In the hour it took for the ship to get to the quarian Migrant Fleet, Shepard stayed in his cabin, going over the materials Mordin sent up to him. He began with the erogenous zone overviews. Unlike humans, who have erogenous zones all over the body, turians had specific spots that were more sensitive and excited them when touched the right way, as opposed to the more solid areas that held fewer nerve endings and less sensitivity. One of the most popular spots was the neck, which made Shepard smile; his stint in the main battery was a good instinct to follow, then.
Sense they were more solid than humans, turians were also rougher mating partners. They liked to bite and scratch along the neck and midsection. In the beginning of their relationships, humans were easily worn out by turians in bed and often needed bandages when everything was over; this usually changed over time as the couple adjusted to their partners' limits, habits, needs and instincts.
The soft area on the back of the head was sensitive to heat due to the fringe providing natural sun-covering. The space between the spines and the back of the knees could be massaged with the fingers. The most sensitive areas were the anus and the plate opening that held the penis safely inside the turian body. Turians enjoyed stimulating the rims of these areas, but putting anything inside was painful and, in the case of the sheathe, even taboo. Shepard figured it was because such an important part of the anatomy couldn't be risked being damaged or infected, so over time turians evolved an intense aversion to anything that might damage its protective casing. The penis itself was similar in shape and size to a human's, only with a narrow tip designed for penetration and light ridges along the shaft. A turian may even be easier to take than a human, though it was difficult to tell from simple diagrams. It was also usually bluish-indigo in color, though this made some sense, considering the dark blue color of turian blood.
Shepard put down the datapad and rubbed his eyes. In all, the two species weren't so different; the only major differences were height, the levels of sensitivity in their bodies and the location of the penis; everything else struck him as primarily cosmetic. Mordin was right: turians held the advantage in sight, sound and scent, but humans were the reigning champions of touch; humans developed the sense of touch early in the womb and used it throughout their lives to avert pain and danger. Except in his case, where he seemed to chase after pain and danger like a star-crossed lover.
They arrived at the quarian Fleet ahead of schedule. Shepard had never seen the Fleet before. Consisting of hundreds of thousands of civilian and military craft that held seventeen million in all, the Fleet held the entire quarian population, except for those who were away on their Pilgrimage or who decided to live elsewhere. The flagship of the Fleet, the Raya, was an enormous ship centuries old, that had been repaired and improved over its three-hundred year history many times. The sheer size of the Fleet was breathtaking.
They had to undergo extensive decontamination procedures in order to even leave the Normandy. Shepard and Garrus had to keep their environmental armor on at all times in order to minimize the threat of infections as much as possible. Their centuries of wandering left the quarians with a notoriously weak immune system, so much so that they had to wear their iconic environmental suits throughout their entire lives. Their nomadic state, combined with their physical forms being blocked by their suits and the creation of the geth, left the quarians widely mistrusted across Council species, an insult to injury.
When they boarded the Raya, they were "greeted" by armed guards who politely but firmly informed them that Tali'Zorah vas Normandy was to remain until trial proceedings were concluded.
"Wait," Tali said, "Did you say 'vas Normandy'?"
The guards didn't offer an explanation. Shepard inquired about the significance.
"They changed my name! Shepard, by changing my status from the Neema to the Normandy, they've essentially declared me exiled already."
"Hey," Garrus said, "don't give up. We'll get to the bottom of this."
They met Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay, an old friend of Tali's family who, of course, also had to recuse herself from the proceedings due to bias. She informed them that Tali's name change was done at the insistence of another one of the Admirals, Zaal'Koris.
The name change included another issue. In quarian legal proceedings, the captain of the defense's ship served as the defense's advocate. Shepard was not prepared for this.
"I'm not exactly attorney material," he told her and Raan, "but I'll do my best."
