[Citadel Exploration Fleet] All Systems Nominal... (Semi-Open)

Departure Day.

Telos has been preparing for it for quite a while now. Though he had gone through countless of such ‘departure days’ in his time, the faint fluttering in his stomach still persisted.
The turian captain let out a sigh as he looked out of the tall window. Out in the distance, the Citadel’s five long wards stretched far out. Behind them, the pale blue earth span slowly. The foreground was dominated by the mighty PFS Raeston, one of the proudest vessels flying under the flag of the Citadel Exploration fleet and a symbol of power and generosity of the Turian Hierarchy.

The glimmering lights from the station’s arms bounced off the ship’s smooth, windowless hull, creating a wonderful lightshow, complimenting its slender, metal silhouette.

The ship’s hangar bay doors were open, letting a bright orange light come from the interior. Like many hierarchy-built cruisers, the Raeston’s hangar was located at the very front tip of the ship’shull, right below the forward bridge and main weapon’s array. It was a rather practical design shared by some Citadel species in one way or another. Telos particularly thought of human ocean-going transport vessels called ‘ferries’ which he had happened to see during the time he spent on the human homeworld. He remembered that they used a very similar arrangement.

A triad of seemingly turian transports, bearing the Citadel Fleet insignia, approached the Raeston’s shuttle bay. The faint blue light of the kinetic barrier flickered as they flew in.

Yet another group of new crewmembers, Tel thought.

After a rather unsuccessful, six-month trial run with a skeleton crew and an ’experimental implementation of 69% of full ship-wide systems’ automation’ as CEF command liked to call it, the Raeston was up for a big overhaul. Operation protocols would have to be reverted to their original form, the majority of systems’ interfaces returned to manual operation and interior accommodations vastly modified to facilitate a full crew complement. In fact, the final complement will end up increasing from a mere one hundred to more than three hundred.

This will be the largest crew that Telos had ever commanded. He was looking forward to it, of course, but a mild hesitation was still present. Three hundred people meant all the more lives he’d be responsible for. And all though there aren’t any monstrous, bloodthirsty machine gods flying about in space anymore, the turian’s thoughts couldn’t help but run back to the men and women
lost under his command during the War…
His thoughts are interrupted as an Alliance Kodiak whooshes past the window; a bit too close to it than one would expect. The turian captain follows it with his bright green eyes until it, too, disappears into the hangar.

‘Supplies for Non-Turians, probably…’ thought Telos.

That was yet another thing to add to the changes. The non-turians.

Not unlike the Citadel Fleet, CEF was designed with multi-species crews at its very core, hence all the compromises that had to be made during the Raeston’s original refit for CEF operation.

But nevertheless, there was still a bit of reluctance in a significant portion of the crew. Particularly amongst the turians who did not happen to spend any part of their service aboard ships with mixed turian/client race crews. Oh well. If Telos was good at at least one thing (besides piloting of course) it was inspiring literally all kinds of cooperation between species…

A sudden beep on his omntiool made Tel take his eyes away from his ship and look down at the holographic display.

“Beginning Soon. Report to Upper Dock Patio.- Ad.X.”

Tel lets another sigh as he raises his head to the window and gives the Raeston one final look. His eyes’ focus shifts from the ship to his own reflection on the window. A faint smile appears on his black plated face as he regards his dark red captain’s uniform, the subtle olive green details and the silver C.E.F badge on his cowl.
He kept thinking again and again how he never in his life expected to end up here. Captaining a proud cruiser and exploring the depths of untouched interstellar space. But despite that and all of the things he went through, he considered himself to be quite fortunate. All the things he saw and will see, the people he met and will meet and all the adventures he had and will have made it all worth it.

Straightening the top part of his uniform, the captain turns away from the window and quickly walks down the long, dimly lit hallway. The lift’s doors at the end of the corridor slide open. The turian swiftly presses a button on the small holoscreen on the lift’s lright wall and folds his arms neatly behind his back before turning his face back to the corridor. The long, empty hallway was the last thing he saw before the lift doors slid closed.
The familiar mechanical buzz of the lift’s decent was soon heard before an electronic voice ringed through the speakers

"Now Departing: Dock Promenade 7…"




Meanwhile. Presidium. Upper Dock Patio C04.


