On her first off-Citadel assignment, Kelly was assigned to a ship headed for Bekenstein, an Earth settlement planet located in the same Nebula as the Citadel. She and Naomi were to interview new recruits from the face of the planet, allowing them to go straight to their new stations or training. Bekenstein was a bit of a different situation than the Citadel had been – at the Citadel, new recruits had already been scanned and approved by C-Sec, and most of them were allowed through into the ranks of Cerberus. Here on Bekenstein, most of the inhabitants were either the sons of rich men looking for adventure, or workers who had come to the planet with the hope of striking gold and leaving with empty pockets and a fair amount of disappointment.
Kelly and Naomi, rather than sharing a desk, were now at two separate desks in a glittering gold and white office. It was less noisy and distracting than the large, open-spaced Cerberus office back on the Citadel, but Kelly just couldn't stand the woman she shared the room with. This was supposed to be an opportunity for a promotion, and Naomi's grating voice was as much of an incentive as any.
Since one month ago, there had been quite a few rituals installed. Almost every night, Naomi left the office with Lieutenant Bishop, and Kelly could only imagine where they went together. Rumors tittered about the office like birds, and some said they went to a grotesquely expensive restaurant every night, or simply went back to the Lieutenant's not-so-humble abode and did whatever was the kinkiest thing the secretaries cold think of that week. Kelly had begun having lunch with Harsin at the end of every week, and they had become gradually more comfortable with each other. They often sent snarky omnitool messages back and forth when Kelly's work became slow, and one could say they had become very good friends. She found herself admiring him more and more every day. Now that they were distanced, she hadn't been messaging him as much, especially after their last argument. The last thing Kelly wanted was for him to think they were more than friends. She wasn't sure he even wanted that, but if he did, she didn't want him to think that's what she wanted.
Kelly and Naomi were assigned to Bekenstein for two weeks, and business hardly slowed down like it did back on the Citadel. It seemed that this planet was teeming with unfortunate souls who needed a way off, and fast. Unfortunately, Kelly had to turn away more hopefuls than she had wished. There were always the young, wealthy bachelors who had grown up watching too many adventure vids, and who thought it was their true goal to win the galaxy for themselves. Usually, if one easily glorified the gore and tragedy of war, they were written off quickly. They weren't difficult to identify.
On the very last day of the Bekenstein assignment, Kelly's orders were to wrap up her last interviewee, and then board the ship back to the Citadel. She approved the intelligent young lady in front of her, sent her the appropriate information, and willed her off. Naomi was still interviewing her last recruit, and Kelly took the time to send a message to Harsin. Just finished up. Hope your day is going well. It was the first message she'd sent him since they had their small argument, and she wondered if he missed her.
Naomi had become increasingly restless throughout the last few weeks, acquiring bothersome habits such as tapping her feet and chewing on her datapad stylus. Kelly couldn't wait to receive some kind of promotion and be finally rid of her, and she was sure that she did her job well enough on this outing to receive that boost. Even if she got moved to a different place on the Citadel office, anywhere other than sharing a desk with this nuisance would be well worth the effort. As she gathered her few belongings that she had on this desk and checked the drawers, she listening to the interview being conducted next to her.
"I've always played vid games and things like that since I was little, you know? Those shooter ones. I always thought it would be really fun to join the Alliance or something but they have these minimal physical requirements. It's nice that Cerberus is willing to do all the physical training for you." Kelly glanced at the young man. He had already gotten some kind of military buzz cut on his thin blonde hair, and wore a nice grey suit. He was one of those Kelly probably would have written off before he even sat down for the interview. The boy exuded cockiness and laziness. "I just want to get some excitement in my life, switch it up a little, you know?" He gave Naomi a charming smile, and she returned the sentiment, nodding and scribbling on the datapad. Kelly couldn't help but smirk a little – Naomi was really convincingly nice.
