Chapter 18

Sean gingerly picked up one of his cloths and slowly began to clean off the individual parts as he reassembled his weapon. He enjoyed cleaning his gun before and after every mission, it gave his mind something to focus on. Something about seeing the inner workings of a weapon intrigued him and he could easily kill an hour maintaining his weapons. Sean stood up and stretched his muscles then made his way to the mirror he had bought on his most recent shore leave. He rubbed his hands down his face and through his short beard, accentuating how tired he felt. He examined his body in the reflection of the mirror. With two fingers he traced the scar. With a shake of his head he made his way over to his new bed and laced up his shoes. He stepped out of his room and rubbed the sleep from his eyes as the air-conditioned air of the Engineering level greeted him. His senses snapped awake as he began to shiver himself warm. He crossed his arms over his chest, trying to keep warm as he walked into the engine room.

"Hey Tali do you know-" Sean stopped as he saw Tali. She turned to him, her eyes full of worry. "What's wrong?" Sean asked, quickly walking to her side.

"The- The Fleet is charging me with… treason" She said worry deep in her voice.

"What!" Sean exclaimed. He felt like he had been charged as well. "That's insane! You couldn't do that! They don't know what they are talking about!" Sean ranted. "Calling you a traitor is like calling me an AI!" Sean added, trying to lighten the mood.

Tali laughed, "Well you are part…" She teased, "Thanks, thanks for making me feel better." Her tone dropped again, "But I do need to go to the Fleet and clear my name."

"I'll tell Shepard you'd like to talk to her." Sean offered.

"Thanks" Tali said, giving him a hug, "I'm just worried."

"Don't worry you'll get through this." Sean said hugging her back, "I'll be quick and easy. Shepard has a way of convincing others."

"That she does." Tali agreed.

Shepard, Tali, and Sean stepped out of the Normandy onto the Raya. As requested Sean and Shepard were wearing full masks to avoid polluting the clean air with their germs. Sean liked wearing his helmet. It provided protection, not only from bullets; it protected his identity. Sean never felt comfortable standing out in a crowd, and as one of the only two humans on the ship, his tinted visor did the trick. Sean turned and stared at Tali. Everything about her body language said joy, from her quick strides to her long glances at the surroundings. He understood; she was returning home, nothing new, and everything familiar. But there was a deep sorrow inside of her. She wasn't back for a leisurely visit, she was being charged for treason against the Quarian Fleet.

"Tali'Zorah vas Normandy I am glad you came. I could only delay them for so long." An elderly female voice said.

"Auntie Raan!" Tali exclaimed embracing the admiral, "Shepard vas Normandy, this is Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay. She's a friend of my fathers." Tali said returning her attention to Shepard. "Wait. Raan you called me 'vas Normandy'" She said, confused, turning back to Admiral Raan.

"I'm afraid I did, Tali. The Admiralty Board moved to have you tried under that name, given your departure from the Neema." Raan said, her tone becoming somber.

"I guess we should get started." Shepard said. "Does Tali have a defense councilor, someone to speak for her side?"

"Indeed she does… Captain Shepard. She is part of your crew recognized by quarian law. And remember, an accused is always represented by his or her ship captain." Raan stated. The trio entered a large courtyard. Few quarians milled about the outskirts, but a mass of them sat on bleachers surrounding the stage, in what could be described as a courtroom. Sean fell back and leaned back against the far back wall of the room as the trial commenced. Sean never liked the political system. There were too many loopholes and red tape. It seemed like if you wanted to get anything done you would have to wait, and wait, and wait, and eventually time would run out and nothing would be accomplished. He sighed as the Admirals of the Quarian fleet began to throw accusations at each other as the trial commenced.

Sean's body gently shook with the turbulence of the small drop ship as it made its way to the Alarei. The court case went from bad to worse; Tali was not only bombarded with accusations of treason, but she was also sprung with the news that her father could be dead on the Alarei. Sean looked over at Tali quietly seated besides him. He placed his left hand on her shoulder, "It will be alright." He reassured.

"I hope." Was all Tali could say. She was lost deep in thought. Sean gently massaged her shoulder for a minute trying to relieve some of her stress. Sean couldn't help but notice that the trial wasn't entirely centered on Tali. They seemed focused on the geth, almost looking for a reason to use towards their position of the war with the geth.

He made a mental note of that as the pilot's voice cackled over the speakers, "We are nearing the Alarei." Sean pushed the thoughts about the case aside. He needed to help clear Tali's name at all costs.

