Ain Ryder was sitting in her cabin with her face in her hands. She hadn't asked for this... any of this. All she had wanted to do was come to Andromeda and start over away from the Milky Way. Away from the prying eyes, away from the disgrace that the AI research had given the Ryder name. Just away from everything. Now she was stuck in a galaxy so far from home. No, Andromeda was their home now. This terrible galaxy with its unknown terrain, plants, minerals, and just everything. She felt like she wanted to scream, but if she fell apart, she knew that her crew would too. It wasn't just her problem. It was all of their problem. Not just her team, but the colonists. Ain felt like crying in addition to her screaming. Scott was in a coma, their dad was dead, their mother; dead. Right now, Ain felt so alone. All the worlds had been a bust and it was a race against time. If they didn't find a way to grow fruit and vegetables, they'd eventually starve. There were women, men, and children that were still in cryo. They had traveled 400 years for this, and it felt like it was her sole duty in order to save this whole fucking galaxy. Truthfully, the guys at the Nexus had every reason to worry. Vegetables and fruits couldn't grow in the terrain that awaited when they arrived and there were so many in cryo. She rubbed her temples, turning to look out of her window. Even though it was beautiful, behind its beauty was a terrible menace. The Kett, the Scourge, and the Unknown.

The only shining beacon of light that Ain had was the vaults. Even though it was pessimistic, it was realistic that before the vaults could end up "curing" the planets they would all be dead. Feeling tears prick behind her eyes, she dug the heel of her hands into them hoping to push them back. This couldn't be happening... Everything they had thought and worked so hard for was gone. Ain just couldn't get passed it. Eos wasn't enough to even begin to start making a home in Andromeda, most of the beings that were taken out of cryo still lived on the Nexus too terrified to leave after hearing the disturbing news of Andromeda.

"Mom..." Ain begged, feeling the tears start again. If she was going to cry, she was going to do it in her cabin away from all her companions. "I... I don't know what to do. Dad's dead. Scott's in a coma and Andromeda, it... it isn't like anything that we imagined. It's terrible." Her tears turned into quiet sobs and she leaned down into her lap, crying, her light brown hair caressing her tattooed neck in its ponytail. "What should I do? I'm not fit to be Pathfinder. I don't know..." Ain couldn't hold back her tears and continued to cry silently to make sure that the others didn't hear her. All her mind kept screaming was fuck this. Fuck Andromeda. Fuck the Habitats. Fuck the Kett. Fuck it all!

"Ryder, you seem to be distressed." SAM echoed in her head.

"Of course I'm distressed!" Ain bit back. She knew she wouldn't really take out her problems and anger on SAM. It wasn't his fault that everything had turned to shit. SAM couldn't handle complex emotions yet, and her emotions were all sorts of complex right now. "Everything is going wrong! Andromeda! My family!The Nexus! Cryo! All of it!" For a moment, all she heard on their private channel was silence. SAM wasn't one for silence.

"I am sorry, Ryder. Perhaps that was... insensitive of me." SAM muttered in her head. He seemed to be genuinely sorry, well, how sorry an AI could be anyway. Even though SAM was far from being like a regular human, at least he could sense emotional distress instead of just physiological stress. Maybe that had something to do with being liked to her father for so long. Just as Ain was about to apologize to SAM for biting at him in the first place, she heard a voice coming through her intercom.

"Ryder, we're heading into the Onaon System soon. You might wanna be here." Kallo's voice came through the intercom. Quickly, Ain dried her tears and blinked away any new tears that were trying to form. Sighing, she left her room and climbed up the ladder to the bridge. She didn't understand why the Tempest's architecture was slightly awkward. Ain entered the door, hearing it close behind her. She stood in her place in front of the Tempest's window, looking around.

"Take us in, Kallo."

"Roger."

Everything was normal and Ain was waiting to see the sight of stars in the unfamiliar cluster. Of course she wouldn't be so lucky. The first thing they were met with was the Scourge spanning out in front of them like an electric spider web. The Tempest began to strain under the stress of being near the Scourge. If that wasn't enough, Kallo gave a warning.

