Mass Effect: Andromeda is owned by BioWare Montreal/Electronic Arts. Credit goes to "SpaceCowboy" for the concept.
Ruminations: Jaal Ama Darav
Jaal Ama Darav was tinkering with his modified Lanat Sniper rifle when the door to the Tech Room in the AISS-2527 Tempest opened up to admit the short Human female Commander Sara Elaine Ryder into the vessel's Tech Room, where technological fabrication and exploitation happened for the mission that the so-called TEAM PATHFINDER had of creating a home for themselves in the so-called 'Andromeda Galaxy'. That life existed in other stars was a possibility (the Kett were from other systems far from the Local Cluster, so there was certainly that as evidence) and there was the likelihood that life existed in other galaxies as well. But for visitors to travel such spaces and distances? The feat was incredible. He sincerely wished that these 'Milky Way' visitors would be better than the Kett.
"Sorry about that conference, Jaal. First Contact can be… stressful even in the best of situations." The one they called Pathfinder said as she entered the space he had been working in, obviously having given him time to adjust and acclimate. They had just gotten over a meeting with the crew in which he had been present, and the atmosphere had been… tense. Jaal had been looking at no less than five different species of different biological configurations and capabilities, and yes the Commander had a point; First Contact could be quite stressful even when everyone was trying to be polite. As he understood it, the species known as Humanity had a First Contact War within the past couple of decades with the same species that a member who worked on this very vessel represented, the tall, spiky-looking one they called Turians. Evidently, there were a great deal of species in the Milky Way that lived under the auspices of something called a 'Council' that more or less governed over a dozen major species and twice as many minor ones without major wars or catastrophes occurring on an everyday basis. There might have been struggles and issues, but these people had learned how to live amongst one another in a fairly productive way for millennium, supposedly. Jaal… could only hope. "Is there anything that you might need or want, Mister Darav? As a member of this crew, you will be treated with equal rights and equal regards along with everyone else. There… will be hiccups, since we know so little of the Angara, but that shouldn't be an excuse."
"I am sufficiently supplied for now, Commander Ryder." Jaal replied as he set down his diagnostic tool, the sniper rifle laying next to it. He had brought a months' worth of food, several energy restoratives for himself, medical supplies, recharging tools for his weapons, a crate full of grenades, a few virashaan, and a couple of pictures of home. He had all he needed.
"Jaal, I ask more than just the basics." The strange, short creature with her skin so… fleshy yet closer to her skeleton, certainly much different than Angara. He had a hard time finding a comparison amongst the worlds the Angara once owned. "You are a member of this crew, and as its Commander, it is my job to see to the wants and needs of its personnel. That could be food, supplies, weapons, armor, even just a visit home for some reconnect time with your loved ones. I ask a lot out of my crew, and it is only fair that I return it."
"That is… good of you." Their language was so different, and the Angara had only recently gotten a complex program purchased from some exile willing to trade with Aya so that they could actually communicate with one another. There were still so many words and customs he did not know. "For now, I have all I need. If that changes, I will let you know."
"Well, if you feel the need to occupy this room, I'm just going to let you know that we're going to be partners-in-crime; I love building tech toys and combat assistant drones." Ah, the Human mouth movement that looked so much like an Angara smile, albeit their lips were shaped different. Still, it was worthy to note. "If you ever have any fun-filled ideas, come let me know. I love tinkering and building something new."
"Was this… you profession in the Milky Way?" The Angara had known of other galaxies, but much had been lost since the coming of the Scourge as well as the Kett. The 'star' that had been known as Virasol was, in fact, the nearest major galaxy to his own, half its size and populated by a great many of the species now staying upon the Tempest. The Commander had shown both Evfra De Tersheev a holographic image of the Milky Way with its many systems, species, and a few images of this… 'Citadel'; a grand space station that was the central hub to galactic civilization. The idea was… boggling.
"Yes, for the most part." The Human female replied. "In the Systems Alliance, I was an engineer, and our job was to construct whatever was needed by the Alliance and its people, be it buildings, roads, ports, power, water… I helped life." Though he was only just learning of this new species, he could sense the pride in Ryders' tone. She was a warrior who dreamed of helping people. That was something he could understand. "I thought… I thought that would be what I would be doing here in Andromeda." Her tone went soft… saddened. He looked to her as she curiously wiped at one of her eyes. "I was to be an Engineer Technician for TEAM PATHFINDER, fabricating and facilitating whatever our team needed, be it power, water, shelter, analysis machines… making the most of what we had to help carry that torch." The smile on her face wasn't one of joy. "I was… looking forward to it." Jaal thought of this. It was obvious that this Sara Ryder was the nominal leader of TEAM PATHFINDER, and that it was a position without question or supposition despite the many species and personalities that seemed to reside on the ship. He had seen them on the ramp when she had come off her ship alone, almost hysterical with their intent to defend their leader from potential death and danger. That she commanded such loyalty was notable. But something at her words suggested that she hadn't come as the leader of this expedition.
