"Hmmm, good morning myself," I yawn as I get up from the bed and stretch. Yesterday I went to sleep pretty early because I was tired like hell. That means I haven't much time to explore on my own yet.
As I'm taking my morning shower I'm pleased to see that my wounded leg looks much better. Where was two days ago a wound is now a new skin. It's still little bit sensitive to touch, but I was expecting much worse after all the walking I did yesterday. That reminds me… I have a lot to do today. First of all I need to buy breakfast somewhere because I'm hungry. Then I want to see as much of Citadel as possible. And last, but not least I need to find a way to do the test. First two won't be a problem, but how can I cheat the test?
I had an idea yesterday, but I just can't remember what it was. One thing's for sure, I'll probably need someone with technical skills. And that's where the quarian I saw yesterday comes in. If I remember correctly most of other aliens consider quarians scum. They don't have their own planet, so they live onboard their ships. Come to think of it that's also probably why they're considered great technicians. It might take a little bit of persuasion skills and credits, but hopefully I'll get him to help me. If not… well there's more aliens out there. I take out some clothes from the closet and I'm ready to go. Almost. I forgot one more thing, my baton. You never know and until I get a gun I'll always carry it with me.
After a bit of wandering around I finally find small, almost empty bistro. I think they weren't expecting a human today (or any time soon) because everyone keep staring at me. I make my way to a table in corner and sit down. Their gazes follow me and when I sit down they keep staring. I can't really blame them, I would do the same. But after it lasts almost ten seconds I can't stand it anymore. "What's up guys?" I ask them trying to sound friendly, but it ends up more hostile. Like if someone flipped a switch they immediately look down to their meals and asari waitress hurries to my table. Wow, I didn't expected this to work. Maybe it helped that there are only five people and none of them is turian. Actually so far only turians have been acting hostile toward me, other races are just… cautions?
"Go…good morning sir," waitress says nervously when she's near my table. She's wearing a green pinafore on top of black clothes. Otherwise she seems slightly scared, but mostly nervous. I think I should be as friendly as possible.
"Hello, "I try to put on my best smile as I talk: "Could you recommend me something good? You know I've never heard of meals like this and I don't want to end up eating some eyeballs or something like that." Oh god, I do this all the time. Every time I'm nervous I'm trying to be funny. Most of the times it doesn't work and it makes me look like an idiot. From the look that asari is giving me, I think this is exactly that kind of situation. Anyway she names me some of her favorite meals that don't involve eyeballs and I chose rakali eggs. I don't have any idea what rakali is, but from what she's told me it's just like scrambled eggs.
15 minutes later
Rakali eggs are my favorite food. It may look like a green vomit, but it tastes much better. When I finished my breakfast I started to look for the store I saw yesterday. It's not as easy as I imagined because everything looks the same for me. Thanks to build in mini-map I found in my omni-tool I finally managed to find out where am I. It seems that the store is a couple of floors below me. I stand up near a railing and look down. Another floor is ten feet below me and there are almost no people. I quickly look around me and then jump down. Fall lasts only for a fraction of second, I soften it with a roll and stand up. It seems that only one salarian sitting on a nearby bench noticed me. I wave at him and start to walk to the nearest railing.
Unfortunately other floors are more crowded, so I have to use elevator. Also more people mean more staring. It really starts to bother me because it makes me feel like I'm a stupid animal in a ZOO. Good news is that the store is close now. I can already see the sign, Omni-tools and accessories, this time there's not a quarian, but an asari. I guess it doesn't matter that much. I walk inside and stand next to a cash terminal. Shop is a small room with long desk separating part for customers and employees. There are also showcases with displayed omni-tools. Asari doesn't notice me when I walk in because she's too busy doing something on her omni-tool. I feel a sudden urge to shout something like 'this is a robbery', but before I can make myself look like idiot my brain steps in. So instead I just cough to attract her attention.
Her reaction is hilarious. She immediately looks up startled and when she notices I'm human her eyes widen far more than I thought possible. She makes two quick steps back hitting the wall behind her. It takes all my self-control to not to start laughing. I blink a couple of times and when she remains silent I awkwardly start: "Uh, good morning. I was hoping you can give me a hand with my omni-tool. You see…" I don't even get a chance to finish. She interrupts me talking very fast and silent. Almost like I'm breaking dozens of rules just bz talking to her.
