[Book Four] Chapter 25: Departure

Chapter 25: Departure

Years had passed since Rick unofficially reached N7 and the attack on Celeste. The backlash to the mining companies had been tremendous. The only ones that didn’t take part in it and that survived the wrath of the council simply went bankrupt as they were not able to compete with YELLOW.

Jane never stopped teasing Rick with his N7 score. She had beaten him by one point after all. It was all in jest though as she saw the results and knew that if more criteria had been involved she would have been ranked second.

Project EDEN as the council chose to call it was ready to launch. In a few weeks the Cassiopeia would start its journey towards the Andromeda’s galaxy. Captained by Jane, the ship and its crew mission had multiple objectives. Find golden worlds to colonize, create a Mass Relay bridge between Andromeda and the Milky Way, collect the people of the Andromeda initiative if they could. There were also some directives about first contact with other species but that was a case by case.

With a monopoly on energy and eezo Rick had simply become the richest man in the Galaxy. He didn’t care one bit. As long as his family was well he could be creditless. Not much had changed for the family besides the children growing up with the exception of two additions. Analysse Andersson born from Jennifer and Siohban from Dorothea. It seems that with all children not needing much of a nanny anymore (a role that was already mostly taken up by Maria), seeing Jennifer have her own daughter, curiosity and wants; Dorothea asked Rick for a child too. She got it and had been happier than ever, ever since.

Arianna had finally graduated Celeste Academy with plenty of degrees and a few Phds. She had grown up to be an almost perfect copy of her mother and grandmother at her age and males and women tried to court her. Her answer had always been the same, ‘beat my daddy first’. That shut down 90% of her pursers. Then ten percent left got wrecked without any mercy. Turned out Rick had been serious when he had said that his eldest would not be making babies until she was forty. She had found out about the truth of her parents’ relationship a few years earlier when she was studying DNA and confronted them about it. After a long explanation from both Jane and Rick she accepted it without any problem. She secretly took pride in knowing that she wasn’t even born yet that she gave her mom hope and the will to live. One thing that had saddened her is hearing about her father's first marriage and how it ended. It was told by Jane as Rick still couldn’t talk about it despite having made his peace with what happened. She was horrified when out of curiosity she saw the scene on Mass Effect third season. Also by the fact that her father had tried to take his own life. She was mad at that but could understand why. She only felt more respect for him for going on after that.

It was December of 2205 and the whole family was about to celebrate Arianna’s eighteenth birthday along with her graduation. Except Arianna was every bit her father’s daughter and had sneaked into one of the small ships in the Celeste underground dock area to leave the nest and explore the Galaxy. She has been planning this for six months now and nobody knew about it. She had hacked the systems to make sure no one would find her until she was already long gone. Sadly for her, she underestimated her Father's overwhelming love and protectiveness. Just as she was about to release the ship from its restraints, she received a forced call, displayed in front of her.

