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ME: Pilgrimage - Chapter 1

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Chapter 1 - Deep Space

A purple-gloved hand floated across the surface of the hull panel, two elongated fingers gently tracing the unique irregularities of the dull grey material, dipping into the pock marks formed by cosmic dust and asteroid fragments. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya gently lifted the plate back into place on the exterior of the Rayya's hull, the worn metal quickly obscuring the serpent's nest of wiring that lay beneath. Holding it in place with her left hand she reached for the rivet gun on her belt with her right and set about bolting the panel back into place firmly. The gun, normally accompanied with a sharp whirring as it operated, accompanied her in silence, as noiseless as her in the cosmic void they shared.

With the hull whole once more, the young quarian hooked the tool back on her belt and gently pushed against the ship's surface, the lack of gravity causing the resistance of the ship to twirl her about like a leaf in the wind. Applying a little more pressure, cautiously, she didn't want to suddenly end up spinning through space, Tali waited until she faced away from the hull and reached behind her to grip the maintenance bars on the hull. Lifting her weightless body she assumed something akin to a seated position, her slim, re-curved legs dangling across the Rayya's bow and partially obscuring the vessel's faded registration number.

Facing away from the ship, she was presented with a near unobstructed view of the cosmic expanse and the somber crimson of the red dwarf the Migrant Fleet currently hovered around. Though they were all about her, Tali struggled to spot much of the fleet, hidden as they were against the blackness of space. Only the larger, more colourful ships and those highlighted against the star were readily visible and it took her a good few moments to spot any of the smaller, more spread out vessels. Swallowed as they were by the inky blackness, the only visible indicator of their presence was a telltale black outline as they obscured the stars behind them.

Tali stared out past them, as far as her eyes could see and with her mind, even further. Even though she could only see the myriad pinpricks of light that signified star systems with her eyes, in her imagination she saw far more. The large, brilliant white one off to the left was home to a huge system of 12 planets, predominantly brilliant gas giants in a multitude of swirling colours. The faint, blue tinged one to the right contained only two planets, one completely uninhabitable, wracked by violent storms; though its habitable brother was a glorious garden world, lush and verdant, a veritable paradise. The murky, offset white star near the centre of her vision hid nothing but asteroid fields, its satellites long since blasted into dust by the devastating krogan warships in the rachni wars. And so it went on, until finally a tinny voice cut into her ear, startling Tali out of her revere and almost causing her to lose her grip on the Rayya.

"Tali? You're awful quiet out there, ya get those cables rewired yet?"
"All done Bardi." She responded cheerfully once she had recovered, glancing back at the hull panel she had replaced earlier.
"Don't know why I'm asking," the gruff voice grumbled, almost as if she hadn't spoken, "you could have rewired this ship twice in the time it's taken me ta get this infernal coolant leak patched up again."
She stifled a grin, though hidden away as she was under two layers of suits, one environmental, the other deep space, it was hardly necessary. "Oh you're not that slow Bardi." She paused. "Maybe two coolant leaks."
There was a sound that could only be interpreted as a snort in response. "You be glad you're leaving tomorrow young miss, else old Bardi might be setting ya to sweeping out the hydraulic fluid tanks for your lip."
This time the grin was unrestricted. "So I guess we're done then?"
"Sure are sweetheart, and I gotta say I'm lookin' forward to wriggling out of this suit. Huh, and here we were thinkin' one was bad enough."

Tali sympathised. Though the regular environmental suits the quarians were forced to wear had a small supply of inbuilt oxygen, they couldn't maintain the body temperature required for the cold of space, at least, not for any great length of time. As a result the two quarian engineers were currently wearing a second, deep space suit over their environment suits, a strange sensation even to one accustomed to living their life inside a plexi-glass visor. Still, emergency exterior repairs outside of maintenance docks weren't common enough for Tali to complain too much. In truth, she rather liked the few quiet moments she could snatch for herself, though she was always more than ready to go back to the familiar bustle of quarian society. "Alright Bardi, I'll see you back at the airlock." The chief engineer didn't respond verbally, but his mike clicked once in her ear, an old military acknowledgement from the retired marine. The young engineer smiled sadly; she had a feeling she was going to miss him and his odd little quirks.

Pulling herself slowly across the hull of the Rayya, Tali found her thoughts straying yet again to the subject of her pilgrimage, due to begin tomorrow. Though she was apprehensive at the thought of leaving behind everything she knew, her excitement far outweighed her trepidation. Keelah knew how many systems lay out there, waiting for her. Systems with starships and engines the likes of which she couldn't even dream of. She could hardly wait to, as Bardi put it, 'tinker' with them; she was already obsessed with seeing what she could make them do, how much more effective they could be with a few…modifications.

Her only problem lay in what she could procure for her pilgrimage gift. Most quarians didn't seem to struggle with it too drastically, bringing home anything that could benefit the fleet: new engine specifications, small transport ships, maps of new star systems that could support the colony, contracts for shipments of valuable cargo to the fleet. Someone had even managed to return with an entire freighter once, having won it in a high stakes quasar game.

Being the daughter of the head of the Admiralty Board however put extra pressure on Tali to return with something truly important back to the fleet, a fact her father and indeed much of her family, both immediate and extended, often unconsciously reminded her of. Tali knew she had a heritage to live up to and she was determined to hold herself to it, even as she realised it would make her pilgrimage that much more difficult than most. Still, the young quarian thrived on challenges. She'd always been good with mechanical systems; perhaps, with the millions of new engineering parts that awaited her in the rest of the galaxy, she could design her own engine, a revolutionary new propulsion system that would drive the Migrant Fleet forward for decades to come. The quarian nodded to herself; yes, something of that magnitude might suffice.

