Okay, so here we go. First I want to say sorry for making all of you wait. I have no excuse nor do I believe you all want to hear it. So here we go the Prologue for Mass Effect 2: GotT! Please enjoy!

Summary of what happened in Bring Down the Sky: After the defeat of Sovereign, Shepard and the Normandy crew left for Pinnacle station, a Council training station run by Admiral Ahern. There, Shepard and his team had to complete several simulation scenarios that had different environmental situations. Each new simulation became tougher each time, but the team pulled through to the point where they set the record for all scores. After completing the simulation Ahern had personally made, the Normandy crew traveled to Intai'Sei to check out Shepard's new apartment which he had won in a bet with Ahern. Realizing that Shepard, and by extension a majority of the ground team, would be leaving the crew decided to through one last party together. Drinks and food was served, people were taking rides in the mako, shooting at empty bottles, and for the finale, Shepard had set up a fireworks display. Then came when the day the Normandy crew left... without Shepard. They said their goodbyes and parted on great terms, some more than others. It was only afterwards that things became complicated.

After leaving Intai'Sei's system, Phoenix, the Normandy was ambushed after exiting the relay network in the Horsehead Nebula for a fuel-run. Batarian extremists had trapped the Normandy at the edge of the Pax System. The batarians did not fire on them but merely disabled the ship. Realizing what was going to happen, the crew braced themselves to be boarded, a majority of them having their own weapon. The batarians sent a message through the ship before boarding: "Fire on us, we destroy the ship and everyone in it." Knowing that the batarians could and would do so the crew lowered their weapons with great reluctance as the batarians boarded. The batarians scoured the ship, looking over it before deeming it 'safe enough.' That was when their leader came aboard, Ka'hairal Balak, one of the meanest batarians the crew had seen. He demanded to know where Shepard was. When asked, none of the crew gave him away. Eventually, Balak found out the Ghost of the Terminus was no longer on the ship and was instead preparing to head back to Omega, where they would be less than likely to get to him. Balak, mulling over a new plan, quickly checked over the Normandy's previous destination and sent 2 teams of batarian soldiers to Intai'Sei before ordering his men to take the entire crew hostage, save one. They left only Jeff 'Joker' Moreau in the Normandy, alone with a message for Shepard's ears alone, but not before punching the pilot in the gut breaking one of his fragile ribs.

By the time the batarian teams arrived on Intai'Sei, it was already night. They quickly sent one team in to find Shepard only to find the place deserted. Quickly ushering in the rest to find out where exactly the Ghost was, they failed to realize that this was a trap. As soon as the last one was inside, the door closed up trapping them before the apartment exploded into a fiery blaze. Shepard, had been waiting for them the entire time, watching from a distant cliff. Believing that will keep them off of him for some time he took his equipment and walked to his personal fighter before journeying back to Omega, unaware of what had happened to his crew. Upon returning to Omega, Shepard was welcomed back into the fold of Aria's ranks only to be devastated by news he had been dreading: Liselle, the woman who Shepard had been seeing for years, had miscarried their baby. Shepard had fallen into a deep depression at the news. It was only through the unexpected intervention of someone else that Shepard was able to pull through it. David Anderson, the person who Shepard nominated for the Human Councilor position had come bearing news of Shepard's crew. Shepard geared himself up in his newly upgraded armor and weapons and traveled back to Council space with Anderson, unknown to him Shepard's AI friend Isaac tagging along, where he found Joker at Huerta Memorial Hospital. After an intense conversation of Joker venting to him about how he should've been there and could've stopped them, Shepard told Joker about what had happened on Omega making the pilot sober out of his rage. They quickly got back on track with Joker passing Balak's message to him: "Come to the place where you butchered us if you want your crew back."

Shepard immediately knew where the message meant, Torfan, the place where he had solidified his reputation as Ghost of the Terminus. Shepard told Joker to get some rest and promised he'd bring everyone back before leaving. He contacted Anderson and told him of where the batarians had taken the crew. Shepard, assistance from the Alliance, laid siege to Torfan again only this time the batarians were ready with a dreadnought on their side. The battle almost destroyed the Alliance forces but Shepard had managed to take it out by attacking the bridge with several well placed shots in his personal fighter. With the battle won, the forces attacked the base with Shepard and Isaac looking for any sign of the crew. He found them, most of them beaten and bruised but otherwise ok. As Shepard escorted them back to the ships, Dr. Chakwas stopped him telling that the ground team had been taken personally by the batarian in charge and said that he must find them quickly. She said that the batarians had mentioned something about Terra Nova, a human colony out in the Exodus Cluster. She urged him to hurry saying that the batarians seemed especially gleeful about whatever it was. Having a new destination in mind, Shepard traveled to the Asgard System of the Exodus Cluster.

