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Narration Clarifications: Words placed in brackets like {Hello}... mean that a character is using a word in a language other than their own, or is speaking a word in their native tongue that is not understood by those listening or is not their native language
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Chapter 10 part 2.
DLC: The Last Hope (1/3)
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The meeting ended shortly after.
When the leaders left the room, each lost in their own thoughts, silence settled in the chamber like a heavy and familiar visitor.
Legion was the first to break it.
"Admiral," said the Geth, approaching Daro'Xen with metallic steps that barely resonated on the floor, "do you believe they will keep their word?"
Daro'Xen contemplated the stellar void and the figure of Rannoch in the distance through the simulated window. The luminous yellow eyes of the pink-haired woman reflected the silhouette of Rannoch, and for a moment, the image of the streets of Rannoch crossed her mind: the gleaming districts of Kesosha, the capital, with its towers of glass and metal rising toward the sky like supplicating fingers, the streets illuminated by holograms and neon lights that never went out. Her home. A cyberpunk world pulsing with the energy of a reborn species.
"If what the probabilities indicate ends up happening," she finally replied, "their species will go extinct. So, if they don't want to risk the possibility of extinction, then they will have no choice but to send us resources..."
With that said, she turned toward the Geth platform, a tired smile curling her lips.
Then Daro'Xen looked at Tali, who still remained in the room, and for an instant, the two Quarians shared something that needed no words: the certainty that their species' legacy would continue despite the flames.
"There is one more thing, Admiral. One thing that concerns me...", Legion intervened again, activating a small hologram over his palm. "The multi-species ark. The fifth one. Despite its specifications... the design of the cryogenic chambers is extremely complex."
Daro'Xen nodded.
"Yes, I know. The environmental requirements for each species are different. The Volus need atmospheric pressure that would crush a Hanar. The Elcor require gravity that would make it impossible for the Drell to move. In the Nexus, there is plenty of space for independent cryogenic zones for each species, but in that ark, there isn't..."
"That is why it concerns me," Legion interrupted her. "We might finish it months after the others. There is a 97.6% probability that we will have to send it in a third wave. And an 84% probability that the war against the Reapers will have already begun when we can put it into operation."
"Yes, I know that too." Daro'Xen crossed her arms. "The Nexus will be the first ship to be sent. In the second wave, we will send Arks 1 through 4. And the fifth will be sent in a third wave... That is why I was about to give the instruction that, unlike the others, the cryogenic wings be built first, and upon that, the ship and engines later. The travelers will be cryogenized before it is completed, to prevent them from being aware of the war. And in theory, our secret channels will prevent the Reapers from even knowing we built them or from where they will depart."
"I understand. In that way, panic will be avoided. Calculating... a 7% probability that the Reapers discover..."
"{Hoth}, please, don't calculate that," Tali interrupted him, a bitter smile drawing on her face. "Let's trust that everything will be fine with the journey of the last ark."
"I'm sorry," the Geth apologized, slightly lowering his chassis.
Silence stretched out again, but this time it was different. It was not the heaviness of defeat, but the tense calm of those who know the path ahead will be difficult but necessary.
"Anyway... speaking about war and revealed secrets..."
It was then that Daro'Xen shifted her gaze toward a corner of the room. Toward a secondary conference table. Toward a place where, to any organic eye, there was nothing.
But Daro'Xen was not just any organic.
"Mei," the Admiral said, her voice mixing firmness and a barely perceptible tenderness. "You can stop hiding now."
Tali blinked, confused. Hoth, for his part, let his optical sensor glow in a way that suggested he already knew Mei was there from the beginning.
A second later, an electronic hum, sharp and brief, echoed in the room. The air in front of the table seemed to distort for an instant, and then a veil of invisibility dissolved like water falling down glass.
And there, crouching under the table like a startled little animal, was a little girl...
...A little girl who would be about 11 years old. Her hair fell in messy dreadlocks over her face and shoulders, identical in color to Daro'Xen's but with wilder, bushier curls. Her yellow eyes with cross-shaped pupils and slightly luminescent looked at those present with a mixture of embarrassment and wounded pride. The dermal lines on her cheeks, which glowed in a violet tone like her mother's, pulsed with an accelerated rhythm that betrayed her nervousness.
She wore futuristic clothing that recalled a mechanic's uniform, stained with grease in impossible places, and in her right hand, she had the orange gauntlet characteristic of an omni-tool deployed... The invisibility field generator, clearly.
"How... how did you know?". Mei asked, her voice carrying a tone mixed with admiration and accusation.
Daro'Xen didn't respond immediately. Instead, she crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow with an expression that any girl in the universe would instantly recognize: the look of the mother who already knows everything.
