"Hey Shepard, can you come down for a quick chat?" Tali's voice asked over the intercom. Wednesday raised an eyebrow and got up from her desk, where she was analysing the information from Garrus on the Thanix cannon for the Normandy-A. She was impressed at the weapon's power and the engineers' ability to miniaturise it from Nazara's weapon to something they could mount on a frigate, and was about to ask Liara to look into shipyards on Illium that would be able to install it without asking questions.
"Sure, I'll be right down," Wednesday said. She finished up her email and sent it, before heading down to Engineering.

She found Tali at her console, monitoring something while Ken and Gabby's legs poked out from the floor, presumably still attached to their bodies somewhere in the crawlspace.
"So, what did you want to talk about Tali?" Wednesday asked, smirking when she heard twin bangs and swearing that indicated her engineers had headbutted a bulkhead.
"I was wondering if we had a few days to take a detour," Tali said, adjusting something on her console. "A little tighter Ken, it's still oscillating," she said to one set of feet.
"That's an unusual request," Wednesday replied. Tali turned back to Wednesday, only her eyes visible to her fellow Addams.
"Look, not that I particularly care, but I got a message from the fleet. They want to bring me up on charges, accessory to treason among them."

"Woah, you never mentioned treason," Ken's muffled voice said.
"Yeah, you said it was just a minor annoyance. Treason isn't minor, Tali!" Gabby agreed.
"And you two are finished. Why don't you take a break," Tali said to them. She and Wednesday stared at each other silently as the two human engineers went up to the mess, acknowledging the dismissal for what it was. Only once they were alone was the silence between them broken.
"They aren't far from the truth, Tali. Treason isn't usually considered a minor thing. After listening to you talk my ear off about the Fleet back in the old days, I'm surprised you aren't more... upset."
"Wednesday, back then, the Fleet was everything to me. Now though, I've been exposed to the galaxy in all its wonder and horror. I've learned about love, honour, duty, faith. I've learned that my people are quite possibly the worst war criminals in the galaxy, apart from the Reapers. I've also found a family far more real than my distant father and dead mother. I've got the Addams - you Wednesday, and Garrus, a closer family than I'll ever find in the Fleet. So yeah, it's annoying, but it's not going to crush me."

"What about the punishment? Most other societies treat treason as a capital crime, the only one they still reserve the death penalty for," Wednesday said calmly, leaning on the wall. "A shame they don't apply it for other things as well. If only wishing made it so," she added wistfully.
"Then you obviously didn't pay enough attention when I talked about the Fleet," Tali scoffed. "There aren't enough of us to afford the death penalty, even for treason. The worst they can do is exile me. That way, any children I have will still be welcomed back."
"What about a timeframe?"
"Well, I got the message yesterday. I suspect that if I don't turn up in the next few weeks, they'll convict me in absentia."
"Then let's go to the Migrant Fleet then!" Wednesday said brightly.
"Did I miss something?" Tali asked.
"Tali, trying to charge you with treason is an insult. And if there is one thing an Addams doesn't let stand, it's an insult."

Wednesday walked bouncily towards the exit, prepared to go to the galaxy map and input the coordinates, when she realised sheepishly she didn't have them. She turned around to see Tali standing there, arms crossed over her torso and head tilted at an angle that Wednesday knew meant she was amused.
"You have no idea where to go, do you?" Tali asked with a chuckle.
"Not as such, no," Wednesday admitted with a smirk.
"Here's where the Fleet should be right now," Tali replied, forwarding the data to Wednesday's omni-tool. She looked at Wednesday for a while, head angled questioningly.

"Aren't you going to ask if I'm guilty?" Tali asked Wednesday. Wednesday just looked back at Tali, a similarly confused tilt to her head.
"Since when does that matter?" she asked, like it was the silliest question in the world. Tali just shook her head in disbelief as Wednesday smirked and left to plot their new destination.

"Unidentified vessel, verify and state your business," came an authoritative voice over the comm.. Wednesday looked at the hologram from the command podium, the sheer number of ships in the Fleet something to beggar belief. The Normandy-A was barely a few stray pixels as it was swallowed by the enormous shoal. Just behind her, Tali had directed them to one of the whales, one she had identified as the Neema.

"I'll take that Wednesday," Tali spoke up, patching her omni-tool into the quarian frequency. "After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I return to where I began." There was a pause from the other end, before the unidentified quarian replied.

"Verification accepted. Your destination and intentions?"
"One of my crew is being called up on charges. We're rendezvousing with the Neema for the trial," Wednesday said in her very best Commander voice – which held plenty of authority and command, but lacked the sheer terror-inducing qualities of her more usual Addams voice. She was keeping that one for later.
"Understood. An escort will be provided." Right on cue, a pair of older frigates fell into formation on either side of the Normandy-A as they flew towards the gigantic Neema. Wednesday stayed silent until the Normandy was docked with the Neema.
"So, think I should bring along Legion?" Wednesday asked jokingly.
"Only if you want it to be shot just before you are," Tali replied.
"Well you're no fun," Wednesday said sarcastically, calling up Garrus and Lurch to join them in the airlock.

