Shepard Stories - Chapter 4: SHEPPAAARD!

Main Characters: Shepard and Liara

The SSV Normandy traveled through dark space on their way to their next destination. All was quiet then Joker looked down at his screens and noticed something out of the ordinary. He tapped at it and pulled up the blinking anomaly to take a better look at it.

Adams looked over at the screens then said "What is it? The Geth?"

Joker quickly tapped at his controls as he yelled "It's not the Geth. Brace for evasive maneuvers."

Liara frantically ran through the Normandy looking for Shepard. She spotted him as he was putting on his helmet. He turned to her and demanded, "Liara you need to get to the escape pods."

Liara shook her head "Shepard I'm not leavin—"

He pointed toward the escape pods and yelled: "GO NOW!"

She looked at him for a brief moment then ran for an escape pod. She quickly entered the pod and noticed it was the same pod as Dr. Chakwas. Nodding to her as she hit the pod release button. Liara sat and silently prayed, "Goddess please… please bring him back to me safely. I beg of you."

Dr. Chakwas softly rubbed Liara's hand as she said, "He'll be fine hon."

Liara smiled weakly at her as she nodded.

Meanwhile on the Normandy. Joker finally left his station after Shepard demanded he get into an escape pod. Joker grunted and made his way into the escape with Shepard not far behind him. Shepard was just about to climb into the pod when there's was an explosion and it blasted him away from the door. Joker yelled frantically "Shepard!"

Shepard was barely grasping on to the side of the ship as he replied, "I won't make it Joker just GO!" Then suddenly there was another explosion that catapulted Shepard into space.

Joker's eyes widen as he screamed, "SHEPAAAARDD!"

-/

Liara stretched her neck as she desperately looked out the pod window. All she could see was the ship being torn apart by thick orange lasers. Gasping and raising her hand to her mouth, she softly said, "By the Goddess." Her heart sinking even more as she watched the destruction. Her body jolted, and her eyes widen when the Normandy exploded.

-/

Shepard's heart was beating fast as he floated out into space. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. Ok… so I'm floating in space. Not too bad. I trained for this. No problem…. just slow breathing and wait for rescue. Right? Yea… it's fine.

As his thought finished, he stiffened when all alarms on his suit started to go off. He quickly looked down at his omni tool and it showed a disconnected air hose at the back of his neck. "What the fuck?!" He said as he frantically tried to grab his hose to repair it but to no avail. He closed his eyes as he said "Unrepairable hose means death of asphyxiation. Great!"

He looked across the dark space then noticed just how close he was to the gravitational pull of the nearby planet. Even better now I'm going to burn up. What's the verdict, Jon? Death by suffocation or burning. I choose to blackout from loss of oxygen than to burning up. Just then he thought of Liara. Oh, by beautiful blue goddess… I love you so much. Liara how I wish I... wait… private channel to Liara… Yes... He quickly tapped at his omni tool.

-/

Liara's slowly sat back in her chair as she cried and praying silently with her helmet now in her lap. She could hear Jon and it was almost like whispers. "Great… "she said "Now I'm imagining him."

Dr. Chakwas replied, "No dear I believe he's talking to you through your helmet!"

She grabbed at her helmet and quickly put it on and instantly replied, "JON! hey, my love, I was sooo worried. Where are you? Are—"

Jon cut her off as he was breathing hard. "Lia… Lia…. please… listen…. there's... no… time."

She instantly began to panic from the ragged sound of his voice. "Goddess… what's wrong, Jon?"

Shepard was breathing heavily as he struggled to breathe."… Lia… hose busted….hard to breathe…. want… to … tell… you… I love you."

Her eyes were blurred from her tears as she murmured "Please…. don't…. leave me. I love you." Her body began to shake as she cried uncontrollably as she painfully listened to her lover gasping for air as he said her name one last time. Right after she heard her name then the dreadful silence. She pinched her eyes shut as she cried then clenched her fists then let out a dreadful scream.

-/

After hours of waiting the SSV Manhattan stopped to rescue them. Ever since Jon's last word to Liara she had been sitting there in a zombified state as she sat still and stared off into the distance. Dr. Chakwas trying to snap her out of it with no luck. Once removed from the pod all that remained of the Normandy crew sat on the crew deck in a daze.

Liara continued to sit in complete silence then finally snapped out of her zombified state and blurted out, "Where's Shepard?"

Dr. Chakwas turned to her as she let out a breath, "Oh, thank God you're speaking." She then responded with "I don't know dear, I'm sure they're still looking for him and the others."

"No!" exclaimed Liara. "Because we're moving, and all the escape pods and rescue shuttles are here!"

Ashley, Garrus, and Tali all replied… "You're right! But no Shepard or the others. We need answers."

Liara nodded as she said, "You're damn right." She got up and waved down the closest Manhattan member "Excuse me! Hello?"

The young man smiled at Liara as he walked over. "Hello, what can I help you with? Do you need medical attention?"

Liara shook her head "No, I'm fine but I have some questions. There are still members of our crew that are not accounted for."

His eyes widen "Oh, we were told everyone was accounted for."

"No, there's at least ten people missing, maybe more. One of those people is our Commander."

"Oh, my goodness. Let me ring our Commander. Maybe he can provide you with more answers." Replied the young soldier.

"Thank you." Replied Liara then sat and waited.

-/

Several minutes went by then Liara saw the Commander emerge from the elevator and walked over to her. She stood when he was a few steps away and spoke. "Commander…" then quickly looked at his name badge across his left chest "Finot."

He nodded as he said "Hello, yes. I'm Commander Finot… Ms?"

She gave a quick smile "It's Dr. Liara T'Soni, Commander Finot. Where is Commander Shepard?"

He shook his head as he gave a slight frown "I'm sorry Dr. T'Soni but we could no longer continue the search. We're out of time and we had to leave the area due to other arrangements."

Before Liara could respond Ashley blurted out in anger. "Are you fucking kidding me? Other arrangements! So, you just leave twenty people, including OUR commander dead or dying in fucking SPACE?"

Commander Finot highly irritated by her lack of respect for a commanding officer snapped "Mind your tongue Chief! I AM your superior officer, and YOU WILL respect me. May I remind you that we rescued you all, you ungrateful bastards. Also, note the time it's been over six hours and cut off time is six hours of air reserve in a suit. They're all DEAD!"

Liara snarled "You're just going to leave them BEHIND because you say they're dead?! You don't know they're DEAD!"

Commander Finot snapped back "Well, we're not a dead body recovery crew, doctor. We have other important things to take care of than to recover dead bodies." On that note, Commander Finot turned his back and left the Normandy crew.

Liara huffed then yelled back. "You think this is finished but IT IS NOT!"

Commander Finot rose his finger as he replied, "OH but it is…"

The entire Normandy crew shocked by what just occurred. Ashley snarled, "What an asshole! The Alliance doesn't leave people behind, dead or alive. Something isn't right here."

Liara narrowed her eyes and fumed. "I agree. I'll get to the bottom of this. I need to contact Admiral Hackett and Admiral Hanna Shepard about this."