(Only Adri and Sorin in this thread, please. Sorin will come in later. This takes place in Mass Effect 2, during Tali'Zorah vas Neema/Normandy's loyalty mission. It will be one of two Mass Effect 2 topics I have planned. The previous one, "Final Frontier", for the first game, and our admin's time using Garrus Vakarian will be addressed.

Two more notes. First of all, due to the events of Shining's plot "Am I Fake Or Real?" and errors in Cerberus that result unintentionally from the Interferences involved, there are two Commander Shepards. The Female is the original, while the Male is a clone from whatever is left of the project. This situation has been established to allow a forum member, if they feel the desire, to take the Commander Shepard clone as a character, while allowing Mass Effect 3 to play out as planned with his absence.

Adri, you know where your characters will go. Feel free to say which Shepard is talking to your character on Deck 2. The female Shepard will be given the [url=http://www.pushsquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/femshep.jpg]default female appearance from Mass Effect 3[/url], so we don't play favorites in determining anything. The other Shepard, whoever it is, will be talking to Jeff "Joker" Moreau at the cockpit.)

[i]Normandy SR-2, Deck 3, center of the mess hall[/i]

Hands were raised in the air, the sound of a young man sighing. This was [i]twice[/i] now. On the bright side, it was only two guns being pointed at him this time, though he didn't actually see the one from the Cryogenics pods, just the black-haired, blue-eyed, extremely serious woman before him. Her outfit was dark and form-fitted. If he weren't being held up with a gray pistol of the universe's tech, he'd have possibly given her a few looks, maybe commented on her own if he weren't already trying his luck with someone. However, he just stood there, hands in the sky.

"How did you get on here?" she asked, the others in the mess hall all staring at him.

"I....appeared out of nowhere? Would you say that?"

"Yes, yes, I would, but--"

"Wait, it's you?" A familiar voice from behind him, the other gun, as he heard the gun being shrunk again to non-usable size.

"Vakarian?" the young man asked.

A gray-haired woman came out of a nearby room, seeming anxious, but also annoyed. "Officer Miranda Lawson, you can't just go threatening to shoot people! I have enough trouble as is! Stand down!"

The comparatively mysterious man looked her way. "Doctor Chakwas?"

Chakwas was confused, recognizing him. "You? I haven't seen you since Virmire. What was your name again? I said stand down!" She sighed with relief as the woman did.

"Isaac Zivaku," the demon finally said. It seemed he had found the [i]Normandy[/i] once more.

(Note: This is only how I did it. No need to do in medias res for the others. Just seemed difficult to get him in.)

====

[size=1](Just to note, for Cheryl this is after the last planned thread in the Sorin-Dani arc. For Kairi, it's some time after the "Enter the Void" plot.)[/size]

[i]Deck 2, Tech Lab[/i]

Cheryl Mason found herself appearing from a single beam of light before the set of stairs that lead up to the lab. Not long before she arrived here, she had met up with Audrey in order to get some advice on her situation. Though her best friend did help considerably with her words, it wasn't long after the two of them received word that Sorin was under hypnosis and had to go save him. Audrey had managed to snap him out of it by entering his subconscious, while Cheryl stayed out to fight against the perpetrator: another former counterpart, this time of the woman who was partly responsible for ruining their friendship. Even though the Samurai was saved, that damn woman escaped before they could finish her off.

The Holy Mother sighed to herself, hoping that Audrey and Sorin would be alright after that. She had decided to go out on her own again after that, do a little adventuring and maybe look for Isaac when the time came for it. Even though she still didn't know her feelings for him, she was no longer afraid to try giving it a shot with the demon. Valtiel might have wanted her to for his own damned needs, but even with that risk, she would try to avoid it however she can.

But she would worry about that later. Right now, the young woman had no idea where she ended up and wanted to find out exactly where she was. So Cheryl walked up the steps, stopping once just to peer over into the lab. There, she saw two figures, one a male with very short black hair and sporting a five-o'clock-shadow in black and white clothes, and the other...okay, she had no idea what the hell the other person was, or how to describe that. Let's just say some alien creature in a white and red lab suit and leave it at that. They seemed to be in the middle of a discussion, and had not yet noticed her. Cheryl was about to make her presence known, possibly risking accusations of intrusion, and ask who they were and where she was...

"I'm sorry, I know that was important, but..." the man started, resting his hands on the table. "You performed Gilbert and Sullivan?"

The alien nodded, as Cheryl blinked. What did that have to do with--

[i]"I am the very model of a scientist salarian,
I've studied species turian, asari, and batarian."[/i]

...the Holy Mother just blanked. Was that alien guy...[i]singing?[/i]

[i]"I'm quite good at genetics (as a subset of biology)
Because I am an expert (which I know is a tautology)."[/i]

And then his tone slowed, almost overdramatically.

[i]"My xenoscience studies range from urban to agrarian,
I am the very model of a scientist salarian..."[/i]

...There was a long, awkward silence, not just between the human and alien scientist, the latter clearing his throat after a bit, but also from Cheryl, who just continued to stare blankly. She had no idea what she just witnessed, and was now questioning why she had dropped by here.

"...I'll come back at a later time," she said out loud, and would have left if she had not spoken loud enough to get noticed by the salarian and the human.

~*~

[i]Deck 4, near the engineers[/i]

Appearing in the halls in another beam of light was Kairi, who blinked and looked around. After the entire conflict that she, Sora, and the rest of their friends had to deal with the Vanitas Remnant, the Princess of Heart decided to continue going out on her own for the time being. Though she would have loved to keep traveling with the Keyblader, as well as with Gregory and Kynthia like they had in old times, she felt it was high time that she learned to hold on her own without them. She wanted to prove her worth as a Keyblade wielder herself, and she felt the best way for that was travel on her own.

So now here she was, in an unknown ship, possibly with people who might start interrogating her when she was found out. While the thought worried her somewhat, she still needed to know where she was. So, with a sigh, Kairi walked through the futuristic-looking doors that were in front of her, which opened up for her right away. On the other side, three people, two right next to each other and one on the far end, were working on computers. The first two were a woman with short dark hair and a man with lighter hair, both wearing white and black clothes. The last at the far left, however, was a figure, clearly female, in a purplish suit with a sort of hood over her head. Her face, however, was fully concealed by some sort of helmet.

Kairi was about to speak up to announce her presence, ask where she was. However, before she could, the man struck up a conversation with the woman next to him.

"So Gabby," he spoke with a Scottish accent, "what do you think of our new quarian boss?"

"Hush, she's right over there," 'Gabby' whispered back.

"Ah, she can't hear us with her head in that bucket. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful bucket. Her whole suit is lovely, quite snug in all the right places..."

"You know I can hear you," the 'quarian' spoke up, giving a scoff at the end. Kairi frowned after listening in, while in her mind, Naminé giggled.

[i]"I think I like these guys already."[/i] Rolling her eyes at the Nobody's comment, the Princess coughed into her hand, hoping to get their attention.

"Um...excuse me?"

====

Isaac looked toward the office into which "Miranda" had gone. "Who is she?"

"Cerberus officer," Garrus said.

"You're working with [i]Cerberus[/i] now? Seriously?" The demon still remembered his long lost cover story about Interferences being escaped Cerberus projects. "What happened to the Council? The mission? The rest of the team? ...actually, what's with this ship?"

"Disbanded when Shepard died, brought us back together when he came back, or some of us. Just me, Joker, Tali, and Chakwas."

Isaac paused for a moment. First thing he thought was that this was more justification for why death wasn't a problem. Then he scanned Garrus' heart. He had gone out as an Interference, come back recently after being unable to handle it. Team scattered, got a new team mostly. Wrex was a clan head on Tuchanka, his homeworld. Alenko and Williams were in the Alliance still. Liara was on Illium. Pressly was dead, died on the first [i]Normandy[/i] when it was destroyed. Miranda here was the replacement.

Finally, he let it go. "Hey, Garrus, where are we going, anyway?"

"Considering you probably don't know star maps, I'll just say 'Tali's home.' She had something to get dealt with. I did with me."

Isaac calmly brought up his omnitool. "Can you get me some info on quarians, Garrus, Chakwas?"

The doctor shook her head. "Sorry, I have to get back to work." And she went back inside.

Garrus nodded, though. "Go on up to J--"

[i]"Garrus, Tali, Jacob, Mordin. You guys see anything weird? I've seen these readings before."[/i]

A blue light appeared beside Garrus suddenly, almost making Isaac jump. [i]"I have it, Mister Moreau. Human, about six feet tall, red eyes, some...wings on his back?"[/i]

Garrus waved it away. "He's going, EDI." And it disappeared.

"AI?" the demon asked.

"Yeah. Go on up. Deck 2, across the hall. Hard to miss. Looks pretty much like our old ship up there. Don't ask."

Isaac nodded. "Way to the ele...wait. How long is the elevator?"

"Best not to question it. Back that way. And be sure to say hi to Shepard when you see her."

"...What."

===

The alien, a salarian, and the man turned back, seeing her.

Both reached for sidearms on instinct, but the man relaxed a bit, then heard the message from Jeff "Joker" Moreau, the pilot. Rather than ask anything to Mordin about that singing display, he took a far easier question. "Nothing wrong, Joker. Just got a new Interference, looks like." The man looked over at Cheryl. "What's you name? I'm Commander Shepard. Or...one of them. You can call me Shepard, and her Commander. Just to be sure."

The friendly man again. [i]"Garrus is sending Isaac over here. Yeah, we've got others around, and he's one of them. Only old face I can see, though. Hey, whoever you are, I'm over here. Just go out the door opposite the meeting room and keep going to the cockpit. Can't miss it."[/i]

Shepard tilted his head. "Huh. Mordin, a minute to talk?"

The salarian was back at work, seeing this was not his problem. "Not now. Working on Collector data. Have ruled out artificially intelligent virus. Unless it's [i]very[/i] intelligent, and [i]toying[/i] with me! Hm... Tests. Anything else?"

"I'll let you work."

"Will be here if you need me."

===

The man and woman coughed awkwardly, then turned around, seeing the teenaged girl. They were shocked, but the man had to ask.

"Who're you?"

The quarian looked Kairi's way, tilting her head. "Wait, when did you--?" Then came the message from Joker, and the other one. The quarian answered. "Human girl here, Joker. Here with me, Kenneth, and Gabby."

A message right to her now, from the female voice of EDI. [i]"Bring her to the front of the ship. And before you protest on my order, Mister Moreau says so."[/i]

The quarian grumbled, but nodded, looking to Kairi. "I am Tali'Zorah vas Neema. These are Gabriella Daniels and Kenneth Donnelly respectively."

Kenneth protested. "Oh, come on, Tali, we can say our own names."

Gabby waved him off. "Sorry about him. If Joker says it's okay, just go on up there." She went back to work, talking to Donnelly. "The new armor reinforcements really threw off the gravimetric profiles. But engines are good to go. I rebalanced the Gilbourne coefficients and adjusted the anterior intakes on the second-tier stabilizers."

Donnelly's response just made Tali palm her facemask. "I love it when you talk [i]dirty[/i]."

Tali lowered her hand, sighing and pointing in the right direction. "Just....ignore them. I'll see you in a little bit when I'm ready."

====

Cheryl was just about to raise her hands up in surrender, but stopped herself as they, or rather the man, relaxed. When she heard him reply back to the message, the young woman gave a small sigh. So they already knew about Interferences? Saved her a lot of trouble of explaining, then. She had to frown a bit when he introduced himself as Commander Shepard, or rather one of them. Did he have a sibling or relative working here, too?

Granted, with how screwed up the worlds are, that was probably more complicated than she'd like to think. She would have thought more on the matter...when she heard the voice mention an Isaac. That was when Cheryl blinked, somewhat shocked. He was here, too? When that "Joker" gave her the directions to meet up at the cockpit, she frowned. Should she really go and meet up with the demon? Was she ready to confront him again? Was he?

...Cheryl shook the thoughts off. What was she thinking; she shouldn't be worried. She told herself she was done running away, and she meant it. Ignoring the salarian's comment, Cheryl looked to Shepard and nodded. "I'll head on over, then. Name's Cheryl, by the way."

With that said, she turned and walked out the room (as fast as she could, as she didn't want to deal with another singing session if one would happen again), making her way to the cockpit as directed.

~*~

Kairi was about to explain her situation, but stopped as she heard the voices from the message and the AI. She sighed to herself, hoping that she wasn't in trouble for this. Though knowing her luck, that was probably unlikely. Despite that, the Princess nodded to Tali as she introduced the three of them to her. "I'm Kairi. Nice to meet you all."

