Epilogue - Bury the Dead

Disclaimer: I do not own either Star Wars or Mass Effect. They're just two of my favorite franchises and I wanted to play in the sandbox.

They had been searching for days without success, following the massive debris trail from the and scanning the desolate, uncharted, and unoccupied planets and moons for signs of the wreckage as they went. The unexpected drop from hyperspace had been an understatement. Rather, the entire Venator class ship had slowly broken up until finally becoming trapped in the gravitational pull of a moon and crashed into the surface. As Obi-Wan had predicted, there were no life signs anywhere to be found.

The moon was desolate despite having a breathable atmosphere. Soft, ashy dirt left perfect boot treads under her feet as she approached the monolith for which they had searched so feverishly. The gusting wind howled through the mangled, open spaces of the wreckage like the wailing cries of a grieving mother. Shepard thought she was prepared for what she was going to see. It was far from the first crash sight she had seen in her lifetime, and undoubtedly revisiting the scene of her demise on Alchera was a sobering experience, but the sheer scale of what they came upon left her in stunned silence.

Before her, blocking out the muted, cloud covered sun, was the Tribunal. Standing at the apex of the wreck, where the pointed nose came to rest in the terra firma of the surface, she stared up at the triangular, sloping body and T-shapes bridge. Her heart pounded in her chest as she imagined what the men experienced in the crash. Flashes of her own demise reverberated through her mind, pulling her from the dark reverie and back to the present.

Pushing forward, she stiffly approached the dozens of shallow graves, each marked with a shoulder high piece of scrap metal and the fallen trooper's helmet. At the sight of a familiar painted helmet, adorned with the symbol of the Republic, her composure broke. The irony of his commitment to that symbol, that of their creator, the cause for which they fought and their oppressor, being held so dear to Jesse made her chest tighten. Hot tears spilled down her face as she walked through the rows upon rows of graves, desperate to find her beloved's Jaig-eyed helmet but also pleading silently for their absence. An unsettled feeling brewed in her gut when she reached the end empty handed.

Her face tilted upward at the corpse of the ship, wondering if he could still be inside, waiting to be found and buried with his fallen brothers. As she paced forward, the comm in her helmet opened. Although dead air hung for an extended pause, Vod eventually applied reason as gently as he could.

"Shepard Captain, entering the wreckage is ill-advised."

"I have to know," she replied, voice wavering slightly.

"We understand your desire for closure," he continued. "However, our presence here is a risk. The structural integrity of the ship is unknown and Imperial ships have been spotted in the sector. We recommend…departure."

Reluctantly, she agreed and turned back. As she passed by Jesse's grave once more, she stopped and rested a hand on his helmet, knowing Liara was fond of the hopelessly romantic soldier. After a brief prayer for the troopers to cross the sea safely, she returned to her companion and gave the site one last look. As her eyes fell in grief and loss, a thought suddenly dawned on her. Her eyes traveled the path from the gravesites more acutely, no longer overwhelmed by her emotions and finally thinking clearly.

Just as the dirt left perfect impressions of her tracks, two sets of prints departed the site and hadn't returned. One was smaller with an elevated, but functional heel, the other was the distinct, slotted pattern of a clone trooper's boot. She followed the tracks, which had been largely undisturbed, to their terminus. Impressions of three landing skids were faintly visible, though the dirt around the rear was disturbed in a circular pattern, indicating the ship had taken off of its own volition. Processing the pieces of information, and listening to her gut, she came to a singular conclusion.

Rex and Ahsoka had survived.