Kaidan was a little taken aback as four C-Sec officers brought her into Anderson's office. Shepard looked like an animal as they forced her onto her knees in front of the three Council member holograms. Her hands were cuffed behind her back and her dark brown hair hung limply in her face, hiding it from view. Seeing Shepard out of her armour and wearing a grey tank top and sweat pants with no shoes made it hit home that even after everything she'd been through and everything she'd accomplished, she was still human. He glanced at Anderson who was standing beside him and saw that the man was clearly unhappy with the current situation. The Councillor walked over to Shepard as the C-Sec officers drew back and crouched down beside her. Anderson began talking to her in a hushed tone, but Shepard didn't make a sound. She didn't even look at him. Perhaps she believed that he'd betrayed her too.
"We should begin," the Asari Councillor stated, causing Anderson to straighten up and move away from Shepard.
"Commander Kaeyln Shepard," the Salarian Councillor said as he read from a data pad. "You're being charged with treason. Do you understand why you're being charged with this crime?"
"I have to object to this," Anderson said as he stepped forward. "Shepard is no traitor. During the time she was associated with Cerberus, she passed on several valuable pieces of information."
"But the fact remains Cerberus is an enemy of this Council," the Turian Councillor replied. "And the preposterous story of being brought back to life by them that Shepard has been using is clearly a cover for the fact that she was working for them in the two years we thought she was dead."
"I believe her," Anderson interrupted. "If you look at the body of Paul Grayson that I brought you, you'll see that Cerberus possesses highly advanced technology, advanced enough that with sufficient funds that they could in fact bring someone back to life."
"We're examining the body now," the Asari said calmly, turning to calm the situation down. "However, if their technology proves to be as advanced as you claim, then when can't rule out the possibility that Cerberus implanted Shepard with some sort of control chip."
Kaidan frowned as he realised that he hadn't considered that. Shepard's actions over the past several months may not have been under her control and if she wasn't in control of her own actions, then the Council couldn't charge her with treason.
"There is no control chip."
A silence fell over the room as Shepard spoke. She lifted her head and glanced at him for a split second before looking at the Council.
"Are you saying you're in full control of your actions?" the Salarian asked.
"Yes," Shepard replied quietly. "Everything I've done has been done under my own power. I regret nothing."
"Damn it Shepard," Kaidan thought to himself. "You can't just keep quiet for once."
"You don't regret working for Cerberus?" the Turian asked with a self satisfied tone.
"I worked with them, not for them," Shepard said with a slight grin. "If your heads weren't stuck so far up your own arses, you'd realise that. Since the Council was unable, or should I say unwilling, to do anything about the abductions of entire human colonies, I did what I had to do."
"This discussion seems to be going around in Circles," the Asari Councillor interrupted just as the Turian Councillor was about to unleash another verbal tirade. "Shepard, do you have anything else to say in your defence?"
"The Collectors, they were going to go after Earth," she replied, her voice calm and her face neutral. "I'm not saying Cerberus aren't the bad guys. I know what they've done, but their funding and assistance helped me save billions of innocent lives. I did what I did to save humanity."
"We will take all you've said into account before we make a decision," the Salarian Councillor said with a tone of finality. "C-Sec will return you to your cell where you will wait until we render our judgement."
Once the three holograms disappeared, C-Sec re-approached Shepard and got her to her feet. Anderson waved them away though and started talking to his former protégée in a hushed voice. Kaidan watched as Shepard's face remained calm throughout the entire conversation. At least she was listening, which was far more than she'd be doing if it were him who was talking to her. After all, she was only in this position because of him.
"I believe you," Shepard said suddenly, pulling Kaidan back to the moment, her gaze then shifting from Anderson to himself. "I know who betrayed me."
With that, she was escorted from the room by C-Sec, leaving him alone with Anderson. The older man looked at him with what could only be called utter disappointment before shaking his head and walking out onto the balcony. Kaidan felt as though he'd been plunged into ice water, a knot of guilt forming in his stomach as he walked to the door. He'd made the worst mistake of his life.
OOO
"I thought you could use this," Captain Bailey said as he sat a tray of food beside Shepard on her cot. "I take it the hearing didn't go well."
"That's an understatement," Shepard said with a grim smile as she picked an energy bar off the tray and began to unwrap it. "They'd have found me guilty and executed me right there if they thought they could've gotten away with it."
"What about Councillor Anderson?" the Captain asked. "Surely he can do something."
