I don't own anything Bioware owns..
"Jeez, Hills! Can you at least try to be cool?"
"Oh come ON! You are already late to your orientation!"
"I am coming! Why are you even here? You should have stayed with Mom- you know she is going to flip when she realizes that you aren't still following her…" Joker glanced up as he passed through the large gates- a metaphor of entering a new opportunity filled life.
"Aww…Please Jeff! I have to come with you! The Titans might be here! Shepard might be here! I have to see them! Please, please, please!"
"Wha…who are….Ugh, fine. But try to calm down … and don't wander off!"
To Jeff "Joker" Moreau being accepted the Citadel Intergalactic Training Academy, or CITA as it was commonly shortened to, was nothing short of a dream come true. CITA contained the best of the best. Designed by the Citadel council only 30 years ago, only the best were accepted, and came out true fighters for justice and peace. Each recruit was to join a branch by the end of their first year- whether it was in a defensive team, an infiltration team, a medical team, or a piloting team- like Joker. There were smaller branches, but Joker only knew of the bigger ones. If recruits were skilled and very lucky, they were picked up quickly by crews that worked together in competitions against each other. This was going to be his chance to show everyone who ever doubted him, denied him, or pitied him because of his legs that he was just as good and even better that any other recruit pilots the galaxy could hope to find. He had plenty of time to watch action vids while recovering from layer after layer of surgery to repair fractures and splintering in the bones of his legs and ever since watching those, along with the news vids of hero pilots flying their crews into the line of fire and out unscathed, and single-handedly saving the day, Joker wanted a chance to have that life. And now he had it, crutches and all. The best way to prove himself was to be accepted into a crew.
But first he had to get through orientation.
As he made his way to the large main rotunda, Joker realized just how big CITA's campus is and he let out a low whistle. 'This place is impressive' he admitted, contemplating how he was going to find his classes and get there on time. 'How am I going to find Hilary?' The main rotunda was the front of the Academy. Passed it, in the center of the enormous campus was a coliseum of sorts that was bigger than any stadium Joker had seen before. A complicated network of halls, classrooms, training centers, and offices spider-webbed all around it, paying tribute to the importance of any affairs that took place there. A few members of other species meandered through the halls, 'recruits off to find their classrooms' he assumed. Drawing closer, Joker could hear a cacophony of voices, music, and other noises blaring together into an unceremonious uproar. As he finally reached the top of the stairs, which is harder than it looks with crutches and very breakable bones, he almost collided with a girl about his age that was running out the doors not looking forward.
"Hey, watch the arm!" he growled when she threw him off balance and knocked one of his crutches from his hand.
"Oh!" she squeaked, turning to face him. "I am so sorry!"
Joker's remark caught in his throat. Meeting his gaze was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Her eyes were the kind of blue that you only see in the vids and magazines, that had been altered to almost glow. But this was not a vid, and yet here she was. Sharp cheekbones that Joker felt a strange desire to test with his thumbs connected thick pale blond hair he felt a desire to run his hands through, and a small nose, that might seem too small, but somehow just felt right to him. Full lips measured out in worry, and he realized his sharp yelp came out grumpier than he meant it to, and she had apologized and was now holding out his left crutch to him. He had also been staring.
"Well…um…I am sorry… and I guess I will see you arou-"she had leaned the crutch against the door and turned to leave.
"No, wait!" he interrupted, "I…uh…I am Jeff Moreau- Joker!-" he took a breath. "My name is Joker" He held out his hand.
She smiled the brightest smile he had ever seen and took his hand gently, "It is nice to meet you, Joker"
"Do you student…I mean, are you a student here?" he cringed. What was it about this girl that made him stumble over his own tongue? 'Do I sound as dumb out loud as I do in my head?'
She smiled again, a grin this time, and replied "I do, and I am"
'Was she messing with him? Well he could play this game well' "Aren't you a little young and small to be a returning student here?" he smiled wryly and folded his arms over his balanced crutches. The look of shock and insult was instantly upon her face. 'Jeez!'
"Oh, Crap! Hey Blondie, man, it was just a joke- I am sorry! I just-" Joker stopped when she started to giggle and lightly laid a hand over his mouth.
"Relax, Joker. I am just as old as you- I had special circumstances that allowed me to come here for the last two years. And as to my size, well, I think I will be okay" she winked at him before removing her hand.
"Um..." he couldn't think of anything to reply to her. She had touched him and he didn't even pull away from her. Ever since the surgeries began, he would cringe away from the smallest touch- even from his family on occasion. There was just too big a risk of breaking something.