Once there, he noticed a large object approaching Terra Nova. He quickly traveled to it and was shocked to see that it was an asteroid being propelled into Terra Nova's orbit. On closer inspection, he noticed that there were fusion torches pushing the asteroid. Without thinking, he quickly dropped onto the asteroid and immediately set out to disable the torches. While on the asteroid he was informed of what happened by one of the engineering team, Kate Bowman over his comm-link. Balak had taken control of one of the slaver operations that was meant to take the team and turned the asteroid on the colony, an act of terrorism not seen since the Krogan Rebellions, and killed a majority of the team themselves. After deactivating the fusion torches, Shepard moved onto the main base where Balak was. On the way he battled a platoon of batarian forces including Slashers, Sentinels, Soldiers, and Brawlers as well as a tank. He was almost overwhelmed by the fight but with his Overdrive he was able to turn the battle around, crushing the tank and managing to kill the enforcers.

Once inside the base, he faced Balak and his remaining forces. In the back was the remaining engineering team and his ground team, trapped with a bomb inside. Balak accused Shepard of being a terrorist to the Hegemony, saying that the reason for the failed slaver operations was solely his fault and that all that he had done was for revenge. Shepard countered saying he never sent an asteroid strike on a batarian colony and that the batarians had pushed themselves into the situation they're in now. Eventually, Balak ended the talk and left Shepard on ultimatum: Let him escape and save his crew or kill him and leave the crew to die. Shepard battled the raging voice inside him, telling him to kill Balak before ruthlessly snuffing the voice out. Balak escaped with his life as well as the teams, but the rest of Balak's forces died trying to kill Shepard.

Shepard was given thanks from both the engineering team as well as the Alliance for his efforts in saving the crew and the colony. He was given new medals for his deeds with congratulations from his friends. After a while, he was asked to use the Normandy to make the trip back to Omega. In fact, Anderson and the Normandy Crew were insisting upon it. Seeing no harm in it, he sent Isaac ahead of him to Omega to make sure things were quiet while he traveled on the Normandy. Before going to Omega, the Normandy was asked to investigate a possible geth presence in the Amada System of the Omega Nebula. Unknown to them, a new enemy has stepped out of the shadows ready to strike a deadly blow...

Now

Year 2183: Cronos Station, Anadius, Horsehead Nebula

In a dark room with a black tile floor which held the view of a beautiful supergiant with colors red and blue dominating each other for control sat a man in a metallic chair. This man wore a Giuli Vorn suit styled with several buttons with a chest pocket containing his favorite cigars. He appeared to be in his late forties-early fifties. He had dark brown hair that was turning grey, wore a stern expression, but his most remarkable feature was his eyes. They were light blue instead of being natural; they looked synthetic especially with the circuit pattern of the iris. This man was Jack Harper or otherwise known as the Illusive Man.

The Illusive Man was looking through several screens of information. Each one was holding information about one man. This man had made several big marks in the galaxy, the biggest having been only a few weeks ago, at the battle of the Citadel. Further away from him was a woman. She had dark hair, blue eyes and fair skin. She was clad in a black and white catsuit which clung to her body showing off her curves. This woman was Miranda Lawson, one of the Illusive Man's highest ranking operatives. Even though she was looking out of the window she wasn't paying any attention to the view. She was thinking over what to say. She knew why her boss had called her here. The man that Cerberus had been keeping track of, the man that they had been searching for had revealed himself to the galaxy... and saved it.

"Shepard did everything right. More than we could have hoped for." She spoke in a sophisticated voice that showed her intelligence. "Saving the Citadel, even saving the Council. Humanity has the trust of the entire galaxy..." She turned around to face her boss. "and still it's not enough."

"Our sacrifices have earned the Council's gratitude, but Shepard remains our best hope." The Illusive Man said jiggling his cigar between his fingers before taking a drag out of it. Footsteps echoed around the dark room as a man in lab coat walking out of the darkness and handed a datapad to the Illusive Man who accepted it without looking. The scientist walked away silently.

"But they're sending him to fight geth. Geth!" She uttered the word as if it were absurd. She slowly approached her boss walking through the holographic screens. "We both know they're not the real threat. The Reapers are still out there." She said stopping and putting a hand on her hip.

"And it's up to us to stop them." He finished before blowing out some smoke. Miranda crossed her arms over her sizable bust, giving her boss an impassive look.

"The Council will never trust Cerberus. They'll never accept our help. Even after Humanity has accomplished." She said walking over to his side before looking at the aforementioned screens. She briefly studied the man's profile. "But Shepard... they'll follow him. He's a hero, a bloody icon." She looked back at her boss who could see just smallest hints of doubt. "But he's just one man. If we lose Shepard, humanity might well follow." She finished. The Illusive Man couldn't tell whether she meant that people would stop believing in the Reapers or about Shepard being Subject Alpha. Either way, in both cases Miranda was correct.

