AN:- Could not resist the title. Longest title ever!
Chapter Fifty-Three: The Trial of Tali'Zorah nar Rayya vas Neema vas Normandy
Garrus took the battered old shuttle to its limits, redlining three hundred year old engines until they wailed inside the cabin. Shepard wasn't scared, exactly, but nor did she let go of the safety belt until they had finished docking with the Rayya.
They piled out to find a quarian staring at them. "You're alive? They've already started the trial…"
They were already in motion, sprinting through the halls. From ahead Shepard could hear the dull murmur of voices, and put on a burst of speed, coming through the door just as Raan's voice cut above the bustle of the crowd. "Very well, is the Admiralty Board prepared to render judgement?"
"Not yet," she shouted from the top of the steps. Every helmet turned to her as she marched down to the podium.
Tali was at her heel, quirking her head to the admirals. "Sorry we're late."
Shepard took over, putting on her best court-room voice. "Tali'Zorah vas Normandy just saved the Alarei. I hope this proves her loyalty to the quarian people."
Koris stepped forwards. "Her loyalty was never in doubt, only her judgement."
Gerrel was next to him in an instant. "Perhaps Tali'Zorah can offer something to encourage more trust in her judgement?" He turned to Tali and Shepard almost imagined he was smiling. "Did you find anything on the Alarei that would clarify what happened there?"
Shepard stepped forwards to the very edge of the podium, her mind racing for another option. She heard Tali shift behind her. "Shepard, please."
Raan was watching them closely. "Does Captain Shepard have any new evidence to submit to this hearing?"
She took a breath and let it go, then started to speak. "Tali helped me defeat Saren and the geth at the Citadel. That should be all the evidence you need."
Koris waved dismissively. "I fail to see what relevance-"
Suddenly she saw it. "You're not really interested in Tali are you? This trial isn't about her, it's about the geth."
"This hearing has nothing to do with the geth."
"You want people to sympathise with them, Han'Gerrel wants to go to war. None of you care about Tali. She knows more about the geth than any other quarian alive. You should be listening to her, not putting her on trial." She was on a role now, and when Koris tried to interrupt again he couldn't even get the first word out. "Tali'Zorah saved the Citadel. She saved the Alarei." She turned away from the Board, trying to look at as many of the quarians in the audience as she could. "She showed the galaxy the value of the quarian people." Her gaze finally rested on Tali. "I can't think of stronger evidence than that."
The crowd erupted into applause, and when she turned back to the Admirals there every motion betrayed their uncertainty. Raan was forced to bang the gavel several times to restore order. She looked down to the admirals. "Are you prepared to render judgement?"
All three of them triggered their omni-tools and entered a decision. It didn't escape Shepard's notice that Koris was the last to do so, and he was looking right at her as he did. Raan checked the board in front of her and nodded.
"Tali'Zorah. In light of your history of service we do not find sufficient evidence to convict. You are cleared of all charges. Commander Shepard, please accept these gifts in appreciation for you taking the time to represent one of our people."
Shepard's omni-tool pinged but she ignored it. "If you appreciate me then listen. You cannot go to war with the geth." There was another grumble from the crowd, and Gerrel folded his arms as he stared at her. "They are too strong for you. I know how much you need to return to your homeworld, believe me I understand the need to find a real home. But the Reapers are coming, and the galaxy will need to stand together to stop them. Please don't throw away the lives of your people in a war you cannot win."
"Thank you Commander Shepard." Koris sounded almost intolerably smug. "I hope this board carefully considers your advice."
"This hearing is concluded," Raan said before another argument could break out. "Go in peace Tali'Zorah vas Normandy." For the first time that didn't sound like an insult. "Keelah se'lai."
This time when the room chorused, Shepard joined in.
They stayed on their podium as the Admiralty Board filed out, then as the rest of the crowd dissipated. Tali stayed at her side right up until the last of the crowd had left, then practically collapsed against the rail, letting out a long breath.
"I can't believe you pulled that off." She turned to Shepard. "What you said… I've never had anyone speak like that on my behalf." Shepard put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "Thank you for being there for my father and me, even when… Thank you."
She couldn't help but grin. "I'm sure I can still get you exiled. If you want."
"Ha." Tali stood and rolled her shoulders a few times. Shepard could almost see the tension leaving her. "Thanks, but I'm fine with things like this." She chuckled. "Plus, it's fun watching you shout." They made their way back out of the forum.