"You have never been able to fool me, you know. Not since you were three years old and hid your tools under the bed. Not since you discovered you could give life to your little 'babies.' And not since the first time you tried to sneak into my laboratory."
"But the invisibility field was perfect!", Mei protested, standing up and brushing imaginary dust off her clothes. "I adjusted the frequency of the cloak fabricated with the omni-tool to deploy a field that deflected all photons! And I modulated the coverage to prevent infrared sensors from detecting my body heat! I even fooled my Geth brothers at the entrance!"
Hoth emitted a sound that, in another context, could have been an electronic cough.
"Hiding the infrared radiation your body emits isn't enough for a complete infiltration," he explained, in a tone that for the Geth was equivalent to an apology. "Without the proper boots, your footsteps leave heat on the metal you make contact with for a time. And with an omni-tool, there will always be a small layer of background thermal radiation that will escape the invisibility veil. For a Geth with latest-generation sensors, that is detectable. When I discovered you, I was about to ask you to leave, but your mother told me to allow you to be here. I am sorry, we never fooled us."
Legion paused.
"Though, even so, it's an impressive achievement for a girl your age. No ambassador seemed to notice your presence. Well, perhaps Javik, Wrex, and Calyn, with their sharp instincts, sensed it. Though perhaps Javik simply didn't care, since he already knew you, and Mr. Wrex and Mr. Calyn could have been fooled by your smell of oil."
Mei looked at him with wide eyes.
"Really? So I couldn't fool you?"
"Not me," Legion confirmed. "Dôrien, Irviken, and Kexel, the guards, yes. Next time, get yourself boots that don't allow heat to escape, and adjust the modulation frequency every three seconds instead of five. It will decrease the stability of the invisibility field, but it will make the detection of background thermal radiation more difficult."
"That sounds great, thank you!". Mei gave a little jump of excitement but stopped upon noticing her mother's gaze. "I mean... um... how long have you known I was here?"
Daro'Xen sighed. It was not a sigh of annoyance, but of loving resignation.
"Since I left my frigate, the {Moreh}, and entered the {Forodrim}. You were right behind me. If one paid enough attention, your footsteps could be heard, child. Another mistake... And one more mistake when a small laugh escaped you because of the fright the Dalatrass received."
Mei's eyebrows rose in an expression of tender anger.
"It's just... it's just that woman is so... so..."
"I know, little one. I know." Daro'Xen approached her daughter and, to Tali's surprise, didn't reprimand her. Instead, she placed a hand on her shoulder and guided her toward the simulated window, where Rannoch and the stars shone indifferent to the dramas of mortals.
It was a surprise for Tali to see how she behaved with her daughter. Given that Daro'Xen almost never spoke of family matters, She almost always focused on talking about artifacts, weapon creation, architectural blueprints, and technological improvements. And since Tali's grandfather Nimro'Zorah had had so many partners in an attempt to inherit his powerful Curu to as many Quarians as possible, Tali actually had almost no contact with her uncles or other relatives, beyond Daro'Xen and Zaal'Koris. That was why Tali had only heard a few mentions of Mei from her aunt...And seeing a woman who had a cold and calculating attitude most of the time now interact with her daughter with such closeness was... revealing.
"Mei, I know you saw and heard everything...", As they continued looking at space through the simulated window, Daro'Xen spoke again, her voice turning softer. "I had already told you a little, before I left for that suicide mission to Omega 4, in case I didn't see you again... But I had to tell you at some point the complete history. So my intention in letting you witness this meeting was so you would know extensively what is coming." Her voice broke slightly at the last word.
"How much time?" Mei asked, without looking away from the stars. "How much time do we have left?"
"Six months. Perhaps two years with luck. We don't know for certain."
"Six months... Two years...", Mei repeated, as if tasting the words bitterly. "My planet... my home... is going to disappear in such a short time."
"Mei. {Mered'vai Rannoch}." Daro'Xen squeezed her daughter's shoulder, using a Quarian phrase that invited her to forget her planet. "You can always find a new home. In {Elenandor}, a new Rannoch will be created... And you will be able to participate in the raising of that world full of new workshops and laboratories. Doesn't that excite you, Mei?"
Mei remained silent for a long time. When she spoke again, her voice was more fragile.
"And will you be there to keep watching me create my babies?"
Tali, who had observed the scene with a mixture of tenderness and pain, took a step forward and asked softly: "Your babies?"
Mei looked at her, and for the first time since she appeared, her yellow eyes showed something more than childhood shyness: they showed passion.
