Forward: ... what have I done?
Mass Effect: Together
A Human and a Turian
Part One: Elevator
Silence, save for the small purr of the elevator, pushed its way between the two occupants. A voice cast shattered the calm, causing the young human to jump from her thoughts.
Rika's expression flushed with color, embarrassment fighting to be seen on her tanned skin. The only reason she had taken the lift down today was because the office had been buzzing with volus negativity. On a good day (if there even was such a thing) Ambassador Din was intolerable. Something about this day had him nearly excruciating to the point of physical pain. For one reason or another he had decided that Rika needed to know every detail of fault with humanity and its politics. She had much more to do with the elcor's affairs than her own species, but Din had taken it upon himself to educate her just the same. Then, in a flash of genius, Ambassador Calyn remembered his need for Rika to run an errand.
Now, a turian had seen her jump at a harmless news flash about the possible plummet of mining stocks.
Nadleeh was going to have a lovely time drinking to this one.
She felt the rumble of his chuckle bound off of every wall. Rika chanced a glance in the turian's direction, instantly regretting doing so when he, in turn, looked at her. The two stared at each other, tensing at the obvious awkward implications. He registered her as human after a moment and then turned back to examining the intense white of the doors. Rika felt compelled to do the same.
He was definitely male, but her mind had registered that when she realized she would be sharing this ride. Not that Rika would recognize a female turian, she could not even be sure if she had ever seen one. They were, after all, so rare a sight on the Citadel. He was also fairly young, maybe even just a few years older than Rika herself, with no facial markings. Did that mean he had been raised on Palaven?
Or did that mean he was, oh, what was the expression, a "barefaced"?
"Excuse me, but…" Rika looked back to the turian, who at this point was staring holes through the elevator's shining metal. "That uniform means you're a member of C-Sec, right?"
It took him several seconds to respond. She watched did she really just ask such an obvious question cross his face. "Yes."
"I haven't seen you around before." Rika said, letting her thoughts dangle in the air.
He stared at her, seeming to not follow her assertion.
She stared back with an air of cautiousness.
Nope. Not awkward at all.
"New?"
"Actually, I've been with C-Sec for over two years now."
"… Oh, wow…" Heat returned immediately to Rika's face. After living on the Citadel and having to run errands between C-Sec and the embassies for so long, Rika decided to hop on an elevator with the one officer she did not know. "Sorry, um… sorry."
"It's alright. I'm out on patrol most of the time; it's not likely you would have ever seen me before."
The walls around them spoke for her, sounding out a protesting moan. The elevator ceased it's decent, shaking the cabin. The two stared at the door. The door stared back.
"Attention. The elevator is experiencing technical difficulties." An automated voice page pierced through the still air. "Please remain calm. A technical team will be dispatched as soon as possible." The message repeated itself, replaced by another language.
"That's…" Slowly, realization dawned on Rika. "Not good, is it?"
"… No. No, it's not."
Of course, she was not one to think that the elevator breaking down every once in a while never happened. Things on the Citadel were like things back on earth. Everything worked, at least most of the time. Rika was just a little bit more than astounded that most of the time just so happened to be somewhere between the Presidium and the Wards. On an elevator. With a C-Sec turian who probably thought Rika embodied everything inferior about the human species.
Nadleeh would find this a wonderful excuse for a drink.
It takes approximately twenty minutes to assemble, equip, and deploy an emergency technical team. To actually fix anything, understandably, takes even longer.
After thirty minutes Rika had resigned to a long wait. To pass the time, she scanned half-heartedly through some files sent to the elcor ambassador earlier in the afternoon. It was actually a collection of email exchanges between an elcor couple in the midst of a rather nasty divorce. The husband was a highly esteemed businessman as well as a regular in the office. The emails were his idea of showing his wife was harassing him, but Rika only saw them as self-incriminating in the elcor's scandalous love affairs.
Elcor's having affairs. Calyn never allotted time to find boredom in his species.
Rika looked up from the small screen projecting from the orange glow enveloping her arm to reassure herself that the elevator's second occupant was still present. His back was to her, but, obviously, he had not left.
She noticed that he had taken off the metal face plate for the control panel. "If you don't mind me asking… what are you doing?"
He paused in his workings. She noticed his arm, alive with the glow of an omni-tool. "Hopefully finding whatever the problem is." Even though she had done so herself, he tried to play off forgetting her presence by returning to his self-imposed labor. "Maybe then we can get out of here."
"Attention, this is the technical team." A static charged voice, somewhat resembling a recently awakened woman, brought the com system briefly back to life. "We're having trouble isolating whatever the problem is… The only thing we can think of is that the problem is somewhere in the compressing system, but we're not going to rule out an electrical problem just yet. If you hear any noises, rest assured, it's just the tech team outside of the lift."