"Well, that's all I need," she said. There were at least four more questions in the interview she needed to ask. She must be just as convinced as I am about this guy, the psychologist thought to herself, standing up. Maybe Naomi wasn't so bad after all – Kelly had never tried to get to know her, anyway. Too bad the little thing would be stuck behind that tiny, shared desk in the noisy office on the Citadel until she got another promotion opportunity. The redhead got up to leave, and she got only a few steps away before Naomi started speaking again.
"Welcome to Cerberus! I'm sending you your welcome packet and information now. You'll be coming with us to the Citadel to get your assignment, since we're wrapping up here for now. You have about an hour to grab any belongings you need, I believe, and then we'll be on our way." Kelly grimaced as she exited the building. Maybe Naomi was just as bad as she thought. Accepting people like that, she'd never get any kind of promotion. Maybe she'd get fired.
As Kelly stored her small volume of belongings into the locker in the underbelly of the ship, Naomi joined her. "I can't believe you accepted that last guy," the redhead breathed darkly. Her green eyes glanced in the direction of her coworker as she pulled her long locks up into a ponytail. Naomi merely flashed a smile.
"I don't know what you're talking about. He met all of our qualifications," she said in a sickly sweet tone, pushing her round glasses up the bridge of her nose.
"He was one of those loonies that can't handle being on a team," Kelly retorted, shutting her locker. "He'll turn on us the moment he gets confused about which guy is which, and then it will be his own personal fun bloodbath."
"You have no faith in our soldiers," Naomi pouted, shutting her own. "We do have a quota to meet, honey. I had to make up for all those perfectly capable kids you turned away." A pause. "And for a psychologist, you might want to watch your usage of the word 'loony.'" She turned away and left, and Kelly's nostrils were filled with the thick stench of Naomi's fruity perfume, and she clenched her fists in frustration. Naomi had to be wrong about that quota thing – it was about quality, not quantity. Right? How had she missed that?
Once the ship took off and broke through the atmosphere of Bekenstein, Kelly felt restless. She wondered if the pilot on this ship was the same one as the guy who had flown on the way over. She had made fast friends with him, using a need for conversation as a guise for simply wanting to watch the stars out of the cockpit. Finally getting to live her dream of space travel with almost no windows? It was unacceptable.
Kelly began making her way toward the cockpit, humming a song to herself. She had almost reached it, when someone violently pushed past her. She recognized his blonde hair and grey suit, and realized he was rushing angrily towards the cockpit, a gun in his hand. "Hey!" she yelled, as he stepped in front of the sliding door that led into the cockpit.
The boy looked around wildly, eyes landing on her. He pointed the gun in her direction. "You stay back!" he yelled, as the door to the cockpit automatically slid up. He broke his attention for one second to look at the pilot, before scooping him up in a headlock. The pilot chocked loudly, yelling with what little air he could. Kelly gasped – was this guy going to try and steal the ship? For what? There was a panic button to her left on the wall, and she pressed it frantically. The alarms on the ship went off, and she felt a moment of success, looking at the recruit defiantly.
He let out an angry roar, dropping the gasping pilot on the ground before walking towards Kelly. She took a couple steps backwards, but he pulled the trigger on the gun. Bang. Bang. The psychologist felt a piercing pain in her upper right chest, near her shoulder, and one in her thigh. She screamed out in shock, falling to the ground. "You little bitch!" the boy yelled, approaching her and punching her upside the head with his free hand. Kelly cried out again and fell to the ground. "You ruined everything!" He kicked her stomach twice with a steel-toed boot, and tears streamed out of Kelly's eyes. Then, the doors to the small hallway opened and a couple of Cerberus security soldiers came in, only moments too late. They tackled the recruit, and wrestled the gun from him.
One soldier knelt in front of Kelly, as the world swam in front of her eyes. "Are you alright, ma'am?" he asked frantically, but she couldn't respond. She was too busy biting back the pain, and she felt like she was going to faint. "We're gonna get you to a hospital as soon as we reach the Citadel," he promised. She wondered if that was going to be soon enough.