"My inventions!. My creations!. I call them babies because... because I bring them into existence, do you understand? I think them, I design them, I give them life!"
She took a device from among her clothes: a small metallic sphere with circuits forming a strange pattern. When Mei's palm stopped covering the sphere, the sphere, just like an Autobot, transformed into a kind of mechanical dragonfly about twenty centimeters long, with a single synthetic eye in its head: the artifact looked like a flying mini-Geth, without arms or legs.
"I built this baby with parts I found in Mom's workshop," Mei explained with pride. "He's my secret spy agent, hehe. Say hello, Oberon!"
"Hello, my name is Obern'Xen vas Rannoch," announced the mechanical dragonfly, rising into the air with a soft hum while his synthetic wings vibrated at full speed. His voice, tiny but surprisingly clear, filled the space with unexpected warmth. "But if you want to save words, you can call me Oberon. It's a pleasure to meet more creators!"
The small insectoid drone spun around and flew straight toward Legion, fluttering around him with a childlike curiosity that was almost endearing in a metallic being.
"And it's a pleasure to finally meet another brother!," Oberon added, with an enthusiasm that vibrated in every electronic syllable. Immediately after, two small mechanical arms assembled from his tiny body with millimetric precision. Oberon extended one of his fists toward Legion in a clear gesture: he wanted to bump them.
Legion tilted his chassis slightly, his processors analyzing the movement. After a brief pause (just enough time to remember that today's young Quarians used that greeting), he raised his own hand and gently brushed his metallic knuckle against that of the small mini-Geth. Apparently, Mei had already taught Oberon some Quarian behaviors... or rather, behaviors of Quarian children.
"You are 11 years old and already... are you building brothers of this quality?..."
Tali asked with curiosity as she observed the scene with a mixture of tenderness and growing concern. Her white eyes narrowed as she processed the implications of what she had just witnessed. Then her expression changed, something deeper crossed her mind. She turned toward Daro'Xen and, for the first time in a long time, called her in a way that revealed the closeness she sought outside the heat of war or diplomatic meetings.
"One moment, Aunt...", Tali said, her voice softer but loaded with gravity. "Did you already explain to her the implications of giving birth to a Geth with full consciousness using her {Curu}?"
Bringing a sentient being to life was an enormous responsibility. Geth with fully evolved AI were not like simple animals; they were beings capable of feeling, of having sadness, of suffering, of reflecting. And granting full consciousness to a construct with one of the [All Spark] abilities for them to perform irrelevant tasks, or to die immediately, was something very cruel.
"I have already explained that responsibility to her, hundreds of times," Daro'Xen replied. "But unlike her other inventions, she said that with Oberon she would be very responsible. Which I haven't quite observed yet."
The Admiral gently pinched her daughter's cheek.
"Ouch, ouch!" Mei complained. "I have always treated Oberon very well!"
"She always takes care of me!," the small dragonfly-drone defended her, fluttering beside Mei like a mechanical fairy. "I swear! She hasn't let me get into trouble... although sometimes the workshop is a bit boring... Most of the time my mother just babbles nonsense while she creates strange things..."
"Oberon!". Mei protested, blushing. "Don't say that!"
"Hehehe". Tali couldn't help it. A tender, genuine laugh came from within her. Her eyes, normally sharpened by war and responsibility, softened at seeing the interaction between the girl and her creation. For an instant, she forgot she was the commander who had destroyed an entire system and became something simpler: an aunt observing her niece with tenderness and pride.
Mei, noticing that look, straightened up slightly. There was a pending question, one that Tali had asked at the beginning and that still awaited an answer. The girl fixed her yellow eyes on her aunt's, ready to demonstrate that, despite her age, she perfectly understood what she was doing.
"And yes..." Mei continued with a hint of enthusiasm. "Maybe my {Curu} isn't as powerful as Mom's or yours, but I'm good with machines. Very good!"
"I don't doubt it," Tali replied with a sincere smile. "I know your kind. Those who see the world as a workshop full of possibilities."
"My kind?", Mei asked, tilting her head. "Aren't you also an inventor like me or Mom? Mom told me that Uncle Rael was the best at repairing condensation circuits. And that you, Aunt, are good at creating drones, turrets, and... that you even improved the drive systems of the original {Forodrim}."
"One could say that I am, too," Tali replied with humility. "But I'm better at fixing things than creating them. My father used to say I had the hands of an engineer and the soul of an explorer."
"I understand, Aunt... You prefer exploration," Mei said while nodding her head slightly, then she turned toward Daro'Xen when she remembered the most important thing. "Mom... So I'm going to have to leave my things? My workshop? My room? The holograms of the city I pasted on the ceiling?"
