"There, on the monitor. Something's wrong." A female voice came to Shepard's ears as if through water. The woman had an unusual accent.

"She's reacting to outside an awareness of her surroundings." Male.

"My god, Miranda. I think she's waking up."

Shepard could hear her own breathing. It didn't sound normal. A fuzzy image of a woman in white with dark hair approached her. There was a bright light, not like before, more sterile. A bald male, also human, was on the other side of her.

"Damn it, Wilson. She's not ready. Give her the sedative." The woman, Miranda, told the man, Wilson. Then looked down at her.

"Shepard, don't try to move."

Sonya tried to touch the woman's face.

"Just lie still." Miranda easily caught Shepard's flailing limb and placed it back on the med bed. "Try to stay calm."

"Heart rate's still climbing. Brain activity is off the charts!"

Sonya could hear her own breathing becoming panicked and erratic. What was going on? Where was she? Where was... the memory faded.

"Stats pushing into the red zone. It's not working!"

"Another dose, now"

They two were by consoles, arguing. This was not a good situation. She had to get up, to get out of.. here...

"Heart rate dropping. Stats falling back into normal range."

The woman's face appeared above her again. She was smiling a kind, bed side manner like grin.

"That was close. We almost lost her." the voices were going under water again.

"I told you your estimates were off. Run the numbers again."

Darkness. In the darkness a voice, but it was silent. More like a thought, but not her thoughts. She felt warm and safe. Then the voice again, or multiple voices speaking at once, all male...

"It's not you're time yet, Sonya. You must go back once more. I will be here waiting for you, my love. I am with you... always..."

A dull boom rocked Shepard from the dream. Then another. Her ears popped and the sound of explosions assaulted her ears. The surface she lay on was cold and hard. The smell of antiseptic was in the air. Was she still on the Normandy? Had she lost consciousness? She had to get to the shuttles... where was the sun rise?... where was the grass?

"Wake up, Commander." a female voice was trying to tear her from sleep over the intercom.

Shepard tried to open her eyes.

"Shepard, do you hear me? Get out of that bed, now. This facility is under attack." The voice was becoming demanding.

Shepard blinked her eyes open. It was hard to focus. Everything was blurry and swimming. She started to move. Pain shot through her jaw. She rubbed her face. What had happened face? She could feel scars or cuts in her skin.

"Shepard, you're scars aren't healed, but I need you to get moving. This facility is under attack."

Shepard sat up slowly. Another shock of pain ripped through her side. She winced and reflexively held the area in pain. She groaned. Looking out a window she saw gun fire and heard another explosion. Why couldn't she have stayed dead? She'd had enough of explosions. Had she been dead? She looked around. It looked like some kind of med bay. Maybe she had been in a comma.

"There's a pistol in the locker on the other side of the room. Hurry!"

Shepard managed to get down off the humans sized tray she was on. She tried to focus. She stumbled toward what she hoped was the locker.

"Grab the pistol and armor from the locker."

Shepard found a pistol and light armor in the locker. She dressed as quickly as she dared. She wasn't sure when or what the last thing she ate was, but she felt sure she was going to find out soon.

The com in the suit came to life with the same voice that had wakened her.

"This pistol doesn't have a thermal clip." Shepard told the woman.

"It's a med bay. We'll get you a clip from... damn it! Those canisters are going to blow, take cover!"

Shepard saw the burning canisters and took the closest available cover. How did this woman know all this stuff? Was she watching her? Was this a drill?

The canisters exploded. Shepard moved to the doors. They opened upon her approach. There was a clip of the floor. She didn't need to be told what to do with it, but the woman seemed to disagree. Another door. When it opened there was a barrier set up. Shepard hopped over it and nearly missed a shot to the head by a well meaning LOKI mech. Shepard took cover behind a crate. The woman was still saying obvious things, and something about evac shuttles. Shepard popped up out of cover and hit the mech with a well placed shot to the head. There was another clip near by. She took it. There were also some dead human bodies in black and white uniforms.

"Someone's hacking security trying to kill you."