"Your crew seems… quite protective of you." The sniper said, looking to her. "Especially the one with yellow on her head and the one with dark skin." Those who had practically oozed protectiveness.
"Cora and Liam." There was that smile-that-wasn't-a-smile. "They were there when we lost our original Pathfinder on Hab Seven. On a day where everything went wrong, he saved us all. Me… twice over.
"His name was Alec Clancy Ryder. My father."
Ah, that explained much.
"Would… he be proud of what you have accomplished?" Jaal asked, thinking of his own lost father. "As I understand it, you have activated a Remnant piece of terraforming technology to manipulate a planets' ecosystem and meteorological effects to greater benefit. You have mentioned of a sustaining colony for your people as well. These sound like worthwhile accomplishments."
"He would be proud of me." The Human folded her arms across her chest, looking in another direction, obviously lost in her own thoughts. "It would have been everything he could have dreamed of; the challenges, the effort, the success, the sense of accomplishments. The difficulties would have only made him more determined, and all the better for it." The smile, this time, was a true one. "My brother would gripe at not being here. He's… in a coma, hurt during the day we arrived. I… nearly lost everything that day; my twin brother, my father, almost my own life. It's been…" she finally looked to him, her face showing her emotions, all of them at once, "rough."
"Amazing how one word can express everything at the same time." That had the Commander chuckle quietly. "Still, it is as you said, to make the most of what you need to carry that torch."
"'We', Jaal. 'We'." Commander Ryder insisted, looking him in the eyes, intent. "I know our species have just met, and we've got a lot to learn, but this is your home. I'm not letting anyone take it from you. Not ourselves, and most especially not the fucking Kett."
"You mean this?"
"I mean this." He looked the female in her eyes, and though her species was different, he did not see deceit.
Well, at least in this one.
AISS-2527 Tempest (AIV-1), The Pahenaan Plains, Voeld, Nol System, Heleus Cluster, M31 Andromeda, June 24, 2819 CE/Day 532 Nexus Arrival
Jaal Ama Darav stood in the bridge of the AISS-2527 Tempest along with Commander Khay De Qjanar and Ovfa Sjef, the three Angara already prepped and ready to go, having gone through the Human 'pre-combat checks and inspections' by Lieutenant Liam Gary Kosta, who himself had been checked by Jaal. It was a way to make sure that nothing was forgotten as well as reinforcing that everyone looked out for one another. But what all of them really wanted was to get onto the ground and begin the search for their people; Sara Elaine Ryder, Vetra Gallus Nix. San de Kjol, Irvam de Sjon, and Yalsi Avria. These were friends and comrades, and they would not be left behind without knowing their fate.
Unfortunately, they were flying into a White Out; a category fifteen hurricane, according to some Milky Way standard.
The Tempest shook and cavatated as it flew into the gusting gale-force winds as alarms shrieked from the consoles of the astronavigations that Flight Officer Kallo Jath worked upon, flying into the stor while at the same time keeping them from crashing. As he understood it, it was safer to approach from the ground than it was from space, as well as being able to locate their missing personnel would have a much greater chance of success the closer they were, the area they were searching much larger. Still, the survey ship shook and rattled with the White Out, impossible to see through the front viewports of the ship and sensor data hard to determine through the temperatures and winds.
Lieutenant Commander Cora Jules Harper stood at the Commander's Podium like she was meant to be there.
"LC! We're getting several heat signatures from the ground!" Called out Doctor Suvi Katy Anwar, her strangely-accented voice excited. "Sensors are all muddled from the storm, but SAM suggests that weight and composition is humanoid! No further clarification, I'm afraid." Jaal knew that could mean anything from Human, to Turian, to Angara, to Kett. "Five kilometers ahead in the storm."
"Winds are gusting in excess of two hundred kilometers to our starboard!" Kallo called out, struggling at keeping the space vessel at an even keel, the Tempest listing to port hard as the ship shuttered and vibrated with the storm.
"Engines are heading into the red!" Came the voice of Chief Gilbert Gethin Brodie, the Tempests' Chief of Engineering. "We can hold position for approximately another ten minutes, but heading in deeper and we're talking a few minutes, top!"
