Pathfinder's Quarters
"Of all the ways I've died, this has to be my least favourite"
"I told you, you shouldn't be moving around so much. Lexi is gonna bust a vein if you carry on like this" the turian half-frowned, forehead plate lowered in concern as she leaned over the shivering woman, sitting on the edge of the double bed and all but force-feeding her a tasteless nutrient broth that smelt especially unappetizing to her dextro-amino-trained nose.
The Pathfinder sighed dramatically, eyes bloodshot and undercut by large deep bags, skin a sickly shade of pale as she reluctantly sat up in bed and slurped some of the concoction down, visibly restraining a gag. "Thanks Vetra, and tell Lexi I feel a lot better."
She grinned slyly, mandibles spread away from her pursed lips "And when she doesn't fall for that?"
Ryder chuckled weakly, pensively sipping on the broth "Tell her that in terms of near-death experiences, this one gets a solid 6"
She shook her head slowly, resting a two-fingered hand gently on the human's shoulder, squeezing "You say that as a joke, but I worry. I've almost lost you too many times, and a 'solid 6' for you is like a 10 for the rest of us mortals"
The woman smiled softly, setting the bowl down on her lap and rubbing the turian's arm reassuringly "You're cute when you're worried, but you don't have to be. SAM says that the virus has cleared my bloodstream anyway, just have to deal with the after effects."
She rolled her eyes, a very human expression of disapproval that she'd been having a lot of fun with in the last few months, ever since the Pathfinder had taught her it, among so many other things. "You know I can't switch that off, and I don't care what SAM says; Lexi has 200 years more medical experience than him, so I'll side with her expert opinion that you need to rest. Jaal isn't showing any symptoms so far but Lexi has him in a 72-hour quarantine until she's sure. We're heading back to the Nexus for a refit and R&R. So just focus on getting better, then we can get to finding out what asshole did this" she reached down and took the human's soft fingers in hers, resting her forehead against her partner's and sharing a quick kiss before rising to her feet. One of the lesser-known perks of a turian-human relationship is that due to the two species' different amino-acid chirality there was little to no chance of a disease hopping from one to another.
"No arguments from me" Ryder yawned, her brow furrowing in that special way that she couldn't resist, and she smiled warmly "Hey, and if I don't kick this thing on its ass by then, hopefully you can arrange a personal meeting with Tann, and if by some cruel twist of fate it infects salarians too, then I don't think many people would lose too much sleep" Ryder grinned cheekily, eliciting a chuckle from the turian as she gave her one last kiss before turning and walking reluctantly out of their quarters. Well, technically they were Ryder's quarters, but they were one and the same these days.
"I'd pay good credits to see that" she hesitated on the edge of the doorway "Get some rest, or ill sic Lexi on you, and her bedside manner won't be as gentle as mine"
She walked swiftly out of the room and locked the door behind her with her omni-tool, leaning back and resting the back of her head against the cool metal for a while, collecting her thoughts. There it was again, that prickly ball of dread in the pit of her stomach that seemed to twist and pull at her. The same as when the Pathfinder had collapsed on their mission to Khi Tsira. The leader of a faction of aggressive aliens called the Kett had seized control of SAM to try and control Heleus' network of Remnant machinery. SAM was the highly-advanced AI that inhabited Ryder's mind in a symbiotic relationship that she would never fully understand, and he had been instrumental in understanding and interfacing with Remnant technology, a fact that the Archon had taken advantage of when he ripped the AI from Ryder's mind. An unfortunate side-effect of this was that because SAM had taken over several essential portions of Ryder's brain during their traumatic introduction, separation of the two in such an equally traumatic way had proved fatal. Had it not been for Scott, Sara's twin brother, resetting the pathfinder's SAM implant from the Hyperion while it was under attack by the archon's forces, she would have died on the cold floor of that Remnant bunker.
"Hey Vetra, how's she doing?" the low gravelly tones of the ship's resident Krogan rumbled through her. She kept her eyes closed and marvelled at how a thousand-year-old, 450 kilo, armoured behemoth could so effectively and consistently sneak up on her.
