Mass Effect: Andromeda is owned by BioWare Montreal/Electronic Arts. Credit goes to "SpaceCowboy" for the concept.
Ruminations: Lieutenant Commander Cora Jules Harper
"Cora, I have something for you."
Lieutenant Commander Cora Jules Harper turned from her plants to see Commander Sara Elaine Ryder entering into the BioLab, a smile upon the young woman's face. That smile had been appearing more and more these past few weeks now that Eos was slowly reaching Milky Way survivability and viability standards thanks to the activation of the Remnant Vault they had discovered buried under a lake. It had been nearly two months since Habitat Seven, an enormous burden dropped onto the shoulders of a grieving daughter with little training or experience in the task that was set before her. Yet she had made it work with the help of dedicated individuals and one hell of a motivator.
"Is it a pony?" The blonde woman returned to the brunette, using Sara's joke against her as the grin grew lopsided on her youthful features, the joke having its effect. There were reasons to smile, and Cora wanted to make sure that Ryder was doing it as much as possible. She had already buried her father, and Scott hadn't woken up after nearly two months in a coma. And that was just some of the things that this former Naval Corps of Engineer Technician was dealing with.
"I promise to get you one as soon as we find one." Sara returned with Cora's response, wiggling her eyebrows up and down in amusement. Harper had only seen Sara this happy once before; planting the flag in the Fairwinds Basin where Podromos was to be located. That had been a hell of a day, clearing out a nearby Kett stronghold that threatened the area, and the Pathfinder leading her team to give the Kett an eviction notice the size of a small meteorite. It had been nine hours of grueling work clearing out the base along with the one known as Invictor, a Kett cretin with some rather unusual electromagnetic abilities. The base was left a smoldering ruin thanks to some stolen explosives from the base, and the victory had been capped off with the official groundbreaking and flag planting for the Initiative's third (and hopefully first successful) colony.
Within a week, dozens of pre-fab buildings and a dozen flights had turned the basin into an effort towards science and community, the victory turning the downhill direction the Initiative had been going down for the previous fifteen months upside down. The doubts and near-despondency that the Nexus had been suffering had taken a hard blow as Podromos was built, and then several going to Promise and Resilience to restart those efforts in the name and memory of those brave pioneers who had done their damnedest to salvage the Initiative. Some idiot had wanted to rename Promise 'Ryder' but Sara had put her foot down hard, and instead named it after the first person to set boots-on-ground; it was now Leto's Promise, named after Chief Grace Lito, both the first and last person on Promise. Resilience had been named after the last confirmed casualty, Gordanus Trenitus, and was now Trenitus' Resilience after the last Initiative member to hold back the Kett to give the others time to evacuate.
"So if it's not a pony, what is it?" The Huntress-trained woman asked as she set down her watering jug.
Sara looked a little sheepish as she pulled out what she had been hiding behind her back, Cora's eyes going wide at the sight.
It was an Alliance Offensive Firearms Initiative M-520 Crusader Magnum Load Shotgun; a weapon made for and given only to Alliance Special Forces.
"I was… in my father's room on the Hyperion," Sara began quietly, "just… going through his things, remembering the man and father he was." The daughter of Alec Clancy Ryder closed her eyes for a moment, no doubt still feeling that loss. "There was a large case that I opened up and found his weapons cache. In it were weapons for an N7; his weapons. I know that I pretty much inherited his Valkyrie and his Eagle," Sara carried those religiously, "but there were others just… gathering dust. I saw this and… Cora, I want you to have it."
"Sara, I…" Harper began, feeling that elephant return. The one that neither Sara or Scott knew about.
