"Well, I suppose you could use them as that, but that's not their intended purpose, exactly..." Michael sighed at Grunt, then looked around at the faces of his noble, heroic, and loyal crew. "Little help here?"

"You're doing fine." Kasumi offered Jack some popcorn.

"Yeah, Shepard." Jack took a handful. "Keep going. I'm learning a lot here."

"This is fascinating." Dr. Chakwas glanced at Mordin.

"Lacking in medical accuracy but educational in social and philosophical context." Mordin nodded.

"Do Krogan females even..." Michael ran a hand down his face. "Have breasts?" He brightened, then hit his comm button. "Hey, XO, report to the mess hall, I've got an assignment you are..." He shrugged. "Very capable of handling."

Jack nearly choked on her popcorn.

#

"That's not how the Alliance sees it. Hell, they did the same to you." Jacob folded his arms. "General public never knew you were dead or heard the real story of the Citadel. Did you know they used you on recruitment ads? You were the human ideal for like six months. Then they replaced you with a composite image they invented. Guess you didn't focus test right. You were actually the Alliance poster boy, and they still dumped you."

"Probably for the best." Michael shook his head. "I don't like the thought of soldiers following in my footsteps. The Alliance should be better than that."

"You..." Jacob shook his head.

"I don't like it, but I can see benefit in keeping some things from the public." And frankly, it was something of a relief that the general public didn't know half the things he got up to. They'd sleep better that way.

"Maybe." Jacob leaned back against the workbench. "And Cerberus isn't exactly transparent, either. Where's an honest soldier go, Shepard?"

"'Tis not too late to seek a newer world. Push off and sitting well in order smite the sounding furrows; for my purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset, and the baths of all the western stars, until I die." Michael tilted his head, then shrugged. "Again." When Jacob gave him a blank look, Michael exhaled. "Tennyson. You call yourself a soldier, Jacob, but tell me..." He met Jacob's eyes. "When was the last time you looked yourself in the eye and asked yourself what it was you were fighting for?"

#

"Shepard, I'm glad you came by. I may need your help." Tali wasn't bouncing. This was probably not a good sign. "I just received a message from the Migrant Fleet. The Admiralty Board has accused me of treason."

"And you need me to go beat the stupid out of them." He started nodding. "I'll have Joker set a course."

"I'm scared, Shepard." She leaned back against the workstation.

He put his hand on her shoulder. "Nobody who knows you could believe you'd betray your people, Tali."

"I don't know." She shook her head. "They don't lay charges like this unless the evidence seems absolute." She nodded. "But thanks. I appreciate your faith in me, Shepard."

"Alright, so, what happens now?" He folded his arms. "Who do I need to punch?"

"There's a hearing, with members of the Admiralty Board acting as judges. My father is an admiral on the board. He'll have to recuse himself from judgment. I can't even imagine what he's thinking right now." She paced, then turned to face him. "The punishment for treason is exile. If they convict me, I can never go back."

"We'll handle this, Tali. And..." He caught her shoulders and stared at her. "And no matter what happens, you always have a home on my ship. Understand?"

"Thank you, Shepard."

#

"What's this?" Garrus lengthened his stride to catch up with Shepard.

"Someone slipped a shit ton of crazy gas into the Admiralty Board's environmental suits, as near as I can tell." Shepard shook his head.

"Who could think Tali would..." Garrus clicked his mandibles. "Could this be a geth plot to discredit her? Or the reapers?"

"I'm..." Shepard exhaled. "Not entirely prepared to rule those out as possibilities. We wouldn't have..." He folded his arms. "If it wasn't for Tali, we'd still be stranded on Ilos cause let's be honest..." Shepard met his eyes. "Neither of us could have driven a mako through a mass effect relay and come out anything but pancakes on the other side."

"I'm going with on this one." Garrus folded his arms.

"You going to be able to keep your cool?" Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"You know me, Shepard." He clicked his mandibles.

"Yeah. I do. And on any other mission you'd be..." Shepard rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, pretty much the only person on this ship I'd trust completely to look out for Tali. But this..." Shepard shook his head.

