Final Act

Commander Shepard was due to return to Earth; it was time to put on his dress blues and go face the music for both his time with Cerberus and the destruction of the Bahak relay. 300,000 Batarians had died as a result of the relay explosion, and while he had tried to warn them, realistically there was no way for them to actually evacuate. Was it the right thing to do? He believed that it was, but the sacrifice of so many lives weighed heavily on him. Three hundred thousand sacrificed for hundreds of billions of lives; yes, it was 'right,' but it certainly felt wrong.

With Miranda gone, running from both the Alliance and Cerberus, he wondered if he would ever see her again. They had each finally found the person they knew to be their true love, soul mate, and the spouse they wanted to settle down with, and it seemed as though all of that was about to be taken from them. Shepard felt betrayed; the very people he had saved had fought him tooth and nail all through the mission to stop Saren, only relenting after the Battle of the Citadel. It had not taken them long to backslide, and once they thought him dead, all that he had worked for had been undone. With his return, he had put yet another damper on the Reapers' plans, but he knew that it was only temporary.

And so it was with a bitter heart that he ordered the Normandy to Earth. Joker, Garrus, and Tali with him. Ken and Gabby had surprised him by staying on, also intending to testify on his behalf, but none of that made him feel any better. With the ship underway, he returned to his cabin to ponder state of the galaxy.

The End