"Over the worst of it, but she's not going anywhere anytime soon. I hadn't seen her like that since… well, I don't like feeling so helpless"
"She'll be okay, she's tough for a human. It'd be a pretty crappy story if the Pathfinder saved Heleus from ruin, defeated the Kett, and then died of a cold. When was the last time you actually ate something?" The Krogan thrust a sealed plastic tray into her hands, and she opened her eyes and blinked down at the black packaging of a Palavenian Karakas curry. The Nexus had been sent to Andromeda with hundreds of these luxury meals, but almost all had been lost to the Scourge on their arrival.
"I don't even want to know what you had to do to get one of these Drack, but really, I'm good. I'll grab something from the galley and eat it while going through some reports, we need-"
"Uh uh, no excuses" the Krogan grinned widely and chuckled "I was saving this for your birthday next week, but I can see you've been working yourself hard since the kid got sick, so humour an old man and take some time off for a couple of hours, eat something other than that dextro-amino paste. The cluster ain't gonna turn to shit as soon as you stop putting out fires. We've all worked hard to make it so that folks can handle the small stuff without us, so turn off your omni for a while, turn on a vid and stop giving a pyjak's ass about the troubles of the world." The old man smiled and clapped her arm hard, almost sending her off balance as he stomped off towards the med bay. "Anyway, gotta go, doc's not through using me as a pin cushion"
A disembodied, reproachful voice echoed over the PA system "If you must know I'm checking your implant sites for transplant viability, your older models are more ancient than most Asari, and now the Kett have backed off, the Nexus medical team is begging to have some work to do that isn't just colonists with the flu or emergency trauma care."
"Sure sure, whatever you say Doc" Drack shuffled off out of sight as she sighed and pushed off from the Pathfinder's door, clutching the sealed dinner like a mother would a new-born babe.
"Miss Nyx, I have suspended all email but highest priority for two hours. I will monitor regularly, but as per both Drack and the Pathfinder's wishes, you will not be disturbed." The calm voice of SAM droned in her earpiece as she walked, and a dozen pulsing icons on her eyewear blinked out of existence, somewhat relieving the pulsing headache that had been developing for some time in the back of her mind.
"Thanks SAM, and what did I say about 'Miss Nyx'? That's a name for moms and teachers." She paced through the engineering bay towards her little corner of the Tempest, shooting their engineer Gil a nod as she walked under the gantry he was leaned up against. The man was a father now, and she was weirdly anticipating the times when he might ask her for advice with little Dian. How Jill had fallen for that trick she had no idea.
"Apologies, Vetra. I will try to remember in the future." She took great enjoyment in teasing the AI. She wasn't sure if they chose their displayed personality or if it was baked into their code or something, but she'd always viewed the disembodied entity as a disarmingly awkward friend. The type to shy away from the limelight in any situation, but always be there to offer a word of support when needed, or in most cases vitally important mission intel.
"Appreciate it, oh and SAM? If she wakes up or something happens, can you let me know?" she hesitated in the doorway as if closing the door would somehow separate her from the omnipresent AI.
"Understood Vetra, I will keep you informed" She nodded once more in thanks, then entered her sanctuary, popping the metal tab on the container she held to kick-start the self-heating process in the packaging. She placed it gingerly on the table before sinking heavily into the desk chair in front of her terminal, rubbing her eyes tiredly and taking her visor off. It clattered against the table while she leant back, exhaling forcefully as the enticing scents of the curry drifted up from the slightly vibrating pot.
A grin tugged at her mandibles as her terminal pulsed with light and a rather unflattering profile still of a turian popped up onto screen, along with the caller ID on the cluster's rapidly improving civilian vidcall network. The Tempest had already lent survey data and technical support to the crews keeping the cluster-wide communications network going, and the team worked tirelessly around the clock to both keep the satellites running and to replace or repair the ones that had fallen victim to the Scourge, or to Kadara's dwindling population of anarchistic Exiles. Most of those disillusioned with the Initiative had been pacified by the relatively new leader of the colony Reyes Vidal, or more accurately the shadowy persona that he covertly portrayed, "The Charlatan".
