A/N: So, I might have lied when I said I was going to keep this more updated. Apologies to all of you who have been following and faving. You guys are awesome and I do appreciate the support.
Since I already have the chapters, I'm going to just dump the rest of Chaos Effect: Dawning up here. I'm going to be traveling and working for several months with limited internet, so I'm not sure if I would be able to keep this updated otherwise.
With all that said, I hope you enjoy the rest of these random little snippets!
Chapter 7 – The Engineer
Robot Koch – The Other Side
xxxx
Thessia, 1994
"Come on, Rana. Stop acting like an old monastery keeper and come along for once!" Venia pressed, tugging lightly at her roommate's dress as a small child would. Venia T'Verik never could understand why someone would go to university only to bury their fringe in books and leave the room as seldom as possible. That was only half of the whole reason to go in the first place! And Rana was a nice maiden, too – Venia considered her a close friend, just quiet and studious. The type that needed to get out and get wild. They were both in their late forties – still an age where Thessia would not judge them for bad decisions. It was a opportunity they would never have again.
"My apologies, Venia…" Rana began, glancing up from a book to look at her roommate. The two shared a small flat within the University, just enough room for the two of them. Rana's desk was covered with books and data tablets. "I can't right now. I'm trying to finish a report on nanotech development… and I am scheduled for a meeting later tonight."
The other Asari begged with her eyes, giving Rana her best pleading face – very pouty, brow furrowed, fretting her green eyes. But it didn't have much impact on her roommate. Rana continued with a soft smile: "Please. Do not let me keep you from having fun. I will certainly join you another time."
"Yeah, but… but but but!" Venia protested. "We're going to be graduating soon! Graduating! This is one of the last chances you'll have! I mean, if you want to just stay here and be all responsible, fine… but… come on, Rana!"
"I will join you next time."
"Really? There's another party tomorrow. At the north campus club. I think a few bands are coming in. It should be wild. You should come." Venia was easily excited and bounced on her toes as she spoke.
"I…I shall plan on that." Rana nodded. "For at least a little while."
"As long as you actually do it this time… last time you ended up running off for some exam. You gotta have a little fun before you leave… Please?"
Rana glanced down slightly abashed – she had said she would make it then, and she did not. "I wi- you have my word, Venia."
"That's the spirit!" The other student grinned, spinning away and doing a little bow – grinning all the while. "I'll tell you alllll about tonight – I hear Tyrin Yvrick might even be visiting! I'm so excited I just might, oh, I don't know… Stay up for five days straight just to get a wink in at him?"
The young T'Lan smiled at Venia – and her obsession with the graduated Turian. In Rana's mind, it was a waste of precious time that could be spend working. Still, she was happy to see her friend so excited. "I need not remind you to have fun."
"You know it. Don't work yourself into the ground." Venia winked as she leaned against the door – a simple, two-way actuated panel – and looked at Rana for a moment before slipping out into the hallway.
The door closed, and for a few seconds Rana started at the space where her roommate had stood before, spacing out from her work and thinking about what she could potentially be missing. After several seconds, she couldn't come up with anything. So she looked back to the book she was currently reading through. It was a few years old, regarding cybernetic principles. It was all theory, as it turned out. None of the technology mentioned would actually work. Rana flipped through a few more pages before giving up and picking an even newer book dealing with multi-level encryption. She began where she had left off – dealing with some of the issues of corrupt decryption commands.
She didn't get very far before an alarm went off on her omni-tool, a reminder to get ready to go out. Without waiting, she shut the book and leapt up from the desk. There was very little she needed. A coat from the closet – simple grey synthetic material since the weather was getting cooler. She pulled it on over her dress, zipping it up and adjusting the collar. Then she grabbed a small, brown leather case and headed out the door.
xxxx
The sun was just going down as Rana stepped off of the air bus, walking along a raised walkway in the south part of the city. It was mostly government affairs, things she was generally uncomfortable with. But then again, it was not her first time to the district, certainly not her first time walking the exact same walkway. She had been here more and more often.
Rana watched her reflection in a wall of glass to her right, as if expecting to see something else besides the young Asari with navy blue face markings. She was not nervous; there was nothing to be alarmed about. It was just another training session. Then she realized what was amiss with her reflection – she didn't look like a commando. She had seen other recruits at the training facility and they held themselves differently. Rana didn't understand where the differences lay, but… she knew they were there.
