Scott was sitting beside Sara's bed, watching his sibling laid on the bed, breathing softly, eyes closed, her dark face serene, as Dr Carlyle was explained to him her condition. The turbulence had caused a loss of gravity in the med bay so her pod was thrown around, causing it to malfunction, interrupting her reawakening cycle which sent her into a coma. Dr. Carlyle informed him that her condition had not improved but from the signs, he was optimistic that she'd wake naturally.
Scott barely heard him. As Dr Carlyle prattled on, Scott took her hand and put it on his cheek. He wanted to let her know, in some way, that he was here and somehow, she'll understand what he felt and know she was not alone. As he does now.
"Thank you, Doctor," he said, for the doctor had generously allowed him some minutes in silence and ignored his lapse without offense.
"No problem, Scott. We'll watch over your sister and let you know about her progress," the doctor assured him.
Scott nodded and turned away where Marcus and Cora were waiting for him. He walked between them, leading them out into the ark's main conference room. Inside, Captain Dunn was sitting alone, her mind on something. She had an apprehensive look on her face, which she smoothed away as soon as they entered.
"Scott Ryder," she greeted, rising from her seat. "I'm sorry about your loss."
He nodded. "I appreciate your concern, Captain," he answered politely.
She led them onto their seats. As they seated themselves, she looked him over.
Though she was truly sorry for Scott, she mentally rebuked Alec for putting him in this situation in the first place. There's a reason why the military don't let people from the same family together in a small unit like theirs and now they've ended up with this as predicted.
She did not show it however, by face or manner, as she took her place beside Scott. No need to destroy his morale when their lives depend on his untested shoulders. Though she has doubts of Scott's credential as Pathfinder due to his age and limited experience, she kept quiet about it. Unlike civilians, they assume competence in one of their own because they are one of their own. Only if there were doubts of his conduct on the job will she deem it the time to challenge him. But right now, he gave her no reason to ask if he was alright. Besides, time will definitely tell whether he was worthy of being Pathfinder... or not.
"We need to talk about your new role as Pathfinder, as I did with your father." She turned to Cora beside him. "I assume you've explained to him his primary duties?"
"We'd briefed him of the important parts on the way here," Cora answered.
"Good." She nodded at her then turned back to Scott. "Then I'll just skip to pressing matters. Right now, we're somewhere in the Heleus cluster. Habitat 7 is supposed to be our home, but it's too dangerous to return there now. Not with the thing hanging around it."
"Have you found out what it was?" he asked, with a glance on the purple lump on her forehead.
"Some of our scientists are working on that and so far, we don't know much about it. It is invisible to our sensors until we hit it. Even so, we can only tell it by the distortion of star field. We've seen what happened in Habitat 7, but we reviewed the feeds again and so far, our analysts conclude that it did not originate from there, only that it reacted to the light from Habitat 7." While the Pathfinder Team was shutting it down, the Hyperion had managed not to get sheared off in half with some carefully managed wiggling. There were a lot of damaged sections because of it, but at least the ark was intact and ready to go FTL as soon as the away team were ready.
"What you did down at Habitat 7 managed to loosen its grip on us. We had barely enough time to wait for your team and go FTL before it seized us again.'' She glanced at the datapad where the reports concerning the incident were piled up. "I've read the report about what happened with your team at Habitat 7 and I want to ask about the tower causing it."
"It was doing something with the atmosphere so I think it's some sort of stabilizer? There were aliens around it too. SAM might tell you more."
"We think the aliens have turned it on, causing it to interact violently with the surrounding space and attract that thing," Cora explained.
She nodded. "Noted. So to continue, we escaped from Habitat 7. I've decided to look for the Nexus and had a team comb the surrounding systems. A few days ago, we picked up a faint exhaust trail, matching the exhaust from the Nexus drive. It leads to a system a few light years from us."
"So what do you need me to do?"
"We'll arrive at their location tomorrow," she said, putting away the datapad. "Prepare your team. After Habitat 7, we don't know what to expect."
The rest of the day was spent on debriefing then preparing for the mission ahead. There was no time to think about his father and sister. Not that he wanted to. He welcomed the distraction, even after realizing that twenty thousand souls were now dependent on him.
After the briefing, he declined Marcus' invitation for dinner at the mess hall, pleading a headache. There was a low thrumming inside his head and the thought of food made him nauseous. After promising to go to Dr. Lexi, he left them at the tram and was about to go to the med bay, but stopped at the thought of talking to the doctor. Talking to anyone, really. He thought then that what he needed was to sleep. So he went straight to the Pathfinder team quarters and stood at the empty common room before the sleeping rooms.
