Chapter 20: A Chance and a Ship

Once the Migrant Fleet had landed all ships on Haestrom's surface, the quarian people began work to build homes and places to live on the planet. Some quarians opted to set up their place in Apocrypha for their own reasons. Dremora appeared out of the portal of Apocrypha and started to assist the quarians with setting up shelters and crops for food: the Dremora worked tirelessly and without complaint in service to their master that had instructed them to help the quarians live on Haestrom and Apocrypha.

Tali, Rael, and Kana were holding each other closely since they have not seen each other all together in a long time and they were overwhelmed with joy and relief that they were all alive. While Tali did want to stay with her mother a bit longer, there was still a galaxy to protect and a lover to thank and so Tali said her goodbyes to her mother and father, though they had something to say to her before she left.

Rael:" Both you and Malen have my blessing Tali. May you be safe!"

Kana:" You will always have a home with us Tali. I will always love you!"

Tali waved back to them as she walked up to Malen and held his right hand.

Tali:" We still have a galaxy to save. Let's head back."

Malen:" Will do." He said as a black orb surrounded them and teleported them away.

A few moments later on the Normandy:

Malen and Tali reappeared in the kitchen area of the Normandy.

Tali:" It will take me a long time to get used to how that feels"

Malen:" Galactic travel near instantanisly can be very disorienting to those who are not used to such things or have no resistances to the sudden change in place." He said as he patted Tali on the back for reassurance.

There was hustling and commotion on the Normandy as mechanics and engineers roamed the rooms to inspect the interior, shape, and size of the Normandy both inside and out. Apparently Shepard ordered for a retrofitting of the Normandy's interior as well as the interior was outfitted with Ebony walls with a paint job to make the walls not appear so black in color.

Both Malen and Tali concluded that the Normandy wasn't going anywhere with the retrofits taking place and Tali was relieved that they had some R&R time. Tali pulled on Malen's right hand and led him to the Port Observation room of the ship.

Kasumi was just sitting on the couch in a curled up pose and didn't shift her seated position as Malen and Tali entered. Tali immediately headed straight for the bar counter where two other people were already having "happy hour".

Malen saw Garrus drinking a blue liquid from a cup and talking whole heartedly and boisterously as he drank and laughed. The other person that Malen saw at the bar counter was someone he would not have expected to see drinking in a million years.

Vaermina:" Hiiiii Breothter! What breings yyyyuo here?! Oo I see. Brining a "Friend" with you!? Come here you two! Siet douwn and half a drink with usss." She spoke in slurred speech and random octaves.

Garrus and Vaermina were sitting behind the counter as they drank glass after glass of blue, red, and some purple drinks that both Malen and Tali guessed to be alcohol based on Garrus's and Vaermina's current behavior.

Malen and Tali took a seat on the opposite side of the counter as Garrus got up slowly and wobbly and got two glass containers with alcohol in them. He set them on the table and served a glass to Tali and Malen the best he could with a blood alcohol content of about .15.

As Malen and Tali took a glass of alcoholic liquid, Malen couldn't help but wonder out loud.

Malen:" I didn't know that Daedric Lords could get drunk!?"

Vaermina:" Theey axcually can't get intox, but if one were to menipulaute their form in a specific way then they can sinmunlate thye effects of intox… *hic*"

Even though Vaermina sounded very intoxicated, she actually taught Malen something about Daedric Lords he didn't really think about. Malen raised his glass in a cheers and shot down the entire glass and asked for the refills to keep coming.

Tali also asked for the refills to keep coming, but she was not handling her alcohol as well as Malen by any stretch of the imagination as her movements became more sluggish and wobbly with each drink downed. Tali also became a lot more…. " touchy/feely" the more she drank.

Tali leaned on Malen after downing 14 glasses and began rubbing his chest.

Tali:" Maaalen! *hic* *giggle* Malen… I can hazt anothether glazz?" She slurred.

Malen:" I think you had enough Tali. I think the retrofits are almost done as well… probably would not be a good idea for you to go into a firefight while you're drunk. Wouldn't be all too well for your health."

Malen didn't simulate the effects of the alcohol since he knew that he would have to go on a mission soon and didn't want to make a mess out of things while drunk.

Tali:" Buut thatsi why I heva you around wit meee *hic* you'er so big (places her left hand over and caresses Malen's crotch), and stroung! *hic* mmmmmmmm *giggle* *hic*."