"On course with unknown object." He warned. All that Ain could see was the Scourge. Whatever it was couldn't be good.

"Make corrections! SAM, are you on this?" Ryder asked, gripping onto the bar in front of her.

"Collision imminent."

"All stop, now!" Ryder commanded and grunted, holding onto the bar lurching forward.

When she looked up, she just stared. A massive green ship was in front of them, and Ain's eyes widened, scanning the space in front of her. From the sheer size and vastness of the ship in front of her, she backed up like it was going to swallow her whole. From the size, it was a safe assumption to say that they could, in fact, devour her and her ship. What else could be awaiting them in this galaxy? This was crazy!

"Kett ships, a dozen... no, more." Suvi evaluated.

Ain wanted to say something, perhaps come back with a smart quip, but the space around them was filled with Kett ships. They were surrounding the Tempest, most likely in an effort to keep her from escaping.

"They're pinning us against the Scourge!" Kallo said. It was worse, much worse. The Scourge could rip them completely apart in a matter of seconds if they were pulled too close.

"They are scanning us, Pathfinder."

"Then scan them back!" Ain screamed. Yeah, real mature. Panic mode was in full force. If she didn't think or could find a way out of this soon, they would be done for. If they were done, the whole entire mass of people that had been brought from the Milky Way would be done too. She could hear the footsteps of her fellow crew members rushing their way to the bridge as the Tempest went dark. The consoles that Kallo and Suvi were on seemed to be malfunctioning. When she turned around, all Ain saw was a massive Kett on the screen in front of her.

"Where is the one that activated the Remnant?" The surprisingly eloquent Kett asked. "The DNA signature is there." The Remnant? Was that what the hell they were called? Those things in that vault? All she knew was that it had tried to kill her and her friends. What did he even want with the vault or these Remnant? Her fellow crew members appeared around her, as if backing her up. It didn't matter how many of them they had, if they were backed up against the Scourge anymore, they'd be toast.

"You're in my way, get the hell out of it." Ain warned. Probably not the best move, and surprise surprise, she was right. Of course she had to be right about something terrible. The Tempest lurched forward more, making all of them stumble forward and into one another.

"They've locked navigation." Suvi said, starting to panic.

"We're being steered into their ship!" Kallo added.

Shit! Shit! Shit! Ain repeated over and over in her head. She looked around, trying to find something to help her out of this situation. Maybe if she stalled this creature, they would be able to figure out how to get the hell out of this mess.

"Just tell me what it is you want!" Ain demanded and frowned, trying her best to sound intimidating. Even she had to admit that she sounded pathetic.

"I will not explain what you can't understand." This Kett seemed to be a rather important one. His eyes were hollow and only sought answers and their death if he didn't like their answer or if he was satisfied and wanted to dispose of them. As much as she didn't want to admit it, their odds weren't good. What the hell was SAM doing? Why wasn't he trying to get them out of this situation. As if on cue, she heard SAM's voice on their personal channel.

"Ryder, I have almost regained control of the ship. I will need a few more seconds." Ain wanted to cheer for joy. Turning her eyes back to the Kett, she stalled while also trying to get at least some sort of information from him. Perhaps later in her trying to restore Andromeda it would help them somehow.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, attacking us?" Ain yelled, slamming her hands against the bar that she had grabbed onto earlier. "Trying to capture us like we're some type of animal!" The creature's eye twitched, almost like he was ready to kill them right then and there. She must've pissed him off.

"Enough! Your defiance is naive and reckless. Your day of greatness starts today." Day of greatness? What the hell was that supposed to mean? Before he could reign them in in further, the lights on the Tempest began to shine once more and Suvi and Kallo's consoles regained their live.

"Ryder, I have plotted a central course through the Scourge."

