Note: It appears so far in the story I've gotten Hendel Mitra's name wrong as 'Mitra Hendel'. Oops. This chapter now goes with the correct version. Hendel Mitra, Kahlee Sanders, Jiro Toshiwa, Gillian and Paul Grayson and Kai Leng are characters from the ME novels (and in part also ME 3, yes, I know, but that's irrelevant). The chapter might make slightly more sense if you've read Ascension, but it should hardly be a requisite.

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For a station partially under occupation by protestors, Tali thought Grissom Station seemed very calm. The biotics who had holed themselves up in the Ascension Project to protest BAaT and the Alliance hush-up of it seemed strangely relaxed. The graffiti were still on the walls, of course, and the entrances to other parts of the stations and the docking bays were well guarded, but there was no real fervour anymore, no political chanting, no slogans and no sense that the Alliance could strike anytime soon now. After several weeks of occupation, things had quietened down, and the Alliance's professed aim of de-escalation had helped in that, too.

Of course, who knows whether the Alliance will keep to that aim now that Terra Nova has upped the ante. Humanity's largest colony had decided to go on a full on confrontation with the Alliance. Declaring non-compliance, they now saw themselves not bound by any laws or orders from the Alliance government anymore. In fact, they even had already begun expropriating corporate property, and had begun trials on their own against high ranking corporate executives, in defiance of Alliance law. Moreover, they had even begun to try two Alliance officials accused of being connected with the BAaT project. Terra Nova had thrown the gauntlet, or as the quarians phrased it, had raised the red banner of conflict. Now it remained to be seen whether the Alliance would pick it up and raise a red banner of their own.

It's funny how I've become more interested in human than quarian politics. Tali knew why, of course; it was due to Shepard. Nonetheless, she could appreciate the irony. She had never been interested in her own species' politics. Not despite, but particularly because her father was an admiral: As far as she had always been concerned, there was no need for internal divisions and arguments. The Board would always take care of matters, in the end. And even now that she was beginning to doubt this view under the lasting influence of Shepard, she still remained rather politically apathetic and disinterested. After all, she could hardly go against her own father.

And truth be told, human politics in general did not greatly interest Tali, either. What she was concerned with was the struggle for biotics' rights and for justice for the BAaT survivors. Shepard's struggle. She would continue that on his behalf.

After returning from the pilgrimage, after Shepard's death, life on the Fleet had seemed a boring drag to Tali. Not really something bad or painful. However, suddenly everyday Fleet life seemed dull and monotone to Tali. She did her duty of course, she could not even think of any other way, but she did it without enthusiasm. Her father had picked her ship for her, and so she had no real stake in it. It was not truly her ship. Over time she had come to accept this. She knew why her father and Han'Gerrel wanted her on the Neema. Still, she felt detached from the ship, its crew, and even its daily struggles. It was funny, but she had felt much more at home on that human ship, the Normandy.

And this was why she was devoted to this mission she was currently on. She had meant what she had told Tisiphone: Shepard's struggle was her struggle. This was actually something she could identify with. She still mourned the Spectre, and she suspected she would for a long time. However, one could not undo death. She knew she had to accept it. So she would do the next best thing: Fighting for what Shepard believed to be right. It was some sort of consolidation at least.

This was also why she enjoyed the unrest in the Alliance on some level. That actually was a very uncomfortable feeling for her. It seemed very unnatural to her that she would enjoy disorder, and on some level she felt she had no right to enjoy another species' troubles. However, she could not deny that watching the ever more tense news from the Alliance somehow just felt right. It was almost a guilty pleasure. Let this be a monument to Jon. Let the Alliance higher up curse his name for decades to come. That's the sort of remembrance he'd have appreciated the most. She would contribute to that monument as much as she could.

For now though, she had to think of some way to get away from her latest contribution to it. After infiltrating the networks of Hoshichiri Heavy Industries, and blowing up some of their servers as part of a group assembled by the biotic radical Tisiphone they all were stranded on the occupied Ascension Project. While Tisiphone was going down a meagre list of contacts she could potentially use, so far without success, Tali was looking for technical solutions. However, with nearly nothing at hand, so far she had been unsucessful, too.

Suddenly, she noticed something at her side. She swung her head around and saw a young human woman standing there. No, not a woman; a girl. She was black haired and stood absolutely still, fixating Tali with her eyes. It was almost eerie. Tali had come to expect a wide range and many details of facial expressions from humans, yet this girl seemed to have none. She simply stood there. Apparently Tali had not even noticed her approach, and that was somewhat unsettling, too.

