As Shepard arose to the shouting of her team, she knew this day would end badly. Getting out of her bunker and storming out to the main sector, she was electrified by an unknown feeling that was clenching her stomach, she quickly dismissed it for she had no time to waste. The sudden increase in temperature and the deafening rumble before the Normandy was hit was one of the worst things that had happened to her. And Keelah knows what she's been through. The laser beam had sent devastating echoes inside the metal structure of the Normandy, which was quickly crumbling under the unexpected attack. Although Shepard had been knocked against a wall, she heard the frightened screams, anxious orders and the fumbling of armour. These sounds entered her pores and made her skin tingle. She had to save them. In pain, Shepard ran towards the escape pods to make sure her whole team was safe. As she was adjusting her armour and placing the helmet on her head, she heard Liara approach from behind, although the outcome would be far different tonight.
"Shepard! Will the alliance get here in time?"
Shepard felt the surge of responsibility rush through her spine, the situation was far too critical to spend time promising lies.
"I'm not doing this just so they can find our frozen corpses!"
She said rather harshly. Liara seemed torn between staying and leaving, knowing that Joker was still hanging onto the dying Normandy.
"Get to the damn shuttles, I'll get Joker's crippled ass out of here!".
Liara was still feeling hesitant, how could she abandon the one that had stirred up so many emotions and had put an explanation on the word "love" for her?
"I'm not leaving either."
Liara said in the authoritative voice Shepard admired so much. But she wasn't risking her, not today, or any other day for that matter, even at the price of her own life. She looked at Liara, and although her heart was pumping unbelievable doses of adrenaline, she knew her heart was aching for another reason.
"Liara, go, now."
Shepard couldn't look back, but she heard the escape pod free itself from the metal claws of the Normandy and an imperceptible sigh escaped from the lips, a painful sigh from her heart.
She ran, surrounded by the red mist of death and burning corpses. Although she could not see very well, she knew her ship by heart and made it to Joker safely. Joker's earlier screaming still rang in her head, the maydays echoing her own fears she was suppressing. She touched his shoulder and when he refused to leave, pretending he could "still save her", Shepard felt like knocking him unconscious. She went for an easier and more democratic approach. Having appealed to the most basic human instinct, she helped Joker reach the escape pod, yet when the Reaper's laser beam lacerated the Normandy and made Shepard cling onto the edge of sweet safety, she saw Joker's frightened look begging her to hang on and save him, save them. She pushed the button, successfully ejecting Joker, and was then thrown into dark space.
Millions of stars surrounded her, the explosion of the Normandy a mere illumination of the deep abyss she was floating in. She knew this was the end. She was breathing hard, desperately trying to calm herself, then she felt death's tight grip on her lungs, her head was accumulating blood and felt painfully heavy. She was struggling with an invisible enemy, trying to put the breathing tube back in place, where it should have been. Before any tears could have the time to come out and her arms dangled next to her, she slowly closed her eyes, her last sight that of the infinite dark space and the reflection of her frightened eyes inside her helmet.