A/N: New job, new hours, new sleep schedule, less writing unfortunately. But I'll never stop.

On another note, there's apparently a ME TV show in production and I feel like they could benefit from my help.

Chapter 49

MFV Rayya – Migrant Fleet – Far Rim

As hostile as Zaal'Koris was, Shepard was very grateful that Han'Gerrel was much more amenable towards her. As much as she despised the current circumstances, she didn't want to make an enemy of the entire quarian admiralty board. As she stopped by, Han'Gerrel pulled her aside.

"Hey, Captain," he said in a friendly tone. "I want to thank you for looking out for Tali."

She eyed him curiously, wondering if he had any personal stakes in the outcome of the trial. "Do you know her well?"

"I'm a friend of her father's, but that's about as far as it goes. Even so, she's a quarian hero and deserves better than we're giving her," he said as he looked off towards Zaal'Koris' s direction. "Imagine trying to exile a crewmate for killing geth."

Shepard's brow rose inside her helmet. "I see, so you're the other end of the spectrum. Do you think Tali and Rael were running experiments on the geth?"

"I don't think it's our place to make assumptions, a sentiment obviously not shared by every admiral," he said as he shook his head. "But if you're asking what I think about it, then I'm firmly in your camp," he said, confusing her even more. But he finally gave her a straight answer. "Whether we made them or not, whether he believes they deserve to live, they are geth. They are our enemy, and we're never going to get our homeworld back by crying every time one gets blasted to pieces."

She found herself in the awkward position of wanting to correct him, but not wanting to alienate a potential ally on the Admiralty Board. Tali needed all the friends she could get up there, so she opted to just stay quiet about her actual thoughts on the geth. "Do you believe you'll take back Rannoch someday?"

"I fully intend to try. And if Rael'Zorah was running experiments and weapon's tests on the geth, then that day may come sooner than I thought. Though with the situation on the Alarei, I don't hold out much hope that the data he collected would be intact," he said with a heavy sigh. "Either way, Tali and her father were working for the good of the fleet and I don't intend to lie down and allow Zaal'Koris to bully and exile her just to make his idiotic point about the geth."

"Noted and appreciated," she said as she looked over and saw Daro'Xen on a datapad at one of the tables. "If you'll excuse me Admiral, I have one more person I'd like to speak to before I go taking back the Alarei."

"Of course, don't let me keep you," he said before turning away and filtering his way through the crowd.

Shepard made her way through the crowd as well until she finally stood at the table with the black-suited quarian. "Mind if I have a seat?"

Daro'Xen looked up from her tablet for a moment before nodding. "Alright, how much is it to be?"

Shepard sat down, confused by her question. "I'm sorry?"

"You're obviously here to bribe me for my vote. So, how much did you intend to offer before I decline and have you blacklisted from the fleet?" she asked as she set aside the datapad.

"I'm not here to bribe you, Admiral," said Shepard as her brows furrowed. She had only spoken a few sentences to the woman but she already knew she was about to be difficult. "I'm here to get your reading on what was happening aboard the Alarei. The more I know, the better my chances."

"Shame," she said shaking her head. "It's been a while since we've physically jettisoned someone out of the airlock. I was hoping for a show." When it was clear that Shepard wasn't amused with her jokes, she finally sighed. "Oh, alright then. Out with it."

"Do you have any ideas about what this secret project that Rael'Zorah was working on is?" she said as clear as possible so that there was no confusion about her intent.

"Unfortunately, no. Rael'Zorah apparently felt like keeping this one inside his suit. From the sounds of the charges, he was putting geth together and then blasting them apart again. But you don't require geth intelligence for that," she said with a shrug. "So, there has to be more to it."

"Where would he even get the geth intelligence to run these experiments?" asked the spectre thoughtfully.

"According to Zaal'Koris it was Tali who sent them. I am to presume that you don't believe this is the case?" asked the admiral curiously, getting an annoyed look from the woman.

"Of course I don't believe it. Tali cares too much about this fleet to risk that," said Shepard as she sat and thought about it for a long moment. "Your marines are constantly sent out into geth space beyond the Perseus Veil. I even had to go out there to rescue Tali."

"A bold move, but then again how bold is it when you have a stealth ship like the Normandy," said the woman with a chuckle.

Ignoring her snide comment, Shepard continued with her mental exercise. "It's not beyond belief that Rael'Zorah had some marines find geth units aboard some computer, isolate them, and bring them back here."

"If he did then he's an incomprehensible buffoon. Even with every precaution taken aboard our ships, it's still too risky. A geth could jump from said terminal to any number of devices aboard the ship. It would take an expert engineer to make sure they couldn't make the jump," she said with a snort. "If this is true than her father is an idiot who did the galaxy a favor by getting himself killed."

