The Citadel was being repaired, the mass relays rebuilt, and what remained of the various fleets were starting to head home. The Normandy arrived to find Admiral Hackett co-ordinating search and rescue efforts across a devastated Earth from aboard the Destiny Ascension. Without satellite coverage they were relying on any ship that had remained in orbit, and most of the surviving Alliance resources were being used to reestablish communication between what was left of the various governments and restore the planet's vital infrastructure. The Normandy's crew had only one concern, however.
"We believe Commander Shepard was inside a piece of the Citadel that fell to Earth somewhere near London. Whilst the Alliance can't officially spare many resources in that area, I've sent everyone and everything I can afford to." Hackett contacted the Normandy as soon as it arrived. "Also, I believe some old friends are already down there searching through the rubble. I'm sending their location over to you."
"Thank you, Admiral. That means a lot." Garrus' gratitude was as sincere as it was unusual.
"Just one more thing: Good luck. Hackett out."
Joker, Garrus, Vega and Liara took a shuttle down to the coordinates Hackett had given them. When they arrived, they were greeted by a pair of familiar faces.
"I suppose you're looking for Shepard. He's not here, in case you hadn't guessed that. But we found the wreckage he came down in." Wrex met his friends with a laugh. "Now we just need to find the fish tank he probably fell through and we'll have all the information we need." He turned to his armor-clad colleague. "I'm just kidding. Grunt, tell 'em what we know."
"We found a piece of Shepard's armor in the debris. There's some blood stains on the ground, but no sign of him other than that. Almost like he was there and then he decided to piss off again." The younger krogan let out his usual chuckle.
"But that would mean... son of a bitch." The realisation had dawned upon Garrus and the rest of them.
3 days earlier
Shepard felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. He opened his eyes, squinting at the unexpected light, and surveyed the area around him. A lot of rubble, not much else. He didn't know how he'd ended up back on earth, or even how he'd survived the blast on the Citadel. As the pain subsided he slowly got to his feet, taking in his surroundings more clearly. A few derelict buildings, no people, and a small glint of light in the distance. Shepard guessed it was about 500 metres away, over a small ridge. As he moved towards it, he began to make out its shape. A box, three wheels on the side, a small hatch half open.
It was a Mako.
As the commander entered the battered vehicle, he was surprised to find the controls mostly intact. It surprised him further when his attempts to power it up were successful. He tried to access the communication system, but the radio appeared to be, as Vega would put it, fucked. He searched for maps showing locations of anywhere, or anything, he could use to contact the Normandy. Eventually, he found the coordinates of a small underground resistance communication facility, presumably unmanned and forgotten after the detonation of the Crucible. With the state the Mako was in, it would take a few days to get there. He didn't care; he had all the time in the world.
Liara was in her office on the Normandy, pouring over data and images from the various ships in orbit of earth. Specifically, she was going through data concerning the area of London where Shepard's armor had been found. She was interrupted by an incoming communication from Admiral Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. Tali had travelled back to Rannoch with the Quarian fleet, and just received the news about Shepard.
"Liara, is it true what Joker said about Shepard, that he might be alive?"
"I don't know. No one does. I'm searching through every piece of data I can get to try and find any clue to what happened, to where Shepard is. And if anyone can survive it, he can." Liara had a determination in her voice that Tali wasn't accustomed to.
"Keelah... I feel so bad for leaving. Especially when everyone else is there, looking for him."
"You were right to go back to Rannoch. You know Shepard wouldn't want you to abandon your people, certainly not for his sake."
"Still... I should be helping, after everything he did for me. Without him, my people wouldn't have a home to go back to. I suppose you'll be taking that plaque down."
"I'll wait for Shepard to do that himself. I don't want to tempt fate." One of the screens in front of Liara lit up with a burst of new data. "I have to go. I'll keep you up to date with whatever happens here. Good luck, Tali."
The data that had just arrived was from the Alliance, concerning records from the ground assault on London during the last day of the war. They had accounted for almost all of equipment lost, most of it found destroyed across the city. Only two soldiers, a few rifles and one Mako were still missing. Liara checked the last known coordinates of the missing items, and nothing useful came up until she read the location of the Mako. It had been hit by gunfire from Reaper ground forces, and contact was lost just before the Crucible fired when the vehicle was at almost exactly the same place Shepard's armor had been found. A Mako and Shepard's supposedly dead body go missing from the same place with no one else around? Liara could think of only one explanation.