“What do you think you’re doing young lady?” Jane asked with a frown on her face and her father beside her.
“Hi mom! Daddy! I…”
“Was about to leave to explore the galaxy the day of your own party, without saying a single word to anyone ” Her father said.
“Yeeeah.” she replies sheepishly.
“At least she’s an adult! She didn’t leave at sixteen leaving only a note.” the voice of her grandmother came from out of the frame.
“Or ten and leaving nothing!” That was her other grandmother’s.
“Hags should shut up and go back to their retirement home.” bite back her father earning some yell of indignation. “Anyway, you could at least have said goodbye.”
“What?! Are you mad?! She’s not leaving!” Jane protested.
“Jane, there is nothing you can do about it. Our baby girl wants to leave and she will find a way to do so.”
“I’m blaming you for that! She’s got her wildness from you! And no she’s not leaving! Ever!”
“Mom..”
“Don’t mom me, Arianna! You’re not leaving, end of discussion.”
“Don’t listen to your mother, sweetie. Go. Though it’s a shame you’re leaving on your birthday when everyone has come to celebrate it.”
“Really Daddy? Emotional manipulation?”
“Not at all. I’m just saying it’s a shame I can’t give you your present but if you don’t want to be part of the expedition leaving to explore Andromeda at the beginning of the year, then you don’t want to, nothing that I can do about it.”
“What expedition to Andromeda?” Arianna asked, curious. She knew her father just hooked her but she didn’t care.
“Well… For ten years now I’ve been working on going to Andromeda to explore. A secret project of course but council approved, supported and a bit funded. A spaceship bigger than Celeste going to Andromeda through its own Mass Relay abilities to create a bridge between the two galaxies. The whole family is supposed to be going but since you’re an adult now you can make your own decision to not go. I respect that and I’m wishing you the best as we won’t be back for a few years probably.” Rick explained.
“I… can stay… There is no rush from me leaving…” she replied tentatively. She knew she wanted to go too, the possibilities and the new things to learn were endless. She couldn’t stay there while her whole family would be enjoying that.
“No, no, it’s alright Arianna. No need to change your plan for us. It’s alright to be selfish sometimes. I wish you nothing but the best, do be careful though.”
“DADDY! I’m staying!” she said stubbornly.
“You do?”
“YES!”
“Good. Then come back home, get the spanking you deserve, apologize to everyone and let’s celebrate your birthday.” Rick said as she walked out of the frame.
“... “
“Let that be a lesson to you, young lady. You may be smarter than your dad but he’s more cunning.” Jane replied with a smirk and ended the call.

Sighing in defeat, Arianna left the ship to go back home.

____________________________________________________________

January came fast.

The day of departure to the secret base where the Cassiopeia was, Rick and everyone leaving with him to Andromeda said their goodbyes to the ones who stayed. Kahlee and of course Anderson stayed. She loved being the headmistress of Celeste Academy and wasn’t much of a traveler. Miranda and Jennifer stayed too. The former to hold the reins of the company in Rick and Tali’s absence and the latter because her wife stayed and she wasn’t interested. Garrus and Chloe stayed too (and so did their children), perfectly happy with their lives. Miranda had forbidden Abby to go as she didn’t want to have to find another assistant, though the woman stayed because her husband was more interested in teaching art. Lyn never got over her huge crush on Rick but did find herself a husband, he was one of the other CQC instructors. Each sister had their own young children and Maria had chosen to take care of them as she felt too old to go adventuring. Finally, Adam and Sandra stayed behind.

“Are you sure you don't want to come? There is plenty of space left.” Rick said to his eldest son.
“I’m sure dad. Can’t finish highschool then enlist in the navy if I leave.”

That had been Adam's dream since he was little. Joining the alliance like his mother and Aunt, serving and protecting humanity and perpetuating the Williams legacy.

“Someone has to get Sandra out of trouble too. Can’t trust anyone else to do that.” He joked and got his shoulder bumped by his little sister.
“What about you? Pumpkin?”
“Someone has to get Adam in trouble. Can’t trust anyone else to do that.” she joked back.

While the distance with Arianna with the two of them had increased over the years because of Arianna’s studies. Sandra and Adam were even closer than ever. Not like Arianna wasn’t their favorite sibling, far from it as she always took care of them, but they spend almost everyday together.

“... I’m proud of you, both of you.” Rick said as he took his children in his arms. “And I love you, so so much.”
““We love you too dad.””
“Adam… I guess you're the man of the house now. Don’t hesitate to ask advice from Anderson or Garrus, okay?”
“I will, dad.”
“Sandra…”
“I know. I’m the woman of the house.”
“Hmm… No. I was going to remind you, no boyfriend before forty.”
“DAD!”
“Just… Don’t get married without me?”
“... I can do that but I make no promises.”
“Good enough.”
“Take care of your mothers and aunts for me? And Analysse? She’ll be all alone without Siobhan. Don’t let her think for a moment that we don’t love her or that we abandoned her, okay?
“We will dad, don’t worry.” Adam replied
“...”
“...”
“...”
“Dad, you need to let go.” Adam said.
“Just… a bit more.” Rick replied and after a minute, released them from his embrace. “See you in a few years?”
““See you in a few years.”” they answered with a smile.

