My name is commander Shepard. And I am currently on a shore leave in the Silversun strip of the Citadel. The initial experience is... not pleasant. Nearly killed by a clone that attempt to take my identity, the Normandy and everything from me, citing himself as being "better at saving the Galaxy than me". Luckily, I finished off the clone, kicking the other me out of the cargo bay of the Normandy before returning to my shore leave.
And I get to enjoy the entertainment, food and friendship on the Citadel. Something I have never actually enjoyed before. I kept reminding to myself, that there is a wider galaxy to save and that we should not stay here for too long.
I and my squadmates have been sifting through every bits and checklists on my shore leave for more than 30 hours since we came back to our residence on the Silversun strip at 05 April 2186. Or at least what I could tell by myself.
And the day is still 5th of April. The news were the same. No new message have came to my private terminal. We decided to return to the Normandy and check out the Galaxy for the reason, and we found that nothing have changed. The battle on Earth is still the same. As does Palaven. Tuchenka. Ships and troops coming from nowhere and exploding, then happening again over and over again in exactly the same manner. building collapsing under Reaper fire, then found inexplicably not collapsed, before collapsing again. The number of Conquered systems on the Galaxy map does not change at all even as we explore the Galaxy system by system to find out why.
We didn't do any assignments as we return to the Citadel. The day was still 05 April 2016. Everything was still the same. The people were the same, the locals were as friendly as they have always been. I went to the arcade and casino to collect and win as much usable assets as possible, Credits, weapon mods, etc. We also went to the Armax Arsenel Arena several times in order to test out our equipment and honed our skills, solving a glitch about the scoring system of their simulation in the meantime. Another 50+ hours, and the day was still 05 April 2186.
Suddenly, I realized: The passage of time in the wider galaxy is directly linked to the number of assignments I complete. Time only passes when I finish an assignment on the Galaxy map. As long as I don't complete my Shore Leave and don't complete any assignment on the Galaxy map, time will never truly pass and the state of the galaxy will never change.
I don't know whether the Crucible would be able to save the Galaxy as claimed by the Prothean archives on Mars. Nobody knows. But I DO know how to save as least the part of the Galaxy currently unaffected right now. By never letting time to proceed from "now". If I don't complete my Shore leave and advance Time of the Galaxy, the people who have been alive by today would be able to live and enjoy "today" forever.
The button on my private terminal saying "start the party and end the shore leave" have been kept at the top of the priority list of thing to do. By now it have been the only button that have been left on the terminal.
I knew, distantly, about why I have kept this button untouched, but I have always been wondering: what will happen if I pressed the button, and allow time to proceed again?
I have saved the Galaxy's past. And I have been saving the Galaxy's present. Can I save the Galaxy's future as well?
Should I proceed?