Chronicle~ Chapter One

One:
     
"Be home before dusk Kalia, I don't like the way these skies look today," Mum called after me as I tugged on my father's old gray Alliance jacket. I smirked as I slipped out the door of our bungalow without saying a thing back to her-
    

At the time I didn't realize how much I would come to regret this.
    

The old autumn air greeted me with a chill as the leaves dance around my worn combat boots. I looked around at the small settlement we lived in, at the long steel bungalows, the people going about their daily priorities, and at the Alliance flag that stood high in the middle of it all. Mindoir was originally set up to look like earth so that the Alliance pilots that came here before their first mission wouldn't feel so lost in the planet's vast gray skies. But about fifty years into the project the scientist noticed that the chemicals they placed in the core of the planet were affecting the people more than the atmosphere. Most children born on Mindoir had some sort of birth defect; either their pigmentation was slightly altered, they had abnormal colored eyes, or they developed some sort of biotic abilities without implants. The Alliance dismissed this as a local supposition though, and placed a training facility here to keep watch on us.
    

Mindoir, a place where if you're born into you stay. It was like the Batarian cast system, hard to get out of once you were born into it. I knew from a young age that I would probably never leave the small planet and I came to grips with that the day I tried to sneak into an Alliance warship and got arrested by its commander. Crime was something of a rarity in the small settlements but in the cities it was common. I was the only one though in our settlement that had any sort of ties to the Alliance; my father was a pilot before he disappeared when I was six. Most people saw the Alliance as our protectors from the Batarian's that constantly threaten the colony.
    

I didn't trust the Alliance; they watched us too closely and made records of everything we did. It was more of a prison then a paradise, but anything is supposedly better than living on one of their warships.
    

I walked along as people passed me, some nodding and some muttering a 'hello' or 'how's your mother'. My mum was our settlements only consistent doctor that worked out of Alliance regulations. Mum said that she got her training from a school on Earth before she met dad and went off world. Then I came along as a surprise and my parents decided Earth wasn't right for them and came to Mindoir.
    

Sometimes I wished they stayed on Earth, any place had to be more interesting than this.
    

"Kalia, Jesus Christ wait up!" A voice called after me.
   

Out of common courtesy I stopped and turned to look at who was calling my name only to see our neighbor's son who was about three years older than myself and the only person that I talked to on a consistent basis.
    
Luke stopped running and doubled over panting slightly, "You…you walk too…fast," he complained as he places his hands on his knees catching his breath.
    
I smirked, "Aren't you supposed to be this big touch Alliance trainee, how are you going to fire a pistol into an army of Batarians when you can't even catch up with a girl?"
    
Luke smiled and casually flipped his middle finger up at me as he rose to his full height, "We both know the Alliance is going to throw me into flight school, I don't have the lung for combat training."
    
I frowned knowing that it was Luke's biggest dream to become an Alliance soldier even though he only had one lung. From a young age his mother kept him locked inside for fear that he would wear himself out but when she got sick three years ago it was Luke's job to become the man of his house and get a job. He enlisted with the Alliance but didn't pass the physical examinations, thus they threw him into flight school. Luke still has hope though that they'll allow him to train to be a soldier even though in the back of his mind he knows he'll never be one.

Mindoir seemed to scare everyone in its own way.  
    
"Well you never know, have you ever thought about getting implants?" I asked as we walked along side by side.
    
Luke laughed, "Kali we both know I'm too poor for those, anyway I'd have to go off world to get them and I can't leave mom behind."
     I just nodded awkwardly. Whenever Luke go talking about his mom he would go into a rage about how she kept him locked up and how he wished his father didn't abandon their family. When this happened I would just nod when it was appropriate and yes him to death.
    
Luke sighed as we got more into the town part of our settlement. There was a super market, dinner, a small general store where you could see the news that the Alliance fed us, and the school we were forced to attend. It was nothing special with its cracking sidewalks and graffiti plastered abounded brick buildings- about the only consistent crime we had. I reached into my pocket looking for the credits I swiped from my mother that morning in order to invest more money into an Asari book on biotics and how to control it. Quickly Luke and I ducted into the general store.
    
The owner was a man almost as old as Mindoir itself. He gave us suspicious looks every time we entered on account of my 'criminal' past. He pretended to be busy talking to a couple of spacers about which planets they've been too and which races they trusted. I just smirked and shook my head as I look through the books as Luke watched a hologram of Commander Anderson giving a speech about how colonists could keep safe. The man was Luke's idol, every time he mentioned Commander David Anderson his dark gray eyes lit up with excitement. Luke ran a hand through his deep red hair as Anderson described the threat of a Batarian attack in some of the outer colonies.
    
