[Other] Mass Effect: Discovery (PG 15)

[Teddiursa of the Sky]

Chapter 1: Aurora

“Welcome to the United Citadel Marine Corp, ladies and gentleman. You are going to become the galaxy's most elite fighting force. You will be transformed from the civilian you are now to an experienced warrior. From tactical awareness and leadership skills to weapons training and combat readiness, your enemies will tremble in the wake of your presence. You will all become the Citadel's backbone, the foundation of the military,” the introductory officer boomed, striding across the stage with his chest bellowing with pride. The crowd of young volunteers were captivated by the inspiring words. “You will be assigned your companies in the courtyard. If you have any questions, please direct them to Colonel Alenko,” he pointed to a human standing at the far end of the platform, “Alright, recruits. Dismissed!”



The mass of aspiring marines that gradually trickled through the large walkway radiated excitement. Nathan could hardly wait to see what company he'd be assigned, and what role he'd play in his squad. He continued pondering his purpose until he entered the majestic asari courtyard. The bright and lush space was filled to the brim with eager recruits awaiting their designated company.



Before Nathan could even join the queues for the company assignments, he could only stand in awe of the artistic feats the asari had achieved in the construction of the courtyard. The auditorium was linked to the asari colony's administrative headquarters and to the local urban spaceport, so Nathan assumed that the courtyard was the main plaza for the nearby residents. Outer walls of the courtyard, which were part of the structures in the surrounding urban center, were adorned with exotic plants, flushing out the sand-colored structures glistening in the morning sun. The ground had been carefully planned with a mixture of metalwork and stone, arranged so that neat squares were filled with green flora of all sorts of shape sand sizes. All of the plants in the squares curved to form a gradual arch directing Nathan's view to the central fountain, which sprayed water in various artistic patterns.



As he joined the closest line, the design vaguely reminded Nathan of some of the courtyards on Earth, especially the Chicago main administrative plaza which had developed around the Tribune Tower. The difference being that the Chicago plaza had been transformed into the memorial honoring the dead, instead of a recruitment center for the Citadel forces.



“Nathan Parker!” a salarian shouted over the chaotic chatter that reverberated throughout the courtyard. Nathan eagerly fought his way through the crowds, almost disregarding his fellow recruits in front of him in an excited dash toward the salarian.



“You called my name, sir?” Nathan asked, briefly glancing at the massive line behind him.



“Are you Nathan J. Parker?” the salarian inquired, looking down towards a holographic list.



“Yes sir.”



“You will have plenty of time to gawk at structures if you enlist in the engineering field, now pay attention. You are to report to the designated Aurora Company shuttle located in the terminal over there,” the salarian directed Nathan toward the docking area. Nathan saw that there were several shuttles, all painted with different colors representing different squads. The information given to Nathan indicated that the ocean-blue shuttle belonged to Aurora Company, though the salarian officer did not give him the exact location. So, in a completely uninformed expedition, Nathan walked across the courtyard to the spaceport.



As Nathan continued to wander throughout the thin platform docking the numerous military vessels in search of his designated shuttle, Nathan watched as groups of recruits boarded each ship. For a brief moment, Nathan considered that the turian shuttles were designed to carry soldiers through orbit in combat. He began to prepare himself for a cramped ride, as opposed to the human ship that had transported him from Chicago to the asari colony, Zelessia.



Nathan stifled a victorious shout when he finally discovered the location of Aurora Company's shuttle. As he clambered inside, the tight cabin had forced him to wedge himself between an asari and a turian. Both of them would occasionally brush against him, which made him feel slightly uncomfortable. He refrained from saying anything, since there was nothing any one of them could do. There were recruits all around fighting to find seats in the vessel, so he was sure he was not the only one caught in such an intimate position with utter strangers. The shuttle's automated VI soothingly announced that the shuttle would take off shortly, urging the passengers to find their seats.



Nathan and the two he was stuck between found the nearest row of seats, quickly capturing them before anyone else could. In order to properly secure himself with the provided straps, he would take a glance to see what the two strangers were doing. Each time they looked back he would either look away or pretend to be staring at something else to avoid their possible scrutiny. Nathan had a subtle feeling that blending in with the others would be best for him, that is, until they arrived on the turian training planet of Manusha.



