Episode Three: A New Friend

Lena woke up to her mother arriving into the room. They were in the crew quarters of the SSV Einstein where they had their own room. "You up so soon?" Hannah asked her daughter. "I had to carry you here; I thought you would sleep through the flight, you were sleeping so deeply." Hannah stated.

"The hum of the ship prevents me from sleeping…" She said, while exhaling a yawn. The ship's crew quarters were set up like apartments; in a row. Next to them was the Vaels' room then came some crewmembers'. "I'm thinking of training with Riva." She said. She knew too, under training, they really mean talking about biotics.

"And?" Hannah asked, realizing that she didn't finish her sentence.

"And I'm kind of nervous about it… You know, being alone with a spectre… asari?" Lena explained. She knew about the spectre's position above the law and their authority. And she was afraid of them as much as curious. "Would you accompany me?"

Hannah wanted to teach independence to her daughter, but she always found just one excuse not to actually do it. "Okay, okay. Now?" She asked and stood up, Lena quickly followed her. Walking to Riva's room, Lena looked around the mess hall they went through, while Hannah observed her. She's so cute when she's interested in something… She thought. I hope she won't get hurt. She's my everything.

Lena looked around. She was again, fascinated by the complexity of the ship. Every screen, every holo showed something, or calculated something. In the mess hall, some of the crew was working on something; some of them just had a friendly chat. Every minute she was on the ship made more and more to have a ship.

Looking to the right she saw "Room 314". They stopped then knocked on the door. "I'm coming!" Riva said. Seconds later, the panel on the door turned green, which then opened, and Riva stepped out. She wore a typical asari long dress, and had a datapad in her hand. "Oh, Lena, hi!" She said the turned to Hannah, "Ms. Shepard."

"Lena said she would like to train with you; of course if you're not busy." Hannah explained.

"I'm free now. Would you like to come in?" She said, pointing into the room. Hers was larger, than Shepard's. She took a moment to look around the room. Her eyes instantly locked on the armor set the asari wore when they met while docked into Mindoir.

So she probably just wanted to change into something more… convenient. I guess.

"That's my favorite armor set." Riva said.

"Do you have more than one?" Lena asked.

"Oh, yes. I was given a black one, which wasn't the best. After enough missions with that I could my own. And this is it." Riva explained. Changing the subject, she asked, "I have some asari honey mead I picked up the last time I was on Ilium. You want some?"

"I'd thank that. But Lena can't drink alcohols." Hannah said.

"Not a problem; although it doesn't have that much alcohol than yours… Maybe fourth." Riva said, and pulled out a bottle of something. "This is the best fruit juice from Thessia. I've met humans that said it tastes better than a… what do you call it? Beer? I've been keeping this to open with someone." Riva said, and picked up three glasses. She poured the wine to two glasses, and a glass of fruit juice to Lena. She handed over the glasses.

Lena slowly sipped a little of the juice. At the moment it stimulated her tongue in a way she never imagined. It was sweet, but not that much. The taste was nothing she ever tasted in her life. "Hm, do you like it?" Riva asked when she and Hannah both took a sip from their wine.

"Yes, it's good! Like… like… What fruit did they make it from?"

"I don't really know the details, but it's a mixture of jenilis and reila. They both are common on Thessia." Riva tried to explain.

After they finished their glasses, Riva turned to Lena again. "So what do you know about biotics?" She asked.

Lena thought about it for a moment. She did research something before her surgery, but a lot of things happened after it. "Well… I do know that it's exhausting. Do all asari have biotic abilities?"

"Indeed it is. Even after years, after two or three uses, the person can get very tired." Riva answered. "And yes, we have."

Not all races can use biotics, and even if they can, the abilities are different. The asari, for example are natural biotic, opposed to the salarians or the quarians, the latter because of their exile from Rannoch as they population is limited, and they need eezo to fuel the Migrant Fleet.

The asari doesn't need training to have conscious neural control, thus they don't need implants. Biotics among the turians and salarians are a rarity, as the former's military views them as suspicion, and the latter's military don't want to risk them on the front life due to their short lifespan of forty years. Batarians and krogans can also develop eezo nodules, but, opposed to the humans, does not need implants to use them. They can be trained as shock troopers, sentinels or vanguards.

