Destruction of the SSV Normandy
From FABT
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 The Normandy's final moments just as the final particle beam strikes her amidships, splitting her in half.
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14 August 2183 CE | ||||||||||||||||
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In orbit over Alchera / Amada / Omega Nebula | ||||||||||||||||
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Decisive Collector victory
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- Susannah Gregori: "Picking up a signature. Cruiser-class. It's...moving on an intercept trajectory."
- Charles Pressly: "Impossible. The stealth system's engaged...there's no way a geth ship could possibly-"
- Jeff Moreau: "It's not the geth! Prepare for evasive-"
- — Normandy bridge crew moments before the attack.
The Destruction of the SSV Normandy, also known as the Ambush over Alchera and the Alchera incident, was a surprise attack on the SSV Normandy SR-1 during a patrol in the Amada system by the Collectors that occurred on 14 August 2183 CE, one month after the Eden Prime War's conclusion. Following the Battle of the Citadel on 19 July, the Normandy was subsequently assigned to Operation Cleanup, an Alliance military operation to locate and mop up remaining geth heretic forces following their defeat. After a month of clearing out geth strongholds, Cerberus facilities and hitting pirate bases, the Normandy mopped up its latest mission on Anhur before it received intel from the Alliance, received by a civilian ship, of a possible geth sighting in the Amada system, somewhere near the planet Alchera: this intel was a trap, leaked to the Alliance by the Collectors, who were directed to destroy the Normandy and kill Shepard by the Reapers. The Reapers, having seen humanity's potential, wished to begin harvesting them before their invasion began to jumpstart construction of a Human-Reaper that was delayed due to their invasion being stalled by the loss of Sovereign and his inability to reopen the Citadel relay. Knowing that Shepard and the Normandy would be an obstacle in this goal, Harbinger, leader of the Reapers, wanted them removed from the equation. The trap was set, with a Collector cruiser, the Sarcophagus, lying in wait in Alchera's atmosphere in a powered down state so as to not be detected.
On 14 August, the Normandy arrived in the Omega Nebula, quickly entering the Amada system only an hour later. After exiting FTL, the Sarcophagus immediately detected the Normandy. Powering back up, the ship left Alchera's atmosphere and tailed the Normandy around the circumference of the planet, emerging from the planet's northern pole so it was bearing down on the frigate, giving it the best possible angle for attack with its powerful particle beam weapon. Possessing technology that could penetrate the Normandy's stealth capabilities, the cruiser effortlessly tracked the Normandy, and when the time came, it struck. With the cruiser moving extremely fast, the Normandy bridge crew realized they were under attack too late to react, with the cruiser opening fire with precise shots from its particle cannon over extreme range. Its barriers and armor were obliterated instantly under the extreme bombardment, and any "battle" was effectively over in seconds, with the first shot striking amidships, instantly breaching the CIC, the second impacting engineering and destroying both starboard engines, and a third once again impacting amidships. Leaking atmosphere and crippled in seconds, Shepard immediately gave the abandon ship order. Joker performed evasive maneuvers whilst also sending out a mayday signal, which would be received by the nearby Stalingrad, the Normandy's sister ship, who soon lost contact with the Normandy afterwards, racing with all haste to the Amada system to provide assistance.
Gutted and its engines dead, the Normandy began drifting towards Alchera, with the Sarcophagus emerging from its position to finish off the wounded frigate. By this time, most of the surviving crew had successfully made it off the ship in escape pods, with Shepard only remaining behind to escape with Joker. Initially hesitant to leave, hoping to save the ship, Joker is convinced to get into an escape pod, but not before the Sarcophagus arrives to finish the job, unleashing another torrent of particle beams upon the vessel. The first blast knocked Shepard away from the pod, and the second struck near the bridge just as the command pod launched, saving Joker but causing Shepard to be blown from the ship and out into space, damaging his hardsuit in the process and causing air to leak out. A third and final hit impacted the Normandy amidships, crumbling the ship's hull and splitting it in two: the stern section of the Normandy quickly succumbed to gravitational stresses, burning up in Alchera's atmosphere and crumbling as it began plummeting for the surface; the bow would continue to drift for a little bit afterwards, and a couple minutes later, also succumbed to Alchera's gravity, burning up on reentry. Thrown by momentum and with no way to stop himself, Shepard too was blown towards Alchera and caught by its gravity, burning alive as he also succumbed to asphyxiation as a result of an exposure to vacuum. When Shepard died, it was alone, suffocating and in agony as his body literally began to melt alive, and moments after he blacked out, his body was incinerated upon reentry, his charred remains scattered across the Normandy's final resting place.
With the Stalingrad on its way and not wanting to risk alerting humanity to their plans, the Sarcophagus was forced to abandon its plan to destroy the escape pods, viewing its mission as a success due to Shepard's death and the frigate's destruction: it left the system mere minutes before the Stalingrad arrived. Within the pods themselves, the surviving crew recovered from the shock and trauma of the sudden loss, even more so when they learned of their commander's untimely demise from a guilt-ridden Joker. Eight minutes later, the Stalingrad arrived in-system, picking up the survivors and performing a scan of Alchera to confirm the loss of the Normandy and Shepard's death, although the remains of the latter were never found due to their extremely poor state. The Stalingrad returned to the Citadel, bringing the bad news, and a day of mourning was held across the Alliance in honor of Shepard and the Normandy crew members who lost their lives. After a day of mourning, each member of the crew was debriefed and then quietly dismissed, with Alliance crew members reassigned to new postings and the non-Alliance crew, such as the Normandy Squad, left with nothing to do. Tali'Zorah would return to the Migrant Fleet to complete her pilgrimage, Garrus Vakarian would try and fail to rejoin Citadel Security, and Liara T'Soni would disappear to Illium lost and not knowing what to do.
The aftermath of the destruction of the Normandy would significantly change the lead-up to the eventual Reaper War. It was a decisive first blow for the Collectors and, more importantly, the Reapers, who shortly thereafter began their campaign of human colony abductions, which would go unchallenged for two years until the return of Commander Shepard from the dead. The Citadel Council would use Shepard's death to quietly dismiss his attempts to prepare for the Reapers, returning to the status quo and establishing the fiction that Sovereign was a geth superdreadnought. The Normandy Squad was scattered and effectively defunct, with neither member pursuing or countering the Collector abductions. It wouldn't be until the return of Shepard in 2185 CE that they would finally regain the initiative, but by then significant time had been lost, time that would prove to have been precious in the grander scale of the Reaper campaign. The Normandy Squad would finally avenge the loss of their ship at the Collector Base Assault, with the ship's successor, the Normandy SR-2, engaging and destroying the Sarcophagus in battle with its upgraded armaments.