Yay an update! Thank you BloodyMalika for the editing! She is a very professional and efficient editor :)

Relay Two—Determination

Kira turned off the microphone for her journal and pulled up her holoscreen from the desk. The sun was already down, and from the window she could see the half full moon already beginning to reflect off the ocean. It was a bit dark in their room too, with only the light from Vaye's data pad, Kira's holo and the tiny lights simulating stars on Kira's side of the wall to light the room. While her messages loaded she turned to look at Vaye, who sat on her bed with headphones in ("It's vintage! You should try it!" She had said when she showed the tiny earplugs to Kira that morning) and was tapping on her datapad.

"I'm messaging Omadin." She caught Kira's eye and took off one earplug. "I'm just a little nervous, since I only met one Salarian and he was more hyper than me. Kinda scared me."

Kira raised her eyebrow, remembering Vaye's wild dancing. "More hyper than you?"

"I know, right? I don't want to believe stereotypes, but I heard all of them are like that." Vaye said in a deadly whisper.

"The Salarian Councilor wasn't hyper," Kira said, recalling a Vid shown in Interspecies relations of the Citadel Councilors during a Spectre Induction.

"True." Vaye inclined her head. "But I think the councilors have to be relatable to other species, and Daddy said that Salarians he met typically have to 'slow down' a bit."

"Ah, I see," Kira said, nodding. Since Salarians only lived to about only 40 years, she imagined that they would seem 'rushed' to other species. She wondered if that's how Asari and Krogans felt about everyone else. "Let me know how it goes."

"Will do," Vaye replaced her earplug and resumed tapping.

Kira turned to her own console and pulled up her messages. She skimmed over them, half hoping that her pen pal would message her first, and saw no sign that he did. Figuring that he was really busy and that if he did message her first she would have to rewrite the letter she already prepared, she was a little relieved. After snorting when she read the message Takeshi already sent, titling: I bet you're missing Aimi's cooking already, aren't you?, she selected the one from Alliance Base. There were only three lines, the last one containing a link.

Lakarus Aylious

Turian Military Trainee

[Contact Information]

No other information? Not even a photo or an age? She suspected that the Alliance left it out on purpose so it would be a good way to ask specific questions. Or they forgot to include that information. She clicked the link, and a new message screen appeared. Pulling the keyboard closer to her and referencing the handwritten letter she had edited, she began to type.

Dear Lakarus Aylious,

My name is Kira Shepard, and I wanted to start by saying I look forward to our future correspondence together. I'm afraid that I was not given much information about you prior to this message and I'm still learning about Turian Culture, so if I have offended you in any way I apologize. It is not intentional. I'm not sure how much information was given on me, as the only information I was given by my instructors was your name, contact information, and the basis that both of us are about the same training level. But in case you were curious, I am an eighteen year old female biotic training to be in the Alliance Marines. I am currently stationed at the Yokohama base in Japan, Earth. Right now I am in the education portion, and in a few months we will begin basic combat training. How about you? Which portion of the military are you in, and what career would you like to do?

Sincerely,

Kira Shepard

Kira reread it several times for any spelling or grammar errors before she was satisfied, and then pressed send. She heard that the automatic translator was excellent in configurating typed languages, but she didn't want to make it any harder on the electronic. Going back to her Inbox, she felt a little nervous. She had gotten Vaye to read it beforehand and she said it was fine, but she probably should've sent a copy to Takeshi, who had several experiences with Turians. She had gotten a little ahead of herself. However, she shrugged it off as she read Takeshi's messages, which was filled with little Takeshi tidbits ("It's much quieter here without your loud club music blaring from upstairs. We kinda miss it."), ending off with: "We miss and love you. Vaye and your other friends are invited over during the breaks and weekends anytime." Feeling much better, Kira turned off the holo screen and turned to look at Vaye.

"Hey Vaye, Takeshi and Aimi invited you-" She stopped when she saw Vaye rapidly tapping her datapad, her eyes squinting at the screen. Catching Kira's bewildred stare, Vaye unplugged a headphone and paused typing.

