Chapter 9: Family
Date: May 8, 2188
Location: Anatole / Odar'is
Lukas Kjellson looked out on the deck of his two bedroom home that the Spectres has given him. His asari wife, Mia, had passed through the background check by a Miss Goto, who sounded even more cryptic in person than she did on the comm call that got him this job. Currently, Mia was telling the movers where everything needed to be, all the while waddling after them with her pregnant belly partially sticking out from under her shirt. He chuckled as the turian men moved the couch to the front of the living room a third time. "Lukas!" she cried out. "I can't tell if this looks right."
He walked back inside and looked to see where things were. The couch was against the window with round glass tables at the end, the round glass table in the center of the room, the television terminal on the wall opposite of the couch and two potted Thessian flowers that were wedding gifts from her mother Matriarch Lil'ussa. Smiling he replied. "Looks perfect to me love."
The turian men looked relieved at not having to move these pieces again. "Are you sure?" she questioned with uncertainty, causing the movers to look back at him.
"Yes, it's perfect," he said smiling as he walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, this caused her to sigh.
"Knock, knock!" came a cheerful voice from the doorway.
Upon turning his head he smiled. "Sis!" he called out happily.
Laughing heartily, Linnea walked over to her brother and his wife. "Unpacking already?" she questioned.
"Just the furniture." Mia giggled at her sister-in-law, which caused the swedish woman to roll her eyes.
"Let me guess," Lukas began as he laid his chin on his wife's shoulder. "You haven't even begun unpacking."
"Nope." She shook her head. "My stuff's on its way from Sweden, not Zareth." Her brother laughed heartily. Growling slightly, she walked passed him, grabbed his blonde ponytail and gave it a good yank, this caused him to yell out a few curses in swedish and the two women to laugh lightly. "Yeah, I think I'm a gonna like living across the street from you bro."
"Joy," he grumbled as he rubbed his head.
"You've gotta let me decorate for you," Mia said as she grabbed Linnea's hand and tugged her towards the stairs going up.
"Sir?" began one of the turian movers. Lukas turned his attention to the one wearing red facepaint. "Is there anything else that you or your wife need moved around?"
"Probably," he began. "But my sis and I can take it from here." He opened his omni-tool. "How much do I owe you guys?"
"You'll get the bill," snortted the one wearing green facepaint, which earned him a glare from one not wearing any.
"Okay," he sighed as he escorted them out and closed the door. Looking back inside he saw the mountain of boxes that needed to be gone through and groaned. "I need beer first," he mumbled as he walked into the kitchen.
Upon walking into his and Faith's home, Garrus was greeted by Urz's snarling form. He had no idea why Faith liked this varen, but since that day on Tuchanka the alpha had followed her around, but disliked him. Groaning, he reached into the grocery bag and threw a roast to the varen, who caught it and ignored him. Walking into the family living area he was greeted by the sight of his daughter Melina sitting on the floor looking around herself at the toys in front of her. Upon seeing him though, she gave out a cry. Chuckling he walked over to her and picked her up. "Where is your Mada?" he asked her. Melina just grabbed at his face with her tiny three-fingered hands; which caused him to chuckle. He then heard a gasp and turned to see a female turian with vertical green bars painted on her face and fringe. "Dr. Monroe," he greeted.
"Hello Spectre," she greeted back. "I wasn't expecting you back yet."
"Is Faith here?" he questioned knowing his wife would never leave their daughter unattended.
"No, she's been invited to see the Creassion's newest colony and learn more about them," she said as she handed him a bowl of crushed meat for the little one to eat. "She's not expecting to be back home for the one year anniversary. She said she could be gone for a month."
"Could be?" he inquired as he fed his daughter.
"She was unsure," was her answer. "She gave me Melina to bring home." She paused as she picked up a suitcase. "She's been changed. I need to get home to my husband."
"Of course," he nodded. "Thank you for watching over her."
He saw how the doctor seemed to look at his daughter with longing. "She reminds me of Lixinea," she stated before she left.
Looking down at his daughter with love shining in his eyes, he smiled. "We're going to get reacquainted little one," he said, causing the little one to look up from the crushed meat he was feeding her and blink at him. This caused Garrus to chuckle. "Don't look at me that way. That's your Mada's look." She just gave him another blank look as if to say 'What was that?' He just chuckled as he continued to feed her the talashae meat.
