[Book Four] Chapter 52: End in sight

[Book Four] Chapter 52: End in sightChapter 52: End in sight









Incorporating all he wanted to incorporate into the armor had taken time, especially with only being allowed to work four hours a day on it. He had named it, and all further models, ‘Ragnarok’ for they should only be deployed for great battle and would only leave devastated but fertile land behind afterward. The rest of the time, he divided it by helping Hackett, training his biotics or simply trying to enjoy life. More often than not, it was just strolling in the park at the top of the Cassiopeia to enjoy the quiet sounds of nature, and the sight of the stars. It was during such moments that Jane came to him.



“John?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you free?”



He thought the question stupid. He was after all in the middle of his downtime, that she had imposed on him and in the middle of a park doing nothing. So the only answer to her question was a simple flat look.



“Don’t look at me like that, we both know that you’re thinking of something, you always do and it might be important.” she replied sharply and he nodded in agreement. Thinking was working for him after all.

“What do you need?”

“Need? Time with you. But I’m not here for a need or at least not mine.”

“A want, then.”

“Yes. It’s been almost a month since I... gave you your new working hours. With all the free time you have, you seldom spent it with our family besides the evenings and nights.”

“Did I?” he asked in surprise.

“Yes.”

“... Thinking about it... You’re right. If anything, I spend the most time with you and it’s not much.”

“You... don’t need nor want to spend time with us anymore.” she stated with a bit of sadness in her voice.

“I... never thought about that. At all. I just... lived.”

“I know taking back your marks will take time but if you’re pulling away that much it would be all the harder.”

“... True. It’s just... It’s so tiring. I mean... I enjoy the moments I spend with everyone but I just... feel better away. Now, more than I ever have.”

“Isolating a serious introvert is a fast and sure way to lose them.” she replied with a small smile. “Why don’t we work together on something?”



At that, he raised a brow in puzzlement. Despite being taught over the years together how to hack or use her biotics and of course war, they never have worked together. Their skills were different from each other and didn’t permit much work-relationship.



“You’re not talking about professional work.”

“No, I’m not.”

“What are you thinking about?”

“I thought about making a game?” she said unsure.

“A game?” Now he was interested and Jane didn’t miss it.

“Yes. Table top or one of those escape rooms you and EDI used to do. You’d spend time with us doing something fun.”

“That’s...Are you even interested in it? Beyond me, I mean?”

“Surprisingly? Yes. If I miss one thing about our time on Celeste... It was making obstacle courses for my students. There is also the fact that we’ve been together for nearly forty years, I was bound to pick up interest in puzzles.”

“Hmm. Why not?” he muttered to himself but not low enough for Jane to not hear.

“Good, that means I didn’t waste my time playing all those puzzle games.”

“You played puzzle games?!” he inquired incredulously.

“I was bored.”

“... Oh hell, You did spend too much time with me.” he replied with a chuckle.

“Not enough in my opinion.”

“Alright, let’s do it.”

“I’ll bring any one that wants to participate. That’s the whole point after all. You, spending time with others.”

“Alright. Though I don’t think creating a room will be easy if we’re too many.”

“Oh, no! Creating the room it’s just for you and me. No, I’m calling anyone interested to go through already existing rooms so I could learn how that works. Isn’t it how you do things? Watch, observe, assimilate and adapt it your own way? I thought I would give that method a shot.”



Rick simply looked at her for a moment then shook his head while sporting a small amused smile.



“Definitely, too much time spent with me.”





_____________________________________________________________________________________





“So, if I pull this lever, the weight behind the wall shifts. It goes down and in consequence this panel on the wall rises revealing a piece for that puzzle here, in the middle of the room. When you put it there it activates all the other puzzles in the room that I can do in whichever order I choose. What do you think?” she explained as she was showing her relatively good drawing on her terminal display.

“...”

“John?”





A discussion with EDI and David about the feasibility of the safeguarding measures he thought of for the new conduits and the galactic radar idea he got from Jane had been long but fruitful. Problems were presented followed by solutions who brought forth new problems. The pros and cons of each way they would go. In the end they settled on something and Rick was working on simulation with the numbers the two others gave him.

Jane’s first foray into making an escape room had been well received by the people (mainly the family), who had tried it. Liara and Aezzia had been particularly happy with it as the theme of the room was an old ruined temple. To Rick however, it was more than just enjoying himself, he got the idea to completely remodel the big house they would leave for once they retired with plenty of secret passages. It was, however, a project pending as there were more important things to do. Finishing the conduits network across Andromeda then working on the Ragnarok armor.



Everything took a bit less than a year before it was deployed. Working on the conduits had been faster as he reached out to Tali, Leeha and EDI for help. He didn’t think of it but Jane was the one who pointed out to him the benefits of asking them for their assistance. Both for a faster completion of the project and for spending more time reconnecting with his loved ones. A success on both accounts.



When it was finally time to launch the conduits, Hackett had been surprised to see that they had put a balise and thrusters on them.



“We don’t want a repeat of the Mu Mass Relay. Furthermore, we can’t waste time putting each conduit in a cluster manually or the manpower.” explained Rick which made sense to Hackett.

“What about the origin? You never specified what would send the signal.” inquired the Admiral.

“I thought it was obvious. The Cassiopeia herself.”



The jaw of the old man dropped when he heard that. After all, The Cassiopeia was the Headquarters of the whole army. Safely located in the Heleus cluster, far from Kets presence and close to the first colonies of the Milky Way.



“We can’t make the point of origin stationary, not when the Kets could find it and take over. One we would be royally screwed and two...”

“Building such a station would be a waste of time and money when the Cassiopeia already has everything.” completed the war veteran. We’ll have to warn...”

“Every ship dispatched and colonies.” replied Rick handing him a datapad. On it was a message about it ready to be sent. “No ships are supposed to get back to the Headquarters for another two weeks. They can easily orbit or be stationed around the colonies if they need supply. As for the defense of the Cassiopeia well... The only ship that could take care of it is the Gaea so...”



Hackett, reading the message on the datapad and finding no fault in it, sent it to every ship in the fleet.



“Time to start putting an end to this war.” said the man handing the datapad back.

“And then retire.” added Rick with a sigh.

“And then retire, yes. I’m getting too old for this shit.”

“Really? You’re not a hundred yet.”

“Thanks to you I feel like twice that number.” was the dry reponse Rick got.

“Puuuh-lease. I stopped bothering you after the Reapers.”

“...”

“Okay, after I opened Celeste.”

“...”

“Came to Andromeda?”

“...”

“...”

“I’m pretty sure ‘Annoy Admiral Hackett’ is on every to-do list of each of your projects.”



The fed up and unamused look the Admiral gave him prompted Rick to change subject. “So retirement? Where? Jane and I, we intend to go back to the planet where she brought me. Lots of rain but they’re rarely heavy ones, very calm and quiet. There is a colony thirty minutes away by shuttle if we ever need something. Nice place, really.”

“... Honestly? I thought about retiring to Earth but... Yes, a less crowded area has more appeal as time goes.”

“The walks in the park got to you, huh?”

“Quite.” the old man confessed.

“I’m sure Sandra would let you stay here in peace. Or you can always ask Kahlee for a job on Celeste if you think you still need to be active somewhat. I’m sure many students would be interested in learning from you while still having the possibility to enjoy the quiet.”

“Hmm...That deserves some consideration.”

“Don’t take too much time, this war will be over in the blink of an eye.”