Everything was set. The departure of the LRV Raeston was drawing closer and closer. A crowd was already gathered at the bright, sunlit patio, waiting patiently bellow the podium for the speeches to begin, talking, mingling with each other. All sorts of people could be seen around; diplomats, crew members –both old and new, press, even families and some other civilians. It wasn’t a very big crowd all in all but large enough to make somebody with a mild case of stage fright shake. The C.E.F admiral would begin her speech any second and soon after, the Raeston would be flying away, lightyears into the unknown.

Arina Caenis was wearing her green and white armali dress for the occasion. Half of the embassies seemed to be assembled to see the ship of the CEF off. It had been one of the more successful joint projects recently. Other projects and talks were in the phase of stone grinding and didn't produce many presentable results despite the hard work put into them. But that was the ways of Citadel diplomacy, dire times and stone grinding before peaceful times.

She wasn't the only representative of the asari embassy of course but currently the only one at the buffet table, enjoying one of the blue ringed mushrooms from the decoration, waiting for the speech to begin. She looked around to find other familiar faces in the crowd...

Lt. Com. Kydos did not want to leave his station in the control room of the Raeston's hangar. Just now when the last of the new people arrived he would have liked to greet those that were assigned to his engineering section. The schedule for the ceremony said otherwise. All top officers were to attend the speech and represent the ship, order by Captain Mallenis. Who most likely received that order from his higher ups again. The Citadel council liked to make a fuss about such things, they weren’t following the pretty spartanic procedures of the turian navy.

Well, Arus Kydos didn’t have to like that part, it came with his position. But he liked the Raeston, a brand new cruiser, and he liked to be part of the CEF. After the fuckup during the war and being trapped in a wreck for a month he liked the prospect of doing some exploration and not the endless patrols on the border of a spiritsforsaken system with a mining moon somewhere in it.

He patted his Lieutenant's shoulder and reassured him, then hurried out, quickly passing through a lavatory with a mirror, checking his red and black uniform and the sheen on his spikes. All was in order and so he hurried for the banquet….

As the door to the patio opened, he calmed his breath to look casual. Hah, just in time! He thought when he saw the Admiral about to climb the podium. He looked for his fellow officers and went over to where they stood, saluting a couple of superior hierarchy officers on the way.

Albert stood near the front and center of the crowd finding himself in the position of introducing Alliance captains with their counterpart from the other navies. His own gray suit looked, while well tailored, rather dull Compared to the bright colored uniform and dresses of many of the other guests.

It was all in all a dull affair, except when he had to repress a smirk was when he formally introduced two or more people to each other when he knew all too well they had met each other, most of the time anonymously, at one of the many 'blow off steam' parties held after the war. It was funny in a way how it like it was always the human who looked uncomfortable with the situation.

He looked at the podium and saw the speeches would start soon.

Commander and second-in-command Lamta Tabe stood by the podium at attention, right next to captain Telos Mallenis. Her Hierarchy naval dress uniform fresh out of the steam press, all the insignias, medals and badges polished to a sheen, she was the model to whom every drill instructor compared the appearance of all rookies at inspections.

The shake-down run with Raeston had been satisfactory, not mind-blowing but it hadn't been utter failure at least. It was to be expected when a rookie like Mallenis was set loose on the bridge, leaving Tabe to do damage control in his wake and that had just been the skeleton-crew test run. Now she was looking at full-blown mission into the unknown under Telos.

Spirits grant me strength to last the mission. Lamta thought to herself. Captain Mallenis had potential, but right now? It wouldn't hurt if she and Telos swapped positions. She had commanded her own vessel before and during the war just fine, but now Lamta had been pushed back into rearing some up and coming hot-shot-

Oh, here comes the admiral. Lamta straightened herself to look even more at attention.