The place was as they left it. There were datapads strewn about on the coffee table where probably Fischer was reading on the latest engineering news while on his synthetic cigarette. The remote control was wedged on the side of the sofa, where probably Markland and Greer would be fighting for control of it. There was a line of dirt at the edge of the coffee table, where someone would put their boot up in time for Cora to come by and smack it off. But not so loud of course, because they might bring out the old man back at his cabin' study table and reprimand them with that cold crankiness Scott experienced all his life.
He could not believe they were gone.
He went to the small kitchen to the side of the room to get a drink of water. There, their coffee cups still waited in the sink, waiting for him the grunt to wash them up. He filled a glass from the dispenser and drank, then let his glass join the others. his hand shook and he put his other hand on the lip of the sink to steady him.
In that small, silent room, he took the time to now think about his father and sister.
He finished wiping his eyes when he heard someone come in and recognized Cora and Marcus voices. He heard them murmur in low voices then stopped at the middle of the room.
"Oh, Scott isn't in yet?" he heard Marcus say. His footsteps grew farther, the doors opening. He went back to the common room, coming nearer so Scott quickly wiped at his eyes. But Marcus did not go in the kitchen but instead went and sat on the sofa, tired from today's meeting. The sofa sagged beneath him as he sat opposite Cora, who leaned forward and put her elbows on the coffee table, rested her chin on her hands then sighed deeply.
"Marcus, are we going to die?" she said after a while.
Marcus smirked at her. "Giving up already?"
"No. Just seeing reality. We've barely arrived but we lost most of our team. On top of that, we lost our Pathfinder who's the most experienced of us all."
"Yeah. This really sucks," Marcus commiserated. "But we'll pull through. Don't worry," he said cheerfully.
She smiled at him. "Always the optimist, huh?"
He grinned. "Never say die."
A pause, then she asked, "What do you think about Scott?"
Marcus cocked his head, furrowing his brow and narrowing his eyes. "He's alright," he concluded. "Not very experienced, but quick to pick up. It's hard to know what he's thinking, though. He keeps to himself." He paused, then snickered. "Loads warmer than old Iceberg, though."
Cora smiled at the nickname of her mentor, partly from the number of careers he had sunk from the turian Hierarchy, their one-time enemy and partly from his cold demeanor. Then her face went serious again. "He doesn't seem pleased about the job when we told him about replacing Alec," she commented with a slight edge to her tone.
"Give him time. He just saw his father die," Marcus answered, nonchalant. "Besides, I wouldn't be eager in his shoes. We were all prepared for worst case scenarios and it happened. I'd be scared too when suddenly a thousand lives depended on me."
Cora did not look pleased from his answer.
"Why? What's wrong?"
Cora's lips thinned and she took her time to immediately answer him. "I'm really sorry for Scott," she said slowly, "but I just wondered…if Alec would have chosen me to be Pathfinder."
"Ah," Marcus said, the chair creaking as he leaned back. "We weren't there when they hit the ravine. As I see it, it was his life or Scott's. He chose his son," Marcus said to soften the blow. "I hate to break it to you, Cora, but I thought Alec would not have chosen you over his children."
Her eyes went wide and she looked hurt. Out of all of them bar Scott, Cora was the one around Alec the longest that they thought of her as his protégé. But it was before Scott joined them and he knew even if she didn't realize it yet, that she was never going to succeed him.
"No, nothing's wrong with you," he assured her. "You're a great part of the team, Cora. You've dependable and smart and you're a great medic on top of your powers. We were lucky to have you." She smiled a little.
"You don't need to flatter me," she said.
"I'm not. I'm just telling the truth. But remember that Alec never taught us personally? So as soon as Scott joined us and he guided him himself, I knew then that Alec wanted him as his successor. At the lightning field, when he took Scott with him, I knew then that he was showing him the ropes."
Cora bowed her head and looked away.
"Don't feel too bad about it," Marcus continued. "It happens in the Alliance and it's normal on civilian organizations. We're civilians now so don't expect they'd care too much about hierarchy around here."
"I guess you're right," Cora said and sighed, then rested her chin in her hands. "After Greer, I think I'm not cut out for being a Pathfinder."
"You did everything you can. Greer wasn't your fault. He was just not lucky," Marcus said. "And if I knew that guy, he would have told you to shut up about it or he'll think you're so desperately in love with him."
Cora snorted. Greer did not like overly fussy people and he would turn them away by making it look like their interest was the effect of his powerful charisma.
"Shit, this sucks," she repeated, but she raised her head and sighed. "Anyway, we should go to sleep. There's a lot of things we need to do tomorrow."
"Yep," Marcus said, standing up. "Don't wanna miss why the Nexus is missing. I hope they've fared better than us."
"I hope so too. I don't know if I can take more bad news after what we just went through."