"Do it!" Ain yelled, looking around. The smaller Kett ships seemed to be losing their patience and were closing in around them

The Tempest turned around, jetting passed the Kett ships that had been at their side. Wasting no time, the smaller ships thrust after the Tempest. As damaging as it would be, Ain knew that their only way out of their problem would be through the Scourge. Looking back at her friends, they had all braced for the earthquake like shaking the Tempest was going through. The Tempest dipped and wound through all the twists and branches this side of the electric spider web had to offer. Light screaming and cursing was heard around the bridge from her companions. From all the jerking, if they survived Ain was sure that they were all going to be suffering from whiplash. Explosions sounded from behind them.

"What happened?" Cora exclaimed.

"An enemy ship was destroyed, along with our sensors." Suvi explained and sighed.

Ain could feel the Scourge practically wrapping around the Tempest with every passing second. There was a small bit of light near the end and she wasn't sure if it was an actual light or a metaphorical "light at the end of the tunnel" that her mind was trying to coerse her to see.

"This will be tight." SAM said.

"Kallo!" Vetra warned, holding onto the back of his chair.

With another explosion behind them, its force blew the Tempest the rest of the way out of the Scourge's clutches, sending them back into the vastness of foreign space. While breathing a sigh of relief, her crew was cheering from behind her; high fives and claps on the back could be heard. They weren't done yet though. So many questions were running through her mind; Who the hell was that? What did he want? What did he mean by Remnant? What about The Day of Greatness? What did he seem to know that he didn't think that she would understand? Alluding from that, Ryder could say with almost complete certainty that they had been here a long time, and maybe were the ones that had created either the Scourge or had helped damage Andromeda. One thing she knew for sure was that they-especially the big guy-weren't to be taken lightly.

"Ryder! We've got problems down here." Gil came from the intercom. Ain was so frazzled from the meeting that they had just been through and the travel through the Scourge that she looked around, trying to find his voice. Realizing how stressed she was only when Vetra put a hand on her shoulder, she ended up sighing. "You need to get us to a port now." Great.

She needed to think of a way to get them to safety. Even though they had escaped that Kett, the Scourge did a number on the Tempest and they were running on borrowed time again. Looking a little further away, there seemed to be a planet; red and menacing. It was cracked and it looked like it had been cracked right down the middle. Was it the Kett that did something like that? Could they even do something like that? Or was it something worse, something worse than the Kett. Sighing for what felt like the thousandth time that day, she rubbed her temples.

"We don't have much choice, Gill give it what you can and take us down."

Not surprising, the atmosphere seemed to be in just as bad condition as the outer surface of the planet. Ain just kept repeating to herself that they just needed to touch down and they could get down to repairs. Then they could plot their next move.

"The sensors are damaged, but I think this is the vault's coordinates." Ain closed her eyes, a sense of relief washing over her. Alright, this was going to kill two birds with one stone; repairs and the next vault. Pushing forward into the atmosphere, practically holding her breath from wanting to touch down so bad, she almost didn't hear Suvi speaking.

"Guys, we're being... contacted." Ain went rigid.

"What now?!" She yelled, looking around. Bulbous ships, three from the looks of it surrounded them, almost like an escort. A very hostile escort. Ain was ready to pull her hair out. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me..." She murmured. Leaving one fleet of ships just to run into some more? Were these Kett too? The ships didn't really seem to match the design she had seen from the other ones, but that didn't mean that they were necessarily friendly either. Taking a deep breath, she gripped onto the bars tighter trying to rearrange her thoughts into something akin to being a leader instead of a frazzled young adult. "We have to land," She grunted out of irritation. "Open a comm."

"Tov jagalesto." A strange language that she had never heard came from sounded through the comm. Great... Whatever they were saying didn't seem to be a genuine question, request, or simple thoughts about the weather. "Tov jagalesto!" This time it was more of a warning.

Something like, get your ass down here before we kill you?

Who the hell are you?

The fuck do you want?

Shaking the thoughts from her head, she tried to sound calm and professional. The last thing she needed to do was piss off another species. If these people were nice and could be potential allies, that would be an immense help to the settling in the Andromeda galaxy.

