I never was one to fit in with a crowd, being sent on the pilgrimage wasn't a big help either. I was one of the few and honestly I was a lucky one too, I was born with biotics, the ability to harness dark matter and use it at my will, Quarians next to never get them when they're born, due to low amounts of Element Zero in Quarian supply. I also survived the Reaper invasion. It may sound cowardly, but fighting was something that I didn't want to do... I was sheltered, even though I could have helped.
One year has passed since the legendary Commander Shepard defeated the reapers and united the galaxy. The Commander was an amazing fighter in all aspects and I even saw him live in a combat simulator arena, after the fight I got to meet him too. It was one of the most inspiring things of my life and it made me want to hone my biotic abilities, even if I wasn't going to use them for combat.
My name is Cassandra'Zenith nar Castor and I'm hoping to finish my pilgrimage in the next few months, I was born off of my homeworld Rannoch, hell I've never even been there. I'm starting to think I'll never prove myself useful, but who knows, I've been lucky throughout my life, I'm on the citadel searching for something, but what? That's the question I should ask myself...
"Hey suit rat, if you're not gonna buy something then get out!" A deep and masculine voice shouted out. I turned to see it was a Human clerk.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to loiter, I'll leave." I said in a meek response. "I thought that Humans were supposed to be nice... I guess the galaxy can't be perfect though." I thought to myself.
"Good, now leave before I call C-Sec." He snarled at me, so I left the shop. I was hoping to get something to defend myself with, maybe a pistol. The fleet allowed me to take one of their Omni-Tools though. Since then I've gotten a few defensive features on it, but nothing that could really save my life.
"Hey you alright?" A new feminine voice calmly said from behind. I turned to see that the voice belonged to an Asari of a light blue hue wearing a casual looking white dress.
"Yeah... I was just browsing and... well I won't trouble you with anything." I responded.
"If you're sure. I don't mind really, to be completely honest that clerk is incredibly prejudiced against anyone that's not a Human." She tries to cheer me up.
"It's a shame... you'd think after defeating a large threat that the galaxy would be more united." I said.
"You would think... it's terrible really." She responded, maintaining a calm voice.
"Well thank you. What's your name? If you don't mind me asking." I asked.
"I don't mind at all, my name is Kalia T'Sari, what's yours?" She replied fairly.
"My Names Cassandra'Zenith nar Castor. But most people call me Cassie." I answered.
"Quite a name, I like it... but I have to ask, the Castor part is the ship you were born on, correct?"
"Yeah." I let out a chuckle. "The Quarian names even confuse me sometimes. For what it's worth I like your name too."
"Thank you. So do you live here?"
"No, I'm on my pilgrimage, I'm looking for something useful to bring back to the fleets. I don't really like to ask for help, but... do you have any suggestions? Maybe any technology, or knowledge? Or Keelah, if you're generous, a job maybe? I could bring credits or something along those lines."
"I'm not really a technological genius, and most I know is common knowledge... but if you want I could get you a job, it's just one, but it's important to me and I can pay a fair amount of credits and I could even direct some Eezo your way, I know that Rannoch's supplies are fairly low and I know it's not much, but some is better than none."
"That would be amazing! Thank you Miss Kalia."
"No problem Cassie, I'm happy to help." She gives me a smile. "Just follow me... one question though, do you know how to fix VI drones?"
"Yes, I have one myself, I call her Shepard."
"After the Commander?" She asked, her curiosity piqued. I nod at her.
"He was a big hero of mine." I stated proudly.
"A good one to have. He was a great stallion from what I've heard and seen in the vids." Kalia said.
Along the way we exchanged some small talk and I asked her a few questions about where she's from and how old she is. I gathered that she's a 102 year old Asari, born on the city world of Illium. I've heard about that world and it's beautiful scenery, even though they practically enslave people there, but they cover it up by calling them "indentured servants". After she told me a bit about her, I told her that I am a 21 year old Quarian, I told her a bit about the ship I was raised on and even told her that I had biotic implants.
After a fun discussions about the exploits of the Commander and biotic specialties that we both had, her being an Asari and all. She's a really nice person from what I've gathered, she works on C-Sec, mostly as an investigative officer, mostly on theft cases.
"So you caught a Salarian stealing an antique sword once?" I ask.
"Yeah, it belonged to some Human warrior from a long time ago, named William Wallace."
"Hmm... I've never heard of him, then again I never really learned about human history. Although I had a friend on the ship once who was a big fan of it."
"On the Castor ship, you said?"
"That's the one, it was a pretty big ship too, about a quarter the size of a cruiser ship." I explained.
"Hmm... I wonder what it would be like to live in a ship."
"Sometimes it was constricting, but the crew's nice enough, they're pretty much my family."
"From what you told me, you seemed like you wanted nothing more than to leave."
"Well, I did, but now that I have, it's pretty frightening to be alone in the galaxy though." I said with a somewhat homesick tone.
"I'm sorry... it must be tough. Do you have anywhere to stay?" She asked with a worried tone.
"Not unless you count the benches in the Presidium Commons, no..."
"Oh... if you want you could stay at my apartment for the time being, it's a big place."
"I don't want to impose on you or anything."
"No, it's quite fine, really. It get's kind of lonely around there anyways."
"If you insist, then thank you, I'd love to. Only one problem though..."
"What's that?"
