Chapter Text
Coming out of the relay jump was uncomfortable as ever.
Shepard sighed. Someone had to investigate these disappearances, but did the Navy really have to send the Normandy? The SSV Ain Jalut was supposed to be commissioning in a few months, and it wasn’t like the disappearances were particularly recent.
Then again, people didn’t seem to take the Reaper threat seriously. Or believe her.
The latter part stung, but it was quelled by remembering Hackett and Anderson taking her reports seriously. Sending her on the most significant trail they had; the geth.
“-th. All hands, brace for evasive manoeuvres!” Joker’s voice was tight but agitated.
Shepard clambered up immediately, striding over to the armour locker with powerful steps. The hardsuit had begun fitting a little more poorly since she’d begun her course of medication. Frustrating, even as it made her more aware of the changes in her body.
A few short months after she’d talked to Chakwas, and it had only been weeks since Saren’s death and her treatment beginning.
The comm lit up as she strapped the hardsuit on, activating the link to the bridge.
“-barriers down. Multiple hull breaches. Weapons offline. Somebody get that fire out!” Joker’s voice was more tense now, impacts rocking the hull as he spoke.
There was nothing for it. The Normandy was going down.
Shepard took off towards the beacon, just getting it primed when a voice interrupted her.
“Shepard!” Ashley was suited up, right behind her.
“Distress beacon is ready for launch.” She turned, sealing her helmet on properly.
“Will the Alliance get here in time?”
A good question, but she couldn’t afford to answer it honestly. “I don’t know” doesn’t go down well with the people under your command. Instill hope was one of Anderson’s early lessons.
“The Alliance won’t abandon us. We just need to hold on. Get everyone onto the escape shuttles.” She grabbed an extinguisher, tossing it to Ashley.
“Joker’s still in the cockpit. He won’t abandon ship. I’m not leaving, either.”
She strode over, taking the extinguisher back. “I need you to get the crew onto the evac shuttles. I’ll take care of Joker.”
Another impact hit barely a metre from Shepard, and she staggered.
“Commander...” Ashley’s voice came through a little distorted.
“Ashley. Go. Now.” Her own voice came through a little winded. That last impact must’ve thrown me a little harder than I’d realised.
“Aye, aye.” The hesitance was gone from Ashley’s posture as soon as she turned, running towards the pods.”
Shepard slammed the launch key, sending off the beacon. Ashley’s voice filtered through, faint against the blaring alarms and continued damage.
Another impact threw Shepard backwards, and she spun quickly, orienting herself towards the CIC.
Running through the ship was harder than she’d expected, somehow.
“Mayday, mayday, mayday! This is SSV Normandy.”
Not just physically, but emotionally too. Her ship, reduced to a deadly environment with hazards around every corner.
“We’ve suffered heavy damage from an unknown enemy.”
The stairs were tough with the debris scattered, but they were intact enough to climb.
“Come on, baby. Hold together. Hold together!” Joker’s voice was almost a whisper now, a quiet entreaty to his beloved ship.
The doors yielded and the air flooded out, crashing giving way to unbearable silence. Shepard’s heartbeat pounded loud in her ears, her breath coming in quick gasps.
The debris of the connecting passage was easy to brush aside as her magboots locked onto the flooring. The field yielded easily to her, Joker visible in his seat. Sound flooded back into her helmet.
Damn it, Joker.
“Come on, Joker! We have to get out of here!” Her words tasted like ash as she spoke them, but she pressed on.
“No! I won’t abandon the Normandy! I can still save her!”
She grasped hold of the seat again as she tipped back. “The Normandy ’s lost. Going down with the ship won’t change that.”
He took a moment before nodding. “Yeah… okay. Help me up.”
She moved, but he grabbed the controls again. “They’re coming round for another attack!”
He pulled the ship around, staggering her as the beam weapon tore through the CIC again. She grabbed Joker’s forearm, levering him up into an improvised human crutch carry.
“Ah! Watch the arm!”
She winced internally but pressed on, getting him into a pod just as another beam slammed into the deck behind her.
A glance over to the side confirmed debris hurtling towards her. She braced against the rim but felt herself thrown free, catching onto the release panel.
Well, shit. Joker was in the last pod, and with that powerful beam separating them, there was no way she was getting back in there.
She slammed a hand down on the release panel just as the ship rocked her free.
“Shepard!”
A blast threw Shepard clear of the ship, a loud hissing sound chilling her to the bone. She twisted round, gloved hands desperately trying to plug the leak. Too many.
The ship tore apart around her, another explosion casting her free of the debris. Her breath came quick, too quick.
Her hands fumbled as she grabbed for her duct tape pouch. She could see the escape pods fly free of the gutted ship, taking a gentler course towards land.
The air thinned rapidly in her suit as she flailed, falling to single digits on her display. Her arms began to still, exhaustion setting in.
So this was how she'd go; surrounded by the stars she loved. Her vision dimmed, followed by her awareness, almost shutting down as she flew towards the planet below. It was a good run. Even if most of it was spent in denial.
The warm buffeting of the atmosphere was a rude shock when it came, air flooding her suit. An exhausted and hazy brain vaguely noted the unbreathable mixture, and she gasped as her lungs were forced to expand.
They burned as she burned, as she froze and fell.