Kelly brushed her teeth vigorously in the mirror, saving her smile from any trace of breakfast. She had sent a message to the Alliance recruiting officer when she first woke up, announcing that she would make her way down to the office later in the afternoon. The woman rinsed her mouth before wandering into the living room and powering up her vid screen to listen to some news. On a shelf below the screen sat a collection of antique digital vid discs from years ago, the worn covers displaying names of very old musicals. The woman's grandmother had passed away when she was very young, and she discovered the vid disks along with a player in a box of her belongings. Indifferent to the discs, her parents allowed her to hook up the player and watch these old musicals. Kelly had grown up loving each and every one of them, and knowing the majority of the words and tunes, regardless of her inability to sing.
This morning was a special on Commander Shepard, the first human Spectre, who had mysteriously gone missing about a year and a half ago. There were tabloid rumors circulating the media that involved the commander being trapped in a prison somewhere on a planet far from Citadel space, and that she needed a rescue team. Although Shepard was one of Kelly's personal heroes, having saved the galaxy once already and being a famous Alliance Hero, she wasn't quite as eager as others her age to believe the rumors. After only a few minutes of listening to the nonsense, she turned the screen back off and exited the apartment.
Luckily, the Washington state town she lived in wasn't very large at all, although it could tend to be a little damp. Nearly every shop was within safe walking distance of another, and regardless of your destination it would not take longer than a half hour to reach it. The dancer was heading more towards the shadier outskirts of town to visit the recruitment office, and so she nervously played with her long hair.
Kelly passed a vintage fashion shop, and paused to look through the window, admiring the lacy dresses and overgrown sun hats. She vaguely wished that she could afford such a beautiful piece of clothing, before turning and realizing there was a woman standing beside her. Startled, the psychologist took a step back, but the woman remained indifferent. She was dark-skinned, wearing one of those skin-tight space outfits and sunglasses. Kelly wondered for a moment if she should leave the woman alone, but just as she was about to leave, the soft but piercing voice cut through the air like a knife.
"Kelly Chambers?" the woman asked, turning her head in a sly manner, raising one eyebrow at the redhead.
"Y-yes," Kelly replied, looking around nervously. She was a bit disconcerted by the fact that this woman knew her name. "Are you an Alliance recruiter?"
A high-pitched laugh rung through the humid air like a bell, and the woman's white teeth sliced through Kelly's vision. "No, I'm not. My name is Leena Roman," she said, offering a hand, which Kelly shook out of politeness. "I'm a recruiting officer for a different organization: Cerberus. Have you heard of us?"
Kelly cocked her head slightly, glancing at the hexagonal logo on the woman's tunic. She had heard the name mentioned at the club by customers. From what she had heard, they paid fairly well and most of their employees did space travel. Unfortunately, she hadn't ever known how to get in touch with them. Was it the same organization? "Uh… I think so."
Leena didn't skip a beat. "Well, we're approaching you with a job offer, Miss Chambers. We're an organization founded to keep an eye on the wellness of humanity. It's to my understanding that you've been looking into the Alliance, and I believe we can give you a better offer." The woman procured a datapad and tapped it a few times before handing it to Kelly. It was a datasheet comparing different aspects of the two organizations – pay rate, job positions, places in space she would be able to go, the quality of the ships. Cerberus beat out the Alliance in almost every aspect. The psychologist's eyes widened, giving Leena her cue to continue talking. "If you accept our offer, we will be able to ship you off Earth as early as this evening, with no basic training or intensive tests. We've been keeping our eye on you, and my boss seems to think you're perfectly capable of doing everything we need from someone of your area of expertise."
Pausing for a moment, Kelly handed the datapad back to the other woman. Her mind was working as she considered the offer. She'd had her eye on the Alliance for so long, but the obvious choice would be Cerberus. The small woman needed the extra money to buy herself a bigger, better living space. There were so many positions and jobs available as a psychologist, and she could choose from any of them. And so many places, all over the galaxy, she could go. "Where would you station me?" the psychologist ventured, rocking back and forth on her feet a little.
"Where would you like to go?" the woman replied, a smirk on her face.
"The Citadel," she blurted out, hardly able to contain herself. If this organization could one-up the military in this aspect, Kelly would be sold. Leena pulled up the screen of her omnitool, typing something as if making a note.
"We can get you there."