Malen's face slowly begins to turn bright red as he holds his right hand over his mouth as he tries to maintain control over his impulses. His left eye begins to veer away as Tali continues to caresses Malen's private area.

Malen:" Please stop." He pleads in a whisper.

Tali:" hehehahahehihe *giggle* *hic*" was Tali's only response as she continued to caress Malen's branch and 2 apples.

Garrus was a little too drunk to understand what Tali was doing to Malen and asked Vaermina what was going on.

Vaermina:" *hic* sshe'sss " Calibrating" him Graruss! *burp* *hic*"

Garuss:" Myaebe I can help Calibrate! I great Clarbrations!"

Malen made a plea in his mind

Malen:" Anu… please don't let Garrus "Calibrate" me!"

Vaermina:" *snorts* HAHAHAHEHAHAHAAHAHAHAHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHEHHHAHHEHEAEHEAEHE *hic* HEHAHAHEHAEHAEHAEHEAAHA *falls to the ground* HHHHHAHEHEHAHAHEHAEHAEHAEHEHAHHEHEAHAHA *snorts* HAhehahaheeahaha *hic* heahahhhheheaheh…..hahehe.. .. ….. ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz."

Vaermina had laughed herself into a drunken sleep as she lay sprawled on the floor. If Sanguine had any doubts that his sister Vaermina didn't know how to have fun or party, they were just proven wrong as a small stream of saliva dripped from her mouth as she slept. Garrus pretended to fall over conveniently on top of Vaermina as he passed out asleep as well.

Tali:" Thhhey seamen to get along whell… ha seamen…. *hic* we should doei thish morea often Maolen!" She says still caressing Malen's privates.

Malen:" *heavy breathing* you know you're going to regret drinking that much tomorrow right? *heavy breathing*" He says as he tries to still control himself.

Tali got herself a couple of poorly poured drinks and downed them without a second thought. Malen was at least grateful that she stopped stroking him before he ruined his party cloths.

Not long after the last drink was pour that the retrofits were done and the Normandy took off for Throne in the Hawking era nebula. Once the Normandy had arrived to the derelict reaper that they were going to investigate for the IFF, Shepard came over the intercom.

Shepard:" Malen I need you top side for this mission."

Tali:" IIIII II I'm Cumming *giggle* *hic* to Shepard!"

Shepard:" I don't think that…."

Tali:" NNNNO! I'm Commmming with Malen on this miiiision! And we are gonna make a bbbbbiggy meassh of the enemy! *hic*"

Malen:" I don't think you can say no to her right now Shepard… The more say it, the crazier ideas she might get and she is clinging on me like mud crabs to failure enough as it is."

Tali:" HEY! I'm not a clip on… I'll clip mines off rightes nnnnowshes!" She said as she reached behind her to try to undo her suit."

Malen:" OKOKOKOK come along Tali! Just please don't make me "finish" off my pants please!"

Tali:" *cheers loudly* *falls to floor*….. I miet need hellllp geeeeeting aup."

Malen lifts Tali and carries her on his back. Tali softly giggles as she moves her hands across his torso as far as she could reach.

Malen:" Are you always this horny when you're drunk Tali!?"

Tali:" *giggle* *hic* I'hve nerver been thuis drunk beerfror *hic*"

Malen:" Why couldn't she be the one I had that drinking contest with!? Instead I get a drinking contest against Sanguine that gets me doing a lot of weird shit while I was black out drunk. Wait second….. Sanguine… drinking contest….. (Rage face from Rage Comics) fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!" He screamed inside his mind as he carried Tali to the elevator.

Somewhere inside one of Sanguine's realms of Oblivion: Sanguine is sipping on some rare wine as he had a sudden case of Troll face as he felt as he had played a really good joke on someone.

Malen and Tali got to the docking tube with Shepard waiting in the Normandy's part of the tube. Shepard was still questioning the logic that Tali had about joining the mission while she was clearly drunk off her ass, but it seems that she would have it no other way.

Once they entered inside the derelict reaper, the group noticed a small study area with terminals on both sides of the front and rear facing walls. Some of the terminals held recording about what transpired there, and they all depicted a gradual indoctrination process.

They continued through the pathways of the reaper corpse until a sudden shack stopped their advance: Malen had to hold on to Tali tightly so she wouldn't fall over.

Tali: *groans* prealse doon't shaiek me like dat!" she groans in a slur.

