Running Silent:
A Plan
…
An alternate ME3. Commander Shepard and her team are on the run from Cerberus and trying to make alliances before it's too late. In a galaxy with no reaper kill switch, how can they hope to defeat something so ancient and powerful? Their last hope is a desperate plan that may cost them everything. Shepard/Garrus, other side pairings.
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Disclaimer: This author in no way profits from the writing of this story. All characters, dialogue, or other referenced material from the Mass Effect trilogy belong to Bioware.
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Shepard laid Jacob down as quickly as she dared, glancing up only long enough to see that the rest of her team made it aboard the shuttle. Kasumi was kneeling beside her in no time, her hands hovering over Jacob as if she feared to touch him. Shepard applied medi-gel as quickly as possible—Jacob's suit dispenser seemed to have been damaged in the blast.
Garrus ran his omni-tool over Jacob's prone form as Shepard stood up. "He'll make it to see Chakwas," he said, "But we better hurry. There appear to be some internal injuries and at least one broken bone."
"Damn it," Kasumi said suddenly. "I should have gotten that last heavy." Her head was bent, hood hiding her face, but Shepard saw a tear fall onto Jacob's armor.
She put her hand on Kasumi's shoulder. "You can't take the blame on yourself. None of us saw that soldier pick up the missile launcher. You and Solana had other things to worry about."
I'm the one who's at fault, Shepard left unsaid, her eyes running over Jacob's injuries. His armor was a total loss, but Shepard was grateful that she'd convinced him to wear it. The exposed skin was a mass of blood and burns. She looked down at her own hands, covered in blood. It wasn't the first time she'd had the blood of a teammate on her hands, but each time she hoped it would be the last.
The ride to the Normandy felt like an eternity as they all remained in silent vigil, watching the slow rise and fall of Jacob's chest.
…
Solana glanced up from her food as she saw Commander Shepard exit the med bay and head her direction. "Ma'am?" she questioned, moving to stand.
The commander waved her back down. "At ease, Solana. I'm just coming to check in," she told her, going to sit down in the seat across from her. "And please," she added, "just call me Shepard."
Solana nodded. She wasn't quite sure how to approach the commander. The human had an unquestionable air of authority on the battlefield and seemed to be in command of any room she entered, but she approached crewmen like friends. Solana didn't know how to navigate the waters of a human ship, although, as she understood, Shepard wasn't normal even by human standards.
She noticed the commander watching her and spoke up. "Is your friend going to be okay?" she asked, glancing towards the med bay.
"Jacob will be fine… eventually. The damage is repairable, but it will take some time." She looked back towards the med bay, where Solana saw Kasumi and Miranda through the window.
Solana cleared her throat. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for agreeing to take me on."
Shepard waved her off. "No need. You handled yourself well out there, Solana. I think you'll be a good addition to the team. Garrus didn't overestimate your skill." After a moment, Shepard motioned to the forgotten plate of food in front of her. "I hope the food is okay," she said. "Garrus would never tell me otherwise, even when I asked."
Solana smiled inwardly at that—she would never dream of complaining either. "It's better than I expected," she said honestly.
"Let me guess—you were expecting ration packets?" Shepard smiled at Solana's lack of response. She stood and stretched. "I'll see what I can do about the food," she said, unprompted. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to make your stay here more comfortable, Solana," she insisted, moving away from the table.
"Everything's fine, Commander," Solana reassured her. "And… thanks."
Shepard shot her a smile over her shoulder and went up the steps towards the main battery. Solana's eyes followed her thoughtfully until the battery door shut behind her. She still wasn't sure what to make of Commander Shepard, but she was pretty sure she liked her.
…
Shepard woke up gasping.
Her eyes flew open to dark and stars, and for a moment she thought she had gone into another nightmare, the one she could never quite remember. Breathe, she reminded herself, finding comfort in the fact that she still could. She pressed a hand to her chest as if it could slow the racing of her heart. She should have remembered to close the skylight before sleeping.
"Shepard?"
Her eyes snapped to the source of the dual-toned voice, bewildered for a moment before she remembered why he was there.She'd invited him to stay, to spend every night in her quarters if he wanted. She hadn't considered the possibility—no, the inevitability—of this happening. Stupid of her, really.
"Dream?" Garrus asked quietly.
She rolled onto her side to face him, faltering a little under his steady gaze. It was kind, almost too kind. She didn't know what to do with that.
"Do you ever get them?" She dodged the question transparently.
"Often enough," he said simply. Of Omega, she imagined. She didn't know whether he wanted to share or if he hoped his confession would inspire her to respond in kind. She was quiet.
"What was it about?" he asked. She could almost see the list running through his mind as he catalogued them. Mindoir, Akuze, Eden Prime, Alchera, Omega 4…
"Aratoht."
She closed her eyes as she felt him freeze at the name. Her heart sank. Maybe this would be the one thing he couldn't back her up on. Maybe it was the breaking point. The news reporters thought it might be retribution for Mindoir so many years ago. Maybe he wondered if that was true.
His voice came haltingly. "Shepard, I… are you ever going to talk about this? I can see how much it weighs on you."
Her eyes flew open. "I don't know. Are you ever going to talk about your trip home?"
