Though it took only a day to cut the colonists down to the ten-thousand requested, it had taken almost a week to vet the remaining, sometimes shifting them around. Families were prioritized over individuals, as this was to be a true colony, the first that the quarians had had in almost three hundred years. Not that everyone saw it that way, and more than a dozen potential colonists had to be sent back, either because they tried to smuggle weapons, or just because they seemed a little off kilter to those observing them.

This delay meant that Rannoch was lively again by the time the quarians arrived. The geth had maintained their cities and their homes, but it was just that, maintenance. Life had been absent from those buildings of metal that the quarians enjoyed building, and so, when the first Terran colonists arrived, they began to add the touches that made a place truly alive. This meant, that as the first of the quarian colonists touched down, they found a city that looked almost as good as the images they had.

To facilitate the colonial efforts, the Terran colonists were just as much volunteers as the quarians, all of them having the protoculture extracted from their bodies, reducing their size, so that each family unit could live together in a single home. Quarians were paired with Terrans, two families to every home. Luckily, even before the drifting through space, the quarians had been a culture all about their relations, and so each home was designed to fit at least three generations under a single roof, if not more.

Thus, Rael'Zora found himself counting doors, holding his hand on his daughter's bubble as he made his way down a hall. Behind him, he watched others stop at the doors to their rooms, most entering to open arms and warm hearts, as the Terrans greeted their new partners. Finally, he came to his door, and putting his hand against it, he almost cried. Home, a real home for him and his people. This had been a dream for so long, that he wondered idly if he was asleep, and would jerk awake at some moment to a cold reality.

"Ah, Mr. Zora. Hello," said a voice as the door suddenly slid open. In the doorway stood a figure, slightly shorter than Rael'Zora himself, but bulkier in almost every way, with thicker arms and legs. In his arms was a child, or so Rael assumed given the similarities between the larger and smaller Terrans.

"Hello yourselves. You must be the Shepards," said Rael as the figure stepped back, and then the quarian guided his daughter into the room behind him, her eyes widening as she took in the sights around her. Everywhere there were boxes and crates of things. Some were those things the quarians had allowed the Zora family to send ahead, while others were clearly the Terrans' own things, though they were somewhat unpacked already.

"Keelah Se'lai, Rael'Zora Vas Rannoch," said the smaller Terran as the larger one set him down, doing an approximation of the appropriate gesture with his five digit hands, and catching the quarian completely off guard. A child, one of another species, saying something like that was just shocking. So few in this galaxy ever cared about them, or their traditions, and yet here, again, these people surprised him.

"Keelah Se'lai, Jon Shepard Vas Rannoch," he responded, bowing slightly to the child

"Heh, Jon, why don't you take the young Miss Zora to the playroom and show her your toys, and let the grownups talk for a bit?" asked the father.

"Okay dad. Hey Tali, come with me, I've got some cool vids to show you," he said, and the girl in the bubble looked up at her father, who nodded his consent, and then she rolled after the young boy, an old Minmay song starting to come through the open door, before it slid shut behind them.

"Ah, children, not a care in the world sometimes," said the man looking after his son, while Rael just stared after him. The man seemed to understand that this all was overwhelming, and guided the shell shocked quarian through the center of the large apartment, until he came to a couch that was already set up.

"Did you teach him that?" the suited figure asked at last, as he took a seat.

"Honestly? No. I meant to, but there was a lot to do in the move and I forgot. Jon wants to make everyone happy though, so he looked up everything about the quarians he could before we got here. He's a good kid," admitted the Terran man, and just sat there in silence as the quarian processed everything that was happening.

"It might be impertinent of me to ask this, but my files said you had a wife and daughter as well, but I don't hear anyone else in this apartment, might I ask where they are?" said the quarian finally, causing the Terran beside him to sigh.

"Yeah, I do have one of each of those. My wife's up above right now. She's determined to protect us, and refuses to leave her post now, since...you know what happened at Shanxi, right?" asked the man, and the quarian nodded.

"Well, that was my wife's ship that got destroyed. She lost a lot of close friends. I knew them, sure, but more in the way you know a neighbor from across town. She lived with those people, and she took everything that happened there personally. One of the reasons we volunteered to be moved off world," he explained.

"Ah, I see. I know friends who had similar experiences involving pirates. Even after they return home, their minds never truly settle again, always wanting to go on one last patrol to make sure everyone is safe," said the quarian.

"Yeah, and with Terrans it's worse. We don't eat or sleep, so if we want to, we can be on duty all day, all night, and no breaks at all. One of my friends back on Shanxi who did psychoanalysis for years told me to let her have her space for now, and she'll realize she misses me more than she wants to protect me," admitted the Terran.

"A wise course of action, so long as the person has someone to return to. What of your daughter though? I had thought Tali would have an older female to talk to," said Rael.