"Look, we're visitors from another galaxy." Okay, probably not the best way to start out a conversation, but it would have to do. There was no time for tea talk. "Our intentions are peaceful." Please believe us. If they didn't, the Tempest... well, Ain didn't want to think about what could happen if they weren't let on the planet. Or worse, got into a battle with the strange ships.

Silence.

After what felt like an eternity, the strange language came from the comm again,
"Tov noleseto." Ryder met eye contact with all of her companions, they all seemed to be thinking the same thing that she was; Is that something good... or bad? Before she could really make a decision, Kallo seemed to tip something in the "good" range of favor,

"They've sent us a nav point."

"Good. Set us down."

Not leaving them alone, the Tempest was guarded, actually... more like imprisoned by the ships that guided them through the cracked, volcanic surface of the planet.

"Why give us the nav point then?" She mumbled under her breath, but something far better quickly demanded her attention. Ryder leaned forward seeing a small patch of Heaven in the middle of all the death and destruction. Had they actually died and were crossing over into Heaven? "Holy shit... It's beautiful." The Tempest carefully sat down, making sure that they didn't upset the ships that were surrounding them. Despite the beauty, Ryder had to focus on other matters at the moment. Figuring out who the hell had just let them land in this beautiful place along where the hell this vault was at. She backed up and headed away from her companions.

"Wait.. you're surely not heading out there on your own." Liam said, grabbing onto Ain's arm. He was a good friend, and she was glad that he was worried about her. She took a deep breath and gently pulled his hand from her arm. "I... don't want a repeat of last time." Her eyes turned towards Cora and Liam. They knew, they remembered the scrambled, frantic way they had navigated around Habitat 7, trying to find each other and a way off the fucked up surface. "Anyway, I'm the Pathfinder, First Contact is on me, remember?" Ain gave an awkward chuckle and held up both her thumbs, trying to convince them-and maybe herself-that everything was going to be okay. Perhaps in the midst of this shit storm, this would finally be the stroke of luck and the light in the dark they had been praying for. She carefully walked out of the Tempest, hands up in a peaceful manner. Hopefully that gesture didn't mean the complete opposite in this galaxy and showed a sign of surrender and peace to these... people? Their anatomy was weird and unlike anything she had ever seen in the Milky Way.

"Tosko shubiyn vat." Ryder opened her mouth, unsure whether to say "yes", "no", "my name is Ain Ryder". One of the people put up their fist, all the other's guns still pointed at her.

"Getus Gualtam lyhar." Whatever they had just scanned her for, Ain kept her hands up. These were the first beings they had seen that were native to Andromeda that hadn't shot them upon sight. The last thing she wanted to do right now was fuck that up.

"Do I.. need to take my shoes off? Or, am I okay?" Ryder asked, unsure again of what she had just been scanned for.

"E hempta das."

"Maesem roa." The same one-a woman-that had scanned her stood by her side and with guns still at the ready began to walk. Using common sense, Ain walked with them. She could feel her pulse in her temples and her heart racing. Her mouth was dry and she hoped she wasn't sweating as bad as she felt. Ain had to briskly walk in order to keep up with them so they wouldn't get angry. Their legs are long... holy shit. A breeze blew through the air, gently touching Ain's face. The weather was beautiful, gentle, elegant even. The sound of water flowing nearby gave her a rush of hope just as strong as those falls sounded. Planets could be habitable in this galaxy.

"I am Paaran Shie." One of the aliens spoke, understandable to her this time. The relief was so great, it was almost audible. "Governor of Aya." Ain wanted to ask if that was the name of this... town? Or if it was the name of the planet, but with how on edge they all seemed to be, it didn't seem like the smartest move in the book. Mom and Dad would be proud of her, hell even Scott would be too for actually thinking before she made decisions. "We are the Angara." So they were... Angara? Interesting. Ethereal, beautiful, with extremely large eyes. Astoundingly beautiful and definitely not in the Milky Way at all. She almost had to force herself to respond because she was so focused on the way their words flowed from them, just as elegant as their stances.

