Shepard, Urdnot Harriet. Spectre, Commander, Star of Terra, Thanks of the council, Gratitude of the Matriarchs, Honour Of Palaven (first class), Volus Grand Bargain, Salarian Science Cluster, various minor medals . B 2154, admiral Hannah Shepard, Gerrald Shepard. Educ: University of Arcturus, Alliance N7 training. M. dr Liara T'Soni, d. Benezia T'Soni, Aethyta; seven d. Served: Alliance Marines, Skyllian Blitz (medals, thanks of parliament); Battle of Eden Prime. Served Council Spectre, Hunt for Saren, Battle of the Citadel, Battle for Omega, Final War against the Reapers. Served Cerberus, Collectors War. Travelled extensively in military and civilian capacities Military advisor Clan Urdnot; chief of staff to Aria T'Loak, Omega; honourary teacher New Grissom Academy; ambassador to the Rachni Queen, Utukku; patron, Elcor Reduced Shakespeare Company; director Binary Helix. Mission for the Reclamation of Reduced Asari. Recreation: Mako, Hammerhead racing, recreational shooting, model building, fish breeding.
The discovery, in a long abandoned warehouse on Omega of what the popular press insisted on labeling the "Shepard Papers" – in reality a series of some fifty outdated datapads – five years ago, almost two hundred years to the day after commander Shepard's death caused a predictable curiosity. Up until then it was not suspected the commander had ever written about her experiences of her youth, therefore the mere possibility of getting her view of those momentous events of four hundred years ago awoke an understandable curiosity. For those few privileged enough to get a glimpse at the content of these datapads however, curiosity quickly gave way to consternation.
It turned out that the good commander had been very truthful in her reminiscences and the image she depicted of herself, as well as of several of her comrades in arms, was a far cry of the heroine we all know and learned about in school. In these circumstances the company in whose physical possession the datapads were was understandably wary of releasing them to the general public without a thorough investigation towards their authenticity first, which is where I came in.
As the foremost human authority to the history of the Reaper Wars and commander Shepard's role in it, it was no more than natural that I was asked to both investigate and edit the papers. This task turned out to be more difficult than first imagined, as the surviving members of Shepard's crew during the wars were not available for consultation. Both Urdnot Wrex and Urdnot Grunt refused all cooperation, while commander Shepard's widow, doctor Liara T'soni, has not been seen in Council Space in the last three decades.
Verification of the "Shepard Papers" therefore required old fashioned historical research, starting with the datapads themselves, which were determined to be between 250 and 300 years old, which fitted in with the internal chronology of the papers. Research afterwards was concentrated on confirming the events described in the papers and seeing how they matched up with the official historical record.
Having done so, I now have no reason to doubt that the Papers are a truthful account of commander Shepard's adventures. Where she touches on matters that could be verified independently she is almost invariably accurate; readers can judge whether she's to believed on more personal matters.
The picture she sketches of herself in these papers, as said, is at odds with that of official biography. She depicts herself as a bully and a coward, a wencher who was not above a spot of plunder either when the occasion presented itself. She's frank and honest about her flaws, yet at the same time, glimpses of her more well known qualities, her leadership, ability to make allies quickly, decisiveness in combat, also shine through. Uncommon for a woman of her generation, she genuinely seemed to have had no problems with other species and could strike up a friendship with people no matter who they were. Editing the papers was a minor task; the commander had a good sense of narrative and other than matters of spelling I had to do little to make the story presentable to a larger audience.
GMF, New Eden, 2596 CE