Sara Ryder has always (loved_the_stars) wrote in knowhereic, @ 2017-05-18 18:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | mass effect: canon: commander shepard, mass effect: canon: sara ryder |
Who: Commander Shepard and Pathfinder Ryder
What: Catching up in a hospital bed
Where: The Medical Area
When: Just after Shepard arrives and is rescued
Rating: Assume HIGH. Talk of character Death at the very least, violence, war, ect.
If you’d told Adeleis, even a year ago, that this was where her life would end up, no way would she have believed it. You want her to chase down giant, synthetic, boogeymen? No problem. She could do that, even when no one believed her. You want her to believe that,, after she finally gets people to listen when worlds start getting lost and it’s almost too late to do anything about it, and she runs all around the galaxy gathering allies and actually managing to beat the behemoth sonsabitches, that then she was going to end up blasted to hell and crash landing somehow in a giant floating head? Okay, maybe it wasn’t that unbelievable really. She couldn’t make heads or tails out of how it had happened, the last thing she clearly remembered was Harbinger taking a shot at her. She knew it had been close and that everyone else had been clear of the blast, she remembered that much. She even remembered dragging her broken self through the Citadel and shooting the Illusive man -- because fuck that man-robot-beast-asshole. Whatever he was, whatever he’d become, he’d tried to sell her up the river, more than once, and part of her largely blamed in for how everything had gone down at the end… She remembered Anderson. She remembered the little boy. Was it the little boy? Fuck. What she did remember though was that she’d pulled the trigger on the decision. It hadn’t been an easy choice, knowing she’d supposedly be sacrificing herself, EDI, all the Geth, and just about every heavily augmented person in the galaxy, but it was the only way. She couldn’t make the call for Synthesis and she sure as hell wasn’t going to trust that she could control the Reapers. No. After three long years, after lost friends and countless battles, destroying them was the only real choice. She’d taken her breath, raised her weapon, and she’d taught the Reapers the true price of going up against a galaxy that was sick and tired of their shit. She’d been fully prepared to die too, to let the blast, or whatever it was supposed to do, either rip her apart or shut her down. Instead, she’d crashed landed in some giant floating head in space and total strangers had taken her to the Med-Bay. Adeleis sure as hell hadn’t seen that one coming at all. It’d come as even more of a shock when it seemed that one her would be rescuers was even from her own neck of the woods and seemed familiar with her. That wasn’t a huge shock, her appointment to the Spectre program had been a huge step forward for humanity, which said nothing of that one, two, or three times she’d saved the Council from their own bad decisions and finally earned Humanity a spot on the podium beside them. And now that strange new person was coming to meet her in a hospital bed. That was...not the impression she wanted to make. Unfortunately, with her armor and BDU a mess, there wasn’t a whole lot that could be done about it. She still took a moment to try and clean herself up, to wipe down some of the excess grime from her form, and take a look over her wounds. The Omni-gel had done its job, or as best the job it could, of patching her up enough to keep her from being a mess, and she really did had to admire the Doc’s handiwork too. Still, there was no fighting it. As much as Shepard wanted to, she had to face the fact she wa stuck in the bed for the time being. God, that was annoying. She hadn’t sat still in years, not since the time she was being rebuilt from the cellular level (and don’t even ask her to explain that one) and had been largely forced to. Maybe the R&R wouldn’t be so bad though? Maybe she’d finally get a good night’s sleep -- she wasn’t counting on that -- but, either way, she was glad she had someone coming to keep her company for a little bit. If nothing else it’d take her mind off how goddamned strange today had been. Ask her before she'd found her father's secrets and she'd have put meeting Commander Shepard as a 'holy crap First Human Spectre, can you give me tips?'. But her father had left them (she'd had SAM give Scott access, he deserved to know) breadcrumbs that had made her come to some rather uncomfortable conclusions. That one message from the Turians, the one with the God awful sound, had stuck with her for ages, and had made her realize that despite Jien Garson's vision the true purpose of the Initiative wasn't to discover. It was to start again. And that knowledge had killed Garson, and whoever had been behind giving the funds had killed for it. Had put her, in some fashion, on their crosshairs. She'd been following the breadcrumbs too much to not catch attention. Spy, she was not. So now ask her and meeting the person who may, unknowingly, have tipped the dominoes for the Initiative to truly kick off was a bit different. How did you tell someone you were, in essence, 'in case you failed'? Gently, came SAM's ever helpful voice over the private channel and she rolled her eyes at him. She was blaming Liam for teaching SAM all this