Reyes had started off life on Kadara as a second-rate smuggler, but had rapidly devised and executed plans to usurp the then ruler of the port city Sloane Kelly, a ruthless gang leader who had once been head of Nexus Security. A pang of guilt rose in the back of her mind at her memories of Sloane's last stand, a duel with Vidal in which the former had cheated by using a concealed sniper to finish off the latter before she could draw her weapon, drifted into focus. Ryder had made the decision then to let Vidal take over, and she had backed her at the time, but now the woman's death weighed heavily on both their consciences. Kelly had been a wildcard, bitterly hating anything to do with the Initiative after her exile, but that didn't mean that her death was to be celebrated. The two of them had spent more than one night just talking about that day in one of the winding cave systems running through Kadara's limestone cliffs. How it should've gone. How it could have played out. How they both agreed that fully trusting Vidal, regardless of his stance towards the Initiative since his rise to power, was a fool's gambit.
She dragged her mind back to the present and swiped on the terminal's display, and the slightly pixelated face of Sidera Nyx, her younger sister and one of two people in this galaxy that she would trust with her life unconditionally, flickered into view.
"Vetra? Hello? Is this thing working?" Sid tapped the camera lens with one talon, squinting at the screen
"I'm here Sid, what's up?" She stretched her arms behind her neck, feeling the satisfying popping as her carapace joints cracked, a tiny satisfying rush of tension release as she settled into the chair. "And no business talk, I'm under strict instructions to relax, Pathfinder's orders."
Sid laughed lightly "Aww, she's cute when she tries to take charge, but you're humouring her for now?"
She nodded, smiling wryly "She's got a point, I thought I had it bad enough when I wasn't filling in for a Pathfinder. Do you know how many times Tann has requested an update on Khi Tsira in the last 24 hours? Seven. And then there's every other colonist whining about their brother who is still on Kadara as an exile, or the people begging for their family members to be let out of cryo sleep. I don't know how she puts up with it all, she has the patience of a saint." She raised a pre-emptive finger to cut off her sister's incoming jab. "And no 'Well she puts up with you, doesn't she?' from you today missy"
"Well you're no fun." Sid smiled, resting her chin on her hand "Yeah, it's a nightmare. How's she doing by the way, and how are you holding up? I heard that it was touch and go at one point?"
"It was rough. Lexi even pulled me aside to give me 'the talk'. Whole ship was on edge, Jaal kept alternating between throwing things and crying, and that was before he was put into quarantine. Peebee managed to calm him down, or more likely distracted him with some remnant upgrade to his rifle, or some other shiny thing." She let the euphemism drip off her tongue, before lowering her head slightly as the single worst moment of her life floated to the surface of her mind. "She… She even said goodbye, Sid. That… That was rough." The words were painfully inadequate, but she cleared her throat and blinked the tears away.
"Damn." Her voice was muted. "Vetra, I… I'm so sorry. When you get here come over and I'll grab some of that dextro chocolate from storage. Or I can come visit you guys in the med bay if you like, I've heard that Dr Carlyle is compiling a complete index of Heleus-native pathogens so that we can better develop therapeutic-"she was rambling now, a trait that Vetra had always found half-endearing and half-irritating. Perfectly suited to her relation of little sister.
"It's okay Sid, we're fine. We've been through worse, but this time seemed so much more real, ya'know? There was no big bad Archon to shoot at, no Kett to destroy. Nothing so easy to define or fight." Her voice broke slightly "Sara will be okay. I'll be okay, and I'm sure she'll want to see you. I'll ping you when we're settled in, okay?"
She nodded slowly "Okay. Changing subjects, what do you want for your birthday?" She raised a hand "Not from me, I've had my present to you reserved for weeks, but I've had at least 3 people on board the Tempest reach out to get my advice. So far all I've done is shoot down the bad ideas and give a few vague pointers, but it's less than three days to go and people are getting desperate."
Vetra snorted derisively "I haven't even thought about that. Did you help Drack get this then?" She held up the now uncomfortably hot container, which was venting steam from several holes on top, spreading a thick, aromatic and mouth-watering scent that made her stomach rumble greedily.
Sid nodded happily "According to my contact it's the only one left in Andromeda. At least that was the pitch he put to me at first. When I called him out on it he quartered the price, so it was a steal in the end!"
"Aww, a present that's delicious and financially prudent, my favourite!" She felt the low vibrations from within the container halt, signalling that whatever chemically induced cooking process had happened was done. "Thank you Sid, it'll be nice to eat something that isn't specifically designed to have the most calories with the least flavour for once."