"That's...a bit harder. Jane's up there with Hannah, but for another reason. She doesn't like being small," explained Adam, and after a second of thought, Rael nodded. He'd heard of the Terrans' size from various reports before landing, but he'd also seen the boots on the ground at the landing port earlier. They were quite a sight, to be sure, standing there like imposing statues of metal. One had even waved back at Tali in her bubble after the young lady had waved at them.

"Jane wants to be strong, to be tough, and that means big to her. She refused the extraction process, and since the colony is going to be mixed, it was believed that the best course of action is to have only micronized colonists, at least for now," continued the Terran, and the quarian nodded at the statement. It did indeed make sense to avoid any incidents involving the size difference, considering he knew some of his own people were still a bit jumpy at the idea of living on a planet, especially with the geth so close.

"Luckily, since I'm going to be the colony's administrator, I've got enough pull to make this work. She'll be with her mother most of the time, probably training as close to constantly as she can around her schoolwork, and we'll visit her on days when it's allowed. A bit of a distance for our relationship, but I'm positive it'll work out," he finished, and Rael nodded.

The colony was going to be run, for the moment, like a Terran one. Nothing too obtuse there, considering they were footing the bill for rations, materials, and basically were the impetuous for the endeavor. For now that meant that Mr. Shepard was nominally in charge as the Administrator, but would step into an assistant role to whoever won the election for Colonial Governor next month.

The quarians had been told it would be an informal affair, and to submit their own names if they felt up to running the place. Rael himself had had his name submitted to the ballot by some friends, and thanks to his mother's good reputation as the Civilian Fleet Admiral, he was the favorite to win, so long as the Terrans allowed a quarian to be in charge of course. That was one of the reasons for his support, to observe how the Terrans reacted to such an event.

"I see. Well then, I suppose I should start unpacking my daughter's things. She'll expect her room and sleeping arrangements up before bedtime, and she is quite fussy when her expectations are not met," said the quarian, and the Terran nodded this time, grinning as he got to his feet along with the quarian, offering to help the man with his work. Together, the two fathers walked into the room, as all over the colony, quarians found themselves welcome somewhere for the first time in as long as the oldest of them could remember.

OoOoO

"You can't be serious," said the middle of the three figures as they looked at the screen before them. All around them, the shimmering field of energy protected them from spies, but it failed to protect them from the images in front of them, which were, in a word, disturbing.

"The data is accurate, and confirmed by almost a dozen sources that I could contact, with at least twice that many providing circumstantial evidence in support of it. The short version of all of this, is that the quarians have returned to their homeworld," confirmed the one to the right, as the image of several quarian craft landing on Rannoch played out before them, with several silhouettes in the background that had to be Terrans, and most surprising, geth, all seemingly waiting for the suit rats.

"So, they've not only somehow taken control of the geth, but tricked the quarians into their net as well," the middle figure again, and the ones to either side of him just stayed silent, their minds going a mile a minute at this turn of events.

Twelve hours ago, the Citadel had received a transmission from Federation Space. The details were long, and mostly things that would concern only bureaucrats and their ilk, the exact definition of borders and the like down to the meter. But then there'd been that bit at the end, that the Perseus Veil was theirs as well. That part had brought more than a few minds up short, most thinking that the Terrans would deal with the geth problem, and they were welcome to do so.

Of course, by that time, the Council had already known some of the details, but they'd waited for official channels to learn of things. After all, acting rashly had caused them problems of late. Even they had been surprised by the bluntness of the declaration, and more importantly, what it had failed to state. For instance that the geth had actually joined the Terrans, and that the quarians were leaning towards them as well. The Council was still debating on how exactly to leak that bit of info, as it would turn some heads.

"I don't doubt that this is a power play, Quentius, but I don't think, given our own contact with the Terrans, that it's a trick," commented the figure to the left

"No, I doubt that as well. The Terrans were tolerant and trusting to a fault. This has all the signs of a genuine effort on their part to bring two disparate groups together after three centuries of them being apart. While it may benefit them in some way, a small way all things considered, it would be more a gesture of kindness from them," said the figure to the right, and the turian between them just hrumphed. He wanted to argue the point, but given his predecessor was the one who caused this situation in the first place, it was probably best not to push too hard here.

"I will be the first to admit, we haven't always been the most generous to the quarians, but to have them join with those who are our enemies. It really is unthinkable," he said at last, trying to turn towards an avenue of attack that at least had some merit to it.

"True, but then, before this point, we were the only option they had. They could either play by our rules, and gain what we were willing to give them, or gamble on this new player in the game, who was offering them far more than what we ever did. I see no fault on their part in this," said Tevos after a few moments of thought.

