Running Silent:
Ghosts and Monsters
…
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.
…
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.
…
Garrus paced the cockpit of the shuttle, attempting to hold in a growl. "Try it again, O'Connor," he ordered. He'd succeeded in waiting three whole minutes this time before requesting another attempt. He considered that a success.
The pilot rolled his eyes but opened the comm line for him. "Advisor Vakarian to Lieutenant Kyran," the turian called. "I need a fix on your location."
A burst of static, then for the first time, a voice. "Kyran here. Spirits, it's good to hear your voice, sir."
Garrus felt his mandibles spread into a relieved smile. "Same to you, Kyran. What's the situation?"
"Long-range comms are blocked, sir. We couldn't get word out to you. Specialist Viklos and I are camped in a clearing about a kilometer from the east entrance. Sending our coordinates."
After a short pause, O'Connor gave Garrus a nod. "Got it," Garrus confirmed. "Landing in ten, Lieutenant."
"Understood. Kyran out."
Garrus let out a long breath in relief. He wasn't pleased with the idea of being cut off from the Normandy, but comms out was the best of all possible causes for losing contact with the other team. He exited the cockpit, giving Shepard a small nod in reassurance at her silent question. All's well.
He crossed the hold and sat down beside her on the bench, placing a hand on her armored knee. She shot him a sideways look at his unwarranted touch during a mission, but the corners of her eyes crinkled with the hint of a smile.
They landed with a soft thump. Garrus headed to the cockpit as the others filtered out, giving O'Connor a few instructions. When he returned to the hold, he saw Shepard still standing within, staring at the helmet cradled in her hands.
He quietly moved to her side. "Jane?"
She glanced up at him with unsettled eyes. "Have you ever noticed my tendency not to wear helmets?" She traced a finger around the edge of the tinted visor.
I notice everything about you. "I did notice your dangerous habit of never wearing protective headwear," he said.
She huffed a laugh. "You're one to talk, Vakarian."
"Point taken." He fingered his scarred mandible.
"Never bothered me until I got spaced."
Shepard's words struck him with immediate clarity. He placed a supportive hand on her shoulder. "It's just for looks," he said softly. "We'll be on the ground the whole time."
"I know," she said. "But it still feels…"
Suffocating. Terrifying. Wrong.
"It'll be okay," he said, a hollow attempt at reassurance. She knew it would be okay. That wasn't the problem.
Shepard took a deep breath, considering the helmet. She fingered the O2 port on the back of the head. "Yeah. I'm good," she told him, and she put it on carefully, methodically locking and checking each seal one by one. "Ready," she said, and her voice was for Reaper Advisor Vakarian, head of the mission, not the Garrus she spoke to behind closed doors. He nodded in response and moved to go.
Bright sunlight met him as he stepped out of the shuttle. His eyes darted about as he adjusted to the light, tracing the perimeter of dense jungle and taking in the sparse campsite in the clearing. He took a moment to simply enjoy the sun and moist warmth of the clearing. The main battery was the warmest part of the ship, but always dark, just like the captain's cabin was always too cool without Shepard pressed warmly against his side. If he could retire somewhere like this after the war, he'd be a happy turian.
He brought his mind back to business. "Lieutenant Kyran," he called, "Report."
The dark plated turian stood at attention. "Yes, sir. As I said before, long range comms are being actively blocked. It's likely that the source is within the compound," he explained. "We've patrolled the perimeter and found no signs of activity whatsoever. No one is coming or going from the bunker and no one has responded to our hails. Otherwise, nothing is visibly amiss. No signs of unusual damage, no vehicles out of place. Nothing that gives us a clue to the whereabouts of the scientists."
"Thank you, Lieutenant," Garrus replied and inadvertently glanced at Shepard. Her hypothesis about the scientists was looking more right by the minute. He forcibly pushed those thoughts away. He needed to focus.
"As you all know, we'll be splitting into two teams for this mission, each entering through one end of the compound. My team will be comprised of Kasumi, Solana, and Jane." It felt wrong to call her that—Jane was her name in private, a word whispered between sheets and gasped in pleasure. He was possessive of that name and the privilege to call her by it. They both knew she couldn't be Shepard here, but he resented it all the same. "The second team will be led by Lieutenant Kyran, along with Zaeed, Tali, and Specialist Viklos."
"Just Haedra, please," the female turian interrupted. Garrus acknowledged her with a nod.
"Tali and Kasumi will be in charge of hacking and security. I want every room searched and every bit of data downloaded. Haedra and Solana will be tasked with setting the explosive charges at the designated spots. And…" He shrugged. "Zaeed and Jane are here for extra muscle in case things go sideways." He held in a grin at Shepard's amused snort.