sass really and she was planning on telling him he was teaching her little AI brother all the bad habits. "No kidding. Really? Don't answer that." She gave with a huff. "And pipe down." She was getting looks already, talking to herself while walking through the halls of the medbay. She was already worried she might get an odd look from someone she admired. Ryder had a stain to it. She'd never minded as much as she felt Scott had, but in the face of someone even her father had offered praise for? It might get somewhat uncomfortable. Not to mention the other parts. Mostly the one about the inevitable 'I have an A.I. in my head, via an implant. I kind of need him to keep me alive.' She knew how most looked at A.I.'s. Hell her dad had gotten a dishonorable discharge over it, and with all the troubles she only half knew about that Shepard had faced there was no way of knowing how the other woman might look at A.I.'s. Or anyone else for that matter. Even in Andromeda people worried about SAM. She didn't need anyone looking at either of them as potential dangers, not until she could convince them SAM was on hers, and therefore everyone else's, side. She paused outside the door and raised her hand to knock. Once she had she stepped inside and smiled. "Commander," she offered with a nod. And then she saluted, because she may not be Alliance anymore but the woman in the bed had earned this much. And her dad would have wanted her to, so that was something. Still it was weird to see someone you really only knew through rumours and newscasts up close. And she suddenly wondered if people would do this with her. She'd given Keri the interviews and always been honest in them so would one day this would be reversed for her? Would someone walk through a door and give a sort of awed 'Pathfinder'? Suddenly that seemed a lot more realistic then she'd considered it previously. Talk about odd realizations at odd times. Still she kept the smile and closed the door behind her. Then she walked forward and extended her hand. "Sara Ryder. We didn't get too introduced before or over the network. How are you?" Adeleis honestly wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting from Ryder. The name hadn’t even been a whisper on her radar and, though she might have been able to pull something off whatever archived information was left in her omni-tool, she hadn’t. There wasn’t much of a point to it really, or not that she could figure. Ryder had zipped off for Andromeda, a project Shepard wasn’t even aware was in the works and that had said enough on its own. Couple that with the fact that, one look out the port and...and well it didn’t matter. The Reapers were done, she was alive, and this was the one person here who seemed to know a damn thing about her. “Pathfinder.” The name and salute were easy to return, even if the faint twitch at the corners of her mouth gave away the discomfort in the movement. Shepard was a marine, through and through, and pain was no excuse not to do what you knew you ought to. It was the same reason why she’d reach out for the handshake, taking it in a weaker version of her grip than she would have liked, and managed to keep it soundly firm despite her condition. “Adeleis Shepard, though it kind of seems like you knew that already.” And, in that, there was a soft kind of smile. She was used to this kind of thing and, even if she never really felt like she deserved it for what she did, there was a small part of her that always appreciated it. Well, as long as it wasn’t Conrad Verner. “Good to meet you Ryder.” Because last names...they were just habit at this stage in the game. “And thanks for coming down. I’ve no damn idea how long it’s been since I’ve sat this still for so long.” And it was clear by the look on her face, tired and uncomfortable as she was, that she was done with it. “If I wasn’t at least mildly afraid of Doctor Zigler here, I’d go AWOL.” As it was, she wouldn’t stay for more than a day or two, especially not with someone here who knew her. She had a reputation to consider and...and it didn’t help the longer she sat in this bed the more time she had to thinkabout what all she’d left behind. About who she’d left behind and… “Still say I owe you one for saving my ass.” And it was then she finally took a moment to see the other woman. People, faces, the factual information about a person, that all tended to blur for her at first. She met and dealt with so many people it had to, no matter how hard she tried to treat each person like an individual. There had just been too much to do. Ryder looked healthy at least, good shape. Obviously a soldier's build, which drew a subtle yet appreciative second look from the woman in the bed before she just chuckled in her head. Of course then it made her think of... She couldn’t do that. The Reapers were gone, they were safe, and that was enough. “So Andromeda huh? What’s that like, you know, aside from new and interesting things shooting at you all the time?” Because humor, deep down, was the easiest way to deflect her thoughts. Always had been, always would be, and now she didn’t have a C.O. to chide her about it anymore or suggest she needed evaluations. Nope, just Commander Shepard and Pathfinder Ryder. Now she could just hope one of them had come out of whatever happened with a less fucked up story. She couldn't help but smile. She was always