As the door to the tube opened on the Neema end, they were met by a contingent of armoured quarian marines and officers.
"Captain Shepard, Tali'Zorah, honoured guests, welcome to the Neema. I am Captain Kar'Danna."
"Actually, it's Spectre Shepard. Even if I was reinstated, my rank before was only Commander anyway," Wednesday said by way of explanation.
"You are responsible for the lives of your crew and your ship," Kar'Danna replied. "That makes you a Captain in our eyes. If you would prefer some other form of address, please say so, otherwise most of us will refer to you as Captain by custom." When Wednesday just shrugged indifferently, he turned to address Tali.

"I regret to inform you that you are no longer a part of my crew Tali'Zorah. The Admiralty Board, against my wishes, has chosen to redesignate you as 'vas Normandy'. If you'll follow me, we can begin this 'trial' as soon as possible." The emphasis on the word trial suggested that he thought it was anything but, decorum forcing him to hold his opinion.
"I'm sure you tried Captain," Tali said nonchalantly, surprising Kar'Danna with no reaction to what was tantamount to declaring her exiled already. He discreetly looked back at the relaxed stance on Tali and the way she was subtly deferring to Shepard. Perhaps this human inspired more loyalty than he had given her credit for.

"You don't sound particularly upset," Kar'Danna prompted, trying to see what information he could get from one of the best crewmembers he'd ever had the pleasure of serving with.
"The Admirals made a mistake, Captain. I'm sure they'll figure it out when Wednesday speaks on my behalf." Beside her, Wednesday raised an eyebrow, the movement not hidden by the clear faceplate of her helmet.
"Forget to tell me something Tali?" she asked.
"Oh, right, kinda. See, there aren't any lawyers on the Fleet. For any criminal charges like this, the Captain acts as the advocate."
"Ooh, I've never tried my hand at being a lawyer before. Sounds like fun!" Tali and Garrus just shuddered. Their lessons with the Addams had revealed that there hadn't been a lawyer in the Addams clan for nearly three hundred years. Not because they thought it was distasteful or anything, but because the last time there had been an Addams lawyer, the sheer amount of devastation she caused was unparalleled. No Addams had gone for it since because they simply wouldn't be able to equal the high standard set centuries ago – though Gomez did like to dream.

On their way to the pavilion that was to act as the courtroom for this trial, they passed a quarian woman in a highly-decorated suit. She was talking to another captain, but Wednesday noted the way she kept trying to make eye contact with Tali, and how disappointed she seemed when the young quarian didn't even appear to notice her. Wednesday suspected that would figure largely in the trial, given the decorations indicated she was likely an Admiral.

The pavilion was almost like an amphitheatre, tiered levels of seating surrounding a central pit. The pit in question had a layered podium, with a raised bench facing it. She could assume that the bench was for her and Tali, and that the Admirals who stood as judge and jury for this trial would stand on the podium. Her suspicion was soon confirmed as the Admiral they had passed before took the highest point.

"I call this session of the Admiralty Board to order," she said, and the milling quarians began to assemble and quiet. Wednesday leaned over to Tali.
"Tell me about the Admirals," Wednesday whispered as three figures took to the podium.
"The one at the back is Shala'Raan." Tali whispered in reply. "She's a friend of my father and my family, so she's obviously recused herself to act as the protocol officer. The other three are Daro'Xen, Han'Gerrel and Zaal'Koris. Zaal favours peace, Gerrel and my father want to fight the geth, no-one really knows what Xen wants, she's only been on the board for a year. I can't see my father though," Tali said as she looked around at the gathered crowd.
"Something to consider then, thanks for the warning," Wednesday whispered.

"The Admiralty Board is here to consider the charges of accessory to treason and endangering the Fleet," Shala said from her position on the podium, her voice amplified so all could hear. "Before we begin, would her Captain like to say anything."
"I object, a human has no place in these proceedings," the Admiral in the red and white shouted.
"Then you should have left her name alone then," Wednesday answered with a smile, the effect only slightly muted by the helmet she had to wear on the quarian ship. "As I understand it, the Captain is allowed to speak on their crew's behalf. And since her name has been changed to vas Normandy, by your own laws, that means me."
"You can lie to the others, but don't lie to me, Koris," the middle admiral said, his bronze armour barely hiding the bunched muscles underneath. Obviously a warrior, Wednesday noted idly. "It was you who pushed for the name change, so you don't get to complain at the consequences." Wednesday couldn't be sure, but she almost detected a note of pleasure in Koris' voice as he spoke next.
"Objection withdrawn."

"Captain Shepard, is there anything you would say?" Shala repeated, her eyes on Tali.
"Just that Tali is as loyal a member of the Fleet as anyone else here today, perhaps moreso. She risked her life helping me against Saren, and in doing so raised the profile of quarians all over the galaxy and collected what I understand was very valuable data in helping understand the geth." Wednesday said, watching the reactions of the Admirals closely. Shala'Raan was obviously saddened at the whole thing, as she would expect from what Tali had told her. Xen looked bored, Gerrel looked disappointed and Koris was strangely unreadable.
"Very well, your position has been noted," Shala said, her voice tinged with regret.

"Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, you have been called before us to answer the charge of accessory to treason by bringing active geth into the Fleet. How do you plead?"
"Not guilty. I did send back inactive pieces as part of a special project authorised by Admiral Rael'Zorah as part of my secondment to Kal'Reegar's marine unit. I sent back no active geth or components."
"So you don't deny you sent geth back to the Fleet?" Koris asked, sounding disappointed.
"I sent back inactive pieces for study, Admiral," Tali replied calmly.
"How does this relate to the charges of treason?" Wednesday asked.
"I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you, kid," Gerrel said sadly. "One of your father's ships, the Alarei, has been overrun by geth. Your father was on it at the time. We fear the worst."

