Chapter One - Home
Tali'Zorah was sitting on the wooden floor of her living room, looking out through a giant glass sliding door that led to the garden. The door was open, letting in the sound of a small creek jumping over the rock formations in the distance. It was her favourite time of the late afternoon, just as the sun over Rannoch began to set. The scent of desert grass was blown in by the mild breeze. Almost poetic, she thought to herself. Her personal Omni-tool lit up, an incoming video call from a Citadel vessel.
"Tali!" a familiar-sounding voice said over the comm. It was Liara T'Soni, now a seasoned Asari Commander with a lucrative side hustle.
"Liara, old friend," Tali responded joyfully, "just a second…"
She stood up and swiped with her right hand from the Omni tool to a circular platform in the centre of the room. The lights in the room dimmed slightly and a holographic image of Liara, dressed in a blue-and-white light armour, appeared.
"It is great to see you, it's been too long," Liara looked around the room and smiled. Tali couldn't help but reciprocate a friendly grin.
"What brings you here, well… to my living room?"
Liara leaned slightly forward as if she would reveal a secret to her. Tali made her way from the glass door by now, and she was facing Liara's hologram.
"I've taken command of a new tactical and scientific ship, The SX-05, launched by the Council Authority to help out with the re-establishment of the Mass Relay System in the outer limits of Citadel Space, and I would like to have you on board."
The proposition hung in the air for a moment, Liara's holographic appearance flickered as if she was waiting for Tali's response. Tali looked out the glass door again, the afternoon air brought in flashbacks from their time together on the Normandy under Commander Shepard.
"I …" she hesitated.
"The Galaxy has changed since the War with the Reapers, we have the opportunity and the ability now to be at the forefront of bringing it back together, what we…"
"... my place is here with my people," Tali uttered her thoughts out loud, interrupting Liara. Her old friend leaned back and paused for a moment.
"The Admiralty Board can't spare members of our society…"
"I had spoken to the Admirals, and they have approved your leaving Rannoch temporarily. It took some convincing, but we were not going to let go of the opportunity to have you on our ship..."
"Temporarily?" That word seemed less threatening. Even though she spent the majority of her lifetime aboard ships, she grew quite fond of the solid ground.
"I'm wondering, Doctor… Commander T'Soni, what kind of convincing it took to let the Board let me go?" she asked slightly perturbed but somewhat amused.
"I can tell you in person, this communication channel is not nearly secure enough." her expression was serious, but her eyes gave up a less serious undertone. "We're docked in orbit, waiting for you to come up and meet us".
"Well, I guess I can't say no to a friendly visit." She looked at Liara, their eyes locked, and Tali nodded in approval.
"Good to have you on board, old friend!" Liara smiled once more, and then her holographic image glitched and disappeared.
The room's lighting became brighter again. Tali was standing alone in the living room, with her feet on the hardwood floor. Behind the hologram platform, there was a table filled with gadgets, partly disassembled omni tools, and a few other larger pieces of Quarian and Geth technology. She made a few steps forward to the table and picked up a rock that was sitting on the edge of the table next to her enviro-suit visor and an empty glass bottle. The rock was just the right size to fit in the palm of her hand. She ran her thumb on one of the edges, paused for a second, placed it into a side pocket of her suit, and picked up the visor as well. She looked at her reflection in the glass and thought about how she would have to get used to seeing the world around her through it again. Years of isolation on Rannoch probably made her immune system even less resilient to all kinds of new infections spread by other species on crammed spaceships. Besides, she also had grown quite fond of the life outside the enviro-suit, simple tasks as eating and drinking with the suit on were so unpleasant. Not to mention her new home by the creek on Rannoch.
"I guess I won't miss this so much if it's just temporary," she thought to herself, trying the visor on without the headgear. The memories came flushing in again, and the breeze through the glass door became colder. Tali stepped towards the door, closed it, and sat down on a comfortable armchair opposite the table. The sound of the creek jumping over rock formations disappeared, only the sound of ventilation in the ceiling disturbed the silence that took over the room.
"Decontamination in progress…" a muffled-sounding voice announced over the ship's intercom. It was standard procedure for the arriving crew or guests to go through it once on board. Tali was standing in a small three-by-three metre room, the docking bay door behind her had just closed, and the entrance to the rest of the ship in front of her would not open until the process was complete.
"Decontamination in progress, please, stand by." A warm light filled the room and the air became hotter and dryer in seconds. Luckily, Tali was wearing her enviro-suit, so the heat didn't cause her any discomfort, and the air inside the suit was unaffected. She was more worried about what the other visitors had been bringing in. As she understood, this was not Liara's first stop. Space travel had become more tedious after the Mass Relay Network went down. Only the most sophisticated ships, the SX-class one of them, were equipped with a Mass Effect Drive Core. It was developed by Turian and Salarian Engineers after the War, combining remnants of Reaper and Mass Relay technology. Since the supply of Element Zero was short, only the top-priority missions were approved to use it for longer jumps. It must have taken Liara about half a human year to get to Rannoch. And not just Liara, she kept using plural during their call the previous afternoon. As the decontamination beams hit her suit, she wondered who would she meet on the other side of the door.
"Decontamination complete, all clear." the automated voice echoed, and the inner door slid open. There stood Liara T'Soni not in holographic form as before but in the flesh, just an arm's reach away. Overwhelmed by the reality of the situation, Tali nearly jumped forward into Liara's open arms, not paying attention to the two figures standing next to her.
"Garrus? Kaidan?" she could barely hold it together by this point.
"It's good to have you back," Kaidan Alenko said, extending a warm welcome as he stepped forward for a hug.
Garrus Vakarian, couldn't resist injecting a touch of humor. "Temporarily," he added playfully, joining the embrace.
"Welcome aboard The Therum," said Liara with a genuine smile gracing her cheeks.
Four old friends shared a moment of camaraderie before Liara took charge. "Come on, Tali. Let me show you around our new home away from home."
Liara led the way through the sleek corridors of the SX-05. Kaidan and Garrus chimed in, sharing anecdotes about the ship's features, its capabilities, the diverse crew that manned its various stations, and some of the stops they had made along the way to pick Tali up on Rannoch. As they passed the entrance to the engineering decks, Garrus couldn't help but highlight the ship's weaponry with a twinkle in his eye.
"We've upgraded and calibrated a few things since our days on the Normandy. You'll appreciate the improvements."
They continued their walk towards the port observation deck, where the crew could bask in the mesmerizing beauty of the vast open space beyond the ship's hull. As Tali gazed out at Rannoch, she couldn't help but feel a sense of belonging mixed with a new-found anxiety about leaving her home for the first time in years.
"Commander T'Soni" yet another familiar voice, that of Joker, interrupted her thoughts as it echoed through the intercom. "We're ready to jump to FTL, the course is set, Far Rim, ready when you are."
Garrus, Kaidan and Tali all looked at Liara as she turned to them.
"Initiate the jump."
