Thread: Mass Effect: Pilgrimage (Survivor00 & Romantic[Dream])

The Citadel Lower Wards Access Tunnel 2183 ??Keelah!? Tali'Zorah nar Rayya stood nervously in the alleyway behind the Upper Markets, folding her arms loosely over her chest as she waited for Fist to arrive with the Shadow Broker. The young quarian looked around quickly, before exhaling with a heavy sigh, shifting her posture. She had already been waiting here for far longer than she had wanted to, and the only other being she had seen in that time was the lone keeper that stood across from her. The aphid-like creature was far more concerned with the console before it than it was with her it hadn??t even looked at her since she had arrived. She did not like this, not one bit. The meeting location was too ambush prone, a narrow alley with only two exits. It would be easy for her to get boxed in if the deal went badly? ??Calm yourself Tali. Fist promised to set up the meeting. You are just being paranoid?? She spoke to herself. Although in her opinion she had every reason to be paranoid, having been chased all the way to the Citadel and shot for the information she possessed. Thankfully, she did not get an infection from it. And Fist didn??t seem like the most trusting person out there. The man looked as if he would sell out his own mother if it would benefit him. But Fist was her only link to the Shadow Broker, and if she had to work through him to get shelter, then so be it. Tali sighed, so much trouble for a simple Geth memory core. She sighed. This was not how she had imagined her Pilgrimage to wind up, bartering with criminals to gain protection from a turian. A turian working with the Geth , no less. Making sure nobody was around ?? excluding the keeper - Tali activated the Omni-tool on her arm, accessing the partial audio log she had salvaged from the memory core. ?? Eden Prime was a major victory! ? Saren??s authoritative bark rang out. She knew the voice belonged to a turian even before she knew which one. No other species carried that distinctive vocal flange. ?? The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the conduit. ? Another voice followed his, a female, her voice sultry and wizened with experience. ?? And one step closer to the return of the Reapers? ? She did not know who this voice belonged to. The files she collected did not identify her. She deactivated the Omni-tool, not wanting to risk exposing herself anymore than she had. She had ventured further into the Geth??s memory core, trying to see what she could find on the ??Reapers??. To say the information she had uncovered had startled her was an understatement. While it was common knowledge that the Geth were sentient, she had never in a million years expected them to worship something? When she had followed the Geth, she had seen them construct... temples to the Reapers, but why? Why would a synthetic life form bother using time and resources to build something like that? Maybe it was to give them the purpose that her own people had not. Whatever the reason, the fact they had allied under this Saren worried her. From what the Geth believed about the Reapers, they had been the ones that destroyed the Protheans? A muffled report from the direction of Chora??s Den quickly grabbed her attention, and she spun towards the door to the Lower Wards. Her hand twitched towards the pistol holstered to her thigh. She knew that Chora??s Den was not the most?prestigious establishment on the Citadel, but it sounded as if there was a war going on. She began to back away towards the Upper Wards. This was not safe. She would have to tell Fist that she wanted to meet elsewhere, somewhere safer, more private? The door to the Upper Wards hissed open behind her, and she quickly turned to see another turian walking down the steps towards her. Fist was nowhere in sight, and she strongly doubted that this turian was the Shadow Broker. He saw her, and nodded slightly to himself, as if he was expecting her to be there. She frowned behind the mask of her exosuit, keeping her eyes on him and the two salarians in white, military armor that stayed behind, keeping a watchful eye on the door. She took a slight step backwards as the turian smugly approached, watching his eyes play over her body. He smirked calmly. ??Did you bring it?? ??Where??s the Shadow Broker? Where??s Fist?? She demanded. The turian??s eyes smiled as he closed the distance until there was almost no space between them. ??They??ll be here?? He lifted his hand, placing it on the cloth shawl on the side of her head, sliding his hand down her neck, over her shoulder, and to her bicep. ??Where??s the evidence?? She shoved his hand away from her in disgust, stepping back. ??No way. The deal??s off.? The turian glared at her, but, seemed to accept this and stepped back, nodding slightly to the two salarians that had until now been discussing between themselves. They drew pistols and turned towards her, while the turian backed away and drew his own weapon. She only had one chance to escape. Tali??s hand darted to the proximity mine that sat at her hip, flicking it towards the group of assassins. The device exploded at their feet, sending them sprawling and stunning the turian just enough for her to reach cover. She quickly sprinted for the cover of a pair of storage units, but she did not look back, only hoping she had crippled them. No such luck, for as she vaulted over the storage unit, she could hear and feel the impact of magnetically accelerated rounds thumping into the metal at her back. She knew she shouldn??t have trusted Fist with this! If she ever got her hands on him! She pulled her pistol from the holster on her thigh and fired blindly back over her cover. She heard footsteps at the top of the stairwell behind her, and she swung her aim towards the trio that rushed in. She was getting boxed in! She knew this would happen! The trio startled her a little bit it was not what she expected. Two humans, both female, dressed in Alliance battle armor and carrying some heavy arms, and a?a krogan mercenary? Quicky weighing her options, she knew could probably take down one of the humans, maybe wound the second if she was lucky, but the krogan?she was just no match. They lifted their weapons, and she braced for the hail of projectiles to hammer her position. She heard the guns fire, only, they weren??t shooting at her! She looked quickly to see the one of the salarians get torn to shreds under the barrage. She let out a cry of triumph and aimed back over her cover. The turian assassin lifted a rocket launcher, aiming at the trio that was advancing down the stairs. She quickly stood and fired at him, three shots slamming into the turian??s side and stomach. His body spun towards her, pure rage blazing in his eyes. He centered the launcher on her and fired. Her eyes widened, and Tali threw herself away from the storage units, landing on her stomach a few feet away. The blast deafened her, the floor shaking and red-hot pieces of metal shrapnel ricocheting off the floor beside her, but her exosuit remained mercifully intact. She swung her arm up and around, centering the pistol on the head of the second salarian assassin. She fired twice in quick succession, the rounds snapping the assassin??s head back on its shoulders, the body toppling backwards, firing its weapon into the floor as it dropped. The turian shouted at her, but the human woman rushed to her side, lifting a heavy-looking pistol and firing towards the turian assassin. The first round slammed his body into the wall, before the combined fire from the humans and krogan tore him apart, his body slumping lifelessly to the ground, his blood pooling around the corpse. Tali fired several more shots into his lifeless body in rage, before slowly pulling herself to her feet, the anger at her betrayal boiling inside. Her hands shook slightly as she spun towards her ??saviors??. She swung her arm angrily towards the dead assassins. ??Fist set me up! I knew I couldn??t trust him!?