"Uh... hello," Tali began. "You surprised me."

"Sorry," the girl simply answered in a monotone voice. Tali paused for her to continue, but that was all she said

"It's all right," Tali continued after a while. "Who are you?"

"I'm Gillian," the girl replied. "I live here."

She's one of the biotic students, Tali had left. A majority had already been called home after Shepard's revelations of just why biotics could not trust the Alliance, and the rest had dispersed in the weeks after. After all, there was no real use to them being on the station with the Ascension Project locked down by the occupation. Some, however, had more or less nowhere to go and hence stayed. The staff on strike at least still provided them housing and a normal non-biotic school education. Something's not quite right with this girl, though.

"I'm Tali," the quarian introduced herself.

Gillian nodded empatheticly to that, as if Tali had told her an important secret. After a while she said: "You have strange clothes."

Clothes? Oh. "That's my envirosuit," Tali explained. "I'm a quarian. Quarians have to wear it most of the time, or we'll get sick."

"That's strange," Gillian commented. "But it must be nice."

"Nice?" Tali asked surprised.

"The... suit," Gillian said. Apparently she had not taken Tali's outburst of surprise well. She looked somewhat uncomfortable. She seems to have some mental disorder. Something to do with her biotic capabilities? In any case she persisted. "Protects you from..." She paused midsentence. "It protects you."

"It does," Tali confirmed, "But I think most of my people wished that was not necessary. I certainly do."

However, Gillian apparently did not even consider her answer: "It's like a place you can hide in... that you can carry around." The idea seemed exciting to her.

Tali found the whole conversation very strange, however she remained friendly. If the girl really had some sort of disorder, it was not truly her fault, and besides, she was one of the very people her mission to Elysium had been all about in the end. A biotically gifted human, and a child at that. Even if it appeared that she made light of the quarians' situation, in a way, Tali could not truly be angry with her. "Not a very good place to hide," she said humorously. "You still found me, after all."

"Not like that!" Gillian burst out. She seemed a bit frustrated, most likely with what to say.

Before Tali could answer, a woman and a man came rushing toward the girl in front of her. The woman was a blonde with a worried look on her, while the man was black haired and a bit on the smaller side. He wore an amused smile on his face.

"There you are, Gillian!" the woman exclaimed. "I've been looking for you! Hendel and I were worried "

"I told you she'd be fine," the man said with a slight chuckle. "She just wanted to see our visitors."

The woman looked at Tali with an unsure smile. It looked somewhat forced. The man's conclusion made sense, though. Tali was probably the only non-human on the entire space station, certainly the only one in the occupied parts. And her species had become a very rare one in general, one most people did not get to see face to face (so to speak) in their entire life. She had noticed the stares on her during her stay on the station so far, and that was probably the reason. It was probably also the reason Gillian approached her. Then again, she seemed more interested in my envirosuit for some reason...

"I'm sorry if she bothered you..." the woman began.

"Oh, not at all," Tali answered. "It was a nice diversion, actually."

"Well then, good to hear," the woman said. "I'm Kahlee Sanders by the way."

In human fashion, she offered her right hand, and Tali took it. Strangely enough, that name was not unknown to her. "Kahlee Sanders? Ah, excuse me for prying, but the Kahlee Sanders?"

Sanders sighed. "Whatever it is you know me from, I suppose I am."

"Your reputation precedes you, darling," the man said with a grin and then looked to Tali. "I'm Jiro Toshiwa, working as the Project's pharmacist... or I was, at least, when the Ascension Project was still running." He, too, shook Tali's hand and then looked to Sanders again. "Well, I guess I better get Gillian here back to her quarters. I know you'll just worry to death otherwise."

He gave Sanders a kiss on the cheek, and then tried to guide Gillian away. Gillian however, resisted slightly, turned back to Tali and offered her hand. Tali shook it. Only then did Gillian walk away. Toshiwa looked puzzled as he went with her, and Sanders looked outright surprised.

"She never does that," the woman said after Gillian had left.

"Does what?" Tali asked.

"Takes somebody's hand," Sanders explained. "She usually avoids absolutely all forms of physical contact, if possible."

"Oh," Tali made. "So that's why she was interested in my envirosuit."

