This is Chapter 5! Hit me up with a few comments! I'll take anything from threats to criticism, even a well written death threat towards my dog would be really great!

"How, what, why are you asking?", Briar stutters, "are you pregnant? You know, children shouldn't be tattooed too early in their life and during pregnancy you should not consume any type of addictive drugs or alcohol. Furthermore, you should avoid any type of unnecessary prescription meds."

"No you idiot", Jack answers, punching him on the shoulder: "I want a job, I can do, without any type of education."

Briar looks at her and asks: "You can write?"

"Yes."

"Can you read?"

"Yes. That's kind of a part of writing, you know?"

"Maths?

"Nothing too fancy."

"History?"

I learned from the Normandy archives."

"Biotics?"

"I'm the best human biotic in business. I got a certificate of that from Commander Shepard."

"I'm gonna trust you on that one. But you better have it around."

I do. It's the only certificate I have."

Briar leans back and asks: "Can you teach others about biotics?" "I don't think you are a biotic. Don't change the topic", she answers. He shakes his head: "Jack, I know someone…" You do?", She asks sarcastically. Briar shakes his head and says in an annoyed tone: "I know several people. This one in particular might be helpful for you. She works at the Grisom Academy for gifted children." "So, what?", Jack asks impatiently. Briar sighs annoyed: "I was going to call her and tell her, that I had the most powerful human biotic for that job. The only other applicant for that class is a former Cerberus scientist, who claims to have cut all connections. Why don't you try?"

Jack starts to squirm and looks embarrassed. She looks worried about the offer and asks: "You think I can do that?" "Are you scared of a few kids? Does the prospect of having to deal with other people scare you?", Briar taunts. Jack looks at him and actually gets a little red in the face. "No, I don't think that would be too hard to do", she retorts. Briar sighs.

His contact owes him a lot. He knew her from a champagne evening, which he was forced to attend on Earth, by his superior Admiral Yin-Chu. She was in the company of Captain Anderson. She told him about a case of abduction in her family and, with the boring environment, he ditched the party and went off to find the abducted boy. He found the Broker, who made the contact between the parties and asked unpleasant questions at gunpoint. Then he sneaked into the warehouse, the abductors were hiding in, and pulled a Solid Snake on them with a stolen silenced handgun and some neck breaking action. When the AMPs arrived, they had several mean questions. He took the kid back to the appropriate family and returned to see the end of the shitty party.

He received a big "I owe you" from this young teacher Kahlee Sanders.

This is about to be cashed in. "Did you ever kill a minor, since you left the facility, you were kept in?", he asks. Jack ponders the question way too long, touching her forehead with the left hand, striking a thinking pose, until asking: "Does a 40 year old Asari count?" Briar can't resist the urge to slap her against the back of the head, like he did with pupils that refused to learn.

Before she can get angry and punch him back, he snaps: "This is an important question, when asking a teacher, that teaches biotics. What do you think is the answer, they want to hear in the interview for the job?" He grabs two chairs and a table from two Marines, who are taking them apart to stow in the back. He puts them down and sits Jack on one chair. He plants Jack on one side of the table and sits down on the other side. "We're going to play a game: "It's called job interview. That's like a police interrogation. Tell the people what they want to know. That is not necessarily the truth. Okay?", he explains patiently.

Jack nods nervously. Briar gets ready and activates his Omni tool. Then he takes a deep breath, before starting: "Good afternoon, Miss Jacqueline Nought. I hope you had a nice flight to our beautiful Grissom Academy. I read your application and I have several questions to the information you offered. Is that okay with you?"

"If you have to… But don't be too nosey… Fuck. I meant: [In a beautiful voice] I would be happy to answer any questions you might have."

[Briar decides to accept the statement] "No cursing, Miss Nought. Your file says, that you spent several years as a child in a facility, forced to endure abuse. What is your opinion on violence in educational contexts?"

[Jack thinks really hard] "I… don't want anyone else to experience abuse during the training as a biotic. Especially those with potential should learn in a non-violent environment."

"Good. Your record says that you spent several years of your life in different jails in the Milky Way. Were any of the crimes related to children or committed against minors in any way?"

[Jack looks at Briar with intent] "No not all."

"Good, Miss Nought. You wouldn't be sitting here if that were the case. Do you have any experience teaching biotics? "

[Jack smiles] "I taught Commander Shepard a few of my tricks. She likes them and got more powerful, than before."

[Briar laughs a little] "Play on the Shepard thing more. You can get the most points out of that one."

Jack breaks up the situation and starts laughing. She falls off her chair laughing. "This is so not happening. I am going to fuck up so hard on that interview." Briar laughs and tells her: "Just refrain from cursing and play your biotics card and the 'I fucked up the Collectors' card right. Miss Sanders can add you to the list and support you, but her hands are tied, when it gets to the decisions. Now do me a favor and type out a CV and an application. No cursing. I'll read through it and I will fuck you up, if you leave out anything major." Jack smiles and asks: "You got a terminal somewhere that I can use?" Briar points to the commons area of the small camp in the hangar, where some IT specialists have put up two terminals for public use: "Now zip off. I am busy at the moment. I have to make a few calls."

Briar writes a quick message to principle Sanders:

From:

To:

About: Job application instructor for biotics

Hello Kahlee

I hope we are still in good terms, because I want to cash in the favor you owe me and get someone into the job interviews for the job as a biotics instructor.

She claims to be the best biotic with a human genome. Could you at least invite her and talk to her?

