Spaced
"SHEPARD!"
Joker's scream was lost to the vacuum between them as another massive explosion rocked the remainder of the Normandy. Shepard gasped in pain as her fingers were ripped from the bulkhead with the force of the blast that sent her spinning away from the incinerated ship. She flailed her arms wildly, trying to grab something, anything, before she was lost in the black expanse. But it was no use; there was nothing that could save her. Her ever calculating mind ran through option after option, trying to find a way out. But again, there was nothing.
She discovered that there comes a certain peace with realizing that, for once, everything was out of her control. There was no action she could take, no decision she could make, that would get her out of this. In another life perhaps, another time, she could have lived her life that way. Letting others make the decisions, let others be in control. Let others save the galaxy. With the peace came the calm. It was almost serene, drifting there, bathed in the cool cerulean glow of the planet looming not far away.
Her attention was drawn back to the dying Normandy by another flash of flame. A small sound of grief and despair escaped her lips as the ship was completely destroyed. Flaming pieces of it hurtled past her, soon to be lost in the atmosphere of the planet. The silence of the ship exploding was eerie, like it was just a muted vid rather than real life. Only the echoing sound of her own breathing filled her ears. That and…what was that? A low hissing in the back of her helmet.
She knew what it was when her next breath was like trying to inhale with someone sitting on her chest. The calm serenity that had filled her before fled with the air in her suit. Gods and angels no, she didn't want to die! Her arms flailed wildly, trying to find the broken tube or crack in her suit or…
Shepard's mouth was open wide, gasping increasingly small amounts of air. It felt like her chest was being crushed by a ton of bricks. Small pinpricks of light appeared at the edge of her vision, not unlike the stars that swirled around her. Hands clutched weakly at throat and head. There were no thoughts of her crew, or her family, Earth with its bright blues and greens and wispy clouds, Kaidan smiling slyly up at her when she had him between her thighs. Only blind panic.
The stars in her vision had gone, replaced by a creeping blackness that threatened to engulf her. She could feel her diaphragm continue to spasm but there was nothing to breathe. The burning in her lungs was turning to numbness; it spread throughout her, even easing the panic, replacing it with a void of thought and sensation and finally consciousness. Her wide, unseeing eyes stared blankly into the unending expanse of space.
It was not a death that befitted the great Commander Shepard. Silent space shed no tears for her. And the stars didn't care that a light as bright as they had just been snuffed out.