Shepard stopped at the top of the steps and turned to her. "Tali, about what your father said, what he did… You deserved better."
Tali shrugged. "I got better Shepard, I got you."
Shepard was suddenly glad for the helmet that hid her blush. "Come on Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, let's get back to our ship."
"Thank you. Captain."
As they turned to leave a familiar figure came out of the crowd to greet them.
"Kal!" Tali stepped forwards and raising her hand. He returned the gesture. "Glad to see you're alright."
"Glad to see you as well ma'am. I was here to give my report on you, but they thought it would be better that I not see you until the trial was over." He shrugged. "It was my suggestion you could help with the situation on the Alarei."
"That might just have given us what we needed," Shepard said. "Thanks."
"No problem. You didn't deserve what they were doing to you ma'am," he said to Tali. "I did what I could. Glad to see you got off without having to give over the evidence you found on that ship though."
"I didn't say anything about finding evidence on the Alarei."
"Noticed that ma'am."
Sharper than the average soldier. "What about that action on Haestrom? You got beat up pretty bad."
"I was out for about a week with an infection. Physical damage wasn't too bad though."
"It must take a lot of courage going into a firefight when a single gunshot wound could kill you by infection."
"It's not like we don't keep antibiotics stocked up," Tali said. "Our soldiers aren't helpless."
Shepard was about to apologise when Kal shook his head. "Commander's got the right of it. You've only seen our strike teams ma'am. Things are very different on the front line. We're better fighting smart, preferably from orbit."
"It's the only way to be sure," Shepard said automatically. "And I suppose all of this puts a damper on your plans for a war with the geth."
"I wouldn't know about that ma'am." He said carefully, and she recognised the attitude of a lifelong soldier in his response. "That's a decision for the higher ups."
"I suppose." Tali still didn't sound convinced, but Shepard felt some sort of understanding pass between her and Kal. She wondered just how protective the old soldier really was of Tali.
"It was good to see you again." Shepard said, standing to attention and saluting.
He returned the salute. "Good to see you too." He added a nod to Tali. "Ma'am."
"You can call me Tali, Kal."
"We'll see ma'am."
He turned and headed back into the crowd. "I'm glad he made it," Tali said. "We don't have enough men like Kal around."
"You must like him a lot."
"He taught me a lot while we were researching the dark energy phenomenon. Not enough to save my squad on Haestrom, but a lot."
"He clearly knows his way around a battlefield, and politics, come to that."
"You can't be a quarian without knowing your way around politics. There's barely any difference between personal and professional politics for us."
"That sounds worryingly like the Normandy." Shepard led the way back through the ship towards the Normandy's docking bay. "No wonder you got along so well with us."
"You mean not all Alliance ships are like that?"
"Oh god no." Shepard shivered at the thought. "We'd kill each other."
"I fear the same would be true of turians," Garrus said from behind them. "We like our discipline."
"Turians like discipline?" Tali said as they waited for the airlock to cycle open. "You shock me."
"Laugh it up Tali. At least we don't have to deal with everyone knowing our personal business."
"Yes Garrus, how terrible that would be."
"Point taken Commander."
/|\
Miranda sat in her cabin and tried to write the report she absolutely needed to send. The Illusive Man had grown weary of her stalling him, and her reports had been increasingly erratic of late, even she knew that. The fiasco with the Pragia facility had been enough to remind her of how much the Illusive Man needed to be kept up to date. There was no chance of him closing down the Lazarus Project, not after the amount of money he had already poured into it, but there was every chance he would reassign someone else as the project lead.
She sighed and tapped a few more lines out. She had already deleted and rewritten so much of it she could barely remember what her point had been. Finally she selected the entire document and started again.
File Open: Mission Debrief: Tali'Zorah vas Normandy/Rayya
Operative: Miranda Lawson
[File]
Commander Shepard's work in assuring the compatibility of this team has begun to show promising rewards. Several of the crew who before faced serious or even severe issues with regards their mental health and ability to function within civilised society have now begun to show markedly improved psychological health. The prime example of this is of course [LINE DELETED]Jack[/LINE DELETED] Subject Zero. Prior to this mission Subject Zero was an unrepentant criminal whose profile suggested extreme anti-social personality disorder verging on criminal psychopathy, but since Shepard has taken the time to connect and reach out to her she now displays improvement in almost every previous area (see attached ref: Chakwas K. PhD, Psychological Evaluation: Subject Zero)
It seems clear to me that despite my initial reservations about allowing Subject Zero to access our databanks and discover the Pragia facility, it may in fact have led to this change in her temperament and demeanour, which makes her far more likely to assist and aid the rest of the team during the Omega-4 mission. I believe that this can only be a positive indication of our chances at success.
