than him, the other was Ket's wife, she stood at his side with a fear in her eyes that he had never seen before. "We believe this may be the last safe house left."
A fearful hush descended over them, the soft mechanical whirring of the Geth the only noise as they took in what he had said.
"Are you sure?" One of the others said, he wasn't sure who and he didn't really, he knew this would be bad but.. this. This could mean that all they had done, all they had lost, was for nothing.
"We know of one other group" Ket's wife, Ari, spoke up, "Last we heard they were trying to find another house but..." she sighed, "We don't believe they will have any more luck than we did."
"So what do we do?" Lost in his own dark thoughts he almost didn't notice who spoke up. Ziera stood tall, fearless, as she addressed their small group.
"There is nothing we can do, little one." Ari tried to calm her.
"There has to be something! We can't let it all be for nothing!" He had never seen her so worked up.
Ket went to talk only to be stopped by his wife, "What do you suggest we do?", she spoke calmly.
Zi jumped up on the table and looked over the group, she turned to stare at the Geth a moment before she faced them again, "We steal a ship" She smiled, a spark in her eyes he had not seen since their mother passed. "We get off Rannoch and take them somewhere safer."
"And where do you suggest we go? The same thing is happening on all our colonies, too"
She thought about this seriously for a moment before nodding to herself, "And who says we have to go anywhere?" Everyone looked at her like she had just grown another head but that didn't stop her, "That's it, yeah! We get in space and just hide on the ship until this all blows over!" She held her arms out wide, grinning to herself.
"And what if this never 'blows over', hmm? What then?" Ari tried to be the voice of reason while everyone else was still in stunned silence.
"Do you have a better idea?! Besides just giving up?!" Zi snapped. They all exchanged glances, she was right and judging by her smug expression, she knew it. "Good! Then lets get planning."