Before the Pathfinding Team left for the turn-over ceremony at Eos, Kesh called Scott over to discuss something in her office.

"Hey, Kesh. What's up?" Scott asked as he entered, his tone cheery and his step light. He was not of the type to dwell long on negative emotions and he had the establishment of their first colony to look forward to. He told himself there's no time to dwell on himself when there's still work to be done.

Kesh waited for him behind her desk, her office clean and free of the crates he last saw in it. It has the same boring Initiative office design, boxy and filled with only utilitarian furniture. But it did look remarkably improved even though it had no personality whatsoever. "Nothing serious. Just going to ask a favor."

He slowed to a stop. The word favor never failed to make suspicion crawl down his spine. "A favor?"

She nodded. "Yes. It's about my grandfather, Drack. I remember you've met down at Eos."

He tipped his head back slightly. Ah yes, the laughing krogan. "Yep."

"He's down there to search for his scouts and he said there's been no sign of them. Maybe they were abducted by the aliens. Well, since you both are going to be travelling much, I think it's a good idea for both of you if you take him with you. He's a veteran so he won't be a burden. I've talked to him already on assisting you as best he can in exchange for letting him in. So, will you take him?"

He did thought it then a good idea for him to join them but he's not looking forward to be with someone who laughed in his face when he asked it. He did have a little pride after all. "I don't know Kesh. He doesn't seem the type to play nice with other people."

Kesh snorted. "He's just a crochety old man. But he wouldn't harm anyone without reason. I assure you he'll behave as a favor to me."

He thought it over but then a completely different idea occurred to him. "I get it, you're worried for him."

Kesh rolled her eyes. "Yes, fine. I am worried for him. He's tough but he's lived for so long that it's possible he'll end face up down there at the desert. Besides, no amount of roaring at the wind will bring back his scouts so it's only common sense that he teams up with you."

"Aw, look at you all soft inside," he teased.

"Yes, yes. Beneath all this tough leather, we Krogans have a heart too," Kesh replied drily. "Or hearts. Now will you take him or not or shall we keep comparing the softness of our insides?"

"Now, there's no need for the violence," Scott said, half-laughing. "Fine, I'll take him."

Kesh nodded. "Thank you, Pathfinder. Talk to me when you want to cash it in."

Still chuckling, Scott left her office, past the atrium and onto the docking bay where his team was waiting for him. He contacted them to ask whether everything was ready and they answered that all systems are go. When he reached the tube to the door towards their ship, he slowed to a stop, seeing Kesh's grandfather before it. Though he said he was going to take the old man with him, seeing the old krogan face to face brought out the memory of their first meeting and he stiffened.

"Drack," he acknowledged.

The krogan stopped leaning against the door frame and straightened himself. "Pathfinder."

They stood awkwardly for a while, their efforts to breach the topic of working together tripped by them sizing each other up. "So…I just talked to Kesh. I take it we'll be working with each other now?" Scott finally said.

"Sure. I help you do your job, you help me find my scouts. It's a good deal."

"Right. So anything I should know before I let you board my ship?"

Drack's reptilian eyes narrowed at him then he smirked. "Looks like you're still mad at me for laughing at you back in Eos," he rumbled. "It was nothing personal. I would've laughed at any grunt then who ask me to join them while looking like they can't survive another day, much less a week. The fact that you're standing here alive meant you're not as weak as I thought."

"And why is it that I should have your approval?" he asked with slight irritation.

"I've been through the Rachni war and the Krogan Rebellions. I have enough of carrying weaklings through a fight."

He drew back slightly, in awe. It was very rare to see someone as old as him in a profession where young people usually die. But on the other hand, he may still be carrying a grudge from those wars. "My job involves working with other aliens. In fact, my pilot is a salarian and my procurement officer is a turian."

He snorted. "You know, to us the measure of a warrior depends on the measure of their enemies. Your people are safe from me. I don't war on civilians. So I don't give a shit about them. I only want to find my scouts."

Drack looked intimidating and imposing, with his grizzled face, the sharp eyes and the bones of giant beasts all around his armor. He also thought he's of a taciturn disposition and so there's nothing else he could gain from him. Besides, he already promised to Kesh to take him with them so all this conversation was unnecessary posturing. He admitted that much, and also thought it was silly. So he put his wounded pride aside and held out a hand to the krogan. "We could use your experience."

Drack met it with his hand. "And you'll have it."

"Welcome aboard, Drack."

He nodded. Though they agreed to work together, it did not mean they will be friends and so walked through the connecting tunnel with a lukewarm air about them. They reached the door and Scott was about to use his omnitool to open it when someone called his name.

"Pathfinder! Scott Ryder! Wait for me!"