"What are you implying?" Garrus narrowed his eyes.

"I'll also point out that if anybody else in this galaxy looked at Tali the way you do I'd be dragging them out behind the woodshed and having a chat with them..." Shepard folded his arms again. "Right before handing them over to Wrex for lunch." He smirked.

"I..." Garrus took a step back, then shook his head. "It's not like that. Tali is..." He looked away. "She's Tali. You're protective of..." He trailed off. "It's not like that."

"Well, you need to figure out what it is like then, cause..." Shepard shrugged. "I'd really prefer not to have to shove a grenade up your ass for breaking her heart, Vakarian."

"You and what army?" Garrus glared.

"Wrex." Shephard waved a hand as he started walking again. "Grunt. Wrex. Jack. Wrex. Kasumi. Wrex. Thane. Wrex." He glanced over his shoulder. "Did I mention Wrex? Cause Wrex." He smirked. "You know he's like the king of the krogan now, right?"

"Yeah." Garrus sighed.

"Liara'd probably want in. Wrex. Kaidan too, now that I think about it. Wrex. All the engineering crew. Wrex. Yeoman Chambers. Wrex. Admi -"

"You made your point, Shepard."

"See also: Wrex."

#

"After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began." Tali paced the cockpit.

Per her request, he, Garrus, and Samara were wearing their helmets. Given it was a legal matter, having a justicar along might be beneficial. And Samara had that calming vibe. That might be necessary. Both Jack and Grunt had volunteered to come as well, but he and Garrus had the anger issues portion of the team covered. Mordin he wanted on a research station, just in case. Jacob and Miranda were Cerberus and bringing them seemed like it could be counter-productive. Zaeed was... not a people person. And if things went bad, he wanted Kasumi positioned to come break them out of whatever passed for Quarian lockup.

A quarantine and security team met them as soon as they stepped out of the airlock. The one in the lead nodded. "Captain Shepard. Tali'Zorah told me a lot about you. I wish we could be meeting under more pleasant circumstances."

Michael nodded politely. "I never actually reached the rank of Captain. Technically, I'm no longer in the Alliance military at all." Saying it out loud rankled him a bit.

"You're the commander of the Normandy, responsible for the lives aboard it. That entitles you to respect among our people." The man nodded. "May you stand between your crew and harm as you lead them through the empty quarters of the stars." That sounded good. He should have it embroidered on something.

"Keelah se'lai." Tali nodded before turning toward him. "It's an old ship-captain's blessing, Shepard."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain." Michael inclined his head. "We came as soon as we heard about the charges against Tali." He didn't actually say the word ridiculous when mentioning the charges, but he made it clear the word deserved to be there.

"It's good that you did. There were already people pressing to try her in absentia."

"What?" Tali startled. "Why? They never move that quickly."

"They're charging you with bringing active geth into the Fleet as part of a secret project."

"That's insane. I never brought active geth aboard. I only sent parts and pieces." Tali stepped up to his shoulder.

He was really hoping they could get through this without him having to shoot anyone. "What's our next step, Captain?"

"Technically I'm under orders to place Tali'Zorah under arrest pending the hearing. So, Tali..." The captain glanced at him and Garrus, clearly noting the increased hostility in both their stances. "You're confined to this ship until this trail is over."

"Thank you, Captain."

#

A quarian woman walked toward them. "Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. I'm glad you came. I could delay them only so long."

"Auntie Raan." Tali hugged the woman before turning toward him. "Shepard vas Normandy, this is Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay. She's a friend of my father's." Tali suddenly went still, then turned back to the admiral. "Wait. Raan, you called me 'vas Normandy'."

"I'm afraid I did, Tali. The Admiralty Board moved to have you tried under that name, given your departure from the Neema." Tali backed away from the Admiral as Raan spoke, moving until she was partially behind him. He shifted just a little, putting himself more between her and the admiral, and noted Garrus move to stand at Tali's shoulder protectively. Samara did the same on Tali's other side.

"I take it being associated with a human ship is a bad sign." He narrowed his eyes. With Tali it hadn't bothered him since five minutes after they'd first met, but right now he really wished he could read Quarian facial expressions.

