Han'Gerrel vas Neema: Quarian Admiral of the Heavy Fleet

Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema was a member of the quarian Admiralty Board and commander of the Heavy Fleet. A career soldier with a reputation for stirring trouble along the turian border, he was the foremost hawk among the admirals, convinced that the quarian people should use their vast fleet to retake their lost homeworld and, in time, to make war on the geth. His old friendship with Rael'Zorah and his recklessness in battle would both shape the events of the war against the Reapers.

A soldier of the Heavy Fleet#

Han'Gerrel was the most aggressive voice on the Admiralty Board. He argued that it was folly for the quarians to hold the largest fleet in the galaxy and do nothing with it, pressing to reclaim the homeworld so that their non-combatants would have a world to shelter on while the rest fought. He held little patience for his fellow admirals; he dismissed Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib as a "whining suit-wetter," and the coldly clinical Daro'Xen vas Moreh in turn called Gerrel an "aging warship."

His bond with Rael'Zorah ran back to their youth, when the two served together aboard the gunship Yaska before their Pilgrimages. During a batarian raid that killed six of ten crewmen, the pair were left alone on the bridge while the raiders drew off a tramp freighter. Though ordered to hold position, Rael declared that as underage trainees they could not be charged with breaking formation; Rael took the helm, Gerrel manned the weapons, and together they brought the freighter back. The crew hailed them as heroes while the brass called them idiots, and the two received medals and an early send-off on Pilgrimage.

Tali's trial and a buried truth#

When Tali'Zorah was accused of treason before the Migrant Fleet, Han'Gerrel sympathized with her, believing her innocent. He was the one admiral in whom she and Commander Shepard could confide the true nature of Rael's experiments. Despite his appetite for war, the work horrified him, yet he vowed to keep it secret, understanding how badly the truth would hurt the fleet and unwilling to let Rael's daughter pay for her father's mistakes. Should Shepard urge the admirals toward war, Gerrel promised they would one day drink a toast to the Commander on Rannoch.

War, recklessness, and the Migrant Fleet#

Han'Gerrel was among the admirals who pushed the vote for war against the geth, a decision that drove the synthetics into the arms of the Reapers and saw the Migrant Fleet trapped within the Perseus Veil. When Shepard arrived to aid the quarians and helped disable a geth dreadnought, Gerrel ordered the Heavy Fleet to press the attack on the geth flagship even though the Commander's team was still aboard the dreadnought. The act drew a furious rebuke from Shala'Raan vas Tonbay, who threatened to charge him with treason, while Gerrel insisted he had acted within his rights as admiral of the Heavy Fleet and begged Shepard, as a fellow soldier, to understand.

At the climax of the geth-quarian war, when the Reaper controlling the geth was destroyed, Han'Gerrel ordered an all-out assault on the disabled geth fleet. Whether he could be made to break off depended on the trust Shepard had earned with Tali and the other quarian leaders; lacking that trust, he pressed the attack to its end, and the cost could be the complete destruction of the Migrant Fleet.