Of course, she too had to facepalm at Kenneth's comment to Gabby. Was he like this ALL the time? She would have commented that out loud, but left it, instead nodding again when the quarian pointed where to go. "Right. I'll see you later, then."

She then made her way out, unknowingly off to meet with two other Interferences. One of whom she already knew and the other that she had met once and not seen for a very long while.

====

The pilot sat in his chair, with a navy blue hat and brown hair, sideburns, and beard. He was busy chatting with the woman standing next to him.

She had short red hair, a bit coming down over near the right of her green eyes. Overall, she seemed to be in command.

Like the others, Isaac walked up to the cockpit, recognizing "Joker" from the back and his voice. Not a lot had changed. "Hey, Moreau."

Feet moved quickly as the helmsman turned his swivel chair around to see the Interference and others coming. "Heya, Wings. Where's Pyro and the others?"

"Don't call me that," the young man said, a bit annoyed. "Who's this?"

"Um...yeah," Joker seemed a bit nervous for a moment. "This is the commander. don't you recognize the look?"

The female Commander Shepard nodded to Isaac. "Good to see you in one piece."

Isaac was, for the second time, put off. "...aren't you a guy?"

"Blame Cerberus and weird cloning technology," she said bluntly. "It was awkward enough to explain to Kaidan and Ashley. Now, who are the others?"

====

When Cheryl had arrived, she immediately caught sight of Isaac Zivaku, not paying attention to anyone else at the moment. Really, the Holy Mother had to frown when she saw him, remembering the last time they ever saw each other. Even though she was no longer afraid, thinking back to running away from him hurt her greatly. Once again, she was hesitant to speaking up, let her presence be known to him now.

Of course, that changed when Kairi had walked in. She looked to everyone in the room, only recognizing Isaac at the moment. The Princess wasn't quite expecting to run into the demon so quickly after the Vanitas incident, but despite what had happened between him and Kynthia, she wasn't too bitter. However, when she looked to Cheryl, she blinked, finally recognizing her somewhat.

"Haven't we met once before?" she asked.

Cheryl winced, knowing now there was no way to avoid this. She sighed, definitely remembering Kairi like she remembered Sora from the one time she died and came back for the first time. Why the two haven't changed much, if at all, after the years, she didn't know. "Yeah...you knew me as Heather before."

Kairi blinked again, but decided not to ask. Instead, she looked the other red-haired woman that was Commander Shepard, not bothering to ask about the context in her words. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know anyway. "I'm Kairi. It's nice meeting you, commander."

Cheryl just frowned when she heard the woman's blunt statement. Figures; it couldn't be as simple as relatives working alongside each other. Instead it was cloning and genderbending, from what she understood. It kind of made her think back on Sorin's genderbending deal years ago, but she quickly shook the thought off. That wasn't important now, anyway.

"Cheryl Mason," was all she said to the commander. She then looked to Isaac and frowned once again. Though she was telling herself otherwise, she really wasn't as ready as she thought seeing him again now. "...long time no see, Isaac..."

====

Isaac waved to Kairi. He sometimes thought on his experiences in the Vanitas fiasco, but, far and wide, it was between him and Kynthia, nobody else. He didn't even mention it.

Then came Cheryl, saying hi. He could feel her nervousness in the air, couldn't really say he didn't feel some himself. The demon looked her over, his cynical shell cracking only slightly on hearing her vulnerability, and he answered. "Hey, Cheryl. Have you....erm..." He was unsure as to how to go about this. Last time they met, she had run away from him, likely due to Valtiel. He could not be sure of whether or not anything he said could be taken the wrong way, drive her away again.

Joker saw all of this, looked to the commander. "Hey, you have a knife for this tension?"

That blue orb came up next to him, on a holographic projector. [i]"I would think you should exhibit slightly more seriousness, Mister Moreau. Then again, given your extranet history--"[/i]

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, EDI." He turned around, rolling his eyes. He looked back to Commander Jane Shepard. "We're passing the Leyya now." They were, indeed, passing two spherical, blue stars, one larger than the other, approaching a collection of ships in the distance. He tapped the panel in front of him, speaking into it. "Tali, can you wrap up down there and come up here? Gotta make sure we don't get blown out of the system for being on this ship."

[i]"Coming now,"[/i] was the reply.

Joker nodded, looking back at Isaac and the others. "Anyway, welcome to the [i]Normandy SR-2[/i]. Going over to help Tali with something at home. You guys'll want to get suited up to go down there while we set up. Choice of armor type, and you can get new weapon sets if you need it. At least we don't have to [i]buy our own weapons.[/i]"

Isaac nodded, showing his assault rifle. Probably out of date. "What are the upgrades? Capacity? Damage? Overheat?"

The Commander answered now. "Damage a bit, but we have thermal clip heat sinks to keep from needing an overheat time. Just need a steady supply."

Isaac remembered the term, but had to ask. "So you traded nigh-limitless ammunition with some heat...for needed reloads and limited capacity. And this is considered an upgrade?"

Joker shrugged. "Figure out how to do both, and you'll probably get some kind of award or recognition. Oh, and we've got armor with increased capabilities. Check them out when you change. Need to stay sterile on the ship."

Isaac nodded. "Also, any way I can get some info on quarians?"

The Commander nodded. "Simple extranet upload on the codex. I'll set it up for you. Nice to meet you two also, but it's best if you get changed soon. You can use my quarters on the first deck as long as you don't break anything. We'll be arriving in a little while."

The demon nodded, walking back the way he had come. He tapped Cheryl on the shoulder on the way, motioning for her to walk with him so they could talk. He whispered to her. "Been in this universe before. Where I got you your other pistol. Now... did you decide?"

(We can probably have them in armor on the next round, and with the new weapons where appropriate.)

====

Thankfully, Joker's comment brought Cheryl back to attention. Though Kairi, after looking between the young woman and the demon, gave a small scowl, the Holy Mother allowed to compose herself (and kept a mental note to ask the pilot for some good comments later). As such, the two listened in as they discussed, such as suiting up and getting better weapons. Cheryl pulled out her handgun then; though it was better to handle thanks to Isaac's upgrade, she would probably need another firearm to add on. Plus, even with her beam saber, she doubted they'd be counting on physical combat.

As for Kairi, looking at Isaac and Cheryl as they brought out their weapons, she frowned. The Princess of Heart barely remembered the last time she had to use firearms; it was back when she, Sora, Greg, and Kynthia were in the Haloverse, a memory that she really hated to think back on. But, as it was, she would probably have to use one for the time being. So Kairi sighed, reluctant, but not about to complain now.

As they started to make their way back to the elevator, Cheryl looked to Isaac briefly as he tapped her shoulder, but walked beside him without complaint. Kairi, seeing this, decided to walk ahead to allow them to talk. Though she was curious, she wouldn't stick her nose in their business.

For a moment, after nodding when Isaac said he'd been here before, the apprehension had washed down once more when the demon asked if she had decided. But just as quickly as it came back, it was gone right away as Cheryl thought back to Azumi and Audrey's words of advice.

[i]"You might be afraid to be with a guy, but if you don't face your feelings, be they for him or not, you might run out of time before you know it and leave him without something to keep him around."

"I know you don't know how you feel, but if you at least give it a shot, you might be surprised. .... Who knows, you guys might actually go well together and surprise me."[/i]

With those in mind, Cheryl took a deep breath. No more running away, despite the consequences. She then looked Isaac in the eye and told him, "Yeah, I decided. I'm done running away like a scared little girl; that's not who I am. I'll give it a shot with you."

And then she smirked. "And if it doesn't work out, I have free reign to chop your balls off and sell them."

====

Isaac smiled the slightest bit at her agreement. At least it was something. Maybe this could really work out after all. He stepped on to the elevator, looking over the areas, and went to select Deck 1. He just hoped they had space for--

Wait.

He rolled his eyes to the comment about castration. "I assume Audrey put you up to that? It's true, but then you'd lose an asset also." He smirked, knowing he wasn't actually serious. He might have used some degree of manipulation, but actually legitimately cheating on her was below him. He would have to thank Jones later.

He looked to Kairi as they entered, hitting the right floor, and let it rise. It was faster, at least, as he had noticed. Maybe they had fixed that. "I talked to her," he said. "Just in case you wanted to ask. But that's between me and her, so I think it's best if we don't discuss further unless she says it."

Finally, the elevator came to the top. It was a small apartment, with a desk, some small terminals, and a bed. On the desk was a picture of a black-haired woman Isaac knew as Ashley Williams. So Shepard [i]did[/i] care. Alright, that was good.

Next, he scanned the room with his eyes. He saw what looked like a hologram of a shirt over a kind of closet, and walked to it, waving his arm. It opened, showing several sets of armor and a panel to type out which he would want, specs on it. He saw the one he would want within a few seconds, a combination, but realized something.

They didn't have any changing rooms. This was a one-person room.

He palmed his face. "I'll go out on a limb and assume you two don't want me watching, so I'll take one side of the bed, you two can take the other." He typed out his choice, taking the torso, greaves, shoulder pads, and arm sheathing of the [url=http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Kestrel_Armor]Kestrel Armor[/url] system for defensive and offensive measures, along with a different helmet. This was a kind of [url=http://images.wikia.com/masseffect/images/a/ae/Recon_hood.jpg]black mesh with blue lines and goggles on it, along with a breath filter[/url]. It seemed to be better for him, and he knew it would have better use in the future. He decided to add the data on this [url=http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Armor_Customization#Head]Recon Hood[/url] to his omnitool's Codex alongside the still-downloading information on quarians that he had established a connection to on the elevator. He could get a gun from the armory at the side just before they headed out. For now, he took the area of the room on the other side of the wall near the computers, out of sight of the women, and began to don the armor.

This was going to be an interesting trip.

(Another 2 rounds and we should be setting down on the Migrant Fleet.)

====

Cheryl just waved the comment off after they stepped onto the elevator, muttering, "Yeah yeah, whatever you say." She too had to smile a bit herself, though, also knowing that they were just joking. Maybe things could work out between them, in spite of everything that's going on with her. She needed to spend more time with him to see for herself, but as far as she knew, she was no longer afraid to try it out.

As the elevator rose, Kairi looked to Isaac as he addressed her. When told that he talked to Kynthia, she nodded and said, "I hope you worked things out between you." She wasn't mad at Isaac for the whole thing, only irritated that he brought it up at a bad time before. The demigoddess might have been her best friend, but even she agreed her actions before were uncalled for. She had forgiven her somewhat, and the demon by proxy, so she was glad they found the time to talk it out.

When the elevator came to a stop, the two canon females stepped out after Isaac, taking a look around for a bit. Of course, shortly after walking towards the closet after the demon did they also realize that there weren't any changing rooms. Kairi's face turned red at the thought, while Cheryl palmed her face almost in synch with Isaac. Thankfully, he was quick to make the suggestion for them to change on different sides.

"Yeah, you go do that," the Holy Mother said in response. After Isaac made his choice and walked to the other side of the room to change, Cheryl went first in deciding which armor to get. She browsed through the options, looking through the sets and their added bonuses. Eventually, she found one that interested her: an armor set with bonuses in regeneration, speed, and health. She then typed out her choice, the armor appearing in the closet right after.

Unfortunately, the minute she saw what kind of armor she chose, she immediately regretted her choice. The [url=http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Collector_Armor]Collector Armor[/url] was dark in color, the helmet with glowing eyes seen. But the one thing that made her repulsed was that the outer appearance was like that of the exoskeleton of an insect, only in humanoid form. It made her cringe; if only Alessa's fear of bugs had not passed on to her...

Kairi also made a face as she looked at the armor, and couldn't help but to comment, "No offense, but your armor looks disgusting."

Cheryl sighed, agreeing with the Princess, but not about to make a comment back. "I'll deal with it..." was all she said before she took the armor. With that, Kairi was next to make her choice. She too browsed through the options for a bit until she found her choice, an armor set with bonuses to power damage and shield strength. After typing it out, the [url=http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Blood_Dragon_Armor]Blood Dragon Armor[/url] was next to appear. While the helmet certainly looked fitting for this universe, with a red visor for the eyes, the rest of the armor looked way out of place, like it belonged to a medieval fantasy world than a universe of science fiction. It was mostly silver in color, with the image of a red dragon printed over the left shoulder.

