On a space station in some unknown part of the galaxy was a middle-aged man in a fine suit and blue mechanical eyes in a chair overlooking a large sun. He was looking at several holographic consoles and he wasn't alone in the room.

Also staring at the sun from the windows was a black haired woman. "Shepard did everything right. More than we could've hoped for," she said.

The man in a suit nodded. "Commander Shepard uncovered the truth."

"…and still it's not enough."

He nodded again as he tapped the ash of his cigarette. "We're at war. No one wants to admit it, but you and he is under attack."

The woman then walked up to him as a woman handed him datapad. "But the sending him to fight geth. Geth! We both know they're not the real threat. The Reapers are still out there."

"And it's up to us to stop them," said the man shooting smoke out of his mouth.

"The Council will never trust Cerberus. They'll never accept our help. Even after everything and he has accomplished." She then turned to a holographic image of Shepard. "But Shepard… they'll follow him. He's a hero, a bloody icon. But he's just one man."

She looked back at the man, who snuffed out his cigarette. "If we lose Shepard, humanity might well follow."

"Then see to it that we don't lose him."

It had been one month since the Battle the Citadel in the Council sent him after geth instead of focusing his efforts on the Reapers.

"So the Council still dubious about the Reapers," said Shepard to a holographic image of Rick.

"Yes, and the Alliance is dubious as well," said Rick troubled. "They're sending ships to Ilos to investigate, but as Liara said the hologram has probably deep failed now."

"And they've got me hunting geth."

"They did just survive from a geth attack," Rick reminded. "Don't forget we did destroy all the ships during the Battle of the Citadel some managed to escape."

"How's Anderson doing?"

"Doing his best, you know what politics are like," said Rick. "And I've heard that you're not looking for geth."

"When investigating ship disappearances in the Terminus Systems so far we found nothing," said Shepard. Shepard looked at the clock and then back to Rick. "We should be then any moment now I need to get on duty."

"Right, contact me soon John," said Rick and his screen went blank.

The Normandy was now orbiting a planet with in the Terminus System.

"Disengaging FTL drives." Joker hit the console. "Emission sinks active. Board is green…" He glanced at the readout. "We are running silent."

"We're wasting our time." Pressly shook his head. "Four days searching up and down this sector, and we haven't found any sign of geth activity."

"Three ships went missing here in the past month. Something happened to them."

"My money's on slavers. The Terminus System is crawling with them."

"Picking up something on the long-range scanners." An ensign spoke up. "Unidentified vessel. Looks like a cruiser."

Joker checked the readout. "Doesn't match any known signatures."

"Cruiser is changing course. Now on intercept trajectory."

Pressly went to the screen. "Can't be. Stealth systems are engaged. There's no way a geth ship could—"

"It's not the geth." Joker shifted in his chair as his hands flew over the controls. "Brace for evasive manoeuvres!"

Suddenly a large burst of energy shot over them as Joker began to manoeuvre out of the way. However, one of the Normandy's wings got hit by the beam and seconds later there was a huge explosion writing Pressly's face.

Pressly then fell out of his seat and laid motionless on the floor.

"Pressly!" the ensign cried getting up, but then there was another explosion and she was killed to.

"Kinetic barriers down," said Joker as explosions happened all along the ship. "Multiple hull breaches. Weapons offline. Somebody get a fire out!"

Joker got a good view of the ship that attacked them and it wasn't like anything he had ever seen before. For starters the hull looked as if it was covered in rock and it had one huge cannon.

Suddenly the strain ship fired another shot and this time when right through the ship and that was followed by more shots.

Ashley was running through the ship define Shepard as explosions shot out in all directions. That's when she found him placing his helmet over his head.

"Shepard!"

"Distress beacon is ready for launch." Shepard's voice was calm.

"Will the Alliance get here in time?" Another shudder of the ship nearly knocked him off his feet.

Shepard helped her back up before grabbing a fire extinguisher. "The Alliance won't abandon us. We just need to hold on. Get everyone onto the escape shuttles."

She caught the fire extinguisher Shepard tossed her. "Joker's still in the cockpit. He won't abandon ship." Ashley shook her head. "I'm not leaving, either."

"I need you to get the crew onto the evac shuttles. I'll take care of Joker." Shepard gave her a shove towards the shuttles.

"John…"

"Ashley. Go." Shepard turned to look at him. "Now."

Ashley felt a chill go down her spine. "Aye, aye." She headed into the ship to help the crew.

Shepard then sounded the evacuation command and all the surviving crew members, humans and aliens rushed towards the escape pods.

"Everyone in! Go, go, go!" Ashley yelled.

Once she was sure that everyone had entered the escape as she entered into one as well. Seconds later they shot out from the Normandy as it headed straight towards the planet below.

The ship was breaking up around him. Shepard headed up the stairs and towards the helm. A look up showed him the planet they were soon going to crash into. Under other circumstances, he might have found the view beautiful.

Joker was still alive. Small miracles. "Come on, Joker! We have to get out of here!"

"No! I won't abandon the Normandy! I can still save her!"

"The Normandy's lost—" Shepard put a hand on his shoulder. "Going down with the ship won't change that."

Joker just that there for a moment. "Yeah… okay. Help me up." He then looked to the readouts his eyes widened. "They're coming around for another attack!"

The ship fired another beam practically shredding it in half. He grabbed Joker's arm, and cursed to himself when he felt the bone snap. Joker yelped. "Ah. Watch the arm!"

Unfortunately, they didn't really have time for him to be careful. He hauled Joker out of the chair and dragged him towards the escape pod. He'd only just managed to get Joker secured when another volley hit the ship. The Normandy shuddered, and Shepard was thrown back against the bulkhead.

Another volley, and the blast was between him and the escape pod. He saw Joker shaking his head desperately. "Commander!" The ship shuddered again, and he just barely managed to keep himself from being thrown into the void. "Shepard!"

Shepard met Joker's eyes, and then hit the button that launched the pod. And then a shudder sent him flying. Something hit the back of his suit. He could feel himself losing air. He tried desperately to fix the leak, and then he was gasping.

The universe went dark.