-This is just how I thought maybe the events of Akuze would have gone down. And I am sorry the bottom section is so short. I used some of the dialogue from different parts of the Toombs incident. You will have to wait and see how it plays out. As always, enjoy. Please comment if you would like.
PS-Bioware owns all.

Akuze

Roughly Eight Years Ago

Akuze. Shepard did not know much about this newly colonized planet until he and his unit were briefed a few days ago. The colony on the planet had mysteriously disappeared, and all contact had been lost with the team that had gone there to initiate the colonization. A pioneering team had been sent to the planet and then suddenly it seemed as if the entire team just vanished into thin air. The Alliance gave the marines the basic rundown of objectives and orders. Look for survivors if there are any at all, determine the cause for their disappearance, and find who or what caused it. Shepard had been with the Alliance for a few years now and this was one of the first real assignment. At the time Shepard was not a Commander yet. He had recently been promoted to 1st Lieutenant, and was one of the men in charge of the operation, behind Captain Irvine and Lt. Commander Hutchinson.

All in all, 50 marines were assigned to this. It seemed like a little much, but when Shepard analyzed it he realized they could use some firepower if they up against Batarians or any rouge Turians who still had hard feelings from the First Contact War. It was indeed a mystery, but Shepard knew he and the rest of his squad could figure out what had happened.

The SSV Milan swooped towards the planet, slowing down slightly after the jump from the Mass Relay. The pilot looked up at the captain of the ship.

"We are good captain," he said. "The jump through the relay was successful and we are closing in on Akuze. Twenty minutes until we reach where the colony should be captain."

"Damn good pilot," Captain Irvine replied. "I will relay that information to Lt. Commander Hutchinson. He and I will be heading down with our boys." The captain turned from the cockpit of the carrier, went down the aisle way where a group of ensigns and junior officers sat tirelessly and worked on their reassigned stations, and took the elevator down to the cargo hold where the troops would drop from. Captain Jamison Irvine was tall, he had salt and pepper hair and a stern look on his face. Jamison had fought during the First Contact War against the Turians back in 2157, 20 years ago when he was 22. Now he was the good age of 44, two children and a wife who wished he was back at home more often than he was. He lived on the Citadel and made sure that his children received the best education they could. The Captain wanted to be at home more as well, but he tended to put his job and the Alliance first.

Most of the time, all the contact he had with his wife was messages over the extranet and through the video messaging system that was integrated on most Alliance ships. It had even been months since he had even felt the warmth of his wife, and that was something that he sorely missed. But finding out why this new colony was wiped out took precedence.

Captain Irvine walked off of the elevator and into the open cargo hold and saw the marines and junior officers milling about, preparing for the mission. Five shuttles had been organized and were ready to carry the marines down to the planet. Each of them were equipped with the most up to date weapons and shielding that the Alliance could offer. They were prepped for this mission like they were going into a war zone. This was an unknown problem though, and it was better to be over prepared than to be under prepared.

He scanned the room and saw a few of the men that he had hand picked for this mission. 1st Lt. Shepard and Corporal Toombs. Two of the best young marines that he had seen in a long time. They both had a bright future ahead of them and most importantly, they had balls. Behind them he saw the man he was looking for, Lt. Comm. Kyle Hutchinson. Hutchinson was one of the best men that the captain had known. He was strong, and had nerves of steel. He was built like a mountain and was as strong as a damn Krogan. Irvine had fought next to him against the Turians, and remembered the way that Hutchinson fought. Every marine knew that there was a chance that they would be killed in the war, but Hutchinson threw caution to the wind and put his body on the line to ensure that humanity would survive.

Kyle had won many awards and medals from that war and gained the respect of many within the human community. Jamison made sure that he was permanently reassigned to serve with him on whatever mission or ship Jamison was serving on. The two had become very close friends and always looked out for each other on any mission they would go on.

