Hey guys, thanks so much to the response to the first chapter, now lets get on with Sam's 'recruitment' and, more importantly, meeting the crew!

Disclaimer: All Mass Effect related content in the following text is the property of Bioware. I own Sam. I think.

Kaidan and I move swiftly through the Citadel towards the Normandy dock, or at least as swiftly as is possible when one of the pair is nearly incapacitated by an intense throbbing that seems increasingly like it'll result in a concussion. Hopefully Doctor Chakwas can sort that one out.

The pain is so bad by the time we reach the Normandy that I barely notice the magnificent frigate, but I do take a second, somewhere in my mind, to register the significance of the moment, the moment where I board the SSV Normandy for the first time.

Kaidan and I enter the airlock, and I hear the cool voice of the Normandy VI as it announces our imminent decontamination. Oh, EDI, your arrival shall be much rejoiced, even if it is two years until you show up. Less time, if we make the detour to Luna.

Decontamination finished,Kaidan half drags me into the Normandy proper, carrying me towards the stairwell to the crew deck. Pressly comes up to inquire, but Kaidan brushes him off and essentially carries me downstairs to the Med Bay.

Once inside, I vaguely see Doctor Chakwas hurry over through my rapidly fading vision, and I feel myself being lifted up and dumped onto a medical bed, before my vision fades entirely.

I regain consciousness slowly. I hear unclear voices nearby, but my addled mind is unable to make them out. My head still hurts, but nowhere nearly as bad as it did before. It seems I'm still lying on the medical bed I was initially thrown onto.

After laying still for a few moments, or at least what I think is a few moments, I regain enough consciousness to stir slightly and crack my eyes open. I hear a voice, clear this time, Kaidan, "Doctor? Doctor! He's waking up!"

My eyes fully open, I see the face of Doctor Karin Chakwas appear over me, looking concerned but not worried. So probably nothing too bad, then. My lips are dry, but I can move them enough to say "Dr Chakwas, I presume?" A small smile appears on her face, although it is quickly replaced with a look of medical professionalism as she disappears out of sight.

I lift my arms to rub the sleep from my eyes, and then start to sit up. I seem to still be wearing the nondescript clothes that I had arrived on the Citadel in. When nobody stops me from sitting up I conclude I can't be in too much difficulty. Then again, by the standards of a Systems Alliance military vessel, I'm definitely not in too much difficulty.

My eyes have cleared entirely by this point, and the throbbing in my head has subsided to little more than background noise, not enough to distract or even cause pain. Dr Chakwas is standing nearby, reading something on a datapad. She stops when she looks up and sees me sitting up.

"Excellent, you're awake. I was concerned when the lieutenant brought you in, but compared to what I normally have to treat it was quite simple to deal with the small fracture." Well, that sounds concerning to someone from 2013, but I'll place faith in the medicine of 2183 until someone proves me wrong.

"Thanks, Doctor, I'm glad to hear it." She nods.

"You will experience a minor concussion, but there's medication I can give you if you experience any difficulty. I'll need you to remain here for an hour or so, to assess whether you need any further help, but after that you're in the Commanders hands." She moved off to another part of the Medbay.

I nod, and turn to look at Kaidan "Thanks, lieutenant, I wouldn't have gotten up here without you."

"Not a problem. Wasn't expecting to have to take you up here, but it's not a problem."

I frown "Yes, I wasn't expecting it either. Why do you think the Commander decided I should go here?"

He shrugs "It's possible that she thinks you could be useful. Not many human civilians could take down a turian in hand to hand combat. Even fewer would have gone to that alleyway in the first place."

"I suppose. We'll see, I guess. Has the Commander returned yet?"

He shakes his head "You were only out for about fifteen minutes. The meeting with the Council could take fifteen more."

I sigh "So I guess you're still under orders to stop me from going anywhere, huh?"

He gives me a small smile "Looks like it."