The woman paused, an agitated sigh shining through her voice. "Sir, please refrain from tinkering with the system." He seemed to ignore her, a gesture she did not appreciate in the least. "You may very well be the reason why we have yet to find the problem."
The turian glared at the intercom but conceded to the irritated woman's demands, leaning against the wall. Rika observed silently, debating leaving him to his thoughts or trying to renew conversation.
"What's your name?"
He looked at her, perplexed. Or as close as turian facial structure could allow. "Why do you ask?"
"Just curious." Rika looked back at the drama of her mini screen, but no longer found elcor marital affairs all that interesting. She tapped her finger on the screen, disengaging the program. "After all, we might be here a while."
"Etlun Rajende." He closed his eyes, arms crossed over his chest. "And I hate to tell you this, but I know we're going to be here a while."
"My, that's reassuring." Rika sighed, leaning back as far into the wall as she could. Monitoring with a security camera was one thing, and Rika had no doubt that there was a microphone listening in on them as well. "Oh well, it could be worse. I could be stuck here on my own time."
"Don't you have somewhere you need to be?" She got the distinct impression Etlun did not appreciate her humor. Or he did not fully understand it. She suspected it was more likely the latter.
"Not particularly." Rika shrugged, and suddenly the bun holding her brown hair in place felt like it was pulling her skin much more tightly than it had been a few moments before. She massaged her fingers in circles over her throbbing temples. "I was on my way to C-Sec, but Ambassador Calyn probably doesn't expect me back for a while."
"Ambassador Calyn?" Etlun blinked, not sure he had heard her correctly. She saw the look; surely not. "The elcor ambassador?"
"Officially, I'm his secretary." Rika confirmed, used to the confusion. Most people had little idea what to make of a human working in the elcor and volus embassy. "Mostly I just run errands, but occasionally I do get to actually do my job."
Etlun nodded simply, letting his eyes fall closed. Rika had another feeling; Etlun was not one for conversation. Silence settled around them, an uncomfortable blanket.
A sudden thud, the loud clanking of boots emanating from the ceiling, startled a shriek out of Rika.
"What's your name?"
Not able to comprehend the question, Rika looked at Etlun. His eyes, grey, strong and predatory, looked back, inviting her answer. Something about them made her think of horizon looming storm clouds, awaiting the moment to swallow her whole.
"… Rika." Surprisingly, her voice sounded even. Rika was thankful for that much. "Rika Thompson."
The elevator jerked ever so slightly, the hum of cooperative parts returning to its normal tempo.
"Attention, this is the technical team." The woman returned to point, sounding triumphant for curing their cancer. Once this was over, Rika was sure, the woman would return to sleep with much more satisfaction. "We have completed repairs and you should be arriving in the wards shortly. Have a nice day."
Rika, as it turned out, was not done with C-Sec for the week. The following day she made another appearance, much to the surprise of the network agents on duty. Calyn had been having complaints from various elcor of identity theft on the Citadel. Din seemed to be having much of the same problem with the various volus coming into the office. The volus ambassador had not wanted Rika mucking up his efforts to fix the problem, but she saw no harm in letting C-Sec know ahead of time the reports were coming.
The rest of the week was much of the same. Identity theft rippled through life on the Citadel much more quickly than Calyn and Din had expected, which meant much more work for Rika. Four trips to C-Sec, two visits to the Council Chambers, and one meeting at Chora's Den later, and Rika was ready for a vacation.
She sat, for the first time that week, doing paperwork in the office. C-Sec had released their case report, and Rika had the task of filtering through to interpret the jargon. A ring of salarian dock workers had been operating out of the work place, stealing information between docking and maintenance preparations. As soon as someone could walk into the ships bridge they would slip a disk into the computer and presto, they had access to all of the ships precious passenger information. Sophisticated stuff from what she could tell, and highly profitable.
Except for the part where they were being charged as galactic criminals, which might be a bit of a bump in their plan.
Rika paused in her readings. "Din, did you know there was a volus involved in the identity theft fiasco?"
"Don't you have something you could be doing, earth-clan?" Din grumbled, clearly not amused. He turned his frustration on the elcor. "Why is she going through the C-Sec reports?"
"Sighing," Calyn began, slow and steady. "Because I asked her to, just as I always do."
The volus ambassador grumbled, going back to his busy computer screen. For what it was worth, Rika understood his frustrations. The volus running the theft ring was the son of a prominent trade family operating in Citadel space. Even as the ambassador, Din rarely dealt with something this troubling from one of his own. Nothing promotes good-will between species like stealing money from under the others nose.
Rika decided to omit the volus' name from her statement.
"I've finished editing the C-Sec report, Calyn." Rika announced, stretching against the back of her chair. The movement made every muscle in her body protest. The elevator clung to her memory. Rika quickly pushed the thought aside. "Did you want me to issue the statement to the victims?"