The Captain crossed the floor of the cargo hold and was saluted by everyone he walked by. He approached Lt. Comm. Hutchinson and the man snapped off a salute of his own. Captain Irvine nodded, his own way of telling the man to stand at ease.

"Damn good," Captain Irvine said. He surveyed the hold and the final preparations were being made before the drop. It would be an easy drop for the five shuttles. Nothing that has not been done before by many of the Alliance ships. The only variable to this was they had no idea what it was they were going to find or encounter when they dropped down on Akuze.

"We got a good group of guys ready to drop down in the pits of an unknown hell with us Captain," the Lt. said, getting his assault rifle and attaching it to his armor. "Reports are still showing no life form readings on the planet. There has to be something that we are missing here. People just don't disappear over night."

"I got that same feeling, and I am sure that there may be more that even the Alliance doesn't know," Irvine replied. "If that is the case than it is almost like the blind leading the blind."

"And it sure as hell sucks to be led by a blind person sir," Hutchinson jokingly said. "I don't see us being here longer than we have to be sir."

The Captain nodded in agreement. "We will be camping over night so make sure that you prepare the men to sleep in shifts. I will make sure that we get picked up fairly early so we can get the hell back home. I need to see my wife." Hutchinson let out a small chuckle. Irvine knew it was because the Lt. Comm. was not married, and preferred to live a more frivolous and promiscuous lifestyle. The two liked to go back and forth, mocking the other for their decisions but they always made sure to not get out of line when they did.

"Are the boys ready?" the Captain asked, shifting the subject back to something more serious.

"They sure as shit are," Hutchinson said. "I briefed them, I tried to give a motivation speech, all that's left now is for their asses to get out there and do the damn thing." Hutchinson would tend to swear a lot more when his adrenaline began pumping before a mission or a fight. Irvine thought that maybe it was some sort of defense mechanism, or just a clever way of dealing with the immense amount of stress that was about to be thrust upon them. Whatever it was, it worked for him and helped turn him into a certified bad ass. Hutchinson picked up his shotgun and attached it to his hip. That same shotgun had been modified for years and had withstood Turian fire and the test of time. It was one of the reasons that both of them were able to survive the First Contact War.

"Well, get your men assembled by your shuttle. We should be dropping any minute now," Irvine said. Hutchinson snapped off a salute, turned, and walked over to the shuttle he had been assigned to. Irvine grabbed his weapons - a pistol and assault rifle - and made his way to the front shuttle. He liked being the first one in, and the last one out. That was the only true way to command a group of soldiers. They showed you their respect and in turn, would be willing to wait for you if they needed to.

Irvine climbed into the shuttle and sat in the front most seat, other than the driver's seat. The driver was a young woman, could not be any more than 20, maybe 21. She was pretty, but tried to sit in the chair and act like she was tough and not just another pretty face. All of the drivers had been briefed on how exactly this was going to happen. The large hatch would open and the pilot would press a button that made green lights in every shuttle turn on, signifying it was time to go.

After a few terrible moments of waiting the hatch final began to slowly open, revealing the bright blue skies of Akuze. The systems main star shown into the cargo hold and many of the crew members that were not in a shuttle were forced to shield their eyes from its rays. Slowly but surely, the door was finally opened all the way and a strong suction came from the outside and the crew grabbed on to anything that was bolted down into the floors or walls. A few stray papers and boxes were sucked out of the cargo hold and floated off down towards the planet.

The pilot's waited impatiently for the go ahead signal from the pilot of the ship, and it finally came. Each of the five shuttle's engines roared to life and their kinetic barriers kicked into life. The main drive cores and weapons systems were the next to come on and a marine from each manned the gun controls for each shuttle.

"Whenever you are ready pilot. You have the coordinates," Irvine said, looking at the pilot. She nodded and took a deep breath before initiating the controls to the shuttle and slowly creeping out of the cargo hold. She suppressed her nerves and gave the engines full power and the shuttle rocketed out of the Milan. Through the front windshield the terrain came into view. Akuze was beautiful, almost a paradise. Irvine saw a couple of mountain ranges and a river that flowed from the mountains and into a wide lake. The water was crystal clear and the system's sun pinged off of it. So far he could see no signs of any camps or any human looking huts, but then again the initial drop from the ship was very shaky.