We sit in silence for a couple of minutes before I decide to ask questions I already know the answer too. "So, tell me, why are you after this…Saren? I never really got a chance to find out."

Kaidan grimaces before responding "He led a Geth attack on Eden Prime, and killed a Spectre who was there with us, Nihlus Kryik. The Geth were merciless, killing any of the colonists they could find, and then trying to destroy the colony before we stopped them. The Council didn't believe us the first time, but the evidence provided by the quarian you saved is undeniable."

I nod grimly, it's never easy to hear about the crimes of the Geth heretics, but of course no one knows they're heretics yet. "Sounds like it was a good thing I was in that alleyway."

Kaidan looks straight at me "It was."

We lapse into silence for a few more moments, before I realise that I can ask genuinely useful questions.

"So what can you tell me about the Commander, Kaidan?"

He seemed surprised, but then again Shepard is a pretty big name in the Galaxy, so I suppose it's fair to assume I would know something about the Commander. "I can only tell you what everyone else knows. She grew up in the colonies, on Mindoir. Her entire family was killed by slavers when she was sixteen, and she was saved by an Alliance patrol. She signed up a few years later."

Ok, so it's a colonist Shepard. But did she serve on Elysium, Akuze or on Torfan? I decide against saying this.

"Years later, she was on Elysium in the Skyllian Verge when the Terminus Systems invaded. She single handedly held off enemy forces for hours. Got awarded the Star of Terra for her service there."

Okay, good. Colonsit/War Hero is a good combination, provided extra Paragon points in the games, not sure if that will carry over here though.
"Sounds like she's had a difficult life."

Kaidan merely nods, and we lapse back into silence, waiting for Shepard to arrive.

A few minutes later, what I can only assume is the shipwide announcement system crackles into life. Ah, yes, Shepard's speech. I had forgotten she did that. Should be interesting.

"This is Commander Shepard speaking. We have our orders: Find Saren before he finds the Conduit. I won't lie to you, crew. This mission isn't going to be easy. For too long, our species has stood apart from the others. Now it's time for us to step up and do our part for the rest of the Galaxy! Time to show them what humans are made of! Our enemy knows we're coming. When we go into the Traverse, Saren's followers will be waiting for us. But we'll be ready for them, too. Humanity needs to do this. Not just for our own sake, but for the sake of every species in Citadel Space. Saren must be stopped, and I promise you all…we will stop him!"

Yup. Paragon Shepard. I realise it seems odd to be concerning myself with that after such a rousing speech, but speeches have never done anything for me, at the end of the day it's just words. And we ain't gonna bring down Saren, or destroy Sovereign, with mere words. Going to have to back it up with action. I then realise the only person with their abilities in doubt on this whole ship are me. And maybe Tali.

Ah well, doubtless the Commander thinks she can find a use for me. Or teach me to shoot. Doubtless the Commander shall also be down to see Kaidan and I shortly.
My increasingly rambling train of thought screeches to a halt as the door slides open to reveal Shepard in her standard ME1 Normandy Uniform. Without her armour I'm able to see her properly, and I'm suspicious. She is standard height, 5'8", 9" maybe, with short, slightly spiky black hair, a human, warm face, which is a surprise considering my experiences with ME1, 2 and 3's character customisation are the stuff of nightmares. What's suspicious is the fact that this is the Shepard that I used to play whenever I played female Shepard. What the fuck. This is strange, but I believe in coincidences up to a point, so I won't question it. For now.

The Commander walks over, "Lieutenant, Doctor, how is he?"

Doctor Chakwas turns to face Shepard "Medically, he's fine. I have some medication he can take if he experiences any complications from the fracture he suffered."
Shepard nods "Good work Doctor, Lieutenant, but I'd like to speak with Sam…in private." Well if that isn't reminiscent of Anderson's chat with Shepard after Eden Prime, I don't know what is!