"Relived. Yes, thank you." Calyn, slowly, sent a message he had been reaching for over the last thirteen or so minutes on his screen. The computer buzzed with a happy confirmation voice. "Once you're finished, you may leave."
"Don't you dare meddle with my work, earth-clan."
Din took more time to complain than Rika's computer needed to finish sending forty-eight messages. "… Whoops."
"Rika…" Din, all electric sputters and half-forgotten curses, pushed away from his desk. "One of these days, I will have you arrested."
"Arrested? Me, Din?" Rika stood, allowing her omni-tool to begin downloading the rest of her files. If the week was any indication, the newest additions to her desk were going to need her full attention. Work was work, in the office or at home, and Rika had more than a handful to look over for tomorrow. "Don't you need to have a reason to arrest someone?"
"I'm sure I could think of something." Din, as he had obviously given this particular subject much consideration, only needed a moment to collect his own thoughts. "Conspiring on an inter-galactic scale, unauthorized use of classified documents-"
The door hummed.
The human stared in awe. Or fear. As Calyn had once observed, humans were a far too complex species to read. "Etlun?"
"Surprised. Din," Calyn looked at the volus, unbelieving. "You didn't…"
"I didn't." Din said, not understanding anymore than Calyn. He had no way of knowing why a C-Sec officer would now be entering the volus and elcor embassy. A thought came to him. "But as long as he's here…"
"Forcefully. Din."
"What are you doing here?" Once her omni-tool told the room in a dull ding it was finished downloading, Rika directed Etlun back out the door before either ambassador could think of anything interesting to contribute to the conversation.
"I just wanted to see if you were lying to me." Simple. Short. And what little Rika knew of him, very Etlun.
Rika had forgotten the hub connecting the embassies always bustled with people. She stopped forcing Etlun to take each step, but most of the lobby had already taken notice of the odd pair. Politely, they returned to their conversations, giving them at least the air of privacy.
"Rika?"
Crap. "Yeah, Saphyria?"
The asari receptionist, always doing more in a single moment than Rika could probably finish in half a day, eyed the turian standing next to her desk. At any moment, Rika thought, she would try and shoo him from her space. "Mr. Kryik left a message for you."
"Nihlus?" Rika, surprised, walked closer. The turian, in all the years she had known him, had never been shy about visiting her at work. If anything, he felt comfortable just walking in and distracting her from whatever she was supposedly working on.
Did that mean something was wrong?
Rika picked up the digital note pad offered her. The receptionist, under the guise of work, let her eyes follow the human as she turned on the screen. Words, tiny specks of numbers, magnified to full pixels.
A quickly scribbled note, signed Nihlus.
Rika's chocolate eyes scanned the letters, taking in each one hesitantly. Her tentative caution gave way as angry comprehension burned on Rika's face. Etlun jumped slightly at the eruption of her voice. "That- that- that cheap- that… oh!"
"Let me guess. He stood you up again?" Saphyria questioned, not expecting an answer. She shook her head, feeling truly sorry for the C-Sec officer. At least she had been expecting the outburst. He probably had no idea what he was getting into hanging around the human woman. Rika, words failing her, glared at the technology still clutched in her hands. Has she not worked with her for four years, Saphyria would be sure Rika would smash the thing at any instant. "Did he say why?"
"Council, mission, same old, same old." Rika sighed, pushing a button. The data danced away. "He promised to buy me dinner."
"Again?" The asari, perplexed, took back the pad. Even if he felt guilty, Spectre's were not any more well paid individuals than most military service men. Surely, his bank account was running close to dry by now. "How many dinners does he owe you now?"
"Seven."
"Just seven?"
"Not including last month. That would make it fifteen."
"You're… going to force him into debt." Saphyria shook her head, skeptical of the woman standing so innocently before her. Somehow Rika had Nihlus, a proud turian Spectre, owing her dinner every time he returned to the Citadel. The crime was that she had no idea how Rika had managed it. If Saphyria could do that, she would never bother coming back to her job with a static headache.
"No, I'll let him off easy this time." Rika laughed, if she pushed too much for every promise he made her Nihlus might stop treating all together. Maybe only one dinner. A really, really big dinner. "See ya tomorrow."
Saphyria was already engrossed by the three minutes worth of piled up calls and email requests.
Etlun had been so quiet during the entire conversation it took Rika several moments to remember he was walking with her out into the Presidium. Avina bubbled in the background, telling a tourist about the fascinating history of the asari being the first to visit the Citadel. Rika could not remember if she was the one who needed to speak, or if she was waiting for him to begin.
"You know Nihlus Kryik?" Thankfully, Etlun did not leave her to dwell on the best conversation starter.