"I have to go, but I will see you at the schedule booths later, or in class. If not, I might look you up… Jeff Moreau a.k.a Joker" She turned to leave and was almost halfway down before he realized something.
"Hey! Hey Blondie!" She turned but kept walking backwards slowly down the stairs. "Who are you? Or what's your… I mean, I don't know your name."
With the same bright smile that caught him breathless and her blue eyes shining she answered him.
"My name's Nora" And with that she was gone.
A sea of Asari, Turians, Krogan, Drell, humans, and even Batarians and Quarians rolled over the many booths and stages set up inside the colossus rotunda. It looked almost like one of the carnivals they used to have in Tiptree, the way the colors, smells, and voices merged together. 'Just without the other species'. It amazed him how all these species could be together without fighting. However, before he could finish the thought, right in front of him a group of Turians- recruits it seemed- walked passed a Krogan, red scaled with jagged scars on the right side of his face. 'Jeez…' Joker thought the scars made him look angry and deadly, and when he growled at them Joker knew that if it weren't for his crutches, he would have taken of running like a child. 'I guess I spoke too soon….' Apparently, the Krogan took whatever it is they were talking about as a personal insult and started to pick a fight with them. They were obviously not expecting to be heard and just as it started to escalade into something that Joker knew would end in blood, a sharp flanging voice came through the wall of people that had crowded around to watch.
"Wrex!"
What followed the voice through the crowd was the strangest thing that Joker had seen that day. A tall Turian pushed through two human men that watching, followed by one of the smallest Quarians he had ever seen- although it might have been the juxtaposition of the Turian's thin but muscled, giant frame (and his lack of experience around the Quarian race). The Turian's grey plates shined in the lighting of the large room, he wore a visor across one eye, with bold blue markings that Joker knew to be clan markings. 'a returning student' Joker assumed- knowing that the clan markings meant that he had entered the military like most Turians do on their home planet and then completed at least a year here in the Academy. He seemed strong and had an authority in his err. The Quarian, on the other hand, seemed to almost to cower under the hard glare of the large scarred Krogan. Her hands fidgeted together and she sidestepped to be slightly behind the Turian. 'She must be newly recruited' The strangeness about them came from the stark white battle armor. While the Turian was clad in white plated armor that seemed specifically designed for him, the Quarian held in her arms a white suit like the purple one she was already wearing. It was folded up as if it was new. It seemed to glow in contrast to the dark purple suit that covered her whole body and face. No other people Joker could see were dressed in armor of any kind (he himself was in jeans, a dark t-shirt, and an Academy ball cap) and he wondered why they were decked out ready for war. He was interrupted in his musings by the Krogan's booming voice.
"Stay out of this Turian!"
"Shepard said no fights, Krogan" he sneered in return.
"These weakfisted Turian scum insult the Captain! Shepard is the Battlemaster of the clan, our clan. My blood will not let their words pass unchallenged and unpunished, and neither should yours."
At this one of the unlucky Turian recruits decided to open his mouth, and, in Joker's opinion, shove his foot in it.
"We were just talking about the chances that the White Titans" this he sneered with so much distain that even Joker, who had no idea what was going on, was getting defensive, "will win three years in a row. It must be fixed or something, right? No team has ever won more than once- not to mention they are a weak multi-species group of misfits- like this tiny suit-dweller" he said gesturing to the Quarian "AND it is lead by a xeno-sympathetic weakling huma-"At this, the Turian was silenced by a white very large and very sharp three fingered glove clamping dangerously tight around his throat. The Turian leaned in close to his face, and a hushed silence came over everyone who was watching the altercation. He talked in a low, angry but controlled voice, the Turian harmonics vibrating heavily even through Joker's human ears.
"Careful what you say, Clanless, Shepard does not accept or take lightly to disobeyed orders, but if you speak ill again of the Captain or the White Titans, the Krogan and I will be finished with you before it can really be considered a 'fight.'" At this the scarred Krogan called Wrex pounded his fists together most violently in agreement. The silence in the near crowd was palpable, but just then the large armor clad Turian's omnitool alarmed and he put his free had up to his ear and talk to whoever was calling him. The tension relieved enough that Joker tore his eyes away to look around him and was surprised to see his sister to his right, eyes big and watching the altercation with as much attention as he had been just a moment ago.
"Hils-"
"Shushhh…" she exclaimed, pointing back to the center of everyone's attention. Joker looked back just in time to see the large armor clad Turian shove the other with enough force to send him sprawled out on the floor gasping for breath.
"Let's go. Shepard needs us to be dressed and ready for opening ceremonies."
