December 2nd

04:56 OST

A short while after ending my conversation with Lera I started getting ready to leave. I gathered up my equipment and secured everything, deep in thought as I did so.

I felt oddly lighter after talking to Lera. I'd had so few people to talk to lately that I forgot how much of a relief it could be to just have a normal conversation. Though, 'normal' was a subjective term when speaking of my friends. I've had legitimately engaging conversations with them about the best ways to dispose of corpses, and this was when I was just a regular high school kid. The thought of those particular friends didn't hurt as much, as I hadn't seen them in years and had moved on long ago. Now they were just fond memories of playing flash games in the computer lab and crazy, slightly disturbing conversations in Mythology class; pleasant things to remember with no negative connotations.

I kept my thoughts focused on Lera and those old friends. I didn't want to lose the warm lightness just yet.

I had a feeling she and they would have gotten along splendidly. She had the same sarcastic, nearly violent sense of humor. Though, she might have taken offense to their lack of seriousness. Lera was dead serious about the things that mattered to her whereas my old friends were American high schoolers, the very definition of flippant disregard. And her strong personality and argumentativeness probably would have rubbed them the wrong way.

Sometimes it surprised me that it didn't rub me the wrong way, with how often we argued about things one would think we hated each other. But as common as it was for us to disagree and how on more than a few occasions we ended up insulting one another, in some ways we understood each other better than anyone else. We thought on similar wavelengths, and we had similar struggles. Sometimes she annoyed me to all hell with how she thought she knew what was best for me, but I knew she acted like that because she cared.

I finished gathering up everything and left my room, locking the door behind me in an almost reflexive motion. I climbed the stairs and stopped in the lobby. Taren was engrossed in a datapad and hadn't heard me come up. I could have left quietly and avoided talking to him, but he deserved better than that and I had the time.

I carefully stalked up to the desk. Whatever he was reading must have been fascinating, because he didn't even twitch. Now that I thought about it, I'd often seen him reading something while he watched the front desk. I'd initially thought that it had something to do with managing the complex, but it seemed impossible to be that interested in reports of broken toilets.

Well, that was as good an icebreaker as any. "What'cha reading?"

Taren's head jerked up and he nearly dropped the datapad. "Wha- Shawna! When'd you- Don't sneak up on me!"

He seemed a bit flustered but not truly upset, so my response was glib. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I scare you?"

"Oh, don't take that tone with me." He gave me a mild glare, but quickly shifted gears. "Are you okay?"

The smile on my face melted away. "Yes, Taren. I'm fine. A little sore, but there's not much that can be done 'bout that, so…" I tried to get away from the topic. "You didn't answer my question. What are you reading? I swear, everytime I'm up here you're reading something."

He briefly looked down at the datapad in his hands, then hurriedly shoved it in a drawer. "Oh, it's nothing." His two pairs of eyes blinked slightly out of sync.

Batarian facial expressions might have been different, but hiding something after someone asks about it was an intergalactic sign of having something to hide. "It didn't look like nothing. You were really into it."

"No, really. It's nothing." He was looking straight at me, but his eyes kept blinking unevenly, something I'd never seen before.

I grinned. "I think you protest too much. So, what is it? Some cheesy spy novel? A love letter?" The grin became a grimace. "It's not porn is it? Don't tell me if it is, I really don't want to know."

"Agh, it's not-" Taren made the oddest noise in the back of his throat. "that's not it! Ngh, fine. If you really have to know…" He pulled the datapad back out and showed it to me. It appeared to be a book. The title across the top of the screen read 'Binary Lovers: a romance novel'.

I stared blankly at the title for a while desperately trying to contain myself, but it was in vain. I set the datapad down and broke out into undignified giggles. I heard Taren sigh to himself. "Yes, yes, have a good laugh at me for my choice in reading material!"

"I-I'm sorry, I just-" I was hunched over with a hand covering my mouth. "- I just, didn't-" Another fit of giggles came over me. I took a moment to breathe and collect myself. "I didn't expect that! Wow…"

The reddish batarian still seemed a little miffed. "What, am I not allowed to enjoy good literature?"

