"Even a dead god can dream"

 Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

HP Lovecraft

May 3rd, 2187

Hackett

Hackett took a small sip of his coffee. He savored the bitter taste of the dark liquid, recalling how his grandmother used to make it in his youth. "So black you could hide the sun in it," his mother once said.

The situation being what it was, for all he knew this may well be the last cup he'd ever drink. Earth was a poisoned wasteland. Even if they managed to clear up the wreckage, eezo, and radiation, it still might take decades or even centuries to restore most of the farmland. Without access to the relays there would be no supply line to the agricultural colonies.

"It's a fucking mess out there, Rand," observed the admiral.

"Yes, sir," said his aide. "About your meeting..."

He nodded. "Fourteen hundred sharp. Is everyone here?"

The aide stared at his feet. "Everyone that we could put together. The council, Urdnot Wrex, Matriarch Lydanya, Major Kirrahe, and Primarch Victus are aboard; Admiral Koris is on route. Unfortunately, Admiral Garrel is confirmed dead. Not much left of the Batarians, most of their fleet made a suicide run there at the end. The Geth fleet is adrift and there's been no contact so we can assume a total loss. The Volus, Elcor, and Hanar are being represented by the council for now."

"And still no sign of the Normandy," said Hackett. "Why didn't they meet us at the rendezvous coordinates?"

"We think she panicked, EDI, I mean. Right before the event she bolted for the Charon Relay," the aid paused. "We think Shepard might have warned her."

"Yea," said Hackett. "That sounds like something Shepard would have done. So, all the AI's are gone?"

The aide shook his head. "Unconfirmed at this point. Our VI's are all intact, so the current school of thought is that only AI's enhanced with Reaper Code were affected. We believe the surge was an advanced form of computer virus that targeted a specific quantum process, which would explain why it killed all the Reapers including the ground troops without harming any organics or standard technology."

Hackett continued to drill his aide. "What about the recon teams we sent to the Citadel?"

"One squad recovered Anderson's body, another encountered a non-integrated Cerberus team fleeing the station. The whole place is in ruins; piles of corpses and wreckage everywhere, and—" the aide's voice broke. He shook his head and collected himself. "No sign of Shepard. I think she's gone sir."

That one hurt the most. Everyone felt it. "Captain Rand," said Hackett. "The best way to honor her is to hold this thing together, make sure her sacrifice was not in vain. We can get through this and rebuild. We'll do what we always do, we'll find a way."

Captain Rand saluted him, "Yes Sir!"

"Now walk me through what we have," he ordered as he moved away from the observation deck window.

Rand brought him up to speed. "The Quarian civilian fleet was full of agricultural ships outfitted with canons. Fortunately for us, they hadn't time to clear them all out before sending them to battle. They've got their hydroponic gardens set up already and they can share food with the Turians for now, but that doesn't help the Krogans or Asari. On that end the Quarians are sharing their technology with us so we can set up our own grow ships, however, it won't be enough and we still don't have an account of our warehouses on earth."

"So what is the plan?" asked the old admiral.

Hackett's aide seemed pleased with himself. "Remember that varren problem we were having in New York, Seoul, and Mumbai just before the Reaper invasion?"

"Vaguely," said Hackett. "Not really my area, Captain."

Rand continued. "Right, well, the Reapers didn't bother with them, so while the invasion went on the varren population went unchecked and spiraled out of control. We saw them as a potential environmental disaster post war, but now they could be the solution to our food shortages. Krogan have been living off them for years on Tuchanka. Wrex has offered to put together some Krogan teams to show us how to hunt them."

"Christ, will it really come to that?" asked Hackett with disgust.

"It's our best option, Sir," said the aide.

"Well, then, get it done," sighed the admiral.

They entered the corridor and made their way to the conference room. For Hackett it was yet another long day that followed a long day. Once they got through the immediate crisis there were many more on the horizon. He couldn't really remember the last time he'd had a moment to take a breath. He was tired, body and soul, but there was no end in sight, and now he was missing the one person he could always rely on. Admittedly, he was out of sorts.

'Dammit, Shepard,' he thought to himself. 'You were supposed to be here to help us put it back together.'