The sky cleaned up noticeably once they stepped out of the vault. SAM's report cheered the team up. Finding a spot to found the new colony outpost proved easier - until they encountered Drack singlehandedly taking on a horde of Kett.
Vetra jumped right in, taking cover behind an outcropping and waiting for the moment to fire. Cora biotic punche one of the less fiercesome kett that people started calling Chosen. Scott popped off multiple rounds into several kett before unsheathing the asari blade and cutting through any chosen foolish enough to rush him. Cora lifted one of the annointed sideways into the air exposing it to more fire. Drack let out a roar, charging and tackling an unimpressed annointed to the ground meleeing the kett to death with his warhammer.
Everyone stood back and waited for Drack to acknowledge them. Afterwards Scott ordered SAM to send the request to Addison for an outpost founded in emphasis on science.
" What if Tann tries to force a military presence there?" Vetra asked once they returned to the ship. " You are the Pathfinder but Addison is - well, she's difficult,"
Difficult failed to compare to what Scott faced. He fully expected a battle once the colonists arrived. His job just started here, and it would never end. He stuffed his face with dried cow rehydrated to barely tolerable taste. Oddly enough, the taste no longer bothered him as much it used to. " I'll have Sara romance him to agreeing with me," He replied flippantly in between bites.
Vetra crossed her arms. The debriefing reeked of optimism. Surviving and finding a home now felt possible instead of a dream. " I'll trust that Sara is capable of making Tann care,"
" Trust? Sara and Tann are practically the same person. If faced with the prospect of being taken captive and forced to reveal information, she'll put the gun to her head before exposing secrets. If she were faced with diplomatic explosion, she'd throw herself in the middle of it without hesitation,"
" Tann wouldn't take his own life,"
" No, but Tann politically spars every day," Scott leaned back in the booth. " And without his extreme measures the Nexus crew would be deeper in the hole,"
Vetra uncrossed her arms. " I'm not saying that he didn't have moments of intelligence,"
He smiled. " I know,"
She shook a talon at him. " Addison will criticise this too,"
The warning failed to deflate Scott's optimism. He cleared the skies on Eos and lived to tell the tale. That alone made his father's memory proud. Reality checked his expectations though. He wanted to stay and help the colonists before investigating the best lead they had on the vaults. A pathfinder put themselves at the mercy of the people once paths were founded. Plus he wanted a home when everything settled down. Maybe Eos could be that home.
" How many days? Liam won't tell me what he and Addison talked about," Vetra moved closer. They gained an audience - Dr. T'Perro joined them for Scott's choice in food. Scott gladly let her keep the remaining half.
Scott and Vetra counted down the days until Addison arrived with Kandros and the first colonists. Suvi and Kallo continued to send Liam and Cora out for samples from different locations. The bio lab soon sported sample jars on shelves of fauna that may or may not be edible. The weight of the responsibilities lessened a new hands moved into cultivate life and try to give them a fighting chance. The Nexus buzzed with new information giving the scientists something to study.
No doubt this big step forward rejuvenated tired spirits.
Up to the day Addison arrived Liam communicated with the director about essentials that evaded Scott's notice. Liam assessed the risk of Eos - sometimes with or without a partner. Gil refused to let him drive the Nomad although Scott's driving sent them off a cliff several times already - twice on purpose.
He submit the list to both Addison and Kandros upon their landing. Kandros put it aside for light reading later while Addison proceeded to insult Scott. Scott walked away disgusted with his leadership's choice of character. Kandros conducted his own review of the location.
" We'll start moving the older equipment over and make this a new home," Kandros assured Liam while Scott talked to Bradley about the new outpost. " Service what we can,"
" Excellent," Liam bounced from one foot to another. " " Do you - have you got a read on Addison?"
" She's happy to have something to throw at Tann," Kandros answered as expected. " And Tann's happy to send people away from the Nexus,"
" Hopefully to permanently settle," Liam voiced all of their concerns. " If not permanent, then damn near permanent,"
" Careful, Kosta. You're starting to sound like a certain director," Kandros stopped near Cora, who wanted to help with assessing the risks of the site. " Are you ready, Harper?"