Humans need a special implant to harness their biotic abilities. The most common implant is the L5x for the adept-specialized, and the L5n for the vanguard-specialized. During the surgery, the doctors wanted to implant L5xs, but there were complications, which only allowed L5ns, so Lena's specialization will be a vanguard when she trains her abilities.

"What can you do?" Lena asked Riva. She saw the asari stand up, and a blue orb appeared in her hand.

"Altering the mass of object, as well as damaging them, like this." She said. She pointed her arm toward a pen on the table, which ascended into the air, then got crushed by a warp attack."

"Oh my…" Lena said, as herself and her mother looked at the action. The blue glowing around Riva disappeared.

"I don't expect you doing the same. But can you project energy to an object?" Riva asked.

"I haven't tried." Lena answered. Telling the truth, she did tried it once, but that was way before her surgery, and just only acted if she would have power.

"If you stand up, I could show you." Riva said. Lena stood up, and stood beside the asari spectre.

She guided Lena to a standing position. She had her legs slightly bent, and her feet were somewhat apart. "The most important thing is to keep her balance, which might not sound much, but you'll get exhausted at first." She explained. "You need to get your body to send an electric charge through your nodules, thus channeling your abilities."

"How can I do that?" Lena asked.

"I'll teach you the most basic one. Not guaranteed, that it will work for the first time." She answered then explained how to use one of the most basic ability. "Warp is fairly easy. It changes the mass of an object, damaging it; what you saw white the pen. It's basically the following. Think about warping that empty bottle there, and then swing your hand in that direction."

Lena did so, thought about that bottle, and swung her arm in a rather cute way; she almost fell to the ground, but Riva caught her. "It's okay if you don't want to press it." Riva suggested.

"No, no, I want it." Lena answered.

"You know it…" Lena regained her balance and stood back into the position. She thought about the empty glass bottle, and swung her arm. This time, a really small blue energy ball glided through the room, hitting the wall behind the wall.

Lena fell to her knee, she was extremely exhausted. Hannah jumped up, and knelt down as fell. "What happened to her?" She asked Riva.

The asari spectre got more of the Thessian fruit juice, poured some to a glass, and gave it to Lena. "Her blood sugar level probably dropped down. It's not uncommon, as well as dehydration." Riva explained. "I think we won't do any more training. She just needs rest. I'm sure you have more things to do, Ms. Shepard, Lea can stay here; we could talk."

"What do you want, Lena?" Hannah asked her daughter, now lying on the bed.

"I'd… like to stay." She managed to answer. Hannah kissed her cheek then left the room. Riva closed the door, and locked it, Lena saw the green panel turn to red.

"While asari don't really get that much exhausted than other species, I feel your pain." Riva showed sympathy.

"It's actually getting better, thanks. I was always fascinated by the asari and their biotic abilities." Lena started, and sat up on the bed.

"Well, not all asari wants to develop their abilities, but the standard education includes biotic training from the asari version of… kindergarten."

"What's up with the haste? I think I read something about the asari living for a thousand years."

"That's true. But our youth is only stretched twice than yours. So what, you're twelve? Then an asari would be twelve by the age of twenty-four."

"How old are you?" Len asked.

Riva laughed, "By asari or human standards?" She asked back.

"Asari."

"I'm well over four hundred." Riva said.

"So you're a spectre. What was your ceremony like?" Lena asked the asari. She had a vid about it on her omni-tool.

"Riva Vasir, step forward." The asari councilor said, and she did so. Behind her there were Tela, her friends and family. The vid showed other people on the Citadel, turians, other asari and salarians watching the ceremony. "It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel." She said.

"I'm honored, Councilor." Riva was heard saying. The councilor repeated her speech for every spectre candidate.

After everyone, the three councilors made their final speech. "Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle, those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file." The salarian councilor said.

"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol; the embodiment of courage, determination and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the council, instruments of our will." The asari councilor said.

"Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold." The turian councilor said.

The asari spectres bowed, as the asari councilor said the last sentence, "You now represent the asari as great warriors wherever you go. Any necessary mission briefing will be relayed to you. May the goddess be with you." She finished, and the vid stopped.

"That's so cool!" Lena exclaimed.

