Where was she?
That was a good question, and one that Kacey couldn't answer. She kept looking at the environment around her, trying to figure out where exactly she had ended up.
It was a large hall; a large room. Rows of chairs and tables lined every inch of the room, from the walls to the centre, leaving a small clear area where Kacey had found herself standing. It looked like a mess hall; just like the one on Arcturus Station.
Why was she here?
Each seat was empty; the room was silent. Only the sound of her own breathing lingered through the air. She didn't understand; why here? Why now?
Why was this happening?
"Kacey."
She turned on her heel at the sound of her name being called. She found the person sitting at the table, turning to face her.
"Kaidan?"
He looked at her, a neutral expression across his face. It didn't look right, didn't feel right. Something in her stomach started to feel off.
"You abandoned everything we stood for, everything that mattered." He said with a sharp scowl, "Was it worth it?"
"Kaidan, I—"
"Kacey."
She turned again; she found a turian sitting at another table, refusing to look at her. His hands focused on the sniper rifle in front of him.
"You nearly got me killed trying to 'rescue' me. I nearly died because of you. Was it worth it?"
"Garrus…"
"Kacey."
Two more voices came from the left; an asari and a quarian were sitting together at the far side of the room.
"You nearly cost me my home. Was it worth it?"
"You killed my mother. Was it worth it?"
Kacey's eyes widened, "Liara, Tali I—"
"Kacey."
Her name called again and again, each time another chair was filled with a familiar face. Same neutral expression, same sharp tone.
"You nearly cost me my sister."
"You cost me my job."
"You left me alone with nothing."
"You nearly killed my student."
"You killed my creator."
"You killed my daughter."
"You arrested my son."
"You rewrote the minds of my race."
"You left me to die when the Collectors invaded the Normandy."
The voices got louder as each seat was filled with a person; human, turian, asari, salarian, drell, krogan. It didn't matter. It was starting to hurt her as the voice grew louder…only to stop suddenly.
"WAS IT WORTH IT?"
The floor collapsed beneath her; she found herself in a dark abyss, the only light being from the room above. She then heard footsteps as she picked herself up, only to come face to face with her younger self.
"Was it worth it?" Kaidan's voice said calmly from above before Kacey found herself being launched backwards into the abyss.
…
"Kaidan!"
She found herself face to face with the floor, her duvet and pillow on top of her as her eyes fluttered awake. She groaned as she found the strength to pull herself back up onto the bed with her duvet and pillow. And yet, try as she might, she couldn't fall back asleep. She tossed and turned, getting comfortable, her eyes snapping shut yet sleep did not arrive. She felt exhausted, yet sleep refused to claim her.
They had stopped by Sanctum on the way past; the mission was as straightforward as they come. She killed all of the Cerberus operatives with ruthless efficiency and made sure they wouldn't be back. The mission had tired her out, so she had hoped to get some rest before they arrived at the summit; and as she looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table, she had little luck. An hour's worth of sleep wasn't enough, she knew that. And she also knew that EDI would wake her up when the diplomats were due to arrive. And she wasn't sure if she had much time left to rest.
She had absolutely no idea what her dream was about; her subconscious clearly had a much more different idea of what a dream should be. It was hard to understand; she didn't understand what it was trying to say. It was punishing her for something, and the hard part was trying to figure out which incident she was being punished for.
"Commander. It is time to wake up." EDI spoke through the intercom, "We will be arriving at the meeting point momentarily."
"I'm awake, EDI." Kacey said, lying face-down on her pillow. "I'm just trying to find my motivation to get up."
"Perhaps some motivational music might help?" EDI asked before playing some music.
"Okay, okay! I'm getting up!" Kacey said as EDI stopped the music, "Give me a few minutes."
"Very well, Commander."
Kacey pulled herself away from the bed and towards the shower, hoping that the water would wake her up properly. She couldn't be half asleep during the summit, not with so much on the line. She dragged herself lazily up the steps towards the bathroom, and headed towards the shower, taking off her clothes as she went. Once the cool water hit her face, Kacey sighed; she just had to hope that Victus knew what he was doing. While she agreed with his idea to involve the krogan in the summit, she was also unsure that it would even work. Having the Turian Primarch, the Salarian Dalatrass and the Krogan Clan Chief all in one room trying to come up with a strategy to defeat the Reapers. And considering how hostile to the krogan can be with the turians and salarians, she wasn't too sure that it could work. But Kacey also knew that they couldn't be picky and divided anymore. Not while the Reapers are at their front door.
She yawned as she turned the shower off, grabbing a towel to dry her scarred body. She just had to hope. The one thing that was running out faster than time.
Her officer's uniform was sitting neatly on the counter, waiting patiently for Kacey to put it on. She rarely wore the outfit; she wasn't comfortable wearing something that screamed 'I am better than you'. She simply preferred the standard soldier uniform and only wore her officer uniform if she absolutely had to. And this just happened to be one of those times. She put on the tight fitting attire and made herself look professionally presentable before heading down to the CIC.
The moment the elevator doors opened she could practically hear Joker's snickers from the bridge; the pilot intentionally left the door open and turned his chair around to see her, only for her to scowl back.
"Look at you, Commander!" Joker teased with a smirk.
"Laugh it up, Joker." Kacey mused, "You better get yours on if you're the one receiving the diplomats."
"Uh, no." Joker mused, "Do you want them to work together?"
"Well, then you better tell James to get on it." Kacey replied, "And he better get his uniform on too."
"Aye aye, Commander." Joker said, spinning his chair back around, "Better him than me."