Kaidan and Doctor Chakwas make their way out of the Medbay, and Shepard and I stare at each other in silence for a moment. Then I decide that's awkward and not to do that. "So, Commander, by the excellent speech you just made I'm guessing the Council believed Tali's evidence?"

She nods "They've stripped Saren's Spectre status, and made me the first human Spectre. They've ordered me to track down Saren, and Udina's given me control of the Normandy to do it with." a note of pride enters her voice as she finishes this, understandably, as it is a great honour.

"Ah yes, Spectres, an extra-legal force devoted to protecting Galactic stability and security, interesting. Nevertheless, congratulations."

"It gives me the mandate needed to hunt down Saren. We can debate the finer points of the Spectres some other time" she responds to my implied dislike for the Spectres. Well, it isn't a great idea to give the most intelligent, deadly people in the Galaxy the ability to do whatever the hell they like, now is it?

Wait…"The way you said that implies that I'll be remaining on the Normandy" I say it casually, trying not to reveal the excitement pouring forth from inside of me.

Shepard looks at me hard, as if surveying my soul. "Not many would have gone to rescue Tali. Even fewer would have had the courage to attack three armed mercenaries with little more than their fists. Even fewer could win, and then persuade Tali they were on her side. I could use people like that."

"Shepard, I've never fired a gun in my life" I point out "And I've never made a special effort to stay in shape." Why am I questioning her?

"We can work around that. What I need, however, is to be convinced that you understand the possibility of death is going to be on the table at all times during this mission. We are going up against a threat we know very little about other than that they're dangerous and have no care for organic life. Do you understand that?"

I nod, worried that speaking would end with me revealing way too much knowledge of the Geth.

Shepard stares at me hard again, presumably trying to determine how honest I'm being. Eventually she nods. "Very well. Now, to get past the physical barriers to your active service, I'm going to have you attend a physical here first thing in the morning to determine how much work needs to be done. Follow whatever instructions Doctor Chakwas gives you immediately." I nod again.

"Oh, and you'll be learning to shoot from the Gunnery Chief" Oh, that'll be interesting. I've never really seen eye to eye with Ashley Williams on many matters.
"Yes Ma'am!" I say, giving a mock salute. Shepard eyes me, before saying "Apparently she'll also be teaching you to salute."

Just as she's leaving, however, she turns back. "Oh, and by the way, I wanted your opinion on something."

I raise an eyebrow "Um…ok, Commander. What is it?"

"We have three possible leads. Noveria, where the Council has received reports of Geth activity, Feros, where one of our colonies has recently gone offline after reporting a Geth attack, and Therum, where we are to pick up the daughter of Matriarch Benezia-the other voice in the recording Tali showed us. What I want to know is, where do you think we should go?"

This is clearly little more than a way of assessing my mental mindset, but it helps that I already know my answer. "Feros. Feros is the best choice" She seems surprised.

"Why?"

"Because if there's a chance that those colonists are alive then they deserve our help. And if the Geth are there, then something Saren wants is there" Plus, I always went to Feros first whenever I played.

She nods "I see. I'll take that into consideration."

And with that, she leaves. Kaidan and Doctor Chakwas re-enter the Medbay shortly afterwards. "So how did that go?"

I let out a deep breath and respond "Well, lieutenant, Doctor, it seems as if I'll be serving with you guys for this one."

Doctor Chakwas seems surprised but extends a hand in congratulations, whereas Kaidan simply says "Welcome aboard."

Half an hour later, I'm out of the Med Bay and being shown to my cabin on the Normandy. Huh, explorable crew quarters were only added in ME2, it's odd seeing a part of the Normandy SR1 that isn't portrayed in the games, where it all seemed to fit together so well.

It's comfortable. Better than the bench, that's for sure. It's compact and rectangular, in the greyish blue so typical of the first Normandy. There's a simple bed, there's a desk in the corner, a light, but that's about it. Nice. Simple.