The beginning of the trial was a nightmare. Garrus sat in the crowd, his knees up to his chest due to the short seats, his breathing hot and moist in his environmental suit. Turians by nature were not very comfortable around quarians; their eyes being constantly hidden behind helmets counteracted the turian instinct to maintain eye contact. Even though he made the best possible effort to remember that the helmets were necessary to the quarians' survival, Garrus had never been fully able to quell that instinctive reaction. Except for Tali. . .but even that took time.
Zaal'Koris objected to Shepard defending Tali, on the grounds that he was a human and thus had no business with quarian military matters, but Shala'Raan, who presided over the trial but had no say in the final decision, shot him down by using his own logic against him: if he hadn't changed Tali's name to Normandy, and thus made Shepard her captain, Shepard would not have any right to be present.
She's definitely on Tali's side, even if she can't vote for her. In one quick move, Raan had made Tali's biggest detractor look like a fool to the crowd and the other Admirals. Koris was quick to withdraw his objection.
It was then that Tali was presented with the charges against her: transporting active geth technology into the Migrant Fleet.
"What?!" was Tali's reaction. "I would never do such a thing!"
"Then why," said Koris, "is the ship on which your father serves currently overrun with geth at this very moment?"
Tali's hands went up to her helmet and she took a step back in shock. "My father? What? I don't. . .I don't understand. . ."
Even Garrus was surprised, though he was careful not to show it. All around him, the startled gasps of quarian onlookers filtered through their helmets; without the ability to see facial expressions, quarians had developed a deep reliance on tone and body language, and so there was a lot of movement in the crowd. Garrus sat perfectly still, mulling it over in his head.
Why didn't Raan tell us? She was close to Tali and an Admiral herself; even recused, she surely would have known about Tali's father being in danger. Then Garrus understood. The answer was all around him. Tali was visibly stunned by the news; by showing her so taken aback, Raan had again played the crowd to Tali's favor, making her appear more sympathetic, more innocent. It was a brilliant move, but it was also cruel to Tali. This woman is a politician, through and through.
The allegations were absurd, of course. After Tali learned of her father's situation, on a Fleet ship called the Alarei, she and Shepard bargained to go on board the ship, rescue any survivors if possible, and obtain what evidence they could to prove Tali's innocence. The Admirals agreed, and the trial was suspended until their return. Or their death.
After the proceedings, they were able to speak directly with the Admirals one-on-one to get their opinions. Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib (poor bastard, Garrus thought, choking back a laugh) believed in colonizing a new planet, rather than taking the quarian homeworld, Rannoch, back from the geth; he wasn't popular among the Fleet, though he was highly respected for his history. He claimed to have no ill will towards Tali, but he still argued for her guilt due to political disagreements with her Admiral father.
Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema was a much more hopeful option. Gerrel had served with tali's father during their youth and gotten into several misadventures that left them regarded as heroes by the populace and idiots by the military. He wasn't recused from the trial because at least three admirals were needed to make a decision, and he and Tali's father, Rael'Zora, had not spoken in many years. Gerrel was also well-known as a troublemaker among turians, causing skirmishes along turian borders several times in his history; reckless, impatient, and firmly committed to destroying the geth and taking back Rannoch, Gerrel was nevertheless the only one of the three Admirals who was fully supportive of Tali and still carried a vote.
The third Admiral was Daro'Xen vas Moreh, and she was completely insane. The woman didn't seem to care one way or the other how the trial panned out, because she saw it for the political farce it really was; she was more interested in experimenting on the geth, using them to advance quarian status in galactic society rather than destroying them or leaving them alone. Garrus hoped Xen would never get the opportunity; history was full of people like her, of all species, and their stories never ended well. Still, as she was the only Admiral on the Board with no bias one way or the other in regards to Tali's innocence, her vote was therefore the most crucial.
By the time they finished speaking to the Admirals, Garrus' already-sound hatred of politicians had found itself a whole new foundation.
They also ran into Kal'Reegar, who was getting over the infection from his wounds on Haestrom. Judging by Tali's tone of voice, Garrus was willing to bet a lot of money that the quarian was blushing under her helmet.
