A/N- Oneshot AU where the raid on Mindoir never occurred, meaning femshep never joined the Alliance. Inspired by TS Eliot's "The Hollow Men." Obviously I own nothing (thanks Bioware), except an apparently dark worldview.
The mission was a failure. Mindoir, the last world untouched by the Reaper Harvest, had fallen. A small window for civilian extraction occurred when the Reapers suddenly withdrew from the immediate area. But Commander Alenko could find no survivors. Above him the naval battle continued as the Alliance made its final stand.
He found a woman on her knees digging through the rubble. She looked up. "Please soldier! You need to help me find him!"
Alenko could see her face along with one or two perfect children featured on a war propaganda poster. The colony woman – the shining hope of humanity in these terrible times. However she was not untouched by the violence. She wore a tattered jumpsuit. He could make out part of her name embroidered above her heart, "Shepa," but the remainder appeared burnt off. Her red hair was stained with grey ash. Her eyes were haunted.
"Ma'am, I am here to evacuate any survivors. We need to get you off planet before the Reapers return."
"You don't understand! He has to be alive!"
"Where did you last see him?"
The woman pointed at the building half standing, half crushed under the wreckage of a downed Alliance vessel. She scratched her fingernails uselessly against the fallen concrete.
Alenko found no signs of life as he scanned the ruins with his omni tool. "Who are you looking for?"
"My son. I just want to hold him again… his daddy died on the Citadel. I can't leave him down there."
"I'm sorry. If your son was in this building he is no longer alive. I need you to stay with me till we get off planet."
She looked at him. Her eyes were suddenly much more vibrant. "Are you a father, soldier?"
"Its Commander Kaidan Alenko, ma'am. And no, I'm not."
She paused. Her hands were bleeding. "Then I don't expect you to understand."
"Commander we're under heavy fire. I'm coming around to pick you up before I get blown out of the sky."
Alenko tapped his comm unit. "Understood. Shake 'em off best you can. I have one survivor with me for extraction."
"I copy. Give me a few minutes."
Alenko looked back at the survivor. She sat with her arms on her knees, shaking with soundless sobs. Tears cut trails through the grime on her face. He approached her slowly, like he would an injured animal, and put an armored hand on her shoulder. The shaking stopped.
"I knew he was gone," she said. "The moment that ship went down I knew. I never should have left him out of my sight."
"I'm sure there is nothing more you could have done."
She looked up at him. "People tell you that, but it never seems to help."
"No," Alenko chuckled. "No it doesn't." They sat in silence for a moment.
"Commander, come in."
"I hear you, Joker. Where are you?"
"They can sense me somehow ZzZZZZ Reapers inbound to your position zZZZz Can't shake them off…"
"Joker, repeat! That last message was garbled."
There was no response.
"Joker, come in!"
The woman opened her eyes. "What just happened?"
"My ship is down. There is not going to be an extraction."
"Can you raise another ship?"
Alenko smiled. The situation was absurdly funny. "There are no other ships. Reapers are inbound."
She just looked at him. "I guess this is it, then. The end."
He nodded. His hand still sat on her shoulder. He decided to leave it there for now.
"I would rather it be here, surrounded by my home. At least my son will not have to wait long for me, wherever we are going." She paused. "If we do go anywhere." She stood up and grabbed his hand. "Come on."
They walked to the only building still completely standing, the clock tower in the town square. Alenko followed the woman up several flights of stairs until they reached the top.
"What are we doing?" He asked.
The woman climbed out of a blown out window onto the roof of the tower. She stuck her head upside down and shouted over the wind, "Something I've always meant to try. Get up here."
He followed. The view from the rooftop was amazing, despite the panorama of destruction in the foreground. But in the distance, beyond the colony, Alenko saw the sun setting into flat and untouched grasslands.
"Life will continue on," he said. The woman next to him smiled in agreement. For the first time in three years Alenko felt at peace.
The ground shook and the clouds above tore apart. The Reaper landed level to the top of the tower, opening its carapace to reveal a targeting laser the color of a dying star. The woman's tightened her grip on his hand.
She whimpered. "I'm afrai…"
The tower collapsed from the force of the Reaper's beam.