Chapter Text
Archive 001 — Recorded Audio Log
Speaker: Admiral David Anderson (Deceased)
Format: Audio Only
Recording begins. Low background hum. Chair movement. A long exhale.
“…Shepard… I met her when she was just a kid, you know.”
Pause.
“Even then… I knew she’d be great. Maybe the greatest of us. She was always trouble. A child growing up among the most prestigious fleets in the Alliance… running through corridors she wasn’t supposed to be in… listening where she shouldn’t… asking questions no one wanted to answer. Her parents never really pushed her toward the military. That was all her. Her choice. Always was.”
Brief silence.
“Elysium… the Skyllian Blitz… that proved a lot of people wrong and it proved a lot of us right. She was born to lead. Born to stand where the rest of us couldn’t. To see what we refused to see… to carry what we couldn’t bear.”
Voice lowers.
“She’s the key to defeating the Reapers. I know it. I always have. I just… hope the price isn’t too high.”
Long pause.
“But if it is…I know Shepard will make the right call.”
Recording ends.