Once again, thanks to Elana.S for the beta!

Green

April 11, 2172- Mindoir

Some of the old panicky feeling was starting to creep back into Andie's chest as the shuttle landed. Uncle Andrew reached over and grasped her hand, giving it a squeeze. She swallowed hard, squeezing back. This time was different, she reminded herself. She had family, she wasn't alone, and no slavers were going to attack this time. And if they did, they would no longer find her the helpless child she was two years ago. This was something she needed to do.

Today, she turned eighteen. Today she would enlist in the Alliance military, leaving her old life behind. It seemed fitting to have a new beginning on the place where her childhood had died.

Two years after the attack and this was the first time she'd been back since she'd left after being rescued by a passing Alliance patrol. Now there was a permanent garrison on Mindoir with a large Alliance symbol painted in bold blue on the top of the building. That wasn't the only change. Despite the slaver attack, Toscani appeared to have increased in size since she'd seen it last. Perhaps Colonia Affairs was making a concentrated effort to portray Mindoir as a safe, bustling colony and not the deathtrap it had been for Andie's family two years ago.

The shuttle landed on the same landing pad that she'd witnessed a shuttle explosion. She touched the back of her neck where her hair was now long enough to cover the headjack at the base of her skull. She was a strong biotic. The researchers at BioWorks had been very pleased with her progress. According to a scale of human biotic power, she nearly measured as powerful as the best L2s and at eighteen, that was more than good.

She'd grown stronger. She'd worked hard to move past the trauma of the attack and live as normally as possible. But just being back on Mindoir, smelling the same air—it made her tremble.

They walked through New Independence toward the churchyard. The town had rebuilt, though Andie couldn't help but substitute memories of old buildings for the new ones. The small town where she'd spent a lot of time as a child wasn't the same. It was as if they'd hurried away the blackened decayed husk of a body in favor of a shiny new one, but Andie could almost smell smoke in the air. Going to the churchyard wouldn't solve anything; her family would be just as dead now as they were two years ago. She didn't want to look at the forgotten burial place of all who had died, covered, no doubt, by dying grass and impersonal silk flowers. She stopped suddenly in the middle of the sidewalk, feeling sick.

"I… I don't want to do this."

Uncle Andrew put a hand on her shoulder, not saying anything, but he didn't have to. She was being that child again, avoiding something rather than facing it head on. No, she had to do this, if only for the sake of her own sanity. Inhaling a few deep, shuddering breaths, she nodded and they continued. She found herself looking down at her feet instead of ahead as they approached the church and its neighboring graveyard.

Finally, they stopped. Andie had her eyes closed, fists clenched to keep them from shaking. She couldn't do this, she needed more time—

"Andie…" said her aunt Esther in a soft voice. "Look."

Slowly, Andie raised her head and opened her eyes. Her fingers uncurled themselves to press against her mouth as tears, unbidden, ran down her cheeks. A part of the cemetery had been sectioned off with flowering shrubs that had so many blossoms on them that they looked like a giant wreath encircling the quiet graves within. An arch over the entry had words carved on the lintel:

In memory of those who died during the raid of Mindoir, 2170.

"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."

The graves weren't hidden in the dark, under concealing trees and dead grass. They were out in the open under the warm sunlight and spread with a thick carpet of green. It wasn't a place of death but of life and renewal.

For the first time since the tragedy, she was able to picture her family as they used to be instead of the bloody messes from her nightmares. Dad, tall and proud as he surveyed a golden field; Mom, intent on a lab report but also taking time for her children in the form of games and outdoor activities; Erik kicking a soccer ball to her, a laugh on his face; little Gabby puckering her lips for a goodnight kiss; and finally baby Isaac, cooing and laughing at the faces she made over his crib. They were here, and they didn't hate her for surviving, didn't hate her for being useless or helpless. Because that's what she was, despite her biotic power, despite her intentions to enter the military.

But should she give up her dream now when it seemed pointless?

No… Through her tears, Andie surveyed the graves, not just of her family, but of the many others who had died. She remembered the Einstein, the Alliance ship which had decided to check out a little blip on their communications, never dreaming it would be a slaver attack on a peaceful human colony. Because of them, she was alive and this colony had a new beginning.

Power was useless unless put to work. Andie wiped her cheeks, her heart thudding within her, not from anxiety or fear of bad memories, but with renewed purpose. She would become stronger, not to protect herself from harm but to protect those who couldn't protect themselves.