Glad Tali wasn't around to hear the insult, Shepard shook her head. "Not if you're looking into a weapon that affects geth intelligence, and not just their physical platforms."

Immediately Daro'Xen sat up, her interest now piqued. "Now that would be something. If he created some kind of weapon that could erase the intelligence from a platform, then we could use that to liberate Rannoch."

"So, are you in Han'Gerrel's camp?" asked Shepard curiously, wondering where the admiral sat on the war with the geth.

"Of course not. That war hound wants to destroy the geth and retake our homeworld. To do so would be an immense waste of resources," she said shaking her head. "No, I do not want to destroy the geth. If what you said about Rael's project ended up being true, then it appears I was more in his camp than Han'Gerrel's. Because I do not wish to see the geth destroyed."

"If not destroyed, then…" said Shepard as she was starting to get a grim picture.

"The geth are ours by right. Destroying them, sympathizing with them, both of them are a waste. The quarian people are the creators of the geth, and the geth should be ours to command," snapped Daro'Xen firmly.

It was pretty clear to Shepard that Daro'Xen was potentially the worst of all three admirals in regards to the war with the geth. She didn't want a war, and she certainly didn't want to stop fighting. She wanted a synthetic army at her disposal, and god only knows what she would do with it. Feeling like the conversation had run its course, Shepard nodded her head and stood. "Thank you for your time, Admiral."

"Let me know what you find," said the woman with a grin in her eyes that made Shepard want to shiver. This woman, whatever her cause, was eerie just being around. She couldn't place the feeling exactly, but it felt like being paranoid. As if no matter which way she turned, the woman was staring at her back. Letting out a sigh, she finally approached Tali at the gate. "Got what we needed?"

Kal'Reegar spoke from beside her. "Got the plans you asked for ahead of time."

"Thinking ahead?" asked Shepard as she accepted the datafile onto her omni-tool.

"After the way you talked me down on Haestrom, I figured you'd do some swindling and maneuvering here as well. I knew you wouldn't let Tali go down without trying to retake the Alarei, so I had these prepared," said the marine as he looked down at Tali. "Sorry for all this, ma'am. None of this had anything to do with you and it's not right that they're dragging you into it."

Shepard eyed the man curiously. "Are the admirals always clashing like this?"

Kal'Reegar nodded with a sigh. "Usually, yes. But it fizzles out within the week and then they find something else to bicker about. But something about this secret project Tali's father was working on made something crawl up their asses. This is more than one of their usual political slapfights."

Shepard was amused that quarians used the same metaphor as humans, but instead focused on the admirals. "So, they're all trying to make a point with their votes. Zaal'Koris wants exile to show support for the geth, Han'Gerrel wants absolution to show he supports the war against the geth, and Daro'Xen just seems like a menace."

"Can't argue with that, ma'am," said Kal'Reegar as he shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Commander Tali'Zorah," said Veetor's meek voice.

"It's alright, Veetor, it's not your fault. We'll go clear the Alarei and find something that proves my innocence, I'm sure," said Tali, the tone in her voice alerting Shepard that she wasn't confident in what she was saying.

"Speaking of, we should probably get to that. Thank you both," said Shepard as she gave them the quarian greeting. They went on their way and Shepard walked Tali to the shuttle. "How are you holding up?"

"I don't know Shepard. It's hard to say what's more terrifying, the fact that I may be exiled, or that my father may be exiled posthumously for bringing geth into the fleet. I honestly don't know which I'd prefer, disgrace of myself or my father," she said as she hugged her arms to herself.

"I know. We won't find out anything here," she said before leading them to the shuttle.

Alarei Crew's Quarters – Migrant Fleet – Far Rim

"Keelah'selai," was the last thing they heard as they left the shuttle of the docking bay and headed through the ship. Everything was eerily quiet, and the mood was almost immediately set as they found a number of dead quarian bodies, some marines with armor attachments to their suits, some scientists with nothing. The path they took was the quickest way to get through the ship to the helm. Regardless of what happened here, they didn't want the geth suicide bombing the ship into a quarian life ship.

Shepard eyed the bodies curiously as most of them were thrown into the hall and stacked like bricks. "A barrier?"

But Grunt dismissed her question with an answer. "A display. It's a warning for anyone coming through from the docking bay." He rolled his head on his neck, no doubt limbering himself up for the fight ahead. "My guess is they set these up at every entrance the ship has."

"Then what?" asked Shepard as she thought about what might happen.

"They're probably waiting, building their forces, and preparing for a jump. A ship like the Alarei needs numerous crew members to run. A few ragtag geth wouldn't be able to pilot it anywhere," said Tali as she tapped the chin of her helmet. "They're either constructing more crew to be able to make a jump, or they don't have enough and are essentially waiting to be destroyed."

