Neross: Well I know it took me awhile but I finally finished the first chapter happily. For those of you NOT familiar with the main characters of this story they are in fact Original Characters of mine that were featured in my F!shep/Garrus fic Fighting Urges. This piece can be considered something of a sequel to that story. Although really it's more of a prequel as it takes place some twenty years before the events of Mass Effect.

In any case I hope you all enjoy reading this first chapter as much I enjoyed writing it.

Title: Cultural Studies

Summary : Twenty years before Shepard ever met Garrus, there was Jaksus and Maria. A young couple that have more against them than just outside forces. Can they forget old prejudices and learn to live one another? Or is it just not in the stars?

Rating M : For crude language, adult themes, sexual themes, and violence.

…..

Jaksus Vikil was biased against humanity. He admitted to that. So were many Turians who worked for C-SEC. It hadn't been that long since the Relay 3-14 incident after all. But unlike the other Turians working for C-SEC; Jaksus had a record that proved his bias. A violent one.

Now Jaksus was a good Turian. He followed orders when asked, and hardly ever voiced his opinion. But when his superiors weren't around…well…that was a different story. So Jaksus wasn't surprised when he received the summons to see the Executor in his office.

He was, however, surprised to see a human Alliance Officer waiting for him when he got there. The officer was shorter than Jaksus was used to in male humans, with copper brown hair and pale blue eyes. His features were oddly soft, he looked like one of those humans who smiled often behind a desk and appeared non-threatening and just trustworthy enough to ignore.

The way he held himself and the way he smiled at Jaksus spoke against his looks however. Jaksus had seen Krogan smile that way just before they smashed a guy's head into a wall. It was a smile of quiet malevolence. Jaksus did not like that smile. He found he liked it even less upon a human face.

The Executor stood as Jaksus entered, the pale marking on his face flashing brighter as they momentarily caught the lighting recess in the ceiling. "Vikil," he ground out, clearly in a bad mood. Not good news for Jaksus. The ruddy young Turian began to suspect he was about to lose his job. "Come in. Sit down. I have…" The Executor trailed off his eyes darting to glance, almost nervously, at the human still standing at attention in a corner of the room. "I have an assignment for you." he finally concluded after a moment.

Jaksus hesitated, his eyes too darting momentarily toward the silent Alliance Officer. Something was up. He wasn't being fired and this human…this human held some kind of authority over the Executor. A bad taste rose up in the back of Jaksus' mouth as he finally took a seat in one of the two chairs across from the Executor's desk. Without pause the Alliance Officer walked; no, glided was the word; over to the chair beside him and sat down as well. He placed his hat in his lap and folded his hands over it and looked for all the world like he was at home amongst friends. It was unsettling.

The Executor slowly took a seat as well and for a moment silent tension ruled the room as Jaksus waited for a clarification of the strange situation he found himself in. Eventually the quiet was more than Jaksus could stomach and he dared to break it. "Sir? You said you had an assignment for me?"

The Executor looked up, as if startled out of some deep train of thought before he cleared his throat and folded his hands before him on the desk before him. "Yes. That's correct. The Council has asked for an officer for a protection assignment. The Alliance is sending a researcher to the Citadel and there was a safety concern. They want an officer to look after this researcher of theirs for however long the Council decides they are welcome."

Jaksus already hated this idea. C-SEC officers had a name for protection assignments. "Babysitting" they called it. Jobs that were better for mercenaries, paid guns, or private security. Most were only for a short time, for one reason or another. But from what Jaksus had heard these short assignments often felt like months or years instead of the days or weeks that they truly were. Either way protection assignments were boring and normally reserved for those who either were in deep shit or were looking for a promotion.

Jaksus was pretty sure he was one of the latter. He wanted to reject the idea outright, but if it was a short job he might be able to tolerate acting as glorified babysitter to some annoying, human, researcher long enough to see the job done. "How long is the assignment for sir?" he asked reluctantly.

To his surprise (and slight irritation), it was the Alliance officer who answered him. "The current contract is for one year. But we're aiming to extend that."

The human's voice was soft, a bit like his features, but filled with a humble brilliance. He sounded cool, calm, and wise and Jaksus was suddenly irritated at the thought of having to put up with such a human for the next for five minutes. Let alone the next year. So Jaksus did not bother to turn his attention away from the Executor. "Is this true sir?" he asked.

The Executor frowned furiously at him. "Yes. It is. The Alliance put forward a request to position a cultural anthropology expert here on the Citadel to conduct a study on the Council Races and those Races who hold an embassy. However, due to lingering tensions between humanity and Turians; as well as the escalating conflict between humanity and Batarians over the colony rights in the Skylian Verge; the Alliance was worried about the expert's safety."

"It's through this study that we hope to understand what would be required and expected of us as full members of Council space. What's more the Council hopes humanity can learn from what our expert observes and grow to trust and aid the other species as proper members upon the Citadel." The Alliance Officer injected. His tone was still calm. Still eerily under control.

Jaksus didn't trust him. He didn't trust any human. But this one in particular made his scales itch. He was too calm. Too in common of the entire situation. He suddenly felt like a game piece being directed upon a board. What did humans call that strategy game of theirs? Chess? Was that what this human was playing with him?

Fine, he thought, let him play. "Alright," he stated plainly, proudly, filled with the strength of his indignation. "I'll accept the position."

The Executor looked slightly surprised. The Alliance officer however simply… smiled a bit wider. "There you have it Executor. We have our Officer as promised. I'll inform Alliance command first thing tomorrow. With any luck we will have our expert ready to depart at the end of the month."