He turned around and saw K running towards them, lugging a suitcase behind her, the wheels screeching on the gleaming white floor. She stopped in front of them, panting heavily and said, "If he can come, then I can come too," she said, pointing at Drack.

"K?" Scott asked, surprised. "I thought you're with the Nexus science team?"

"Pfft. They're nice, but it's so boring, sitting all day looking at reports, you know? I'd rather be in the field, in the middle of the action. Now that's exciting. Besides, they needed a field agent, someone who know what to look for out there. I mean do you have anyone else who can spot what will be important for them and their reports?"

They don't. Suvi was also a scientist but she said she preferred a more relaxed environment when doing her research.

"I've heard you're short of engineers," she continued before he could reply. "I'm happy to tell you that I'm a certified ship mechanic. Well, not on cutting edge ships like the Tempest but I learn very quickly I promise. Why people say I'm just as good as a quarian when it comes to ships."

"You've talked to Kesh," he said, deducing where she knew about their need of engineers.

She swayed slightly as she stood. "Not exactly. I just listened here and there."

"Of course," he said, remembering how she sneaked up on an elite team like them back at the monolith to get a drop on him. Literally.

She clapped her hands. "So, can I come with you? Please?" she begged.

"You sure the science team won't miss you?"

"Pretty sure even a meteor would pass by them and they wouldn't notice. Well, except Chief Lucan. He's really into rocks, particularly if its shiny. But I'm not a rock so I'm sure he won't miss me."

He chuckled. "Alright, K. If no one's going to complain, then welcome aboard," he said. He thought well of her due to their adventure at the vault and did not doubt her ability to keep up with them.

K shot her hands up in the air. "Yes! Thankyouthankyouthankyou. Nowshallwego?" she said and half pulled, half pushed them into the door.

As the Tempest sailed towards Eos, Scott thought it he should get started on knowing his crew. He started with the people he was familiar with. Though they had trained together before they left for Andromeda, it was six hundred years ago and they spent most of the time training than getting to know each other. He went to one of the rooms on the cargo bay and found Marcus pushing an old couch across his room. "Moving day?" he joked.

"Nah," Marcus said. He stood up and patted his hands. "Just moving it someplace because I got tired staring at the wall so maybe I'd thought I'd stare at the other wall. It'd be a nice change of view, especially since there's a water spot here I could admire."

"Is this some hint that I should get you a vidscreen?"

Marcus gave him an amused look. "What would I watch out of it? It's not like there's rugby tournaments here in Andromeda."

"A shame. Your couch really need people sitting on it cheering on their favorite teams," he remarked, looking at the couch, worn, gray but still comfy looking in the dimly lit room. The room was still bare; Marcus' rucksacks piled on the foot of his drawers beside the made bed.

"Yep," Marcus agreed, patting its leather back. "All the more reason we should hurry up and get the colonies up and running," he said. He sat on one end of the couch and pat the seat next to him. "Anyway, you brought anything out the ol' Milky Way?"

"Nope. Just the clothes on my back," Scott answered, sitting at the other end, the couch sagging under his weight. "So I'm guessing this is yours?"

"Yep," he said. "When I signed up to go here at Andromeda, I never expect we'd live in the lap of luxury, you know? Like having your own comfy bed. I'd experienced sleeping in hammocks and lying on the ground, but at the end of the day, I'd really need something proper to lie on. And why not my old couch? It'd be comfortable after a long day and you could just lie back and pop a beer while watching some reruns. And also annoy stingy people." He chuckled. "The face they made when I told them this is my one thing was priceless."

Marcus twisted up and bent to the side, rummaging at the side table. Finally, he raised himself up, holding two bottles. "Beer?"

Scott smiled and took one. "You're prepared for anything, huh?"

"Nah. Just good old hospitality." They popped it open and fell silent for a while as they savored the last beers from the Milky Way.

Scott looked at Marcus closely. Before they went into cryo, the Pathfinding team had done some drills on some possible scenarios they might be facing. Marcus was mostly the one facilitating them, giving them tips and strategies when they find themselves in crisis situations, well beyond the basic military training Scott got from the Alliance. He acts like an NCO and yet his demeanor wasn't exactly soldier-like. He's far too relaxed even in professional settings and does not observe military decorum.

"You don't look like a military man to me," he observed.

"That's because I'm not like you and Cora. I was a cop."

"Ah, figures. So, how'd a cop end up here?"

"Same reason why anyone would quit the force. They just don't wanna be cops anymore."

"You were burned out?"

