Virtuous Bullet: Spaced
Memories
Static sounds could be heard from the tape. It was old and the filming wasn't the best quality. It showed the world as it once was back on Earth before the firs Contact with the turians.
How the world had changed. Evolved to be better from then. The everyday lives of the humans of years 2100. Such tapes resided in the museums or in boxes stashed away to be forgotten.
Could humanity truly live that way ever again?
-…-Will we be discovered by another race like the Protheans?
"Be careful Armada! You could get hurt!" A woman exclaimed while holding the filmer in front of her. A young child, a girl, of platinum blond hair pounced around smiling as she did so. She had a white t-shirt and space-like uniform pants with a toy gun strapped onto her belt.
Her age was that of 7, it was year 2161.
The girl looked up at the camera and her blue eyes pierced through the lens as she giggled. "Daddy's coming home isn't he Mother?"
The mother smiled and chuckled replying, "Yes Armada. Daddy is coming home." The child started jumping slightly as her mother confirmed her father's arrival.
"You hear that Toren: Daddy's coming." She called. The video moved towards a smaller boy of the age of 5. His dirty blond hair and blue eyes resembled the eldest but his smile was broader than that of his sister's.
"I know!" He answered. His superhero figurine that he held in his hand hung loosely in his grip. His baggy green shirt and pants were complimentary of his robust stature even in his young age.
They were in a hangar awaiting the glorious Alliance ship to make port and the soldiers be reunited with their parents. The youngest of them was seated in a miniature space ship kids stroller. She was only 3 years old and her blond duvet started to grow into hair. The youngest and only one to have green eyes, Darwyn had her thumb in her mouth and strongly held a doll that had previously been Armada's.
As the ship pulled in and the Alliance soldiers came out of the hull the kids became more and more exited as they started to see their father walk out in the Alliance uniform.
The last minutes of the clip followed the reunion of the family and Armada showing off her toy proudly.
-…- So young… I was so young… does that really make a difference?
Cheering took over the volume limit of the camcorder as the newly enlisted Alliance recruits stood at attention in front of the massing crowd.
The initiation ceremony had just ended and the recruits walked down into the crowd to receive congratulations and affection. The blond soldier descended the staircase and walked towards her family while smiling.
Her sister ran towards her and jumped into her arms. She had a lighter blond than her eldest and more exaggerated curves.
"Hey Toren! No pressure now, but that's 3 out of 5 Shepards in the Alliance!" The oldest joked.
"Just you wait! I'll be in there when I'm 18." The brother replied.
"Armada, just stay safe out there all right!" the youngest recommended. "There is only so much that our parents and Andolus can withstand."
Armada smiled and embraced her father as Andolus, a turian family friend, replied. "Oh, I can bet that they can take in a lot, Darwyn."
"I bet they can!" Armada smiled as she embraced the old turian. "Your mother would have wanted to be here Armada. She'd be so proud of you." Her father, who was filming, stated.
Armada looked towards him and added with a slight grin. "I'm pretty sure she had the extranet on the MS. Salvadora."
The video cut once more.
-…- She was so happy. Mother was so proud of you...
"[…] Today, we honour the bravery and determination of the fighters on Elysium. N6 operative Toren John Shepard, you have earned this medal as well as the gratitude of the entire Alliance fleet. Conscript Darwyn Malory Shepard, you also retain the medal of honour to have stood by your brother in this daring feat. Without either of your aid, Elysium would have fallen. […]"
-…- Strange how people quickly forget.
" […] May we never forget the sacrifices they made. For the galaxy, for humanity. We will never forget the actions and daring battles waged here. The memories of this event reside in the courage and strength of one woman. Armada Jane Shepard survived what many could not. Exceled where many would have failed. She embodies the best of humanity. Akuze will never be forgotten."
-…- Never be forgotten… what a lie.
She was the crown jewel of the Shepards, the pride and the Courage of humanity.
Armada Jane Shepard, the first human Spectre and saviour of the Citadel.
Many thought her siblings would momentarily up the system in the way their eldest did, but they couldn't be more wrong.
Previously successful, Toren had gotten caught in a horrible political situation with batarians and humans from which his superiors deliberately used him as a buffer zone, forcing him to take all blame. The Alliance had to refuse his application to take the N7 course, stripped him of his tittle and privileges, reviewed his service record and submitted him to psychiatric analysis. Eventually, he gave up trying to rebuild his military life and submitted an early release from the Systems Alliance. His departure of the Alliance made the news everywhere.