professional in her work, always putting her best foot forward and trying really hard to live up to the expectation everyone else had of her. Still, she trusted her instincts and wore her heart on her sleeve at times. Something she felt the Angara at least had been thankful for. And she understood humor and it's uses. How often had she made jokes around her crew? How often had they made jokes? Often to disguise fears, but it had helped. At least a little. She didn't mind so much, being called Ryder. She'd been that to her crew, Sara later on and Pathfinder to even more. Sometimes she still checked to see if they meant her dad, if he'd step up behind her and nod and be, well dad, but she was getting better about that. It still hurt, always would, but now she was Ryder. At least until Scott came along because then they'd both just answer. "No problem at all," she offered genuinely. “You looked kind of worse for wear," and that was being kind, "And I figured that if it was reversed it might be nice to have a face from home. Especially in a giant floating head. Funny part is it's not even the weirdest thing I've called home." Explaining Meridian would be a treat, if not everything else. She took a seat and she knew that look. Scott had had it after he'd gotten out of the coma, and after the mess on Meridian when he'd woken up again. She was pretty sure she'd had that look too, although the whole headache and feeling like awful she'd experienced after Habitat 7 and after the Archon had turned SAM off wasn't something she exactly wanted to happen again. "She does look like she means business." it wasn't Lexi or Harry, but she knew better to argue with people who had no problem jabbing you with sharp needles. "If you got somewhere to go after, I'll be happy to show the way. If not it's not much but I at least have a couch." She didn't really know Shepard personally but if it had been anyone else from home, or honestly anyone else she'd found in a pool of blood and gore, she'd offer a couch at least. The little studio she'd gotten for herself wasn't great, or even big, but it was still big enough to offer a bit of crashing space. Her mother would come out of cryo to scold her if she'd not at least offer a bit of hospitality when she could. She shrugged at the offer of owing her. "Hey I get to tell my brother I got to help Commander Shepard. Trust me the look on his face is thanks enough." The question of Andromeda made her put things into a timeline and she nodded. "Yup. And very interesting things. Zealots who think turning other races into their own is called exaltation and we should all be so thankful for getting to be a part of them, and then mysterious bots who really do not like it when you touch their equally mysterious devices." Then she slid more into the Pathfinder and straightened in her seat. "The Initiative is based on scientific exploration. They made Arks, and found about 100,000 volunteers to join the project. The process for volunteering was long and hard and had a lot of contingencies but mostly so people realized that there wasn't any going back. The journey to Andromeda would take us 600 years, so all we knew wouldn't be there anymore. They let people know that while they'd been watching Andromeda there was no one hundred percent assurances that we'd find what we wanted. Still, Golden Worlds were located and we were put into cryo stasis for the journey. Pathfinders were created to be the tip of the spear. Individuals who were to be trained to be guides, scientists, ambassadors, and soldiers. Pathfinders were to find out if worlds were suited for habitations and to improve the viability of planets. We're the first to go into the great unknown, and make sure that the rest of the settlers can make a home." She was leaving out how SAM fit into it, but she could go into that later. "We came to Andromeda to find someone got there before us. The Golden Worlds that were supposed to be habitable weren't, one was even destroyed. And then the enemy." She brought up her arm and opened her Omni-Tool to display a picture of the Kett. "They're called Kett. The zealots," she added for extra benefit. "They don't have a way to expand on their own. No fun for them, because they lack the equipment necessary. So to add to their ranks they kidnap species and put them through a process that brainwashes them and then they add genetic manipulation to the mix to make others into Kett. They were doing that to the native species that inhabited the sector. They work weird though. They send what they call an Archon to a sector of space and he's got a Primus. The Archon isn't liable to anyone but the Senate and gets a sort of carte blanche because he is the voice of that Senate when he acts. The Archon I encountered was different. He was getting questions because he was too focused on the Remnant, and not on his actual job. So they obviously got a limit on their power, but I'm not sure on it. I killed that Archon so I'm not sure if I angered the Kett Senate or not." She gave a smile then. She pressed a button on her Omni Tool and brought up a picture of the Remnant and one of their sites. "Remnant. I have honestly zero idea what their actual purpose is. They have no info and no way of communication. They know I'm not whoever created them though, and get aggressive if you touch their sites. The Archon was fascinated by them