"You have my full support," Reegar said to her. "Whatever happens. These idiots don't seem to understand just how thoroughly you saved all our asses two years ago. I'm trying to rally the crowd for you, but. . .well, they're a timid bunch. I'll also try to stall the Admirals if they try to proclaim you dead."
"Thank you, Kal. This means a lot to me."
"Aren't the Admirals technically your commanding officers?" Shepard asked.
Reegar cocked his head. "Yeah, but they're still idiots."
Garrus decided he liked Kal'Reegar.
On board the Alarei, the three of them were soon up to their ears, fringes and helmets in geth. Tali's technical skills had significantly improved over the years, however, and the geth were not fully functional as it was, so they proved easy to take down.
Sadly, they found Tali's father, dead. They also found what caused the geth to appear in the first place: Rael'Zorah was systematically activating the geth in order to study how to control them. They found video evidence of this in the ship's files. The geth got out of control, however, and began repairing themselves and other units, effectively multiplying until they overran the quarians aboard the Alarei.
"Shepard," Tali said, her voice quivering from discovering her father's body. "We can't tell the Admirals about this."
"What? But this will redeem you, prove you're innocent!"
Garrus spoke up. "I have to agree, Tali. Your father may have had good intentions, but it isn't right for you to be held responsible for his mistakes."
"You don't get it! If my people find out about this, they will strike my father's name from every ship he ever served on! He'll be a villain in children's stories, he'll go down in history as one of the worst examples of what the quarians have to offer. He doesn't deserve that, I don't care what he did. Please, Shepard. It's your decision, but please don't desecrate my father. I'd rather be exiled."
Tali's pleas weighed on Shepard's mind all the way back to the Raya. They could hear the Admirals debating whether or not they should declare the trio dead and finish the trial posthumously; the debating ceased when they entered the room, marching determinedly to face the Admirals.
"Disappointed?" Shepard asked Koris.
"Only that we can't end this sooner rather than later," the Admiral fired back. "I assume you were successful in reclaiming the Alarei?"
"Yes, though its crew are dead. Including Admiral Rael'Zorah."
"That is unfortunate. You have my most sincere apologies for your loss, Tali'Zorah. It's a loss we will all feel, in time." Koris nodded at Tali, who returned the gesture without a word.
"Admiral Zaal'Koris speaks for all of us, Tali," Admiral Raan said. "But were you able to uncover any evidence proving your innocence?"
Tali's helmet pivoted to Shepard. Although he could only see the silver highlight of her eyes through her darkly tinted helmet, he could still feel the pleading gaze bleeding through. He looked to Garrus, his figure sitting hunched over in the crowd. The turian didn't move a muscle, his face also concealed by his helmet.
On the one hand, Garrus was correct: it wasn't right that Tali suffer for her father's mistakes. The woman had done nothing but good by her people, had told them stories about the Fleet and the ship she served on and what she wanted her future to be like among the quarians, had worked so hard and risked so much on her Pilgrimage with them just to improve the Fleet and earn her adult name, and now she was about to lose it all, all for the sake of a dead man who deserved the discredit he would receive.
On the other hand. . .
It was Tali's father. The man died wanting to build a house for her on Rannoch. Everything he did, he did out of misguided love for her. Would Shepard do the same? He didn't know; he couldn't empathize with a father's love. But he did know what it was like to be in Tali's shoes, to remember every single happy moment ever spent with his father, and regret every single bad one, and being completely, hopelessly unable to relive or correct a single one of those moments ever again. The only power he held was over his father's name, and it was one he could never see tarnished.
Shepard considered all of this. Then he made his decision.
"We have not." It was all he could say.
Admiral Raan nodded, a slow, sad gesture that proclaimed the verdict before the Admirals even voted. "Tali'Zorah, you are hereby found guilty of treason to the Migrant Fleet and are sentenced to permanent exile. You have six hours to gather your bearings, then you must leave. Keelah'Selai."