Hello, hello!
I do not own the Mass Effect universe and it's aliens.
I do own Antonia Capello, Argos Meridius, Aiden Mathes and Nubia T'Au.
Shoutout to lyricsaboutcats for being my first reviewer! Much love and appreciation! 3
Enjoy and review 3
Antonia let out a loud sigh as she powered down her terminal. The orange screen flickered before disappearing and created a small empty window across her desk. She watched as refugees wandered aimlessly through the docking bay; some lost, some in mourning, most in a complete state of shock.
The rest remained silent and empty.
But today was day one for Earth. How many more will come tomorrow?
Their docking bay staffed a handful of doctors and medics for the wounded while C-Sec took care of sorting through processing and documenting each refugee. They've also started a list of deceased for those who come looking for family.
"Did..is your family...did they make it out ok?"
Antonia was startled from her thoughts for the second time that day. Aiden had stepped away from their shared desk a few hours ago to assist a human refugee. She hadn't noticed his return.
"I haven't heard from my mother yet," Antonia replied softly. She honestly didn't know if her mom was still on Earth-they hadn't spoken in ten years. "My dad, his wife, and their kid lives here on the Citadel, few doors down from me. What about you?"
"My family comes from Terra Nova. Haven't heard from them in a while." Aiden paused his typing again and watched the list of names scroll on his terminal. "This is actually happening. I mean...it didn't really register with me, even with Palaven being attacked."
Antonia remained silent. She herself couldn't fully process that her homeworld was being attacked. He brought up his left arm and typed a code into his omnitool that brought up a picture of two young boys. "I've got twin little brothers. Alex and Adam. They'll be ten soon."
Antonia leaned over to get a better view of the brothers. She was mildly impressed. Twins were extremely rare in 2186; an age where genetic testing and selection is a standard in prenatal care. Most human families stick with one child.
Both boys looked like little carbon copies of their older brother.
"Twins?"
"Yeah. Mom went old fashioned," he chuckled and set his omnitool back to sleep mode. "Couldn't make it to the post medical clinic. Both boys were delivered in the back of dad's motorcade!" Aiden face pinched in a cringe as he clearly recalled his siblings entrance to the universe. Antonia laughed.
Aiden made a mental note to make his partner laugh more often. It sounded like a bell.
"My little sister will be ten soon too," Antonia smiled fondly. "Her name is Alana." standing, Antonia gathered her work belongings and reached under desk for her rucksack.
"Time to face the music?" They both knew what was coming next. Aiden watched as his partner rolled her shoulders and stashed her data pad in her rucksack. His eyes watched her worry and chew at her bottom lip.
"Till the fat lady sings."
He reached out and placed a light hand on her shoulder. She stiffened and looked at his hand before looking to his face. Seeing the discomfort, Aiden quickly let go.
"Sorry." he offered. Antonia watched moment more before throwing her rucksack over the same shoulder; effectively creating a wall between them. Aiden opened his mouth to question her, but was cut off.
"It's fine," she said. I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Hopefully so."
Aiden raised his hand to wave but stopped mid way when Antonia turned her back on him.
Strange woman.
Do Not Terminate.
Do Not Terminate.
Do Not Terminate.
Every. Single. File. Every single document. Every single transcript.
Do Not Terminate.
His single green eye glared at the smiling human on his terminal screen. It took every ounce of discipline to keep him from throwing it at the wall.
The human subordinate, Antonia Capello, had no place on his team. None.
"Who do they think she is?" he sneered to himself. The 'who' he referred to was C-Sec chain of command, but beyond so. A quick background check on the human female taught him that she enlisted in the Alliance at the legal age of eighteen. She served four years in the Alliance Coast Guard before moving her family to the Citadel. Further investigation told him that her father was also retired military and currently apart of C-Sec; at the Earth Embassy on the Presidium. He was a few pay grades higher than her. Father and daughter worked along side together at the embassy before she was transferred to Argos' team.
Yet there was no papertrail in her transfer that might indicate possible influence from her father.
The only recognizable name on her papertrail was Anita Goyle-the first human councillor. He met her briefly during his bodyguard duty to the turian councilor, but anything said between them was lost on him. She had nothing interesting to say or he simply didn't care. It wasn't long before she was replaced by the current human councilor, Donnel Udina.
Clearly though, Goyle still had some political pull, since her signature was legal notoriety on his subordinate's transfer.
But WHY?
He admitted that a prior four year tour in the military to six years in C-Sec services was no sign of a rookie. Records still hold her as having one of the highest testing scores at the academy.
But she was small for human standards. Painfully small. Argos couldn't recall ever seeing an adult human in general with her height. How did she pass combat training at the academy? Let alone any military standards?
Substandard height.
Substandard body weight.
No clear genetic advantages.
Intelligence slightly above average.
He had yet to see her in combat, let alone line of duty apart from pushing papers.
And yet the one thing that struck him hard at his side...was she was the single officer on his team...who was not a biotic.
His omnitool beeped an incoming call.
Antonia stood in front of the door to the Kabalim's office. She stood there for what felt like hours. Earlier in her mind, she saw herself walk right into his office and get the answer straight forward: why did he hate her so much?
For the most part, she had a pretty good idea why she might not be his favorite. A non biotic on an elite biotics team was a pretty big strike against her; but it wasn't like she asked to be transferred to his team. Working with refugees, sure, but in customs. Not biotics.
And she wasn't blue...but she kept that particular thought to herself.
But before she could wave her ID over the red hologram lock, a sound came through the door. It was a familiar sound, one that every species had the capability of making. A sound that resounded throughout the bay since the Reaper invasions started.
It was the sound of anguish.
"Staring off into deep space, again?"
Antonia felt as if time itself slowed down. She didn't react fast enough to stop Nubia from swiping her own ID across the hologram lock. She couldn't stop the automatic doors from flying open. She couldn't move her feet to turn around and run away. Her hands locked on the straps of her rucksack.
Ah. Her mind inquired. Turians can cry.
"Kabalim?" Antonia questioned softly.
"Get. OUT."
Author's note:
Apparently, in the world of Mass Effect, women's standard height was around 5'10". Toni is 5'5". Just to clear that up a bit. I'll explain why later...