A/N: The Habitats present in this story don't all correlate with their ingame counterparts. Part of the reason is that I didn't know any planet other than Habitat 7 had a Habitat X designation prior to...well, recently. Excuse my ignorance, I never actually bought the game. Another reason is that there are only four Habitats in the Heleus Cluster in this story, while in the game there were seven.

"Pathfinder Scott Ryder?" Liam said with a foggy curiosity. He turned back to the white turian. "But didn't you say-"

"I did. I'm puzzled as well."

Two others were power-walking towards them, a salarian and a young, male human.

"Thank God you're alive," the human said. "Is the shuttle intact?"

"The mass effect shields absorbed the damage," their pilot said. "It was a close shave, though."

"What were they like?" the salarian asked.

"Huh?"

"What was who like?"

"The aliens who attacked you."

"They were..."

"And what happened to Alec Ryder? Why are you the Pathfinder now?"

"My father's dead."

The words reverberated through the air with a stony silence.

"His body's in the shuttle," Liam said. "Cora and Vetra saw to it."

Another pair of feet clapping against the metal floor caught their attention. They turned to see a female human. Dark hair, fair skin, dark eyes.

"I'm glad to see you're back. Did you bring bio-samples?"

"Uh..." Scott froze up. Amid the storm back on Habitat 7, literal and metaphorical, he had forgotten.

"Here," Liam said, hanging her a bio-luminescent mushroom. "Also, found this tablet."

Scott deflated a little bit.

"Thank you."

Then she looked around at the shuttle crew.

"You are all who survived?"

"Yeah. My father...and quite a few others, they were killed on Habitat 7." It felt surreal to say the words. "You heard about the hostile aliens, right?"

"You have my condolences. My name is Dr. Natalya Shalkar. Your father...and the others...Their deaths will not be in vein. We will learn much from what you have brought back."

He was not sure he believed that. Habitat 7 was surely a no-go for a long time, so learning anything about it seemed pointless.

"Guess we should see what's up on the bridge," Liam said.

"What about my father?"

"I'll handle the body, Scott," Vetra said. "You go do your duties as Pathfinder."

Pathfinder. This was all happening too fast. He felt like his world was flooding. But he got to walking. Liam followed. At least dealing with this problem would be better than telling his sister what happened.

They exited the cargo depot. More eyes of were upon them as they did, but they paid them no mind, and walked through the cramped, economical, narrow halls, and each went up his separate ladder.

There was the door to the bridge. Last time he had come here, the circumstances and mood had been so different. He touched the holographic console.

The door opened to reveal an asari who had not been there before. Her fancy attire spoke 'Matriarch.' She turned to the human as he entered.

"Scott Ryder," she hissed. "I thought it a bad enough decision to mount a rescue with our only other shuttle! But now I hear this ship has appointed you the new Pathfinder!"

"It's nice to meet you too. I was surprised as well."

"You're a child! So was your father! An under-taking this grand should always be in the hands of the wisest, someone with centuries of life experience! Jien Garson couldn't see past her own racism!"

Scathing words. Scott had clenched his fists and was about to respond, but Suvi spoke first.

"Such a callous way to speak of the dead! Show some respect, Vevviggot!"

"That's Matriarch Vevviggot," she said angrily. Scott was taken aback by her arrogance, but, as if sensing this, she realized the hypocrisy and amended. She looked down and inhaled. "Well, I take your point, Dr. Anwar. The human's death was a tragedy."

She walked over to the rail and rested her hands upon it, looking out the window at the vast, grandiose unknown of the new galaxy. "But the first of many tragedies. I believe you humans would say we've 'kicked a hornet's nest.'"

That much was true. "I think we can all agree we should leave Habitat 7 as soon as possible. We can talk politics later." He was eager to cool things off.

"Agreed," said the salarian pilot. "Habitat 5 then? That's the closest of the three other golden worlds."

"Habitat 5 is good. We actually found a tablet that suggested the aliens have their eyes on Habitat 6."

"I'll set our course. The journey will take about twenty hours. Still, I think we could all use a little down time after the...recent events."

That was an understatement. But perhaps the hardest moments were yet to come. He thought back to his sister, lying sore in the medical bay. She still did not know.