There's an important note at the end of the chapter.
After the meeting with Alec and the others in Tann's office, Jason and his newly formed second Pathfinder team began preparing for their first mission. It wasn't easy, but Jack could convince Tann to let Treeya come with Jason and his team. This didn't bring any happy thoughts between Korra and Treeya because of their rivalry for Jason's affections but they were willing to get along for now.
After Jake got his and Jason's old armors from Treeya, he began upgrading them and adding new modifications to them like the jump jets for example. They also received some of their old weapons from Treeya they used during their service in the Alliance. The armors and weapons may be over 600 years old but they were still in a good condition and were the rarest items because Jason and Jake were the only ones who had that equipment, something that the Initiative didn't get from the Alliance or other military forces back in the Milky Way.
When the long-range communications were established, the team was able to contact Korra's homeworld where they left the comm relay and vid-screen in the Southern Water Tribe so they could contact them whenever they wanted. It felt good for Korra and her friends to contact their friends and families on the world of benders even though they were light years away from their home.
After Director Tann gave them a more detailed briefing, Jason and the others walked to the docking bay where their new ship was waiting for them. And thanks to the power the station got from the Ark Hyperion, the lights in the docking bay were now on and the people of the Nexus started going there to set up stores and install new systems.
When they were standing on the bay's balcony, they saw two ships flying above them until they landed on the bay. The very sight of the two ships impressed Korra and her friends while the members of the Initiative stared at the ships with smiles on their faces.
"Wow, nice ships," Scott said.
"Yeah, do they have names?" Asami asked.
"The one on the right is called the Tempest and the one on the left is called the Spirit of Fire," Jake said. (both ships are the same model as Tempest but I decided to call another ship Spirit of Fire).
"Which one is ours?" Korra asked.
"We take the Tempest while my dad and his team take the Spirit of Fire," Jason said.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Korra said in excitement.
Everyone nodded in agreement and began walking to their ship. But when they got there, they saw the Initiative people along with a female turian loading the ship with equipment and supplies.
"Let's pick it a bit, people. We're fourteen months late," the female turian said as she and the others loaded the supplies to the ship.
When the team arrived at the scene, the female turian put down the box and turned to them.
"So you're the ones who are making everything happen?" the female turian asked.
"Uh, yes. That's us," Jason confirmed.
"Vetra, Vetra Nyx. Initiative wrangler, provisioner, gunner, and everything in between," the turian said as she introduced herself.
"Nice to meet you, miss Nyx," Jason said as he shook hands with Vetra.
"Please, call me Vetra," Vetra said with a smile.
"Okay, Vetra," Jason said.
"Are those scales?" Bolin whispered to Jake.
"You don't wanna know and don't say that around her," Jake whispered back.
After the introductions were done, the team entered their new ship where Vetra gave them a tour and introduced them to the ship's crew. After that, the Tempest left the Nexus and headed to Eos.
While they were traveling in space towards Eos, Jason walked around the ship until he decided to see how Jake was doing. But when he reached the room where Jake was supposed to be upgrading their armors, he saw Jake talking to an asari named Falere (Samara's daughter from Mass Effect 3) through the vid-screen.
"I wish I could've come with you when you left but I still have responsibilities on the Nexus," Falere said.
"It's okay, Falere. I understand that you're busy," Jake said.
"I know, but I'm also scared. What if people find out about my secret and take me away?" Falere asked in fear.
"I won't let them do that to you. They'll never find out and maybe we can find a cure," Jake said.
"How can you be so certain?" Falere asked.
"Because I care about you deeply and I won't let anything happen to you," Jake said
While Falere was touched by Jake's words, Jason felt both amazed and proud. He has never seen this side of Jake as long as they have known each other but he felt proud that Jake was helping someone close to him. It also made him think that there might be more between Jake and this Falere he was talking to.
"Thanks, Jake. That means a lot to me," Falere said.
"Anything for you, Falere. I just wish that we can spend more time together the next time we meet," Jake said.
"Me too. But no matter what happens or how far away you are, I'll always think about you, Jake," Falere said.
"I'll always think about you too, Falere," Jake said.
After that, Falere blew Jake a kiss before she turned off the vid-screen. Jake couldn't help but sigh at the fact of how far away he was from Falere and the Nexus. After that, he continued upgrading his and Jason's old Alliance armors. A few seconds passed until Jason walked in.
"Hi, Jake," Jason greeted.
"Oh, hi Jason. What brings you here?" Jake asked.
