Chapter One - Together

To: Ryder

From: Suvi

My dearest Pathfinder.

Kallo thinks I've lost it because I keep smiling and giggling for no reason. Except it's not for no reason. You're the reason.

Suvi

It brought a tiny smile to Sara's face to see that message again. When she met Suvi, when they first lit their love in her Tempest quarters, it had been a brief break from their work. But when she got that message, she just knew that it went beyond a break. They were really something.

The lightly freckled redhead turned off her flickering, damaged omni-tool, returning that arm to lightly rest around the Scottish woman before her, Suvi's eyes closed as she laid the top half of her body on Ryder's lap. She looked down to Suvi's face, her eyes narrowing slightly as she saw that blood still continued to seep from her right eyelids. She couldn't see anything to wipe it away with… in the end, she reached to her shoulder and ripped the sleeve of her top away, making sure to use the inside of it on Suvi, knowing that getting sweat in her eye would be much less of a bother than grains of sand.

In the process of ripping the shirt, however, she'd mistakenly stirred Suvi from her brief rest and quickly placed her hand on the side of her love's face.

"Don't… open your eye, Suv. Just keep it still." Sara said quietly, before she lightly dabbed the cloth at the bloodied eyelids, almost feeling a twinge of that same agony herself as Suvi's pained whimpers hit her ears.

"Sara… d… did you… send out the signal?" Suvi managed to ask as Sara dabbed away the blood.

Sara made sure the blood was gone before she replied. "I did… I hope someone hears it."

Suvi glanced her left eye down, a twinge from her right eye as it tried to match the movement. "Sara, are we… are we going to be okay?"

"Suvi…" She'd answered many people's fear of death before, as a Pathfinder helping people in trouble was practically second only by the main objective. But this was different. Her own life was also in as much risk here, and she wasn't sure she had the heart to tell the one closest to her that they would likely die today.

She wouldn't lie to the woman she loved… so what could she tell her?

"I… sit up. I… need to take a look at that eye."

Suvi nodded and carefully shifted herself upright and up the dune bank slightly to be level with Sara. Ryder's fingertip lightly touched to the eyelids seam, releasing the tiny biotic field she'd used to keep the lids sealed.

"Slowly… carefully, open it carefully."

Suvi did so, slowly parting the lids… Sara's head tilted down slightly, her eyebrows lowering in an anger that was only almost contained. There she saw the eye…

Several days earlier…

Prodromos outskirts

Eos

8:45

Temp. 32.6°C

It was quiet out here. It had been a lot ever since the Kett were chased off the planet. The quiet, the light breeze across the sands, rustling through the thin spaced out long grass, it was one of the comforts Ian T'Sari enjoyed most about Eos, and luckily enough, it came with his job.

His short range 4x4 scout car pulled over to the side of the dirt trail, at one of the signal relays by the lake. They were there to boost signals from scouts and probes further away from the colony, high priority things to repair if they went down. Relay Alpha-7 had been showing errors for the past couple of days, so he'd come out to check if there was any damage.

Stepping out of the car and towards the small metal hut, he made his first observation. Cables and bits of insulation tugged out of the edge of the roof, by the looks of it a beaked animal had been trying to get into there. He found this strange, Ian didn't know of any beaked animals on Eos. For that matter, the only ones he knew of anywhere were on Kadara.

The huts had no internal lighting, so he had to use his flashlight to see inside. The cables were a mess, ripped open, conductive dust spread across the floor. Then he saw one of the cables in particular... still moving.

He was cautious. The brown haired man was nervous at this point. His flashlight turned slowly upwards... there it was.

Nestled in the top area of the shed was a bird of sorts. A long neck, small head and a beak, it looked to him almost like a form of pre-historic swan. He reached his hand up towards the animal, which turned its head from the cable to his approaching limb. "Hey, little fella... now you're either rare, or a long way from home."

The next noises to leave Ian's mouth were gut-wrenching screams. Several bangs slammed through the shed as he flailed his arms. Then came the splatters of blood, then the M3 Predator going off several times.

Then he fell.

A grunt left his mouth as he hit the floor. The last noise to ever leave his lungs.

Prodromos outpost

Eos

11:52

Temp. 38.4°C

Tempest blasted its thrusters to slow descent once it hovered above the landing zone of Eos. The ramp unfolded, the wing legs extended and appearing almost a touch bird-like, the scout ship touched down on the desert sand.

"Don't often get daylight shining in here."