"She was?" Sanders asked, still surprised. "I guess that makes sense, but - she talked to you?" When Tali nodded, she continued: "That's weird. She never talks to strangers. There is... there's something wrong with her brain chemistry. A form of autism, we suspect, though it's atypical in some respects."

"I see," Tali answered. And after a pause: "And yet she got a biotic implant?"

"The Ascension Project offers... or, well, offered the best medical observation and treatment facilities for biotics the Alliance has," Sanders answered. "In fact, Gillian is one of the strongest biotics we've ever encountered. Maybe the strongest, period.[1] Leaving her alone with her biotic powers would be much more dangerous to her and to others around her."

"Human biotics, like all biotics except the asari, don't actually have much in the way of biotic powers without amplifiers, as you well know," Tali argued calmly. "No matter how strong she is, if you had not given her an implant with amplifiers, her eezo nodules would not have any major effect. Maybe she'd be able to raise a pen at best. Given human history with faulty implants, inserting a biotic implant into the brain of a girl with an apparently not well understood neural disorder seems a bit reckless to me.[2]"

It was the argument Shepard would have used. Though no doubt he would have been more forceful. Still, the always present self-analytical part of Tali was amazed once again how involved she had become in human issues. By now she probably knew more about the history of human biotics than she did about current quarian issues, like the growing resource gap between some ships. In a way, reading up on it and keeping herself updated on issues Shepard had cared about had been comforting for her. It was a way of honouring his memory.

"The L2s are fifteen years ago!" Sanders exclaimed. "Nowadays we're working on VI-assisted L4 implants! Or well, we were, before the crisis hit. That's why I'm here."

Ask Tisiphone. Ask her how much the L2s are in the past. However, Tali had not come here to argue. Besides, after all, she was just a guest. It was a bit odd, though: Apparently Kahlee was still, after all the revelations, a supporter of human biotic efforts. And yet she was here, on this part of a space station occupied by protesters condemning human biotic policy.

"Makes sense," Tali said. "I already wondered how such a well known programmer like you ended up here."

"Well known, me?" Sanders asked. "Infamous, rather. Maybe."

"Maybe a bit," Tali conceded. "Still, I know many quarians who would give up quite a large share of their rations to be able to talk with you. About AI or VI programming, program architecture, stuff like that."

"So, what? Are you telling me I'm some sorta celebrity over at the Migrant Fleet?" Sanders asked amused. "Damn, I should see if I could sell an autobiography there or something."

Tali chuckled. What Kahlee Sanders was well known for was her involvement in the Sidon Incident, an illegal experiment of the Systems Alliance to create a workable AI. The project had ended rather horribly, but by all accounts, truncated as they had been due to Citadel data security, the human approaches to AI programming and system structures had been novel and innovative, and quite sound and efficient, too. And a large part of that, as the media channels had found out, had been Sanders' work.

The quarians had been burnt badly with their own work on the subject. Even though the geth had not been designed as AIs, due to the neural network they had developed into that, and the result had been the de facto extermination of the quarian race. Or at least, 99% was nearly as good as full extermination. Only the genocide against the rachni overshadowed the one the geth had committed. Nonetheless, the remaining quarians were still probably, collectively speaking, the best VI programmers in the galaxy. In fact, that was probably their only remaining export market besides labour. Plus, the dream of reconquering the geth and using them to make the quarians a power again had never completely died. So as a result, of course an outstanding AI/VI programmer with completely new and sound ideas like Sanders would raise interest on the fleet.

"I'd read it," Tali confessed. "At least if it included some hints to what programs you've designed." She became more excited. "The rumours about your decentralized heuristic structures are amazing! Is it true they can really run parallel yet coordinated self-referential processes?"

Even with new areas of interest, Tali's fascination with the challenges of programming and engineering of course had never left her. The prospect of talking about those matters with somebody who according to rumours was an outstanding expert on them excited her.

Sanders smiled wistfully. "Ah, that's in the past. The VIs for the L4 implants won't need that. And all that stuff is still under strict classification anyway. No, I'm just a programmer for biotic implants at the moment. At least, technically. Currently I can't even work on that."

Tali had to admit she was disappointed in the answer. After a pause she asked: "Why are you still here then?"

"As Jiro said: My fame and infamy precede me," Sanders explained. "There's the involvement in the Sidon Incident and also the fact that I'm the daughter of the man this station is named for. If I leave it, I'd just run into too much media attention. Again."

