Mass Effect: The Andromeda Initiative

The relay activated with a dull thud, as the bulk of the Beseria bounded through it.

Here they were, relay E-12, the one closest to your destination in Andromeda...relatively speaking and where your journey would begin. The last Mass Relay you and everyone aboard were ever likely to go through.

It lent a strange finality to the act in your opinion.

Captain Jamai Kulvardis's four eyes glaring down at his bridge crew with steely concentration, alert for any potential issues that may arise, continuing to bark orders as they went.

"Take us towards the system, edge and start to warm up the ODSY Drives. Triple check everything then head to your cryobays. We will not screw this up before we've even left the Way."

You leave him to it, you're many things, but a ship commander you are not and Jamai is one of the best in the business. No you've got other things to worry about. There are hundreds of thousands of sentients on this ark alone. Too many to run in depth background checks on all of them despite your best efforts and having worked with teams of at most a hundred or so people for most of your career that alone makes you nervous. Then there's "your" world. A-06 being its current name.

As far as the scanners could tell it was a giant ball of rock and the one low fidelity scan you got indicated mountains. Yes it was incredible that you'd gotten that from 2.537 million light years away, but you were a greedy man. You wanted to know everything in advance!

Of and lets not forget the ancient metal death monsters lurking in the void that may just decide to kill you all for shits and giggles.

Yeah can't forget those either.

The door opened suddenly, but you remained calm. You'd only given two people the ability to access your office freely. "Brooding are we?" Liazin rolled her eyes as she took one of the seats in front of your desk, seemingly deciding not to put her feet up for now as you nodded. No point denying the truth. "Just wondering if I've done all I can?"

"Can you improve an ODSY Drive core in the next" she looked at her omnitool the time app flashing up rapidly. "Two hours?"

"No of course not."

"Then come with me. Us Pathfinders organised a little party over the comms. Just us and the other Directors. One last kowpow before we leave the Way forever." She held up a hand, biotic energies flaring around it menacingly, your entire desk and chair starting to pick up off the floor, while her eyes sparkled with amusement. "Don't make me drag you out."

"Hey I've got something I need to do first, don't go all biotic goddess on me just yet!" Even pushing with all your weight you weren't able to impact her field, but she lowered you down, as you adjusted your now somewhat ruffled suit as she looked curiously at you.

"Ok I've not known you for long, buuuut, you've never left anything to the last minute before? In fact you generally finish things before anyone else knows they even want you to do them. What could possibly be left?"

You turn your pad around, showing her the information detailed on the screen. Most of it was over your head, but "Simply put the Arks have 600 years of flying through the void hopefully doing nothing, but what the ODSY needs them to do to survive. That doesn't take much in the way of computer power, but we need them active anyway so."

"Ah Director Krisha's idea? Let the computers smash their heads against a problem until we wake up again."

She pushed down the list of proposed ideas, humming slightly as the various concepts flew by, biting at the inside of her cheek. She seemed to do that when she was considering something. "Mmm...OK I see why you left it till later. But choose quickly we're running out of time." She snorted leaning back in her chair. "Which is ridiculous considering we're about to be napping for 600 years give or take."

Reaching over and taking back your pad, you nodded in agreement, a small smile crossing your face as you went to the list you had decided were your front runners.

Still you could only choose one, so you picked

[] Medical Advances: Research into both general medical technology and more specific problems like the genophage and Keprel syndrome.
[] Environmental Adaptation: Technologies designed to aid in the colonisation of new worlds, such as atmosphere filters.
[] Scanning and Surveillance: Technologies designed to aid in locating resources, people or investigating scientific anomalies.
[] Biotics: Always a complex subject getting a better idea of biotics in general could have useful side effects.
[] Psychology: Seperated from everything in a whole new galaxy. Even lacking knowledge of the Reapers this is going to mentally compromising and new simulations and data may help to preempt this.
[] Resource extraction: With luck you are going into a gold mine, so new refining and manufacturing capabilities will be useful.
[] Efficiency: Probably the most boring, but most practical option. You will be going into the unknown lacking in equipment and infrastructure, getting the most out of what you have is essential.