Sid snickered. As Turians their selection in food was often limited when it came to Initiative supplies. Ark Natanus, the Turian ark, was supposed to bolster the dextro-amino-acid food storage until the colonies could establish a decent season of Palaven-native crops. Of course, when the Natanus ran aground on the Scourge along with every other element of the Initiative, those plans went out of the window, along with most of the dextro-amino seed bank. Supposedly a modified crop was being developed on Prodromos, but every bit of yield was used to produce the homogenous nutrient paste that kept the turian population in Andromeda going until better yields could be achieved. "What, hooking up with the pathfinder doesn't get you special rations or anything?"
A twang of annoyance flickered across her face. She hated people who accused Ryder of favouritism. It wasn't common, most people were too busy trying to survive to give a shit about what the Pathfinder's team ate, but a few less that cordial emails got through, including one accusing her of selling out the Turian ark so that she could get a priority spot on the Initiative's first residential outpost. Ridiculous. She'd have asked for a lot more than that.
"Afraid not, but it does give me a better appreciation of how hardy humans can be considering how soft they are. The night before Ryder got sick, I apparently rolled on top of her in my sleep and damn near broke her arm, bruised her bicep really bad." She shrugged "I'm pretty sure Lexi thinks we're into something weird now, but hey, she's had worse. According to her I'm 'Worth a bruise every now and then'."
Sid practically cooed down the line, and Vetra's skin in between her carapace plates blushed a deep scarlet, barely visible unless you knew what you were looking for. "Oh spirits that's adorable! Alright, I'll let you eat your meal and relax, buzz me when you reach the Nexus and we'll figure something out. And I'll tell your crewmates to buy you socks or something, okay?"
She nodded happily, fully peeling back the lid to the meal and almost whimpering "Sounds good, I'll see you tomorrow probably, depends on how unhelpful the Scourge is being, bye!"
She ended the vidcall and relaxed, using the provided fork to start eating the delicious food, savouring every bite as she shot off a quick update to Sara's twin brother Scott, letting him know their ETA to the Nexus. He'd been out near the edge of the cluster, surveying an unknown nebula for any Kett activity when Sara had fallen ill, and he'd immediately dropped everything and started making his way back to the Nexus. His ship wasn't as fast as the Tempest though, so it would likely take him an extra day or two to arrive. Hopefully by then she'd be up and about, and ready to tell him about them. Apparently, these kinds of things made the other Ryder uncomfortable. Great.
As soon as the screen flickered back into blackness, she leaned back in the chair, mouth full of food, and sighed contentedly, reaching over to flick on some quiet melodic music from back home, and closed her weary eyes. She put all the thoughts of the mountain of paperwork that was likely at that very moment piling on invisibly, held back by SAM but ever-present nonetheless, into the back of her head and slipped into a blissful daze. That could wait, and she would deal with it when it came flooding back. But for now, there was quiet, and she was determined to enjoy it while it lasted.
36 hours later
"With all due respect Director Tann, but I think your expectations for the timeframe of these talks are unrealistic to say the least." Cora Harper said through gritted teeth beside her around the meeting table. All the heads of the Initiative: Addison from Colonial Affairs, Kandros from Security, Nakmor Kesh from Nexus maintenance, and Tann were stood around them. Cora was playing the part of the Human Pathfinder until Ryder could get up to full strength, and they were joined by the other Pathfinders, Avitus Rix, Vederia Damali and Lumont Heyjer, to discuss the ongoing negotiations and diplomacy with the Roekarr, a splinter sect of the Heleus-native Angara whose manifesto was the complete eradication of "Alien" species from Andromeda. They had been founded during the subjugation imposed on the Angaran people by the Kett decades ago, and they regarded the intergalactic travellers from the Initiative not as allies, but as another problem to be dealt with. Their organisation had lost a lot of support ever since Ryder and her team had defeated the Kett and rescued the Moshae, a semi-religious public figure revered in Angara culture, but the fears and anger from generations of inter-species conflict were not easily assuaged.
"I understand your position Lieutenant, but we need to press the negotiations while the Roekarr are weak, before the expansion of our operations at Meridian and the other colonies begins and raises tensions further. Pathfinder Ryder's illness is an unfortunate setback, but she of all people would see the benefit of pressing an advantage while we still have one. Her commitment to the Initiative and its progress is plain for all to see, but we are once again falling behind schedule." The salarian's face was supremely emotionless, even for their flat, hydrodynamic features.
