[Illium] An Officer and a Gentleman

Daia was sorry not to have seen Auckland come in to dock - she had never seen one up close, only as distant specks among the Citadel patrol fleet back in the Serpent Nebula, or orbiting when she and Ana had visited Earth that once. They were strange craft, lancing forward like turian ships, but lacking their wide, mobile wings, they had always put Daia vaguely in mind of some kind of submersible.

But there was no denying they had a kind of majesty in their lines; the imagery from the docks has borne that out, broadcast for all to see over Tourism Directorate's public channel. The accompanying commentaries hadn't quite had the same enthusiasm they had managed for the Arcane's visit not too long ago, but they were complimentary enough, in a distant sort of way - obviously Illium didn't want its human guests to feel unwelcome, even if it was only rote courtesy shown to the distant Alliance. No doubt the moment the human collective economy made an upswing, the Board of Governors would hang out welcome wreaths far more enthusiastically, Daia mused wryly.

She glanced at the sky lanes, watching aircars go by, as it occurred to her she had no idea how her guest would be arriving. Rapid transit, taxi - perhaps someone at Hahne-Kedar, or one of the other Terran corporations who had offices in the city, would think it worth the goodwill to put a luxury 'car at the Captain's disposal during his stay. Stranger things had happened. Behind her the plaza was pleasantly shaded, the sunlight - lingering about the horizon as always, this northerly, but bent into a closer approximation of 'normal' midday by the plaza's photo fields - filtered through the branches of the big whisper oak. Kaga's Mobile Café was doing a brisk trade, and Daia spotted a few humans amid the diners already. At least her guest wouldn't be apprehensive that the big krogan chef might not understand human tastes.

John let the autopilot take the aircar along the sky lanes, until it turned towards the plaza. It set down next to the rapid transit system, and powered down. Stepping out of the aircar, John saw an Asari, looking thoughtfully at the aircars passing by.

Looking at his onmi tool, the locator ping identified the Asari as Daia. He turned off the omni, and strolled up beside her, the gold trim of his uniform glistening in the sun.

"You must be Daia. I'm Captain Wagstaff. You look stunning, by the way."

"Captain," Daia smiled, holding out her hand in greeting - just one hand, human-fashion. "Greetings - and thank you. You wear your uniform handsomely yourself." There was no overt flirtation, but warmth nonetheless, and the compliment had obviously been well-received.

"Please, sit," she invited, leading the way up the handful of steps to the plaza proper, and gesturing to a vacant table on the periphery of the café; a small 'reserved' sign, taking the form of a holographic champagne flute with a glowing blue flower in it, vanished as they took their seats.

"In case you haven't already heard it a dozen times today," Daia began, "welcome to Nos Astra. It's quite an event to have an Alliance cruiser visit."

He nodded. "It's an honor being here. From what I've seen so far, Nos Astra is a beautiful city."
He gestured towards some humans at the bar, wearing Alliance fatigues.
"I don't think a cruiser has even been to Illium before, so I guess we're making history. But at least they get some rest while we're here."

After pausing for a second, he asked "So, how long have you lived here?"

Daia glanced in the direction the Captain pointed, and nodded with a smile - she hadn't recognised the more utilitarian uniforms as belonging to the Alliance as well, although now it had been pointed out a memory did stir from her film research.

"I'm sure we'll all try not to tire them out too much," she joked, signalling for a pair of menus from one of Kaga's waitresses. "I believe you're right, I don't recall any cruisers visiting before - at least not making a public appearance. Thank you," she said to the waitress, handing a menu to Wagstaff.

"It's been a bit over fifty years local," she mused, choosing a ham-and-uloth Claymore Croissant for herself. "That'd be seventy-five years - no, seventy-six - standard years. I'd been plying my trade on Omega before that, and while the credits were good, it's not the kind of place someone like me looks to make a home. Admittedly," she laughed lightly, "Omega-to-Illium is more a sideways move so far as respectability goes, but at least here you don't feel half-dressed if you're not carrying a weapon. In most districts, anyway."