"I'm sure he's trying, but there's not a lot he can do," the brunette replied as she took a large bit of the energy bar. "He's the only one on the Council that's going to vote not guilty."
"It's really going to hit the fan when news of your arrest gets out," Bailey frowned. "Maybe when people learn what's going on, they'll put pressure on the Council to drop the charges."
"I've never known the Council to bow to public pressure on anything," Shepard sighed as she stretched out her legs. " . . . Is Kaidan Alenko still outside?"
"He is," Bailey replied. "He was very clear about the fact that he's not leaving until he speaks to you."
"Fine, let him in," she replied, drawing one knee up to her chest. "I can't wait to hear him try and justify what he did."
With a nod, Bailey left the room. As she sat in silence waiting for Kaidan, Shepard still couldn't understand why he would have betrayed her the way he did. Three days ago, she'd received a message from Kaidan asking her to meet him at the bar inside Orbital Lounge so they could sort things out. When she arrived however, it wasn't Kaidan she found waiting for her but a squad of C-Sec officers. He used the promise of mending their broken relationship as the bait for the trap.
"Shepard?"
The former Spectre jumped at the sudden intrusion into her dream and looked over to Kaidan who was standing just inside the doorway. Now out of his armour, he was wearing a black jacket, grey jeans, heavy black boots and a white shirt. They stared at each other for almost a minute in silence, neither one wanting to speak first, before Kaidan finally relented.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly.
"For what?" Shepard snapped. "For using my feelings for you or for basically signing my death warrant?"
"I made a mistake," Kaidan replied. "I was angry and confused when I agreed to help the Council and I let my hatred of Cerberus clouded my judgement."
Shepard simply glared back at him, her hands balled into fists. She didn't doubt the sincerity of his words. The guilt and regret was clear on his face and even though she was hurt by what he'd done, the anger she felt was slowly ebbing away.
"There's nothing that can be done now," Shepard sighed as she drew her other knee up to her chest. "I guess it's partly my fault too. If I hadn't been so focused on your message, I might've realised that something was wrong."
"I guess I should be flattered your feelings for me were still so strong that they were what clouded your judgement," Kaidan said with a small smile.
"Of course they were still so strong," Shepard replied, resting her chin on her knees. "There wasn't time to tell you on Horizon but I . . ."
A sudden, loud explosion interrupted her mid sentence and a second later all the lights went off, plunging them into darkness.
"What the hell?" Kaidan said out loud.
"I don't . . ." Shepard started before she paused and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Oh no. Please tell me this isn't what I think it is."
"What is it?" Kaidan asked as he slowly and carefully made his way over to her.
"My crew," she replied with a smile and a shake of her head. "They're here to rescue me."
"How did they find out you'd been arrested?" Kaidan asked. "Better yet, how did they get here so quickly?"
"I assume one or more of them followed me here," Shepard replied. "We're an odd lot, but we're like a family. I'm sure Miranda personally put a team on the shuttle after mine to make sure I was alright. As for how they found out, Bailey probably contacted them somehow."
"The C-Sec captain?" he asked. "The two of you are acquainted?"
"We've helped each other out a couple of times," she said as she stood up and rubbed her neck. "That's not important now. What is important though, is what you're going to do now."
Kaidan stared through the darkness for a moment, almost as though he were trying to divine an answer to the unasked question, before he turned to her.
"You're asking if I'm going to let you go or I'm going to stop you," he said calmly.
"Yes," Shepard replied with a nod. "If you choose to help me, that means they'll be after you too."
"Then let them come after me," Kaidan said as some of the emergency lights flickered back on. "I've done enough damage to our relationship and I'd like a chance to try and fix things."
Shepard smiled as she slipped her hand into his and placed a gentle kiss on his lips as the cell door opened and Garrus, Thane and Tali appeared, drawing their guns when they saw Kaidan.
"You okay Shepard?" Garrus asked as Tali tossed her a suit of light armour and a pistol, the Turian's gaze fixed solely on Kaidan.
"I'm fine," the Commander replied as she loaded her gun with concussive rounds and then slipped into her armour. "Kaidan's coming with us. He's on our side."
"Are you sure?" Tali asked quietly. "He's betrayed you once. What's to say he wouldn't do it again?"
"I understand why he did what he did," Shepard replied as they headed over to the door of the cell. "I trust him Tali."
"Do you still love him?" the young Quarian asked as the door slid open.
"Yes," Shepard smiled as she glanced over her shoulder and caught Kaidan's eye. "I do. I love him."