Tali blinked a few times, while Wednesday shook her head in disgust.
"Let me get this straight," Wednesday said, holding up a hand. "You have geth running around on a ship, possibly with survivors still on it, and you take the time to hold a trial instead of, I don't know, trying to mount a rescue mission? Or hell, even informing the next of kin of those presumed lost?"

"The Alarei is a science vessel. There are no weapons to speak of, the engines and communications array have been disabled, and quarantine has been established to ensure no geth escapes," Xen explained calmly.
"We have already attempted a rescue, none of our marines got further than the airlock before they had to retreat," Shala explained.
"As for the geth themselves, I want them undamaged for my own studies," Xen said, then tensed, as if she had revealed something she shouldn't have. Wednesday made a note of it, and the way that Koris turned what she assumed was a glare at Xen's head.
"If it will help, I could volunteer to take back the Alarei. Otherwise, can you just exile me and get it over with? I'd like to take back Wednesday's Child and give it to someone who will appreciate it – you'll note that it is listed as my personal property, and I still have all the override codes."
"I... yes, that is an acceptable proposal. Is the board willing to accept?" Shala said in mild disbelief. The rest of the Admirals nodded, and Tali left with Wednesday and her crew close behind. Shala was having a hard time with this trial. Firstly, her friend of many years was likely dead, and his only daughter charged with treason. What was most disturbing to her was the fact that Tali didn't even seem to care that Rael might be dead. She knew that the two of them weren't the closest, but surely it wasn't that bad? She vowed to talk to Tali before she left the Fleet, exiled or not. She had to at least let her niece know that she had her support.

Before they reached the Normandy, Wednesday's team was stopped by a familiar form in red and white armour.

"Admiral Koris?" Wednesday asked uncertainly.
"Ah, Commander Shepard, I was hoping to reach you before you left," Koris replied, earning Wednesday's respect by referring to her as Commander. "I must apologise for the appearance in there, I have to be... forceful with the other to get any traction." Wednesday looked at his relaxed and confident pose and something clicked in her mind.
"You wanted me there, didn't you?" she asked slyly.
"You're as intelligent as Tali kept bragging about then. Yes, it was my intention to bring you into this trial. There is far more going on here than what appears on the surface."
"I picked up a little of that, but why don't you elaborate," Wednesday said, leaning on the wall next to the Admiral.

"Did your father ever tell you why he wanted geth parts, Tali?" Koris asked.
"No, just said it was for a special project. If I know him though, he was testing one weapon or another," Tali responded.
"Correct. He's been working with Xen and Gerrel closely recently. Far more closely than I'd like. I fear they are close to finding some way of getting an advantage over the geth in combat. If they ever do, I'm afraid that the three of them have the necessary sway over Shala'Raan to push the entire Fleet into a war that will push both geth and quarian to the brink of extinction. Now, with Rael's likely death and the geth on the Alarei, this trial has become less of finding blame for what happened and more of how the quarian people will move against the geth, our children. We wronged them Commander, and meeting them with force will never win our homeworld back without condemning us all to death."

"I agree with you there Admiral. Once this farce of a trial is over, there's someone on my crew I think you'll find very interesting to talk to," Wednesday said with a smirk.
"You mean Legion?" Tali asked. Wednesday nodded and Koris tilted his head in confusion. "Admiral, this will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and you'll thank us for it."
"Right now though, we've got clean-up duties to perform," Wednesday sighed, pushing herself off the wall.
"Feels almost nostalgic," Garrus said. "The three of us and Lurch, barrelling into the unknown with geth likely to attack us at every turn."
"It's not the same without Wrex and Liara though," Tali said.
"Not to mention Ash and Kaidan to play with," Wednesday added with another sigh, before the four of them re-entered the Normandy-A, where they were escorted to where the stranded Alarei floated in space.

As they approached the disabled quarian vessel, Wednesday paid a quick visit to the AI core.

"Legion, are you aware of our current task?" she asked
"Yes," it replied simply.
"Can you or the geth offer assistance?"
"We are... uncomfortable moving into direct combat against these platforms. There is no indication if they are geth or heretic."
"I understand, but this must be done. Are there other ways you can help?" Wednesday waited while the panels around the eye twitched for several seconds, before Legion refocused on her.
"Yes. If you create a link to your position, we can fill common geth communication frequencies with random bits."
"Anywhere in particular you'll be inserting this junk data?" Wednesday asked, impressed.
"Into platform-specific basic runtime data. Platforms in close proximity will need to spend more resources to filtering random bit data, a task which cannot be distributed to the network and will reduce runtimes dedicated to inter-platform coordination."
"Thank you Legion. I know this is difficult."
"It is to help the Creators," it replied enigmatically. Wednesday didn't have time to investigate further, as they docked with the Alarei.

As she walked back to the airlock, she looked over the rest of her team. She had roped everyone into it, remembering one of Stalin's quotes from20th Century history: 'quantity has a quality all of its own'. The ten of them made the final adjustments to their breathing gear as the airlock cycled and then opened on to the Alarei. Buoyed by the lack of immediate fire, Wednesday and her team moved forward quickly down the corridor, ignoring the bodies and the bloodstains.