because they can terraform planets." She paused, "And kill them, or at least their viability. The species that created the Remnant are called Jardaan and whoever they were they didn't believe in historical records. Or had them destroyed." She took a breath. "That's been my last couple of months." She lowered her arm and let out a long breath. "There's more involved though. It just gets a little complicated." “You’re not wrong about the face from home, doesn’t hurt that it’s a nice one either.” Because that was who Shepard was. Most of the world knew her as someone light hearted, someone who smiled and could always make you laugh, and someone who it seemed like the world just rolled right off. It was what she wanted people to think. It was what she’d been trained to help them think. She knew it was what the galaxy needed of her. People needed to see her as strong, capable, confident, like she didn’t rattle, but the truth of it? The truth was she rattled, and she rattled hard. It was why she didn’t sleep. It was why her hands sometimes had tremors in them. It was why she deflected most things passed her way with a joke. “Getting hit by a starship weapon? Terrible idea if you haven’t tried it. This?” She waved a hand along herself. Even covered, she knew she looked like shit. Ryder had been there. Hell, she probably had a better idea of how it had looked than Adeleis did. She’d been so wired, so wound, so ready for it to be over, that she hadn’t been thinking of how messed up she was, and that was before the explosion. “The Doc’s done a good job though. I’ll be out of here in a day or two.” That was the stubborn service-woman talking again, the one who never laid down and never quit. “Maybe you can introduce me to that Brother of yours so I don’t have to miss out on the face myself.” More of that Shepard being Shepard, sprinkling a promise of hope into an otherwise dreary situation. “I promise I’ll take you up on that couch though. Figure it’s got to be better than...I don’t even know where people sleep here. Hell, I’m just glad we’re in space…” She let her head drop back against the pillow, just for a moment. “I spent six damn months on Earth and I never once got a decent night’s sleep. Just couldn’t get used to sleeping there. There’s just that hum in space. I can’t sleep without it.” The truth wasn’t that simple, but what was? “Just promise me you don’t snore like a Krogan huh?” She offered a weak laugh, at least before the conversation took a turn for business. It was almost like a different woman was sitting in the bed from the moment Ryder had mentioned zealots and mysterious machines. Her shoulders tensed, hell everything tensed. It even grew the faintest of grimaces across her features for a moment before she scooted herself back and sat up straight so she could pay attention. All the information Ryder was throwing at her, hell even the images, looked and sounded way too similar for her taste. The Ark ships made sense but...here this woman had flown six hundred years, to the other side of the galaxy, and she’d still had to put up with the same bullshit. It wasn’t fair for Ryder to have to go through all that. Plus, did that mean her plan hadn’t... No. She knew it had. She couldn’t think like that. If she did, she’d drive herself mad. “You know, I just don’t know what it is about zealotry that makes people so damn unreasonable?” The question was delivered in her usual, dry, wit. “We had something similar though.” Her switched right back to business. “Collectors. Modified Protheans, or so we suspected. They were attacking Human colonies out in the Terminus Systems.” She didn’t need to mention that she hadn’t gone to investigate them under an Alliance banner. No one knew she worked for Cerberus here and, as far as she was concerned, she hadn’t. “They were harvesting whole colonies for conversion. Or trying to anyway. They used this really weird swarm of bugs to paralyze you too -- like giant wasps.” She made a face at Sara. “Completely unreasonable.” She paused, the corner of her mouth ticking up into a faint smirk. “Not sure about how they bred though -- thinking maybe they had the same problem as your Kett. Would explain the attitude at any rate.” “They do sound a lot like the Collectors though. They didn’t seem as ceremonial about it…but there was definitely someone calling the shots.” The fact that said someone was a skyscraper sized rogue...she didn’t even know what. Reapers weren’t robots, they weren’t really even A.I. They were just machines. Machines that fucked up everything until she’d returned the favor. “As for your Remnant?” She tried not to bristle again. “That’s not my idea of a good time.” And she wasn’t joking anymore. Touchy, if not aggressive, autonomous machines were pretty high on her list of things she did not like. The Geth were one thing, she’d been wary but they’d grown on her, but the things Sara was showing her? Those weren’t….it actually took work not to glare at the imagine. It was the kind of thing that made Adeleis want to wrap herself in a biotic field and send herself slamming into them...no matter how badly that would have hurt. It was all she could really bring herself to say about that for now. “So you’ve got these golden worlds, prime targets for long distance colonization and human expansion…” Her voice trailed and, tired as she was, it was clear to see she was working things out in her head. “It’s an off book, non-Alliance project, because I never heard of it…”It probably wasn’t Cerberus either, for the same reason. Still ticking away the details, Shepard took a shallow breath. The latter part was at least somewhat wishful thinking. