In 2183, shortly after the events of Mass Effect, the SSV Normandy, while patrolling for geth resistance, is attacked by an unknown vessel, forcing the crew to abandon ship. Shepard pushes Joker into the final escape pod before being blasted into space. After a suit breach, Shepard dies via asphyxiation as their body is pulled into the orbit of a nearby planet. The body is recovered by Cerberus, who begins the "Lazarus Project" with the sole purpose of bringing Shepard back to life. Two years later, Shepard is revived on an operating table and escapes a research station under attack by its security mechs alongside Jacob Taylor and Miranda Lawson. Shepard is brought to meet the Illusive Man, who reveals that entire populations of human colonies have disappeared all over the galaxy. Now working with Cerberus, Shepard is sent to investigate a recently attacked colony and encounters Tali and a contingent of quarians searching for their missing colleague. Clues uncovered by Shepard's team suggest that the Reapers are working by proxy through an insectoid alien race called the Collectors, who have abducted the colonists.
