Hi all, been a while hasn't it, you see the thing that happened was that I was suddenly sucked into the Mass Effect universe and found myself on the Citadel ... are you buying this, no? okay I'm lying I'm sorry, please don't glare at me like that I said I was sorry.
Anyway, this story used to be Unity but then I decided to give it a complete overhaul and change the route because i wanted to do something completely different that no one had seen before and lets face it, everyone has seen a Shepard goes to high school story. So without further ado, here it is.
Citadel Presidium University
Sophie Shepard was your average Colony kid, a little nervous about being on a space station, but very excited at meeting new species. With her was her best friend Samantha Traynor, fellow colony kid. The two had met on Earth while attending Oxford University. Recently graduating at the top of their respective classes (Communication Technology for Sam, Paleotechnology for Sophie and Tactical Strategy for them both) the girls had been invited to broaden their knowledge at the Citadel Presidium University, or CPU for short. Both had enthusiastically accepted.
They had been placed in student housing, since they didn't live on the Citadel, and a grant so they could buy their supplies. They didn't need much money though. Sam's parents on Horizon sent a monthly allowance and Sophie's parents had left her a decent amount of money when they died.
They had been allocated an apartment up on the Presidium just ten minutes from the University. There were two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchenette and a living room. The entire building was filled with students from the University who didn't live on the Citadel. Their next door neighbours were a young Quarian and Human, both female, and across the hall were a Krogan and Turian. There had been an open door floor party when they had arrived where they had met their fellow classmates. The Quarian had been super friendly and had jumped up to them and shouted that her name was Tali. Her roommate had apologised, told them Tali had had a bit to drink already and that her name was Kasumi. Kasumi and Tali seemed like good friends who had a lot in common. The Krogan and the Turian barely seemed to stand each other in comparison. Sophie just barely stopped the Krogan from head butting the Turian, who was immensely thankful for that and introduced himself as Garrus and his roommate as Grunt.
The six of them had hung together for the rest of the night. Sophie even learned what courses her new friends were taking, an advanced engineering course for Tali, Programming for Kasumi (though she admitted that she preferred to hack), Garrus would be in their Tactical Strategy course and Grunt was taking Krogan History (though he admitted that he only took the course so he could play sports for the University. Grunt was on the Rugby, American Football and Durgeball teams, (Durgeball being a Krogan Sport).
They were also told about some of the others on their floor. They were warned of a girl down the hall who was covered in tattoos, a powerful Biotic and was nasty as hell, but not to worry, Jack's roommate Ashley was nicer, but was a little cold to the other species. Opposite them was Kaidan Alenko and Jacob Taylor, both Biotics and on the University's Skyball team though Taylor was also on the American Football team and Alenko was also on the football team. Across from Kasumi and Tali was James Vega, a Human the size of a small Krogan and just as strong, and his roommate, a Drell named Kolyat, whose father taught at the University. There were others on the floor, but none nearly so interesting.
Sophie and Sam were now on their way to their first day at the University. Sophie couldn't wait to see what her class would be like. She had always been interested in the past, where someone had come from often connected to where they were going. It still baffled her that while her species had rolled in the mud there were a whole bunch of species flying about above their heads. The technology of those who came before wasn't just a godsend for living their lives now, but it was interesting as well, an insight into how they themselves lived their lives. The Protheans, the Innusanon, all of them were mysterious to most people, but a little less mysterious to those who study them.
She was also looking forward to taking part in some sports. Her Biotics, while not the strongest were quite controlled and Sophie wanted to try out for Skyball and Biotiball.
Sam put down the Skycar Sophie had bought for them to use (she absolutely refused to let Sophie drive, called her a menace behind the wheel) and turned off the engines.
"Can you believe that we're actually here?" Sam shrilled in Sophie's ear while her friend cringed.
"Yes, I can, now calm down before you give yourself an embolism," Sam gave a sheepish grin and Sophie rolled her eyes while opening the car door, "Come on, otherwise you're gonna be late."
"What about you?" Sam asked, frowning at Sophie.
"My class doesn't start until after lunch," Sophie grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulder.
"Then why did you come in so early?" Sam cocked her head to the side.
"I wanted to have a look around, get a feel for the place you know?" Sam nodded before grabbing her own bag and shutting the car door and looking it.
"I'll see you at lunch then," Sam waved and ran off, disappearing between the other students. Sophie took a good look around before she made her way through the crowd and into the main building. She could tell already that there was a very diverse population at CPU. It was considered the only time Krogan and Batarians were allowed on the Presidium, though you didn't see many. Few Batarians were allowed to leave Batarian space and most Krogan distrusted the Council on principle. Still there were a few of both milling about, along with Hanar and Drell, which was odd since most Hanar and Drell preferred to stay on Kahje. There were quite a few Volus roaming about, though Sophie had to bite back a laugh when she suddenly thought of them rolling about. There was the odd Elcor and Quarian and more than a few humans milling about waiting for their classes to start. The overall majority though clearly came from the three council races, the Asari, the Turians and the Salarians.
