Hello! So, unfortunately, I have not gotten much better and have remained sick this entire week. I haven't had many moments to work on this, so I apologize now for any issues and for the short chapter again. I hope I am on the mend and can pick back up next week but I may need to take next week off to catch back up. Thank you all for reading, following, favoriting and reviewing!

Chapter 66

"What do you think they're saying in there?" John asked the group as they watched Jane's exchange with Admiral Hackett.

"Well, it's clearly about the mission she just completed for him. She was MIA for this. He put her at risk asking her to complete it by herself too," Tali added.

John gave her a look, "I know that's what they're talking about, I mean what specifically. Garrus, what did she say about the mission when she got back?"

Garrus shook his head, "She wasn't forthcoming on details but we were apparently much closer to a Reaper invasion than we all realized." He thought back to the time he spent with her in the med-bay as Chakwas looked her over. Besides answering Chakwas's questions, she barely spoke; seeming to be lost in thought. When they had a moment alone, she told him about the countdown and the artifact whispering to her but no sooner had she started when she suddenly stopped, tears welling in her eyes. There was more to what happened but he hadn't pushed for information, knowing she would tell him when she was ready. At that moment, she needed time to process and requested time to write the report for Hackett.

John spoke again, "Well, yeah, I would say so if a relay had to be destroyed."

"Or maybe she couldn't prevent it from getting destroyed. We don't know what happened down there," Tali suggested.

Garrus remained quiet and continued to glance through the med-bay window. He could tell that Jane felt guilty about whatever went down. He also knew there was a batarian colony in the area. Once word had traveled about what happened, the fallout could be severe. Chancing another look at the two humans, he attempted to read the situation. He couldn't read the admiral's expression but he seemed like a hard man to read in general; Jane was in her 'military mode' and stood more formal than he had seen her in a while. She seemed a bit reserved but resolute in what she was saying. I bet she's proving her point right now, he thought.

They watched the rest of the exchange in silence and stood when Hackett exited the room. He paused at the door then turned to acknowledge the group, giving a slight nod before approaching.

"Evening. Good to see you all doing well," he greeted and then glanced at the med-bay and the view the group had. "I want to thank all of you for keeping the Commander safe and being part of her crew."

"Yes, sir," Garrus started, "I think I can sway we wouldn't have it any other way."

John was the next to speak, "I agree. We all support Jane and her actions. She's doing what needs to be done to handle the Reaper threat."

Hackett looked between the trio and gave another nod before turning to leave. "Good luck out there," he said as he departed.

They were about to sit again when they heard the door to the med-bay open.

"You guys stalking my conversations now?" Jane said as she leaned against the wall crossing her arms.

"What?" John shrugged, "We can't be worried about you?"

She raised an eyebrow, "Uh huh, and it isn't like you waiting outside the room wondering what I was in trouble for with our parents?"

"Nah, nothing like that," he smirked. "Seriously though, is everything okay?"

Jane looked around at the crew that surrounded them. "Come on, I'll fill you in upstairs." Once they reached her quarters, she tossed the datapad on the desk and gestured to the couch as she stood. "To start with, the doctor I was sent to retrieve had a Reaper artifact. Her and her team discovered that it was putting off a signal and they speculated that it was reacting to approaching Reapers. By the time I got to discuss it with her, we were down to days.

"They determined the relay in that sector was where the Reapers were approaching and that the relay had to be destroyed to at least slow them down. So, they rigged an asteroid to collide with the relay. However, the entire crew became indoctrinated by the artifact. They attacked me and kept me sedated for two days. It was only luck and probably my cybernetics that woke me up with less than two hours before the Reapers arrived."

No one spoke as she gave the rundown of events. Tali reached for John's hand just as he had reached for her. Jane took a deep breath before she continued. "I had to start the engines on the asteroid." She could feel the weight of the silence fell over the room. "I tried to warn the colony but the communication channel was cut. Without making this story even longer, I had to fight my way out and connect to the communication tower directly to reach the ship."

"Now, with Hackett… besides filling him in on everything, he gave me a heads up. I'll be facing arrest and questioning by Internal Affairs when this is all over. Hackett and I agreed that it would be best for me to turn myself in."

"But you're doing this for the entire galaxy. What did they expect you to do?" John said, his voice rising slightly with his frustrations. "I know it's a horrible thing that happened with the batarians but you tried to warn them."

Tali couldn't help but compare her own situation to Jane's, and although she knew she needed to bring up the topic, she felt even worse knowing she needed to mention her own problems. Garrus now understood why she had been hesitant to mention anything yet. He knew that she had been faced with an impossible choice but she wouldn't take that as an excuse, she would still blame herself.

