S04E02 - Everything Goes Wrong (Citadel Jr.)Clarissa Ryder sat bolt upright and gasped for air. Her head felt as if were about to burst and sweat dripped from her brow. She looked around and discovered she was back on the ship, though it was a part of the vessel she'd never been in before. She had no recollection of how she got back. Liam and Cora were standing beside her as was the Asari doctor from earlier. All three looked grave.
"What happened? How'd I get back here?" Clarissa asked.
"What happened was you were dead for awhile there mate," Liam said, "as for how you got here, Cora and I carried you. Well mostly Cora...you're deceptively heavy for such a tiny thing yeah?"
"I'm not that heavy," Clarissa replied, "It's all that body armor, but what's this about me being dead? That's impossible isn't it?"
The Asari doctor nodded, "I'm afraid it isn't impossible. You were totally dead...for twenty-two seconds to be precise. If not for your father, you probably wouldn't be here at all."
Clarissa recalled her father removing his helmet for her back on Habitat Seven. "Is Dad okay? Where is he?"
The trio looked at one another nervously before Cora said, "Your father's dead. It was you or him and he chose you. I'm sorry."
Clarissa felt sick. "We weren't close, I mean Dad wasn't close with anyone really but it's still kind of fucked. So now what? Cora are you in charge or is Commander Lee now the big boss?"
Cora glowered, "You are."
"Me? What are you talking about? I'm just here because I kind of know how to use a gun and took a few semesters of space archeology in college," Clarissa replied, "I don't know the first thing about pathfinding or leading people."
"Well, you're going to have to learn," Cora replied, "Before he died he transferred Pathfinder status to you and there's no real way to undo it."
"Look, I don't want the job," Clarissa said, "I'll transfer whatever authority thing my dad transferred to me to you if you want Cora."
The doctor shook her head and said, "It's not that easy. Your father transferred a number of S.A.M. augmentations to your neural transponder that give you authority as Pathfinder. There's no way to undo what's been done without killing you."
Her father was dead and he was still trying to control her life. It was almost enough to make Clarissa laugh.
"So where are we heading Pathfinder?" Cora asked.
Clarissa ran a hand through her disheveled red hair and thought a moment before replying, "Habitat Seven was a bust. Have Commander Lee set course for Citadel Jr."
Commercial Break
The massive Citadel Jr. station loomed in the distance. From where she stood on the command deck of the Hyperion, Clarissa could make out a few flickering lights on Citadel Jr., but it otherwise seemed deserted and vast portions of the exterior remained unfinished.
"Is it supposed to look like that?" Liam asked as the ark slowly approached, "Seems a bit shit yeah?"
Clarissa nodded in agreement but said nothing. One more thing that had gone wrong in Andromeda.
Commander Lee looked up from her command console and said, "I'm hailing Citadel Jr. but I'm not getting not any responds from the station. The docks seem to be cleared for landing though. I'm going to take the Hyperion in."
Clarissa looked to Liam and Cora and said, "Get your shoes on, we're going down to Citadel Jr. to see what the deal is."
Cora scowled and was like, "We already have shoes on. Everyone is wearing shoes except you. I know you grew up on Earth, but that's really no excuse."
"Who's the Pathfinder?" Clarissa asked with a smirk.
"You are," replied Core begrudgingly.
"Right, so gear up, we're going down to Citadel Jr. to poke around," replied Clarissa.
"Where is the welcome party?" Liam asked with disappointment, as they made their way onto Citadel Jr., "Where are the bottles of Santana DVX?"
The interior of Citadel Jr. was just as dark and deserted looking as the interior had been. Wall panels were open exposing wiring and the entire Hall of Immigration was lit by just the auxiliary emergency lighting.
This entire trip was turning into an unmitigated disaster. The trio of thawed out space travelers located and information kiosk that provided little assistance in discovering what had transpired.
Clarissa scouted about the docks and, after what felt like an eternity, finally found another person: a day laborer wearing a jumpsuit and an Evel Knievel helmet.
"Man am I glad to see you. I've got an ark filled to the rafters with human popsicles and was worried this place had been abandoned or something," Clarissa said.
The day laborer stared at her. Was he a mute? Clarissa repeated herself, "I have an ark with like a bajillion people parked outside. Where do I need to send them?"
"Uh...uh...uh...you really came on an ark?" the behelmeted worked finally said, "I thought it was just another malfunction when the docking lights came on. We get a lot of malfunctions out here..."
"So, about the bajillion dudes back on my ark?" Clarissa said again.
"Huh huh huh...that's a bit above my pay grade. Hold on," the worker laughed. He got his com out and summoned someone, "Yeah, they say they're from one of the arks. Humans. Yeah, sorry. Alright."
The worker looked back up to Clarissa and said, "Someone will be along in a minute who can answer your questions. Just sit tight a minute."