"Then see to it that we don't lose him." He said putting his cigar in the ash tray part of his chair's armrest. Miranda took that as her dismissal and left the room. The Illusive Man looked back over the profile. The newest entry in the profile was of the Terra Nova incident in which Shepard stopped the terrorist Balak. The Illusive Man sent spies out searching for the batarian but the trail ended leading to Hegemony space. The Illusive Man took his cigar back up and took another drag out of it. He quickly over the datapad that was given to him before his eyes narrowed at the information. Several ships had gone missing in the Omega Nebula. All human, all missing completely with no trace or trail. Who was capable of doing this?

Around the same time: Alchera, Amada System, Omega Nebula

The Normandy shot out of FTL and began scanning for any presence behind said disappearances. Inside the ship, the crew was going about their usual business. Up in the cockpit, Joker, the Normandy's pilot, was checking the systems.

"Disengaging FT drives. Emission sinks active. Board is green... we are running silent." From behind the pilot an older in an officer dress blues walked up, looking over a datapad. This man was Charles Pressly, the Normandy's Navigator.

"We're wasting our time. Four days searching up and down this sector, and we haven't found any sign of geth activity." Pressly said as he checked over a screen behind Joker.

"Three ships went missing here in the past month. Something happened to them." Joker replied as he switched through different screens. Pressly hmphed.

"My money's on slavers. The Terminus System is crawling with them." Joker snorted this time.

"You know that if it were slavers Shepard would be on them already. Besides, he seems to think it something else." Pressly looked at him in mild confusion.

"Something else like the geth?" He prompted. Joker turned around to him this time.

"No, like something new. I don't know why, but Shepard seems a bit on edge having thought about it. I mean I asked why he thought it was something else and all he said was, 'It doesn't match the usual patterns. Both geth and slavers would leave some kind of trail or debris.' To be perfectly honest Pressly, Shepard being on edge is not a good sign in the time we've known him and it's making me nervous." Pressly nodded and opened his mouth to respond before he was cut off by a nearby ensign.

"Picking up something on the long range scanner. Unidentified vessel. Looks like a cruiser." Joker heard this and quickly switched his screen to see what the ensign was talking about. Sure enough their was some kind of strange ship on the scanners. Joker quickly began analyzing it with any known ships in their database. Pressly had come over to the ensign to see what she was talking about.

"Doesn't match any known signatures." Joker muttered as he continued to look at the ship. That was when he noticed that it had changed directions.

"Cruiser is changing course. Now on intercept trajectory." The ensign said. Joker's eyes narrowed at the ship in rising suspicion. Could this be what was taking the ships? Was this ship what Shepard had thought of?

"Can't be. Stealth systems are engaged. There's no way a geth ship could-" Pressly said before Joker cut him off on seeing something light up on the ship.

"It's not the geth. Brace for evasive maneuvers!" He yelled. Pressly quickly switched off the stealth system before Joker swerved the ship out of the way. The Cruiser fired a yellow beam of energy at the frigate. The Normandy quickly moved out of the way only to have one of its thrusters sheared by the beam which went through both the shields and armor as if they weren't there at all. The blow overloaded some of the systems which caused several consoles to exploded one of which caught Pressly.

"Aaaah!" Joker heard as he tried to right the Normandy. He heard the Ensign yell Pressly's name before another explosion happened with a dying shout following after it. Several more explosions followed quickly in rapid succession along with screams from his fellow crew members. The lights switched from

"Kinetic barriers down. Multiple hull breaches. Weapons offline!" Joker shouted in a tight voice, looking at his screen with his fingers dancing across the terminal keys. He could feel the heat of the fire from the ensign's console behind him growing. "Somebody get that fire out!" He shouted pointing to the fire behind him. He looked back at his screen just in time to see that the Cruiser had caught up to the Normandy quickly and another beam lanced towards them. He quickly tried to create some distance between them and the ship only to be struck by the beam which struck the Normandy's main hull. Fires erupted as the oxygen fed the flames only to be extinguished by the cold vacuum of space. Joker quickly took his oxygen helmet and put it on while everyone else had made it to the deck below. He quickly flew the Normandy around the planet in a desperate attempt to keep their pursuer away at least for a few moments to recover.

Downstairs

An asari clad in pink and white armor quickly sprinted through the second deck, moving past several scrambling crew members. Her fellow crew members seemed to have given up on trying to extinguish the fire seemed to be doing everything they could to make it to escape pods. A sentiment she shared with them and would be doing if there wasn't someone she needed to make sure was alive. She came to the captain's cabin only to find the door looking as if it had been wrenched off. Inside, the room was ablaze.

"Shepard!" She cried out hoping he hadn't been caught in one of the explosions. One of the crew limped past her, blood running down the side of his leg.

