On behalf of the crew of the Normandy SR-2 this is Doctor Liara T'Soni signing off
Sara replayed the message again and again. Liara's words echoing in her headset as her brother slept nearby. The more she dove into her father's records, the more she found hidden behind his firewalls the more she hated him. It was a puzzle, a maze she would solve. Alec Ryder had been a man who blurred the lines of father and N7 agent. Sara's childhood memories and the reports of events were a constant contradiction
The Pathfinder room on the Hyperion were cleaned with precision. In the way her father had preferred. Old habits died hard as she looked around the room. She tried to find anything that could lead her to more information
Doctor T'Perro had assigned her to two weeks recovery after the battle of Meridian. Her brain had been showing signs of lesions after she raised the remnant fleet. That didn't even include the injuries she sustained during the battle itself. Sitting in her father's room was torture for Sara. All the things she had wanted hidden in neat boxes.
There was information hidden behind firewalls of his devising. Unless it was one of the encrypted memories her father didn't want her to get much further. She wanted to know, she wanted to rip the walls open and find every secret. Sara wanted anything that gave her the answers she sought.
The murder of Jien Garson was still itching in her brain unsolved.
Frustrated and angry she tiptoed out of the room and down the hall to SAM node. The guard at the door nodded to the Sara as she passed through the door into the cold room.
For a brief moment she wondered if wearing her Blasto Pajamas was a bad idea.
Pathfinder, SAM greeted her when she entered, would you like me to help you sleep? I could notify Doctor T'Perro.
The door whished shut behind her allowing her to have privacy to converse with the AI. Their relationship was intimate and symbiotic in a way that she still didn't even know the full spectrum of. "No, thanks SAM. I have some questions."
You have been going over your father's logs again. It would due to remind you that Director Tann suggested you cease investigating. SAM spoke over their internal channel.
"I want to go over the Jien Garson information logs." Sara replied ignoring his warning.
Sara, the logs have remained unchanged since the last time you accessed them. I recommend rest before you continue this investigation further. You are still healing and even with my assistance you biology still needs time. SAM was sometimes like a parent and other times a best friend.
"I don't have to be healed to ask questions." Sara retorted sitting down next to SAM's terminal.
Who would you ask questions? SAM added. Director Tann has already requested for you to not pursue this line of investigation.
"I was thinking Kesh or Kandros. Addision would chew me out for questioning the intentions of the Initiative." Sara bit her lip, mulling over her options.
Perhaps, you should wait until Scott is fully healed before moving forward. SAM mentioned.
The last thing Sara wanted was to put her brother in the line of fire because she had an itch. "I don't even know where to start with this. If the Benefactor killed Jien Garson for something she knew then who is to say I'm not next? Or anyone else?"
And with orders coming down Addision they are going to begin thawing out more colonists. SAM reported.
"Which means there will be either more agents or more targets." She sighed. "What time is it on the Nexus?"
It would be early in the morning rotation. SAM provided.
"Thanks, SAM. Can you hail Tiran Kandros on my private line?" Sara asked cautiously.
SAM didn't hesitate. Hailing, Pathfinder, please hold. Would you prefer a videoconference?
"Yes," she spoke as her omnitool pinged.
I am buffering the signal off of a few communication buoys. There were times were having an AI in her head was one of the best things ever. She smiled to herself as the image of the Militia leader appeared on her screen.
"Pathfinder," Kandros greeted her, "to what do I owe this pleasure? An APEX team giving you any issues?"
"No," Sara smiled at him. "The ones we deployed to Eos reported in this morning. They found some tech. They will be sending it to the Nexus for scanning. But this is another matter, private. I should be out of bed rest by the end of the week and I'd like to schedule a meeting. Alone."
Kandros' mandibles flexed. The two of them had gained quite the rapport over the last few months since she became Pathfinder. His militia and willingness to do the right thing had won her over early on. Finally he responded, "I'll send you my availability over to SAM. I will see you in a week, Pathfinder."
"Thanks, Kandros." She waved at him "See you then."
The line went dead as she mulled over her next step. You chose Kandros and not Kesh? SAM asked.
"With the access to the APEX teams he would have the best opportunity to come across information. Also, I trust him. And I'm even resting another week so you can stop mothering me." Sara retorted.
I am not physically able to have been your mother. SAM replied confused. Ellen Ryder is still in cyro-
"It's a joke, SAM. We really need to work on your humor." Sara chuckled and headed back to bed. "Soon we'll have you making 'your mom' jokes like the best of them."