"They stripped me of my ship name." He could hear the hurt in Tali's voice. "That's as good as declaring me exiled already." It was hard not to clench his fists.

"It's not over yet, Tali. You have friends who still know you as Tali'Zorah vas Neema..." Raan shook her head. "Whatever we must call you legally."

"I guess we should get started." Michael looked around. "Does Tali have a defense counselor, someone who speaks for her side?"

"Indeed, she does..." Raan nodded at him. "Captain Shepard. She is part of your crew, now, recognized by quarian law." Oh. No. "And remember, an accused is always represented by his or her ship's captain." Red alert.

"So, er..." He turned to look at Tali. Her eyes glowed faintly inside her helmet as she looked back at him. "You would actually speak for my defense."

"I'm not a lawyer." He exhaled. Then again, how many times had he been run in or court martialed? It wasn't like this was his first trip before a judge.

"They're trying to turn the crowd against me. That's why they changed my status to 'vas Normandy'. This whole trial is a farce."

"You underestimate us, Tali. Do not forget that you have friends as well as enemies."

#

"I shouldn't have to." Michael glared up at Raan in response to her asking if he would speak for Tali. Of course, he would speak for her. She was Tali, and he'd quite happily step between her and a missile. That wasn't the point. "When Tali helped me stop Saren and his geth army, her actions spoke for themselves." He gestured at the gathered crowd. "Without her help, none of you would be alive to put her on trial today."

"Well said, Shepard." One of the admirals nodded. "None of us should forget Tali's contributions to the Fleet.

The accusation was leveled. Michael openly scoffed in response. "Tali would never endanger the Migrant Fleet. She pleads not guilty."

"I left parts and technology for teams to pick up." Tali nodded. My father ordered me to do so. But I would never send active geth to the Fleet. Everything I sent was disabled and harmless."

The whiny admiral in the middle stepped forward. "Then explain how geth seized the lab ship where your father was working."

Michael blinked. Next to him, Tali stepped forward, panic in her voice. "What are you talking about?" She shook her head. "What happened?"

The other male admiral's voice was gentler. "As far as we can tell, Tali, the geth have killed everyone on the Alarei..." He took a deep breath. "Your father included."

"What?" Tali went still. "Oh, Keelah..."

They dared throw this at Tali? Like this? Out of the corner of his eye he saw Samara catch Garrus's wrist as he twitched for a grenade. It was all he could do not to walk up to that podium and start throwing punches. "I thought quarians valued family. How dare you justify springing this on Tali in the middle of a damn trial?"

"Our apologies." Raan made a placating gesture that just made him want to punch her first. "Tali should have been informed."

Tali turned toward him. "Shepard, we have to take back the Alarei." He heard the whiny admiral bleat about honorable death and some more bullshit. Tali responded before he could. "I'm looking for my father, you bosh'tet."

Shala'Raan raised her head. "You intend to retake the Alarei from the geth? This proposal is extremely dangerous."

"Yeah." Michael put his hand on Tali's shoulder and glared at the admirals. "So are we."

#

"How are you holding up?" Shepard turned to Tali as soon as they were somewhat out of sight. "They just threw a lot of fire at you, even before telling you about your father."

"I knew this would be hard." All the energy seemed drained out of her. Garrus put a hand on her shoulder, and she put her hand atop it. "But I guess you're never really prepared to be charged with treason."

They greeted Kal'Reegar and Veetor, both of whom had come to support Tali. She brightened, just a little, at realizing they were there. Then she chewed out Raan. Shepard didn't hesitate to do the same, though it was clear Shepard recognized Raan's actions as a tactical maneuver.

As they started walking, Garrus made sure he stayed between Tali and the more military looking quarians. He didn't openly snarl at any of them, but they gave a wide berth anyway. None of them could meet Shepard's eyes. The red glow of the cybernetics seemed just a little brighter on the quarian ship. Samara's heels rang against the deck. He knew she could walk silently if she chose, but the justicar was making her presence very clearly known without saying a word.

Garrus kept his hand on her shoulder as they headed out to retake the Alarei. He just hoped he brought enough grenades.