Yours sincerelly,

Briar Mason

He hits send and ponders whether it was a bad idea to use this favor on the future of an aggressive tattooed woman. In his mind the decision is worth every cent, but the doubt is still there. Then he goes back into the room and decides to read a few more lines, before hitting the sack. He sits down on his bunk and grabs the book.

Briar can't remember, what happened after that, but he is woken up by an incessant knocking and the moaning of the other officers in the room. Briar gets up and quietly announces: "That's probably for me." The Ensign mutters: "Now I know, why higher-ranking officers have the single rooms." Briar scrambles out of bed and opens the door.

There stands Daar in full dress uniform. Briar apparently looks really horrible, because Daar says: "Oh my god, my stuff can wait. Go grab a shower!" Briar looks at Daar with small eyes: "What is going on?" Daar smiles like a child and almost yells: "I am going to keep my job!" Briar's eyes grow narrow. "You are going to have to explain that", Briar mutters and opens his bag to get a clean set of clothes. He grabs a set of standard uniform pieces and his gun belt. Before he gets changed, Briar sniffs his armpit and pulls a face. "Can we meet in the mess in 20? I gotta clean myself first. I smell like shit." Daar nods and says kindly: "Do that. Will see you there.

Briar shuffles towards the showers and drops his clothes into the stand next to the door to the showers and takes his appliances into the showers. The room is empty. The Alliance used to offer unisex showers in the early times, but in the mean time separation was adopted, because, there complaints from both sides about improper behavior. Briar flips on the closest shower and steps under the warm water. He soaks up quickly and starts smiling. The warm water captures memories. With all the dirt and sweat, that you wash off your body, sad memories crawl to the back of your head in the warm water.

Briar is lost in thought while applying Alliance issue body wash, when someone whistles approvingly from the side. Another Marine enters, yelling: "The early bird is a Lieutenant Commander!" "I'm done in a second. You can't talk to your superior, looking like shit!", Briar replies. With the first Marine several others join in and the magic of the moment is gone. Briar rinses down quickly and gets dressed again.

Outside the door Briar puts on his clean uniform as quickly as possible. He sends his dirty clothes to the cleaning system of the ship. The Alliance is adamant about wearing fresh underwear every morning. It shows respect towards the people responsible for you and your DUI charges (not that you could get any on Titan). Briar wants to head towards the canteen again, but is interrupted by Jack. She walks up to him and hands him a paper version of her application. Her CV is long and she has included several papers. Some appear to be certificates, one of them is a reference written by Commander Shepard. Briar smiles warmly and offers: "I'll look through it later." Jack starts pacing and mutters: "Alright, don't take too long."

Briar walks down the corridors to the mess. Daar is sitting there and looks happy. One of the Asari is sitting with him and the two are drinking the heavy stuff. Someone brought a very strong vodka from the 21st century. It's the very heavy stuff, that can get the strongest human wasted in the first three drinks and the bottle is almost empty. How? He only took 15 of the designated minutes. Briar approaches the table and sits down or at least attempts. The benches are occupied by passed out Asari commandos. The surviving Asari is the Justicar Samara. She is swaying and visibly intoxicated. Carefully Briar lifts up the body of an Asari and places her upper body on the table. Then he sits down and grabs the bottle. The label gives the name and the year it was produced: "Blyat. 2098." Then the subtitle: "The strongest shit you'll ever drink." Briar turns the bottle and looks for the proof. There's a percentage. It's over 8o percent. "This stuff is practically ethanol. Are you guys nuts?", Briar mutters. Samara downs her drink and looks stoic, before getting the hiccups. "Daar what are you doing? Why are you getting the Asari shitfaced?" The officer laughs and pours Samara another drink. Briar snatches the glasses and the bottle and pours it into the sink. "Are you crazy. You are on duty, Daar. This could get you the demotion, you just avoided", Briar scolds.
One of the Asari, Briar thinks the Matron, starts giggling. Then she whispers: "I don't feel so good. I think I have to…" Briar grabs her and drags her to the sink, where she starts to throw up. Since his brief visit to the culb district of Ilium, he hasn't seen an Asari this drunk. The muscular Asari jumps up an grabs the trashcan, crying. The other Asari start to shuffle towards the exit. Two of them are can't walk by themselves and are carried by Samara and the other Asari.

Briar sits down opposite of his SO and asks as honestly as he can: "What happened?"

Daar leans back and explains: "The Admiral Duchamp was kicked out of Command. He commands an outpost in the Attican Traverse now. His daughter is going to work for some General and will never receive a promotion. I feel kinda sorry for her. She never knew how to fend for herself and everything she is in the military is now going to change in a very unpleasant way." Briar smirks and helps Daar stand up and starts to take the wobbly officer back to his room in the crew quarters. Luckily Daar doesn't get sick during the transport and keeps the content of his stomach. Briar dumps tall man onto his bed and leaves him there, with a bucket next to the bed.

On the elevator ride down to the hangar, Briar grabs the papers Jack gave him and starts to read her application. It sounds nice: Jacqueline Nought

Hello Mrs. Sanders,

My name is Jacqueline Nought and I would like to apply for a position as biotics instructor in the Grissom Academy. I found out about this position from an officer, who I asked to help me in finding a future, that would not get me killed. He pointed out that this position would be good for me, because...

The text fills about a page and makes Briar grin about the content. She definitely took her time, when writing the text. When Briar walks into the hangar, he heads towards his bunk. He decides to deal with the other stuff later. When he finally can lie down again, it is already fou o'clock and Briar is looking forward to finally catching some sleep.

- End of the Chapter -