"Shall we begin?" Hacketts calls to both women, and the officer nods, Shepard keeps quiet, not moving a muscle.
"Commander Shepard, I'm Chairman Jackson, I work on the Alliance Brass and will conduct your interview today." She looks down at the datapads in front of her, Shepard leans back with a huff.
"Interrogation you mean," she mumbles to herself.
"Commander!" Hackett sternly calls. Jackson waves her hand for him to settle down.
"It's okay Admiral, Shepard is only expressing her feelings." She looks over at Shepard, "I know this the last thing you were expecting or wanting right now."
"I wasn't expecting to be forced here when I'm trying to save all your ungrateful asses," Shepard spits with venom. Jackson doesn't let Shepard's attitude faze her.
"Why are you with Cerberus, Commander?" Shepard looked at Hackett, now furious.
"Did you not just tell me above the Normandy that I'd only be answering questions regarding Thane?!" She sat up, hands clenched into fists on the cold table. Jackson and Hackett look at each other.
"We need to know what Cerberus is planning, Commander," he explains. "Why are you working for them?"
"I'm not working for them," she states with anger. Hackett shakes his head.
"How can you explain them bringing you back, giving you a brand new ship and a full crew? What are they gaining with you being on their side?" Shepard laughs out loud.
"You know exactly why!" she says with a pointed finger.
Jackson clasps her hand together on top of her datapads, "Let's say for argument's sake we don't know why Cerberus is using you."
"The Collectors," she blankly says.
"Yes, we heard of them in the report from your former crew member Kaidan Alenko. You believe they are behind the human colony attacks," she says. Shepard didn't get why she was wondering and stating straight facts. The Alliance would have known of her intentions the second she breathed air again.
"They are behind the attacks and the Alliance isn't helping in any way. Cerberus are the only ones willing to do anything, so yes I'm with them, but only to protect humanity. The thing I seem to always be doing," she says with hunched shoulders. The burden she carried was a lot to bear sometimes.
"And why do you believe the Alliance isn't helping?" Jackson asked with a raised brow. Shepard looked the woman over, she was old, late fifties if not early sixties. She had bags under her eyes from the years of being not so kind, and her hair was short and mostly grey with her old natural black peeking out. The faded lines around her lips were proof the woman didn't smile much or stop doing so many years ago.
"Give me proof you've helped? The only thing witnessed was those AA guns back on Horizon, which by the way didn't work. You're very welcome as well, they didn't work until we got there." She could see Hackett shaking his head, obviously not happy or agreeing with her blatant perspective.
"What is Cerberus hoping to gain from defeating the Collectors?" Shepard could only groan, they were scraping the barrel with these questions.
"To stop the Repears," she simply answers.
"Repears, we have seen your reports of them, Commander. You don't have much evidence." Shepard laughs again, this was very amusing for her to listen to. Jackson raises her other brow this time, hands still kept neatly together.
"I gave you evidence but like usual, it's been hidden away and not believed. I nearly gave my life to protect you all from Sovereign, hell some of my crew DID give their lives for you." Shepard remembered that fateful day, she had to choose between saving Kaidan and Ashley. She couldn't save both and knew her choice would need to be sound in reasoning. Kaidan was with the last of the Salarian crew that was aiding them in destroying a Krogan breeding facility, it made more sense to save as many as she could than just Ashley who defending the bomb used to destroy the facility.
"Look, we need to understand Cerberus' motives and your relationship with Thane Krios." Shepard sat up straight, she didn't fully understand why it mattered who she was with. "When did you meet Mr Krios?"
"A couple of months ago, he was a dossier for my missions against the Collectors," Shepard explains, she crossed her arms over her chest, not amused with the questioning.
Jackson looks down at one of her datapads, nodding slightly. "So you thought it was a good idea to become romantically involved with him?"
"Why does it even matter? What harm am I causing being with him?" Hackett sat forward in his seat, hands placed palm down on the table.
"Because, Commander," he began, "you are the face of humanity, many look towards you for guidance and also protection. You are a natural-born leader, and the rumours surrounding Thane and his past occupations have raised some concerning questions."
