Running Silent:

Race to the Cure

…

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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"How will you know if this works?" Shepard asked, watching Maelon inject Bakara with the synthesized cure. "I can't imagine you'd force us to wait for, um… nature to take its course."

"Of course not," Mordin exclaimed. "One sample no use in any case. No time for testing, focus group. But can check hormone levels, blood markers. See if body is reacting as theorized."

Maelon also injected Wrex before turning to a waiting Shepard. "After a day has passed, we will take samples. The samples should show us whether the cure has integrated into their bodies. We won't know the full scope of its effectiveness until we've studied the effects on the krogan population, so we might need to make later adjustments in the long run. But the tests will let us know if it takes. If it works, the next step is to find a way of dosing the population. Probably air or water dispersal on Tuchanka."

"Have idea," Mordin said. "Can discuss while waiting for cure to integrate. Meet in conference room?"

Shepard nodded. "I'll call the meeting."

…

When Shepard entered the conference room with Miranda, her team was waiting along with Wrex, Bakara, Maelon, and Mordin, who stood at the head of the table with a hologram of some kind of tower in front of him.

"Go ahead, Mordin," Shepard said after verifying that everyone had arrived.

"Right. Need way to disperse cure on Tuchanka. Need to ensure that cure reaches most of population at once." He indicated the holographic image in front of him. "This is the Shroud. Was first presented to krogan as way to clean the damaged atmosphere of Tuchanka. Did that. But was also way to spread genophage."

Wrex slammed a fist on the table. Shepard was quick to put a hand on his arm.

"The people in this room just want to help," she reminded him.

Wrex loosened his fist, then stared around the room. "Well?" he demanded gruffly. "Go on."

Mordin jumped back in. "Can use same method to disseminate cure. Just need to adapt cure for air dispersal."

"There's just one problem," Bakara spoke from behind her fabric mask. "I know this place. It's swarming with reaper creatures… and defended by Kalros."

"Kalros?" Shepard asked warily.

"An ancient thresher maw, larger than any you've ever seen," Wrex explained. "She's called the mother of all thresher maws."

"She was worshipped by the ancient krogan," Bakara added. "This Shroud is within Kalros's sacred lands."

Mordin nodded vigorously. "Location was chosen so Shroud would be left alone by local population. Seems to have worked."

Jacob spoke up. "They managed to build that thing despite a giant thresher maw," he said sensibly. "So it should be safe enough, except for reapers. All we have to do is stick the cure in and let it spit it out, right?"

Maelon sighed, rubbing his head. "It is somewhat more complicated than that, but I suppose that description is close enough."

Despite Shepard's personal doubts, she considered the matter settled. "Then we have a plan, such as it is. Let me know when your tests come back, Mordin. If all is well, we'll move forward with this plan." She turned to Wrex. "Can you make sure everything on the ground is ready for us?"

He nodded. "I'll have scouts check out the area. If there are any surprises, I'll let you know."

Shepard looked around the table for any other comments or objections. When none spoke up, she said, "Dismissed."

She followed her crew out, disturbed and distracted by the thought of the mother of all thresher maws. It was just her luck that they had to travel to a giant thresher maw's sacred lands.

She just hoped they wouldn't have to meet her.

…

The following day, Mordin commed Shepard to let her know the cure appeared to have worked. The krogan bloodwork came out as expected. It would take them a little while to adapt the cure for air dispersal, but he and Maelon were working on it. At their last meeting before heading to Tuchanka, however, they found a wrench thrown in their plans.

"Bad news from Tuchanka, Shepard," Wrex said. "There's a reaper at the Shroud. Can't land the shuttle anywhere nearby, it'll attract too much attention from the reaper. I've arranged for some ground transportation to get us there, but we still have to get past the reaper, its troops, and Kalros. She's been active lately."

Shepard grimaced at the thought of Kalros. "The reapers must have found out that we were trying to cure the genophage. That news wasn't exactly a secret after the summit, clearly we weren't the only ones to come up with the Shroud idea. Should we find an alternative way to disperse the cure?"

Mordin and Maelon looked at each other. "Water dispersal possible," Mordin said finally. "Not ideal. Will capture fewer krogan, need more dispersal points. Shroud still best option."

"Alright," Shepard said, rolling her shoulders. "So we need to get around a reaper to the Shroud… without damaging the Shroud, which means shooting at the reaper might not be the best plan. Ideas?"