"Yep," Marcus said, with a quick glance to the left. "There's a limit to battered children, carved up victims and overdosed teens you can take, right? Figured if I'd be seeing the worst a human body can take, might as well be where it isn't your fellow humans doing it. I don't want to just patrol neighborhoods though, so after two years, I took a lateral promotion to crisis response. Digging people out of trouble was far better to everyone than pulling a father away from carving up their child's face then get suspended because I used 'too much force'. Anyway, that's how I heard about Heavy Urban Search Terran 1. HUS-T1 but we call it HUSTL. It's Earth's contribution to the crisis response program of the Citadel, helping each other out so we can learn to play nicely. You get the drift. Anyway, it sounds good to me and I joined up along with some vets and civilians looking for some challenge. We get sent into natural disasters, war zones and industrial accidents across the Milky Way. I can rival Cora on how many worlds we traveled. That's how I know how to act in alien environments." He cocked his head at him. "And that's how I met your father."

He sipped his beer then exhaled in satisfaction. "I was helping out during a factory collapse at Eden Prime. Some batarian mercs thought they could get quick credits if they took people hostage. But the owner was stingy so they decided to torch the place along with everyone in it. We got called in and your father happened to be in the area. He was looking then for people who can thrive in any critical situation and I fit the bill."

"And my father what, sweet talked you?"

Marcus chuckled. "Well, no one really says no to your father. If an N7 and a famous hero says drop everything, you drop everything."

"Really? You really came all the way here because my father said so?"

"I'm joking. Of course I've thought about the deal after he presented it to me. Going to another galaxy? Not only does it sound ballsy, it really does get my goat. The unknown is my playground. I thrive in it. So yes, Andromeda sounds really good to me."

"Do you have a family?"

"Yes. My folks weren't pleased when I told them about my decision, especially my mom. She was sobbing really hard. I was her baby, you understand. My brother and sisters didn't really understand too and tried to make me stay. They reaaaally tried hard to make me stay. In the end, I got my last rites then I joined your father." He turned to Scott. "So what about you? What made you come to Andromeda?"

Scott paused as he thought how to phrase his true feelings. Marcus looked so amazed by his father that he thought it rude if Alec's own son say he didn't believe in his legend. So he settled on a safe answer. "My family is here. Besides, I've always wanted to explore."

"Of course," Marcus replied. If he noticed his hesitation, he did not show it. "Looks like we both get our wish," he said cheerfully and raised his glass for a toast.

Scott emerged onto the research deck when he heard scuffling from the biolab, which doubled as Cora's quarters. He stopped, listening but the sounds weren't abating and so he went to investigate. He knocked on the door and heard Cora's muffled voice inside telling him to come in. The door opened and he found Cora, squatting down, shoving containers under the plant beds as she tidied up. The plants suspended above her shook as she put away each one.

"Something wrong?" he asked her.

She turned to him, her fringe flicking away from her hair and swaying back to rest gracefully on one side. "Maybe," she answered and stood up, slapping her hands free of dirt. The plants bobbed and swayed, the stems quivering and the tender leaves trembling.

"Anything I can do to help?"

Her lips thinned and she paused to answer. Then she ran a hand over her hair and sighed irritably. "It's just my biotics acting up. I don't normally lose it like this. A huntress should have a better control," she answered.

"A huntress?"

"Yes." She sat down on one of the crates and motioned for Scott to use the seat near her. As he sat, he reflexively glanced beyond the curtain hanging in the middle of the room which Cora seem to be using as a temporary divider and bunched to the side. Though there were a lot of crates stacked around, her room was neat and orderly, the bed made with the bedsheet tucked in the corners. Her boots were arrayed shiny on the foot while her clothes hang pressed and clean in the slightly open cabinet. "When I joined the Alliance, I was sent on an interstellar biotic program headed by the asari, Therys's Daughters. Of course, I didn't know then that the Alliance had their own secret biotic program BAat and I was sent to the asari as a cover. Still, I'm lucky I guess that I did not end up in BAat."

"How was it like being in the asari program?" he asked.

"Me and Janae were the babies. Tethys was our sniper. Kalia patched us between fights while Valenza prayed between firefights. Our CO, Nisira, led us all over Athena Nebula, hunting pirates, pacifying dissidents and eliminating terrorists."

As she talked, he saw her face slowly relax as she reminisced about her time with the asari. "You seem really to enjoy your time with them there," he said softly.

She smiled. "Yes. But Alliance needed me back so I have to go and leave them."

"And then you discovered that you're just a cover."

She nodded. "It was a great shock to me. I thought the Alliance were interested in the advancement of our race through biotics because they really wanted our race to improve. I never suspected they only see it as a way to one-up the other races." She shrugged. "Still, I can't complain after everything they've done for me." She smiled apologetically again when she saw him confused. "I'm sorry. I'm telling it wrong. Maybe I should start from the beginning."

"Let's hear it."

