Tahlia A'ishah was a hero, but not a warrior, of the first fleet to mars in 2030 dying tragically before she was even 20. 147 years later, six years before ME1, Cerberus has found her remains and brought her back to life- or at least that's how it seems.
"I can't believe it." A gasped voice met my ears. "It actually worked...all systems are online. It's alive."
"She's alive, enough of her is human to warrant that." Another voice came, stronger and confident.
I could not tell where these voices came from, I couldn't even feel the presence of my body. I was floating feeling nothing but a vague lightness. I could hear tapping, fingers across a keyboard? But eventually that faded and all I was left with was the light. It was bliss.
After a time I started to feel a numbness, not quite that as much as the light was fading and as it did I became aware of my body once more. It started with my left shoulder. The numbness hurt purely because it contrasted so direly with the light. Gradually the numb travelled down my arm and spread through my chest. I did not know how long it had been occurring, hours? Days? Weeks? Before I knew it I could barely remember not feeling numb, and all I was left with was the fading sense of bliss through my right foot, until it was completely gone. And with it gone, my mind was returning. I began to have an awareness of self, although I could not remember who I was or how I'd gotten here. I couldn't remember anything much at all.
I decided to give these voices names, as time was passing it became easier to think clearly and thereby become bored by the benign dark I could see and the immobility of my body. The first, he sounded nice but muffled as if he was always eating something in my mind he was Biscuit- lame name I'm sure but I never claimed to be original. The other, the other was Rai her voice was sterner and cut. A short curt name suited her.
"Her brain activity, it's almost level. Is it time?" Biscuit's voice interrupted my revelry.
"Soon. I think we'll need to run things over with the Illusive man first- we'll need to know how we're going to introduce her to everything without her losing her mind."
"Imagine the world a hundred and fifty years ago, it won't be easy to handle all the changes."
"Seriously, she would have grown up reading physical books, having to spend days to travel just across the planet."
"Don't forget showers with water and having to cook food."
"Oh god that sounds terrible."
"Privates," a new voice "is she ready?"
This voice was strange, it was warm and deep. It must have been coming through a phone or intercom though as a slight static ruined some of its reach. A thought sprung to my mind, he sounds just like President Bartlett. I could not really place who this President was, but it was something.
I was excited to have something of a memory come to me. I couldn't remember who I was but it was something.
"She's ready to be moved, where are we taking her?"
We have set up a safe house on a planet in the Iera system. She will stay there first then we will move her to train with the others. She will be a great asset before long."
...
The famous Tahlia A'ishah, the youngest to venture to Mars during the first fleet was lying on the table before Bryden, breathing surely and steadily. Even after such a long time instigating her recovery he still could not believe she was real and that they had managed to save her.
Opening his console he looked over his last report:
It's a miracle that we managed to find her body after so long. And that the environment preserved it so well. Normally such freezing temperatures would have caused the water in her body to expand tearing all her cells apart but the combination of the emergency pod she was in and her compression suit managed to keep her cold enough for her body not to decay but warm enough to evade such bodily trauma. We still had to replace most of her with synthetics...but her mind will make it through. Mostly.
We are concerned there may be some mental degeneration, similar to when people used to suffer dementia, however once we can begin medicating her she should start to recover and her memory fully restored within a few months tops. Her body on the other hand, physically she is now more synthetic than human- although you could barely tell to look at her. Her extremities- her legs, her arms, shoulders and both her hips had to be completely replaced with synthetic prosthetics, her skin was grafted from cloned cells from a "volunteer" and, on the illusive man's suggestion, we decided to instigate our prototype synthetic body replacement systems leaving her with potential super-human speed as well as biotic abilities far exceeding the average L3. She is still vulnerable though, her body is just as vulnerable to attack as it ever was- hopefully now she'll be fast enough to evade anything that comes for her. Additionally we are aware she has never received any form of combat or tactics training, which leaves us with a long road ahead.
However she will remain a great asset to Cerberus and humanity- she is the spearhead of human scientific capability additionally her status as one of the first grand heroes of legend will make her the perfect representative of our outfit.
A soft sigh broke Bryden out of his review, occasionally A'ishah would make sounds like this suggesting a higher level of brain activity. It had been occurring with increasing regularity as they prepared to wake her up however it still put him on edge. The pilot's body had faded over the century, her skin was ashen and her skeletal body seemed to be smaller than a primary schoolers. However he could tell that once upon a time she was strong and beautiful. Her hair- shaven and short was a soft ash blonde that must have made her look like the sort of girl posing in posters he hid in his locker. He could just imagine...
He broke himself out of these thoughts. He had no actual interest in the figure before him, however could not stop himself romanticizing this image of the hero of his childhood stories. Or objectifying her now he realised what she really looked like.
He took a biscuit from a packet hidden under a desk and chomped into it enthusiastically.
Everything was going according to plan.
