Aboard the Jon Grissom Academy, Orbiting the Planet Elysium.

Year: 2185. 2000 Hours

-/\/7-

The Sentinel's room was smaller than the other common rooms they had seen, and was far more utilitarian. Students conversed over class work and various exercises. Biotic maneuvers, Tech combat programs and even hand to hand combat was being practiced among the fledgling sentinels. The furniture and dressings of the Sentinels common room were worn, with tables and chairs showing all manner of scratches, nicks and indentations. Little was done to hide the damage, and their seemed to be no adult supervision amongst the students. To match the rest of the setting, neither Jason nor Ward encountered any greeting from the students or staff upon entering the common room.

"So… no professors or other students here to welcome us? What gives?" Jason asked, scanning the room for markers. He had yet to get a bead on any of his students in particular.

Ward did the same, checking his markers. As he looked up a beast of a student lumbered towards him:

He was easily seven feet tall, and weighed several hundred pounds. From his husky build, Ward doubted it was all muscle. His arms were covered in coarse black hair, and his hands could have crushed a Batarian's head between their palms. His pronounced lower jaw jutted out from his face, and a tall forehead with an equally pronounced brow gave him a decidedly Cro-Magnon look. A crooked nose asymmetrically centered a face marked by mottled skin. Displaying a vibrant example of Heterochromia, one eye was a bright shade of sky blue, while the other eye was a mixture of dull amber and chartreuse. A mop of coarse black hair sat unkempt and wild on his head. The student's movements were direct and surprisingly agile, and within several tall steps he was in front of the two marines.

"Greetings, Lieutenants of the Systems Alliance. I trust you have had an adequate and accommodating stay so far?" The student spoke in flawless English.

Ward's sense of stereotyping would have to undergo a severe reconstruction following his time on Grissom.

"If you count inept educational staff and multiple examples of child abuse as normal, then I suppose that we have." Ward answered coolly.

The large student nodded his head contemplatively. "In time, things will change. As autumnal foliage withers to dust can we then reseed its fields and bring about the passage of life. For now however, Grissom is still late in the summer of its time. And in the summer, the weeds will grow…" The Student turned his head to a corpulent Professor who was lazily commanding students to head to their Dormitories.

The man's eyes moved through the room, resting upon Ward's small circle. With furrowed brow he marched towards the group.

"Excuse me Gentlemen, but I am afraid my students are going to need their rest for the next day. Can't sleep without some decent shuteye, eh Brutus?" The man's voice was soft, but his breath stank of rotting meat and foreign spices.

"Professor Haddock, my name is Maynard Gandy, and you will do me the courtesy of addressing me as such."

"Oh Brutus, you speak so well for such an ape. Go off to bed now, the adults have some talking to do."

"Professor, my name is-"

Haddock's false joviality fell instantly. "Brutus, I control your schedule, and I have appointed you generously with minimal duties for the next three weeks. I can make that change very quickly. Now, if you don't get your sorry-"

Haddock's Omni-Tool began to beep with urgency as a VI began to speak from the device. "Automatic Warning: Door sensor tripped. Room SEN-ADM 003, Professor Christopher Marshall Haddock." A look of surprise bloomed over Haddock's face before he moved off towards his hallway, hustling to check his room and muttering curses with every step.

Ward heard an airy laugh come from the other side of the room, and as he turned he saw a lithe Middle-Eastern girl begin moving towards him. She was roughly his height, with blackened-brown hair falling around her heart shaped face.

Maynard regarded her for a moment, and then looked back towards the doorway Haddock had exited. "A broken door lock on a heavily encrypted door… sounds an awful lot like the work of Neil."

"Bad mouthing me behind my back, boyo?" A young Irishman of middling height strolled from behind a series of desks. Neil had curly brown hair and a freckled face, with mischievous brown eyes to complement an absolutely fiendish smile.

"Ahh. So you put the dissolute orphan to the task Mitra? And here I thought you were above your colleagues?"

Mitra rolled her eye. "Haddock is a bastard and Flint loves to break rules. If we allow one to act as he does, why should we deny the other?" Mitra purred to Maynard with a sensualness Ward had yet to witness among the students at Grissom. "Besides, I'm not above the rest of you. I just have to work harder. I would have sworn that outer space would be a little less sexist than the Republic. It appears I was wrong."

As she spoke a small, red headed boy crept into the room. He was definitely among the younger students at Grissom, being roughly of an age with Ava, the bright eyed girl they had met in the Engineer's Common Hall. He had a determined, grizzled look that seemed out of place on his young face.

As he moved close, Mitra affectionately ruffled his hair. Ward reached into his uniform and pulled out a flask. Mitra shook her head no, wherein the boy handed the flask over to Neil.

"Thanks Flint. You really need to show me how to do that encryption trick."

Flint's eyes narrowed. "Get your Jewish whore to do it." He shot back in a raspy voice. Mitra chuckled and ruffled his hair. Neil's eyes went wide and his face reddened. Maynard shook his head. "Flint, what have I told you about the anti-Semitism? You are far too perceptive to believe such a thing. Has Mitra been murmuring old Iranian propaganda in your ears?" Maynard gave Mitra a toothy grin as she cried in protest. As Ward watched the four interact, he noted that they got along much better than the other two teams he had seen. The adepts have been divided and aloof, while the Engineers seemed to all follow the older students on command. The Sentinels however seemed to interact with a fluid combination of camaraderie and independence.

Ward cleared his throat. He knew that his window was closing and that he needed to speak his bit before the other rooms closed him out altogether. "I know that one-"

"Four Wolf pups here Lieutenant. We've got the message loud and clear. Haddock will have to raise both hell and heaven to keep us from signing up. Keep spreading the word, and talk to Rosalind when you get to the Infiltrators. Also tell her that Neil sends his regards." The Irish boy chuckled and led Flint off to the men's dormitories.

Mitra saluted the officers before gracefully heading towards her own room. Maynard politely introduced the officers and offered his apologies for the secrecy, and that they should speak with Emile.

"Oh don't worry, I think we will." Ward finished bitterly before giving his thanks to Maynard and heading off to the Infiltrators Common Hall.

Mini chapter to introduce some more characters. A couple things I do want to address:

1. The outrage you are seeing with the N7's over the deception becomes clearer as these chapters go on. If it doesn't make sense please do PM me and allow me to clear it up in the story through edits and further exposition.

2. Mitra is Iranian, and I will go into a lot of detail about how I think the Geopolitical climate of the world went when the Systems Alliance was established. Also neither Mitra nor Flint are anti-Semitic. Flint is an... abrasive personality. You'll get his exposition down the road, but for a short answer he's basically Zaeed 1.0.

3. You all will be getting a character chart listed as separate story very, very soon. I just need to update the surnames and minor details. If keeping track is getting hard for you guys, well I sympathise. Hang in there and I'll have it up ASAP.

All right, thanks for reading and until I get the next chapter up, enjoy :D