"And what evidence do you have about his past?" Jackson and Hackett looked at each other.
"Well we don-" Shepard waved a hand cutting her off.
"So you dragged me across the galaxy, thrown me in a small room, not letting me even prepare for this and are making accusations about my PERSONAL relationships with... rumours." Jackson shook her head.
"We don't need evidence, Commander." Shepard let the woman smirk in a way that she thought she had won, but she was ready to burst her bubble.
"Yes, Chairman, you do. I am still a Council Spectre," she confidently says, keeping her back straight and shoulders back. "I formally end this line of questioning, if you have concerns you may take it up with the Council."
Shepard stood up, ready to leave. Jackson met her at the door, keeping a tight grip on the door handle so it couldn't be opened. "I would think carefully about this, Commander. You still work for the Alliance."
Shepard swallows her anxiety back, ready to put all her cards on the table. "Discharge me then. I don't need the Alliance to win this war. I am still a Council Spectre and refuse to entertain you any longer. Please remove your hand before this becomes a bigger problem than it has to be."
Hackett stood at her side, as the Chairman lowered her hand to let her go. Even Jackson knew she couldn't do anything to keep a Council Spectre, the Alliance couldn't afford to make trouble with the Council, humanity had barely been on the Council for two years. Shepard gives her a curt nod and leaves the room, finding Thane as she does to drag him back to the ship.
Thane hadn't moved from his seat but looked up when the door was practically taken off its hinges and Shepard came in. "Siha," he says before she pulls him up.
"Come on, we are leaving," she sternly says. "They can hate this as much as they like," she yells, waving her hand between them, "but I am still a Council Spectre and will do as I please."
Thane only nods and falls into her quick walking pace back to the ship. "Joker, ready the ship, we are done here." They made it back to the ship in record time, Edi already had the engines roaring to life as the ship began to take its weight off the clamps.
"Commander!" Hackett called as she and Thane reached the loading doors. "What do you think you're doing?" he asks as Shepard tries to ignore him.
"Finishing my mission. The Collectors need to be stopped," she says with a stern tone, not meeting his eyes. Thane takes his moment and leaves the two to speak alone.
"This will not go over well with the Brass, Shepard. I can't protect you from them." Shepard shakes her head, feeling tears well up in her eyes.
"You have known me since I was sixteen years old, I have no family to call my own. You were the only family I had, now you've turned on me when I needed you the most." She looks down at the ground, feeling the tears fall. "I had no one when I came back, Kaidan hated me and most of the crew had their own lives to return to. Now I have found just one person who cares for me more than just Commander Shepard, you want to take it away from me."
"Shepard," Hackett tries to talk but Shepard turns away from him, boarding the ship.
"I don't need to the Alliance anymore," she mutters as the doors close behind her. "Get us out of here Joker, I don't want to see Earth again."
"Yes, Commander," Joker says as the ship leaves the dock. Hackett watches the ship leave, hating himself for not truly being there for Shepard when she needed him most.
Shepard sat in her cabin, crying to herself. She felt betrayed, by Hackett, Kaidan and the Alliance. Her doors open with the sound of Thane's light footsteps approaching her.
"Siha," he quietly says as he sits down next to her. She can only cry more, curling herself into his lap for comfort. He strokes her hair, rocking her slightly.
"After everything I've done for them, this is how they repay me. I am done with the Alliance." Thane pulls her chin up, getting her to look into his deep black eyes.
"You aren't done with them, Siha. You are just angry and upset, let us finish this mission before you speak to them again. Let them not bother you in these difficult times." Shepard nods, agreeing with his words.
"I'm sorry for dragging you and Kolyat into this," she mutters. Thane lets out a deep chuckle.
"You needn't apologise, Siha," he says. "You are worth the trouble," he adds, getting a small laugh from her. "Come, let's get some tea and settle for the evening." He pulls her up, brushing her uniform back into place and wipes her tears. Even the great Commander Shepard had moments of weakness.