"Salarians move fast," she said, glancing at her data pad every few seconds, "or mine doesn't have a life. After I sent him a brief introduction seven minutes ago, he initiated a chat and his responses are lightening fast. I'd like to think I'm a quick typist and a quicker thinker, but I'm having trouble keeping up."

"Tell him to slow down?" Kira suggested.

Vaye scoffed. "He's eleven years old, and training to be part of a 'secret society'. Sound like the STG to me. He has currently told me half of his life's story in 3 minutes, and this takes up pages. I'm not letting him beat me, so excuse me while I proceed to bombard him with information."

"Sure," Kira chuckled as Vaye put in her heaphones. She got up and climbed into bed, and staring at the little lights on her ceiling (accompanied by furious tapping and Vaye randomly muttering " 'Salarians of course have faster responses to information', I'll show you faster responses"), Kira drifted to sleep.

The next morning, with the sun shining through the window, Kira woke up to Vaye tapping, though it was slower this time. Sitting up and letting the covers fall off of her, she saw Vaye sitting at her desk with the holo pulled up, tapping on the keyboard. Her black hair looked wild, and she was slouched like she was extremely exhausted.

"Please don't tell me you've been messaging him all night," Kira said exasperately, swinging her legs off the bed and hopping down.

"Oh, good morning," Vaye said, looking over to Kira. Her face looked oddly refreshed. No bags or dark circles under her eyes. "No, I went to bed shortly after you did; I sent him half of my biography and said that I needed to work on my Engineering homework on Mass Effect drives and then ended the chat."

Kira raised her eyebrows. "You don't have engineering homework yet."

"He doesn't know that." Vaye dismissed. "I got up ten minutes ago and we've been chatting again. He's a little slower this time. Wonder why." She looked back at her screen suspiciously.

"Maybe because he was trying to show off and now he's impressed, or something." Kira yawned.

"Hmm. Dunno." Vaye said, then turned off the screen. "Mind if I get a shower first? I'll be quick."

"Sure." Kira sat her desk and pulled up her holo. "Breakfast in 30?"

"Duh. Be back!" Vaye said as she grabbed a towel and headed for the bathroom.

Kira put her elbows on her desk and rubbed her eyes while her messages loaded, yawning. Today she had several new classes in addition to her everyday biotics class, including physical training, electronics, and engineering. Physical training would be kind of fun, but electronics and engineering was a little worrisome for her. Back on Mindoir, she had spent more time passing notes to her best friend during basic engineering and farming courses rather than paying attention, and her marks showed for it. Well, at least she was rooming with an Engineer and thus an automatic tutor. Kenji was also doing some engineering courses as well. Besides, she was getting an Omni tool, something that she was looking forward to since Vaye had been showing it off all the time.

Glancing at the screen through peeked fingers, she saw flashing icon reading New Message, she hurriedly touched it to reveal a sprawling letter from her pen pal. Suddenly awake, Kira read:

Kira Shepard,

It is a pleasure to meet you, albeit under electronic communications. Your instructors are correct in that we are in similar training. I'm not in anything specific besides Spectre training here on Palaven. If I prove that I can handle the more challenging courses, then I will do something more tailored to my needs. I would like to be a General so I can stay in the Military. How about you? Since you're a biotic (which implants have you had? I hope not the L2s since I heard there's a lot of problems with them) and doing military training, it sounds like a good Vanguard or Adept basis. Am I correct in that?

Until your reply,

Lakarus Aylious

P.S. You have not offended me. I appreciate your sensitivity and honesty. Just think of Turian Culture as being professional (though we're not all the time). From what I have learned, Turian and Human culture is not too dissimilar.

Kira reread the letter to absorb all the new information, and a smile crossed her face. She was afraid of how he would react, but it seems like he was a pretty cool guy, er, Turian. And Spectre training? How was she in an equivalent education? Last time she checked, education prior to combat training wasn't the same as training for the Citadel's personal agents. Thoughts swirled around in her head, wondering what she should reply back and how. After thinking for a moment, Kira began to type.