As the shuttle began its gradual ascension towards its destination, a turian frigate, the asari looked over towards Nathan, “If you keep looking at me, I will stare back at you for the rest of the trip,” she smiled charmingly.



“I apologize. I am just looking trying get a sense of what to do,” he chuckled with a hint of inquietude. The asari also let out a small spurt of amiable laughter as both of them gazed at the monstrous turian vessel coasting along Zelessia's orbit with grace. Before too long, the turian sitting next to him joined them in their gaze towards the beauty of the ship.



“Quite impressive, isn't it?” the turian said, facing Nathan.



“It is,” Nathan answered, turning to sit more comfortably in his seat.



Without skipping a beat, the turian beamed with affability, “You excited to become a marine?”



Nathan grinned at the absurdity of the question, “I suppose I am. What's your name?”



The turian readjusted his positioning to match that of Nathan's, “Aliph. Aliphion Chauturus. You?” he asked, placing his hands on his lap.



“Nathan Parker.”



“Nice to meet you, Nathan,” Aliph said, extending his hand. Nathan shook it, pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of this particular turian. Despite Nathan's open-mindedness concerning the several species' differences, he was accustomed to the hostility between the humans and turians. Aliph's engaging conversations evolved naturally as the shuttle boarded with the turian frigate, missing the distressed pauses populating the average conversation between the two races. Throughout the docking procedure and journey to Manusha, Aliph and Nathan found each other pleasant. Their thoughts and opinions regularly aligned, and they willingly listened to one another. By the end of their voyage, they had become friends.



A day passed before the frigate arrived on Manusha, a newly-founded turian colony specifically designed for the purpose of educating multiple species in the art of war. Nathan and Aliph found themselves arriving on the planet within thirty minutes of their warping to the system. As the shuttle that the two were on glided into the system, Aliph and Nathan gazed upon the enormous academy.



“And here is where they will mold us into elite warriors, Nathan,” Aliph said with comedic sarcasm pointing out of the shuttles viewport. “Oh, and if you get all bent out of shape by the rigorous hammer and anvil, no biggie! All that at the taxpayer's expense!”



“You better believe it,” Nathan chuckled.



Nathan had come to understand Aliph's sarcasm as a way for him to deal with his excitement and anxiety. In a sense of envy, Nathan appreciated Aliph's sense of humor. Since Nathan had formulated no direct way to deal with his own pressures and anxiety, he simply learned to conceal it and bury it under the guise of purpose.



Aliph sighed as the shuttle landed, “Here we go.” Both Nathan and Aliph were engulfed by the tidal wave of eager recruits, washing them out of the shuttle. Nathan searched among the faces of the recruits, trying to find his friend. The chaotic chatter washed out any individual audible recognition, and the scattered recruits deprived Nathan of any possible visual of Aliph. Instead, he simply moved with the exuberant crowds with a mild sense of perturbation. It wasn't until he arrived at the far, hushed end of the landing dock before Nathan could hear Aliph.



“Hay, Nathan! Over here!” Aliph shouted. He was already in line with the other Aurora Company recruits. As Nathan fell in with the rest of them, an officer standing at the front of the company's column began speaking.



“You, ladies and gentleman, will be shown your living quarters for the next year. Here, you will learn the basics of combat, the fundamentals of leadership, the importance of unity, and the complexity of tactical deployment. Your job for the next week will be to organize yourselves. I will be passing my company command over to one of your fellow recruits and he or she will give out squad leadership among those he judges worthy.” After skimming over a list held in his hands, he turned to the tallest of all the recruits, a sturdily-built turian, “You will be the commander, Vahan. Select your subordinates after you arrive at your quarters.”



“Yes, sir,” Vahan acknowledged the new commander.



Nathan gazed up to the distant academy, which sat upon large incline along the side of a gradual hill. The sun showered the facility in gold rays, illuminating the individual particles of pollen expelled by the surrounding forests. As the company began to head to the residential wing of the academy, Nathan took his first real moment to behold the rest of the world. The surrounding area, which was also illuminated by a healthy gold light, was made of mountainous terrain. The swaying trees part of the rich, green forests decked the surrounding mountains. Aliph turned to Nathan as the company began the walk up the hill's path to the residential wing of the military school, “Oh, that Vahan guy is going to be an interesting leader.”