"Nope! Not hearing it!" The young woman declared, her tone insistent. "Cora, I have no idea why my father named me his successor. He gave me his helmet and saved my life, and for that I will forever be grateful." Her cherubic features were etched with sorrow, but they relaxed after a moment. "You spent years training for this while I was setting up Alliance Forward Stations for the Marines out in the boonies on remote rocks out in the black. You should have been the Pathfinder, and I would have made it happen if… if it didn't kill me." Harper felt a little shocked at that, not knowing that. "SAM… integrated with me when I was dying or dead. A part of my neural synapses were overcharged when he tried resuscitating me, and… he has to regulate them or it might kill me." This wasn't new news to the Pathfinder, not with the way she said it so calmly. Cora had no idea. "Despite that, you've been at my side since minute one. Anyone else would have bitched, whined, complained, grumbled, or made an ass out of themselves. Instead, you've been there for me every step of the way. I'm making all of this up as I go along… and I don't think I could have done it without you, Cora. You're my rock, my foundation. Whenever I have a question, whenever I'm afraid, whenever I want to throttle the shit out of Tann's scrawny neck, I look to you and you've never disappointed me."
"Sara…" Cora could feel her eyes burn with tears. The change in the line-of-succession had been a blow, and a hard one at that. It stung hard for the first few days, but Cora had been determined to help Sara because she knew that was what he wanted. Oh, it didn't hurt that Cora got to avoid most of the Directorate's bullshit. She wanted to throttle the shit out of Tann's scrawny neck, too.
"So I want you to carry this." Sara emphasized the Crusader Shotgun. "Because I know you have not only my back, but everyone's on TEAM PATHFINDER. Some asshole Kett decides to make himself a nuisance? Let him know your opinion with this." Ryder held out the shotgun to her, and Cora amazed herself by taking it in both hands, the heavy weapon solid and real. It wasn't like a standard shotgun or the Armali Councils' M-28 Kingfisher Objective Shotgun that she normally carried. The Crusader was lethal up to two hundred meters, firing a magnum load dense pellet packet that didn't spread with distance, but with impact, ensuring maximum accuracy and damage. It was designed to kill Krogan quickly. "Looks good on you, LC." Sara's smile returned, lopsided and real. Cora felt a twist in her heart.
Goddess, she wanted to tell Sara, but every time she built up the courage, it would flee her.
"I… thank you, Sara." Cora didn't need to be told the significance of this, of this grieving daughter giving a precious item of her deceased fathers' to someone. It was a gift of trust and comradeship, of belief and respect. This was Sara's way of honoring her, and Cora felt… touched by it.
Tell her, damn it, Cora chided herself, looking into those blue eyes that believed in her. Just… say it, Cora. Tell her so she knows that she… she isn't alone!
"S-Sara… I… I need to tell you something." Cora's throat went dry, her mouth stuffed with cotton, her heart thrumming in her bosom as ice water filled her veins. She… she had no idea how Sara would take this news. She put the shotgun down on top of the work station next to her as she looked to the young Pathfinder. "I've… I've tried so many times to tell you, and… Goddess, I keep falling short. I want you to know, but I'm afraid to tell you too. After all that was going on after Hab Seven, I just… it was just the easiest excuse to say you had more than enough going on to throw more grief your way. I should have told you, but… but I didn't know how you'd react." Goddess, she was just blathering now. "I didn't want you jumping to conclusions, and Alec… he… I know he was worried how you'd both react." That had Sara cock her head inquisitively. "Screwing this all up, but I'm going to tell you. Just… let me."
"Okay." Sara replied softly, leaning against a nearby crate, her attention on Cora. Thankfully, she wasn't pressuring the blonde woman to hurry up.
"Y-You know that your father joined the Andromeda Initiative after… after your mother passed away?" Cora asked, seeing the young woman nod her head, her face grimacing slightly. As Harper understood it, Ellen and Sara had been very close. "About six to nine months in, I joined, and your father selected me almost from the start because of my talents and skills. I was training alongside him to be the next Pathfinder for almost three years, learning from him the things he learned as Alliance Special Forces as well as getting immersed in new technologies and advanced techniques."