Dear Lakarus Aylious,

It is a pleasure to meet you as well. Excuse the unprofessional exclamation, but you're in spectre training? That's amazing. What is it like? It must be challenging; I haven't had any combat training yet, so I can only imagine what it's like at this point. I'm sorry if I'm prying, but why would you like to be a General? I'm guessing that Spectre training is a good way to prepare for military life. How long do you have to train for? And have your Instuctors said anything about the Galaxy Tour? Are you planning on going into GT? Sorry for all the questions…

To answer yours, I have the L3 implants. I got the implants just two years ago, so luckily I did not get the L2s. I haven't decided which class I should be; I figured that I would try out everything and see what I'm good at during basic education and combat training, and then decide before I take the GT courses; that is, if I get into GT. I also plan on doing N7 officers training, if I qualify. Vanguard is a good option; there's not a lot of humans with that go into that class, but to be honest it is the most appealing one to me.

Until next time,

Kira Shepard

Just as Kira reread her message and pressed 'send', Vaye swung open the bathroom door with a bang, making Kira jump.

"Your turn!" She cried, fully dressed in her uniform but hair a little wet.

"Dear god you scared me!" Kira said, clutching her chest.

"Sorry; Charlie sent me a message inviting us to dinner at 5:30, after your biotics class." She said giddily, taking out hair accessories from her drawer and examining them.

"Oh," Kira said, putting away the holo, deciding to check her messages before dinner. "Wait, you've been in the shower. How'd you get a message?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you!" Vaye said, opting for a regular hair bow and tying her hair back. "I had a mini computer installed in there. It's illegal, so don't tell anyone."

Kira gaped at her. "What do you mean, it's illegal?"

"Meaning I'm not allowed to install it." Vaye shrugged. "I can have the device, but I don't' know if the building appreciates me hacking into their database briefly to install it. Don't worry, it won't get us arrested, just enough to warrant a warning, and if I got one I will take it down. They'll know it's me because it has my name on it. Besides, it's waterproof, plays songs, goes on the extranet, allows chatting, projects vids on the wall, that kind of thing."

Although Kira was shocked that this device could get them in trouble, she was intrigued by the song part. Embarrassing as it was, she loved singing and dancing in the shower. "Alright," Kira said, getting up. "I won't say anything about it."

"Yay, thanks!" Vaye said as Kira grabbed her clothes. "By the way, Kenji will be joining us!"

"Joy," Kira muttered as she went inside the bathroom. Way to make her a little self conscious.

The noise around the dinning area of the Common building was making Kira's head throb painfully, and chewing her food made her conciously aware of her jaw moving up and down. Every so often, between talking to Vaye while she and Charlie flirted and Kenji, she would rub her head, as if trying to massage the pain out.

"Head still hurt?" Kenji asked across the cafeteria table. He was still out of his uniform and in relaxed attire, his shoulder legnth hair pulled back. Charlie, who had gently chasitised Kenji for 'forgetting' his uniform, was to busy awkwardly flirting with Vaye.

"It'll go away," Kira shrugged, pulling her hand down. She felt a little nervous, talking to only Kenji. She had just met him yesterday, and had the strangest reaction towards him. She was usually comfortable around guys, more so than girls, but Kenji was…a little strange. Not in a bad way, but in a way that made her feel a little more girly than usual. He was very handsome too, with straight black hair and honey colored eyes.

"Well, that's good." Kenji paused to chew on some baby carrots. "You know, you should have more vegetables," he said, pointing to her plate, which was filled with meat, poultry, and pork. "It'll help with phys ed."

Kira blanched. "I've been on a farm all my life and Japanese food has a TON of vegetables in it. I want some meat," she scowled, taking her bacon and eating it.

Kenji's eyebrows furrowed, his head cocking to the side. "You lived on a farm? That's rare. What was it like?"

Kira hadn't told Kenji nor Charlie yet about being on Mindoir. Why bring up something depressing when everyone was getting settled and having fun? "Boring. Well, sort of," Kira amended, "compared to the city with lots of activities to do, it's real boring. Small community. But it was kind of nice to rely on ourselves for food and shelter. Farm work was ok; I'd much rather chop wood and drag the heavier stuff back to the farm rather than sweat out in the field though. Unless I was picking fruit. THEN I would be out there all day."

