Authors Notes: Kal again, just because he's very sexy. Shepard stuck 2 fingers up at the Illusive prick, a lot sooner than she did in game, stealing, ship, crew and files, just because she felt like it.

Thanks to Moonsword1994 for some inspiration.

Tali's Trial

Tali paced outside Shepard's office, how would she ask Shepard for help? Would Shepard even help? Would she have the time? A voice interrupted her thoughts, Shepard stood in the doorway, "What's up, Tal?"

"How did you know I was here?"

Shepard smirked, "EDI told me you were pacing."

Tali fiddled with her hands, "I need your help, Shepard."

"Well come in and we can talk."

The two women sat on the spacious sofa, Tail fidgeted a little, "Shepard, I'm on trial for treason."

Shepard's eyes widened in shock, "Say that again."

"They have accused me of sending active Geth back to the fleet. Olivia, you know I would never do that. You do believe me, dont you?"

"Shhhhh," Shepard put a comforting arm around Tali, "Of course I believe you, Tali. So how do we prove them wrong?"

"Well, as my Captain, you have to speak in my defence. You dont have to agree," Tali handed Shepard a data pad.

Shepard scanned the data pad, eyes narrowing in confusion, "Hang on, why does it say "vas Normandy"?"

"They stripped me of my Quarian ship name, its as good as being exiled."

Shepard took Tali's hand, "Tali, we will sort this out, I wont let them exile you, it'd be the dumbest thing they could do."

"Thanks, Shepard."

"Hey, we Sisters right?" Shepard nudged Tali slightly with her elbow.

Tali paced the cockpit as the Normandy approached the Migrant Fleet, "This is Tali'Zorah vas Neema nar Rayya, requesting permission to dock with the Rayya."

There was brief pause before Traffic control responded, "Our system has your ship flagged as Cerberus."

Shepard sighed and rolled her eyes, "This is Captain Shepard. This ship used to be Cerberus, it has since been reclaimed on the behalf of Systems Alliance."

"Nevertheless, please verify."

"After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and shoals of dust, I will return to where I began."

"Permission granted. Welcome home, Tali'Zorah."

"We need a decon chamber, a Human will be boarding with me."

"Understood. Approach exterior docking cradle, Q17."

Tali and Shepard waited in the decon chamber after leaving the Normandy decon, "First time I've been deconned twice in a row."

"Normally you would have to wear a mask but since the Salarian's treatments, a decon is sufficient."

"You nervous?"

"I should be, but with you defending me, they wont know what hit them."

"That's my Tali," Shepard winked as the doors of decon chamber opened.

Tali and Shepard stepped onto the Rayya, greeted by a Quarian male followed by several armed guards, "Tali'Zorah, Welcome home. This must be Captain Shepard."

Shepard nodded slightly to the man, "You must be Captain Danna, Tali told me stories about you," Shepard smiled as Danna shifted on the spot, "Don't worry, Captain's secrets," Shepard winked at Danna.

Danna cleared his throat, straightening his back, "Tali informed us you would be guests for a week."

"Yes, the Normandy is on assignment, I have leave to be here for Tali."

"It's an impressive ship, Captain."

"She is, if you want to see her, I'm sure Tali would show you around," Both Tali and Danna shifted nervously, Shepard fought hard not to snigger.

"Admiral Raan is waiting by the garden plaza. Good luck Tali'Zorah," Danna watched Shepard and Tali walk away. Danna couldn't tear his eyes away from the Human Captain, she was pleasing on the eyes, long, curly, jet black hair with red streaks at the tips, big violet eyes, perfectly kissable lips, a smile that makes you freeze on the spot, sun kissed skin. His eyes locked on to her swaying hips, he was sure that she could be arrested for wearing such tight clothing, he knew enough about the Alliance to know that wasnt standard uniform she was wearing.

The pair found Shala'Raan standing by the entrance to the garden plaza. Raan was deep in conversation as they approached her, she turned to Tali, her tone serious, "Tali, I'm glad you could make it, I could only hold them off for so long."

"Surely, my Father has put a stop to this?" Tali asked angrily.

"No, he agrees with the other Admirals."

"Is that why I was stripped of my name?"

Shepard interjected, "Is giving her a Human name meant to be an insult, Admiral? I dont appreciate my crew or ship being insulted."

Raan knew that Shepard meant every word she said. Raan had heard the stories, Shepard was fiercely protective of her crew, Alien or Human, "I'm sorry, Captain. We should go, the trial is beginning."

The garden plaza was a vast space with greenery hanging from the walls. Several Quarians took their seats, filling the room. In the middle, Raan stood with another man, 3 others stood before her. The man in the middle pointed towards Shepard, "Objection! A Human has no business being involved in such sensitive military matters."

"You should have thought about that, Admiral Koris, before you had Tali declared crew of the Normandy."

Shepard sighed in annoyance, "You involved me by involving one of my crew, I'm Tali's Captain, so I stay, unless..." Shepard stopped and glared at Koris, "You want to forcibly remove me."

Koris sunk his head down, "Objection withdrawn."

"Captain Shepard vas Normandy, your crew member, Tali'Zorah, has been charged with Treason, will you speak for her?"

