Death Becomes Her
Emily stood on the docks of the Zakera Ward, her dark brown eyes trained on the piercing blue eyes of her best friend and shadow for the past year, Garrus Vakarian.
With a twitch of his mandibles, and unreadable eyes he reached his talon tipped hand and ruffled her now short hair. She tossed her head and took another step and wrapped her arms around his narrow waist and gave him a hug. He shuddered slightly as a soft rumbling growl erupted from his chest at her actions. He gently pushed her away and tilted his head down and watched in surprise as she leaned up and lightly placed her forehead against his.
"Come back safe..." He said softly his taloned hand cupping the back of her neck.
"Finish your training and we can be Spectres together." she grinned up at him as she took another step back and tossed her hair, causing her bangs to fall over her eyes.
Garrus turned his attention to Kaidan who was slowly coming up from behind Emily and nodded to him.
"Take care of her." He told Kaidan as he slung his bag over his shoulder and walked away.
Emily took a deep breath and turned to make her way back to the Normandy.
"We have to investigate the Amada system for geth activity." She tossed him a smile as she walked onto the ship.
Kaidan followed closely behind her and as soon as they neared her cabin, he quickly pulled her inside and wrapped his arms around her.
Emily looked up at him and leaned up lightly pressing her lips against his.
"We have one week just for us before you drop me off. How do you want to spend it?" He teased as his hands slowly began tugging her clothes off.
"Disengaging FTL drives. Emission sinks active. Board is green... we are running silent." Joker's voice came through the comm as Emily dropped the datapad on the table and got up to stretch.
She shook her head and ran her fingers through her short hair as she debated on grabbing something to eat before they went planetside.
"We're wasting our time. Four days searching up and down this sector, and we haven't found any signs of geth activity." Pressly said dryly as he looked at the datapad in his hand.
"Three ships went missing here in the past month. Something happened to them." Joker retorted as his fingers danced across the console in front of him.
"My money's on slavers. The Terminus System is crawling with them." Pressly said as he moved to stand behind Joker.
"Picking up something on the long-range scanner. Unidentified vessel. Looks like a cruiser." One of the ensigns said from her seat.
"Doesn't match any known signatures." Joker said worriedly.
"Cruiser is changing course. Now on intercept trajectory." The ensign said as she looked at Joker.
"Can't be. Sleath systems are engaged. There's no way a geth ship could..." Pressly looked up, panic lacing his voice.
"It's not the geth. Brace for evasive maneuvers!" Joker announced as the mysterious ship prepped its guns to attack.
Emily ran to her locker and quickly geared up, she looked up at Kaidan and gave him a smile from behind her helmet.
"Distress beacon is ready for launch." She told him, trying to mask the fear and panic rising in her voice.
"Will the Alliance get here in time?" Kaidan asked as he tugged his helmet on.
A hit knocked Emily into Kaidan's arms and she quickly pushed him away.
"The Alliance won't abandon us. We just need to hold on. Get everyone onto the escape shuttles." She ordered pointing down the hall.
"Joker's still in the cockpit. He won't abandon ship. I'm not leaving, either." Kaidan said angrily.
"I need you to get the crew onto the evac shuttles. I'll take care of Joker." She said as she pushed him back.
"Emily..." He said softly as he turned to stare at her.
"Kaidan, Go. Now." She said as she took a few more steps back. Her eyes connected with Kaidan's.
"Aye, aye." He said softly as he quickly turned away.
The pods shot out of the ship as the damage crippled the once beautiful ship. Emily ran and made her way towards Joker.
"Mayday, mayday, mayday! This is SSV Normandy! We've suffered heavy damage from an unknown enemy! Come on, baby. Hold together. Hold together!" His voice rose in panic from the cockpit.
Emily navigated through the broken ship, avoiding bursts of flames and debris falling in her path. She made her way to the CIC seeing the gigantic hole in the ceiling. She looked up at the beautiful blue planet above them.
'Reminds me of Garrus' eyes. Ice cold.' she thought to herself as she made her way towards the cockpit. She walked through the barrier and grabbed Joker's arm.
"Come on, Joker! We have to get out of here!" Emily yelled as she pulled him.
"No! I won't abandon the Normandy! I can still save her!" Joker begged as he struggled out of Emily's arms.
"The Normandy's lost. Going down with the ship won't change that." Emily said sadly as tears slowly streamed down her face.
"Yeah...okay. Help me up." Joker said as pain coursed through him
Emily slung Joker's arm over her shoulders and quickly helped him into the last escape pod.
"They're coming around for another attack!" Joker screamed as his back hit the chair hard. His eyes full of fear as he watched Emily get knocked away from the pod.
Emily bit her lip, as pain spiked down her body and pushed herself up and quickly pushed the button to launch the last pod.
"Commander! Shepard! NOOO! Emily!" Joker's screamed as the pod launched.
Tears blocked her vision, she quickly blinked them away and watched the pod disappear from view. A hiss interrupted her thoughts as her air tube got knocked out. She watched the ice blue planet draw closer as darkness descended over her vision.
"Good...bye..." She said softly as she took her last breath.
Kaidan pushed open the pod once they had landed on the ice covered planet, quickly checking the remaining pods and helping other survivors.
'Where is she...please god let her be in one of the pods...' he begged silently.
"Look! Another pod! The Commander might be in it!" one of the surviving ensigns said as she pointed up to the sky.
Kaidan ran towards it, panic and fear filled his heart. He balled his fist and banged on the door.
"Emily?! Are you in there?" He yelled.
The pod opened with a whoosh, revealing only one person in the pod. A tear and grief stricken Joker.
"She.. threw me in, and got blasted back...I'm so sorry..." He said as he broke down and cried.
Garrus sat at his desk, talons drumming a beat on the desk as he looked at the datapad in his other hand. He dropped the datapad on the table and let out a soft groan, letting his head rest in his upturned palms.
"Sir...? Officer Vakarian? You might want to...you." A human secretary stood outside his office.
"What?" He asked as he turned piercing blue eyes on the poor woman.
She swallowed hard, and made her way to the console on the wall. She gave him one more sad and panic filled look before turning it on to show the news.
"We are reporting this emergency broadcast. The Spectre ship, SSV Normandy has been attacked by an unknown ship in the Terminus system. Commander Emily Rose Shepard is presumed dead. We the Council will mourn her loss and a memorial service will be held in the Presidium Commons in the next few days. We will report more once we find more information."
Garrus let out a loud roar as anger and grief over took him. A swipe of his arm sent the data pads on his desk clattering on the floor.
The old crew of the SSV Normandy stood in a small huddle, human and alien alike. Kaidan had his arm wrapped around Liara, as Garrus held the weeping Tali in his. Wrex was stoic as he stared at the large picture of Emily being displayed. Sad music floated in the air as speech after speech was made, each about Emily's heroics, her good deeds and how wonderful she was.
Clara stood in front of the memorial, once bright green eyes, now dark with grief as she told them how she had met Emily, and how Emily had saved her life. And even afterwards the two remained close.
"She was my friend, my sister, and my mother all rolled into one. Not a day went by where she wouldn't send me a message just telling me about her day, or her adventures. She never forgot me, me a child she didn't have to deal with but she did it anyway. And for that, I loved her even more." She broke down into tears as Kaidan walked up to her to lead her down the steps.
Anderson folded the Alliance flag, and handed Clara the case that contained Emily's dog tags. Watching as the girl held it tightly to her chest.