They said goodnight to each other and went to the rooms, where they had one each with half of their team gone. When the door hissed shut, Scott crouched down, and put his face in his hands, in anger and despair.
The next day, they found the Nexus orbiting a gas giant. But they would have mistaken it for floating junk, not a station by the way it looked. What they expected was a station composed of two half-cylindrical sides being rotated by a ring at the center. They expected it was fully built, but what was in front of them now was riddled with holes, its parts hanging off and floating in space.
Scans indicated that it had sustained heavy damage. They stared in shock as it hung listlessly in orbit.
What happened here? Why is it so...so...dilapidated? Did it encounter the mysterious thing too? Or did something worse happen?
"Nexus control, this is Hyperion requesting clearance to dock. Come in, Nexus," Lani said, tapping at her console as they stared at the hollowed tube-like station on the screen. Static. She tried again, but the same thing happened and she looked behind to Captain Dunn for direction.
"Take us in, Lani," the captain said evenly but her fingers were digging into the arm rest. As Lani complied, Dunn turned to Scott standing on the railing above her. "Is your team ready?"
Scott nodded. "We'd be at the docks." He nodded at his team beside him and with a nod from the captain, they went out of the bridge and into the docking bay. They put on their armor and got their gear and started checking as they waited for Lani to tell them that they have docked. After a few minutes, she gave the signal and they raised their weapons and then walked through the connecting duct.
They arrived at the door. Cora and Marcus positioned themselves on both sides as Scott hacked it. As soon as the door opened, Scott dashed inside as Cora and Marcus swept the sides. Nothing jumped out so with a signal, Scott led them in, keeping quiet as possible. "Eyes, peeled," he reminded them and they swept the corridors of the station. It was pitch dark and silent. Nothing stirred; the air was stale and still.
"It's empty. Where are the people?" Scott whispered but his voice still echoed in the silent corridors.
"Don't see signs of a fight," Cora commented, looking at crates piled haphazardly around the pristine white walls, free of scrapes, soot or bullet holes.
"A plague?" Marcus suggested, his eyes scanning the other side.
"Not likely," Scott answered, the light from his scanner falling on the potted plants on corners. It shone back green and healthy. "The environmental controls are working."
They emerged into an open area, with a cluster of trees at the center and a veranda at their right. What lay beyond it, they didn't know, for it was covered with some sort of rolling door. There was a locked door beyond them with scanners on both side. They turned to their left and saw a door far away, flanked by counters on both sides and stacked with crates. There were also stairs up the wall beside them leading to the next level above. It was blocked with crates.
They looked at each other and Scott signaled that they should try the door beyond them. They moved quietly, heading to the door when they loked to their left again and saw open space. They shone their omni-tool at it and beds of plants were placed here and there. There was another door going inside.
They stopped, debating where they should go when they heard a faint buzzing sound. They walked back up and saw someone was fixing the wiring from high up. Someone with two legs, a torso and two arms. A human, wearing Initiative gear.
Scott stopped crouching and put the muzzle down. "Hey! Over here!" he shouted, waving his hand. The man looked around, surprised, nearly dropping from his perch. Then he saw them. He jumped down and met them at the bottom.
Scott introduced themselves. "Scott Ryder, Pathfinder of the Hyperion. This is Cora Harper and Marcus Zola."
The man blinked several times before he could answer. "Pathfinder? Hyperion? You-You're not one of us?" The man started choking but he remembered how important this was. "Kandros need to know this. Hell-everyone needs to know this," he said excitedly and tapped at his omni-tool. "Anselm to Kandros. The Hyperion has arrived. I repeat, the Hyperion has arrived. Their pathfinder is here with me." Static, then a flanging voice answered. "Hyperion? Shit-keep them there and wait for me. I'll tell the others."
Anselm's omni-tool went dark and he turned back to them. He looked at them as if he was about to cry. "You're the best thing we've seen in years."
Marcus stepped forward and placed his hands on his shoulders. "It's alright, now. We've got you, man," he reassured him, looking kindly into his eyes. He released him and looked him over then gave a pat on his shoulder. "Are we good?"
Anselm nodded. He was about to say something when they heard claw-like tapping getting louder. They looked around and saw a turian emerge from the blocked off door and running towards them. The avian dinosaur-like alien with a metallic carapace skidded to a stop in front of them. "Spirits, it really is true," he murmured, the mandibles on his jaw twitching. He walked forward and stood in front of Ryder.
"Tiran Kandros. Nexus Security," he said, his dark eyes glittering from his grey face plates, sky-blue stripes across his cheek and plunging down his mouth and chin. "Sorry about not preparing a welcome party. We were doing critical repairs and thought it safe to leave dock control for a moment."
