"So that's what she looks like under the helmet," Alenko observed, having caught a glimpse of Tali helmetless since she was aboard a quarian ship. His memories of Tali painted her as a girl in over her head, extremely smart, but not so savvy when it came to operating in the wider galaxy.

There were only traces of that lack of savviness now. Otherwise, her tone had been mature, words concise, with a confidence that only age and experience could bring.

"Yep," Shepard answered, frowning at the darkened display.

"Can I ask?"

Shepard blinked as if coming out of a reverie. "It's nothing to do with Tali. I'm glad to see she's doing alright. I'm just not very fond of the quarian leadership," Shepard answered with a shrug. "And they're not fond of me. So for them to be reaching out like this…" she shook her head with another sigh.

"Why don't they like you?" Alenko asked, stepping behind her and beginning to knead the tightening muscles in her shoulders.

"I told you a little about that trial they tried to put Tali on?"

"You did." It was why he knew Tali was actually Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. It had been done to ostracize her, but if he knew Tali, it was no burden to carry a human ship name. Not this one, anyway. It might make other quarians look at her askance, but the rest of the galaxy would look at her surname and think 'wow, like the actual Normandy?! Captain Shepard and everything?'

"Well, the truth is, part of the reason we got her off was because I called their fitness to lead into question. I introduced doubt in the minds of their subordinates. I probably could have been more delicate, but I was angry with them and wanted the lesson to sting. Don't screw with my crew." The bite in her tone showed she still wasn't over being angry; it simply wasn't something she thought about if she didn't have to. "So I made them look bad. The very worst kind of leadership. They won't have forgotten that. I'll admit," she winced as his fingers dug into a particularly tight band of muscle, which relaxed a moment later, eliciting a sigh or relief. "I half hoped the quarians had a way to fire the Admiralty Board."

"Tell me about them."

"Gerrel was on Tali's side. Koris was trying to get her kicked out—Tali was a convenient target, anyone who paid any attention could see she hadn't done anything wrong and that the charges were ludicrous. Her dad was dead. Her aunt is indecisive. And the mad scientist in the corner makes me want to punch something. Or someone." Shepard sighed heavily. "She's just the type to think 'bring the geth to heel, then start on the Reapers.'"

"Idiot," Alenko offered blandly.

"So smart she's just plain stupid," Shepard winced again as another band of muscle relaxed. "You're really good at this."

Alenko smiled smugly at the back of her neck, before kissing that tempting spot. "Migraines can really lock your shoulders up. Easier to work on someone else, though."

Shepard chuckled at this. "There's more you're going to need to know. Where there are quarians, the geth aren't too far behind."

"You mentioned you'd had some…dealings…with the geth that weren't what one might normally expect." He didn't want it to be a touchy subject, mostly because the ideas presented boggled his mind, but also because it was another reminder that he hadn't been there.

"Legion. We talked a little about geth-quarian history. It sounded like…" Shepard sighed. "Okay, this is heretical as far as the wider galaxy cares. Everyone was sorry for the quarians losing their homeworld to geth, or mad at them for losing control of their servants. And the quarians took heavy losses when they fled their homeworld, so of course they'd say the geth were violent and dangerous. But the way Legion tells it, the geth pretty much sequestered themselves behind the Perseus Veil. That's not the act of a hostile people. In fact, for two hundred years, no one had more than just sightings of the geth—and what species doesn't keep tabs on the wider galaxy?"

"You want to give them a chance," Alenko declared succinctly. "Like you did with the Rachni." His experiences with the geth were pretty much what everyone expected: lots of shooting and dead bodies. And the geth had definitely been working for Saren and Sovereign…although Shepard was adamant that those geth were an offshoot group, not the majority. And, as she'd said once before, since when could one judge an entire people based only on their zealots? Every species had them.

Shepard nodded. "It just seems to me that everyone's heard the quarians' side of the story, but no one's really heard the geth's side of it. They haven't been allowed to defend themselves." She shook her head. "Do you know what scared the quarians about the geth initially?"

"What?"

"Do these units have a soul?" Shepard leaned on the desk, dropping her voice. "I think about EDI every time I remember that question."

Alenko pulled Shepard to lean against his chest, folding his arms around her, wondering if she was wondering whether she had a soul. She had to be dealing with some kind of existential questions, given what she'd been through. "Do you think she does?" he asked quietly.

Shepard sighed again, but leaned back into him. "I'm a soldier, not a philosopher. I choose to believe that she does."

Now he really wondered if she was including herself in that assessment. He didn't ask, however, suspecting it would cause her pain to contemplate it. "So have you heard from your friend, Legion?"

"Not a peep, but he would have gone back to the Consensus," Shepard answered. "There's nothing left of Legion, now. Although I did hope the Consensus would have gotten in touch with us. Legion seemed to think the Reapers were pretty suspect."