The week passed slowly. After an argument Dr. T'Perro cleared both Ryders for duty. There was a bet amongst the crew that it was she couldn't deal with both of them nagging her. Sara reminding them of the last time the Doctor had assigned her to bed rest for longer than a week.
Sara wasn't going to put an egg in a microwave again. Yet, the Doctor decided she couldn't risk the twins' penchant for shenanigans.
Cora Harper was less than pleased. "No, no way." Cora ambushed Sara as she walked up the ramp into the tempest. "You need to get back to the Hyperion. You had lesions in your brain!"
"Cora, we've been over this. I'm cleared. I feel fine. It is just the Nexus. The worst that can happen is some light shopping." She draped her arm around her uptight crewmate.
"You threatened to throw Lexi out the airlock." Cora grumbled and refused to move as Scott Ryder followed his sister up the airlock. Sara tossed him a smile. They were similar in features red hair, brown eyes, square jaws. She sometimes she wished she had her brother's height and curls. "And YOU should be back in med bay."
Scott laughed. "Like anything could keep me out of the air now." He smiled at his sister and walked ahead.
Cora on her best days could handle one of them, but with the two of them combined Sara knew she would have her hands full. Cora had gotten a taste of what happened when the two Ryder siblings worked together. Andromeda wasn't ready for the two of them. Sara was glad she had him back at her six. "Just think of it as a field trip where I kiss a lot of ass, we shop, and prepare for our next adventure." Sara reasoned.
"With booze!" Scott grinned.
"Oh, no!" Doctor Lexi T'Perro appeared at the opening to the ramp. "No drinking with the medication you are on, Scott Ryder. I cleared you under the understanding that this would be an uneventful run."
Sara smirked at her brother as she released Cora and walked aboard the Tempest. It felt like a homecoming as she ran her hand along the steel opening.
"That means you too, Sara." Lexi stared at her.
"Oh, come on." She grumped as the rest of her crew began approaching the Tempest. The familiar sight made her heart ache as Gil, Suvi, and Kallo walked board. Sara turned to her brother who had stood at the entrance waiting for her. "Welcome home, little brother."
Tiran Kandros' apartment was the exact opposite of what Sara Ryder had expected. He had grown up with a military Turian family and she had expected the same clean corners that she had grown up with. Instead it reminded her of what she always thought a home should look like. It was the way Ellen decorated their house when Alec Ryder was away. There were pictures of his family sprinkled around. There were several military weapons that looked older than she was. Along the wall were several terminals compiling APEX data. Then there was a couch that looked like it came straight from a magazine from earth with its plaid stripes. Before she could investigate his belongings further he had her sit opposite him in a chair. He was wearing his civilian clothing.
"Sorry for the informal setting, but given your emphasis on private this might be the best option." He handed her a beer. "Unless I completely misread the question."
The insinuation was not lost on Sara as she opened her beer. "A few weeks back," she began, "I talked to Director Tann about Jien Garson."
Kandros eyed her. "What about her?"
"I had been going through my father's audio logs and vids that he had. The ones left behind after his death. I came across some information about Jien Garson that…" Sara sighed. "She wasn't killed by the scourge. She was murdered."
"And what did Tann say?" Kandros replied giving away nothing.
"To drop my investigation that continuing would only cause panic." She took a sip of her beer.
"And why come to me with this?" Kandros asked.
Pathfinder, his levels of adrenaline are rising. I believe he knows something. SAM spoke in their private channel.
"In my father's logs he mentioned someone called the Benefactor." She watched his eyes as his pupils widened. "And that they were behind the Initiative all along."
Silence filled the room as Kandros looked at the floor. His fingers clasped around his own beer bottle. "I know the money for the Initiative came from a person called the Benefactor. Before we were set to leave to Andromeda we had come across some unsavory things. Then timeline for leaving got pushed up. We didn't have time to do a full investigation."
"Do you know why the timeline moved up?" Sara questioned, not letting him know how much she had known.
"Something was coming. Something that scared them." He sighed. "This is dangerous Pathfinder. Jien wasn't the first to end up dead for looking too far into this."
The warning settled inside her, but at least she knew now that it was a fear settled in both of them. "I need to find out what happened to her," She said. Kandros didn't need to know the why, or the secret dread that haunted her mind in a voice of 600 years ago.
"She accepted money from an unconfirmed source and died because of it." Kandros spat.