"Do you have any Dextro pastes, or anything like that? Normal food is... well deadly to me."
"Oh no I don't, but I could buy some, I don't want you starving." She said in an almost insistent voice.
"Ugh... I feel horrible for making you do that. Are you sure?"
"It's fine, I might have to wait a bit longer to buy that extranet vid that I wanted. But I think I'll live." She chuckled a bit.
"Oh now you're just playing with me." I said as I caught on.
"You're fast Cassandra." She said smiling at me. I smiled back, but she couldn't really see behind my Yellowy-brown tinted mask. "So, where do you get your body suits? Do you choose what they look like?"
"Well I've made modifications to the suit when I do repairs on it and such, but nothing really cosmetic. I guess I just wear it for what it is."
"Well you look lovely in it, the suits that you Quarians wear are beautiful." She said, the smile on my face growing.
"Oh thank you. Not many people like them from what I know... it's what brands me as a... a "suit rat". Those bosh'tets." I say, the anger from that shop keeper returning.
"Well they don't know anything about beauty then, it's a shame that so many people are like that... oh here we are, finally. I usually take rapid transport, but the walk was nice. It gave me time to get to know you."
"This is your building then? It's quite large." I said, staring at the building in front of me, it looked like a large tower, seeming to never end in floors. "And fancy."
"It's a nice place, a friend actually put the full down payment on it for me."
"Really? What's their name? They must be really generous." I said in awe, taking in both the fact that somepony would be so nice to buy the apartment and how nice the apartment must be.
"His name's Joshua. I've known him for a few years now. He used to be a Lieutenant in the Alliance military and fought during the reaper invasion. He was able to take down one of the Reapers and got a big check from Alliance. After that he retired from the Alliance. He started writing as a hobby and has been helping his friends ever since."
"Sounds like a good guy. He must have been happy to have gotten out of the war as soon as possible. Was he a biotic too?"
"Yeah, he was a decent biotic, not the best, but he knew his way around an assault rifle."
"Hmm... does he live here too?"
"No, he lives in the lower wards, but he comes to visit every so often, he's a good friend of mine."
"That's good to hear, I wouldn't mind meeting him to be honest."
"Well if you stay around a bit, I'm sure he'll drop by."
"I don't want to overstay my welcome..."
"You can stay as long as you need, don't worry about it Cassandra."
"You're very generous... go ahead and call me Cassie."
"Okay then Cassie. Let's head in then." She says, starting to walk into the apartment building and I follow behind her, as she walks in, I'm stopped by a Turian in at the receptionist's desk.
"Stop suit rat, if you don't have an apartment you can't enter. Unless you're planning to buy, which I highly doubt." The Turian says.
"N-no, actually I..." I start to say.
"Actually, she's with me. You can let her through." Kalia interrupted me and reassured the receptionist.
"Oh... sorry ma'am, go ahead, you're cleared." He said, pretty embarrassed. I smiled at his embarrassment and walked passed him happily.
"Does everyone on the Citadel hate Quarians?"
"I hope not, it's terrible how they can be. It really needs to be changed, the sooner the better..."
"Well I'm glad you don't, if I didn't I'd be sleeping in the commons again."
"Now we can't have that can we?" She says, giving me another smile and leading me to her apartment. "Here, let's take an elevator, I'm getting tired of walking."
"Sounds good to me, it's getting hot in this suit."
"I think they set the atmosphere to a hotter temperature, just to mess with you." She said sarcastically.
"Oh that would be taking the prejudice a bit too far don't you think?" I chuckle. The elevator door opens up and we walk out and to the end of the hall.
"We're here. This is it." She scans the door and opens the door, as it slides open I see a large room, plants furnishing the shelves and waterfalls flowing down the walls. A large Television hanging on the wall, across from a nice soft looking couch. On the side wall, was a door leading outside to a small balcony area looking over the Presidium, it's a beautiful sight, the large Krogan statue, the rivers, the cars passing, and waterfalls. This luxurious first floor was coupled with a balcony overlooking the first floor, furnished with it's own exotic plants and sure to have it's own unique niceties in the individual rooms.
"Keelah..." I say in complete astonishment.
"Breathtaking isn't it? That's what I thought at first too."
"It's certainly large and... fascinating. This is a big improvement from a bench. And you own it?"
"It's all mine, thanks to Josh."
"That's a person that must be nice, wow." I say. She chuckles a bit and then walks a few rooms over, to reveal a room with a queen sized bed, covered with white sheets and soft looking pillows.
"This is where you'll be sleeping."
"Kee-... Wow. Thank you. So what's the job you wanted me to do?"
"Oh don't worry about that for now, we can get you started tomorrow, but don't worry, you'll be helping me a lot. Go ahead and get some sleep, you must be tired."
"A bit yeah... thank you though, this is a kindness that I can't truly replace."
"Just get comfortable and I'll be happy for now."
"If you insist... I know I've said it a thousand times, but thank you."
"It's alright, don't worry. Goodnight."
"Night Kalia, I'm glad I ran into you." I say, letting out a yawn. She smiled and walked into another room. "Keelah, I got lucky... A place to stay and a nice Asari letting me stay here. I guess I should get some sleep, then I'll be fully rested for the job tomorrow. I'll finally be able to finish my pilgrimage and become a full adult."
I lay down on the bed, lifting the sheets over my body, and closing my eyes and drifting off into a deep, comfortable sleep.