The wave of red energy swept relentlessly towards the Normandy. Joker tried to stay ahead of it, but the ship wasn't fast enough to outrun the oncoming wall. As they fell through the wave the lights went dark and the screens were momentarily dead. Once they came back online warnings and alarms sounded across the bridge, causing Joker to hit the large red button that would reset every system.
"Damn it, I've always wanted to press that button. EDI, report." His request was met with an uncharacteristic silence.
"EDI? Shit, must be that big-ass wave." Joker pressed frantically against numerous panels, trying to make sense of the situation.
"Joker, what's going on?" Garrus' voice made the Normandy's pilot jump in his seat, causing a sharp pain in his ribs. He suspected that wasn't good.
"Most systems are pretty fried, Garrus. EDI's offline, comms are down, and I've got just about every possible siren blasting in my ear! Drive core power is dangerously low, I'm gonna have to land her soon." Joker hoped things weren't as bad as they seemed. To defeat the reapers and save the galaxy just to be killed by some energy wave was more than a little insulting. He checked the scanners, as best as he could with what was still functional, and found a planet he could land the ship on. Unexplored, but seemingly a garden world. It'd have to do. After some painfully loud static, Garrus' voice crackled back over the radio.
"Give me some warning before you set her down. I want enough time to brace myself for the impact."
"Have a little faith, Garrus. I just flew us through a ton of reapers with barely a scratch."
As Joker prepared for the approach to land, he noticed an incoming communication. Garrus had made his way to the bridge with Liara and was now stood just behind him.
"We've got a message...looks like it's from Hackett." Joker sounded slightly confused as he said this, and the news surprised the other two as well.
"I thought you said comms were down?"
"They were. Hold on...it's not through the QEC, it looks like a radio signal carried by the comm buoys. We're picking it up on the internal comm net." Joker brought the text up onto a screen in front of him. "It's saying 'Reapers destroyed, Citadel damaged, Anderson and Shepard..." His voice trailed off as he read it. The three of them could all see the end of the message, but none could bring themselves to say it aloud. They stood in a stunned silence, unable to believe that their commander and the leader of earth's resistance were both dead. Suddenly the text was replaced by a large warning:
'Descent velocity above recommended magnitude. Suggest deceleration.'
"Oh shit!" Joker swiped across every panel and flicked a dozen or so switches, trying to stabilise the ship's trajectory. "Approach vector within normal parameters...now. You might want to on to something."
As the dust settled it became clear that the situation wasn't as bad as had been feared. The damage was easily repairable, casualties were minimal and comms had been partially restored. Joker and a few others had stepped outside of the Normandy to survey the planet, but they found nothing of either interest or use before they returned. Joker was back on the bridge, sorting through logs trying to piece together what had happened, when James Vega appeared behind him.
"I, err... I heard about EDI. Is she..." Vega's unusually sombre voice trailed off.
"She's gone. Absorbed most of the shockwave from what I can tell, protected the rest of the systems," Joker didn't allow himself to break down. "Hell, she probably saved all our lives."
"Wow... shit. I guess that...that's a good thing, right? I mean, like, a good way to go. Are you holding up OK?"
"I'll be fine," Joker tried to hide the crack in his voice. "I just need some time."
"Have a break. I'll take over here." James sat down as the pilot left and headed to the elevator. Once the door had shut after him, Vega let out a large sigh. "Fuck. What a day."
Joker and Liara were stood together in front of the memorial wall when Garrus approached them carrying three plaques. He handed the top one, marked EDI, to Joker.
"I figured you'd want to be the one to put it up there. Stick it in the middle if you want," Garrus wasn't particularly adept at kind words, but they could tell he was trying. "She was certainly special enough."
"No, she was a member of the crew, nothing more or less. That's how she'd want to be remembered." Joker placed the plaque among the names on the left side of the wall, holding his hand against it for a few seconds. "Damn it. I miss you."
Next, Garrus stepped up to put Admiral Anderson's name up. As the former captain of the Normandy his plaque was placed in the centre, underneath the Alliance logo but leaving a deliberate gap.
"Survived months leading the resistance on a reaper-infested Earth only to die the day the war ends." Vega was stood next to Javik, and few had noticed him appear among the crowd that had gathered.
"I doubt he'd have it any other way. Apparently he helped Shepard activate the Crucible. Better to die a hero than live to lose the war." Garrus spoke as highly of Anderson as any war hero, human or otherwise. He handed Liara the final plaque, the one reading 'Commander Shepard'. Without a single word, she walked towards the wall and looked down at the plaque with the faintest hint of a smile on her blue lips. As she placed Shepard's name above Anderson's only one thought was in her mind.
He's still alive.