A month later – Colossus Arms Dealership
"A whole new galaxy, Baby! Hell Yeah"
They were in the roof of the Colossus, it was an exclusive area for then, with a beautiful sight of Earth. The Citadel ended up in orbit of the human homeworld during the Reaper war, they tried to move the station, but it was not possible. Well, one thing is for sure, Earth was well guarded with the Citadel fleet.
The guy who shouted was Raven, an Advanced War Robot. He actually was programmed by hand by his mother, a human, to be a common person, but he fell in love with the military, and altered his own program, uploading himself in a new body, and doing his own custom job on the thing, the guy has a minigun in his right arm, for Christ sake.
He was the Heavy Weapons Specialist of the team. His appearance was a humanoid robot, with black painting, the lights were a deep blue (For better reference, search for "Reaper black ops 3" in google), he was using dark combat boots, dark combat pants and a black hoodie. Raven was hand picked by Shepard to work in the Normandy.
Jonathan and Rayla decided to gather the ground team, to tell them the news, and ask for their opinion, they seemed excited even.
"This is an experience of a lifetime, they offered me a place in the arks, way back then, but I was too young and refused, I regretted that decision for years."
Dr. Elora D'Ysena was a xeno-archaeologist, with a specialization in the inusannon, and a renowned geographer, that in the Reaper War discovered to be a talented commando, serving in their ranks for 300 years after the War before quitting. She worked as a researcher in the Citadel Science School until she met the crew of the Normandy, when they needed their help decoding a transmission of a possible terrorist cell, she ended up in the mission with then, and never left after that. She is almost in her Matriarch years. She was a beautiful woman, deep blue skin with no marking, her head crest was in a darker shade of blue, however.
"Yeah, why the hell not? And besides, I'm old, I need new things to do."
John "Blackbeard" Marchal was a 56-year-old soldier, a friend of Jonathan's father and the best sniper he knew. Was assigned to the Normandy as Jonathan's request, since he was the last "family" he knew, after his parents died in the Saken incident*. Blackbeard, the nickname he got from his full black thick beard, was a tall man, not as tall as Jonathan, of course. He looked well for a man his age. He took a sip of his bear.
"We will have fun!"
"We will save people, Varn." Elora replied
"And have some fun while doing it."
Holding an enormous bottle of ryncol was Gulnaz Varn, a big, green and black colored Krogan skirmisher. There is nothing much to talk about him, some think he is the lost son of Ganar Wrang, others think he is a Krogan spy, but no one in the ship really cares. The weapon he uses is a shotgun, but he prefers to engage enemies in melee combat with the giant of a sword he sports in his back, a human would need two hands to wield it, he did with only one. He came to the Normandy as a suggestion of Wrex, Shepard accepted him.
"I'm for the surprise! Imagine the looks on their faces when they see me."
Prophet, the Geth. He chose a Soldier unit as his body, his flashlight "eye" opening and closing while he spoke. He was part of the Joint Operation and became part of the team, but he has known Rayla since she was a baby. Different from Revan, he was "naked", his armor is dark grey with red swiveling markings, the Zorah Clan markings.
"Is not like have a choice, you all would be lost without me."
Eva, the ships AI, said, in a hologram on the table. She has the appearance of a 25 years old woman, with short hair, in dress-blues.
"We are family, we are all going, and that's final."
Gabriela Santos, she looked like a scottish woman, long redhead, freckles, the likes. But she was a 23 years old Brazilian woman, born and raised on the south of the country. She was the explosives and anti-armor specialist of the team.
"And you will need me to keep your insides inside on the field."
Agatha Jäger, field medic and an extremely powerful biotic, 31 years of age. She was blond, her hair in a ponytail, blue eyes. She was part of the KSK Kommando Spezialkräfte, German Special Forces, before she came to the Normandy. She was part of the original crew before the ship was captained by Shepard.
Jonathan than look to the last person in there, a scarred Turian by the name of Titus Vakarian, stealth and CQC specialist, Shepard don't even remember when they met, the guy was in his life since he remembered.