"Can't the geth get inside the ship's systems, run it from there?" asked the large krogan as he pulled his shotgun free.

"We took our lesson from Rannoch very seriously. Most everything on the ship is manual control. The engines, pilots, cooks; every job on the ship has removed the quality of life machines that most species take for granted. Everything but the smallest VI run omni-tool programs are run physically by a living person to make sure we can't be hacked by some intelligence and killed when it puts our drive core into meltdown," said the quarian as she shook her head. "No, they couldn't take over the ship this size without at least a manned crew of a hundred."

"Well, that at least gives us a cap on how many there are," said Shepard as she held her battle rifle ready.

"Hey Tali," said Grunt, a grin could be heard in his voice.

"Yes, what is it Grunt?" asked the quarian as she looked over to him.

"Remember when you said that of all Shepard's diplomatic missions, this one was the least likely to turn into a firefight?" he asked, getting a snort from Shepard and a sigh from the commander.

"Yes Grunt. I remember," she said with a glare through her helmet. "Now shut up." It took Grunt pushing the grisly display over and them unceremoniously walking on the corpses to be able to get past. "Ancestors forgive me," said Tali as she tried to step on as few of them as possible.

But Shepard's eyes didn't divert from the display. Instead, she spotted a patterned burn scarring among the many mass accelerator wounds that riddled the bodies. "That looks like a plasma burn," she said as she pointed to the spot. The suit had melted to flesh, turning the entire spot into a blackened husk-like surface. The edges around the wound, rather than being torn were melted and smooth.

"Geth weaponry? How?" asked Tali in confusion. "I never sent back geth weapons. Only scraps of geth themselves."

"Looks like we've got more to compete with than just MAC weapons. Our shields aren't going to help us against plasma," said the spectre as she gripped her battle rifle tightly.

"Hmm…" hummed Grunt thoughtfully. "Even with plasma weaponry, it doesn't explain how a ragtag ensemble of geth took out three Migrant Fleet marine teams. Quarians are some of the hardest things in the galaxy to kill."

Shepard's brow rose at the claim. "Even harder than humans?"

"Humans have persistence, but quarians have durability. Take a knife and bury it in a human you've probably disabled that human for a good while… present company being the exception," he said, eyeing Shepard as if she were about to scold him. She snorted and nodded for him to continue. "But quarians have hard bones close together. They're fast on their feet, and they kick hard enough to dent space armor."

"How do you know all this? Have you and Tali been on the mats without me?" asked the spectre as she eyed the pair.

"He's still in one piece, so no," said Tali, obviously using her humor to disguise her unease about their current situation.

Grunt reached up and tapped his helmet. "Tank memories. Okeer said that besides krogan, quarians were probably the most dangerous species in the galaxy. There's little more deadly than a quarian with a suit puncture and a family to protect. They'll tear you open like a varren."

"As flattering as this is, could we leave the talking til later? We don't know if the geth have set up any kind of alarm systems to warn them we're coming yet," said Tali as she scanned the hallway ahead of them. Shepard nodded and they all continued through the doorway quietly.

They came to a corner and Shepard immediately grabbed Tali's shoulder before she could round the bend. The quarian looked at her curiously before she spotted her concern. "Burn marks on the wall."

"More plasma fire?" asked the quarian curiously. But Shepard knew she knew better.

"These came from light weapons," she said, bewildered at what kind of weaponry they were finding on the ship.

"Where would the geth get light weapons?" asked Tali, also confused.

"From the quarians," said Grunt in a no-nonsense tone. "The plasma weapons and the geth came from the quarians bringing them here. Why wouldn't the light weapons too?"

Shepard slowly tilted her head to the side, peaking around the edge of the corner to see what may be waiting ahead when suddenly a compartment in the hallway opened up and fired at them. She jerked back into cover before it fired, causing the beam to only lance the cheek area of her helmet. "Shit… a security system?"

"What in the Ancestors' names was going on on this ship!?" asked Tali as she checked to make sure Shepard was alright.

Grunt smacked his helmet twice before charging into the hallways. The beams of light hit his armor, scarring it for sure, but not piercing it entirely. "Rrrrrrraaaaaaah!" he shouted as he charged through the pain of the burning light weapons and finally smashed through the turret.

Tali and Shepard got up and followed him quickly, examining the debris as they arrived to find him smoking from the constant fire. "Grunt, you alright?" asked Shepard with concern.

"It'll take more than that to cook a krogan. Though, I may lay funny in bed for a few nights," he said as he tenderly poked around a burn on his inner thigh.

"Well, don't do that again. We'll figure out a way around them without you cauterizing yourself," she ordered as she looked down at Tali who was examining the turret.

