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The moment the Illusive Man's hologram winked out of existence, Shepard and her team began to pour fire into Kai Leng. His shields held for a moment; as soon as they began to waver, he ducked for cover and his gunship came in, forcing Shepard and Kaidan and Liara to dive out of the way of its spray of bullets.
It went on that way for a bit, until Kai Leng and Shepard both got tired of the game. She stood up, her gun pointed at his head. "There's only one way this ends, Kai Leng. You die."
"No, Shepard. You do. Just like your drell lover."
She expected him to close with her, but instead he leaped over the back of a row of seats, startling Liara. Before she could react he had kicked her across the aisle. She landed on Kaidan, both of them falling back. Shepard could hear the sickening thud as one of their heads struck the edge of the marble seat.
"Now, Shepard, it's just you and me."
"That's fine."
Or it would have been, except that he was far more agile than she was, and, despite what he'd said, he wasn't trying to kill her—just evade her long enough to get to the beacon and download its data. Shepard wished desperately for Thane, or Kasumi, or Tali—anyone who could meet Leng move for move. But she was all there was, and this one time, she just wasn't enough.
Eventually he made it past her and got to the data, bobbing and weaving enough to avoid her bullets. Oh, he was good. There was no question about it. And Shepard was as close to hysteria as she had ever felt. She wanted him dead so badly.
Once he had the data in hand, he lifted his arm, speaking into a comm link on his wrist. "Target the supports."
By the time Shepard understood what he meant, it was too late. The gunship, its ammo replenished, was back in place, and it was focusing on taking out the columns that held the temple up.
The floor buckled beneath her. She tried to leap for the relatively secure place where Kaidan and Liara lay, but couldn't make it. Chunks of stone were crashing all around her. Scramble though she might, the temple was collapsing too fast for her to get to safety. All she could do was hang on as the piece of floor she clung to cracked in half. The last thing she saw before it slid beneath the surface into the darkness below were the boots of Kai Leng, who didn't even stay to watch her fall before he turned to leave the temple—with her data. "Cerberus thanks you for all your hard work," he called over his shoulder.
Shepard shrieked her anger and anguish into the void, knowing that the crash of the falling temple would cover the sound, and then she set herself to climb back to the surface. A lot of people—trillions—depended on her not failing. And she wasn't about to. Not today.
The climb was arduous, every inch a fight. And the blackness below seemed endless. Every few handholds Shepard had to pause to take a breath, and stop herself from looking down. She couldn't afford to fall, so she wouldn't. It was as simple as that. It had to be.
At last she managed to grasp the edge of what remained of the temple floor. Her hands ached from the climb, from holding on by her fingertips. She didn't think she had the strength to pull herself up, and she clenched her jaw against the tears of exhaustion. There was no time for this. She couldn't fail now. But her fingers slipped, and she couldn't seem to pull the other hand up in time.
Just as she thought she couldn't hold herself up another minute, a pair of gloved hands closed around hers and she looked up into Liara's face. The asari was bleeding from a head wound, but her grip was strong, firm, and her eyes were determined. "Shepard, hold on! I've got you."
Together they got Shepard out of the void and back onto her feet. As soon as she felt the solid ground beneath her boots, Shepard pulled her pistol, which was miraculously still clipped to her side, and ran to the temple entrance, leaping over debris as she did so, emptying clip after clip in a vain attempt to reach Kai Leng. But the gunship was long gone, and Kai Leng and the precious Prothean data with it.
She bent over, panting, holding on to her knees. Behind her, she could hear Kaidan radioing for Cortez to come in with the shuttle.
From her collar, the comm link buzzed. It was the Thessia channel, Lieutenant Kurin, whom they had met when they first landed. " … anyone on this frequency? My squad is trapped."
Immediately Shepard hit her comm. Maybe she couldn't save the data, but she could save the asari. "This is Shepard! Give me your location."
Kurin's distress call continued as if Shepard hadn't spoken. "Is anyone on this frequency?" There was a sickening cry, and then another voice: "The lieutenant's down. Our whole zone is collapsing!"
Shepard tried again. "We read you! Give me your location!"
But no one heard her. Asari after asari opened the channel to beg for help, and Shepard heard them all die. From the temple, she and Liara and Kaidan watched as Reapers dropped through the clouds and landed on the city. Endless numbers of them, it seemed.
Thessia was going under, and there was nothing Shepard could do but stand here and watch it happen. Next to her, Liara moaned softly, "Oh, goddess, no." Tears were running down her cheeks.
But Shepard had no tears. She had—nothing. It had all been for nothing. The endless months, the battles, the losses, the sacrifices. All for nothing, because she had failed, and now world after world would fall to the Reapers.
Dimly, she heard Kaidan's voice calling her name, she felt him moving her and heard him shepherding Liara along as well, but it didn't matter. It didn't matter because Commander Shepard had failed, and with her, so had the galaxy.