Turning around, he boarded the Normandy where everyone was ready to go. The ship was making the trip too, along with a few others just in case the Cassiopeia couldn’t fly anymore properly. They wouldn’t be stranded that way. He nodded towards Hilary and Joker in the cockpit as he walked down the bridge and saw a familiar face near the galaxy map. 

“Minnie? You’re part of the project too?”
“Of course. A com specialist was needed so I volunteered.”
“... Bullshit. You just want that easy game.”
“It’s been nearly twenty years and I’m still waiting for what I’m owed!”

“Alright, you’ll get it.” be replied, laughing and went to his quarters.

With the war over, the com center was not much needed anymore, so that left a lot of space to remodel. The meeting room from the time of the Collector was entirely remade into a bedroom, while the workshop/lab was expanded to allow more people to work on. The space that was used for Mordin’s lab was replaced with a break room, a smaller com room and stairs leading to the lower decks. The other biggest change was the engineering deck where a bio lab was put where Javik and Grunt’s quarters used to be. The room where Diana was installed was now used as Tali’s room. Finally the area of the eezo care had been completely modified to install a RED and a GREEN though Rick suspected EDI wanted to upgrade to a DRED.

As he entered his quarters he was surprised to not see his quarian lover there and thought that she was already in her own. Checking that everything was in order. He exited the lab to take the elevator to see Jane. He didn’t have too as when the door opened it revealed her accompanied with Jane.

“Are you done, saying goodbye?”

“Yeah…”
“It’s only for some time.” said Ashley.
“I know, it still feels wrong. How you allowed our boy to stay behind…”
“I don’t want it anymore than you do. But that’s what he wants and I respect that. I blame you for that by the way, me getting all hands off…”

Rick sighed. He was feeling uneasy about being separated from his children. Especially Analysse who was only six.

“The faster you work into bringing us back, the sooner you’ll see them again.” said Jane.
“You’re right.”
“Everyone is on board, Jane.”
“Thank you, EDI. You can tell Hilary she can go.”
“Immediately.”

The Normandy exited the underground docks of the Celeste and took the  Mass Relay to arrive in the Raheel-Leyya system in the Valhalla threshold cluster, located in the northern rim of the Milky Way. The Cassiopeia was in station mode, ready to welcome the Normandy or any other ship that would make the trip. In fact they were the very last one to dock. 

Disembarking, the whole crew made their way towards the heart of the Cassiopeia, each going to the respective location they needed to go. For Rick, Jane and Ashley it meant the Cockpit and Command room. There they found Hannah already giving instructions and doing some checks.

It had been a surprise for Rick when he learned that she was coming too. She finally told Steven that she was quitting as a councilor and getting on Project EDEN to follow her children and grandchildren. The man didn’t dare tell her no. That brought up choosing the new councilor but it was a minor inconvenience. Some members of the parliament tried to get the job but Hackett argued the results of a military officer on the councilor seat. Anderson had done a very good job to protect humanity’s interest while furthering the friendly relationship with other species. So did Hannah as she did such a good job during the war that she stayed in office for nearly twenty years afterwards. On the flip side of the coin, Udina had been a politician on the job for six months and had almost fucked up beyond repair, cooling the relationship with others species drastically while being grossely incompetent during the war and traitorous. That made the less power hungry of the senators think about it twice. In the end, on recommendation from Hannah, Admiral Ines Lindholm succeeded her. She had been at the head of the first fleet for a few years before the Reapers invasion and was of the same wavelength as Anderson concerning political ideals. That allowed Hannah to properly retire from active duty and to serve officially as a consultant on the project.

“Admiral Shepard, what’s the situation?” Jane asked.
“Jane, I’m retired, you can drop the ranks.”
“You’re just not on active duty anymore…”
“Do you call Ashley Rear-Admiral then?.”
“...”
“She got you, Skipper.”
“Anyway, everyone is accounted for and a scan of the ships showed nothing about extra passengers. Anything else from food to ships is accounted for too.”
“The systems?” Rick asked.
“All operational.”  replied EDI through the coms.