There are further changes in the team which all suggest an elevated chance at survival. Attached are several further updates from Chakwas (See Attached ref: Psychological Evaluations: Krios. T; Goto. K; Solus. M; Taylor. J; Grunt). It seems likely that Shepard's previous teammate's Tali'Zorah and Garrus would have already done everything they could to aid her, and similarly I suspect the Justicar Samara, having sworn and oath to Shepard, will also need no further aid, but there is a definite sense of comradeship, despite the differences between the various team-members.
As mentioned in previous reports Shepard has maintained an informal relationship with much of the crew, as well as her team, and this has clearly begun to strengthen the ship and the mission. Many of the crew members discuss the Commander in favourable terms (see attached file ref: Mess Hall 1800-1830 local time), and express confidence in her leadership abilities. Most recently this has been displayed in her reaction an incident of unprofessional conduct among the crew (see attached report ref: Yeoman Chambers. K). Shepard's swift action in this matter, while more extreme than anticipated, has endeared her further to many of the crew.
However, the state of the Commander personally continues to be a source of concern for me. Her insomnia continues, and has begun displaying many of the warning signs for severe depression. Despite the efforts of various squad mates and Doctor Chakwas she continues to refuse treatment. I am worried that while the crew may operate at full efficiency beyond the Omega-4 Relay, Commander Shepard herself may be at a marked decrease.
On an unrelated note, Subject Zero has made a direct threat to kill me once the mission has come to an end. I believe that she is serious in this threat, however, I am unsure as to whether this would extend to a willingness to kill me or allow me to die during the mission. Attached is a recording of the threat (Crew Quarters Lawson. M, 1446 Pragia standard). Additional support or reassignment not required. I believe I can handle this issue on the Normandy.
It seems likely we will collect the Reaper IFF very soon. After this I imagine Shepard will waste no time in bringing us through the Omega-4 Relay. I am confident that we will succeed in our mission, with a much increased chance that some of the crew will survive to return.
[LINE DELETED]Personally I'm rather hoping to be one of them[/LINE DELETED]
[/File]
[Attach]
Status Change Request: Change of Name ref: Tali'Zorah vas Neema
Previous: vas Neema
Update: vas Normandy
Permission Request: Decommission of Security Cameras
Location: Private Quarters, Shepard. M
Updated Psychological Evaluations: Subject Zero, Krios. T; Goto. K; Solus. M; Taylor. J; Grunt
Recording: Mess Hall 1800-1830 local time
Recording: Crew Quarters; Lawson. M, 1446 Pragia standard
[/Attach]
Signoff: Miranda Lawson
Send File: Transport Node Phi Ro 9
Logoff: Miranda Lawson
Purge Databank
Shutdown
[Transmission Detected]
Location: Normandy Mk II, REDACTED, Transport Node Phi Ro 9, REDACTED
Author: Operative Miranda Lawson, REDACTED
Contents: REDACTED
[Transmission Intercept]
[/Transmission Intercept]
[Transmission Download]
[/Transmission Download]
[Open File]
/|\
"Shepard."
"Miranda."
"Late night?"
"Early morning actually."
Miranda checked her chronometer. "I suppose there's some advantage in working a twenty four hour day."
"Concerned for your investment again?"
"Would you believe if I said your well-being?"
Shepard set her mug of caf down on the control panel next to her and turned to properly look at the Operative. "Joker was taking some time, but we were approaching a relay. I decided I might as well check the approach while he sleeps. There shouldn't be any problems, but better safe than sorry."
Miranda took the other seat, leaving the pilot's chair empty. "There are other crew to take care of these sorts of things."
"I find I appreciate the isolation." Shepard nodded to EDI's terminal. "Relatively speaking of course."
"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."
"A fan of the classics? Wait." Shepard's mouth quirked up a little. "Was that genetically implanted as well?"
