Running Silent:

A Summit Between Species

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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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"So…." Wrex shifted in his seat. "Does anyone know where we're actually going?"

Shepard held in a smile as she glanced across the transport to where Wrex and Bakara sat. "The entire idea is that it's supposed to be a secret, Wrex."

Garrus looked up from his omni-tool. "I heard it was originally built as an emergency evac location for the council and other top Citadel personnel. No idea where it's located, though. Supposedly only a handful of dedicated pilots know for sure." They weren't actually allowed to speak to the pilot of their transport except in the case of an emergency, which, no doubt, made it all the more interesting to Wrex.

Shepard shrugged. "Well that's more than I know."

They were silent for a while, each thinking or working on datapads and omni-tools. They were about an hour into the trip when Wrex cleared his throat. "So what's the plan, Shepard?"

"Browbeat galactic leaders into submission?"

He chuckled. "I expected that already. But is there a plan? To defeat them?"

Shepard's lips tightened. "There isn't one, not a solid one anyways. Not yet." She looked down in her lap, feeling the anxiety build up within her. She knew that everyone was expecting her to have some grand plan. For her to find some way to save the galaxy again. But she just didn't know how this time.

Garrus put his hand on her leg and squeezed it lightly. "The salarians will have something, I bet," he said to Wrex. "Those crafty bastards always have ideas."

Shepard breathed in deeply and let it go, no longer listening to the conversation around her. She would make it through this. After all, the leaders were each bringing their best military minds with them. This couldn't all be on her.

Nevertheless, she spent the rest of the ride going over again and again the information she and EDI had compiled on the reapers. There must be some angle she was missing. There had to be.

…

Not exactly luxury accommodations, Shepard thought wryly, looking at the room that would be hers for the three days of the summit. Her small bag of belongings sat on a bed in the middle of a plain room that reminded her of military barracks more than anything. After sleeping in the luxurious captain's cabin on the Normandy, she wasn't used to this anymore. At least the bed had room for two.

She took a photo of the space and sent it over to Garrus with a note. Is yours any better? She wrote. She smiled when he sent back a nearly identical photo. Oh well. Maybe they would take turns in each other's rooms.

She pulled up the summit timetable on her omni-tool, noting that dinner was the only thing on the schedule for the day. Shuttles would be traveling back and forth to the Citadel until the evening, so the talks would not begin until the following day when everyone was present. For the time being, there was little else to do but mingle. Extranet access was restricted—they were unable to send messages outside of the station in order to protect their location—so she only had the books and vids that she had pre-loaded onto datapads or her omni-tool. After unpacking her meager things, Shepard headed out to the atrium, where most of the present company had gathered.

While the room itself didn't appear to be much more than a large bunker, it had been filled with tables, chairs, and comfortable sofas. Shepard saw the Citadel councilors holding court in one corner with two asari matriarchs, Wrex lounging next to a pair of elcor, and Bakara, who seemed to be deep in conversation with a hanar and drell.

Shepard walked around and took a look at the food that was set out, carefully labeled levo and dextro, but didn't take anything. When she saw Garrus enter the room with Primarch Victus, she headed in their direction. "Primarch," she greeted, sticking out her hand to shake. "I hope you aren't feeling any adverse effects from our adventure leaving Menae."

Victus glanced over at Garrus as he shook her hand. "It was an experience, that's for sure."

"Not one I'm planning to repeat anytime soon," she said with a smile.

Victus chuckled. "You never know when it might become necessary." They continued with pleasantries for a while before Shepard moved on, wanting to make sure she spoke to everyone present before the talks began. She liked to get a feel for everyone in a room—and she didn't want anyone to feel slighted, which would have been far too easy to do with so many species and governments represented.

She greeted the councilors next. Technically, she was their guest at this event, so they should at least appear to be getting along. She made her way through the present company, going to greet any newcomers as they arrived, including Prime Minister Shastri, whose leg was looking better, and his guest, an admiral that Shepard had not met before. By the time the evening meal had arrived, she was crawling out of her skin in boredom. My room after? she texted Garrus from across the room.

When dinner and speeches were over, Shepard escaped to her quarters as quickly as she could manage. A while later, Garrus knocked on her door. "Sorry," he said as he entered. "Victus wanted to talk about our plan for tomorrow."

"That's what I've been working on too," Shepard admitted. "Apparently I have to give a speech." She sighed, rolling onto her back on the bed, arms flopping down beside her. "Three days of schmoozing these people might kill me."

"Worse than reapers?" Garrus smirked, moving around beside her.

She smiled up at him. "Way worse. Take my mind off it?"

Garrus gave her a knowing grin. "My pleasure."

…

The morning met them too soon, and Shepard gave Garrus a kiss goodbye as he headed back to his own room. When she joined the crowd in the atrium, she saw that food was laid out for a casual breakfast. She sat down beside Wrex, who eyed her carefully. "You ready for this?" he asked in his blunt way.

"I have to be," was all she said in response, and ate quietly and mechanically, thinking over what she was planning to say.

When most everyone appeared to be finished eating, Councilor Sparatus stood. "Please begin making your way into the conference room," he stated. "We will begin shortly." He and the other councilors led the way through the as-yet unopened doors that led to the room where the summit would be held. Shepard stood immediately to follow.

"See you inside," she said to Wrex, who gave her a respectful nod.

As the conference room doors closed behind her, Shepard took a look around. Tables had been set up into a large square, with place cards at each spot. Shepard wound around the tables to find her own place card, and held in a wince when she saw that she was next to Councilor Udina. She had known, of course, that she would be sitting with the council, but she'd hoped it might be Tevos, who was the only councilor that hadn't irritated her lately. Still, she would be respectful. She was their guest, after all… even if the summit had been her idea to begin with.