"Dr. T'soni! He's at the end of the hall." Liara T'soni looked at the man and nodded before motioning for him to keep moving. She wasted no time as she ran through a mess of wires, debris and flames. Explosions rang throughout the ship which were matched only by the screams of the injured and dying. She shook her head focusing on find the one man she loved the most.

"There he is..." She whispered breathlessly. She quickly moved to the man clad in jet black armor who was just putting his helmet on no doubt due to the rapidly failing life support systems.

"Shepard!" John Shepard stood calm and cool despite the dire situation and the chaos swirling around them. His visor was tinted black as well giving him the look of stoic soldier. Liara could tell though that despite the outward appearance, Shepard was barely keeping himself collected.

"Distress beacon is ready for launch." He said with his quick tone being the only sign of distress. Liara put her own helmet on as well.

"Will the Alliance get here in time?" Another explosion happened, this time with enough force to rock the ship. Liara stumbled along with Shepard before he righted himself and caught her before she could fall. Liara looked up at him as she regained her balance. The console behind Shepard cutoff drawing the man's attention before he pulled a fire extinguisher off the wall and tossed it to Liara.

"I don't believe the Alliance will abandon us. We just need to hold on. Get everyone onto the escape shuttles." Liara took the extinguisher to put out a fire that was starting to blaze out of control while Shepard opened a control panel and began rewiring things.

"Joker is still in the cockpit. He won't evacuate." Had the situation not been so dire Shepard would have rolled his eyes at the statement. "I'm not leaving either." Shepard shook his head before the console flashed back on.

I need you to get the crew onto the evac shuttles. I'll take care of Joker." He remembered there being one right near the cockpit which would make this somewhat easier. Shepard moved over to the console. Another explosion rocked the deck causing both of them to nearly lose their balance. Liara, regaining her balance while Shepard righted himself on one of the stasis pods as he got to the console. His fingers immediately started seeking any lose or broken wires.

"Shepard..." Liara called out as if she wanted to say something else but couldn't. Shepard shook his head. This wasn't the time or place.

"Liara. Go. Now." He said with finality as he looked over his shoulder to her. Liara could practically see the blue eyes gazing at her through the black visor and for a moment she thought about defying his order before her sense of reason took over.

"Aye, aye." She said softly before turning around and running as fast she could to get as many people as she could out. Turning around, Shepard turned his attention to the console and slammed his fist down on it. A shrill alarm sounded out as the fire suppression systems finally activated giving everyone who was still alive a chance to get out.

Liara had managed to gather as many people as she could before leading them to the escape pods with Kaidan Alenko and Ashley Williams helping her. Everyone could hear the evacuation alarms blaring and the fire suppression systems had finally kicked in. Making a right, the group arrived at the escape pods. Liara, Kaidan and Ashley each got in front of a pod and began ushering everyone in.

"Everybody in! Go! Go! Go!" Kaidan barked out with Ashley echoing him. Doctor Chakwas and several others jumped into Liara's pod and strapped themselves. Liara turned to see one last survivor running towards the entrance only to be caught by another explosion only a few feet away. The crew member's dying scream bore through Liara as she jumped into the pod and sealed it. Liara strapped herself down as the pod began to rumble, signifying that it was about tone launched. Liara found herself suddenly praying that Shepard would be alright. She knew Ashley was doing the same thing in the pod next to her. She was praying that he would get to Joker in time, get the both of them to an escape pod and be safe.

The Normandy's hull opened to reveal six escape pods on the starboard side. Each one jettisoned off their berths quickly carrying the survivors away from the dying ship as it drifted further and further away, hopefully making a better target for the Cruiser than the escape pods.

Back on the ship, Shepard watched on the console as the escape pods got further and further from ship with ever increasing relief. They were safer now. He turned around just another explosion happened right in front of if. He looked at his HUD since Isaac wasn't with him currently to see if he was damaged. Much to his relief, his shields managed to take the full brunt of the damage given. He ran down the burning hallway, passing several burned bodies and narrowly avoiding several explosion which depleted his shields even more so.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday! This is SSV Normandy." He heard as he made it to the mess. Joker's S.O.S continued over the comm as Shepard made it to the elevator. "We've suffered heavy damage from an unknown enemy." Shepard continued up the stairs hearing Joker plead with the Normandy, "Come on, baby. Hold together. Hold together."

He reached the top of the stairs quickly to find the door jammed shut. He used his biotics to wrench the door open as wide as it could go. As soon as he did, he had to hold onto the door frame to stay attached to the ship. There was a gigantic whole in the ceiling of the CIC giving Shepard a view of the planet along with a majority of debris floating away from the Normandy. The power was obviously out meaning that the artificial gravity was out with it. He activated his mag-boots and magnetized himself to metal floor, the only sounds registering in his mind at the moment being his breathing and heartbeat. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the galaxy map flickering on and off along with most of it being destroyed. The computer consoles and terminals we either missing or completely burned out and the chairs were floating around. He moved through pushing the chair out of his way and hesitantly pushing the floating body of Charles Pressly along with them. It hurt to see the older man dead, but Shepard had to focus on saving the only other living crewmen still on the ship with him. Shepard was relieved to see a barrier had activated in the cockpit, protecting Joker from dangerous elements of the empty void known as space. As soon as he stepped past the barrier he could feel the gravity was on meaning that the cockpit had power for the moment. He moved to Joker side immediately.