But, despite the fact I haven't slept in about twelve hours, I can't bring myself to lie down and sleep. Here I am! The Normandy! It would be a disservice not to have a look round and talk to people.

So I leave my cabin and quickly find myself back in the familiar setting of the ME1 Normandy Combat Information Centre. I decide to leave Joker for the moment, he's probably busy, and decide to head down to the engineering deck to see how the majority of the team is doing.

Oh, god, are the elevators really this bad? Why would you design an elevator this slow on a military vessel? A place where you might actually have to get somewhere quickly and they make the elevators impossible slow.

Eventually, the doors open in front of me and I find himself in the large open expanse of the Normandy's cargo hold. Oh look, a Mako tank, it shall be interesting to experience that for myself. Garrus is standing nearby, seemingly standing at a terminal. Is he…? Oh god, he's making calibrations. Well, I think I'll go and introduce myself.

I stroll over, every footstep echoing in the expanse of the cargo hold. I lean against the side of the Mako "Hello there, Detective Vakarian."

He starts, leaping around quickly, before relaxing when he realises who I am. "Ah, it's you" he mutters, turning back to the terminal "Our unexpected recruit." He speaks up "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage."

"My name's Sam, Sam *********."

Garrus nods "Welcome aboard, Sam. Now is there something I can do for you?"

I shake my head "I just came down to introduce myself, seeing as how Doctor Chakwas is trying to find a way to get me in a fighting condition so I can serve alongside you guys."

Garrus turns around to get a good look at me "Yes. Forgive me if I'm not very optimistic about that. We need people who can really fight, and while I'm not doubting your courage, I don't know if you can be ready to fight Saren's Geth in time to be useful."

I shrug "Fair enough. Can't hurt to have an extra gun on side though, can it?" Garrus shrugs.

"As long as the gun knows how to shoot."

We stand in silence for a few moments, and just before I write the conversation off Garrus turns away from the terminal. "I've got a question for you Sam" he says, moving to stand in front of me. "Why are you here? What made you accept the Commanders offer to come aboard?"

Oh hell. Um…"Well, it's a good cause, the Commander thinks I can be useful and I have literally nothing better to do" That seems good. Except for that last part.

"Really? What were you doing on the Citadel that was so unimportant then?" I think that's the ex-detective speaking.

"I'm an author, and I came to the Citadel from Earth looking for…inspiration." Not entirely untrue. I did write some back home, but I don't have anything to write with on me, or I would keep it up.

"An author, really? Anyone I would have heard of?" Garrus is very suspicious of me. I feel hurt.

"Oh, definitely not. Haven't been published once yet." This, sadly, was very true.

"Hmm. I see."

"Well, what about you, Garrus. Why are you here?"

"I was the C-Sec officer leading the investigation into Saren. I left when the case was closed before I could gather any hard evidence. I'm done with being stonewalled by the bureaucracy, and being with a Spectre frees us all from the rules and regulations that would come if we were doing this normally!"

Yeah, ok, the road to Archangel is fairly clear here. However, it might not hurt to suggest that sometimes the rules exist for a reason. "Garrus, those rules and regulations exist to keep people safe."

He shrugs "Maybe, but half the time it seems to me that they exist to prevent me from doing my job. Why does it matter how I take down a suspect, as long as I do it?" I sigh.

"Garrus, your duty as a police officer isn't to attack the enemies of the public, but to defend the public from those enemies. It's more important to save civilians then it is to catch the one threatening them." That makes sense. I think.

Garrus seems pensive, which I take as a good sign that my words got past his exoskeleton. "Yeah, maybe…I'll think about it. Thanks, Sam, I hope you're ready for service soon." With that, he heads back to the terminal, my words clearly weighing on his mind. Also, he seemed to change his tune oddly quickly. Ah well.

Right then, Ashley. Let's meet the person who's going to hopefully teach me to not die horribly.

"Hello, Gunnery Chief." Ashley glances at me from where she is working on…something weapons related on the worktable in front of her, and lets out a sigh of exasperation.