"In a manner of speaking. My education was thorough under my father's direction."
"And yet nothing creative?" Shepard leaned back. "Interesting priorities."
"My father was a little more concerned with the practical."
Shepard took a drink. "Creativity is practical. You think I get my crazy ideas from officer training and basic?"
Miranda leaned forwards and examined her commander. "So where does it come from?"
"All sorts of places. Movies, history books. Sometimes videogames believe it or not. Liara was actually the one who insisted I should play them."
"You direct our battles according to videogame tactics?"
"When life resembles fiction, why not try playing along and see what happens?"
"That's certainly… one way of looking at things."
"So is there a reason for this intrusion into my caf time?"
Miranda sat back properly and watched the Relay drawing closer. "You think you're the only one who enjoys isolation?"
"Isolation with someone else?"
"Best place for it."
"You are full of surprises Ms Lawson."
"I just finished writing a report for the Illusive Man. I thought I'd take a walk to clear my head."
Shepard didn't answer that, thankfully, just carried on drinking.
"I have a question, if you don't mind."
"It would be difficult for anyone to know me better than you Miranda."
"I suppose. But this is about something a little more recent."
"Shoot."
"That whole incident with Yeoman Chambers. You reacted very badly to it."
"I suppose I did didn't I?" Shepard took a long drink and sighed, setting her mug down again. "You know much about the Alliance?"
"I've studied it extensively."
"I mean actual experience with it. Well you might now know that there's a lot of pretty-old fashioned views still hanging around in it. Alliance takes its recruits from wherever it can. Colonies, Earth, Fleet families. And most of the time people are fine, but it's a pretty big melting pot for cultures."
"And you being a colony kid didn't fit in?"
"Me being a colony kid fit in fine. It was my behaviour which…" She trailed off and rubbed her chin. "Dunno if you read the reports. After my family died, after Mindoir… I started to act out. A lot. I played pranks, I got hauled up a couple of times. Never anything serious enough to get me kicked out, and the Alliance did a lot to even out the rough edges." She grinned at that. "But there was one behaviour in particular which I got noticed for."
"Which was?"
"I enjoyed sex. A lot. With a lot of different people. Usually in a single night variety."
"And this was a problem?"
"More than you'd think. More than I knew. This was just after basic, my first posting. Most basic of the basic, protecting colony interests on Ares. It was basically fully established, they didn't need much help, already had a civilian militia, a Home Guard, full defensive capabilities. Anyway, it was a basic assignment to weed out the best officer candidates."
"So lots of down time?"
"To put it simply. I never did anything off regs, never did anything wrong by most moral codes. But half the officer cadets in my class were old school, either Fleet families or traditionalist colony kids, like Mindoir. So when word got round about what I was up to…"
"I see."
"Yeah. I didn't care at the time, I was still too wrapped up in myself. But the memory of the things that were said and done…" She picked up her mug and started toying with it. "I don't like bullies."
Miranda processed the new information for a minute, letting Shepard gather her own thoughts. "I think I see why you were so angry at the issue with Chambers."
"Yeah, I guess it pushed some buttons."
"Thank you for telling me that Shepard."
"Well you're the one who wanted to be friends."
"The others know?"
"Ashley, Gunnery Chief Williams, we talked. Liara knew. I don't think many other people on my old crew cared that much."
"Anyone from before?"
Shepard smiled, but it was hollow. "I don't think there's too many left would still call me friend. But yeah, there were a couple of other officers, when I got promoted, they didn't care. I just had the misfortune of being lumped with other colony kids when I first started. Part of the Alliance's thing about letting people get acclimated with other people who might share similar viewpoints as them."
Miranda nodded. It had been standard protocol to group colony recruits with other colony recruits, ship recruits with ship recruits and earth recruits all together so that there was less danger of two people with wildly different backgrounds interacting before they had a chance to go through the lessons about other cultures even within human civilisation. Recently the Alliance had started to forgo it, after realising just how many recruits groups like Cerberus or Terra Firma were able to cull just by finding classmates who all held the same viewpoints.
"Nonetheless, I'm glad to know this about you."
"Nothing really to know, I don't keep it secret."
"I'm not just interested in your secrets Shepard."
They heard the uneven clanking of Joker approaching the cockpit and Shepard sat properly, finishing her caf. "Thanks for the talk Miranda. Feels a bit odd to have someone approach me."
