The Normandy ground along the ground and came to a halt. Debris and a storm of dust raised into the air, the ship giving a loud groan of protest as it dug into the earth.

Dusty light filtered through the cockpit windows revealing the chaos inside. Fixtures were dislodged and thrown haphazardly against the walls, wires torn out of their sockets and sparking. The emergency lights blinked on and off.

Joker had at least managed to steer the Normandy to glide belly-long into the ground, minimising the damage to the ship but still knocking things about roughly.

"Would somebody mind telling me what the fuck just happened?" Joker asked as he pulled himself forward, dust swirling around him. He groaned as he twisted his legs about, trying to pull himself out from under the fallen pilot's chair which covered the lower half of his body. "Shepard?" His tone was concerned as he looked around for his commander. It took him a moment to see her arm rising through the clouds of dust, pulling herself from a pile of chairs and consoles. He pulled himself to his feet painfully and ambled toward her. "You alright?"

"Mmmh… Hm?" She groaned, still dazed as she stared at the ground, her head spinning. Joker came up and rested a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him. "Where are we?"

Joker offered a useless shrug. "On that planet, I guess."

"The jamming signal?"

"It must've gotten us."

"Hmm…"

Shepard sighed. She leaned her head against the wall. Her eyes fluttered shut. Joker noticed a dark pool spreading around her leg in the dim light.

"Hey, wake up," Joker said to her. She wasn't used to the level of concern in his voice. She heard him moving about, pushing an upturned chair out of the way. "Wait there, I'll get some help."

Shepard nodded, pulling her back up against the wall. Her leg was killing her again, and several of her wounds had reopened. She wanted to sleep. She felt weak.

She sat in silence, until gradually the sound of hurried footsteps echoed up the deck and into the cockpit. She opened her eyes long enough to see Jacob and Garrus staring concerned at her. One of Garrus' mandibles was stained in blue blood, but neither of them looked much the worse for wear.

"Commander. Here, we've got you," Jacob picked her up from where she sat among the debris, and she leaned her entire bodyweight against him. He felt sturdy and secure against her.

Garrus searched the room, finding her two crutches and pulling them from the mess. Jacob watched as the turian searched, then spoke as he turned to face him.

"We need to get the Commander to Chakwas."

Garrus nodded, looking Shepard up and down before stepping over the debris. Shepard by his side, Jacob followed him out of the cockpit.

"The lift isn't working. We're going to have to use Mordin's lab," Garrus reminded him as they walked through the CIC, the large room in complete darkness. Members of the crew were helping those more injured than themselves to their feet. Kelly emerged from behind her console, leaning against it with one hand and rubbing her bruised forehead with her other. She managed to stride forward when she saw them, coming over and leaning against the wall to stop the room from spinning out as she adjusted.

"Get the whole crew up here," Shepard commented, much to Jacob and Garrus' surprise. "Make sure everyone's alright." The two men nodded, and Garrus abandoned the crutches to Kelly before disappearing into the gloomy light to go crawl down the ducts.

Joker came out of Mordin's lab shortly thereafter, Jacob still supporting Shepard's weight. He limped toward them. "Most of the power's out. Life support's still functioning but most of everything else is gone. Even EDI."

"We've landed on the surface of the planet. Its atmosphere is nitrogen-oxygen based, so it's breathable." Jacob commented.

Joker took a draught out of a canister he had retrieved out of the lab, screwing the top back on as he eyed them. "A 'thanks Joker for getting our asses out of that crash alive' would be nice about now."

Shepard cast him a glance. "Thanks Joker."

"No problem."

Slowly the members of the crew trickled from the various parts of the ship to collect outside Mordin's lab. Most of Shepard's team accumulated there, too. It seemed nobody had sustained overly serious injuries, and there had been no causalities. An emergency lantern was lit and hung on the wall.

Shepard's strength was returning, and she was finally able to take her crutches off Kelly and leave Jacob's grasp. As soon as Garrus, Chakwas, Mordin, Tali and Mira had managed to make their way through the ducts, Shepard motioned for them to all stand around. She took on a serious demeanour.

"Crew, it seems like we've narrowly escaped the Geth just to end up crashed onto this planet. Primary systems are out and we're going to have to do some repairs to the ship to get her running again. It's so far unclear just how this has happened, but we're going to find out and get the hell off this rock, I promise you all." She stared into the frightened and bruised faces of her crew, striding toward them. "Just before we crashed we detected a jamming signal, which obviously caused our systems to shut down. As long as we're within its range we'll be unable to fly out of here. Fortunately, since we haven't heard from our Geth pursuers yet, it probably means they're not willing to come any closer either. So for the time being, we're safe."

The others all watched her expectantly, expecting her, as she always did, to have a plan. She did have one.

"First of all we'll need to repair the damage to the ship. While that's happening, we'll need a team to discover the beacon. We'll also need a way of clearing the sky of those machines."

"What's the plan, Shepard." Jacob asked from beside her. She looked at him and continued.

"This is what I propose. It's likely another suicide mission, but it's the only idea I've got." She took another few steps, eyeing her crew. "Somebody needs to travel out of the radius of the jamming signal with Mira, and man a shuttle to draw off the Geth."

To this there were several gasps and murmurs.

"I don't like to put anybody in danger like this, but it may be our only choice. It's obvious the Geth aren't going to leave without Mira, but they're not going to get her if I can help it."

There were a few solid nods from the crowd.

"The hard part would be getting the shuttle out of the area of effect of the signal. Once they leave that, they'll have to rely on their speed to keep in front of the Geth fleet. Head toward the nearest relay and we'll meet them at a designated location once the Normandy's off the ground. It's risky, I know, but there's nothing else for it."

The crew gave each other dark looks.

"I'm going to be the shuttle driver." Shepard broke the news. At this everyone started talking furiously, and her Team's faces all palled over. Miranda stood forward.

"Shepard, that's ludicrous. You can't sacrifice yourself like that. The chances of you actually getting out of there alive are next to nill."

"Ms. Lawson is correct. Even though the shuttle is technically faster than the Geth ships, the chances of something going wrong are almost certain," Mordin nodded.

"You can't do this, Commander," Jacob frowned.

Garrus just stared at her, completely still.

Shepard lifted her hand to silence them all. "If something happened to Mira I don't know what I'd do. That's why I'm volunteering."

The chatter picked up again, all in argument to her words.

Garrus stood leaning against the wall for several moments, his eyes cast upon the floor in thought. Finally he stood forward, gazing at Shepard.

"Shepard. I'll go with her."

Shepard looked stunned at what she was hearing. She quickly turned her head to him. "Garrus, wh…"

His voice lowered as he looked into her eyes. She understood his intent immediately.

"Would you trust me with her?" He asked.

She dropped her gaze to the ground. After a moment she nodded slowly, and whispered: "I would."

"Then it's agreed, Garrus goes," Jacob announced.