"He told me." Sara said softly, and for that Cora was grateful. Sara had almost been a last minute addition to the Andromeda Initiative, Alec trying to convince her to join without telling her everything. The young woman had waited for her enlistment to expire before coming on nearly three weeks before departure. Harper didn't even really know what Sara knew before leaving other than the basics about the Initiative.
"Sara…" The pink elephant tramped right into the room and sat right in the middle of it. "Sara… your father and I were… very close."
Sara blinked. Blinked again. Her head drooped slightly as her jaw dropped to her collarbone.
"As in…?" The young woman asked, shaking off the shock of it and asking in a weak voice something that she hadn't known and was coming as a complete surprise.
"We were married about a week before you and Scott arrived." The pink elephant was now dancing around the room, singing as loud as possible. Sara just looked at her in total… it was somewhere between shock, surprise, and disbelief. "Alec didn't think just dropping that on you when the two of you hadn't met me yet was really appropriate. And he also didn't want you to think or assume he had met me when your mother was alive." Cora hadn't been really thrilled with that line of reasoning at the time, but at the very least she understood why; she was about to inherit two children seven years her junior, after all. "You two were in catch-up classes, and then we left, and… and then everything went to shit and I didn't just want to plop more drama into your life when it seemed everyone else foisted their problems and bullshit on you!" Cora really wanted to wring the neck of both Tann and Addison. "I… I've never really fit anywhere until I met Alec, and I knew that marrying him would mean that his children would be my responsibility, too… and…" Cora wiped a tear from her eye as she looked everywhere but Sara. "I have no fucking idea what to do, so I did the only thing I could. I helped you shoulder that burden, that responsibility. When… when that shuttle left Hab Seven, Alec was right next to me, and I'm holding onto your hand like I'm the only thing tethering you to life, and… my heart broke, Sara. I felt like such a failure with your father dead, you dying, and Scott lying on a medical bed on the Hyperion. I had no idea what to do, and it killed me to watch you slip away before I could get to know you, before you knew." Cora wiped away another tear, that grief that she felt with Alec's passing welling up within her. She had done her fair share of weeping in private, missing the man she had fallen in love with. "I think I screwed this up. Rehearsed this a dozen times in my head and I still couldn't come up with some way to make this sound right."
Sara approached her slowly, and the Pathfinders' arms gently went around her as Sara Elaine Ryder held her tightly.
"Thank you for telling me." The brunette woman whispered, the shorter woman placing her head on Cora's shoulder. "Kinda wish you told me earlier, but I do understand. It's… a lot."
"Yeah." Cora found herself holding Sara, too. "I barely remember my own family growing up on a freighter, and… I have no idea what to do."
"You're doing it." Sara relayed, sniffling a little. "Be there for each other, good times and bad. That includes letting me be there for you, Cora." The blond woman knew what the Pathfinder was referring to; Sara had lost a father while Cora had lost a husband. They should have grieved together, supported each other properly.
"This is what family is like, Cora; this is what family is for."
And in the BioLab, Cora let herself grieve for all the things she held within, held in the arms of the Pathfinder. Despite the hardships, the toils, the problems, the aches and pains of combat and the struggles of finding a means to have them survive in such a vicious frontier, Cora found peace.
AISS-2527 Tempest (AIV-1), Voeld Orbit, Nol System, Heleus Cluster, M31 Andromeda, June 24, 2819 CE/Day 532 Nexus Arrival
Lieutenant Commander Cora Dominique Harper felt her heart plummet at the news.
The Huntress-trained woman stood upon the bridge of the Andromeda Initiative Survey Ship named the Tempest, her hands on the podium in front of her as she felt her gaze fall upon the planet below her, the whiteness of it almost blinding in the light of Nol from the snow and cloud cover that covered the planet that was in the grips of an ice age. It looked nothing like the pictures captured through Mass Relay lensing that the Initiative had received six hundred years prior, the images themselves six hundred years old due to distance despite the technologies and curving of light that the Geth-acquired technology had produced. Habitat Six had been viewed as a life-sustaining and temperate world lush with vegetation and containing lakes and seas, even an ocean! Now the planet was completely covered over with snow and ice, a frozen reminder of all that had changed from those promising pictures to today.
