The Tempest was amazing.

Sara spent most of the trip to Eos exploring the ship from stem to stern. She finished up in her quarters - which made her eyes widen and a gleeful smile spread over her face - and had to firmly restrain herself from skipping through the halls singing, "it's mine, it's mine, it's all miiiiine!"

For one thing, that would hardly inspire confidence in her professionalism. For another, she was pretty sure that Gil and Kallo each thought of the ship as theirs; since she couldn't do without a pilot or an engineer, she decided to admire her ship in silence and privacy.

Well, mostly in privacy. SAM was always present in her mind, and in her quarters. Lately, all he wanted to talk about was her dreams.

"I observed several dreams while you were in cryostasis, Pathfinder. I am at a loss to explain them."

Sara hoped SAM hadn't figured out eye rolls, yet. She didn't want to offend him. "Most people are at a loss to explain their dreams, SAM. That's kind of a thing with dreams - they don't make sense."

"That is not the topic on which I was seeking clarification, Pathfinder. I was referring to the fact that you had any dreams at all. Most of the Initiative volunteers referred to the time they spent in stasis as 'cryosleep' but that is not accurate. Your mind should not have been functioning at all; dreaming should have been impossible."

Sara sighed, and paused her search through the music player she'd found on a table near her bed.

"I don't know what to tell you, SAM. I don't remember dreaming; I don't remember anything." She continued, her tone growing testy despite her effort to remain detached. "And I've passed all the exams Lexi has thought to put me through, so whatever you observed, it doesn't seem to have had any lasting effect."

There was a long pause while SAM considered this. Sara went back to her music search.

"As this topic seems to be causing you distress, Pathfinder, I will refrain from inquiring further."

"Thank you, SAM."

Eos.

Sara could only admire the determination and sheer hardheadedness that had prompted the Nexus colonists to send not one, but two, groups to attempt to settle this miserable dustball of a planet.

Hot, dusty, and full of not only ket, but aggressive animals too, Sara couldn't find much to admire about the place. The Nomad was the bane of her existence, and the ironic comments from Liam and Cora only made her more determined to hit every bump and rut she could find.

On the bright side, she did find a rather spiffy sniper rifle.

And a rather snippy merc who liked to boss her around.

And a hyperactive asari.

And a grumpy krogan.

That last was actually almost as welcome as the sniper rifle. Sara loved Drack's sardonic comments and the provoking way her called her, "kid."

After two weeks on the planet, however, Sara was ready for a break. Tann had started pushing her to set up a colony as soon as the vault had been reset, but she refused to be rushed.

The ket needed to be completely dealt with, and answers found about the failures of the previous colonies before she let civilians come to this miserably hot excuse for a golden world. But that would take time, and her team was ready for a break.

So it was with vast relief, and no small amount of appreciation for the Tempest's climate control, that she watched the planet shrink into the distance before they made the jump back to Nexus.

Besides, there had been a message from Kandros waiting on her terminal, asking that she come see him before meeting with Tann.

Despite having sent a meeting request ahead, when the Tempest arrived, Sara was told that Director Tann wasn't able to see her right away. Scowling, she headed off to see Kandros instead.

"I know that look."

His wry tone and commiserating words drew a smile from her. She was more than willing to take him up - briefly - on his offer of a listening ear if she needed to vent.

Here was someone safe to talk to; he didn't expect miracles from her, he didn't look to her for leadership. If anything, they were equals, but completely outside each other's commands. Safe. It was a good feeling.

Eventually, aware that time was running short, she brought up the subject she had been dreading. He had told her to leave it alone, after all.

"So, about Nilken."

Kandros scowled. "I told you what I know about that. And that I considered it closed."

Sara held up a conciliatory hand. "I know, but I couldn't just leave it. It didn't add up. And I was right, but I don't know what to do now."

She explained what she had found on Eos, and Kandros snorted with disgust.

"So he planned to murder Chief Reynolds. He tried to murder Chief Reynolds. He thinks he did murder Chief Reynolds. And all this time, he's been swearing his innocence." Another disgusted snort. "And the only reason he is technically innocent is because he couldn't even make a shot at point blank range? He deserves to be exiled just for that."

Sara grinned, despite the seriousness of the situation. "Well, I tend to agree, especially when you add 'lied to the Pathfinder' and 'wasted my time' to the list. But Kandros, this is serious. I can't imagine Tann's going to be any use - he didn't even bother to retrieve Chief Reynolds' body. What do we do about it? You're in charge of the militia here, this affects you too."

Kandros pondered this for a moment, giving her question the full attention it deserved. Sara considered it very much to his credit that he was willing to reconsider his 'closed case' in light of the new information.

"Well, there's no good answer. And you're right, Tann's going to be covering his own tail before thinking about anything else. But here's my concern. If Nilken was willing to plan and execute a plot to murder his friend and superior because he disagreed with a command decision, what is to stop him from doing it again? He wanted to kill. He meant to kill. He tried to kill. Do you want to be responsible for assigning him to a new CO?"

Sara nodded reluctantly. "You have a point, Kandros. Alright, I'll let the sentencing stand. I'm sure Tann won't argue the point. Exile it is."

Kandros nodded, then flared his mandibles in a grin. "Maybe his aim will improve, once he needs to rely on his own skills to keep him alive."

She rolled her eyes, and was just about to reply when her omnitool pinged. Finally, Director Tann had time to see her. She sighed.

"Well, duty calls, Kandros."

"That's Tann, I take it? Better you than me, Pathfinder."

Sara laughed, and waved as she left to find Tann.