Disclaimer: Mass Effect is the property of EA/Bioware and so on and so forth.

Prologue: Six Months, Three Days Before the Fall of Earth

She was in a city in a crowd of people, a thousand hands holding onto hers. She looked up, and the sun was being blotted out by a giant and desperately, she started running, the crowd becoming a blur. No one around her seemed to notice, even as the street ripped itself in half and shadowy people disappeared into the chasm. Horrified, she tried to stop and help, but her feet kept on their flight over the burning pavement; she had to get there.

People pushed in on her, hands reaching. She shoved away, recoiling as their naked bodies dropped to the street, their empty faces pointed at the sky. Sobbing, she was swallowed by the stars and their broken screams. Covering her ears in pain, she fell, the sound rending through her head until she was screaming too.

The light was red and searing her eyes likes fire. She started to crawl; pain-

Shepard lurched off the bed, heart dashing against her ribs, and looked around the unfamiliar room wildly. Her side, her leg, her arm; they were all throbbing miserably but she couldn't care. She tapped into her biotics. The Reapers were-. She had to-. Where was-

"Siha?"

Shepard blinked and Thane was there, watching her with concern. Confused, she stared at him. You shouldn't be here. A low, soothing croon was coming from his throat and she couldn't help but relax a little. The light was leaving spots in her vision and she blinked again, breathing heavily. The world came into slow, blurry focus. She was in the med-bay on the Normandy, the room empty besides her and Thane.

Bullet wounds aching, Shepard sunk back onto the medical bed and forced her heartbeat to slow. She lifted a shaky hand to her forehead, breathing deliberately. The dream continued to echo in her ears and she fought off a shudder. Thane was still speaking to her in a way only a drell could, the tone almost beyond her hearing. It was pleasant and calming and Shepard was glad he was there.

After a few moments, she straightened. Her clothing was drenched in cooling sweat and she picked at the fabric uncomfortably. "I'm fine," Shepard said, tucking her dark hair behind her ears. "Just...just a nightmare."

Frowning, Thane studied the strained lines of her face. He sat down in the chair beside her and took her hand, gently rubbed his thumb over her palm. She looked at him and smiled weakly.

"I'm fine," she repeated, willing both of them to believe it. "How long was I out?"

"Around fifteen hours," he said, setting the datapad in his hand on the little table next to him.

Shepard glanced at it curiously, not realizing he'd had it, but turned back to Thane quickly, "Wait. What?"

He hummed reassuringly. "The good doctor assured me extreme exhaustion is a normal reaction to omega-enkaphalin. Particularly, at the high doses you were given. Combined with your injuries, it is not so surprising, siha."

"Great," she sighed, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "Where's Chakwas?"

"At the moment, she is preventing the Alliance Admiral from entering the med-bay and disturbing you."

"Shit," Shepard ran a hand through her hair, grimacing at the greasy feeling. Three days without a shower. Damn that's gross. "How long has he been here?"

His inner eyelids flickered at her curse but he went on without commenting on it. "He invited himself onto the Normandy several hours ago, demanding to speak to you." A small, wicked smile appeared on his lips. "The crew has not been helpful."

Snorting out a laugh, she climbed to her feet, wincing as she put weight on her leg. "I bet. EDI?"

EDI's holographic orb appeared above the nearby terminal. "Yes, Commander?"

"Let Admiral Hackett into the med-bay."

Brow creased, Thane stood as well. "The Admiral can wait, siha. You are still unwell."

"No, he can't ," Shepard said, frowning ."I have to talk to him eventually. There's no point in hiding from it."

"You do not answer to him, siha."

"Then who do I answer to, Thane?" she snapped, feeling a flash of irritation."I killed three-hundred thousand people. Blew up a fucking relay-"

She stopped herself, closing her eyes. Saying the words was like sticking her hand into an electrical current. Three-hundred thousand...The scope of that much death was almost unimaginable and it was a struggle to really understand what she had done. It was only made worse by knowing that she would have done it a hundred times if it meant delaying the Reapers. Shepard felt sick.

Thane reached out for her hand. "Siha-"

The med-bay door opened with a quiet whir and he dropped his arm back to his side, his face closing off. She glanced behind him and saw Admiral Hackett striding toward her.

"We can talk later," she promised quietly, returning her attention to Thane.