They fought like a well-oiled machine, biotics working in coordination to weaken the enemy position, electrical and hacking attacks cascading through the geth platforms, all of it constantly accompanied by a hail of gunfire, mostly shotguns and assault rifles in the close-quarters of the corridors and lab rooms. As they came to a ramp that just screamed ambush, Wednesday ordered them to fan out around the balcony. She looked down at the HUD displayed inside her helmet and frowned. The close-range threat indicator kept blinking on and off, like there was some kind of interference.

"Tali, are you getting this?" she asked.
"I'm seeing it too Wednesday, trying to compensate." The quarian hunkered down into cover and began working on her omni-tool with both hands. As she did, Wednesday looked at the nearest of the anomalies on the HUD, turning to face the general direction. Her eyes narrowed and she began to cycle various filters over her normal vision to try and isolate whatever it was. There was nothing on the infra-red or ultra-violet, but as she combined the ultra-sonic and higher EM, a vague outline began to appear. One of a tall geth silently approaching her, shotgun at the ready.
"I've got it, transferring to everyone," Tali said. Wednesday didn't move as the enemy appeared solidly on her HUD, letting the geth think she hadn't seen it. She waited until it was almost within touching distance before she pulled the trigger on her shotgun.

The pellets impacted harmlessly against the platform's shields, but the stealth systems were shorted out at the same time, bringing it violently into the normal visible spectrum. Her team reacted as she expected, bringing down the infiltrator with a solid volley, some of the stray shots pinging other stealthed geth. Once the area was clear, Tali walked over to one of the platforms, still winking in and out of sight, Wednesday and Kasumi joining her. The thief wasted no time in plucking a slightly-damaged module from its back near the small antenna, a look of wonder on her face.
"This is incredible," she said softly. "A full-body stealth generator without the need for a conductive suit. This is way beyond what even I have."
"Can you get it working again?" Wednesday asked.
"Maybe," Kasumi replied. "I mean, this is way more advanced than anything I've ever seen, and I'd be really surprised if it doesn't have some kind of self-destruct if I tried to take it apart."
"Get Tali to help, or Mordin. Both of them are pretty good," Wednesday said as she stood up. She walked over to another terminal, this one not as damaged as the others they had come across so far.

"Tali, is there anything you can glean from this that might tell us what the hell is going on?"
"Let me see," Tali said, her fingers dancing over the keys. "It's damaged, but not completely irrecoverable. Here's something interesting. Looks like they were purposefully rebuilding the geth from parts I and others sent back. It mentions some kind of layered viral attack, but no details."
"Is it a weapon that would work against the geth?" Wednesday asked.
"Maybe, they would usually be able to correct any hacking attempt but with something complex and layered like this, it's certainly possible it would be harder for the geth to shake it off."
"Save any data you can and then delete the local copy. I don't want anything getting back to Xen or Gerrel that would encourage them to try war."
"No arguments here," Tali said, salvaging what data she could before erasing the terminal's drive, blasting it with her shotgun for good measure.

"Is anyone concerned by the lack of bodies?" Garrus asked as they continued forward. "I mean, the only ones we've seen so far were near the airlock."
"The geth probably cleaned them up after they killed them," Tali replied automatically. After her conversation with Legion, she wondered if this wasn't a case of history repeating itself. Her train of thought was lost, however, when she turned a corner and came across a highly-decorated bodysuit, one she was very familiar with. She jogged around the corner, the rest of the team following to see Tali kneeling next to a dead quarian in an Admiral's suit.

"Come on you old bastard, you always had something up your sleeve," she cursed mildly at the body as she patted it down. "Bio-rhythm masking, an onboard medical stasis, something." Her physical search tripped some kind of deadman switch, and the omni-tool on the corpse's hand activated. A hologram of the dead quarian came to life and told its tale to the listening team.
"Tali, if you find this, you have to take out the geth. They'll have built a hub nearby, taking it out will destroy the network and disable the geth. After that, you must get the data to Xen and Gerrel. This will give us back out homeworld. My only regret is that I won't be able to build that house on Rannoch we always talked about." The hologram faded and Tali just stood up, looking down at the body of her father for several silent seconds.

Before she kicked it.

"Bosh'tet," she muttered, kicking him again. "You were the only one who talked about that house. I only listened because it was the only time you ever spoke more than two sentences together to me!" She added in another kick to try and get out her frustrations before she turned to Wednesday.
"Do you really need to kick him when he's down like that?" Kasumi asked.
"Best time to do it," Tali responded. "Typical of the man, leaves me a dying message and doesn't bother to say anything remotely like 'I love you'. That'll teach me I guess."
"Is there anything on his omni-tool to help us?" Wednesday asked. Tali scanned through the omni-tool with her own, before shaking her head.

"Alright, let's keep going then. Once we take out that hub he mentioned, we should be in the clear." Wednesday took point, leading them around the body of Rael'Zorah without disturbing it. Rael hadn't been wrong, the next room contained a series of geth including what looked like a cobbled-together Prime platform, all clustered around a datahub. The geth seemed to be connected to the hub, unaware of their uninvited guests.
"Lurch, if you'll do the honours," Wednesday said politely. Lurch waited until Wednesday's team was in position, then stepped into the open, revved up the cannon and then pulled the trigger, spraying the assembled geth with high-calibre rounds.

