Jane Shepherd wistfully looks out of her bedroom window at the small farmstead that has been her home for the last 8 years. Looking back down at her blood bound datapad, tears form in the corner of her eyes as she remembers her mother giving it to her the year her father brought her here.
Mother was on duty when her father left the Systems Alliance for an independent human colony in Citadel space. It was supposed to be a place where his technical skills could shine. Sourly, Jane looks out of the window at the farm again, the only place her father could find as his skills with Alliance tech didn't translate to Citadel tech.
Looking back down at her pad, Jane opens up her diary and looks at her early entries, and thinks back to her friends both goblin and human. There's also her mother, who she hasn't been able to hug since she left Alliance space. It doesn't matter that she visits after each tour of duty, and again before her next tour. The Quarian based isolation suits don't allow for intimacy, and everyone outside of Systems Alliance space is assumed to be positive for Prothean Syndrome. Even herself, despite not testing positive until she was 10.
As she closes her diary, the Alliance news article she was reading reappears on screen, and a determined smile appears on her face. In two years' time, she'll be 18 and be old enough to join the new N regiment for sufferers of Prothean Syndrome.
Opening the mail application, she continues compiling her weekly e-mail to her mother. Including the things she's been thinking about just now. She'll send it tomorrow so that her mother has something to read on her R & R.
As she's reminiscing her omni-tool pings, yet another gift from her mother, and the Turian news pops up. As she looks through the headlines, she frowns at the number of attacks on nearby human outposts. None of which have been in the local news provided by human papers.
The sound of a banging door makes her jump as she belatedly realises that her father would have got his own notification, due to the burst nature of interstellar media transmission.
Quickly shutting down both devices, she puts the Alliance datapad into an expanded pouch and slips it onto her belt, before heading down to begin breakfast.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
While the porridge is coming up to temperature, Jane mumbles.
"Selene, Goddess of the Moon, and Hela, Goddess of Death and Darkness. Thank you for your work looking after the Systems Alliance. I hope that one day I can prove myself worthy of becoming an N8. Also, thank you for negotiating with the Quarians for the environmental suits that my mother uses. As they have enabled the two of us to see each other. Please, show me my path through the dark times ahead, and help me find the strength I need to walk that path."
When a large bubble bursts at the top of the porridge, Jane stops her prayer and starts paying more attention to the cooking. She chuckles at yet another thing she misses about the Systems Alliance, magical cookware.
From the doorway Jane's father grumbles, "Morning."
Jane smiles as she starts serving up, "Morning! All the animals have been fed, and the fences checked."
Her father looks up with bleary eyes, "Ugh, porridge, I hate porridge."
Jane nods, "I know, but it's all we've got left, so you'll need to get some more supplies later. I'm going to walk into town after breakfast so don't forget to wash up and work out what's for dinner."
Her father winces at the overtly cheery tone, before grumbling, "Keep away from those damn Turians while you're there."
Jane cocks her head to one side, "You mean the turians that run the general store, and have the best prices in 200km?"
"Yes, those turians."
Putting on an expression of innocent confusion, Jane asks, "Why?"
Her father growls, "They're filthy disease-ridden aliens, that's why. It's also why can't go home too."
"But wasn't it your choice for us to leave Alliance space?"
Her father snorts and looks up, "Yeah, and? I did it to get away from the sparkies and gobbos. Ah didn't know it was worse out here. Ah didn't know it was worse out here… You should be thanking me you know, you have the chance to live life on your own merits here. Not doomed to mediocracy because you weren't born with magic."
Jane drops her spoon into her porridge with a clink, her appetite having suddenly fled. Bitterly she answers her father, "Only as long as I don't mind no longer having a mother you mean. Don't bother cooking for me, I'll find something to eat while I'm out."
Pushing away from the table, she stands up and walks out of the house with her fists clenched. Once she's a good distance away from the house she curses loudly, "Keep away from those turians. Yeah, those turians who practically raised you while I was too busy trying to get the farm working, or too deep in a bottle to care if you were being cared for. Those turians who are more parents to me than you have been since we came here. Those turians who let me help in their shop in return for the basic supplies I cook with. I can't wait until I can legally move out."
