Act I : II
Eden Prime
Slade Jordan was flabbergasted that he was somehow still alive. He had successfully led the alliance soldiers all the way to their prize: the beacon that now towered over them. They had survived timed demolition explosives - which would have obliterated the entire spaceport, if not the entire colony - and a small army of Geth. The adrenaline coursing through his body from the last firefight was finally wearing off. Slade did not participate in any of the skirmishes along the way, he simply hid behind walls and crates as per Commander Shepard's orders. It was strange: he clearly did not care if he lived or died, but she seemed to care more than anything for his personal safety. She would even put her own safety at risk by running out of cover to greet a hail of plasma bullets, sprint closer to the hostile robots and proceed to dismantle them with a barrage of bullets and biotics; all for the sake of distracting the Geth from finding Slade's hiding spot. Kaidan and Ashley were not so dramatic with their altruistic endeavours to protect him, but he could tell they were also going out of their way to keep him safe. Whenever he heard a heap of metal collapse in his vicinity, Slade knew it was because one of them had just destroyed a Geth trying to sneak up on him. He was confused. Slade was still unsure whether he actually WANTED to die, but nobody in his life had ever worked so hard just to keep him alive. He decided he did not want all their efforts to be in vain - especially Shepard who was obviously trying the hardest - so he buried his idea of dying into the deep subconscious of his mind and focused on trying to stay alive. The group now turned their attention to the glowing green tower in front of them.
"Well", Slade began. "I got you here. I hope it's everything you thought it would be cuz I will DEFINITELY not be doing it again." Shepard was wearing her helmet but he could tell she smiled underneath it.
"Come on!" laughed Kaidan. "Don't tell me you didn't have at least a LITTLE bit of fun! Next time we'll even get you a rifle so you can join in!" Slade laughed, but more out of exhaustion and adrenaline than because he actually found it funny. Shepard opened a comm link and walked away from the beacon with Ashley while Kaidan instead approached the beacon. Before Kaidan could react, the beacon released a small pulse and began to pull him towards it with an invisible force. Kaidan tried his best to pull himself away but the now activated beacon refused to release its victim and continued to drag him. Slade was about to shout for help but Shepard had already sprinted forward and grabbed Kaidan, immediately throwing him backwards. Slade and Ashley sprinted toward the commotion as Shepard was lifted off the ground and now hovered in mid-air. Kaidan reached out to grab the Commander but Ashley grabbed him and pulled him back.
"NO!" she yelled. "Don't touch her! It's too dangerous! We have no idea what's going on!"
"We can't just do nothing!" Kaidan snapped and struggled in her grip. "What if we can-
Kaidan was interrupted as the beacon suddenly exploded, blowing all of them backwards. Slade caught sight of the Commander's body as she hit the ground, moments before he also hit the ground and lost consciousness.