Author's Note: Ok so here we are at the end of the second section. Hope you've all enjoyed it thus far! All reviews are appreciated!

A Shepard on trial

The silence in the court room before they brought him in was deafening. The few sounds that did occasionally interrupt the silence, the flicking through of written trial notes, the hushed whispers that were quickly silenced and above all the heavy footsteps beyond the room as someone was marched ever closer all seemed so much louder than they should have done, a stark contrast to the quiet that ruled the room. Everyone present seemed to be on edge, nervous even about what was about to happen. Commander Shepard was about to go on trial.

Well, not on trial as such as many politicians and bureaucrats tried to stress at length. This was as they would often state loudly and repeatedly to deflect the questions of the media just a hearing to establish the facts of the situation. But in truth it was a hearing in name alone and many saw it as a chance to bring the Commander to heel. For every friend he had within the Alliance, he also had an enemy. Small minded fools often enough, jealous of the Commander's achievements and looking forward to seeing him disgraced or worse. Some that were reasonable enough officers, intelligent and sensible if somewhat too inclined to believe the malicious rumors spread by others. And still others that had made mistakes which had been later revealed by the Commander, afterall there will always be those prepared to hold a grudge.

It almost seems like too much of a coincidence that as I had that thought I caught sight of Councilor Udina standing above me in the viewing gallery that overlooks the court room. As usual I couldn't read his expression, his face was set. He didn't notice me, just remained standing, waiting for the trial to begin. I decided not to try and approach him, I was happy enough where I was and I suspected there might be some bad blood given the way things ended. When I left the Citadel Council I'd pretty much managed to crash and burn my own political career to say nothing for Humanity's reputation. At the time it felt a reasonable sacrifice, my somewhat questionable tactics had helped us bring down several Cerberus bases. Nevertheless I left Udina picking up the pieces and even getting the Councilor position I'd vacated might not have completely consoled him.

Finally the Commander was lead into the room by James Vega, a marine I'd convinced to return to the service about a week earlier. It had taken a trip all the way to Omega to find him but it had been worth it to find someone I could trust to guard Shepard. Knowing who to trust is frankly becoming harder and harder these days but I felt Vega was a safe enough choice.

"Alright then, I call this court to order," the voice of Admiral Hackett rasped out although it was fairly unnecessary, no one was going to interrupt these proceedings. Alongside him sat Admiral Singh and Admiral Gowner (unfortunately I had to recluse myself as Shepard was briefly my second in command). They would be leading the proceedings but ultimately Shepard would be judged by the politicians. They would take every word said here and remember it, either to champion his cause or to question if his was still fit for command.

"It's been requested that we begin this hearing by confirming your identity Commander," Hackett explained.

"Officially speaking the last time you were seen as far as the Alliance is concerned is when you were declared K.I.A. during an attack that destroyed your vessel."

"Well... That did happen sir. Cerberus later rebuilt me but I'm afraid I can't tell you how they managed it."

"We'll get to Cerberus in a moment Shepard. For now please just recount for the court what you remember of the events leading up to that moment."

"We were chasing down a lead on possible Geth activity in a remote system when we came under fire from an unknown enemy. The attack came so suddenly that I was still in my private quarters on deck two when our pilot Joker was forced to take evasive maneuvers. He did everything he could to try and save the ship but the hostile ship's firepower was too overwhelming. When I saw the extent of the damage I ordered an immediate evacuation of the Normandy."

"So why didn't you evacuate with the rest of your crew?"

"I was alerted by Liara that Joker wasn't able to make it to an escape pod."

I smiled to myself at this statement. It wasn't true of course, by all accounts it was Joker's stubborn refusal to abandon ship that had kept him there but it was a classic Shepard move to protect his crew from blame. I realized I'd tuned out the Commander's statement while thinking about this and returned my attention to the court room.

"- was able to help Joker reach the last escape pod, he'd just climbed inside when the ship was hit again. There was an explosion that blew me backwards, away from the pod. Knowing there was no way for me to make it back before the ship exploded I hit the manual release for the pod and watched it float away. As the ship was destroyed I was pulled clear of the explosion, sucked out into space by the vacuum. I had my breather helmet on but a small piece of shrapnel from the blast had ruptured my enviro-suit. I died in orbit of the planet below, clawing at the suit rupture, feeling the cold take me as I struggled to breath..."

The Commander broke off his speech, clearly unwilling to describe his death in any greater detail. I couldn't begin to imagine what that must have like or how he grappled every day with the question of what kind of ghoulish techniques Cerberus had used to bring him back from the dead. The trouble was no one knew for certain what had been done. Almost everyone who was ever involved with the project was dead, the few that survived were unlikely to share intel with the Alliance. Not hard to see why some were a little cautious about his return.

"Thank you Shepard. For the benefit of the court I can reveal our scientists have run every test they can think of to confirm the Commander's identity and found no evidence that suggests the man standing in front of me is not Commander Shepard. Having seen for myself that he also has the Commander's memories I now formally accept that identification on the court's behalf," Hackett went on to say.

"Now then Commander, let's talk about Cerberus. Do you deny working for them?"

"Yes sir," replied the Commander and the shock that rippled though the crowd was palpable. The hushed whispers started again, spreading through the gathered observers like a great wave.

"I want order in this court room," Hackett's voice, not particularly loud but radiating authority quickly brought the room back to silence.

"Perhaps you can clarify that last statement Commander. We have the signed statements of several witnesses, both reliable and otherwise that place you in the company of known operatives of Cerberus."

"I worked with Cerberus Admiral, not for them."

"I see. Well for the benefit of the court could you please explain that distinction in your own words."

So far so good I thought. Just as I had hoped Admiral Hackett was giving Shepard a fair chance to justify his actions, if we'd had a different man leading the hearing the Commander might be in jail already by now. Shepard didn't waste any time in seizing the opportunity.