Yesa Harill looked at the dome home that had been built specifically for a volus. She knew that being one of two volus in the Spectres would mean she'd have to watch herself. She loved pranks, but now had to be serious. She hated hard work, but knew a lot of people were counting on her not to be a failure. Her clan was practically bankrupted when they'd bought her back from another clan. So she knew that being a Spectre was a grand investment for her clan because half of her income would return to Irune to her clan, which would then be split among her clan members; most would be split between her parents and the clan elders before being split among the other Harill clan members.
Taking a deep breath, she approached the quarian engineers who'd just finished the dome. "Thank you very much quarian-clan," she said. "I am very happy to have a home to myself. Do tell me you re-checked the pressure points."
"Yes, I have," said the male quarian. "I am engineer Hal'Reeger vas Darib. I am the main engineer here around town."
"Then I thank you again Hal of clan Reeger," she said sounding amused.
"Ha, yeah it was fun building this," he said as he walked over to the waiting aircar. Snuffing at this, she turned and walked into the dome just as the quarians left.
"Is it me, or are there more people in town than there usually is?" Kenti asked Laura, who had a hold of her brother James' hand.
"Maybe a few," she answered.
"Hey, I saw you at the park with Lina Alistar," he said, waiting for a response.
"Yeah, so," she mumbled as she pulled James' arm to get him to move faster.
"Well," he paused. "I thought you hated asari."
Laura stopped in her tracks, which caused James to bump into her leg and grumble. "I don't hate them. I'm uncomfortable around them." She growled as she narrowed her eyes at him. "There's a difference."
"You know she's got a human brother, right?" he asked as they stared walked up the hill that led to their homes.
"What?" she asked as she looked at him with wide eyes. "I mean, I knew she had a human mother, but not a human brother."
"Yep," he nodded. "He's smaller than James."
"Cool." She stopped at the front of her house. "See you tomorrow."
"Uh..." he scratched his fringe behind his head. "Don't know. I have sparring classes that start tomorrow and biotic classes too."
"Biotic?" she questioned with wide eyes.
He gave her a full on turian smile. "Can't let you know everything at once, now can I?" He laughed as he turned and left for his home across the road.
Frowning, Laura headed up the porch steps and opening the door when James went sailing into the room into the arms of a turian with green swirled facepaint. "Pada!" James yelled and wrapped his arms around their father's leg, right above the spur.
"First-son, have you behaved?" Odin inquired with a raised brow-plate.
"Yes!" the boy yelled happily, which caused Laura to snort.
"I see," was his reply as he sat a wooden crate down on the floor next to James.
Upon lifting the lid, James gasped. "Puppy!" he squealed as he pulled out an animal with black fur and brown splotches.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Something called a German Shepherd," he said with a satisfied look as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"I meant is it a male or a female?" she said as she squatted down next to the puppy.
"Male," he answered as he looked around. "Where is your mother?"
"Working," she giggled as the puppy jumped on her. "He needs a name." She laughed out as he licked her face.
"Lue!" James yelled excitedly.
Laura rubbed her ear. "James don't yell," she said sounding annoyed.
"Lue," he whispered, which caused Odin to chuckle.
"How about Galantis?" she asked as she rubbed to pups belly as his tail flopped on the floor.
"I like that one," Odin agreed as he watched the two play with the pup. "We'll ask your mother."
"Ask me what?" came a feminine voice. Looking up Odin smiled at his beautiful human wife.
"What do we name the puppy, mommy," James asked.
Ann looked down at the pup and smiled. "Well, he looks like a Spot to me," she joked, which caused the little boy to look back at the pup.
"Spot it is," he announced.
"I like Galantis better," Laura complained, causing James to stick out his tongue at her.
"Now, now..." Ann began.
"I know mom," she said. "We'll name him Spot, but I name the next one." She looked down and watched James play with the pup.
Location: Epsilon Eridanus System / Mor'ah
After the Angelwing had gone into the dry docks, they took a pelican dropship to the city that was an hour away from the military bases and research stations that were being built outside the city. Joker had gotten to ride in the cockpit with second Flight Lieutenant Jol'nea Holsom who pointed out the controls and what did what. She also talked about a newer land model called a Hellcat Cruiser that allowed the pilot to have a neural connection to the ship, which got Jeff going. The hour long ride was quite entertaining as the two pilots weighed in on the positives and negatives of neural controls. So by the time they arrived it was decided by Faith to not allow Joker to have any neural implants done because of the unknown technology, even though by the sounds of it, he liked the idea.