"No, no. Please you must leave. We don't serve humans here." Damn the look she's giving me, like if I came here to kill her. I know that humans are not popular, but still, so far no one refused my credits.
"Miss, please. Calm down I don't want to hurt you." To prove a point I make a few steps back. She detaches from the wall and seems to calm down. Slightly.
"No sir. We really don't serve humans here. My boss hates humans and he's also very strict. Yesterday he fired a quarian just because couple of batarians stole a company omni-tool from him. If he would find out that a human was here, I…I don't want to lose this job please leave." Fuck, damned racists. Ahh, I mean xenophobes. Just because I'm human… I'll have to find another shop. Whatever, fine it's not a big deal after all. I don't stay in the store any longer and walk back outside. After while of searching I manage to find nearby store. It should take me only half an hour to get there. I saw a rapid transit terminal on my way here, so maybe I could use it to spare myself some walking and dumb stares.
Finding the rapid transit station wasn't so hard. Making it work is. There are only a couple of locations and none of them is what I need. Or maybe there is, and I just don't understand how this thing works. It's literally alien to me. I'll have to walk then. I can navigate using the mini-map, so finding my way around is a piece of cake. Anyway I'm still trying to memorize as much of my surroundings as I can, but after few moments I find myself observing clothes of aliens. It's not like in those old movies where they are always wearing extravagant, shiny clothes, although I've seen two or three asaries which did. But most of them seem to like tight dresses with long skirts. Shit, one asari noticed me when I was checking her clothes. She gave me a really dirty look and I'm sure I'm blushing right now. And I wasn't even checking her, but her clothes! Not that she isn't sexy, but… NO, NO I didn't just imagined that!
And it's getting better. I think her boyfriend just arrived. Turian with red face marks in grey armor. Maybe it's just my imagination and they don't know each other. Oh they hugged and now she's just randomly pointing in my direction with angry expression. I don't know, but my luck sucks today, so I walk in to an alley as fast as possible. When no one can see me I start to run and soon I find myself climbing a ladder and in the next minute I'm on the rooftop. Like at my place, rooftops here are also aligned and hidden from the people down. I think it's because architects of this place put all the necessary machinery on roofs. That means that everywhere around me are pipes, metallic boxes, vents,… that sort of things. Real heaven for parkour trainings or moving around unseen.
After twenty minutes I was near the store. I found a ladder and climbed down to another alley. This time I make sure not to stare at any asari with nice… outfit. Oh god I feel like a perv. It seems that my bad luck has run out because I get to the store without accident. Wait a second, isn't that the quarian I saw yesterday? I swiftly sit down on a bench and observe what's going on. He's talking to a volus widely gesticulating, but volus keeps shaking his head and after a few more seconds the quarian leaves, obviously pissed. I don't even think he noticed me coz he's walking away as quickly as possible. For some reason I feel the sudden urge to follow him. I know I should just get to the store and finally make some progress, but I just don't know. Just seconds before I lose sign of quarian my instinct kicks in and I stand up to follow him.
He's not making it very hard for me to follow him. He never looks back and never stops. Soon he walks into a maze of little alleys. After fifteen minutes I'm perfectly lost and I can't hear any of the usual street noise. This part of the Citadel also looks much more different, I think I could call it ghetto without exaggeration. I'm no longer surrounded by polished metal and clean architecture, it's more like service tunnels with rotten pipes, slight hum of machines, dim lights and rusted plating. It's starting to get interesting. Quarian is much tenser and he almost noticed me when he suddenly looked behind. Luckily for me I managed to hide behind a corner. I have to be more careful. Just when I'm about to move up I hear another pair of boots up ahead. I'm not sure if I really heard it, but anyway I slowly peek around the corner. Quarian is just standing on the crossroad of paths in slightly wider area of the tunnels and I think he heard it too.
Just as I'm almost sure it was nothing the quarian hits a floor like a smashed. At the same time another guy suddenly appears behind him and another three come through other paths. They haven't noticed me yet so I can take a good look at them. They have a similar figure as humans, but no hair, four eyes and I'm not even talking about their facial signs. Their race is called batarians and I remember skipping it in the encyclopedia. About that invisibility… I'll come back to that later, now the quarian seems like he needs my help.