At Liazin's expecting expression you put the pad down and stood to your feet, pausing only to grab one of the bottles of brandy you had in your secret drinks cabinet. The pair of you walked to the now deserted bridge in companionable silence, drinking in the air of anticipation that seemed to have soaked into the Ark. Only a few minutes ago this place had been bustling with eager sentients preparing to make the grandest voyage in galactic history. Now there was no one, just a single holo table, beeping repeatedly.

With a flair of biotics a pair of chairs flew over your head as you accepted the call, Miss Garson appearing in a flash of orange tinted light, holding a small glass filled with amber liquid in her hand.

"Ah Carius good you could make it. The others are...ah here they come."

With flashes of their own the other Directors and Pathfinders appeared, each carrying their own beverages, crying out greetings to one another.

All of you were here, no staff or aids. Just you and the pathfinders.

Proud Director Voi-Tan the Volus standing straight backed next to the massive ancient Uska Brolk, her goodbyes said to her father and home as she went to found the new Andromeda Clan.

Hyperactive Director Linish, the Salarian practically leaving her seat as the patient Elcor wanderer Ixola sat next to her in silence, yet listening intently as her stream of consciousness continued to flow.

Idealistic Director Clear Skies and Fresh Horizons the Hanar's bioluminescence tainting their image with an array of colour while her pathfinder Remy Takana chugged happily from a massive frothing mug.

Meticulous Director Krisha, the suited Quarian tapping away at her omnitool solving yet another problem for the Initiative no doubt as her Drell Pathfinder Fethiran Konous sat contemplatively, sketching this scene with their perfect memory.

Bold Director Tlischara the Elder Matriarch still as firey and enthusiastic as she was almost seven hundred years ago, her ex STG pathfinder Surkott debating the finer points of tactics as they appeared.

And of course Jian Garson, your commander and leader, sitting happily besides a weathered old Turian. A once elder spectre, Valkoris. Once mentor to Saren himself, who joined the Initiative to find his own form of redemption.

Fourteen people responsible for millions of souls adrift in the greatest ocean ever known, drinking happily around seven different tables thousands of light years distant. Enjoying a peaceful moment, before the jump to lightspeed, that seemed to last forever.

Eventually though it had to come to an end as Miss Garson stood to her feet and the rest of the conversations fell silent.

"My friends, I fear I may be a little tipsy and...oh my there is not much time left at all. I won't keep you from the deep sleep, but before we go. I want to give a toast."

She held up her glass and as one you all did the same. "We made this dream" she continued looking into each and everyone of your eyes. "This impossible, beautiful foolish dream. Each and everyone of us has done the incredible. Soon we will close our eyes and wake up in a new galaxy."

She paused as if struggling for words, but with a bit of focus you could just pick out tears in her eyes shimmering through the hologram, her next statement ever so slightly choked with emotion. "This is to you all, my dear wonderful friends."

With a single motion she drank and you all followed suit as one, feeling the harsh burn as the liquid burned down your throat, hearing a few light coughs around the holo, followed by some suppressed laughter.

"And with that over, I think yes that leaves us all just enough time to reach our cryopods." Miss Garson grinned, already starting to turn away.

"See you all in six hundred years."

With that the call ended, and you were both left in the dark with you only stretching to look at your omnitool before starting.

"Oh spirits, look at the time we really should be going."

About ten minutes left before the drives activated if his watch was any indicator, and so the two of you sprung into action moving to the heavily sealed cryo bay and entering.

There were the two pods that would be your homes going forward already set up for a Turian and an Asari and ready for you to simply enter them and let them do their work.

Feeling rather silly you stripped down to your under layer, leaving your suit behind in a sealed container before stepping in, the sensors readying themselves as Liazin did the same, as she grinned at you from across the hall.

"Try not to oversleep now!" You could feel the hiss as the doors shut and chemicals started to flood into your bloodstream, slowing down your body so it could be preserved, but you had to get something back for that one.

Your mouth was opened, your mind racing thinking of something…

And then nothing.
======================================================================

"Vital signs stable, Cryopod opening, welcome Dr Grassion." With a wretched hiss the door to the pod opened as blinding light flooded your eyes sensitive from lack of use as you staggered forward.

