Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Mass Effect. They belong to J K Rowling and Bioware respectively.
Ashley Williams Record
Sex: Female
Name: Ashley Williams
Military Specialization: Soldier
Rank: Gunnery Chief
Psychological Profile: Is compassionate to those she cares about, and a little xenophobic to aliens due to her family being discriminated against by the Alliance Command for her grandfather's actions.
Jenna Shephard Record
Sex: Female
Name: Jenna Shephard
Pre Service History: Colonist
Military Specialization: Soldier
Rank: Commander, Spectre
History on Torfan: Got her entire squad killed, but completed the mission. She still regrets having to make the decision.
Decision on Feros: Gave the order to kill the colonists, due to the Thorian thralls being far too numerous. She still regrets having to make the decision.
Decision on Noveria: Killed the Rachni Queen, deeming it too much of a threat to the galaxy.
Missing in Action: Kaidan Alenko was killed on Virmire, detonating the makeshift nuclear weapon to destroy the rogue spectre agent Saren's base of operations.
Psychological Profile: Is compassionate to those she cares about, but has a bit of a temper. Like Ashley Williams, Jenna Shephard is a bit xenophobic due to her past dealings with the Batarians.
Status of Wrex: Ordered Ashley Williams to kill Wrex while she distracted him.
Status of Council: Sacrificed the council to defeat Sovereign.
THIS STORY WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR MASS EFFECT 1 AND THE BEGINNING OF MASS EFFECT 2
Chapter One: Stranded
"Shephard!" Ashley called, running up to her CO.
"The distress beacon is ready for launch." Shephard replied.
"Will the alliance get here in time? Ashley asked.
"They damn well better get here in time!" Shephard said, "Get everyone to the escape pods!"
"Joker's still in the cockpit, I'm not leaving either!" Ashely replied hotly.
"I need you to get the crew onto the evac shuttles, I'll take care of Joker." Shephard replied.
"They already know to get there, I'm not leaving you, and we don't have time to argue!" Ashley shouted, "Besides if Joker resists we can pull him out of his chair safely and into an evac shuttle. Face it we're more likely to save him together!"
"Fine." Shephard snapped, "Let's move!"
As they made their way to the cockpit they could hear Joker frantically making distress calls. As they neared the stairs Ashley called out "Go right! The left side is blocked!"
When the door to CIC opened they were both pulled forward a little as the air rushed out into the vacuum of space. They did their best to ignore the floating bodies and debris floating out the exposed ceiling and into space. When they made it to the cockpit they saw a two-way energy field keeping the oxygen inside the cockpit.
"Come on Joker we have to get out of here!" Shephard shouted.
"No, I won't abandon the Normandy! I can still save her!" Joker said frantically.
Ashley gave Shephard an I told you so look and moved to the other side of Joker and with Shephard's help lifted Joker out of the chair.
"Watch the arms!" Joker groaned.
Ignoring Joker's complaints they pushed Joker through the hole and climbed in themselves sealing it just as an explosion ripped through the hull of the Normandy. Ashley slammed the ejection button sending them into space. Looking back through the tiny rear-facing window they saw an energy blast hit the Normandy severing the cockpit before a final salvo hit the main hull, destroying it utterly.
Joker was groaning on the floor as Ashley and Shephard helped him into a seat.
"How bad is it?" Shephard asked Ashley as she looked over Joker.
"Not good, he's got a broken arm, and several broken ribs." Ashley said, getting in her chair as Shephard did the same.
There was a blinding flash of light, then the three lost consciousness.
When Shephard came too it was Ashley shaking her arm trying to wake her up.
"Ashley?" Shephard asked trying to blink away the pain in her head.
"You had me worried, well more worried than I was before." Ashley said.
"How long was I out?" Shephard asked.
"About ten minutes longer than Joker and I were." Ashley said.
"I feel like I used one of those dam Prothean Beacons again." Shephard groaned holding her head.
