Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams raises her Assault Rifle and takes aim on a charging Reaper controlled Cannibal. Screams and explosions can be heard from every direction on the streets of London as the Reapers descend dreamlike from the night sky smeared blood red with the re-entry burn of exploding cruisers, frigates, and landing craft.
Ignoring the com chatter Ash raises her Assault rifle.
Takes aim . . . exhales to time the shot between breaths . . . gently squeezes the trigger. . .
The Cannibal implodes and savagely falls to the ground in a crescendo of blood and gore.
Ash thinks about the time she kissed Shepard on the Citadel. Tennyson’s Ulysses, the same quote she recited to Shepard on the Normandy many years past, gently filters into her mind:
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees; all times I have enjoy’d
Greatly, have suffer’d greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone. . . .
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments
I cannot rest. . . .
I will not let the commander down, Ash thinks to herself as she shakes off her 1000 yard stare and refocuses on the battlefield. I must fight on. Her genetically enhanced vision helps her accurately make a quick scan of the bomb-shattered streets. She spots another Cannibal on the move. She checks her fire as the Cannibal takes flight caught in one of Liara Tsoni’s biotic lift fields. Ash reaches for her shotgun and starts pumping shells into the helpless enemy as it floats past her. I will die for you my love if that’s what takes. I will follow you anywhere.
Shepard activates the ground tank’s canon and manages to fire a round at the Reaper in their path. The Reaper towering in front of their position answers back with a massive burst of energy from its main firing portal and the electrical hum of the pure red energy knocks her to the ground. The cooling sensation of medi-gel grips her flesh and mixes with the adrenaline coursing through her veins. Wounds seal instantly as her mind is jacked back into gear. When her vision clears she sees Shepard’s hand reaching for hers. The instant their fingers interlock Ashley thinks about their last kiss in the Alliance London command bunker. After the kiss, they had looked deep into each other’s eyes seeking answers, hope, a future, but all they could find was despair. It was at that moment their love was the strongest and they knew Spring would never come again. . .
A massive fireball launches a crazed band of husks airborne.
Sheppard gives the command to move out. Hearts pound out of control. The battle rages on.