"This isn't a manned turret, Shepard," said the commander as she looked up at Shepard. "Where… why did they have an automated weapons system aboard this ship?"

"It wasn't to keep things out," said Grunt as he scratched one of the burn spots on his armor. "It's a research ship among fifty thousand other ships, a lot of them heavily armed. I doubt they were concerned it would get invaded."

"It was to keep things from getting out," said Shepard with a sigh as she shook her head.

"Like Noveria?" asked Tali as she stood up. "They… they knew what they were doing could result in this? They knew something might try to escape?" asked the quarian as she kicked the turret against the wall hard enough to shatter.

"That explains the marines then," said the krogan thoughtfully. "They weren't expecting to run headfirst into an automated, geth controlled, laser turret. Shields didn't help either. They just got gunned down."

"That just made our jobs a hell of a lot harder," said Shepard as she activated her omni-tool and prepared for a very long day of fighting.

Research Lab – MFV Alarei – Migrant Fleet

Fighting through the intricate security system they had aboard the ship was no easy task. Already Shepard had lost her battle rifle when one of the turrets in an open room blasted through its mass effect core and nearly putting a hole through Shepard as well. It took fighting through the barracks as well as clearing out one of the latrines where a small group of ragtag geth had been hidden for an ambush.

From the looks of things, the geth themselves weren't much of a threat as their bodies weren't all that compatible when put together. Despite their autonomous bodies, they weren't really built to standard. Most of their components were already damaged in some way or another from when their parts had first been obtained. Even when they weren't damaged, they didn't have all the components required to build a geth, which meant a lot of them were jury-rigged together.

All in all, they were moved in awkward ways that even an AI like the geth would have to get used to before they could be combat effective. This made it slightly easier to fight them, though the plasma weapons almost made up for their lack of grace in body. Taking a page out of Grunt's book, Shepard had to blast down a hallway filled with geth fire. Her light armor, forming in plates around her was the perfect counter for their plasma weapons. The amorphic, superheated energy slammed into the plates, causing them to shatter and scatter the plasma outward away from Shepard herself. As the spectre sprinted down the hall, the plates formed again before another shot could be fired, allowing her to overload the small group.

As they entered the next room, Shepard looked around and noticed that the place was heavy with battle scarring. She wasn't sure if this was the origin of the fighting, but it was certainly the site of some horrific fighting. Luckily, there didn't seem to be any security drones or turrets here.

"This looks like a lab," said Grunt as he trundled around the place. "Why the hell does it look like ground zero for the krogan rebellions?"

Shepard looked around the room as Tali shadowed her. "What happened in here?"

The spectre knew that quarians had red, iron-rich blood as well similar to humans. And the blood spatter across the floor was a likely indicator that good things did not happen here. "Unless this was a blood clinic that got trashed in the attack, I'd say a lot of people were killed here," said Shepard as she looked around and saw terminals littering the edges of the room. "But why?"

"Because it's geth and quarians. Does there need to be a reason?" asked Grunt curiously as he stepped up to her.

"It can't be that simple," said Shepard as she tapped into the memory cores of the computers. Tali stepped up as well as a video popped up on her omni-tool.

"Trial 12. Isolation Test," came a quarian voice from the video log. Given that she wasn't wearing armor, it was likely that she was one of the scientists or researchers stationed aboard the vessel. Her suit was darker purple than Tali's. "We've segregated individual geth intelligences into separate devices. They had to be threatened with destruction to get them to cooperate, but they finally did as they were told. After three Rannoch standard days, they appear to be inoperable. They appear to have self-destructed."

Shepard cringed at the claim. She didn't know what was going through Tali's head right now, but she knew what she was seeing. If they had done this on any other species in the galaxy, it would set the quarians' back at least another five hundred years in regard to political progress on the Citadel. But with it happening to the geth, she doubted there would be much of an uproar.

The screen went fuzzy before the camera once again appeared with the woman's face in it. "Trial 23. It appears that the geth are incapable of handling isolation for longer than a single Rannoch day. You'd think after almost three hundred years of being free behind the Perseus Veil they would have found some solution to this weakness. But I suppose it's not much of a weakness if it takes this much effort to isolate them."

"This is gross, even on machines," said Grunt as he watched from behind the pair.

"I… I don't… but…" stuttered Tali, but the video popped up again on another day.

"Trial 45. With us finally having the timing nailed down, we attempted to see how geth who had been isolated interacted with other geth. First test, we isolated ten geth programs to near death, then regrouped them. They seemed to no longer interact with one another. In fact, they simply grouped up and their consensus decided enough was enough, and they self-destructed manually. Rael'Zorah seems to have this theory that maybe we could get enough of these lethargic geth programs into the collective, and perhaps they could spread their condition, or at least take out the collective with them."