"It doesn't matter, John. The fact is I had a hand in destroying a batarian colony. Yes, I helped save trillions of others but I'm still responsible. I'm going to have to face the music eventually. I had only wished it was only answering for working with Cerberus. That would have been easier to explain than all of this."

"We'll stand with you. Whatever we can do to help, we will," John added.

"Thank you," Jane smiled. She glanced at Garrus who gave a comforting song with his subharmonics to let her know how he felt. Looking at Tali, she saw the quarian's worry in her stature. "Tali? Everything okay?"

"Oh, yes… and no. I'm so sorry, this isn't the time to bring up something like this. We almost had a real invasion on our hands and you almost died…"

"Tali," Jane moved to her friend, "it's okay. Just tell me. Whatever I can do to help, I will."

"So, heading across the galaxy yet again to help a friend," Joker smiled to his friend. "How do you do it?"

Jane smiled, "It to be that you're the one doing it, Joker. You're the one flying the ship."

He rolled his eyes in response, "You know what I mean. And don't get me wrong, I would help anyone on here if I could and especially our core group but what about you?"

She didn't look over at him as she lounged in the co-pilot's chair, her legs dangling over the arm rest, "What about me?"

"Come on, this is pretty much a suicide mission. We're helping everyone else wrap up their shit, what about you? When about your needs?"

"I don't have needs. I'm Jesus," she smirked until he rolled his eyes back to her again. They both shared a small laugh before she continued, "Honestly, I don't really have anything to wrap up. I guess that's the easy part about suddenly being gone for two years… things you thought you needed to take care of just disappear." She sighed, "I don't think of this mission as a suicide mission. Because when I do, that just means that I've given up on having a life again. I know that after this, it's not over. There's going to be a lot more struggles but I want a chance as something."

"Shit, you're right. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply…"

She cut him off, "Don't apologize, you're good," she gave a small laugh to reassure him. "There is one thing I want to do though, if you'll take me there."

Joker gave her a look, "Of course, why wouldn't I take you? Your wish is my command."

"I'll let you know when, but I want to go see the Normandy crash site. Hackett gave me the coordinates."

Joker felt himself go pale.

Jane watched his expression change. "I think it will be good for me to come to terms with it. I would also like to get any tags I see down there." She looked at him until his gaze met hers, "I think it would be good for you too."

"Pshh," he said with a shaky dismissal, "what are you talking about?"

"I told you to stop feeling guilty. It wasn't your fault."

He watched the stars zip by them as he put his hand out towards her. She didn't say anything more but took his hand and gave a gentle squeeze. Clearing his throat, he changed the topic. "So, how are you and Garrus? How is he holding up after your last excursion?"

"He seems to be fine. We haven't really talked about it."

"Sometimes you guys suck at talking to each other."

"What?" she laughed, "We don't always have to talk about everything the moment it happens. He doesn't seem overly worried and I don't want him to anyway." She looked at Joker who gave her a 'who are you kidding' look and she rolled her eyes. "I'll tell him more details when we get a chance. I'm still dealing with everything too."

"Is he still staying with you every night?"

"Not every night."

"Oh my god! When are you going to let the poor guy move in? You pretty much said it yourself, you gotta make the most of your time."

"Well… funny thing…"

He turned his chair to face her, his face becoming serious, "Shit I didn't just step on another land mine, did I? Did you already ask him and he said no?"

She laughed, her head rolling back. "Nah, it's just funny you would say that. I made an off-handed comment about that."

"Really? About him moving in?"

"Yeah…" she rubbed the back of her neck with one hand. "I don't know what it was, we were just joking –,"

"Flirting," he interrupted.

Jane nodded. "Flirting. And I just blurted it out. He didn't say anything at first and he just left, which of course left me a bit spiraling. I'm now realizing I was more worried about him saying no. We've since hinted at it a bit but haven't had a full conversation about it yet. Though he has told me that his answer will be yes."

"Do you regret saying it?"

"No, of course not. I just don't want to screw it up, you know?"

He waved his hand as if he were brushing her words away. "Trust me, you have nothing to worry about. Just keep screwing him and neither of you will have the energy to worry about anything."

"Ughhh," she groaned. "You're the worst!" She laughed as she shook her head. "I don't know how to describe it. I'm excited about what we could be."

"Looking forward to the white picket fence and a couple of kids?" he chuckled.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Yup, you know me," she said sarcastically.

"Just remember what I said. I want to be your maid of honor, even if that means a dress."