[i]"It's at least a lot better than hers,"[/i] Naminé commented in Kairi's mind, earning both an eyeroll from the Princess and a comment from the Holy Mother:

"I heard that."

With that aside, the two women took to the other side of the room with their respective armors, beginning to change into them as well.

====

Isaac waited until he had put on all of his armor before he answered Cheryl and Kairi. Luckily, the armor more or less fit him, so there was no real issue. The young man looked to Cheryl when they were done, deciding to give his own comment. "Personally, I think that armor looks pretty cool. I'd say it suits you, but I doubt that's a compliment for you." He didn't really see any need to leave one for Kairi, given she and Naminé did not seem to have any problems with her armor set. Now that they were changed, he decided he might as well start moving again.

The demon looked around the room, trying to find something resembling a weapons' locker... no, nothing here. He looked to the females. "I guess we should get moving. We can get any weapons somewhere else, but apparently the Commanders don't keep a locker here."

That said, he went back to the elevator, keeping it open for them. judging from the signs in the ship, the armory with weapons would be on the same deck as the bridge. Without a word, he activated it once everyone was in, bringing up his holographic omnitool on his left arm once they were. Using the hologram, he made the various codex entries visible to them as he read them, concentrating first on the [url=http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Codex/Aliens:_Non-Council_Races#Quarians]primary entry for quarians[/url], then the [url=http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Codex/Aliens:_Non-Council_Races#Quarians:_Economy]secondary entries, on anything from economics, to law and defense, to their target the Migrant Fleet, to quarian pilgrimages, and even, as a precaution, religion[/url]. By the end of the research period, the door opened. Isaac had some higher respect for Tali of clan Zorah by then. Quarians seemed to have the same limits as he did, though for their own reasons. He held his family above all else, and it seemed they did, to at least some degree, as well.

Turning as he exited the elevator, the young man went into the door on the other side of the one Cheryl had left through. Therefore, rather than running into a... rather odd salarian, he saw a human working on weapon specs, with dark skin and almost-shaved black hair. The man, identified as one "Operative Jacob Taylor" by his heart, made a short glance, then went back to work. Apparently he had been notified about the Interferences, and Kairi and Cheryl's armors weren't exactly standard issue. How much did Cerberus know?

He did speak, however, pointing to the [url=http://images.wikia.com/masseffect/images/e/e4/Weapons_Locker.jpg]area nearby with a hologram of an assault rifle on it[/url]. "There's the weapon locker. Works pretty much the same as the clothing one. Weapons are all around here." He motioned to the many guns on the tables near him. "You can probably tell what they look like by the outline projected in there. Just leave the old guns on the table, and we'll work something out with them."

Isaac nodded, not bothering to talk more. He seemed nice, kind of like Kaidan Alenko, but they were on a timetable. He took out his Tsunami IV assault rifle, putting it on the table nearest him, and went to the hologram. After some consideration, he chose. High accuracy, low recoil, fully automatic fire. It had a lower rate of fire than most other assault rifles listed, but he could deal with that. Besides, its look suited him.

So, the young man picked out his new gun, the [url=http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Collector_Assault_Rifle]Collector Assault Rifle[/url], over the M-8 Avenger and other variants. If he needed, he could have it modified to suit semiautomatic fire, most likely. Taking the organic rifle in his hands, one he assumed went with Cheryl's armor set, he weighed it. Not bad, really. That done, he stepped back, letting them choose.

(I'll have the pre-entrance cutscene and the entrance to the Migrant Fleet on the next post. There was a lot to get into this one.)

====

Despite her disgust with the armor she picked, Cheryl did in fact find it a good fit, the whole thing form-fitting for her. Although it was a bit tight against her, especially in the backside; she'll just have to deal with it for now. Hearing Isaac's comment didn't really help matters; she did in fact find it far from a compliment. However, though she knew it had to do with her revulsion, she had another idea to what he could have meant.

"Don't start getting ideas; we're still at level one," was all she said on the matter.

As for Kairi, unlike Cheryl, her armor was only slightly form-fitting, though not much. The high part of the chestplate was pushed out a bit, but that was all. It was a bit heavy for her, but she wouldn't complain. It wasn't like she would be doing much acrobatics, so she'd handle herself for now.

With that, the two stepped into the elevator after Isaac. While the demon was researching on their way down, Kairi looked to Cheryl, deciding to make some small talk with her. They were going to be working together, so she figured it would be a good idea to get to know her a bit.

"So why the name change?" the Princess of Heart asked. The last time they met, she had called herself Heather, as she said herself. Also, she was blonde back then. "And the hair?"

The Holy Mother shrugged her shoulders, having no qualms answering. "It's my real name. Or at least close to it. And it's my natural hair color."

Kairi couldn't help but frown to that. If that was true... "Why the change before, then? Were you on the run or something?"

Cheryl just sighed and said, "You can say I was back then..."

Kairi would have talked more on the matter, probably ask why she was in hiding before if she was. However, the elevator had come to a stop to its destination before she could do so. It probably was too personal anyway, so there was no real reason to ask. The two females walked out and followed Isaac to the next door. To the man inside, Kairi gave a polite greeting while Cheryl just gave a half-hearted wave. After Isaac got his new weapon (one that Cheryl herself noted it would have matched her armor), the Holy Mother walked to the hologram next, looking back at the younger girl.

"You gonna pick a gun for yourself?" she asked.

Though Kairi had considered it earlier, now she had changed her mind as she shook her head. Guns just weren't for her, and they brought too many bad memories. "I'll stick with my magic. It shouldn't be too much of a problem."

Cheryl just shrugged again before turning back to the hologram and browsing the options. It took a bit for her to decide, but she soon found the gun for her. Low in accuracy, moderate recoil, and semiautomatic fire, as well as having a fire rate of 100 RPM. It seemed it have been upgraded a few times, with added damage, shield piercing, and extra rounds. So the young woman picked the [url=http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Research#Shotguns]X-27[/url] [url=http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/M-27_Scimitar]Scimitar c[/url], taking the shotgun into her hands. The sleek white shotgun was a bit heavy, but not too much for her. While she was happy with her choice, she did have to make a comment.

"This doesn't match my look at all."

====

Isaac looked over the shotgun Cheryl had picked as he put his new rifle on his back, shrugging. "Given it's a shotgun, it probably wouldn't matter to blend into your look as is. Loud noise and all. In any case, it seems to suit you." He started out, motioning for them to follow. Normally, he would have asked, but their schedule changed things. "And Cheryl? I'm not like that. I honestly thought it looks good on you." He looked to the rifle he had left behind, then back to her again. "Just so you know, if you do want upgrades, you know what to do. Don't need to get a replacement if you have the alternate fire on that one we made."

As he walked out, he spoke to Kairi over his shoulder. "It's related to her world. Not the best of places, so you might want to avoid asking."

On that note, he exited the armory, going down the bridge to the cockpit once more. He saw a familiar quarian (then again, considering her outfit kept her from being visible, "familiar" was relative) pacing back and forth behind Joker and the female Shepard. Apparently the male one would hold down the fort here. Tali, who nodded her greeting to Isaac and the girls, was all business, talking to the comms as they approached the [url=http://images.wikia.com/masseffect/images/6/68/Migrant_Fleet_Tali_Trailer.png]Migrant Fleet[/url]. "This is Tali'Zorah vas Neema nar Rayya requesting permission to dock with the Rayya."

A male voice came back to her, most likely a traffic controller of some sort, the accent showing it was most likely a quarian. [i]"Our system has your ship flagged as Cerberus. Verify."[/i]

Tali quoted something, though it was difficult to tell what. "'After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began.'" Finally she stopped, just looking out the window to her liveship.

[i]"Permission granted. Welcome home, Tali'Zorah."[/i]

More demanding now. "We'd like a security and quarantine team to meet us. Our ship is not clean."

As an airlock came out of the side of the ship they approached, the voice came again. [i]"Understood. Approaching exterior docking cradle seventeen. Be warned: There is....an issue in that section."[/i]

=====

[i]Rayya, Migrant Fleet[/i]

The group had come, consisting of Garrus, Tali, the female Shepard, and the newly-arrived Interference trio. They had been informed of the quarian officer meeting them with his team, one Captain Kar'Danna that Tali seemed to know. He greeted the commander. "Captain Shepard. Tali'Zorah told me a lot about you. I wish we could meet under more pleasant circumstances."

Isaac tilted his head, arms crossed. "What do you mean?" Not far off, he could hear some quarians struggling with something, telling someone that the needed help to "put him out."

Shepard decided to answer one thing first. "I never actually reached the rank of Captain. Technically, I'm no longer [i]in[/i] the Alliance military at all."

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

Tali respectfully answered. "Keelah se'lai." She looked to the humans and demon. "It's an old ship captain's blessing, Shepard."

Isaac answered this time. "Tali helped the Normandy's crew out of many difficult situations. We're here to return the favor. Now, what's going on?"

The shouts were louder. If it were not for the breath filters, they would have smelled burning. Someone shouted. "[i]Why is he on fire?![/i] Put him out, [i]now[/i]!"

Isaac just.....palmed his Recon Hood. "What is going on?"

Kar'Danna did seem on edge at the mention of that. "Well... the Captain here will need to speak. As the commander of the vessel she serves on, your voice carries weight, commander." Rather than go into the idea of whoever was on fire, he took the comparatively less awkward situation. "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." As Tali stepped forward, he continued. "They're charging you with bringing active geth into the fleet as part of a secret project."

The Normandy's resident quarian was indignant. "That's insane! I never brought active geth aboard. I only sent parts and pieces."

While Isaac was going to say that that probably was not as bad as the people aboard made it sound, having seen bether geth, Shepard beat him to it again. "You sent [i]geth[/i] materials back to the Migrant Fleet?"

Tali was defensive. "Yes, my father was working on a project. He needed the materials." Horror in her voice now. "If I sent back something that was only damaged, not permanently inactive..." She stopped that. "No. No, no. I checked [i]everything[/i]. I was careful."

The Captain was sympathetic. "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."

Isaac spoke. "We'll all stay until this is over, Tali. Least we can do." He had to help, his moral code demanding it out of respect for a sense of family. That, and he wanted to get on Cheryl's good side. That too.

A breath of relief from Tali now. "Thank you, Captain, Isaac."

Kar'Danna again, now to everyone. "Preparations got underway as soon as you arrived. The hearing's being held in the garden plaza. Good luck." With nods all around, he stepped back and out of their way, along with his silent team.

(Sorin, you can come in with Pyro. I imagine it was that he landed and immediately realized he needed to be sterile, so he went into his form. You can have him just go ahead and join the group. We'll get to the next conversation shortly.)

====

Remember all those screams about a fire?  Well they had stopped and the source of those fires was making his way right toward the group.  "Hey."  Pyro said rather casually as he waved.  As casually as one can be when they are on fire.  Well at least surrounded by a aura of fire.  "Hey Garrus, Tali.  Long time no see.  Who are the new guys and where's Shepard?"

It was easy to identify Tali and Garrus but the armor made it impossible to tell who the rest are.  None of them looked like Shepard so that had Pyro rather confused.  The only human male in the group wasn't the right size to be Shepard.

====

Cheryl and Kairi both just stood idly by while everyone talked. Neither of them knew much about this universe, so there really wasn't much for either of them to say. Of course, in the middle of this, they heard the shouts of someone being on fire. Kairi looked to the side, concern under her helm. While Cheryl was also taken by surprise, she too had to palm her Collector helm hearing this. Maybe it was a small side quest that had to be done after this; she didn't know.

Their attention went back on the subject at hand. From the sounds of things, Tali was being accused of something she didn't know she had done, or something she hadn't. As mentioned, neither of them knew anything about the universe, though Kairi recognized the word 'geth', having seen them during the War. Still, if they had to find a way to prove the quarian's innocence, then it seemed that was what they were here for.

...and then came Pyro, surrounded in an aura of fire. Kairi had to blink in surprise, not just at the fact that this male was on fire, but...didn't they meet once before? It might have been during a previous adventure with her friends, and maybe a few passings during the War...what was his name again?

While the Princess was wondering, Cheryl just stared at the boy for a bit, having not seen him since the incident with the D-Reaper. Guess they had their answer on the fire thing. Of course, after a minute, she could barely contain in her laughter, almost doubling over after letting it out.

"Geez Pyro, you know how to make an entrance," the Holy Mother said after catching her breath. "It's me, Cheryl. Over there's Isaac, that's Kairi, and Shepard's right here." At the last part, she gestured to the lead woman of the group, unaware that Pyro didn't know about the cloning thing.

