All around, the roar of orange and red blazed. The crew's screams rang in the air. The helmet's dark visor blocked the heat from reaching her face. An asari woman called out to her.
"Shepard!"
She knew that voice.
"Go. Now."
This voice was her own.
The hull was breached. Surviving crew escaped in pods.
The voice over the comm tells her otherwise. He was calling for help. She knew he wasn't going to go.
He wasn't going to leave the Normandy. Not unless she dragged him out.

"I can still save her!"

His shouts were inaudible to her. The look of horror he gave as the pod doors closed.
The last time she would see him.
The last face she would see before she died.

Her oxygen escaped into the vacuum of space. Her body began to freeze. She clawed at the supply to her suit, at her throat. Her mind raced -
Is this it?
Is this how it ends?
Oh God...

She couldn't breathe...

I need to breathe...

"...showing awareness to her surroundings..."

I need to breathe!

"... not ready yet! Give her more sedatives."

Jocelyn Shepard jolted awake, gasping for air. The glaring white light above her blinded her. Her heart raced, lodging itself in her throat. She could hear her own raspy breathing, but she couldn't feel it.

I need to breathe!

"Lie still. Just try to stay calm."

Shepard had tried to reach up. She tried to touch something, to feel something. A blurred figure standing beside her grabbed her wrist to place it back down. Shepard's hand was bare. She was outside of her suit.

"Heart rate still climbing. Brain activity is off the charts!"

I can't breathe...

Shepard rasped for air. It filled her lungs, but she couldn't breathe. She was still in space. The vacuum was still choking her. The vertigo returned. The hyperventilation brought in nothing but false ideas. She could feel it swell her lungs, but she still felt as if she were dying.

"Stats pushing into the red zone. It's not working!"

I need to breathe!

"Another dose. Now!"

Shepard's heart throbbed painfully in her ears. The distant sound of beeping matched the pulse pounding in her skull. The white light brought tears to her hurting eyes.
The sound of a release in pressure took away her heart's quickening pace, drastically enough that Shepard thought she had finally died.

"Heart rate dropping."

She could still hear her breathing – that, too, had slowed.

"... ats falling back into normal range..."

The voices began to dull. They were fading away.

The terror has passed.

Her eyelids felt heavy.

The blanket of space no longer covered her nose and her mouth. The gentle rush of oxygen dragged over the skin of her lips as her chest rose and fell. That itself was enough to reassure her.

"... too close... almost lost her..."

Voices were muffled against the mind-numbing drugs that filled her.
Shepard lifted her aching eyes in effort. The same figure leaned over her.
She had black hair. A woman.
The commander's fading vision blocked out all other details.

"... told you... estimates... run numbers again..."

Vision began to fade even further.
The air flowed deep within her lungs. The ache disappeared.
Her senses disappeared.

I can breathe.

I'm still alive.