Kaidan was no longer with them.
To Tali's right Liara stood. The Asari was still pale with blood-loss, the sombre look on her face accompanied with an utter stillness of her body as she stood rigid, her hands holding each other tightly in front of her lap.
To her left Wrex stood, then Garrus. Both were, despite their different biology, mirror images of one another, tense, teeth gritted, nearly bared...and arms hanging stiffly to their sides, expecting trouble yet unsure how to face it.
No Ashley, no Kaidan.
Tali had a hard time wrapping her head around it.
The moment the Normandy had docked with the Citadel the man had hobbled out of the medical bay, still in his mask...and completely ignoring the stares and questions from those aboard as he, guided by Chakwas...left.
Just...left.
Tali had managed to catch Chakwas before the group had left for the Council chamber, and apparently the man had requested and been permitted a change of post to some human dreadnought where he could receive further treatment and continue his service.
He had chosen to leave them...it was baffling.
Kaidan, proper, dutiful, Kaidan...had left in their moment of need.
Tali felt...betrayed.
She understood it, yes, all too well. There was too much pain, too much bitterness for Kaidan to handle on the Normandy, around the others, around Michael...and his soul would need far more healing then his body...
Yet...she still felt betrayed, and knew the others echoed the feeling, feeling as if their comradeship had taken yet another blow.
And they hadn't even faced their challenge yet.
For facing the Council could be nothing but a challenge.
Everything within the room spoke of the danger they were in, not physically, but politically...and their leader was not to be their shield today, Tali could see it.
While they stood just before the small bridge not quite reaching the podium where the councillors stood Michael was at the other end, at that little circular platform where he once had knelt as he was made a Spectre.
Now he wasn't kneeling however, now he was standing. Shoulders slumped, head downcast, arms limp to his sides, face empty as he stared down at the small garden between him and the Council.
He had even forgotten his helmet and shotgun, something he'd never do, until now...
Between him and the team Anderson stood...but he might as well have been a mile away, his face barely concealing the anguish in his stance as he stared at Michael.
A Michael defeated before the battle had even begun.
For a battle it would be.
Besides them the Council chamber was nearly empty. The three councillors stood upon their podium, behind their consoles, the Turian to the left, followed by the Asari and the Salarian, as always. They were regal...and dangerous. They were professional politicians, faces unreadable. But Tali could see it...they were all tense, irritated...and the Turian...angry.
And around the large chamber, hidden just under the alcoves usually filled with reporters and helpers...silent human-shaped mechs stood, dozens of them, guns held low, but ready.
To suppress anyone getting upset...and not since they're not alive...unable to listen in on whatever is said.
This is going to hurt... Tali swallowed, staring at Michael's slumped features. And he doesn't deserve it, but wants it...this is wrong.
The councillors exchanged glances, the drawn out silence perturbing them, them having expected at least some form of greeting from their Spectre.
They received nothing, the man as still as a statue.
Finally the Asari coughed politely, voice politer: "We understand you lost a comrade recently Commander, our sympathies." You don't mean that.
No reaction.
"Yes, very sad." The Salarian agreed, nodding quickly. Neither do you... Tali's hands curled into fists. We give our all...for these types? Her gaze flicked to Michael...and the fists eased away as sadness calmed her. No, for him...
The Turian merely nodded, arms crossing over his chest in impatience. At least you're honest about your opinion... Tali didn't know if she was supposed to cry or rage at it all.
Silence.
Then the Turian spoke: "Could we perhaps get this debriefing done with, on record." He nodded sharply at the glowing hologram of Avina nearly hidden in an alcove, the VI holding a holographic stylus and paper to simulate writing. "Perhaps we should start from Noveria, since Shepard was...disinclined to grace us with his presence then." There was acid in the Turian's voice..and Tali knew worse was to come.
Silence met the words, dead, uncaring, silence.
"We have of course read your report Shepard..." The Asari spoke, cutting the Turian off as she nodded at her console. "...and we're unsure about why you killed Benezia. She was unarmed and you clearly took control of things...why not apprehend and question her further?"
"Yes, it's quite surprising." The Salarian nodded eagerly, frowning down at his console. "You spared Benezia's commando Shiala on Feros did you not? Why not spare Benezia? Surely she was a greater asset with more information...this was your argument for sparing Shiala I might remind you."
Silence.
Dead, horrifying silence.