Suvi smiled, though she did her best to conceal it, trying to use her cup of tea as a distraction. The voice of Sara Ryder as she entered the control room was one that always sent a rush through her, even after months of being together, hearing each other's voices almost every day. The smile actually did manage to stay contained behind a professional mask… until Sara's arms came from behind the science station chair and rested around her body, instantly crumbling the professional shield as her head leaned back to look up at Ryder, the two's lips meeting in the middle.

"Eugh."

The two parted their mouths to look across to the other side of the controls, Kallo as usual discomforted by their flirting and affection.

"What's the matter flyboy? Don't like us being snuggly on your masterpiece?" Sara questioned in a light teasing way.

"Every time you kiss it away in that chair, it kills my desire to be married someday just that little bit more." Kallo answered, his dark eyes briefly glancing at the two. The two girls laughed at that, before their eyes drifted back to each other.

"Something I can help you with, Pathfinder?" Suvi asked, keeping at least half professional on the bridge.

"Actually… I was asking you that, Suvi." Ryder answered, Suvi turning slightly confused as she put down her cup, the bottom magnetising to the console unit. "You remember, first time we met on this bridge, I made a bit of a promise?"

"When we first met?" Suvi questioned. Sara nodded and she began to recall it. "You… You said you were good with danger and that you could make sure I was okay out there… out… oh Ryder, I couldn't!"

"And why not? We're here not just to check up on the outpost but to relax, have a bit of semi-shore leave." Sara replied after she pushed on the edge of Suvi's headrest, spinning the chair around to face her.

"I'd love to, really, but I mean… I've got research to do, and someone needs to watch the scanners and power distribution levels aboard the-"

"I can cover that."

The two looked, surprised by Kallo's support. "She's right about one thing, Suvi, the only time you ever leave the ship is on the Nexus, and then you're straight off to the science lab. Go on, indulge in Andromeda, I'll take care of things here."

"With my assistance, Kallo will be quite capable of maintaining ship functions and sensor readings simultaneously." The voice of SAM added.

"You sure? I…" Suvi asked as she slowly stood up, Kallo nodding… then she smiled and lept up at Sara, wrapping her arms around tight. "I can go out there!" She exclaimed, before smashing her lips to Ryder's.

"That doesn't mean you can do that on the bridge! Go on, skoot, snog it out in the Nomad or something!" Kallo said in response as he stepped towards them, the two laughing as they darted out of the bridge and sealed the door behind them. Kallo shook his head with a smile before he returned to the pilot station. He may not have taken much appreciation to their flirtatious conversations on the bridge, but if the science liaison and the Pathfinder would be happy together, he'd do all he could to let them be just that.

The two excited young women took the route through the ops hub and to the upper level of the cargo bay, taking the lift down to the Nomad.

"Forward jumper thrusters replaced, Pathfinder, and the third axle differential. Try not to run over a Remnant drone and have it explode underneath this time?" Liam said as the two walked towards him at the side of the Nomad.

"Yeah, I got ya. Hey, hold up there, Suv." Sara said, the second half as she placed her hand on Suvi's side as she was about to climb into the open Nomad. "Need to get you an away kit first."

"Are you serious? I get armor too?" Suvi asked as she followed Ryder to the armory, a small new room in one of the three created when the cargo bay was divided in the recent refit of the ship. "I think I know what I do with… these…"

The Scot's voice trailed off when she turned around, taken by surprise when she saw that Sara's jacket and shirt were already off as she had began readying to change into the armor's undersuit. Sure, she'd seen the Pathfinder's body before, though usually in the comfort of the forward quarters. She was a bit startled of other things too, how quickly it seemed that Ryder could get changed, though she supposed it was necessary during numerous rapid response times that she'd been through.

"Do you… always… change where others can see? I… I'd assume you and the teams would take it in turns using the room or…" Suvi struggled to put the words together, though her answer came when Sara's response was to reach to the left wall, pulling out a curtain that divided the armory into two. "That… answers that one then." She replied, before she turned back towards that side's locker units and took a few breaths, a moment to calm before she examined the suit. "Do I… keep my underwear and…"

"Yeah, you don't have to be completely naked under that." Sara answered, already pulling up the leg sections of the under armour.

"Right… sorry, just… the only thing like these that I've worn was a wetsuit, and you have to strip for those." Suvi answered as she began to follow with removing her clothing.

Ryder was a bit surprised to hear that. "Wetsuit… you went diving?"