"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. If you don't mind me asking, who was that asari you were talking to?" Jason asked
As soon as Jason asked about Jake's conversation with Falere, he blushed a little. He wasn't sure if he should tell Jason about a thing between him and Falere because if people on the Nexus found out that she was an Ardat-Yakshi, they would lock her up in instant. but he knew he could trust him so Jake decided to tell his friend what the conversation with Falere was about.
"Her name is Falere. She arrived at Andromeda a year before us on the Nexus. We haven't seen each other for a while so we decided to catch up," Jake told Jason.
"Is that all? It sounded like you two are close," Jason said.
"We're just friends. But I think something is developing between us. But we don't want to rush things, we're taking one step at a time," Jake said.
"Forgive me but I heard her being scared about people finding out her secret. What is it?" Jason asked.
Jake hesitated at first but soon answered Jason's question because he knew that his childhood friend can keep a secret hidden.
"Falere, she's... she's an Ardat-Yakshi," Jake revealed.
This took Jason completely by surprise that Jake's friend was an Ardat-Yakshi. He never expected anything like this because Jason has heard about these Ardat-Yakshi back in the Milky Way and about their "condition" that brought a lot of shame to the asari back in the home galaxy.
"Falere is an Ardat-Yakshi? But how did she get to come along with us? The asari would have never allowed her to join the Initiative," Jason said.
"You're right, they wouldn't have. I met her in the Ardat-Yakshi monastery on planet Lesuss about a month before we left the Milky Way," Jake explained.
"Go on," Jason said.
"She and I got along very well despite us being different species. We both dreamed about exploring the unknown and seeing what is out there in the universe but she felt sad about it because she knew the asari would never let her leave the monastery," Jake explained.
"Then how did she end up coming with us?" Jason asked.
"Her sister, Rila, encouraged her to leave the monastery and come with me. She didn't want to at first because she didn't want to leave her sister behind but she told her that she should go and live her dream. It took a lot of convincing but Falere decided to come with me and I was able to smuggle her on board the Nexus under a false identity," Jake explained.
"What about her sister, Rila?" Jason asked.
"She stayed in the monastery. Falere also left a letter in the monastery for her mother," Jake said.
"Who is Falere's mother?" Jason asked.
"She never told me. I guess it's a little sensitive thing to talk about" Jake said.
"You don't have to tell me but what did you mean by finding a cure? Last I checked, there wasn't a cure for being an Ardat-Yakshi," Jason said.
"Falere have no choice but to keep her condition hidden. The people on the Nexus wouldn't understand if they found out. When we arrived, I was hoping that I might be able to find a cure for Falere's condition so she wouldn't have to live in constant hiding and fear. She deserves a normal life, a happy life," Jake explained.
"I understand," Jason said with a smile.
"Thanks, bro. But you must keep this a secret, even from Tann," Jake asked.
"Don't worry, bro. I won't say a word," Jason promised.
"Thanks, it means a lot to me," Jake said.
They stayed quiet for a moment until Jake spoke.
"Okay, we talked about my possible life of romance. What about you? Is there something going between you and some lucky lady?" Jake asked with a smirk.
"Sorry Jake, but I can't answer that question because I don't have 'a lucky lady' as you said," Jason said.
"Oh yeah? What about Korra and Treeya?" Jake asked.
The sudden question took Jason completely by surprise and made him blush like crazy. Jake couldn't help but laugh a little at Jason's reaction because when they were talking about girls, especially the ones who were interested in them, it made Jason feel embarrassed.
"Korra and Treeya? But there's nothing between me and them," Jason said.
"Oh Yeah? Korra seemed to like you when she met you and don't forget Treeya. You and she went through a lot together, especially when the Collectors attacked Fehl Prime," Jake said.
Jason knew that Jake was right and he and Treeya did go through a lot when the Collectors attacked. And he had to admit that Treeya was very attractive, so was Korra too. But the problem was that he wasn't very good at relationships and he didn't know what to do because it seemed that both Korra and Treeya liked Jason. He couldn't choose one of them because if he did, one of them would be heartbroken.
"Look, Jake. I appreciate what you're saying but I'm not sure if it's a good idea for me to start a relationship. Especially since I don't want to break either Treeya or Korra's heart by telling only one of them about my feelings," Jason said sadly.
"Then why do I smell a catfight?" Jake asked.
Jason decided to change the topic so he asked Jake about their old armors.
