#jump zero

Things that make him go weak at the knees:

Forging genuine connections on a personal level; when an individual is able to trust him without taking him for granted, thus solidifying their bond.

Most obscure thing he hates:

Cold showers

Childhood experience that defines an aspect of his life:

Vyrnnus' death on Jump Zero.

Assign him a smell:

Without warning, the turian turned on her heel with a roar of her dual-layered voice and, as she did, flung her arms around, sending a powerful Throw at Anna.  Before she could even think, she closed her eyes and raised her arms in an X formation in front of her to block the attack, feeling the power of the ability wash over her, making her skin feel as if it was on fire from the inside out.  Her own biotic nodules reacted to the amount of power being thrust at her, creating a shield around her to block the brunt of the attack, but not all of it.  

Anna felt a sudden and confusing weightlessness in her body when the bulk of the Throw came in contact with her small frame. She flinched when pain bloomed from her shoulder blades and moved throughout her entire body before everything went dark.

Her eyes popped open at the feeling of someone shaking her.  When she focused once more, Annabelle looked straight up and into the eyes of their turian teacher, seeing her classmates standing over her in a circle. She could see disapproval in the clicking of her mandibles, but in the blue of her eyes, she could see a small amount of approval. When the turian noticed she was looking at her, she turned away and crossed her arms over her armor with a ‘hmph’. “You all should learn from her. But be warned:  I will not take it easy on you again, human.”

After class was dismissed, Anna followed the crowd to the mess hall on Jump Zero. She felt drained from their lessons, more so than usual, and knew she had to eat something.  First rule of biotics training? Eat a lot of calories. If not, you will become weak and a hazard to yourself and those around you.

When Anna accepted the tray with the allotted rations on it, the same amount as everyone else on the station, she took the tray and walked to the back of the hall where no one would bother her.  Not that she would have minded the company, but for some reason, no one seemed to want to spend time with her or be her friend, even after having been on the station for almost two months. Was it because of her thick glasses magnifying her eyes? Was it her lanky body or messy hair? Anna thought she was a nice girl - all of the soldiers she spent time with on one station or another were always so nice as they taught her about ships engines, so why didn’t her classmates want to be her friend?

Her eyes scanned the crowds, seeing many were somber or their heads were bent to each other and they were whispering to each other behind their hands. No one noticed her sitting at a small table all to herself in the back of the room.

Anna began nibbling on her food as she watched the others. With one bar down, she folded the wrapper and moved on to the next but paused when she saw a group of slightly older students enter, smiles on their faces and joking with one another. Anna felt her cheeks flush when she noticed one boy in particular as he and his friends grabbed a tray of food that was handed to them and made their way towards the back of the hall where she sat.

She quickly ran her fingers through  her shoulder-length black hair to make sure there were not rats and straightened her glasses and uniform to make herself presentable in hopes that they would join her table just so that she could be closer to the boy that appeared to be the leader. Anna watched them come closer to her and could feel giddiness in her heart.  Would this be the time that she could sit with someone at meal time?

The boy leading the group was so cute! Anna couldn’t help but sigh to herself as she took in his wavy black hair, honey colored eyes and slender frame. What she wouldn’t give to be the pretty girl next to him, all dark gold hair and skin. As they passed to move to a table near by, his honey colored eyes locked with her boring brown and he gave her a smile that was all straight, white teeth, before turning to face the direction they were heading. Anna felt a furious blush come to her cheeks and turned away quickly to hide it from the handsome boy.  When he had passed, she turned back to the group with a sigh.

~//~

His eyes and his smile haunted her thoughts, both waking and sleeping, for months after that encounter in the mess hall. She had started brushing her hair more, making sure her uniform was pressed and had even asked the school leadership if she might be able to get contacts to replace her thick glasses.  They had said no, but she could work with that. She had also started working harder in her classes in hopes that she would become more powerful so that he would notice her. It was silly, but she couldn’t help herself.

She had also noticed that, though he and his friends were always together, those around him seemed to lose more and more of their luster.  Some even becoming more and more pale by the day.  What was their tutor doing to them?  Did she have that to look forward to in the coming years? But no matter how pale and slightly battered they appeared, he always smiled at her as they passed by.

At lunch, she would sit near the back of the hall at her table, trying to make it seem inviting enough that the cute boy and his group of friends would join her, despite their change in physical appearances.  But every day, it failed and she would watch his lips turn up at the corner as they headed to their table.

She had hoped that, as she had gotten stronger with her biotics, that he would have heard of her by now, but every time their eyes met, there was no hint of recognition or admiration.  When she looked around to her classmates, many of them just glared at her, turned away when they noticed she was looking at them, or spoke to their friends behind their hand while they both looked at her through narrowed eyelids.

After several more weeks of this, Anna finally got up the courage to say something to him when they started passing by her table like they always did. She stood, tugged at the bottom of her uniform and straightened her glasses before smiling at the group and waving her arm at them to catch their attention.

“H...hey, Alenko.  Do… do you guys want to sit at my table?”  She felt an instant flush form on her cheeks when they stopped and looked at her.

He smiled warmly before he opened his mouth to give his reply, but one of his friends spoke over him. “Why would we want to do that? You’re a freak and a goody-two-shoes. Come on, K.  Let’s go to our table and leave the weirdo to herself.”

Anna watched with tears in her eyes as he was ushered off to their table on the opposite side of the room from her. A freak? What’s a goody-two-shoes? She didn’t understand and, for some reason, the other boy’s words brought tears to her eyes.  Anna quickly grabbed her tray of untouched rations, stood, and walked over to the garbage compactor where she dumped the trays contents and walked at a brisk pace out into the hall and ran to her bunk.