"I felt that with your APEX connection you might have had access to more information." Sara spoke "I figured you out of all the leadership would be easiest to approach."
"Well, at least the only one that doesn't have family on your ship and would be willing to talk to you." He accused. "I could be an agent to this Benefactor and talking to me could end up with you dead."
He is lying Pathfinder. SAM said as if she needed the assurance.
"You wouldn't have helped me as much as you have if that was your motivation. I trust you, Kandros." Sara gave him a small smile, "and your sense of justice aligns with mine. I want to find who murdered her. I want to bring them to justice, and I want to know why."
"Am I going to be the one who pays for your curiosity?"
"Not if I can help it." Sara said truthfully. "Don't you want to find out what happened to her?"
"Jien was a friend." Kandros sighed. "A good one too. I have something to show you, I'm not sure if its part of this… but it might help."
"Thank you, Kandros." Sara felt relieved.
"Don't thank me yet. Meet me in the tech lab in a few hours. Come alone.
"I'll be there." She said finishing off her beer. "And keep in mind if you do anything to me SAM will alert my crew and nobody wants to deal with a Scott Ryder when he is angry."
The Nexus wasn't like how it had been the prior months. It had begun to fill up with species of every size, shape, and color. The people of the Heleus cluster waking up to build new Golden Worlds with their new Angaran friends. The thought that she had helped bring about this was a source of pride, but to see it all in action was overwhelming.
Liam elbowed Sara out of her revere. "How did your meeting go, ya?" He smiled at her. She loved his enthusiasm for all things even when it was hard for her to keep up.
"Meeting Kandros again later," She looked over at the Vortex. Sara signaled to Liam that was where they were going.
"Oh…?" He pressed for details.
"Not like that," Sara laughed.
"Shame, ever since that asshole was hoping for something good for ya." The unspoken name sat in her belly like lead and it burned.
"Yeah right, look I saved the cluster I have more important things to do then…" Sara sighed. "Anyway, we made some movement on the APEX teams and I'm going to be talking to him about a Crisis unit." She elbowed him back. "And then you'll be leaving me for greater things."
"Won't that be something, but I'd be leaving the coolest boss in Heleus." He teased. "Although if Jaal will help me pick out some Angara for the unit... It would be a great cross-species outreach."
"I like the way you think, Kosta." She smiled.
"Oh my god is that the human Pathfinder?!" Came loudly from behind her as she got swung up into a hug.
"Scott!" She shrieked. "You are gross! Let me go!" She struggled against her brother. Behind Scott stood Gil and Jaal laughing at her current misfortune. Scott walked her into the Vortex over her shoulder. "I'm going to murder you!"
"Pretty sure Lexi said no booze, Ryders?" Gil teased playfully.
"I'm not having booze." Scott placed his sister on the ground once they were inside. "I am having distilled spirits. Spirits in the form of whiskey, and it won't be just booze."
"It's a treasure." Sara said before she could stop herself. She felt the burn and anger of planets millions of miles away and a name she hadn't spoken out loud. He was not allowed to have that kind of power over her.
Gil waited for Scott to approach the bar before he swung around to Sara. She had spoken to him when she was at her angriest and didn't want a lecture from Lexi. He had shown up at her door with a drink in hand. "I think we all deserve some after the few weeks we just had."
"Here is to that, mate." Liam smiled as cheers erupted from some of the bar patrons as they noticed the Pathfinder's team. One of the Angarans at the bar motioned to the bartenders. "First round is on me, my friend." The Angaran smiled.
"You okay?" Gil asked quietly after the others got out of earshot.
"I'll manage." She gave him a small smile.
"Did your secret meeting go as well as I hope?" He waggled his eyebrows.
"Oh, gross. I mean yeah he is tall and kind of fine…" She thought about it. "And I mean I wouldn't kick him out of bed-"
"Yes you would," Gil interrupted, "but only to fuck him on the floor."
"GIL!" Sara sounded scandalized. The shriek brought her brother's attention back solely on the two of them. She noticed Scott drag his eyes over her companion. He was as subtle as she was.
Scott came to join them with two glasses in his hand and passed one over to her. She sniffed it taking her time to watch her brother squirm. "Whiskey. The drink of the gods." She smiled as Scott lifted her glass.
"To Dad." They both exchanged a look and clinked their glasses.
"Thanks for being here, Gil." She smiled and Scott looked down at his drink. "You should tell Scott about all the upgrades you've done to the Nomad. I promised him first dibs to drive the next time we hit planet side and I don't want him to screw up my baby."
