A/N: This is my first attempt at a Mass Effect fanfic. The story will take place after Mass Effect 3, but will flashback to Mass Effect 1-3. Some of the flashbacks will not be things that happened in the game, but they will follow the storyline. My original idea was a Shenko because I romanced Kaidan in all three games, but that was a mistake. I realized Garrus was a much better fit. But, if you're a Shenko fan speak up, I don't mind mixing things up a little and writing a Shenko. I don't really want this to be an AU, so I will try to keep it as close as possible.

I did not use the Gen Shepard, nor did I use the Gen Shepard name Jane. So the references to her looks will be from the Shepard I used in my game. If this bothers you, I apologize. You may picture her to be however you want her to be. The name and the looks do not define the story. So please give this a shot.


After Commander Shepard chose synthesis on the Citadel, peace was spread throughout the galaxy to organics and synthetics alike. The war was over, but the battle was just beginning. Even with the reaper's help to rebuild; colonies, cities, planets still laid in ruins. The council was forced to live with the decisions they made four years before. They chose to ignore Shepard's warning; they now had to watch their own people try to pull their lives back together.

After the synthesis, the Normandy crashed on an unexplored planet near earth. The atmosphere was identical to that of Earth, but it was completely organic. No synthetics, computers, no technology except what was on the ships that landed there. After a short exploration of the area surrounding their ship, they located two shuttles carrying a handful of refugees who were forced to land there. It had been only three days since the incident, and the crew was trying to make the best of it. They knew they weren't going to be leaving for a while, so they tried to make themselves at home.

"And if I'm up there in that bar and you're not…I'll be looking down. You'll never be alone."

Her final words to him were now just whispers that filled his head as he sat along the water's edge. He stared up at Earth, though it appeared so close there in the sky, he knew they weren't going to see it anytime soon. He knew he would probably never see Palaven again. He replayed his last moments with her over and over in his head. He wished he could have held here there in that spot with him, never let her go. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"I've never felt so alone Shepard." The sound of footsteps behind him broke his solitary moment. He opened his eyes and turned his head to see Joker standing there. "Though for someone who feels as alone as I do, I certainly can't get a few moments to myself around here."

"It was a long walk from the ship…so I'm just going to assume it's ok that I sit with you, I'm not actually going to ask." He carefully sat down on the ground next to him and looked up at the sky. "It's strange to think we were just there a few days ago huh?" He reached his hand up, "It's like we can almost touch it." He leaned back on his hands, "I wonder what's happening there. I know they are probably trying to rebuild after the war, but…you can only do so much. You can't get back the lives you lost…" he stopped and quickly looked at Garrus, "Sorry. Damn, I told Liara and Tali I wasn't any good at this, but they insisted. Well I made it almost five seconds before saying anything stupid."

Garrus forced a chuckle and shook his head, "It's the thought that counts I guess." He leaned back on his hands too and watched the water. "What are the odds they ended up like us?"

"Hmm, you mean stranded on a planet with a handful of humans and very few other species? Well, it'll make repopulation nearly impossible," he shrugged.

"Says the man with an AI girlfriend," Garrus said quickly, shooting him a look.

Joker laughed a little, "Alright, I'll give you that one. Though I guess the Asari would be ok huh?" There was silence for a moment as he thought about what he was going to say next. "I know…Shepard made the ultimate sacrifice for everyone…but…if it wasn't for her," he sat up and looked at Garrus now, "EDI is alive now because of her. I just wish…she were here to see her." Garrus didn't look at him, nor did he say anything to him. Joker sighed a little, "Sorry, I guess it's too soon. I just…I just wanted…" he stopped and threw a rock in the water. "Sorry."

There was silence for a moment before Garrus got to his feet and brushed himself off, "We should head back."

"Yeah, Tali and EDI think they are on the verge of restoring power to the Normandy." He slowly got to his feet and brushed himself off. "At least now we'll be able to take hot showers. Not that I care, but I'm tired of hearing some of the women whine about bathing in the cold creek."

"They probably wouldn't mind so much if James would stop offering to help warm them up," Garrus joked, trying to lighten up the awkwardness between them.

"Good point," Joker forced a small laugh, still feeling a little tension. He started back toward the Normandy, but stopped when he realized Garrus wasn't behind him. He turned around, "You coming?"

