Thoughts from Andromeda part 25
By ElementalsAdvocate
…
Year 2819, Remembrance Day. Andromeda Galaxy, Heleus Cluster, The Nexus, Habitat Ring, Docking Pad 16, The Tempest, Pathfinders Cabin.
…
Scott enters the cabin, walking slowly across to lean against the rail of the Pathfinders Console, looking out the window across the trellises and trees of the Habitat Ring.
SAM, start recording.
Well, that's it. It's done and out of my hands now. Good riddance, and good luck, and peace to all the universe on this Day of Remembrance.
Fuck. Now, I'm doing it too.
SAM, delete last sentence. Thank you.
I honestly didn't expect what happened to happen. No, that's not true. I didn't know what would happen. But it wasn't what I expected. No sir.
We're scheduled to leave in the hour, so I'd better make this quick.
Woke up around 5 o'clock this morning, after I just about walked myself to exhaustion going back and forth across this cabin last night. Couldn't go back to sleep, so I stopped by the galley, made some coffee, and went outside to take in the Ring. Never actually went out at that time, so it was a new experience for me. Usually- I mean, usually for this visit, there's people all over the place in the Hab Ring, and especially up around the Docking and Shuttle Bays. But early like, it was quiet. No one at the immigration counters, no one in the gardens, no one on the balconies or verandas above me. Just the click, hum, and chirrup of machines in the distance, all around me. Heh. Reminds me of the time when Dad took me and Sara camping in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Waking up in the tent that morning to all that quiet. No metal, no false sky above, no metal beneath my feet.
Glorious.
I ended up staying out there in the Commons for hours, watching the station wake up. I saw a few early risers running along the promenades, a group of asari running between the houses and agricultural plots below me, a bunch of blue gazelles in white leotards bounding over and around spiky green veld. I heard a group of salarians technicians coming off of their shift, heading to bed or the cantina, talking in their rapid-fire jargon. I saw a turian, one of Kandros's security people, leading a group of militia volunteers in morning exercises.
Finally my stomach kicked me enough that I went out and found one of the cantinas and got some breakfast. I took it back out to one of the tables on the promenade to enjoy the rest of my first quiet morning on the Nexus. That's when the reporter found me. The same one who'd tried to get a statement from me back at the Vortex when I went on my biotic bender.
SAM?
{Accessing relevant audio log, Pathfinder.}
…
T'Vessa: Excuse me, Pathfinder. Keri T'Vessa. We met before at Vortex.
Scott: "Oh, yes. Of course. Please, sit down."
T'Vessa: "Thank you. I'm glad I caught you when I did. I was going to your ship when I saw you up here. I hope you don't mind."
Scott: "No, this is fine. So… you wanted an interview, right?
T'Vessa: "Well, as much as I'd like to, I'll have to decline until a later date. I'm afraid I'm on deadline. Director Tann wants the documentary to air tonight after the initial ceremonies are completed. If I could just get a couple of questions, that would be great.
Scott: "Well, alright. Fire away."
T'Vessa turns on her shoulder-mounted camera. T'Vessa: "Now, as I said before, I want to the real deal, not gloss over the Initiatives problems with pretty words and pictures. I want the dirt and blood of our story, not the convenient fairy story that Tann wants. Let's start at home. Fourteen months, and the Nexus still isn't finished. Arks are missing. We have people in exile. By any standard, this wasn't the plan. Our leadership describes this as "anticipated issues." Would you agree?"
Scott: "Well, I trained as an Alliance Marine before I joined the Initiative. I was never an officer, but a few words of wisdom filter down through the ranks. Such as "No plan truly survives first contact with the enemy." Or reality in this case. You can "anticipate" all you like, but you've no idea what will happen until you actually go out there and see what happens. So that means, in my mind at least, everybody needs to be prepared to step up, our leaders… and myself especially, to deal with the challenges when and as they occur."
T'Vessa: "Alright. Now for activities abroad. Scientists are excited about the new outpost on Eos, though there are questions about how Prodromos will survive where Sites 1 and 2 failed. Your response?"
Scott: "My team I surveyed Eos thoroughly, and we even managed to stop the storms. But more than that, we've learned from the mistakes made at Site 1 and 2. Prodromos is in a secure location, geologically and strategically. It's got an underground water-source, high-walls to protect it from future storms, and we also got missile turrets to keep away any marauding kett. Prodromos also has a few veterans from Site 1 and 2 to provide real-life experience of the worst Eos can throw at them. Believe me; Prodromos isn't going to fail any time soon. Pathfinder's promise on that.
T'Vessa: "And on that note, we're off. I'm transmitting in micro-bursts due to bandwidth. I'll start editing right away. I'll have more questions later if you're free. Thanks again Pathfinder. You were great."
Scott: "Um- thanks. You're welcome. Have a nice day."
…
{End of audio log.}
Well, wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. She ran off quick though. Must have been a pretty sharp deadline.
Anyway, after breakfast and the interview I came back to the Tempest to get ready for the Remembrance ceremony. We don't actually have uniforms in the Initiative, except for the white and light blue on everything. But, Tann only asked- heh, commanded, that we all turn up in Initiative gear. So, I made a few adjustments to my uniform to suit my mood for the occasion.