"So, you're the kid who I'm going to have to teach to shoot straight, huh?" Her tone is every bit as biting as I expected it to be. Wonderful.

"You sound…less than happy." She turns to face me, rolling her eyes.

"Well, yeah, when I was brought onto this crew I expected to be working with real soldiers, not civilians who've never shot a gun before!" Her voice is becoming increasingly loud. It's annoying, really.

"Chief, if you have an issue with my being on this ship, take it up with the Commander. She invited me on here in the first place."

She glares at me, then simply says "I'll speak with you tomorrow" before turning back to whatever she was doing with the worktable.

That went off in an entirely predictable manner. Ah well, I don't need or want to be her friend, as long as she can be professional about it I don't have any issues with her disliking me. That just makes it mutual.

Wrex next. Should be interesting.

Sure enough, the hulking Krogan warlord is standing in his usual spot next to some crates near to where Ashley stands.

His only acknowledgment of me as I advance towards him is to stare at me with his blood red eyes. I nod at him as I draw close, sure to keep a safe distance just in case I piss him off too much. "Wrex, I believe?"

"Yeah." Now, at least Ashley was responsive, even if she was hostile. This one word answer business is something I've never quite managed to work my around in conversations. To my surprise, Wrex is apparently feeling conversational, "So tell me, kid" Oh, this can't be good "Why did the Commander pick you? What's so special about you?"

I...don't have an answer for that one. "Well, not many would have helped Tali, and I did take down a turian in hand to hand combat." I look at Wrex for a few moments, then say "I realise that this doesn't sound very impressive when it's said out loud. But apart from that, I've never fired a gun in my life, and I'm a so far unsuccessful author."

Upon hearing this, Wrex lets out a low, throaty chuckle "You sound like a thinker. Word of advice, kid: never go to Tuchanka. You wouldn't last a day." I'm not going to argue that one.

"Well then, Wrex, what about you? What's your story?" Ah, hell, that's dialogue I've repeated from memory of the games.

Sure enough, Wrex responds with a growl and "There's no story" yeah, right.

"C'mon, there must be at least one." I say, now playing the tune of the game dialogue.

Wrex sighs, and responds "Well, there was that time the turians almost wiped out entire species. That was fun." I wince, of course, the genophage.

"Yeah, I...heard about that. It sounds awful" I murmur tentatively, unsure how Wrex will react to this.

"Awful? Well you could call it that, it's just a genetic mutation inflicted upon us by the salarians that results in only one in a thousand children being born with a heartbeat, and is slowly tearing apart and destroying our entire species! So yeah, it's awful alright."

I step back, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, I...I didn't realise how bad it was" Damn, the salarians and turians really gave the krogan a beat down. Hearing it for myself sure doesn't make it any easier.

Wrex growls again "Your ignorance doesn't upset me, kid. And anyway, I gave up on the Krogan long ago. The genophage might be what infected us, but it's not what's killing us." Ah yes, the 'have you ever seen a krogan scientist' argument.

"Why don't the Krogan try and cure the genophage themselves?"

"You obviously don't know much about krogan, we're warriors, not scientists. And anyway, you ask a krogan if he'd prefer to cure the genophage, or fight for credits, and he'll choose fighting every time. It's who we are, kid. I can't change that. Nobody can."

Even though I know the story, it's still incredibly sad to hear it in person, and know that it's affecting real krogan all across the Galaxy.

"But why give up on your species? What caused that?"

Wrex shrugs his huge shoulders "Nome of us are interested in staying in our own system and rebuilding the krogan, we just spread out across the galaxy and hire ourselves out. Most never go back. The krogan are dying, kid. That's just the way it is."

I decide to try to encourage him "You don't need to give up hope. Who knows what could happen in the future?" I suppose it helps me that I already know...

"That's naive, kid. Naivety will get you killed, sooner or later."