Hesitating a split second, he nodded deeply and left, subtly brushing his fingers against her arm as he did. Shepard watched him go, not missing the dangerous look he sent Hackett, before turning away.

"Admiral Hackett." She shifted her weight off her aching leg and nodded courteously.

"Commander Shepard." Hackett stopped and clasped his hands behind his back. "Your doctor was reluctant to disturb you but it looks like you've recovered enough for a chat."

"I'm a little surprised to see you here, Admiral."

"You went out there as a favor to me. I decided to debrief you in person." His expression hardened. "That was before the mass relay exploded and destroyed an entire batarian system. What the hell happened out there, Commander."

"What have you heard?" Shepard asked cautiously.

"All I know is that I sent you out there to break Amanda Kenson out of prison and now the Bahak system has been completely wiped off the map." There was a hint of a snarl in his voice as he went on. "I hope you can fill in the leap of logic between those two events."

"I confirmed Doctor Kenson's claims." She leaned against the bed behind her. "The Reapers were coming and they were planning on using the relay to access the rest of the galaxy. Destroying it was the only way to stop them."

He considered this for a moment. "The relays are believed to be almost indestructible. How did you manage to destroy it?"

"When Doctor Kenson and her team discovered the Reaper's plan, they rigged several engines to an asteroid and set it to fly into the relay. Unfortunately, they had become indoctrinated and when I arrived at the project base, they sedated me for almost two days. By the time I woke up, the Reapers were almost here. I tried to warn the colonies..." Shepard shook her head and glanced down, "but time ran out."

Hackett began to pace. "And you believe the Reapers really were a threat."

"I do," she said, nodding. "If I hadn't destroyed that relay, the Reapers would be invading the galaxy right now. As it is, I've only bought us some time."

"Do you have any proof of this Commander?" he asked, stopping to stare blankly out the med-bay window.

She began to cross her arms but stopped herself short, the wound on her arm burning. She settled for a frown. "Other than what I've already given you: no, I don't."

"That's a problem, Commander." Hackett shifted to stare her in the eye. "You say that an ancient race of homicidal machines is coming to harvest all life in the galaxy. You use the threat of the Reapers to justify the murder of three-hundred thousand batarians. And you don't have any actual evidence?" He shook his head. "Tell me you understand my disbelief."

"The information from the collector base-"

"Proved that the collectors were the ones attacking our colonies and not much else."

"They were using the colonists to create a damn Reaper!"

"No, Commander," he barked, eyes flashing. "They were building a warship. That's all. At best it showed that the collectors were capable of far greater technology than we are."

Silence fell. Shepard was struggling with her frustration and had nothing to say. Every bit of proof her and her team had fought and bled for apparently counted for nothing. Sovereign crashing into the Citadel, the scans of the collector base- hell, scans of an actual Reaper and it still wasn't enough.

"You'll have to answer for this eventually, Commander," Hackett said after the minutes had begun to drag on.

His face was as unforgiving as stone but Shepard still had enough pride to meet his gaze unflinchingly. "I know my duty, Admiral. I'll turn myself in without incident."

"Glad to see working with Cerberus hasn't stripped away your sense of honor."

Lifting her chin, she regarded the man coldly. "I didn't work with Cerberus because I agreed with them, Admiral. I did it because people were dying and they were the only ones willing to do anything about it."

"That may be true but Cerberus isn't known for their altruistic nature. Their motives for helping our colonists are questionable," Hackett said grimly. "As are yours."

Her temper flared hot and it took some effort to keep her voice steady. "Everything I've done, I've done to protect the galaxy."

"From where the rest of us are standing, Commander, it just doesn't look that way."

Shepard didn't respond, digging her nails into her palms and clenching her jaw to keep herself quiet. As much as she wanted to, telling the Admiral to 'fuck off', wouldn't help her situation any. Hackett waited for a moment before shaking his head, his eyes like ice chips.

"You have a week to surrender yourself into Alliance custody. Don't make us come looking for you, Commander."

Without another word, he spun on his heel and left. Shepard stared after him, blood rushing in her ears. A week. I'd be surprised if they gave me a fucking day.

A/N: Hello! Before we continue on, I think it is important to say a few things about this story first. This is a ME3 rewrite fic which means that a lot of things are going to be different. Some changes are small, some big but I have my reasons for each one. Anything that is different from canon is completely intentional and all part of the plan ;).