====

As Jonathan Mireu came around the corner, Isaac's hand again came up to his face. He was just silent, letting Cheryl talk for him for a bit. There were things he had to apply directly to forehead to boot.

The demon waved to the pyrokinetic with his free hand. "Subtle, Mireu. Really subtle." He looked to Shepard before she could answer. "Don't, it'll only make sense." He looked back to the veteran Interference male human as Garrus waved, still a bit dumbfounded by this situation. "Sometimes you just shouldn't ask. It doesn't help." He looked over the form. "For here, I suppose, to keep sterile? Okay, just don't touch anything, and you can put yourself out on the Normandy if we get there. We're off to see the Admiralty Board. Just need to--"

Tali was off walking, sidestepping around Pyro and going to a quarian at the end of the hall.

Isaac sighed, just following after Shepard did. "Explain as we go, alright?"

(Next post will have the conversation with hr "Auntie", then Trial part 1 will begin.)

====

Cheryl and Kairi both followed as well as Tali had gone off. The Princess looked back at Pyro as they did, only now remembering the few times they ran into each other somewhat. "Apparently, Tali's being accused of bringing active geth for some secret project. We're trying to find out more on the matter before we can try to help prove her innocence."

"I call her being framed," Cheryl spoke up, earning a look from Kairi. The older female looked back at her and asked, "What? Aren't I allowed to guess the typical happenings in these kinds of stories?"

====

Pyro nodded at the three now that he knew who they were.  So only he and Isaac were the ones who were here last time.  Though the fact that Shepard being female was new but since he wasn't going to get any kind of explanation there was nothing he could do but roll with it.

"Well not exactly Cheryl."  Pyro said though he did look a bit worn out.  In order to keep sterile he had to stay in Zero Mode and that wasn't the easiest thing to keep up for a long time.  "It's a lot more complicated than that."

====

Isaac shrugged to Cheryl's assessment of the situation. He wasn't about to say no, since, as she said, he was still in level one. Nonetheless, he walked by their pyrokinetic ally. "Greg's alright, and Kyn's found him. Don't ask, it was weird." That brief statement out of the way, he went after the natives as they went onward.

Another female quarian greeted them as they went onward, her voice seeming almost deliberately cold, perhaps to hide emotional stress. "Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. I am glad you came. I could only delay them so long."

Tali was less formally, walking up to her quickly and hugging her. "Auntie Raan!" She then looked back to the others. "Shepard vas Normandy, and Isaac, Cheryl, Kairi, and Pyro vas...erm..."

Isaac waved her off to keep her from embarrassing herself. "You wouldn't know it."

Tali nodded. "This is Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay. She's a friend of my father's." She then realized. "Wait, Raan. You called me 'vas Normandy.'"

The emotionless nature evaporated, concern coming into her voice. "I'm afraid I did, Tali." Tali was shrinking back in shame and surprise, back to her human and turian friends. "The Admiralty Board moved to have you tried under that name, given your departure from the Neema."

Isaac gave his reaction, irritated. "I take it being associated with a [i]human[/i] ship is a bad sign."

The new "vas Normandy" explained, distraught. "They stripped me of my ship name. That's as good as declaring me exiled already."

Raan comforted her from that distance. "It's not over yet, Tali. You have friends who still know you as Tali'Zorah vas Neema... whatever we must call you legally."

Shepard asked her question. "You're an admiral. Does that mean you're one of the judges?"

A shake of the head. "I'm afraid not. My history with Tali and her father forced me to recuse myself."

"I imagine Father had to do the same." Her admiral of a father regarding over her trial would be awkward anyway.

An awkward reaction came from their apparent ally. "You'll see inside, Tali." She went on as if she hadn't said that. "For my part, I ensure that the rules of protocol are followed, but I have no vote in the judgment."

Shepard again. "I guess we should get started. Does Tali have a defense counselor, someone who speaks for her side?"

"Indeed she does," Raan said. "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."

Tali spoke to her captain. "So...er....you would actually have to speak in my defense."

Isaac had to speak up. "Any rules against others helping?"

Raan thought a moment. "I'm sorry, but--"

"She's our responsibility as much as the commander's. She might have the last word, but we work as a team, not like you think. Can we speak?"

"I...suppose you may be able to if the admirals can decide on it. I will do what I can. Our legal rules are simple. There are no legal tricks or political loopholes for you to worry about." That didn't meant hat Isaac wouldn't try to force one, but if it's what they thought, fine.

Shepard spoke kindly to Tali in the meantime. "I'll do everything in my power to help you, Tali."

"Vas Normandy" nodded to them. "Thank you. I could not ask for a better councilor...or counselors."

Raan gave her last word. "Present the truth as best you can. It will have to be enough. Now, I promised that I would not delay you." With that, she led them through the door, off to the trial.

====

The two women once again stood back and listened while Tali, Raan, Shepard, and to an extent Isaac, spoke. So Tali was stripped of her ship name, and her aunt had absolutely no say over this. Why were politics so complicated in these cases? Well, hopefully they would have their say in this; Cheryl wasn't entirely sure on the matter right now, and Kairi just wanted to help. With that, they followed Raan to the trial.

"We'll also help as much as we could, Tali. Don't worry," Kairi said, trying to sound reassuring.

Sadly, Cheryl wasn't as upbeat. "Yeah, provided they don't throw us out for any riots we cause. I just know that's what's gonna happen soon."

====

"Not exactly Cheryl."  Pyro told the Silent Hill protagonist.  Really he knew what was coming next and really he didn't want to see it.  It really wouldn't be that good for Tali who was one of Pyro's favorite characters.  Still there was nothing he could do that can change anything, at the moment.  Plus he had faith that Shepard would be able to bring out the best resolution he can in this.

====

Tension was high as they all went through to the gardens. There was a platform for the defendant and a legal bench of sorts with a podium behind it for the Admiralty Board. Shala'Raan took a position behind the podium as the three other admirals took their own places on the bench. Many quarians came around behind them, there to see the trial.

Tali's friend spoke. "This Conclave is brought to order. Blessed are the ancestors who kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season. Keelah se'lai." The blessing was returned in kind by those present aside from the humans.

[b][i]Insulting Our power by worshipping another...[/i][/b] Isaac gave a quick mental command for Dormin to shut up, thankfully not heard by the natives.

Shala'Raan continued, ignorant to the mental conversation. "The accursed, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, has come with her captain to defend herself against the charge of treason."

"[i]Objection![/i]" one of the male quarians on the bench shouted. "Humans have no business at a meeting involving such [i]sensitive[/i] military matters!"

Isaac spoke up there in reaction to the one who spoke, Admiral Zaa'Koris vas...Qwib Qwib? Not asking. The demon had to assert their right to be there. "Then you shouldn't have allowed us to board, and furthermore shouldn't have [i]altered the ship name under which she is being tried[/i]."

Raan nodded. "He is right. By declaring Tali'Zorah crew of the Normandy, Shepard, by right as Tali's captain, must stay. However, please be quiet for the time being." The last was aimed at Isaac, who nodded, ready to wait it out a bit longer.

"...Objection withdrawn."

Raan looked to Shepard. "Shepard vas Normandy. Your crewmember Tali'Zorah stands accused of treason. Will you speak for her?"

The commander stepped forward, putting both hands on the bar before her. "If it helps Tali, I will. But in her heart she remains Tali'Zorah vas Neema, a proud member of the [i]Migrant Fleet[/i]." That hint of malice was clearly evident. "I regret that her [i]captain[/i] is [i]forbidden[/i] to stand at her side today."

Beneath his helmet, Isaac had to smirk. [i]You're [b]good[/b] at this.[/i]

====

At the same time Dormin had spoke, Valtiel had spoke in reply, [i]"You haaave......no......real.....power....."[/i]

Cheryl hit her head in response, grumbling under her breath, "Shut up..." Kairi had to shudder as she heard the voices; even Naminé felt terrified when she heard them. Well, as terrified as a Nobody could possibly get anyway. However, that wasn't the point now.

Cheryl had to scowl beneath her helmet when one of the admirals shouted that they weren't aloud to be here. Though Raan had told Isaac to stay quiet, it didn't mean she wouldn't. So, after the commander said her piece (something she too had to smirk at), she began her own say.

"You know, I bet you are gonna find a loophole in all this," the Holy Mother started. "There's probably something you're hiding in all of this."

As for Kairi, she just frowned as she listened in. She might not have known all too much about this universe, but she too wanted to speak up for Tali. She would have kept quiet, until Cheryl spoke up. Feeling no reason to be left out now, the Princess stepped up.

"Either that, or you probably don't have any evidence yourselves!" she shouted at them. "You seem like the type to jump to the first conclusion and put the blame on the first possible person!"

[i]"...Never thought I'd hear you say something like that,"[/i] Naminé had to admit. [i]"Even more surprising is that I have to agree with you there."[/i]

====

Really seeing what happened in the game and what was happening in person were pretty different things.  So watching Shepard go at it already was pretty awesome for Pyro.  Though he did admit Cheryl and Kairi throwing in their two cents was a bit of a surprise.  But there was nothing he could say to not make it look like he knows what is going to happen.

So for now he'll just sit back and wait for them to move to the next part.  And trying not to pass out.

====

Koris retaliated with an angry word in to Shepard. "Nobody has been [i]forbidden[/i] from anything! It is just a simple--"

The male quarian next to him, Han'Gerrel vas Neema, cut him off. "Lie to them if you must, Zaal'Koris, but don't lie to me and expect me to stay silent! The humans are right!"

Raan acted as the mediator. "Admirals, please. Shepard's willingness to represent Tali'Zorah in this hearing is appreciated." To a nod from Shepard, she spoke again to Tali directly. "Tali'Zorah, you are accused of bringing active geth to the Migrant Fleet. What say you?"

Shepard answered, evidently irritated. "How could Tali have brought geth to the Fleet while serving on the Normandy?"

The third non-mediating admiral, a female named Daro'Xen vas Moreh, explained. "To clarify, Shepard, Tali isn't accused of bringing back entire units -- only parts that could spontaneously reactivate."

Tali had to say something. "But I would never send active geth to the Fleet! Everything I sent was disabled and harmless!"

Koris finally set down the bombshell. "Then explain how geth seized the lab ship where your father was working!"

Murmurs of surprise and horror rippled amongst the crowd gathered, Tali stepping up in her own horror. "What are you talking about? What [i]happened[/i]?"

It took all of Isaac's will not to stomp up there and shout them down. [i]Wait it out, figure out everything, then move in...[/i]

Gerrel, though sympathetic, had to explain the news. "As far as we can tell, Tali, the geth have killed everyone on the Alarei...your father included."

"What?!" Tali exclaimed, then lowered her head. "Oh Keelah..."

The commander, meanwhile, did not have to hold the same restraint as the Zivaku. "I thought the quarians valued family! How do you justify springing this on Tali in the middle of a [i]damned[/i] trial?!"

Raan, though she had been better before, didn't seem to have much emotional reaction, mostly doing damage control. "Our apologies. Tali should have been informed."

Now Isaac wasn't going to remain silent. He had to tell her off. "You were right outside talking to us five minutes ago! How the [i]hell[/i] do you not tell anyone something like that?! Don't act like this isn't a big deal!"

Koris shouted back. "I said be [i]quiet[/i]! This is a trial!" He looked to the other Interferences. "All of you!"

Tali looked to her friends, not wanting them to fight too much. "We have to take back the Alarei."

But Koris was not done, showing arrogance, now of all times. "The safest course would be to destroy the ship. But if you are looking for an [i]honorable death[/i] instead of exile..."

Tali herself had had enough, shouting at them, anger rising. "I'm looking for my [i]father[/i], you bosh'tet!" From the tone, it sounded like a curse, to one of the leaders of her people. In public. She truly had grown.

Raan was calm as ever. "You propose to take the Alarei back from the geth? This proposal is extremely dangerous."

Shepard had calmed slightly. "With your permission, admirals, yes, the good of the Fleet must come first. And Tali needs to find her father."

Gerrel was the one to respond, thankfully for Isaac's emergent temper. "Agreed. And if you die on this worthy mission, Tali, we will see that your name is cleared of these charges." Clearly they were regarded highly.

Koris the contrarian responded to that. "We can discuss that later."

Raan again. "Then it is agreed. You will attempt to retake the Alarei. You are hereby given leave to depart the Rayya. A shuttle will be waiting at the secondary docking hangar. Be safe, Tali. This hearing will resume upon your return, [i]or[/i] upon determination that you have been killed in action."

