The evac pod's hatch snapped shut. Seconds latter the small craft was jettisoned into yellow beam sliced through the ship, causing more explosions. Pieces of the hull and other debris glanced off each other. Nihlus searched frantically for Sonya as he floated away from the carcass of the Normandy. A flash of light caught his attention as it glinted off her armor. She was floating slowly, helplessly, out into space. He heard his own frustrated growl inside his helmet. He was just as helpless to reach her.

Shepard watched the alien ship destroy what was left of the Normandy. It was like nothing she had ever seen before. It was defiantly not geth. The outter hull seemed to be made of rock. It was as if it were the spawn of a asteroid. Rage and frustration swelled within her. A few thousand meters away she could see some of the evac shuttles. Further off the first of the Alliance ships were arriving, dropping out of FTL in flickers of light. The crew would be alien ship shot one last beam, completely decimating the Normandy, then disappeared as quickly as it had come in a flash of silence. Static came over her com, then a male voice. Possibly turian if there was no interference distorting the signal.

"Shepard! Shepard do you read me?"

"I read you! C.." She was cut off by the his sentence.

"Sonya, I can't get to you. Can you see me? I'm approximately..." The come went static, then came back. "..our right."

It was Nihlus. It the blast that had knocked her from the Normandy just before the pod hatch sealed, she wasn't sure if he had made it. Now she knew. She turned her head slowly to find him. He waved his arm to make him easier to find.

"I see you." She said, waving back.

"The Normandy's gone." She said. She did her best to hold back the tears that wanted to spill over the loss of her home.

"I know." He answered, knowing how much the ship meant to her.

"The Alliance is coming. I saw them dropping out of FTL. We'll be okay." She told him.

"Good. Then I'll get the chance to yell at you for not getting in the pod." He teased.

"It's cold." She said. "My thermal collector's must be malfunctioning."

"Keep moving. Your body will help regulate your temperature." He advised.

Shepard listened to her breathing inside her helmet, keeping her eyes on the armored and helmeted turian that floated a good dozen meters from her. She herd a strange hissing sound. It was the oxygen from the small reserve thank on her back feeding into her helmet, but it sounded... wrong. Shepard reached behind her in a panic, the tubes feeding the oxygen had been severed.

"Nihlus, my oxygen supply's been cut!"

She struggled, trying to grab the tubes, to reconnect them or close them off and maybe give herself a few precious seconds. Maybe enough time for a ship to pick her up.

"Don't panic! Try to stay calm! Hold your breath if you have to, just hold on!"

Nihlus grabbed a piece of the hull floating past in an attempt to propel himself toward her. It helped, but he would not reach her in time. He could faintly see the oxygen turn to ice as it escaped her tank. She was grabbing at her neck, she was suffocating! He heard her gasping for air. It was a horrible, gut wrenching sound.

"Sonya!" He called to her, reaching out for her in vein. "Sonya! No!"

She was trying to scream, but to no avail. It was getting harder to breathe, her chest was tight. She couldn't force any air into her lungs. The vacuum of space was stealing her breath from her, compressing her lungs. Her limbs grew heavy and went numb. Her head was pounding from the lack of oxygen in her blood. Nihlus' voice what shouting in her ears, but she couldn't answer him. She felt panicked, afraid, and angry that this was happening when they were so close to rescue.

The sun was rising around the horizon of the planet below. It's rays blinded her as she perished. Her body began to fall toward the surface, caught in the planet's gravitational pull. Her vision spotted, then went black. The shouting in her ears grew dim, as if she was hearing him with her head under water. He was telling her he loved her, but she already knew. Then the pain stopped. The last throbs of her heart beat faded into the back ground. She felt the sensation of falling, or maybe flying... then there was a light. A small pinpoint in the vast emptiness. She felt compelled toward it. Something about it felt safe. She could smell grass and the saltiness of an ocean breeze. Suddenly she didn't feel afraid to die.

Nihlus howled inside his suite, rage filled his mind and pain tore out his heart. How could this happen when the Alliance was so close? Why hadn't they been faster? Why hand't he just thrown her in the pod? She was dieing and it was his fault. He watched uselessly as her body caught in the gravity of the planet below.

"I love you..." He cried. He wanted her to know, if she could still hear him, before she died. He wanted to tell her one last time.

Garrus was watching intently. He saw the last pod eject and immediately grabbed the radio. He focused the signal in to the emergency frequency.

"Shepard? Shepard, do you read me?" Garrus' voice was static on the com. Joker reluctantly hit the button to reply.

"Garrus, it's Joker. I've got some bad news."

That's all Garrus needed to hear. He knew the rest. He searched the floating debris intently from the small view port. The strange, rock armored ship was gone. The Normandy was nothing but pieces of metal floating in space, falling toward the planet below. She had to be out there. Had to be. He spotted some erratic movement. One was unmistakably turian the other looked human. The coloring of the armor left little doubt. It was Sonya. Her oxygen tubes had come loose, or been severed. She was suffocating and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. He slammed a fist against the wall of the pod. Static came through on the radio, then a human voice.

"...iance. Please respond. Repeat; This is the Alliance. Please respo..d."

Garrus hit the com button.

"We're ok. Get Shepard! Shepard and Kryik are spaced in the debris field. Shepard's oxygen has been cut off! Do you copy? Save Shepard!"

"We copy. We're scanning the debris for her now. We will fi..."

"Send a shuttle, now! She's dieing out there!" He shouted.

His turian temper was getting the better of him. They weren't going to save her in time. He could still see her out the view port. She'd stopped moving. Stopped struggling. It was too late. He had intended on letting the Alliance vessel know how pissed he was, but he hit the com button so hard he broke the control panel. He ignored the looks from the crew in the pod with him and glowered in his seat.

Kryik's com picked up on the last bit of the transmission. It appeared he was not the only one who'd loved her. He was right to trust Garrus with her life, if only for that reason. Now it didn't matter. She was gone and he was alone again. Something in Nihlus died with Sonya. His heart broke the moment she quit struggling. Spectre Kryik answered the com.

"This is Spectre Kryik. Do you read me? I'm approximately two kilometers from the debris origin. Requesting shuttle pick up and evac pod rescue. Do you copy?"

"We copy. We're sending a shuttle now. Is Spectre Shepard recoverable?"

Nihlus hesitated, his eyes still locked on the last place he saw evidence of her existence.

"Negative. Spectre Shepard has been lost. Repeat, Shepard is dead."