 Mass Effect 2 begins weeks after the events of the original game. While patrolling for geth resistance, the SSV Normandy is attacked by an unknown starship, forcing the crew to abandon ship. During the evacuation, Shepard tosses Joker into the Normandy's final escape pod before being blasted into space. After a suit breach, Shepard dies of asphyxiation as his / her body is pulled into the orbit of a nearby planet. Shepard's body is recovered shortly after death by Cerberus, who creates the Lazarus Project with the sole purpose of bringing Shepard back to life. After two years, Shepard awakens on an operating table to ringing alarm bells in a research station under attack by its own security mechs. Shepard teams up with Jacob Taylor and medical officer Wilson to reach the escape shuttle. However, Miranda Lawson, who was already waiting at the shuttle bay, shoots Wilson, citing him as the station's betrayer. Shepard is brought to meet with the Illusive Man, who reveals that entire populations of human colonies are disappearing all over the galaxy.