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
Two hours later, Jane finally makes it to town. As she does, she passes one of the many eezo based hover scooters, and once again considers using some of the money her mother sends her to buy one. As the trip to and from the farm would only be minutes rather than hours. Then she remembers why they don't have much in the way of food they haven't raised themselves.
Shaking her head, she continues walking to the centre of town where there the landing pad and communications building are on one side of the town square, along with the militia barracks. On the other side is the Mindor Hotel, the only hotel that the colony can boast, along with the colony's school. She shakes her head before walking past both of them to the bakery that sits next to a greengrocers that only opens on market day.
"Good morning!"
The owner looks up from where she's preparing some cake mix, "Oh, it's you."
Jane ignores the tone of voice, "Could I have two vegan lemon tarts, one chocolate orange muffin, and a breakfast bap."
The owner sneers, "Sure, that'll be 20 credits."
Jane doesn't even blink at the price, despite the fact it's almost double the price listed on the menus behind her. She decided a long time ago that it wasn't worth arguing, as they'd just refuse to sell her anything. Or worse, ban her from the premises, which is why she can no longer use the hotel restaurant.
With a box containing her sweet treats, and a bag containing her breakfast, Jane makes her way back across the square to the General Store that's bracketed by a church to the one god, and the local pub.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
Pushing the door to the store open with her bum, Jane carefully turns around so that she doesn't knock anything over, or knock her precious cargo into anything. When she spots Juvetana at the counter, Jane holds out the box in front of her as she bows slightly.
Speaking in badly accented Hierarchy turian, Jane says, "Greetings Nest Mother, I bring the fruits of a hunt."
Juvetana's body language indicates a fond negative, "You don't need to do that fledgling, you're welcome in our home as if you were born from our own egg. Also, your pronunciation is still atrocious."
Jane puts the bag and box down on the counter so that her hands are free to make an expression of contrition, "My apologies, if I don't practice, I can't learn."
Juvetana laughs, "Stop, stop, speak human English. You can't do the chirps or bitonal words properly."
Jane coughs a couple of times, and switches to English, "Thank you. I will learn the language properly. Just you wait."
Juvetana touches the back of Janes hand with the back of her own hand, "I'm sure you will, but unless you somehow gain magic, I don't think you'll be able to speak it."
Jane's shoulders slump in a very human gesture, "Tell me about it. It's yet another reason to hate my father."
Juvetana's hand whips up and taps Jane on the nose, "Don't be like that. He's just gullible, and it's cost him too much to admit he was taken in. Now, do you want to start your schoolwork, or should I call Numecus down to share in the bounty of your hunt, to the bakery?"
Jane smiles at the English word, as turians don't yet have an equivalent. "I'll do my lessons first I think."
Juvetana indicates the door to the back, "Well, head out back and put your bounty in one of the stasis cupboards in the spare house."
Jane smiles and heads into the back room. Between two of the steel support beams is a wooden door that she opens. Once the door's open, she walks into the reason why the Aebutius Nest has been so successful, and can keep their prices lower than anyone else on the colony. Juve once told her that they invested in the door years ago rather than move to a larger premises, or apply to add onto this property. Something Jane is sure has paid for itself many times over, as they own this property outright.
Closing the door behind her, Jane makes her way through the minimalistic house, with it's metallic furnishings and floors, except where required for the magical components of the home, such as the stasis cupboard she opens to put the pastries into.
While she's there, Jane grabs a glass from a cupboard and fills it from the kitchen sink. While she drinks it and eats her bap, she looks out at the illusionary craggy mountain and valley. Her eyes draw down to the garden with its sun-bleached rocks and the deep red light of the sun throwing dark shadows. A stark reminder that she'd get very sick if she went out there for longer than a minute or two.
After washing up her glass, she walks back to the shop. Pausing at the door, she checks the windows on the inside of the spare house to see that the town square is currently empty. Shaking her head once more at magical ingenuity, she opens the door and walks through to the front of the store.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
A few minutes later, Jane is sat at the end of the counter, like she's been since she was 12 and first realised how different the human education was here compared to Alliance space.
That's when Juvetana and Numecus helped her sign up for a Citadel standard education using the Hierarchy education program. Starting up her omni-tool, Jane sighs and switches to Turian, "Aww, math. Base six math still keeps tripping me up."
