Author's Note: Hey guys. So I know I mentioned this before but I'm changing up the timeline for the moment. So for those of you who would like to know we are in the Tuchunka section. I know that Kaidan is supposed to be in the hospital injured AND that EDI is supposed to be in her own body AND that Tali doesn't show up till later; changing it up. Don't worry.
Also, I'd like to apologize for my mix up with my chapters. I accidentally reposted Chapter 6 (thanks for catching that!) and had to rewrite Chapter 7. Sorry again and thank you for all the favorites and follows!
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The Citadel was definitely something. Population around 13.2million, 44.7 km in length, and a gross weight of 7.11 billion metric tons. I shook my head at the bout of information that ran through my head, part of the "process" after learning. It was magnificent though. The nebula clouds concealed the center of the space station, it's 'arms' the only thing that you could make out at first. The clouds looked to be a grey-white with a tint of purple, the inside of the arms bright orange.
"Normandy to Citadel Tower. Requesting clearance to dock."
"This is Citadel Tower. Clearance granted, transferring you to Alliance Control."
"Roger that, Normandy out."
The pilot, Jeff aka Joker, maneuvered the ship easily around and past the bigger ships that were travelling through the empty space between the arms of the Citadel. Soon the ship was docked to the Normandy's personal docking port. We were here. I turned away from the window and shifted nervously, C-Sec would be coming for us. The deal that Adams had made, if you could really call it that, was to pretty much hand ourselves over to Council Control since we couldn't get to the actual Alliance brass. Scientists would look into our medical and psychological records and then evaluate us themselves, determining if we were a threat to the citizens of the Citadel. I just had to get my psych-eval. All the tests that Dr. Solus had run were good enough, or at least that's what Shepard had vouched for. I took the elevator down one floor to get to the Cargo Bay where everyone else was. The doors opened and once again I felt nervous. Adams was still miffed at me for the stunt I pulled but had calmed down. I walked past Steve, the Normandy's personal shuttle pilot, and James.
Sam smiled when he saw me and gave a small wave; as usual the children, Brandon, Kye, Brittany and Leanne- were gathered around him, Barbara and Charlie weren't far away from them either. They were the oldest members of the Experiments, Barbara at 60 and Charlie at 67, while the kids were from 15 to 17. The rest of the adults were talking amongst themselves: Kevin, Adams, Scott, Kaitlyn, Savannah and Ellen. I walked up to Sam and the kids, giving them a small smile as we waited for Shepard, or whoever, to come collect us. It didn't take long really; I was on my third round of Rock-Paper-Scissors with Leanne when Shepard, Garrus and some other man walked out of the elevator. Good, that match was getting intense.
"These are the people that are being handed over?" the strange man asked. He looked us over before turning his attention back to Shepard, who nodded in response.
"This is Commander Bailey with C-Sec." Shepard introduced the man. "He's in charge of the C-Sec operations of the Citadel Embassies quarters. You will be meeting with Ambassador Osoba after your evaluations so Bailey here is going to be handling the transfers and arrangements." Commander Bailey pulled up his Omni-tool, scrolling through some information before he stepped forward and clasped his hands behind his back.
"All of your items will be left here in the Bay, which includes weapons and your bags. They will be carried out by the workers and examined by our officers. You will be taken to a determined location where we have doctors and scientists waiting to evaluate you. According to the file, Miss O'Reilly will only have to take the psych evaluation." I fisted my hand and moved it back to my body in the typical "YES" movement, quietly accompanied by an actual 'yes'. Bailey looked over to where I was standing and regarded me carefully. "You will be the first to see the Human Ambassador. Are there any questions?"
Bailey took our silence as confirmation and nodded his head.
"Shepard, I'll head out and make sure that everything is ready. Send them out in a bit." The hanger doors opened and Bailey made his way out that way. Most of us turned to see quite a few people in what I would say to be C-Sec uniform waiting at the bottom.
"Alright. O'Reilly you'll go out last." Adams ordered. "Sam: middle with the kids and Barb and Charlie. The rest of us will head out first. Make sure you have nothing on your person." I shrugged my shoulders and moved away from Sam and the kids.
"To be continued" I said to Leanne, giving her a quick pat on the head. Adams was busy checking everyone over at the moment, making sure they didn't forget or try and sneak something with them. Charlie and Barbara made their way over to Sam and the kids, good natured smiles on their faces.
"Ready to get off this ship Aurora?" Garrus asked as he walked up to me.
I shrugged my shoulders once again looking at the bay doors. "I actually liked being on the ship. Not sure what to expect out there really."
"You'll like the Citadel. It's more peaceful here than anywhere else. Lots of people and lots places to see. I could actually show you around."
"That would be nice… But I'm an augmented human; they might not let me or anyone else leave from wherever they're taking us."
"They'll let you out." Shepard said. I looked over to him not realizing he had made his way over. "If not they'll have to deal with a Spectre. No one should be locked up like an animal."
I looked at Shepard not really believing he could pull something like that off if it happened, then I looked to Garrus.