"Are you ready?" Councilor Sparatus said, approaching her.

She nodded. "As ready as I can be. I suspect this is going to be difficult."

He snorted. "No more difficult than attempting to arrange the seating for such a meeting.

Shepard gave a small laugh. "Yes, I can see how that might be a challenge with certain groups."

"Do you know what you are going to say today?" Sparatus asked.

"I've thought it over," she said. "I doubt I'll need to convince anyone here of the seriousness of the situation. Just the necessity for certain actions."

"And do you have a plan?"

She quirked a brow at him. "I have ideas. Isn't a plan what we're here to determine?"

He cleared his throat. "Yes, of course." He inclined his head before stepping over to his own seat.

Shepard clenched her hands on the back of her chair to keep them from shaking. She was tired of everyone thinking she alone held the solution to all their problems. Hadn't she saved them enough?

She sat down in her chair as the rest of the crowd began to file into the room and waited for the summit to begin. When everyone was seated, Councilor Valern stood. "Thank you, everyone, for coming. I believe we all know why we are here. To find a way to defeat the reaper threat. To that end, I hope everyone has studied the dossier we've compiled that contains all known information on the reapers and their weapons. A large part of this information was submitted by Commander Shepard, who we have asked to say a few words." He motioned towards Shepard, who stood.

"Thank you, Councilor," she said. She looked out over the gathered group, the people who held the fate of the galaxy in their hands. "Today we face the greatest threat to our survival that has ever existed. An enemy that seeks nothing less than the complete destruction of all space faring species. They gain strength as they weaken us, by stealing the minds and bodies of our friends and allies. They can't be outwitted and they can't be reasoned with. The only way for us to survive is the death of every reaper."

Shepard paused, allowing that information to sink in. She saw more than a few worried and scared faces in front of her. "That doesn't mean, however, that we are without hope. But I do believe that hope will only be found in working together. Every government and culture has their own strengths and weaknesses. Our diversity can either destroy us or save us. And I want to live."

She took a deep breath. "The only way we survive is if we share information and technology, and use the brightest minds of every culture to come up with creative and innovative ideas that will take the reapers by surprise. This doesn't mean being selective in what we share. This means sharing everything we know and have. We can't think of ourselves as fully separate factions anymore. We must be united to defeat this threat. No species is going to make it alone. We're losing. And we will continue to lose until we fully commit to working together. Thank you."

Shepard seated herself, looking around the room in the hope that her words had sunk in.

After a moment of silence, Valern stood. "Thank you, Commander. Now, let's begin with an open forum to discuss ideas for evacuation and humanitarian needs…"

The day dragged on. Shepard had to stop herself from yawning more than once, and had to bite her tongue even more than that. She didn't want to anger anyone on the first day, but she wasn't sure her message of unity had gotten through. Tensions were running high, especially between species that already disliked each other. Seating Wrex far from the salarians didn't stop them from sniping at one another.

They stopped for a brief lunch, where Shepard was happy to sit with Garrus and Victus, and then completed their talks before dinner, where Shepard spoke with the salarian dalatrass and her STG expert. The dalatrass treated her with unexpected hostility, but the STG agent was friendly and interested.

"Doctor Jadik Ells, Commander," he said as he shook her hand. "I was impressed with the reaper information you contributed to the dossier," he said to her. "You seem to have gleaned quite a bit from your interactions with the reapers."

She smiled at him. "I've met a few reapers, though usually I'm either running from them or shooting at them. I can't say I've really studied them in depth aside from reviewing the scans and vids from each fight. I saw that your contribution was significant as well. Is it safe to suppose that STG has some pieces from the battle of the Citadel? I don't know how you'd get such detailed information of their composition otherwise. I hope you're well shielded against indoctrination."

"Of course we take precautions," Doctor Ells said. "But I was most interested in your speaking with the reapers. We've all fought a few by now, but you are the only person I know of who has spoken to one."

Shepard waved a hand dismissively. "They don't say anything useful. It's all grandiose statements," she said, then imitated a reaper's deep voice. "'I am the vanguard of your destruction', 'we are eternal'… things like that." She shrugged.

"Nonetheless," the salarian said, his large eyes pinned on Shepard. "It is fascinating."

After dinner and some more mind-numbing mingling, Shepard went to her room to change and think over the day before heading to join Garrus in his quarters. She would wait to visit him until fewer people were milling about—she didn't like the idea of people gossiping about her and Garrus here, when they needed to appear professional.

She sat on the bed, taking notes on a datapad about what had been discussed during the talks earlier. Many ideas had been shared, but very little had been agreed upon yet. She supposed that might wait for the final day. She had never taken part in talks like these before. After she had gotten her thoughts down and felt enough time had passed, Shepard stood, chugged the glass of water she'd left beside her bed, and grabbed her bag before heading out to join Garrus in his temporary quarters.

Shepard was about halfway down the hall when she began to feel strange.

She blinked hard as dizziness overtook her, staggering into a wall. She didn't get sick anymore, not after her cybernetic upgrades. And no illness would come on as quickly as this.

She was poisoned.

Nausea and pain balled in her stomach as she continued to stagger forward, intent on getting to Garrus. Her thoughts were slowing down, but she could still focus on one thing—reaching his door. She could see it up ahead. At some point she fell to the floor, but she crawled and dragged herself towards her goal. She continued agonizingly forward, vision tunneling, until she could just reach it. She hit the door as hard as she could with her palm, dropping her head to the floor as she used up the last of her energy.

As her awareness began to fade away, she heard the door slide open and a voice call her name.

"Shepard! SHEPARD! Oh, spirits, no…"

…