Sophie grabbed a map from the reception and walked around the campus looking for the Library, the courtyard, the lounge for the students and the sport halls. At half four she began walking towards the cafeteria to go meet Sam. On the way she turned a corner and walked into something decidedly solid, or rather someone. Books tumbled to the floor and twin 'Oofs' came from the two women who now found themselves on the floor. Sophie shook her head before scrambling to help pick up the books.
"I'm so sorry, I honestly didn't mean to …" she froze as she looked up and met the deepest blue eyes and the cutest freckles she'd ever seen. The Asari before her had stolen her breath away, not to mention her thoughts and her ability to speak.
"I'm sorry, I'm late, I've got to go," she pulled the books from my arms that I had helped her pick up and hurried away throwing a quick 'thank you' over her shoulder. Sophie stood frozen for another minute longer before she could move. That voice, those eyes, that chest, that arse, she shook her head to get rid of the inappropriate thoughts. The Asari had obviously been a Maiden, she seemed quite young anyway, and Sophie had caught a glance at one of the books she was holding, Paleotechnology, so they'd be sharing a class together. Sophie wandered off towards the cafeteria with a goofy grin spread across her face. She'd be sharing a class with the hot young Asari. She was probably a science geek, judging by the science uniform she wore, and that was awesome, Sophie liked her girls smart. It was why she had tried dating Sam, though they had ended up staying friends since Sam lacked a vital component to being Sophie's dream girl, basically she wasn't blue.
Sophie dropped into a seat in the cafeteria next to Sam, goofy grin still on her face. Tali and Kasumi dropped into the seats opposite them and Grunt and Garrus came over to sit with them too. Sophie began picking food off Sam's tray still with a goofy grin on her face while her friends discussed the teachers and classes, only vaguely hearing about how Paleotechnology had a new teacher this year, why you shouldn't cross the sports coach and that the head of sciences at the university was supposedly an insane Salarian who used to be a member of the STG.
"Alright out with it!" exclaimed Kasumi who had been getting more and more frustrated with her grin without knowing who caused it, "what's her name?"
"Whose name?" Sophie tried to look non chalaunte but failed.
"Don't play dumb with me, something got you grinning like I do after a weekend with my boyfriend. Now what's her name?" Sophie looked startled for a moment before smirking.
"How do you know it's not a he?" she asked still smirk, but her smirk slipped slightly when Kasumi smirked right back.
"Not everyone has Gaydar but I do and it definitely goes off when it points at you," Sophie raised her eyebrow and Kasumi sighed, "at the open door floor party you stared more at Ashley than Kaidan," Sophie went to say 'so' but Kasumi continued, "more at Jack than Jacob, which I don't get cuz Jacob is yummy, he's got nothing on my man though. Where was I? Oh yeah, more at Tali than Garrus and more at me than James. Sorry but I got you pegged. Now. What. Is. Her. Name?" she demanded.
"I don't know," Sophie cracked and put her head to the table, "I bumped into her in the hallway, literally, and knocked us both to the floor. God she is the most beautiful thing I have ever laid eyes upon and I feel like a bloody Neanderthal around her, I can't think, I can't talk and I definitely can't breathe. I just feel like I'm in high school again, trying to get the courage up to ask her to prom."
"Asari?" Sam asked and Sophie nodded glumly against the table, "hey don't worry we'll find her for you, I mean it can't be that big of a campus, can it?" she looked up at their friends for help, each of them shrugging. Then Sophie sat up straight.
"I know where to find her," when they all stared at her she felt the need to elaborate, "when we bumped into each other I knocked her books to the floor, one of her books was about Paleotechnology, she could be in my class."
"Well what are you waiting for girl, go get her number," Sophie jumped out of her seat and ran for the exit, "hey and ask her if she's got any sisters while you at it," she turned to find the others looking at her, "what? Asari are hot."
Sophie ran down the relatively empty hallways, empty since most people were still at lunch, and made to the Paleotechnology classroom fifteen minutes early. She walked in to find the multi-tier semi-circle seats and desks empty and sighed; she'd just have to wait for her to show up. In the meantime Sophie picked out a good seat in the lowest tier, right in the middle. She got out her stuff and waited. The minutes ticked by and her classmates started to trickle in. Most were Asari, though there were a lot of Salarians and quite a few Turians as well. A couple of Drell and Hanar came in as did a few other Humans and one Quarian, still no beautiful Asari.
The digital clock above the class' interactive board chimed one o'clock and the last student entered. All the seats were now full and Sophie's heart fell a little, she'd been so sure …
Her thoughts trailed off as the door opened again and in walked the Asari that had been on her mind non-stop since they'd bumped into each other. Sophie was a little confused as the Asari walked up to the Teachers desk and deposited her books. Her confusion turned to horror as the Asari turned to address the class.
"Hello, I'm sorry I'm late, my first day has been very hectic. My name is Doctor Liara T'Soni and I will be you're Professor for the foreseeable future."
Only one thing was going through Sophie's mind. 'Holy Crap!'
