After Citadel: the Council

What had any of it been for? As she watched from the bridge of Normandy as the ship disengaged from the Citadel, Melanie Shepard was deeply frustrated. Everything that she'd done two years before seemed to be either futile or misunderstood. Perhaps the Council dug its own grave by ignoring her warnings about the Reapers until the attack on the Citadel, but there had been thousands of innocents on board the Destiny Ascension and Melanie would never have sacrificed them for the sins of a few politicians. She had told Admiral Hackett to focus on Sovereign because if it hadn't been destroyed the whole galaxy would have burned. That had been her priority but nobody seemed to understand, painting her instead as some fucking human supremacist making a power play, a perception not helped by her new association with Cerberus.

Nor was her reputation her biggest worry. She'd made Anderson a Councilor because she knew that he understood the Reaper threat and the need to prepare for it, but he seemed to have no ability to control his colleagues. Two years ago the new Councilors had already started trying to blame the attack on the Citadel on the Geth, but now they'd begun denying that the Reapers even were real. They couldn't even be bothered to meet with her, holding her responsible for the deaths of their predecessors, and though Anderson had returned her Specter status, without the Council's support, she suspected it had little value.

The mess the Council had turned into might have been enough to make her regret picking Anderson for his position if her encounter with Udina hadn't reminded her why he would have been so much worse. Working as the Councilor's aide, he seemed irritated that she was even alive, only interested in the political fallout from her return. Anderson might not have been able to stop the Council from burying the truth; that abrasive asshole would have helped them do it.

The trip had shown Shepard that what the Illusive Man had told her was true; the time that she and the rest of her team had bought the galaxy, that the Destiny Ascension had been lost for, was being thrown away. That meant that, for now at least, it was on her and the new crew she'd been gathering to stop the Collectors. On that front at least, she had some hope. Getting Garrus back had been a welcome surprise: a badass friend was something she very much could use right now. Mordin Solus seemed promising as well; though he was a touch ruthless for her taste, he seemed to have good intentions, and was definitely not a Cerberus pawn. Zaeed Massani was another story; the mercenary seemed completely amoral and given what Cerberus had paid him, she seriously doubted she could count on him if it came to a confrontation. Her newest addition, Kasumi Goto, was difficult to read, at least on a first meeting. One thing at a time she supposed; next on her list of dossiers was the biotic convict, Jack. At least that one was supposed to be simple: just go to the Purgatory, make the payment, and go.