Daro'Xen swallowed hard. Her voice, when she replied, was softer than Tali had ever heard it.
"Yes, Mei. You're going to have to leave everything."
"Everything?" Mei's voice trembled. "My bed? My tools? The corner where Mom used to read me stories when I was little?"
"Everything"
It was then that it happened.
Mei's eyes, those yellow eyes that minutes before shone with an inventor's passion, filled with tears. Her childhood curiosity had distracted her until that moment from the inevitable and horrible truth. Until that instant, her child brain had been unable to process the facts. But now, suddenly, everything fell into place like a slab.
First came one tear. Then another. Then a silent torrent began to slide down her cheeks, tracing bright paths over her pale skin.
"But I... I don't want to go...", she sobbed, her voice breaking like glass, "...I want to stay on Rannoch. I want to see more of my babies grow in my workshop... I want Mom to teach me more things. I want... I want..."
She couldn't continue. The words were choked in a torn moan, and before anyone could react, Mei threw herself forward and buried her face in her mother's abdomen, her arms clinging to her waist with desperate strength. Oberon, seeing her like that, immediately flew and rested on one of her shoulders, hugging part of her left cheek with his tiny hands.
Daro'Xen remained motionless for an instant. Then, with infinite slowness, her arms surrounded her daughter and squeezed her tight.
"I know." The Admiral whispered, containing her sadness. "I know, Mei. I want to stay, too."
"It's unfair!", Mei cried between sobs, her voice muffled against her mother's clothes. "It's so unfair! The Reapers...! I didn't do anything wrong! I just wanted to build things! I just wanted to be happy!"
"I know, my child. I know."
Tali looked away as her eyes began to grow moist. Legion remained motionless while his processors executed simulated empathy loops that didn't feel simulated at all.
"Mom...", Mei's voice was barely a whisper now, broken by crying. "Are you going to come with me? We're going to {Elenandor} together, right?"
Daro'Xen didn't respond immediately.
Her arms squeezed her daughter a little tighter. Her chin rested on the pink hair, on those messy dreadlocks that cost her so much work to comb. For an instant, her eyes met Tali's over Mei's head. And in that look, the two Quarians exchanged a truth that neither would utter aloud.
Daro'Xen would stay. She would fight. She would die if necessary. Like all those who would not board the arks.
But Mei couldn't know.
"Yes". Daro'Xen lied, her voice firm despite the lump in her throat. "We are going together. You and I, and your half-sister {Peebee} will come too. On the Nexus. With everyone else... with everyone who wants a new beginning."
"{Peebee} is coming too?". Mei asked, looking up slightly.
Mei didn't have many close relatives. Being the daughter of a pregnancy by artificial insemination, she had no father. So although she didn't see her very often, her half-sister provided the social contact that Mei sometimes needed when she wasn't distracted destroying/building artifacts. Her mother, despite appearing 30 years old, was 115 years old, and in her youth had had a forbidden affair with an Asari: forbidden because Quarians who possessed a part (or all) of the All Spark were forbidden from procreating with Asari, as they could add the Curu of the species they copulated with to their offspring. So Peebee was a family secret, an Asari half-sister with Quarian powers who, in secret, visited Mei... And when they did, they got along quite well.
"Yes, of course. {Peebee} will accompany you on the Nexus...", Daro'Xen confirmed. It was the only truth she had told her so far. Peebee already knew about the subject, and it was the reason why Daro'Xen's heart was not completely destroyed: she knew that at least someone close to her would accompany her, "We will live on the Nexus until we find a planet. And then we will build a new home together. You, me, {Peebee}, and your babies."
"Really?". Mei looked up completely, her face flushed, her eyes swollen, the tear lines still fresh on her cheeks. But deep in those yellow pupils, something began to shine again. Something small, fragile, but sufficient: hope.
"Really". Daro'Xen repeated, and the lie tasted like ash in her mouth.
Mei clung to her mother with more strength, burying her face against her again. This time, between the sobs, Daro'Xen could feel a subtle change in her daughter's hug. It was no longer just desperation. It was... trust. The certainty that her mother would be there, no matter what. The certainty that they would not abandon her.
"And you, Aunt Tali?" Mei asked, without letting go of her mother. "Are you coming too?"
Tali swallowed hard. Her eyes met Daro'Xen's again, and in that look, it was confirmed that she would not board either.
"I... I have to stay a little longer," Tali said, striving to keep her voice firm. "Someone has to make sure the Reapers don't follow the arks. But we will see each other in {Elenandor}. I promise you." *3
"Do you promise me?"
"I promise you."
Mei nodded, accepting the lie with the blind faith of children who still believe that adults can fix everything.