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together. She knew there were people out there who believed her, the Illusive man alone was evidence of that, but she honestly hoped that ‘man’ -- thouhgh calling him that felt like a disservice to humans everywhere -- had nothing to do with it. Either way, Ryder had flown six hundred years to...if that was the case...if that… That turned her gaze over Sara into a more gentle one. “I’m sorry.” She offered, suddenly but entirely genuine. “As exciting as I’m sure it was, that couldn’t have been easy on you Sara.” The use of the first name wasn’t something she ever did idly. She was military, through and through. Last names were how you talked to everyone, unless what you had to say needed a personal touch. “And it sounds like you’ve been through hell out there.” She meant that too. She knew, all too well, how exhausting it could be trying to be everything everyone needed, and it sounded like Sara knew a lot about that herself. “Was the mission successful?” Because that part was important. “Did you find anywhere to terraform and colonize?” There was a touch of hope in her voice, that maybe, no matter what had actually happened with her plan, humans, people were still out there thriving, living, and getting to have lives. Sara was pretty sure she just got flirted with and honestly it just made her smile. Commander Shepard tells you you're pretty? You take it and run. So far Captain America was telling her, essentially, 'you're doing good sport' and Commander Shepard was going 'you're cute' and thus her month was pretty much made. The comment about the starship made her look up, "I'll try to avoid that one." She'd been hit by several blasts from the Architects, but she doubted it was anywhere near the same. That and she was still trying to theorize what an Architect actually was, and it's purpose. It could go into space, but so far as she could see it wasn't meant for that. It was just how it died. Or that was at least the current theory. She grinned, "if he shows up, you're the first person I introduce him to." After she got him to the med bay. Scott was healing but he wasn't nearly to a stage where he should be out and about. She was not above taking advantage of that one minute, or the fact that by all rights she outranked him now. "I think Cosmo has places set up, but the offer stands." She only realized after Shepard probably hadn't met Cosmo, not really. "Oh." She couldn't help but smile. "This place is run by a dog. I'm not even joking, although the going to the dog jokes are hard not to make. He's different though. Reads minds. Has more intelligence than any average dog. I don't know if you recall him. He picks you up once you land." Then she nodded, "isn't it weird? I grew up on the Citadel, so when we moved to Earth I spend weeks wondering why I couldn't sleep. My mom suggested a white noise filter after a bit. That helped." At least a little. She'd mostly been too worried to really sleep well. In the end, she'd shared a room with her mother, to be there in case Ellen would need her and to share as much time as she could. When Scott had arrived, they'd taken turns. "And I don't think anything snores like a Krogan. But no. I think the only thing is I talk in my sleep? At least according to Liam." She noted when Shepard shifted. It was interesting and she wondered what Lexi would make of it. According to the doctor, Sara wore her Pathfinder like a mask, or something she put on. Lexi had said she could tell when it happened, and that among her crew and family she was more Sara. It was odd to see that in someone else, to recognize when someone went from who they were to what they were. Still she managed to give a sound of amusement to the comparison. "That would explain so much. Maybe I should tell them about the fun stuff of life, maybe they'll stop being complete assholes." And maybe they were similar. 600 years was a long time to get anywhere. Who knew anymore really. "Remnant aren't evil. I think. Aggressive, yes, evil? I'm not sure. They don't seem to have any thought behind them, not like Geth." Of all the weird and mysterious things the Remnant were on the top of her list. It was the part of her that had loved discovering new things and figuring them out that wanted to know more, in the same context that PeeBee wanted to know more but ironically Sara wasn't in as much of a rush as PeeBee was. Sara didn't mind building on the discoveries of others, while her friend wanted to be the first. "Here's where it gets complicated. The Initiative's purpose wasn't exploration or colonization of the Andromeda system." Even here, in this place where she was pretty sure the residents of Sol and Heleus counted exactly two she looked to the door before looking back to Shepard. Garson had died for this, being extra careful wasn't going to hurt. "Someone with a hell of a lot of credits had similar conclusions as you. Something was coming, something with enough devastation that we may not see it out of it. When you spoke about what that threat was, that person heard you. Believed you. They saw how the devastation might kill us all, and then the resulting war over resources would just help that along. That's why we went into Andromeda. 