CHAPTER 24
The next day, after her shifts as Citadel Security and at Wakey Brews, Rosemary finally took a skycar to the Crucible, to take a tour of the hybrid development.
She was floored by what she realized – the plans she'd seen hadn't mentioned it – that the development took almost three quarters of an entire level of the Crucible. She had noticed it when picnicking at Shepard Park, but there was something in the Crucible's air currents that seemed to just... inspire green to grow and flourish. The development was comprised of a great many low, spacious buildings, surrounded by gently flowering trees and lush grasses.
Balint had assigned Tross and two other guards to her expedition this evening. Rosemary had been half afraid that he would have guarded her himself today – broadcasting their new intimacy to the world (okay, maybe that was a slight exaggeration) – but... Had he maybe sensed that she needed some space after the morning they'd had? A darker thought invaded her mind – or was he done with her now that they'd finally had sex? Oh, what a disquieting thought, she mentally grumbled to herself.
She forced herself to focus on the matter at hand. Upon her arrival, she'd been greeted by the Assistant Administrator of the development, a quarian who had introduced himself as Meeno'Reegar vas Rannoch. He was to be her right-hand man, er, quarian, and unlike her, had a few degrees, and seemed well-versed in the subject of security measures and building structures. With him as her guide, she inspected the buildings. From the outside – many of them looked like apartment complexes – but inside, they were more like... dormitories. The rooms were tiny, and many of had four cribs to a room. There were also communal restrooms and cafeterias, and closets stuffed with diapers and infant-to-toddler sanitary products. Rosemary wondered at that. So far, Meeno didn't seem to hold her lack of a proper college education against her, so she questioned him about the peculiar layout.
"Why is this set of buildings modeled after dormitories," she asked him, attempting to adopt an aloof, of-course-I-know-what-I'm-talking-about-you-fool tone.
She knew it worked when his answer was given in an impressed, respectful voice. "The ages of the children coming in range anywhere from a month to two and a half years old. The dormitory-style buildings are for the orphans. Many of them have parents or guardians who died protecting them from purist aggressors, such as Divide."
From the files Eastment had sent her, she knew there were a few thousand children Divide had orphaned. Her hate for Saeli and her demonic followers set her blood to boiling. Masking her anger with an indifferent expression, she pulled up several files on her omni-tool. "So... we're talking toddlers and infants?" Abandoning the pretentious tone she'd oh-so-briefly adopted, she decided to focus solely on the business in front of her. This was not the time nor place for snooty antics.
"Yes. A good portion of the funds provided them will be used to hire people trained in the care of young children," Meeno informed her. "When they grow older, they will be transferred to other sections of the development, which are less dormitory, more apartments. But for now, dormitories will suit best – be more manageable for the people that will watch them."
Rosemary could see the reason in that. But... "I can... understand why you would want people with official training, but won't that get... expensive?"
Meeno led her to his office. After her guards inspected his desk and walls – to the background noise of Meeno's annoyed-sounding sighs – Rosemary sat across from the quarian, still studying the files glowing from her omni-tool. The costs were going to be astronomical! There had to be a better solution!
"Yes... but that cannot be helped," Meeno told her.
A thought occurred to Rosemary. "What if you have... in those positions of authority, those people with training – but for, well, 'grunt work' – "
"Grunt work?"
"You know – changing diapers, burping, bathing, babysitting – general infant/toddler maintenance. What if you hired volunteers and people suited for those particular jobs?"
Meeno frowned, still not catching on. "Please elaborate."
"You know – people with experience in the business. Older siblings, mothers, fathers, doting grandparent-types... Draw from the families of the hybrids. They're displaced – ripped from their homes. Giving them jobs around the development – such as helping with the children – will give them a sense of normalcy and pride in their lives."
Meeno straightened, her excitement catching. "Not only that – if we do this, the development will be more self-sufficient. It'll be less of a fancy refugee camp and more..."
"... like a community."
"It's brilliant." She couldn't see his face, but his voice sounded impressed. She blushed, embarrassed. She couldn't really call it brilliant – she was just borrowing an idea that she had seen work firsthand.
When the turians from the damaged Citadel and turian fleet had taken refuge in a corner of Pennsylvania – their designated area had started out as a refugee camp. Then, as they settled in, the turians in charge began politely declining the American government's help in favor of discovering, on their own, how they could become self-sufficient, and less of a drain on the host government's resources. Little Palaven had been born, and had flourished – largely through the efforts of the turians who called it home.
Something else occurred to her. "Wait... please tell me these people were already all hired?"
Meeno shook his head. "Only half. We won't need to hire the rest. I'll send a message to the ships carrying the hybrids and their families. I'll make sure that when they dock – that they have lives ready for them." He sighed.
"Are... you upset with me?"
"No, no... it's a brilliant idea – I was just wondering why we didn't think of it before."