It was not long before she reached the training facility. Even from the 20th floor walkway, it was a tall building – dark, mirrored glass reaching up into the sky. It was unmarked, but Rana knew it simple as the commando headquarters. Training, documentation, and deployment. Rana had only seen parts of it; as much as she could after training. They weren't keen on letting her wander around.
Still, she was comfortable entering the large sliding glass doors, eyes adjusting to the dark interior. It was designed to be practical but still look nice. There was a receptionist waiting.
"T'Lan… Welcome back." Rana recognized the Asari behind the desk, knowing that she worked at the headquarters, but did not recall a name. "Commander T'Yevis is waiting for you on the 5th floor."
"Thank you." Rana nodded, continuing into the lobby and ascending a small set of stairs and reaching the lift. She had to wait on the elevator, preparing herself for whatever training exercises would be thrown at her. T'Yevis was a tough commander. Rana had trained with her before, and knew more or less what to expect. Lots of biotic work, stealth, close-quarters combat. The young T'Lan realized she was a bit nervous, since none of those were her strong skills. But she would work through the session.
The lift reached the 5th floor. Rana stepped out, apprehensively looking around. Like the other lower floors, it was used for training. There were a few armories about, work benches… and of course, hallways leading to training grounds. It was state of the art stuff, allowing for military training in the middle of a city. Of course there was field training, but that didn't happen on Thessia.
The young T'Lan took several steps, looking around a seemingly empty intersection. Standing on the corner of two perpendicular hallways, she had glanced two ways before T'Yevis greeted her harshly: "T'Lan. Best get your kit together. Training demo in five. Room five-thirteen."
Rana glanced at the commander, assessing her quickly. Like usual, T'Yevis was in her leather uniform, standing tall and rigid, hands clasped behind her back, jaw tight and face expressionless as if she were containing some great energy that would escape and wreck havoc if she loosened up.
The young engineer just nodded. "Yes commander."
T'Yevis took off at her purposeful stride. Rana watched for a moment, shook her head, then headed to the change rooms. She only hoped that she was prepared enough.
xxxx
Rana stretched her arms out as she entered room 513. The leather armor brought a sense of familiarity to her, protection fused with legacy. It was an older armor, one of those with a slightly darker leather sash across her chest and over her right shoulder for additional protection. It was traditional, but it was also just what she got. The palms and fingers of the armor were well worn, leather thin and soft - much better for running her omni-tool or any weapons since dexterity and feeling was increased.
T'Yevis was standing next to a table, waiting, still stiff and watching Rana intently as she approached, speaking quietly and precisely. "Here's the gear you'll need for training today. Kit up and we'll get started as soon as you're ready."
"Understood, Commander." Rana nodded once and surveyed the table – empty except for a combat-grade omni-tool and a practice pistol that fired relatively harmless, charged pellets. She took both, glancing around the small preparation room once, noting that it was barren except the table and two doors. One coming from the hall; the other leading into the training area. She checked her equipment one last time and then reported: "I am ready."
"Good." T'Yevis nodded, seeming more distant than usual. "We're just going through adaptation training. You've got a gun, biotics, and tech skills. Expect to use them all."
"Understood." The young T'Lan holstered the pistol and faced the door, arms by her sides and hands loose while she stared straight ahead. As the metal doors parted, she could see through and start to assess what she was going to be up against. From what she could see, there was bit of low cover behind hip-tall walls and a few crates. Nothing unusual. There were no alternate routes, no way to sneak around obstacles, though. That was strange for T'Yevis. Her training courses usually had several ways around a problem.
Another step and the door closed behind her.
Rana strode forward and scanned the area for any bots or turrets. Training usually threw that sort of thing at her. Sure enough, after a few seconds, two hovering drones deployed and began to scan for a target. So the engineer leapt forward and slid into cover behind a barricade while arming her omni-tool and preparing to move against the two relatively harmless drones.
Well, she thought they were harmless until several accelerated metal shavings ricocheted off of the top of the barricade. With some surprise, Rana quickly checked her barriers before springing out.
An overload was already set on the omni-tool, frying one of the drones completely and shocking the other to the point where it simply fell to the ground buzzing and whining. Rana moved up quickly and dispatched with her pistol. As it turned out, it too was loaded with metal shavings. Lethal.
Rana knew she should have been worried, but she was only focused on getting through. And she had a lot of ground to cover.
Then two bots unfolded from cover and overclocked their kinetic shielding. A simple overload wouldn't take them out before they would open fire. So the engineer glanced over to a smaller crate then charged her biotics to toss the metal container at the bots. Her aim could not have been better. The single projectile decked out both in one hit, sending them skidding away on the floor in a shower of sparks and defeated whines.
