Joker slouched in the corner seat in the last row of the lecture hall, with his cap strategically placed to shield his face from the overpowering brightness of the room. He liked to think that it also shielded him from the gazes of the other students, but maybe that was just wishful thinking.
It was bright in the room, almost uncomfortably bright. Joker suspected that it was meant to discourage students from falling asleep during the less, ah, captivating lectures. (Advanced Techniques in Ship Navigation was one such lecture, by most student accounts.)
He was vaguely aware of Professor Jassal's lecture on maximizing fuel during intra-system space travel, but her voice was faded and distant, as though Joker were hearing her voice from underwater.
He didn't think he'd be missing out on much, though. He'd finished the textbook a few months ago, and even gotten into a snippy e-mail debate about slingshot maneuvers with one of the authors. Joker grinned at the memory, then looked back down at his datapad at the final problem in his problem set.
The pilot of an Alliance frigate must traverse the asteroid belt in the Asgard star system in order to access the system's mass relay. Fuel stores at 83%. Calculate the maximum distance the pilot can travel on current fuel stores. Interpret the results and answer the following questions.
a. What is the minimum percentage of maximum thrust needed to ensure the ship will clear the mass relay after traversing the asteroid belt?
b. What courses of action can the pilot take to maximize fuel efficiency?
c. Calculate the maximum velocity at which the pilot can traverse the system when thrusters are at 60% capacity.
d. At the velocity calculated in C , approximate the number of asteroid collisions before critical failure of shields. Assume standard shield strength. (The median weight and size for asteroids in the Asgard system can be found in Appendix G.)
Joker was slightly annoyed by the question. It wasn't a question about flying, it was a question about math. No pilot would just "find himself" in the middle of an asteroid belt. And even if Joker had found himself in that (admittedly shitty) position, he'd have made it through just fine. He certainly wouldn't have stopped to calculate maximum velocity or minimum thrust or fuel efficiency. He wouldn't have needed to. He could just feel it.
Hell, in FlightSim last night, he'd made it through an asteroid field with one failed thruster, shields at 20% capacity, and a leaking fuel tank, all while being chased by a persistent geth fighter.
Granted, he'd asked the FlightSim VI for a difficult one.
He shook off the memories of FlightSim and tried to refocus. He wasn't in FlightSim now. He was in class.
He was in class, and he needed to get up out of his chair soon. His legs hurt from being locked in one position. He was supposed to stretch his legs for two minutes every hour, but the cramped quarters in the lecture hall were anything but conducive to student comfort.
The tension in his legs was making him crabby. He was stiff. He wanted to swim. He wanted to run a FlightSim.
He got even crankier when he remembered that he still had that ridiculous Lit class to attend.
After that business a few years back, the Council had decided to stress diplomacy and inclusivity in the training regimen at the Galactic Training Academy. To fulfill that end, the GTA had recently "broadened its educational horizons" to be more inclusive of the non-Council races of the galaxy.
That's what they said in the press conferences, anyway. In practice, this "broadening of horizons" consisted of a single new mandatory humanities course - the aforementioned Galactic Literature and Poetry - and species-integrated dormitories and cafeterias.
Quit drifting off, Joker told himself. He rolled the stiffness out of his neck and peered back at the datapad. He did some quick calculations and inputted the answers to the last problem in the problem set. He quickly rechecked his work, and then submitted it to Professor Jassal via e-mail.
He had made it into a kind of game, seeing whether or not he could finish a problem set in the same period the professor assigned it. Usually he won. He could tell that Professor Jassal had seen that he'd completed the set. She shot Joker a knowing smirk, and dismissed the class for the day.
Joker heard the characteristic rustling of students packing up their things, and knew that he was almost free.
He waited patiently for the students to file out the front door before moving to stand up. He needed to move, but he preferred to walk without an audience. His knees creaked ominously as he stood. He stretched his legs carefully and gathered his things. He had just begun to slowly traverse the stairway down to the exit when –
"Ah. Mr. Moreau. A moment."
Professor Jassal's voice rang clear from the front of the lecture hall, and Joker began to make his way down to her desk at the front.
The professor was an elderly woman, in her 60s or 70s. She had long grey hair pulled into a bun at the nape of her neck, and the faint wrinkles around her eyes crinkled as she smiled at him. "Hello, Mr. Moreau. How are you?"