She put her hands together, inhaled and expelled loudly. "Well, I was born from merchants who deal mainly with transporting cargo between worlds. Sometimes, the cargo they're transporting is eezo. My mother has been handling them and also worked around the ship drive as the chief engineer. She worked there even when she was carrying me. So I was exposed to eezo in the womb and that was how I was born a biotic. I'm lucky I was born one and not with a brain tumor as it usually happens, but my parents felt a lot of guilt over it. It got worse as I grew older. They didn't make enough money to hire someone to teach me how to control my power. Meanwhile, the Alliance are interested in biotics and on people who have them. They eventually heard of me and offered to my parents. They have the resources, the knowledge and the implants. My parents…decided to give me up."

"I'm sorry. That must be hard."

She shook her head, the fringe swaying to and fro across her eyes. "It was hard when I was young and can rip APC apart without effort and then have my peers and teachers look at me in fear. Everyone knows, even me, that I could really hurt them even if I didn't want to. It was harder for my parents. Who wouldn't be afraid that your child may end up to be a monster even if they didn't mean to? They were also blaming themselves for the way I ended up. So they explained to me that it was best for everyone that I should be with the Alliance."

"Did you hate them for that?"

"No. I was old enough to understand what I could do."

"So after training with the asari, you went back to the Alliance."

"Yes. I did as I was expected to do. Showed people what biotics can achieve and pretty much rolled with the Alliance's campaign to have biotics as the next step in human evolution." She smiled fondly. "I remember my parents being so proud of me. Even after I left them for the Alliance, they kept track of me. They kept recordings of me in the news and everything else."

"Are your parents back home?"

The smile faded. "No. They…died. They were heading back to Earth from Eden Prime when they had an accident. Or a pirate attack. No one knows much what happened to them, only that their ship was a burned-out husk and they were ashes."

"I'm sorry."

She nodded. "Thank you. It happened a few years ago." She paused and did a quick calculation in her head. Wait, I meant 617 years ago."

"So... why did you join the Initiative?"

"After their death, I just didn't…care anymore about work. I was getting tired of being the poster child for the next generation of superhumans. Of being perfect and keeping the people inspired about our future. And then it happened and everything…didn't matter anymore. I paid my years of service so I considered resigning and just live somewhere…anywhere. Then I met your dad. Showed up on my doorstep about an insane plan to get to another galaxy. He was one persistent bastard," she said, with a wry smile. "I don't have anywhere to go anyway, so I might as well be on a new galaxy. Besides the workplace was getting toxic."

"How?"

"You understand that I was barely out of my teens when I was sent to the asari, and my only friends then were my parents. The other parents are afraid of me being close with their kid. So my first friends were the asari and they were important to me growing up. I wasn't treated like a freak or a god, but as like themselves. Normal. When the program ended, I've grown fond of them. Maybe too fond," she said and laughed ruefully. "Maybe I annoyed the other soldiers by frequently talking about them. I just missed them but I've said it aloud too many times that they thought I had…gone native. They've dropped a lot of hints that if I like them so much, then I should go live with them. I was just fond of the asari but I don't regret being human. But I guess it's too late for them."

"I didn't know it was hard on you in the Alliance."

"They're not that bad. But by then, I didn't have much to aim for." She smiled and continued in a lighter tone, "So here we are, a million light years away. Ready to make a fresh start."

He nodded, smiling also. "And hope we get lucky."

"Anything else you want to know?"

"Cora?"

"Yes?"

"You were second-in command in the Pathfinding team. Were you…friends with my father?"

She chuckled. "Your father's prickly as hell so he's more like a mentor to me. He trained me hard on being a Pathfinder so I was shocked that he chose you over me." Her eyes widened when she realized what she just said and held a hand to her mouth. "Oh, Scott, that just slip out. I didn't mean-"

"Let's have it out, Cora instead of rocking the poor, innocent plants," he said drily which made her glance up at the plant beds. The plants were fine, just a little rattled, so she turned her attention back to him. She looked unsure if she should do as he suggested, but she agreed eventually.

"When your father was training me, I thought he meant me to succeed him. He's trained me for years but you joined us only recently and barely was trained before we set out, so I never expected he would hand it to you."

"Believe me Cora, if I was only asked, I would have given it to you too."

She looked at him, thinking about his offer and concluded that it was moot. SAM cannot be separated from him now. She still appreciated the gesture, though. "But here we are. You're the Pathfinder now, despite what we wanted," she said, the smile on her lips wobbly.

"Yes."

They fell silent. Tension hung heavily between them, made of a sense of injustice on her side and resentment on his. The air was taut as a string, stretching, stretching, ready to snap. But they were loath to break it and so moved away.

"That was all I want to ask, Cora. Another time, maybe," he said, polite but stiff as he rose up.

"Yes," she replied, relieved. "Stop by if you need anything," she said and turned to tend to the plants. She did not look as the door opened to let him out.