"The schedule that we crawled back to after every aspect of the Initiative was decimated by the Scourge" Kesh's almost threatening tones cut through the tension building up around the table, to murmurs of agreement. "I think we can afford to only be a couple of months delayed"
"Semantically I agree, but our stores and supplies, even supplemented by the expanding trade with independent farmers on Kadara or from our agricultural establishments on the outposts, do not agree. The more colonists we wake up, and we're at 56% overall now, the more mouths need feeding, and the Roekarr are still hampering any attempt at secure trade deals with the Angaran people as a whole. Aya is on our side for the most, but our supply ships are raided regularly, or were until we began negotiations and the ceasefire was brokered." Tann's face fell slightly as he brought up the relevant statistics and reports on the holographic display in front of them. "We need this issue wrapped up quickly and quietly."
"No-one's debating that Tann" Addison chimed in, sounding very defensive "But the resources we have are finite. The outposts are all performing admirably, and the Pathfinders are all doing excellent work of keeping them safe, secure and supplied. However, with the severe delays and loss of seed banks across the board, we simply cannot wake up any more of the Turian colonists recovered from the Natanus. We need those trade routes desperately, but we don't have the manpower to secure them." She looked around the room quickly, eyes searching for the easy answer.
"How many more would you need? To effectively combat the Roekarr? And how long can we last before we'd have to start rationing? Assuming that we set the start of rations as our last-ditch deadline. From what I've heard about the Uprising that seems prudent." Cora spoke up, and she couldn't help but admire the woman's drive, always solving the problem, always forming a plan.
"Kandros?" Tann waved his hand as if giving the proud turian permission to speak, which she knew would ruffle his feathers.
"20 of the ex-military or C-Sec Turians from the Natanus. But even then, they'd be inexperienced with Angara. We're not an army. We're a militia." The Security Chief's assessment was bleak.
"We could last three weeks before rationing becomes necessary. Two months further on rations with reduced productivity and morale, with the risk of further unrest." Tann piped up.
"So, we have three weeks. And in that time, we have to either achieve a peace deal with the Roekarr or to defeat them militarily. After that can we begin resupply instantly?" Cora turned to her, and she clasped her hands behind her back and cleared her throat.
"Yes, we have three prominent Angaran trade concerns ready and willing to provide arable land for long term production, as well as supply interim shipments of local foodstuffs. It might not taste particularly good, but it'll be enough. We're still finalising the terms, but Director Addison has approved the land parcels and frankly we're not in much of a position to make demands. Of course, this is only supplementary until the outposts can expand production." She projected her words with her trademark cool confidence, concealing the fact that the trade deals she spoke of had been reluctantly agreed to 20 minutes before this meeting. She was no stranger to aggressive negotiations, but the particular Angara had been stubborn.
"Good. The first thing I think we should all agree on is that the Militia are not equipped to handle the Roekarr." A conciliatory tone crept into Harper's voice, pacifying the soon-to-be-wounded pride of Kandros. Cora had been paying attention to her. "As you said Kandros, they're not an army, and even with the Strike teams and APEX, a conventional force will be ineffective against a guerrilla operation like the Roekarr. They know the terrain, and to get those 20 extra men up and familiar with their tactics would take too long. I propose that you instead delegate resources to defence of the outposts, and reassign the Pathfinder teams to deal with the Roekarr. Small numbers, covert tactics." She looked around the table
Slight nods came from all the assembled Pathfinders, and Kesh bowed her head in agreement as well, although Vetra couldn't help but think that it was as likely due to a desire to end this meeting as soon as possible as due to actual agreement.
"Are we sure that diplomacy is a dead end?" Tann droned
Cora shrugged non-comittally "We weren't making much progress beyond 'we'll stop actively trying to kill you around the negotiating table' before Ryder got sick, and we're still not sure on the source of that other than it's viral and serious. Could be a coincidence. Maybe one of the Roekarr had a cold and that jumped ship to Ryder. Or it could be a deliberate biological attack. We're waiting on the results from Dr Carlyle."
