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[Late February, 2079]
Angela Ziegler smiled as she floated gracefully through the halls of the newly christened Ecopoint: China Sea.
The grand opening had been a relatively simple affair, with brief speeches from Moira, as an official representative of the Concordat, Mei-Ling, as the head of the project, and the Korean Minister of Science.
They’d cut a symbolic ribbon that had been strung across the interior of the dome, and once the applause had faded, there had been cake.
That had been two days ago, but the Goddess of Life had decided to stay until the first supply and staff rotation at the end of the week. She was enjoying seeing the old dream of the ecopoint project slowly returning to life - and the proof that their efforts to make a real difference were paying off.
Still, she’d been surprised to see who had claimed one of the temporary offices in the research wing.
“You’re really taking this seriously, aren’t you?”
Jack Morrison adjusted the reading glasses that sat at the bridge of his nose as he looked up from the report he’d been reviewing. “Why wouldn’t I?”
Angela decided not to give one of several more cynical answers. “I’d expected you to be more of a... passive observer, I suppose. That once you’d seen this was real and sincere, you’d be off to... wherever you might wish to go.”
“I don’t plan to stay too long,” Jack admitted, as he reached for his coffee. “But it’s nice to dig into this sort of thing again.”
“Again? I wasn’t aware you had much background in…” Angela craned her neck just slightly so she could read the upside down lettering. “Seabed sediment analysis and characterization.”
Jack snorted, and for a heartbreaking moment it could have been ten years ago, the two of them trading good natured teasing after a department meeting or senior staff briefing. “Excuse me, Doctor, but I do have a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from the University of Indiana.”
Angela blinked several times. “I thought that was a joke.”
Morrison shrugged, but is softened into a little bit of a smile. “Army was willing to let me do correspondence courses during SEP downtime and the Crisis, and I finished it up over the course of a few sabbaticals after we got Overwatch up and running.”
“I... suppose that makes sense,” Angela said slowly. “It certainly explains why the Ecopoint program was so dear to you. But... why that degree, if you knew you were returning to duty?”
“My family’d been working the same hundred and fifty acres for almost two hundred years by the time I came along,” Jack explained. “Not the last of the family farmers, but pretty close. My grandparents and my pa were pretty good at organic farming - and finding new market niches to keep the whole thing afloat - but the land was still pretty played out. I figured I’d learn a few things about soil remediation, give them a hand here and there.”
Angela's expression relaxed, and her wings flapped just enough to keep her hovering in place as she took that in. “That’s... rather lovely. Did it work?”
Jack leaned back in his chair. “Suppose it did, but... it’s not really my life anymore.” He picked up another report, scanning the first few pages just as he used to absorb after-action reports and project proposals. “Still, dirt is dirt, even down here. Who knows - maybe I'll even have a suggestion or two. Regardless, it’s nice to be able to do something useful."
“Yes,” Angela agreed, as she smiled to her old commander. “I quite agree.”