"Come on, Joker! We have to get out here!" Shepard grabbed Joker's arm gently only for the pilot to pull it out of his grasp as he continued to pilot the ship.

"No,I won;t abandon the Normandy! I can still save her!" Shepard gently but firmly grasped his friend's shoulder. Joker's monitors were telling Shepard that that wasn't going to happen with structural damage it sustained, not to mention their attackers were still out there.

"The Normandy's lost. Going down with the ship won't change that." Shepard said shaking his head solemnly. Joker looked at him with sadness, knowing he was right. There was no saving their beloved ship from this. Joker nodded, giving in.

"Yeah okay, help me up." Shepard made to do so only to freeze as he grasped his arm. Joker looked at Shepard to see the man staring back down the hallway. Joker suddenly realized that Shepard could see the Cruiser through the hole in the Normandy and that its beam cannon was charging up. A feeling of pure dread crawled up Joker's spine.

"They're coming around for another attack!" He said. Shepard snapped into action when he saw the beam fire and close the distance between the ships. He quickly gripped Joker's arm causing the man to give a pained gasp.

"Ah! Watch the arm!" Joker cried out but Shepard barely heard it over the screeching the beam was making as it sawed through what remained of the Normandy. Shepard quickly dragged Joker away from his chair, being mindful of his friend's condition as the situation permitted. They moved towards the remaining escape pod just outside the cockpit which was reserved for the pilot and the CIC members. Shepard didn't need to think about why it was still there since Joker was the only one left. He hit the panel on the side of the doors making them open. Shepard pushed Joker in as fast and as carefully as he could into seat closest to them. Before Shepard get into the pod another explosion happened, this time right next to Shepard as he tried to get in. Another, much bigger explosion happened sending a shockwave which propelled Shepard away from the escape pod. Shepard had just barely managed to hold onto the panel when he saw the beam was getting closer. He could feel he had probably broken some bones but that didn't warrant his attention. What warranted his attention was the fact that the beam was moving closer to the escape pod with Joker in it. He knew he wasn't going to make it in time. Not with zero-g slowing him down. So he reacted. He slammed his fist on the button and pod sealed itself before jettisoning away from the ship. Joker shouting his name barely registered in his mind before the resulting explosion happened with enough force that fired Shepard into an intact wall. He hung there in space limp as a rag-doll, overcome by the sudden onslaught of pain. He honestly couldn't tell if he broke just ribs or his spine along with them.

He barely noticed himself floating away from the Normandy and watching how the beams tore his ship apart. Whatever did this to them was out to destroy completely and utterly. These were certainly not geth. The Cruiser looked too... organic he guessed the right word would be. Then he found himself thinking of how he got mixed up in all of this.

'It was all supposed to be a vacation. A relaxing vacation before I went back to the Terminus. But it had to turn into something else. Of course... that's how it started. A simple vacation-and it was... at first. I had just been getting ready to leave Eden Prime when my ship had been destroyed right in front of me. I had feared that my AI friend Isaac had been destroyed along with it, but was relieved to find that he had gotten out in time. We weren't the only ones to be fired on though. The Alliance patrol on Eden Prime had also been attacked. They'd seen something they couldn't explain. And whatever it was... it was massive.' He could still see Eden Prime burning. The green paradise being consumed by the flames of death and destruction.

'I was already on the ground fighting when the Normandy, a high-tech Alliance frigate showed up. They had received the distress signal and came to investigate. I met two of the ground team immediately, one of them being Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko-a good guy. Loyal. By the book. With a talent for biotics. We came across the lone survivor of the patrol, Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams. A soldier to the core. Tough. Disciplined. Ready to take on whatever came her way. Ashley joined up with us and took us to the spot where she lost her squad. That's when we saw it... the ship. Like nothing I'd ever seen. It was massive-scorching the colony and everything around it as it blasted away.' He remembered battling through Eden Prime with Ashley and Kaidan following him through the flames, geth and husks. He remembered seeing Sovereign for the first time.

'We followed the path of destruction to an artifact, a beacon left by a long dead race called the protheans. The colony had dug it up and whoever attacked them had tried to take it. Chief Williams made the mistake of getting too close. It hit her with some kind of energy. I grabbed her and threw her out of the way. That's when it hit me. Hard. Every muscle in body went rigid... I couldn't move. Could barely breathe. Everything went black... and then I saw something. A vision. Dream. A nightmare.' The glowing green light span into his thoughts followed by the vision itself.