"Tired, ma'am. I just finished this monster problem set."
She chuckled. "Well, that's not why I called you down here. I have a book here I think you'd like. Turian and human collaborative ship design."
"Thank you," said Joker, with genuine gratitude. He accepted the transfer onto his datapad, and flicked through a couple of pages.
Professor Jassal watched his face. She noticed how his brow crinkled and his eyes raced over the screen. "Mr. Moreau," she began. "How many hours have you clocked on the station's Flight Simulation program?"
Joker looked up and grinned. "9,984."
She nodded thoughtfully, as if Joker had answered a very different question. There was a pause for a few awkward seconds.
"Well, let me know what you think of the book."
"Will do, ma'am."
"Dismissed."
Joker exited the room as quickly as his legs would allow, hoping he'd make it to that stupid lit class on time.
Professor Jassal watched him leave. He slammed the door shut, and she heard his muttered curses from the other side of the door. Her laugh reverberated in the empty lecture hall. "That boy," she said, shaking her head.
She walked over to her lectern, packed up her notes, and exited the room, turning out the lights as she went.
"Tali! Can you make it?"
"I can't get through, Shepard! I'm not close enough," Tali replied.
Shepard peeked around the edge of the wall, only to be rewarded with a burst of rapid gunshot fire from a geth.
"Dammit. They've gotten the high ground."
This was an exceptionally frustrating CombatSim. The AI had placed Shepard and her team (Garrus and Tali) in the middle of the desert, with the building they were trying to infiltrate a good 400 meters away. The geth had snipers trained on them in a matter of seconds, and Shepard and her team had had to sprint for cover.
Kaidan and his team (Ashley and Wrex) hadn't had the easiest time of it, either. They'd been placed directly next to the compound they were trying to infiltrate, and near good cover, but they had to take down two Geth Armatures before they could enter the building. By that time, Garrus had taken out the snipers, and he, Shepard, and Tali had sprinted to the door of the compound, right on the heels of Kaidan and his team.
Both teams had the same mission: Infiltrate the compound and retrieve data from a terminal on the second floor. Shepard was looking for a way to get Tali up into the stairwell, but it was blocked by Kaidan, Ashley and Wrex (and about a dozen geth).
Garrus popped up and got in two shots against a geth unit before it overloaded his shields and another trained its assault rifle on him. He ducked to avoid the imminent incoming fire.
"God, how do we get past them?" he asked, exasperated.
Shepard thought for a moment. You don't need to get past them. You don't even need to get to the second floor. You just need the data.
"Dammit! We've been doing this wrong." Shepard formulated a plan quickly. "We don't need to get past them. We just need to get Tali within distance of the data terminal."
Garrus looked at her as if she'd grown a second head. "Shepard, that's what we've been doing for the past- "
"No, Garrus! Not in the same room with it. Just near it. If this is a standard layout for an Alliance military base, then there's another room just under the room with the data terminal. If we can get Tali in there, she'll have a shot at a hack from underneath."
Shepard turned to Tali. "Garrus and I will create a diversion. You sneak into the room under the target and hack into the data terminal." She paused. "It'll be a remote hacking. Can you do it?"
Tali looked offended, even through the opaque glass plate covering her face. "It's me, Shepard. Of course I can do it."
Shepard grinned. "Excellent. You could be getting some fire. Can your shields take it?"
She nodded. "I've got a boost ready to go."
"Good." Shepard looked around the field for anything that would provide a big enough diversion to pull off their little scheme. When she saw it, her face lit up. "Garrus, on three, fire on the crate behind that Prime. Overload it, shoot it, kick it, I don't care, just make it explode."
"Garrus' mandibles widened slightly in surprise. "I hadn't even realized it was explosive. . . " He trailed off at the end.
"On three, Garrus! Get ready, Tali." She waited to make sure they were both in position, then cried, "One. . . two. . . three!"
Garrus popped up from behind the low cover and released a Heavy Overload on the crate behind the Geth Prime. The explosion blew the Prime off his feet and against a wall. He looked down for the count, but Shepard fired a Heavy Warp at him to be sure. Kaidan, Ashley and Wrex continued to fight their way through the geth towards the stairwell. Tali released her combat drone to give Garrus and Shepard some extra cover, and then snuck off in the opposite direction, towards the empty room.