"Gods…" groaned Shepard as she looked away.

"Shepard, please…" pled Tali as she gripped the spectre's arm.

"Please what?" asked Grunt bluntly. "She didn't do any of this. The quarians did."

"But… they're…" stuttered Tali again, but Grunt shook his head.

"Would it look better if this were krogan? Torture some of them until they're suicidal, then strap a nuke to their chest and order them to fly into a colony," said the krogan with a grimace.

"But they're not krogan! They're…" snapped Tali before she stopped again, realizing she raised her voice.

"Geth," said Shepard as the next video popped up. This time, there was a familiar quarian in a black and white suit with similar swirl patterns to Tali on his hood.

"Ancestors help me… what trial are we on? Oh, who cares. Start over if we must," he ordered as he wandered off and the woman sat in front of the terminal once more.

"It appears Rael'Zorah vs Rayya has discovered some kind of weakness in the geth from the datacard they provided themselves. The irony…" said the woman as she shook her head. "It appears that geth intelligences are prone to some form of electromagnetic frequency. Only on very specific low frequencies of electromagnesis, geth experience what can only be described as some form of pain response. We don't yet know why, but the it has been proven to work."

The camera flicked to what appeared to be an overhead camera of the very lab they were standing in. From the looks of it, the back wall of the lab already had burn scarring from plasma weapons. It appeared they had been using them on geth parts. But now there sat a torso of one of the geth in question. Shepard looked over at Tali. "Did you send back something that big?"

"No," said Tali with a sigh. "They must have built it out of the pieces I sent."

"Creator… why are we here?" asked the quadriplegic geth in the video.

All of the quarians, clearly weirded out by the geth asking a question, looked at one another nervously. "How did it learn to talk?"

"It's a damned AI. It knows how to talk, it just chooses not to," said Rael'Zorah as he turned to the geth. "You're here to give me answers, geth. Do so silently," he said before turning to one of the others and nodding. The quarian in question tapped a console and a low hum echoed over the video. As soon as the sound started, the geth began to spasm in place. It hardly moved due to not having the limbs most geth did, but it still squirmed slightly, held in place by a heavy chain.

Finally, the hum stopped and the geth's light dimmed. When it spoke again, its voice sounded bugged and repeated itself as if the voice projector were damaged. "W-W-W-We wish-ish-ish you no-o-o-o ha-harm. Please…" But the hum began again as Rael'Zorah tapped the console.

"Maginficent…" he said in awe as the geth torso began to twitch and squirm again. "Her readings from Haestrom gave us exactly what we needed!"

"Haestrom? I thought you were there to see if it was viable for colonization," said Shepard as she squinted over to Tali.

The quarian looked at the ground in shame. "I… I was there to take readings on the electromagnetic decay of Haestrom's star. We… we knew the geth avoided the planet, but we couldn't really tell why," she said as she turned to Shepard. "B-But I didn't lie to you! I had no idea they were using my readings for this!"

The video ended and all three of them turned to watch the last clip in the log. "Ancestors help us! They've gotten access to the security system! Half the crew is dead! They've built bodies from the scraps from Rael'Zorah's daughter and those who aren't killed by the security system they're hunting through the halls! They're currently burning through the lab door with the weapons they stole from us! Please, Jona, if you get this message-" Suddenly, the door blasted open and plasma fire could be heard. The quarian went down as multiple bright glowing shots hit her before a geth prime stepped in front of the camera. It looked over at the terminal, then blasted it as well.

Shepard lowered her omni-tool before reaching back and grabbing the collector laser from her back. "Looks like they've got a big one waiting for us somewhere."

"Shepard…" said Tali, her voice quiet.

"Let's clean the rest of the ship. Whatever geth are left aboard aren't in a talking mood, so I doubt we'd be able to get through to them," said the spectre as her brows furrowed in subdued anger.

"Shepard… please…" said Tali as she gripped Shepard's arm gently.

"What is it, Tali?" asked the spectre as she turned to the commander.

"I… I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I didn't do this… I didn't want this," she said as she shook her head. It was clear as day that she was now crying inside her helmet.

"I know, Tali. I believe you, and I don't think you'd condone any of this if you did know," said Shepard as she nodded towards the path ahead. "Right now, we have to get the rest of the ship clean before they declare us all dead and try you in absentia."

"Right…" said Tali as she sniffed heavily. Gripping her shotgun, she simply walked along with them with her eyes scanning back and forth.

Shepard knew that Tali wasn't to blame for what happened aboard the Alarei. She doubted she knew anything about what was happening aboard. Her father knew what he was doing was dangerous, and likely wouldn't want any kind of blowback on her in case the worst happened. But she could easily read the room. These quarians were guilty of war crimes, and while the quarians and even the Citadel likely wouldn't care much about war crimes against AI, the geth certainly would. She knew if there was any hope for peace between the geth and the quarians, the geth couldn't find out what happened here.