“We’re leaving in.. two hours…” She said as she watched the current time. “I’d like to have one last briefing with the departments’ head before we go.”
“Have fun.” Rick answered and started leaving before being grabbed by the arm by Ashley and Jane.
“That means, you as the head of the expedition must be present.” his wife said.
“Jane is the head of the expedition.” he replied with a frown.
“Oh, I’m not. I’m leading it, true but I’m not the Big Boss. That’s you, since you own most of everything here.”
“But…”
“No buts. You’re taking responsibility for this project.”
“How will that work if there is no one here to…”
“You did fine with the company did you not? Tali and you are the head honchos and I’m your Miranda. Besides, if you're not the big boss you’re still head of the science department and before you name her, Tali is the head mechanic.”
“...What did I ever do to you for such cruelty?” he whined, making his wife, sister, mother and even EDI through the coms snort.
“If I start now we’ll still be here in twenty five years.”
“And that’s for Jane alone. I’d have my turn too, so another twenty five years at the very least.”

Rick turned to his mother but she suddenly had found something very interesting on her datapad.

“Okay…”

With resignation he walked towards the briefing room, still being held by Ashley and Jane, just in case he did a runner. Ten minutes later and every head of departments was present. They were eight in all. Military, security, science, medical, mechanic, food, people, exploration.

“Alright, since it’s a briefing, I’ll be brief.” Rick said but was immediately interrupted by Volar Aredis, the turian in charge of security.
“I’m sorry but isn’t the Commander in charge here?”
“I’m…”
“She’s not. She’s leading the expedition but I’m the Big Boss. I’m the one who gives the orders. Why? Because around 70% of it has been personally funded by me. The Commander is… my XO for a lack of better word for her designation. She was also used as the poster girl for the project to every government so I understand the confusion. Do any of you have a problem with that? If you do, say it now, later would be too late.”
“No, sir. I have none. I just wanted to be clear on the hierarchy. It’s a turian thing.”

The others nodded in acknowledgement. They knew Rick from the show about the war and if not by his reputation alone. The man was the Co-CEO of the most lucrative enterprise in the Galaxy after all, chances are he knows how to lead a ship. Figuratively and literally.

“Good. Now a bit of a reminder of how things work. You each have your own directives. If doing your job needs you to cross the line into any other department's territory, something that most likely will happen considering how close some departments are, you contact your fellow head of department and give a call to Jane, over there. She’ll oversee what’s happening. I don’t want any of you butting heads and having an imaginary pissing contest on who gets to lead or what not in case of overlapping. We’ll have a short meeting every seven days to see how things are going. A big one every month. Any questions?”

There were none.

“Now, since the military department is pretty much useless during our journey, I expect them to work in concert with security who will be in charge until we arrive in Andromeda or if we somehow get under attack. In the first case Ashley, you’re free to be independent from security, in the later case Security will defer to the Military. Food and people, you’re free to ask a fellow head for additional people to help in your task during those two months. Send a formal demand to Jane so we know who is where and doing what. I want everyone to be in shape and healthy so at least twice a week every member of this ship should exercise physically for half an hour. There are enough facilities for everyone to evacuate stress, let's use them. I know that some will not like it but it’s important to maintain a healthy body and healthy mind. Once we find a planet to settle on, such a thing would not be necessary anymore. Questions?”
“What about once we’re in Andromeda?” Asked the asari in charge of people.
“That would be shared at a later time, around a week or two before we get there. No need to burden all of you with things that are inconsequential in the short term. Any other questions? No? Then we can all go back to our jobs.”

And with that the meeting ended and Rick, Jane and Ashley stayed behind a bit.

“Sorry.” Jane said.
“It’s fine. The fact that I interrupted you and that you said nothing about it helped more than if you didn’t say anything in the first place.”
“Am I the only one weirded out by the fact that the food department’s head is a Geth?” said Ashley.
“Not really.” the redhead replied.
“Han’Lovik is a very competent Geth. Zaal’Koris recommended it to me. Very organized.”
“It has a name?!” exclaimed his wife.
“Of course. With the astronomical number of Geths and with all of them being sentient some chose to have a name.”
“... Yeah… Okay.”