With that, the group left the podium, the admirals the bench, the audience their seats. "Team Shepard" all went back toward the entrance, Tali stopping them before they left to talk.

"Thank you for agreeing the take back the Alarei, everyone. The admirals sound sure that my father is already dead, but..." A sigh. "I don't know. We won't know anything until we get there."

Isaac had to ask. "How are you holding up? They just threw a lot of fire at you, even before telling you about your father."

"I knew this would be bad, but I guess you're never really prepared to be [i]charged[/i] with [i]treason[/i]."

The demon shrugged. "I can relate." To the look he got from the other natives in the group, he waved them off. "Long story."

She went back to what she was saying, lowering her head as she looked away. "And my father... I don't know. He could still be alive. They don't know for certain that he's dead!" She sighed again, turning back to them. "I just don't know, and I need to find out."

Isaac again with an idea. "Anyone you think you want to talk to before we go? Anyone who could help?"

Tali looked back, around the quarians that were in small groups. "We can talk with the admirals. It might help to see what their viewpoints are, but I doubt we'll change anyone's mind by talking to them privately."

"Not really the idea," Isaac said. "But thanks."

Shepard did a quick scan as well, finding two. "Kal'Reegar, Fleet marine, over there in the red, and over there is Veetor'Nara with someone else. The first is pretty nice, if professional in most cases, and the second is kinda fragile last we saw of him."

Isaac nodded. "Everyone probably should take one person. Tali, you pick you you want to stick with for this. Four admirals and two allies will add up to our six. Let's try to mix our personalities, people. And no, I don't think I can talk to Koris right now, he kind of hates me."

(You two can put in your rebuttals within the trial's first part itself, as fit the rebuttals from Koris. See if you can pick a character best suited to yours' personality, and I can get you a video of the conversation for you to paraphrase as a transcript. Personally, I can see the following organization: Garrus talking to Kal'Reegar, Kairi to Veetor, Cheryl to Koris, Tali and Shepard to Raan, Pyro to Gerrel, and Isaac to Xen. But that's just me as an idea.)

====

More would have been said when the trial continued. Cheryl had been about to label the admirals as liars, that they probably made up the story or something. Kairi wold have called them out again on putting the blame on the first person when Tali had no idea this had happened.

But then came the news that the geth killed everyone on the lab ship, Tali's father included. Cheryl actually recoiled from the fact, immediately thinking back to her own father's death. However, she quickly shook it off and glared at the admirals. As for Kairi, while hearing the news shocked her as well, she was more angered at how the quarian was brought into this when she wasn't directly involved, or so she felt. As such, after Isaac spoke up again, the rest of the fireworks had erupted.

Cheryl, who looked to Koris while the demon yelled at Raan. "I guess this is how you honor a father's death, huh? By bringing his daughter into a trial for something she had no idea of! You sure there isn't any other reason behind it!?"

Kairi. "And how do you know it was what she sent that attacked? It could have been any one of the others! Why single out Tali!?"

Of course, there would be no getting answers, as Koris told them to be silent. As such, the two women backed off for now, though did listen as Tali decided to take back the ship to look for her father. Cheryl smirked when the quarian shouted back to the admirals herself, and even Kairi had to smile a bit. When the admirals agreed to the task of taking back the Alarei, as well as find out if Tali's father was still alive, the two walked with their team to leave as well before they were stopped.

Before Isaac brought up the idea, Cheryl spoke up, "Well, if we could find your father, maybe it'd help when we face them next time." She did think to bring up her own father, but decided against it. Her personal backstory wasn't important now.

Kairi nodded. "Yeah, we promised we'd help however we can, and we meant it."

Then came the demon's idea to find a separate quarian to speak to for a bit of help. The Holy Mother nodded to the thought and said, "That Koris guy probably hates me as well, but I'll go talk to him. I think I can handle a pompous jerk like him."

The Princess of Heart nodded again as well, after hearing of the other two listed. "I think I'll take this Veetor. He might need some help himself."

====

Pyro shrugged and went on his own way to talk with one of the admirals, Han'Gerrel.  Pyro did talk with him a bit but he wasn't paying all that much attention.  He had already stayed in Zero Mode for longer than he is used to and it was starting to take its toll.  Thankfully he hadn't any fighting just yet.  That would have made it much worse.

Still Pyro did learn a few things from what he was able to pay attention to.  Han'Gerrel is a friendly and honorable man, but he believes total war against the Geth is the only solution to reclaim the Quarian home world.  While Pyro did disagree but that came from his knowledge of what will happen later so he didn't speak up.

Since he was done with his part he made his way back to wait for the others.  "Better hurry up before I pass out over here."  He grumbled.

====

[size=1](Mixing Greg's post with mine here.)[/size]

Shepard and Tali met Shala'Raan near the entrance, the latter on the Normandy's crew stomping over to her, evidently very upset. As Tali started speaking, she turned to her, calm as ever.

"You [i]set[/i] me [i]up[/i], Shala! You told Captain Danna not to say anything?" She shook her head, distraught. "I don't hear my [i]father[/i] may be [i]dead[/i] until I'm [i]in the trial?[/i] Why?"

Raan's voice was soft, but she attempted justification as she lowered her head. "The admirals needed to her the shock in your voice, Tali. Otherwise they might not have been convinced to let you retake the Alarei. That is your best chance at recovering evidence that can exonerate you. I am sorry. We cannot afford sensitivity, Tali."

Shepard wasn't having any of it. "I know you're trying to help her, Admiral, but [i]that[/i] was over the line."

Finally, irritation from the admiral. "She has barely anyone else to speak for her, Shepard. I am doing [i]everything[/i] in my power. That's what her father would have wanted."

Tali's turn to be irritated again. "Don't [i]say[/i] that! He could still be alive on that ship!"

The conversation continued, information given, but mostly about the specifics of quarian life. The one thing important was that Tali did not have a very close relationship with her father, due to his commitment to regaining his homeworld for his family getting in the way of actually seeing them.

=====

Garrus decided to talk to the Migrant Fleet Marine they knew, as a military turian himself. "Kal'Reegar."

The red-garbed quarian looked his way. "Good to see Shepard's crewmate. Wish it were under better circumstances."

The turian decided to ask an unrelated question first. "What did your team's readings show?"

He shrugged. "Damnedest thing. It's like they said. No way the sun on Haestrom should be acting that way." Another shrug. "Can't really comment on why. Tali's job. I just shoot things."

Now to business. "What are you doing aboard the Rayya? It sounds like you gave your report to the Admiralty Board already."

He seemed a little awkward. "I... uh... stayed to argue the charges against Tali'Zorah. I've served with her, and she deserves better than what she's getting."

A nod from Garrus in thanks. "Any luck with the admirals?"

He started pacing. "Admiral Raan asked my opinion on the geth, since I fought on Haestrom. She and Admiral Gerrel are hoping you'll kill a bunch of geth to get the crowd on your side, then find evidence to clear her name. They were hesitant, but, well, you guys didn't have any other options. I recommended getting you onto the Alarei. Hope you can handle it."

Another nod. The rest of the conversation was generally just about findings in his mission, how he's been holding up with a bit of an infection, and the sorry state of the quarian military, what with their limited resources.

=====

Meanwhile, Isaac went to speak with Daro'Xen vas Moreh. As he approached, she responded with something of an arrogant air, arms crossed. "Given the circumstances, are you sure speaking to [i]me[/i] is [i]appropriate[/i]?"

He rolled his eyes behind his mask. "Just looking for information about the Alarei. I'm not stupid enough to bribe an admiral in the middle of a plaza full of witnesses. Saren and the geth would have probably destroyed half the Milky Way by now without Tali's help for Shepard."

"Your political machinations are transparent," she said, sounding bored as she lowered her arms. "They are also [i]unnecessary[/i]. If Tali'Zorah and Rael'Zorah were actually experimenting on live geth subjects, then they are simply [i]idiots.[/i] No need to waste resources on a trial. If not, then this was a tragic accident in the pursuit of a higher cause. Again, no trial is needed to determine that." Arms crossed again.

[i]Charming.[/i] "Well, if you don't actually care, why not recuse yourself?"

Again lowered arms. "And let that aging warship Han'Gerrel and the cowardly Zaal'Koris be the ones to chart this course? I think not. The broader purpose underlying the trial is too important. Tali'Zorah is only peripherally related. No offense to her intended."

Now they were getting somewhere. "Then what [i]is[/i] the true purpose of this trial?"

She crossed her arms again as she spoke. "To determine whether quarians should fear their past mistakes, or reclaim their glory using our natural affinity for [i]artificial intelligence[/i]." She was starting to sound annoyed.

"So let me get this straight. You only care about this trial because Rael might have learned something valuable from the geth?"

She seemed ecstatic."Indeed. If he has, then even in this accident, we may find something worthwhile."

"New AIs, then?" He hadn't bothered to scan a heart this time. She seemed to spill the information on her own.

She stepped back, lowering the arms, slowly raising them above her head as she spoke and turned back to the demon. "No, human. I wish to return the geth to the control of their [i]rightful masters[/i], the quarian race."

He had to say it. "You're out of your mind."

She just scoffed. "I doubt a [i]human[/i] would understand the quarian psyche."

By then, he finally scanned her heart. Communication had been lost with the Alarei, but she assumed somewhere between ten and fifty units were aboard. He doubted Tali could have sent that much, but it wouldn't be a problem. She assumed Gerrel was up for war, Koris, of all people, was in the camp for peace, and Rael was with Gerrel, with Raan more or less undecided to save herself. And she wanted.... "So you support experiments on living creatures?" Given their level of organization, Isaac did assume that geth had some form of sentience and life.

She seemed a bit annoyed. "Rael should have felt no more guilt experimenting on the geth than I did while performing surgery on a childhood toy."

"The fact that you performed surgery on childhood toys tells me a great deal more than you seem willing to admit about the quarian psyche, Admiral," the Silver Tongue deadpanned.

She seemed to ignore the comment, back into her reverie as she turned her back on him. "A ship can travel faster than I can. With the right programming, it can choose locations, even defend itself when attacked. But it is [i]just[/i] a [i]machine[/i]." She turned back, back to her arms crossed. "It was built for the [i]sole[/i] purpose of serving its master. And can be dismantled whenever its master desires."

Isaac had had enough. "Thank you for the information." He definitely meant it.

"A pleasure to meet you." That he doubted, but he left regardless.

~*~

Once everyone had gone to talk with their respective groups, Cheryl had gone straight for Koris like she said she would. She knew after speaking out like she did earned her quite a bit of negative points with him, but she wasn't some spineless wimp who'd shut up because no one liked her. She felt she could handle the guy.

As she approached the admiral, she had been about to speak up to get his attention. However, there was no need, as he already turned to her, as if expecting her presence. "Judging by your ability to play to a crowd, human, I have done Tali a favor by stripping "vas Neema" from her name."

Cheryl just rolled her eyes beneath her helmet. She felt the urge to backsass him, but held it in. "And you must be Admiral Koris, something or other."

"Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib," Koris introduced, his arms behind his back in a professional manner. "I take no pleasure in this, truly. But Tali has gravely endangered and dishonored our fleet."

But all Cheryl could think about was, [i]'Okay, Qwib-Qwib? Seriously?'[/i] She didn't mention it out loud, however. The Holy Mother would talk to him about it after she was done; first, information. "Look, I'm just here for some stuff about the Alarei. Think you can tell me anything?"

Koris' response was simple, "Only that you should have let us destroy it. When we find the evidence of what Tali and her father did there, any hope of convincing the other admirals will die."

"And that's what you want, isn't it?" Cheryl asked, annoyance clear in her voice. "Tali said she didn't bring active geth to the Alarei; only pieces. I'm pretty damn sure she's smart enough to know how dangerous it might be."

Much to the young woman's surprise, the admiral remained unperturbed. Not that his response helped her own mood any better, "The captured ship, with its crew slaughtered by living beings in pain, belies your, and by proxy Tali's, argument."

Now Cheryl was the one feeling irritated. Yeah, she knew he'd continue to paint Tali as the one responsible, but not in a manner that made him seem even more pompous. "Okay, seriously? What the hell is your problem with Tali? She or her father do anything that you don't agree with or something?"

"I respect Tali immensely." Bulls**t, Cheryl thought, but kept quiet nonetheless. "Her actions against Saren are to be lauded." He turned away from her then. "But like her father, she wants nothing but destruction of the geth...the people we created. The people we wronged." Back to her now. "The geth drove us from our homeworld, yes. But we tried to kill them."

