PHOENIX RESURGENT
A Mass Effect Story by Vyrexuviel
Disclaimer: The author of this story does not, in any way, profit from the story and all creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s).
Tali reminisced as she walked the corridors of Omega. Working with Shepard again had brought back old memories of a young girl, out on her own for the first time, and in deep, deep trouble.
Tali ducked and flung a techmine at the salarians, scurrying into the alcove across from them, hoping to get out of their line of fire before their assault rifles could be brought to bear. The sudden THOOM of a high-powered sniper rifle ensured her safety, as the crumpling of one of the salarians snapped the other s attention, along with his turian counterpart, around to the new group behind them. Tali's first look at Shepard was of a dark-haired woman with deep-sapphire eyes, glaring down the sights of a heavy-duty pistol at the turian who had tried to feel her up.
Tali passed a few vorcha, ignoring their snarls. Even the vaunted adaptability of the primitive scavenger species couldn't handle the dextro-protiens in her metabolism. That didn't mean that vorcha didn't try to eat the occasional turian or quarian, but most of the ones that tried either died or were -extremely- sick for a very long time, and ironically wound up being eaten by their fellows. Vorcha weren't a real problem to her, not after two years tutelage under the exacting hand of Commander Aurora Shepard. Her fighting reflexes were among the best in the fleet, even including the Migrant Marines, and her heavily-customized shotgun was an old friend from the Battle of the Citadel.
Tali ducked behind cover, swearing in some moderate terror. Another planet, another firefight. Seriously, it was as if the tall woman who's crew she had joined was a magnet for all sorts of trouble. Krogan and Geth working together on Therum, more geth and a matriarch on Noveria, and now this ancestor-damned geth pack out in the Armstrong Nebula. It seemed as if something about the Normandy drew Geth like flies. She ducked her helmet a bit more as a bullet whined off the cover she was using, fumbling with her shotgun, trying to get the damn thing's overheat sensor to reset. Shepard, she saw, was ducking and rolling from cover to cover, using each moment of exposure to take down either the shields of, or the life of, one of those thrice-damned Geth.
Tali's gaze glanced around the rather seedy multi-level mini-market. Ahh, there was something new. She browsed her way through kiosks, seeing some upgrades she hadn't seen before, and which the Geth might be able to work into their weapons. It was strange, a quarian working with the Geth, but hell, if they were going to give (GIVE!) back the homeworld (!) it was in her best interests to make sure they had the best tech in the galaxy. The batarian running the first kiosk didn't want to give her a discount, but a bit of advice about how to rewrite his firewalls got his attention. Well, that and Tali mirroring his kiosk on her Omnitool. Who goes around on a station like this with only store-bought firewalls?
Hauling back all the salvage was normally the Krogan's job, him and Garrus. But Tali got first pick over anything that seemed likely to contain something of use. More than once the engineering crew had complained about the strewn-about mess of parts, but Adams had shut them up when Tali did a little maintenance on the drive core and improved efficiency a full 8%. Fitting new mods together and upgrading their weapons and armor was her job, as Shepard, Ashley, Kaidan, Garrus Liara and Wrex each had their own duties.
The Asari was their researcher, hunting for clues to what Saren might be up to. The Krogan's responsibility was to keep the team in top physical form, and test armor upgrades. The Turian's job was to test the new gun upgrades (usually winding up with Wrex as the target) and to keep the ship's MAKO rover from bursting a gasket. The Soldier's duties included keeping the little group's weapons performance as high as their durability, and the human Biotic kept them all on their toes when it came to strategy.
In all, it was a well-rounded group, each adding his or her own expertise and talent to the pool.
Talking with an elcor merchant, she got a distinctly 'off' vibe from him, though he did have some good tech. It was hard for other races to follow the tiny shifts in body posture and scent that were elcor nonverbal cues, doubly so for a quarian who had to filter the air almost beyond recognition. Even so, she got a distinct sense he was hiding something, so she decided to wander around a bit more and see what was up. Who knows, maybe she'd make a friend?
Feros was an ungodly mess. Fai-Dan shooting himself in lieu of following the Thorian's orders, then having to deal with clone after clone of that poor asari who had been trapped inside, the disgusting vegetative lifeform wore on Tali's nerves like nothing else did. Even after having destroyed it, the Thorian's tendrils spread over half the planet, and there were still dozens of poor colonists who had been wholly subsumed by the creature. Tali was very -very- glad for her envirosuit for once, and determined to go through decon when they got back to the ship until the top two layers of her suit came off. Even then she wasn't sure she'd -ever- be able to bring herself to wear the suit again.