"Deal."

John stood as close as he could with Tali without drawing too much notice. He never did like fully suiting up but he was happy to for the quarian people being a guest on the Migrant Fleet. He could see Tali struggling to keep her nerves in check as they were approached by another quarian, his team standing to the side of him.

"Captain Shepard," the male quarian greeted. "I am Captain Kar'Danna. Tali'Zorah told me a lot about you. I wish we could be meeting under more pleasant circumstances." He waved his crew down as he heard them step closer behind him.

"I never actually reached the rank of Captain. Technically, I'm no longer in the Alliance military at all," Jane attempted to clarify.

"You're the commander of the Normandy, responsible for the lives aboard it. That entitles you to respect among our people. 'May you stand between your crew and harm as you lead them through the empty quarters of the stars.'"

"Keelah se'lai," Tali added in response to his words. Turning towards Shepard, she explained, "It's an old ship-captain's blesshing, Shepard."

Jane nodded, "Thank you. Tali helped the Normandy's crew out of many difficult situations. I'm here to return the favor."

"I understand. As the commander of the vessel she serves on, your voice carries weight. I wish I could do more to help, Tali. The trial requires that I be officially neutral, but… I'm here, if you need to talk."

John imperceptibly shook his head, That doesn't sound good.

Kar'Danna continued, "They're charging you with bringing active geth into the Fleet as part of a secret project."

Tali stormed forward, "That's insane! I never brought active geth aboard. I only sent parts and pieces."

"Let's deal with that later, Tali," Jane said, "What's our next step, Captain?"

"Technically, I'm under orders to place Tali'Zorah under arrest pending the hearing. So, Tali… you're confined to this ship until this trial is over."

Tali sighed, "Thank you, Captain."

"Preparations got underway as soon as you arrived. The hearing's being held in the garden plaza. Good luck."

The group began to move forward, Tali and Shepard in front with John and Garrus behind them. John could hear two quarians up ahead talking about the pending trial. He was frustrated they didn't even seem to hide their voices as they passed.

"I can't believe they're charging Tali'Zorah with such a thing," the female quarian said.

The male quarian replied, "If Tali'Zorah can't even get a quarian captain to stand for her, she's as good as convicted."

John and Garrus shared a quick look before turning to see Tali's response. She was tense but didn't show acknowledgement of hearing the pair, despite there being no way she couldn't hear them. The continued through the next door and Tali perked up at seeing someone ahead of them. Once they got closer, the female quarian turned to acknowledge them.

"Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. I am glad you came. I could delay them only so long."

"Auntie Raan!" Tali exclaimed and moved forward to give the woman a hug, however, she received a stiff embrace in response. "Shepard vas Normandy, this is Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay. She's a friend of my father's." She paused, the woman's words sinking in, "Wait. Raan, you called me 'vas Normandy.'"

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

"I take it being associated with a human ship is a bad sign," Jane said, her voice careful.

"They stripped me of my ship name," Tali said in disbelief. "That's as good as declaring me exiled already," she looked around at the crew and her eyes fell on John.

Shala'Raan steadied herself, attempting to keep herself in check, this was already harder than she expected it to be, "It's not over yet, Tali. You have friends who still know you as Tali'Zorah vas Neema… whatever we must call you legally."

"You're an admiral," Jane spoke up. "Does that mean you're one of the judges?"

"I'm afraid not," she shook her head, "My history with Tali and her father forced me to recuse myself."

"I imagine Father had to do the same," Tali shrugged.

There was a moment's hesitation in Shala'Raan's voice. "You'll see inside, Tali. For my part, I moderate and ensure that the rules of protocol are followed, but I have no vote in the judgment."

Shepard looked pointedly at the quarian, the pause in her voice clear. "I guess we should get started. Does Tali have a defense counselor, someone who speaks for her side?"

"Indeed she does… Captain Shepard. She is part of your crew, now, recognized by quarian law. And remember, an accused is always represented by his or her ship's captain."

Jane looked quizzically at Tali who in turn gave an apologetic stare.

"So, er… you would actually speak for my defense," Tali said cautiously.

John struggled not to interject, to offer up his own assistance but knew it meant nothing for him to take part; not to mention how biased he would be. No pressure, he thought.

"I'll do everything in my power to help you, Tali," Jane nodded to her friend.

"Thank you, Shepard. I could not ask for a better counselor." Despite knowing how sudden all of this information was, she felt secure with having Shepard as her captain speaking on her behalf. Shepard will know how to handle this. No matter what happens, everything will be okay.