Cheryl had to frown. From the sounds of it, this guy only wanted peace with this geth. A bit apologist in her opinion, but she could understand somewhat. "You and the other guys seem to have some disagreements beyond Tali's trial."

A nod from Koris. "You are correct. I apologize for it being brought into Tali's proceedings." Well, at least he admits it. "The other admirals are pushing for war. Rael'Zorah was researching new weapons to use against the geth." It was here that his tone took on that hard edge that she was waiting for. "They would see our fleet [i]destroyed[/i] in the skies over our homeworld rather than find a [i]new[/i] colony and [i]adapt."[/i]

That just about confirmed her thoughts then. Even though Cheryl felt this guy was uptight, she had to agree with the thought. But, as with human nature, not everyone could agree to change. "Do you think the other quarians can really make peace with the geth after all your history?"

"I don't know," Koris admitted. "We all deserve to find out." He began pacing. "They are our children, human. We have all done horrible things to each other, but it has to end. For both groups." And back to facing her. "That is why I cannot sanction whatever experiments Tali'Zorah helped enable. I believe this message needs to be sent."

Cheryl nodded a bit. "I still think you're wrong to judge Tali like this, but I understand where you're coming from now." Before she could leave, however... "Just one more thing...why a ship named 'Qwib-Qwib'?"

Here we go. Koris placed his arms behind his back once more and spoke with a surprising amount of pride, though with slight irritation, "Our people have, during difficult periods, purchased pre-owned vessels from other cultures! And have on occasion had difficulty altering the ship's registry information! The citizens of these foreign-named ships have borne the stigma of these names with grace and honor!"

"If it bothers you so much, why not just find another ship?" Cheryl asked.

"I've occasionally entertained with the idea of requesting a transfer," Koris said, calming down slightly. "Something with a nice, respectable name, like the Defrahnz or the Iktomi. But I am proud of the Qwib-Qwib, and I will not flee because of petty insults."

"Whatever you say, bud," Cheryl said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Anyway, thanks for the info. I should get going."

The admiral nodded to the human woman. "Goodbye, then. You and Tali'Zorah be well."

To that, she couldn't help but blink in honest surprise. "Huh, surprised to hear you say that."

"I don't hate Tali, or you for that matter. I just think her father's plans for war were wrong." With that, he turned away from her, allowing Cheryl to walk away to meet back with the others.

~*~

Meanwhile, Kairi had approached Veetor'Nara to speak with him. As she did, he turned to her, seeming surprised. "You. Y-you were with Shepard and Tali, weren't you? How did you get onto the Rayya?"

Kairi couldn't help but frown under her helm. He really did seem nervous, didn't he? Still, she was here to help, so she replied, "Shepard's here to help Tali with her trial. Same with me and my friends."

"Oh, yes. I heard about that. I hope Tali didn't really do what they said she did."

The Princess shook her head. "From what I know of Tali, I don't think she'd ever endanger the fleet."

"Oh, well, good," he spoke quickly, once again slightly panicky. "So, can I help you with anything? I mean, probably not, but she helped me."

Kairi nodded. "Well, Tali could use some friends right now. Would you be willing to tell the admirals how she helped you?"

"No!" Veetor replied immediately, but then quickly said, "I mean, yes, but I-I already did! They came to see me; I didn't want to talk in a crowd."

The other quarian beside him, a Dr. Elan'Shiya, spoke on his behalf then, "Veetor is doing well, but he isn't ready for a public speech just yet."

Veetor nodded, shifting on his feet. "I talked to them. So did that soldier, Kal'Reegar. We both told them about how the Commander and Tali helped us. I hope it helped."

"I'm sure it did, Veetor," Kairi said with a small smile, though wiped it off the next moment. "Do you remember anything else about what happened before? Anything at all?"

"Nothing new," Veetor said, back to twitching and bringing a hand to his head. "I'm sorry. Every time I go back to that place in my mind, I...I..."

His doctor put her hand on his shoulder and said, "Veetor, come back. It's okay..."

"I want to help," he said, backing away slightly, "but I can't. I didn't see anything, and what I remember..."

To Veetor's surprise, Kairi walked closer and also put a hand on his shoulder to help calm him. "Don't worry, Veetor. I don't know what happened, but I'm sure Tali and Shepard will help resolve it somehow."

"I..." Slowly, Veetor did calm down and nodded slightly. "Good. Thank you."

Kairi gave a kind smile before backing away. He was fragile like the commander said, but he also seemed to want the best for Tali. With that, before she walked away, she said, "Take care of yourself then, Veetor. From the sounds of things, I don't think anyone else could have gone through what you did and come out sane."

"I know. I didn't." Veetor seemed downcast for a bit, before looking back to the Princess. "But...thank you. It's only because of the commander's and Tali's help that I've come this far. I hope you can help them."

"I will. Thanks for your time." And with that, Kairi was next to go meet up with everyone.

=====

Finally, Isaac met the universe natives on Shepard's crew at the entrance to the garden. He seemed a little annoyed by his posture, but asked anyway in a whisper. "Anything useful gained? Personalities, motives? Xen's a lunatic. Wants to experiment on the geth. This whole trial is just an excuse to see what to do about the geth as a whole."

Shepard and Tali came next, as did Garrus. Shepard spoke for Tali, who was extremely angry and upset for obvious reasons. "Raan isn't doing much to help, but that does seem likely."

Garrus next. "Yeah, seems about right. Then again, Kal'Reegar's not exactly a politician. Good in a pinch, though."

Cheryl and Kairi both walked up shortly after the demon spoke. The Holy Mother let out a breath of relief and said, "Well, that wasn't as bad as I initially thought. I was half-expecting a shout match with the guy. He's uptight, but all he wants is peace with the geth. A bit apologist if you ask me, but eh."

The Princess of Heart nodded and said, "Veetor said he told them about how Tali and Shepard helped with something. What it is, I don't know, but he was really panicked over it."

Isaac nodded to the information. "As is, I think it's best if we just keep Mireu here conscious, as amusing as the reactions to him are."

(If you guys want, I can skip to them on the Alarei on my next post so they can go on.)

====

"Gee thanks Isaac."  Pyro muttered.  "The guy seemed pretty cool but he felt like the only way the whole thing with the Geth can end is full out war."

"Can we hurry it up now?  We got everything we need so we can just head over to the ship and take out every geth that we find."  Pyro said.  He was going to need to take some asprin when he got out of here.  He was getting a pretty bad migraine from this.

====

(Given that the talks were given, I'll bring them to the shuttle and the Alarei after this brief talk. We can do the fighting from there.)

That done, the group went back to the docking bay, coming to a shuttle guard. He greeted Tali first and foremost, seeming a little awkward. "Tali'Zorah vas Neema. Oh, sorry! I mean 'vas Normandy'."

Tali, albeit annoyed, took it in stride, waving him off. "No offense taken. The change in name was not my choice."

The guard nodded, and went on, activating his omnitool and pressing a few buttons. "Per Admiral Raan's orders, the shuttle is prepared for you, Captain Shepard vas Normandy, and your friends."

Isaac had to ask two questions. "Can you have a quarantine team ready for our shuttle when we return? It most likely will not be clean. And can you tell us anything about what's on there?"

A shrug. "Of course we'll have a quarantine team, but I'm afraid I don't know much. Not many Marines made it back from the initial assault. They talked about massive waves of geth, though. More than there should have been."

Tali answered, a bit annoyed still. "There shouldn't have been any at all."

Back to awkward nervousness. "Uh, right. I mean they're afraid that the geth are building or repairing more of themselves from the materials on the Alarei."

Isaac decided it was just time to go already. Best to keep Pyro conscious. "Well, let's head over there."

"Of course, I'll unlock the shuttle now. Good luck with those geth, Tali'Zorah. Keelah se'lai."

As they continued on, Isaac leaned toward Pyro, though not close enough to be burned. "You're welcome."

===

[i]The Alarei[/i]

The trip by shuttle was relatively unexciting, though Pyro was allowed to let go of his Zero Mode. There was no need to explain the situation, though he did have time to talk with Tali if he had wanted. Still, as soon as they walked through to the room after the docking bay, the area silent, the combat began. Four [url=http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Geth_Trooper#Mass_Effect_2]Geth Troopers[/url], two from each side of the door to the next room, firing their pulse rifles as they gave their coordinating orders. Shepard and Tali ducked to the nearest counter used as cover, firing their respective weapons, the assault rifle and the heavy pistol respectively, taking out two of them into scrap before turning to the other two.

Isaac took down one of those, his assault rifle aimed directly at the head, as Garrus fired a supercharged shot at a fourth, throwing it back before firing more with his burst-fire rifle.

The turian had to shout in the middle. "One less to worry about!"

Tali looked to the next four. Three were the large [url=http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Geth_Hunter]Geth Hunters[/url], albeit not yet cloaked, as they had not been attacked as they charged toward the group, but the last two were the Troopers again. "Combat drone active!" she shouted as she was activating her omnitool. She waved her arm, a spherical, holographic combat drone coming out and flying at the group, firing on them and distracting them with its own ammunition. "Go for the optics, Chiktikka! Go for the optics!"

(Hunters have some more health than the average Trooper, but you guys can take out all of them on your post. While Isaac used his gun, it was more for speed of attack than due to necessity. Other weapons, or a lack of any weapon in favor of magic, can also be used. After this particular fight, I think we can go to the next cutscene. Nothing too long.)

====

To the first round of the Geth Troopers, Cheryl and Kairi both took to cover, letting the others take them down while waiting for an opportunity. That came up with the next round with the Hunters and Troopers, after Tali sent the combat drone to distract them. The Holy Mother stepped out, Scimitar shotgun drawn, and began to fire at close range. She had gotten some good amount of damage to the Troopers, and two of the Hunters' shields received quite a bit of damage. She had to run back for cover as one of them had turned on her, barely missing a shot on her.

Kairi took her cue next, summoning Memorial. Before coming her, she had arranged her Cards of Oblivion so that she had only her magic cards, plus a few items for support. As such, she drew two Thunder cards before stepping out, holding her Keyblade up and shouting, [i]"Thundara!"[/i] The level 2 lightning spell stunned the two Troopers, finishing off one, and doing a good deal of damage to the Hunters.

====

Pyro was kind of annoyed.  While he didn't need to be constantly in Zero Mode, he didn't have to worry about passing out from exhaustion.  The problem was now how they were fighting the geth.  Unlike back on Vmire they were fighting on a ship.  And they tend to be rather confined and for Pyro those were the worst kind of places to fight.

He couldn't use his fire attacks due to the flames could potentially go and hit his allies and he can't go close up because then he would be in the others line of fire.  That left Pyro with just his knives.  While Pyro didn't mind using them and they were effective, using some of Pyro's fire powers to break through the geth's shields it was annoying.

Pyro flung a couple of knives right in the torso of a couple of geth troopers.  He wasn't sure if headshots with knives would kill them so it was better to aim for the torso.

====

Once Shepard and the other natives had taken out the survivors, they moved on. They came to what looked like a technical repair shop, with a mechanical part that looked like it could have been geth on it. Tali touched it, speaking.

"This is one of these towage unites I sent to Father. Looks like parts from a disabled repair drone, plus a reflex algorithm that I didn't recognize. I got this on Haestrom." She looked back to the others.

Isaac asked the first question. "What made a part worth sending back to your father?"

"It had to be in working order. Something that could be analyzed and integrated into working technology." She paused a moment. "Anything new had priority. Technology the geth had developed [i]themselves[/i]. Signs of modification, clues to their thinking."

Shepard next. "How did you get these things to your father?"

"Sometimes I left packages at secure drops in civilized areas. Someone on Pilgrimage would see that it was shipped home." As Shepard scanned with her omnitool over the device, Tali continued. "For very [i]valuable[/i] finds, I'd signal home, and Father would send a small ship."

Shepard again. "Haestrom was a [i]war zone.[/i] How did you salvage gear in the middle of all that?"

Tali motioned to her envirosuit. "These suits have more pockets than you'd think."

Isaac had to mumble. "Seen more, and more belts and zippers on the Garden. One trip."

Tali went on. "Quarians have learned to salvage [i]whatever[/i] we can, [i]whenever[/i] we can. Within reason. We're not vorcha, but we repair what most people would throw away. [i]Hundreds[/i] of the ships in our fleet were salvaged wrecks, either found dead in space or purchased for next to [i]nothing[/i]."