“Why do you say that?” Nathan asked, “Do you know him?”



“His full name is Vahan Arterius,” he said, “Needless to say, he is going to have a sore spot when it comes to you humans.”



Nathan was displeased, “That's not good. Our own leader possesses the same stupid prejudices that everyone else seems to hold on to. Why would that officer give command to him?”



“Well, everyone is a little stupid,” Aliph chuckled.



Nathan couldn't help but laugh at the Aliph's ironic statement. In some aspects, it was true. Everyone is at least a little ignorant or hostile about something, though Nathan found the rampant racism tiring and unfounded. There was nothing indicating that any one race was better than the other, nor was there any evidence that one could exist without the other. The top contributors to the racism were the salarians, humans, volus, and turians though. The asari, elcor, hanar, and quarians tried to get all of them to work together, since their livelihood, in one way or another, depended on peaceful interaction between the Citadel races.



The company entered the residential wing, which was a sprawling hall with numerous living quarters attached. The corridor was lined with gray tiling and carpet, which was shined upon by yellow crescent-shaped lights placed along the floorboards. With the all lacking in any nearby windows, the lighting created a moody, darker atmosphere.



“Alright, I want four separate squads. Here's how the hierarchy will work from here on out. Each one will have one leader who will in turn report to the personnel officer, then that officer will report to me. You, salarian. What is your name?” Vahan demanded.



“Shef'looh, sir!”



“Alright, Shef. You are Alpha fireteam leader.”



“Asari, what is your name?”



“Melanie Xarquai, sir!” she reported.



“You are Beta fireteam leader,” Vahan slowly passed each recruit, who had formed a neat line along the wall of the hallway. He then passed Nathan, letting off a subtle growl as he went. Vahan then towered over another recruit, “You there! Quarian, what is your name?”



Aliph leaned over to whisper into Nathan's ear, “Wow, I thought he was about to rip your heart out. It doesn't seem like he will be putting any humans in any official leadership role.” Both were surprised that a quarian was selected before he even considered any Human. Not that the quarians were particularly ineffective, but the humans possessed a far more capable military prowess than the quarians. In the end, Shef'looh, Melanie, Wren'Jaa vas Tiusa, and an unlikely selection, a volus named Shal, were all in positions of leadership. Not a single Human was selected for any leadership role, despite roughly half of Aurora being composed of them.



“The next meal time is in two hours. We will begin training tomorrow at 0630. Get acquainted with your team members,” Vahan glared at Nathan again, “No matter how insufferable they are.”



Nathan was taken aback by Vahan's remark. He certainly could not have done anything to validate Vahan's criticisms, since he stood at attention like everyone else. As recruits scrambled to find a group and join their squads in their designated quarters, Nathan quickly pushed his way through to Vahan. He was already surrounded by a group of higher ranking turians, “Sir, with your permission, I wanted to ask what I did wrong.”



Vahan stared at Nathan with contempt, “You were born.”



Nathan could hardly believe the insulting answer he was given, “Sir?”



“Listen, scrub, I don't know who you think you are,” he snarled, “but you need to learn your place. I don't devote a single second of my life worrying about what you, or any of your people want.”



“My people, sir?”



“How dense are you? Get out of my way you pest,” Vahan denounced with blaring aversion. He made the motion and sound of a flyswatter striking an insect as he stormed away with the rest of the turian recruits, leaving Nathan absolutely dazed by the hostility his commanding officer had just said.


After recovering from his dismay, Nathan turned to look down the hall full of disgruntled recruits grumbling because they were not selected for leadership. They trudged to their squad dormitories to reluctantly meet their new squadmates. Nathan shuffled cautiously down the hall, realizing that he and his friend Aliph had not yet been selected by any other squad.



“How did it go with his 'lordship',” Aliph sarcastically inquired.



“I hope he pulls the stick out of his ass,” Nathan fumed with a vague sense of anger.



“Well, because of your informative tutorial with everyone's friendly neighborhood commander, Vahan, we are forced to join Beta squad. They are the only ones left with open slots,” Aliph remarked with a hint of discontent. “I don't like being forced into a decision, Nathan.”



“Isn't the accepted marine motto to 'Adapt and overcome?'” Nathan asked with a slanted smile.