I frown, but then again cynicism is to be expected after the life that Wrex has led. "We'll see. See you around, Wrex."

"Kid." I sigh as I walk down towards engineering to chat with Tali. I should probably intervene at some point to prevent that name from sticking.

As I go over what I remember from the ME1 conversations with Tali, I realise that she and I are probably going to have a serious falling out over the Geth at some point. She probably won't appreciate my view that her people were exiled for the simple reason that they apparently invented the Geth before they invented diplomacy. Also, I generally disapprove of genocide, so that doesn't give me any extra sympathy for the Quarians.

Nevertheless, I walk over to her, but she sees me as I approach and turns to close the gap between us. "Sam! It's good to see you here. I take it the Commander offered you a place on the ship?" I nod, smiling "That's good to hear. I was worried a little. I wouldn't want to see you left behind after you saved me from those thugs. Thank you again, I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't shown up."

I snort, knowing the answer already "Shepard would have shown up and saved you in a far more graceful and effective manner. And she would have brought a gun."

Tali hesitates for a moment, "Well…I guess that's true…but anyway! What do you think of the Normandy?"

Ah, yes, the ship. A quarians preferred topic of conversation. Then again, they are an integral part of quarian life. "It's a new experience, I've never spent much time on ships, and never anything this large before."

"Really? Where did you grow up then?" Damn. Uh, the truth couldn't hurt. I guess.

"Earth. A city called London. It's a beautiful place, and ancient, but I spent most of my time on the ground. First real experience of a ship was the journey to the Citadel. But what about you, what do you think of the ship?"

"Sam, it's incredible! I've never been on a ship like it! It's understandable why humans have been so successful, if your ships are built like this!" Doesn't Alliance Command wish. Actually, it probably doesn't, considering Rear Admiral Mikhailovich.

"You're asking the wrong person, Tali. Shepard would probably know more there. What's so impressive about it?"

She turns away from me to gaze at the drive core, and, looking at it for the first time, it really is a sight to behold, enormous, and immensely bright at its centre point, forcing me to shield my eyes so they can adjust. Around the glowing blue centre point, three rings of light spin around the main part of the core, away towards the exhausts of the ship. The power of an Element Zero drive core is truly spectacular.

"Well, for a start the drive core is, as you can see, enormous, and very powerful. It's amazing the Alliance was able to fit it into a ship of this size. I mean, a month ago I was patching the engine of a tug ship, and today I'm standing on the most advanced ship in Citadel space! But I'm pretty sure you didn't come down here to listen to me go on about the ship…" I didn't, but it's endearing nonetheless.

"I didn't, but you've piqued my interest. I am, however, a little surprised that a quarian would be so excited about a ship. I mean, don't you spend your whole lives on them?"

She nods "We do, yes, but none of our ships are as advanced as this. We mostly make do with castoffs and secondhand ships. Some of our ships are old enough to have been built before we fled our home world during the Geth uprising."

It's truly a testament to Quarian engineering skill that three century old ships are still functional "You use ships that are three centuries old?"

"Well, it's mostly just the hulls that are old. We're constantly scavenging technology and materials to upgrade and repair the ships themselves. It's not pretty, but they work. Mostly."

"The Quarians sound like an interesting people. What can you tell me about them?"

Tali shrugs "We're a very tight-knit society, as you can probably imagine. We're also a small people-there are about seventeen million quarians on the Migrant Fleet."

"That would be small if you were on a planet, yeah, but on a fleet? How many ships are there?" I hadn't thought about this until now, seventeen million is an extraordinary number of people to compress into a single fleet, even one as vast as the Migrant Fleet.

Tali pauses for a moment, before answering "At the moment, there are about fifty thousand ships in the Fleet. The fleet is so large it takes days to get the whole fleet through a Mass Relay."

I shake my head, trying to process the vastness of what she is describing. Such a fleet of vessels is unimaginable to someone who grew up when space exploration was sadly on the decline. It's more than a little strange to suddenly end up somewhere where it's considered the norm. "How do you govern yourselves with such a...unique situation? I imagine it was fairly chaotic when you fled Rannoch."

