Fleets Withdraw From Luna; Shepard Speaks
Today the force of Asari, Geth and Turian warships assembled over Luna withdrew back to their respective fleets, after a nearly 24 hour standoff saw recently-friendly fleets locked in a standoff over Luna.
The combined fleet was deployed around Luna to pressure the Alliance into releasing war hero Commander Jenna Shepard, who was apparently being held in an Alliance facility on Luna's surface. The withdrawal followed a lengthy closed-door session of the Inter-species Summit, which met without any representatives from Earth due to their walk-out protest yesterday when it was first discovered that Commander Shepard was being held in an Alliance facility. By agreement in the Summit, Primarch Victus of the Turian Hierarchy was allowed to visit the Alliance's indoctrination treatment center and speak to Commander Shepard, who has apparently been living there since the Battle of Earth.
Following the visit, Primarch Victus issued a statement: "I am satisfied that Commander Shepard is not being held against her will and is being accorded the respect due to a sentient of her stature. The Inter-species Summit will continue to monitor the situation, but for the moment we're satisfied that she's alright." The Primarch pledged that an investigation into the affair would continue. "The Alliance will face a lot of hard questions about exactly what happened here."
Primarch Victus also presented a brief recorded video message from the Commander:
[Video not available in this archive]
Transcript follows:
"Hello, I'm Commander Shepard. I'm sorry that I haven't spoken to you before now. The truth is, I wasn't up to it after the battle. I had a lot of Reaper contact before and during the war. At the very end of the battle I was beginning to feel the effects of indoctrination. Fortunately I was with an exceptional team, and they completed the mission without me. Despite me.
"I want to say two things. First, I'm here, I'm safe, and the last thing I want anyone to do is fight because of me. We all stood together to fight the Reapers. A lot of people died to make that Alliance real. Don't throw it away now.
"Second, I'm ok. I was feeling the effects of indoctrination. Indoctrination is a spectrum - we've known that since before the Battle of the Citadel. At one end are the monsters the Reapers made out of our fallen soldiers and loved ones. At the other end are people affected by Reaper contact who are struggling with strange thoughts and feelings. If that's you, or you're afraid it might be - you don't have to live with it. You can get better. The people here can help you. They helped me.
"Thanks. That's all I wanted to say. That, and... it's late, and I'm sorry, but... we won. Thank you to everyone. Survivors on Earth, fighters in the fleets. Thank you."
The Sol Bulletin attempted to reach some of Shepard's known associates, such as Garrus Vakarian and Admiral Tali'Zorah, but located nobody who was willing to comment. Major Kaidan Alenko answered the Sol Bulletin's emails with a brief statement in which he implicitly confirmed he fought alongside Shepard on the Citadel: "I won't contradict the Commander's story. But I have to set one thing straight: we couldn't have done it without her, and I'm not being polite or making a point. I mean Hammer and Sword would have failed and the Crucible would never haved fired if not for what Shepard did up there."
Alliance High Command has not issued a statement and spokespeople refused to comment. The Alliance did, however, quietly and without fanfare release Miranda Lawson, Kasumi Goto and Khalisah al-Jilani from custody.
Yay! They're free! I love the fact that it was done so quietly... no conspiracy there, no sir. Bastards
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