Ashley held the name plate in her hands and breathed a sigh of sorrow.

"Why did they never find his body?"

Garrus put his hand on her shoulder. "Ash…"

"No. It doesn't make sense. Anderson's body was found intact in the Citadel's wreckage. Shepard couldn't have gone far from him – their transmitters were right next to each other when the Crucible fired. He needed to have been alive to activate it!"

"Ashley…" Garrus said sympathetically and brought her in for a hug.

Ashley began to weep. "I know he's out there, I can feel it."

Everyone stood in silence for a moment. Joker, who had kept quiet since they had taken off, pushed himself off the wall and walked over to EDI's name plate. He touched it lightly, and then looked around the room. "It's only been about a day, and the wreckage is spread out across miles of land. Shepard's body has endured worse."

Liara nodded in agreement. "That is true. He has been in this situation before and came out alive as ever."

Garrus turned around and looked at Liara. "That was a once in a lifetime chance, two years of surgery, trillions of dollars, and a goddamn miracle. If you think that could happen again-"

"Well, why the hell not?" said Ashley. "Shepard has spent his whole life defying the odds. He would've gone out and searched for any of us in a second and wouldn't have stopped until he at least found a body to bury."

"Shepard gave me another reason to live," said Cortez, appearing from around the corner. "I'll pilot the search team. I don't care how long it takes."

Garrus looked down at the ground and sighed. He looked up again at Tali, who gave him a single nod. Garrus nodded back. "Shepard gave everything to save us and didn't give it a second thought."

"So that's it, then," said Joker. "We head back to Earth and we don't stop until we find him, dead or alive."

"He's alive. I just know it," said Ashley.

"Everyone on board?" asked Joker.

James nodded. "Hell yeah, I'm in." The rest of the crew nodded in agreement.

Joker turned to the elevator and went up towards the deck. The crew started to disperse. Ashley looked down at the name plate once more, smoothing her fingers across his name. She hiccupped up a laugh of sorrow. "They didn't even have the decency to put your name on here…" She put the plate down on a nearby shelf and stared for a moment. "We'll find you, John. I promise."