"Oh, and I have something for you." Riva said, put down the datapad, and opened her own omni-tool, and projected a holo to a nearby wall. The picture showed an outline of a heavy pistol. "I got this way back when I was only a hundred or so. Didn't work even back then. I held this as my talisman, and it was with me when I got promoted as a spectre. I… wanted to give it to my daughter, but I guess that'll have to wait for a couple of hundreds of years more." She said then turned off the projection. She opened her backpack, and pulled out a clean, but non-functional heavy pistol. "I'd like to give it to you to keep the tradition."

"I… don't know… what to say. Thank you." Lena answered, taking the gun.

"One day, you might give it to your child." Riva said.

"Is this completely safe?" Lena wanted to be sure.

"Of course…" Riva answered, wiping away some tears that were falling on her blue skinned cheek. "The firing mechanisms were cut-out. You can't put in a thermal clip, and if you pull the trigger, it won't do anything." Riva said.

"Why are you sad?" Lena asked.

"Oh, I'm not sad. It just means so much to me…" Riva stopped for a second then continued, "When my sister, Tela joined the spectres, when I was a child, she gave it to me and said, 'If we don't see each other again, promise me that you'll keep this, and remember me.' I kept that promise. Maybe I'm just seeing my future daughter in you, but I think time has come to give away this gun." Riva said.

Lena was overwhelmed by the kindness of Riva. She stood up, and hugged the weeping asari. "I like you." Lena said to her.

"I like you, too." The asari answered.

. . .

Lena stepped into their room. She looked around, and saw her mother looking out on the window. "Hi, mom." Lena greeted her.

"Oh, hey." Hannah answered, turning to her.

"I got this from Riva." Lena said, showing the nonfunctional weapon to her mother.

"Isn't this dangerous, Lena?" She asked.

"She explained it why it isn't. And it's a relic for her, as she got is from her sister." Lena explained. She showed the barrel of the gun, which was solid, and there was no place to put thermal clips. "Can I keep it?" She asked.

Hannah thought about it for a short period of time, and she came to the conclusion that it's not a good idea to swing a real-looking weapon on the main street on Mindoir. "Yes, but you should keep it at home, and please don't talk about it in school. Or even here on the ship, they might think you're dangerous."

"Okay." Lena said, looking at the ground.

"Hey, it's for your safety. And if it matters, then I won't even touch it, if you don't allow it to me." Hannah explained that these precautions were for her safety. Mindoir's police department wasn't used to little girls running with guns.

"You can touch it." Lena said with a smile.

"Aren't you hungry? I brought some sandwiches." Hannah said, and opened a boy with several sandwiches stacked. "You're a biotic now; you should have energy."

Lena pulled out one, and bit it. Many Earth animals could live on Mindoir, including pigs and cows, but there were native species, like the so-called space cow, which resembled kangaroos, but were much larger in build. Food could be made out of them and they were bred.

"Do you know anything about Lia? How is she?" Lena asked her mother.

"While you were away, I asked Feda. She said that Lia got antibiotics but she's in and out of consciousness." Hannah tried to answer. She worried about Lia as well, as she was fully aware that she could die in any minute, but she hid that from her daughter.

"Can I meet with her?" Lena asked. There were still ten hours 'till they got to the Citadel.

"You know, she's in a clean room in the ship's med bay. She needs that so she can be out of her suit." Hannah explained.

"Hri'va." Lena said quietly, but loud enough for her mother to hear.

"What did you just say?" Hannah asked curiously, as she didn't understand her daughter.

"A clean room. I asked Lia to teach me some words in her language." Lena said. Lia has been teaching her for almost some months now.

"Can you say something more? I'm interested in hearing that."

"Well, I only know some words. Oh, and a sentence: Lena ghik ai se'neae."

"And that means?"

"'My name is Lena' in Khelis." She explained.

"What do the words mean?"

"'Ghik' and 'ai' are difficult to explain. They are… how it's called… helping words, maybe. 'Se' means 'I' or 'my', and 'neae' means name, birthplace or the ship one's crew of."

Hannah's jaw dropped at how much her daughter knew. "I'm… amazed" was all she could speak in surprise.

. . .

A/N: Super-extra special ~2,600 words. Mostly due to school and life being life. Next one will be 5,000, as the first two.

The "Thessian fruit juice" is from Tayg's Uncommon Bonds.

Thanks for reading, and if you can, please favorite, follow and write a review! In the next chapter, the group arrives to the Citadel. The two girls gets their surgery, but as always, there are complications.