"Of course I will, but the question is, why should I have too? As a Human and Tali's friend, I know and I'd stake my life on it, that Tali would never endanger the fleet, so why do people who have known her a lot longer and in some cases, since birth, doubt her loyalty and integrity, unless there are some ulterior motives in play and Tali is just the one to take the fall. Am I wrong?"

"If you are suggesting that we would purposefully sabotage one of our people, then you, Captain Shepard, are as ignorant as you are corrupt. Why should we listen to you, a woman whom is now working with her peoples' enemy? Should we follow your example, fight for one cause and then switch over to another when we are not happy with our current lot?" Koris fired back.

Shepard's eyes lit up, she loved a good verbal battle, she grinned at Tali before turning back to Admirals, "Firstly, I did not ask for Cerberus to take my corpse and rebuild me, when I died, I expected to just stay dead. Now I do not and have never worked for Cerberus, I stole their ship, files and crew and headed straight back to the Alliance."

"A convenient truth or just a fabrication to cover up where you have been for the last 2 years."

"The truth, Admiral, if you would like to see the files, then I'll gladly show you. I warn you though, its not pretty."

"That wont be necessary."

"Oh it will be, if you wish to doubt my integrity, I'll tell you, first there was my ship under attack, I watch my ship destruct around me, 2 crew members killed in front of me, I ordered my crew to leave, my pilot didn't want to leave, I made him and forced him into an escape pod, an explosion knocked me backwards, I had a second to decide whether to try and get to the escape pod or just save my pilot, I chose my pilot. I know he blames himself for my death, I just did what a loyal friend and Captain would do. Then another explosion sent me into space, it was then I heard the hiss from my oxygen pipe, what would kill me first? Suffocation or burning up in Alchera's atmosphere? It was suffocation that killed me. So dont you dare insult me or doubt my integrity, I died for my crew and I'd do it again, all 5 of you wouldn't have the guts or compassion to do it, Rael'Zorah stands there, knowing his own child could be exiled, even though its obvious she's innocent, that is about as despicable and corrupt as you can get," Shepard glared at the Admirals, the room so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Tali knew the crowd was on Shepard's side.

"If she is innocent, Captain, explain how a research vessel has been overrun by activated Geth?"

Shepard looked towards Tali, who stepped forward, "What! I did not send active pieces, they were deactivated, I'd made sure of it."

"Admirals, we have get on that ship, there could be survivors."

Koris was about to speak but Raan cut in, "We will give you leave to board the Alarei. We will continue upon your return or on determination that you have been killed in action."

Tali nodded to the Admiral, "Thank you, Admiral Raan."

"Permission to take Kal'Reegar with me?" Shepard asked Raan.

"Granted, Captain Shepard."

Tali and Shepard walked back towards the entrance to the garden plaza, giving Shepard a view of the plaza, she spotted Rael'Zorah slip away from the other Admirals and out of the door. Shepard knew he was definitely up to something but Shepard didn't get the chance to follow him, Kal'Reegar had approached them, Shepard smiled at the other Quarians he was with, "Kal'Reegar, nice to see you again."

"Captain Shepard, these are my squad members from Haestrom, Iva'Var, Adin'Hezt and my Brother, Tir'Reegar."

Shepard nodded at the group of men, "I'm glad that some of you made it out. What did the data show?

"Just like Tali said, Ma'am, star was destabilizing faster that it should have. "

"So the theory was right, that's...troubling," Tali shook her head, troubled at the news.

"So how you been, Reegar? Glad to see you're still standing after Haestrom."

Reegar clasped his hands behind his back, standing up straight, "Yeah, thanks to you, that Geth Colossus nearly had me beat. Thanks to the Salarian's treatments, the infection was minimal."

"I heard about that, does that mean I get to see a Quarian unmasked?"

Kal smiled behind his mask, "Maybe, we have been told to shed our suits for an hour a day."

"Are you ready to hit the Alarei?"

"Yes Ma'am, confused to why you picked me though."

Shepard smiled slightly, "I need something nice to look at."

The men behind Kal tried to suppress their sniggers as Kal was trying to work out how to respond, "Th-Thank you, Ma'am," He watched as Shepard walked away, was she really attracted to him?

Tir bumped his Brother's back with his shoulder, "I think the Human likes you, Kal," He teased.

The trio exited the shuttle, stepping onto the Alarei, the place seemed totally devoid of life, organic or otherwise. They entered the living quarters, they found the Geth trying to burn through a sealed door, "Head for cover," Shepard shouted to the other 2. Together, they defeated the group of Geth with minimal effort, but Shepard knew that was just a fraction of the Geth that had taken over the Alarei.

Tali walked over to the door the Geth were trying to burn through, "I wonder what they wanted in here, its just a supply room."

"Lets open it and find out," Shepard and Kal stood back while Tali opened the door. Shepard stepped into the room, looking around, she saw no one, but she knew there were people in the room, "Relax, I'm Human, not Geth."

Half a dozen people came from the behind the grates, "Captain Shepard? Keelah, I thought we were all dead," A blue suited, male said.

