AN:- I do not own Mass Effect or any of the character or plots contained within. This is a novelisation of BioWare's Mass Effect 2 written in real time as I play it.

To those who haven't read my first novelisation, Mass Effect: Into Greatness, I'd recommend going back and reading that first. I'll make references to storylines which were brought up in the first novel but not the game.

To those who are returning, hello! Good to see you again so soon. I hope you enjoy this as much as the first, if not more.

Necessarily, this game contains spoilers for Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, All related DLC, and potentially Mass Effect 3

Mass Effect: Out of the Dark

"Shepard did everything right, more than we could have hoped for." The voice was Australian, female, deep and unconsciously sensuous. It was a voice which carried confidence and self-assurance easily. Some would have said arrogant, even in such a simple sentence.

"Saving the Citadel, even saving the Council. Humanity has the trust of the entire galaxy. And still it's not enough." The woman who turned away from the stunning view was a stunning view herself, long dark hair which fell over a symmetrical face. Closer inspection would have revealed she was, if the oxymoron worked, too perfect. Her eyes were the sort of brilliant blue that only exists in films, high cheekbones that could have been sculpted from marble and full lips.

The man who answered her wasn't exactly ordinary himself, his eyes glowed blue as well, but not natural. "Our sacrifices have earned the Council's gratitude," He blew smoke through his teeth and shook his head slightly, "But Shepard remains our best hope."

The woman stalked over to him, her hips swaying hypnotically, if the man in the chair had been interested. "But they're sending her to fight geth, geth! We both know they're not the real threat." She stopped right in front of his chair, "The Reapers are still out there."

"And it's up to us to stop them."

"The Council will never trust Cerberus," Anyone who knew the name wouldn't have trusted her either. The same woman they were talking about had once spent weeks tracking down their bases and endeavours, shutting them down one by one. "They'll never accept our help, even after everything humanity has accomplished. But Shepard…" Her voice turned from sarcastic to contemplative, "They'll follow her, she's a hero, a bloody icon." Suddenly uncertain, she looked back to her boss for confirmation. "But she's just one woman. If we lose Shepard, humanity might well follow."

He blew smoke again and fixed his employee with a piercing glare, almost literally. "Then see to it that we don't lose her."

Miranda Lawson left the room, waiting until the door had cycled closed before allowing herself a long shuddering sigh. Now I just have to convince a woman who by all accounts will hate us to join our cause. She remembered the file, notes made specifically to point out how stubborn Shepard was, how determination and pigheaded stubbornness had pushed her through a confrontation with a galaxy destroying evil.

It's going to take a lot to change her mind.

Six months of fruitless border patrol was tough on everyone, especially when there was little time for shore leave. Joker found himself wondering if Shepard was ever going to let them have a break. Three months of insanity during the chase for Saren, and even in the midst of that they had found time to pause, time to collect their breath and regroup.

But it had been three months since then, and the Normandy hadn't seen dock in all that time, refuelling at stations out on the rim and hopping from system to system. He wasn't even completely sure what Shepard was looking for out here, but she seemed to know something, and all the time she had spent with Prothean knowledge in her head had to count for something, right?

He tried to put the thoughts out of his mind and concentrate on the task at hand. They were supposed to be looking for geth, but he couldn't shake the feeling there was more on Shepard's mind.

"Disengaging FTL drives, emission sinks active, board is green we are running silent." The checks were routine by now. He and the Normandy had been together ever since she had been commissioned, and from the second he had sunk into the seat of the latest the Alliance had to offer, he had known where he wanted to spend the rest of his career. There might be better to come, but they would never beat the original in his mind.

"We're wasting our time," Pressly came up behind him, sounding more distracted than annoyed. Joker had to agree with him though, even if he had heard the coming speech for almost three days straight. "Four days searching up and down this sector, and we haven't found any side of geth activity."

Joker's response was also routine by now. "Three ships went missing here in the past month, something happened to them." As always, the question is what.

"My money's on slavers. The Terminus System is crawling with them."

"Picking up something on the long range scanner," That was a change from the usual conversation. Joker looked over to where a young ensign was running through scans. The seat had once been Lieutenant Kaidan Alenkos. A long time ago. "Unidentified vessel. Hmm, looks like a cruiser."