"No, no it's not that! I just didn't think you'd be… I dunno… a fan of romance novels? It's fine, it's good. Just seemed a bit weird at first." I was having trouble with wiping the smirk off my face, but Taren didn't seem to mind as much. "So, is it any good?"

"Oh. Uh, yeah, actually." He looked surprised that I would show any interest. "It was written by an asari author. I guess she had centuries to learn how to write well. It's about an asari poet and a salarian, of all things, falling in love."

That struck me as odd. "What d'you mean, 'of all things'? What's wrong with salarians?" I remember hearing about asari-salarian relationships from the games. They were rare but not unheard of. They might not have sex drives like other races did but that didn't mean they were incapable of love.

"Nothing. It's just…" He appeared to be trying to find the right words. "They don't breed like we do."

For a moment I wanted to push the subject further, but as I thought about it I realized where that conversation might lead and the big red warning light for awkwardness started flashing in my head. I might have been more comfortable with Taren now but in no way, shape, or form did I want to discuss reproductive biology with him. I hastily cast about for a different topic. "Umm. I met a salarian yesterday. He's sort of my coworker now." I briefly wondered if Hyrn made it back okay. As I remembered him, something I wanted to say to Taren occurred to me, but right now didn't look like the best time.

Taren suddenly became concerned. "About that…" He looked away from me. "I know it's not really my place to comment on your personal business, I'm just your landlord, but I'm not sure that working for the Blue Suns is a good idea."

What? Is that why he's so… reluctant to comment? Why does he- doesn't he think we're- he has every right to comment on my personal business! He's my friend!

Any trace of the smile I had before was gone now. "It's not, but it's the only one I've had. And you're not just my landlord." He opened his mouth to reply, but I cut him off. I had been wrong, now was the best time for this. "I should have said this before, but thank you… for helping me before. You had no reason to. You're more than just a landlord to me, Taren, you're my friend."

He was speechless for a moment but then he just smiled and said, "You're welcome."

December 2nd

09:51 OST

I spoke for a while with Taren, but eventually someone came in and he had to attend to business. From what I could tell I was getting a new neighbor, one of many that I'd managed to avoid this whole time. Taren was pleasant but not all of his other tenants were people I wanted to know.

I had spent the last couple hours trying to distract myself while I grew increasingly nervous. I stopped in at Lagrange Point for a half-hour, but the people and noise didn't calm me like it used to. It reminded me a little too much of the chaos of yesterday's fight. I tried out my new assault rifle on the graffiti-covered walls of an alley, but eventually my arms got tired. I'd have to work on enduring long periods of firing. The rest of the time I sat in some secluded corner trying to hack the salarian's omni-tool and fiddling with my own. Hacking my new omni-tool was proving troublesome and I was definitely going to need more time with it. I took a look at the customization programs available for omni-tools and found a wide variety of options, some of which were even free. I settled on just one program that turned my 'tool a cyan blue. At around a half-hour to ten, I got up and started towards the Blue Suns base.

The Blue Suns base was not what I had expected, though I wasn't quite sure what I had been expecting.

The address I had been given by Sergeant Dyric led to what appeared to be an office building. The entrance looked like a lobby, the sort you'd expect from a real business with somewhat nice furnishings and actual carpet. There was a secretary seated in a booth behind what I would bet was bullet-proof glass. A few people were waiting in the comfy looking chairs and they gave me odd looks as I came in. I walked up to the secretary's window, preparing to say something but drawing a complete blank. The secretary, one of only three drell I'd ever seen, took one look at me and said, "Go through the employee's entrance."

I hastily redirected my steps to the door labeled 'Employees Entrance' in the back of the room. After hesitating for a moment I opened the door and walked into an empty off-white hallway with a couple doors to the sides leading to what I thought might have been offices, all of which had red access buttons. I read the plaques on each door carefully. 'Yerita T'yona' was apparently the 'Public Relations Officer', a 'Erinle Huke Ayn Wamng Tuntil' was 'Head of Finance' and 'Harold Patel' was the 'Internal Affairs Associate'.