With an almost perfect gracefulness, the pilot steadied the shuttle and punched in the coordinates of the pioneer's camp into the NAV computer and a blip came up on the radar. It looked like they were only about five minutes away from where everything had happened. And they had ample daylight to do any searching of the area around them before nightfall.

"Good we are pretty close," Irvine said. "Bring up the rear cameras. I want to make sure the rest of our boys made it out okay." The pilot punched a button and a small screen came up in front of Captain Irvine. All five shuttles had made the drop from the cargo hold successfully and were right behind them. Everything was starting off fairly well so far, but Irvine did not let that blind him. Things could always turn in an instant.

After a few moments of flying over the lush green world they finally flew over what was thought to be the remnants of the pioneer's camp. It looked like a ghost town, deserted and empty. There were some over turned crates and an assortment of things strewn about all over the ground. The closer the shuttle got to the campsite more and more details became clearer to Irvine. He saw a body laying out on the ground, or what was left of the body. Irvine was shocked at how mangled the body was. The torso and head were a couple of yards away from the legs. Dried blood and gore covered the ground beneath him and the marines intestines laid on the ground.

Not ten yards away from him was another body, this one mutilated as well. That is when Irvine finally saw the rest of the marines. They were all dead, most of them disfigured and ripped to shreds in ways that he did not think were possible. What in the hell could have done something like this to them? The shuttle set down on the outskirts of the camp along with the other five shuttles. All of the marines piled out and huddled around Captain Irvine and Lt. Comm. Hutchinson. They stood in the middle, whispering to each other about what to do.

They needed to investigate the camp, but how? Fifty marines all clustered together would be to big of a target. But splitting them all up could also be a bad idea. There had to be a good way to go about this, but as of now they weren't coming up with anything. Then finally Irvine decided.

"We are going to have to split up," he said. "Twenty-four with you, and twenty-four with me. You and your group will head east and look around the back of the camp. Do not got more than a few kliks away from the camp site. We will head west and circle back north. You have two hours. If anything happens at all then you need to let me know." Hutchinson nodded. They two of them split up the marines and began to head their separate directions.

Hutchinson and his men walked up to the camp and examined the grotesque sight that was before them. Human beings were slaughtered, mutilated, and burned. A lesser man would not have been able to have withstood the sight, but he had seen things before this that made him cringe as well. Their were a few questions that began to run through his mind when he looked at everything. What or who could have done this? Why did they or it do it? When did it happen? He hoped that they would be able to find these things out as they looked over the camp and the outlaying area. He turned and saw Captain Irvine and his group begin to move out to the west. He motioned for his troops to follow him and they went out away from the camp.

Shepard and Toombs stood on the outskirts of the camp with Captain Irvine's group of marines. They had been picked by him to go searching around the campsite, and so far they had turned up nothing. Only a few dead marines and a couple of carrion birds were all that they had found. There were no signs of gun shot wounds of any kind on the marines, but they did find what looked like acidic burn marks on one of the marines armor and what could have been claw marks on another.

"I don't understand," Toombs said. "Acidic burn residue and claw marks. It doesn't sound like anything I have ever heard of before."

"The universe is pretty damn big Toombs," who know what horrors lie in planets and systems we have yet to discover. This must have been one big mother…"

"Cut the damn chatter!" Irvine barked before Shepard could finish his statement. "Hutchinson and his men are back at the campsite, rounding up the bodies. Grab what is left of the bodies here and we will burn them before nightfall. The rest of you who don't grab a body, get your asses back to the shuttle and grab what we need to set up camp for the night. I want everything done right and I want it done right the first time. Move out marines." Some of the marines were quick to grab a body, and make sure that they weren't one of the ones who had to set up camp. After ten minutes, all of the bodies that they could find were piled up at the camp site and Hutchinson had found some kerosene inside of the campsite.