"How soon can we mount a retrieval mission, Liam?" Cora asked via the ships' communication protocol device, the cryptographic protocols to dissuade outside listeners handled by Simulated Artificial Matrix, known as SAM, the Initiative Artificial Intelligence.
"All the shuttles are out on other missions, and communications are dicey in this weather." Lieutenant Liam Gary Kosta replied through the vox, the sounds of the very weather he was talking about bleeding through his transmitter. The Tempest was currently in orbit, in geosynchronous orbit with Techiix to act as a overwatch for any Kett air support and activity, its sensors tuned in to spot any shuttle activity from the Kett Tactical Operating Command (what they called the K-TOC) or any one of the myriad bases and outposts littering the surface. They were also on 'space watch' as well for any extraplanetary efforts, such as reinforcements, resupplies, or (Goddess hopefully not!) the Kett Fleet coming in to smash the Angara Resistance. "We literally just got back ourselves, but the hanger's empty, Cora. All the buggy's are gone, too."
"The shuttle you were on?" She only had the basic details; missiles from an unknown attacker had struck Liam's shuttle, damaging it. He only assumed that the same had happened to the other shuttle.
"Repair estimate is six to fifteen hours, depending if they can find compatible parts." The former cop and HUST-1 member replied with some disgust. "I don't even know if Techiix can repair it. All the best mechanics and tools are at the HQ, and this thing literally died on us about ten meters from landing. It's not going anywhere for some time."
"Fuck." The ND-1 NOMAD was currently west of Techiix, Pelessaria B'Sayle and Nakmor Drack investigating possible Remnant locations with Kett presence attached to them, as well as a small team of Angaran Heskaarl Special Forces Operatives. With all they were learning about Peebee's so-called 'RemTech' and the revelations that they all had learned at the Kett Exaltation Facility, no one wanted to see the Kett figure out any kind of technological advantage from Remnant Technology. They were a race of parasites, once one got right down to it. They stole genetics, stole people, stole technology, stole planets. They were an ever-growing carnivorous threat that consumed all in their path in the name of 'perfection' and 'superiority'. The very few times the Kett ever spoke to anyone, the tone of their disdain for anything else other than themselves dripped with scorn at their 'genetic impurities' and 'biological flaws'. Sara had said something earlier that had Cora's heart nearly stop in her chest when the Pathfinder noted that while the Kett were in fact taking and 'converting' Angara into Kett ranks, the Kett hadn't had Angara in the fold when they first arrive.
That meant somewhere out in the Andromeda Galaxy, there were other races that were being oppressed and 'exalted', possibly bred to create more Kett soldiers. That had Harpers' soul quake at the thought of an entire race subjugated, enough of a population kept alive to breed more children so the Kett could have more cannon-fodder.
Sara said she believed that was why Aya hadn't been 'discovered', while the Resistance was left to survive, Cora thought to herself, shuddering unconsciously. She thought that the Angara were at the numbers they're at now so they can continue to have children. Seventy years is a long time to take to defeat a foe. Especially when the Angara is as technologically-inferior in every way.
Is this why the Nexus hasn't been attacked?
Cora shook off the thought; she had more immediately pressing concerns.
"So there's literally no way we can have someone go out there and search for their shuttle?" Cora asked, frowning. SAM had already informed her that he had lost communications with the Pathfinder some thirty minutes prior, reasoning that the QEC Communication Relay in Shuttle Two had been damaged. Without it, they couldn't talk to Commander Sara Elaine Ryder. What was worse was that they wouldn't be able to locate her either.
The Pathfinder was essentially lost. And they couldn't just go out and find her.