Garrus looked away. Since he returned from Palaven, there were moments when his eyes would have a faraway look, full of guilt and regret. Neither of them were good at opening up, even to each other. Years of command and losing people she loved had made Shepard quite skilled in turning a conversation around, and she rarely missed it when someone used the same tactics. She'd been waiting for him to talk on his own, but now she wondered if he had ever intended to.
"I'd be a pretty crappy girlfriend if I didn't notice how much it upsets you, Garrus."
He shifted uncomfortably, still not meeting her eyes. "Shepard, you have enough to deal with already and I—"
"That's Jane to you," she interrupted, "and I don't want to hear that bullshit about not wanting to burden me with your problems. You always try to take care of me, so why won't you let me try to do the same?"
His blue eyes flew up to meet hers, boring fiercely into her own. "You take care of everybody. Do you really need one more person to worry about?"
"Tough shit, Vakarian," she snapped. "I'm going to worry about you either way."
It was his turn to falter. She went in for the kill. "So will you at least let me know what it is I'm worrying about?"
He took a moment before raising his eyes to hers. "I'll talk if you do," he bargained, pinning her down with a challenging gaze.
She let out a long breath. Had he ever fallen for her avoidance tactics? Or had he been humoring her all along, waiting her out with a sniper's patience?
She didn't know how to share these things. She barely knew how to trust, not like this. But for him… she'd try. For him she'd try just about anything.
"Okay," Shepard agreed, hoping he knew what it cost her.
By the gentle way his fingers stroked over hers, she thought that maybe he did.
…
The team was already gathered in the conference room; there was no backing out now. Even Jacob had insisted on attending—in a wheelchair and heavily drugged, but present nonetheless.
Shepard was going to propose her first plan to stop the reapers. It might be no more than a stopgap measure, but what wasn't anymore? She'd try anything to hang on. Anything to survive.
Shepard stood at the head of the table, straightening into a military stance. "EDI," she called, "Please pull up the galaxy map."
As the interface popped up, the team was drawn to it, conversation dying down to murmurs. Shepard looked around the room, meeting eyes with each of her team before she continued. "EDI, please present to the team your projection of the reapers' path."
The Alpha relay lit red, harshly contrasted against the map's cool blue hues. Shepard's chest constricted at the sight, but she forced her expression to stay level. Now was not the time for her guilt.
EDI's simulated voice came over the speakers. "This is the reapers' last known location, as of twelve days ago, at the Alpha relay destruction."
Shepard could feel eyes on her, but kept her focus on the galaxy map. She didn't dare look up. She couldn't bear to see the questions and judgment in their eyes.
"This is the furthest known relay from the center of the galaxy," EDI continued, "several thousand light years away from the next nearest relay, located within the Kite's Nest." The Kite's Nest relay was now ringed in red as well, and a thick line extended from the Alpha relay to meet it. "From the Kite's Nest, it is one relay jump to the Exodus Cluster, a hub from which the reapers can travel to multiple systems, easily accessing the rest of the galaxy."
The line extended to the Exodus Cluster which now blinked an insistent white, lines shooting off in all directions towards the relays that linked it. Worried frowns and murmurs spread among the team.
Shepard held her hand up for silence. "EDI has been working hard to calculate the time frame before the reapers reach this hub. EDI, if you will?"
"Yes, Commander. The relay jump from the Kite's Nest to the Exodus Cluster will be brief, but the reapers will have to travel from the Bahak system to Kite's Nest via FTL. We do not know the precise speed at which the reapers travel, but my estimates place their arrival in the Kite's Nest between six and twelve weeks."
There were no murmurs this time.
Shepard had carried a lead weight of fear inside her ever since EDI had presented her with those numbers. Not enough time, her mind screamed. There was never enough time.
Shepard intervened before her team could be consumed by their worries. "This is where the plan comes in," she said, and paused until all eyes were on her again. "The Exodus relay is key. If we can prevent the reapers from passing through it, we gain an advantage." She took a deep breath. "We need to subvert the relay."
Solana voiced the team's concerns. "Subvert?" she asked. "What do you mean by subvert?"
"There are a few different options." Shepard began to pace in front of the table. "We could shut it down, or better, direct it elsewhere. Whatever we do, we have to prevent the reapers from using the hub to access the rest of the galaxy. Destroying it would, of course, be a last resort." She tried not to grimace at the reminder of her handiwork.
Jacob gave a small shake of his head. "No one knows how the relays work, Commander. Sure, you destroyed one," he said, "but we don't have a spare asteroid to tow in."
Shepard's lips curved into a hint of a smile, despite her discomfort at his insinuation. "We don't know how they work, not yet," she said, "but the protheans did." Realization dawned on the group. "And we've just acquired some of the most talented human minds in the galaxy to research the problem."
"While they're off researching, what the hell are we going to do?" Zaeed asked bluntly.
"We'll hunt down any information on the relays we can find. Isolate any reaper tech we come across." Her hands tightened into fists. "And we're going to do our damnedest to find evidence that can't be ignored."
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A/N: I'm going to attempt to update this story no less than once a month, so do keep your eyes peeled for updates! In other news, if you are a fan of Dragon Age, I've just done a complete revision of my Alistair-centric DAO fanfiction, Serendipity. I encourage you to check it out. As always, thanks for reading and please review!