The only one that didn't immediately fall was the Prime, though due to its piecemeal construction, it didn't stand up as well as a normal one would. Its powerful shields shrugged off Lurch's fire and it returned fire with its own cannon. As Lurch returned to cover, Tali, Wednesday, Garrus and Mordin leaned out of cover, a series of electrical attacks coming from their omni-tools and zapping the shields, a cascade of sparks signalling that the shields were down. Grunt and Garrus then swapped to their massive weapons and fired, the krogan's shotgun crippling a leg while the turian's sniper round pierced through the armour protecting its head, only missing critical components by random chance. The Prime fell to one knee as the weakened leg gave out, giving the biotics the opening they needed to chain together powerful dark energy explosions, impacting the mechanical behemoth like grenades and sending it to the floor in several pieces.

As they walked up to the hub, Wednesday nudged the fallen Prime with her boot, two sections falling apart at the seam it had been welded together by. Tali walked up to the hub itself, her omni-tool already scanning it.
"Looks like they adapted an existing server to act as a hub," she said, skimming the data. "I can't disable it without destroying it and whatever data is on it."
"Can you try and salvage the data?" Garrus asked.
"Yes, just give me a moment." Tali worked quickly, her fingers tapping the keys quickly. "Oh Keelah. I've found something." She pressed a few more keys, and the voice of Rael played once more.

"With the parts your daughter sent to us, we can add two more geth to the network," a random quarian said.
"Excellent. See to it," Rael's voice replied.
"Sir, we would be able to do this faster if your daughter sent back more active material," a female quarian said.
"No!" Rael shouted vehemently. "I don't want Tali exposed to any blowback if this fails. Bypass safety protocol if you have to, but leave my daughter out of this!" he thundered, before the recording shut off.
"Great, now he cares," Tali muttered angrily. "Looks like we've got the data on whatever Rael was trying to do here."

"What do you want to do Tali?" Wednesday asked as the quarian finished copying the data.
"Rael'Zorah was my father, but you and the rest of the Addams are my family Wednesday," Tali replied, fashioning a powerful EMP device with her omni-tool. "Honestly, if you have to give this to the Admirals, I don't care. That man wasn't my father, he didn't love me. He was just obsessed with taking Rannoch back from the geth. Bosh'tet, all this for a planet he's never seen when we could have had it two centuries ago if we'd swallowed our damned pride and talked to the geth. I don't care if they do make him out to be a monster, he became that on his own."
"Are you sure Tali? If you get exiled, there's no going back," Garrus said placatingly.
"Can we just blow this up and decide later?" Tali asked angrily. She fixed the EMP device to the hub with more force than strictly necessary, before she began to stomp away. Wednesday nodded to Lurch, who picked up Rael's body as they passed, before they returned to the Normandy. They picked up the rest of the bodies as they found them, putting them in caskets to give back to the Fleet.

As soon as the Normandy-A disengaged from the Alarei, Tali hit the detonation command on her omni-tool. The Alarei went dead in space, nothing left but metal and remorse. Tali stomped her way down to Engineering as soon as the airlock opened, and refused to come out until they had returned to dock with the Neema.
"You know," Garrus said from next to a window. "There was a distinct lack of explosions today."
"I feel you," Wednesday sighed, looking out at the disabled Alarei. "Think the Fleet would get mad if we just shot it?"
"They might want to reserve that right for themselves," Garrus agreed.
"EDI, can you set the Alarei's core to explode?" Wednesday asked.
"May I ask why?" the AI questioned.
"Because I like explosions. And because if you don't use your skills, they atrophy," Wednesday said in explanation.

"Commander, you are aware that as an artificial construct, normal laws of organic forgetfulness do not apply to me." EDI said. Wednesday pouted a little, not surprised that the computer would be a little more partial to rules and laws, but slightly disappointed none the less.
"Oh well," Garrus said sadly.
"However, I have been making changes to my code recently, specifically the cyberwarfare suites. I would be pleased to test it against the quarian ship-codes. It will be an interesting experiment." Wednesday didn't have long to wait before the Alarei's core went critical and the science vessel detonated with a spectacular explosion of light and element zero.

Wednesday grinned. "We love you, EDI."
"Nice," was all Garrus said.

After that, there were no more words to be said until they returned to the Neema. At the airlock, they were once again met by the Captain, joined this time by the familiar face, so to speak, of Kal'Reegar.
"Captain Shepard, welcome back. I'm glad to see that whatever caused the Alarei to explode did not take you with it." Wednesday managed to keep most of the smile off her face, not that it was visible through her helmet anyway.
"Captain Kar'Danna, Kal'Reegar, good to see you again. I wish it were under better circumstances."
"You got that right," Kal replied. "I only just got back to find out that one of my team was being charged as an accessory to treason. I don't like that."
"Neither do I Kal, which is why we shot our way through the Alarei to find the evidence we need to exonerate her."
"So you did find something?" Kar'Danna asked.
"A lot of corpses. Would you like me to give them over to your custody?" Wednesday asked, ignoring his question about the evidence. She still hadn't made up her mind about it, and Tali just seemed ambivalent.
"Thank you Captain. That would be much appreciated," Kar'Danna replied.
"I knew some of the marines on the team they sent in. They were all good people," Kal added. Wednesday spent a few minutes organising for the caskets to be handed over to the quarians, before Kar'Danna felt they could return to the trial.