Irvine winced at having to do this, but it was the best thing he could think of. One of the marines dumped the kerosene on the pile of bodies and Hutchinson pulled out his families antique lighter. He shook his head as he approached the stack of human bodies.

"I sure as hell never thought I would be using it for this," he said, shaking his lighter. It was somewhat of a family heirloom that had been passed down through his family for many, many years. He opened up the top and ignited the flame. Slowly he leaned down and lit the kerosene.

In less than a second, the entire pile of bodies became engulfed in a small inferno. The flames reached high up towards the heavens, burning and destroying the bodies as it did. Shepard stared into the orange blaze and tries to make sense of everything. In his mind, nothing was adding up. What could have possibly caused this to all of these people, and the handful of marines that came here to help them colonize. It was an awful and gruesome sight, one that Shepard knew he would never forget. These people did not deserve what happened to them.

Later that evening, Shepard and Toombs were two of the marines selected to stay awake after having slept during one of the earlier shifts and now they got to watch over the rest of the marines. Akuze had one moon, one very large moon at that. They had brought a few lights and used some of the lights that had not been destroyed during the attacks, but the moonlight was almost sufficient in itself. The stars lit up and twinkled in the sky like a diamond mind, making for a beautiful and relaxing night.

Shepard sat on one side of the camp by himself while Toombs sat on the other. Every ten or fifteen minutes Shepard would flash a light in Toombs' general direction, and Toombs would flash one back at him, letting him know that he was still awake and not asleep. If either of them would happen to fall asleep, they would have to face the awful wrath of Captain Irvine. But if Toombs happened to have fallen asleep, Shepard would make sure not to tell on him unless he was caught. Then Shepard's hands would be tied at that point.

It had been a day of mixed emotions for everyone. With the shocking discovery of what remained of the pioneers, to the makeshift funeral they had for them. Quite the emotional roller coaster but Shepard felt that he had been able to handle it quite well. Yet, there was something still different to him. Something wasn't quite right and he could feel it in the air. The night was a little too quiet for his liking. It may have been a form of paranoia, but Shepard preferred to call it 'being prepared'. His pistol sat in his lap, and his assault rifle was collapsed on the ground next to him, and he was ready to reach down and grab it at a moment's notice.

One of the marines began to stir and sat up from the spot he laid at. He rubbed his eyes and let out a loud and annoying yawn as he got to his feet. Like most men do when they wake up, he grabbed himself and adjusted everything important to him. He looked over at Shepard and nodded. Shepard nodded back. The marine walked over some of the sleeping men and went to the side of the compound and after a few seconds, Shepard could hear the steady flow of urine hitting the wall. He shook his head and looked forward and at Toombs once more.

"What the hell? Toombs?" he whispered to himself. The marine was gone, and not sitting in his chair. Shepard got to his feet and looked around but could not find him. Maybe he had to go pee as well but if he did then he should have told Shepard that he was planning on leaving his post, and that was not something you just up and did. There had to be a very good reason why the corporal had left, but he had not been able to figure out why yet.

The other marine had stopped peeing and began to walk around the compound, trying to stretch himself out a little bit. "Maybe he will find Toombs" Shepard thought to himself.

The night was quiet. The only sounds that could be heard was the whistling of the wind and shuffling of the marines as they laid on the ground. But then Shepard heard it. At first it was like a low rumbling sound that was muffled and sounded very far away. But it was enough to make him stand still and continue on listening intently. A full five minutes passed before he heard the sound again, but this time it sounded a little louder and closer to him. The marine walked over to him and stood next to him.

"What the hell was that?" he asked. Shepard quickly threw his hand up to stop the man from talking and looked around. He holstered his pistol and grabbed his assault rifle by his chair. He pressed a button and the gun opened up and he held it in his hands firmly. A scowl came across his face and this time the rumbling sound caused Shepard and the marine to be moved a little bit. The two looked at each other, both beginning to be terrified about what was possibly going on.

