I made this oneshot during the rare free time at school.

damn you high school!

anyways, here it is.

And don't tell me that -her- loss is being glossed over.

She is a Commander.

They're in battle.

There's no time to mourn.

You move on.

For now...

Oneshot.

I own nothing.

Enjoy!

Commander Shepard strode through the garage area, heading straight for the Kodiak with Garrus and Tali following. "So what's the mission this time Shepard?" Garrus asked, checking the ammo clips on his sniper rifle.

"Apparently our old friends, the geth, have taken over the cruiser ship and they are currently driving it down into a nearby planet filled with thousands of civilians otherwise known as the 'innocents'. So now it is out job and 'duty' to disable the ship's main computer. Any questions children?" Shepard said all professional, her sarcasm hidden underneath. She soon burst into laughter afterwards, "Alright alright…let's just go do our jobs."

Garrus nodded, trying hard to smother his chuckles while Tali grinned, charging up her shotgun. "Ready for the regular every-day suicide mission Shepard." Tali confirmed, still grinning behind her helmet. The trio of friends jumped into the ready shuttle, AKA: the Kodiak. The Kodiak pilot took them directly to their destination, the wait short. Right when they connected with the 'failing ship', they whipped out their weapons and immediately began their fire on the incoming geth who were busily disabling the ship's computers.

As the last geth fell down, Shepard let out a small 'whoop' and continued on, her squad behind her. The trio only encountered a few more geth before going into the main computer room, geth snipers up on the balcony. There was small skinny piping that led them down to the main ground, a small wall only available for protection. "Cover me." Shepard ordered, the glint of humor gone from her voice as she began working on the computer console. She brought up the orange screen, using her omni-tool to hack into the system to get it working again.

A few shots hit her kinetic shields and she cursed slightly as the sniper bullets messed her up. She started the hack over again, trying her best to dodge the bullets incoming from the geth. At last the computer console was now working correctly, and she whipped her head around to see a hidden geth sniper trying to get back up again. She merely took out her pistol and shot it twice before moving on with Garrus muttering something about 'it was out of his sights'.

Smirking at Garrus' pouting, she jumped over the railing and right when she activated her omni-tool to hack into the next computer console, more geth arrived and immediately began their barrage of fire at Shepard herself. She yelped as their broke through her shield and began striking her armor. "Cover me!" She yelled at Tali who was busily making her way toward her, omni-tool out.

"I'll do the hacking. You do the shooting." Tali said, vaguely irritated at their current situation and relieved Shepard at her hacking job, Shepard powering up her shotgun. Garrus hid behind a fallen crate, sniper rifle out and began his own barrage of geth killing. After several minutes of muffled curses and medigel patching, Tali cried out, "Done!"

Shepard checked the ship's status on the computer console and sighed heavily. "We've got one more console…let's do it." Tali scrambled onto the skinny piping nearby and Garrus and Shepard covered her as her shields recharged but they failed. With a cry, Tali fell down onto the ground below and she managed to say quietly, "Suit rupture…need medigel…antibiotics still holding…" Tali's hand reached for her medigel pack, three fingers grasping the container and she rested her other hand over her bullet wound.

Shepard held back her gasp and Garrus looked at Shepard with somber looking eyes, nodding once. Shepard nodded back solemnly, covering Garrus as he jumped onto the piping and up toward the next deck, passing a barely breathing Tali. More geth arrived, their shots nearly missing her as she evaded them, crawling for cover by another crate.

"Hacking…" Garrus had made it up and Shepard inhaled sharply, the aching pain in her arms and legs increasing. She risked a glance up at Garrus and smiled slightly at the sight of the still hacking Garrus, thankful that he was still alive. She risked another glance over at Tali, a frown replacing her smile as she saw her friend fighting for life, medigel slathered over the bullet wound.

But a shot hitting her kinetic shield brought her out of her thoughts and she shook her head, firing randomly over her shoulder as she grabbed a spare ammo clip to insert into her shotgun. She stood up squeezing the trigger but the shotgun jammed up and with a curse, she threw it to the side and brought up her pistol to fire. "Almost done up there Garrus?"She said exasperated.

"Almost…" Garrus trailed off and Shepard noticed the hesitance in his voice. She called out again, nervousness seeping into her actions as she missed her next shot against a nearing geth. This time Garrus didn't answer as a shot grazed his shield and made him lose his concentration, having to restart the hacking process.

"Garrus…answer me!" Shepard yelled loudly, her shield going down and she jumped over another crate for cover.