Then Liara move, making Tali blink in shock as the Asari took a step forward, head held high, shoulders stiff, almost looking as decisive as Michael usually was as she spoke: "Shiala was freed from her indoctrination, Benezia wasn't, she would not give us more information, she would slip back into her indoctrination. It was right to kill her, a mercy...and the safest choice."
An awkward silence, Liara's words, the words of the dead woman's daughter, heavy in the room.
Tali felt a prickle of pride for Liara. For Michael...
"Yes, 'indoctrination', we'll get to that later." The Turian snorted, hands coming up to form a quoting sign around the procedure.
Then the Asari, looking at Liara, judging her...then looking back to Michael: "Moving testament from your team-mate. Of course she mentioned mercy, which your report did not. Was that your reason? To show mercy upon your enemy, controlled by this supposed indoctrination?" She glanced back up at Liara. "Or an emotional need to help one of your team? Since she obviously is happy with your choice of slaying her own mother I can't help but wonder if you did this in a professional way..."
Liara stiffened, eyes blazing for but a moment, a hint of a biotic hue in them...then stepped back, shaking with anger at the implication.
The Salarian spoke next, swift and sure: "Spectres do what they need to get the job done Shepard, you forgot that with Benezia, she should have been immobilized and questioned."
And before the them all...Michael said nothing, didn't react, not in the slightest.
But he could hear them, he did, he wanted to hear every word...and Tali squirmed where she stood, his pain agonizing.
"And then, on top of this, you spare the Rachni!" The Turian snapped, fist coming down on his console with a crack of plates hitting plastic. "And a Queen at that! Do you have any idea what you've done! How long before the Rachni once more fall upon the galaxy to destroy us all! Precisely the thing Spectres are supposed to stop! Any fool would realise you should have destroyed it and ended the threat that race posed, not help it!"
Silence, Michael refusing to move, to defend himself. He just stood there...and let the words wash over him.
It was horrible.
This time Wrex moved, teeth bared in a snarl, clawed finger raised. "Oh, I see, so it's a noble thing when the Council makes laws against genocide, laws they so nobly hold up for all to follow, except when it's not convenient..." There was bitterness in the Krogan's voice...and Tali watched in surprise as Wrex defended the very action he had argued against before. For Michael's sake... Tali managed a small smile at the Krogan. "The Rachni didn't win back then, what makes you think a diminished little colony will be able to do to you? And that's if the Reapers don't kill us first"
"Ah yes, the 'reapers'." The Turian shook his head even as the claws once more shot up in that annoying gesture of sarcasm. Stop...doing that! "Another thing we will take up in due course...mercenary."
The Asari quickly opened her mouth, stopping Wrex's retort as she with a soft voice spoke: "Avina, please make a note that this protest was made by a Krogan in Shepard's employ, Krogan who are sensitive to the issue of genocide, and therefore speaking on an emotional basis."
Wrex mouth slammed shut, eyes narrowing, anger in his stance as he took a disciplined step back.
The Salarian finished things off: "Whether we can handle a new Rachni attack or not is not the issue, the fact of the matter that any battle, no matter how small, will cost lives, lives of citadel citizens that Spectres are supposed to protect. That this was not observed by Shepard is viewed as troubling by the Council."
And Michael just stood there, still, not even flinching in pain, too deep in it to react on any one blow.
The silence drew on.
"Well..." The Asari cleared her throat, shrugging as she looked at Michael, then down at her console. "...onto Virmire then I suppose." She frowned as the report, with highlighted sections, scrolled before her on the console, shrugging, shrugging! "Saren escaped you again I see..."
"With one of your team lost in the process." The Turian added with an angry shake of his head, clearly unimpressed. "Not to mention the Salarian special task group you were supposed to help."
"Yes, leaving them on the planet as you detonated a WMD on it was not the subtlest of actions Commander, not to mention...disquieting." The Salarian spoke, a hint of anger in the hand dropping on his console as he leant forward: "I believe the order was to assist the team and investigate, not to cause havoc."
"Detonating a tier three WMD on a habitable world is strictly forbidden by Citadel conventions Shepard." The Turian growled, claws clacking against the console in an angry rhythm. "A capital offence, we want an explanation."
"You have it right there!" Garrus exploded, voice heated as he pointed up at the consoles before the councillors. "The bomb was made by Captain Kirrahe, he wanted it detonated, he saw the necessity of it due to having discovered Saren having cured the genophage and breeding an army of Krogan there. It's all there!"
"Yes, we have read it." The Asari smiled patronizing at Garrus...and the Turian practically gnashed his fangs as his pointing finger dropped.