"So, how is upgrading our old armors going?" Jason asked.
"It takes a lot longer than I thought so we'll have to wear our Initiative armors for while. But don't worry, I'll have these armors fully upgraded and fixed eventually," Jake said.
"Thanks, bro. What about our old weapons? Did we get them?" Jason asked.
"Yep, Treeya gave us everything we had during the Alliance service. Weapons like M-55 Argus, M-92 Mantis, M-27 Scimitar, and M-12 Locust. She even gave me my old M-15 Vindicator," Jake said while listing most of the weapons they used during their service in the Alliance special forces.
"Do they require some fixing too?" Jason asked.
"A little bit, but I'm currently working on our armors," Jake said.
"Don't worry. I can take care of our old guns while you work on our old armors," Jason said.
"Thanks, bro," Jake said.
They were suddenly interrupted when a woman named Suvi called Jason via the comm-link.
"Connor, are you there?" Suvi asked.
"I'm here, Suvi. What is it?" Jason asked.
"We're arriving at Eos in ten seconds. The team is waiting on the bridge," Suvi informed.
"Understood. We're on our way," Jason said before turning off his comm-link.
He and Jake left the room and headed to the bridge. When they got there, they noticed they have already reached Eos and most of the team were on the bridge waiting for them. Once the rest of the team noticed the newcomers, Ryder and others turned to them.
"Hey, guys. Took you long enough," Scott said.
"We were just checking on our old equipment," Jake said.
"You mean your old Alliance gear?" Liam asked.
"Yep. A little bit dusty but still in working order," Jason replied.
The team nodded in understanding before they went right onto business.
"Well, as you can probably see, we have arrived on Eos," Scott said while pointing at the planet behind him.
"Yeah. To be honest, I expected it to be a little more... Tropical," Jake said.
"It kind of was but that was 600 years ago, a lot of things have changed in that time," Treeya pointed out.
Their conversation was then suddenly interrupted when the door opened and Bolin ran past the team in excitement with Korra and others not far behind.
"This is it, Mako! We arrived on another planet! Look, look!" Bolin said excitedly as he ran to the window.
"Okay, okay. Don't worry, I'm looking," Mako said as he and others joined Bolin.
Team Avatar couldn't help but look in awe at the planet in front of them. Even though Eos was a desert planet, it still made quite an impression on Korra and her friends.
"It's so... Beautiful. I can't believe that we're here," Korra said.
"This is so amazing. Not only to be here in space but to get a chance to go to another planet," Asami said.
"Yeah. A few days ago I wouldn't have even believed this to be possible," Mako agreed with the ladies.
"Glad you like it, but we're not here for sightseeing. We must go down there and see if we can somehow make Eos habitable," Scott said.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go down there," Korra said.
"Alright then. Let's hear up," Scott said before he turned to Kallo. "Kallo, take us in."
"Yes, Pathfinder," Kallo replied.
With that done, Kallo started flying Tempest towards the planet while Korra and her friends along with the Pathfinder team went to the armory to gear up.
But while they were in the armory, Jason noticed that there was still time left before they would land so he walked to Korra. But to his surprise, he saw her talking with Treeya, and based on the looks on their faces, it wasn't a friendly chat.
"What do you mean that I must stay away from Jason?!" Korra asked.
"You heard me! Just stay away from him and keep your relationship professional," Treeya said.
"Professional?! What's your problem, why are you mad at me all of the sudden?" Korra asked.
"That's none of your business! Just stay away from Jason and we won't have a problem," Treeya said.
"Oh yeah?! I'd say we already have a problem so what'd you we settle this like ladies," Korra said before she bent fire in her hands.
Before the conversation would escalate into a fight, Jason stepped in and pulled Korra and Treeya away from each other.
"Alright, that's enough! What's going on here?" Jason asked.
"This friend of yours told me to stay away from you," Korra replied.
"Is that true?" Jason asked Treeya.
"I just think that she will be a liability on our mission," Treeya replied.
"No offense, Treeya. But you haven't seen Korra in action, she will be a valuable asset," Jason reasoned.
Treeya knew that Jason had a point but she couldn't tell him the true reason for her argument so she just nodded. After he calmed the ladies down, Jason walked away and joined the others, Korra and Treeya looked at each other again with nasty looks.
"Alright, now it's on," Korra and Treeya thought.
Note: I have decided to make a remastered version of this story. I'm still working on my other stories so I'm not sure when the remaster will come up but I'll get it done eventually. See you ;)