Tali had not known the latter. She could definitely sympathize. If she could, she would escape being singled out just due to who her father was as well. "But you don't agree with the protesters here?"

"I understand the mistrust," Sanders conceded. "And if I had a biotic child, I'd be wary, too, after Shepard's revelations. But I'm part of the Ascension Project. I can look at it from the other angle. I know there's nothing sinister about the Project, I know the Alliance doesn't do the same mistakes anymore. So this all it's just... setting us back."

"Mistakes?" Tali whirled around. She saw Tisiphone standing some metres away, leaned against a corridor wall. Her arms were crossed in front of her, and her face showed an intense anger. Tali did not know how long she had already been standing there and listening, but it seemed like a supreme case of bad timing. "So what has been done to us, hey, that was just mistakes, no harm meant? After all, what's some ruined lives against the glory of humanity, yes? Call it what it was. An atrocity [3]. And had it not been for Shepard, the Alliance would still continue its crimes against us. By hushing it all up, by letting us all live with the pain. That's not something that just happened in the past."

Oh keelah. This could not possibly end well.

Sanders looked surprised and hesitated, but then answered firmly: "In any case, the Ascension Project had nothing to do with it. We aim to..."

"Oh like hell," Tisiphone interrupted her. "This 'project' was made possible by what's been done to us. By our suffering. By the continuation of our pain as everything got hushed up. The Alliance sacrificed us to make something like this here possible." She scoffed. "And then you go on to conscript mentally challenged children into it. Not because you care about them. But because you want to harness their power and to hell what this might do to their ill understood brains!"

"And you're so much better?" Sanders shot back. "What about all the security guards you killed down there?"

"Last I checked they volunteered for the job," Tisiphone answered aggressively. "I wasn't given the choice, and neither were any of the kids the Alliance killed."

"That was Conatix," Sanders pointed out.

"And the Alliance looked on and let them. Conatix was tasked by the Alliance. On an Alliance space station. Under Alliance authority. With the Alliance hushing everything up," Tisiphone countered. "And then Conatix got split up, and all its executives got away, comfortably leading the successor companies. While the Alliance continued to hush up everything for 15 years, multiplying its crimes. So tell me, just why should I assume your program of Hamelin Pipers is any better? I hope it stays collapsed."

Tali looked around unsurely, afraid this would take a bad end. She had seen Tisiphone in battle and respected her skills. The BAaT survivor was a good tactician, an outstanding markswoman and an at least competent biotic. However, she was also very, very volatile, even more so than Shepard had been. And any conflict with her could escalate very quickly: Her dreams of vengeance were literally everything that had kept her alive for fifteen years. Most likely, she would have no problems propelling any argument into physical violence.

"So you'd rather have no human biotic progress at all?" Sanders asked.

"A 'progress' originally based on my torture? What do you think?" Tisiphone confirmed. "To hell with biotic powers and implants and training. They way they got it, humanity doesn't deserve biotic support and services."

That stumped Sanders, and Tisiphone went on: "Bah. And I originally came to report some good news. Have you heard what has happened down there on the planet?" Both Sanders and Tali shook their heads. Tisiphone flashed a predator's grin. "The Colony of Elysium has followed Terra Nova's lead. The extranet news channels are just airing the Elysian Declaration of Non-Compliance. That's two major colonies now who won't follow the Alliance government for the moment."

"Oh good god!" Sanders whispered.

"I hope the Alliance is going to hell!" Tisiphone hissed. "Bah, that's not going to happen, but a woman can dream."

…...

Say what you want about the Alliance and their programs, but they know how to build space stations.

As Tali's, Tisiphone's and their group's unfortunate involuntary stay on the Ascension Project became longer and longer, the quarian had began to make herself useful. With the facilities having been occupied for weeks there had been very little maintenance on them at all, and sturdy and efficient as human construction could be, it still began to show. So Tali had begun to check up on things and repair any defects she could find. It seemed only fair to her: The occupying biotics managed to get supplies for her and Tisiphone's group, including dextro-amino food from ancestors know where. Tali would have felt guilty if she could not have offered something in return.

Currently, she was patching up a disruption in the power distribution. It was nothing serious, but left unchecked it could lead to black outs. Fortunately, it was also something that was relatively easy and cheap to fix. It was still a lot of work, but Tali was used to that. On the antiquated quarian ships, just about every repair work was labour intensive.

