The first day on the job lead Sara to another daar harassed by kett patrols and raids. She gaped in horror at the ransacked homes and burned out husks of cover and congregation areas. " Part of our job is to also help with the aftermath," Prad Shan Kevas, their sniper, informed her. " Then we track down patrols,"
" How often do they raid?" Sara picked up a doll made of cloth and a blue cotton like material. She brushed the snow off of it and put it inside the strap gap of her pack.
At Techix everyone at least glanced at her once or twice. Here the wounded moved the dead and those capable picked up weapons to re-establish a perimeter of defense. The stench of burned cloth, flesh, and other unidentifiable smells mingled into an offensive odor. She wasn't aware of the tear rolling down her cheek until she felt a finger brush it away. Prad said nothing and Sara stepped forward. This she knew how to address.
The children slowly emerged into the open areas, moving rubble and running everywhere to deliver messages and orders for the adults. Sara tried to move the dead, except Viraan assigned her to guard the transport. Haddon reassigned Sara to stand guard at the highest point in the daar with an open view across snowy hills. As she settled behind the former viewing area, Saen and Prad joined her. Saen used a former storage crate now littered with bullet holes as a seat and rested the barrel of his rifle on the wall.
" I'm not religious but I feel like we should say a prayer for these people,"
" Are you asking?" Prad inquired. " Or stating?"
Sara glanced his direction. " Neither. It's just that...homes are destroyed. People were killed,"
" We are the answers to the prayers," Saen answered her scanning the grounds below. Vehicles strewn as if they'd been blown apart from above. " And we will avenge the dead,"
The daars problems added up. Yet the people rebounded with optimism. Sara gave the doll to a little girl who said she lost hers. Faced with a temporary food shortage, the daar asked for supplies from the Resistance. In the cover of night fall, the team rested in the former storehouse and woke to a cold morning. Sara shivered in the morning cold and wrapped herself in layers of cloth before donning the armor again. They set out with hopes of stopping a ket attack while the daar recovered.
Even though Sara tracked the ground via Resistance maps, it never seemed to run out in the vast whiteness occasionally dotted with kett machinery and dead bodies. They discovered the Nomad's tracks twice and spied on Scott, Peebee, and Vetra investigating a site with both kett and angara dead.
" Do you want to go back to the Tempest? No one would blame you," Viraan encouraged.
Sara shook her head at Viraan's bold faced attempt to run her off. " The Resistance always needs an extra body,"
" But you're a human who is clearly not able to withstand this cold,"
" It's called clothes," Sara climbed up and back into the winter specialized transport. She settled into her seat between Haddon and Prad. Viraan seated herself with Saen and they started back toward the daar. Two more nightfalls and Sara still had yet to do more than shoot less than ten kett on sight.
Haddon handled her a bracelet carved from small pebbles strung on a braided cord. " We all carry one. It's to remind us we're part of a society. Our leader is capable but aloof.. If all the Resistance were like him, our society would fall. You're a part of the team. We have your back as long as you have ours," She wrapped it three times around her wrist and hooked the simple clasp.
Viraan regarded her wearily from the field solar lamp they carried with the transport.
Sara smiled. " I appreciate it,"
Haddon sat next to her and opened his paste. The smell lured Sara in as it always did. She already tasted it during the first night at the daar. Once her rations ran out, she'd have no choice but to eat their food.
" Haddon, I have a question," She ate the potatoes cold. " What do the angara really think of the Initiative?"
He crossed his legs in what looked semi uncomfortable to Sara. " You are many races cooperating,"
" It wasn't always like that,"
If anyone actually shared the massive history with the angara, then they wouldn't be so ready to admire it. A long bloodied history that should have never been so bloody but inevitably is due to intelligent beings wanting to gain the upper hand at all times.
" But it is like that now," He offered her part of his meal. She refused. " And while many fear that, more admire it,"
" But you're not like most angara. Viraan dislikes me. What do people like Viraan think?"
Viraan scoffed. " You do not wish to hear my thoughts,"
Sara moved to sit across from Viraan. " But I do. I want to know what it is that I can do to make you more comfortable around me. I want an alley, not a close enemy," Prad and Saen watched with mild interest the interaction.