"Remember this is a rescue mission." Shepard debriefed Sean and Tali, "Priority: save all surviving quarians, then eradicate all remaining geth. Understood?" Tali nodded in understanding. Sean reached down and primed his gun, checking his clip. Sean holstered his gun and gave a quick a nod to Shepard. Shepard stood up and grabbed onto one of the rails on the ceiling, "Alright. Let's get ready." She said. Both stood and took their places behind Shepard as the doors of the drop ship hissed open, the pressure of the drop ship equalizing to that of the Alarei.

Sean slowly breathed out as he fired two shots. Both connected with the last standing geth, piercing its head and spattering the wall behind it with white coolant fluid.

"Clear!" Sean yelled as he stood up from his cover. The team slowly made their way forward. "Oh no…" Sean gasped as he saw the body of a quarian.

"Father!" Tali cried as she ran forward and knelt by the body. "No, no, no! You always had a plan. Masked life signs, or, or an onboard medical stasis program maybe. You! You wouldn't…" She said desperately, pain deep in her voice. Tears began streaming down her eyes. "They're wrong! You wouldn't just die like this! You wouldn't leave me to clean up your mess! You can't."

Sean's heart wrenched as he saw Tali breakdown in front of him. "Hey…" Sean said helping Tali up and embracing her. She buried her face in Sean's chest. Tali's body shook as she tried to fight off her emotions.

"Damn it! Damn it! I'm sorry." Tali said.

"Don't be." Sean said squeezing Tali tightly against his chest, "You've got nothing to be sorry about."

"Maybe… he would have known I'd come. Maybe he left a message." Tali said, returning her attention to the body of her father. She weakly waived her arm over her father's body. His omnitool activated and a holographic image of Tali's father appeared.

"Tali, if you are listening, then I am dead. The geth have gone active. I don't have much time." Her father began, rapidly breathing, "Their main hub will be on the bridge. You'll need to destroy it to stop their VI processes from forming new neural links. Make Sure Han'Gerrel and Daro'Xen see the data. They must-" The transmission ended abruptly as loud crashes and explosions were heard in the background.

"Thanks, Dad." Tali painfully said, slowly standing up.

"He knew you'd come for him. He was trying to help you. It's not perfect. It's not what you wanted. But it's the best he could do." Shepard said, trying to help Tali.

"I don't know what's worse, thinking that he never really cared or that he did, and this was the only way he could show it." Tali said shaking her head slowly, "It doesn't matter. One way or another. I cared. And I'm here. And we're ending this."

"Let's keep moving." Shepard said, pulling her assault rifle off her back. Sean stood in shock at what he had just seen. His mind was swimming in questions. "Come on." Shepard said, snapping Sean back to reality.

"Yeah, uh, sorry." Sean mumbled as he moved on. The trio slowly walked up the stairs. All three of them froze when they reached the top. Before them stood a two geth troopers and a massive geth prime assembled around the main hub. "My god…" Sean began shocked at the immense size of the geth prime.

"We take out the troopers then focus on the prime." Shepard ordered. Tali and Sean nodded as they slowly rounded the corner. Sean lined up one of the geth in his sights.

"On three." Shepard's voice whispered from behind him, "one, two… three!" Sean squeezed his finger on the trigger, firing off two shots that easily tore through the geth trooper's head. It dropped to the floor along with the second geth, a hole from a shotgun blast in its chest.

"Here it comes!" Sean yelled as he dove forward to cover. The geth prime turned quickly and began to charge up its gun and unleashed a barrage of bullets in Shepard's direction.

"I'm pinned down and it's coming for me!" Shepard yelled

"I gotcha!" Sean yelled back rising up from his cover and releasing his entire clip into the back of the prime, dropping its shields. It spun around and began to move towards Sean's position. "Oh shi-" was all Sean could say before the geth prime reached out with its open hand and lifted Sean off of his feet and into the air. Sean struggled in vain trying to release himself from the geth prime's grip. "Help!" Sean yelled as he began to feel the grip of the geth grow tighter. Responding, Shepard leaned out from her cover and fired. The geth winced as bullets pinged off of its armor. Deciding that Sean was no longer a problem, the geth tossed him across the room, like a rag doll, and into the control panel.

Sean head throbbed. He slowly sat up and placed a hand against his forehead as sounds began to return to him. He could hear Tali's voice, but muffled. He shook his head, trying to get his senses to return to him. "Sean shut the geth down!" Sean finally heard Tali yell from across the room.

"Yeah… yeah…" Sean said slowly lifting himself up. He stumbled over to the one working panel and began to feverishly type commands into the computer.

"Sean! We need it done now!" Shepard yelled as the geth raised its gun in her direction.