She made it five more steps before having to drop and slide into cover again as a turret deployed ten meters away and sent a hail of shavings in her direction. She loaded up another overload, popped out of cover long enough to stun the turret and then follow through with five well-placed pistol rounds.
With the turret out of the way, the path was clear. It seemed like a strangely short test, but Rana was fine with that. There had been enough nasty surprises as it had been. She did not feel like more would be necessary.
But she was wrong. A forcefield suddenly activated, cutting off access to the exit.
Rana noted the new development, then proceeded to bring up her omni-tool and set to work. It took her less than second to locate the internal network responsible for the field generators. Once she got that far, she ran into the encryption. It was tough setup with a complicated layering system. She had only done a little work with such advanced encryption since it was so rare.
When she studied encryptions, Rana had gone out of her way to learn how to deal with the multiple levels, even writing a script to organize the first two levels while she began cracking the third. More than anything, it was a nuisance since the third level depended on the upper two, but in order to decrypt the first two you had to know what was being decrypted. There were still tricks, and Rana knew what to look for. She knew how to match up bits from each level and quickly break through all three.
In less than a minute, the forcefield was down. Rana continued forward hesitantly and half expected more challenges to arise. But the doors opened and she was able to make her way through.
T'Yevis was waiting just outside in a decompression room, along with another commando that Rana had not seen before. Tall, a confident face with red markings, the new commando wore a simple leather uniform.
Commander T'Yevis nodded at Rana once as if to give her approval, then introduced the other Asari. "T'Lan, this is Spectre Kaira T'Suni, commander of the 517th unit. She's here…to evaluate your performance." T'Yevis sounded as if she was forcing her words. "I'll let you discuss everything in private. Need anything and I'll be in the barracks, 14th floor."
"Thank you Commander." The Spectre replied respectfully and waited until T'Yevis left the room before turning to Rana and offering a slight smile. "Rana T'Lan. Good to finally meet you. My apologies for the short notice and improvised testing." T'Suni signaled towards the door and continued as two walked forward. "I hope that practice run wasn't too unnerving."
"It… it was rather unexpected." Rana began, scratching her head and walking in step with the 517th commander down the hallway – towards one of the balconies that looked over the lower reaches of the city. "If you don't mind my asking, Spectre… What is the meaning behind this?"
"Please, it's just Kaira." The Spectre responded, then paused for a moment as they reached the balcony door. Tinted glass slid out of the way and the two Asari stepped out into the evening Thessia air. "T'Yevis didn't disclose everything to you, reasoning that any additional pressure would change your performance."
Rana shook her head as the door opened and she looked out over the lower cityscape and stepped into the outside air. "So, Spect – rather, Kaira, just to be certain: this is a performance test?"
"In a way." T'Suni began, leaning on the balcony railing and watching Rana. "But to be more precise, it's a candidacy evaluation."
Rana stared for a moment, shook her head and gulped.. "Y-you mean… to have completed training and be considered for squad assignment?"
"Ultimately, yes." The Spectre replied. "You've been training here for five years, correct?"
"That's correct."
"And you're nearly completed with a degree at the university?"
"That is also correct."
Kaira nodded once and shifted her gaze back to the cityscape. "T'Yevis said you wanted to be considered for assignment once you were through basic training and university. Is that still the case?"
"It is, Sp – Kaira." Rana quickly corrected herself. "I hoped to be assigned to a unit near the Terminus border. From what research I have done, I would be able to provide some assistance to others. But I suppose that is all dependent on my performance."
"Well," T'Suni began with a faint chuckle. "I designed the training course you just ran through. It very easily could have lethal, but your barriers didn't absorb a single impact."
Rana nodded and listened. She watched Kaira and did not blink.
"And then the encryption. I brought that with me. It was a Citadel-grade encryption."
The engineer's head stopped. She had cracked through the highest level encryption available? For a moment she tried to stammer: "B-but- but those are impossible to decrypt!"
"Evidently not. You made short work of it, and I doubt that's something you learned here or at the university. That's not exactly common material as far as I can tell."
"Well, no, not exactly…" Rana managed, rubbing her fringe nervously and hoping she had not done wrong.
"In terms of hacking ability, that puts you near, if not at the top, of commando dossiers. The rest of your skills – gun handling and biotics – are up to par. Right where I'd expect a fifth-year recruit to be, if not a little further up the spire." Kaira explained. "What this means is… you're ready to enter squad assignment, should you chose to do so."