The next few seconds all happened too fast for Shepard to really comprehend them. Out from the ground it came, quicker than anything Shepard had seen that was that big. It was an array of different colors, blue mostly from what little of it Shepard saw. It had two praying mantis like claws coming out of the side of what could have been its head. The monster had a beak like a bird and tentacles coming out from its mouth. It burst from the ground with great quickness and speed and came right at Shepard and the other marine. It hissed and growled as it opened up its mouth, its blue tounge flailing around like another entity itself. Shepard rolled out of the way but the behemoth came crashing down and wrapped its tounge around the marine. The animal engulfed the marine as it slithered back into the ground. All of its 30 meter plus body burrowed deep into the ground and Shepard laid there, still in a small state of shock from what happened.

Captain Irvine shot up from where he was sleeping and looked around and saw Shepard on the ground. The captain grabbed his gun and darted toward Shepard. "What in holy shit is going on Shepard?" the man screamed as he helped Shepard off of the ground. Shepard looked at him with a glassy and far away look in his eyes. He did not know what to tell him, nor did he even feel like he had the strength to talk at all.

"Goddamn it Shepard talk to me!" Irvine said, slapping Shepard's face to try and bring back into a normal state of consciousness. Before Shepard could speak they heard the ground rumble again and the terrible cry of the monster. Irvine looked around and saw it shoot up out of the ground like a bat out of hell and 'stand' over the marines laying on the ground. Half of its body was still in the ground while the other half was above it, looking menacingly over the compound.

Shepard finally spoke, "Is this what killed all of the pioneers and colonists?" His body was frozen as the giant creature's body waved slightly back and forth, and its beady eyes examined the scene before it.

"Get up!" Irvine blasted. He fired a few rounds with his pistol at the beast, causing the rest of the marines to start to wake up and look around. They all grabbed their weapons and backed away from it as much as they could. It roared and reared its large head back, as if to get ready to unleash some sort of hell on the marines below.

"Fire at the damn thing!" Hutchinson yelled as he fired his shotgun at it, knowing that at the distance he was from it, minimal to no damage at all would be done. The creature lunged forward and spewed a green liquid towards them. It landed on the ground and contacted a couple of the marines, instantly burning through their armor and causing their flesh to be vaporized. Horrific and terrifying screams came from the marines who were hit. They fell to the ground and rolled around in excruciating pain. The titanic monster reared back once more and let out more of the green liquid, which Shepard was able to confirm in his mind as an acidic substance. Fortunately this time, it missed any and all of the marines and turned the ground into nothing but a black hole. It must have been angry with itself because it let out another roar and burrowed itself back under the ground.

"Milan this is Irvine," he said, after he got his comm unit turned back on. "We need an emergency evac now! I repeat, we need emergency evac! We have encountered an unidentifiable hostile and it has attacked us. Pilot get that damn ship down here right now!" Irvine looked around to see if he could locate the creature. He finally saw the ground begin to move underneath some of the marines.

"Move!" Hutchinson roared. Those were the last words that he would ever speak. Dirt and earth flew into the air as the creature reappeared underneath him. He was jettisoned into the air and the creature caught him in its mouth. Hutchinson yelled a blood lust roar and fired his shotgun at the face of the animal, but it had no effect. It bit down and the cracking of his bones could be heard by all of the marines around him.

They all stopped in their tracks, too scared and horrified by what was going on to do anything. Hutchinson's body was limp in the monster's mouth, and his blood was oozing down to the ground. After a moment the marines finally began to fire back at it as it dropped Hutchinson's lifeless body. None of their firepower was able penetrate the thick exterior of what they were fighting. They all knew that they had to run or die fighting this…thing.

Shepard turned his head to Irvine and waited for the next set of orders. But Irvine was just as lost as the rest of the marines were.

