Mass Effect: Reaper Dreams

The Deep Dark

"I have seen the dark universe yawning
Where the black planets roll without aim,
Where they roll in their horror unheeded,
Without knowledge, or lustre, or name."
H.P. Lovecraft

December 19th, 2187

Lt. Commander Susan Rizzi: Executive Officer, Normandy SR-2

The port observatory doors slid open and Susan stepped through. General Vakarian, drink in his hand, was staring out the window, apparently lost in thought. He chuckled to himself, looked down into his glass, and swished the contents about before he drank it down.

"She let me win," he mumbled.

"Sir?" said Susan.

"Sorry, Commander," said the General. "I was... lost in a memory."

"Care to elaborate?" asked Susan.

Vakarian laughed. "Everything on this damn ship runs on Earth time. All the logs give Earth dates. Cerberus saw to that when they built it, and the Alliance never thought to change it. It's taken awhile, but I'm adjusting to it, especially since I've been going through Shepard's old personal logs. She made notes every morning and evening. Liara passed a copy of them on to me for some reason. I didn't touch them for a while, but, ah, well, I don't have to explain the tedium of this trip to you, Rizzi. Anything to pass the time, right?"

Susan snorted. "I'm envious of you, General. I wish I had old logs to go through."

Vakarian sighed. "It's been bad, hasn't it?"

"The situation isn't good," said Susan. "I'm surprised Aznir Company hasn't managed to chew through the Normandy's hull. They're on edge. Krogan aren't meant for small places for too long. They need to get out. All of us could use some solid ground, a little sky above us—even the old spacers. Yesterday, Joker told me he was bored with porn."

Vakarian shook his head. "Well, now I'm officially worried."

Susan laughed at the dry joke. She'd learned to always laugh at the jokes of superior officers, but with Vakarian it wasn't a chore at all. The Turian had a great sense of humor, and an even better sense of timing. He was also personable enough to allow his officers to do a little digging here and there on personal matters if the situation called for it. She read his commentary as just such an opportunity, and she took it.

"About those logs, what sparked the memory you were lost in?" she asked.

The General clicked his omni-tool and a woman's voice spoke. Susan recognized it as Commander Shepard almost immediately. She had watched all the interview vids a dozen times over.

"December nineteen, zero eight hundred. I didn't sleep well again last night. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever be able to get a good night's sleep again. Well, no sense in crying about it. I've got a list of things to do today. . Got a note from Miranda—going to have to track her down. Looking forward to seeing her, but she sounded desperate. I hope I can help. After that more meetings—endless meetings.

Some C-Sec officer named Noles has been buzzing me—something about illegal Batarian diplomatic codes. Today, of all days, I would rather not have to deal with anything involving Batarians. It's my brother's birthday today, or would have been. He would have been thirty years old today—fucking Batarians. Ah, there I go again, the old me coming out. One step forward, two steps back.

On the bright side, there's two highlights on my schedule. I've got Ash back on the Normandy, damn that feels good. Best of all, I have a playdate with Garrus. I wonder what he has lined up. Guessing that we don't have enough time to get good and drunk today, a damn shame, still looking forward to just hanging out, taking some time. I get so little of it these days.