I once had a friend on Earth who was absolutely obsessed with color and the meanings that different cultures ascribe to them. For most humans, white symbolized purity and intellectual prowess, blue for dependability. But… I once had to read this ancient story about a man obsessed with hunting a white whale… Mody Dick, by Herman Melville. I couldn't stand reading it. It was too stuffy. So instead, I found an audio recording of the book, and ended up listening to the whole thing at least three times over. Roiling waves, raging and wild men, a titanic struggle between man and beast and the ocean… heady stuff for a sixteen year old.
But, mixed in with all the action and drama were intervals of… philosophy, science, and trying to understand things about the world around the writer. To the main character, to Ishmael, the color white was something more than the color of purity. It was the color of death. The fact that during Melvilles time and long before, people were wrapped in white shrouds after death. Many of the greatest predators of Earth were white: the great white shark, the polar bear, the white tigers and lions. Albino's of all kinds were considered somehow connected with the spirit world, that they are, not the abascense of color, or the transcendence, but the transparency; disappearing into the firmament, from the firmament…
Shit, I'm getting Shakespearian again. And maudlin. Gah.
Long story short, I went in black and white. I wanted to remember the dead. And I wanted to be different from all the rest who'd be turning up in white and blue. 3-D fabrication is really an amazing thing. The original design for the Initiative jacket didn't have any color or lapels. I added them. Made me feel more removed and alone, aloof from everything and everyone else somehow.
Most of the Tempests crew turned up for the Bell ceremony. It was held in the Hyperion's Commons, just behind the command deck and the cockpit. Took a bit of work, but we managed to pack almost three-hundred people from every species on the Nexus in there. T'Vessa was on hand nearby with her camera to record everything.
Tann opened things with a short, truncated speech, something all the other directors, especially Addison and Kesh had insisted upon.
Not that Tann should speak at all, but that if he had to speak, he should keep it short and to the point. Kesh told me two days ago, after our last meeting, that Tann was "inexperienced" when it came to making speeches. SAM did some digging, and found some examples.
I'll say, for the record, and not for publication, that calling Director Tann's speech-skills "inexperienced" is putting it in the kindest terms possible. Tann may be a bang-up accountant, and may be a willing and able Director, but he cannot work a crowd to save his life. His "Sacrifice" speech, three months after the Scourge disaster here on the Nexus, was supposed to convince people to go back into their pods to conserve resources. He ended up driving the Security Director at the time, Sloane Kelly, out of the room in less than two paragraphs, and afterwards, everyone emphatically refused to go back into their pods.
After Tann finished what I can only call a "mercifully short" speech, Captain Dunn stepped up and gave a speech of her own, about ships and bells and journeys and humanities history with all three. It was… well, I don't really remember all that much now, come to think about it. It felt important at the time, but now, all I can remember now is what I felt. Sad, but aware that the sadness was passing, that happiness was passing, that grief was passing, that pain was passing.
Heh, reminds me of a song.
Anyway, Captain Dunn finished up, and I came forward to ring Hyperion's Bell. Eighteen times all together: nine to ring out the old year, and everything that had we had endured, and nine for the year to come, with all our hopes and fears.
After I was finished, Captain Dunn dismissed everyone, and Remembrance Day holiday officially began. But for some reason, a bunch of people stayed behind, talking amongst themselves. When I tried to leave the commons, people kept stopping me to shake my hand, or wish me good luck, or thank me. For what? I don't know. I just stood up in front of everyone and rang the bell.
Now its time to go. And who knows when we'll be back.
SAM, keep recording.
Scott turns and exits the cabin, climbing a ladder to the Tempests upper deck and entering the cockpit. Kallo Jath as pilot and Doctor Suvi Anwar as science officer are already at their posts.
"Kallo, is everyone on board?"
"Yes, Pathfinder. Just got clearance to leave from Operations a minute ago."
"Good." Scott steps up to the Pathfinders Console and turns on the ship-wide intercom.
"Tempest, this is the Pathfinder. You all know why we're here, what we've got to do. A lot of people are counting on us to find them a home, and I for one have no intention of letting them down."
"On this… Day of Remembrance, I find myself remembering my Dad, Alec Ryder. He should be the one standing here, savoring this moment. Not me. I'm not the man my father was. I'm not a war hero. I'm not a scientist. I don't have years of experience or training under my belt. And you know something… that's alright."
"None of us expected to be where we are today. None of us know what's going to come when we leave the Nexus. But somehow, here we are, together. We're on a ship, a damn good ship. And we've got the stars. So long as we've that… I know that we can smack down anything that Heleus cares to throw at us. And… as Dad used to say, if we can't find a way to beat it, hell, we'll find a way to use it."
"Kallo, take us out. Suvi, cue Operations for departure. SAM, you reading us?"
{Uplink is good. Signal is strong and clear, Pathfinder.}
"Excellent. In that case… Tempest! Let's see what we can find."
…
Authors Note: The song in question is Turn! Turn! Turn! by Pete Seeger. He was the original author and does a more sedate and contemplative rendition as opposed to the Byrds.
And for those of you who noticed, yes. I did use Andersons words form ME3 Citadel DLC.