Kelice Military Academy
She could at least let me get out on my own.
April stared after the fast disappearing skycar, piqued. Getting tossed out in such a manner was not exactly the kind of entrance she wished to make today. Liara knew that. Her eyes fell on the two uniformed asari rapidly heading for her and wondered if they saw the way she exited the car.
Garrus would probably say I start a fad. Wonder what he's doing right now. Probably calibrating the Turian High Command on Palaven. If they would let him.
As they came nearer, she noted their facial markings. One had greenish red streaks radiating from around her brows and eyes, tapering into tiny lines to the crest. The other had purple stripes like eyebrows that curve gracefully along the sides of her face. There were captain and lieutenant stripes on their uniforms. As usual, she was unable to discern their age though she would guess that they were matrons as there was an "oldish" air about them. Besides, no maiden would make the rank of captain or lieutenant.
"Captain Shepard?" The asari with the purple markings came to attention when she reached April. "I'm Captain Nyrine Rylaer. This is my assistant, Lt Sanar T'Enaire. It is our pleasure to welcome one of the most notable member of the Systems Alliance to the academy."
"Thank you," April replied politely as she returned the salute, nodding to the lieutenant.
"Please, this way." Nyrine gestured that they proceed to the entrance.
Not one for small talk, thought April as she fell in step with Nyrine, the lieutenant following. Military personnel moving along the street threw curious and appraising glances. Against the sombre colours of the Asari uniforms, the Systems Alliance outfit provided no contrast but the red of her neatly braided hair and the four gold stripes on her sleeves did. If they did not know who she was, the combination was a giveaway. None ventured to stop the trio as they approached the double door entrance. They passed through to an empty rotunda with branching corridors. Holo signs shone above doorways. A large silver crest of the Asari Republics Forces glimmered on the wall opposite the entrance. In the center of the rotunda was a directory terminal.
"Matriarch Zelenia extends her apologies for not being able to conduct the tour," Nyrine said, "she will join us after the tour. This way." She crossed the rotunda and entered one of the corridors.
Large offices filled with Asari in civilian clothing lined the passage. Looking through the windows, April guessed they were part of the administrative department. There were work consoles, datapads, datasticks and hard copies on all the desks. Nyrine confirmed it with a murmured introduction. April looked away quickly when several of the office staff caught sight of her. The inevitable wave of silent gesticulations and gathering clusters behind the windows swept across the offices. After five years, she wished the furor her presence usually generated would die away. Hopefully none would try to waylay her by the time she left.
The passage stretched on and on with occasional intersections that led to more offices. They eventually came to a set of doors at the end and entered a huge mess hall that could easily hold hundreds. Stretching down one side was a long serving counter with servitors and cooks working busily behind it. Behind them, Shepard could see the kitchen. Numerous pots steamed on stoves as kitchen staff bustled about. The aroma of food was thick in the air. Except for a few diners, the hall was empty. The mess hall served both recruits and civilian staff, explained Nyrine as they moved through it. Beyond the mess hall were the barracks. It seemed to Shepard that every maiden on Thessia must be there for the rooms were filled with chatter that sounded like flocks of twittering birds.
They stopped at the room at the end of the passage. Heads turned towards them when the occupants became aware of their presence in the doorway. The recruits jumped to attention, a tad faster than the order rapped out by someone amidst the crowd. Nyrine flicked a gesture, releasing the recruits to be at ease. To April's relief, she did not venture into the room.
"This used to be a commercial supply depot," said Nyrine, "it is re-purposed and reconstructed to serve as the current training academy for recruits, commandos and officers."
April nodded, pretending not to notice the hundreds of eyes and busy thoughts fixed on her. "Does it serve both cities or does Sharzis have its own academy?" she asked.
"Kelice is the only training ground at the moment. Due to space constraint, we can only take in the best qualified recruits at the moment. The rest will have to wait until another academy can be set up."
"At Sharzis?"
"In the next settlement to be reclaimed unless High Command decide otherwise."
"I see," April murmured.
It was unlikely Sharzis would have a academy. The city was designated as the main manufacturing hub for Thessia. Unless there were plans to expand the city, they would have to retake the nearest city. Likely Armali. She watched groups of recruits resumed their interrupted biotic exercises. Throwing items, varying in size, randomly to one another while sitting on their bunks. A very useful activity to hone reflexes. She smiled when an enterprising recruit managed to field three items thrown at her without warning from different trajectories. Another recruit failed in her endeavor and the missed item went sailing past her before it was halted by a watchful recruit not participating in the exercise. It reminded her of her own biotic training with all the pitfalls and triumphs of the course.
"Various biotic exercises are encouraged while they wait," said Nyrine, waving towards the groups near them, "their turn at the various training facilities which is our next stop. This way."
She turned away to head for a lift a short distance away. April hesitated, having caught sight of a few groups at the back of the room that seemed to be directing something odd at one another.
"Perhaps the captain would like a closer look at the activities?" Sanar suggested, having been a silent and hovering ghost in Nyrine's wake all the while.
There was a barely visible stiffening to Nyrine's back but she turned back to look inquiringly at April. Her face was impassive but April sensed some tension in her.
A little uptight aren't we? "Another day perhaps," April declined politely before nodding a silent thanks to Sanar once Nyrine turned away.
The young lieutenant only flashed a brief smile, not worried she might have stepped out of place with her superior. Before they could continue the tour however, Nyrine's omni-tool emitted a beep. She clapped a hand on it, muttered something under her breath as she read the message.
