Prologue

Normandy SR-2, Galactic Fleet, Arcturus

"Holy shit." Admiral Hackett stood in stunned silence for a moment as he looked at the scene before him, deciding what to do. "Lieutenant! Patch me into the Fleet-wide comms!" Based on Hackett's tone, Joker snapped to it, quickly reaching up and toggling several controls before giving the admiral a nod. "Admiral Hackett to all ships! The Geth Fleet is adrift! Deploy all available assets immediately to set space anchors; tag and tether their ships as quickly as possible! I repeat... the Geth Fleet is non-responsive and adrift. I fear the Crucible wave may have disabled them... and they are now a collision hazard." After a brief pause, he continued with, "Proceed with caution to tag and tether only... Do not board their vessels at this time. Hackett out."

In light of the new development with the Geth, Joker looked at the admiral with a grudging respect in regards to protecting the property rights of the synthetics. He didn't have to like the admiral's decision regarding Edi, but completely understood the man's reasoning. Joker realized he'd simply have to trust that Edi had a plan... and that the admiral was most likely correct; a cold system restart, done now or done later, would have the same result. He glanced at the immobile form in the seat across the cockpit one more time before getting to work. It's just going to be a damn lonely two weeks between now and when we get that stupid relay fixed!

"Thank you, Flight Lieutenant. Now, seeing as you know where it is, how about we pick up that beacon and get this show on the road so we can all go home." Hackett turned back to the front viewport as he continued, "And I truly am sorry you have to wait to reboot the Normandy, Mr Moreau. Shepard kept me informed on Edi's growth and development as a true AI. I fully understand that she's more than just another mech... especially to certain members of the crew. Shepard herself was... is... quite fond of her."

With the change of verbiage to the present tense, Joker realized the admiral hadn't written off either the Commander or Edi quite yet, raising his opinion of Hackett immediately. "Thank you, Sir... And I wouldn't count the Geth out yet; if Edi has a plan for herself and it works, she might be able to do the same for them."

Hackett nodded slowly in hopeful agreement. "Maybe so, Flight Lieutenant. Maybe so... but we'll still need to wait to find out."

Hackett observed quietly from the Bridge of the Normandy as shuttles from every ship of the combined fleet worked together to secure the pieces of the relay and tether the drifting Geth Fleet. As each operation drew to a close, he looked once more to Jeff Moreau and queried, "I need to make a post-war... proclamation... to everyone. Can we queue up a fleet-wide broadcast, Flight Lieutenant?"

"Whenever you need, Sir." Joker offered him a crisp nod. "Also, just so you know, the cockpit recorder is set to archive everything said in here automatically, so we can also isolate your speech and send it back home when the comm buoys are operational."

"Excellent. It appears that recovery efforts are nearly complete, and most of the Geth Fleet seems to once again be under control. Give them a five minute warning. I want everyone to stand down for a few moments to listen in." Hackett let out a quiet sigh of relief as Joker made the announcement, knowing the nightmare that had dominated the last four years of everyone's lives had finally come to an end.

Jeff set a countdown timer adjacent to the chronometer. As the displayed numbers silently descended down past 00:04:00, then 00:03:00, they watched the numerous work-shuttles moving about, grappling the last remaining pieces of the broken gyroscopic rings and placing them together near the now powerless relay. At the 0:01:30 mark, virtually all the work-shuttles had been recovered by their respective ships; the last few still outside joined the others still anchoring the last of the Geth ships. Even these came to a virtual stop as the countdown passed 0:00:30; Jeff reached overhead to once again toggle controls for Fleet Communications, then announced, "Comms are all yours, Admiral."

Even though it was audio only and no one could see him, Hackett gave a brief nod and stood tall, straightening his jacket before clasping his hands behind his back as he started to speak.

"As of 1942 hours, Universal Galactic Time, on the 7th of June, the war is over. The Reapers have been defeated. Against all odds, and in the face of the greatest threat this galaxy has ever known, we survived. We suffered many losses. The relays may be damaged, but we won. This victory belongs to all of us... every man, woman and child. Every civilization... on every world."

"Now, as we take our first steps toward restoring what we lost, we must remember what it took to win. This wasn't a victory by a single fleet, a single army, or even a single species. If this war has taught us anything, it is that we are at our strongest when we work together. And if we can put down our grievances long enough to stop something as powerful as the Reapers, imagine what we can achieve now that they are defeated!"

"It will take time, but we can rebuild everything that was destroyed. Our homes, our worlds, our fleets and defenses. All of this... and more. Together, we can build a future that is greater than any one of us can imagine. A future paid for by the sacrifices of those who fought and died alongside us. A future that many will never see. And while we may still have many challenges ahead of us, we can face them... together."

"It all starts now. Teams have been prepositioned all over the galaxy to do the exact same thing we are doing here... rebuilding the relays and repairing or replacing the communications buoys. Once we have positive message contact with Sol, we'll send a test drone to ensure the relays are working properly and are safe for travel; we anticipate that happening in two weeks..." He paused as a smile crept onto his face and into his voice. "... but at the pace the engineering teams are working, I have a feeling it might be a bit sooner than that. I ask only for your cooperation and your patience through this process. Our fleets sustained a lot of damage... so use the time to pitch in wherever you can. Let's work together to see how much of it we can have repaired before our victorious return to Sol. Hackett out."

Joker immediately toggled the cockpit comms to silent. "You're clear, Sir."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. It's time for me to get out of your way and let you do your jobs." Hackett's glance shifted to Ashley before he departed. "You have the Normandy, Commander. I'm going to call a shuttle to get myself back to the Orizaba, where I belong."

Ash snapped to attention and belted out, "Aye-aye, Sir!" As soon as the doors slid closed behind Hackett, she relaxed and stepped forward to lay a hand on Joker's shoulder. "You heard the man, Jeff. As soon as the admiral's shuttle departs, let's collect that damn beacon and get a few more engineers to help out with repairing that relay." She squeezed his shoulder quickly before dropping her hand back to her side. "And I sure as Hell don't plan on the repairs taking the full two weeks... I miss Edi, too... You know? I have to write up the damned mission report without her help! It'll take me hours instead of the normal 45 minutes or so. I want her back as soon as we can get her!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" Joker smirked as he started to make the calls.

A/N: And, we're back! I know it's not a real chapter, but it's not my normal post day of Friday, either. It's just a little teaser and a heads-up that The Promise of After - Book 5 in the Chronicles of Samantha Shepard will start this Friday, June 10th, with Chapter 2 - A New Dawn!

~ Thanks again, and we'll see you Friday! ~