Miranda stood and nodded to Joker. "Not at all. See you later."
AN:- This story is now officially the longest story I have ever written at over 160,000 words (looks longer on FF net because of all the author's notes) Previous record held at 158,000 for an original fantasy work.
I never knew which way Admiral Koris would have voted. It's an interesting question. Does he realise the error of the way he's approached the trial and changed his mind, or is he still opposed to Tali? I like Koris' character, because I agree with him in all his points, but he's such a wanker about it you can't help but hate him. Contrasted to Gerrel, who's a bloodthirsty warmonger with a great personality, it's a really interesting look into how with politics you need to be careful not to be distracted by personality, but actually focus on their message. Unless of course you're supposed to support Gerrel and oppose Koris and I just misread the intention of the writers. But given the way the plot is resolved in ME3 I don't think that's the case.
I don't enjoy writing the quarians as a race very much. They don't emote the way that a writer can really express naturally. They don't smile, or look worried or concerned, it's all body language. But you can't keep writing 'their body language was confused' or 'they showed their happiness' without it sounded really forced. When it's just Tali, who Shepard knows well enough to be able to read her smile or her frown even when she's not able to see it, it's easy, but for the whole race?
I was going to include Veetor as well, but it just didn't fit to have him show up as well as Kal. Besides, I prefer writing Reegar, and he has more interesting things to say. I might put in a little nod to Veetor as a message later or something. Most of Reegar's bit was adapted from the actual conversation you have, but I added bits, changed 'em up, the usual stuff I do. I like to imagine that the relationship of Reegar and Tali was very much teacher-student friendship. I know some people who ship them but I just don't get that vibe off them. Bit of banter as well before we get off the Rayya.
I haven't really done an alternate viewpoint chapter or a Miranda report for a while, so here's to them coming back a bit. I used a couple of the previous reports for reference so if you go back you can hopefully see changes in Miranda's way of talking and reporting, which is of course caused by her loyalty shifting around. I also love the thought of having to keep up with really basic bits of red tape like name changes for official documents. Having worked as a front-desk receptionist at an international school, which obviously included lots of stuff to do with names and records, I can only imagine how difficult it would be on a galactic scale.
Given that they're supposed to be catering to galactic traffic there have to be some sorts of safety features around Mass Relays to make sure ships don't slam into each other. Even with the drift on the entrance vectors there would surely be the potential for really bad accidents. So I've mentioned a few times that there have to be people monitoring the situation even when the pilot is having rest. I wouldn't imagine Normandy has a reserve pilot, more like the sensor crew takes care of it, saving Joker for the actual manoeuvres. And of course whenever Shepard can't sleep she takes over.
The videogame thing was mostly just a nod to the fact that, y'know, these are videogames, so they're not exactly realistic military combat simulators. And of course a lot of guesswork about the Alliance, and just plain old making stuff up. A lot of these details about Shepard could also be found in my (shameless plug incoming) mature story 'Counting the Ways' on AO3, link on my profile. I promise this is the last time I'll mention the Yeoman Chambers subplot I promise. The whole thing about Shepard not liking bullies is actually a plot point, believe it or not, so I wanted to actually establish how badly she'd react, and what the reasoning for it is.
The stuff about the Alliance. It is established that people in the Alliance have bad reactions to aliens and alien culture, most of the time. So given that humanity has become so widespread it is not beyond the realm of possibility that human culture could have become so wildly different from colony to the next that two humans from two different colonies would have almost as many problems with each other as a human and an alien (imagine a human from a colony founded by puritans reacting to a human from a colony founded by hippies, for example) In order to homogenise these disparate views for military service one possible solution would be to start by grouping people by similar viewpoints, until they have been given lectures and courses in dealing with people different from you. Again this is actually something we had to do a few times for the international students in our school before they could be properly integrated, because for example some of the male students had such wildly inappropriate reactions to female students that were based in their culture having never really let them have male/female interaction (seriously) and of course for some of them the more liberal attitude towards sex was really hard to explain, which is where I got the inspiration for this particular subplot. And obviously there are downfalls in that if you group people socially who all share the same viewpoints it becomes an echo chamber that makes their views worse, not better, which is where I then got Cerberus or Terra Firma recruiting from these groups.
And of course, no canon support for any of it.
