Opening Author Notes: This was a much bigger beast than I originally intended it to be, I sunk some serious hours into thinking about tech integration, jaegers, space jaegers, and how the foundation of the plot from Pacific Rim could be transferred over to Mass Effect and what that would do to canon. Sinvraal was an absolute treasure helping out with some of the jaeger tech that I didn't quite have my mind wrapped around when she signed. Working with her was amazing and the art she produced is just as wonderful as she is. Her DA idea is Sin-Vraal, and she's sinvraal on tumblr.

May 17th, 2186
Arcturus Station had once been the seat of the System Alliance world parliament, housing the Prime Minister and not insignificant number of civilians and politicians. More than the enlisted military cared for, though most of them had the sense to keep such mutterings to themselves as said mutterings were one of the quickest methods to get an Admiral blasting down the offending FNG.

Three years into the war against the Leviathans had transformed the station drastically, and not just in terms of the personnel living aboard. One side was destroyed, flickering with kinetic barriers pressurizing the decks for construction. Some wounds were older than others. Others brand new from the latest volley.

Yet still it persevered. Like they did.

There was something beautiful about that if you looked hard enough. Too bad Major Riley Shepard didn't.

She might have, years, maybe even months ago. But the war had lasted too long and it was hard to look at a damaged station that had housed her childhood and see hope.

The economic collapse the volus had predicted in 2185 should the war continue for much longer loomed on the horizon, but no one seemed to care because three years into a war forced a lot of things into perspective, not the least of which was the sheer matter of survival. Didn't stop slimeball mercs and backwards corporations from trying to take advantage of the situation, but when their were Council sanctions in place forcing most livable colonies to take in a certain number of refugees, it was an uphill battle.

As well it should be.

Nothing would stop Riley from putting a bullet between the eyes of a merc intimidating refugees for a payoff in return for temporary safety.

"Major, we've arrived. Docking in five," Joker announced over the comm.

Riley pushed off her bunk in the temporary quarters granted her for what essentially amounted to a transportation mission. Something that undoubtedly wasted the technical genius behind the SR2, successor to the SR1 she'd known and loved for all of five days before it was unceremoniously destroyed on the day of the invasion.

Former XO and then CO Kaidan Alenko, once her head of marine detail. Promoted to command and inducted into the Spectres one year prior. She hadn't known him long, either, but she'd pegged him for the command path within two days, so she hadn't been surprised when Joker rattled off all the details she'd missed by declining command of the SR2 two years previously in favor of the Jaeger program.

She slipped her boots on and grabbed her bag from the corner of the room, eager to get off this boat and on her way to Jump Zero, just as she was sure Captain Simmonswas eager to have her ship back in the fight and not ferrying passengers around. If she'd been anyone else, Riley was certain the Captain would have declined the 'honor'.

Of course, being a Council Spectre had certain privileges, and when said Spectre needed to get somewhere fast, the nearest ship often found itself drafted.

She impatiently tapped her foot in the elevator, waiting for it to make the slow crawl from the crew deck to the CIC, missing the layout of old SR1 which had stairs.

Of course, Joker made sure she knew the penthouse Captains Quarters above the CIC were quite luxurious. Riley had simply shrugged. She'd grown up in small cabins with small beds, so sleeping in another small cabin didn't bother her, nor did the notion that she'd somehow missed out on something amazing by declining the command position.

As soon as the doors opened, Captain Simmons said, "Hate to kick you off my ship without so much as a handshake, Major, but we just got word of a relay activation in the Bahak system."

"Noted."

She picked up her pace as Simmons barked orders over the comm, readying her ship for departure as soon as Riley was through the airlock.

All in all, two minutes. Joker waved his hat at her over the back of his seat, other hand flying through his terminal as he performed pre-flight checks.

Admiral Anderson greeted her on the other side, rushing her to the end of the docking tube. The Normandywas gone thirty seconds later, speeding towards the relay.

"I take it the batarians weren't able to override the secondary command codes in the alpha relay?"

Anderson shook his head. "Won't accept Council help, either."

"Good way to get themselves killed."

"Good way to get us all killed." He jerked his head to the left. "Our transport is waiting for us."

She hefted her duffel onto her shoulder and glanced at Anderson. "No debriefing first?"

"Debriefing will take place at Jump Zero instead. Relay breach prevented Admiral Hackett from joining us. He'll connect via QEC once we reach Jump Zero." He input his codes into the docking terminal and they walked through the security checkpoint. "Leviathan should be taken care of by then."

"Hopefully. The batarians only have four Jaegers left in the fleet."

Anderson grunted.

Ten minutes after arriving at Arcturus, Riley was leaving Arcturus. Her shortest stay yet, though most tended to last less than a day. This one topped the cake as she hadn't even left the docks and entered the station proper.

The carrier they'd boarded was a relic from the First Contact War. No small wonder then that it had been repurposed for refugee evac and running transport. She followed Anderson to the conference room behind the CIC. One thing Riley loved about carriers and dreadnoughts was the size of the CIC's. Terminals and monitors and full of people doing their jobs, but with room to move around and breathe.