The salarian rubbed his temples slowly, eyes shut tightly as he struggled to formulate some plan. "Hmm. Ideally, we'd be able to resolve this peacefully. But ever since their leader Aksul disappeared, the Roekarr have been more manic and dangerous than ever." He paused for thought, and she caught Heyjer and Vederia shooting each other confused glances. The two more inexperienced Pathfinders were not fully accustomed to Tann's often frustrating mannerisms. "No matter what, we cannot act unilaterally. We need the support of the Moshae, of Aya and of the Resistance to legitimise our actions."
"Agreed. We have a good relationship, I'm sure that won't be a problem" Cora nodded.
Vetra cleared her throat and chimed in "I'll send out some messages, make sure we're on the same page, and we'll try our luck with diplomacy again."
"Excellent. Well I see no point in keeping you all here. Communications will take time. Meeting adjourned, we will reconvene tomorrow at 1500 and discuss our options when we have more information. Vetra, could I have a word?" Tann gave a small bow to the assembled group, and then swiped a hand through the holographic display, which flickered out of life as the various parties stretched their necks and muttered with their fellows.
"I'll meet you in med bay" She whispered apologetically to Cora, who nodded sympathetically and drifted off with Avitus, talking in low tones as she followed Tann away from the meeting table and into the Director's office. The door swished shut behind them as Tann sat in his desk chair, steeping his long fingers together and tapping his chin as he looked at her. She'd always found that salarian eyes made her uncomfortable. Unless the iris was lightly coloured, most of them looked almost entirely black, and the amphibian race blinked a lot less than she was comfortable with. Inter-species body language was always an issue regardless of the species involved, but she had gotten used to the quirks of most others. Salarians were another story. Even spending months aboard the Tempest with their salarian pilot Kallo hadn't done much to educate her.
"If this about that business on Elaaden with Barret, Sid and I already smoothed things over" She stood in front of the desk, wary and highly suspicious.
"No that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. Although let's put a pin in that Elaaden situation for now. There's no delicate way to approach this, we need to discuss the rumours I've heard about you and Ryder."
She clenched her fists slightly, forcing herself to remain calm and composed "Oh. Is there a problem with what you've heard?"
Tann stared up into her eyes, completely emotionless. "Unfortunately, yes. Initiative protocol clearly prohibits romantic relationships between members of a Pathfinder team. Standard procedure is to separate the two of you, or cease the relationship."
She shook her head slowly. "'Standard procedure'? Since when has anything in this galaxy been done by standard procedure? Since day one we've been improvising and scrabbling to survive. Was it 'standard procedure' to unleash a clan of bloodthirsty krogans on a bunch of pissed off engineers?" Her words were acid, dripping from her jaws as she glared disdainfully down at the bureaucrat "We are not having this conversation. I'll see you tomorrow at the meeting, Director."
Without giving so much as a backwards glance, she marched out of the office and down the stairs through Pathfinder Hall, deftly avoiding the other Pathfinders, fuming. How dare that jumped-up, pencil-pushing worm-
"I know that look" Kesh reached out and grabbed her arm as gently as the Krogan could. "I'd stay out of Tann's bad books for now, he's on the warpath to restoring the Initiative to order and protocol now that it's all getting closer to normal."
She sighed and shook her head "Well I can't do that. Imagine if protocol said that you and Vorn couldn't see each other."
Kesh shrugged and grunted "I'm just saying maybe resist a little less vehemently, make yourself less of a target. You know me and Kandros will always have your back when it comes to pissing off Tann, so it isn't a sure thing yet. I'm sure the other pathfinders will agree, especially Avitus."
"Thanks Kesh. He just manages to push my buttons so well, reminds me of everything I hated about Palaven." Her breathing was slowly settling back to normal. "Do you think instead of sleeping he recharges himself at night?"
Kesh chuckled, squeezing her arm "That's the spirit. Now get out of here, I'll try and drop by tomorrow, depending on how busy Vorn is and how the eggs are doing."
She smiled warmly "Of course, see you around Kesh."
Her journey through the Nexus gave her time to reflect on what Kesh and Tann had said. She couldn't lose her cool like that in future. Tann was an intolerable ass, but he was nominally in charge, and despite her considerable contacts and influence, she was not indispensable. So long as she kept Tann's ledger and logbook in the green, all would be well. She rubbed her eyes as she sat down heavily in the padded seat of the tram on her way to the med bay. A gaggle of young children was being shepherded by a tired-looking Asari, pulling each other's hair and playing hide and seek in between the rows of chairs.