Joker informs the group that the reaper put up kinetic barriers and EDI informs them where the location of the reaper's mass effect core is and that the reaper will fall when the core is deactivated. With that knowledge the group heads for their new destination.

Further down the path led to a dark, open area with bodies laying randomly on the ground. The path opened up to the right and led down a narrow walkway. Husks suddenly sprung up from below as they crawled their way back up to the surface.

Malen:" O joy… these ugly bitches again. Don't worry Shepard I got this."

Tali:" Don't yiuo maen we goat this?"

Malen:" Sure Tali. Whatever you say!" He said as he summoned a large frost barrier around the two of them and ran forwards.

The barrier stretched the width of the path and froze every husk that came into contact with it instantly. The frozen husks fell to the ground and shattered like glass and spread shards of frozen husk across the ground. Shepard had to run to keep up with Malen and Tali, though he periodically had to catch himself each time he almost slipped on a piece of frozen husk.

When the path was about to take a left, a sniper is heard firing two shoots into two husks that fell to the ground dead. The group was unable to spot the sniper when they rounded the corner.

Tali:" He bllashted them in the face *giggle* *hic*"

Malen and Shepard ignore Tali's attempts at innuendos as they pressed on. More husks, abominations, and scions crawled their way up and attempted to attack the group, but were quickly frozen solid and shattered to pieces when Malen used "Blizzard" without using his hands.

Shepard was unable to keep himself from slipping and falling this time as Malen's spell had also frozen the floor.

Tali:" HAHHAHAHEHEHA! *snorts* Sheepard home go you're ddddrunk!"

Shepard:" Look who's talking." He retorted back as he slowly got back on his feet.

Tali:" ME! I'm the wone talking."

Shepard:" Exactly."

Malen helped Shepard keep his balance until they were off the ice. They made their way into a large open area that seemed to be a blown off part of the reaper. The unknown sniper spotted Shepard and took out two husks that were behind him. The group spotted the sniper and saw that it was a lone geth with some odd repair jobs on its platform.

Geth Sniper:" Shepard-Commander." It spoke.

The geth sniper left the area. Malen was grining with joy on the inside seeing a geth defend a organic, Shepard was grateful and a bit confused, while Tali was just trying to find the emotions she is supposed to be feeling about this.

Tali:" A lone geeeeth just spoke? But they hhhhave only animal instents when alone!"

Malen:" There may have been only one body Tali, but I sensed hundreds of petty souls in it. It is not "alone" so to speak."

Tali was trusting of Malen even though this was the first time she has heard him talk about "sensing" things, but Shepard already seen enough proof of it to know that Malen really did see hundreds of "petty souls" in that geth unit.

Shepard:" So there is more than one geth intelligence in that platform Malen?"

Malen:" Way more!"

Shepard:" That's interesting to know, but we need to keep moving."

Malen nodded and took lead while Shepard followed close behind. Unsurprisingly; more and more husks came to greet them and were soon frozen in ice like the ones before. They went up and down stairs and inclines until they made it back inside an enclosed section of the reaper.

The circular room had a terminal to the left with the IFF lying on the keyboard. Shepard got the IFF and the group proceeded to the core. The group encountered a tech wall blocking their path to the core as they saw the geth sniper from before operating on a terminal in front of the core. Husks began to gather behind the geth and limped forward towards it. The geth fired back and used the terminal to lower the tech wall, but was knocked out by a husk when it tried to run towards the group.

The husk in the room were lifted up with Malen's telekinesis and thrown violently at the closed core. Malen applied massive pressure to the bodies as they became squished and flattened against the core's metal shielding. The bodies soon started acquiring water like properties as they were pressed into and expanded the tiniest of gaps of the metal shielding. The metal shielding eventually gave way as it was forced open and exposed the core. Malen let go of Tali's left arm and used his now free hand to shoot lightning into the core until exploded and dissipated into nothing.

As the reaper started to enter freefall Malen told Shepard to bring the geth aboard and that they at least needed to know why it spoke to them and had a piece of N7 armor on it. Shepard was a little uncomfortable, but agreed with Malen's logic and carried the geth.

Tali:" Malen! *hic*"

Malen:" An active geth has never been studied before Tali. Don't you think it would be in your best interest to learn as much about the geth as you can? Hmmmm?!"