Somehow your skin felt simultaneously oversaturated and dehydrated at the same time which was not a fun experience as the first conscious member of the Beseria in the Andromeda Galaxy gasped and wretched on the floor. He knew he'd volunteered for the role of being the first to awaken, but did it have to feel so unpleasant?

Forcing himself to his feet, he hobbled over to the diagnostic table as a recording drone flew over to him, cataloguing his every move for posterity as he began the sollum process of reawakening the crew.

But as his mind cleared of the haze of cryosleep he started to realise that they had done it. He wouldn't have been woken unless they had gone off course or had arrived. Since it hadn't told him that they were in the wrong place...then they'd done it!

They'd done it!

======================================================================

Waking from cryosleep was probably one of the most demoralising experiences of your entire life. First you felt like you'd been barbequed and flash frozen, whilst starving and dehydrated.

Technically all these things were true aside from the barbequed part, which is why when you awoke to the medical crew you felt quite entitled to spend the first few seconds lying down and trying to remember what your body normally felt like. It gave you a chance to read over the data feeds beamed to your omnitool.

Then a blue and red face appeared over your own sporting a vicious grin.

"I thought I told you not to oversleep!" Liazin crowed with triumph as she walked away, and with a groan you forced yourself up, the doctors still assessing your vitals. You were left bitterly wondering how it was fair she managed to effectively bound out of cryosleep as if she'd had a light nap.

"I wasn't oversleeping I was just contemplating, very different things miss Pathfinder."

"I'm sure Sir Director" You could hear the implied quotations. "I'm heading to the bridge, see you soon...assuming you don't fall asleep again?" She put her chin in her palm contemplatively. "You know for someone who is usually so productive this is an odd blind spot."

You just rolled your eyes continuing to review the data, an almost indescribable feeling filling your body.

You'd survived. From what the scanners could tell the Reapers hadn't even noticed you, or if they had they'd not made a scene out of it and you'd arrived on time and in one piece.

So far everything was going fantastically and you were a few hours out from A-6...no word on anyone else, but you were one of the first to arrive so that's hardly surprising.

"Alright sir you have a clean bill of health, but we'll do the basic test just in case. Please stand up." You nod to Dr Grassion, throwing your legs over the side of the bed and with ponderous stoicism move onto your feet, shaking slightly, but ultimately upright.

The Doctor looks at you carefully, before nodding and gesturing for the door, already moving onto the next patient to be removed from Cryosleep's cruel embrace. You dress properly and then do your best to jog towards the bridge, feeling the blood pounding through your body once again as you compared the silent empty halls of the Beseria to the currently booming halls as hundreds of awoken crew go about their business with a purpose. A tiny fraction of those sleeping still, but they would wake when they had a home to enter.

At last the bridge doors opened for you, the Captain standing practically where you last saw him, glaring again on the crew like they'd committed some incomprehensible wrong on his family. But even his eyes were occasionally drawn to red blue dot Liazin was currently fixated upon.

You joined her, standing triumphantly side by side as your new home started to grow into view.

Actions

Choose 2 in any category choose 1 limited to exploration and science

Construction

Bring Her in: Move the Beseria into geosynchronous orbit above A-6 and construct basic maintenance infrastructure to keep her in working condition. Cost: 5 BI, 2 AI, 0E
Build Comms: If you want to get into contact with the rest of the Initiative you need to get moving on this fast. Cost: 5 BI, 5AI, 2E
Prepare Colony: Currently the base of your new home is sitting in neatly packaged containers waiting for the signal to begin. Cost: 10BI, 5AI, 3E
Manage Resources: You've got very little in the way of stores...it'd be best if you kept an eye on them. Cost: Nothing

Social: Currently nothing

Exploration

Explore A-6: Liazin is practically pulling at the end of her tether. Cost: 1BI
Explore A-6 system: On the other hand there is an entire solar system here as well. 1BI

Research: Currently nothing.

================================================================================================================
And here we go, first turn getting the new system tested out.

Vote in a plan for the turn, no need for that with the free research though you can include it in the plan if you want, any questions please ask me, I'll be back in around 45 minutes an hour whoop lets go!