#

He'd hoped for more survivors, but thus far all they were finding was geth. Tali was examining a drone on a workbench. "Looks like parts from a disabled repair drone, plus a reflex algorthim that I don't recognize. I got this on Haestrom."

"Anything that might say what happened here?" Michael raised an eyebrow. Garrus had his hand on Tali's shoulder again.

"No. I don't know." Tali sighed, then leaned back into Garrus. "Shepard, I checked everything I sent here." She shook her head. "I passed up great finds because they might be too dangerous, prone to uncontrolled reactivation or self-repair." She took a deep breath. "I don't know which possibility is worse: that I got sloppy and sent something dangerous, or that Father actually did all this."

#

"Samara, what is your take on the Admiralty Board?" He turned toward her.

"I believe my thoughts are in accord with your own." She clasped her hands behind her back as she nodded to him.

"This isn't actually about Tali at all." He looked ahead at where she was looking over more parts under the protective eye of Garrus. "Koris is a whiny ass, Raan a manipulator, but..." He frowned. "I don't think I like the other two either. Gerrel is a hothead and..." He shrugged. "Xen kind of creeps me out and that's saying a lot."

"Losing your temper may not be in Tali's best interest, Michael." She gave him a pointed look.

"I know."

#

He heard Tali gasp as she saw the body at the base of the ramp. Michael shook his head as Tali ran toward the corpse. "Father." She went to her knees, her hands checking him over desperately. "No, no, no. You always had a plan. Masked life signs, or, or, an onboard medical statis program, maybe. You. You wouldn't..." She fell to the side. "They're wrong. You wouldn't just die like this. You wouldn't leave..."

"Hey." Michael moved toward her. "Hey, come here." He pulled her to her feet and hugged her tightly. Her entire body shook as she hugged him back, burying her helmet in his shoulder. Garrus put a hand on her shoulder, and Samara put her hand on Tali's other shoulder.

"Damn it. Damn it." Tali swallowed. "I'm sorry."

"You've got nothing to be sorry about." He let her go, then nodded to her.

"Maybe..." She looked back at the corpse. "He would have known I'd come. Maybe he left a message." He had. He told them where to go to destroy the geth. "Thanks, dad."

They all drew their weapons as they followed her toward the target.

#

"Everything here is his fault." Tali looked around at the geth parts. "I tried to pretend it didn't point to him, but this..." She wrapped her arms around herself. "When this comes up in the trial, they'll..." Garrus put his arm around her shoulders and looked up at Shepard. Tali followed his gaze. "We can't tell them, not the admirals, not anyone."

"Rael'Zorah doesn't need you to worry about him anymore." Shepard kept his voice gentle. "You heard him say he didn't want you to be caught in the politics."

"You don't understand, Shepard." She shook her head. "They would strike his name from the manifest of every ship he ever served on. He would be worse than an exile. He'd be a traitor to our people, held up for children as a monster in a cautionary tale. I can't let all the good he did be destroyed for this, Shepard."

"We're not going to decide anything here." Shepard sighed. "Let's see what the admirals say once we get back."

"You're my captain in this hearing, Shepard." Tali reached out and caught hold of his arm. "It's your decision. But please. Don't destroy what my father was."

Shepard nodded. Garrus didn't envy him but found himself hoping that Commander Shepard could pull off yet another miracle. He patted Tali's back, then gently nudged her toward the shuttle. Tali nodded and started moving.

#

"Sorry we're late." Tali glared up at the Admiralty Board. It was all Michael could do not to smile proudly at her.

"You didn't wast much time declaring us dead." Michael shrugged, then jerked his head over his shoulder. "Go get your ship."

"We apologize, Shepard. Your success in taking back the Alarei is..." Gerrel shifted his weight from foot to foot. "Very unexpected."

"But also very welcome."

"Did you find anything on the Alarei that could clarify what happened there?"

Tali turned toward him. "Shepard..." He didn't need to see her face to know she was giving him a pleading look. "Please..."

"Does Captain Shepard have any new evidence to submit to this hearing?"