"What are your orders Captain?" Shepard asked. Before he could speak the creature fired more of his acidic saliva out at the marines. One marine was completely drenched in the saliva and could be heard screaming as he was burned alive. The creature dove into the ground and popped back up seconds later in front of the marines who were running for their lives. They all fired their guns at it and tried to run the other way. It was then a second creature popped up from the ground and began to harass the marines. The creatures let out their awful and terrifying roars before both of them lunged forward and drug as many of the marines as they could down with them.

"Where the hell are you Milan?" Irvine screamed. "We are taking casualties and need to be picked up now!"

"We are moving towards you now sir, we have you in…" the pilot's voice seemed to trail off. "God help us." He said.

"Right now I need you to help us and get your ass down here!" Irvine said, running towards the ship. Shepard was right behind him.

"Negative sir. We cannot land with those, things there. You will need to get the shuttles back onto the ship. Those bastards look like they could do some damage to the ship," the pilot said.

"They are tearing apart my men right now! You will land that ship and pick us up. That is a damned order!" Irvine barked back at the pilot. He saw the Milan begin to descend down on the planet's surface, a good distance away from the creatures and the marines.

"It is going to be a hell of a run sir," Shepard said. Irvine did not respond. He knew what was at risk and what was at stake. The rest of the surviving marines followed Shepard and Irvine towards the Milan. The creatures dove into the ground and came out numerous times, like a dolphin in an ocean back on Earth. They both broke from the ground and crossed each other as they landed on the group of marines, killing man of them just by using their body weight. Just as quickly as they went back into the ground, they shot right back up and used their blue tounge and sharp beak to pick off two or three of the marines. That's when Shepard finally saw Toombs, amongst the panicky marines.

"Toombs!" he yelled to him. Toombs looked over towards Shepard. In that moment Shepard saw the ground ripple underneath him and suck him into the ground. "Toombs no!" He yelled out. Irvine grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back towards the Milan. They were very close to the ship and Shepard could feel freedom. That freedom was short lived though. The ground began to ripple underneath of them and Shepard and Irvine both leaped forward to get to the ship. They both grabbed on and Shepard got into the ship first. Irvine reached out but the blue tounge of the creature wrapped around his body. Irvine struggled to hold on and grabbed onto Shepard's arm. Shepard pulled but was no match from the strength of the beast. Irvine looked at Shepard, with a look of dread in his face. Shepard looked down and saw the man's dog tags in his hands.

"No Captain!" Shepard yelled. Irvine grinned and let go of Shepard. The creature pulled him down into the ground with him. The Milan lifted off of the ground and Shepard looked back down on the ground. Everyone else in his unit was down there dying or already dead. He should have been down there with them. Hutchinson, Toombs, Irvine. "Damn it." He thought to himself. What the hell were those things, and how in the hell was he going to be able to tell the Alliance about it? He hung his head and walked away from the door as it began to close up, leaving behind the blood and death…

Toombs

Two Years Ago

All of the mercs in front of them had been eliminated and all that was left was to find out who was behind the kidnapping of the scientists. Kaiden and Ashley stood next to Shepard as he prepared to enter the door. He could hear two men talking on the other side and it did not sound pleasant. The three looked at each other and made sure that their weapons were ready for whatever was about to happen. They got up to the door, opened it, and stormed in through the door.

A man, all of six feet tall stood with his pistol pointed at the face of a scientist. Than looked angry and cold, and the scientist looked as if he may have wet himself.

"Stay back!" The man said to Shepard and his team. "I have no grief with you. All I want is this bastard!" He took a step closer to the scientist and pinned the gun up against the man's chest. Shepard kept his gun on him and his finger ready to pull at a moment's notice. All day that had been fighting mercs, but there was something different about this man. Something that seemed almost familiar to Shepard.

"Please, he is a madman!" the scientist blasted. He was only going to make things worse for himself and harder on Shepard if he kept running his mouth. Nothing was worse than pissing off a man with a gun even more than he was already pissed off. "Mr. Toombs you're insane, you need help!"