"Why did you like it?" Kenji raised an eyebrow.

"Because I ate while I picked fruit. " Kira sipped her water, then realized that she was sounding—and acting—like a glutton. "I have a high metabolism, and since I'm a biotic I need more energy, and while I was a preteen that was very apparent."

"Ooooh, a new topic!" Vaye interjected. "Were you like that when you were younger?" Vaye asked Charlie.

"Looks like they took a break from flirting," Kenji muttered to Kira, smiling at her. She felt her cheeks go red before she mentally scolded herself for being silly.

Charlie paused, swallowing his bacon. His dark skin seemed velvety under the light, and his grey eyes squinted while he thought about Vaye's question. "Yes," Charlie said. "Though when Dad's steak and Mum's sweets started disappearing, they had me cut down a bit."

The four of them giggled, their laughter increasing when Vaye said that she stole sweets from the fridge just for the heck of it.

"Well, I better get back to the room and change." Kenji said, stacking his empty plates onto his tray.

"Ok, see you at dinner," the three of them chimed, before Charlie and Vaye resumed flirting. Kira sighed as she watched them. As much as she liked Vaye and Charlie, she had a feeling that she would be a third wheel while with both of them.

Kenji picked his plates and as Vaye and Charlie absentmindedly waved goodbye, he mouthed to Kira, "Talk to you later". Kira nodded, feeling a little better, and watched him head for the disposal units. While Vaye and Charlie continued to chat, Kira took another sip of water, wondering when she could talk to Kenji one on one.

For the next week, Kira and Vaye developed a schedule. Both would get up, shower, then meet Charlie and Kenji for breakfast. Afterward, Vaye headed for Engineering ("Ship building intro! I think we're starting on mini engines!" she had grinned before her second day), while Kira would head for Physical Education. The hour long class should have been renamed "You'll be sore for the next few days" education. Kira would've liked to think she was rather fit, but this class proved her and the other cocky students wrong. She also discovered the second day that taking a shower that morning was a waste of water, as she was drenched in sweat by the end of class. At least she wasn't the only one limping out of the showers to their next class because of sore muscles. Electronics class was a nightmare, and even despite Kenji being in the same class, she couldn't grasp the material. Surprisingly her spirits were lifted in her next class of Engineering, where although she wasn't building engines, she did get her omni tool by the end of the week.

That day, she and the fifteen other students eagerly spent the hour and half class playing with them and downloading software with the instructor's guidance, a forty year old woman named Professor Nwosu. She even showed Kira and several other students how to project images from the extranet onto walls so they could watch vids ("Though stick to educational ones during class," she winked at them). Feeling rather optimistic about Engineering as she left the building, Kira grabbed a quick bite to eat for lunch from her dorm, and then headed to Biotics class.

The room that the class was set up in was the size of a lecture hall and still had desks and chairs in it, but the difference in this room was that the walls, floor, and ceiling were all padded. Fourteen other students had already arrived, sitting together and levitating random objects (pencils, books, occasionally other students), and Charlie, sitting in a group of five, spotted her. He waved to her as he stood up and she approached them.

"Hey, what's up?" He grinned as Kira came over as she greeted the others.

"Nothing much." She replied, shrugging. "You?"

"Same. Except Omni tools!" At that he dramatically brought out his omni tool, their uniforms and faces bathed in an orange light. "This thing is so cool! It does everything! I can't believe I have lived without it for so long! I'm going to have to ask your roommate for tips," he said, winking at her.

Oh dear lord they're perfect for each other. Kira smiled as she brought hers up. "Same here. We should ask after dinner." Where they would continue their endless flirting.

"Sure! Omni party at my place!" Charlie exclaimed, and Kira snorted.

"Doesn't Kenji know how to use it too?" She asked slyly.

He paused. "Well, yes, but, y'know...Vaye is in Engineer class, so I thought she would know more, and—"

"It's ok, I get it." Kira shook her head, smiling.

"Hey, you should talk to him about it. He's was talking about you last night," Charlie said, nudging her, wagging his eyebrows.