"Kallo? Get us as close to those heat signatures as possible." Harper ordered, her tone saying it all. Heat signatures could mean that whoever it was may still be alive despite the two hundred plus kilometer winds and negative seventy degrees Celsius temperatures. Jaal had no idea how low the wind chill dropped the temperature, but it was very likely whomever those signatures were were likely to die without intervention out in the open. "Team? Prep for landing and rescue operations. Go armed." Liam gave a friendly swat to Jaal's arm as the Security Officer gave him a nod of acknowledgment and readiness, neither having to say what they would do.
Kosta, a former Search and Rescue Member of HUS-T1, would go to the signatures to drag them aboard the ship if they were friendly forces. Jaal would provide security if they weren't, and give them the mercy of a round to the head. Even abandoning the Kett out in such cold and a storm such at this was… cruel. He didn't have to think long or hard to recognize that those Kett were once Angara, and they did not abandon their people. No, he would make sure they would not suffer if only for the sakes of his own conscious.
The four of them left the bridge as the Tempest rocked to starboard violently, nearly making them lose their footing as they took to the ladders to drop down to the 'Gun Deck' (which there was no vessel weaponry, but it was the traditional name of a Human vessel) as Jaal, Liam, Khay, and Ovfa marched passed the Crew Quarters and the MedBay, another jostling to the starboard slamming them into a bulkhead before they continued their way to the Cargo Bay. The groaning of metal and the clattering of small, unsecured items decorated the Cargo Bay as the vessel shuttered in the storm as another bout of turbulence sent them to the deck, a few boxes of cargo rattling in their storage nets and shelves, threatening to spill over as Jaal saw a Milky Way DataPadd clatter to the deck and slide upon the surface.
{Team, prep for hard landing}, came the Lieutenant Commander's voice over the Cargo Bay's intercom. Hard landing likely meant controlled crash. {Heat signatures are within fifty meters. SAM? Mark navigational waypoints for both the signatures and the Tempest. Estimated visibility is less than one meter.}
"We got this, Cora. No worries." Liam called out, getting a grunt of agreement from Commander Khay De Qjanar. "Okay, folks. Keep in constant communications, and don't be too tough guys; this wind can easily pick us up and carry us off." He looked to the three of them. "We're here to rescue our friends, and I like it to bloody well stay that way." Yes, there would likely be no time to save anyone else if one were to get lost, blown away, or to fall. "SAM? What's our exposure limit to the temperature outside?"
[Three minutes, forty-eight seconds until environmental life support failure], came the electronic voice of Simulated Artificial Matrix, the Artificial Intelligence known as SAM. [Recommend the use of Universal Power Cells for alternate source of heat and time expenditure]
"Well, how long will that give us?" Kosta asked.
[Another fifty-two seconds before complete environmental life support failure, Lieutenant]
"No pressure, right?" Four minutes and forty seconds in a White Out. No one said it out loud. "Stick together, head right for those signatures, grab them, and haul them right back in." All three Angara nodded, knowing that this was a dangerous rescue operation, but that they would see it through. They were already wearing the maximum amount of environmental protection gear that they could, with their power supplies fully charged and even extra power sources for the event. They would have less than five minutes to fight through a storm on foot, find the signatures, dig them out, and bring them back on board.
As Liam said, no pressure.
{Team, landing in five, four, three-}
The landing was hard, a bone-jarring force that sent everyone to the deck as a few klaxon alarms throughout the Tempest rang out in concert from the controlled crash. Jaal picked himself up from the deck, seeing Liam, Khay, and Ovfa doing the same, grimacing from the shock but seeing no real injuries.
"Bloody hell, that was a wake-up call." Kosta said, getting onto his feet. "Harper? Permission to deploy."
{Permission granted, Kosta. Good hunting}, came the reply as the four men went to the ramp as the deployment ramp alarms began to trill, the metal deck lowering down as a skin-tearing gust of wind and cloud of snow billowed in from the opening that grew larger and larger, Jaal noting that his environmentals had already activated despite being inside the Tempest, the temperature dropping rapidly. None of them waited as the deck dropped halfway down, four men walking forward into the storm and leapt off.
Right into the heart of a White Out.
Prologue: Andrea Gail
Doctor Suvi Katy Anwar sat at the Science Console as her eyes darted to not one but two countdowns, both murderous in their own right. It was the part of the operation known as TEAM PATHFINDER that she hated the most; the waiting. This wasn't like research and development, or scientific discovery and analysis at all. In a lab, one could work on something, keeping the mind and hands busy until it was time to crunch some numbers through a scientific VI to double-check the work and proofread the theories, and then move to something else whenever one needed a chemical analysis done or a DNA spectrometer reading calculated. Here, on the AISS-2527 Tempest, she could work on various analysis and theories pertaining to a great many things; the Scourge, Kett plasma direct energy weaponry and how it could be used for alternate power sources, the new meteorological events of Eos now that the Vault was pumping what Chief Brodie liked to call 'Jello-y goodness' into the air, or a dozen other research topic and papers that she had as side projects to keep her restless mind from going knackers.
