| abstract | - The Normandy SR1 silently cruised through space. Its engines would have hummed gently, if there was any air to make noise with. It slowly began to establish an orbit around a nearby planet as it slowed down. "Disengaging FTL drives," Jeff "Joker" Monroe said. "Emission sinks active. The board is green…we are running silent." "We're wasting our time," Presley said. The navigator was looking at the readings the ship's scans took, but found nothing. "Four days of searching up and down this sector and we haven't found any geth activity." "Three ships went missing here in the past month," Joker replied. "Something happened to them." "My money's on slavers. The Terminus System's crawling with them. "Picking up something on the long-range scanners," an ensign said. "Unidentified vessel…it looks like a cruiser." "Doesn't match any known signatures," Joker said, curious about the new spacecraft. As the Normandy sailed through space, a grotesque cylindrical spaceship appeared behind it. The ship was rigid and had several large, metallic rings around it. The ship began following the Normandy. "Cruiser is now changing course," the ensign read from the scanners. "Now on intercept trajectory." "Can't be!" Presley exclaimed as Joker looked at the energy signatures more closely. "Stealth systems are engaged. There's no way a geth ship could-" "It's not the geth," Joker said darkly. "Brace For Evasive Maneuvers!" The end of the cylindrical ship began to glow a fierce shade of orange and yellow as its weapons came online. The ship fired a devastating energy beam that tore straight through the Normandy! The control panel in front of Presley exploded, sending the navigator flying to the ground. "Presley!" the ensign cried as he jumped to her feet. She fell to the ground as the Normandy shook from another explosion. Sparks flew out of the ceiling and wires as the Normandy was torn about by weapons fire. Explosions rumbled outside the ship as the unidentified vessel continued firing. "Kinetic Barriers down!" Joker said in panic. The pilot glanced behind him and saw the hallway engulfed in flames. "Multiple hull breaches! Weapons off-line! Somebody get that fire out!" He heard a crash as a flaming piece of debris fell to the floor behind him. The familiar hiss of fire extinguishers could be heard over the explosions outside. The cylinder continued firing, and the Normandy turned into a massive fireball. The ship was streaked with red scorch marks and was blackened from explosions. Normandy spun out of control as it began to fall apart. Alarms buzzed throughout the Normandy as the crew desperately ran for the evacuation shuttles. A woman sprinted through the flaming hall, past the bodies of her crewmates. She struggled to get her space suit on while running through the smoke and flames. She could hear the screams of the crew who were caught in the explosions…burned alive. The woman began stumbling as the ship was rocked from another explosion. There was a loud crash as the ceiling began to fall down. She covered her face to shield it from another explosion as she ran up to a man, in a black space suit, at the end of the hall. "Shepard!" the woman called as Shepard put on his helmet. "Distress beacon is ready for launch," Shepard said calmly as he turned and faced Ashley, who put her helmet on. "Will the Alliance get here in time?" Ashley asked worriedly. They both heard an explosion on the deck above them as that deck was completely obliterated. Ashley fell forwards as the explosion rocked the ship. Shepard caught her and looked her through the helmet. "The Alliance won't abandon us," Shepard said. He grabbed a fire extinguisher at the side and tossed it to Ashley. "We just need to hold on. Get everyone onto the escape shuttles!" "Joker's still in the cockpit! He won't abandon ship. I'm not leaving either!" "I need you to get the crew onto the evac-shuttles. I'll take care of Joker." Shepard stumbled to a control panel and began to type in override codes to let emergency doors open so the crew could get to the escape pods. "Commander!" Ashley protested. "Ashley, go!" Shepard turned his head and looked at her. "Now." Ashley looked back at Shepard, still reluctant to obey. "Aye, aye," she finally said. She turned and sprinted down the hall. Ashley made it to one of the escape shuttles as it was being loaded. "Everybody in!" she called. "Go, Go, Go!" Several of the crew jumped into the shuttle which was already overloaded. Ashley saw an engineer running towards the shuttle, desperately trying to escape the explosions. This has to be the last one. Once the engineer is in, she will jump in and join the evacuees. A massive explosion suddenly flew down the hall and engulfed the engineer in flames. The engineer's limp body fell to the floor. There was nothing Ashley could do, the engineer was dead. She got into the shuttle and closed the door. The side of the Normandy opened up, revealing a rack of escape shuttles. One by one they began to eject until only a small handful were left. Shepard stumbled down the hall through the flames towards the cockpit. He had to get Joker out. "Mayday, mayday, mayday!" Joker yelled over the radio. "This is SSV Normandy! We've suffered heavy damage from an unknown enemy!" A pipe burst in Shepard's face and steam covered his visor. As the Commander pressed forwards, he began to climb up the flight of stairs that would lead to the cockpit. As the door in front of him opened, the air was suddenly sucked out. The room that led to the cockpit was completely open to the cold of space. Shepard made his way across the room as he watched pieces of the ship float off into space. As Shepard finally reached the cockpit, he could see Joker, in his space suit, still at the controls. "Come on, Joker!" Shepard said as he reached the pilot. "We have to get out of here!" "No, I won't abandon the Normandy," Joker said desperately. "I can still save her!" "The Normandy's lost! Going down with the ship won't change that!" Joker looked at the control panel in despair. "Yeah…ok. Help me up." Shepard grabbed Joker's arm and dragged him to his feet. The pilot and the Commander could see the enemy ship through the missing ceiling. "They're coming around for another attack!" Shepard dragged Joker to the last escape shuttle. The commander looked behind him and his eyes widened in terror when he saw a massive wall of fire traveling down the hall towards them! "Commander!" Joker yelled in panic as an explosion threw Shepard off the ground and into space. Shepard watched as he helplessly drifted away from the Normandy. He groaned in annoyance as he floated away, but his groan was not the only noise. There was a faint hissing sound. Shepard suddenly realized that the explosion had damaged his suit; he could see the air leaking out of it. Shepard desperately tried to find a way to stop of the leakage but the air kept escaping. He kept struggling with his helmet, trying to find some way to stop the air. Joker watched as Shepard began to float out into space…towards the atmosphere of the planet…towards inevitable death. "SHEPARD!" "SHEPARD!!" Tali bolted up in bed. She looked around her bedroom to make sure she knew where she was. She slowly stood up and looked into the mirror beside her bed. It was a dream…it was a dream. She was not on the Normandy now, she was on the Citadel. But…that did not change what happened. Commander Shepard was dead. Tali turned towards her bed and froze. How did this happen? Why did it happen? Why? Why? Tali sniffled as she remembered what they went through, how Shepard saved the colonists on Feros, how he fought Saren on Virmire. She remembered his face as he laid his eyes on the Thorian, as he watched Kaiden die on Virmire. After all that they have been through, Shepard died while trying to save the Normandy's crew. Tali fell to her knees; her hands on her helmet, crying.
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