Shepard's hand on her shoulder made her jump a foot in the air, her nerves were so high-strung. Shepard's gentle smile and nod of encouragement did more for the young quarian's spirits than she could have imagined.
Turning down a dingy, dimly lit corridor, Tali found a male quarian working on a pile of broken bits and pieces of tech. She blinked, wondering why a quarian would be on Omega, until she recognized the fit of the envirosuit he was wearing marking him as on Pilgrimage. He had a kiosk set up, and glanced up at her approach. He seemed as startled to see her as she had been to see him, switching off his pocket arc welder and brushing his hands off as he got up.
"Uh, Hello there!" He fidgeted a little, "Might I interest you in some salvaged tech?"
Tali smiled under her faceplate. She had never been that young. "Maybe. Depends on what you're selling."
He shrugged and motioned towards the old, beat up, and much-repaired kiosk. "It's all on there. Every credit goes towards a ticket to get me off this forsaken rock."
Tali sighed quietly. Such was the way of most Pilgrimages. She herself had been almost destitute when she had gotten to the Citadel. "I buy a lot of parts and equipment. Maybe we can make an arrangement?" Maybe he won't accept charity, but if he's anything like I was, he'll definitely take a bit of 'good fortune'.
He seemed more cautious than eager though. "Well, you're a quarian, and not on Pilgrimage... But you can't breathe a word of this to Harrot."
That brought up her finely-honed investigative instincts. Shepard had had to unravel a lot of back-room politics during their mad dash across the galaxy to find Saren before it was too late. "Why? What's this about Harrot?"
"Well, you know how Pilgrimages go. My money was stolen within days of getting here, so I had to turn to something. Salvaging tech had been my hobby on the Vasta, so I tried to sell it. But Harrot's forcing me to sell high, so he can undercut me. I can't even afford a ticket off this rock."
Tali's heart went out to the poor boy. He must be desperate if he was asking for help from another quarian not on Pilgrimage. It was a sort of unwritten law that adult Quarians shouldn't help those on Pilgrimage, but this Kenn touched a chord in her. "How much do you need to get off Omega?"
He seemed surprised into answering. "I still need a thousand credits to pay my way, but you know you're not supposed to help me on Pilgrimage..."
She nodded, idly browsing his wares, and making a mental note to show the specs for this shotgun upgrade to Shepard. "Why does Harrot control your prices?"
"Harrot made me swear not to undercut him, no matter what. He was here first, so... it s his right" he sighs and drops his head a little, "But, no one will buy from me when he's so much cheaper. I can't even save enough money for a ticket off this station."
"Maybe not, but I think I could get Harrot to ease up on his restrictions.
He perked up visibly at that idea. "I won't stop you. If you can convince him to lay off, maybe I'll get off this station after all. His shop's up the ramp."
Tali cut him off with a raised hand, a touch of amusement in her voice as she told him she knew the elcor. Kenn turned back to his salvage as she slipped quietly back up the ramp to the elcor's rather luxurious (by omega's shops standards) corner space.
The big being turned back to the counter as she approached. "Tentatively Excited: Welcome, quarian, what can I get for you?"
Tali grinned behind her helmet. So far, only Shepard had been able to see through the darkened metaplastic of her envirosuit's faceplate. "Tell me about the deal with the quarian over there."
The elcor shifted slightly, "Suspicious: If I had made such a deal, I would certainly not be inclined to discuss it. Accusatory: I don't understand how it is any concern of yours."
This was the part Tali loved, mostly because it was so rare. "What if you and I make a deal? You let him set his own prices, and I won't break your legs." She tapped the butt of the shotgun holstered at the small of her back for emphasis. The battle-scarred weapon had drawn looks from nearly every passerby, and Harrot hadn't been unusual in that regard.
"With barely-contained terror: You drive a hard bargain."
"I haven't even started." Her slow stroking of the butt of her shotgun was clearly freaking the elcor out.
"Resignation: Very well. I will release the quarian from his promise. Conciliatory: To show there is no ill will, I offer you a discount on my own wares."