“Well, I heard it was supposed to be 'I don't care what you want, I have space lasers', but I could be wrong,” he shrugged with disappointment. Concluding their momentary banter, they both entered the Beta squad's quarters. Melanie came in from the far end of the room. The sunlight shining behind her made it difficult for Nathan to identify her features, causing him to squint into her figure in order to make her out. His eyes struggled to adjust to the contrast in lighting.


“Hay, I remember you from the shuttle ride. Still want to stare at me?” Melanie giggled as she approached Nathan and Aliph. They could only smile in reply. “Welcome to Beta squad! Where the diversity never ceases to amaze!” she threw her arms up in the air, arching her back a little.



As she spoke, a young male quarian, a turian female, a male volus, and a salarian male all entered the room from the hallway. Upon their entrance, everyone moved away from the sunlit wall to better see each other. Nathan realized that almost every major Citadel race was present, and the only one that participated in military recruitment that was missing was a drell recruit, the neighboring squad's dormitory already having the only one.



“Hello, squad mates. Confounded formalities aside, assuming that you want to continue persisting in the delusion that we are to be remotely unified in the coming endeavors, my name is Deec Slaikers,” the salarian rapidly spoke, disinterested in socializing at that particular time.



“Ah, cheer up you downer. We will become good friends by the end of our training,” the quarian chuckled, “I am Meyek'Defrahnz vas Rannoch but you can just call me Meyek.” All the other squad members spent a brief moment in a fruitless attempt to make out the quarian's face from within his helmet. It took Meyek a few moments to realize what the others were doing, “Well, er. I cannot take it off, if that is what you want.”



The volus hobbled forward, “I know how that feels, Rannoch-cla... I mean, Meyek.”



Melanie couldn't help but grin at the volus' tiny stature, “What is your name?”



The volus looked upwards to Melanie, then around to the others, “My name is Sorlim.”



“Hay, Sorlim. I guess you and I are the only ones in the group who can't show our faces,” Meyek laughed. Sorlim hobbled towards Meyek, agreeing as he spun around to see who else had not stated their name. He spied the female turian.



The female turian was lying on her cot, appearing to ignore the conversation. The silence drew her attention to the rest of the squad, “What, am I supposed to be all touchy and 'feely' too? Please, I am getting out of this squad tomorrow morning, so it doesn't even matter. Stupid newbies.”



"Keelah, what is up her bum?” Meyek muttered.



The turian did not even bother to rebuke Meyek and, instead, rolled over and continued to ignore the rest of the squad. Melanie turned as she adopted an amusingly mischievous expression, leaned and whispered to the others, “I'd imagine something large or inconceivably massive.”



The group quietly laughed at the expense of the turian. Shortly thereafter, Sorlim, Deec, and Meyek all began to stare at Nathan and Aliph. It took a brief period for the two to realize what they were looking at them for, but Aliph suddenly came to, “Oh, yes! I am Aliph Chauturus and this human here is named Nathan Parker.”



Nathan nodded, raising his hand in a friendly gesture, “Hello.”



The next hour and a half was devoted to the squad members, with the exception of the female turian, unpacking their few belongings and getting acquainted with the quarters. The room was separated into three areas, despite it being an open-floored dormitory. The first, and closest to the entrance, was a brightly lit room with plain gray walling and dark coarse carpeting. It housed a small closet at the direct right of the entrance, which held their uniforms and training gear. Underneath the windows lay a monitor with Armed Forces Network programming surrounded by a concave of several seats.



The next designated area had a table and several seats placed around it, presumably for meetings and studying. The last 'room' was the dimly lit area everyone introduced themselves in. Cots lay in an orderly fashion across the room, a small desk standing next to them with a holographic computer on each for extranet browsing and study.



Deec was the first to finish unpacking his things and sat watching videos on the extranet, “Fascinating how your species all concentrate an exorbitant amount of time preparing yourselves.”



Nathan looked to see that, from Deec's perspective, everyone else was in fact lagging behind. He finished fifteen minutes before any of them were even close to doing so. Melanie gazed upon the salarian, finishing forms she had to submit to the company leader, “Calm down, Deec. They'll be done in a moment and then we can all go to the cafeteria.”