"It's corporal!" the mercenary said. "Corporal Toombs. You don't get to lie, you don't…Shepard?" The man said. "My God, Shepard… Is that you?"

"Toombs? But you on Akuze! I saw the Thresher Maw pull you under," Shepard said. "How in the hell did he survive that attack? I thought I was the only one to get out of their alive." Shepard stood there in amazement.

"They took me Shepard, the scientists," Toombs said.

"You cannot prove any of this! This man is delusional!" The scientist said, trying to beg for his life.

"See? They were running tests on the Thresher Maws," Toombs began. "They let those things hit us just so they could watch and study. I woke up in a holding cell, the scientists were delighted that I have survived! Now they had someone to run tests on."

"Toombs, I-I didn't see anybody," Shepard said. Instantly all of the guilt and memories from that night began to return to him. He remembered watching Hutchinson get broken in half by the Maw. He could vividly remember the look on Irvine's face when he was pulled away form him and deep into the earth. Forty-eight marines died, and now the only two survivors stood facing each other. Ashley and Kaiden kept their guns pointed at Toombs. "If would have seen you I would have come back for you, I swear!"

"You can't believe Toombs!" the scientist said. Shepard was already getting tired of him making this delicate situation worse. "He doesn't have any proof! I demand a fair trial!"

"He was there, you bastard! He knows the truth!" Toombs cried out. He was feeling the same pain that Shepard had been feeling for six years now. They watched all of their brothers get mutilated and destroyed in a matter of moments. "They're part of some organization, Cerberus, that runs secret tests like this. They treated me like an animal! This man deserves to die, Shepard. For you, for me, for everyone else in the unit! Are you with me?" Shepard could see the pain in his eyes.

"Listen Toombs, I was there watching everyone get slaughtered just like you." Shepard said, trying to reason with him a little bit.

"No Shepard, you are not like me. I was treated like a lab rat. I was the one who was tortured for years while you were off exploring space! This is how I want to settle this…" Toombs pulled the trigger and the scientist fell to the floor, dead. Shepard hung his head. Once more he couldn't stop someone from dying.

"Toombs…" Shepard said.

"They had to die, you get it right?" Toombs said. "I had no choice. But its okay now. Now the scientists are just like our unit Shepard. No survivors…" Before Shepard could react or respond Toombs put his pistol to his head and pulled the trigger.

"No!" Shepard lunged forward to try and catch the body, but was a fraction of a second too late. Toombs' corpse fell to the floor, and his face that was full of rage just a few moments again looked peaceful, the way that Shepard had first met him six years ago. He stood above him and gave him a proper salute to honor what he had done for the Alliance. His friend deserved it…

Shepard sat there on his bed, a blind look on his face. Miranda rubbed his arm with her hand and leaned down and kissed his shoulder. She had read the reports about what had happened be she never knew any of the small details.

"I never knew about Toombs," she said. "That must have been something that Cerberus tried to purge, considering the situation. I am so sorry Shepard." She said. She now understood why saving lives was so important to him. Why he talked her into not shooting Niket. People that he had connections with seemed to die without him having any control over it. The men on Akuze, Toombs, even Kaiden Alenko. She had a much deeper appreciation for his actions during their run in at the Collector Base and his determination to keep everyone alive.

"Toombs was a damn good man and did not deserve what happened to him. He was a good soldier," Shepard said. "No one in that unit deserved it." The two sat there for a few moments, both thinking about different things. Collectors, Reapers, even death.

Shepard turned and kisses her lips and laid down on the bed and Miranda curled up next to him. Despite the journey that Shepard had taken, he was here now with Miranda. Six years have past since Akuze, and since then he has fought Geth, mercs, Collectors; everything that the universe had thrown at him he stopped. But two things did trouble him as he began to close his eyes and fall back to sleep. What was next? And lastly, how could he stop people from dying?