"Where is everyone?" Marcus asked.
"I've informed the rest and they'd be expecting you at the ops center. Follow me, I'll explain on the way."
They waved goodbye at Anselm and jogged beside the turian to the tram station. "So what happened here? Why is it so dark?" Scott asked.
The turian looked ahead grimly. "A lot of things happened. You'll get the details later but let's just say we've lost more than half of our people. The rest of us are doing their best to keep this ship together which is difficult considering that it's leaking like a rusty bucket."
They reached the tram station and went in one of the compartments. Kandros tapped on the screen and then they were moving.
"I have to warn you that you won't be meeting the senior leadership," Kandros continued. "They were all dead or missing shortly after we arrived."
"So who are we meeting?" Cora asked.
"Some people are filling in. Even I'm not supposed to be in security and yet here I am."
"We've run into some sort of anomaly on the way to Habitat 7. We've also lost some people," Scott informed him.
"You've also ran into that?" Kandros wondered softly. "What happened at Habitat 7?"
"We couldn't go and settle there with it hanging over it. It was ripping the planet apart."
"I see," Kandros said. The tram came into a stop. "We're here," he said, and led the way inside.
The operations center was as dark as the habitation deck, but they could see people working on their consoles, scrambling to tell the others that the Hyperion has arrived and prepare to receive them. The people stopped and gaped as they walked up the stairs above the station, then someone barked sharply and they scurried off. They reached the platform above and stood in what seems to be an ops center, with a big screen on the wall and consoles spread out before it. Before the wall, stood three people directing orders. The three noticed them and turned to face them. As he looked from face to face, Scott concluded that he did not recognize any of them.
On the left was a black woman of average height, with a stocky build and a plain face, wearing an odd looking, inflated scarf around her neck, a vest and cargo pants with a bright blue belt looped around it. She had a scar running up from her mouth to left cheek, which made her look as if she was snarling. She regarded them with a serious demeanor despite looking just a few years older than Cora. The one in the middle was a human woman with a pixie-cut, who looks to be in her late thirties but appearing much older. Her jacket was worn inside out. Her face was thin and ashen with shadows under her eyes, but she managed to smile as they came near. The other one was a krogan of a dull, brown color and soft face plates on her forehead. She looked at them with eyes not yet differentiated into slits set far apart in a broad face marked with a blue clan tattoo. She stood stolidly with her wide and massive build but her whole aura was surprisingly gentle.
The one in the middle stepped forward and welcomed them. "Welcome to the Nexus. We're the administration. I'm Foster Addison, the acting administrator. This is Sloane Kelly, our chief security and Kesh Nakmor who handles logistics," she said, presenting the two beside her.
"Scott Ryder, human Pathfinder," Scott answered, shaking her hand. He pointed at the two behind him. "This is Cora Harper and Marcus Zola."
"Scott Ryder?" the black woman, Sloane, said in a deep but haughty voice. "I thought we'd be expecting an Alec Ryder as the Hyperion's Pathfinder?"
"He's my father. And…" His throat constricted with the thought but he forced himself to say it. "He's dead. He didn't make the trip."
There was silence at this announcement.
"I'm his replacement," Scott added.
Kesh just stared at them with her dark eyes. Sloane looked him over then at Marcus and Cora, giving them a look, pointedly asking why they were not the Pathfinder when they looked older than him. They did not answer back but instead shuffled slightly closer to his side. Meanwhile, Addison stared at them, mouth slightly open, then started nervously wringing her fingers. Her face threatened to crumble but she held on. "I'm sorry for your loss. We have lost a lot of-."
Sloane blew up. "We're dead in the water, about to go hungry then we're supposed to depend on a fucking baby?" she yelled.
"I'm sure the baby didn't have a choice. Like you did," Kesh spoke, her deep voice echoing into the room full of people still in shock. "May I remind you that you also inherited your position?".
Sloane glared at Kesh for that unwanted introduction of reason but she did not question his promotion further.
Addison by now have smoothed her face back to politeness. "It's best if we talk about this privately," she said, in a cheery but brittle voice. "Amenities are scarce for the moment, but we'll try our best to accommodate you. Is there someone we can speak to for the arrangements?"
"Our captain and her team might be able to help you with that."
"Your Captain? Your Captain survived?" she asked, her voice curiously loud. She started looking at them with relief and hope. "Then it's best if she was here too."
Sloane turned to Kandros beside them. "Contact their people and tell them we request their captain's presence for a briefing. Also, continue the preparations for their arrival."
He nodded and as they watched him walk away, it felt as if hope was moving further and further away, leaving them to fall in dread and despair. The Nexus damaged, their leaders dead. How could they hope to survive in a place like this now?