"We need a distraction," Kasumi said. "A better target. Maybe our allies can bring in some ships? If there's a fight in the air, it won't be looking at the ground to see us."

"The primarch might be willing to send some ships," Garrus volunteered. "But it would be little more than a suicide mission for those guys. We'd have a small window of distraction before they'd have to leave or be killed."

"Not ideal, but it would work," Shepard agreed. "Anyone else?"

Wrex shifted. "There's always Kalros."

"We must do this without damaging the Shroud," Bakara reminded him. "Kalros causes destruction wherever she goes."

Wrex shrugged. "It was just an idea."

Shepard turned to Garrus. "Call Victus, see if he'd let us borrow a fighter squadron. Be honest about their chances."

"Yes ma'am," he said. "I'll call him now."

"Dismissed," Shepard said. "We'll be on the ground on Tuchanka in about eight hours. Everyone get some rest. It's going to be crazy out there."

…

Shepard came up behind Joker in the cockpit. "How's it looking?" she asked. They were landing on Tuchanka soon.

"Cloudy with a chance of reapers, boss," he said with a tug of his cap.

"That bad?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Could be worse. There's not as many reapers in the air as on Palaven, that's for sure."

"They know the krogan are demilitarized," Shepard said. "They don't have the ships to escape." She sat down in the copilot's seat to watch their descent. As they came close to landing, she got up to get her gear. "By the way, how are you and EDI getting along these days?" she asked on her way out.

"Fine," Joker said lightly, but something seemed off.

"Just… fine?" Shepard asked. "Nothing else to say?"

"Nope," Joker said. "Just fine."

Shepard looked at him curiously before leaving the cockpit. There was definitely something going on there. Maybe EDI would be more forthcoming. She'd have to ask after they got back from Tuchanka.

…

Grunt shifted from foot to foot in impatience. The Normandy was coming! It seemed like forever since he'd seen Shepard. He laughed to himself, imagining the surprise on his battlemaster's face when she saw him leading his own squad.

Grunt's squad seemed to be amused at his impatience. They couldn't imagine why he'd be so eager to see a human female. It's not like he could mate with her, after all. Grunt ignored them—they were the foolish ones for not seeing how amazing one human female could be. At least when that human was Shepard.

They stood waiting outside the Hollows, the sacred meeting ground. The rest of the clans were inside, but Grunt wanted to meet Shepard as soon as she arrived. "You can wait inside," he said to his team, but they seemed reluctant to go.

"Want to see this human you're so excited about," one finally said.

"You can wait," Grunt agreed. "But you won't see until she's fighting." They all looked puzzled at that, but Grunt didn't bother to explain. They'd understand eventually.

Finally, they saw the Normandy come down from the sky. "There she is!" Grunt said, jumping and slamming his fists together. It was good to see the old ship. His first home.

The cargo bay opened, and people began to spill out, Shepard at the front.

"Battlemaster!" Grunt cried, nearly bowling Shepard over. Despite a bit of wooziness from his enthusiastic headbutt, Shepard looked thrilled to see him.

"Grunt! I can't believe you're here! You look great!" She laughed delightedly. "Is that your team?" she asked, motioning to the krogan loitering behind them.

Grunt puffed up with pride. "This is Aralakh Company," he told her. "My squad."

She surveyed the krogan and grinned. "That's amazing! I knew you had it in you."

"Of course I did," he said. "I'm the perfect krogan."

"Alright, alright," Wrex butted in. "You can finish this reunion later. We've got a genophage to cure."

With a last smile, Shepard followed Wrex down the stairs and into the Hollows. Grunt called his team to follow behind. Wrex was right, this was an important day. And Grunt was proud to be a part of it.

…

The hollows were made up of burnt and broken ruins like the rest of Tuchanka. One couldn't tell by looking that this was a sacred meeting ground. It looked, more than anything, like an arena. It was filled with krogan, armed and armored. Near the stairs stood Wrex's brother, waiting.

"Wreav," said Wrex as he approached.

The krogan eyed him warily. "Wrex," came the grudging response.

"Are the clans all gathered?" Wrex asked.

"What does it look like?" snapped Wreav. "What are these salarians doing here?" He stared at Mordin and Maelon menacingly.

"Curing the genophage, you moron." Wrex pushed past him.

At this, Wreav had had enough. He pulled out his weapon along with a half dozen krogan behind him.