Well hell, this is an actual business. Maybe I'm a bit in over my head…

I was not corporate material by any means.

Near the end of the hall, I found the office of 'Sergeant Dyric, Head of Security'. I lingered awkwardly outside the door for a bit while I tried to decide whether to knock or not. I had no idea if that would be the proper thing to do socially. I didn't even know if turians knocked on doors.

If they don't, then what the hell would they do? Yell? Jiggle the doorknob? Just burst in?

Stop being stupid. One, there's no doorknob. Two, there's a pingy thing on this one just like the one on my door. So don't be a wimp and ping it.

Before I could stop and overthink it, I activated the door-pinger. Not three seconds later the access button turned green and the door opened. On the other side was a decently-sized office with a large metal desk, several chairs, a few screen displays on the back wall and a strange alien potted plant in the corner. Scattered all over the desk were datapads, and there was an active terminal in the middle of it. The sergeant from yesterday was seated at the desk. He indicated with his head that I should come in without glancing up, which I immediately did. The door closed behind me.

"You're the human girl from yesterday, right? What's your name again?" Sergeant Dyric sounded almost disinterested to me, but it might have been that he was still busy.

"Shawna Brown, sir." I added the honorific just to be safe.

The turian looked up from his terminal and twitched a mandible. "First off, there's no need to call me sir. Secondly, you're five minutes early."

I realized that I was staring too much and forced myself to look away a little before making eye contact again. Then I remembered that I'm talking to someone of a completely different race that has entirely different conventions on what counts as appropriate eye contact. That was both frustrating and comforting.

I shrugged a little. "I prefer to be early."

Sergeant Dyric fixed me with an odd look before going back to his terminal. "Well, the rest of the recruits should be here soon. Sit down and please be quiet, I have work to do."

I sat in one of the uncomfortable metal chairs and tried to make my mind go blank. It was surprisingly easy, as the lighting in the office isn't too bright and there were no distracting noises. The sergeant's terminal's input was holographic, and made no sound as he uses it. I started to hear that ringing in my ears that I can only hear when it's totally silent. Five minutes passed like it was fifteen seconds, and the ping at the door surprised me. At his desk Sergeant Dyric reached over and taped an input on the screen behind him. The door opened, revealing Vilnius and Hyrn. I felt an unexpected bit of happiness to see that Hyrn was fine and hasn't appeared to have hurt himself since I last saw him.

Both of the rookies seemed startled to see me there, but Vilnius recovered quickly and walked into the office to stand in front of the desk. If I didn't know better, I'd say that he was fighting the urge to stand at attention. His feet snapped together, he stood even straighter than before and I could have sworn I saw his arm twitch. Hyrn hesitated outside but in the end he followed Vilnius inside. I felt a little weird just sitting there and stood up to stand next to Hyrn. Just as the sergeant opened his mouth to speak, two people came walking down the hallway and stopped at the open door. Sergeant Dyric waved Javern and Brek inside, and once they entered he closed the door again.

"Alright, you're all here. You should sit down; this isn't going to be a short conversation." The turian watch silently as we each grabbed a chair. "Now, I've given this little speech several times and I've heard almost every question ever asked about it, so if you have a question please wait until I'm done before blurting it out. I might just answer it anyways. Understood?" We nodded almost in unison. "Good."

The sergeant stood up from his desk and looked around at each of us. As he spoke it became obvious that he had indeed said this many times before, it sounded almost rehearsed. "You are now in the employ of the private security corporation known as the Blue Suns. This comes with both benefits and responsibilities. Some of the benefits include exclusive training, free medical care, unlimited usage of the company facilities and access to higher grade weapons, armor and even genetic enhancement for those that perform well."

Genetic enhancement? Hmm.