"Still, we must make sure this incident isn't repeated. Too many semi-independent systems are already clamoring for the right to join the Federation. If any of them leave, and prosper, we'll be faced with a total erosion of our base," admitted the Dalatress as she kept watching the recording in front of them.

It showed the quarians, hundreds of them, exiting various ships and walking between the massive forms of armored Terrans. In the sky overhead one could see thousands of twinkling lights, that would look like just bright stars, but everyone watching knew were ships, mixtures of both Terran and geth sailing in formation overhead. The ground view wasn't clean of the AIs either, of course, as a few platforms stood by, just watching, not forcing themselves into this first group yet.

"I've already got my agents amongst those on Illium spreading what news they can in regards to the Terrans actions. Most are interpreting it as a grasp for more space, and see them as invaders. A few are asking some troubling questions, and I still have a few volus business heads trying to separate themselves from the galactic economy," with a gesture, Tevos caused the recording to fade, and suddenly a sheet of numbers appeared before them, the stocks and various markets of every business on Illium and a few beyond.

"The biggest dissent is coming from private computer interests. The geth, the Terran AIs, and everything associated with them. There are so many questions there, and so few answers. I've had to step in when I learned that one company was trying to find a team to take into Terran territory for a raid," this information was followed by a company logo, and then a small video of several rough looking batarians and krogans wearing Bloodpack armor getting on a shuttle. Just as it lifted off, the thing exploded, and the video feed died.

"Our agent in the field was able to put an end to that ambition, if a little messily. For now, the rumor that you get paid with a shot to the brain is keeping most mercs away from the contract, and given a few more weeks, I'm sure we can convince the business runners to either abandon a foolish plan, or otherwise deal with them," the tone said everything the other two needed to know about Tevos' intentions in regard to those who stepped over the line.

"So, is this what we've been reduced to then? Just reacting to the Terrans? They've barely been a galactic power for two weeks, and already their just being there is changing things fundamental to the way we operate," commented the turian, and the other two were silent for a moment, before the Dalatrass pushed a button on her omnitool.

"No, we have our own plans to consider. We must expand, it's vital we find more space, more resources to deal with this threat. For the moment, I believe we have limited the Terrans' own expansion by isolating them. For many in the galactic community they are at best, a distant thought. So long as we keep them that way, we'll only have a few groups like the quarians to deal with. In the meantime, we build ourselves up to match them," so saying, the screen in front of them changed again, this time into a schematic for something.

"A deep scan of the armor Mrs. Shepard wore on the Presidium has given us a dozen new ideas for constructing something to match a Terran hand to hand. It won't be cheap, of course, but right now, we've got the larger economy, and we should make use of that advantage while it remains in effect," in front of them were suits of armor, or more accurately, large mechanized soldiers.

"I've had my entire family working on this one for most of the last week, and they think it has great promise. They're calling it, the Wanzer, the Walking Tank," she said, pronouncing the word like 'vonser' before going into details on construction and material use in the suit, as the other two listened closely, as they stared at the pictures of the squat machines, with cannons and guns for arms.

OoOoO

"You're certain this information is accurate?" asked the woman as she looked over the data file on her omnitool.

"Your employer doesn't like it when I get things wrong, but I'll admit, this info is only as accurate as I can make it," said the suited figure beside her, his hands rubbing against the sides of his arms nervously as he looked around.

"And why weren't you on one of the transports going to Rannoch then? You could have gotten an up close and personal look at the Terrans and their operations," complained the blue skinned female as she looked up from the readout.

"Yeah, and get killed by the geth before getting it to you," he declared, and the woman nodded. It was an honest statement.

"Next ship out, if they haven't murdered everyone, I'll try to get one of my people on board. They're probably be a bit less choosy then anyway. Once we've got eyes and ears on the ground, I'll be able to give you more," he said, and the woman nodded, before idly tossing him a card.

"Make sure you do," she said, walking away. She knew a few of her colleagues would probably kill him for failing even once, but the woman was not one to let a good lead die so easily. It wasn't his fault that all he had were a few recordings from Rannoch, without the scans to back them up. They were still more than what anyone else had so far on the new colony. Slipping through a few city streets, the blue woman made her way around to a small port on the east side of town, and in an hour, she launched, using the time between lift off and light speed to send a message.

"Agent Tela Vasir reporting. This is everything my contact was able to get on Rannoch for now. He promised more will come when they send the next group of colonists," she said, sending the datastream into the waste heat burst of the ship as it launched beyond the atmosphere. Somewhere, deep in space, an eight eyed face stared at the datastream, and nodded at it, along with a few more reports filtering in. The Terrans were still a mystery as much to him as anyone else, but he was certain he had more pieces to the puzzle than anyone else in the galaxy, and in time, he would solve them, the same way he solved everyone.