Kenson dead, an entire system destroyed, and the Hegemony demanding for Shepard's head. This was not what Hackett had envisioned when he had sent Shepard to infiltrate Aratoht.
Now she sat in a detection cell while the Alliance tried to figure out on what to do with her. All because he asked for a personal favor of her. Hackett gritted his teeth in frustration.
The amount of hell that woman has gone through as just out of a sense of duty was astonishing. That kind of sacrifice of having to live with oneself after sending some many to their death would break most people. Shepard deserve a damn medal, not a jail cell.
Although anyone else in her place would have been tried, court-martialed, and discharged for the official charge of desertion of duty, working for a terrorist organization, and being responsible for the deaths of three hundred thousand batarian civilians.
From his nomination for her into the N-program to the putting her name forward with the Spectres, Hackett had been deemed by the Internal Affairs Committee as "too close" to have an objective stance on her. It was bullshit, but he had to play along.
Before Hackett returned to his post on Arcturus, he tried to advise Shepard on how to handle the committees. It was an hour before the meeting, she stood in uniform, pressed neatly with several datapads stacked in her arms, ready to take them on.
"I am on your side Shepard, but with the committees, they're burying their heads in the sand. If you're to convince them of the Reaper threat, then you going to have to lead them to the idea. We're not going to get anywhere if you bludgeoning through this. It's is going to take time."
She just smiled disregarding his advice. "With all due respect Admiral, I can bludgeon pretty hard."
Hackett let out a sigh; that was two days ago. With his focus on increasing defenses for the Sol system and putting together an accelerated exhibition on the prothean Mar archives for anything on the Reapers, he'd only just now got the chance to review the first Internal Affairs meeting with Shepard.
His vidscreen focused on Shepard during the talks. That was about as close as he'd be able to get her now that she was placed under house arrest.
On the screen, with upright posture and hands neatly folded on the table, Hackett watched as the committee grilled Shepard and renounced her of her rank.
A voice of one of the committee members came from off screen.
"In light of your actions on Aratoht and with your involvement with Cerberus, you are hereby relieved of duty and will be placed under house arrest until further notice."
Most wouldn't be able to see, the clench in her fist, eyes widening with a slight panic at the announcement. It was the look of someone trying to remain calm as lost their identity. Her whole military career, something he had helped foster, was being dashed away. She was no longer Commander Shepard.
Shepard's dog tags now rested in his pocket. Hackett would make sure to pass them off to Anderson later. God-willingly they could get them back to her soon.
Shepard spoke clearly to the charge. Her tone was trying to sound authoritative as if she hadn't just been stripped of her rank.
"Understood, I'd like to go over my reports I've prepared to explain the situation. Everything that is needed to be said is in them on why I've been missing, why I was with Cerberus and the evidence on the Reapers. If I hadn't acted on Aratoht, they would be here now."
They needed to trust her again. Go through the data and information just as he had. Hopefully, they'd see it plain as day, that the Reapers were coming.
The committee worked through the reports with her. Barely five minutes in an accusatory voice came from off screen.
"Even if I were to believe this resurrection story, why didn't you return to the Alliance? Cerberus wasn't holding you hostage."
"I've stated that in the report, with my knowledge at the time with how the Alliance and the Council had been handling the Collector threat, I thought it best to go through with the mission as I knew I wouldn't be given the chance otherwise."
"So it was just purely coincidental that you worked with an organization with a known anti-alien rhetoric and then somehow a whole Alpha Relay is destroyed, taking three hundred thousand batarians lives?"
Hackett scoffed at the screen as the questions rolled in. Shepard's hands clenched together as she tried to take them with stride, although Hackett could hear the dismissive tone and anger build in her voice.
"As the reports state, I was no longer cooperating with Cerberus after my mission with the Collectors was finished. What happened with Aratoht was due to time constraints. If I could have saved those colonists, I would have."
"What about your experience with batarians on Elysium, did you think that didn't sway your actions on Aratoht?"
"What does Elysium have to do with this? That was organized by human pirates, check the records on that."
"Yes, but an overwhelming amount of the forces of it was batarian, which you fought, you can't saw that doesn't sway your opinion on the batarian people."
"I've fought every species alike. If the situation on Aratoht happened on a human colony, I would have made the same damn choice if it meant keeping the Reapers at bay."
The Reapers were just theory to them, even with the damn evidence in front of their own eyes, they still wouldn't see it.
None of the committee members were on the Citadel that day, when Hackett lost hundreds of his men and women to Sovereign. Shepard had made the call to sacrifice human life to save the Council. Although somehow the committee just seemed to ignore that part of her service record.
They continued and went through her time with Cerberus. More accusatory voiced their opinion during the meeting. Hackett tried not strain his eyes from rolling them too hard.
"But is it not true Cerberus wasn't your first involvement with anti-alien activities? How can we know if this raving on Reaper's isn't just front for you to act out your pro-human agenda?"
"I'm not sure what you mean by that," Shepard said in a confused tone.
"The Tenth Street Reds? They've become more vocal on your involvement with them. Allegation from witnesses says they saw you beating and killing aliens as int initiation to the gang, for fun even."
A harsh laugh escaped from Shepard.
"Where's your evidence on that?" Shepard's voice rose with anger. "I didn't realize bullshit slander was allowed as evidence. If that were the case, you'd think that actual evidence with the Reapers would be considered with this fucking committee."
"Shepard, please remain calm."
She closed her eyes and stilled her breath before going on to answer the question.
"I haven't had any willing contact with the Reds since I enlisted. And I didn't start killing anyone, human or alien, until I joined the Alliance and my orders called for it. Happy?"
They continued to talk until the committee ran out of questions and moved for ending the meeting.
"We'll resume with you next week, for now, we'll have your reports to review, in the meantime, you'll be limited to your detention cell."
"That is complete bullshit!" Shepard's voice cut clear through the vid, all the pented up anger he'd been watching build finally came to head. Her chair was knocked over with her fist pounding on the table.
"The time to act is now, if we aren't prepared, we're going to lose a lot more than just one colony. Trillions of lives are at stake. How can you not see this? It's all right there in there in my reports. Get your fucking heads out of the sand!" She pleaded angrily with them, but her words fell on deaf ears.
The vid cut off as she was escorted back to her cell, looking more lost than Hackett had ever seen in a soldier.
Hackett pinched the bridge of the nose and sighed. This might take longer than he had thought.