Garrus took one last long look at Earth, "Yeah…yeah I'm coming."


"Alright, everyone get ready. This is it," Tali announced, stepping back from the open panel. "If this doesn't work, so help me I will forfeit being a Quarian. I have spent my entire life on a ship, if I cannot make the lights turn on…" she trailed off, shaking her head.

Joker and Garrus approached the ship just in time to see the show. Everyone gathered around Tali, their fingers crossed.

"Come on Tali," Joker mumbled, rubbing his hands together, "Hot food, cool rooms, lights that turn on so I'll stop tripping on that Damn stair every time I exit the ship."

Everyone watched closely, praying that Tali had fixed it. Garrus seemed distracted though, not really paying attention to what was going on. In the distance he spotted something odd and started walking in that direction.

"Three, two, one," Tali counted down before hitting the switch. The Normandy hummed for a moment before all the lights came on, "Oh Keelah! It worked!"

Everyone cheered, this was the best news they'd had in days. They needed this moment; they needed this one simple thing to celebrate. Joker looked over to where Garrus had been standing and he wasn't there. He looked around a little and saw him standing on the other side of the clearing, watching something.

"Garrus?" He started toward him.

He watched him as he made his way across the clearing. Suddenly Garrus turned around and started running toward the Normandy.

"Fire!" he yelled, running past Joker.

Joker turned around and followed him as fast as he could move, "Fire? What fire?"

Garrus reached the ship, "There's a wall of black smoke off in the distance. It a few miles out, but I think we need to check it out."

It took everyone a moment to even realize he was talking, but when they did they started to panic. They looked around at each other, waiting to see who would step up to guide them.

"Cortez!" Ashely yelled as she stepped out of the ship, "How are those shuttle repairs going?" she asked, walking toward Garrus.

"I've finished up the repairs on both of the refugee shuttles. All they need now is a test run."

"Now is as good a time as any to give them one."

Cortez nodded, "Yes Ma'am."

"I'll go with him," James called to her before running behind Cortez to the back of the ship.

"Where did you see it Garrus?" she asked, looking off in the direction he had come from to see if she could see it.

He pointed back across the clearing, "That way. Like I said, it's a few mile out."

Ashley nodded before looking around at the people who remained, "Tali, Liara, Garrus, you'll come with me. Everyone else, Dr. Chakwas is in charge. If we find injured people we'll bring them back with us. We're going to have to make sure we're prepared to take them ok?"

"I would like to accompany you. I can help," EDI said, stepping forward.

Ashley thought about it a moment before nodding, "Alright. You'll ride with Tali and I. Garrus and Liara will ride with James." Cortez and James stopped ten feet away from them in the shuttles. Liara looked to Ashley and smirked a little. Ash saw her smirked and raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"You really took charge there," she said, shrugging a little, "It's impressive and just what these people needed."

"It's what the Commander would have done," she replied. She looked around at the refugees and the crew as they gathered around Chakwas to get their orders. "She's what these people needed."

Liara nodded, but said nothing before climbing into the shuttle. When they were all in, the boys took off before the doors even closed. She sat down on the other side of the shuttle from Garrus and looked up at him. He stared at the floor.

"You alright?" she asked, concerned for her friend.

He glanced at her and nodded once before looking toward the floor again. She decided to drop it for now. He would talk when he was ready.


"What the hell is going on here?" James said as they neared the site of the smoke. There was a shuttle ablaze in the center of a large clearing. The fire spread a good distance around the shuttle. Around the edges of the clearing there were a few large piles of brush, also ablaze. "I'm not getting any closer than this," James called to them, stopping a good distance from the fire. "There are our only two shuttles we have."

"This is close enough," Liara called back to him, opening the shuttle door. Cortez pulled up alongside James and stopped. Liara and Garrus jumped out, James right behind them. "Ash?" she called.

Ashley and Tali walked around from the other side of the shuttle, "Looks like another refugee shuttle."

"Hey!" Someone called to them from a distance. They all looked over to see Dr. Michel running toward them. "We didn't know anyone else was on this planet."

Tali smiled at her, "Dr. Michel. It is good to see you…alive." She glanced at the shuttle, "What happened?"

