No Looking Back! Repostan instead!
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Dreaming of a better Tomorrowinspired by
SpatFieya-------------------------------------
Shepard sat in the briefing room, working diligently on reports for the operation of both the
Normandy and the colony. It was boring, but necessary. He smiled, remembering his conversation this morning with Tali.
"Why do you do your work in the briefing room Shepard?" She asked as they prepared for their day. "You have a perfectly good console up here."
The commander had smirked. "If I am down in briefing, I tend to get interrupted," he answered lightly. He then sobered. "I also don't want anyone in the cabin but us; and judging by how often I do get interrupted, that could be a couple of times a day."And, as he had been anticipating, came the first interruption of the day. EDI's hologram appeared in the center of the table.
"Excuse me commander, but Jeff requests your presence on the bridge."
"Sure thing EDI," he said as he saved his place and stood. "Be right there."
As he walked to the cockpit, he smiled and greeted the crew that was on shift. Less than there was during the mission against he Collectors, of course. Back then they didn't have EDI to watch more of the mundane systems. Now less crew was required, and that let them have more people groundside.
"What did you need Joker?" Shepard asked as he stepped behind the pilot. He noticed that Miranda was there as well.
Joker brought up a feed from an external camera. "I thought you'd want to see this."
On the camera was a slightly iced over but recognizable probe. Shepard was stunned; he had not seen it outside of his schooling.
"We actually found the
Voyager?"
"Looks like Commander," Miranda said, shaking her head in surprise. "So what's the plan?"
"Commander, scans indicate that the probe would not respond well to standard recovery methods due to its age," EDI supplied.
Shepard grinned. "Ok, that means a personal touch. EDI, have Tali report to the cargo bay. I'll be there shortly."
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"So what's so important about this probe?" Tali asked as Shepard entered the bay. She noted he had on his sealed suit.
"Well, for one it is over 200 hundred years old," He replied as he checked the gear he would need. "Humans sent it out before we were sure there was anything else in the universe. We hoped, but did not know at the time."
The quarian's eyes widened. Shepard nodded. She bounced on her toes eagerly, excited to see the piece of history they were going to recover. She stopped, concerned.
"EDI said it had to be recovered by hand. Will you be okay with going out to space like this?" At Shepard's questioning glance, she blushed. "I mean, with what happened on the original
Normandy?"
His eyes closed in remembered pain. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and opened his green eyes to look over at Tali. He put a hand over hers.
"With you with me, I think I can handle it," he said softly.
After a moment, he released her hand and checked his safety harness. She did the same. It looked like they were ready.
"All set?"
At her nod, he used his free hand to grasp a railing, and watched as Tali did the same. He smacked the release, and the bay doors slid open.
Just outside the ship's mass effect field was the probe. Nodding to his partner, Shepard let go of the safety railing and jumped towards the probe. They floated over to it, their harnesses catching at the right length.
For a moment, Shepard let himself just float in space. He turned to see the
Normandy. As he did, he felt Tali reach over and grasp him, pulling him closer. He held her, and just enjoyed the feeling of tranquility. The commander let himself revel, just for a moment, in the peace of space with the one he loved.
Shepard was sure that no memories of his first death would haunt him now; he had new memories to remind him that life went on, and got better. With a sigh, he released her and turned to the probe.
The commander gingerly put his hand on the probe, honored to be touching a piece of history. With a nod, he and Tali grabbed it on either side, attaching a small cable to it. Shepard activated his comm.
"Ok EDI, bring us in."
The harnesses began to retract, and the pair, one relic in tow, were brought back into the bay. Once they were in and the probe secured, EDI reactivated a light gravity and sealed the cargo bay. As Tali released her harness, Shepard checked the probe over. Finding the object he was looking for, he pulled out a small golden disc.
He ran his hands over it. Tali walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder to steady her as she looked at it. She noticed writing on the small disc he held.
"What does it say?" She asked softly.
Shepard smiled. "It's a message. The data is old inside, but the message outside is what is important. This was sent when there was so much hope for the future."
Tali nodded, now eager to know the message. "So, what does it say?"
"This is a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours."
She smiled, and hugged her commander. "It's beautiful," she finally said.
"It is," Shepard agreed, as he wrapped his free arm around her, holding her close.
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