She laid down the power tool she had used and looked up a model of the now repaired device on her omni-tool. "That should do it," she said.

The girl next to her did not respond: Gillian. The biotic student had begun to follow Tali around pretty regularly. Apparently, she still was fascinated with the quarian. Sometimes, she would respond to what Tali said, but other times she would just stand there and watch her.

Tali did not mind. Being watched working was normal for a quarian, given that their ships were not only overaged but also overcrowded, and Gillian never made a nuisance out of herself. What was more, Tali felt a certain pity for her. In a way, the girl was stranded on the station just the same way she was. Her biotic training program had collapsed, but she had apparently nowhere else to go. Suddenly, her entire world had been turned upside down, and her mental condition made it very difficult for her to cope.

So if she could find some comfort in watching Tali, that was all right with the quarian. Kahlee Sanders had already told her that the girl seemed much more stable in recent days, so it appeared there was a positive effect.

Suddenly, she heard loud arguing and commotion not far away. She approached it, with Gillian in her tow. She spotted Hendel Mitra, Kahlee Sanders, Jiro Toshiwa and Tisiphone. All four suddenly stopped arguing when they saw her - or rather when they saw Gillian.

"Ah..." Sanders said awkwardly.

Toshiwa grinned slightly amused by the whole affair. "No worry, I'll take her to her room. Gillian, could you please come with me?"

The biotic girl nodded and went. When the two had left, Tali asked: "So what was that about?"

Hesitating, Sanders began: "Her father..."

Mitra interrupted her angrily: "Her so called father! Paul Grayson. He's coming! He'll dock in some minutes! He wants to take her with him!"

"So she has a family to go to?" Tali asked surprised. "I assumed... since she still was here... that she had nowhere to go."

"That's the case," Mitra insisted. "Her father is totally unfit to care for her! She needs special care he just can't provide..."

"And you can?" Tisiphone asked. She, too, seemed angry, but then - she was Tisiphone. It was nearly redundant to say so at this point. "At least this 'Good little biotic drones' program allows contact between the kids and the parents. You know how it was on Brain Camp. The lies to our parents. How they tore our families apart. Deliberately, so they could do with us whatever they wanted! A family must have first rights to their children, under all circumstances!"

"Oh, believe me, I know all about that, Jeanne," Mitra said very darkly, almost growling.

He sounded so angry that Tali already feared escalation, especially as Tisiphone interrupted him: "Jeanne is dead. The Alliance killed her."

Mitra snorted angrily. "Whatever you say. But you don't know that guy. He's a drug addict! He's taking Red Sand and he's not getting away from it! Even when he visits his daughter... half the time he's terribly disorientated. Those visits have always stressed Gillian out a lot. He's not a stabilizing factor in her life, and that's already when he's away most of the time! He absolutely has no ability to care for her!"

"Bah, there should be no children here in the first place!" Tisiphone argued. "What the hell is it with that attitude? That if a child has biotic potential, they are of course sent here, it's just expected. Even if they can't really decide for themselves yet, even if they maybe want to be something else in life other than biotics. Good thing that has broken down now."

"It's always been a balancing act," Sanders now chimed in, "and part of that balancing act is that of course the parents retain first rights to their children. Now, Grayson is the father. He's... he's not a stable person, but surely he can move with his daughter if he so wants?"

"You want to argue legalities?" Mitra asked. "On a space station occupied by protesters, orbiting a colony which doesn't recognize the current government anymore?"

"And that's why I've been against the whole occupation from the beginning," Sanders argued. "It erodes the rule of law. And you'd have it erode even further! Look, think about it pragmatically: Do you want to hand a PR victory to the other side? And you know how the media would spin it: 'Unstable biotic terrorists hold child against the wishes of her and her father!' Something like that."

"Goddamnit!" Mitra cursed. "Argh! Let's just take a look at that guy. He'll be in the docking bay soon."

The four people got going. Tali had remained respectfully silent during the whole conversation, because despite everything she still felt like an outside in the affairs of those people. She was of two minds about the issue. On the one hand, quarians placed an immense weight on families. So of course she would agree that Gillian's father would have first rights.[4] On the other hand, the high mortality rates aboard the Migrant Fleet meant there always was a sizeable number of orphans. In those cases, either the wider clan or the ship community took care of them as best they could. After all, clan and in a way ship crew were both family. They would care for and even love the child. No quarian child had to grow up without guidance and care, the way - the way Jon had been forced to, actually. Thus, the argument that Gillian should stay with those people who cared for her the most also made sense to her. If her father truly was incapable of actually raising her, then Gillian staying with Mitra, Sanders etc. would in fact be no different than how it would be done on quarian ships.

