He was on Earth again. He had been on Earth for mere minutes in the past but this seemed to last an eternity. Wait, does this mean... Yes! Yes it does! These only happened rarely before but now it's going to occur again! It had been so long! And there he was: dad, smiling his aged face. Oh, it has been so long. As he ran to embrace his father, the floor collapsed beneath him and the surroundings vanished. No! He felt himself keel over with a heavy feeling on his chest.

"Merry Christmas, commander." Donald Cochran's eyes flung open and his head shot forward. This had been he's only chance to get a full night sleep. Standing in the doorway of his quarters was Lieutenant James Ramsey, the chief engineer of the Davenport. He was smiling wickedly.

Donald shifted focus to the thing on his chest. It was a present, at least he thought so. It was cylindrical in shape with a rounded-off top. For the finale it was covered in ration wrappings.

Before opening it he looked back at Ramsey. "How the hell did you get in here?"

Ramsey briefly activated his omni-tool and held it to his head in mock salute. "Little devil comes in handy doesn't it? But that's beside the point, open up your gift."

Donald sighed heavily and tore off the "wrapping paper". Nestled in the shredded pile of paper was a glorious sight. The diamond to a ring. The primary to a solar system. The mass relay to the ship. It was a power generator... an unholy one at that. It looked like it could be the dung of a husk/geth hybrid.

"Does it work?" Donald asked.

"Aye, it does, sir. Hobbled it together from spare parts of the Mako, a hyperbeam emitter, and a tad of eezo."

"Good lord, Jamie, you created a monster," Donald rolled out of bed, cherishing the relay like it was baby. "Get this hooked up to the comm. Maybe now we can finally get the hell out of here and alert the council."

Ramsey nodded and took the generator. Shortly after he left, Donald spruced himself up the best he could. He still had a bloody cut on his forehead from banging it against a bulkhead. His crew was stranded in the Century System for at least a week and repairs were going slowly. The only working thing was the kinetic shields save for life support and a-grav. But now with this generator Donald could finally call for the help they desperately needed.

The PA speaker in his quarters pinged to life. "Ramsey here, sir, I have the generator hooked up but I can only manage audio. No visual, sorry sir."

"That's fine, Jamie. I'll transmit from the comm room." Donald adjusted his work shirt and slipped on the tattered jacket of his dress uniform. Environmental controls were still on the fritz.

He exited his quarters and walked past the deserted galley. Heading up the curving flight of stairs, he passed through the navigation chamber with the galaxy map taking center stage. It was zoomed into the location of the Davenport as a reminder. A reminder of the people they lost and were he had stranded the ship. Donald entered the comm room and glanced out of a view port in time to see an asteroid lazily tumble by with masses more in the background.

He stopped at a console and paged the Davenport pilot, Marcus Graham. “Marcus, try to patch through to Fifth Flotilla”

“Aye, aye, sir, I’ll do my best.”

Static filled the comm speakers causing Donald to cringe. He pressed a button on the console and began to speak. “This is Lieutenant Commander Donald Cochran. Is anyone there? We’re severely damaged and taken casualties. The Davenport was ambushed about a week ago by…well God knows what…”

((Continued in Elysium flashback))

(OOC: Can I get a mod or admin to move this to the Character Development board? Thanks.)