But she had an internal quarrel with herself. Because it was also their right to know. If Shepard had found out that the quarians were responsible for the torture of asari or salarians, she would damn sure tell their respective authorities about what happened. So, was it really fair that she treated the geth any different. She huffed to herself, annoyed that yet another decision with consequences that would affect the whole of the galaxy had landed in her damn lap.

But the question of what she would actually do bothered her, and it wasn't a question she could answer just yet.

Bridge – MFV Alarei – Migrant Fleet

They had managed to bust through the entire rest of the ship. Luckily it wasn't a massive ship like the Rayya and was simply a research vessel with only a few floors to explore inside its hull. It didn't make the progress any easier, of course. The security systems that the quarians had set up to keep the geth in didn't make their job any easier. But they had finally made it to the bridge of the ship. They had yet to run into the geth prime that had shown in the video, which meant this was likely their last room to check.

"I don't get it. If they weren't building more geth, then what the hell are they doing? They can't pilot from the bridge without the rest of the crew," said Grunt as he hefted his shotgun, ready for the final run.

"I guess there's only one way to find out," said Shepard as she readied the step towards the door. But the ship below her feet shook for a brief moment and they were all bathed in a flash of light that came from outside the viewports of the ship near the bridge. "What the hell was that?"

"Captain Shepard!" came Lia's voice from the shuttle.

"Lia, what is it?" asked the spectre as she looked up through a nearby viewport to see the stars and dozens of ships floating around nearby.

"The Defranz just witness what looked like a laser being fired from the Alarei! Is everything alright?" asked the pilot.

"We're fine. Did it hit anything?" asked the woman as she hefted her weapon gently.

"Nothing. It fired off into deep space," responded Lia sounding just as confused as they were. "The Admirals wanted to ask about your progress. What should I tell them?"

"We're about to reach the bridge. Once we clear it, we'll need pickup at dock three. Have the Migrant Fleet prepare themselves. It was a bloodbath in here," said Shepard as she looked over at the others.

"Why would the geth fire a laser at nothing?" asked Grunt as he shook his head.

"We'll find out soon enough. Let's go," said Shepard as she slapped her helmet. Tali and the krogan stepped up to either side of the door as Shepard activated her light shields again. As Tali opened the door, plasma fire immediately rained down on her, splattering on her plates and shattering them as she activated her biotics to speed out of the way. Circling around the giant geth, she simply said, "Sorry…" before she unleashed her laser weapon.

The light beam hit and did some damage but the hardened geth shell was built to withstand light-based weapons. It didn't matter much given she was simply a distraction. Grunt charged through the door as the prime was focused on her and slammed into its back as Tali ducked in and began blasting at security drones that activated around the room. Shepard found herself thinking back to her friend Captain Payne as she found herself zipping back and forth destroying mechanical drones, just like she had done back on Luna.

As the last of the drones were smashed, Shepard approached the bridge console as Grunt and Tali blasted the last of the geth to shreds. It tried to get a grip on the massive krogan, but even with its large size, it couldn't compete with him while it was only made from scraps of former geth. The battlemaster picked up the heavy automaton and slammed it to the ground just in time for Tali to blast its scrap into further scrap.

But as Shepard activated the console to see what it had been doing, she felt herself go even paler than she normally was. "Oh god…"

"What, what is it?" asked Tali as she sprinted to Shepard's side.

Shepard slumped back into the captain's chair as she stared out the massive viewport in front of her. "It wasn't a laser. It used the data relay."

"The one from the data card?" asked Tali, seemingly confused. But over the next couple of seconds, she realized what that could mean. "They… they haven't really built one already, have they?"

"It's a research vessel Tali," said Shepard as she tapped at the console and brought up the schematics. Sure enough, right on top of the bridge was a data relay capable of transmitting data with no buoys needed. And its transfer of information was near instant, a geth invention and gift to the quarian people. "That was probably the first thing they built and tried."

Tali fell to her knees as she too stared out the window. "That means…"

"The most likely scenario is that the geth know what happened here…" said Shepard tiredly as she lounged in the captain's chair. "Soon enough, any hope of peace between the quarians and geth is going to dissolve."

"Keelah…" said Tali as she gripped her helmet in dismay.

"Hey, there's another quarian over here," shouted Grunt from one side of the bridge.

Tali got to her feet and as soon as she saw the suit colors she ran for him. "Father!" she shouted as she slid down next to his body. "Nononononono please!" she pleaded as she opened her omni-tool and began scanning him. "You always had a backup plan! Masked life signs, or medical stasis, or something! You wouldn't die! You can't die!"

