Garrus wanted to trill with pride at the sheer dignity and grace Tali exhibited through her delightfully short trial. Since no one could hear him, he did. The bench he and the others sat upon wasn't exactly comfortable, and he needed more knee space than they did. Still, it was good that Tali's trial ended on such a positive note.
He didn't for one moment believe that Shepard could fail to be objective, even towards one of her crewmen. However, it would be like her to let Alenko flex his Council Spectre wings, and now was as good a time as any. He imagined they had worked this out beforehand; Shepard knew, after all, how quarian judicial proceedings happened, and could brief him on what to expect.
Alenko might not be Tali's captain, but he was the other Spectre on the ground (and under fire) when Gerrel lost his mind. Garrus was still sure Gerrel had lost his mind, in one way or another. Still, throwing him at the real enemies seemed like a good decision. Maybe he'd turn out to be an okay soldier. Garrus was, by now, quite certain Gerrel had never served a day in his life, not with real soldiers. He was too quick to sacrifice others for a killing blow, when a real soldier would know that a killing blow wasn't necessarily everything. It all depended on the mission objective.
And the look on Xen's face when told she no longer had a lab to play in, or toys to play with! That had grabbed her by the fringe and twisted! That, he thought smugly, was why you didn't give off an air of contempt for everyone and everything around you. As his people believed and practiced, 'you can always be replaced.'
After the requisite ten minute recess—which actually lasted for fifteen, the jury and adjudicator failing to return in the stipulated time—the last trial began.
"Zaal'Koris vas Quib-Quib nar Karya," Xala'Far began solemnly, the same way she began each time. "You stand before this judiciary review to be held accountable for your actions. You will be given the opportunity to defend yourself, once the accusations have been listed."
Koris, who looked a bit worse for wear in terms of bruising, inclined his head. "I have nothing of which to be ashamed," he answered simply.
"No, you don't. This judicial review finds you without fault by comparison to your comrades. Your lack of support within the Admiralty Board, bearing on the decisions made which are under review, is recognized. However, it has been the opinion of this jury that, the Admiralty Board having failed as a whole, should be abolished as a whole. We politely ask for your resignation."
Koris blinked, then shrugged. "Certainly."
A murmur ran through the assembled crowd, something not altogether pleased.
"And we also ask," Xala raised her voice a little, to emphasize the point that this was not the time to discuss or argue, "that, with your duties as Admiral being remanded to others, that you become the voice of the quarian people with regards to the geth."
The murmurs fell into absolute silence.
Well, they would need diplomats, both sides would—and Garrus had it from Shepard that the geth 'Reformed Consensus' was trying to figure out an equivalent to most species' diplomatic service.
"The time has come when we need to be able to talk back and forth with…with our synthetic planet-mates," Xala said a little lamely. Clearly, she felt the word 'ally' was a little too strong. "Yours are the ears which have been open to listening for quite some time. Which is why we humbly ask you to undertake this task, perhaps to teach others."
Again, the quarians did not like this…but recognized that this was the way the future was going to move. Another war would have very a predictable end, and this time no outsiders would interfere…unless the Council's Species Preservation statues became an issue.
"I would be honored," Koris answered, blinking a little as if today was not going the way he envisioned. "Am I to take it that the Admiralty Board is being fully abolished?"
"Say, rather, that now that the homeworld has been retaken, the Conclave, as the civilian authority, supercedes the necessary military authority of the Admiralty Board, suspecting that while the military has been excellent at protecting the Flotilla, it perhaps does not know what to do with peace. A new Admiralty Board will be elected by the Conclave, and they will serve to manage the war assets of the quarian people. But I suspect that yes. The Admiralty Board, now that the quarian people have a home, will become defunct in time," Xala answered.
Reasonable. If five people could take an entire race to war—a war he still wasn't sure how they thought they could win, with all the trouble geth weapons gave everyone when the Heretics came out from behind the Veil—then maybe it was time to add a few more voices to the mix.
But maybe that was something each species simply needed to figure out for itself.
"I see. Thank you, Adjudicator." With that, Koris stepped down and left the room, just as Tali and Raan had. He wondered if Koris was actually glad to find his necessary duties changed in this fashion.
"These proceedings are concluded," Xala declared to the room at large. "Thank you all, for your time and participation."
With that, the quarians began filtering out of the room, a swirling mass of edgy chatter.
Shepard heaved a heavy sigh, once they were alone except for the one security guard who served as their guide. "Well, that's over." She hopped to her feet. "Come on. Let's go find Tali."
Garrus got up as well, his joints protesting the hours of sitting on that bench. He was glad the trials had only taken the better part of a single day. He didn't think he could face that bench again...