"Enough!" came another voice. The krogan stopped in their tracks at the sight of Bakara coming down the stairs. "You can stay here and let old wounds fester as krogan have always done, or you can fight the enemy you were born to destroy, and win a new future for our children. I choose to fight. Are you with me?"

Krogan cheered, weapons were put away. Even Wreav sheathed his shotgun slowly.

"Now hold your heads high like true krogan!" Wrex ordered. "It's time to fight for our future! It's time to cure the genophage!"

At this there was a loud roar, a cheer that had Shepard wanting to cover her ears. But she smiled at the sight. There was hope for the krogan.

Tomkahs drove out over the wasted landscape, throwing up dirt and rocks behind them. The convoy wove through the desert, closer and closer to the Shroud. Marauding groups of reaper creatures became more common with each mile, until the convoy had to let krogan out to fight them.

The turian fighter squadron, Artimec, checked in with Shepard as they approached. Everything was ready… until it wasn't.

When they had nearly arrived, a tremor rocked the vehicle. Shepard was nearly thrown clear to the other wall. Only Wrex grabbing hold of her stopped her flying. "What the hell was that?" she demanded.

"Kalros," the driver called back. "Something's got her spooked."

"I told you she was active," Wrex muttered.

"We've got to detour," the driver said. "Or we'll be Kalros's lunch."

Shepard moved up next to the driver. "Is that going to delay us?"

"It can't be avoided, unless you have a death wish," the krogan grumbled.

"Shit," she swore. "Artimec wing, I need you to hold off on your attack. We've been delayed several minutes."

"Negative, Commander," said the squadron leader. "Our vector is locked. The reaper has seen us, knows we're coming."

"Damn it!" Shepard said, moving to look out the viewport. She could see the turian fighters in the distance, and so could the reaper. The tomkah was approaching, but not fast enough to meet the turians there.

By the time they'd gotten close, the turians were gone. Everyone climbed out of their vehicles to regroup and figure out what to do next. "They drew the reaper further from the Shroud," Shepard said, "but there's nothing to distract it from seeing us coming." Her stomach sank, knowing what she had to do. "Wrex, you said we could use Kalros? The reaper might be far enough from the Shroud now for her not to damage it."

He nodded. "All along this route are maw hammers. They draw her attention and bring her to the surface. If we hit the hammers closest to the reaper, the reaper is bound to attack her. And Kalros will definitely fight back."

Shepard turned towards the Shroud, staring at it and the reaper in front of it. There were only a few things in this life that frightened Shepard in a way she couldn't rationalize or control. Thresher maws were one of them. But this was something she must do. There was no other choice.

"Alright," she said, forcing down her fear. "Let's do this." She turned back to her assembled crew. "We need a few different teams. One to activate the maw hammers nearest the reaper, one to bring Mordin and Maelon safely to the Shroud, and a couple just keeping the reaper creatures busy. Is everyone up for this?"

"Hell yes!" Wrex cried. "This is the only way to save our people."

Grunt slammed his fists together. "I'm ready, battlemaster."

Shepard looked over her own crew. "We can do this, Shepard," said Tali.

Shepard nodded. "Grunt, you and your team take the maw hammers. Kaidan and Zaeed, with me. We need to protect Mordin and Maelon and get them to the Shroud. Garrus, you take Tali and Jacob. Miranda, you've got Solana and Kasumi. You guys just work on keeping the reaper creatures off us. And Wrex," she turned to look at him, "keep yourself and Bakara out of trouble. I'm going to need you alive to lead the krogan when this is done."

As they separated into their groups and got ready to move, Wrex stopped them. "Wait," he called to Shepard. He bounded up to her. "You've been a champion of the krogan people, a friend to Clan Urdnot, and a sister to me. To every krogan born after this day, the name Shepard will mean hero!" He clasped her hand tightly. "Now, let's show them why."

Shepard's group stayed back in wait as the others moved into the reaper's range. Reaper beams cut through the landscape. Creatures swarmed over it. The ground shook as the reaper took a step. Grunt's laugh echoed through the ruins. Soon they heard the sound of one maw hammer, vibrating through their feet. Then, minutes later, another. The ground shook harder this time. Kalros was coming.

Surging out of the ground came a creature as large as the reaper, if not larger. Shepard was breathless with awe and fear at the sight of it. Its cries echoed for miles across the wasted landscape. It wove underground as a beam fired its way, surging up again to flank the reaper, latching on with it's open maw. It wrapped around the reaper, dragging it down to the sand. There wouldn't be a better time.