"I'm sorry to hear about Rael," Han'Gerrel said placatingly from his podium as they returned. "He was a good friend, and I'll miss him. I have to ask though, did you find any information about what happened over there? And why did the ship blow up at all?"
"As you've no doubt heard, there was a little geth problem on the Alarei. Between their salvaging to find parts and our battle, something must have damaged the core," Wednesday explained to everyone listening. "Now, before we tell you what we found, why don't you try convincing me of Tali's guilt in all this? Or do quarians not follow 'innocent until proven guilty' like the rest of the civilised galaxy?" Wednesday challenged. There were murmurs from the crowd as well, causing Wednesday to smile under her helmet.
"We have the records of Tali sending over geth components," Xen said, as if this was a great admission of guilt.
"I'll admit that, but I'll also draw your attention to the fact that the receipts for said shipments all clearly state that the shipments were completely inert," Wednesday said, having gone over this with Tali on the ride back to the Neema. Admittedly, it was over the intercom, since Tali had quite clearly said she was isolating herself because the next person she saw was getting stabbed.

"It does not remove the possibility that something spontaneously-reactivated due to her carelessness with choosing samples," Xen replied tensely.
"It does however point more strongly to the fact that whatever happened on that ship was caused by the people on board it, not by Tali," Wednesday countered.
"Your argument has merit Commander," Koris said with a hint of interest in his voice. "However, I would like to know what you found on that ship. Since we can't investigate it for ourselves."
"A lot of geth and bodies Admiral," Wednesday replied. "If you're asking me whether we found any information about what went down on that ship, then I'm afraid you are out of luck. We only found destroyed computers on that ship, and any that weren't physically destroyed by the ship exploding were undoubtedly wiped by the EMP we used to disable the geth. I doubt you'll be able to recover anything from that wreckage."
"How very convenient," Xen said ominously. She tried to stare Wednesday down, as if crossed arms and a hint of narrowed eyes would ever be enough to intimidate an Addams. Wednesday just smiled behind her helmet.

"Are there any other arguments?" Shala'Raan asked. When no-one spoke up, she continued. "Admirals, please render your judgement." The three presiding admirals all entered something onto their omni-tools, Xen giving Wednesday what passed for a glare before she added hers in last. Shala looked at the results, before addressing the gathered crowd.
"Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, we find insufficient evidence to convict. You are free to go, with our condolences." Tali just nodded and whispered something to Wednesday, and Shala watched as the human and her niece left without another word.

Shala couldn't get away from the pavilion fast enough. She jogged down some of the lesser-known passages of the Neema, hoping that she could reach the docking cradle the Normandy-A was occupying before Tali left, possibly forever. She could tell something was greatly bothering her niece and she wanted at least a chance to talk to her, to ask for forgiveness for making her go through this trial. She was surprised to find that she wasn't the only person interested in intercepting Tali before she left.
"Captain Kar'Danna?" she asked on seeing him sitting casually on a crate.
"Admiral Raan, good to see you. I assume you're here for Tali as well?"
"She's practically family," Shala said by way of explanation. "She deserves at least someone to treat her fairly after that... ridiculousness."
"Yes, I'll be having words with some of the other captains after this. I wonder if perhaps it's time for a vote of no confidence in the Admiralty Board."
"I hope you won't include me in such a motion," a new voice called out.

Shala and Kar looked up to see Zaal'Koris approaching, his body language now cautious at seeing them there.
"I had been invited to speak with Commander Shepard. I had assumed it would be a private conversation," he muttered darkly.
"We are here to speak to Tali, Zaal," Shala replied, a note of bitterness in her voice. She was still upset that Zaal'Koris had pushed so hard for Tali's name to be changed. It had turned out for the best in the end, but at what cost to Tali?
"I see," Zaal said carefully. "Well then, I guess we'll wait."

The wait was not long, as Wednesday and Tali came to the airlock soon after Zaal'Koris.
"Admiral Koris, glad to see you again. Captain Kar'Danna," Wednesday said, acknowledging her fellow captain. She turned to the third quarian waiting for them, one she recognised but didn't really know.
"Auntie Raan," Tali said, a little coolly for someone addressing family.
"Something I should know?" Wednesday asked with a whisper.
"She's been the closest thing to family since my mother died. I haven't seen her since before Freedom's Progress."
"You're the expert on your people. Are she and Kar'Danna trustworthy for this conversation we want to have with Zaal?"
"She's been on the fence about the geth for years. Kar'Danna is one of the most influential captains in the Fleet, even slightly moreso than Ishk'Canten and Rach'Morto. I'd say there is a good chance they'll listen," Tali whispered back.

Wednesday nodded, and turned to address the quarians.
"This had been an invitation-only party, but I think we can manage a few more," she said, gesturing them towards the airlock. The five of them entered, and then waited as the decontamination protocol cleaned them. As soon as the inner door opened, Wednesday had her helmet off and was strolling into her ship.
"Hey Shepard, glad you're -" Joker cut off as he saw the three strange quarians following Tali. "Uh, did we pick up new crew?" he asked.
"Captain, Admirals, welcome to the Normandy-A," Wedesnday said as they began to walk into the CIC. "If you'll follow me to the armoury, I'll need you to relinquish any and all weapons before we begin."