"Jallo," Cora looked over to the Tempests' pilot, Flight Officer Jallo Kath, "disengage us from geosynch orbit and prepare for reentry. Liam? I'm going to need the best-guess coordinates you have to get me as close as possible to the point of attack. If we can get within a few kilometers, we might be able to establish a connection with Sara and retrieve those who might have survived." Oh Goddess, please let them be alive!, Cora thought, remembering all too well a shuttle ride in which she held the hand of a dying Sara Elaine Ryder, the interior of her fathers' helmet stained and spattered with blood due to the toxicity of Habitat Seven's environment and atmosphere. Breathing argon and xenon would do that. Never had Cora felt so helpless as she did on that shuttle ride, holding onto Sara's hand while kneeling beside the body of Captain Alec Clancy Ryder, a peaceful look upon the man who had given his helmet and his life for the sake of his daughter. He had died without regret, and Cora had prayed that his sacrifice wouldn't be in vain as Sara's heart stopped while Doctor Harry Carlyle fought to revive her while they left Hab Seven.
Never again.
Sara, despite being a twenty-two year old young woman whose experiences ranged towards building and setting up pre-fabricated buildings and resources for the Systems Alliance Corps of Engineers and a few shootouts involving local wildlife and scavengers back in the Milky Way, had really stepped up to a plate that was never meant to be hers. Both her and her twin brother, Scott Michael Ryder, had been utterly underutilized in the Military; Sara setting up tents and generators while Scott, a Systems Alliance Marine, stood Watch on a Cruiser guarding a Relay in a system where nothing happened even in the depths of the Geth War. This untested, untried, unproven, and certainly unqualified kid had a very large mantle placed upon her shoulders on the wake of her father's sacrifice, basically having every problem the Nexus had dropped on her lap while being told nobody expected much out of her. Somehow, Sara confounded them all, pulling victory after victory on Habitat One, known as Eos. Excursions for resources, clean water, against the Kett, into Remnant outpost and structures, and the grand finale of activating an ancient terraforming machine to raise Eos' atmosphere, environment, and viability towards habitable status. Cora remembered the day Sara had planted the flag on the spot that would later be known as Podromos, bringing out the entire crew of the Tempest for a group photo-op, her beaming face saying it all; success over adversity. All the dangers, threats, and in no small part outrunning a gigantic broiling death cloud, had accumulated into a feeling that, despite all the problems, they could make it work. There were a dozen smaller outposts as well as some independent efforts dotting Eos with Podromos as the hub. Their victory, their efforts, their triumph now populated with people eager to make it work.
Sara had made that happen; she had proven herself the Pathfinder.
And now she was missing; Pathfinder Down.
Cora knew what to do. Sara was smart enough to plan what to do in the event of her demise, not willing to have a repeat of what happened to her when her father passed away. With battles against the Kett nearly an everyday thing, Commander Ryder had not only made a clear chain-of-command and line-of-succession, but also made sure that her second-in-command, Cora, was with her at every meeting, every discussion, and every decision. Sara had become the Pathfinder and had been utterly flummoxed at the thought that not only did she not have any idea how to do her new job, there was barely any indication where to go or what to do. Cora had been just as stupefied, realizing that half of being a Pathfinder was doing things on the fly, but when a hundred thousand lives were on the line and none of the garden worlds panned out, 'on the fly' sounded really rash and reckless. So Sara had gotten Cora and Liam together and picked their brains; one was a former Huntress and a trained Pathfinder, and the other a former cop and search and rescue specialist. Those were handy skills, and Ryder had come up with a plan on how to restore the Initiative one piece at a time. Oh, the plan had changed a dozen times over, of course, with the discovery of RemTech, the Kett presence on Eos, the conditions of Eos, and the utter uselessness of the Nexus Directorate. But there was a plan, and there were contingencies in place.