A moment later a Terrarium clad in body armor entered the Hall of Immigration and walked over to Clarissa and her companions and introduced himself, "My apologies for the disarray here. My name's Kandros. I'm the head of the militia here on Citadel Jr."
"Ryder. Uh...Pathfinder for the Hyperion," Clarissa replied. It sounded weird to her.
"I thought Pathfinder Ryder was a man," Kandros said.
"He was my father. He died when we made landfall on Habitat Seven," Clarissa replied, "Before he died I was made Pathfinder."
"It sounds like you've had a rough go of it too," Kandros said, "Maybe things will start looking up for us all now. I mean after a year of waiting we figured no one was coming and yet here you are."
"You've been out here for a year?" Clarissa asked in disbelief.
The Terrarium clacked his reply, "More than a year. It's been hard since we got out here."
"What happened?" asked Clarissa.
"Long story short: everything that could go wrong went wrong. Short story long: we encountered a cloud of dark energy when we entered the system the smashed up Citadel Jr. and killed a bunch of people, including most of our leadership, a bunch of people revolted afterwards. We were able to put the rebellion down and the agitators were exiled. None of the arks have arrived so supplies are dwindling. It's all a goddamn mess, but I'll let the other leaders fill you in on the specifics."
The Terrarium lead Clarissa and her cohorts through half finished corridors where dim lights flickered and wires hung from the ceiling. The Andromeda Initiative, the organization that had sent them all there, did not seem to have their shit together in the slightest. A short while later they arrived in the Citadel Jr. command center.
The Command Center, though as dimly lit as the rest of the station, was alive with activity. Technicians worked on sparking terminals and middle managers middle managed. Kandros turned a pointed out a stern looking woman up on a platform and clicked, "That's Addison. She's in charge of colonial affairs. You'll want to talk to her. And that Salarian guy is Tann."
"Seems more off-white than tan to me," Clarissa said with a rakish grin.
The Terrarium chuckled and said, "That's a good one. Tann's been the acting Initiative director since Director Jan and her people got their shit wrecked by the Scourge."
"The Scourge?"
"Oh, those weird clouds of dark energy...we call it the Scourge. Sounds more badass that way. You know, 'Our ship blew up because of a cloud,' seems a lot lamer than, 'The Scourge wrecked house on us," Kandros said, "Anyway Tann was an accountant but now he's running the whole show. He's kind of a dick though so just be careful with him. You'll probably want to talk to Kesh too. She's the Krogan over there. Heads up engineering. Anyway I've got to get back to the office we've got a saboteur apparently and I'm understaffed so I'm the one that's gotta look through the security vids. It's good to have you aboard Pathfinder."
Kandros then saluted and the turned and head off down one of the darkened halls. Clarissa turned to her comrades and with a sigh said, "Let's get this over with."
She walked over to the trio of middle managers now running the show and introduced herself, "Hey I'm Clarissa Ryder, the uh...Pathfinder for the Hyperion."
The human woman, Addison, scoffed, "Pathfinder my ass...where's Alec?"
"Dad died and made me Pathfinder..."
"I'm sorry Alec's dead but Pathfinder's not a hereditary title!" Addison shouted, "There are chains of command to follow and training that needs to be done. Tell me, what training could you possibly have to qualify you for this job?"
"Dad taught me how to shoot and I took some archaeology classes in college back on Earth. I worked security at a couple Ancient Alien dig sites," Clarissa replied, "Oh...and I'm a biotic."
"That's barely enough to qualify you to be a field agent," Addison said, "but what's done is done I suppose."
Director Tann nodded and said, "We should at least give Ryder a chance to prove herself. Her arrival alone has given all of us here hope."
"Look, I didn't ask to be Pathfinder," Clarissa said, "but I'll do the best I can. I'm dedicated and have good people working for me and motivation. If I don't succeed we all fail and if we fail we die."
The Krogan nodded and said, "She's got my vote."
Director Tann agreed as well and the asked, "Well Addison?"
The woman scowled and said, "Fine, but Clarissa, I'm not calling you Pathfinder until you Pathfind."
Tann clapped his hands and said, "Excellent! It's settled then. We will provide you with a ship and you will carry out the tasks of the Pathfinder. I'd recommend starting on Eos. We made efforts there earlier but the settlements failed. Perhaps you will find success where we did not. Kesh, have the ship loaded for departure."
The lady Krogan acknowledge the order and headed off. Of the three middle managers Clarissa liked her best. Cora and Liam left with her to oversee the load-in at the ship and Tann departed a moment later to his offices leaving Clarissa alone with Addison.
"You really don't like me do you?" Clarissa asked as the woman scowled at her.
"I don't care about you," Addison responded, "but you're not Alec..."
"Were you and my dad..."
"I'm not your new mom," Addison spat out with disdain before Clarissa could even finish asking her question.
Clarissa was taken aback by Addison's interjection and said, "Wow, that really wasn't what I was going to ask at all. I was just going to ask if you two fucked."