"We'll meet up and enter the central lab together," Garrus reminded them. "Then we finish setting the charges and get the hell out. Understood?" He paused for their nods and affirmations. He put his arms behind his back, pacing slightly. "I know I've said this to each of you already, but it bears repeating—no one who worked at this outpost can be permitted to leave alive. The danger in releasing them is too great. They've worked with reaper tech since the battle of the Citadel, and no one can escape indoctrination after that kind of exposure." He met each of their eyes, calculating, judging. It was much easier said than done, but he had to trust his people to do what they had to. "My team will take the shuttle over to the west entrance. I'll comm when we arrive. Move out."
He, Shepard, Kasumi, and Solana piled into the shuttle to make their way to the other side of the compound. Shepard's helmet was off and in her hands within seconds of the hatch sliding shut. From across the shuttle, he raised a browplate, but she waved him off with a small shake of her head. Everyone seemed lost in their own thoughts during the ride, Solana murmuring to herself as she fiddled with the charges, Kasumi's eyes glinting in the glow of her omni-tool, and Shepard staring at her helmet as if ghosts stared back at her through the tinted glass. Garrus paced, running through scenarios in his mind. He couldn't think of a way this would end well. Whatever they found, be it dead bodies, indoctrinated scientists, or husks, it wouldn't be a pretty sight.
They exited the shuttle when they reached their destination, an unobtrusive door in a solid, unmarked wall, flanked by two ground vehicles and a small shuttle. His eyes took in the details as they approached the building. The old, washed out tire tracks. The lack of windows. The standard appearance of the locking mechanism, designed to allay suspicion. Everything he saw was a small part of the puzzle, fitting together piece by piece.
Kasumi was first to the door, poised with her omni-tool to begin the hack on Garrus's mark.
He moved up beside her, activating his comm. "Are you in position, Lieutenant?"
"In position and ready to go."
"Meet you at the main lab," Garrus said, and he gave Kasumi a nod.
He watched Kasumi's hacking algorithm scroll across the omni-tool display, lock flickering from red to orange as it processed her commands. A minute passed, then two. "Got it," she said, and the display went green.
"Weapons out," Garrus ordered, and checked the readout on his visor. No hostiles detected. He activated the door.
It hissed open to reveal a dark vestibule, lights flickering and brightening slowly as if they hadn't activated in weeks. A single chair sat next to a dormant biometric scanner, marking their entry into the first long hallway.
Five locked doors on the left, three on the right before they turned the corner, Garrus recalled from the schematic. His eyes confirmed it, seeing nothing out of place but the obvious lack of activity.
Kasumi hacked through the first door, backing away as it opened to allow Shepard and Garrus to scan it for anything out of place. After the all clear was called, she and Solana followed them in.
It appeared to be some kind of archive or processing center, filled with computer consoles, lined up perfectly in true turian fashion along the rows of tables that filled the room. Shepard took up watch at the door while Kasumi flitted from console to console and Solana set up charges to detonate at the press of a button. Garrus supervised their proceedings and motioned them forward when he was satisfied that they were finished.
The two rooms that followed were just like it. Not a chair or datapad was out of place, far more unsettling than bodies or evidence of a struggle would have been. Through her helmet visor Shepard's eyes looked troubled.
The next few rooms resembled nothing closer than science laboratories. Garrus immediately thought of Mordin, wondering what the salarian would have thought of this, if he could have made heads or tails of what they saw. The last locked doorway held behind it something like a surgical suite, gurneys white and spotless but carrying the memory of blood and torment. Garrus wished he could believe no such thing happened here under the eye of his government, but he knew what kind of horrors people would inflict on their own kind in the name of science.
Around the corner lay more laboratories and an offshoot with holding cells, all strangely bare and empty. "Like they all got up and left," Shepard said quietly.
After cleaning up after themselves and making sure everything was spotless, Garrus added silently. Like they were expecting visitors or going on vacation, and both of those theories led to thoughts less than ideal.
One doorway opened into a storeroom of sorts, shelves lines with glass tubes and mysterious solutions. "Don't touch anything," he ordered, fearful of what they might contain. Biological warfare, disease, poison, anything was possible with a black op.
As they descended to the next level downward, Garrus activated his comm. "Progress, Lieutenant?"
The comm crackled to life as the elevator came to a stop. "Just reaching the barracks, sir. No problems so far."
"We're descending to the lower level," Garrus informed him. "Let me know when you reach door to the central lab."