100,000 people, for a new start in a way that means more than one thing. And that knowledge killed the person who started the Initiative. I only know because my dad left breadcrumbs." She sighed. "So I don't know what it means, but I believe you. I heard a recording of," she paused and shivered, "something. Something terrifying. Messages were left by someone called Liara T'Soni that built on that. You saved us. Saved me. Whatever it means; thank you. And we're alright." She said with a small smile. "Andromeda is viable. We found our home there. What you did helped in that." She gave a nod. "Figured you'd earned that." And from the reaction and look in Shepard's eyes and the things she'd been saying she'd been putting things together herself. It would be a disservice to everything Sara stood for, that Shepard had fought and bled for to not give the truth of the matter. "I don't know who funded it. Jien Garson was the one who got the Initiative started, but she'd wanted exploration on it's own and was running out of money. Someone stepped in. Someone who did not have any financial limits. Someone who had no real issue with pushing the timetable ahead. And someone who killed Garson for it. And someone who didn't mind breaking a few rules. And Laws." "And it's alright. It was hard. Still is hard. I was never trained to be a Pathfinder, my dad was. He was picked because of what he'd been doing. And why he'd gotten a dishonorable discharge." This was another complication, another part of the entire story. She was still hesitant, not wanting people to think SAM evil or liable to hurt her. "My mom got sick." Even with everything she still felt guilty. Her mother had been a pioneer in biotics and implants long before Sara was born, but even though she tried she often wondered if being a biotic hadn't made things worse. "AEND." She gave with a wince. "Dad took it the hardest of us. He designed SAM for it. It's short for Simulated Adaptive Matrix." She paused and took a deep breath. In for a penny. "SAM's an A.I. Dad thought he might help my mom, combat the disease. She got too worse, too quick. But she helped design the Pathfinder implants. Nobody's really good at all the things a Pathfinder has to be good at, but SAM can run simulations and do the calculations that a single person may not be able to do. He’s connected to more than a biotic implant is. SAM can see, sense, and feel like his Pathfinder does." She let the rest hang. She'd explain the rest of it after that bombshell had been dealt with. “Then we’re going to hope he shows up.” Shepard added easily. She knew what it felt like to be separated from her family, blood or crew, and that was when it had only been by a short jump through a Mass Relay. She tried not to think about them too much while she’d been here, but that was hard. She had to believe she’d finished it, she had to believe the war was over, that her friends and the people she cared about were safe. She’d repeated it to herself over and over, just in the course of this conversation, but she knew how important it was not to lose sight of that. If she did now, if she started thinking about all the things she’d left behind, what might be happening to them while she was stuck here, in a hospital bed? Adeleis knew she’d unravel. She knew that wouldn’t help anyone. She just had to take a breath, to set it all aside. At least there was plenty of information here to keep her distracted. “A dog?” Her landing was still so fuzzy she didn’t really know what to make of it. Nevermind a telepathic one. Still, Sara’s comment about the place going to the dogs? That got a wince-worthy chuckle out of her. “Good thing you and I are here at least then huh? If we’re going to be stuck inside a floating head in space, run by a dog, at least there’s two people here who can help things from getting too bad. Still, think I should get him a box of Milk Bones the next time I skip out to the store?” She was trying to play into the humor, to roll with Ryder’s personality. Fortunately, as it wasn’t too far from her own, that was easier than she’d been expecting. “Sometimes, the things we get used to can be good things to leave behind.” It was a bit of a shadowed, more serious, commentary than she’d meant to make. “But the hum of space? I’m glad to have that one still here. I grew up on ships, in the Fleet, never spent a whole lot of time on the ground that wasn’t mission or operations based.” It felt good to share that bit, as it seemed one more thing they had in common. “Plus, not that I have seen some amazing skies, but there’s just something about seeing the stars when you’re out in the middle of them. We had this amazing observation deck on the Normandy, bar and everything. Sometimes I’d bring the hamster up there with me. I don’t think he cared as much though.” This was...nice. While she could admit she didn’t mind the celebrity, it was nice to sit down and just...talk with someone for a change. How long had it been? The bottle of Brandy with Chakwas maybe? Was it the same with her crew, the people who looked up to her and expected her to be there? She shook her head for a moment, trying to cast off the thought. It didn’t matter how long it had been, it just mattered that it