Sorlim finally finished placing his belongings in their proper places and looked towards Deec, “Listen, Sur'Kesh-clan... I mean, Deec. Some of us aren't in a rush to complete unimportant tasks because, unlike you, we live longer than thirty years.”



“If it is a non-vital task, why would you spend an unnecessary amount of time performing it? Does it not make logical sense to avoid wasting valuable time?” Deec asked, ignoring Sorlim's jab.



“Come on you two, cut it out. We have to go eat soon,” Melanie reminded the two quarrelsome recruits. The two rejected their superior, continuing to trade insults about each others longevity and unfortunate genetics. Their argument eventually devolved to venomous political debate.



“At least it did not require a treacherous inter-galactic war to compel the counsel to accept you.”



“Yeah? Look what you did with your precious seat on the counsel, too! You created the genophage, robbing us of valuable krogan resources during the Reaper War!”



Nathan glanced at Aliph and Melanie, then quickly stepped into the argument, “Alright, listen you two. Deec, if avoiding wasting precious time means so much to you, stop arguing with your comrade. Sorlim, the salarians sacrificed many of their lives to end the genophage. Stop your bickering. I would have thought that the war you two mentioned would have brought you together, as opposed to supplying you with more hatred for each other.”



The two slowly relaxed, adhering to Nathan's words. Deec was the first to apologize, “You are quite reasonable, Nathan. What I said was surely unwarranted. I apologize, Sorlim.”



“I am sorry, too,” Sorlim stubbornly grumbled.



“Alright, guys! Great work at resolving your differences,” Melanie chimed, “Now let's go eat!”



As Beta team the larger wing of the marine academy, Nathan was amazed that the cafeteria was large enough to accommodate nearly all of the students and staff at once. It was also constructed to match the dietary needs of every species. There was an individual kitchen for every participating Citadel race, each serving a lofty queue of hungry individuals.



Nathan scanned the seats to find that each fireteam had their own individual table, designated by a holographic sign glowing with the corresponding color of the company, and the name of the squad. Nathan was the first to arrive at his own table, having gone with the most simplistic item on the human menu. Refraining from consuming his meal before the rest of his new companions arrived, he sat watching them as he sipped from his drink. He noticed Vahan, out of the corner of his eye, sitting down at the first-semester officer's table. Each of the commanders and their assistant officers were seated at the table, chatting and laughing about their first few hours of leadership. It seemed as though Vahan was busy bragging about his authoritative treatment of his company.



Nathan was soon distracted, however, by Melanie. His eyes followed her as she exited the line bearing her tray, holding something that looked somewhat similar to human cuisine. She moved gracefully through the crowds of people before sliding into the seat across from Nathan, “Hello, Nathan. Staring at me again, I see?”



Nathan was struggled to think of what to say, “Well, I, er, was just interested in what your food would look like.”



Melanie smiled, “I would have thought you'd have known that asari and humans eat very similar things.”



Quickly trying to justify his watching Melanie, Nathan began to stammer. Aliph, however, rescued Nathan as he arrived at the table, “Ah, man. I haven't seen food for two days, unless you want to count the stuff they served on the frigate,” he blinked for a moment as he gazed at the food on his tray, “And it looks like I will have to get used to not seeing food.”



Both Melanie and Nathan chuckled at Aliph's criticisms of the meals prepared in the kitchens. Though the cuisine was nothing truly remarkable, it did impress Nathan that they were able to produce the quality of food that they did, while still maintaining the necessary quantities.



“So what were you guys talking about?” Aliph asked as he picked at his food.



“Nothing, really,” Nathan responded, briefly noticing Melanie's smile. Finally, the rest of the squad arrived at the table. All of whom were content with the provisions that they had acquired.



“I've been meaning to ask, but why did you guys join the military?” Meyek inquired to break the momentary silence caused by the squad's focused task of consumption.



Melanie placed her utensils on a cloth, looking up towards the rest of the squad. “I joined because being biotic is a precursor to enlisting in the military. So, that said, I had to choose between the asari military on the new Citadel forces. I chose the Citadel to get away from an asari-dominated society,” she explained. She looked to Sorlim, who also began to explain his reason for joining.