That was, of course, when the team was on the vessel and they weren't flying through, around, or away from certain death. So approximately every other Monday or so.
When the Doctor had been hand-selected by none other than Captain Alec Clancy Ryder to be TEAM PATHFINDER's Science Officer, Suvi had jumped at the idea of doing some real field science instead of bunkering in some lab lightyears away from all the fun. One didn't discover new minerals and species out in a lab; no, one jumped into a hazard suit and landed on some dustball of a planet on the hopes of finding a strange new lichen or perhaps a cute little critter and start working on the naturalistics of discovery and research. As an Astrophysicist and a Molecular Biologist, Suvi could practically cover most any kind of high-grade scientific endeavor that wasn't computer-related; she never did learn how to code. When Pathfinder Alec Ryder had asked her to join, of course she had answered with the most appropriate response possible; with a Vulcan Peace Sign and the famous 'live long and prosper' as a replied. The Captain had been amused and shook her hand, welcoming her to TEAM PATHFINDER.
Now she served his daughter.
Sara Elaine Ryder was a good many things; she was almost alchemy! A wisp of a girl, bit on the short side, perpetually cute with a pair of cheeks that her own Grandmum would have called 'delightfully pinchable', smart and driven with a knack of taking two pieces of tech and slapping them together in a McGuyver fashion. She had been Cit-Born like her twin brother, raised in the Center of the Known Universe amongst the myriad cultures of a thousand worlds upon the Citadel, yet both had elected to join the Systems Alliance Military to be closer to the species they had been born to but had never really lived with. Sara had this exuberant effervescence about her that was highly infectious, a girl barely out of her teens that still had a youth's outlook on life that thought that everything was solvable, and nothing was impossible.
Surprisingly, she had a knack of proving that right time and time again.
Oh, Sara, where are you, you wee lass?
For the past hour, the crew of the Tempest (plus two ultrascary Heskaarl Special Forces Operatives) had been doing nothing else but focusing on finding the five members of Shuttle Two that had gone down in the middle of what Gil called 'Coldpocalype Now' from a missile attack from hostiles unknown. It could have been Kett, Roekaar, even Angara Resistance who saw a Kett Shuttle and fired upon it without thinking. It didn't matter in the long run. Their friends were caught in a hell blizzard that had winds at an excess of two-hundred kilometers an hour, battering their poor Survey Ship like a toy boat in the rough sea. There were only three things that Suvi was focused on; two of them were countdowns.
Time To Sundown: 5h, 34m, 21s was the first one.
Exposure Time Limit: 2m, 6s was the second one.
C'mon, boys, you can do it, Doctor Anwar thought as she kept an eye on the third thing, the thing that she had been monitoring before everything had gone knackered up. Voeld was a Garden World in the middle of an Ice Age, and the scientific data she had collected from its weather would provide assistance and usefulness for the Angara who had no meteorological advanced warning systems for storms and blizzards save the Mark One eyeball to the sky. She had been taking a crack at it for the past two weeks, and with the help of SAM, she had a good basic prediction model based on low-pressure fronts, high-pressure fronts, ionization charges, temperature ranges, wind drafts, and a dozen other microclimes, systems, and tributaries that made predicting the weather a bloody nuisance. Yet that information would help the Resistance and the Initiative, so Suvi was going to solve it. She wasn't a meteorologist, but she was good with numbers, had a team of scientists and technicians back on the Nexus to fact-check her, and one really friendly AI who loved working with her. She'd solve it.
That was the third thing; the weather.
"Commander Harper? We need to leave in the next seven minutes regardless."
Lieutenant Commander Cora Jules Harper looked from the podium that represented the Conn of the Tempest to the Finnish woman, frowning. It wasn't the cheeriest of news to deliver, but Suvi was looking at her prediction model and a time elapse. Even if she were off… no, even off would still be in the realm of very, very bad.
"Give them the time, Doctor. They'll find them." Harper said, no doubt her heart with those four brave souls sent to find another five brave souls. Suvi's heart was out there with them too in the only way she knew how; belief and faith.