"However, to earn these things you must serve the company. Whatever you might think, whatever you have read or heard, the Blue Suns is first and foremost a business, and a business must provide quality service in order to be successful. The Blue Suns are one of the premiere contractors for private security in the galaxy. Whether this means guarding a facility or preemptively eliminating a potential threat is determined by the holder of the contract. The contract is all that matters, and if you break a contract there will be severe consequences. Contracts are given to those that your superiors think are best suited for the task. That may be a single team or an entire platoon. Depending on the nature or length of the contract, you will be paid either once the contract is complete or in regular amounts over time as specified in the contract."

The contract's our new Bible, got it.

Sergeant Dyric shifted his weight to his other foot and continued talking. "Your ability to qualify for a contract is dependent on your previous performance and behavior. If you have a history of broken contracts or belligerent conduct, you will find it very difficult to acquire a contract. Complete your contracts, behave respectfully, and you will be amply rewarded. Unfortunately there may be times when there are few contracts available. In such times working at headquarters as support staff will make you eligible for payment until you are under contract again."

I wonder if I could work solely as 'support staff'? What kind of work is that?

The sergeant pauses momentarily, as though shifting gears, and he crosses his arms across his chest. "The internal ranking of troops within the Blue Suns organization closely resembles that of the militaries of various governments in that it comprises of ranked officers and personnel. The highest ranking officer in the Blue Suns is the Head of Operations. The current Head of Operations is Solem Del'Serah. Underneath him are several Commanders, each in charge of one zone of interest to the company. The Commander on Omega is Tarak Res'Loek. Commander Tarak has a few Captains that are responsible for overseeing the operation of a facility. Kortun Cherek is the Captain and CO of this facility. A number of Lieutenants serve as the CO of a platoon. At this facility we have five Lieutenants leading five platoons. Sergeants are NCOs, meaning that while they are not officers they are given authority and responsibility over the troops in their platoon. I am the sergeant of the Third Platoon."

Sergeant Dyric of the Third Platoon took a deep breath, seemly winded from the length of his speech. "The personnel are divided into ranks according to level of accomplishment and experience. The highest rank is that of Centurion. They are the most experienced and skilled troops in the Blue Suns. Below that rank is the rank of Legionnaire. They are above the average combatant in terms of ability. I myself am a Legionnaire. Lower than the Legionnaires is the rank of Principes. They consist of the regular personnel. At the very bottom is the Velites, the freshly recruited. You are now Velites of the Third Platoon."

Yes, we know, we're at the bottom of the totem pole.

"Understand that you will not be afforded any excuses or allowed to shirk your responsibilities here. You will be held accountable for your behavior. That said, if you work hard you will find much of value within our organization." Having finally finished his presentation, the turian sergeant sagged a little and sighed. "I'm legally obligated to deliver that speech to each batch of velites. But really, just do as you're told and you'll be fine. Any questions?"

No one said anything. Brek looked like he was almost asleep, Vilnius appeared deep in thought, Javern seemed to have made up his mind about something and Hyrn was just staring at the sergeant. I spoke up.

"What kind of work do 'support staff' do?"

It seemed like he hadn't quite expected that, but he answered quickly. "Being 'support staff' just means you're on rotation for base duties. Equipment maintenance, guard shifts, medlab support, things like that. Everyone ends up on rotation every once in a while. It's steady pay and generally not hard."

"And earlier you mentioned genetic modification?"

"Yes, we have access to genetic modification packages, but they're only given out if you're a Legionnaire or if you pay out the cloaca for it." The turian gave me that odd look again. "Now, is that all?"

I nodded. "Yes, thank you." I had many other questions, but they could probably be answered without annoying my new superior.

"Okay." The sergeant sat back down at his desk. "Now, there's a few more things to discuss. Unless you're under a contract or on rotation, there are no scheduled work hours. You come and go whenever you like. But, you can only get a contract when you're here, so it's in your best interest to be here as often as possible. In fact some of the troops live here full time, we have living quarters in the building and there's some good restaurants in the neighborhood that deliver."