Michael walked forward. Then he shrugged. "Tali's achievements are the only evidence you should need. Come on, Tali..." He turned and nodded to her. If the quarians didn't know what they had in her, he did. "We're leaving."

"What?" Shala'Raan's voice came from behind him as the crowd started to murmur and stammer.

"This is a formal proceeding." Koris called after him.

Alright. So much for keeping his temper. He turned and strode back. "What are you going to do? Exile her?" He spread his hands. "We're probably not walking away from our next mission alive anyway. Tali saved you from the Reapers two years ago. She's saving your asses again now. Will you stab her in the back, or will you tell her you believe in her?"

There was silence, then Gerrel's voice. "Shepard is right."

#

"Commander Shepard, please accept these gifts in appreciation for you taking the time to represent one of our people."

"I didn't." Michael turned to nod to Tali. "I represented one of mine."

"This hearing is completed." About damn time. "Go in peace, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. Keelah se'lai."

#

Not all the bounce was back in her step, but there was some. "I can't believe you pulled that off. What you said..." Tali shook her head. Frankly, he was really glad threatening to leave during the middle of a trial had worked out better for her than it had him. "It's been a while since anyone shouted down the Admiralty Board. I think it was good for them. Thank you for being there for my father and me, even when..." She nodded. "Thank you."

"We can still go back and get you exiled, if you want..." He gestured at the chamber.

"Hah." She punched him lightly. "Thanks, but I'm fine with things like this." She chuckled. "It's fun watching you shout."

"About what your father said, what he did..." He squeezed her shoulder. "You deserved better."

"I got better, Shepard." She shrugged. "I got you."

"Come on, Miss Tali'Zorah va Normandy…" He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her toward the shuttle. "Let's get back to our ship."

"Thank you..." She touched her head to his shoulder. "Captain."

"You know Samara was really worried Garrus and I were going to shoot the Admiralty Board."

"Samara..." Samara's voice sounded faintly amused. "Will remain concerned about that possibility until we are back on the Normandy and two systems away from this location."

"Samara sounds paranoid." Garrus clicked his mandibles.

"Only because she's met us before." Michael shrugged.

#

"It may give you point.2% more accuracy but it weighs four ounces. Some of us want to hit more than stationary targets."

"Sounds like someone needs to spend a little more time in the gym if they can't handle a measly little four ounces."

"If someone hadn't flunked out of grade school they'd know that sights don't come equipped with mass effect fields and that additional mass slows reaction time and offsets the stabilizers."

"All of which can be overcome by using a Devlon -"

"You and your Devlon. If I find crusty socks in the same drawer as that catalog I'm tossing you out the airlock."

"I'm going to ask someone what that means and have a retort for you just as soon as I'm done with this calibra-" Garrus exhaled. "Tali, that's not a point in his favor, it's just an idiom."

"Yes, but it's one I understood so..." Tali shrugged as she touched her omnitool. "Point for Shepard."

"I..." Jacob shook his head from where he was working on some armor on the other workbench. "Can you two go do this somewhere else?"

"This is the armory." Michael shook his head.

"We are supposed to work on armaments in the armory." Garrus nodded.

"Can you do it..." Jacob exhaled. "Quietly?"

"No." Tali shook her head. "No, they cannot."

#

Kaidan glanced at his communication unit and noted the light was blinking. He sat and called up his mail. For a long moment, he just stared at the name on the letter. It took him two tries to work up the nerve to open it.

'Kaidan,

I wanted to contact you after... I should have tried harder. You deserved an explanation. I just have no idea how I would have explained. I still don't. That's no excuse.

Hackett told me that Brekin and his family weren't on Ferris Fields when it got hit. Thank you for looking out for them. I think I missed some birthdays, so... Look, I don't have any idea how tall he even is now or what he likes these days, but I transfered some funds and if you'd ask your mother to get Mickey something and tell him it's from me I'd appreciate it. Something fun though, nothing educational or practical or in any way good for him.

- Michael

PS - Did you know you can train a hamster to jump through hoops?'

He stared at the PS, reading it again. The mental image of Michael Shepard training a hamster was... He couldn't help himself, he just started laughing.