They were the latest of the several waves of colonists woken up from cryo-sleep, and the first group of children. They were so happy. Did any of them really know that they would never see their old friends again? She shook that thought out of her mind as an email message popped up on her visor. She blinked a couple of times to open it; a status report from Kallo and Gil. Refitting was going well, better drive couplings, improved computer system and an upgrade suite for the Nomad. All being loaded aboard and fitted as appropriate. The two Tempest crew members were getting along remarkably well as of late, considering the dramatic tensions that had flared up between the two regarding impromptu modifications of the ship. Kallo was the best pilot in the Initiative, and had been one of the early test-pilots for the Tempest's prototype models. He knew the ship better than anyone alive, but Gil was a hard-core engineer, always tinkering, improving, modifying. The latter's rather casual approach to experimentation with the ship's systems had irritated the former to the point where Ryder herself had been forced to weigh in on the issue. Eventually the two had struck some sort of secret accord, and from there they had developed a close working relationship, friendly enough but always professional.
She busied herself for the rest of the ride by firing off a few messages to select individuals across the cluster, business partners and informants, mercenaries and scavengers. Hopefully by the time she finished up in the med bay she'd have replies from at least half of them. One notable blank space in her inbox caught her attention: there was still no response from Darius Bex, a turian smuggler on Kadara who'd stumbled across a treasured lamp that had once belonged to her before some jackass stole it from her storage space on the Nexus during the uprising. She'd spent months trying to track it down, and finally she'd received confirmation from Bex. They had been negotiating as to the price when he'd dropped off the map, and cut off all contact.
"Now arriving at: medical bay" The PA system chimed, and she got to her feet as the doors slid open, revealing a wide open space the size of a cathedral. Bubbling water features splashed in the centre of the well-lit courtyard, one wall a floor-to-ceiling window giving breath-taking views of the gas giant around which the Nexus orbited. The reception desk was just in front of a fountain, and a bright, cheery-faced Asari met her with a slightly rehearsed smile.
"How can I help?"
"Here to see a patient, Sara Ryder." She said. For a waiting room, this place was enormous, and the few people sitting in the modern white chairs around the room seemed dwarfed by the high ceiling and minimalist architecture. Sleek white pillars and furniture coupled with the impressive view and bright but soft lighting had the unavoidable side-effect of calming her somewhat, and it was not long before the receptionist was leaving her at the door to the room and walking briskly away. She took a breath and opened it, forcing a smile as the room's many occupants turned to greet her.
Once the small talk and status updates had wound down, all the occupants of the room tactfully made their excuses and slipped out, leaving herself, Ryder and the two doctors Lexi and Dr Harry Carlyle. She settled into the chair beside the bed as Ryder sat up straight, looking thoroughly unhappy to be there, but still cracked a cheeky grin at her as she sat.
"So, give it to me straight doc, will I ever walk again?" The woman drawled in some weird human accent that meant little to her, but elicited a fleeting smile from Carlyle. Lexi merely raised an eyebrow and glanced at Vetra, and she responded with a vague shrug. Humans.
"You're going to be fine. That's not the concern here, you just need a few days to recover and you'll be busy pathfinding in no time." Dr Carlyle's voice was smooth and deep, irresistibly soothing. "SAM's boosted your recovery marvellously, in fact I'd say he probably saved your life more than a couple of times"
"Great, now I owe him my third and fourth children on top of the first two."
"Indeed, but the real concern here is that we managed to isolate the causative agent of the disease. It's a virus-like-particle that has been extensively genetically modified. Whoever created this virus has been planning it for a while, and it was specifically designed with human mortality in mind."
The implications of that last revelation weighed heavily on the room. "Someone tried to kill her with a biological weapon?"
Lexi nodded, fiddling anxiously with a stylus and bringing up the relevant diagrams and data on the screen on the opposite wall. "A very selective, highly mutagenic virus which at a guess was administered via aerosol. Were there any other humans in the room where you all sat down to negotiate with the Roekarr?"
The two of them shook their heads in unison. "Just Jaal and I." Sara whispered, sinking back into the bed and closing her eyes, shoulders slumping slightly. So much for diplomacy.