"Kali, have you ever thought of joining the Alliance?" Luke asked as he walked over to the arms section and looked at some of the shot guns.
    
I laughed both at the scrawny nineteen year old holding a shotgun and at the thought of me in Alliance blues, "I'd rather have the Batarians attack then join up with them."
    
The two cadets over heard what I had said and I knew it. I smirked as I kept on looking for the book I had hid in the back of the stack. Luke paused and looked worried then set down the gun and look at me his face even more pale than usual, "Don't say such things Kalia."
    
I held up my hands in a defensive gesture, "Sorry but it's true."
    
"But with your biotics you could be a Commander in eight years or less!" Luke declared clearing getting annoyed by my lack of care for the organization.
    
My curse from Mindoir was the biotics I was born with. I didn't have implants that kept the powers stable; they did that on their own. But every year I got older the biotics got stronger. My mother took me to a doctor when I was eight in one of the cities and they said by the age of twenty five I would have the biotic abilities of an Asari Matriarch, something no human should be able to do.
    
I shot Luke a stern look as the cadets came over. Both looked to be in their mid-twenties and dressed in Alliance training uniforms. One was taller than the other with a stern face that held a twisted grin, a badly broken nose, big dark green eyes, tanned skin of an Earth kid, and crew cut black hair.

His friend looked no better. He was slightly shorter with short dark blonde hair, pale skin that had a long scar going down his face, a twisted grin and a bird like nose. His eyes which resembled a dark obsess had a twisted gleam to them.

The one with the green eyes folded his arms over his chest and looked down at me, "Did someone say biotic?"

I scowled and silently cursed Luke, "This doesn't concern you space boys," I hissed my voice like venom as I tried to hide the book from their sight.    
The green eyed one took the book from me and flipped through the pages, "Now why would a little colonist girl need something like this? Won't the words be too hard for you to understand?" The two cadets laughed as the green eyed one passed the book to his friend.

"Give me the book spacers!" I hissed as I clenched my hands into fist as they started to glow a very faint purple.  

His friend smirked, "Feisty these Mindoir women, so tell me darling, what level are you?"

Smirking I picked up the found the book and turned walking away from them saying over my shoulder, "Much higher than you."

My comment seemed to strike a chord with them because I felt one of their hands on my shoulder turning me to face them. Before I could blink one of them had the collar of my shirt in his hands lifting me off the ground.

"Listen you little back space colonist bitch we protect you and this rock of a planet you call home so I expect a little respect from your," black eyes hissed.

Rage started to flow through my veins. I could see Luke standing behind them shaking mouthing to me 'keep calm' as I gripped black eyes hand. Rage was the only way to get my biotics to kick in and luckily for me, I had a bit of a rage issue at times.

I could feel my eyes starting to get their violet iridescent glow that came with my biotics as he tightened his grip on me and shook me. Desperately I shut my eyes and tried to calm myself before things got out of hand. But the longer I did the tighter his grip got and the angrier I got, "Answer me trash!"

My eyes snapped open this time glowing purple. Both of the cadets had a look of utter shock on their faces as a purple aurora started to radiate from my skin.

My mind seemed to disconnect from my body when I was dropped onto the ground. The two cadets staggered backwards away from me as Luke crept around the corner looked frail and scared. Luke saw me like this before once when a guy in our neighborhood decided to start a fight with me. I ended up suspending him five feet in the air with my biotics before Alliance patrol came and broke up the fight. But it ended with me shattering his arm, and I don't even remember sending a blast of energy that hard into his arm.

"What the hell?" The green eyed one muttered in a worried tone.

His friend shook his head as I rose standing with my arms bent holding my hands out at my side dark purple orbs of swirling dark energy floating in my hands. Luke crept closer to me as I took a step towards the cadets. It was as if I was looking through my eyes as a bystander. I was there yet had almost no control over anything I was doing.

"K…Kali, come on let's go, calm down before you hurt someone," I heard Luke whisper from next to me.

My eyes flicked over to look at him. Luke had a panic look on his face, one that matched the shop keepers. He held out his hand and placed it on my shoulder as the purple glow dimmed slowly until my skin and eyes were back to normal. Slowly I blinked away the purple until my eyes were back to their normal light storm blue shade and looked down at the cadets. They were sitting on the floor their backs to the wall breathing heavily and looking terrified. I hung my head as I took out the credits from my pocket and placed them on the counter then picked up my book that was lying open on the floor.