"Commander, the Salarian Dalatrass and Krogan Clan Chief are ready to come aboard." Traynor confirmed.
"Got it." Kacey nodded, "Make sure James takes them to the conference room and not the War Room. And hope this doesn't start another war."
…
"The kroagn is in no position to make demands!" The Dalatrass snapped as Kacey arrived in the conference room.
"The 'krogan' has a name; Urdnot Wrex." Wrex replied through gritted teeth, "And I'm not just some junkyard varren you unleash whenever you're in trouble. I've got my own problems. Reaper scouts have arrived on Tuchanka. So why should I care if a few turians go extinct?"
Kacey sighed; it had barely been two minutes before fighting had already begun. Kacey certainly had her work cut out for her. She didn't know the Dalatrass, nor had she had any previous interaction with salarian leaders. She also didn't know Victus well enough to trust him; she simply put her faith in Garrus's trust of Victus. But Kacey did know Wrex, he used to serve on the Normandy SR–1 and wasn't as intimidating as first appeared. He was a staunch ally of hers, and a friend.
"Wrex." Kacey said firmly as the krogan looked at her, shrugging his shoulders.
"Trying to draw out negotiations will get you nowhere, Wrex." Victus said, "I have no time for it. Just tell us what you want."
"I'll tell you what I need…" Wrex replied with a smirk, "A cure for the genophage."
The Dalatrass's eyes widened, "Absolutely not. The genophage is non-negotiable!"
"Okay, okay." Kacey intervened before Wrex could snap back, "Why are you opposed to the idea, Dalatrass?"
"Because my people uplifted the krogan." The Dalatrass said, crossing her arms, "We know them best."
"You mean you used us!" Wrex growled, "To fight a war you couldn't win! It wasn't the salarians or the asarri or even the turians that stopped the rachni! It was krogan blood that turned the tide!"
"And after that you ceased to be useful!" The Dalatrass snapped.
"So the krogan are just…tools. Weapons for you to use and discard at your leisure?" Kacey questioned.
"You don't understand, Commander. The krogan are made for war." The Dalatrass countered, "The genophage was the only way to keep their 'urges' in check."
"Dalatrass, you may not like him, but Wrex is right. Insulting him won't change that." Victus said, "And Commander Shepard raises a good point."
"I won't apologise for speaking the truth!" The Dalatrass replied sharply, "We uplifted the krogan to do one thing; wage war. It's all they know because it's all we wanted them to know."
"So you decided to play god and it came back to bite you in the ass." Kacey replied, "If that is the case, then your people should have thought the matter through then. Was it really a surprise that the krogan revolted?"
"That's precisely my point, Commander. We made a rash decision. We turned to the krogan in desperation." The Dalatrass replied in a haughty tone, "It's the same mistake you're about to make today. No good can come from curing the genophage."
"The krogan have paid for their mistake long enough." Kacey replied firmly, "The genophage has gone on long enough."
"One thousand, four hundred and seventy-six years, if you're keeping track." Wrex mused.
"It was a thousand years of peace from these…brutes!" The Dalatrass shouted.
"A thousand years too long." Kacey mused, "If you're asking me."
"Enough!" Victus interrupted, "Whether or not they deserve a cure is academic. It would take years to formulate one."
Wrex scoffed, "My information says otherwise. A salarian scientist, Maelon, grew a conscience. He was on my planet testing a cure on our females."
"I remember." Kacey mused, "His methods were barbaric."
"But what you didn't know is that other females survived his experiments." Wrex said, pulling up a video on the conference screen, showing krogan held in cages, "So the dalatrass here sent in a team to clean up the whole mess, and to take them prisoner."
"Where did you get this?" The Dalatrass shrieked, "It could be a fabrication."
"Looks real to me." Kacey mused nonchalantly.
"Don't insult me!" Wrex roared at the Dalatrass, "Those are my people! They're immune to the genophage, and you're going to give them back!"
"Dalatrass, is this true?" Victus asked.
The Dalatrass scoffed, "How will curing the genophage benefit my people?"
"Hmm, well we are in a war with large, genocidal squid-looking machines that want to harvest all organic life to stuff our combined genetic code into a mechanical body to become one of them." Kacey said calm yet firm, "So considering that is what will happen if we lose, how long do you honestly think you'll last alone against the Reapers? Because if you don't help or cooperate, that's how it'll end up. With you blended up into a genetic paste for the Reapers to turn you into one of them."
"And I'll be the last friendly turian you ever see." Victus added.
"What's it going to be, Dalatrass?"
The Dalatrass rubbed her temple, sighing, "The females are being kept at one of our STG bases on Sur'Kesh. But I warn you, Commander! The consequences of this will be felt for centuries to come!"
"And I'm dying to see it." Kacey smirked.
"Let's get the females." Wrex said.
"You're not setting foot on Sur'Kesh!" The Dalatrass snapped, "This will take time to—"
"It happens now." Victus said firmly, "As a Council Spectre, Shepard can oversee the exchange."
"We're going, whether you like it or not." Kacey added sharply as she followed Wrex out of the conference room.
"I won't forget this, Commander!" The Dalatrass called after her, "A bully has few friends when he needs them most!"
Kacey scoffed; her words were empty. And in hindsight, irrelevant. She didn't care what random diplomat was angry or unhappy with her; there were more important things to deal with. She headed towards the elevator to get ready to depart to Sur'Kesh. Hopefully, everything would go smoothly, but knowing her luck and Wrex's temperament, it was going to be quite the trip.