I really don't have much free time, so it can take a while between chapters. Also chapters will be quite short. But I hope you enjoy it.

As always, please inform me about grammatical and syntactical errors, I am quite a Grammar Nazi myself, but when you read something 15 times you don't spot these things anymore.


With a faithful leap, Commander Shepard jumped towards the Normandy that was floating inside the Collectors base. Collectors firing their weapons in a futile attempt to stop the Commander from escaping, hoping to drag him with them as the silent clock from the detonator inside their core slowly but surely was running towards the magical zero.

The time almost seemed to pass in slow motion for the Commander as he hung mid-air, flying towards his ship. The next fractions of a second would decide if this mission ended in his death or another successful attempt of cheating death once again.

Shepard reached out with his hands, barely able to grab the edge of the ship's hull and latching onto it. Holding on with all his strength, fighting the swaying of the ships motion, a familiar hand reached down. He reached for the three fingered hand of the young Quarian engineer Tali'Zorah and grabbed it in confidence as he looked up to her, the face hidden behind the tinted mask of her helmet she was cursed to wear, and smiled. He pulled himself up, watching at the desperate hordes below him and put a comforting hand around the Quarians waist.

'No casualties' he thought. Again, the Commander had escaped deaths tight grip, kicked it in the face and lived to see another day. This mission went all too well for saving the galaxy yet again and he soon came to regret his confident thought.

As if the bullet hit him, he felt the pain soaring through his body as he saw the torn flesh and plastic surrounding the bullet hole in the Quarians chest. He felt as her grip loosened, her life slowly drifting away and her words escaping her mouth with her last breath "You did it Shepard. The galaxy is save again. I lo…" as she passed out.

Time stopped as he looked towards her in disbelief. 'I never got to tell her...' he thought, but with new found determination and the adrenalin pumping through his veins he held Tali limp body tight in one arm and ripped the assault rifle out of the Normandy's pilots hand, who stood at the airlock with them, holding off the last few Collectors. Screaming in agony and rage he fired into the masses down below until the thermal clip of the rifle was exhausted and slipped out of the gun, glowing in an infernal red as it was falling into the abyss.

Throwing the empty rifle away in rage, he lifted the Quarian and ran through the airlock inside the ship. Taking an instant turn right towards the elevator in the CIC he shouted "Joker! Get us out of here! EDI! Find Dr. Chakwas and tell her to get her ass up to the infirmary STAT!" Ignoring the affirmations the pilot and the ships AI answered to his commands, Shepard smashed his hands against the haptic holographic button to summon the elevator and swooped inside, again hammering desperately against the button for the crew deck, in hopes it would go faster.

After what seemed like the slowest elevator ride of his life he swiftly stepped out and ran towards the infirmary, ripping loose cables from the ceiling and kicking parts of fallen bulkheads out of the way. He finally arrived and put her down in one of the medical beds. Chakwas and her team jumped into action, pushing the concerned Commander out of the way. Watching the medical team do their duty the shouting of medical jargon faded out until the only thing he heard, was the dull thumping of his heart.