All right, so she died trying to evacuate Joker from the Normandy when he refused to leave the ship. This seemed plausible. Joker loved that ship probably more than what was reasonable. Shepard loved it, too, but not enough that she would endanger herself or anyone else over it.

"What are the Collectors?" Shepard imagined that she'd die at the hands of the Geth or the Reapers. The Collectors a new addition to the equation. "Do they have anything to do with the Reapers?"