"A couple times...back in the Milky Way. We were friends with benefits more than anything."
Clarissa instantly regretted asking anything and thus spake, "I'm going to go off into unexplored, uninhabited space now. Bye bye."
Commercial Break
"Wow. That's a good looking spaceship," Clarissa said to herself with a whistle as she looked at the shuttle, named Tempest, docked before her. She still couldn't believe it was hers to command. Back in the Milky Way she'd been on a number Alliance frigates and Asari science vessels while working security for archaeologists but none of those ships compared to the elegance of the Tempest. She only hoped it functioned as well as it looked.
Well-knuckled dock workers were hauling space crates up walkway into the ship. Behind them a Terrarium lady clicked commands. The workers disappeared into the ship and the Terrarium turned and walked over to Clarissa. "So you're Ryder huh?" she asked nonchalantly.
"Yes, and you are?"
"My name Vetra. I'm in acquisitions, gunning, food and beverage allocation, and about a half dozen other things I probably shouldn't talk about out in the open," the Terrarium said.
"Sounds like you wear a lot of hats," Clarissa said.
"No, no hats just this visor," Vetra replied.
"Uh...it's just a figure of speech," Clarissa replied.
Vetra laughed and said, "I know, I'm just fucking with you. Anyway, the Tempest's almost loaded. She'll be ready to depart in the hour."
"Thank you Vetra," Clarissa said.
"One last thing, I just wanted you to know that I'll be coming with you," the Terrarium said.
"Uh...what?" Clarissa asked raising an eyebrow in confusion.
The Terrarium repeated herself, "I'm coming with you. I know the ship better than you do, plus once you get off Citadel Jr. supplies are hard to come by, but I've got...well, let's just call them connections and leave it at that."
"It's not going to be easy out there," Clarissa said, "Down on Habitat Seven we ran into some hostile aliens."
"Ugly fuckers with bones all over the goddamn place right? The Kett. We know all about them," Vetra replied.
"So you know how willing they are to fight it out. Can you handle yourself in a gun battle?"
Vetra raised her palms upwards and shrugged with a smirk. "I am Terrarium you know, what do you think? Of course I can handle myself in a gun battle."
"Alright then. Welcome aboard Vetra." Clarissa shook hands with the praying mantis bird thing standing before her.
Vetra headed up the walkway onto the Tempest. She got about halfway up before a voice called out, "Vetra! The fuck do you think you're doing?" An angry looking human male stood before her clipboard in hand.
"I'm going on a space adventure Doug, what does it look like I'm doing?"
"Those supplies...you didn't clear them with Addison. Take 'em off," replied Doug.
Vetra walked over to where Doug stood and put his arm around him and said, "Doug, you've still got a kid in cryo right?"
"Yeah my son, Andy. He's non-essential personnel but I miss him."
"You sign off on that little clipboard and go tell Addison we left before you got here and I'll pull some strings to get Andy thawed out with the next batch," Vetra said.
Doug sighed and said, "Alright. Get out of here Vetra," and the turned on his heels and headed back to the tram and away from the docks.
The Terrarium turned back to Clarissa and with a mandible twitching smile said, "Come on, I'll give you the grand tour."
Clarissa stood on the flight deck of the Tempest looking out the window at the tiny antlike workers scurrying about below. She was suddenly struck by the gravity of the responsibilities that had been placed upon her. It should have been Zack up here, not her. Her father had been grooming Zack for a military career since they were kids.
Zack was confident and well liked by everyone. Clarissa had always been awkward and filled with self-doubt. Being "that weird biotic girl," in middle school and high school back on Earth had not helped her already fragile self-esteem and yet now everyone in the Andromeda Initiative was counting on her to save the day.
"Clarissa, would you like to say anything before we set off?" Cora asked bringing Clarissa back to reality.
Clarissa nodded. "This ship shouldn't be mine. It was designed for a Pathfinder. It was designed for my father. Dad Ryder should have been up here giving this speech while I stood somewhere in the back over there and tried to work up the courage to talk to the person standing next to me, but things didn't work out that way. Dad's dead and there's no one standing next to me and even if there were it'd probably be against the rules to flirt awkwardly with them now that I'm in charge of all this."
Gill from engineering laughed and yelled out, "You can flirt with me all you like. I promise I won't report ya." He seemed kind of douchey.
There was some laughter but Clarissa ignored it and continued her speech, "All of us here and everyone down there came to Andromeda for one thing: a new beginning. Things haven't worked out the way any of us planned, but I think if we work together we can still give people the hope they're so desperate for. Uh...Mister...shit I forgot your name dude. Sorry. Pilot take us up. We've got some pathfinding to do!"
The Salarian pilot did not seem overly perturbed by her gaffe and eased the shuttle out of the dock. A moment later the ship was floating above Citadel Jr.
Clarissa took one last look at the station below and thought of all the men and women on board counting on her. She looked at the pilot and said, "Set a course for Eos!"