Dusty Kirkland is a shuttle pilot of the Andromeda Initiative's Ark Hyperion, and a member of Alec Ryder's Pathfinder team.
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“Make no mistake — this is a one-way trip.” — Spoilers for Mass Effect: Andromeda follow. |
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Kirkland met with Ryder's offspring just before the Hyperion left Earth in 2185.
Over 600 years later, in the aftermath of Hyperion's damaging encounter with a mysterious energy cloud, Kirkland chats with David Fisher in the medical wing of the Cryo Bay while waiting to carry out his duties. Because they temporarily lost gravity earlier, he thinks the ark hit something big since the durable generators got overloaded. When the conversation turns to their origins, Kirkland reveals he's from Eden Prime. He lost some friends there during the geth attack in 2183, so he figured to sign up with the Initiative for a fresh start. If Ryder talks to him here, Kirkland yawns then apologizes since he hasn't had coffee yet.
Later in a ready room near the hangar bay, Kirkland enjoys some music emanating from a nearby terminal. If Ryder turns it off, he dryly observes they're "crashing the party." Kirkland converses with Lucas Greer while they're waiting for Ryder to suit up, where Kirkland repeatedly knocks down Greer's first man in Andromeda aspirations since technically the honor belongs to Alec, then Cora, then himself. He then seizes upon the idea that with their jobs they have a golden opportunity at hand: tourism. They can cater to 100,000 people wanting to be Pathfinder for a day, and they can charge double for flying through the anomaly that crippled Hyperion.
If Ryder talks to him and Greer, Kirkland has a couple of comments to the information shared. If he learns they're already above Habitat 7, Kirkland figures he can start unpacking his luggage. If told the sensors are scrambled, he muses it keeps things interesting. If Ryder opts to spook them both, Kirkland sighs and laments the whole venture was too good to be true.
Once the Pathfinder Mission team has fully assembled, Kirkland takes the reins of Shuttle Two along with copilot Fisher, receives Ryder Jr., Liam Kosta, and Greer as passengers, and defers to Shuttle One's lead, piloted by Alec. Encountering some turbulence on the way down to Habitat 7, Kirkland attempts to stabilize his ship after some feedback from Greer. On Fisher's complaints that flight guidance is scrambled, Kirkland assures him it'll pass.
A short while later, Shuttle Two is hit by lightning and crashes in pieces. The pilots and passengers are scattered and land on different places, although Kirkland, Greer, and Fisher manage to link up before separating to look for help. During first contact with some rather hostile natives of the Andromeda galaxy, Kirkland is shot and killed by a patrol whilst attempting to surrender. Ryder plans to return for his body later, but subsequent events make it unclear if the rest of the team manage to do so.