And all this people were family to him. Shepard was the squad leader. And Rayla was his Quarian engineering specialist, dual-wielding SMG's, second in command.
Titus noticed the staring.
"What?" he said, sipping his Dextro liquor. "Is not like I'm going to sit this one out."
"You guys are the best." Rayla said.
"What she said."
"Well, guys, we have a galaxy waiting for us, so buy whatever the fuck you want, weapons, upgrades, armor, you name it. All in the council's account." Shepard declared.
"By the way, I was meaning to ask you this. How was the reunion with the council?" Blackbeard asked.
"Well," Jonathan begun. "I asked them how we would be able to reach in time, not even the hyperspace engines are fast enough for us to reach Andromeda in less than 350 years, so they told me about a Relay…"
Two days early – Citadel Tower – Private reunion room – 9AM
"The Alpha-7 Relay."
The councilors where sited in the semi-circled table, with Shepard in the straight side of the table, in front of them.
"I'm sorry councilor, the Alpha-7 Relay? I've never heard of it." Jonathan spoke, silently asking the Salarian councilor to explain, but Oracle, the Geth councilor spoke first.
"It's not a surprise that you don't, is a top-secret project after all. As you know, we only use the Relays these days to conserve fuel, we don't need then, as the hyperdrive is faster. So, Doctor Engineer Tela'Koris came to us with the idea to use a hybrid of the two technologies, a Relay that would use the Hyperdrive and eezo technologies to propel ships at many times faster than the hyperdrive could. The project was accepted, and a Relay was modified and tested. The Relay worked, safely sending a ship with full crew to one side of the galaxy to another in 25 seconds. But the Relay was damaged beyond repair. Other tests where made, trying to fix the problem, but each and every time, the Relay was broken. The project was scraped, and the files archived." The Geth explained.
"We made a call to the doctor, and she said that we can use three Relays combined to send a fleet of 1500 ships to Andromeda, and if her calculations are right, the voyage will only take 3 months." The Quarian councilor finished.
"Alright. What exactly do you want me to do when I reach Andromeda?"
"The main mission is to understand what is happening there and helping the people as you see fit." The Asari councilor answered. "When you reach there, you will be in your own, find the Pathfinders, link with the Nexus and work together from there. My mother worked, illegally, with Alec Ryder in the development of the SAM AI, you will be able to track the implants."
"And please, remember, you will be a big military force, is very obvious that the Initiative made contact with hostiles, but there is the possibility of peaceful contact as well, it will be your duty to help these people too." Spoke the Turian councilor, a military veteran turned politician.
"Understood. Now, how the fleet will work?"
"They will be divided by species, there will be a Turian, Asari, Salarian, Geth/Quarian, Human, Krogan and Rachni, each with an Admiral. Also two live ships, with scientists, researchers, the families of the ones will go and will house the greenhouses for the cultivation of food, the plan is to dismantle these ships to build the colonies." Drell councilor said.
"You will also be given a Super-Dreadnought." The Turian said, this surprised the Spartan.
"Excuse me?"
"The ship was supposed to be the new flagship of the Council fleet, but you will need it more than we do. While I'm sure that your flagship will be the Normandy, the 'Blight of the Maleficent' will be the big gun in the field."
"Thank you, councilors,"
"The departure will be in three months, you have time to prepare, and bid farewell for those that will stay." Urdnot Mordin said.
"Thank you." He said sincerely. "Anything else?"
"No. Goodbye, and good luck, Grand Admiral Jonathan Shepard."
Back to present
He finished his story, taking a long swing of his beer.
"Damn kid." Blackbeard started. "I don't need to call you Grand Admiral, right?"
"It's just a formality, just use it in official reunions and the likes."
"Well," Raven began, taking a cup of water (is not like he is drinking from it) "A toast for us and for the adventures we will take and the badys we will kill. To Andromeda!"
"To Andromeda!" they all said together.
Till the nest chapter people, to andromeda!
Extra: They all drank their drinks, except Raven who can't drink, and Prophet, who threw the water on his on face.
"Did you really…?"
"Really what?"
"Kill me." Blackbeard