Kira felt her face go red. "What'd he say—"

"Ok, class, gather around." Their instructor announced her arrival by clapping her hands loudly and calling out into the classroom, her voice echoing across the room. Once chatter ceased and they all looked at her, she looked at them in turn with her nose upturned.

"Heh, just like Maina to interrupt," Charlie muttered as Maina entered the room slowly, heading towards the middle. "I guess you can ask him yourself."

"Mm," Kira managed as Maina stopped and turned to face them. The Biotics instructor had an air of self importance when she had first come into class four days ago, and the students had quickly learned why. Even compared to vids of Biotic experts, Maina's expertise and flexibility with her biotics were astronomical. She had bragged that she was better than quite a few asari even, and when a student had muttered "I bet against young ones", Maina had the student in stasis until the student apologized. Everyone then did not want to get onto Maina's bad side.

After a brief lecture, with Maina maintaining her upturned nose at them and talking to them like children, she had them do 'simple' exercises. The first was to lift chairs at least five feet off the ground, and the second to push tables across the room. As Kira had discovered earlier, she was far behind the rest of the class. While chairs were lifted five, ten, even fifteen feet in the air, she could barely manage to levitate hers 3 feet. It felt like she was actually lifting the chair with only two fingers instead of her arms, and she was visibly sweating. Maina glanced at her progress, scoffed, and moved on. Cursing that she hadn't practiced all week and determined to do better with pushing, Kira was able to skid the table half way across the floor. Her distance was pretty good, for the exception that her table was the only one that had stayed on the floor. After several repetitions, Maina called her out.

"Why are you so behind? Did you not have basic training?" Maina scowled as Kira's tabled skidded past her. Some of the other students stopped to glance at them, and Charlie was starting to look a little worried as his table was flung across the room.

Panting, Kira looked at her, worried. It was only a week; she was bound to improve once she started practicing. She hoped. "I did have basic training." And then, figuring that Maina would find evidence of her lack of effort, Kira added, "I have not practiced this week though; I will put more effort into doing so."

"I could see that, but even at the beginning of the week you have been light years behind. For how long were you basic training?" Maina put her hands on her hips, her bound blonde hair beginning to loosen.

"Six months." Kira said, glancing at her table, trying to make it move a couple more inches.

Maina gaped at her for so long that it was making Kira uncomfortable. "You were able to get in with only six months of training?" She exclaimed so loudly that several tables slammed to the ground because of student's broken focus. "Why on earth were you not in there longer?"

Kira thought that Maina was making too much of a big deal out of this, especially so soon. She didn't think she was that bad. And she did well in basic training. "I was fitted for implants two years ago, so I could only take the basics in a shortened time. I took all the training I needed to, however."

"That could be argued." Maina sniffed, and Kira had to resist the urge to talk back. "Why only two years? Late in showing biotics?"

Not exactly; she was showing signs when she was fourteen, but it wasn't until she got to Earth that she was confirmed. "When I arrived to Earth two years ago, I received the implants. I promise I'll work hard and improve."

A sudden realization sparked in Maina's eyes. "Ah, a colony kid," she sneered. "No wonder you're behind." She said, and walked past Kira without another word.

Kira just stood there, forgetting about the table. 'Colony kid'? She thought, anger slowly beginning to bubble inside her. 'Colony kid'? That 'colony' was razed to the ground, you stupid—

Whoa. Kira took a deep breath, and let it out. Cut that out. She doesn't know which colony you're from, and frankly you aren't here to be pitied. I don't know what her problem is, but there's no reason to get mad. After she felt her anger slowly dissipating, she started pushing her table again.

Although he paired with different people since Charlie was one of the best in the class and was really nice, Charlie had noticed something was up, because for pair work (using barrier against pillows being pushed towards them) he immediately partnered up with her. "You ok?" He whispered as he faced her.

Kira shrugged as she bent down to pick up a pillow, measuring a five foot difference between her and him. "It's ok," she said, tossing it in the air and pushing it with her biotics towards Charlie. A sphere of blue encompassed him and the pillow bounced off. "Not the first time I got crap for biotics."