"I agreed to work with Cerberus because they were investigating a threat against humanity. I was told that several human colonies in the Terminus Systems had been attacked with every inhabitant abducted. No signs of attack or battle and no one left behind and then I learned that the Alliance wasn't even investigating these attacks."

"The Terminus Systems are outside Alliance jurisdiction," muttered Admiral Singh irritably.

"I'm not questioning the Alliance's decision Admiral, I'm just explaining my reasons for becoming involved with Cerberus. They brought me back to life so that I could help them put an end to the abductions and provided me with a ship, the Normandy SR-2. I needed their resources so that I could protect the human colonies in the Terminus. But ultimately the mission was still my own, I made the command decisions and ensured that we didn't break or even bend the rules as long as I was in charge."

"Except for working with a terrorist organization," Admiral Gowner pointed out while looking up at Udina. I had a feeling the Councilor had pulled a few strings to put one of his closest friends on the panel of judges.

"Then it seems to me that the question we have to address is whether or not working with a terrorist organization is a crime in and of itself. It's reasonable to note that Shepard did not in any way contribute to any terrorist activity of any kind while a member of Cerberus. At least not to the best of our knowledge," stated Hackett firmly.

I stood up determined to do my part to stand up for Shepard particular as it seemed Udina might be doing his best to try and sink his chances.

"If I might briefly interrupt Admirals, it should be noted that as a direct result of Shepard's actions we discovered that the abductions were the work of the Collectors. And it should also be remembered that his team single-handedly eliminated that threat, saving countless lives."

The trial dragged out across the morning and into the afternoon with lunch passing unmarked until finally there was a adjournment at 3pm. The rest of the trial so far had shown mixed results. Predominantly the finer points of the law and ethics were debated by the various officials present, occasionally at volume. They picked apart Shepard's exploits in great detail, piece by piece. Each component of Shepard's year long mission is carefully examined, regarded and debated. At the rate they're going it'll take months to get through all the material but I'm in no hurry, the final incident to be examined will be the Bahak system.

I head to the cafeteria in low spirits, the trial didn't go as badly as I feared but it isn't the only concern on my mind. The problems that I and the galaxy as a whole face seem to multiply every day but the one thought that stays with me is that I failed the Commander. He nominated me for the position on the Council to warn people to prepare for the Reapers arrival. To play politician and spread the word so that any of us might stand a chance when the time came.

Despite all appearances until a few months ago I thought I was starting to make a difference. Public acknowledgements were few and far between of course. In fact the idea had publicly become completely toxic and the few that still spoke out in that way only served to make things worse (it really doesn't help your case if the people shouting about your cause are doing it in their free time between ranting crazed conspiracy theories about being contacted by visitors from the future or some such). But nevertheless, privately I'd managed to talk some people round to look at the evidence more closely.

Something changed after Shepard turned himself in and the date for the hearing was set. Parts of the media began to attack his ideas more heavily than ever before, playing the fallen hero angle to a receptive audience. To many the simple fact that Shepard was being put on trial was enough to discredit everything he'd ever said. His reputation was now inexorably tied to people's belief in the Reapers. As he is such a polarizing figure that now meant folk either completely accepted the Reapers existence or denied it totally.

Even that wouldn't have been enough to cripple the network of trusted contacts I was building. At least not on its own but we faced attack from a second, more insidious source. Several of contacts were being found out and subtly "persuaded" to change their minds. Normally they were being discovered as they attempted to convince others of the truth, others were simply suspected because of their close ties to myself or Shepard. And when they were discovered the results were usually the same, harassment, gentle exclusion, demotions in one or two cases.

The worst one was Sarah Jang, a long term backbencher in the Alliance Parliament and probably one of my favorite politicians (not that there was much competition). She was publicly revealed by the media to be a supporter of Shepard's claims. The influx of hate mail was bad enough but the attempt to send concealed explosives to her private residence was a step over the line. The attempt failed and the culprit was quickly arrested but the damage had already been done. Jang publicly renounced her position on the Reapers and resigned three days later. There's still a fair few of us left that understand who's a stake but it's getting harder to know who to trust even among ourselves.

When I finally reached the cafeteria it was mostly empty but I did see Udina there, it was clear that he'd been waiting for me to arrive.

"Good to see you again Admiral, I trust you've been keeping well?"

'Classic Udina' I thought to myself, we worked together for years and still he addresses me by my rank. I responded in kind.

"Quite well, thank you Councilor. How have you been taking to the new job?"

"It's a great responsibly of course but nothing I can't handle. That said it would be easier if I still had you back on the Citadel."

Unbelievable! Less than a minute into the conversation and already he wanted to recruit me.

"I think we both know I was never really cut out for politics, my place is here with the Alliance."

"Actually when you weren't raving about Reapers you made quite an impressive negotiator, for a soldier obviously."

"Obviously."

"I meant what I said though Anderson, you were a highly skilled operator and I'd be happy to have you back at my side in any posting you wanted. Though you would have to drop this Reaper nonsense once and for all."

"Drop this Reaper nonsense?"

"Trust me, I've been at this job long enough to know that there's a way back despite everything you've done. Unless that is you chose to commit political suicide."

"With respect Councilor, you're just interested in trying to bury the truth about the Reapers."

He shook his head sadly and I got the impression that his next words were the truth, or at least the truth as he saw it.

"I'm simply trying to look out for a colleague who had a promising career, I'm sorry you weren't able to see that."

"I'd happily retire today if it would help stop the Reapers," I replied but he was already walking away. The gulf between us wasn't just physical I realized, we were so far apart now that we couldn't even understand each other's point of view. I hoped Shepard managed to get through the hearing okay, it looked like we might still need him again.