2 – Spacers

Resembling blood vessels in a vein, hundreds of ships sped along the enormous curve of this part of the Citadel. A blue block of the Alliance shuttle broke away from the swarm and made its way across towards one of the many coves carved into the he structures either side of them and descended down into the Presidium.

"Now this brings back some memories." Samantha said in awe as she stepped off the transport. The Citadel Presidium looked the same as ever; dozens of alien species all getting on with their lives and this mammoth station was their whole cylindrical world. It was almost as if nothing mattered outside of the reach of the Citadel arms and that made her feel slightly uneasy.

"Wow, is it always this busy?" Came Ryan's voice following her out of the shuttle.

"Always. Sometimes busier, this is pretty much the central hub of the universe, where all of the species of the galaxy hang out."

"And now we're here, this really is the place to be. I have to check this place out." Ryan yearned to explore the Citadel now that he had the freedom to travel with the knowledge that he didn't have to rush to get a transport back to Earth to be home.

"Really? Well while you're exploring you may as well go to the biotic academy. You know, like we agreed? I can send you the co-ordinates and the location to our new apartment to your omni-tool, so you have no excuse."

"Urm, thanks. Ma."

"No problem, junior. Oh and before you go, just promise me you'll stay in the higher, shiner parts of the Citadel, okay? Those are the safest parts." Samantha faced her son for a moment and her face hardened. "But seriously, you must absolutely promise me not to go anywhere stupid and absolutely not to any of the bars."

"Okay, I guess that's a fair in exchange for a new house in outer space."

"Good. I'll see you back at Wards; don't be too long, they'll be lots of footlockers for you to unpack." Samantha began to compose herself and walk away.

"I can't wait."

She smiled as she forced herself to walk away, body feeling tense. Samantha tried to play her feelings off and be the cool older influence, but she was worried about leaving him alone in the bustle of the Citadel. Maybe this meant she was actually growing into her guardian role, she thought and muttered "don't worry, I can always contact him on his omni-tool" as she turned the corner and gave him one last smile before disappearing.

Ryan was all alone on the Citadel. He looked around in amazement; this had been an ambition of his for as long as he first looked up into the skies and saw the unnatural, synthetic looking shapes hoisted high beyond the clouds above. He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but he always longed to travel up and into space, maybe it was the experiences of his guardians who planted the seed, a seed which it was time to water, he thought. Immediately to his right was an Elcor, this was the closest he had ever been to one. Their size was even more impressive than he had previously thought.

"Warmly. Human. Your presence is required. Do you have an interest in donating to the Endearing Elcor Association?" the voice came out of the creature like the deep voice of a robot inside a reverbing bathroom.

"No, thanks. I'm oka-"

"Assertive persuasion. May I tell you more about our org-"

"No. Thank you." Ryan interjected and backed away to make his escape, he looked behind him to check the Elcor wasn't slowly perusing and ran into something directly in front of him.

"A careless collision, ample room around." Ryan found his eyes fixed on a red-skinned Salarian now facing him. "Ah. Human, in juvenile stage. Too young to be working in Presidium, could you be workers' offspring? No, against regulation. Shopping? Unlikely, do not look like gun accessory purchaser. State your intentions for being here." The Salarian stood staring at him and in his reflective black pools for eyes Ryan could see himself starring back.

"I'm… just looking." Ryan comprehended what else he could possibly say.

"Looking? Yes. Obvious, did not consider you to lack visual abilities. Assumed they were functioning properly."

"Look, I'm not doing anything here; I just arrived and thought I'd look around." Ryan had begun to back away once more from yet another bizarre individual. He made his way through the crowd and tried not to make eye contact with anybody else until he found an elevator.

Ryan left the elevator at the next level its next stop, he was aware of seeming out of place so he tried to style everything out and act as if he knew where he was going. Nonchalantly walking over to a barrier that oversaw the central body of water which ran through the Citadel Presidium, he leaned over to see the scores of buildings all along the curved walls; he was even more awestruck by the surroundings than he expected to be. The body of water below boasted fountains at numerous points which produced fine mists of water vapour against the backdrop of metallic silver.

Looking to his left, the walls stretched on beyond his eyesight and into mere fuzzy imagination. A high-pitched chirping sound pierced his ears from above him and he looked up to see a group of birds flocked on a high wall. Standing frozen in fascination he wondered if they were especially brought here to breed on the Citadel, or if they were even real and not some kind of artificial life. Birds in outer space made him think about how he would fair out here, it was almost a poetic irony of his flight up into spacer life.