"SAM, can you bring up contingency plan 'Broken Compass' on my screen?" Harper asked the Artificial Intelligence, knowing the contingency plan had been revised a few times, and then authorizations codes on the bottom for Cora to act as Pathfinder for the time being. There was also a laundry list of directives pertaining to the Directorate in case things happened. The small Haptic screen produced a holographic image of the plan as the Tempest left its station and headed towards the planet, Cora knowing that it would be at least twenty minutes before they would reach Techiix. The whole area of the planet was covered with clouds from the Class II blizzard going on, bringing temperatures to the high negative forties while winds racked at eighty kilometers and hour. If the shuttle were reasonably intact, it could be used as a shelter. And each of the shuttles had been carrying Angaran heating units in case rescued prisoners were in danger of going dark or just to comfort them from their former imprisonment. Heat and shelter would go a long way towards survivability. "Doctor, I need a full meteorological analysis on this storm and everything for the next Voldian day and a half." Harper told Doctor Suvi Katy Anwar, who was already nodding. "Jallo, we're going to head to Techiix to pick up Liam and then retrace the flight path of Shuttle One back to the sight of the attack. It is very possible hat they could have flown off-course severely, but chances are they're going to be either at the initial attack sight or somewhere in between it and Techiix."
"I can pull up topographical images to aid us." The Salarian pilot replied, Cora nodding in agreement. "We will be buffeted by that storm worse than the shuttles. We are larger, heavier, and more subjected to the wind. I recommend finding likely landing spots for a more tactical search. This environment will not grant us any favors."
"True." Cora grimaced at that, though Kallo was absolutely correct. The Tempest was meant for space flight, surveying planets, and shuttling personnel to the ground. Flying above the ground at a low altitude with a small blizzaricane was not what it was made for. But it was the only vehicle available, and the Lieutenant Commander wasn't about to let Sara, Vetra, and their three Angaran members sit in a frozen shuttle huddling in the cold just because things were a little dicey. Kallo had a point; a ground search would likely yield better results even if it were slower. This is where Liam would shine, his experiences with the Heavy Urban Search-Terrain 1 giving him the necessary experiences to make better decisions.
Especially when every minute counted.
"Doctor Anwar?"
"Yes, LC?" Months serving together had military discipline amongst all the crew, even Drack and Peebee. It was a fairly relaxed standard, but it was still there. Every member was valuable, and would be shown the proper respect and dignity, as each of them had proven themselves a hundred times over. First name basis was off-shift. This wasn't one of those times. Every minute and every effort counted.
"I'm going to need a countdown." Cora looked to the Finnish astrophysicist, who looked at her with concern, knowing exactly what Harper was asking for and what it meant. Suvi turned to her station and somberly typed in a few keystrokes over her Haptic Interface Device and a holographic timer was put upon the viewer of the Tempest, high and center.
Time To Sundown: 6h, 41m, 37s.
Author's Notes: Countdowns are never good things unless its for New Years.
I used some of the RL personnel to flesh out names; Katy Townsend for Suvi Anwar's middle name, as well as her birth country for Suvi (Suvi is a common Finnish name, and means 'Summer' in that language, and Katy is Finnish and her accent used for Suvi), Gary Carr for Liam Kosta's, and Jules de Jongh for Cora Harper.
I mention that Cora is armed with a M-28 Shotgun, naming it 'the Kingfisher'. This is her canon weapon, though Ryder nor the MP characters can obtain it. It can also be found in the hands of Sarissa Theris and Vederia Damali, both potential Asari Pathfinders carrying this. Considering Cora's history, I make it an Asari-oriented shotgun. Because of this, I gave it the name of the North American Belted Kingfisher; a seabird that plucks fish out of the waters in line with an aquadically-evolved species.
The Alliance Offensive Firearm Initiative is actually a canon thing; some of the better pistols and weapons through the Alliance started here first (I believe you can find it in the M-3 Predator Codex and the M-99 Sabre Codex). In "Of Lions And Angels", I make the AOFI the Alliance R+D department in which the N7 weapons and some of the better ones (such as the Sabre) tagged with the 'AOFI' manufacturer. So the Crusader and other N-weapons will be made by this R+D lab instead of a common manufacturer (like Kassa Fabrications).