Tali didn't feel in a good frame of mind when she rejoined Raan in the command hub. She was worried about Shepard, she was angry with Gerrel, and if Shepard hadn't given him a little of what that idiot deserved she thought she just might have.

It would have been a true sign of division, but she was rapidly beginning not to care. She shook herself: she was an Admiral now. It was her job to care.

Shepard had always been so strong, so steady. Far from shaking Tali's confidence in her, Tali was horrified to discover that the strength she'd learned to take for granted in some measure was not actually limitless. And if she felt awful over having assumed it was…she could only imagine what it was like for Shepard not only to hit the wall but to have it happen in front of people who relied on her.

Maybe Shepard hadn't appreciated her own limits, but it seemed she wasn't the only one.

That was why it had to be Garrus to give Shepard a perspective adjustment. She would treat Shepard as something fragile, now that she'd seen what she'd seen and understood the root cause of it. Garrus wouldn't, because treating Shepard as if she was damaged or broken would just make it worse.

Shepard never did that. She picked her crewmen up, dusted them off and let them lean on her until they could walk again. She'd listened to their fears, taken up their causes, soothed their hurts…

Well. Now it was a time for a dose of her own medicine. That phrase wasn't usually in a positive vein, but in this case…

She glared at Raan. It had been some time since she felt so resentful of the Admiralty Board. "I'm going to make the strong suggestion that jerking Shepard around stop right now," she said flatly, crossing her arms.

And if Gerrel pulled another stunt like that…she'd ask Garrus to shoot him at range if she couldn't get close enough to use her shotgun.

"Tali—" Raan began pleadingly.

"No. He nearly got me killed. He nearly got Shepard—the expert Reaper fighter killed. He nearly got two Council Spectres killed. I know some people here don't think that aggravating the Council matters, but I guarantee you that getting their Spectres killed and breaching a standing treaty is not going to help our cause." And it wasn't; eventually the Council would find time to complain about this war in spite of other people not doing as much as they should or could about the big one.

"Alright," Shepard's voice cut across the thickening air. She was followed by Garrus and looked as though she'd never had a bad day in her life…apart from finding out the quarians had tried to fight the geth while the Reapers were savaging the rest of the galaxy. "Let's be clear, and I'll say no more about it," she declared in her usual forceful tone as she stopped in front of Raan. "Your guy pulls a stunt like this again and you're sleeping in the bed you've made."

"Sounds good to me," Tali said promptly, receiving a nod of thanks from Shepard. Through the obscuring visor of her mask, she studied Shepard's face. There was something that spoke of lingering upset around her eyes, but she looked otherwise composed.

She always did, but Tali was beginning to realize just how little appearances meant…and it left her feeling guilty, even though she knew Shepard wouldn't want her to.

"You must understand—I'm not justifying Gerrel, but for the sake of perspective—the geth inflicted heavy casualties before the dreadnought was destroyed," Raan put in quietly.

"That's war, Admiral," Shepard answered simply. "A war, I hasten to add, you started. Let's worry about fixing the problem as it is. Someone mentioned a planetary defense canon at some point."

And that would be that. It was definitely for the best. The Normandy might be invisible, but the rest of the Fleet wasn't.

"It is less a threat than it was, now that the geth no longer have Reaper upgrades," Raan answered, allowing the change of subject gracefully.

But it would be much less of a threat if it was broken. In fact, that should become an immediate primary target. Maybe they should test out all Garrus' calibrations. And he'd have the satisfaction of shooting something in order to vent his own bad mood.

"Shepard-Captain," Legion put in immediately. "Admiral Raan's assessment is incorrect. Long-range control has been severed, but the Old Machines placed a base on Rannoch for short-range direction."

Tali winced, glad no one could see her expression screwing up. She wasn't surprised, but it was a nasty thing to hear.

"Looks like everyone's pulling out Plan B today," Garrus observed dryly. "We do have one, right?"

Shepard snorted softly, giving him one of those speaking looks they sometimes shared. "Working on it, but feel free to pitch in. So the geth are still under have Reaper control? Do they still have Reaper upgrades?"

"Correct," Legion answered promptly. "Although currently disorganized, they will recover once the short-range signal is in place."

"And then it's back to square one," Shepard finished, running a hand through her damp hair as she pulled her mental faculties together.

"Affirmative."

Crap.

"Okay. Plan B in a hurry," Shepard glanced at Garrus.

He nodded seriously. "You think an air strike with the Thanix would help?"

"I don't know about helping, but it can't hurt," Tali put in, smirking.

Garrus gestured to her as if a vote could decide the matter.

"Keelah…I need to warn the fleet…" Raan breathed. Tali could almost hear the color drain out of her face.

"Do it. EDI, page the ground team to the war room. Legion, Garrus, Admiral Zorah." Shepard turned on her heel without wasting a moment.

Tali wanted to ask, once they were away from a large audience, how Shepard was feeling, but held her tongue. It wouldn't help.