Ryan continued to admire the ambience of his surroundings, the subtle whir of shuttles passing by, the chatter of people around and a pulsating rhythmic beat coming from behind him. He turned to see where the noise was coming from and saw a purple arch with the word "Purgatory" across it. An excitement began to tingle through him and before he knew what he was doing he had begun walking towards the arch. What was once a distant rhythm had now become an overwhelming assault on his head and senses.

Purple lights flickered throughout the dark space he now found himself in and misty figures moved skittishly throughout. The interior was a multi-layered structure comprised of various sized platforms making up each level; below him he could only see individuals through the periodic flashing of strobe lighting. Ryan made his way to the set of stairs which took him to the main floor up from the entrance and the next logical step seemed to be to continue left to the busy bar area. He still didn't fully know his reason for being here, other than the gratuitous exploration.

The bar area boasted an assortment of people including groups of uniformed Alliance members and not knowing where to walk, he instinctually headed to an empty seat by a table. There he remained for approximately 10 minutes, simply watching the people and soaking in the atmosphere. He thought it slightly ironic that he had come to the Citadel in search for alien life and to experience infinitely unfamiliar cultures and had ended up in a bar. But soon his naïve bubble was burst when he saw the unmistakable slim figure through the mist of purple haze, patterns of dark black being temporarily visible against fair skin in between the flashes of blazing white light.

The legendary biotic Jack had just walked past where he sat through the way Ryan had mere minutes earlier. Ryan knew of Jack well – as many had, but even more so because of their very similar pasts. Being a biotic and a former Cerberus facility "resident", Ryan felt a level of connection to Jack that most others could not. She was in fact something of a hero to him and one contributing reasons he gave into Samantha's demands of enrolling in the Ascension Project biotic academy was due to the very fact that she ran it.

The new academy has only been open for a few years but Jack was the only one in contention to lead it, considering everything that she had gone through in her past. And to make matters even worse, Samantha had told him of the fact that she had lost not only the man who rescued her from her self-destructive lifestyle, but moulded her into the person she was today. She also told him that the two became a couple since sometime during the collector abductions, making the whole thing even more tragic.

They were apparently very good together despite the obvious personality clash, so he was told. Jack had made her way past him without so much as a glance gotten a drink from the bar and made her way over to another empty table to observe a datapad she was holding. Jack was now a palpable individual to Ryan, sitting only across the room from him. He couldn't take his eyes off her as her stare burned with fiery concentration into the pad she held in her hand, but with every second that passed came a nauseous anxiety that her eyes would shoot upwards in a split second and catch his gaze.

Aside from being terrifying, it would have been rather awkward should she recognise him when he would eventually go to the academy. Ryan felt that he should do something but was completely at a loss as to what, so his fingers began tapping away at a keypad on the table surface followed by his omni-tool flashing a slight orange. A mech scurried over to his table with a bottle and was gone as soon as it had arrived. Ryan didn't know what he was going to do but he figured that the soothing of an alcoholic beverage would help him make any such decision. For ten more minutes he sat and drank and watched as Jack continued to study her datapad.

One more and I'll really be relaxed,Ryan thought to himself as another bottle clanged down onto his table and the contents unceremoniously emptied into his mouth. He was feeling slightly less anxious now, but was still none the wiser of how he would go about making himself known to the living legend in front of him – feeling slightly less able to focus on a plan, but it bothering him even less still. If I go over to the bar, I can get a cocktail… and I'll be a bit closer too. In the kind of behaviour that would only be questionable if sober, Ryan made his way out of his chair for the first time since Jack's arrival and towards the bar.

Approaching the bar and following a badly disguised glance over at Jack, a trio of men briefly turned their heads to face him as he arrived. He nodded at them with a drink-induced, artificial relaxed look on his face and leant himself against the smooth countertop.

"I'll have a Quad Kicker" he said to the approaching cocktail waiter who simply nodded.

Ryan watched as the drink was prepared and stole himself a casual look to the general vicinity to his right. Still there and still reading.

"One Quad Kicker, sir" came the voice from the behind the bar as the hand of the waiter placed down the colourful concoction.

"Thank you", now try not to drink this too fast, his inner voice interjected. His fingers gripped the glass by its finely polished stem and lifted it to his lips, in a sophisticated manner. His nose was suddenly on fire. He tried not to cough but unwittingly let out a huge blast of air in response to the spicy drink and as if in slow motion, the pool of liquid he was holding sprayed in every direction – including onto the back of the head and uniform of the Alliance soldier standing next to him.