"Yes, but then we need to leave." Doctor Anwar transfered her work from her station and onto the large curved pane of alumniglass that served as both the Tempests' viewport as well as an Augmented Reality Overlay, able to put up holographic details and information of whatever was in sight for ease-of-access and information. Right now, the Astrophysicist was putting up her prediction model on the ARO for the LC to see. She needed to see it. "This is us," Suvi had a minimap of the Tempests' location in relation to Voeld, along with an overview of the Category Fifteen hurricane they were currently suffering. It was easily several hundred kilometers in circumference. There was a cheerful red spot showing the Survey Ship in the grips of the storm, perhaps halfway in, and another showing Techiix, further away from the epicenter. "Here," Suvi highlighted something on the ARO, "is a massive low-pressure system moving from the south, being sucked in by the hurricane, and here," she highlighted something else, "is a massive high-pressure system from the north, being pulled in too. Generally, mixing these two things together will get you a hurricane."
"Okay, yes, but there's already a hurricane." Cora said. Suvi expected that the blond woman who had been born on a freighter, lived amongst the Asari, and never stepped once on Earth wouldn't know of this.
"Once a century, in the North Atlantic," the Doctor began, "we see this phenomenon. A hurricane pulling in several fronts to feed it, letting it gain strength and intensity. It's a rare event that's been observed and recorded four times, and every time that it's happened has always turned everything within that portion of the hemisphere into a disaster, ranging from the Eastern Seaboard of the United North American States to as far as the Northern Central European Union. I saw one as a child, and nothing could fly through it, Commander. Nothing. This storm here," Suvi gestured to the holographic display, "bares an incredible resemblance. In the next six minutes, those pressures systems are going to collide with the hurricane and turn this Category Fifteen into a Category Fifty, increasing the category by one with every passing minute. Excess of three-hundred and fifty kilometer winds with four-hundred kilometer gusts, snowfall ranging in meters per hour…"
Suvi's mouth went dry with the implication. She remembered the one she had suffered when she had been a child living in Finland.
"…they call it the Perfect Storm."
Author's Note: In the real world, the fuel of a Northern Atlantic Hurricane (which most swing for the Caribbean) and what is known as a nor'easter does not necessarily make the so-called 'Perfect Storm', though the addition of a low-pressure front and the cooler waters certainly do add. Hurricane Grace (the hurricane that was partially responsible for the 1991 Perfect Storm) ended up evolving into a tropical storm, then a cyclone, then the 'unnamed' hurricane that became the Halloween Storm, and finally dissipated by November 2. The United States Coast Guard rescued 25 people at sea from the storm, and only 13 lost their lives; 6 fishermen, 1 NYANG parajumper, 2 Staten Island boaters, a Rhodes Islander swept to sea by high waves, a Puerto Rican also swept to sea for the same reason, and a New Englander blown off a bridge by high winds to his death.
The term 'Perfect Storm' comes from Boston National Weather Service forecaster Robert Case and author Sebastian Junger.
The highest category for an Atlantic Hurricane is a Five; the Saffir-Simpson Scale indicates that is a storm with a one-minute maximum sustained winds of +157 mph/+252 kph winds. The Perfect Storm was a Category One; 90 mph/150 kph, and thankfully its severity was mostly in the mid-Atlantic, making Hurricane Bob (an earlier hurricane that year) a 'worse' storm in concerns to people as it actually made landfall while as the Perfect Storm was barely a tropical storm by the time it reached New England.
There is no Category Fifteen. Or Fifty, either. I just like having big numbers.
The prologue's name is a reference to the fishing vessel the Andrea Gail, lost at sea in the 1991 Perfect Storm. Sebastian Junger wrote the book pertaining to the events (with as much factual evidence and radio transmissions as he could) in 1997 which later spawned the movie starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg in 2000. It is estimated that the Andrea Gail and its six-man crew faced something like 60 ft/18 m waves in height; more than enough to capsize any seaborne vessel; a . Approximately three days after the worst of the storm (Oct 29-31, 1991), small wreckage and floatsum of the Gail was found washed ashore on Sable Island, Nova Scotia, approximately 162 mi/261 km west of the last reported position of the fishing vessel, approximately an hour or so before the vessel struck the heart of the storm. The Gail's Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon was recovered; a device that is generally activated by a sensor when touched by salt water, and are usually located inside a vessel so as to not be activated by sea spray or washover (when water goes over the gunwales). If an EPIRB is activated (the nautical 911), it means that either someone activated it… or the ship has been smashed by nature's fury.
None of the crew of the Gail were never recovered.
Captain William "Billy" Tyne, Jr., 37
Michael "Mikey" Moran, 36
Dale "Murph" Murphy, 30
Alfred Pierre, 32
Robert "Bobby" Shatford, 30
David "Sully" Sullivan, 29