AN:/ At last, the long awaited conclusion! Again, sorry for the wait in between updates. Thanks to all my readers and reviewers who have stayed with me. I hope you guys enjoyed the story, feedback is greatly appreciated!

-xXx-

"Aw, HELL no!" Shepard raced back across the shuttle bay, her squad in tow, all the while shouting some very colorful expletives. Liara had to yell to be heard over the sirens, "Wait! We have to get Feron!"

"We'll pick him up on our way out! Shepard replied. "Lead the way!"

As they ran, Liara called up her scans of the Shadow Broker's ship, leading them down a corridor, then another, then two more, and then she rounded a corner a smashed right into Feron, both of them grunting as they fell down.

"Feron!" she shouted, "You escaped?"

"Yes, and I'm afraid that brings us to an issue, Doctor. The self-destruct mechanism of this ship isn't an explosion of the mass effect core, it's designed not to release that much energy, for stealth purposes. Instead, self-destruct cuts power from every system except life support. The three minutes are how long we have before the ship's mass effect fields collapse and we crash into the surface of Hagalaz!"

"Well hey, then let's stand here and talk about for another couple of minutes!" Shepard said sarcastically, "Let's haul ass, people!"

They took off again, while Shepard called in their ride.

"Shepard to Normandy, we have four passengers for shuttle pick-up, this whole damn ship is breaking apart!"

The sultry voice of EDI responded. "Normandy reads you, Shepard. Can you paint a pick-up location?"

"Liara?"

Liara tapped a command into her omni-tool. "Yes… the port-most docking bay, 800 meters away from our position."

"You get that Normandy?"

"Affirmative, Commander. The shuttle will be awaiting your arrival."

As they ran for the designated LZ, the ship's hull began losing its integrity, compressing in on itself due to its dwindling protection from the heat and gravity of the planet below. 70 seconds.

Pieces of wall and heavy equipment caved in, occasionally creating obstacles in their path. 50 seconds.

They were in the clear, maybe 300 yards away from the docking bay, 300 yards away from victory. But they say that no great victory comes without sacrifice.

A particularly large piece of debris, too large to dodge or avoid, broke off from the ceiling and fell, with a horrible finality, on Miranda, utterly crushing most of the lower half of her skeleton. The sound of the crash and of Miranda's anguished scream made Shepard stop, and turn around only to realize that it was hopeless, she was pinned, and they had less than a minute left to escape.

"Miranda!" Shepard started to backtrack.

"No!" Miranda managed to choke out, "No, Shepard you have to leave me, there's no time!" 30 seconds.

"Nobody gets left behind!"

"The Illusive Man put you in command to make the tough decisions! If you don't leave now we're all dead! You have to survive, for humanity, for all of us! And that means you have to leave me! Now go!"

Miranda barely finished her sentence before another part of the ceiling caved in, burying her, both separating her from the group, and silencing her forever. 20 seconds.

"Shepard," Liara said urgently, "We have to go."

In a state of shock, Shepard ran the last stretch to the shuttle. The Shadow Broker's ship smashed into the surface of Hagalaz, exploding in a tiny supernova of white and golden light.

-xXx-

Per Liara's request, Shepard ordered the Normandy to return to Illium. She spent the journey staring numbly into the galaxy map. Everything had happened so fast, she needed to process things. She was having trouble believing that Miranda, one of the most powerful and driven women she had ever met was dead, killed in an instant, a second of bad luck… And she realized that could have happened to any of them. It still could, at any given time.

The ship docked, and Shepard escorted Liara and Feron off. Feron wandered into the shops, while Liara paused on the trade floor, to look out at the beautiful amethyst skyscrapers, amidst the orange-gold sunset. Liara had never really liked Miranda, but she had no wish to see the woman dead; she always had so much potential, even when tethered to Cerberus.

Liara spoke first, placing a gloved hand on Shepard's shoulder.

"Shepard, I'm sorry for what happened to Miranda. I don't want you to blame yourself; I asked you to go on this mission-"

"You couldn't have seen any of that coming, and anyway, she was under my command. I asked her specifically to go with us. And I won't let her die in vain. I'll stop the Collectors, and I'll live through it to stop the Reapers. But before I do any of that, I need to know about you."

"Well, I will join your crew eventually, but for now, Feron and I should work on trying to save some of the Broker's assets, before they're thrown into disarray. He knew something about the Collectors; I think I could help you more if I try to gather information on them. At least for the moment."

"That's not quite what I meant." Shepard turned to take her hands. "I realize that I could die again at any moment, I do. But what I also realize is that you could too. I don't want to lose you, but I might, so I want to spend every possible second with you while we still have the time… Because I love you, Liara. Please, say you love me too, because if you don't, then I don't think I can do this."

Liara looked into Shepard's eyes, and as she did, she felt all of the grief, anger, resentment, and heartbreak of the last two years melt away, until only one feeling remained.

"Shepard…" she whispered. "Of course I love you, and I always will."

And as Shepard leaned down to kiss her, for the first time in over two years she felt at peace.

-xXx-

Shepard contacted the Illusive Man, her expression somber. The head of Cerberus accepted the call.

"Ah, Shepard. I trust the Shadow Broker has been eliminated?"

"He has, but at great cost… Miranda… she was with us… she didn't make it."

"That's a shame. I over-estimated her capability."

Shepard couldn't see his face, but his tone didn't sound all that sympathetic. "The crew of the Normandy will remember her sacrifice."

"As will Cerberus. Was that all, Shepard?"

"Yeah, that's it." Shepard disconnected angrily.

Gee, you'd think he'd be the slightest bit upset. What an asshole.

-xXx-

The Illusive Man disconnected with Shepard, only to receive another call.

"Is it done?"

"Affirmative. She is damaged, but alive."

"Excellent."

"And the payment?"

"It will be waiting for you at the rendezvous point."

"ETA 12 hours."

The Illusive Man disconnected, and smiling, took another sip of brandy. There was so much work to be done.

-xXx-

Miranda woke up in a bloody haze of pain. Her every molecule was in agony. She couldn't move, couldn't think, it was so intense. There were blinding white lights that tripled her suffering. She tried to scream, but her voice wouldn't respond. She could hear a gruff male voice talking. She tried to make out what it said.

"-Cerberus has other plans for you, Ms. Lawson. But all in good time, for now-"

She blacked out again before she could hear the rest.

AN:/ So I'm thinking of doing a sequel that focuses mainly on Miranda and her situation. Bet you guys thought she was really dead! So, what'd you think?