“Come on, let’s put our stuff in our quarters and see if everyone is alright.”

And with that the three of them left the briefing room. Once at the entire floor reserved for him, Rick checked on his children. Arianna was already leading her younger siblings. Picking a room, unpacking… She also helped the youngest of them, most notably Matt and Siobhan who were not ten yet.

“How is it going?” Rick said as he took Siobhan in his arms and helped Arianna carrying her huge back.
“Ari is helping Matt and I, putting our stuff in our room.”
“That’s good, you do know that unpacking is for you to do, not Arianna, right?”
“Do I have too?” whined Siobhan.
“Yes, Shooby-doo. Your sister has her own room to do and has to work too. Now go on.” he said as he kissed her cheek and put her on the ground.

“Was I this cute when I was little?” Arianna asked as she watched Siobhan enter her room.
“You were cuter. You never whined, always hyperactive and running around on your tiny little legs with your Normandy plushy in your hands.” he replied with a nostalgic smile.
“I did, didn’t I?” she replied with an amused smile.
“So much that I thought about working on a new tech that would stop your growth.”
“You’re kidding?!”
“Nope. I wanted to keep you as my six years old little girl forever. Your mother didn’t let me though.”
“Thank god!”
“Maybe I should have done it anyway. To six years old you I was the bestest daddy ever that was flawless and could do no wrong. Time sure has changed.”
“Not so much, you’re still the bestest daddy ever.” Arianna replied and kissed her father on the cheek as she hugged him.
“Make sure to put that on my tombstone in a hundred years. Anyway… Did you decide where you want to work?”
“I narrowed it down to either exploration, medical or science though I’m conflicted with the last one. I love working with you but…”
“You want to make your own path, I get it and I’m even prouder of you for it. Just so you know, your mother and I will work with the exploration department too but only for important things. A new species to talk with or new tech to analyze. Those kinds of things. Whether we would be in the same unit or not will be entirely up to the head of exploration and I promise you, your mother and I will not intervene in any way.”
“I can live with that.”

____________________________________________________________

It was time had come or rather was a few minutes away, for the launch of the Cassiopeia. Everyone was where they should be, that meant, for Rick and Jane, the command room / cockpit.

“Are you going to say a few words for the crew?” she asked him.
“Unfortunately.”

Rolling her eyes she watched as Rick, activated the coms through the whole ship. He took a big breath and addressed the whole crew.

“This is Rick Wald, head of Project Eden. In a minute the Cassiopeia, our new home for the foreseeable future, will depart to the Galaxy Andromeda. It’s a journey that has only been attempted once. How did it go? We don’t know, the poor bastards are stuck in crysleep for the next six hundred years as their ships make the journey. We, however, are going to reach Andromeda in two months. We will be the first in history to do so. It’s an opportunity that only comes once in a lifetime, except if you’re Asari or krogan, but in any case, you are all here today because you don’t want to miss it. You want to be here, so if some of you suddenly have jitters, or forgot to feed your pet or said goodbye to someone… Weeeell… Sucks to be you because no one is getting down that ship any time soon. In Andromeda’s history we will be remembered as the first colons that came from another galaxy. In the Milky way, we will be remembered as heroes. This is it, the time has come. Hilary brings us to Andromeda.”

Hilary nodded and started the ship, Joker assisting her as her co-pilot. Out of the five DRED installed on the ship, one was activated. Then the VERDUN activated. The Verdun was a GREEN on steroids. One was supposed to produce enough eezo and dark energy to last half the journey. Thankfully in the five years since David and EDI created it they had made nearly two dozen. That wasn’t all they had in stock. Twenty RED, hundred BLUE, Twenty Green and hundred YELLOW; all of it was divided into multiple locations, in case there is a problem and the main location is annecessible.

With the VERDUN in use, Hilary activated the ship’s Mass RElay tech, to create a subspace corridor launching them to Andromeda.

“5… 4… 3… 2… 1…”

She didn’t say zero but instead flew the ship through the corridor that had appeared. All sensors and scans were clear. They were finally on the move. Andromeda and its secrets were not ready for the smartest man in the Milky Way.