"Here." He said pulling up his omni-tool and waving it over me, Shepard doing the same. My own pinged as they sent something to me. Pulling up the information I saw messaging numbers. I now had direct access to contact to Garrus and Shepard. "That number will be forwarded directly to the Normandy. If anything goes wrong, send us a message and we'll come busting through the doors to save the day."
"Like we usually do, eh Shepard?" Garrus mentioned. Shepard clapped Garrus on the shoulder laughing. Garrus' mandibles flared out in a smile as he soon joined the Commander with laughter of his own. I smiled in spite of the fact that I was somewhat nervous to leave the ship. I saved the numbers to my Omni-tool before sending Garrus my own Omni-ID.
"Let's move people!" Adams called out. He walked up to Shepard and stuck his hand out. Shepard grabbed his hand with a firm handshake wishing us well and goodbye for now. Adams guided me away before he walked past the middle group and started walking out. I turned and waved goodbye to Shepard and Garrus. I had barely walked down the ramp before I quickly typed a message to Garrus: You better come back and show me around. Or bust me out. Which ever.
A Turian C-Sec officer guided me to a shuttle; much like the one Shepard had, and helped me in before getting in himself. Barbara, Charlie and Brandon were led to the shuttle as well before we were off.
According to Shepard, I'm supposed to say 'That's what friends are for'.
I smiled at Garrus' reply before the officer ruined the moment.
"Name?"
"Aurora O'Reilly."
"Age?"
"Seriously?" Apparently he was. "31."
Psych evals. Sucked as much as the physicals. Everything you said had a possible hidden meaning. Answering too direct meant one thing, playing things off meant another.
"Are you anxious or nervous?" Duh. "Do you feel separated from other people, like it's you against the galaxy?" Pretty sure that's how Shepard feels. "How does the future look to you at this time?" Uh, hopefully not Reaper filled. "Do you ever receive headaches or random blackouts as a result of your time in cryo or anything else?" No, I'm not indoctrinated. "Do you have any anger towards the cryo program?" No, I'm not going to snap because I'm angry. "Any thoughts about living relatives?" Because that won't freak them out right? "Are you sexually frustrated?" Well now I am… "What is and was your reaction to seeing a sentient alien race?" I'm talking to you aren't I?
The questions continued, of course I kept all my sarcastic comments to myself and answered like I normally did. I stretched when the doc seemed to slow down (a bit) with his questions. We'd been at this for an hour maybe more.
"You know, this whole thing seems almost…" The doctor trailed off trying to find the correct word. Which was weird seeing that he was a Salarian. Wow that was biased… I've only met one other Salarian.
"Clinical?" I answered. He nodded his head in agreement.
"Psychological evaluations were conducted all the time when we woke up. Even when they were confident nothing would go wrong mentally, they still made sure. It's like a routine really."
The Doctor was silent as he added notes to his datapad.
"Well, you seem sound. The medical records we received showed you have had previous evaluations as you mentioned, all seem to show the same results; that your mental status has not changed much over time."
"So I'm free to go?"
"That is up to your Ambassador and the Council."
"But you're not declaring me dangerous right?"
"No we are not."
I grinned at the small win I had achieved, maybe Garrus and Shepard wouldn't have to bust me out after all! There was a small chance that I was one step closer to actually being released and officially done with the cryo program. The doctor finished with the datapad as he signed off on my "Passed" form and walked me out of the room, shaking my hand before he left to wait for another person to evaluate.
"O'Reilly?"
"Commander Bailey." He flinched as I greeted him and it did not go unnoticed. The doc also had a similar reaction. The Turian behind Bailey fluttered his mandibles, and if I wasn't mistaken I could hear a soft rumble coming from his chest. I really need to get used to that…
"The Ambassador is free and it seems that you passed your exam." I smiled at him.
"Officer Delek and I will escort you to the Ambassador's office." The Turian officer who had escorted me to the shuttle only hours earlier stepped forward at the mention of his name, the rumbling continued and it also sounded like a small trill was under that deep sound. It reminded me almost of Garrus' way of thinking. He definitely was looking me over in the same way that Garrus had when he was trying to figure something out and Garrus did say that each was different. Delek was a dark brown Turian with a greyish-white markings that covered a lot of his face, he was tall like Garrus, although not as broad in the shoulders. Granted that could have been the fact that Garrus' armor was thicker.
"That would be great Commander." I replied looking back to Bailey. The 3 of us walked out of the building that was serving as the testing facility. In all actuality it was a warehouse that had been converted and sterilized to work as the testing facility. We enter into a C-Sec sky car and made our way to the Embassies. Bailey sat up front driving while Delek and I sat in the back. I was glad to know that even the concept of keeping windows for vehicles was still around. The military and C-Sec shuttles didn't have windows, which made sense. I sat in the back watching the other sky cars and buildings pass by. We were out of the warehouse area passing through this section covered with bright fluorescent lights but it soon disappeared as we entered a tunnel along with the rest of the traffic, the darkness only lit by the few lights that dotted the walls and ceiling as well as the vehicle lights. When we exited I couldn't believe how pristine this part of the Citadel was. Everything was white. Below us was a body of water that seemed to follow the length of this whole area right down the middle. The edge of the water and a lot of the surrounding area was dotted with green; trees and plants, alien and known. It was beautiful and calm.