"My apologies, captain, I've an urgent matter to tend to," she said, turning to face April and gestured to the lieutenant. "Sanar will conduct the rest of the tour." Without another word, she marched off back where they had come from and vanished from sight as April and Sanar watched her go.
"She has many things to deal with," Sanar offered tacitly to which April only nodded.
While Nyrine was not exactly rude, neither was she affable. It did not matter to April. With the ongoing struggle to retake Thessia from the TI and the pressure to rebuild, it was no surprise people generally suffered post-war problems and shortfalls in temperament.
I should know.
"Who is that?" one of the young recruits whispered in one of the groups from the back of the room, craning her head to have a better look as the human with the academy commanders turned to leave. "She looks familiar."
"Idiot. Pay attention," scolded her squad-mate though she looked too.
Haser barely flicked an eye to the entrance, concentrating on the heavy wooden ball she was using to test the strength of the biotic shielding generated by her fellow recruits. If they were not going to pay attention, they could suffer for it.
"How can anyone not know that Alliance uniform with the captain stripes and that red hair?" she said, biding her time.
"No, that's Shepard?" breathed the first young recruit, eyes bright.
"We didn't get to meet her," lamented her partner.
Their distraction was enough to thin the shield they were generating. The moment Haser was waiting for. Within seconds, she imbued extreme force to the wooden ball as she launched it. It struck the young recruits on their chests in turn, knocking their breath out of them. The shield collapsed and vanished as they dropped back down on their bunks, unable to say anything for a few minutes.
They sat up and glared at her. "Do you have to hit so hard?"
Pulling the ball back to her, she twirled it idly. "Go ahead and complain," she smiled at them. "It's not my fault your attention wandered."
They glared back resentfully but said nothing. It was pointless to complain. It wouldn't be entertained since the fault was theirs for not focusing on their biotic exercises. Moreover, there were no serious injuries. Still, they didn't like the smug smile the older Asari plastered on her face.
"What's it going to be?" she said when they remained silent.
With dark faces, they brought up their shields again. Their determination to try to get back at her some time was plain but Haser only smiled. Let them try. They were mere babes compared to her though they didn't know it.
April followed Sanar to the lift. They went down three floors below ground level. This was one of the aspects of the Asari April found rather fascinating. Humans tend to build outwards and upwards but the Asari took it in all directions. They delved huge round underground complexes that could go down for miles. Hypogeal Structures, they were called or HS. Most of the HS on Thessia were not as deep as the ones she saw on Illium.
"Is this depot a HS?" she asked curiously.
"A small one," said Sanar. "This is the lowest level. Due to the current conflict, it was decided to keep it shallow for security and safety reasons." She paused for a moment for the security scans before a set of heavily armoured doors. "This is the command information center."
A pair of commandos on the other side of the doors saluted as they stepped through. April looked around as she followed Sanar to the central hub. It was akin to any CIC. Techs manning workstations, low conversations, active screens and that particular dedicated atmosphere. It felt like home to her. The central hub was a rotunda of screens and consoles. Various military activities were playing on the screens. April watched as she listened to Sanar's commentary about the exercises that were taking place above ground.
Before the Reaper War, there was no central headquarters for huntresses and commandos. Each city and community formed their own militia and military units with their own training grounds and doctrines. When there was need to muster for a common purpose, it was decided through consensus among the matriarch representatives of each republic on who to send and who should assume command. Huntresses and commandos were mostly given the primary purpose of their mission and left to decide how it should be carried out themselves. April could see the advantage of this. It left no room for arm chair generals sitting comfortably and safe on their posterior to meddle with on-site developments.
"You're saying it's different now." April looked at one of the overhead screens where a group of recruits was set to stalk another group in a dark environment.
"We lost too many experienced soldiers," Sanar said sombrely, "matriarchs, archives and materials. The lost of so many lives, the wealth of knowledge amassed through the centuries is a deep blow to us."
"I understand." April lightly touched Sanar's arm in sympathy at the underlying pain in her voice.
"The old way of training has to be abandoned as there are not enough qualified huntresses and commandos." Sanar took a deep breath and waved at another screen. "As you can see, we have to reform to accommodate larger units."
April sized up the numbers with a glance. "That looks more like a company," she said.
"Yes," Sanar nodded, "the training period has to be shortened as well."
"Doesn't it take twenty to thirty years to train a huntress and more for a commando?"
"We don't have that luxury at the moment," Sanar said gravely. "They have at most six months to a year."
April gazed at her with some concern. "How bad is it?"
"Our current forces are not enough," Sanar said unhappily. "We need more soldiers to man the perimeter defenses and counter the indoctrinated forces."
The Indoctrinated. The slightest mention of them often produced a sour angry note within April. Even with the Reapers gone, their handiwork remained. It was a given not all survivors would come through unscathed. There would be damage, physical injuries, mental stress. They could be dealt with over the years. What could not be dealt with as leisurely were those who were indoctrinated. True to form, the Reapers converted many. Asari, turians, salarians, humans. The leading races of the Citadel Council. Better to create thralls that would betray their own people and speed up the Reapers' conquest and destruction of those capable of fighting them. A modus operandi they repeated for how long?
What no one foresaw was that with their masters gone, those indoctrinated with much of their intelligence intact simply converted the mission of subtle conquest to one of revenge. To the survivors of the Reaper War, it was a never ending nightmare for it was their own they were fighting against.
"We can talk of this later." Sanar moved away from the screens. "Would you like a close up look at some of the exercises, captain?"
"I think we can skip the captain," April said with a smile. "I'm used to Shepard and yes, I would like to have a look."