“No job position is more secure than a tour in the military forces. I will stay in long enough to earn the money needed to start my own business, and then I will take my leave,” the little volus grunted as he struggled to level his suit with the table.



“Why cease to serve the citizens of Citadel space?” Deec queried.



“Well, I will continue to serve them in my own way. I will open a bank with inflated interest, which will cause wealth disparity to decrease over time,” Sorlim answered.



“Hardly sounds legal or economical,” Deec commented, surprised that the volus' corporate decisions lacked any sort of apparent feasibility.



Sorlim seemed to have researched his plans thoroughly and assured Deec that he possessed the lucrative knowledge, “I know all the loopholes to make it both legal and profitable.”



Meyek rotated his entire body so his helmet's visor could catch a better view of the table and its occupants. “I joined because I want to serve and defend the quarian people,” he proudly boasted. For a moment, his chest was pushed out with pride, but he rapidly lost his confidence and slowly hunched over again, “But my father is overbearing and wants me to help my people rebuild Rannoch. He wants me to work hard so I will be chosen to join the quarian... how do you say it? 'Council'?”



“Why does your father want you to do that? I mean, why does your father want to force you to join your council?” Aliph asked, finally pausing his consumption of his meal to engage in the conversation.



Meyek turned his helmet to face Aliph, “Because my cousin served on it, and her father before her. He thinks because they both did great things back in the days of the Flotilla, that I am destined to do equivalent works.”



“Right. I thought family ties weren't supposed to influence achieving more influential positions within your government,” Aliph said.



“In theory,” Meyek sighed, allowing Deec to explain his own enlisting.



“Joined the Citadel military service to analyze the heterogeneity in physiological, sociological, and neurological permutations of different individuals concerning inter-species interaction,” Deec hastily explained.



“Woah, slow down there my scientific friend. At least ask my permission before you 'analyze' my inter-species 'interactions',” Aliph stated with his iconic humor, causing Nathan to chuckle. Deec continued to dabble with an electronic notepad on his wrist, ignoring Aliph's joke. Aliph used Deec's lack of an answer as a segue for his reasoning for enlisting in the Citadel military. He straightened his back, gently clearing his throat, “I joined because I felt I would be good at it, what with turian military prowess and all. I can work well along other races, and am proficient in combat. My parents thought it to be a foolish idea, having seen many of their friends die during the Reaper War. I suppose they forget that I watched my own friends die as well. Our devastating losses have created a sense of disillusionment for large portions of our people. I just hope we can find our pride and confidence again.”



Everyone at the table ceased eating for several moments, recalling the shadow of history. The galaxy-wide war against the reapers was a devastating, tragic plight that stained the lives of those involved. Economies were left in shambles, worlds were left completely obliterated, and weakened military forces were left to lick their wounds. Soon, however, they began to eat and socialize with one another once again. They refused to relive that terrible nightmare once again.



Melanie looked up towards Nathan when she finished with her meal. She placed her hand on her chin and propped her elbow up on the table, “So, Nathan, why did you join?”



Nathan finished his meal as well, moving his tray to the side so he could easily lean on the table, “I joined to see the galaxy. I figured being part of the Alliance military would confine my service to purely Alliance worlds, especially since we are still in the process of rebuilding our middle and outer rim colonies.”



“Ah, soldier-boy wants to see the galaxy,” Melanie giggled in an underlying flirtatious tone.



"Marine-boy. We're marines," Aliph subtly coughed.



Nathan grinned at both Melanie's laugh and at Aliph's humorous correction, “An innocent enough desire, I suppose.”



Aliph threw his arms out towards the other tables, “I guess it is. You are already seeing a little piece of the galaxy, Nathan. It is a large and diverse place.”



Nathan looked to his friend, “And I already love it.”



When the squad had finished their meals, they continued to chat with one another as they traversed the busy hallways and corridors leading to their quarters. It had been a long and exciting day for the entire team, and as Nathan crawled into his cot, he finally let his muscles relax. The feeling was comfortable and welcome, and as he slowly recalled all of the events from the past few hours, he began to think of his new squadmates. Despite the unfair company leader, his new comrades seemed to be decent, amusing characters. He had noticed that the female turian had already vacated the room, probably convincing Vahan to move her to another squad. It seemed to Nathan that Vahan would be an obstacle he'd need to overcome.