'By the time I woke up, we were halfway to the Citadel on our way to meet the Council. I had been transported onto the Normandy by Williams and Alenko and was expected to explain what I'd seen. Anderson came along. So did Udina-Humanity's political representative on the Citadel. With those two heavyweights it seemed reasonable we could persuade the Council that the ship we'd seen was a potential threat. As was the individual behind the attacks.' He could still remember walking through the Citadel for the first time. And the hearing... as if it really was one.

'The main suspect for the Eden Prime massacre was a turian Spectre named Saren. He'd been seen by one of the survivors from the colony at Eden Prime, and there was some evidence to suggest that the ship was connected to Saren. But even Udina's pointed accusations weren't enough to convince the Council. They just couldn't believe one of their chosen elite Spectres could be guilty of something like that. They needed proof. Which meant I needed proof.' That hearing had been damn near pointless in his opinion. His lips quirked as his thoughts strayed to what happened afterwards.

'Fortunately, I wasn't alone in my search. Garrus, another turian, wanted to help. A top agent for Citadel Security; despite orders from his superiors that he shouldn't get involved he told me he was suspicious of Saren and he had some useful leads. More importantly he was willing to share them. That led me to Wrex. The biggest, nastiest looking krogan bounty hunter I'd ever seen. He turned out to be more than just a brute... it was his intel that led to a fugitive with incriminating evidence on Saren. The fugitive turned out to be an energetic little quarian named Tali. A tech expert with a knack for hacking she'd... procured some information on Saren. Evidence that proved he was dirty.' He remembered meeting each one of them so clearly he might as well be there now.

'Tali's evidence proved Saren was responsible for the massacre on Eden Prime, and that the immense war-ship we'd spotted was in fact Saren's flagship. But it went much further. Saren was trying to bring back a race of sentient machines from dark space. Machine's allegedly responsible for cleansing the galaxy of all organic life. These 'Reapers' were blamed for wiping out all life 50,000 years ago... including the protheans. Then disappearing back through the Mass Relay's into dark space, leaving no trace that'd they ever been. That'd explained why Saren was after the beacon, and it made some sense out of my visions... but not much else.' He remembered the shock faces of the Councilors when they presented the evidence. It still made him want to laugh.

'We couldn't convince the Council that the Reapers were a threat, but they agreed Saren had to be stopped. They stripped him of his Spectre status and gave me the honor of becoming the first human Spectre. My first-and only-task... bring down Saren. Anderson decided to stay behind; giving up his ship, the Normandy. He told me I would need it more than he would. He also pointed me in a direction...' He could still hear the ships on the dock that day when Anderson was telling him the Normandy was his now.

'Liara, a prothean expert, adept in biotics and maybe most importantly... daughter of Benezia, Saren's top lieutenant. And like most asari, as beautiful as she is intelligent and born with the unique ability to meld with other species. Liara was able to help me decipher some of the vision the beacon had given me. Nothing concrete, but it gave me some clues. And a new... appreciation for the Asari. Her technique for accessing my vision was unexpected, but not at all unpleasant.' His thoughts were illustrated by finding Liara in that prothean stasis field which was followed by the vision again.

'Ashley was concerned about the connection I shared with Liara. As the leader, I knew either relationship had the potential to interfere with the mission... among other things. I told both of them of I felt and the situation I was in. I had believed that would be it, but it only seemed to encourage them. But we agreed that we wouldn't let it get in the way of our mission... finding Saren.' He felt giddy every time he thought about the looks they'd send him while on the ship before it went away with what happened next.

'We next went to Feros on a lead about geth attacking the colony. We arrived and were almost immediately in a firefight. The battle was short-lived before we moved onto the main colony, Zhu's Hope. Seeing that the colony was in desperate need of several things, I resolved to split my team into three groups: Ladies, Men and Me. It was only after I finished my task did I find out why the geth attacked... The Thorian, ancient sentient plant lifeform was controlling the colonists. The Exo-Geni company had been studying the creature and using the colonists as test subjects. The geth were trying to destroy it on Saren's orders. What was worse was that my team had been taken hostage by it. I quickly confronted the creature and destroyed it only to battle a new Thorian who named itself New Growth. My team and I barely defeated the monster together but we managed. I ran into one of Benezia's former follower, Shiala who had given Saren the Cipher which allowed him to make sense of the vision. It helped... but not by much.' Shepard still felt chills when he thought of New Growth's power.