From the other end of the counter, where she'd doing a stock take, Juvetana calls back, "It's far easier than the base 10 humans use. At least you can use your fingers to help. And what did I say about speaking English?"
Jane lets her posture droop, "But it's hard to think in Hierarchy turian, and speak in English."
Juvetana clicks an admonishment, and says, "It is good you think like us. But you must remember that I see more than you do, and your human tongue will cause you as much hardship with turians as my turian tongue causes with humans when I try to speak Human English."
Jane looks over and uses Juvetana's diminutive as a child might, "Juve, I know humans still have many languages, why haven't I seen or heard any other turian languages?"
Juvetana thinks for a moment, "Do you remember your Alliance lessons covered the Chinese languages?"
Jane nods before changing the expression to a turian positive acknowledgement, "I do nest mother."
"Our language is much like that, except each clan had their own script and some of their own words. In fact, you should look up clan script and write about it as part of your history lesson today."
Jane droops as she exits the math lesson, and adds the new assignment as her next lesson, "Yes nest mother."
Juvetana calls, "English" at Jane, causing her to droop even further.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
Shortly after noon, Jane is watching the store while Juvetana and Numecus both eat a late lunch upstairs. It's not like it's particularly busy at this time of day either, as all the farmers have already been and gone, and it's too early for the prospectors to come in to have their claims validated, or apply for a new claim.
As she's playing a game of Pyatae hunt, a loud retort splits the air followed almost immediately by the sound of screaming from outside the shop. With a curious frown, Jane walks around the counter to the front door, as it's unusual that any trouble happens that would result in gunfire. As she looks out of the window, she freezes in place as the militia barracks to the left of the shop is in flames, and there are humans lying motionless on the floor nearby.
As her brain starts to work again, she reaches for the door handle, only for a taloned hand to grab her wrist.
As the taloned hand pulls her down, Numecus says in a low tone, "If you want a chance to live free, don't open that door."
Something in the way that he says that causes Jane to start shaking, "W-What do you see nest father?"
Numecus starts to lead Jane to the back of the shop, "I don't know yet, but that sound was a mass driver round, not a slug thrower, pistol, or rifle. Can you shoot a rifle?"
Nervously, Jane nods, "Well enough to kill vermin on the farm."
Instead of taking Jane to the spare house, Numecus instead says, "Follow me." Before heading up the narrow spiral staircase to the first floor.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
As the two of them walk into the small bedroom at the front of the building, Juvetana has already pulled a large box out from under their bed. Jane's eyes widen as she sees space for four rifles and a couple of eye computers. By one of the windows, Juvetana already has one rifle, and is carefully looking through the bottom corner of the window.
Numecus reaches down and takes the other eye computer, and taps it to a rifle, before putting it on his face. As he picks up that rifle, he says, "These are Hierarchy issue rifles, so the grip and trigger will probably be uncomfortable to use." Pointing his rifle at the floor, he points at a readout just in front of the stock, "You have a standard readout on the back, charge on the left, heat on the right. There's a basic site along the top of the rifle, I'm afraid we don't have a spare targeting computer so you need to rely on the physical sights. Listen to your nest mother. I'm going to bar the back door, and then try to gain the high ground."
Jane swallows hard and nods as she watches him put on a gun belt and holster a pistol from their wardrobe, before picking up the rifle again.
Far too quickly, Numecus is about to leave the room. As he opens the door, Jane impulsively calls out, "Spirits and Goddesses look after you."
Numecus looks back and gives her a nod of respect, "Thank you fledgling."
Once the door closes again, Jane takes one of the two remaining rifles and makes her way to the other window, putting her in the centre of the wall between both windows.
While she's waiting for Numecus to leave, Jane activates the call function on her omni-tool in order to call her father. Rather than the spiral ring of faces she expects, the holographic interface instead shows a violet screen with 'No Service' written in Hierarchy.
As she turns around to show Juvetana, the sound of the shutters dropping over the shop window rattles through the house, along with the sound of the door opening and closing.
"Juve, Juve," Jane waves her omni-tool at Juvetana, "There's no service."
Juvetana looks down at her omnitool and clicks a couple of buttons. When nothing happens she curses under her breath, before tapping a talon on her eye computer, "Hunt Leader, colony comms are down, I repeat comms are down."