"What was that light anyway?" Shephard asked, changing the topic.
"I don't know, I helped Joker to the front window, and now he won't let me take a look." Ashley joked.
"Cracked ribs, a broken arm, and he still finds a way to hog the front window to himself?" Shephard snorted. Unlocking her restraint she got up and moved over to the front of the pod. Putting a hand on Joker's shoulder she said, "Come on Joker you should sit down. You're not going to do those injuries of yours any good standing up."
"But I…" Joker started, but seeing Shephard's look gave up and allowed her and Ashley to help him back to his seat.
Ashley and Shephard looked out the small window. "Where are we?" Ashley whispered.
"It's supposed to be impossible, nothing more than a theory from two and a half centuries ago." Joker said with his face in his hands.
"What is, do you know where we are?" Shephard asked.
"Don't tell me you've never heard of a wormhole." Joker groaned.
"Tell me you're joking?" Ashley begged.
"When has the flight lieutenant ever cracked a joke?" Shephard asked, "So how long does this last, and any idea where we come out?"
"Hey I can joke when I want to, but I'm the only one up in the cockpit, most of the time. To answer your question though commander, no idea, but the better question would be when we come out." Joker said.
"When?" Ashley parroted.
"According to the theory, it's not just a tunnel through space. It's also a tunnel through time." Joker said.
"So in effect, we're about to be stranded in space and lost out of time?" Ashley asked. Seeing Joker nod, she kicked the pod's frame in frustration shouting, "Stupid fucking wormhole, it's probably handed the galaxy to the reapers on a silver plate!"
"Ashley!" Shephard barked seeing Ashley go to repeat the feat.
"Sorry." Ashley said.
"It's not going to be easy but you never know when or where it'll drop us out, we're not done yet. We don't need you causing yourself another injury Ashley, now strap yourselves back in." Shephard said in a decisive voice, strapping herself in. A few minutes later there was another blinding light and they passed out again.
Coming to they saw something they didn't ever think they would see again.
"Is that Earth?" Ashley asked looking at the planet in the tiny window.
"Let me see Ashley." Shephard replied unhooking her restraints.
"Well?" Ashley asked.
"We're a long way from our own time." Shephard sighed, "I'd guess no later than the early 21st century, given the lack of pollution."
"And?" Joker pressed.
"And I'd say we'd better strap back in, these things weren't designed to land gently on planets, even with the emergency parachutes and thrusters." Shephard said.
As the planet got closer and closer they started to speed up. Shephard fired the thrusters to try and slow their descent. "Ashley, fire those parachutes when I say to." Shephard ordered while watching the altitude readout carefully.
"Yes ma'am!" Ashley responded.
"Now!" Shephard ordered. There was a loud bang as the chutes were deployed.
It was a tense six minutes as they fell towards the earth while Ashley and Shephard started praying for them all to make it down safely.
The impact was extremely rough and then the pod started dragging itself along the ground, being pulled by the chutes. "Ashley! Cut the chutes!" Shephard shouted pointing up and making a scissor motion with her fingers. There was a loud click as the chutes disengaged from the pod and with a lurch, the pod came to a stop. "Ashley, Joker you okay?"
"A few bruises but I'm alright." Ashley called out, "You good Joker?" A struggled gasp for air was all she got in response. Seeing Joker her heart fell, he was showered with glass, like her and Shephard, but they had their armour on. Joker had a standard crew uniform on with only his helmet for protection. The result was grim, he had multiple cuts bleeding and his left foot was twisted at an odd angle.
"Ash we need to get him out of here, help me carry him. On the count of three, one, two, three!" Shephard said urgently. Pressing the emergency release button for the door they then lifted Joker gently from the remains of the pod. Laying him down on the ground Shephard went back into the pod for the medkit. Coming out saw Joker beckoning her forward.
"Don't use it on me, you'll need it for yourselves." Joker groaned.