'Thanks to Liara's help, we had our next lead. Benezia. Saren had taken her to Noveria where he'd enslaved the queen of a dangerous race of insect-like creatures, the Rachni. He ordered Benezia to use the same technique Liara had used on me to extract information from the Rachni queen. The queen's drones were everywhere, and they weren't happy. We had to fight through hundreds of them to get to Benezia. By the time we arrived, Saren was gone... with the information. I tried to reason with Benezia... but Saren had indoctrinated her. He had somehow acquired the ability to control people's actions and wills. Benezia wouldn't surrender, and Liara nearly had to watch her mother die. Thankfully, I had somehow acquired the ability to purge the indoctrination from Benezia's mind. She stayed onboard with us for a while training me and Liara both in biotics.' His thoughts mulled it all over: From landing in that frigid space port to fighting the rachni that came out of the vents to stopping Benezia.

'And I was left with an angry, dangerous Rachni queen to deal with. She claimed her drones would do no harm if I released her. But the Rachni had terrorized the galaxy before... I couldn't do it. I wouldn't doom an entire species for past sins. And the queen was true to her word. She left and took her army of drones with her.' He remembered pressing the button on the cage which lifted the queen away from them. He even remembered meeting her brief gaze before she walked out.

'With Saren's top lieutenant dead, he was quickly running out of time and places to hide. I tracked him down at his base on Virmire. But we soon learned it was more than a base of operations... it was a breeding ground. Saren was breeding an army of Krogan. He'd found a 'cure' for the Genophage, a disease inflicted on the Krogan to prevent them from breeding and taking over the galaxy. But the Krogan Saren was breeding were slaves... mindless beasts that obeyed Saren's will. I had to destroy the base. Wrex disagreed. Violently.' Shepard remembered driving the mako out of the ship that day, remembered the mindless krogan in the facility and how he almost had gotten into a gunfight with Wrex. Something he was very reluctant in doing and relieved that he didn't have to.

'Wrex wanted the Genophage 'cure' for his people. I tried to convince him to help me destroy it, that these krogan weren't real. But he wouldn't back down...Fortunately, Wrex is smarter than he looks. He realized this wasn't the way to help his people. And that Saren was the real threat. When we finally got to the center of the base, I realized just how close Saren was to completing his plan. He was already in communication with the Reapers. Sovereign, Saren's flagship we'd all assumed was just a ship... was a Reaper. It spoke to me. Threatened me. I could feel the menace it had for every living thing. It wanted me dead. It wanted us all dead. And I knew it was capable of doing just that... what I couldn't understand was why Saren would help it.' He could still see the red hologram interface showing the Reaper. Its ancient voice, deep and menacing as it foretold of the Reaper fleets.

'But there was no time to think about it. Sovereign knew where we were. We had to destroy the base and get the hell out. I split my team up in to two squads, sending Ash with one and Kaidan with the other. We had a nuke and we planned to use it. Before we could detonate the bomb Saren showed up. We fought. I stalled him to make time for my time. And in talking with to him, I realized the truth. It wasn't Saren who was indoctrinating everyone. It was Sovereign. The Reaper. And Saren was in deeper than all of them. He tried to convince me that he was still in control... that he'd found a way to reduce the Reaper's influence, but he was kidding himself... or believing the lies Sovereign was telling him.' The thoughts quickly turned to the fight between Rogue Spectre and Ghost Spectre and the conversation during.

'Before I could convince him to stop and that I could possibly save him... he ran. Leaving me just seconds to extract my squadmates. I tried... but I alone wasn't fast enough. I could only get to one of them. As fate would have it, I had a mech that I had stashed away on the ship. Benezia released it which took on the geth allowing Kaidan to make to us as we left. We made it into orbit just in time to watch the nuke go off.' It had been a hairy moment for him personally. He never wanted to choose who lived and who died among his squad.

'That was the last time Saren would slip away from me. I knew then, the next time we met, one of us would die. With my team intact, we chased Saren and his army to Ilos... a long lost planet that had once belonged to the protheans. As we prepared for what would be a desperate fight, I spoke to my crew. We were just one ship, against Saren's growing army. I assured them all that despite the odds, we could defeat him. But Liara and Ash saw through my words. They could sense my doubts. We all knew this mission could be out last. Until that moment, we'd put our feelings aside for the sake of that mission... but why wait? We gave in to each other. And it was perfect... while it lasted.' this time he actually couldn't keep the smile from his face even as he floated into some debris from the Normandy and had to push it away.

'We arrived on Ilos close behind Saren. Once on the planet, we discovered a prothean databank that helped me put the final pieces of my vision together. The Reapers had come 50,000 years ago. And every 50,000 years before that. Each time purging the galaxy of life. The protheans had fought-and died-like every species before them. But a few survived long enough to leave a parting gift. the protheans had discovered that the Citadel was the key to controlling the Mass Relays. By sabotaging the Citadel, they found a way to close the Relays to Dark Space. Slowing the Reapers return, giving us the time we needed to find a solution to stop the Reapers once and for all. Saren knew this. He was leading his army to take control of the Citadel, and reestablish the Relays to Dark Space... bringing the waiting Reapers here to destroy us all.' There was no talk of Vigil from search teams sent to Ilos now that he thought about it. Had they not found him? Or did its power supply finally run dry?