Isaac again. "Does that salvaged gear give you a clue as to what happened here?"

She shook her head, again distraught. "No, I don't [i]know[/i]. I checked [i]everything[/i] I sent here. I passed up great finds because they might be [i]too dangerous[/i], prone to uncontrolled reactivation or self-repair. I don't' know which possibility is worse: that I got sloppy and sent something dangerous, or that Father actually [i]did[/i] all this."

Isaac patted her shoulder. "Let's go find out."

A nod, and they went on. As they walked, they found a usable computer monitor. It showed what appeared to be a female quarian researcher.

[i]"Who's running this system diagnostic? I didn't authorize... oh, Keelah. How many geth are networked?"[/i]

A male researcher next. [i]"All of them. Rael'Zorah--"[/i]

Back to the female, panicked. [i]"Shut it down, shut everything down! They're in the system!"[/i]

They did fight through several more rooms, finally coming to another, automated message, repeated over and over. This one was another female. [i]"We locked down navigation. Weapons are offline. Our mistake won't endanger the Fleet."[/i] A buzzing sound in the background. [i]"They're burning through the door, I don't have much time. I'm sorry, I'm so [b]sorry[/b]."[/i] More panicked, hurried, as the buzzing became louder, gunshot coming. [i]"Jona, if you get this, be strong for Daddy. Mommy loves you very much!"[/i] And it cut out.

Isaac sighed. They had to move on. It sounded like there weren't any survivors after all.

====

Cheryl and Kairi listened in as Tali explained a little more on what she was doing. The Holy Mother heard Isaac's mumbling to the pocket comment and just rolled her eyes, though not saying anything. On the subject matter, everything was still on square one to what really happened here. Both young women had to frown at the quarian's justified worry over how this turned out. For Cheryl, she didn't want to find out if Tali's father really did do all of this. And Kairi wanted to help as much as she could.

Nothing else was said as they moved on, fighting through the rooms, hearing the messages. Or at least, until Cheryl found herself tailing behind, seeming uncertain over this now. Kairi noticed this and looked back to her. "What's wrong?"

"...nothing," was all she said as she started catching up. "I just...feel like we're not gonna like what we find."

====

"No we aren't."  Pyro said, just soft enough so that Cheryl and Kairi could hear him.  This was just one of those situations that there was no way to get an entirely happy ending to.  Better for them to go through with it and let Shepard help out Tali once they find what they are looking for.  Though he had to wince at the recording.  Hearing it for real was so much worse than in game.

====

Isaac gave Pyro an unknowable look through his visor for the comment. He had a feeling as to what would happen, but only said one thing in a whisper. "If it comes to the worst, you need to comfort her."

After fighting their way through a few more rooms, the group came to an orange, holographic console. Tali walked up to it, typing into it several times as she spoke. "This console might have something. Most of the data is corrupted, but a few bits are left." She brought up her omnitool... and fell silent for a few seconds.

Isaac stood there, letting her look it over. No use being impatient, and his use of a Hellfire a ways back had allowed him to conserve clips, so fighting wasn't a problem.

Finally, she spoke, her voice having a bit of malice in it, turning back toward them. "They were performing experiments on geth systems, looking for new ways to overcome geth resistance to reprogramming."

Shepard responded. "Do you know what kind of tests your father was running?"

The quarian shook her head. "No... Father just told me to send back any geth technology I could find that wasn't a direct danger to the Fleet. I suspected he might be testing weapons, but I thought he was just working on new ways to bypass shields or armor."

Isaac cut in. "Do you think testing weapons on the geth is right?" Of course, his perspective was a bit skewed, but there was a point to it.

Annoyance now. "It's not testing weapons on prisoners. I only sent Father [i]parts[/i]. Even if he assembled them they wouldn't be sapient." She looked to Shepard for confirmation on her next point. "You [i]saw[/i] what Saren and Sovereign did with the geth." Then to Pyro and Isaac. "You too! [i]Any[/i] research that gives [i]us[/i] an advantage is [i]important[/i]."

The demon just let it drop. "We should keep moving."

She was glad to drop the subject as well. "Right."

There was more fighting on the way to the next area they had, as they searched every laptop one the way for anything. Just credits... until they found another of the dead's recordings near a door. Shepard hit the button to turn it on, and it played, a female.

[i]"Our hacking attempts failed. The geth have an adaptive consciousness. Hack one process, the others auto-correct. Still, we're making progress. Rael'Zorah is convinced we'll have a viable system in less than a year. This weapon will put our people back on the homeworld. And it's all because of Rael'Zorah."[/i]

As it cut off, Tali was walking around, looking in on the open doorway... "Father!" The voice was distraught, and should have been, as she ran to a red-and-white suited quarian corpse that had fallen on its back.

Garrus, Isaac, and Shepard could only look on in pity as the quarian crouched before her father, frantic.

"No, no, no! You always had a plan. Masked life signs, or, or an onboard medical stasis program maybe."

Isaac sighed sadly. "Tali..."

In her distress, her anguish, the fatherless woman looked back to him. "Shut [i]up[/i]!" She looked back to the corpse of Rael'Zorah as Isaac backed off, hands up at shoulder height. "You! You wouldn't..."

Shepard and Isaac traded glances, unsure of what to do, but the Silver Tongue had an idea. He looked to Tali, then to Pyro, trying to get the seriousness of the request across. This was the Interference that he assumed she was probably closest to. They had spoken, at least. He would have mouthed, but the Recon Hood he still had on kept that from having any real effect, so he spoke. "Mireu... Help her out." He motioned toward her with a hand as an invitation, knowing she was more likely to take his help than hers.

She was crying under her mask, that was clear with her next words. "They're [i]wrong![/i] You wouldn't just die like this!"

(I'm thinking Pyro's the most likely to be the one to give her the most comfort with a hug aside from Shepard, so I'd think he and Kairi would probably be the best bets for who to do the Paragon Interrupt now.)

====

Again, nothing was said between the two women. Though Cheryl wanted to add a comment in to the small argument, she held it back as they let it drop. It would have just soured the mood even further, anyway. So they just trailed after the group, fighting off more geth attackers, looking for more information behind this. After hearing the next recording, it was clear for both Canon-Internals what was about to happen.

And it happened. In the next room, Tali was kneeling before the corpse of her father, distraught, shouting, crying behind her words. Two different reactions were met, first from Kairi. While shocked to find this, she too looked in pity as she watched the quarian. Even though she shouted at Isaac, even though she only knew her for as long as she had been around, the Princess wanted to step in to help comfort her, even if Tali most likely wouldn't accept. So, even though Isaac had suggested for Pyro to help her out, she walked up to Tali after dismissing her Keyblade, crouched beside her, and wrapped her arms around her in a comforting hug, to help show her sympathies.

"It's going to be okay, Tali..." Kairi said softly to help. "You have to be strong for your father. He wouldn't want to see you like this, would he?"

As for Cheryl...she just stood back in silence, just watching from where she was. Seeing the quarian like this, kneeling before her father, in tears...it just brought back too many memories to the young woman. Memories of her own dead father, her own reaction to it all, her anger and sorrow...just too much. She couldn't even approach in a more empathetic and understanding manner. How could she with her own bad memories behind it all, even if she were to gather the strength to hold it back?

So the Holy Mother continued to stand there and look on. Beneath her own helmet, unseen behind the glowing eyes, she allowed her own tears to fall in silence.

====

Well Isaac was pushing him in to help so Pyro would join Kairi in the hug with Tali.  "It'll be okay Tali.  You're not alone here.  You got us and Shepard and everyone else on the Normandy.  You don't need to handle this alone."  Pyro said.  Really he wasn't sure how much it would help but Tali needed something, anything right now.  Pyro wasn't too good at this kind of thing in his opinion but he wasn't one to not help a friend when they are in need.

====

Isaac looked on in pity, but then turned his head, wanting to give the quarian some privacy. He saw Cheryl, and, though he couldn't see her face, he did know what she was feeling. Reaching out, he took her hand, giving it an affectionate, reassuring squeeze. The message he thought was clear. 'I'm here if you need to talk.'

Tali, meanwhile, cried into their shoulders, Shepard joining in on the hug. "Damn it! Damn... it!" she sobbed out. Finally, she managed to get at least a moderate amount of control of her emotions. "I... I'm sorry."

Isaac shook his head. "Don't apologize when there's nothing to be sorry about."

She nodded, looking back to the corpse. "Maybe... maybe he would have known I'd come. Maybe he left... a message." She activated his omnitool, a green hologram of Rael'Zorah still alive coming up with an orange omnitool again. The voice, male, was hurried.

[i]"Tali, if you are listening, then I am dead. The geth have gone active. I don't have much time. The 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--"[/i] There was the sound of geth coming and he ran, the transmission cutting off as he presumably died.

The daughter choked out her words as she stood. "Thanks, dad."

Shepard decided to talk to her on her own. "He knew you would 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."

She seemed numb as she answered. "I don't know what's worse: thinking he never really cared, or thinking that he did, and that this was the only way he could show it."

Isaac tried to answer. "Tali..."

She shook her head, her resolve, for the time being, back in check. "It doesn't matter. One way or the other, I cared. And we're ending this."

Isaac nodded, looking back to Cheryl and putting a hand on her shoulder, whispering to her. "We can talk later if you want. I think we need to listen to her for now. It's the least we can do."

More fighting occurred on the way to their target, through several rooms, including the same units for them to fight. Tali took out her aggression in full, filling many with her mass accelerated rounds and tech powers, tearing a swath for them...until they reached the terminals.
Three holographic terminals, each of them an identical makeup. Isaac looked them over, wincing at a wound from a shotgun blast from a ways back as he loaded a new thermal clip into his rifle.

After some talk, in which Tali showed that she didn't truly want to know, but had to for the trial about what was going on here, she activated the console.

The video showed Rael and two others talking about the geth parts aboard. Apparently they were building and networking the ones they had to sapience to use in weapon testing, though Rael did say, perhaps rightly, that he did so for his daughter to have a house on their homeworld.

And it cut off. Silence all around for several seconds, stunned silence from the natives, a mixture of anger and sympathy from Isaac. The demon did try to help her. "It sounds like he was doing this for you."

"I never wanted this. Keelah... I never wanted this..."

Shepard, on the other hand, was momentarily angry. "Your father was deliberately networking the geth to sapience to do weapons tests."

Though Isaac gave her a look, the quarian responded, still in shock. "That breaks our most sacred laws. Laws that predate our flight from the homeworld!" She turned around, enraged. "Everything here is his fault! I..." The anger gave way to anguish again. "I tried to pretend it didn't point to him, but this... when this comes up in the trial, they'll..."

The Silver Tongue had an idea. "If this comes up in the trial. It doesn't have to, and we won't let it." Isaac cut off the commander before she could say her a statement, which, from a brief scan, he knew would be about her father directly, and how he is dead. "The point isn't being a war criminal, even if he is. It's about family. And we [i]will[/i] make them see that." He looked to Tali. "I don't know what your father's legacy is, but I do know that your people value family. I know that they have the same values as I do, and that that council doesn't care about anything but themselves, but putting you in the crossfire as they figure out what to do to solve their problems with the geth. It's time to make sure people figure that out." He looked to his allies, stepping beside Cheryl again. "If anyone has anything to say, they should say it now. I doubt they'll wait much longer to proclaim us dead, given their thoughts on us. Then it'll all mean nothing."

====

When Cheryl felt Isaac grab her hand, she said nothing, didn't object to it. Though she was glad for his comfort at the moment, even if it still felt a little awkward for her, this wasn't about her at the moment. The Holy Mother just looked to the quarian in pity, as Kairi continued to help comfort her even as she got a hold of her emotions a bit.

After the transmission from her father, after Tali got back her resolve, the Princess nodded as she stood back up. "Either way, he still left you with one last request. It's the least we could do to honor his wishes."

Cheryl finally looked to Isaac as he whispered to her, nodding to what he said. "I...I know..." she said slowly, getting her own emotions back in check. "We gotta finish this. That's all that matters."

And they made their way, continuing to fight through the enemies. Once they reached their target, Kairi, noticing the wound that Isaac received, used a Cure card to heal it up. Cheryl just recharged her shotgun, only receiving a graze on her arm that she'd get by easily. After the talk, to which the youngest of the team gave more reassurance, while the survival-horror heroine took a deep breath herself, the two watched the video play before them.

