"Tali are you really sure you want to do this? There is no going back, and I don't think things are going to play out like you hope" I said.

"I'm sure. My people deserve to know" she boldly claims.

"Won't you get in trouble with the admirals?" I ask.

"For what? Disclosing already public information" Tali brings ups a good point.

"Information that can alter how the public will support the current war effort" I said.

"Look I thought about it, and I truly believe this is the way forward… plus I already sent it out to everybody 10 minutes ago" Tali said.

"YOUWHAT?!"

Now that I pay closer attention to the crowd, nearly everyone is on their omnitool. Almost as much as the phone zombies of my time. Why did Tali do this without telling me? I should have warned her. Tali takes a step forward. What wait is she doing. Tali climbs on top of a platform in the public square. WHAT IS SHE DOING?!

"Members of the migrant fleet. I am Tali Zorah. I assisted the great commander Shepard in saving the citadel from the geth attack. During my travels I learned that the geth I have fought were a zealous minority. The majority of geth do not want to eradicate our people. This information came to me from a geth unit I had the pleasure to work with recently while helping Shepard to save human colonists. It was capable of speech and taught me the history of our people and revealed there are quarians living on Rannoch today. It graciously allowed me to return home for a brief stay and I attached photographic evidence of my time there. Additionally, I searched through our hold historical records and discovered a forgotten quarian chatroom and was lucky enough to find one of our ancestors discuss the planetside quarians. This must come as a shock to you as it did for me, but the important thing is that peace with geth is not only possible, it is real and happening at our home. We do not have to fight the geth!" Tali said.

The crows looks up at her and to each other. All flavors of emotional reactions are on display. Most are stumped at what to do with this information. Desperately searching for the one brave enough to take actions. Some are more out spoken than others. A random orange quarian quarian stands ups and speaks to all.

"So what if the geth live with quarians on Rannoch. How does this help us?" he said.

Tali is taken aback. This is not the reaction she was hoping for.

Another random quarian stands "Yeah. The geth have been attacked us every time we tried to return home. How can we make peace with them after all that they did to us?" The crowd shakes their head in agreement. Tali desperately tries to calm them down but to no avail.

"Please please everyone just listen" Tali said.

"They kicked us off our home. We created them and this is how they thanked us for giving them life?" another said.

"No it wasn't like that. Everyone please hear me out" Tali begs her people. It is of no use. This information doesn't help them with their current situation. While slightly vexing, I can't blame them. They don't know they whole picture and are listening to generations of misinformation. My main concern is Tali. She is confused, upset, and doesn't understand. I stand next to her and support her, gently rubbing her arm up and down. One hard truth is even if people had the truth, their habits are so ingrained it won't change their behavior. While the truth might alter their perspective, it doesn't rewrite their hearts. They'll find something else to justify their anger burning within. Tali had this idealistic hope that when the public learned why the geth rebelled and how the fleet came to be, everyone would wise up. Peace between the fleet and the geth. A nice dream currently. Perhaps it wasn't the worst idea Tali told everyone. This could have planted a seed for the future. Maybe this will help Shepard negotiate a ceasefire. Speaking of which, I should call him. I wonder where he is at now.

I gesture to Tali to follow me. She asks me a dozen question on why they aren't even attempting to make peace. How come they responded with anger? This is good. Quarians aren't on the verge of extinction. They might be able to go home to a civilization of quarians. Society won't have to be built from scratch. Why can't they see? I can only listen to Tali and try to comfort her. This is a hard lesson about the truth. It doesn't motivate most people. I think it might be a good idea to get away from the fleet for a while. Let's see if Shepard is close to coming to us. I request a videochat with Shepard. He accepts. The screen is chaotic and gunfire all around. The video looks like a running scene from a found footage movie.

I ask "Shepard? What is happening?"

Tali asks "Shepard is that the citadel?"

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

"Tali is that you? Who is that other voice?" he asks.

Tali answers "Yes it me and that's *********. What's going on?"

Shepard answers "I've been so fucking busy I forgot to silence my omnitool and must have bumped it. Accidentally accepting your call. I can't really talk, Cerberus is attacking the citadel."

I ask "Seriously? I thought the illusive man is on your side because I am on your side."

Shepard replies "He is but there's been a schism."

Tali asks "A schism?"

I explain "When members of an organization disagree and split it into two. BEHIND YOU SHEPARD!"

Shepard quickly turns around and kills the enemy.

"Holy shit! It is a good thing you called. Look, I have to go. I hope to so you two soon. Omni tool end call" Shepard hangs up.

Tali asks me "Why would Cerberus attack? They learned they can work with aliens."

I explain "TIMmy sent us his most friendly members to aid Shepard and us. There was probably a lot more who loathed that idea. I'm betting they felt betrayed by their leader who went soft and decided he couldn't do what was necessary to protect humanity."

"But we helped them" Tali said.

"Do you think they know the full story?" I ask.

"I'm sorry this isn't going how you thought it would" I said.

"Are things playing out how you thought they would?"

"There are small differences but not much is changing from what I expect. I'm really worried about him. Shepard is running on fumes. He must be exhausted" I said.

"Alot of people are. I'm just thankful he is in space and not getting turned into Reaper mush on Earth."

"Honestly he'd rather be on Earth" I said.

"Why would he? It's incredibly dangerous right now" Tali said.

"How would you feel if during your pilgrimage the fleet was attacked and the only thing you could do was to fight the battle off world. Wouldn't you want to go back and defend your home?"

"I didn't think about that. I'd feel super guilty not being able to aid my people in the way I should. Poor Shepard. What can we do to help?" Tali asks.

"When we return to the Normandy, we should help Shepard carry the load anyway we can. I know he has Liara, Garrus, and the others helping him, but he's practically been in one galaxy saving battle one after the other. The stress will wear anyone down" I said.

"Are we at least close to the end?" Tali asks.

"I really hope so."