Shepard let out a heavy sigh as she stepped over to Tali's kneeling form. She knew this was the likely outcome, but it didn't make it any easier seeing Tali in this much pain again. Reaching down gently, she gripped the quarian by the shoulders for reassurance.

Tali with tearstained eyes visible through her mask looked up at Shepard before giving up on the life scans. Instead, she linked to his omni-tool where she found that everything except for a single video file had been purged from his omni-tool. She tapped the button and hit play.

"Tali… if you see this, then that means I am dead and there are geth loose aboard the Alarei. Despite my own wishes, I have no doubt that you will have come to the Alarei hoping to see if I still lived. And… I am very sorry to disappoint you," he said as he let out a heavy sigh. "The geth are here because of me. I had a marine team bring me a data storage device that they had captured with thousands of geth intelligences aboard. I was also the one who recommended the security system in case something happened. We didn't have the manpower to run the security, so we VI automated most of it."

Tali sank further and further to the ground as she watched, Shepard knowing that the man was now admitting to several war crimes against the fleet. Even if none of the quarians in the fleet cared about what happened to the geth, his reckless endangerment of the Migrant Fleet would get him branded as a traitor if not an outright seditionist. She saw the legacy of her father, the admiral of the Migrant Fleet, going up in ashes, just as he intended.

"I thought we had covered every possibility for the geth to escape, but they had evolved past even what they've shown from the chip. I should have known," he said as he snorted in annoyance. "In any case, it was my doing, not yours, Tali. They will no doubt try to implicate you in some of this, but all of this was my doing, not yours. I…" he said as he hesitated. "I wanted to give you a home on Rannoch." Suddenly, Rael's head spun towards a loud noise and the video cut off.

"You… you did this for me?" she asked, her breath now escaping in panicked gasps. "Your tortured geth, made them kill themselves, committed war crimes, endangered the Migrant Fleet… all because of me!?" she snapped as she raised her fists high and beat his battered body angrily. "You stupid, selfish, foolish old man! I didn't want this! I didn't need this! I wanted a father, not a war criminal!"

Shepard tried to see if there were some would or something that showed how he died, but she concluded that he could have just as easily been strangled to death or something else as gruesome but invisible to the naked eye. When Tali began to beat her father, Shepard gripped her under her arms and lifted her, then secured her in a hug so tight she could barely escape. But she didn't bother trying, and instead, she sat crying to herself.

When it seemed that she had finally cried herself out, Tali reached up and removed her face shield. Grunt looked on in surprise for a moment as the quarian reached up and rubbed her eyes clear of the the tears. Shepard looked her in her bare eyes for the first time in a long time. "We have to go. We have to get this to the admirals so they can clear your name."

"Shepard…" she said tiredly. "I would rather destroy this ship than let any of this get out."

The look of shock on Shepard's face was blatant despite her visor being on. On the one hand, she understood Tali not wanting her father to go down in disgrace. But at the cost of her own place in the Fleet? "Is saving your father's name really worth besmirching your own? How does that help anyone?"

"It may not help anyone," said the commander as she looked at the ground. "But I refuse to allow my father to become the greatest threat the Migrant Fleet has seen since the geth." She shook her head then looked up at Shepard. "Please, I know you don't understand why, but please. Don't tell them about any of this."

Shepard turned around and grabbed the captain's seat before tearing it clean off its post and hurling it into the back of the bridge in her anger. She flexed her hand several times before calming and turning back to Tali. "We've got some cleaning up to do if we intend to hide your father's mess from the admirals."

MFV Rayya – Migrant Fleet

It had taken a little over an hour for them to jettison all of the security system scrap as well as the drones out of the ship without the fleet noticing. Shepard did a once over, knowing that she couldn't possibly be 100% sure she had wiped all of the quarians' omni-tools of data. She didn't even know if they'd found all of their bodies. But she did her best and she'd have to hope that it was enough to do what Tali wished.

Shepard found herself wondering as the shuttle flew back to the Rayya whether there was some way to get everything she wanted. Nothing aboard the Alarei implicated Tali at all, but at the same time none but the evidence against her father exonerated her. Perhaps there was still a chance she could keep Tali's secret from the admirals while getting her cleared of the charges of treason. From what she understood, the admirals were all about pleasing the crowd. Despite how the trial seemed to hinge on the decision of the admirals, it was mostly mob rule. She doubted that the admirals would take the chance of pissing the people off too much with their decisions.

"Captain Shepard, please tell us what happened," asked Shala'Raan.

She inhaled sharply as she found herself standing in the middle of the crowded room once more. Tali held her arm, squeezing it gently. "Please, Shepard. Don't," she whispered as the spectre stepped up to the podium and glared fire through her visor at all three of the puppet masters putting on this twisted play. She was angry. She felt fire in her very soul begin to well up within her slowly like a pressure cooker.