That was the last time she would see his smile for a very long time.

~//~

The next day, her class was disrupted by the sound of shouting and running feet in the hall outside the door.

Unable to contain their curiosity, including their stern tutor, everyone filed out into the hall to merge with the flow of foot traffic towards one of the classrooms for older students at the end.

‘That’s Alenko’s classroom!’ Anna thinks to herself with fear in her heart. ‘ I hope he’s okay.’

When they reached the classroom, there was a throng of students around the door with teachers shouting from all sides trying to get the students to go back to their classrooms to no avail.  Several minutes later, a turian was carried out on a stretcher by two security guards.  Anna didn’t know much about the anatomy of any species, but the angle of the turians neck just didn’t look right.  When they passed by where she stood, she stifled a gasp by covering her lips with her hands when she saw the sightlessness of his eyes.  ‘ He’s dead!  How could this happen?’

The murmuring of the students milling about the door increased when four more security team members walked out, one in front and back and two walking side by side with someone in the middle.  Someone with dark hair that was looking at their feet as they were escorted down the hall. That messy dark hair looked familiar and Anna’s eyes grew wide.  “Alenko?”

She thought she saw him tense when she spoke his name out loud, but she couldn’t be sure. Anna listened carefully as his group of friends exited the room next, hoping to catch any clue that might explain what happened.

“...Rahna’s hurt…”

“...Can’t believe he did it…”

“...Arrested for sure…”

Anna turned to watch the retreating entourage of security around Alenko as they walked behind the stretcher and down the hall towards the security office. “What did you do?” She murmured to herself as the group turned a corner and disappeared from view.

~//~

“Did you hear?  Alenko’s is being taken away!”

Anna’s head shot up from where she was studying her tray, stacking her rations on top of each other aimlessly and lost in thought. ‘Taken?  Taken where?’

All the students had been a flurry of rumor and theories about what had happened in the classroom where the commotion had occurred, but no one had answers. She had tried asking her tutor when they had all returned to class, but the turian had simply growled, clicked her mandibles and shouted for them to get back to work, working them harder than ever.

When Alenko’s group of friends came in, the pretty girl was missing as well.  Was that the girl people were saying had gotten hurt?  His other friends looked sullen and even more drawn than normal.  

They passed her table like usual, as if they were simply letting their feet take them to their table without being conscious of their actions. The moment they drew close enough, Anna stood and caught their attention. “What happened?” She found herself asking without meaning to, unable to help herself.

The boy who had called her a freak before, paused with the group and turned to her. “Alenko killed Vyrnnus. They are taking him back to Earth.”

Anna gasped in shock. ‘That doesn’t seem like something he would do!’ “When?”

The boy looked down at his shoes while still holding his tray stationary before him.  “Now.”

“Now?!” The boy nodded, his eyes still on his shoes as Anna stood from her seat, completely ignoring her tray, and ran to the only airlock to the station.

Panting for breath, Anna had to bend over and use her hands to prop herself up on her knees to help catch her breath. As her breathing calmed and she stood straight, she heard a din of voices beyond, some human and some turian. When she peeked inside, she saw that Alenko was sitting, with his head in his upturned palms, in one of the many chairs in the room for people to use while waiting for their shuttle to arrive. All of the adults in the room seemed to be off to one side and conversing amongst themselves, occasionally glancing over at him as if to ensure he remained where they had left them.

Moments later, the group approached Alenko and he stood.  When he cast his gaze around, Anna saw sadness in his honey colored eyes and she stepped forward. His eyes seemed to past over her and to where the pretty girl, Rahna, stood with a few other girls near the back of the room. Anna noticed how distraught the other girl looked as she held on to her casted arm with her free arm.  Whatever Vyrnnus had done, she had come out of it with a broken arm.  

He turned to one of the adults, said something and received a nod before he walked over to the group of girls where he stopped in front of Rahna. Still unable to hear what was being said, Anna watched their interaction.  Alenko had his arms open and she could see his mouth moving, but she could also see Rahna turning her head to the side as if he was yelling. Alenko suddenly froze when he noticed her trembling and her friends surrounding her protectively with angry glares aimed at him.

When Alenko pulled back, Anna saw desolation in his gaze and his posture and felt her heart go out to him. She watched his shoulders slump in defeat a moment later and he turned to rejoin the adults. Anna hurried into the room and over to him, compelled by some unknown force to cheer him up.

At his side, she placed her small hand on his bicep. “Alenko?  Are you okay?” All she received in reply was a small smile that in no way reached his eyes. She could tell that he wasn’t really seeing her. It was likely he didn’t even register she was confronting him, even though he patted her hand and continued towards the adults that would escort him to a shuttle back to earth.

Anna felt her skin warm where he had touched her, her biotics swirling just beneath the surface in reaction, creating more confusion beyond what would happen to him.

She watched him until he turned a corner to board the shuttle, a small duffle in his hands.

                                                          ~*~*~*~

The mat was rough and sticky on his cheek as blood and sweat mixed.  

“I’m sorry…” he whispered.  “Rahna...I’m so sorry…”

She refused to look at him.

Legata had her Kessler aimed at the back of his head.

“Cadet Alenko,” she said in clipped tones, “You are being put in restraints to be transported to the infirmary.  Any sudden movements, I will shoot.  Any attempt at running, I will shoot.  Any attempt at resistance, I will shoot.  And I will. Not. Miss.”  The gun cocked.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Stay face down and cross your hands behind your back.  Slowly.”  She put a booted foot on his shoulders and pushed, just to make sure he knew she meant business.  His ribs screamed in pain.  Once he was cuffed, he was hauled back up to his knees.  Amicus had his arms crossed in front of him, studying him.