'We followed him to the Citadel. It was intact, but heavily damaged. He had caught the Council fleets by surprise and they were only now regrouping. And with Sovereign as his flag ship, there was little hope the fleets could counterattack with enough strength to take back the Citadel. But Saren was done running. And I was done chasing him. As the Alliance and Council fleets battled Saren's army outside the Citadel, I cornered the rogue Spectre in the Citadel Tower and confronted him. He died on his own terms after I helped him realize that he was being used from the beginning.' The battle up the Tower itself had been arduous with fighting geth and husks, and Saren showed himself as an even match for Shepard and the whole team.

'As I fought to regain control of the Citadel, the Council's flagship, the Destiny Ascension fell under attack. Despite Saren's death, Sovereign and Saren's army continued to fight. The Council was aboard the Destiny Ascension and they were requesting assistance, but I knew in order to help them I would have to put the human Alliance fleet in jeopardy... The Council had to be saved. They represented the hearts and minds of the galactic community. Without them, the fleets would be in disarray.' Of course there had been more to his decision than that but it was main reason.

'Even with the Citadel back in my control, Saren defeated, and the Normandy leading the combined galactic fleet, the battle against Sovereign-a single Reaper-was relentless. It took the combined fleets of humanity and the other races... but in the end... Sovereign fell. But the costs were immense.' All those lives, civilian and soldier, numbering in... what was it now? 3500? 3550? Somewhere around that number. And he and his team could've easily been part of that.

'While humanity's efforts in the war earned us our first seat on the Council, it was a hollow victory. The Reapers were still out there. I knew the fight was far form over, but... as the one who'd lead the fight against Saren, I was given new responsibilities. The choice for humanity's first Councilor was left to me to decide. On one hand; Udina, the lifetime politician. Ruthless and ambitious. He could easily navigate the political landmines that would soon be placed before him. The other choice, Captain Anderson, the career soldier. Tough but fair. But a friend and someone I could trust. Both great leaders in their own right... Anderson didn't want the job, which was a sure sign he'd be perfect for it. no ambition to get in the way.' He could still see the shocked looks on both of their faces when he suggested Anderson for the job. Priceless.

'The war was over. The threat passed. In time, the Council would rebuild itself. The Citadel could be repaired. Even the pain of lost friends would fade. But none of that mattered if the Reapers were still out there. And if they were all as powerful as Sovereign, we had to find a way to stop them. I had to find a way. After briefly parting with my crew, I gathered them again, took my ship, and went in search of answers. Officially, the Council would only say I was assigned clean up duty. Routing out any remnants of Saren's army. Just another routine mission.' Is what was said.

Shepard started feel the pain begin to go away as he looked around. The Normandy was reduced to nothing. He briefly turned and studied the Cruiser and took note of its details. The ship was vast in size, easily dwarfing Normandy. The vessel was a hybrid of organic protrusions with a metallic superstructure. Its weapon capable of multi-directional fire which ignored kinetic barriers and was amazingly accurate as it was damaging since it only used a few shots to destroy the Normandy. Not only that but it had to have advanced sensors as well to have detected the Normandy while it was in stealth mode. The Cruiser was leaving the area at an unusual speed, one that Shepard didn't think any of modern-day Cruisers were capable of. Out of the corner of his eye Shepard could see the escape pods drifting further and further away while the Cruiser went in the opposite direction.

Why? Why was it leaving them alone? Were they out of its range somehow? No. With advanced sensors like those, it would be easy to spot them, hell he was sure he could be spotted with their sensors. Was it because they weren't registered as a threat? No, no way. The Normandy couldn't have registered as a threat with how fast it took her out. There was only two conclusions he could come up with: One; Unlikely though it may be, they were testing their ships abilities. Two; They already did what they wanted which was to destroy the Normandy. But who, or what, was piloting the Cruiser? Shepard's thoughts were interrupted when he felt a chill go down his spine.

A chill that was rapidly spreading throughout his suit. He noticed that something was leaking out of his suit. His fears were confirmed on his suit's HUD which showed that his hardsuit had been compromised with a rupture around the torso. He could feel the oxygen becoming thinner until he found himself choking. He reached to the back of his neck in the vain hope of holding the oxygen in. It was useless though. He started struggling, kicking his legs, groaning and fighting to stay conscious. This couldn't be how it ends! He had to get back to Omega! He had to prepare everything for the Reaper invasion. He had to get back... to Isaac... to Ashley... to Liara... to... to everyone. Shepard could see the star of the Amada System as it was slowly eclipsed by Alchera. The light eventually disappeared as he was pulled in by the planets gravity. Everything was going numb and cold now. His movement were slowing down until they stopped.

In his final moments John Shepard felt himself desperately wishing to see his friends again, falling in a cold place until there was only darkness and then... nothing.

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