"Oh, goody." Shepard mumbled. The woman either ignored her or didn't hear.

This didn't look like the Normandy, or an Alliance ship, but things were still exploding and she was still evacuating, only now someone was after her. She wondered if this is what it would be like from now on, bodies, explosions...evacuating. The death hunt was new, but not really. With the Reapers after all life, it was possible this would be her 'life' now. It wasn't a thrilling thought.

Shepard headed up the stairs and through the doors. Some kind of computer lab. The woman advised her to the presences of more mechs. Shepard took cover. One mech came through the door, followed by another. Four more appeared out of a supply closet. She took them out easily enough.

"Nice work, Shepard. The coast is clear."

Shepard was annoyed. She wasn't a cadet anymore. She ran to the door on the other side. When they opened she saw a hall through a window on the other side of the corridor. It was engulfed in fire. There was a heavy mech. It gunned down two human crew men. That was enough to convince her this wasn't a window didn't shatter. Good to know.

She rounded the corner. More bodies, all human. She went through the next door. There was a human male on the floor. Red blood pooled around his head. He had a grenade launcher.

"Take the grenade launcher, use it to take out the mechs." said the woman.

"Well, no crap lady." Shepard thought. She picked up the launcher, but took the mechs out with her pistol. The launcher only had three grenades in it. Better save them for something big. There was always something big. It also gave her a small grin to spite the woman's instructions. The last mech through the door exploded when she shot it. Pieced of it hit a near by container of some kind. Whatever had been it it was flammable because a wall of fire was spewing from the hole.

"Take the elevator down one floor." said the voice.

Shepard found the 'elevator' was nothing more than a lift. She took it to the floor below. There was no way around the wall of flame. She charged through it. The suit kept the heat out, but she still heard the second of sound that only fire makes.

Through the doors, another coridor.

"Shepard..." Static was cutting the link. "... do you read... Shepard...I've go... my position." It cut out after that.

More doors, more corridors. Shepard saw a small lab through a window. Maybe there were answers in there. Two mechs were crawling on the floor. They exploded before she had time to shoot them. There were two lap tops in here. She accessed them both. One brought up an image of a woman to the screen. She seemed familiar. Dark hair, white uniform... large tits. The voice was like that of the one who'd woke her. She was saying something about bio/synthetic fusion on a subject. That made her nervous. Maybe Saren was right about the future... It sent a chill through her. She wondered where the subject was and if it was worth it to save the poor smuck who got sucked into this sick experiment. It sounded like something... seedy. Something vaguely familiar. The other laptop was a voice recording. A disgruntled employee. He was complaining about his wages. Probably the guy shooting up the place. It wouldn't surprise her. She found some credits in a vault. She took them. No point in letting them burn.

Down the hall and through more doors. Someone was screaming her name. Asking for her help. A human man was banging on a window. The corridor behind him was an inferno. A heavy mech gunned him down. She had to move on. She paused for a moment to look out a large view port to space. There was a white burning star in the distance. Maybe a white dwarf or a small sun. She went through the doors on her doors opened to an open area. Shots were flying through the air. She took cover behind a row of seating. A human male with dark skin saw her.

"Shepard!" he shouted, then mumbled mostly to himself, "What the hell...?"

He was shooting at mechs across a divide. She helped him take a few out. Everyone seemed to know her name. She needed answers and this guy wasn't dead or about to be. She took her next opportunity to dive to cover beside him.

"What are you doin' here? I thought you were still a work in progress?" He asked her. Like she knew. 'Work in progress', had she been a 'subject' as well?

"I just woke up to gun fire and explosions. The last thing I remember is being spaced. If you got answers, I need 'em. Now." Her mouth didn't want to fully form the words. She probably sounded drunk.

"Damn... Sorry, I forgot this is all new to you. I'm Jacob Taylor and I've been stationed here for..." He popped up to shoot a mech.

Shepard couldn't help but notice his build. He was less a meter from her. He had broad shoulders and chest, narrow hips and a rather large bulge at his crotch. She shook her head. She didn't need to see that. She waited for him to crouch down again before opening her eyes. He smelled good, like some kind of nut and something she didn't recognize. He had a nice face, but she didn't find him attractive. Too... human. That was a strange thought. Too human? She pushed the feeling away.