"H-Hello." Ain cleared her throat. "I'm a Pathfinder, with the Andromeda Initiate. My name is Ryder. Ain Ryder." Calm. Courteous. Gentle. Everything she should've been. Slowly, she lowered her hands, giving Paaran Shie a small smile, hoping it would reach across not only species, but galaxies in the meaning. "The Initiative-"

"Yes, I have heard of your journey. You crossed dark space, correct?" It wasn't really a question, but she didn't know if the Angara knew rhetoric or not so she dipped her head slightly in respect and nodded.

"Yes ma'am."

A large shadow move and stood in front of Paaran Shie.

"Jaal, I have this in hand." She tried to calm the rather... large Angara, but he held his hand up. He didn't look too happy, even less so than the other Angara that were around her.

"Evfra saw the ship come in and sent me to find out what's going on." This man, Angara... uh, Jaal explained. Whoever this Evfra was must be a rather respected... man? Paaran Shie didn't press the issue and before she knew it, Jaal was coming down the steps to her.

"He is a Human, from another galaxy." Paaran Shie explained, but Jaal didn't turn back to her and kept his eyes on Ain who had to physically force herself not to step back away from him. She wanted to show that she wasn't scared of them. Then again, with guns pressed against her back, the glares some had been giving her, and the very large Angara in front of her were knocking down notch by notch her no-fear state. "A 'Pathfinder'."

Face-to-face with Jaal, well more like... chest to face, she could only stare. A strange purple hue to his body even more saturated than an Asari's body enraptured her. His eyes were a bright blue, the ocean would have some competition and they reminded her of cat eyes with the way that they were slit in the pupil. Strange markings adorned his head and she couldn't help but wonder if it was natural, a battle wound, or tribal markings. She could feel his gaze on every single part of her face and Ain prayed that he wouldn't be able to see the light pink blush dusting her cheeks.

"Hmm..." He murmured while examining her face, hair, neck, and straying back up to her face. His voice had a rather interesting back tone, almost like a gravel tone but was accented at the same time. Paaran Shie didn't have this sort of tone to her voice. Was it exclusive to Jaal or was it something that all male Angara possessed? "Aya is protected. Hidden. What do you want?"

Okay, scratch Jaal being a nice guy.

"I apologize..." Ain said, not looking away from Jaal's eyes. They had captivated her. She had never seen anything like them, or him before, even among the other Angara that she had seen. "For... landing here the way we did, on fire no less. That wasn't the plan." Another small smile and she hoped that would smooth this rather awkward phase over with.

"Good to know." Jaal said, his eyes also never leaving her's. "Because if it was, that would be a very bad plan." He had moved closer and Ain's own blue eyes widened. He was close, very, extremely, intensely close. This wasn't the plan either. Then Ain caught the hint of a returned small smile on his lips before he turned around. Did... he just... smile? Could Angara do that too?

Of course they probably can, Idiot. They're not exactly devoid of emotion of physical expressions of such. I-I mean smiling of course! Okay, scratch scratching of Jaal not being nice. I'm going to give myself a headache...

"I'm going to inform Evfra. He'll be waiting for you in his office in the Resistance Headquarters." Jaal informed. "I'll meet you there."

"I will accompany you through our city." Paaran Shie spoke, Ain blinking her eyes from Jaal's retreating frame back to the regal-like Angara. "Your crew will stay on your ship. Follow me." Finally, maybe they were getting somewhere.

And of course the guys with guns are following me too... Do I look like I'm packing heat? I'm wearing sweatpants, headphones, and a fucking Blast-O's tank top...This is going to be a long, long day.

Ain looked at the blue sky above them and listened to the falls and the birds flying. At least the beautiful weather might help her calm down and press back the fact that she felt like she was going to vomit. She just hoped she knew what she was getting herself into, and that the Angara could be allies...