Tali at once took advantage of the offer to pick over Harrot's goods, some of which held quite a bit of promise. She positively swaggered down the ramp to inform the kid of his freedom to set his own prices, and he was overjoyed enough to give her a discount on his own wares. She politely refused, chuckling softly as she picked out a few things that could be useful.
Virmire was an almost totally unmitigated disaster. True, they did destroy Saren's krogan breeding farm, but they lost Kaidan to the nuke that blew the whole place to kingdom come. Even so, they did manage to save almost all of Kirahe's crew, and Ashley. Nonetheless, Tali had kept to herself for a few days afterward, still in shock over loosing the human male. While she hadn't exactly grown close to Kaidan, she had gained a bit of rapport with him. He, Garrus and she shared an affinity with electronics, and would each help out in their own way when something went wrong on board the Normandy. While that didn't happen too often, there was the one time when the secondary starboard power couplings blew and almost overloaded the drive core with the discharge. It took all three of them along with most of the engineering crew to keep the core from discharging until Joker had dropped them into a thick magnetic field. After that she had grown to regard the soft-spoken human with real respect, despite his somewhat skimpy knowledge of mechanics. Kaidan might have lacked experience in hydraulic systems, but he made up for it with an almost intuitive genius when it came to programming, almost on par with she herself. Keelah, how she missed him...
Tali was startled out of her reverie by the soft beep of her commlink. She touched the side of her helmet, "Yes, Shepard?"
"We got a lead on this salarian doctor. Unfortunately, he's inside a plague zone, but happily we have a couple guys along who don't care about nasty germs." The tone of Shepard's voice sent a shiver up the quarian's spine. She'd heard that tone countless times during briefings, usually just before they dropped into hostile territory and started getting shot at.
"Alright, where should I meet you?"
"At the southern airlock. Had to convince a guard to let us through, be he'll watch for a quarian with a big-ass shotgun."
Tali couldn't help but snicker. "See you there, Shepard."
"You want me to go into a plague zone? Are you insane?" Tali stared at Shepard thunderstruck.
"Well, with your envirosuit, you'd be ideal." Shepard's piloting had always been fairly good, though she absolutely loathed having to drive a land vehicle. Many times she let Tali take the controls of the Mako.
"If it gets punctured, I'm dead, Shepard!"
"Relax, I saw how tough that suit is, Tali. Impressive sheild array and ceramite composite weave all over. If something managed to punch through that, you'd have bigger problems than a few sniffles."
Shepard did have a point. This new suit of hers was a bit thicker, tougher, and included the best personal shield array her people had yet produced, one she had worked on herself, in fact. Still, Tali was very nervous about diseases of all sorts, and going into a plague zone was -not- her idea of fun.
She eyed the geth platform beside Shepard. When on Freedom's Progress, she had at first been skeptical, and frankly horrified that Shepard would be working with the geth, but once she had been talked down from pointing her shotgun at Legion's head, Shepard had persuaded her to at least give it a chance. It had taken quite a lot of doing, and Shepard had been forced to point out that when the Geth started to become sentient, the Quarians tried to kill them for things they -might- have done. And the geth's first reaction had been self defence. Like any frightened child, they had lashed out at those who were trying to harm them, and, given the excessively automated nature of the quarian military at that point, did so with terrifying effectiveness.
It had given Tali a lot to mull over, and by the time they had reached the geth base, she was willing to give them a chance to prove they weren't hostile anymore. So far, it had seemed to work, and it was pure joy to work with them on engineering problems. They could see many tiny design flaws in things, but they couldn't innovate. They could improve an existing design, but creating an entirely new one was beyond the scope of their programming. While that had both negative and positive aspects, she could also understand why the Geth had sought out her people's assistance this time around. They had about reached the limit of what they could do, and were trying to take the next step in sentient evolution. But -needed- her people to help them over that hurdle.
In all, it gave her something of a buzz, realizing that she was the first Quarian the geth had interacted peacefully with in over three centuries.
Shepard brought the aircar in for a smooth, gentle landing. "Alright people, end of the line. Let's find ourselves a doc."
Tali slid gracefully from the aircar, after Legion had exited, and checked the load on her shotgun. If this was like any of the other missions she and Shepard had had together, this was going to be fun.
Author's Note:
My most humble apologies for the very long lull, but, well, Inspiration is getting harder and harder to come by. I hope like hell not to keep you people waiting this long next time!