"Commander Shepard, what are your thoughts on the Feros incident?"
"Commander, are the rumours true, are you being sent after a rogue SpecTRe?"
"Which one of your crew are you involved with?"
"How could you work with a turian?"
"Do you serve the Alliance or the Council?"
It would be an understatement to say that Commander John Shepard hated journalists. They represented the lowest of the low, liars preying on the secrets of others that swarmed people who just wanted to get their jobs done. They got in the way of investigations and stuck their noses where they didn't belong. Tabloid journalists were the worst, always asking about his conquests and romantic history. Of course it was the ones that asked more personal questions that caught his interest. John only had two members of his family obviously connected to him and both of them served in the Alliance Navy with fearsome reputations.
His mother was famous for her work ethic, Hannah Shepard was set for promotion to admiral within the next few years. His older sister, Jane, was known as the Butcher of Torfan and crews cowered when the Major was assigned to their ships.
It was John's general respect for his family and curiosity as to how journalists found out the shared relation that peaked his interest and caused him to stop and talk to the otherwise insignificant Asari reporter who called out, "Are you related to Major Jane Shepard?"
He turned to her, one brow raised in question, "She's my sister, yes."
This caused a wave to wash over the crowd as they whispered amongst themselves and scribbled frantically on notepads. A few of the reporters turned on their cameras or gave instructions to the drones to focus in on this interaction.
The brave reporter probed further, "What are your thoughts on her accident?"
John was puzzled, last he knew Jane was settling in on her new ship and laughing at the terrified whispers that followed her through the ship while she was on deck, "What accident?"
His confusion seemed even more delicious to the reporters as the whispers and scribbles grew in ferocity.
The Asari spoke again, "Have you spoken to your sister about the Zooma incident?"
Ashley pulled on his arm, "John let's get out of here."
John nodded and allowed his friend to pull him away from the crowd. They shouldered their way past question after question as the whispers combined into a frantic buzz as questions hurled at the two Alliance officers. Eventually they made it through the thick of it. All they'd wanted was a few drinks at Flux after seeing the Thorian Creepers on Feros, little did they know that Shepard's reputation had grown out of control and a swarm of reporters would be waiting outside the bar with questions loaded.
They rushed back to the Normandy and Shepard immediately turned to start talking with Ashley, "What were they talking about?"
She shrugged, "Hackett should know."
John pulled up Joker on his comm, "Pull Hackett up in the comm room. Call everyone to the ship and then pull out of dock, these reporters are crazy."
"Tell me about it, everyone's aboard so pulling out now."
John thanked the pilot before jogging to the comm room.
He stood for several frantic minutes before Hackett's voice finally came over the frequency, "Commander, I was told this was urgent."
"What's the status of Jane Shepard?"
A heavy sigh came across the connection, "Who told you?"
John's panic kept on rising, "Is she dead?"
Another sigh came but this one was significantly more relaxed, "So you don't really know," Hackett paused for a breath, "I'm going to need you to investigate a missing Alliance Marine."
"What the hell-"
"This is urgent business that cannot be put off. You need to head to Omega, it's a space station in the Omega Nebula. Speak to Aria T'loak, say that you're searching for Hervor."
John's head was spinning and just as he started to complain again, Hackett cut the connection. John let out a yell and kicked the nearest chair. Pain radiated up his leg but he swung his leg back and kicked the chair again, "What the fucking hell is this!"
His shoulders slouched forward as he forced himself to calm down a little and call Joker again, "Get me Hannah Shepard on the SSV Kilimanjaro!"
Joker sounded scared as he agreed. The Commander's voice had settled into a growl of rage and bewilderment.
"This is Captain Hannah Shepard of the SVV Kilimanjaro."
"Mom? It's John."
"Oh! I don't really have time for a personal chat right now honey, can this wait?"
"What happened to Jane?"
The line was silent.
"Mom?"
"I have to go John."
"Mom! Please tell me!"
"Do you really not know?"
"I was just attacked by a reporter with questions about the 'Zooma incident'. Is she dead?"
"Oh heavens no," Hannah paused, "I wish they wouldn't call it that. It's horrible enough what they did to her…"
John waited for her to expand on the incident. He yelled again two seconds later when Hannah disconnected the call. He kicked the chair a third time before storming out. He shoved Ashley out of his way on his warpath to his room. A sharp command at Joker had their path set for Omega.
He slammed the door shut and opened the Ethernet on his omni tool. He opened a search engine and searched for "Major Jane Shepard."
A tiny, shocked and frustrated sound emerged unwillingly from his throat as he skimmed the first few headings. He reached the fourth and threw his omni tool across the room before throwing himself onto his bed face first and falling asleep.
The headlines read, "Jane Shepard, Butcher of more than Tofan?"
"The downward spiral of Jane Shepard"
"The Butcher of Torfan and the Hero of Elysium Related?"
"Major Jane Shepard Discharged and Exiled from Human Space"