Gunnery Chief Ashley Madeline Williams felt her heart racing with a pace she had not felt since helping Commander Shepard defeat Saren and Sovereign a month and a half ago during the battle for the Citadel. Then, like now, it was not a good feeling at all.

Strapped into her chair in the emergency escape pod, Ash looked around at the crew members with her. They were as shocked and frightened as her; even Dr. Chakwas looked suddenly frail and old. Ash imagined she looked much the same. There were no windows in the escape pod bar the small one in the hatch, and in fear of being attacked by the mysterious vessel that had destroyed the Normandy, radio silence was the standard order. Ash wanted nothing more than to radio out to Joker and Shepard in the last pod, to reassure herself that Shepard had done the right thing a few minutes ago. Ash knew in her head that he was right, but her feelings had clouded her vision in a way they never had before. Fear it seemed could undermine even the best training in the world, and combined with her feelings about Shepard, she had panicked instead of acting calmly. Ash was not proud of herself for that, but as the Commander had taught her, she let the matter go and moved on.

With nothing else to do but wait, Ash closed her eyes and let her mind drift over the last hour. Nothing seemed real; the horror hadn't had time to sink in yet. Ash knew the tears would come soon enough, but for now she bit her lip and let her mind drift.

Not an hour ago, the SSV Normandy SR-1 had dropped out of hyperspace to investigate another possible sighting of geth stragglers. As in the previous 3 weeks, there was nothing to be found. The intel had again proven to be useless. Everyone was starting to feel the frustration build at constantly finding nothing. After the battle at the Citadel, the crew had expected to be sent on more serious missions to investigate the Reaper threat, but here they were chasing phantom geth instead.

The appearance of the massive and strange alien ship changed all of that, forever. Without warning or provocation the ship opened fire on the Normandy. Despite all of her advanced technology and shields, the beam impacted the Normandy hard. Joker was doing his utmost to outmanoeuvre the alien ship, but no matter what he did the ship kept firing on them. The initial attack had taken out the tantalus drive core, as well as the FTL engines and long range communications. The Normandy was a sitting duck.

Ash had ran down from the command deck, where she had been helping the injured. She ran towards Shepard, who was preparing to launch a distress beacon. She had asked him if the Alliance would make it in time, and he had responded that they would. She informed him that Joker was still trying to save the ship, and that she was heading back to get him. Commander Craig Shepard looked at her and ordered her to get to the escape pods instead. Ash didn't want to leave him, but after a feeble objection and last look in his eyes, Ashley ran. She didn't want to part from him like this, but she hoped to apologise after they were all safely off of the ship. Along the way, Ash helped fallen crew members reach the pods. Just as she got into her pod, another blast had shaken the ship. With a last look around to make sure there was no one else to save, Ash closed the door and hit the button next to the door. She strapped herself in and let the pod do its automatic escape routine. She had to trust that Shepard would do the right thing.

Back in the present, Ash kept her eyes closed and said a prayer for those who hadn't made it out of the lower decks in time. Those people had died true heroes, and Ash hoped that their families could take comfort in that. At that moment, Ash wanted nothing more to hold Shepard again and whisper in his ear that she loved him. "This is Dr. Liara T'Soni. Can anyone hear me? Is anyone out there? Someone please respond!" Liara's panicked voice burst out over the comm. channel, startling everyone. Ash felt herself jerked back to reality and opened her eyes.

She reached up to key her mike when she heard check-ins from Garrus, Wrex and Tali. "This is Ashley, is everyone ok out there?" Ash asked. Everyone radioed back affirmative. Ash keyed her mike again "Ashley to Joker and Shepard, please come in. Ashley to Joker and Shepard, come in please!" There was no answer. Ashley's racing heart picked up the tempo even further, and a sudden cold and clammy sweat broke out all over her body. Silence was not good at all. "Please God, let him be alive," Ash repeated over and over in her mind.

Just as she was reaching to key her mike again, Joker's voice came over the link. From the very first note of his voice, Ashley's heart stopped racing and started to thump painfully instead. She had never heard this kind of tone in Joker's voice before, a mix of anger, horror and unbelievable pain. "Joker to everyone. I am alone in the pod, I repeat, I am alone in the pod. Commander Shepard didn't make…..it. Oh God, I saw him get spaced!" Joker's voice choked off into sobs at what had just happened, as he relayed that Shepard's suit had been damaged during the final blast, and that he was venting oxygen out of the suit. Somehow, Joker had seen this through the tiny window in the door, powerless to do anything.

Ashley could hear a scream coming from somewhere, she couldn't make out who it was from. Her mind simply could not accept it. Shepard had survived everything Saren and Sovereign had thrown at him and had come out stronger. Apart from the loss of Kaidan on Virmire, there had been far less damage than anyone thought could be possible under the circumstances. This attack was terrible but he would make it through. Surely Joker was living up to his name, even in this terrible moment?

Ash blinked and was surprised to find her vision blurred. She couldn't understand why her cheeks were wet either. Must be the heat in this pod she thought. The first hand on her arm was a surprise. Why was someone holding onto her? In the background, that awful screaming was still going on. Ash wished that whoever it was would stop it. Another hand took her other arm, grabbing tighter this time. Ash tried to shake it off but there were suddenly even more hands on her. Dimly, she heard Dr. Chakwas say something, but for some reason the words were not clear. Ash looked up to see Dr. Chakwas take the needle out of a small bottle and advance towards her. Why would she need an injection? She was fine! She felt a prick and a small pain as the injection was stabbed into her arm.

Ashley blinked twice, and her world went black.