A/N: A loving recreation of my best friend of ten years' fic. we met being fans of each others works so this is a little passion project for her!
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My world would never be the same, I could feel the weight of the catalyst sitting in my hands growing heavier and heavier with each blue word my eyes scanned on the display of my tablet offering me a job at Mortius Corp.'s Citadel branch.
Heart leaping into my chest and creating a lump in my throat at the knowledge that I had applied for and interviewed for the local Mortius Corp. glistening skyscraper in New York as an executive assistant and that I had never left Earth before…
I squeezed my roommate, Moon tightly. I didn't know for sure if it was nerves, excitement or both but I was buzzing and dizzy in anticipation for the next chapter of my life. "Is this too crazy? Am I in way over my head here?" I gushed with no volume regulation to her while I clung to her.
"Leena! Relax! People move from Earth to the Citadel all the time! It's an amazing opportunity and you deserve this so much." Moon's tone was only a touch strangled at the hugging, and mainly she was exuding a glow of pride that I had stepped up to the plate and decided to take this opportunity.
I didn't know yet if I was making a good decision necessarily yet, but it's definitely bound to be an adventure!
"Don't lose track of your return money!" Moon reminded me and I nodded hastily. Right, twenty thousand credits that dad had been saving for me to go towards my further education or career, but had forfeited as emergency funding should my job fall through to get me back to Earth safe and sound rather than being stranded and starving on the streets of a station suspended in the middle of space far from home.
The thought of that fate made me feel a little woozy, and my grip loosened enough for Moon to escape and clap her hands around my shoulders when she saw the colour leaving my face gradually.
"Leena! Stop freaking out! This'll be good for you." She rubbed my shoulders as if to imbue me with the energy of her brief pep talk. "You got this."
I've got this. I nodded and steeled my brow, gripping my bags tighter. "I've got this."
I only realised how wrong I was when my trip to the Citadel concluded, filing onto the shuttle with my luggage in single file with other humans wasn't much different from boarding a plane. And once the flight assistant had everyone strapped into their seat and had explained what services they provided during the flight as well as protocols and procedures for every which situation, I was almost soothed by how cordial it went.
A strategic sleepy allergy pill later and I had snoozed for most of the trip fairly peacefully despite my nerves and excitement with only a cramped neck to dampen the ordeal.
I didn't get to see the approach, as I was rattled into groggy consciousness by the shuttle landing in port, and as I blinked in my surroundings in mild haze all my tension slapped me into full awareness as the shuttle's thrumming mass effect drive powered down and passengers started unclipping themselves from their safety bindings.
Awaiting the crowded line to clear a little I turned my attention to the window, my heart falling into my stomach at the startling view of space beyond the glittering lights of the cities decorating the colossal arms of the space station, and wringing my hands I looked away, was there such a thing as space sickness?
An assistant took it upon herself to unclip me with a smile, "welcome to the Citadel, please make your way towards immigration to check in with your passports and paperwork as soon as you exit the shuttle."
She continued her chipper monologue as she unclipped someone in the seat behind her, "if you would be so kind as to fill out a survey on your experience flying with us or leave a review on our extranet site we would really appreciate it!"
I mustered my courage to get out of my seat, my legs a little wobbly from the nap, clutching my bags like a lifeline as I shuffled at commercial pace off the space faring travel vehicle.
One last look back at the carrier was all I had time for before I was bustled along in the line that had formed to be checked in. I should have bagged one of Moon's pep talks for the road, my heart was pounding!
Did I have my documentation saved to my omni-tool? My face flushed with worry as I realised how late I had left it to check but I juggled my luggage into my free arm to whip my omni-tool alive and hold it to eye level, flexing my fingers to sift through my data stored on the gleaming orange flash forged light.
Not surprisingly, there was a lot of bureaucracy involved in moving across space to work in a new place. And I had to check I had the entire checklist all loaded on it—
And then I walked into something with a comical slapping noise, a gelatinous mass that I stumbled back from and fell onto the person behind me, knocking them to the floor with a flurry of curse words and tossing my ragdoll body off them.
My luggage scattered in the chaos I sat up sharply, in a mix of shock, confusion and frustration, despite the foul manners of the person behind me I still gingerly apologised and reached to gather my bags.
Though when my searching eyes found what I'd walked into I was stunned at the luminous, still wobbling jellyfish sprawled on the other end of the unexpected collision.
"Oh my god! I'm sorry!" This apology was far more frantic, did I just kill a jellyfish? "Are you okay?" Abandoning my bags my hands hovered in hasty movements over the jelly, unsure if my touching it would make everything worse.
My first encounter with an alien and it was like this? Why?
The marine alien I had just ploughed into at full shuffle pace's tentacles started to move to stabilise itself, one pair grasping itself like I would grasp my head during a headache and others lifting itself up.
"T-This one forgives you." An androgynous generated voice came from the– actually surprisingly short Hanar, lime green with beautiful blue stripes, standing only about half a foot taller than me. Which according to the book I had read as an introduction to friendly alien races before I got on the plane when I couldn't sleep, was much shorter than they normally are.
"Are you hurt?" I almost stammered, and defeatedly dropped my hands to a less maniacal position when the Hanar offered me one of my bags.
"This one has sustained no critical damage, there's no need to worry."
A sigh that deflated me was all I could respond with, and since the Hanar had no bags with them, I resigned to collecting my bags back up. I muttered an embarrassed and guilty "thank you" at the polite sentient blob's help.
"This one is needed elsewhere, but this one welcomes you to the Citadel humbly, Human." They even waved a tentacle before it started on its way with those long appendages working like stilt legs.