"Acknowledged."
Garrus and Shepard stood at the elevator door as it slid open to an empty hallway. The lights flickered.
The lower level was mostly living quarters. Kyran's side held the barracks and Garrus's the kitchen and dining area. When they entered the large dining room and galley kitchen, Garrus motioned for them to fan out and look around. Shepard was the one to open the fridge, wincing away when the odor hit her. She waved Garrus over. "Not to offend here, but is it supposed to smell like that?"
Garrus held in a laugh at the sight. The fruit was moldy, the meat was withered to nothingness, and the xemna milk was emanating a distinctly rancid scent. "Of course," he said dryly. "We turians always eat our food rotten."
She elbowed him in the side for that one, slamming the fridge closed with a shudder. "I think that stuff is going to give me nightmares."
"It's been there weeks, maybe a month or so," Garrus mused. He looked out over the dining area, eyes scanning for his sister. "Sol?"
"Almost done," the turian called, her head popping up from between two tables.
Garrus wandered the room some more as he waited, watching Kasumi poke her head in cabinets and Shepard patrol near the doorways.
Suddenly, they heard a gunshot ring out. Everyone stilled abruptly at the sound, exchanging quick looks before Garrus gathered his wits. "Lieutenant," he barked into the comm. "Report."
"Got a situation here, sir," Kyran responded. "We're still in the barracks."
"On our way." The group rushed out of the room and burst into the barracks, moving past the rows of bunks to follow Kyran's voice.
"Over here, sir!"
When Garrus came into the storeroom, he stopped short. Kyran was standing by the door with his weapon trained on an unfazed Zaeed. There were bottles of water and ration packets scattered across the floor, and in the corner lay the body of a turian with a hole between the eyes and blood splatter on the wall behind him. "What happened?" he demanded, eyes darting between the lieutenant and the merc.
Kyran wouldn't take his eyes off Zaeed. "That man was begging for his life. Your mercenary shot him without a second thought, without waiting for him to explain himself."
Garrus took a long, deep breath and released it slowly. "Lieutenant, I believe my orders were to leave no one alive."
"There was nothing wrong with him," the turian protested. "He was afraid."
"He was indoctrinated," Garrus countered. His voice was firm. "Even if he didn't know it. Killing him was a mercy in comparison to what the reapers would have done to him."
Zaeed smirked as Kyran lowered his weapon, but Garrus wasn't finished. "And you," he said, turning to the mercenary. "You could have learned something from him if you hadn't been too impatient. He was the only person here who might have known what happened to the other scientists." He leveled a glare at Zaeed, but didn't wait for a response. The merc wouldn't acknowledge his mistakes in front of an audience, and Garrus wouldn't waste his time waiting for an apology that wouldn't come.
He turned on his heel. "Let's keep moving," he ordered. "We've still got to clear the central lab."
All of them followed to a secure elevator, Kasumi hacking the controls to allow them access. Another small office awaited them at the bottom, and a locked door leading into their final destination. Garrus paced restlessly as the techs did their work. When the computers had been wiped and explosives had been placed, they finally turned to the last door.
Garrus felt it, even before the lights came on.
Several sharp intakes of breath sounded behind him as it came into view. Sovereign's main gun hung suspended in the center of the chamber. Desks and equipment filled their end of the room with a number of other strange artifacts. The far end of the room was filled with cargo containers and unopened crates haphazardly scattered in front of the enormous and impenetrable cargo bay door. But as Garrus realized what else stood near those doors, his blood ran cold. Familiar shapes were silhouetted behind those crates—metallic spires that began to collapse upon themselves as if reacting to their presence in the chamber.
Shepard stiffened beside him. "Fuck," she swore. "This is one of those times I really wish I had been wrong."
They all stood transfixed as strange, husk-like creatures began to peel themselves off the collapsed dragons' teeth. Blue cybernetics glowed in their eyes and trailed down their limbs. The first one raised an arm. Garrus saw the glint of a pistol.
"Find cover!" Garrus cried out, yanking Shepard down behind a desk as bullets streamed above them, right where they had been standing.
"Spirits, what are those things?" Lieutenant Kyran gasped, peeking over a crate. "They look like marauders from the legends."
"That was your science team," Shepard said grimly. "That's what the reapers did to them."
Kyran's comparison to 'marauders' wasn't a perfect one, but Garrus couldn't deny the similarities. Similar to the human concept of zombies, marauders were beings trapped in their own bodies after death. Unable to join the spirits in rest, they became twisted and cruel creatures that left death and chaos in their wake wherever they went.