"We're not going to let you die!" Ashley replied heatedly.
"It's too late for me, the commander knows why. I don't regret a thing and would do it over in a heartbeat." Joker forced out. Shephard was openly crying now. "It was an honour to serve with you Shephard, you too Ashley."
"The honour was mine." Jenna replied gently holding his left hand, while Ashley held his right.
"Can't we do anything?" Ashley asked, tears falling. Jenna simply shook her head as with a final struggled exhale Joker passed away. As they looked around they saw they were on a cliff of some sort overlooking the ocean as the sun was starting to set above the endless blue. "Shephard…"
"Ash I'm not you're CO anymore, we're stranded out of time, with no way home. As far as I'm concerned, I'm just your friend now. Just call me Jenna." Jenna said in a tired voice.
"You'll always be my commanding officer, Jenna." Ashley said, nervous about calling her CO by her first name. Sitting against the side of the pod overlooking the ocean she asked, "What did Joker mean about you knowing why?"
"Ash, Joker was born with Vrolik Syndrome." Jenna said gently as she closed his eyes for the final time, "His bones were very brittle when he was born and they didn't get any stronger as he grew up."
"Couldn't they cure it?" Ashley asked.
"Joker told me when I first took command of the Normandy that there was no cure. There were treatments, but it made his life extremely difficult." Jenna replied, sliding down to sit next to Ashley.
"That's why he almost always stayed in the cockpit at his chair isn't it?" Ashely said, seeing Jenna simply nod, she continued "So there really wasn't anything we could've done to save him?"
"He was right to stop me from trying." Jenna said sadly while unclipping her armour. "Let's get any supplies we can salvage out of the pod, then we need to push it off the cliff. The currents will do the rest."
While Ash was grabbing supplies, Jenna reached into her pocket and retrieved a small bag. In it were weapons, armour suits, along with Jenna's personal possessions.
"Jenna?" Ashley called. Hearing no response, she walked back out front to see Jenna holding a picture frame. "Your family?" she asked. Smiling sadly Jenna patted the ground next to her.
"It's one of two things left of them that I have to remember them by." Jenna said.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Ashley asked.
"You ever hear of the planet Mindoir?" Jenna asked.
"I remember you mentioning something about it to Garrus, but not much else." Ashley replied.
"You were on the ship at the time, we were helping a C-Sec officer with a girl who was suicidal. She was on that planet the same time I was. Long story short she killed herself. All because I didn't know when to back off!" Jenna exclaimed throwing her arms up in frustration.
"That's why you chose to go to Noveria instead of Theros?" Ashley asked.
"Having to kill the colonists on Feros, combined with her taking her own life, well let's just say I didn't trust myself not to shoot Liara." Jenna replied.
"You still haven't told me what happened on Mindoir though." Ashley pointed out.
"The world was attacked by Batarian slavers." Jenna spat out, "I was one of the few survivors left on the planet after their attack. It's why I joined the Alliance, for a chance at payback. My parents, aunt, uncle, and grandparents were killed by them. I prefer to look at it as they were the lucky ones compared to those who were taken. A lot of my friends were taken and I never saw them again."
Ash asked, "What was the other thing you have left of them?"
"This bag." Jenna replied running the fabric along her fingers fondly, "Ever wonder how I always had loads of weapons and armour?"
"Once or twice yeah." Ashley replied, "What makes the bag so special, apart from it belonging to your family?"
Smiling Jenna handed the bag to her and said "Take a look inside."
Curious, Ash looked inside and said, "That's impossible! It's got to be some sort of illusion!"
Smirking a little Jenna took Ashley's hand and guided it inside. "How?" she whispered.
"I don't know how it's possible, but it's been in my family for generations." Jenna replied, "My reaction to being shown it wasn't too dissimilar to yours Ash."
"Did you ever find the bastards that did this?" Ashley asked.