"Look at the time…" Garrus replied darkly, ducking slightly to escape another barrage of fire from the geth.

Shepard slumped further down behind the crate and took a glimpse at Tali who was still hanging in there and opened up her omni-tool, checking the remaining time they had before the ship went down. She gulped slowly, her breathe intake sharp, slouching even further. One minute and thirty seconds left. And Garrus was barely done hacking into the last console and it would take even longer with the geth raining down on them.

Tali's gasp for breath caught her attention and she scrambled over to her, the geth getting closer and closer. "Can you stand?" She asked quietly, raising Tali's arm over her sore shoulder, adjusting her N7 chest piece and Tali nodded once. She noted the small puddle of red blood on the floor and looked at the hole evident in Tali's quarian suit, a small patch barely covering it.

Tali weakly brought her legs up as she stood on the railing, Shepard close beside her as the two helped each other guide themselves over to the upper deck where Garrus was. Right when they got up there, Garrus was shaking his head, pausing to pull out his sniper rifle and shoot down a geth. "You've got to go…I'll stay behind and make sure the ship doesn't burn in the atmosphere."

Shepard's eyes widened, realization hitting her hard. One of them would have to stay behind in order to make sure the ship would not crash into the planet's surface, to save the civilians down below…and it was Garrus who was sacrificing himself. "No."

"Shepard…take Tali back to the ship." Garrus gestured over to their dying friend, his blue eyes grim. "I'll be fine."

But the thing about that statement…was that it wasn't true. He, Shepard's closest friend, was going to die in order to save her and Tali. "I'll stay behind…you go." Shepard offered, her voice low.

"No Commander." Shepard noticed the 'Commander'. She hung her head, lip quivering, and sighed heavily. "Good-bye Commander."

And that did it. She choked back the sob, trying hard to keep her emotions in check, and somberly took a step back. But she stopped. If Garrus died and if Tali died…what was the point of keeping the pity given rank of 'Commander'. Those two were the only ones that actually looked up to her as the Commander from two years back…everybody else on the Normandy looked up to her as the Commander from Cerberus. She didn't want that.

But what happened next she wasn't prepared for. Garrus whipped out his pistol, omni-tool still hacking into the console and aimed it directly at her. "Commander…I need you to go." She inwardly flinched at the sight of him. Would Garrus use direct force to make her go back to the ship? "The galaxy needs you Shepard, not me."

That brought her back to her senses. What was she thinking? She's wasting time…she took one last glance at her old friend, the turian, Garrus Vakarian…and left. Red blaring alarms screamed around her, the ship's auto 'Ship Failing' message repeating and echoing throughout the ship as she limped along with Tali, whose mask with fogged up. She couldn't tell if it was because she was crying or because she was running out of air.

She was his Commander. And she hesitated. You never hesitant when in the middle of a battle or when your crew needs you at your best. But she did. She wouldn't make the same mistake again. "10..."

At the sound of the countdown, Shepard sped it up, practically dragging Tali with her as the two made their way across the littered hallway. "9..."

"8..." Shepard ignored the burning pain on her chest as she shuffled her bruised legs even faster. "7..." Tali's mumbled whisper was left unheard as Shepard struggled against time. "6..." She zipped around the corner, Tali's arm securely around her shoulders and as she sharply inhaled a massive wave of pain hit her. "5..." Be the Commander…be strong…be strong for Garrus…don't let it go to waste… "4..." She fought the urge to stop and take a breather, her lungs burning and asking for air. "3..." She saw the Kodiak. "2..." She jumped into the Kodiak, hurrying to lay Tali's limp body onto a seat. She screamed at the pilot to go. "1..."

"Ship failing…ship failing…ship failing…" Shepard risked a glance out the window as the Kodiak zoomed away from the ship, the explosion never happening. Did Garrus make it? Did he delay the ship's ultimate destruction? Did Garrus stopped the destruction sequence? A thousand questions penetrated her mind as she numbly laid a hand on the window, waiting for Garrus to contact her to tell her he was alright.

The ship was falling into the planet's atmosphere, burning in its atmosphere. At the last second before it hit the planet below, it exploded in an array of colors, the debris flying out into space instead of down below. Garrus had stopped the ship from crashing into the planet's surface…but he only managed to delay its devastation so he could send her one message. Shepard's eyes watered, holding in her tears as she opened up her omni-tool to read the message.

[MSG] I did it. Mission Accomplished. -Garrus [end]