Tali couldn't argue with that logic and she trusted Malen greatly and didn't argue any further. Malen then raised his left hand towards the core and the freefall of the reaper slowly began to stop, but stopping the freefall was not Malen's entire intent.

Both Tali and Shepard didn't know what it was exactly that Malen was doing and looked at him confused and worriedly.

Shepard:" Malen… what are you doing?!"

Tali:" I wwwhant to know tat to!"

Malen:" I guess you could say that I had a moment of inspiration when I looked closely at the core. I know that what I'm doing will probably be crazy weird once you know what it is, but I think it could be a very valuable asset or at least valuable template for future ideas and plans."

Shepard:" Can you explain at least a little of what you're trying to do?"

Tali:" Yeah! My haead hurts froum thinkinging about it!"

Malen:" That's the booze talking Tali, not the crazy idea I have. There is a precaution I am taking before I actually do this Shepard since Cerberus is watching our every move right now and I'd rather not have them know that I' am about to do this."

Shepard:" And that is?" getting a little tired of the suspense.

Malen:" Watch and you will see."

A black orb formed around Malen's left hand and began to expand outwards until it engulfed the entire reaper, preventing anyone on the outside from having a visual on the reaper, while also blocking out communications of all sorts.

Shepard:" That's it?" noticing that nothing changed.

Malen:" That was the precaution Shepard. Now here is the surprise." He said as he reached into his satchel.

Malen soon pulled out a grand soul gem filled with the soul of a dremora, who have unwavering loyalty to him, and telekinetically lifted the gem while chanting something in a whispered voice. Once the gem had reached the center of the empty mass effect core, it began to glow a bright red that refilled the space of the empty core completely.

New life began to ebb and flow into the reaper as a new host began to take root in its husk of a body. Creaking of metal scraping against metal could be heard throughout the reaper as metal realigned itself and reformed its shape. Broken parts of the reaper pooled together and reattached themselves to the places where they originally broke off. Red lights began to appear in the ship as the soul began to stretch into its new body. When the movement and creaking within the ship stopped, the voice of a dremora could be heard clearly and loudly throughout the reaper.

Dremora:" I see that you have given me a new form master! What would you have me will of this new form of mine?"

Both Tali and Shepard finally understood what it was that Malen had planned and were bewildered, exited, appauld, curious, and a bunch of other confusing emotions.

Malen:" I wish for you to remain in this location until I summon you or give you other orders in person. I do not need your services right now, but I need you to remain in this form and remain out of sight if you can."

Dremora:" Understood master."

Shepard didn't know what to think at the moment and many moments afterwards, while Tali had only one question in mind.

Tali:" Wat wooooould a gaod wanty with a finit pieice of metal even ef it is a reaaprere corpse?"

Malen:" It could be useful for other purposes in the future besides fighting and power Tali. I did happen to get a fragment of some sort of code when I destroyed the core of this reaper. It seemed important so I filed it away somewhere in my mind."

Tali:" Whatever you saye my smexy buewast! *giggle* *hic*"

Malen:" I will open a small hole in the perception barrier Shepard and we will get back to the Normandy through there… just follow me."

Shepard nodded his head and followed Malen onto a small metal bridge outside the dremora reaper and contacted Joker to pick them up. While Joker was confused to all hell where that black orb that surrounded the reaper came from, he was more than glad to put that at the back of his mind at the moment when he saw Shepard and the other 2.

The group boarded the Normandy and entered the inner airlock where they were confronted with Miranda who looked a bit livid.

Miranda:" What the hell happened down there Shepard!? This unknown black sphere surrounds the derelict reaper and we can't get any visuals on the reaper and couldn't get communications to you!"

Malen:" It was probably an electrical discharge from the brown star's atmosphere that caused communications failure and visual obscuring and illusions." He said as he waved his left hand behind him.

Malen didn't want to have to explain what he just did in details to someone who still had strong ties to Cerberus since Malen did not trust them at all. Miranda agreed with the bogus answer that Malen gave and left them to their own devices.

Shepard just shook his head and went towards the elevator.

Malen:" Where you heading Shepard?"

Shepard:" To drink until I pass out."

Shepard:" This has been a long day." He whispered to himself as he entered the elevator.

Author's Notes: I know that the chapter title kinda sucked, but I couldn't really think of anything better at the moment. I'm sure that this chapter was pretty entertaining none the less. The next chapter will be simply called "Legion's Loyalty". Hope you enjoyed it and look forward to reading more of this amazing crossover.