"Are you as bad a driver as your sister?" Gil asked almost immediately.
"Worse." Scott laughed, as Sara left them. Pathfinder. Sister. Excellent Wing madam. She would make sure to add that to her resume if she ever found herself out of a job.
Sara joined Jaal and Liam mid conversation. "The only time humans are open with their feelings are when they are drunk." Liam joked.
"Ryder, I was discussing with Liam about the strange mating habits of you homosapiens. I find it fascinating that you are more open with your bodies than you are with your emotions. Especially given how limited your life spans are." Jaal observed.
"Wow, uh, I'm going to see my way out of this conversation." Sara laughed as she placed her empty glass on the bar.
"Perhaps, you should speak of your feelings more." Jaal didn't drop the subject.
"Nah," Sara leaned against the bar and playfully tugged at Jaal's rofjinn. "How would I be the beautiful mystery that I am otherwise?"
"You are about as mysterious as a biotic charge to the face." Liam laughed.
"Are you insinuating that I punch things with my emotions? Cause I feel like that is where this conversation might be heading." She stuck her tongue out at the two of them.
"Very professional, Pathfinder." Liam chuckled.
"I do not understand that gesture." Jaal tried to keep up.
"We are at a bar. I don't have to be professional for another fifteen minutes." She looked at her watch and then up at her brother who was gesturing wildly in his conversation with Gil. She guessed he was talking about the many times they both failed their drivers test. Perhaps, the time she almost drove into the lake on the Citadel when she was test driving a Mako. Whatever it was she could hear Gil laugh above the roar of the crowd.
"A meeting then?" Jaal inquired, ever observant. "I believe you had one earlier?"
"Life of the Pathfinder," She tossed him a smile. "Sometimes its not always finding things. Its meetings, paper work, more meetings, and glorious ass kissing."
"Tann or Addison?" Liam asked.
"Kandros." Sara answered, ignoring the wink Liam tossed her way. "I should head over there. You two be good and make sure my baby brother doesn't blow up the place."
Watching Scott from a distance she could see the two of them getting closer into each other's bubbles. She smiled to herself and weaved through the crowd. She was smaller than most and agile. Until recently nobody really noticed her when she was trying to get places. Now whenever she had places to go people would see her and part. It was a strange thing to become accustomed to.
The tech lab wasn't far from Vortex as the night cycle began to descend on the Nexus. The lighting that they used to dictate their hours began to fade.
The door whisked open to the RESTRICTED PERSONNEL door and she walked in. Inside it looked like the lab she had already seen. There were microscopes and parts of remnant tech placed about the lab. There were bits covered with white cloth and hidden to the eye.
Inside stood Kandros and a dark blue skinned Asari in a lab coat. They were both engrossed in the data pad that the Asari held. Kandros looked up and motioned her to come closer to them. "Hey," Sara spoke as a way of greeting.
"Glad you made it." Kandros gestured to his companion, "This is Zenari Arteana. She is one of the head engineers on the Nexus."
"Pleased to meet you, Pathfinder." Zenari shook Sara's hand. Her voice was deep and throaty. It reminded her of some of the singers she used to watch on the vids as a child. "Kandros tells me you were interested in our project, and that you are to added to my reports."
Sara shot Kandros a look. "Before we came to Andromeda," Kandros began, "Jien and I found something on one of the ships. We didn't have the time then to properly investigate. This has been something Dr. Arteana and I have been researching once we got everything up and running."
"Call me Zenari, please," the doctor interrupted. "We have managed to finally had the opportunity to begin a full investigation into this."
Near them was a large item covered in a white cloth. "This area is restricted personnel. Tann doesn't even have the clearance to be in here." Kandros whispered.
"Wait, how the hell does that happen?" Sara shot him a look.
"This room was sealed off for this before we left the Milky Way only Jien, Zenari and myself have access." Kandros explained, "and now you do too."
"Does this have to do with-" Sara began.
"My theory is that it might." Kandros offered. "I'm not sure, but things don't add up, Pathfinder."
"Time to show her what we've been researching?" Zenari turned to Kandros as she placed her hand on the white cloth
Kandros nodded giving Zenari the okay to remove the cover. She lifted the tarp and revealed the metallic creature underneath.
Sara Ryder jumped back and turned to Kandros with her eyes wide. "Kandros," she began to find the words, "what the fuck is a GETH doing here in Andromeda?"