Ashore

"Hi, I'm Emily Wong, and welcome back to this very exclusive interview with Sarah Shepard, former Alliance Marine and now, if rumors are to be believed, the most senior field agent for Special Tactics and Reconaissance, colloquially known as Spectres throughout the galaxy. W... So, Sarah... What's the scoop?"

With a sad smile, Sarah Shepard began to talk.

Sorry I scared you earlier... it's just that I can be a bit...

"Tetchy?"

Gee... Thanks... but yeah, I can be a bit tetchy about certain things like Torfan. People generally assume I'm Xenophobic, and cite Torfan, along with Elysium and Mindoir for why, but I'm not. Hell, I worked with people who actually fought during the First Contact War on both sides... and had to play diplomat between them when old war grudges cropped up, but... let me put it this way. I look at Individuals as Individuals, not as one of a large group. I always have. If I didn't, I'd be a Raging Xenophobe spokewoman for Terra Firma. Or worse. But I'm not.

After Torfan, there was a big backlash against me... but I had a lot of support among the Marines. And I don't just mean my unit. Alliance Brass wanted to hang me out to dry for 'disrespecting this that and the other... I'm reasonably sure that a pen had been about to sign off on a dishonourable discharge at some point. But the fact is, Pirates and Slavers had such an impact that there was support for that entire op from start to finish, and is responsible for driving recruitment on the colonies so high before and since Torfan. If you lived on a Colony World, then it is safe to assume that you have been affected in some way by them. And we human beings are nothing if not vindictive when driven to it.

It wasn't well known but, a few hundred good marines actually quit over the brass' reaction. I understand all of their reasons - it's... it's never just one reason, unless it's something bigger even than that. The person who quits over something small probably doesn't deserve to have worn the uniform in the first place. But a lot of things over time... it's not good to have a soldier who no longer holds respect for the chain of command.

For a while... I was that soldier. Admiral Hackett was one of the few who I respected. He had me brought back onto his staff, he wanted to protect me while it all blew over. 'Give it six months and they'll forget the name shepard' he said.

"Too optimistic?"

Oh yeah. Elysium made me a bit of a celebrity in civilian circles, but Torfan made me downright Notorious in the military. The brass wouldn't let me be assigned to another marine ground unit, and no Navy ship would have me. At least... until a certain Marine Lieutenant whom I hated transferred to the Navy, and got his first posting as a ship's XO and talked his CO into it.

"Let me guess, Captain Anderson?"

Well, he was a Staff Commander at that point, assigned as the first officer to the SSV Perugia. He got me on as the CO for the Marine contingent onboard. Oh... eighty, ninety marines. From then on, I pretty much followed him to each of his postings. Frigates, Cruisers... even a Carrier that had a mixed flight of Air/Navy Fighters and Marine dropships.

His own, 'star' was rising, so to speak, and in 2181, he was promoted and given command of the SSV Hastings. An aging ship, but also one with a pretty good history. Somehow, he managed to talk the brass into giving me an otherwise overdue promotion to Staff Commander, and made me his exec. Normally though, when a Marine becomes part of a ship's chain of command that includes navy personnel under my purview, aka ships' captain or first officer, they transfer across to the Navy. Well, David didn't manage that, my name was still... 'poison' according to the high-class navy brats that were the brass back then. But they thought the Hastings was on the way out, so threw him a bone seeing it as a favour for a favour. As I said, it was overdue. They'd been blocking it for two years at that point and hoped that I could be... 'put out to pasture' while serving on that ship.

Then of course, they finally got word that I was under consideration for joining the Spectres, in 2182. David found out first, and with Steven, the pair arranged for us to transfer to a new ship in development, still a year from being completed. A ship more classified than even most Carriers. A Frigate yes, but it had a classified stealth system... and was being built in conjuction with the Turian Heirarchy.

The SSV Normandy SR-1.

I spent a good six months memorising everything I could about the ship, in between choosing the crew. New ship, classified tech, it was up to me as the ships first officer to pick the crew.

I don't know why, I guess I felt what was coming somehow... precog has never been proven or disproven but there's plenty of coincidence to keep the idea as possible even in the minds of salarians. But there were... gaps... in the crew. Not for lack of personnel to fill those gaps, but more like... I knew I could find better before the ship was fully commissioned, and not by looking through personnel jackets.

Anyway, just after new years, 2183... the ship was ready for a shakedown run. The Turians wanted an observer, and my Spectre sponsor offered to be it, give him a chance to be around me, to get a feel for my personality that can't be gotten from reports.

And that's when Eden Prime was attacked.

"... Did your stomach just growl?"

Sorry, skipped breakfast this morning.

"Well, that's as good a place as any... After the break, we'll be getting the scoop on just what happened During the hunt for a rogue Spectre, and is the commander really into Asari? See you in a bit."

Asari huh? wait...Emily! I can't believe you jus-