A rush of exhilaration filled Kelly's veins, and she had to restrain herself from triumphantly punching a fist in the air. She was grinning ear to ear, and she could hear her heart pounding in her ears. "I'll take the job," the dancer said, almost squeaking in excitement. Leena nodded as if she had expected nothing less, and continued to type into her omnitool. A few awkward seconds went by before the recruiter finally shut off the holographic screen and let her arm fall to her side.
"We'll pick you up outside your apartment building at exactly 20:00 tonight," Leena said, the slyness having been wiped off her face and replaced with a businesslike formality. Her tongue went over the words smoothly, as if she had repeated them thousands of times. "If you have any pets, please take care of finding a new home for them before that time. Please dress in comfortable clothing. Do not bring anything but your omnitool and personal credit chit, as well as any medications or prescriptions. We will take care of putting your belongings safely in storage." Abruptly, the dark-skinned woman turned on her heel and strode the other direction, leaving an elated Kelly outside the antique clothing shop with her fists balled up in excitement.
The woman began to walk back in the direction of her apartment to clean up a little and make it less crowded to ease the work for those who would be coming by later to store her belongings. Although she had been looking forward primarily to space travel, it was her true dream to walk the streets of the Citadel. Regardless of the damages done by the Reaper attack only a handful of years ago, she still saw footage of the beautiful Presidium and saw that they had pulled through very nicely. Located conveniently near a prominent mass relay, the space station had become a home to nearly all spacefaring species who wished to reside there. Having only seen a handful of aliens, all asari (including one she worked with), Kelly was in awe at the unfamiliarity of it all. It was like she had stepped into an old sci-fi book, and her space travels hadn't even begun yet.
All of a sudden, it dawned on the psychologist that her parents would likely not approve of this. They hadn't just wanted her to avoid the military: they hadn't even wanted her to leave the planet. Pulling out her omnitool, Kelly looked at it nervously before sucking up her fear and pressing the button to call her mother. It only took seconds for the older woman to answer.
"Have you called to apologize to me?" Kelly instantly regretted her decision, and considered hanging up the line right then and there. However, on second thought, it would probably be years before she saw her mother again, and she might as well leave on good terms.
"Yes. I'm sorry I talked to you that way last night. I just felt that your intention was to smother me. I realize now that your true intent was simply to protect me." Her mother audibly grunted an approval. Deciding not to hesitate, Kelly continued. "However, I have decided not to pursue the Alliance as a career."
The older woman made a small gasp. "Oh, really, Kelly?" she said, becoming excited. "That's so great! Were you given a job offer by any of the practices in your area?"
The redhead grimaced. "Not exactly that, but I was approached by an organization named Cerberus."
"Are they Earth-based?" She could see where this was going.
"I believe so, because they explained to me that they like to work for the greater good of humanity, or something along those lines. I don't think they have an office in Washington, though." Kelly hated these conversations – they balanced on a thin wire, and they could either fall into an argument or a decent, supportive conversation. Her mother didn't speak for a while. "They're paying me a lot more than the Alliance was going to, and they have lots of positions I can take."
"Kelly. Are you going to leave Earth?"
And there they were, at a stalemate. Kelly loved her parents more dearly than anything in the world – they were her closest friends, the only people who had been there for her, her entire life. She didn't want to lose their support, but she knew that if she stopped informing them of her decisions they would only get more upset. She didn't want to disappoint her mother by letting her know that they wouldn't see each other again for a very long time, but she couldn't keep her in the dark either. Taking a big, shaky sigh, Kelly answered the question.
"Yes. I'm leaving tonight." The silence was uncomfortable and heart-wrenching. She needed to get off the call. "Look, Mom, I have to get off. I need to take care of some things." There was another long pause, and Kelly was starting to fidget and play with her hair while she walked. Finally, the aged voice broke through the connection.
"Look, I know there's nothing we can do about this, dear." It sounded like she was on the brink of tears. "I just hoped maybe I could keep you here a little longer. What you said last night was true – you are too old for us to be in charge of you anymore. I love you, Kelly."
Before pressing the button to disconnect, Kelly sighed yet again. "I love you too, Mom."
[[[So far, I have to say thank you for the reviews! I know what I have published so far isn't very substantial, but I've had a bit of an outline working and I've decided to make a chapter per point. I used to roleplay Kelly on Tumblr, and stopped after things started getting stressful, but I always thought she was one of the most underappreciated characters (by both the fans and Bioware itself). I apologize for any grammar or spelling issues, but I'm doing this for fun and I am going to write at my own leisure. I'll might go back and edit once I've finished the whole thing Thanks for reading! –KR]]]