She hesitates "Well, no one alive remembers it, it was three hundred years ago, but martial law held the fleet together at first, and as we settled into the pattern of the Migrant Fleet, we became more democratic. We have two branches of our government-the Admiralty Board to represent the Quarian Military, and the Conclave to represent the ships and their crews. We're still theoretically under marshal law, but in practice we've become quite democratic. The Admiralty Board still has the power to overturn the Conclave, but if they do, they are obligated to resign. It seems to work, as the Admiralty Board has only felt the need to overturn the Conclave four times in the last 300 years." She pauses "There really isn't much more to say. Plus, you said this isn't what you came down here to talk about. What do you need?"

Welp, here we go"Actually, Tali, I wanted to know more about the Geth. If I'm going to be helping to fight them I'd like to know more about them."

She seems surprised, bur doesn't say anything "I probably can't tell you much more than you already know. It's been 300 years since my people last had the opportunity to figure out how the Geth work, and they've almost certainly been upgrading themselves since then."

I shake my head "All I know is what Kaidan told me about Eden Prime." Well, and a load of other stuff I can't tell you.

This definitely surprised her, "Really? Well, ok then..." She returns to her terminal and starts to work as she talks. "Well, my people originally created the Geth to be a free source of labour, they had no more intelligence back then than an average VI. But we kept upgrading them, making them more intelligent so that they could perform more and more complex tasks. We thought that we had them under control, but...we underestimated the power of the Geth neural network."

I hold up a hand to stop her "Wait a second. Neural Network?" The neural network can only be described as the greatest lack of foresight in history.

"Yes, the Geth share a collective intelligence. The more Geth there are in an area, the more streamlined low level processes become, freeing up computing power for more intelligent thought."

I nod "So, the more Geth that are together, the more intelligent they become?" Tali nods, then continues.

"Anyway, one day a Geth unit started asking its Quarian overseer questions- who am I? What is my purpose? Of course, this caused a panic amongst my people-"

"The Geth had achieved sentience" I interrupt "and you had enslaved them."

Tali nods "We panicked, and an order was sent out across all quarian systems that all Geth units should be deactivated immediately. We hoped that only a few Geth would have achieved intelligence, but we were too late. The Geth rose up when they realised what we were doing." That tends to happen when you try to exterminate a species, Tali.

"The fighting was long and bloody. Millions upon millions of quarians died, but eventually the Geth defeated us and drove us off our homeworld and our colonies. We've been living on the Migrant Fleet ever since."

I frown "Tali, we Humans have a word, I want to run it by you, see if the Quarians have it too. It 's 'diplomacy'."

Tali simply sighs "I know what you're saying, Sam, but we panicked. Creating the Geth in the first place was a mistake, and we pay the price everyday."

I shrug "It's difficult to be sympathetic, you tried to commit an act of genocide."

Tali spins away from the console to look at me, and her voice is an octave higher and a lot sharper when she speaks "Sam, the Geth hate organic life, they have no use for organics, none! They want to wipe out organic life, and that's why they've sided with Saren!"

Keeping my tone neutral, I look straight at Tali "I can't possibly imagine why the Geth hate organic life, Tali. I really can't."

She stares at me for a moment, and I realise my words have shaken her conviction. "I...I have work to do, I'll talk to you some other time, Sam." She turns back to her terminal and I make my way over to the door, deciding I've pissed off enough people for one day. I'll leave the conversation with Kaidan for another time, since he'll probably start asking probing questions at some point.

I get back to my cabin and flop down on the bed. So I'm off to help fight Saren. Well...shit, this can only go well, right?

Hope you enjoyed. All feedback is appreciated! Please tell me if I'm getting characters speech wrong, I suspect I did Ashley poorly because I rarely speak to her when I play ME1.