"Come on! Come on!" Sean said, his teeth gritted. "There!" He yelled as he entered the final code into the computer. The geth prime flinched and dropped to the ground, lifeless as the transition from the central HUB ended.

"Nice work." Shepard said, slowly approaching Sean, accompanied by Tali, "Now what can we get off of this computer?"

"Hopefully something to clear Tali's name." Sean said, glancing back at Tali.

The screen flickered to life, as three quarians appeared on the screen, huddled around the console, Tali's father giving the order to bring the geth online.

"That's what we need!" Sean said happily.

"No! We can't tell them! Not the admirals. Not anyone." Tali said.

"Why? It clears your name." Shepard said.

"They would exile my father. They'd strip my father's name of everything!" Tali said, "I can't let that happen."

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

"You're my Capitan in this hearing Shepard. It's your decision. But please, don't destroy what my father was." Tali begged, "Come on. If we wait too long they'll decide that we're dead and none of this would have mattered." The three of them slowly exited the room.

"Sounds like the hearing is already underway." Tali commented as one of the Admiral's voices echoed through the chambers. They increased their pace to a run trying to reach the courtyard in time. "Sorry we're late." Tali said, a sarcastic tone in her voice as she broke through the crowd of people and made her way to the bench.

Shepard and Sean made their way to Tali's side as Shepard spoke up. "You didn't waste much time declaring us dead."

"We apologize, Shepard. Your success of taking back the Alarei is… very unexpected." One of the Admirals said his anger focused on the admiral beside him.

"But also very welcome." Shala'Raan interjected.

"Did you find anything on the Alarei that could clarify what happened there?" an Admiral asked. Tali and Shepard exchanged looks. There was a short silence before Shepard turned back towards the Admirals. She took a step forward.

"Shepard… please…" Tali begged. Sean stepped forward and rested a hand on Tali's shoulder. She reached her hand up and gripped it tightly, heart beating quickly.

"Does Capitan Shepard have any new evidence to submit to this hearing?" Shala'Raan asked.

"We found nothing on the Alarei we wish to submit as evidence." Shepard said, her voice unwavering.

"Tali?" One of the admirals asked, pain evident in his voice.

"I have nothing to say." Tali answered. The admirals quickly glanced at each other.

"Then with no further testimony…" Shala'Raan began.

"No!" Sean yelled pushing his way forward.

"Please calm down-" one of the admirals began

"No! You don't understand! This trial has nothing to do with Tali!" Sean yelled as he reached the podium. A buzz began to arise in the crowd.

"Order! Order!" the admiral yelled, trying to calm the crowd and silence Sean.

"All you care about is the war with the geth! Tali risked her life for all of you! That should be enough!" Sean continued, his voice growing over the commotion of the crowd. One of the admirals nodded and a pair of quarian guards locked their arms around Sean. "She doesn't deserve this! " Sean yelled breaking free of the guard's grasps and moving forward. More guards began to flock around Sean, slowly restraining him and moving him out of the courtyard. "She deserves better than this!" Sean yelled as he was pulled out of the courtroom, the roar of the crowd growing distant. A pair of doors shut behind Sean and the quarian guards helped Sean to his feet.

"Stay there." One of the quarian guards commanded, pushing Sean down onto one of the crates. Slowly the guards vanished into the courtroom, leaving Sean alone in the room with two quarians, staring at him attentively.

"What?" Sean asked, angrily. The pair jumped back, then slowly backed out of the room, leaving Sean completely alone. "I hope that helped…" Sean said, sinking his head into his hands.

After what felt like hours later, the doors slid open. He looked up weakly. His eyes brightened and he quickly stood up as he saw Tali make her way towards him.

"How'd it- Oomph" Sean said as Tali quickly embraced him. Lightly chuckling he asked, "So what happened?"

"They dropped all charges!" Tali said, joy in her voice, "Though… you're not allowed to watch any other trials…" They both laughed as Sean squeezed Tali tightly.

"You're quite the speaker." Shepard commented entering the room.

"Well, I did have some motivation…" Sean said nervously scratching the back on his neck, "I just couldn't see Tali get exiled because of something that wasn't her fault. Sorry it had to come to that."

"Don't be." Tali said happily.

Shepard smiled, "Let's get back to the Normandy. I think you've caused enough trouble here today."

"Definitely." Sean responded as both he and Tali exited the room, their hands intertwined.

Author's Note: Well it took me even longer to write this chapter! Mostly because I had to keep referencing the game for the lines. It was a sigh of relief when I had Sean interrupt the trial. Personally I hate writing something unoriginal… so net chapter will feel liberating. Well… until then, cheers.