That briefly seemed very appealing, until I realized I'd be sleeping here. Alone. In a building full of aggressive men. Nope. No way in hell. My apartment suited me just fine. It wasn't that far a walk anyways.

He must have sensed that it wasn't an appealing option. "Some people like it here, some don't. It's your choice. One final thing, however." Everyone in the room seemed relieved at the thought of this conversation being over. "You need to decide if you're going to stay together or be put elsewhere. You were all lumped together for convenience, but it's understandable if you don't think you can work together. If you choose to go your own ways, you can try to find a different team or remain as an individual unit. Take a minute to think about but make it fast, the Lieutenant will want to know as soon as possible." He opened the door, and after a second we got up and exited the office into the empty hallway.

I turned at looked at the other 'velites', who were doing the same.

We had cooperated well enough to fight the gang, but I didn't know if we were 'team' material.

This whole team thing sounds like a long-term deal. I'd be dealing with them on a regular basis. Can I handle working with them? Can I trust them?

Why not? Besides Brek, they seem okay for the most part.

I've only known them for a day! You can't know someone completely after a day!

But I don't have to know them, I just have to work with them. Besides, how will it be any better with a different team?

I could work alone.

HA! That's a laugh! Me, fight gangs and shit alone?!

They probably wouldn't send me alone, I'd be a supplement or grouped with other individuals.

And I'd have no one watching my back. I need a team. These guys are likely the best I'm gonna get.

The internal conflict started and resolved rather quickly, and my mind was made up after a few moments. "I think we should stay together."

The other four recruits, who had been silently watching each other, turned their attention to me when I spoke up. Javern scowled. "And who says you get to decide, human?" The emphasis he placed on the fact that I was human left no doubt as to his feelings on the matter.

And not a moment after my decision I'm rethinking it. Yay racism.

I glared back. "One, I was stating an opinion. Two, don't be a dick."

The brown-skinned batarian's face momentarily twisted with what I was sure was rage, before he stopped and merely scowled.

Vilnius spoke next. "I agree. We should stay as a team."

I looked to Hyrn next. He was shaking just as much as he had been yesterday, but his eyes appeared a bit dull and tired. I reminded myself to try talking to him later, regardless of how things went. His orange eyes looked us all over, lingering for a bit longer on me, before he nodded and muttered a quick "Y-Yes."

Now the attention was focused on Javern, who sighed. "Alright, fine. We'll stick around." Brek nodded, and I was struck by how oddly obedient he acted. "It's not like the other teams are likely to be better."

Vilnius strided past me to open the door, and we all entered the office again to give the sergeant our answer.

I had the feeling that this was the start of something. Whether it would turn out good or bad, I couldn't tell yet.

AN: I'm sorry for the ten day wait. Here's the info dump I promised two chapters back. Oh my motherfucking god so much research was involved. Well, maybe not *that* much, but a lot.

I'm tired, it's 3AM on the night of my second day of a new semester, so forgive the oddness that follows.

It's strange, I thought my break between summer and fall semesters would help with writing, but I seemed to have hardly written anything in that time. Maybe it's because I don't do as much walking, and walking really helps me think and plan shit out.

In the game the Blue Suns had a variety of ranks that told you a bit about their power level, but it revealed nothing about their internal structure. So I made one, making sure to use things that would make real world sense but also include things mentioned in the series. 'Principes' and 'Velites' are actual terms from the ancient roman military. Principes were young, healthy men with decent leather armor and weapons. Velites were the new, sickly, poor, or recently conquered. I imagine that in most cases in the Blue Suns, the two are merged into a 'trooper' caste unless the distinction becomes relevant.

I actually had a little chart drawn out and everything. I hope you fuckers- I MEAN MY LOVELY REVIEWERS appreciate it.

Anyway. With this, I pass 50k words. Holy balls. And I have over 150 reviews and 110 followers! Never in my wildest dreams- actually that's a lie, my wildest dreams involved becoming so popular that Bioware saw this and changed the ending of ME3 just because of this. That's why it's called a wild dream.

I'm very tired. Goodnight.