" You are an invader into our homes," Viraan replied bitterly. " You preach about friendship and alliance, yet cast your own into the vast space. You shun your outcasts,"
" Outcasts by definition are shunned by society. Your race shuns people too, or what do you call the people on Kadara who aren't residents at the former kett base?"
" Traitors," Prad muttered in contempt.
Sara shook her head. Part of it is the truth. Scott chose to found Podromos on science and the Nexus boosted military preparedness in response to the kett. The Nexus uprising put displaced souls into new space without knowing of a home to send them to beforehand.
" That is something I can not dispute, but have you not thought about why?" Sara stood her ground refusing to be made out a bad guy. She did not want Scott's work to be soured by someone's prejudice. " We encountered Kett on Eos and Habitat 7. We had a rough introduction to Andromeda. Politics is rough dirty. Doesn't matter the race. Your own people experienced that already,"
" My people aren't trying to take your homes. You are trying to take our homes,"
" Maybe if you weren't affected by the kett, you would think differently," Sara held out her hand. " Agree to disagree?"
Viraan glared at Sara. " You choose to care for one of the politicians,"
" If you know Tann half as well as I do -"
" Hypocrisy! To preach and ig-"
Sara's fist clenched at her side. " You want to cling to fear, but change is real. Not everything is evil. Your broad brush ignores who we are as a people. If I painted with the same brush-"
Haddon stood behind Sara while Prad behind Viraan. Both females separated before striking one another. Saen smirked. Women. Never could keep them happy.
Evfra's reports on Sara Ryder's adaptability begrudgingly forced him to admit that these 'humans' may be harder to kill than they appear to. He archived the reports for later use. His attentions focused on the kett command base. Scott Ryder uncovered codes for the command base shields. Unfortunately these same codes expired an hour ago. Interestingly enough not a peep from the kett base crossed their intel. It encouraged him to hope.
The headquarters buzzed with energy. Havarl's scientists reported an improvement of Havarl's wilderness. The Initiative's support revealed a genetic shift that allowed a rare healing plant to now thrive in New Palaav's ruins. Director Tann contacted Evfra directly to discuss trade and cooperation. Evfra deferred until the Pathfinder aided them on retrieving the Moshae.
Vehn Terev fled to Kadara. That's where Evfra hoped the Pathfinder traveled next. Initiative resources freed up his resources and a useful hand proved valuable regardless of race.
Governor Shie asked after his recent changes in roster before requesting additional supplies at the docks for merchant ships. Her attempt to cultivate society fell on a numb heart long battered by a scarred past. Nonetheless Evfra checked his supplies to see what could be spared. Whether he liked it or not she needed pacified time to time.
The general discussion among the people of Aya focused more on the newcomers than the Kett. Whether this proved to be to his benefit, Evfra held out his opinions. At least he could put more emphasis on kett presence reduction without overwhelming the people. At the best, Evfra wanted to believe the new help a relief to his tireless advances on the seemingly unstoppable enemy. He caught Avela Kjar communicating with the Pathfinder and ordered one of his best infiltrators to hack the communication.
" The shipment of arms is returned," Sohkaa Esof reported back to him. " Arrived via Commander Do Xeel,"
" The Pathfinder fails to disappoint,"
" You expected the human to keep the weapons," Sohkaa referenced the new inventory on his angaran omni-tool. " If so, why no send our own resources to claim it?"
Evfra reviewed the casualty report with heightened dissatisfaction. " We know he can trust their pathfinder to aid us. Let us not depend on it,"
The trader nodded. " Then you permit the trading of favors and goods to commence,"
" For now," Evfra permitted. " Alert me if they trade anything useful or new,"
Damned Initiative. All they needed to do was be greedy, self-centered soulless bastards. Why could they not adhere to that program? How hard was it to make his job easier protecting the angara?
At least he had Sara Ryder as a pawn. Best part was he needn't lift a finger. The kett would eventually do the killing for him. If he really wanted Sara Ryder to stick around, all he had to do was extend her an invitation into the Resistance. So far Viraan called her a useful headache. He accepted a useful headache over no volunteers.
Too late to ask what currency the people used Evfra sent Director Tann another communication. They had special teams he wanted to coordinate strike efforts with. To his surprise the male who responded appeared to be 'turian'. How did this Initiative determine who held what role if they were different species?