"We're still trying to determine the extent and nature of the genetic modification to try and narrow down the list of potential sources. If we can get SAM to help run some equations and algorithms that would be a huge help."
Sara nodded and interfaced with the data pad that the Asari held out. "Any word on whether or not I'm contagious? Or whether it could affect other species?"
Carlyle shook his head "Nothing in the viral capsid proteins suggests any cross-infectious capacity, but we'll formulate a rudimentary vaccine for all of your crew members anyway. We'll update you as we go, but for now it's important that you just get some rest." The doctor nodded curtly before turning on the spot and striding out of the room. Lexi remained, fiddling with the monitor to the other side of Sara's bed, adjusting the saline drip and generally trying to appear busy.
"Lexi, that goes for you too you know?" Vetra smiled forlornly at the Asari "You did everything you could, and Ryder's still here, so I'd say you've earned a night off."
The doctor turned sharply, face contorted into an uncharacteristic scowl that she guessed was more self-directed than at anyone else. "I did nothing. All I could do was stop the bleeding, metaphorical and literal. Useless, as soon as something mildly challenging occurs all my training and expertise evaporates."
Ryder chuckled weakly, coughing "Lexi you're an amazing doctor, and I think even the best physicians in the Milky Way would have struggled with a completely unknown pathogen that was directly engineered to be as hard to treat as possible. Give yourself some credit, I'm still breathing. And SAM tells me that without you I'd have cooked in my skin long before he could do… whatever it was that he did." The Pathfinder reached up and grabbed the doctor's arm, pulling it gently away from the medical equipment. "Pathfinder's orders: get sleep. We'll see you in the morning. I think Drack's hanging out in Kesh's apartment if you don't feel like hiking back to the Tempest."
Lexi smiled faintly, purple splashes creeping into her otherwise azure cheeks. "Thank you, Ryder, I will. Goodnight you two." A flash of consternation rippled through her delicate features, and she glanced down at her data pad before walking out of the room "And happy birthday Vetra"
As the sound of Lexi's footsteps faded along the corridor outside, she glanced into the corner of her visor and confirmed that the clock had ticked over to her birthday. Her first in Andromeda. "Happy birthday to me" She half-sung, reciting the traditional human rhyme she'd heard in some of Ryder's old vids.
"Feel old yet?" the human smirked good-naturedly, reaching out to softly take her hand in hers, squeezing gently.
She smiled back "I feel pretty spry for a 630-year-old."
Another chuckle, another coughing fit. Concerned, she leaned over the bedside table and grabbed the glass of water there, and handed it over to Ryder. Once the coughing had subsided, Vetra rested her head against the utility rail on the side of the bed and yawned widely. "How do you do it?"
Ryder's brow creased as she raised an eyebrow quizzically "Do what?"
"This. Be the Pathfinder. Deal with Tann and Addison and everything and not go insane? I mean, I've dealt with all of them before, but it was normally something trivial to them. When it comes to important decisions, it's like talking to a wall, made out of red tape. Cora did very well you'll be happy to hear, didn't take their shit for a second." The gentle beeping of the heart rate monitor was hypnotic.
"Who says I'm not insane already? I do hear a voice in my head" she grinned that signature Ryder grin, eyes sparkling even through bloodshot whites. "I just remind myself that they're not bad people. They're just viewing things through a different lens. It also helps to have SAM read their vitals and see when they're lying"
She gasped "No way! That explains so much. You Miss Ryder are full of surprises." A disturbing thought entered her mind "You don't use that on me, do you?"
"Of course not, I only reserve it for bureaucrats and beating Gil at poker" a sly smile now drifted across the human's lips
"That I can forgive, he needed to be taken down a peg." They lapsed into a comfortable quiet, and her eyes started to flutter closed.
"You should go" Ryder half-mumbled "You can use the bunk in Pathfinder Hall if you like."
"I'm not going anywhere. Besides I think I may actually be too exhausted to move." Another yawn escaped her, and she slunk back into the chair, slowly rubbing Ryder's hand as she settled in for the night.
"We're gonna find who did this to you. I promise" she whispered, squeezing her hand
"Never doubted you." And with that she drifted off to sleep, dreaming of endless rounds of Texas hold em against omnipresent AI.