She reached them and tried to catch her breath, "Dr. Lucas, a few patients, and I escaped the Citadel before it closed. We landed here a few days ago." She took a few deep breaths before looking around at all of them, "It's good to see all of you again."

Ash nodded, "Yeah, we sorta crashed the Normandy here a few days ago."

"Well, when we landed here we realized we were going to be here awhile. We tried to make the best of it." She motioned to the piles of brush that burned bright around the edges of the clearing. "We started building huts, tried to make a home." She stopped and stared at the fire as it burned through everything they had done there. "Dr. Lucas and one of our patients went to map out the area this morning. You know, find water supplies, find a good place to start planting food, looking for wildlife. He did find something, but it wasn't what he expected." She nervously played with her fingers, "He found something that needed immediate attention, attention that we couldn't give it here. We tried to get the shuttle started to see if we could find someone else here, someone who could take care of it." She motioned to the shuttle, "But it blew up."

"Was anyone hurt?" Liara asked, looking around for any injured.

Michel shook her head, "We were fortunate. Dr. Lucas has a few small burns on his arms; he was the closest to the shuttle. Other than that, nothing beyond the injuries they had when we got here."

"I must ask, what did you find that was important enough to leave this place you had made for yourself? Is it something that will make living here more bearable for you? Or perhaps something that will return you to Earth?" EDI asked, cocking her head to the side a little as she spoke.

Michel looked a little uncomfortable, "Um…sort of." She glanced at Garrus, then looked back to Ash, "It's…sensitive cargo. Perhaps, you and I should go take a look.

"Sensitive cargo?" Liara asked, a little confused.

Ashley noticed the look Michel had given Garrus, "That's a good idea," she said quickly. "Tali, Liara and I will accompany you." She turned and looked to the others who were watching the other refugees walk across the clearing toward them. "Cortez and Garrus should help the refugees onto James' shuttle. Take them back to that Dr. Chakwas can get to work. She will be ready for you. Then come back here and take care of this fire before it spreads too much. We don't want to burn down this planet, we just got here."

"Yes Ma'am," James said before starting off in the direction of the refugees. "Gotta love a woman who can give orders," he smirked, glancing at Garrus and Cortez.

They both shot each other a look before shaking their heads and following him.

When the boys were a good distance away, Ashley turned to EDI, "Stay here and get the second shuttle ready, just in case we have to leave in a hurry."

EDI nodded, "Yes Ma'am."

Michel nodded a 'thank you' to Ashley, who nodded in reply. The four of them started off in the opposite direction. She reached the edge of the clearing and pushed past some brush, heading into the wooded area.

"While they were out, Dr. Lucas and our patient found the remains of the Citadel. It crashed here on this planet. They started digging through the remains, hoping to find something useful. They even hoped we could use some of the metal. What that found was…disturbing. There were dead bodies everyone. Dr. Lucas said it's not something you ever forget."

"Bodies of people who didn't escape the Citadel before the crash?" Ashley asked, pulling her pant leg free of some thorn bushes she had tried to step over.

Michel's face twisted in disgust, "No, we think they were killed in the war. The reapers were harvesting them on the Citadel."

Liara nodded, "Remember Anderson had said something about them taking the bodies up the beam he and…" she stopped.

"That's right," Ashley whispered, wishing she hadn't asked.

"We had planned to go back as some point to cremate them. It was the closest we could get to a proper burial for so many people." She glanced back where they came, "That wasn't supposed to happen today though." She stopped next to a tree and turned to them. "They wanted to keep searching, but not near the bodies. They walked a good distance away from them. He swears he heard someone moan but…I don't know if that's true. He and the patient picked it up and brought it here."

She moved some brush back and the three women's eyes opened wide as they look down at what laid on the ground before them.

"Goddess," Liara gasped, placing her hands over her mouth, tears filling her eyes and rolling down her cheeks.

Ashley trembled slightly, but tried to stay strong for the other two. Laying on the ground before them, next to a small pond of water was the woman who was willing to sacrifice herself to save the galaxy…Commander Shepard.


Closing Notes: This is my first time writing a Mass Effect fic. Like I said, I will try to keep it true to the story, but it may slip into a bit of AU from time to time. I'm so excited for this story, I have so much planned. So stick around and enjoy.