DISCLAIMER

I do not own Mass Effect or any related content, it is owned by BioWare. I do not receive anything from writing this story.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hi everyone. I'm in love with Mass Effect and I love its fanfictions. I decided that I also want to try it on my own. English is not my main language, so please forgive any grammar mistakes.

"Shepard. Are you listening to me?" Liara said while raising both her voice and herself a little bit higher from her comfortable position on the bed. Shepard was again sitting behind her desk in their cabin. Working wasn't anything unusual for the commander, she was restless, but she, most of the time, listened to her even while paying attention to her terminal.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. I'm listening." Shepard replied without even turning her head towards her young lover.

Well that's a lie if I ever saw one. Liara thought with a little smile working up on her lips. She got up from the Alliance issue bunk bed and covered up her naked body with one of the blankets casually lying next to her. She loved having more comfortable place to sleep, she was an archaeologist after all. She didn't get too much quality sleep so this was a luxury for her.

She got used to the bed after a while, as she barely left commander's side after their passionate night before Ilos, after she failed to hold her feelings any longer and gave herself to her fierce saviour. And what a night that was... she thought with large smile all over her face now. Anyway, now she thought that sleeping next to her love was the most comfortable place she could imagine and nothing could ever beat that.

The young scientist slowly made her way to the woman behind the terminal placed on the desk, covering herself from the chilly air in the room. She noticed that terminal was always perfectly aligned with the edges of the desk and not a bit wrong. It had its spot and that's the way it had to be. She never understood Shepard's obssesion with having her stuff exactly on the right place, it didn't really fit her personality in Liara's eyes.

Liara studied the commander on the way. Her beautiful shoulder-length dark red hair resembling untamed fire when she moves around battlefield wasn't according to Alliance standarts, she didn't cut it for a long time now. We didn't exactly have time for stuff like this I guess.. Liara sighed silently and placed her hand on her lover's shoulder.

"Is everything alright? You seem distracted." she asked sweetly and kissed her cheek. Shepard still didn't look on her. Now when Liara was close and had her hand on the woman she loved, she realized how tense Shepard was. Her posture was stiff and hard. The maiden learned how to study humans a little bit better, spending so much time with, not only the commander but the whole Alliance crew, has taught her more than most aliens could notice. She is one very observant asari. Something is obviously wrong.

"I have a bad feeling about this mission, Liara. My gut tries to tell me something. And my gut feelings are never wrong." Shepard frowned. "I know it's just reconnaissance, but so many ships lost in this area in such short time. We have never even received any SOS or warnings. Something is fishy here..." she said in low, dark voice. She got ever more tense, Liara felt the subtle change.

Liara was familiar with Shepard's reputation and with all events that happened to her in her short life. 26-year old soldier had endured a lot, more than she should have in her whole life. That surely caused the ruthless attitude she was known for. It scared the maiden when she first heard about it during one of the lunches aboard the Normandy, a fascinating human-turian design space frigate. It wasn't like the crew was scared of the commander.. Well, maybe some of them were. But the respect for her was so big and strong you could almost see it materialized.

She admired how strong her love was. Having her family and all people she knew slaughtered right before her own eyes, sights like that can change a person completely. It would probably break her, she thought. Although Liara wasn't sure if Shepard was like that even before because no one knew. And those who knew, well... Those people died on Mindoir along with information about the first human Spectre. She never let anyone get close to her, only the asari doctor. It made everyone wonder why.

"We will not be careless, Shepard. Joker and bridge crew are doing a splendid work, no Geth ship can surprise us. And on top of that, we haven't encountered a single Geth ship during these two months we are searching this cluster. Don't worry so much, we are being careful."

"This is not about trust, Liara, you know I trust my crew..." she finally rose from her chair, though movement shook Liara's hand down from her shoulder. She made a few steps towards the bed.

"This is a waste of our time, we know what's coming and Alliance keeps brushing us off with this bullshit!" she growled, visibly angry. Fortunately, Liara already knew how to calm the soldier down at least a bit. She wasn't hurt, she knew well that her rising anger wasn't pointed at her. She was absolutely sure that Shepard would never hurt her. Ever.

"Shepard, we both know that..."

BOOM.

Normandy has shaken and both Liara and Shepard fell to the ground. Ship alarms started to loudly scream, it was literally impossible to overhear it.

Shepard's instincts were sharp as a blade, in a second she was next to Liara and helped her to get up.

"Are you hurt?" she inquired, even though her voice switched to a commander mode, there was a hint of worry. Her grip on Liara's hips was strong, but somehow it felt gentle, careful. Liara's lips formed a small smile as the soldier quickly looked for a sign of injury on her body.

"I'm fine, don't worry."

"Alright, let's go grab our gear. On the double!"

Shepard's locker wasn't located down in the shuttle bay as everyone else's. She had her locker next to the medbay as the only one. Luckily, there were few other lockers next to hers that no one used, so Shepard stored her old suits of armor there in case of an emergency. She never sold them, just kept them hidden away.

"Take this armor, Liara. We have almost the same size." she handed her one of those older suits. A pink-white Phoenix.

"Finally, your need to have everything organized and on its place has paid off. Besides, I look much better in these colors than you do." she teased. Shepard rolled her eyes, holding back a smile and they both quickly strapped on their armors.

Liara watched the Normandy crumble from a window in the escape pod. She did as Shepard commanded, gathering as many crew members as she could and taking them to safety, while Shepard had to go for Joker who refused to leave his ship.

Last escape pod was still in its designed spot, waiting to be launched by commander and her pilot. She has already found out that Pressly wouldn't make it. The initial blast killed him.

The asari was getting really nervous, unknown ship was destroying the Normandy fast and Shepard was apparently still on board. Garrus watched her nervously, he was trying to look calm so he wouldn't scare the doctor even more. Everybody was silent, as if praying that their leader makes it out alive along with Joker of course.

I will not lose you, Shepard. Fists clenched harder, so hard that she drew blood with her fingernails, tears started to creep out in her eyes. She would not see her bondmate die, not now when she only began to live. And she wanted to live by Shepard's side.

"We received a SOS from our sleeper agent abroad the Normandy, sir. They are being attacked and they are losing quickly."

"Contact Miss Lawson and her team and tell them to get on the way. We need to be there sooner than the Alliance."

"At once, sir."

The Illusive Man took a silent puff from his cigarette and aimed his gaze at the dying sun in front of him. Drops of condensed water were sliding down on the bottle of his '54 Thessia Red, smoke slowly disappearing around him.

He knew it was a Collector ship destroying the Normandy. He knew exactly where the Normandy was and why it was attacked, he had people watching them closely. He knew that it could have all been prevented.

But The Illusive Man needed Shepard. And he needed her without the Alliance. And he always gets what he wants.