"What do we have here? Guys look a suit rat. How about we show him what do we do with suit rats." With that he kicks hard the quarian and after that his friends come closer to join him. Or at least they try to. When they are all facing the opposite direction I quickly get behind them and slam together heads of two that are standing closer to me. It doesn't have the same effect as it has in movies, so they are just dazed not knocked out. The other two immediately turn to me. Their surprised reaction gives me little bit of time, just enough to pull out my baton.
"Get that fucker!" And with that the one on my right throws a punch at my face. I easily duck and slam into him with my shoulder. The impact makes him hit a wall hard and my next baton hit to his neck makes him start choking. All of the sudden I feel like my left shoulder is hit by spark of static electricity. Instinctively I look to the left and notice that the other batarian is shooting at me with a pistol. I completely forgot I have a shield, I mean had. Before I can get my shit together he already gets another three shots in, depleting my shield. Thanks to panic more than anything I grab the first thing I can and put it in front of me. Unlucky for him the closest thing is the choking guy. His friend fires another two shots, but then I finally compose myself and kick my meat shield at him. They collide and together go to the ground. I look around and observe the situation. There are three more fightable opponents, one of them is lying on ground, but the other two are closing in and one of them is pulling something from under his west. At least the quarian had enough brain to run away.
This time I strike first. My first blow goes to the batarian reaching for pistol. As the baton hits him across the face he lets out pained growl and falls down unconscious. His friend sees the opening and tries to punch me to the face. I pull my head back, so he only manages to brush my chin and stamp his feet. I quickly check the armed guy then, just in time to see him getting up. With no time to lose I turn back and grab the hand of my attacker as he tries left hook. Again I put him between pistol and me, sliding the baton under his neck. Meanwhile my shield has recharged, but it doesn't help me much. I'm in a dumb situation, holding a struggling batarian as a meat shield while the other moves left and right trying to get a clean shot. Just when I'm about to risk charging him he becomes surrounded by electric sparks and with yell falls to the ground, again. I kick legs of my meat shield dropping him down and then a strong stamp to the head sends him to dreamland. I look at the shocked batarian to make sure he's down and notice a little movement in a corner. Then a head or helmet better said pops out and after that entire quarian.
"Hey man! Are you all right?" He seems little bit shaken, but doesn't seem to be in a great pain. I saw him before, so I already know what he looks like. He's wearing a red full body protection suit, helmet with blue oval visor and with crimson red hood. What I find more interesting is that he has only three fingers on each hand and two on each leg. Also his legs are more… ah, birdlike shaped? If that makes sense.
"I think so. I hate those batarians, they are scum of the galaxy. … Uh, should we call c-sec or something?" The quarian makes a couple of steps closer to me, but still keeps a good distance between us.
"Well, I don't know if that's a good idea. Take it like this: you're a quarian and I'm a human, so that's not really the best start. Isn't it?" I'm here for one day and I really don't want to make a fuss. Especially with my future colleagues.
"Yeah, yeah right. And thanks for the help, by the way." Funny, every time he says something a blue dot in his breather lights up.
"Same to you. It was starting to get hot," I kneel down next to batarians and begin to search them. I only find handful of credits and two guns. I know that this is not exactly police approach, but I take the credits anyway. I don't know what should I do with guns, so I just jump on them a couple of times until they brake. When I'm done I shift my attention back to quarian that has been looking at me all the time: "I think we should get out of here. They'll wake up any minute and won't be exactly happy."
A few minutes later
Quarian is leading me back to the public area and I'm trying to start a conversation with him. I'm only half successful because he's still in shock and seems a little bit scared of me. Not the kind of 'oh my god you're an alien' scared, but something like 'you just took down four guys' scared. I don't like that it makes me feel slightly smug. I managed to get his name out of him Ulan Kalsah nar Hereditas. If I would have name like that I would definitely hate my parents. But who knows maybe that's a popular name among quarians.
"Nice to meet you Ulan. I'm Daniel Stoll." I offer him a hand and he just keeps staring at me. "Like this," I say and before he can protest I grab his elbow and move his hand, so I can shake it. Then I put on my best smile and happily nod. First handshake with alien ever, definitely cool.
Quarian looks at me confused than at his hand confused. At least I think so because it's hard to tell when he wears helmet and full bodysuit. "Uh, thanks? What does it mean?"
Well, how to explain a handshake? "It's a gesture we use when meeting someone new or to greet someone. Anyway what were you doing here in the first place? I mean dim lights, narrow tunnels, place like this literally screams for trouble."