Telos wore the best smile he could as Admiral Xerana stepped onto the stage from the opossite end. The asari shot Telos and Lamta a faint smile as she approached the podium. Despite the fact that she wasn't wearing one of those flowing asari dresses, the admiral still looked very elegant in her uniform. Its design was quite minimalistic. It resembled a human business suit slightly, but the silver and copper coloured badges and awards lining her left arm made it clear she was anything but a businesswoman with a human stylist. A CEF badge shone on the left side of her chest and judging by the admiral's posture, she was making a significant effort to make it visible. As she puts her hands on each side of the podium, she gives the crowd bellow a warm smile and begins her speech.

Her voice was coloured with pride and confidence. She spoke high of the CEF and what it hopes to achieve. She had a vision for CEF and the galactic community as a whole and as her speech progressed, all doubt about wether or not she could realise it, disappeared.

Through all the pride and confidence, though, a hint of joy and even zanyness could be noticed. The admiral was evidently passionate about the Fleet and took genuine pleasure and all of its advancements. She was a very charismatic person and she used every bit of her skill to paint a positive image of the Citadel Exploration Fleet in the mind of the public.

Telos smiles as he listens to the admirals speech. For a brief moment he tilts slightly towards Lamta's way, whispering to her as discreetly as he possibly could.

"You know commander, I can't stop thinking to myself how they couldn't have chosen a better person to lead the fleet."

Indeed he couldn't. Telos had come to respect admiral Xerana a lot. She had a curious ability to maintain a rather serious attitude that stressed her position as a figure of authority but, at the same time, she managed to give off a certain warmth that removed part of her intimidating quality. He had to admit, she was one of the least lenient admirals Tel had ever served under. Even by turian standards! But least she managed to make inspire everyone under her. This was something that Telos admired about Xerana and he hoped that the some three hundred new crewmembers down there feel the same right now.

The captain's thoughts are abruptly interupted as the admiral calls him to the podium, giving him another smile. Telos reutrns it swiftly as his attention snaps back to the present moment. With a swift move he straightens his already-too-straight uniform and steps towards the podium

'Well... That's a lot of people down there'

Absentmindedly, Arus stared out the windows as the admiral spoke. Speeches, such a waste of time when he had a ship to run and new crewmembers to settle in.

He picked a handfull of nuts from his pocket and put one in his mouth. the very loud crunch made him painfully aware of his surroundings. "Sorry..." he said to that scientific officer who was now staring at him. He continued chewing very cautiously.

Ah, there was the Captain... oh no, another speech. He had hoped to get through this fast but maybe not He put the remaining nuts into his pocket again and gave the expected applause. That slender asari dressed in green and white near the buffet was much more fascinating.

"The admiral has aptitude for holding the audience." Lamta whispered back to Telos. Yes, Xerana had her way of making the audience follow and listen, something she had not mastered yet. Perhaps it was due to the admiral being an asari, who were naturals at gaining people's attention?

Xerana made a good public figurehead for the CEF initiative. As for maintaining the discipline...there was room for improvement. At least fo Lamta's tastes, she ran ship perhaps bit too loosely.

She glanced at Telos, whose turn to take the podium had come. This duty she was happy to give to the newly minted captain.

Could they please just get this over with?

The complaint was mild, but heartfelt all the same. Senoquol Fenwin Ji'Kilisor Nambes Vrethan Temisaa stood still and waited for the speeches to end. It was pointless ritual, mostly. Could they just get on with it?

Maybe it was just her salarian metabolism, maybe it was the sense that she'd long overstayed her welcome here, or maybe it was the lure of the unknown, the call of freedom. She didn't know.

There were a few salarians on board, but as far as she knew she was the only female. Unusual, to see a female headed out to the frontier. She'd gotten a few curious glances from those knowledgeable enough about salarians to tell the difference between sexes. She imagined she knew what they were thinking. What about duty, what about the matters of clan, the business of politics and the politics of business? Were her clan so fractured that there was no longer a secure centre to it? Had they no males to spare on a possibly dangerous expedition? What was she possibly thinking?

Or maybe they weren't thinking that at all. Maybe she should give them a chance.

She stood silently, calmly, professional, while her thoughts were already speeding her out there, into the unknown.