A/N: Welcome back, fam jam! Feel free to leave a comment, review, criticism, or PM. It seriously makes my day, y'all. (:
All rights go to Bioware; I only play in their magical melting pot.
"Every great moment in our history began with a dream," Sara spoke into her recorder, voice low and calm. She stood before a window, admiring the view from her transportation shuttle. Earth stretched out below her in its splendor; the bright lights of highly civilized areas blazed through the night sky. The orange veins snaked across the planet's otherwise murky surface. The oceans looked black, mysterious and intimidating with their churning tides. The shuttle travelled over the dark side of the planet, but Sara could see the sun kissing the curve of Earth's far side.
Sara sighed. She had never quite thought of Earth as home, but it was the closest thing to home that she had known. Her reflection in the shuttle's window caught her attention; white Initiative armor clung to her slight form. Her hair, shockingly white, was pulled back into a tight, long braid. Her eyes all but glowed in the windows reflective surface, eerily gold. Her coloration was unnatural, almost predatory. Gifts from her mother's Eezo experimentations, no doubt.
Shoulders straight with hands clasped tightly behind her back, she forced herself to mentally relax; she wasn't in the Alliance anymore. There was no need for her to stand at rigid attention, ready to bolt at a superior's command. However, she did appreciate the transformation that her rigid stance and Initiative armor gave her; it made her look bigger, tougher, perhaps even stronger, than she felt.
Before setting out, Sara had made a mental point to document their journey. She was sure that historians would be present on the Ark's, but it never hurt to have a first-hand recording from someone who would see everything up close and personal. She doubted her role in Andromeda's exploration would ever be important enough for someone to watch her little documentary, but who knew? Maybe it would be important to someone someday. At any rate, the scientist within her couldn't resist chronicling the expedition.
"Each bold leap forward was achieved by those wiling to do anything to obtain it. We are, all of us, leaving behind families, homes—the very birthplace of our species," Sara continued talking into the camera. "Some, for discovery—to see the unknown. For others, a new start. But today, for whatever our reasons, we take the first steps to a new future for humanity. Today, we begin to make our dream reality."
Sara caught her breath as the Initiative shuttle approached the moon, eventually slingshotting around its curved surface. She spotted research stations on the surface of the grey planet; some rounded atriums, various long stretches of traveling passageways, and a few ringed research stations. There wasn't an abundance of structures, but enough to spot its grey surface with soft, glowing lights. With the discovery of the Mars Prothean archives, humanity's space flight capabilities had been jumped forwards centuries. While the moon's very basic colonization had once been a victory, its lack of resources prevented it from becoming a lucrative property. It was a beautiful sight, but not nearly as extraordinary as the one that loomed behind the planet.
A ship loomed behind the moon's rotating surface, massive in size and gloriously constructed. Its cylindrical center rotated in the horizon; the lights of the thrusters turned on, powering up. The main arms of the ship were outstretched towards the stars, as if it could pluck them from the night sky. The smooth, slate surface of the hull gleamed, reflecting the light from Earth's sun.
It was a massive, mechanical beast of engineering so ingenious that it caught her breath. She heard herself let out a slight "ooo" at the sight.
"She's quite the sight, isn't she?" A male voice said to her left. She turned her head slightly, regarding him. He was a head taller than she, standing at perhaps six feet. Dark skin and hair matched his chocolate brown eyes. His hair, short and curly, stuck out at odd angles. His eyes were kind, framed by dark, thick lashes. He was clad in the same Initiative armor that all of the shuttle's passengers wore, herself included. "Almost ten years in the making. Hard to believe we're actually going."
"I visited a few times during the Ark's construction," Sara replied, turning back to admire the view. "It was little more than a skeleton, then; certainly doesn't compare to this."
"Visited the Ark?" The man question, raising an eyebrow. She nodded.
"The propulsion systems have an emergency mechanical conversion, completely independent of mass effect energy," she explained, eyes fixed on the Ark. "I took a vacation from my lab on Mars to assist with the development of a fuel supply. Some imbecile had suggested the Initiative use a nuclear pulse propulsion; thankfully, I got there in time to propose nitrogen tetroxide and hydrazine. Bringing it back to the classics, am I right?"
"Uh," the man stammered, rubbing the back of his neck with an embarrassed chuckle. "right. Can't say I got more than two words of that, sorry."
"Ah, no need to apologize. I'm afraid my time spent in research has ruined me to polite society," Sara said, blush creeping onto her cheeks.
"Hey now! I never claimed to be polite," the man said, waggling his eyebrows in her direction.
"Hey Kosta, you harassing my sister?" Scott's voice called from across the shuttle. He strode up to the two, inserting himself in the middle. Throwing his arm across the man's shoulder, Scott whispered in a conspiratorial tone, "I'll warn you; she might be pretty, but she bites."
"Only when you're being an unbearable jackass," Sarah said in indignation, hitting him across the shoulder. Scott laughed, completely unfazed.
"Sister?" Kosta asked, eyebrows shooting up in surprise. "So you're Alec's other kid, then? Guess that explains the scientific mumbo-jumbo."
"Scientific "mumbo-jumbo" runs in the family," she said with a smile, turning back to the beautiful view.
"If it runs in the family, then how do you explain that sorry lout?" Kosta asked in a lowered voice, lips stretched grin.
"I heard that," Scott grumbled. He pulled Liam's head down, scrubbing the already-wild hair. Sarah smiled at the two; they couldn't have known each other for all that long, but they already appeared to be fast friends. Her smile faded; sometimes she wondered if Scott would have been happier with a brother. Instead, he had gotten her.
"Anyway," Kosta said, stretching out the word. He cleared his throat, smoothing his hair with his hands. He stretched out his right hand to her, offering a friendly smile. "The name's Liam Kosta. You, pretty lady, may call me Liam."
"Gross," Scott said, loudly protesting the flirtation.
"What?" Liam said, feigning innocence. "You can't blame a man for trying. I'm about to go through a six-hundred year dry spell, after all."
"She's not interested," Scott said dryly.
"I guess we'll have to see about that," Liam said, waggling his eyebrows at Scott.
"Touch her, and I'll kill you," Scott said, punching Liam in the shoulder. His tone was light with laughter, despite his harsh words. Or, that's how Sarah was sure it would have seemed to someone who didn't know him like she did. However, she heard the strained undertone to his voice; he meant what he said. And he was right, of course. She wouldn't be interested; she had never been interested in a man—or anyone of either gender, for that matter—and knew she never would be.
After everything that had happened, it simply wasn't possible.
Sara snuck away from the two arguing baboons, intent on studying the stars from a different port. She was about to take a six-hundred year long nap and wake up in Andromeda, after all; she had to get in her fill of the Milk Way while she could. Settling into a corner seat, she popped in her headphones, intent on enjoying the last views of the galaxy she had once called home.