Tali looked down at her omnitool and moved so that she was directly underneath the data terminal. The signal was steady, but low – so low that a lesser-skilled engineer wouldn't have known what to look for. Tali picked the relevant information out of the signal and pieced it together using her omni-tool.
After a few seconds of frantic typing, she pieced together the final piece of information, and successfully hacked the data terminal. "Got it!" she whispered.
As soon as the hack was complete, the CombatSim rushed to a halt. The geth faded away, and the floors shifted themselves back into the default arrangement for the CombatSim room. The sound of an engine powering down filled the room. The CombatSim VI's voice came booming through the loudspeakers. "Please do not exit the Combat Simulation room until all weapons have been fitted with the appropriate safety measures. Have a pleasant day!"
Kaidan, Ashley and Wrex looked around, confused.
"The Sim's over? How the hell could it be over? Who got the data?" Wrex asked, puzzled.
Shepard opened her mouth to answer, but then Ashley saw Tali jogging over from the area the room underneath the data terminal used to be, and narrowed her eyes. "How the hell did you –"
Garrus interrupted Ashley with a low, appreciative laugh. "Nice work on that remote hack, Tali'Zorah. That was . . . impressive."
Tali's voice had a hint of a smile in it. "I know! And Shepard had the nerve to question my abilities." She scoffed good-naturedly, and gave Shepard a light punch in the arm. "It's all right. She'll know better for next time."
Kaidan put his hands on his hips and laughed, shaking his head. "Ash and I could tell you were planning something. We just didn't know what it was."
Professor Anderson walked in the room, and the six students assembled themselves into a straight line, ready to receive Anderson's comments on their exercise.
Anderson voice boomed as he walked over towards them.
"Good work, the lot of you."
The students all relaxed imperceptibly at his words. Professor Anderson was known for being a hardass.
"Alenko, you led well. Keep the mission parameters in mind, and make calls based on fulfilling those parameters. The goal was to retrieve data, not rid the compound of geth. Good leadership, though. We'll make a decent squad leader of you yet." Kaidan smiled slightly at those words – high praise coming from Anderson.
"Good shooting, Williams. I saw you take down an Armature at close range." He nodded appreciatively.
"Wrex, you're depending too much on your regenerative abilities. Stay out of fire as much as possible, no matter how much you think you can take. " Wrex let out a low guffaw, but otherwise said nothing.
Anderson moved over to Tali and said, "That was impressive, Tali'Zorah. Your infiltrating skills are remarkable." He paused. "They teach that on the flotilla?"
"No sir," Tali replied. "That's of my own design. It's a bit too instinctive to be taught reliably."
Anderson nodded slowly. "Well done."
"Excellent sniping, Vakarian, but pay more attention to your surroundings. Missing key information like explosive crates won't be acceptable in the big leagues."
"Yes, sir," responded Garrus, and Anderson gave him a nod.
"Unconventionally done, Shepard. Good interpretation of mission parameters. You utilized your teammates well. " He paused and gave her a nod as well. "Seems you've been practicing your shooting. Your aim has improved significantly. Well done."
Anderson looked them over one last time and nodded. "Dismissed."
The six of them remained quiet and at attention until Anderson left the room. As soon as the door had clicked shut, the six students exchanged grins and congratulations.
"Wow," said Kaidan. "Either he was in a really good mood, or we just aced that CombatSim."
"That might be the best post-CombatSim critique we've ever gotten. Shit, the worst thing he had to say was about Garrus missing that crate," Ashley pointed out.
Their conversation dissolved into chatter as they stripped their armor and weapons and headed for Galactic Literature and Poetry.
Next Chapter: The "stupid Lit class." I neither confirm nor deny that it will be taught by a drell with tight leather pants and a tortured soul.
Author's Note
As this fic is AU, I thought readers might want to know the ages of our characters:
Azri Shepard - 18, Adept.
Joker – 18.
Kaidan Alenko - 19.
Ashley Williams - 18.
Garrus Vakarian- 17.
Tali'Zorah nar'Rayya - 17.
Wrex – 126 (In my headcanon, roughly the equivalent of a human 20 year old.)