Cora shook Kosta's hand. " Happy to see progress. Especially since we're waking people to build again,"
" Naturally the Pathfinder and team are the talk of the hour. I even considered requesting to join the team, then decided I already commanded an excellent team that needs me more,"
" You're a force on the Nexus. We wouldn't want to see that wasted," Cora checked her armor and recounted the ammo. Since the skies cleared, more kett visited Eos. Perhaps visiting is the wrong idea - more like attempted conquering.
Kosta watched Cora and Kandros advance toward the edges of the settlement. He already surveyed everything once and found it infuriating that they didn't trust his work. A second eye never hurt. Or a third and fourth. Surviving in Andromeda tested his pride and patience, and it certainly gave him options on what to do once the Pathfinder replaced him on the team in the future.
It wasn't long before Addison tracked him down. " I see you're broken finger healed,"
" Uh," Kosta ran his hand over his nappy hair. " I almost broke a foot yesterday when Gil almost ran over my foot,"
" Ran over?" Addison gasped.
He shrugged it off. " He was too busy testing the Nomad and I didn't hear him-"
Addison put her hand on his arm in genuine concern. " Be careful. What you collect and record is exclusive almost. I can't replace you," Truthfully he was her best in-field contact and he took many risks. Almost too many now that she recollected what she asked of him to-date.
Out of the corner of his eye, Kosta spotted Peebee help transport crates for the crew prepping the site. Likely she'd help bring old equipment to Podromos as well. Scott's fudging of paperwork permitted her in some comfort of not being discovered the Nexus as a stowaway snuck aboard the Nexus by an old 'friend'. She refused to go into too much detail about it. No one pushed, and Dr. T'Perro was thrawted at every attempt to interview Peebee and learn what kind of person the younger asari was. When side by side, Lexi interested Scott more than Peebee. Vetra teased Scott about his preference for the doctor - and his lack of complaint when Lexi gave him shots and physicals after multiple outings on Eos.
" What did you want me to investigate next? The radiation is still clinging to the surface in pockets, but Ryder doesn't have immediately plans to leave Eos just yet until the colonists are confident that they are safe and being looked after properly,"
Addison rolled her eyes. " He's a Pathfinder. Isn't his job description to 'path find'?"
" Remind me again why you haven't resigned if you're so against being a public face?" Kosta shot back curiously.
She stood angular to him, arms crossed. " My face is tired….No one is prepared for the position. And if they were, it's too hard to make a living now for me to resign it to someone who'd be fresh out of cryo,"
" What about me?"
" You?" She stared at him in shock. " You're on the Pathfinder team,"
He shrugged. " Until I can be replaced. He already has Cora, and it wouldn't be too much effort to shift Sara back onto the team,"
She seriously considered him. " You would be interested in becoming Director of Colonial Affairs?" He nodded. " Are you certain you could handle the pressure?" He nodded again, become just as frustrated with her as he was with everything else. Nothing needed to be this hard just to survive. A promise of keeping his request in mind, Addison invited him to walk with her as she got a general idea of what was going to go where. Kosta seriously invested his attention into the activities as one day he might be taking this position.
Once Addison exited Peebee's immediate area, she turned to one of the help and griped about the leadership putting on a show after they fumbled survival on the Nexus. The young then griped to her about how his mother and sister had moved from one block of colonists to another because the outpost was based on scientific pursuits and not military pursuits. The pair seemed to hit off a friendship that made the moving of supplies and equipment faster than anyone expected.
" Well would you look at that," Scott nudged Dr. T'Perro as they watched Peebee from a short distance away, obscured by brush and people and obstacles. " She's actually being social,"
" The being social part isn't what concerns me. What concerns me is that she's not committing to anything with the same sense of devotion the rest of us have to survival, or perhaps her definition of survival is different than ours," Lexi replied seriously. " Her enthusiasm and youthful spirit is appreciated nonetheless,"
Scott smiled at his favorite doctor. " I take it her living in the escape pod isn't a sign of some kind of insanity then?"
" No, but she does need an anchor. You have Sara. She has no one but her fascination with Rem-tech," Lexi smiled back. " I heard tale that they plan to create a Vortex on Eos,"
" First drinks are on me then,"
" I'll hold you to that," She walked back toward the ship to check her database of medical testing of Eos fauna. So much work to undertake, so little time.