was happening now. “I can deal with sleep talking.” She added at the end, it was simple, easy. She thought, for a moment, that maybe she should warn Sara that her own sleep related problems were more intense than talking. But she decided to save that bit for later. Maybe she could stave it off anyway, go for a run...in the end, it didn’t matter. Sara had gone on to talking and Shepard was fixated on that. She listened to the talk of Remnant and actually breathed a sigh of relief at the notion that they seemed different than the Reapers. Territorial was different than outright murderous. She could handle that. It wasn’t even all that unheard of for her. It wasn’t until what Sara had gone on to say that Shepard had seemed more more alert...and also concerned. To know that she’d been heard was one thing, to know that someone had believed her, was different. She only knew of one group with that kind of belief, one man with that kind of money and the way Sara had checked the door before saying it? She obviously smelled something fishy about it too. What she’d said next though? Well that hit Shepard harder than that starship weapon had. The name alone was something to pull up a, normally reserved, sense of emotion in Adeleis. She tried not to think about Liara too much. There hadn’t been time for it after she’d died and the woman was…changed. The feelings hadn’t ever really dulled, even as she’d gotten closer to a few others over time. Again, there just hadn’t been any time for it. She didn’t let herself have time for it. There was too much at stake for things to get personal for her, too much riding on her for her decisions to get clouded because of her feelings. Maybe it was a lifetime in the military talking, maybe it was Adeleis being too afraid, she didn’t know, she didn’t really look at it… But what Ryder had said next? Adeleis Shepard couldn’t have imagined a more beautiful set of words in the whole world. They actually caused a small hitch in her chest that rose up throat and broke across her face in a bright smile. She didn’t care that it hurt, or that, for the first time in who knew how long she was having a small emotional little moment. It was worth every exhausted night, every nightmare, every awful thing she’d endured and every ounce of the pain she was in now, to know that was the outcome. “Thank you for that,” She meant it too, but was quick to quiet down so that Ryder could continue explaining things. Aside from wanting to know how things had worked out, there was still that small part of it that worried. If Andromeda teams were tied to the Illusive man, even if Shepard was pleased to know humanity survived, that all her work hadn’t been in vain, part of her was worried. She didn’t understand how all this had happened but, especially with what Ryder had just told her? There was no way Shepard couldn’t at least warn her about whatever ulterior motives might have been present. Then the other woman would finish her story and there was actually a moment where Shepard tried to summon the energy to reach out to her. She didn’t have it, not with how she was, but she wanted it all the same. She made a mental note to tuck away an I.O.U. for a hug to the other woman, but kept that thought to herself. Now wasn’t the time to interrupt with something silly, it was a time to listen. She couldn’t imagine this was a story that got shared often, especially not to someone like Shepard who had such a distinguished service career, but the tale would be met with not a single ounce of judgement, not even when the other woman had finished in full. “I’m sorry to hear about your Mother Sara.” She couldn’t really imagine what watching someone go through that was like when they were family. She’d done it with Thane, there was no way she could have refused that, and she’d said goodbye to people in her time, but none of that was the same as watching the kind of death she knew cancer would bring about. “I know that couldn’t have been easy, but if she was able to put together something that makes what you’ve done possible? Well, then I think all of humanity owes her a real debt. Everything I’d done wouldn’t amount to much if your Mom hadn’t help make distant terraforming possible.” Even if she’d beaten the Reapers, even if that was over, Sara had left to make sure humanity survived and Shepard wasn’t about to let the legacy of her Mother fade. No way. She’d tell that story herself, if she ever got out of here. “And I’m sorry about your Father. I understand the concerns regarding unshackled A.I, but I really can’t judge much. Nor do I think anyone should.” She wet her lips for a moment, trying to shake off the day a little better, to try and give the woman what comfort she could right now. “I had one on my second ship, before I’d been put back together. After we encountered a Cerberus Android on Mars, she downloaded her -- EDI, Enhanced Defense Intelligence -- consciousness into it. She was an invaluable member of my crew, same as the Geth we had on board…” She shrugged idly. “I get where people see the mistakes of the Quarian as a warning sign, but I think people take it the wrong way.” She paused, turning a curious look over at Ryder. “So how does SAM communicate that information to you? Quantum Entanglement? Or…” She paused. “You’re talking about a direct neural link?” Her mouth half-fell open. “Sara, that’s amazing.” |