Of course, it wasn't much use making plans now, not until she was actually out there experiencing the galaxy for herself would she be able to judge which of her many ideas were feasible. If she was being honest with herself, she recognised that some of her ideas were too outlandish or hopeful to be realistic but there was nothing wrong with dreams, right? Nearing the airlock on the far side of the Rayya's bulbous hull, Tali caught sight of Bardi's green space suit outlined against the dull grey of the ship, a stark contrast to her own purple one. In truth, she was surprised to find herself in a purple space suit, the colour not unlike that of her own environment suit; granted it didn't match up to the intricate designs of her usual livery but being a space suit, she wasn't looking for it to be flattering.

Propelling herself toward Bardi with a harder pull on the bars than usual, Tali floated free for a moment before grabbing the edge of the open airlock, arresting her flight. Bardi, feet planted as best he could on the floor of the airlock, glanced up at her. Though his face was obscured by the golden sheen of his space suit's protective glare visor, Tali could tell from both the tone of his voice and the way his head lay slightly to one side that he was bemused.

"Do ya normally enter doors from the top down Miss Zorah? Or is this the latest thing you young'uns have come up with to keep yerselves amused these days?"
Tali swung herself into the airlock's decontamination zone, using the lip of the door as leverage. "You know that engine oil, loose bolts and a good drive-wrench are all I need to keep myself amused Bardi." The lack of gravity caused her to bounce gently against the floor and she pressed her hands against the ceiling to keep her feet on the ground.
With the two engineers safely inside, the airlock door slid shut soundlessly behind them. The artificial gravity of the Rayya kicked in a moment later, catching Bardi by surprise and causing him to land ignominiously on his rear.
"Bosh-tet." The senior engineer growled, referring to the youthful ensign on the other side of the airlock who was monitoring the system.
Unable to help a giggle, Tali helped the chief back onto his feet.
"They really should have a countdown fer that, give old codgers like me a chance to prepare." Bardi remarked as the ship's VI began decontamination procedures and faint UV purification lines began to sweep over the two quarians.
Tali said nothing, biting her lip to keep from laughing and humiliating her old friend further.

Though the quarians viewed one another as family as a result of living their lives on starships in such close proximity to each other, Tali had grown up under the chief's tutelage and had come to view him as a second father of sorts, perhaps as a result of her own father's distance. Though she bore no resentment toward him, understanding his devotion to both his people and his duty as an admiral of the fleet, Tali couldn't help but feel that she was going to miss Bardi just as much as her flesh and blood. He'd never attempted to usurp her father but Bardi had always been there for her when her dad wasn't and after years of time together she knew Bardi thought as affectionately of her as she did of him. The old quarian was quite protective of her too, having chased off a number of childhood bullies and in more recent years, a few adolescent males who couldn't quite take a hint.

The UV lines and the steady hum of the decontamination sequence abruptly faded and the airlock doors slid open with a slow creaking noise, the engineering duo finding it comforting to be able to hear the familiar sounds of the ship they called home. The Rayya was hardly the most up to date craft in the fleet; in fact it was one of the oldest, serving since the great flight from the geth centuries ago as one of the fleet's three Liveships and main sources of food. Her father hadn't been pleased with the idea of his daughter serving on what he privately considered to be the most ramshackle of the three Liveships, though each was so crucial to quarian survival that they were kept running quite smoothly for their age. Tali liked it. Whilst the Rayya was constantly suffering minor mechanical faults she found the challenges to be quite enjoyable; they taught her new things in addition to testing her creativity, which Bardi lauded as being boundless. She smiled to herself, recalling how some of the workarounds she'd come up with had made his head spin.

Bardi led the way onto the ship, glaring at the ensign running the airlock sequence. Because the plexi-glass helmets the quarians always wore obscured their faces, they had learnt to read the subtle signs of body language with surprising accuracy. The ensign, noting the slight drop of Bardi's head and the emphasis he placed his heavy footfalls, lifted his head and shoulders higher, a quarian expression of puzzlement. The chief merely grumbled to himself and marched past, leaving Tali to shrug apologetically at the ensign as she hurried to catch up. "C'mon young'un, let's get out of these suits and get old Bardi something ta eat before he shrivels up from hunger."
"Now that," Tali quipped, "is the best idea I've heard from you all day."
Chapter 2: [link]

Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, Bioware or any properties relating to either entity. I do not stand to profit from this story in any way. No copyright infringement is intended through producion of this fan fiction, I'm merely a fan appreciating a work of art in his own humble fashion.

My second ME fanfic and my first fully developed, long-term story for the game. In this series, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya prepares to leave all she knows behind and begin her Pilgrimage, intent on showing her worth both to the Migrant Fleet and her father, the dedicated head of the Admiralty board.

Whilst this might seem to be lacking in action/dialogue to some of you, I'm treating this whole series as something of a build up and gradual development of Tali as a character throughout both games (hopefully). Of course, this doesn't mean that there won't be plenty more "exciting" elements later, just that they may take a while to get going.

This is an ongoing fan fiction and will probably take some time to complete so settle down for the ride. And remember, comments and critique are always welcome!

Furthermore I have decided that synonyms for "father" are in far too short a supply.
© 2010 - 2024 DementedAssassin
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Ethosaur's avatar
oK! first porgress! heres a picture of tali working on the ship parts in space :)
[link]