"Yet Kirrahe is not here to support these improbable claims." The Salarian acidly added. "And any other evidence of such an unlikely occurrence is now nothing but a crater, it seems Shepard is good at destroying his evidence before presenting it..."
Garrus hesitated, then took a step back, voice a low growl as he glared at the councillors, yet no surprise in it, just a...dejected need to protest: "There wasn't any other choice..."
"Ah yes, in part because Sovereign was coming I believe?" The Turian councillor asked, shaking his head as he looked down at Michael: "The dreadnought now not a Geth ship but apparently a Reaper...as revealed to you by a beacon that unfortunately shattered after communicating with it. Really Shepard, Saren is playing you, he could have made that hologram, your continued claim of this Reaper threat is just another thing worrying the Council, even more so since you actually seem to believe it."
And Michael didn't react, didn't respond, just...took it.
Tali took a step forth...and all eyes were suddenly on her, making her pale as she realised she had done it simply out of a instinctual need to help, but with no idea how.
Hesitation...
Damn it, don't leave him alone! "What about the data I showed? That made you take away Saren's Spectre status? That was him at an unguarded moment! Why would he speak of the Reapers then!"
The Asari smiled down at her...and Tali's face twisted into a grimace of disgust even before the bitch opened her mouth to speak in that condescending tone: "Clearly because the Geth was listening...surely you if anyone understands that no Geth would follow an organic, but an organic that acts as a prophet of their saviour? More believable."
Bosh'tet...
Tali was unsure who she hated more, the oh so wise Asari...or the jerk of a Turian."Then how did they make it? I if anyone should know the Geth couldn't build something that massive and advanced." The twist of the Asari's words made her flinch...and Tali smiled bitterly. They won't listen... "Indoctrination, Reapers, a ship too large and advanced for the Geth to make, Saren's confession...why won't you see this?"
"Because it's circumstantial at best." The Salarian replied with a snort. "Proof offered by a Spectre – whose file now when we have read through it extensively – that has a history of mental instability and a record that we now know to have been polished..." He shot a look at Anderson...who bristled under the scrutiny. "...isn't something the Council is going to act upon."
Silence, no retort from Michael, the man still a statue...
And Tali not knowing what to say, yet unwilling to step back with the others. They...they've already made their decision...
Finally Liara's hand appeared on her shoulder...and Tali stepped back, head lowered, breath shaking. It can't end like this...it can't.
Anderson's voice was surprisingly steady as he spoke for Michael, unable to concede defeat: "You had already read his file extensively before his inauguration, otherwise you would never have made him a Spectre. And you were informed of his initial slips, and his mental instability was a thing of the past."
Silence, the councillors glancing at one another, apparently taken by surprise by the words, the Salarian shooting the scribbling Avina a look.
"'Was' being the key word I believe." The Turian's hands shot up again, gaze focused on Michael even as the entire ground team took a step forth in anger. Stop...doing...that...gesture! The Turian looked over at the other councillors, nodding, fangs bared in satisfaction.
You bosh'tets...
The Salarian nodded as well, more calmly then his co-worker: "I do believe we've heard all we wanted to hear." A glance at the Asari...
Who took a step forth, regal, calm...and dangerous. "Commander Shepard, due to repeated signs of questionable judgement in the line of duty and a clear suffering of mental issues the Council regrets to inform you that you are suspended until further notice."
As one the rest of the team took a step forward, mouths opening to protest...only to go silent as their Commander continued to just stand there...even as every mech in the room raised their weapons, silent, waiting...
I...can't believe this...Michael...do something...
The Asari's voice was calm, final: "An investigation will be launched regarding your fitness for your office. Until then you, your vessel and all crew-members are prohibited from leaving the Citadel." A pause, the Asari regarding Michael, expecting some reaction...but finding none. Sighing she pressed down on her console, drawing a beep from it. "This session is hereby closed."
As one Garrus, Tali, Liara and Wrex...slumped, all wind going out of them, defeat becoming a cloak around them.
Michael...please!
As if hearing her Michael stirred...and Tali looked up with wide eyes...only to squeeze them shut at the sight. Michael stance was one of a man disappointed...but not upset with his punishment...
His voice was low, accepting: "You're too kind councillors...but as you wish."
Opening her eyes Tali found the man turning, walking...head cast low, accepting.
Please...you can't accept this...we can't...I can't...
He brushed past her, not seeing any of the team, only his own misery.
And Tali's eyes suddenly narrowed, anger gripping her.
I won't.
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Thanks to Abydos Jackson for not falling asleep reading this. ;-)