"Welcome New Haven City, population is currently under five hundred thousand," the pilot said as the reached the city limits. Turning around, Faith looked outside the cockpit window. She saw hundreds of flying vehicles that didin't look like any type of aircar she'd ever seen. "What are those vehicles?" she asked Vol'com.
The woman turned her head and looked out the cockpit windows. "Those are civilian Zoomers," she said with a smile.
"Civilian?" she asked. "There are military?"
"Freedom Guard is the main military, but their are other branches. The Air Force is ironically called Air Guard."
"Naval?" Faith inquired.
"That's a tricky one," she said with a chuckle. "The main Naval force is on Gi'ah. It's called the Sea Guard, but there is also the Aquatic Guard as well. They are a special group."
"Why?" Tali asked with a cock of her helmet.
"They're mutated...kinda." That got her some looks. "They use to stay away from the rest of us, but when the Protheans took one of their own people, they became aggressive to everybody around them. They're capable of breathing underwater and have cities under the ocean's of Gi'ah. It wasn't until twenty thousand years ago that they became our allies. Since then they've created their own Naval army called..."
"The Aquatic Guard." Faith finished.
Vol'com nodded. "Yes."
It was then that they landed on a pelican pad on a large building in the center of the city. "This is Freedom Guard HQ ma'am," Jol'nea said as the dropship engines quieted and shut down. Turning to the human pilot she smiled. "Wanna see the Hellcats?"
"Hell yeah." He smiled as he hobbled off after her.
"Joker," Faith called out with worry.
"Don't worry Shep, I ain't puttin' nothin' in my head." He looked at the Elvian pilot. "Unless ya'll have visual pornography, then all bets are off."
That caused Jol'nea to laugh. "I'll take you to the Naughty Ottsel," she said wrapping an arm around his shoulders.
"Oh god," Faith groaned as she followed Vol'com inside of the building with Tali behind her and Mordin talking with Vincent about something she couldn't quite hear.
"No more blue interiors," Tali commented.
"No, this building is above the yellow, blue, green, and red zones; so the interior will match said colors, minus the main control room which would be blue and white." Vincent said as he returned his attention to Mordin.
"Oh." was Tali's only response as they followed Narima into a very large room with a wall of windows on one side of the room, mirrors on the other and a hall that led to more rooms.
"This is your quarters for you to sleep and live in during your stay," she said as she approached the windows. "The windows open up to a glass balcony, the mirrors open up to the kitchen and dining room area." She pointed to the hall. "There are six bedrooms down there. The food we brought from Zareth will be brought to you by morning. You are free to roam around the city, as long as you have a guide with you at all times. If you get lost, ask for help from a blue armoured soldier and they will direct you as to where you are and where you need to go." She looked at the holographic pedestal. "If you need help, ask Cortana."
As she said this the pedestal came to life in a ray of brilliant colors. "It'll be an honor to help you," she said with a smile.
"Enjoy yourselves," Narima said as she walked over to the door. "I have a meeting, but if you need me in an hour, have Cortana contact me." With that she and Vincent left them to get rested for the days to come.
Faith turned to the AI. "Can you contact second Flight Lieutenant Jol'nea and tell her we'd like to join her and Joker to that bar."
The AI smiled. "Of course." As the AI vanished Marva entered the room.
"First, we're gonna clean up, then we're going to have some fun," Faith paused as she watched Marva sit down awkwardly in the non-turian friendly furniture. "And come tomorrow we're going to get down to work." Everybody nodded and went off to find their own rooms, minus Marva, who walked out onto balcony to get some fresh air. She'd always wanted something exciting to happen while working for the Commander Shepard, but now everything seemed so overwhelming. Hiding this from her CO was hard, especially since Faith was just so nice. Turning her head slightly she saw Vol'com down on a lower balcony wearing an elegant dress and talking to what appeared to be one of the delegates that had been on Zareth. They seemed to embrace fondly before walking away together. What the- her thought was interrupted when she heard her name called. She turned and saw Faith and the other waiting. She then turned her head back to where Vol'com had been, and frowned before going back inside to join the others.
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M-Angel: So, how was that? I just want to mention, I do have a new poll going on in my profile if anybody is interested.
xoxoangii: sorry it took so long for me to post, i just finished my battle with congestion x_x