About twenty minutes after the group had arrived at the docking bay, Paul Grayson's ship arrived. As Sanders told her, it was indeed his private ship, registered on his name, so Red Sand addiction or not, apparently the man was not doing too badly for himself. It was a big ship, too, requiring a larger docking bay than the shuttle Tali and Tisiphone had captured on Elysium did.

After the docking manoeuvre had been completed, Grayson could leave his ship and approach Sanders, Mitra, Tisiphone and Tali. Despite all of Mitra's claims, he seemed focused and even sharp at first glance, with a well fitting suit and shortly trimmed black hair. He was accompanied by another man, who wore his long black hair in a pony tail. The stranger seemed to share a genetic ancestry with Jiro Toshiwa, and like him, he seemed to be constantly smiling. Grayson shook Sander's hand, but Mitra refused the greeting. Tisiphone and Tali remained in the background. The man next to Grayson seemed to keep the two constantly under watch.

"I'm sorry my visit and my decision have come so short term," Grayson begun, "but with the way things are heating up here... I don't feel it's secure anymore for Gillian. The Elysian secession puts the whole region in peril."

"It's no secession," Mitra argued. "Besides, you felt it was safe enough for her to stay on a space station occupied by radical protesters."

"Radical protesters who as a point of ideology would never harm biotic children," the man besides Grayson pointed out.

"Ah, yes, this is Kai Leng, my assistant," Grayson introduced the man, "and he's right. The Alliance, either, wouldn't... ah, they wouldn't attack this. Not over just such an occupation. But Elysium's... their declaration of 'non-compliance'? That's possible. No, I'm sorry, but I must insist on getting my daughter."

Tali noticed how Grayson had some trouble with his speech. And his assistant was curiously close to him. As if to hold him up if necessary. Maybe the man was not in as good a shape as she had first assumed.

"I, ah, I'll get her," Sanders said, quickly hurrying away.

The rest of the group waited. Mitra and Grayson were eying each other with suspicion and contempt, while Leng kept Tisiphone and Tali under watch. The quarian especially seemed to have caught his attention. He's hiding it well, but he dislikes me. Probably for my race. Tali had gathered enough unpleasant experiences with that to be able to tell. There was more to it, though. Leng also seemed surprised by her presence, and maybe by Tisiphone's presence, too. As if he had expected something firmly set in place...

"So, how do you want to hide your addiction from your daughter then?" Mitra asked venomously after some time.

"I don't think my... what I do in private... that this is any of your business," Grayson replied aggressively, "And I resent the accusation!"

"Mr Grayson is a wealthy man," Leng chimed in. Despite the seriousness of the situation and his words he was smiling, as if this was all was just a big joke to him. "You can be assured that Gillian will always be provided and cared for. And in the end the Ascension Project cannot do more than that, either. You're all just professionals. Even if you're dedicated professionals and care about the children here, she's still doesn't have a father here."

Tisiphone grunted agreement.

Suddenly, a female scream echoed through the corridors. That's Sanders!

And then everybody sprung into action.

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[1] Don't take this as a canonical (for the purpose of the fic) statement. Jack is probably stronger.

[2] You know, I never thought much about it, but writing this chapter - Gillian's form of autism does in fact seem little understood in Ascension, and yet they do implant her? So come to think of it, it's a further proof how rotten the whole system in-universe is.

[3] Tisiphone is speaking on impulse there, but she is actually not exaggerating. IRL, I'm pretty sure BAaT would fall under the definition of a 'crime against humanity' under the Rome Statute. See Section 7, especially points f, i and k.

[4] Of course Paul is not Gillian's biological, but adoptive father, but Tali doesn't know that.

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Yes, a cliffhanger. The chapter simply got too damn big, so I decided to split it. The action parts will be in the next chapter, heh. And yes, this is basically a truncated version of Ascension with Tali and Tisiphone as main characters.

I have to say, ME 3 convinced me that on the whole Sanders is not a good person. I said I'd disregard ME 3 canon and storyline, but the Grissom Academy parts bother me enough that I might take them into account... which I guess, should surprise few here, given my preoccupation with that topic, haha.