She fixed the Captain with a curious gaze.

"How about you?" she asked. "How long have you been calling Auckland home? Uh, the ship, not the city... they're all cities, aren't they, your cruisers?"

"Yeah, all our cruisers are named after cities. I've been captain of the Auckland since the beginning of 2187. Before that, I was in command of the SSV Perth, but she took a direct hit during the assault on Earth," He paused to order a Bacon-Lettuce-Tomato Sandwich. "Luckily for us, the ship was only severly damaged, not destroyed. Didn't lose anyone, either."

"Anyway, there was a mostly intact Cruiser hull, still abandoned in orbit where it was being built when the Reapers hit. It became the Auckland. Been her captain ever since."

He looked around the plaza, smiling, before turning back to Daia. "This city reminds me of Paris, back on Earth. It's just so... calm."

"So, anything you want to talk about?"

"That's a flattering comparison, thank you," Daia beamed; for all its faults small and large, she was proud of her adopted home city. "I visited Paris once - far more briefly than it deserved, really, had to dash back across the channel for the second week of Wimbledon. But," she added, smiling, "there was enough time to propose to my bondmate on the Pont des Arts. A short but suitably romantic trip."

She broke off for a moment as their food arrived, and took a nibble before pausing to reply.

"In all honesty," she chuckled, "it is as straightforward as 'never met a cruiser captain before.' Alliance anyway, my father was turian, and career military - not a naval officer himself, but given that side of my family I've had plenty of chances to get the visitors' tour of various ships I've had relatives on." She waved a hand airily. "I'm the curious sort. Had a small film role as an Alliance fighter pilot a while back too, so that piqued my interest in your navy in general."

Listening, he took a quick bite from his sandwich. "Ah. If you have free time after this, I could give you a tour of the main areas of the ship." He took anothe bite off of his sandwich. "You said your father was Turian. Anyone I may have heard of?"

"A tour, really?" Daia did some lightning calculations in her head - her next appointment was fourteen-fifty, not far from the military docks now she thought of it... and wasn't expecting her to be wearing anything in particular, her current dress would do, given a bit of charm and promise to sell it - if she took the Talbot and got a fast drive through the southern arch... "I might just be able to squeeze in a quick look-around," she said hopefully. "Not long enoug to linger over every detail, but one doesn't pass up that kind of opportunity. Thank you, I'd be delighted."

She looked pleased at the inquiry after her father, and set her croissant aside for a moment.

"I wouldn't expect you'd know of him," she shook her head. "Not unless you've read pretty deeply into Hierarchy military history. He got about during his service - did his regiment's spirit proud along the way," she added, with obvious pride herself, "- but in his heart, he was always a drill sergeant. A good one, too. But history tends to remember the generals, not who taught them as raw recruits how to stay in one piece long enough to become generals. Of course I'm sure most daughters love to remember their fathers as the cornerstones of whatever it is they do." She chuckled cheerfully, and took another bite of her lunch.

"I hope you enjoy it."He paused momentarily to straighten himelf in his seat. "I haven't looked into the history of the Hierarchy. But it's the same with generals from Earth's military history. No one remembers the men, and women, who taught them how to be who they became." He paused again for another bite of his lunch. "Besides, in my opinion the drill sergeants are more important than generals. Generals may give the orders, but the sergeants taught them how to lead."

"My father would've liked that," Daia noted with a smile. "I suppose it's always been that way. He wasn't interested in glory... but then, I imagine generals aren't either, at least not the good ones. We all just muddle along the best we can, and hope it all turns out alright in the end."

"I must admit, some of my father rubbed off on me. He was an Alliance marine, and a good man." He cleared his throat.
"Good father too, to both me and Liria. He lost his life when the Reapers hit Earth. Only parent either of us have now is Liria's mother. But, considering the galaxy all went to hell for a while, we came out alright."

"What about your parents? How are they?"