"Yeah, hear hear." Charlie agreed, pulling up barrier as she pushed another pillow towards him. "I didn't know you were from the colonies. Which one?"

Kira had not told Charlie nor Kenji about Mindoir. They were too busy having fun and getting settled into military life, and she didn't want to introduce a depressing topic. "Long story. Tell you later." Kira said as Maina walked past them wordlessly. As she continued using her biotics, she noticed that she was getting better at flinging the pillow at Charlie, pushing it harder and harder, until it almost went past the barrier.

"Whoa!" Charlie cried as he ducked, the pillow flying over him. "You almost had me there!"
Kira smiled. "Better keep your guard up, I may get you next time," she said.

"Switch!" Maina called. Charlie grinned, grabbing an armful of pillows and brought it over with him.

"Your turn," he said, twirling it.

"Uh oh," Kira rose her barrier. Everything seemed warped and blue inside hers. "Go easy on me, please!"

"I'll throw it lightly, then harder, how's that?" Charlie asked.

"Sounds good to me."

"Then here we go." He suddenly pushed the pillow towards her, and the pillow bounced off the barrier, but the force of the push made her stumble.

"Hey, you call that light?" She said as she regained balance.

"Sorry, couldn't resist," Charlie grinned. "Ok, I'll go easier now."

For the next two minutes he increased the force of the push, and it was getting harder for Kira to maintain a barrier. Finally a pillow sailed through her barrier and into her stomach.

"Oops!" Charlie said as Kira doubled over. "You ok?"

"Yeah, it's just a pillow." Kira laughed, pushing the pillow to him. "If it were a brick I would be in trouble."

"Perhaps we should be using bricks." Maina interrupted, suddenly appearing and catching the pillow. Charlie started, looking between her and Kira. "Your barrier looks a bit solid. Allow me to try."

Kira nodded to Charlie and he stepped aside. Maina took his position and Kira mustered all of her remaining strength and raised her barrier. Just because this woman complimented her didn't mean that Maina was going easy on her. Maina levitated the pillow to eye level, and then it disappeared. Wondering where the heck it went, Kira felt something slam into her face. She lost balanced and crashed onto the ground, her barrier dissipating as she fell.

"How disappointing," Maina sighed as Kira winced out of pain, sitting up. Her muscles were still aching from this morning, and being slammed into the ground wasn't helping. "Perhaps next time." She said as she walked away.

Face burning, Kira rubbed her back as Charlie approached her cautiously. "You hurt?" He said quietly as he offered a hand.

Besides my pride? "No, I'm fine," Kira muttered as she took his hand, and he hauled her up. "Thanks. It was my fault for not being prepared."

"None of us would've been able to block that." Charlie whispered. "Why is she being mean? I don't get it."

"Me neither," Kira said, looking at Maina. The instructor had gone over to one of the other pairs, ("You call that a push? More like a pathetic attempt to even levitate," She scowled at one of the students). "Looks like I'm not the only one though."

"Well, hopefully she'll be nicer." Charlie suggested as he lifted the pillow.

"Perhaps." Kira said, and this time she was able to block a flying pillow to the head. "We'll see."

After Biotics, Kira was one of the first to leave the classroom. Telling Charlie that she and Vaye will meet up with him and Kenji for dinner after they got ready, Kira made her way back to the dorm, the sun starting to set in the distance. Once she got into the room, she was a little relieved to see that Vaye had not yet arrived. She wanted to be alone for a few minutes.