Jaksus turned and stared at the Alliance officer in disbelief. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm a bit confused. You're not the Alliance's researcher?"

The officer chuckled and shook his head, "No I'm afraid not. The Alliance sent me to access the situation and to see to this matter in particular. But sadly my expertise lies in data translation, not Cultural studies. As my daughter often tells me I have no grasp of the organic …only the inorganic. "

Jaksus furrowed his brow and gazed at the Alliance officer in a brief moment of confusion. And then, almost without thinking, he spoke up again, much to the dismay of the Executor. "I'm sorry if this offends you but why would the Alliance send you for a diplomatic mission if you're expertise is with computers? Isn't it normally the job of politicians and translators to act as ambassadors?"

The officer's smile turned somewhat mischievous. "No offense at all Officer Vikil." he replied politely, a tone of sly cunning in his voice. "You're quite right after all. My position isn't one normally associated with diplomatic missions such as this. I'm afraid I asked for the position. Fought for it actually. You see I have an unique position." He paused a moment an then the man leveled Jaksus with the most intent stare, with an expression filled with a strange sort of judgment. "My child was the one elected for the research position."

…

They gave him an apartment in the upper wards. Something as suitable for an ambassador or high level politician as a Cultural Expert and their bodyguard. There were two bedrooms both with their own bathrooms as well as a kitchen and a rather large living area. And all of these things were left to him alone for three weeks. He could scarcely believe it at first. His co-workers were left astonished at his luck, although they did tease him relentlessly for being awarded the position of baby-sitter for an entire year.

Still for those first three weeks Jaksus enjoyed himself and his new apartment, empty though it was with his few possessions filling up the larger of the two rooms. The one with a view and the adjoining bathroom. He figured he deserved it, since it was his life on the line for someone he didn't even know. Besides, he reasoned, no human could take up as much room as he did.

Then, one fateful day, a large amount of boxes arrived. He wouldn't have bothered to look through them if it wasn't apart of his job description ( and it was ), so he was more than surprised to find nothing but digital books in the first two boxes. There were even real, old, physical books buried underneath, wrapped in protective cloth. None of them were by human writers he noted, each one was by some other race. He noted several famous Turian books among them. Novels he had read in school as a child, though his copies had been digital and not hard-bound novels as these were. They were all on Turian history.

These boxes he placed in a corner in the second bedroom. Then he returned to inspect the last three. The first box he opened was full of dry human food, things that would not spoil over a long time and were compact enough to keep in a small apartment shared by two people. Jaksus estimated that all together it would take up one of the cabinets in the kitchen. He'd taken up three, as well as half the fridge. He scoffed at the food and hastily inspected and put away the food, briefly glancing at the dates on each box and tube to make sure none had expired. None had.

And then at last came the moment Jaksus had most feared. No doubt the last two boxes were filled to the brim with clothes. He had no desire to shift through another man's underthings, let alone a human man. But when Jaksus opened the box he found no clothes that belonged to any sort of man. Human or otherwise. All he found was a bunch of female human clothes. A sinking feeling began to grow in his gut.

And at that instant the door to the apartment opened. Jaksus looked up, hastily shoving the dress he'd plucked from the box back into it's depths. There, in the doorway, was the tiniest human being he'd ever seen.

For a moment he thought she was a child she was so small and thin. But there was a curve to her hip and a swell to her chest that spoke differently. Her hair was the most vibrant color he'd ever seen it sprung from her head in wild curls, waves, and stray hairs like some sort of bristly flower. Her skin was the color of pale pink and dotted with soft brown dots, as if she had been sprayed by a mud puddle and simply let it dry. Her face was rounded with full cheeks upon high cheekbones. She had a small nose that turned up slightly at the tip, and cute, bright pink lips that stretched into a wide grin. But it was her eyes that caught him.

They were large for her face, and wide, and the were the color of a shallow sea at dawn. What's more those eyes swam as she glanced around in excitement, pale brows drawn back earnestly upon a forehead that was just a tad too wide. Shades of blue coursed through her eyes like the waves of a sea on a windy day filled with sunlight. Her eyes were the most striking, and the most disconcerting thing about her.

He realized he was staring and forced himself to stop. To glare at this tiny woman dressed in a blue and purple suit that stood gazing into the apartment with the wide-eyed wonder of an innocent. "Honestly," Jaksus growled, drawing the attention of those strange swimming eyes as they turned toward him in surprise. "Doesn't your species know how to knock? What are you doing here anyway? Did you get lost from some kind of school trip or something?"

His tone was harsh, angry. As much as he felt. But this woman…or girl as he truly suspected she was, simply beamed brighter. She was looking at him as if she'd caught sight of some kind of movie star. It was unnerving. "I'm sorry I barged in. You must be Officer Vikil right? I'm Maria St. George. Oh! Sorry! I mean, DR. Maria St. George. I'm the Cultural Anthropology expert the Alliance recruited for the study. I'm sure it'll be a pleasure to work with you."

Jaksus felt the ground fall out from underneath him. A human woman. He would be living with a human woman. For a year. He wondered if it was not too late to go back to the Executor and hand in his resignation.

…..

Neross : Well there you are my faithful readers. The first chapter of Cultural Studies. I hoped you all enjoyed it. And I hope you're all looking forward to Mass Effect 3 as much as I am. ( Especially since it's coming out on my birthday! EEEee! Bioware you minx you! )

In any case please leave me a review letting me know what you thought of this first chapter and the story in general. Don't forget to check my profile for updates and news about all my stories. And remember, ANY review, is a GOOD review.

Until next time my dear readers, keep on rocking out!