"Keep yourselves safe," Shepard told her team. "Let's move."

The struggle was still ongoing as they made their way through the ruins. Red light crackled from the reaper, it's beam shooting sporadically into the air as it struggled with Kalros. The tremors made it difficult to move forward, but they pressed on. The others kept most of the reaper creatures off of them as they ran towards the Shroud, leaving Shepard with only a few to shoot down.

Shepard and her team kept watch as the two Salarians ran to the base of the tower. She looked out, keeping an eye on the reaper's ongoing struggle. She only looked behind her when she heard Maelon swear. When she turned around, she saw the two salarians staring up. She followed their gazes to the top of the tower, which stood smoking, the windows shattered. If Shepard had to guess, she would say it was hit with a rogue reaper beam. They were lucky the tower still stood.

She glanced back at her team. "Keep an eye on this," she said. "Don't let anything approach the tower." And she jogged over to the two salarians. "Can we still use the Shroud?" she asked. "How bad is the damage?"

"Structural damage appears serious," Mordin said quickly, looking up from a terminal at the tower base. "But systems appear online. Can still disperse cure. Dangerous, however. Collapse of tower possible." They all looked again at the top of the smoking tower, just as the ground shook violently again.

"We can find another way," Shepard found herself saying. She didn't want to send anyone up there. "It's not safe, and if the tower collapses, it will all have been for nothing."

Maelon shook his head and met Shepard's eyes. "The dispersal is quick. In mere minutes we could cure most of the planet. The tower doesn't need to stand long. I'll go up myself and make sure."

Maelon and Shepard heard the snick of a weapon and turned to see Mordin pointing his pistol at the two of them. "No," he said. "I'll go." He began backing towards the elevator. "I'm old. Die soon anyway. Making up for past mistakes."

"Mordin—" Shepard began.

"Has to be me," he said quickly. "Has to be me." He looked at Maelon. "Do good science. Help people. Maybe clinic somewhere safer than Omega?"

Mordin hit the elevator button with a fist, not even looking behind him as the doors opened. "Shepard… don't let it be for nothing."

As soon as the elevator doors shut, Maelon ran forward and slammed a fist on them. "Damn it!" he cried. He pounded the button. "I'll go up after him."

"No," said Shepard, finding her voice. "I can't risk you both." She paused, swallowing. "Come on. We have to… we have to get out of the collapse zone."

She all but dragged him back to where the Tomkahs were waiting and watched the elevator reach the top. The ground shook again, but she could hardly feel it. Her focus was sharpened to a pinpoint. Only the tower mattered.

An explosion rocked the tower. There were gasps behind her, and yells. She only stared. "He's done it," Maelon whispered beside her. "He's done it." And that's when she noticed the fine mist erupting from the top of the tower and spreading fast.

She heard the reaper's roar and saw another red beam cutting through the sky, just glancing off the edge of the tower. Shepard's heart was pounding.

Another explosion, near where the reaper hit. Pieces of the tower began to fall. "Just a little longer," Maelon said beside her. Shepard ripped her eyes from the tower for a moment, just long enough to see Kalros drag the reaper below the sand. The ground trembled and shook, but neither emerged again. But it was too late to save the tower. There was more fire now, more smoke.

Maelon, who'd been looking at his omni-tool, flinched at the sound of another explosion, and together they watched the elevator catch fire. There was no way down for Mordin now. Out here, they didn't even have a shuttle. A larger explosion rocked the tower and stopped the dispersal of the cure. Nothing now came from the tower but smoke.

Shepard swiped tears from her eyes with a gloved hand. "Was it enough?" she demanded of Maelon.

"Yes," he said, his voice shaken. "It will spread over the planet in a matter of hours. Every krogan on Tuchanka will breathe it in. It will be in the air for weeks. Mordin did it."

Shepard turned to her crew behind her. "Job well done, people," she said, but her heart wasn't in it. It was still at the top of that burning tower with her friend who would never come home.

…

Shepard held back her sorrow as long as she could. She smiled and hugged Wrex, clasped hands with Bakara. Allowed them their hope and happiness. They had done a good thing this day, something Shepard could always look back on proudly. But her remembrances would always be tainted with loss.

When she reached her quarters, she thought about Mordin and shed a few tears for her lost teammate. She needed to get back to work, but… it was right to make time to mourn a friend. He deserved that much from her. He deserved to be remembered.

…