Garrus felt sick. Was this what it had been like when Shepard first found the husks on Eden Prime? Horror twisted in his gut as he dropped one after the other with his sniper rifle. Despite the distance, a sniper rifle was the most intimate of weapons. With each shot, he saw the face of each creature through his scope. He wondered who they had been once, if they had someone who was waiting for them back home, wondering why they hadn't heard from them in so long. Was he so bothered because these had been his own people, or was he simply desensitized to human husks after fighting them for so long?
He fired again, and pushed those thoughts away.
Garrus ordered his team to advance in hopes to flank the enemy, staying back to keep an eye on the battlefield and pick them off with his rifle. He instructed Shepard to use her biotics for crowd control, lifting clusters of them to be shot down by the rest of the team. Tali's drone darted around the battlefield distracting the husks and giving off shocks while Kyran and Zaeed mowed them down with their assault rifles. Solana retreated back to sniper range while Haedra and Kasumi used their omni-tools to fry the cybernetics that controlled the creatures.
They came in waves, countless numbers. "Low on heat sinks," Solana alerted him. Garrus checked his own supply only to realize he was running short as well. Kasumi materialized beside them with a couple of spares, disappearing again before they could acknowledge her.
And finally, the enemies came no more. He stood cautiously and stretched, giving the room a careful once-over. It looked clear—
"Kyran!" Haedra cried out.
His head snapped around to see one of the creatures advancing on the lieutenant from behind. Kyran turned just as the husk raised its weapon. Garrus and Kyran both fumbled for their guns, but before either could fire, a shot rang out and the creature collapsed to the ground.
Garrus turned to see Zaeed lowering his rifle and looking smug. "Glad I shot first this time, eh?"
No one else was in the mood for joking.
"Injuries?" Garrus asked abruptly.
"Haedra got grazed," Kasumi called. "Patching her up with medi-gel." It appeared that no one else was seriously injured, just shaken up by the ordeal. The turian husks hadn't been particularly adept at firing the weapons they possessed, but Garrus knew that this was only their first iteration. Just like the human husks, more advanced forms would undoubtedly come.
"Check the room," he ordered. "Set those charges and make sure there are no more surprises for us." He took a few steps forward, crouching down to get a closer look at one of the creatures. It was a perversion of what it used to be, a tool of the reapers. He lifted the pistol that had fallen from its hand. A basic turian military model. Nothing special, probably the sidearms the security officers had carried. Garrus heaved a sigh as he lifted himself to his feet.
As he looked around, he saw Shepard by the dragons' teeth, waving him over. "Garrus," she said quietly, "There are no geth here. No Collectors."
Bile rose in his throat as he considered her meaning.
Her eyes were grim through her visor. "They put themselves on the dragon's teeth."
Garrus held in a shudder. "Let's finish up and get the hell out of here." He turned on his heel, ready to leave the lab far behind him.
They exited in silence and headed back to the campsite, where the two turians from Garrus's team began to pack their meager things. O'Connor had brought the shuttle in, waiting for them nearby.
Garrus approached Lieutenant Kyran. "You've got ten minutes to get to a minimum safe distance of one kilometer," he instructed stiffly. "Then I'm blowing this base into oblivion."
"Can't come soon enough," Kyran replied grimly.
Not knowing what else to say, Garrus simply nodded and motioned the Normandy crew back to their shuttle. The pilot seemed to pick up on their mood, staying quiet as they filed into the hold one by one.
All of them seemed to be checking the time compulsively as it inched by, minute after minute. Finally, Garrus gave Solana the signal. Her haunted eyes looked only marginally more peaceful as she keyed in the code and they heard the blast in the distance.
All of them winced as static burst from the comm. "—amn it, Normandy to shuttle. Come in already!" Joker's voice sounded more frantic than Garrus had ever heard it but for one time, over two years ago.
Shepard's brows lowered a fraction, but her expression stayed inscrutable. "I hear you, Joker," she answered, transitioning from subordinate to commander in an instant. "Comms were blocked."
"Noticed that, ma'am," he said, but it didn't have his usual sarcasm behind it.
Shepard's mask hardened further. "What is it, Joker?"
"Shit, Shepard, I don't know how to—" He broke off in mid sentence.
"Joker, what the hell is going on?" she snapped, cracks beginning to form in her calm facade.
It wasn't Joker, but EDI, who answered her question. "Communications from the Kite's Nest, Sol, and Apien Crest clusters have gone dark. Reports suggest that the reaper assault has begun."
A deafening silence fell, and only EDI dared to break it. "I am sorry, Commander."
…