Rosemary grunted, a most unladylike sound, and said before she could think about what she was saying, "You were thinking with those fancy degrees of yours, that's why."
Meeno laughed. Relieved, Rosemary accepted the file transfer from the quarian and perused its contents. Almost half an hour later, she showed her notes to Meeno. "I think we should assign certain buildings to the different types of hybrids. Like the stronger structures to the krogan hybrids, the structures along the biotic wall that'll be built up to the asari, biotic-strong hybrids..."
"If their energies build up too much, they could just siphon off that energy to the wall," Meeno realized, admiring the notes she'd added to a copy of the development's schematics. "I'll have our team on it right away."
Rosemary blinked. "We have a team?"
Meeno chuckled. "This is an incredibly huge project, Miss Fletcher. You didn't think we would be the only two running it."
She kinda had thought that – and felt really silly for it. This was all incredibly new to her. She was in charge of a clerical unit at Citadel Security – but it hadn't even been formed yet. And she only had experienced managing all of one little coffee shop... Speaking of coffee... She checked her omni-tool. "Shit. I'm late for my shift."
"At C-Sec?"
"No, Wakey Brews. New coffee shop." Rosemary gathered up her things and turned off her omni-tool.
"What's... coffee?"
Rosemary smiled back at Meeno as she hurried out of his office. "You should visit sometime. Wakey Brews – look us up in the Presidium! Bye!"
Her guards looked relieved that she was done. They escorted her to Rapid Transit. Rosemary was pleased when not three minutes later, a skycar dropped to hover in front of her. Tross was looking at a message on his omni-tool. He signaled to the other guards, and they let her board the skycar, alone. Seconds later, she discovered why; Balint was the driver.
Balint didn't give her time to get nervous. As soon as she had strapped herself in, he handed her a box full of still-hot chocolate croissants. Rosemary's mouth started to drool as she grabbed one.
"Two chocolate croissants, fresh from Imitha's oven."
Rosemary bit into one and moaned. "Sooo good." Her flimsy excuse of self-control had her offering the second one to Balint. Less calories to walk off, she tried to console her stomach. "Try one? You're not allergic to human food anymore, right?"
Balint smiled. "Still not my kind of food, tastebud-wise. Old habits die hard. And I already ate. Enjoy."
And she did – she savored every warm, buttery, chocolate-y, bite of flaky goodness as she sat next to Balint. As she ate, Balint didn't say anything, letting her enjoy the moment in amicable silence. When she was done, Rosemary licked some chocolate off of her thumb as she looked out of the window. They were flying over the Presidium lakes, with silver and gold flecks of light reflecting the artificial sunlight into Rosemary's eyes. Artificial light or not, it was still a lovely view.
Suddenly, Balint stiffened and looked at the controls of the skycar, his eyes searching. He started feeling under the board.
"Hm."
"Hm, what," Rosemary asked, suddenly very nervous.
"There's a bomb under the controls."
A what?! "How did...?"
Balint tapped his visor. "Heard it activate."
She remembered the Kuwashii visor's new auditory function all too well. She cursed, startling Balint. "Ah, damn it! And I was having a pretty good day!"
Balint grinned and continued to feel under the control board. "I recognize this one. It'll go off if we stop."
He could recognize the type of bomb by touch and sound? Rosemary was impressed; Balint was good. "What do we do?" Balint inputted a new course into the skycar's computer. Rosemary leaned over to look. "Why are you telling the skycar to run into the water?"
"Minimal collateral damage. We'll be jumping off before it hits, of course."
Rosemary's mind sputtered. "Did you say 'jump'?!"
"When I open the doors – jump."
"What?!"
"Now!"
Her door opened and Rosemary closed her eyes as she jumped. She opened her eyes and screamed – the surface of the lake was coming up too, too, too fast! The skycar exploded above them. Rosemary flinched as fire and debris rained all around them. Then she gasped as her body plunged into the water – SHIT, that hurt!
Her skin burning from the impact, she kicked, fighting to reach air. Seconds later, she was being pulled to the edge of the Presidium lake by Balint.
Once she could see straight, she pushed the turian away. "I can swim by myself," she said crossly. He needed to concentrate on himself – he was the one wearing armor! "Look at me," she insisted as he tried to grab her, gesturing at her boobs. "I'm remarkably buoyant!"
Balint laughed. They swam to the edge separately, but Balint helped her up and over the side.
Rosemary gathered up her hair and began squeezing the water out. "Why aren't I hysterical," she asked herself more than Balint. "I should be upset." She was confused at how calm she was feeling.
"That just means you're used to people trying to kill you," Balint informed her with a grin.
Rosemary sighed. "Damn it. And to think, a few months ago, I was an innocent, unassuming little civilian."
"Yeah..." Balint didn't sound the least bit sympathetic. "That's over now."
Rosemary sighed again. "Thanks for the memo."
XOXOXOXO
Warning: Lemon ahead!
