Nirena’Kelani

**Nirena'Kelani nar Vonahue** is a member of the Council Recovery Corps.

## Biography

Born as an only child in her family on the *Vonahue* in the Migrant Fleet’s civilian fleet, Nirena’Kelani grew up with several family friends, as her parents, Korina’Kelani vas Vonahue and Jolun’Kelani vas Vonahue constantly worked in the drive core and stabilizer blocks of the ship, which was dangerous for kids to run around such sensitive machinery. She didn’t see them often, but she cherished what little time she could spend with them. She started making friends at the age of 4, and she would get her first enviro-suit at the age of 5. She would help a friend build her first drone when she was 9 years old, and her first big achievement to showing what she learned of repair would be when she was 11 years old, where she managed to fix a heat distributor cable system all by herself, earning the praise of her parents. She was fairly liked by a lot of quarians on the ship, mind a few select Quarians that would get annoyed with how hyperactively friendly she generally was.

When she reached the age of 12, Nirena’Kelani saw her first non-Quarian, mainly a turian and an asari visiting for reasons that she didn’t know. Even though they wore armor and suits that hid their faces, the fact she was seeing one face to face before her pilgrimage was a very big thing for her when growing up. Though she wouldn’t have been able to meet them, this only made her more and more excited for her pilgrimage. When Nirena’Kelani was a few months past 13 years old, she attempted to sneak onto a shuttle that was carrying a group of older quarians going on their pilgrimage, only for her to be caught for stowing away and scolded for her actions. Her parents, while disappointed, saw this act as a testament to her curiosity and willingness to explore, so they had Nirena’Kelani prepared for her pilgrimage early, spending what years she had left on the *Vonahue* to teach her as much as they could remember to prepare her for her journey.

When she was 15, nearing the age of 16, the *Vonahue* experienced a power surge that threatened the ship’s integrity. Nirena’Kelani quickly acted to help save the ship, climbing in the vents and helping to secure the power supply for the engineers to access and stabilize the ship. Nirena’Kelani wouldn’t know how much of a danger she’d put herself in during that event until much later. The captain of the *Vonahue*, Hann’Sharl vas *Vonahue,* was grateful that she helped save the ship and everyone on it, and Nirena’Kelani was never more proud of herself than that moment. When Nirena’Kelani turned 16 on June 12, 2184, the day of her age of departure for her pilgrimage, she was finally ready to go on her way. Having been trained in engineering and basic combat skills for firearms, tech, and melee combat, Nirena’Kelani felt herself ready to go out in the outside galaxy, exploring the Citadel and seeing what riches she could witness and bring back to the Migrant Fleet. Being young and naive, Nirena’Kelani was blissfully ignorant to the politics and troubles the galaxy was stirring up, and her family worked to keep it that way, not willing for her to be pulled into such a large mess.

Not even a week after leaving the Migrant Fleet, on the date of June 15, 2184, the shuttle she was on was attacked by a gang of slavers known as the Nakri, mainly asari and turians. Nirena’Kelani was brought to the massive asteroid known as Omega. Upon arrival, she was bought by a Batarian gang leader known as Goral, and thrown to the Doru District. Nirena’Kelani was immediately forced to work in the massive asteroid’s industrial area by Goral, working on large, outdated, and unbearable life support and air filtration machinery in dangerous and unhealthy conditions. Nirena’Kelani was also abused by Goral and a few others as well, pushed around and beaten up during work, luckily not to the point of her suit rupturing or being compromised, as the one who bought her didn’t have many slaves to own, but enough for the beatings to be painful and lasting. Her envirosuit overall received minor damage, which she would repair with scraps of suits from other deceased quarians. Nirena’Kelani later came to realize how harsh the galaxy was, and that no one in the galaxy looked kindly to Quarians. Anyone who was nice to her turned out to be faking it to steal what few belongings she had. One person she met was an Asari slave named Narisa, whom she befriended for a few months until Narisa backstabbed her, stealing her omni-tool and what few immuno-boosters Nirena’Kelani had to properly survive. She would make it by stealing other immuno-boosters when she could, and using them as sparingly as she could, though stealing other immuno-boosters for herself made her feel sick.