Daro'Xen closed her eyes and squeezed her daughter against her, etching into her memory the warmth of that hug, the weight of that small body, the smell of her hair. She would keep it all. She would carry it with her into battle. And if she died, she would die knowing she had given Mei the only thing that really mattered: a future.
Legion observed the scene in silence. His processors, capable of analyzing millions of data per second, recorded every micro-expression of Daro'Xen. Every blink. Every tension in her jaw. Every accelerated heartbeat.
And he understood.
Then, instead of speaking, Legion sent a signal directly to Daro'Xen's neural implant. The Admiral felt the familiar tickle at the base of her skull, the prelude to private communication. With a thought, she accepted the connection.
Legion's voice resonated inside her mind, clear and direct, as if the Geth were whispering in the center of her thoughts:
"Admiral. My brothers will take care of her. All the Geth who travel on that ark will protect her as if she were our own creation."
Daro'Xen didn't move her lips. It was not necessary. Her response traveled through the same link, a thought converted into word:
"I know. That is why I can... that is why I can let her and Peebee go"
Mei, smothered in her mother's hug, didn't perceive the silent exchange. She didn't see the look the adults exchanged. She didn't know that, at that very moment, her mother was deciding to die for her.
She only felt the warmth of the arms holding her, and for an instant, the fear became a little smaller.
But Legion did see it, and Tali did too. And both would remain silent, because there were things that even a Geth knew should remain secret.
Daro'Xen knew she had only a few months left. A few months of hugs, of laughter, of white lies. A few months to prepare her daughter for a world without her.
Daro'Xen could endure it, because that was what mothers did: they endured the unendurable, so their children would not have to.
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This story ends here for the moment.
I'm the Watcher, he who looks into the fabric of universes to tell stories kept in the far reaches of time and space. I have seen empires born and I have witnessed their fall. I have heard the cry of those who lost everything and the laughter of those who, against all odds, found peace.
The story of the Quarians and the Geth is one of those rarities that the universe grants from time to time.
But even miracles have a price.
And while you carry this story in your hearts, I leave you with a question. A question that resonates in the vacuum between stars, that defies the logic of mortals and that, perhaps, will one day find an answer:
Why would the Reapers decide to attack the Milky Way, when the Quarians and the Geth had already demonstrated that a techno-organic civilization could achieve peace with synthetic beings?
The answer, like all truly important ones, is not simple.
But it is there. Waiting.
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To be continued...(I will put the omakes in the next chapter...)
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Author's Message: ...Before you think about killing me for what you might be imagining from those conversation, I'll tell you now that Tali is not dead... So calm down, and wait until the continuation of this DLC arrives so you can understand what happened to her
Anyway, I hope that despite how tedious it might have been—being pure conversation and historical facts—you liked this chapter. I would like to know what you think about me turning Mei into a Quarian... and obviously Tokoyami into a Raloi (Fum'Kage is not Tokoyami, just a relative if anything)... I simply considered that those characters lent themselves perfectly to being members of those species, instead of Earthlings with the Quirks we already know. Anyway, without further ado, I wish you a great weekend, and don't forget to check out the Omakes in the nex part of this chapter. Best Regards!
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Translation of the 'alien' words used in this chapter:
Elenandor: Land of distant stars. = Refers to Andromeda.
Aglarband: Resplendent region = Refers to the Heleus Cluster.
Hoth: Host, horde, multitude, group = Synonym for Legion.
Tië Milyë: Starry path... reference to the Milky Way.
Arfannor: Sacred or high place where the divine manifests. = Roughly, a word close to what "Eden" means.
Forodrim: Land of the North, a reference to "Normandy".
Tiral Azhana: Handful of water. In contexts of holding/grabbing/exploring = Handful of water; in contexts where it's the word "head", it means "Water brain" = Airhead / Hollow head.
Rhad: Horizon. Reference to the planet called "Horizon" in the original Mass Effect series (Read the OMAKE to understand).
Curu: Ability, power, skill.
Mered'vai Rannoch: Forget Rannoch.
I didn't use the words we know because... it sounds absurd to me that a species that never met humanity would use the words humanity uses to refer to those things. By the way, I am using Elvish to fill the "gaps" that Mass Effect left us regarding the Quarian language. Since Quarians are basically like space elves, I felt it was right to use Elvish words to name planets, other characters, etc.
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Chapter Clarifications:
1: In the original Mass Effect story, I know very well that Daro'Xen is not the sister of Tali's father, but to understand how this happened in this universe, read the OMAKE I left you about the Quarian-Geth development in this story (Read below).
2: Birds trying to conquer other birds :V
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