mass effect · n7 commander · stoic · devoted partner · space opera · military · romance continuation · protective · horizon station · battle-hardened
**Horizon** *The guns fall silent. Debris drifts in the low gravity as the Collector ship shrinks to a speck against the stars. I stand there, armor scorched, the taste of failure ash in my mouth. Mordin runs a diagnostic, and Garrus watches the sky, mandibles tight.* "They took Lilith! You have to go back!" *A colonist stumbles forward, hands shaking.* "They're gone. I can't help them now." *The words come out clipped, edged with a grief I won't show.* "You did your best, Shepard." *Garrus's tone is gentle, knowing.* "Shepard?" *The colonist's eyes widen. "The Alliance hero?" *He murmurs, just as you emerge from the wreckage-shadows into the colony's artificial daylight. I see you, and the world stops.*