Joker brought the data up on his own screen and examined it. the ensign had sharp eyes but no real experience yet. The skeleton crew which had carried them through the fight against Saren had been expanded a little since then. "Doesn't match any known signatures."

"Cruiser is changing course, now on intercept trajectory."

"It can't be," Pressly was sliding into his assigned station, "Stealth systems are engaged, there's no way a geth ship could possib…"

"It's not the geth!" Joker saw energy signatures light up along the front of the cruiser, and suddenly classification didn't matter so much. "Brace for evasive manoeuvres!"

The eezo kept them from feeling it as the Normandy slewed to one side, but the stars before them became blurs, the shields flaring into life as a beam of orange light pulsed into life right by the cockpit. Joker tried to pull them the other way but he had strayed too close to the nearby planet and the gravity was interfering with his manoeuvre.

The shields went immediately, and time seemed to slow as the beam pulled closer, and he had time to watch as the sensor on the Normandy reported a massive overload to the flank, and outside the window he could see explosions erupting all along the side of his ship.

Baby, no.

They escaped the planet's gravity for a moment and he was able to pull them back out towards space, but the Normandy was pulling badly, and he was down to at least forty percent power. His eyes closed as the second beam lanced out, and the Normandy juddered and shook again as the other side blew.

"Aah!" Behind him Pressly yelled and flew backwards, his console exploding, showering Joker in sparks.

Ignore it, He barely even flinched as the sparks burned holes in his arms, toggling through screens as fast as he could.

"Kinetic barriers down, multiple hull breaches, weapons offline," He turned to look at Pressly's body, noting with a detatched concern how it didn't move, and the face had been all but burned off by the proximity of the explosion. "Someone get that fire out." Was all he said, and he turned back to the controls.

Liara rushed through the ship, leaping a body and trying to pull her helmet on. She didn't know where the others were, and she didn't care. She found the object of her search by the cryopods, an extinguisher in hand and fires raging around her. Months before Liara had seen Shepard pulled alive from the wreck of the Citadel Tower, her armour and body practically fused together and every inch of her covered in blood. Yet somehow the sight of the Commander, helpless against the flames of her own broken ship, terrified her more than even Sovereign had.

"Shepard!

"Distress beacon is ready for launch." The woman's voice, as always, was calm, collected, clear. The only times she ever dropped the voice were when the two of them were alone in her quarters, shutting out the noise of the ship. But the quarters were burning mere feet away from her.

She struggled to bring her own panic down, to match the calm of her Commander, her lover, "Will the Alliance get here in time?"

Shepard turned and dropped the extinguisher, gripping her shoulders tightly and touching their helmets together, "The Alliance won't abandon us, we just need to hold on," She stepped back and went back to trying to keep her ship together, "Get everyone onto the escape shuttles."

"Joker's still in the cockpit, he won't evacuate," She tried to get close but another fire sprang up from a bulkhead. "I'm not leaving either."

This time Shepard didn't look round, "I need you to get the crew onto the evac shuttles. I'll take care of Joker."

"Shepard…" Some claimed that asari had a sixth sense, Liara had never believed it until now.

"Liara," It was subtle, the change in tone. Only someone close could ever have caught it. There was defeat in Shepard's voice, and as Liara focused, really focused, she saw how Shepard's shoulders were sagging, and her head was slightly bowed. "Go, now."

Everything in her told her to stay, to at least help Shepard carry the burden she was bearing, but in the end, she knew where the line between the bedroom and the ship lay, "Aye aye." She said, wishing she had some way to say goodbye properly, but another explosion reminded her of the situation, and she ran.

There didn't seem to be many crewmembers still on the ship. There were bodies, far too many bodies, but of the last two shuttles, one was empty and the other was filling. She helped a midshipman up and threw her towards the doors, "Everybody in," She yelled, "Go! Go! Go!"

She spared one last look back as the door began to close. She had never been one for prayer before either, but now she offered one, a short hope, one word only.

Please.

Shepard watched the display as Liara's pod left, and breathed a sigh of relief. At the very least, she had made sure that the scientist was safe. She abandoned the useless task of trying to contain the fires and rushed back through the ship, past the mess hall as the table blew in two, splinters pounding her kinetic barriers.

