I hope the next chapter is going to be longer
As Always, comments and suggestions are a highly appreciated
He forced himself to walk back to his quarters.
He opened the door, but stood still in the door opening.
Tali, who was still lying on the bed looked at him and said:
'What happened' She said.
Shepard slowly made his way to the bed.
'Shepard?' Tali asked, her voice full of concern.
Shepard didn't say anything, instead he just let himself fall onto the bed.
'John, please tell me' Tali asked.
Shepard sighed, before finally speaking.
'There's going to be a war with the Batarians' .
'Oh my' Tali said in surprise.
'It's unavoidable' Shepard said.
'The Batarians had it coming for them' Tali said.
Shepard looked at her.
'Not every Batarian is bad, it's just that their government is so full of shit, and they can't do anything about it' He said.
'You will find a way' Tali said.
'But it seems so ridiculous, why would the Batarians attack us directly, they know that the alliance is just waiting for the opportunity to destroy them, why do this?' Shepard asked.
Tali thought for a moment.
'I really don't know, what if someone who wants to have the Batarians gone?' Shepard asked to himself out loud.
'The only people who want them gone are gone themselves' Tali said.
'That's it you're right, it's got to be Cerberus' Shepard said, and he stood up from the bed.
'How will you ever find out if Cerberus is really behind the attack it also seems illogical, why would Cerberus use human soldiers?' Tali asked.
Shepard frowned, and scratched his now four days old beard.
'They're gone, you destroyed them when you took out the illusive man's base' Tali said.
'What if they're not gone, like the illusive man said, Cerberus is an idea, and an idea is not so easily destroyed' Shepard said.
'I don't think it's likely but I have to know for sure, I just can't let an entire race's future be destroyed if there is even a possibility that they're innocent' Shepard said, and he headed for the door.
'Shepard?' Tali asked her voice had a hint of disappointment in it.
'I'll only be gone for a few minutes' He said, and closed the door behind him.
'Javik come to the cargo bay now' Shepard said as he took the elevator down.
'Yes commander' Javik responded.
If the dead Batarian had any proof that he was with Cerberus, Javik was sure to find it.
Shepard reached the cargo bay floor and stepped out from the elevator.
He already could hear Javik coming when he walked inside the cargo bay.
'Commander, what with the delay?' He asked when he entered the cargo bay.
'I want you to have another look at the dead Batarian' Shepard said.
Javik nodded and walked to the bag with the corpse in it.
He zipped the bag open, and placed his hands on the dead Batarians forehead.
Javik closed his eyes for a few seconds before he responded:
'His mind feels like it was controlled, it's not his own'
Shepard almost jumped in the air.
He was right.
The Batarians didn't do this, they were innocent.
'That's all I needed to know, thank you Javik' Shepard said, and he walked back to the elevator.
'Commander, when do we restart the search?' Javik asked right before the elevator closed.
'Soon, but first I'll have to make sure that a genocide is avoided.
'And?' Tali asked when Shepard returned to his cabin.
'I think I might have found a way.' Shepard said and he sat himself on the bed right next to her.
He removed his shirt and took a deep breath.
'I will need to take the Batarians corpse along with me tomorrow and Javik, he can prove that the Batarians are innocent' He said.
'There still is the video recording we recovered from the ship, that's more than enough prove to start a war, even if the Batarian was controlled by someone else.' Tali remarked.
'There's that, but we at least have to research every option there is' Shepard said.
Tali started to massage his back.
'You know, we still have a few hours until we reach the citadel' Tali said and she hugged him from behind.
Shepard looked at her.
'Tali you're more important to me than sex' He said.
'You're my wife, we will forever be two souls connected by chance'
'But seeing you shirtless just unleashes a desire inside of me' Tali said.
Shepard smirked and waited for the Normandy to travel to the citadel.
Half a day later.
'We have reached the citadel commander' Joker said over the radio.
'Use docking bay DZ21, we are in a hurry' Shepard said.
'Understood commander' Edi said, and the ship began to descend towards the citadel tower.
'Tali and Javik prepare to leave the Normandy' Shepard said.
He himself first walked to the cargo hold to grab the corpse of the dead Batarian, and carried it all the way to the top, where the others already waited for him.
'It's a heavy bastard' Shepard said.
'Put him in a bag and have it delivered to the council chambers so we don't have to carry it' Tali said.
Two other crewmembers of the Normandy grabbed the dead Batarian from Shepard's back, and lifted it into a bag and placed it onto a platform with wheels.
'Let's go and prevent a genocide' Shepard said and he walked to the elevator which took him and his team straight to the council chamber.
Shepard had taken the docking bay closest to the council chamber, he would have been too late with the other docks.
His mind was racing back and forth.
Even though the Batarians where responsible for the dead of many humans, it wasn't worth it to just destroy their race.
Genocide was and is never justified.
His conversations with Bray while taking back Omega had been very pleasant, and had convinced that it the Batarians weren't just the mindless freaks they are usually portrayed as.
Shepard and his team reached the council chambers.
Hackett, Mikhailovich and Andrews where standing in front of the door.
'Shepard?' Hackett asked in surprise.
'I came here to prevent a genocide' Shepard said.
'I don't think you will be able to' Mikhailovich said.
'The fleets are being mobilized, we just came here to sends the declaration of war, and convince the other council races' Andrews said.
'You can't do this' Shepard said.
'Yes we can, we are protecting humanity' Andrews said.
The two crewmembers of the Normandy arrived with the bag.
'What's inside?' Hackett asked.
Mikhailovich took one look inside, before closing the bag again.
'One of the pirates you killed?' he said.
'Yes, but I beg you take another look at the video, whatever it is, there has to be something that will convince you not to attack the Batarian home world'
'Javik can prove it wasn't the hegemony' Shepard said.
'Even if they are not responsible for the attack on the Normandy, the hegemony is responsible for the many attacks on human colonists before and during the reaper war in the terminus systems, you know that Shepard' Andrews said.
Shepard sighed.
'Just take a few minutes and listen to what Javik has to say' Shepard said.
The generals just nodded their heads.
'It can show you….' Shepard said before Hackett interrupted him.
'I'm sorry Shepard' Hackett said.
'We're going to make the Batarians pay, even if they didn't orchestrate the attack on the Normandy' Mikhailovich said.
Shepard just turned his back on the admirals, and walked away, taking Javik, Tali and the two crewmembers pushing the bag with the dead Batarian inside with him.
The team had gotten back to the ship.
'I failed' Shepard said, and he poured himself another drink.
'You didn't' Tali said.
'How else would you describe it then?' Shepard said, and he downed the shot in a single go.
'Stop that, that's more than enough' Tali said, and she grabbed the bottle from his hands.
'Even if Cerberus is behind it, there is no way we can find them, every high ranking Cerberus officer is dead, no one knows how the organization worked exactly and if any of them survived the war' Shepard said.
'Well, there is one' Tali said.
'Who?' Shepard asked.
'The Cerberus cheerleader' Tali answered.