Luke grabbed my elbow and tugged me towards the door. He was still shaking and I knew it was taking every ounce of his strength not to start screaming at me for losing control in public. When we were out the door I heard the door open again then the voice of the black eyed cadet call after me, "You better watch yourself you stupid colonist bitch!"

I snapped breaking away from Luke my eyes glowing dark purple as I rushed at him throwing him into one of the shops steal walls. I gripped the collar of his shirt just as he'd done to me earlier and held him in the air effortlessly. His legs kicked as I turned walking towards the middle of the street still holding him as I delivered a surge of energy that sent him flying from my grip into the middle of the street. He landed with a thud and tried to stand to hobble away as I thrusted my fist into the air in sweeping motion causing surges of dark biotic energy to shoot up from the ground until they made contact with him. The surges sent him flying to the side landing hard on his side. I heard him cry out as his green eyed friend came rushing forward to help him.

Then I heard the voice of an Alliance patrol officer, "Kalia, stand down goddammit you're going to kill him!"

My biotics dimmed and I stood there in the middle of the street looking around at the people that stood there watching. The cadet I attacked was sitting up with the help of his friend, the shop keeper stood there his mouth hanging open in shock, Luke stood a few feet away with a look of terror on his face, but the worst face was that of my mother.
    
She had an ashamed look in her dark blue eyes. She stood there with the Alliance officer looking at her only child with a look of pain and disappointment in her eyes. I made eye contact with her for a moment before she bowed her head and shook it softly.
    
The Alliance officer came storming over and checked on his cadet. The cadet stood and looked at me amazed as he hobbled away with the help of his green eyed friend. Then the officer came over to me and gripped my forearm bruising it surely, "What were you thinking?! You could have killed him!"  
    
I didn't say anything. What could I say in my defense, that he annoyed me? That's about as good as when I got caught smuggling myself into an Alliance warship then said I did it because 'it was fun'. I couldn't meet the officer's eyes knowing what I just did, how I couldn't control my biotics no matter how hard I tried.
    
I was the biotics puppet and it controlled the strings.
    
"Well, are you going to answer me?!" He hissed only inches away from my face.
    
"She was just protecting herself sir," I heard Luke's voice plea from next to us.
    
The officer's dark angry eyes shot up and glared at Luke. Anger was rippling through the officer's veins as they protruded from his neck, "Valus who gave you permission to speak?!"
    
Luke's eyes turned angry and dark. I looked at him silently pleading for him to back down. If he stood up for me now he would surely lose his place in the Alliance forever, and I couldn't let Luke sacrifice that for me. The Alliance was his life, he couldn't throw that away now for my own stupidity. Luke didn't pay any attention to my pleading look and continued.
    
"Sir, Marco and Jameson egged her on, this was only her response to them threatening her," Luke insisted.
    
The officer looked at the two cadets and then back at me trying to put two and two together. I stood there hoping that the officer would take the bait and I'd be let go with a verbal warning. I felt the officer loosened his grip on my shirt and he pushed me away sending me staggering backwards.
    
"Tarus I'm tired of dealing with you losing control of yourself once a week. You're going to be truing seventeen soon, the day you turn seventeen you are to report to Alliance base to start training."
    
I stood there feeling as if my world was coming to a close. I felt myself getting angry again. The Alliance was nothing but extreme baby sitters assigned to police the colonies around when they couldn't even get their own seat on the council in the Citadel. They were full of men and women that were trigger happy and looked for nothing but human domination in a galaxy that we're a guest in. My father used to tell me about how the Alliance was rigorous and you had no freedoms, and they took him away from my mother and I.
    
"No," I hissed.
    
The officer turned and looked at me with a look of amusement and shock on his face, "Excuse me?! I could have you sent to prison for this! You're a threat to society; we can't have you running around freely!"
    
I looked over my shoulder at my mother who stood there. I wished that she would stand up and tell him no, that her daughter would never enlist with the Alliance, that her daughter wasn't a menace to society. But she just stood there looking at me with hurt eyes.
    
My mother bowed her head knowing I'd lost. Turning back to the officer I looked at him with hatred in my eyes and nodded. He smirked knowing he'd won our year old battle and turned walking back with his cadets towards the base.
    
I looked up at the sky as it seemed to have changed from its normal dark storm gray color to an ominous blue-
    
Mom was right, the skies did look different.