Kairi herself was shocked to what they found. All this treading through to find the truth, to hopefully prove innocence to Tali's father, to save her from exile...and this is what they come to. Cheryl was conflicted to it all, angered that the quarian's father would actually be the cause to all this, but at the same time unsure to blame him entirely. Not after hearing that he wanted the best for his daughter, even if it meant...

And then came Isaac's suggestion, to leave this out for the sake of family, bring them to see the value in it all. Cheryl stared at the Silver Tongue as he stepped beside her, thinking it over...then nodded, looking to everyone else. "I guess every once in a while, he comes up with a good point," she remarked, trying to lighten the mood somewhat. "Either way, Isaac's right. In my opinion, it doesn't matter what he did. All that matters is why." She looked to Tali and said, "And from what we've seen, he was only trying to help you as best he could. Like a father should."

Though still initially shocked, Kairi did listen to what they had to say. She calmed herself afterwards, and nodded, looking to Tali as well. "Yeah, they're right. If the quarians value family, this isn't the way to show. We have to bring this up to them, let them see that it's not fair to bring this whole thing on you, Tali."

====

"If we do bring it up, it will be Tali's father taking all the blame then, and I don't think Tali wants that."  Pyro spoke up.  Tali in the games wanted to hide the evidence to keep her the Admirals from finding out what he did.  Which then came to the problem of how to get Tali off the hook without using the evidence.

"It comes down to this, do we use the evidence and have Tali's father take the blame for everything and ruin his name among the other Quarians or do we not show it and figure out how to prove Tali's innocent without it."  Pyro said as he leaned against a wall.  Really it would be up to Shepard and Tali for what they would do.  All he and the others could do was offer their opinions.

====

The trip back to the Rayya was relatively uneventful. It was agreed that Pyro would need to remain in Zero Mode if he would stay on the ship, but could also stay in the Normandy to recuperate instead if he so desired.

Still, as they came to the courtyard, it seemed as though the trial was already underway again. Koris thought that the few hours of no contact meant Tali was dead, and was voting to have her posthumously exiled, not caring about Shala's objections or Gerrel's call that by "daring" her to take back the Alarei, they had doomed her to death.

Gasps took the crowd as the heroes came through, parting them as they came back to the podium. Tali was first to speak as Shala was asking if the Admirals were ready to render judgement.

"Sorry we're late." Her words dripped with a sarcasm almost exclusively reserved to her commander, who came next, irritated.

"You didn't waste too much time declaring us [i]dead[/i]. Go get your ship."

Gerrel was first to react. "We... apologize, Shepard. Your success in taking back the Alarei is...very unexpected."

Shala added to that, always the mediator. "But also very welcome."

Gerrel then had to ask. "Did you find [i]anything[/i] on the Alarei that could clarify what [i]happened[/i] there?"

The group shared a long silence, staring at one another. Finally, Shepard walked forward, Tali calling behind her, pleading.

"Shepard, [i]please[/i]."

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

But Isaac had a different idea. He was done with all of the lies and deception straight to their faces, and said as much, tapping Tali's shoulder as he walked back the way they had come. "Tali's achievements are the only evidence you should need," he called back to the admirals, then looked to Tali. "Come on, Tali, we're leaving."

Shala reacted first. "What?!"

There was an uproar, Koris shouting above it all. "This is a formal proceeding!"

The demon had had enough, turning back to them, stomping over and around the commander, slamming a hand on the podium. "[i]Wrong[/i], admiral! This is a sham! You're trying to build sympathy for the geth to forestall the war effort!"

It was Koris' turn to be incredulous again. "That is completely--!"

On to Gerrel. "And you and Xen want all of your messy experiments covered up so you can throw your fleet at the geth!"

Gerrel now, trying to come up with an answer. "I...I..."

"You know what? Do whatever you want with your [i]toy[/i] ships! It's not [i]our[/i] problem if you eradicate your species, whether by the geth or by the Reapers! Just leave Shepard's crew out of your political [i]bullsh**![/i]" He took a breath before setting the lie. "We [i]have[/i] no new evidence, not like that was ever the meaning of this trial to begin with." Before they could call him on that he threw their words in their faces, altered. "Lie to us if you must now, but don't lie to your people, the people right here, right now, who will [i]die[/i] in such a situation for, for all we know, no reason whatsoever! Accept Tali's word, or exile the woman who saved the Citadel from Saren and his forces."

Shepard took up the pieces where Isaac left them, turning to the crowd around them instead. "Look at them, all of you! They don't care about Tali! You heard them on the speakers just now! They just care about their war with the geth!" She began to pace, back and forth, watching the crowd as they moved between shouts out outrage and nervous indecision. "Tali risked her life for all of you! On Haestrom, hell, on the Citadel when she stopped Saren. She deserves [i]better[/i] than this."

Koris finally came to his senses, smug as ever. "If Commander Shepard has no new evidence, I suggest we render judgement."

There was the same reactions from the crowd as a holdover from Shepard, before an unexpected voice came forth. Veetor'Nara, shouting. "Wait! Shepard is [i]right[/i]! Tali saved me. She doesn't deserve to be exiled."

Kal'Reegar picked up the thread there, stepping up beside him. "Damn straight! Tali's done more for this Fleet than you a**holes ever will." He was angry then. "You're pissing on everything I fought for! Everything Tali fought for!" He calmed down again, glaring at them through his helmet. "So if you exile her.... you might as well do the same to me."

Veetor nodded reassured. "Me too."

(You two can control the admirals as necessary.)

====

It was after Isaac and Shepard said their pieces, after Kal'Reegar and Veetor'Nara spoke up, that Kairi stepped up to say her part in this. "They're right," she began, glaring at the admirals under her helmet.

"None of you care about Tali! She knows more about the geth than any of you! You should be listening to her, not putting her on trial! Like the others said, she saved the Citadel; she saved the Alarei; she showed the galaxy the value of your people! I can't think of stronger evidence than that!"

Having listened long enough, Cheryl was next to speak up. She already thought of what she would say not minutes before they arrived back. "From what I know, you're all supposed to value family, aren't you?" she began, glaring herself. "And this is how you honor it, huh? By putting one of your people on trial over something you couldn't be bothered to look for yourself!" She took a deep breath before she continued.

"I had a best friend once. She was harassed and tortured not only by her peers, but her own [i]mother.[/i]" The first part of this was a lie, of course, but she wanted to get the point across. "And now she's dead. Why? Because her psychotic witch of a mother [i]burned her alive and kept her so until she couldn't handle it anymore![/i]"

She slammed her hands on the podium as she finished, "And from what I've seen from you bastards, you're no better than that hag who took my friend's life!"

====

Pyro wanted to stick around and watch the end of the trial.  He had to hide a smirk as they apparently were using the crowd against the Admirals, his personal favorite way to complete the mission in the game.  It was fun watching the Quarians side with Tali in this.

"You guys are so focused about your little war with the geth that you forget your duties to the people you represent.  This isn't about helping your people.  This about you going to war and taking back your planet to say that you took it back.  Not because you want them to live on a planet again but to fuel your own egos."

Pyro had to throw in his own two cents.

====

Although Isaac was surprised by how the others spoke up, he didn't make any real response to them. Sure, he did catch Cheryl's lie, though he could tell what she had based it on, but whatever helped their cause.

Finally, silence fell. Only by one, the Admirals put down their votes on their omnitools, Koris staring at Tali for a several seconds before making his choice. Finally, Admiral Shala'Raan announced the verdict.

"Tali'Zorah, in light of your history of service, we do not find sufficient evidence to convict. You are cleared of [i]all[/i] charges."

Even through her mask, the shock on Tali's face was palpable, Isaac finally losing his anger in a smirk at the admirals, glad he still had the Recon Hood on to hide it.

Raan raised her own omnitool, typing something in, probably sending something tech related to Shepard, who's omnitool lit up to receive it. "Commander Shepard, please accept these gifts in appreciation for you taking the time to represent one of our people."

Isaac answered first. "We didn't represent one of your people. We represented one of ours."

Gerrel nodded slowly, as if understanding. "So you did."

Shepard, though took a different route. She was still serious as she spoke, hands on the podium. "If you appreciate me, then listen. The Reapers are coming. I'm going to need your help to stop them. Please don't throw your lives away against the geth."

Koris again spoke, albeit with some more consideration. Still rudely, though. "Thank you, Commander Shepard. I hope this board carefully considers your advice."

Shepard, still frustrated, shoved off, shaking her head a bit before stepping back.

Shala'Raan came to their concluding remarks. "This hearing is concluded. Go in peace, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. Keelah se'lai."

It didn't take much time for the group to separate from the masses, walking over closer toward Kal'Reegar to talk. Tali was first. "I can't believe you pulled that off. What you said... It's been a while since anyone shouted down the Admiralty Board. I think it was good for them. And I've never had anyone speak like that on my behalf." She looked down, then away. "...thank you for being there for my father and me, even when..." she looked back. "Thank you."

Shepard sighed, and answered her. "Tali, about what your father said, what he did.... you deserved better."

A nod. "I got better, Shepard. I got you."

Isaac had to lighten the mood a little. "We can still go back in and get you exiled if you want."

A laugh from the quarian. "Thanks, but I'm find with things like this. Besides, it's fun watching you shout."

Isaac held up his hands, stepping back. "Hey, hey, you shouldn't be the one saying that. It's probably illegal."

Garrus rolled his eyes at that, tapping his visor. "Joker, ready to go?"

The answer came over all headsets. [i]" Yeah, just come on over to the Normandy again. Got another of those energy spikes picking up outside her, if EDI's right. And Shepard? I'm glad that mess is over for Tali, Commander. Some of those quarians… I guess living aboard a ship can really mess with your priorities? Not that I would know… ah, I just burned myself. Great."[/i] As Isaac rolled his eyes alongside Shepard, the link cut off again.

Shepard grinned under her helmet, starting off down the way. "Come on, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. Let's get back to our ship."

A nod. "Thank you... Captain."

Kal'Reegar spoke up from nearby. "Nice talking. Funny how it takes a commander to remind the admirals about military honor. Glad they're off your back, ma'am. And that you didn't have to give them that evidence you found on the Alarei."

Tali was a little put off, nervous. "I didn't say anything about finding evidence, Kal."

A satisfied nod. "Noticed that, ma'am."

"Kal... just call me Tali."

"I'll work on that, ma'am." And he went back to his previous conversation.

Isaac again rolled his eyes, looking to Shepard. "Think we're gonna head out. Should we give back this armor?"

The commander shook her head. "No, keep it. You deserve something from all of this. Plus, we can always make more. It's not like we have to [i]buy our own weapons.[/i]"

A nod from the demon. "Touché." He looked to Cheryl on that. "So... wanna travel with me?" A glance to the others. "Great seeing you all again. You did well out there for starters." Yeah, it was a backhanded compliment, but they couldn't ask much more from him.


Cheryl, after calming down herself, smirked under her own helmet after the Admirals declared Tali clear of charges. After going through all that, it felt good to have a word in at them. Kairi also smiled, glad that they helped their quarian friend through this.

After the group talked among each other and prepared to head out, Cheryl looked to Isaac and replied, "Yeah, I'll keep tagging along. Think we might work this out." She then looked to the others. "Nice hanging out with you lot."

"Same here," Kairi said with a nod. "It was good to help around, even a little bit. Hope you guys stay safe." And with that, she turned and walked off. There were more worlds to explore.

Cheryl waved after the Princess before looking to Pyro. "Hope to see you again sometime, you crazy bastard. Good luck out there."

And with that, both the Holy Mother and the demon walked off next, towards the hangar where they would find the save point to head out. Once they left, she had suggested a normal world for the two of them to relax, maybe catch up a bit.

It was going to be a long journey for the two of them.

====

It all worked out the way they wanted so Pyro was in a pretty good mood.  Tali got off, they got to shout at the Admirals and no one knew about what Tali's father did...except for one thing.  "Damn it!"  Pyro cursed.  He completely forgot about the fact one of the admirals, one of the ones that wanted a war with the geth would find the data and intended to use it.  There was no way they could get it back now.  But he trusted Shepard could work it out.

"Nice seeing you guys again.  Go and kick the Reaper's asses for us okay?"  Pyro said to the Mass Effect crew.  He gave Isaac a look when he asked Cheryl to travel with him, wondering what as going on with the two.  "Well I am going to go and take a nice long nap.  See you Cheryl, Kairi, Isaac."

With that, the pyromancer disappeared in a burst of fire, just like he had arrived.