He took the only office available to him afterwards, the honorary tittle of a Citadel Security Presidium Guard, a glorified bouncer.
As for the youngest, I was considered one of the best scientific minds in the learner's branch but thanks to my belated apparition of biotic growth, was taken off the course and sent to biotic training. My biotics halted my medical education and when I reapplied, I was refused. Darwyn M. Shepard no longer fit the pre-requisites.
But people overlooked our failures and stayed focused on the one-woman army: Armada.
Some often forget she was human. She had feelings, she had family. From the start I never stopped looking up to her, me and my brother alike. She was the most successful of us, and even before Eden Prime she motivated us to get over what happened. Toren stopped a gunfight by talking down a criminal in the Emporium, got promoted to the Zakera Wards and got his first partner in 2178. And I had found a learning center in the edge of the Tayseri ward for specialised biotic scientists shortly after being refused for a second time.
Everything was just fine, until…
-…- Until the events of 2183…
A coffin was in the center of the room. Soldiers, civilians, aliens, politicians and more crowded it and much more were massing outside next to the massive screens.
An N7 blanket covered the metal surface of the coffin as it symbolised the passing of a fighter. A hero's final resting place as her body resided somewhere in the empty void of Space.
The speeches were ended but no one dared move. The death of their Spectre had killed everyone a little on the inside.
Dressed in black, Darwyn Shepard slowly stepped forward clutching tightly at the white roses in her hand. She had ignored the thorns attacking her palms for quite sometime. She posed the flowers onto the metal box that would have held the body of her dead sister.
The Reapers are the real threat and they're sending me after geth. Armada's voice echoed in her mind. Sometimes you can't save everyone Dwyn. There will be a time where idealists will have to avenge those who soldiers cannot. In that way everyone can be saved.
She knew that Armada wouldn't want her death to be a burden but there were some things that the heart doesn't allow to let go.
She slowly rubbed the surface of the cold metal coffin as a tear fell from her eyes.
"Say hi to daddy for me." She sniffled and walked back to her place.
Etiquette asks that the coffins be bare as they are released but no soldier stopped the youngest sister to give the roses. It is humane to let one grieve and they all missed their hero.
Dwyn looked up from the floor and could recognize many faces.
Admiral Anderson, Toren and his asari partner Alleris Plaice, Andolus and his son Romulus, Century, a Quarian – that she remembered as Tali, Wrex and Garrus, Admiral Hackett, Doctor Chakwas, Liara T'Soni, a reporter… Emily Wong? And many more people that she didn't instantly recognize.
But the two that stood out the most for her were: Kaidan Alenko and Jeff Moreau, the last people to have ever seen Armada alive.
[…]
"It isn't your fault." She calmly comforted. The green-eyed pilot slightly turned his head towards the youngest. "She didn't die by your fault." Dwyn repeated.
"That's not true." He replied. "She made sure I got out and got spaced… it's my fault and I don't try to convince myself otherwise." His fists clenched his crutches strongly.
"You saved the pods. She saved you. She may have left us behind but she left something far stronger. By saving you, she gave us the chance to continue what she started."
"By saving me?" He asked, a little confused. Wondering how in the world the youngest go that that conclusion.
"What good comes out of a ship without a pilot?" She smirked warmly.
"A pilot… can be replaced." He was reluctant to say it but there was truth in his words. "I can be replaced."
Dwyn put her hand on his forearm and looked at him in the eyes. She felt his tension lift a little.
"She didn't seem to think so."
On that, she nodded and left before he could reply.
He was partly glad that the sister of the Commander would try to comfort him but the fact that she wasn't mad at him put his mind at ease. Absent minded, he shifted his weight on a crutch and noticed a piece of paper sticking out of his pocket. He shifted and took out the note, unfolded it.
He found it strange that he found paper in his pocket but his curiosity was stronger than his reasoning.
The enemies of the general may see the flag but will always fear the steed.
He felt the side of his lip rise slightly, unnoticeable to the others around him.
He never knew she was poetic.
-…-
If this is how they treat their heroes perhaps our annihilation is preferable…
Armada… if only you were here… see the Council as the lechers they truly are.