"The Alliance drove them from Citadel space, but no I never found the ones that did it, nor my friends. They're probably little better than Geth husks now." Jenna said getting up, "In any case, we can put our supplies in here, it's small and weighs almost nothing, no matter what you put in it."
"What are we going to do Jenna?" Ashley asked.
"We'll camp here for the night, and then we'll start looking for civilization. Hopefully, the gold will allow us to get some money, and then, well I don't really know." Jenna said.
"Joker deserves a funeral." Ashley insisted.
"We'll give him one, don't worry." Jenna said patting Ashley on the shoulder before putting her armour back on. "I'll go see if there's some dry driftwood on that beach over there."
"No don't!" a shocked Ashley shouted, "Driftwood is toxic!" Ashley stopped when she saw Jenna smiling.
"Just making sure you remember your survival training Ash, I'll grab some wood from the brush over there." Jenna said with a bit of a grin on her face before she turned serious. "Just make sure you keep an eye on your surroundings, it looks pretty abandoned…"
"But it's going to get dark soon and we could be ambushed." Ashley finished, nodding, and handed Jenna's bag back to her.
"I shouldn't be more than three-quarters of an hour." Jenna said getting up.
While she was gone Ashley set about salvaging what little more from the pod she could. "Great, MREs, at least they aren't that horrible stuff they used in basic training." she muttered. Getting out the tent she started putting it up. Just as she was putting the final stake in the ground, she heard footsteps behind her. Whirling around she had her pistol in her hand in moments crouched and ready to fire, but relaxed seeing it was just Jenna.
"Nice reflexes there." Jenna said.
"You shouldn't have snuck up on me." Ashley snorted, "Since you're not my CO anymore by your own admission I get first dibs on the MREs."
"Crap." Jenna muttered, "We'll take it in turns choosing, but yes you can have 'first dibs' as you called it.
"Fair enough, I set up the tent, sleeping bags, and sleeping mats. You can sort out the fire." Ashley said sitting down on one of the seats she had dislodged from the pod.
"After we deal with the pod, it looks pretty stripped down, nice work." Jenna said nodding.
"Do you have any tools in that bag of yours?" Ashley asked.
"What did you have in mind?" Jenna responded.
"I wanted to make Joker a casket from what's left of the ship he loved so much." Ashley said, as a few more tears leaked from her eyes.
"I think he would like that." Jenna smiled, "Give me a sec." Sticking her head in her bag she came back with a toolbox. "If we can get money then hopefully we can get someplace to live that's out of the way. If we do that I want to make a memorial to the Normandy and her crew. We'll use the pod to make it, just like Joker's casket."
"So you want me to break it down into small parts?" Ashley asked.
Jenna nodded, "We'll give them all a proper send-off, they served with distinction and deserve to be remembered."
"I'm gonna miss Garrus." Ashley said quietly.
"He does grow on you." Jenna agreed, "Get started, I'll help you once the fire is started."
"Thanks." Ashley said, before getting to work on the pod.
The last tiny sliver of the sun was just setting over the horizon when they finished packing everything away. Jenna settled down to her beef and pasta while Ashley started on her beef taco. "This isn't too bad you know?" Ashley said, seeing Jenna look confused she elaborated, "The food I mean. The shit they fed us in basic training almost made me throw up."
Jenna snorted, "Those, things, were famous for doing that. My group had a bet going as to who wouldn't throw up, I got quite a lot of credits the following day."
"You always did have a cast-iron stomach." Ashley said.
When they finished their meals they put the chairs in Jenna's bag and got in the tent for some sleep.
A/N: Harry will be in this story, but not just yet. Also, I know most of the crew survived, but all Ashley and Jenna know is that the ship blew up, while they had a massive unrelenting ship chasing them. The last they saw of the Normandy was it blowing up. Seconds later they were sucked into the wormhole, so in my opinion, it's not that hard to believe that they would think that the pods were destroyed.