"Things must be worse than I thought if Miranda's got you running around. I'll fill you in, but we'd better get you to the shuttle first."

"Ever since I woke up someone has been telling me what to do and where to go. I'm not doing anything until someone tells me what's going on." She'd had enough. She'd rather return to comma, or death or wherever she'd been before this than put up with more crap.

"Fair enough, I'll give you the quick version. You and your ship were attacked and destroyed. You were killed. Dead as dead can be when they brought you here. Our scientists spent the last two years putting you back together. You've been comatose or worse the whole time. Welcome back to your life." He was looking her strait in the eye. He wasn't making it up.

"Wait, I'm having trouble wrapping my head around this. Two years?" She didn't bother hiding the disbelief in her voice.

"The Alliance declared you KIA. The whole galaxy thinks you're dead, and we don't get to those shuttles... they'll be right."

Shepard was quiet for a moment. She let Taylor take a few more shots at the mechs. So, she had died. Why couldn't she remember anything from being dead? She knew she should, the memory tickled the back of her mind, but she couldn't recall it. Two years... She thought about her last moments, what she could remember. She remembered putting Joker in a pod... Alliance ships dropping out of FTL. They had been too late for her. Then, like a bubble from the depths, his name came floating to her... Garrus. She suddenly felt a strong urge to know if he was alive.

"Were there any other survivors from the Normandy?"

"I'll tell you what. You help me finish of these mechs and I'll play twenty questions with you all day."

She nodded. He told her he was a biotic. She nodded again and he lit up in blue flame, pulling two of the mechs through the air. She tested out her own biotics and sent them crashing hard to the ground below. Yep, still worked. Had some new stuff too. Nice. She briefly wondered if they'd left anything out to put some crazy tech in.

"Ok. I promised I'd answer your questions. What do you wanna know?" He did't sound happy about playing 'Jeopardy' with her.

"What can you tell me about the project? were there other test subjects?"

"Project Lazarus only hand one subject. The whole point was to bring you back. Just you." He gestured weakly to her.

The news hit her hard.

"Why me?"

"I don't have that answer." He shook his head. "But I will get you to the person who does."

"OK. I remember the Normandy blowing up. Did anyone else make it?" She felt her stomach flutter.

"Just about everybody survived. A few servicemen from the lower decks didn't get out. Navigator Pressly was killed by an explosion. Everyone else, including the non-Alliance crew... the asari; Liara, the quarian...they all made it out alive."

"They were my team. If they knew I was alive, they'd come for me." Shepard nodded in her certainty. She'd implied all of them. Meant all of them. But she only thought of Garrus. He'd come for her when the ship was exploding around him. He would come for her. Something inside her twinged. A pang of guilt pricked her heart and made it heavy in her chest. She absently touched her chest. Something was supposed to be there, under her shirt. Something was missing...

"Maybe you can track them down once we got off the station, if we get off the station." His brow knitted and he looked to the side. Something was bothering him.

"What's the quickest way to the shuttle." She was ready to go.

Taylor was about to answer when he got a ping on his omni-tool com. Someone called Wilson. That sounded familiar. They headed toward the shuttle. They would meet him on the way. A few mechs and an annoyed conversation between Taylor and Wilson and they found the bald man of the floor of server room B. His face looked like someone she should know. He'd been shot in the leg. Shepard grabbed some medi-gel from the med-kit on the wall and applied it to the wound. Wilson complained a lot. Something about the wound didn't seem to fit his story.

Taylor and Wilson argued more, about the mechs, about what Wilson was doing in the server room. She didn't care. They needed to get out of there.

"You're all strangers to me." She waved a hand at them dismissively. "Let's get some place safe and then we'll sort out who's fault it is."

They agreed with her about the same time mechs came through the doors. Wilson used his omni-tool to blow up some canisters blocking the path taking the mechs with them. Shepard headed for the open doors. It was time to get out of here.