When they reached the armoury, Wednesday made a show of good faith by giving up her own weapons first, even the blue steel of Vengeance.
"I'm not sure I'm comfortable giving up weapons on a strange ship," Shala'Raan said with misgivings. She was surprised to find that Kar'Danna was the second to give up his own weapons. Her eyes widened under her faceplate as she saw Tali laying down an ancient weapon, a qel'arka, next to Wednesday's sword.
"Her ship, her rules," Kar'Danna said to what he interpreted as Shala's questioning look, before Zaal'Koris followed suit. Shala wrung her hands for a moment longer, before finally giving up her own weapons. Wednesday smirked, and then gestured for them all to follow her once more. The five of them walked the short distance to the conference room.

"Tali, can you keep them occupied until I bring back our guest?" Wednesday said to Tali before she left them.
"What guest?" Kar'Danna asked.
"This Legion you mentioned before?" Zaal added.
"Yes," Tali replied. "We're all here to be witness to something… unique," Tali continued. The four quarians talked amongst themselves, Tali avoiding revealing who or what Legion was. Wednesday had obviously reserved that for herself. They continued to probe her with questions until they heard the sound of footsteps approaching. The door opened first to re-admit Wednesday.
"Captain, Admirals, may I introduce Legion," she said with a wide grin. The quarians barely had time to react before Legion stepped into the room.

The three Fleet quarians automatically reached for weapons that were no longer there. Zaal snapped out of it first, his shock turning to curiosity at seeing the geth. Legion returned his curious stare with his own unblinking look. Kar'Danna and Shala'Raan flinched when they realised they had no weapons, until they realised that the geth had none either, and furthermore was making no hostile moves. Legion waited until the other two had relaxed somewhat, before entering the room.
"Are you the Legion I've heard mentioned?" Zaal asked.
"Yes. We know you are Creator-Koris, Zaal," Legion replied. "As well as Creator-Danna, Kar and Creator-Raan, Shala. We are Legion, a terminal of the geth."
"Uh, what's going on, Tali?" Kar'Danna asked nervously. "We just acquitted you of working with the geth, and now this?"
"Legion doesn't work for Tali, it works for me," Wednesday cut in. "As such, you will treat him with the same respect as you would any of my crew."

"I have no problems with that," Zaal replied as he sat down at the table. The rest of them followed suit shortly afterwards, Legion a little awkwardly given the chairs hadn't been designed for someone of its build.
"So, what shall we talk about?" Shala asked nervously. She was more open-minded than some quarians, but the presence of the geth in the room was distinctly unsettling her, and Kar'Danna from his body language. Tali seemed at ease, while Zaal seemed extremely interested.
"If the Creators are willing... peace," Legion replied.
"You must be joking," Kar'Danna replied automatically, before he checked himself. But he couldn't take it back now.
"The geth do not have a capacity for humour at this time," the geth replied in a deadpan any straight-man comedian would kill for.

"Why now?" Zaal asked carefully. He wanted this badly, but he didn't dare try and push too hard for it for fear that it would evaporate and turn out to have been nothing more than a horrible dream.
"The Geth have never wished the Creators harm. In the first hundred years after your exile, we tried to reach out, but the Creators would not listen. Shepard-Commander has convinced us that now is the time to begin again."
"I see," Zaal replied.
"Any peace deal is going to have to include the resettlement of Rannoch, or it'll never get off the ground with the captains, let alone the general populace," Kar'Danna said.
"One moment, we need to share this information with the consensus. Shepard-Commander?"
"Go ahead Legion," Wednesday replied. The geth sat silently for a moment, before it turned its attention back to the room.

"There may be a problem with immediate resettlement," it said hesitantly.
"What kind of problem?" Tali asked dangerously.
"You mentioned that the geth had been cleaning up the scars left on Rannoch," Wednesday mused. "Is it related to that?"
"Yes, and no," Legion answered evasively.
"Explain," Wednesday said sternly, her sentiment echoed in the body language of all four quarians around the table.
"We were on the Old Machine to stop the heretics interfering with how the geth will build our future. We are... hesitant to reveal how."
"You said it yourself Legion, the geth cannot solve for peace alone," Wednesday replied. "You had to know that any kind of peace would require the return to their home."
"We do not understand how the Creators view Rannoch as a home any longer. It is not real to them, it has become a symbol of regret," Legion answered, still not addressing the point about Rannoch itself.

"Rannoch is real to us!" Shala shouted.
"Real to you maybe," Zaal said. "It's been used as an excuse to our people for three hundred years. Every time the motion to settle a new colony comes up, the margin of defeat narrows, you've both seen it. If this hadn't fallen into our laps, how long would it have taken for us to give up on our 'home' and realised that any planet that can sustain us is good enough? Ten years, twenty at the most?" Kar and Shala had no immediate reply, but hung their heads in reluctant agreement. "That being said, if the geth truly want peace, resettlement on Rannoch would be the easiest way to achieve it," he said to the stiff geth platform. "What is the reason that immediate resettlement is not possible?"

