The world of Mass Effect and it's aliens do not belong to me. This story follows along the ME3 timeline.
The characters Argos Meridius, Antonia Capello, Aiden Mathes and Nubia T'au belong to me.
I am searching for an ME Beta-PM if interested!
Enjoy and please review!
"Excuse me?"
Petty-Officer Antonia Capello didn't register the soft voice from across her desk. Heavy lidded cobalt eyes remained glued to the terminal screen in front of her. At one point, the names that scrawled across the screen had become illegible, coming in faster than Antonia could keep up with. The names were batarian at first, due to the Alpha Relay explosion two months ago, and as of a week ago, turian names had joined the list. Every so often, asari, human and krogan names would show up from affected co-habitated colonies. Sparse, but there.
As of 0734 GST, reports poured in that Earth had been attacked. Luna base was lost within an hour.
It would be a matter of days before the human refugee shuttles arrive from Earth.
William Baker was the first human name from Earth she caught before it scrolled away into extranet oblivion.
Who was William Baker? Where on Earth did he live? Was he married? Does he have children? Did they make it out alive?
Or did he die alone?
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door..."
"Ahem."
The datapad that was thrown down beside her jolted Antonia from her thoughts. She turned her attention to the asari across from her desk. The asari in question had her attention directed at the person who slammed the data pad down. Antonia followed the asari's line of sight, looking up into a pair of mismatched, scowling eyes. She blinked twice.
Damn it.
Kabalim Argos Meridius was a hard turian to look at; beyond the norm that humans usually associated with. The white clan marking stood against the dark grey platings of his face. Their patterns, so clean and precise on his right, were lost on his left along with one of his bright green eyes. Heavy cracks lined his fringe and cheek plates, while his left mandible had missing structural pieces and resembled more of a stump limb than a sharp and sleep appendage. Rumor had it, during the First Contact War, as a child he fell on a landmine and blew half his face and left side off in order to protect his father.
"Kabalim." Antonia spoke quietly as she acknowledged her super. His eyes narrowed down at her. The turians demeanor was scathing. Arms folded across his chest and shoulders slightly raised, his dark metallic hyde gleamed under the false light of the refugee ward.
"Welcome back to the world of the living," he mocked her and gestured towards the asari. "This citizen has been waiting patiently for you to pull your head out of your ass," Antonia's eyes flicked over to the asari and then back to Argos. Before she could open her mouth to give an explanation another officer, an asari, walked up to her desk.
Antonia had to suppress the groan in her throat as she recognized who the officer was.
Lieutenant Nubia T'au had once been Antonia's patrol partner up until her recent promotion. The asari wasn't much of a socialite, nor was she unfriendly. Polite at best. But at the time of their transfer from the Zakera wards to the refugee camps, her primary goal was to score it in with the commanding Kabalim.
When the universe is falling to shit, you gun for the guy with the most guns, or in Argos case, the strongest biotics. What might have been a fragile friendship between the two female officers broke at Nubia's advancement pinning ceremony.
"Can I be of service?"
The citizen asari looked between the three officers and visibly cowered as they waited for her reply.
"I-I just wanted to know if my cousin checked in. From Tiptree." she rushed her sentence and then covered her mouth with her blue hands. Antonia wanted to kick herself for not noticing the asari earlier. From the looks of the blue woman's trembling lips and wide glossy eyes, she was clearly in distress. How long had her cousin been missing?
"Of course mam. Could I get-"
"Mam," Nubia cut in. "I'm happy to take care of your needs over here at my desk," she smiled sweetly at the citizen and placed a hand on the other asari. She gestured towards the desk across the bay. "I apologize for my coworker. We just learned this morning that the human homeworld was attacked,"
The citizen nodded. Although they had walked a few feet away, Nubia made sure to raise her voice enough to be heard.
"Humans are emotional creatures," she sneered. Antonia attempted to school her face to that of impassive but couldn't help it from pursing her lips and clenching her teeth together. "I'm sure after a good cry, Officer Capello will be back to her normal boring self." Nubia cut her eyes at Antonia as they began to walk away, but not before turning to placate Argos with a charming flash of white teeth.
The Kabalim ignored her.
Instead he rapped a talon on the desk.
"I suspect that the work is too demanding for you, Capello?" Argos eyed the human before him. Antonia assumed that he was frowning at her by the way his eyebrow plates had shifted closer together and the mandibles at his mouth drew slightly out and downward. Then again, Antonia hadn't been around many turians before.
"No at all Sir," she replied carefully. "I aim to be diligent in my work..."
Argos exhaled forcefully through his nose; almost like a human snort. His mismatched eyes moved to looked beyond where she sat.
"And you, Mathes?" he barked. Antonia looked over her shoulder to where her current partner, a human man named Aiden Mathes, sat. She had only met him earlier this week.
Aiden didn't look away from his screen or type work, but nodded his head in acknowledgement.
"Just doing my job sir."
Argos grunted again and seemingly accepted the answer. For a moment, Antonia hoped that the turian would finally move on, but he pinned her again with a glare.
"After shift, my office." Antonia nodded mutely and watched as Argos snatched up his datapad. He turned his back to her and walked away with his head shaking. When she felt like he was out of earshot, and for turians that's a bit of a long range, she swore.
"Feel better?" Aiden took his hands off his keyboard and folded them on his desk space. Antonia shot him a mild glare before lightly smacking his shoulder.
"You could have warned me,"
"I did-" he cleared his throat and batted his eyelashes at her. "Ahem."
"Funny." Antonia couldn't help but smile. She took the opportunity give Aiden a quick and discreet once over. Light brown hair neatly combed to one side, slightly rounded face with a strong chin and a set of perfectly straight white teeth that made his smile dazzle. His warm brown eyes seemed to smile at her before darting across the room.
He was watching the Kabalim move from desk to desk, checking in on his subordinates and a few refugees that past by him.
"So...Antonia?" he began with a smile but still focused on the Kabalim. "Can I call you Toni? Or do you prefer the whole Antonia?"
"Toni is fine,"
"Great. I like it...it suits you."
Another pause.
"I'm sorry you got dragged into...whatever that was," she waved her hand in the air. "Kabalim hadn't been to pleased when I was assigned to him," she apologized. Antonia had originally been an at the Earth Embassy back on the Presidium. She had been working there for the past four years. Occasionally, she was on patrol duty in the lower wards with Nubia, but her primary job was to assist human civilians at the embassy.
"It's fine. I honestly can't say I've ever seen the guy smile..but then again,how can you really tell?" Antonia smiled politely while not entirely sure if he was being sarcastic or not. The First Contact war may have been a little over thirty years ago, but it was still too soon for some humans and turians. "He's hard to work with at best."
Antonia hummed in response. She really didn't want to say more, lest wandering ears listened in. Particularly blue ones.
The quote above was by Emma Lazarus.