"I -" Rana began, trying to make words fit together. "I did not think that… There was… Thank you. I am unsure of what else to say, and I am certain I owe you that much."
"You're welcome, Rana." Kaira paused for a moment. "There is another thing. Since the 517th is a Spectre-led squad, it doesn't fall under squad assignment regulations. I have the freedom to pick whomever I see fit."
Rana nodded hesitantly. If the Spectre was suggesting what Rana thought she was… well, the young engineer didn't know what to think and she did not want to let her hopes get ahead of her.
"The truth is, anyone could have assessed you for candidacy evaluation. I came here because your dossier caught my attention. The 517th squad currently only consists of two specialists, neither of whom are engineers." Kaira continued. "The decision is yours, but I can offer you a position within the 517th."
"You – you mean as a commando? In a Spectre unit?" Rana managed, jaw rather slack as she stared at Kaira.
The Spectre looked back and nodded. "Yes. It will be full-duty assignment, based out of the AMF Akina. We'll be working in the Terminus on various missions, Council-assigned and otherwise. It won't be an easy arrangement, so you can decline if you so chose."
"No." Rana almost cut the Spectre off, barely containing her excitement. "It would be an honor to join your squad, Spectre. When can I begin?"
Kaira smiled at the enthusiasm. "There is no set time. I figured you would want to finish your time at the University. The position would be waiting for you afterwards."
"I am not even sure what to say." Rana shook her head. "I had hoped that an opportunity such as this, but I did not expect it to actualize."
"Think it over." Kaira suggested. "We're going to be docked here for the next week. You don't have to make the decision right now."
"I have considered this for years. I would not be so much of a fool as to turn it down." Rana insisted.
The commander raised her brow. A few years wasn't that long of a time. But T'Lan had skills that the squad needed, as well as an incredible drive. Kaira wasn't going to dissuade her too much. "So long as you're sure and willing to make the commitment."
"I am." Rana asserted. "I will have completed my time at the university in only three weeks. Then I will be able to direct my full attention to your squad."
"Well then. Welcome aboard the 517th, Rana." The Spectre nodded once and explained some of the details: "If you can make it by the Kedriana docks sometime this week, I can introduce you to the rest of the crew and get an order in for a full kit."
"Thank you, Spe – Kaira. I look forward to it."
xxxx
"So you're going to be a commando." Venia murmured, staring at her drink on the dark metal bar and spinning the glass idly as the info soaked in. "That is some big news. Damn. I guess all that time you spent training paid off. I mean… I knew you were kind of pursuing it, but I didn't know you were so close."
Rana nodded, leaning on the bar with her left elbow and almost ignoring her own drink. "Not only that, but as part of a Spectre's squad – meaning even more freedom and opportunity to test out new technology!"
"I'm happy for you, Ran. Really. Hopefully I don't have to patch you up any time soon." Venia teased, referring to her move to enter the medical field upon graduation.
"I hope not as well." Rana agreed. "But at the very least we may be able to stay in contact. From the sounds of it, much of our work will be in the Terminus…"
"…and I'll be on Illium." Venia finished. "We've still got plenty of years." She paused. "So you're going to be a part of a Spectre squad, right?"
"Yes. The 517th unit." Rana noted.
"You damned overachiever." Venia joked. "But really. Congratulations. If you can avoid getting killed… you might actually be able to make a difference out there."
"I hope so." Rana shook her head. "In all likely hood, you will be able to do more."
Venia snorted with dull amusement. "Patching people up isn't all that glorious either."
The two were silent for another several seconds, inadvertently listening to the poppy music playing through the club. "Ya know," Venia began, pausing long enough to put down the last of her drink, "let's go find some trouble."
"I don't think that would be a very good idea to -"
"I mean let's go dance. That kind of thing." Venia interrupted, knowing that Rana hadn't followed. "Gotta celebrate my roomy becoming a commando somehow, right?"
"Yes, but -" Rana tried to protest. She didn't get very far.
"Come on and finish your drink! Let's go!" Venia was already on her feet, a hand on Rana's back as the young T'Lan forced down the cocktail. "Neither of us have time to be sitting around. Let's go find some dances!"
"Right… Dances." Rana noted dully, knowing that Venia had a point. The night was young and there was much to celebrate. The young T'Lan stood up and smiled: "We may as well make the most of our last weeks here."
xxxx