"The quarians aboard the Alarei had all been killed and the geth have been taken care of. The Alarei is safe for the Migrant Fleet again," she said as she glared between the three of them.

"Did you find anything to clear Tali's name? Or will that be all?" asked Daro'Xen as she crossed her arms.

Finally, the welling with in her erupted into a sort of battle cry that startled everyone in the audience chamber into silence. Even Grunt who stood behind her looked on in surprise as she roared so loudly that it echoed off the walls. "I'm so sick of all of your shit!"

"Captain Shepard, this is a formal…" started Zaal'Koris, but she immediately cut him off.

"When I want your opinion, Admiral, I'll goddamn well ask for it! I've been to hell and back fighting and destroying more geth than you've seen in your entire life sitting on your ass in the admirals chair, so don't you dare speak to me like we're on the same level," she snapped at him, getting a look of bewilderment from the admiral in question.

"Shepard, he didn't mean to-" started Han'Gerrel, but he didn't get any less in return.

"That goes for you too, Admiral!" she snapped at him. "In fact, I'd bet between Tali and me, we've killed more geth than the Migrant Fleet's marines have in the three hundred years since you've left Rannoch!" she snapped angrily, knowing full well that she couldn't actually confirm whether that were true or not. "So, when I speak, I demand respect from you, and you will listen! I'm sick of your twisted politics making you think you're better than your own damn people!"

"Our own people. What are you on about?" asked Daro'Xen, who looked to be slightly miffed at her own authority being questioned.

"You've gone soft, Admiral. Sitting on your thrones for so long makes you start using your people as pieces on a game board instead of actually helping them," said Shepard as she turned to the crowd. "Who here in this chamber has helped the quarian people more than Tali'Zorah? Who here claims to have a better pilgrimage gift, claims to have fought for peace, and made the quarians look like heroes to the galaxy at large! Stand forward and claim your title, I dare you," she said, turning back to the admirals and glaring death at all of them.

The audience murmur began to rise in volume as people began to excitedly discuss the claims and attitude of the spectre. The admirals tried to gain control again. "Silence! This is a formal-"

"What this is, is a sham!" snapped Shepard, quieting the room as she spoke again. "Tali isn't here because she did anything wrong. She's not here for endangering the Fleet, or committing treason. No, Tali is here on this stand because you want to stop a war with the geth!" she shouted, pointing at Zaal'Koris and getting gasps of horror from the audience.

"That's absurd! My motivations-" started Zaal'Koris who couldn't get a word in edgewise.

"And you!" snapped Shepard as she pointed to Han'Gerrel, who seemed surprised that he was being singled out. "Even your with your friendly charming banter intended to use her to push your war forward! Is this what I can expect from the quarian people? Being polite as long as we're useful?"

"I… I didn't meant to imply that, Captain, I assure you," said Han'Gerrel almost apologetically as he bowed his head.

Shepard finally looked away from the admirals and looked at the audience. "How long until you're standing here in Tali's position? How long until they find you as a useful tool to further their political agenda? How long before they accuse you of treason knowing damn well you didn't do anything wrong?" she asked, less rambunctious than before and more solemn. "This Admiralty Board has shown it'll sacrifice one of the quarian peoples' greatest to further their political rule. And if they did it to her, they'll do it to you. Don't let yourself become that sacrifice."

The crowd went quiet for a long moment before Veetor of all people spoke up. "Free Tali'Zorah!" Almost immediately, his cheer set off a dynamic explosion of voices that filled the room with a cacophonous uproar. Shepard heard some demanding Tali's exoneration, while others demanded the resignation of the admirals for putting on such a trial. Shepard didn't realize she had reached them on this personal level, but not a quarian was seated anymore.

It took several minutes of Shala'Raan calming the crowd before they began to sit back down again. Shepard looked at the admirals and it was clear that they weren't the same people who had talked down to her before. They were now shaken, nervous even as they all stood in their positions.

When everything was quiet again, Shala'Raan sighed and spoke once more. "Captain Shepard has spoken. Do any of the admirals have anything to add?" The entire room was as quiet as the grave as every quarian in the audience seemingly glared them into silence. "Then the time for a decision has come. Admirals, please send your votes to me."

Shepard stared up at the three. Daro'Xen had placed her vote almost immediately, with Han'Gerrel voting on his omni-tool right afterwards. Shepard stared up at Zaal'Koris as he stared back down at her, seemingly hesitating before he finally lifted his arm and voted as well.

Within seconds, Shala'Raan opened her omni-tool and read the verdict. "Tali'Zorah, in light of your history of service to the quarian people, we do not find sufficient evidence to convict. You are cleared of all charges."