The Turian lead the Krogan and the Quarian away through the dispersing crowd shooting glares at anyone who kept his glance too long. Joker looked back at Hilary and both of them laughed, more in relief than anything funny.
"Well, they seemed friendly." He said dryly.
"Jeff! Don't you know who they are? They are part of the White Titans! The best crew in CITA! They haven't lost a match they have fought in for two years!"
"So?"
"So… They are amazing! Their technique working together is flawless, Captain Shepard's leadership is divinely inspired, and they only add recruits when the Captain has personally decided that the recruit is the best of their kind! Oh my goodness, Captain Shepard is so great! Did you know that nobody but Shepard's crew is allowed to be there when the helmet comes off? Shepard uses it to stay anonymous during school hours to have a sense of normalcy. Nobody even knows Shepard's first name! How cool and humble is that?" Joker let out a scoff. 'She probably just has a crush on him or something.' He thought 'They are only students just like the rest of us. Why should I care? I don't even know anything about this Shepard.' Joker realized that he didn't even know what species he was. He must be tough, to have at least four different species following him with the kind of loyalty that was just shown in the rotunda.
Joker started towards the coliseum in the middle of campus. He assumed it was where the Headmaster and his advisors would make their opening remarks. He was right. Joker sat low in the uncomfortable seats that wreaked havoc on his hips and lower back. Headmaster Udina was, in Hilary's words, a dry crusty man. Joker drifted off- thinking about drive cores and what it would be like to pilot a top grade warship. What it would feel like to pass through a relay, to feel the freedom of space in his fingertips. What if Nora was with him?
"Jeff! LOOK! IT'S THEM!"
Joker awoke from his mulling to see what Hilary was pointing at. During his daydreaming, the advisors had spoken and finished, and the crews were being presented to the new recruits. Already on the stage were numerous groups of armored students. Krogan, Batarians, Drell, Asari, Humans, and a few Quarians stood proudly along the stage. Joker had never seen so many types of armor adorned with specifications to each warriors needs. Each crew was donned in a different color; with symbols or names painted on their armor to match what Joker could only assume were their battle names. Each group seemed different, almost all containing only one species with a few containing two or three. 'These must be the ground crews' Joker thought, after he realized that the engineers, medics, and pilots were not present for each crew. He wondered if they would be more diversified. The crew stepping up the stage next was receiving the loudest cheers, and Joker almost couldn't hear the voice naming off the members.
"And now introducing, the two time championship team, returning from tour, you better know who they are! Give it up for … THE WHITE TITANS!" A crashing uproar came over the crowds as a line of soldiers came onto the stage, clad in white armor head to toe.
"From the depths of Sirona of Ursae Majoris and Vancouver on Planet Earth, Ashley 'Gunny' Williams and Kaidan Alenko!" Joker watched in awe as two human forms took their place together on stage with their heads held high "Transferred from the heart of the hard world Tuchanka, Urdnot Wrex a.k.a 'The Tank'" A low roar that could only come from many proud Krogan fans swept through the building. Following them was a Krogan dressed in white armor that had bullet holes and jagged scratches over it, and Joker could only imagine the creature that put them there. "Now, you all know the next undefeated Titan; give it up for the White Titans' second in command, GARRUS 'ARCHANGEL' VAKARIAN!" The loudest cheer yet covered the coliseum, along with the twisting and vibrating feeling in his gut that was the result of a loud collective of Turian subharmonics from the crowds. The feeling of joy and excitement was contagious and Joker had even started to get excited and clap with the rest as much as he could when a Turian took the stage. Joker realized that this "Garrus Vakarian" was the same Turian as before in the rotunda.
At this point the room fell silent, it seemed that everyone knew what was next and could not contain the impatience, all started to whisper in excitement.
"Oh my goodness-"
"And now…"
"Jeff, its Shepard!"
"Put your hands, talons, claws, and tentacles together…"
"Jeff I can see-"
"Okay Hilary!"
"From the tiniest colony of Mindoir in the Attican Traverse, to the Citadel Intergalactic Training Academy, started from the bottom and has risen faster than any before, LEADER OF THE WHITE TITANS, CAPTAIN SHEPARD A.K.A THE PRODIGY!" An expected yet still surprisingly loud roar shook the stadium. It was amazing how much one person could affect so many people. Joker had to cover his ears until the sound died down a bit.
What came next was not what Joker was expecting. Onto the stage walked a small, thin, slightly short, and almost dainty form- even with the shining white academy armor. And even with the helmet, Joker could tell that the tough "manly" Captain Shepard who seemed to command respect from every species… was a human girl.