Three hundred and thirty five years was a long time. As a cruel act brings old pains back to the fore, Elsa is forced to accept help from the recently-deceased Commander Shepard, in a journey that threatens to unleash all she has kept secret from the world. The good Commander isn't just there to help her, however: he's there to recruit her for a mission. A suicide mission.

Daughter of a legend, Elsa Shepard followed her father's footsteps in the Alliance Navy. While on a reconnaissance mission in the Shrike Abyssal, she finds herself in the company of a young researcher, and soon she finds herself hopelessly in love. But something far more sinister lurks in the shadows, and it's closer than anyone thinks...

Commander Elsa ponders the end before the famous run to the Conduit.