Kira climbed onto her bed, laying down a moment. Her head was continuing to throb and her body's muscles were beginning to ache. She felt exhausted, and her stomach growled angrily at her. Well, today could have been better. She thought, staring at her stars on the ceiling. Phys Ed may be a bit easier, Electronics is still like a foreign language to me, Engineering may be ok, but Biotics? I thought I wouldn't have any trouble with that. Kira frowned. What was her problem, anyway? Is she just like that? She was picking on those two other guys too. Kira looked at her chair by her desk and raised a hand towards it. Her hand glowed white blue for several moments, and the chair wobbled six inches up. She tried to make it go higher, but she felt energy rapidly leaving her body, and the chair plunked down. Seriously? I though I would do fine at this whole thing. She sighed as she put her hand down. School was so easy compared to this; I didn't think that this would be easy, but not this hard either. Isn't the first week of education supposed to be easy? She paused her inner monologue, trying to go over the process of documentation, essay writing, and recommendations that she had to do to be accepted into the Alliance, let alone get the scholarship. Did I have a sort of handicap to get in here? I don't recall saying anything on the application, and I didn't go after that colony scholarship since I thought I didn't need it…no, if anything the administration would be more apprehensive to let me in. Right?

Her wrist beeped, interrupting her thoughts. Bewildered, Kira brought her omni tool up, to reveal her message screen. She remembered that she had set up her omni tool to alert her when she had a new message. Scrolling down, feeling a little better that she had an omni tool, she saw that Lakarus had replied back. She bolted upward, her back muscles searing in pain. Lakarus had not replied since the beginning of that week, and she was worried that he was ignoring her.

Kira Shepard,

I apologize for the very late reply. A surprise field exercise training was sprung onto us four days ago, and we were left without technology. It was supposedly a test to see how much we depended on technology, and it was rather embarrassing, to say the least. Reaching for an omni tool to search the extranet of edible natural food on Palaven and not having it was a very humbling experience.

However, referring to your message, there is no need to excuse the exclamation. I am flattered. I suppose Spectre training would sound impressive, but it's not as elite as most think. Not to say that it's not prestigious, but anyone who shows potential and is willing to work hard can get in. I was recently told that it is like your N7 alliance program, so we are more alike than I think we both first thought. You are right that Spectre training would be good to getting a high military position, and regular military training is not enough. Spectre training is more rigorous than military training, and tests your mental fortitude more. I want to be mentally and physically prepared to lead my soldiers in battles. It's a little personal, but some of my relatives in the military died due to poor leadership, and I do not want the same pain to befall anyone else.

On a less depressing note, I still have two years for training including the galaxy tour, which I am aiming for. Also useful for…humans call it a resume? And training with different species is a huge perk. I am looking at the Strategy and Combat portions. How about you? I'm sure if you work hard that you will be able to get in. If you are being a Vanguard, perhaps I may train with you in the Combat portion. I have to admit that I have to admire your consideration of that class; it's a very dangerous one, and to be blunt not many survive even if they do have the proper training. I hope that won't be the case for you.

Lakarus

PS You do not have to use my full name. I do not think it's no longer necessary. I will call you by your titled name however until you are comfortable with it.

After several minutes of rereading the message, Kira turned off the omni tool screen and laid back down. She would message him back tomorrow, when her head cleared.

The little lights on her ceiling twinkled in the corner of her eye, and she looked up at them. Her vision blurred, her eyes lightly watering. The lights became distorted, and she reached her hand up to them. 'Work hard'…what if I don't have it in me to do it? I feel so…almost broken. I thought things like this would be nothing compared to losing everyone…but it feels almost worse. She remembered what Lakarus had said, saying that he had lost people he loved. It was his reason for his education and need to become a General. Suddenly, a connection was drawn between her and him that previously was not present. Her vision cleared, and the lights glittered like the stars. Hand still raised, she clenched her fists. It doesn't matter. If Lakarus can do it, then so can I. I've been working too hard to let something like classes being too difficult to get in my way. I have survived worse than this. I have to get accepted into GT. That is the only way how I can get back out there, and has been my purpose for years. I will continue to work for what I want, and I will get it. Her omni tool beeped again, and this time it was a message from Vaye, telling Kira to meet her and the others at the cafeteria. Sending a short reply back, Kira swung her legs over her bed and put her uniform jacket on. Ignoring her aching muscles, she headed for the Common Building, her body tensing with determination.

I could always do with some critiquing and suggestions, if anyone feels like it :) Thank you very much for reading!

Music!

Climbing up Iknimiya—James Horner

Sweet Sacrifice—Evanescence

Robin—Taku Iwasaki (Witch Hunter Robin)-Especially last section