Oh fuck, I shouldn't asked. He probably lives there. "I…I just like to wander in these tunnels. No bosh'tets from c-sec and quarians aren't very welcome on the Citadel anyway." Fuh, at least I don't get to hear a sob story.
"Yeah because everyone here love humans. But there ain't shit we can do about it." That gets a small laugh out of him and at the same time we leave the maintenance tunnels.
"You're right. Well, it was nice to meet you and thanks again for help. I should go now." With that he turns on a heel and starts walking away. I can't let him leave like that I have yet to ask him a couple of questions.
"Wait a second! I just remembered I saw you in the omni-tool store yesterday. See I just got mine and I could use some help."
He doesn't even slow down and I have to catch up to him to hear his answer. "I don't work there anymore, but I'm sure they can help you."
"Yeah that's what I thought too, but apparently they don't do business with humans." He looks at me and slows down a little.
"Makes sense. Old Valar hates humans." He rubs the side of his helmet for a while and then finally agrees to help me.
"Thank you and don't worry you'll make a couple of credits." I'm literally bouncing with happiness right now. Well at least inside my head. After we find a bench I can finally start to ask.
"Ok, so I heard there are these combat apps for omni-tool. What can you tell me about them?" When I ask the question I expect a short, brief answer. Instead he starts rambling about all kinds of them, what are they used for and blah, blah, blah. The point is that I can buy them in stores and then I have to train using them. Also each omni-tool is compatible with only one kind of apps. Like that batarian, he used cloak, so his omni-tool can also handle hacks and damping.
"Though I don't understand where did that batarian get his hands on tactical cloak. It's just a prototype unusable in real fight. He was lucky it didn't just shock him when he turned it on. Because that's what happens in most cases." I admit that what is known about quarians is absolutely true. They are the best technicians. Or more specifically this guy is. I don't understand half things he says, but it sounds very professional. From combat apps we get to medi-gel dispersion and somehow we ended up at advanced programing.
"Hey, hey man stop it. I think I really don't need to know how to program a robot. And by the way why did they fire you? You are the best technician I've ever met." I already know why, but I want to hear his version.
Come to think of it, it wasn't probably the best idea to ask. I can feel him tense and hesitate, so I quickly add: "But if it's private that's okay. I don't need to know it."
The silence last for a couple of more seconds and then he shakes his head. "It's Valar's fault. He gave me this crappy omni-tool, at least ten years old and yesterday it broke. As I know that little bosh'tet he would run straight to c-sec with it. So I fabricated some story that someone stole it. He fired me anyway, but at least I don't have problems with c-sec. When I came here a few months back they closed me to a holding cell. I spend three weeks there! Bosh'tets all of them."
Shit. Well, now is as good time as ever. "You know Ulan, I have one more question."
"Ask away."
"I'm supposed to take some tests in two days and I just can't learn everything in time. Is there a way to uh… help myself somehow?" Smooth. With luck there will be an easy app for omni-tool that will help me.
"Cheating? I'm sorry, but I don't know of any way how to do it. There are some strict regulations and high penalties for creators of these apps. That means there's only few of them and each one is easily ascertainable by another omni-tool. But maybe if you planted a virus in database, but that's a bit risky. You'd need a good virus, but that's not really a problem. I can help with that. Real problem is getting it into the database. You'd have to manually upload it to the terminal before the test and then activate it during the actual test. This way it might be possible."
That's …possible. Highly risky, but possible. "So I just get to the terminal and upload the virus that's all?"
"Yes, that's it. As I said I can help you with the virus. But are you sure about that?" I'm kind of surprised how easy it was. He doesn't even gives me a lecture about it being illegal or something like that and I think I can get to that terminal. If I find out where it is, lol.
"Yes. How much do you charge?" My bet is 4000 credits.
"You may have saved my life today, so you'll get a discount. You'll have to tell me about the test though. I need as much info as possible to make it work."
This will be interesting: "Uhhh, the test will be for c-sec council laws. I want to be a detective." I'm sure that behind the visor Ulah just facepalmed.
Author note:
Hey guys thank you for reading this. I would like to ask you to REWIEV. Please, I don't know what do you like and what I do wrong. I really want to improve so just a couple of words please. And now when my pleading is finally over: I hope you enjoyed the chapter.