"We have cleared a path for you, get to the shuttle and stay there, we are gonna find more survivors," Shepard turned to leave the room, Tali and Kal following close behind.

They got a large kitchen area, Geth flooded in, "No way did I send that many parts to make so many Geth, Shepard," Tali shouted across the room as she deployed Chatika.

"I know, Tali. Go with Kal, door on right, I'll take left. Keep in contact," Shepard disappeared through the door. Shepard moved through the ship, taking down Geth in her way, she approached a console, activating the recordings.

"Rael'Zorah, we have added 2 new Geth to the network, has your Daughter sent back any more parts?"

"Yes, enough to add another, once we hit capacity, we can begin testing Admiral Xen's weapons."

"She is sure the weapons will work?"

"Quite sure, once we are successful, we can inform Admiral Gerrel."

Shepard felt something hit her hard on the head, she turned and staggered backwards falling on to the metal flooring, her eyes closing. Shepard opened her eyes, taking in her new surroundings, she was in a different room, unarmed, it was then she saw a gun pointed at her, she blinked twice, forcing her eyes upwards to the person holding the gun, "Admiral Zorah?"

"You couldn't leave it alone, could you? My research is in jeopardy because you insisted on boarding this ship," Rael raised his gun to Shepard, "Meddlesome, Human."

"Father!" Rael'Zorah turned towards the voice, seeing his Daughter there, holding a gun at him.

"Tali, my research must continue."

"What are you doing? You did all this, you used me and now I'm on trial for what you've done!" Tali felt so angry, she was struggling to hold the gun.

"I did this for you Tali, so I can build you that house on the Home world, it's what you wanted."

"Not at the expense of others, Admiral, not at the expense of Shepard."

"She's a Spectre, Tali, she could ruin everything."

"Put the gun down," Tali demanded.

"No, she's just in the way," Rael turned back to Shepard, a gun fired, Rael looked at Tali, falling backwards, he clutched at his chest, "I...I'm sorry, Tali," Rael laid motionless, while Tali stayed frozen to the spot where she stood, she had killed her own Father, was he her Father? Tali wasnt sure who he was.

Kal helped Shepard up, checking she was ok, Shepard's only concern was Tali, she walked over to her friend, "Tali? Tali, come here," Shepard pulled her friend into an embrace, Shepard held her, letting her cry, "I'm sorry, Tali."

Tali sniffed, pulling away from Shepard, "It's not your fault, Shepard. I dont even know who that man was, he didn't act like my Father?"

"What shall we do, Tali, its your call."

"We better find the hub and destroy any data on what they did here."

They headed to the Hub, a Geth prime and 2 Geth hunters stood by one of the consoles, "Lets see if we can surprise them," Shepard whispered, both Tali and Kal nodded. Together the moved, taking down the last of the Geth. They approached the console, "Tali, are you sure you want to destroy it?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, I cant have them knowing what my Father did."

"Ok, destroy it, I'll prove your innocence somehow."

They got back to the Rayya, helping the survivors get the attention they needed. Tali and Shepard stormed back into the garden plaza, obviously they didn't want to wait before declaring them all dead.

"Sorry we're late," Tali said, confronting the Admirals.

"You can go and get your ship back and we found survivors. Admiral Raan, permission to speak to the Admirals in private?"

"Granted, Shepard."

Shepard followed the Admirals to a private room, the door locked, "As you have already noticed, Rael'Zorah isn't here and he wont be returning."

"What! Why," Gerrel asked.

"Well, Admiral, it turns out that Rael had been purposely reactivating Geth parts to build them, he used Tali to do this, Tali thought she was just sending harmless bits back. He snuck on board the Alarei to save his research, he hit me over the head, stripped me of all my weapons and held me at gunpoint, so Tali shot him and destroyed all the evidence. Now obviously that isn't the story that you will tell people."

"isn't it?" Koris' voice sounded dangerously low.

"Yes, I will not have anything pinned on Tali. You will tell people that Rael joined us on the Alarei, he was killed saving Tali from the Geth. I assume that Tali will be cleared of all charges?"

Admiral Xen made a sound of disapproval, "You cant just steam in here, making demands."

Shepard turned to Xen, pointing her finger angrily at her, " Do not get me fucking started on you, Xen, you knew about those experiments and the reckless behaviour of Rael'Zorah, count yourself lucky that I haven't arrested you for a treaty violation and countless other violations. Now you are going to go out there and find Tali innocent, if Tali suffers any more blow back for shit you assholes have done, I will hang you all out to dry, have I made myself clear?"

Admiral Gerrel sighed, "Yes Shepard, perfectly clear."

Raan resumed the trial, "Captain Shepard, do you have any new evidence to present?"

"Tali's word should be enough evidence, the fleets safety has always been her main concern, she help the survivors on the Alarei, she saved the citadel, she saved Veetor on Freedom's Progress. That should more than enough evidence."

"Are the Admirals prepared to render judgement?" All 3 Admirals tap on their omni tools, "Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, in light of your service history and actions on board the Alarei, we do not find sufficient evidence to convict, you are clear of all charges."

Shepard and Tali looked at each other, sharing a smile between them, "Thank you, Shepard.

"Any time, Tali."