The Captain directed them through a door on the bridge that connected to the conference room given to them for the duration of their limited stay. Of course with the Leviathan attack, the relay was out of commission until all Alliance troops in the system deployed, so their stay had become more extended than she liked.

Once they were settled in with cups of coffee at the conference table, Anderson handed her a datapad with the specs for the Crimson Tactical. The reason she was here shipping out to Jump Zero instead of cooling her heels on the Citadel.

Anderson also handed her another datapad with the list of potential drift candidate partners. She left that one on the table in front of her untouched.

Four months after losing her previous partner still felt too soon, even though she'd agreed to be here and knew what it meant to be reassigned.

Probably the only reason she'd agreed to the Valkyrie program in the first place was to get back in the action. She wasn't the type to just sit back and let others take the lead. The words 'worst patient ever' were probably stamped in bold letters at the top of her file.

Besides, Williams would have kicked her ass if she'd stayed sedentary for too long, letting labcoats keep her grounded and out of the action.

She shifted in her chair, stretching one leg out in front of her.

The Crimson Tacticalwas a prototype Valkyrie class ship, modeled after the groundside Jaeger defense vehicles. The techs in the Alliance and STG had finally managed to figure out how to integrate FTL drive systems with Drift control mechanisms. Moments like this made Riley wish she had more engineering experience beyond being able to put together a gun in ten seconds flat. Thirty if she had to salvage for parts around her and use the fab unit on her 'tool.

She skimmed the technical parts. She'd learn more in the training session once she'd been matched to a candidate on the list, but it was good to know what things were called going in. People expected N's not make asses of themselves by asking stupid questions like what's the head contraption called again?

Hopefully the poor bastard who ended up being Drift compatible with her would be briefed on the Prothean vision mucking around in her brain. Williams had been fortunate enough to be there when said vision was implanted years ago on Eden Prime in what felt like another lifetime ago.

Before the war had started. Before she'd become a Spectre. Before the Normandy SR1had been destroyed.

Before she'd searched for and located the planet indicated in her visions. Given her own ship by the Alliance because any intel on the Leviathan breach was better than what they'd had. Which was nothing. No records from the Protheans about the Leviathans beyond what the beacon had put in her brain and the second one on Virmire had completed.

She shrugged and dropped the pad on the table. Leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.

"I know you're not an engineer Riley, but it's not that hard to understand."

"Maybe you should have given it to me written in German."

She didn't open her eyes, but she didn't need to to know that Anderson shook his head at her. "Aren't you at least going to look at the candidate list?"

This time she didblink open one eye as she said, "I'll meet the unfortunate souls at Jump Zero in less than twenty minutes."

"Plenty of time to read up on them, maybe get an idea of their personality and whether or not they'll Drift with you right."

She shrugged. "Psych evals only go so far. Plus they're dry as hell."

"Yours isn't dry as hell."

"Most people don't get the luxury of editing their own tagline."

Anderson reached across the table and picked up the datapad listing all the potential candidates. "One of our former crew is on the list. Transferred into the Valkyrie program two months ago. Already completed the training so he's not completely green. Same goes for about half of the other candidates."

She leaned forward in her seat, resting her chin in her hands. "Yeah?"

"Mmm," Anderson nodded, "Major Alenko."

"Kaidan? No way."

That genuinely surprised her. Of all the things she'd heard about him from Joker, she wouldn't have expected to find him on Jump Zero. Though she knew plenty of people who'd probably say the same thing about herso she wasn't exactly quick to judge.

He'd worked really well with her on Eden Prime. Granted, Eden Prime had been a routine pick up mission, completely by the book until the science teams started relocating the Prothean beacon from the dig site to the LZ. That's when the shouting started. One of the scientists triggered a security field and Kaidan got caught in its pull.

Riley simply reacted, like she always did, without much thought for her own safety.

By all accounts, the dressing down Alenko had given the scientists once the beacon was safely aboard the Normandy for their lax protocol standards had been a sightand she was sorry she'd missed it. She loved a good dressing down, particularly when someone under her command executed it and Alenko had appeared so damned calmon that mission she almost wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen it for herself secondhand through the Drift. Of course, when the ship's doctor demanded your presence in the med-bay, refusing wasn't exactly an option.

The only thing she remembered clearly right after the beacon incident was staring into Alenko's eyes as he propped her up in front of him, trying to figure out what in the hell he was saying even though he was speaking English. His brow had wrinkled in increasing worry as she continued to stare at him.

Even the words that came out of her mouth had sounded like gibberish.

"I think Hackett asked him to join. He provided some engineering insight into the two pilot drive system for FTL."

"Sounds like the second human Spectre is showing me up," she grinned. "Better cross him off the list, no way we can be Drift compatible if he's stealing my intellectual thunder."

Anderson arched an eyebrow and continued as if she hadn't spoken. "If he's not Drift compatible with you, he'll be leading the next Valkyrie which should be ready for action in less than a week, depending on how your test ride goes."

"So I get first dibs on all the pilots?"

"Yeah, but maybe you shouldn't say that by way of greeting."

"Kill joy."

"I'm gonna go see just how much longer we have to wait." Anderson rose from his chair and she halfheartedly saluted him as he exited the conference room, tossing the datapad into her lap.