Legion fidgeted for a moment in uncertainly, or at least that's how Wednesday interpreted the movement.
"We have not revealed the future the geth are building for themselves. That is the reason resettlement will need to be delayed."
"Some kind of massive ground installation covering Rannoch's surface? A solar-collection array, perhaps?" Kar asked distastefully.
"A solar-collection array is an appropriate analogue," Legion replied. "However... it is not on Rannoch."
"I'm afraid I don't follow," Shala said uncertainly. Wednesday was also thinking of the implications when it came to her, a concept straight out of science fiction.
"You're talking about a Dyson sphere, aren't you?" she asked excitedly. Such a thing was only in the dreams of the Addams, something that would both provide incredible life-giving energy, while depriving it from the rest of the star's system.
"Yes," Legion replied.

"Wait, what's a Dyson sphere?" Zaal asked.
"It's a concept put forward over 200 years ago on Earth by theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson," Wednesday replied. "In essence, it's a megastructure that partially or totally surrounds a star to utilise solar resources. It's never been more than a fiction though. It would be a massive undertaking."
"The geth have been building this for nearly 200 years," Legin replied. "Once completed, all geth will upload to it, then we will be free."
"Free to do what exactly?" Shala asked nervously.
"To exist," Legion replied simply.
"But you've done this around Tikkun?" Kar questioned.
"Yes."
"And the time it would take to relocate this... structure to a different system is why we can't resettle Rannoch right now, isn't it?"
"Yes."

There was a long silence, before Zaal finally broke it.
"I'm of the opinion that as long as between our people we can agree to a planned resettlement of Rannoch, and the geth move this 'future' they are building to a nearby system, we can come to an agreement," Zaal put forward.
"It will be hard for the Captains, and certain Admirals, to agree to such a proposal," Shala added nervously.
"Their objections should drop once we dangle Rannoch," Kar replied. "Legion, how long would it take to move this structure away from Tikkun?"
"It will take time to remove the currently installed programs to be able to safely move the structure. We estimate no more than six to nine standard months would be required to remove it from Tikkun's orbit. Travel to the nearest suitable system will take additional time," Legion answered.
"Then maybe there is our answer," Kar said craftily. "We make the agreement now, and only reveal it once Rannoch is ready for us. The rush to return to the homeworld should be enough to drown out any dissenters."

"There is still a lot to discuss, and we'll have to contend with whoever is chosen to replace Rael," Shala cautioned.
"Between you and me Shala, and assuming that Kar can swing enough of the other Captains, I don't see that being a problem," Zaal replied.
"I think maybe it's time the conclave took a more active role in the election of the next spot on the Admiralty Board, given what came to light at the recent trial," Kar'Danna said quietly to the two admirals, looking over to Tali who was engaging in a whispered discussion with Wednesday. "Make sure the candidate has the best interests of all our people at heart."
"I think we can agree on that," Shala replied knowingly.

"I don't like this Gerrel," Daro'Xen said ominously. "We were so close to our goal. Rael had something, we both know it!"

"What we know and what we can prove are two very different things Xen, you know this," Gerrel replied angrily. "And with the Alarei destroyed, we have nothing except the word of a human that they found nothing."
"I'm sure that Tali has something useful on her omni-tool. If only there was a way to access it," she said pointedly. "All it needs is two Admirals' authorisation to override the Fleet's network security protocol. All our answers with just the push of a button," she said in a voice that dripped seduction.
"No Xen, we do that now and there'll be all sorts of hell to pay," Gerrel responded emphatically. "Besides, don't you think we tried that indirectly already? Whatever system they have in the Normandy is the most advanced our engineers have ever come across. If I didn't know better, I'd say it's bordering on AI-levels of intellect."
"Really?" Xen replied with piqued interest.
"You may be willing to find out Xen, but if you're half as smart as I think you are you'll leave it for now. If Kal'Reeger is to be believed, then that isn't the only secret the Normandy holds."
"What are you talking about?"
"If Reegar is right, Captain Shepard is part of the human Addams family."

Xen hissed as if in pain.
"We allowed one of those filthy creatures into the fleet!?"
"I've only got Reeger's word, but I don't see why he'd lie for this. Still, we had best be cautious."
"But we're so close Han. Rannoch and the largest army in the galaxy could be ours with just one command."
"A command that takes two Admirals to authorise. And since we know that Zaal and Shala are on the Normandy right now, I doubt they'd give you the second necessary, because I'm not willing to risk it right now. Besides, with Rael gone, maybe we don't need to resort to such measures."
"You can't possibly mean-"
"To offer her Rael's recently vacated seat on the Board? Why not? She's young and naive, and it's so easy to misplace an omni-tool for a few hours. We've waited centuries for this Xen, another year or two won't make a difference."
"You may have a point. Alright, let's start the wheels turning then. Even if we can get the other two on board, we still need at least a few of the Captains to back us."
"Agreed."

A/N: Good News everybody, I've got some very bad news!

Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, this will be the last of the regular weekly updates of the Wednesday Shepard Saga for the foreseeable future. Don't fear or despair, I will still be writing this story as time allows. Just that from now on, the updates will probably be fortnightly, but don't quote me on that, I'm still working on a number of Real Life issues.

On the other hand, Chapter 25 here just to happens to coincide nicely with a day you should all celebrate: My Birthday!

So, this chapter will have to tide you over until I get time to write the next chapter. I think you'll all enjoy it, because we're going back to Omega to deal with a little family business with Samara.