"Mhm." Suvi answered. "Back on Earth, before I joined the initiative. I went through a brief time where I was interested in ocean discoveries, coral reefs and tectonic trenches and that. I've a good few hours under a wee bit of water."

"I'll have to keep that in mind when we need to do a 'wee bit' of diving." Sara replied, smiling and laughing a slight bit at the accent she adored.

Suvi spoke again after a few moments, struggling to get the suit on. "Ryder, I… I think I have the wrong size here."

"The suits only change for species, within one it's size adaptive." Sara responded as she pulled the zip up her back and popped in the clip at the neckline, before she stepped over towards Suvi who had it stuck at her waist. "Come here, I see what you've done." She said as her hands went to the suit to help adjust it.

"How the hell do you get it right so easily?" Suvi questioned, once again observing Sara and that her suit was on exactly how it was meant to fit, all pads in the right places and few creases or stretches.

"Practise, like all things. I didn't start with armor in the Initiative, back when I was working with Prothean artifacts, we could end up anywhere. And run into anyone." Sara answered as she fixed where Suvi had made her error, the sleeve having gotten inside-out and tangled with the rolled up waistline. "We even once ran into Cerberus… lucky that didn't last long, our group leader thought fast and shot their transport, exposed fuel chamber. Blew them right up."

"Blimey… that must have been scary."

"You kidding? I was absolutely terrified, I barely even knew how to hold a gun at the time… but that's where everyone starts. And we learn."

The suit came untangled and Sara turned the sleeve back the right way. She pulled the main body area up, holding out the sleeves for Suvi to put her arms through. Suvi's was slightly different to her own, there were zips at the front which enclosed replaceable armor pads. It was as she had checked the pads were all in good shape and began to pull the zip up that Suvi's hands rested on her forearms, which stopped midway.

Their eyes had then locked. No words with them, if there were such a thing as human telepathy, they were using it. Ryder's hands slowly pulled the zip up the rest of the way, then stepped closer. Her arms went around Suvi, hands finding the zip at the base of her spine. She was making sure to be slow about pulling the zip up, this was a moment to last, breath brushing over each other's cheeks in such close proximity.

The zip clicked as it reached the top, at the back of Suvi's neck. One of Sara's hands moved to clip in the collar… and then moved up to her cheek. Suvi didn't initiate the kisses as often as Sara did, but when she collided her lips at that moment, Sara had no argument with it. Their kiss was long, their arms locked around each other as they did. For a moment, the desire of going out there, riding the Nomad, being alone together on Eos, it all went out the window…

"Pathfinder?"

The two quickly parted and released each other as Liam called to them, then peeked his head in the doorway checking it was alright to step in. "Nomad's ready for you, ramp open. Whenever you're ready."

"Thank you… we'll be heading out in a minute." Ryder answered. Liam nodded and headed back out to the cargo hold, Sara and Suvi glancing to each other with small nervous laughs after almost getting caught.

"Right… here, armor plates. I think we can leave those off unless we need to go into danger itself." Sara spoke after a moment while picking up her armor plates, the chestpiece of which was her father's N7 one, reshaped to fit her properly.

Suvi looked up from her plates and smiled. "Yeah… let's get out there."

From the edge of the room, Liam watched as the Nomad powered up and the two set out, miles away in thought to the point that he didn't notice Vetra step towards him.

"Gotta love that accent."

"H-huh?! Oh, hey." Liam responded with a bit of fright. "What… do you mean, accent?"

"Suvi." Vetra answered. "She's a cute thing."

"Oh… yeah, I suppose so." Liam responded, Vetra looking at him after.

"You weren't looking at her though, were ya? Your eyes were on the Pathfinder."

"Yeah, just… I like her, but she… well, she's not into my side." Liam answered.

He began to step back towards his workbench when Vetra spoke again. "What, men? You're wrong there."

"She's into Suvi, that's women. I've never seen her show much interest to a man… maybe apart from that Reyes guy but that was quite different, she had to to keep him working with us."

"Nah, not looking at something doesn't mean it's out of your mind. She said she had a boyfriend once, back in the Milky Way when she grew up on the Citadel. I'll tell you why she never looked at a man since you've known her, it's because she set eyes on Suvi as soon as they met and she wasn't interested in anyone else from then onwards, not another man or woman."

Liam looked down a bit as he thought of it… now that it had been worded differently to him, he made sense of it now. Sara Ryder did like men, she just hadn't looked at them since boarding the Tempest.

And that put ideas in the young man's head.