Liara
We reached the door of Shepard's quarters, and she paused. She shuddered and turned to me, one of the strangest looks in her eyes that I had ever seen. "I want you to key into the shipboard comm." she said.
I frowned, but brought up my omni tool and lowered the volume as my auditory implant shrieked. I attempted to dim the sudden clamor of everyone speaking in the flight deck, blocking it out of my mind, though I heard Joker say something about "flying dark." I assumed that meant the ship's stealth systems were engaged.
I breathed a sigh of relief, no longer fearing the strange ping on the radar that Joker had alerted us to, but Serena still seemed wary. Her movements became too fluid, almost cagey as we moved toward the elevator.
"Is something wrong?" I asked, trusting her instincts.
"Yeah." she nodded. "Can't put my finger on it, but something's off. Stay keyed in. I don't want anything catching you unaware."
"What about you?"
"I'll be fine." she answered, a soft smile on her lips. "It's not me I'm worried for."
It never is, I thought as I stepped towards the elevator, shocked when the door closed in my face and the elevator indicator turned red. I stared at the closed door…wondering why Shepard had left me behind. Static crackled over the comms and, for the moment, I forgot my lover leaving me behind.
{Still got that unidentified cruiser?} Joker asked.
{Roger that.} Ensign McCann answered.
{It doesn't match any known signatures.} Joker sounded thoughtful.
{Cruiser is changing course.} McCann noted. {It is now on an intercept trajectory.}
Worry threaded around my heart and I tapped the call button for the elevator even though it still moved interminably slow, no matter how many of the engineers had attempted to increase its speed. I doubted that Shepard had reached the CIC by now.
Why did she leave me?
{It can't be.} Executive Officer Pressly said, disbelief coloring his tone. {The stealth systems are engaged. No geth ship could possibly…}
{It's not the geth.} Joker sliced off his words and I began to panic. {Brace for evasive maneuvers!}
Goddess! What is happening!? I slammed my fist against the elevator's interface, but it did nothing save for crack the screen. The Normandy swerved, a violent turn that knocked me off balance. I stumbled against the door and scrambled to regain my footing, feeling my heart beat faster as I heard the shearing of metal and smelled the stench of electrical fires.
{Pressly and McCann are down!} Joker shouted. {Multiple hull breaches, weapons offline! Somebody get that fire out!}
"Damn you, Serena Shepard!" I hissed, wreathing my fist in biotic energy and slamming it into the elevator door, smiling as the metal dented at the force. I struck it again, desperate to get down to another level, to be with my commander and help in the midst of this…whatever was happening.
The elevator door gave way and the ship jerked again, throwing me through the hole I had made and into the elevator shaft. It was not a long fall, but my knees still protested, even though my hardsuit dampened the blow. I opened the hatch at the top of the elevator and gasped at the heat from the fire. I could feel it even here, and I felt light headed as the flames scoured away the oxygen. I lifted my helmet and engaged my armor's life support system, breathing a sigh of relief as fresh air filtered in.
I dropped through the hatch, raced out of the open elevator door, and stumbled once more as the ship swerved before I broke into a run. One name pounded with every beat of my heart, resonated with every breath as I raced through a labyrinth of destruction. I ignored the screams of the wounded, the cries of the trapped, because I was not the one who could save them.
"Shepard!" I recognized her through the smoke, a stalwart figure putting on her helmet, surveying the damage with what I knew would be an unmovable silver gaze.
"The distress beacon has been launched." Shepard said, her voice as cold as ice, sharper than the blade of a knife.
"Will help reach us in time?" I demanded, looking through the visor of her helmet, seeking some measure of hope, some light, some promise that we would all walk away from this, as we had walked out of the Battle of the Citadel. Alive.
"No." she said, her silver eyes filling with sorrow. "It won't." she grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall and began spraying it at the flames that leaped higher with every moment. "But I'm not going to sit here and let them find a ship of corpses." I breathed easier when I heard the warrior's resolve in her voice. She tossed me another fire extinguisher and I began to battle the flames as more explosions rocked the ship. "Get everyone onto the escape shuttles. You go too!"
"Joker is still in the flight deck. He won't abandon the Normandy! You know he won't!" I informed her. "And I'm not leaving you!"
"The hell you aren't, Liara." Shepard's voice trembled. "Get to the shuttle." her hand landed on my shoulder, startling me. "I'll get Joker out of here. Just keep yourself safe."
"Why did you leave me behind?" I demanded, knowing it was the worst possible time to ask, knowing that the flames we had beaten back temporarily would return. "Why did you close the elevator!?"
"Liara, you need to go." Shepard spoke, barely a whisper, but I could hear it through the comm, louder than a scream. "Please, álainn anam. Please go. Be safe."
I began backing away, driven by the note of sorrow in her voice. I could tell that she had no fear for herself, and I wondered if it stemmed from her belief that she had lost every battle she ever would.
"Promise me you'll come back." I ordered. "Serena, promise me I'll see you again!"
"It's time." she said, and her response gave me nothing. Nothing to cling to, nothing to grip in a disintegrating world. "Go, Liara. Now."
She turned away, towards the flight deck. "Commander!" I shouted, and she turned back to me, the smoke obscuring her silver eyes. But I knew a light lay within them. A light that could not go dark. I knew that she would understand.
I love you. I will see you again. Be safe, and know that you carry my soul. Be safe…and do not hold another's life above your own. I beg you. I beg you.