"Doesn't everybody?" The words escaped before she could subdue the urge, all sarcasm and smoke. Etlun, though not voicing it, looked on with none of Rika's amusement. Even with such a sour look on his face, she still caught the glint of curiosity nearly foaming from his mouth. "We're friends."
"Why?" Anyone else, and Rika would have felt more than offended. She could not feel for an answer right away, something that the turian took as somewhat bad. "I didn't mean-"
"Don't worry about it." Rika laughed, waving her hand to shake off his slight horror. He was curious; she might as well indulge him. "We met when I was still working as the human ambassador's secretary."
"And now he owes you dinner every time he comes to the Citadel?"
"There's more to it than that." At least, Rika liked to think so. Nihlus would never just buy someone dinner, after all. Or maybe she just didn't want to admit Etlun had her pegged. "Buy me dinner and I'll tell you all about it."
"Alright."
"He asked you out?"
In the pulse of a club, faces are lost in the crowd. Amongst the dancers of exotic flavor, a merely plain human is nothing more than an extra body. As the walls rumbled, a heartbeat of musical bass, Rika found herself to be one of those humans in Chora's Den. And given her surroundings, she would choose no other way. Standing out in a place like this could mean many things, most of which Rika would not want to happen upon herself.
"Not in so many words." Rika, a well to do secretary, sighed heavily. For reasons unknown and otherwise unfathomable, Nadleeh loved to drag her to this seedy underground for their little dates. At least once a week, they were fixtures at the bar.
"He's taking you out for a date, and you're trying to play it off." Nadleeh examined Rika, sizing for a better explanation. She found none, going back to her watching of their fellow patrons. All she saw was meat. "Modesty doesn't suit you, my love."
"We go on dates." Rika said, trying to explain. She felt herself failing, looking for the waitress. If she was going to fall on her face, she could at least use another round before hitting the deck. "This is just dinner."
"Uh-huh. Lie to yourself if it makes you feel better." Nadleeh said, brushing off her friend as the waitress approached. Rika let out another fitful sigh as their drinks were delivered. "Is he picking you up?"
"Well, yeah…" Rika, for a moment, could not recall for sure. One look from Nadleeh, and she felt more inclined to say something to stop the upcoming onslaught. "But it doesn't mean anything."
"Sweetie," Nadleeh, all Texas charm and southern grace, was the closest thing to a love doctor the Citadel had. Or at least, she liked to think so. Rika found many of her so called predictions to be far to laced with bacardi to have any merit. "If it's nothing, then why are you being so defensive?"
Rika had no outstanding good answer. Absolutely nothing as her mind converted into a blank pallet of white. "I… I don't know, Nad, I just don't know."
"Don't know what?" The waitress, a cute little new girl with cropped hair, stopped in her rounds to refresh their drinks. Rika could not, for the life of her, put a name to her face. She only remembered Nadleeh had taken a fancy to her.
"Our Rika has conflicted feelings, my pet." Nadleeh said, jumping at the chance to converse. For many reasons, all of which the waitress had no idea. "Over a man, of all things."
"Really?" Janet -or something, the name still danced just beyond Rika's comprehension- blinked, intrigued. Her attention turned to Rika, currently hating herself at the bar. "How does he make you feel?"
Her head cradled against her palm, mildly supported by the bar, Rika closed her eyes. There were no words, there were a hundred words. She felt nothing, but at the same time felt so many things. Her thoughts were essentially going haywire, but always going to the same place. The same place that she did not feel she was all that comfortable with.
"Confused." Rika admitted, feeding her onlookers. She sunk slowly. "Very, very confused."
"Aw, you're in love!" To Rika's dismay, the woman let out a… something. Not a squeal. Not a yell. A something that Rika herself could only imagine coming out of a chihuahua. A teacup chihuahua that had been altered in a laboratory by salarian scientists.
Rika stared down at the shot glass clutched loosely in her hands. Her expression slightly tinted, she examined into its belly looking for the source of her delusional thoughts.
"Jenna, my sweet, you're so right." Nadleeh said, her blue orbs lighting up with a new idea. As her friend, a waterfall of unnatural violet hue, leaned in closer, Rika sensed she was being used as a plot for Nadleeh's newest notch. "Rika, if you love him, don't let him go."
Oh, Rika didn't like this. Not one tiny, little bit. "Guys, its just dinner."
"But you love him!" Jenna said, looking at Rika was her big innocent eyes. Eyes that were unable to see how Nadleeh looked at her. "How can you ignore your feelings?"
"Everyone!" Nadleeh said, turning in her stool to address almost the entire bar. The patrons, drunk or dancing, happily obliged so long as they were not occupied with other things. Nadleeh pulled Rika close, as if putting her up on a shelf for everyone to see. "This is Rika, and she's in love!"
In retrospect: at least someone was happy at the news, even if it was everyone but Rika.
Mass Effect © BioWare
Original Characters © Spacebunny-chan