I'm so not ready for this.
Neon adverts were dancing in abrupt jumps along the walls of the flashy buildings of Temyrius, the sector of the Citadel I'd be working in. The bright LEDS were the first visual to greet me when I stepped out of the car, wiping a sheen of sweat off my forehead at the panic attack that had been driving the cab car in this new and very huge environment to get here from the port.
Looking up, the artificial holo sky with glittering lights from the city on the corresponding prong of the space station still slightly visible through it was a good reminder as to how utterly small I was in this big, busy hive of life.
Thankfully my new home I was now renting was in this sector as well, and when I found the boxy complex I hauled my luggage through to meet the greeter on the ground floor. Clinical blue lights illuminated reflective tiles, it wasn't a king's holiday resort, and there was some wear and tear, but it seemed clean. Which was a good sign!
It was difficult not to stare at who would be my second ever alien encounter, what with not being discombobulated this time around. And the amphibian male's pitch of voice and big black eyes made it impossible not to smile like a fool.
"Can I help you?" He asked.
"Yes, my name is Leena O'Malley, I just started renting room…" I double checked on my omni-tool. "342. Can I pick up a key card?"
"Let me just check to see if you're in the system." His gaze zig-zagged gingerly to his terminal. And his primary two digits on each hand limber and long, moved like lightning across the interface.
"Ah yes, here you are, we require your dominant handprint to log into the system for identification purposes."
I had to balance my luggage awkwardly to free my right hand to press it on the tablet extended to me. Scanning my DNA blueprint in a glowing green light and indicating it was successfully logged with a pleasant beep of success.
"Have a pleasant day Miss O'Malley." Was the end of the conversation and left me feeling a little elated at every interaction solidifying that this was all really happening.
The apartment itself? That was exciting to discover as I let myself in after a relatively quick elevator ride. The contemporary nature of conjoined rooms separated by elevation in the floors and holographic glowing blue "curtains" made me feel like I had accidentally walked in on the wrong echelon of society. But was still compact enough to represent the limitations in my budget.
The living room/kitchen conjoined room did have a lovely view of a skycar highway, with only the slightest thrumming noise passing through the walls for my auditory senses to pick up.
Leaving most of my bags on the purple feature couch, I carried the ones with my clothes in them to my room, the automatic opaque glass door sliding open. The bed was a hole through a thick double mattress width wall with an office nook, vanity and storage on the other side and a room to my left of glistening glass, sleek black and flattering LEDs that was a small ensuite with a shower, basin and toilet.
There was plenty of room for me to add my stuff, but I wasn't going to turn my nose up at the chairs and recliner the room provided. Nor all the throw cushions on the bed.
It was a little impossible for me to wrap my head around this being affordable with my new job, but I got the inkling that while this place was sleek and stylish, that it was nothing compared to what the wealthy in this district could afford. And that they would probably turn their nose up at this even though it would be the most lavish domain I'd ever existed in.
Tossing my bags through the bed hole onto the floor on the other side I unceremoniously flopped my weight on the bed, thankful that the hole was high enough that I didn't hit my head on it despite being tall.
A subtle HUD interface glowed orange on the horizontal face of the wall above me sitting a fair bit lower than the ceiling, showing me the station's time, date and offering stereo, call or indoor climate adjustments.
As much as I wanted to rest, I knew my first shift started bright and early so I needed to get unpacked enough to be functional enough to get through tomorrow unscathed.
I discovered when I entered the ensuite that the bed wall wasn't as solid as I thought and pushing on the wall from in there opened a handle-less door to a hollowed out wardrobe space, which I confirmed to be the same case on the other side from the nook side of the wall for both ends of the wall.
Able to hang up my clothes, store my linen, and find dressers in the vanity to store my undergarments, I stacked bits and bobs around the room that reminded me of home, last minute farewell gifts, a box containing some special sentimental jewelry, a fake plant as a joke gift from Moon at my lack of a green thumb, and good luck letters.
I also set up my coffee kit and baking tools in the kitchen, and a framed digital photo of my irish wolfhound, Killian on the countertop that Moon was looking after for the time being. I wanted to see if everything worked out first before uprooting my furbaby.
My red curls were dishevelled enough at this point to be escaping from my "out of the way" hasty ponytail, and I swept them hastily behind my ears as I unzipped another bag to check what was in it— ah, my shoes.
Ambling around to mix my stuff into my new environment worked my nerves into a more stable, stifled state, but did work up an appetite as I hadn't eaten since yesterday. A feeling that was further suppressed by anxious feelings prior to now.
Hopefully I checked the fridge, and pouted to find that all that was in there was four cans of complementary energy drink as part of a sponsorship between the real estate business leasing her this room and Tupari, with four brand new flavours apparently.
I resorted to- via the interface on a pillar serving to end the counter space and provide a doorway between the kitchen and living room for the holo curtains to sway- ordering food from the small 24 hour food delivery business attached to the building for a hundred and twenty credits. I tried not to think about how much cheaper it'd have been to make the levo food myself but I told myself it was a worthy trade for the extra convenience this time.
And to their credit, when I opened the styrofoam sealed meal delivered by an older, grey hued Salarian up it looked and smelled delicious! When it cooled down enough to eat I scarfed it to regenerate lost energy, even though doing so left a very spicy aftertaste burning merrily away in my mouth.
One clumsy shower later of me figuring the -in hindsight pretty simple and user friendly- digital interface out in order to wash away the day's sweat of sitting in the same pair of clothes too long, a cup of herbal tea in hand and having dragged one of the end chairs to the window in the living room to watch the skycars, I ended up dozing off to the view.