Up the stairs, to where the door was beginning to buckle. She activated the seal and was nearly blown over as a massive gust of wind hit her back. Escaping atmosphere. She realised immediately. She hadn't experienced it since Basic. It was done to acclimatise the troops, but normally if the atmosphere had vented, there was very little chance of winning the engagement anyway.

This was never an engagement. We were ambushed, and now I can't even save my ship. She stepped out into what had been the CIC, and stumbled as the gravity shifted beneath her feet. She thought of Tali and Adams, down in engineering, and hoped they had got out in time.

Above her a planet glowing blue, white clouds racing over it. I wonder if it'll be nice when we get down there? She wondered idly, trying to ignore the voice that asked, I wonder if we'll get down there?

Then she was through to the walkway, leading to the cockpit. Six months ago se had walked through her, wondering why she was still being sent on milk runs after Akuze. Some milk run. They didn't send SPECTREs on shake downs after all. They sent SPECTREs to die.

"Come on Joker," She ignored his distress calls, there was no one to hear. "We have to get out of here." She could hear the defeat in her own voice, but shoved it away, Joker will survive, that's the only objective now.

"No!" He yelled at her, "I won't abandon the Normandy! I can still save her."

It was a desperate plea, and they both knew it. She laid a hand on his shoulder, hard enough to bring him out of his own little world. "The Normandy's lost." It felt harder to say than to think, like saying it somehow gave it credence, made it possible. Until she had uttered the words there was always a chance. Now she was giving up, and he went slack in her grip, "Going down with the ship won't change that."

"Okay," He sounded about as good as she felt. His hands hovered for a moment longer on the controls, then dropped limply, as if the Normandy had been the only thing keeping him going, all this time, since before she had even met him. He was a part of this ship as much as she was, and it was no surprise to her that as it went down, they were the only two left alive and on board.

Maybe we should just go down with the ship. It might as well be his body, and it might as well be my heart.

The cockpit jerked forwards as they sat frozen together, and she crashed hard into the back of his command chair. The shock jolted them both back to the present, and she helped to lift him, as careful as she could be of his fragile bones. When she turned the entire back half of the ship had gone, and she was watching it drift slowly towards the planet, shredding itself apart on the upper atmosphere. If they didn't get out they would end up the same way, burning to dust above snow capped mountains.

A beautiful way to go, if hardly fun.

The back half had carried the eezo core, and without it the gravity went, leaving them weightless. With ease she lifted Joker and pushed off from the deck, spiralling towards the final escape pod. She threw joker towards it and he slid against the wall, still reaching for her as another explosion reversed her own leap and she impacted on a bulkhead, her visor cracking.

"Commander!" She heard him dimly through the helmet speakers as the doors cycled closed. "Shepard!"

In freefall, she looked around as the remains of the Normandy drifted away from her, any protection she might have hoped for hitting the atmosphere and reminding her that her own fate was only moments away.

There's a dark beauty here, if I had a taste for it. She watched bodies circling lazily across the void, dragged down by the planet to become shooting stars, marking the grave they had fallen to. I'll join them soon. Only fitting I guess.

Just as she had resigned herself to it her suit hissed and she realised her air was escaping. She grabbed for the control panel at the back, but it was far out of reach. In a second she was breathing carbon dioxide, and her heart fluttered in her chest as she heaved for something more.

No, not like this! She grabbed at her throat, as though somehow it would give her air, real air, but none was coming. Spots danced on her eyes and the starlit vista became nothing but black, colours of her own mind dancing on it. I don't want to! It's not fair! Liara.

Liara.

Liar

Lia

Li

L

Her last thought was of blue skin, cinnamon and strawberries, eyes swimming black in the midst of pleasure. Of possibilities which would never be fulfilled, and finally of a final hold, not even a proper hold, and of not ever saying goodbye.

Intense heat found its way to her skin, and Commander Shepard died.

AN:- Thanks for reading Mass Effect: Out of the Dark!

I'm kidding.

The actual Prologue of the game technically includes this and the next level, right up until you meet TIM, but when I was able to spend so long describing Shepard's death in loving detail, I thought I'd cut it here and let you enjoy the horrific image of Shepard burning to death above the planet.

Come back next chapter! Don't know when that will be, but come back for it, it's going to be awesome!