After 2 and a half years working away in Omega, Nirena’Kelani memorized the shifts of the other slaves and mercenaries to figure out a routine. One day in March 17 of 2186, she took that opportunity to steal a few guns, an M8 Avenger, M9 Tempest, and an M5 Phalanx, an omni-tool, some medigel, and a hundred or so credits and snuck out. After several hours of sneaking around, Nirena’Kelani somehow made her way to a dock, sneaking to a shuttle to escape only to be intercepted by a few mercenaries. By sheer luck and some memory of her training, she managed to shoot one and escape Omega by the shuttle while under fire, though she would get hit by a grazing shot on the elbow, which she would repair and heal using medigel, Though her killing that mercenary would forever haunt her, despite her telling herself it was in self defense.

She turned 19 years old not too long after making it onto the Citadel, on April 12, 2187, on the shuttle she stowed away on, where she received dirty looks wherever she went, not because of her dirty and damaged enviro-suit, but because she was a quarian. Nirena’Kelani felt she was unable to return to the fleet, not wanting for her family and ship to feel ashamed of her running back home and away from her pilgrimage duty when so many other quarians endured more and came back home. Nirena’Kelani didn’t have many credits or any means of contacting the fleet, making herself feel even more alone. Despite recalling how she was trained to deal with all the racism and prejudice the galaxy would hold against Quarians, Nirena’Kelani would still feel herself unprepared with how harsh and numerous it would be, and she would overall stay out of the public eye, unwilling to go through such horrible treatment again like on Omega. Any attempts to contact home were put off for various reasons, so she eventually stopped trying a few months in. After a few days of searching for a proper place to stay, she would make do with a shelter that was tolerant towards Quarians. A month later, Nirena’Kelani would later start her own projects, finding old pieces of technology and working with them to make small gadgets and trinkets she could sell on the side. This would make her enough credits to get proper tools, and she would be able to make better gadgets and tech, which would let her make more credits, though not by much as there were very few that would buy from a Quarian.

A year and a few months after making it onto the Citadel, Nirena’Kelani fell in love at the age of 20, on June 18, 2188. She had come across a kind and handsome turian C-Sec officer, Sagran Irin, who helped chase off a few teens from robbing her, and she quickly gained feelings for him. He was one of the few on the Citadel who didn’t discriminate against Quarians, and she grew very attached to him. Despite being nervous about asking him out, Nirena’Kelani was surprised when he said yes, and very happy when he returned her feelings. A few months of getting to know each other, he agreed to date her to see where things went. They didn’t see each other often due to Sagran’s job as an officer, but they managed to go on a first date on June 19, 2188. Two weeks later on July 3, 2188, during their second date together, Sagran would be forced to assist against a small shootout at a store they were near, where a few hot-headed thugs attempted to rob the place with pistols and submachine guns. Upon an officer walking over to investigate, the thugs panicked and opened fire, luckily not killing the store owner and the officer, but causing chaos around them. Sagran told Nirena’Kelani to hide as he fought back against the thugs with a C-Sec officer alongside him, resulting in him getting killed by a stray shot before reinforcements could arrive and apprehend the robbers. Traumatized by grief and sorrow, Nirena’Kelani would permanently change after that event. The following investigation and questioning by C-Sec didn’t help either, as they’d assumed that she was involved in that shootout just by her being there when she was seen crying over Sagran’s corpse, the only casualty in that shootout.

Nirena’Kelani was questioned as a witness, and later suspected as one who was involved, despite there being testimony that she was with the deceased officer during the event of the shootout. She found out that the officer investigating, a turian named Nesani Wiya, was very prejudiced against Quarians, and was a somewhat close friend to Sagran. Despite that, her words went through and Nirena’Kelani was continuously suspected of being involved with Sagran’s death, despite any attempts to prove her innocence. She wasn’t downright charged, since there was insufficient evidence that she really was involved, but the fact C-Sec constantly looked at her wrong was really getting to her. After over a month of further investigation and being wrongly accused, the case would finally close to prove Nirena’Kelani’s innocence, with the thugs that tried robbing the store just being a few rebellious teens who got in over their heads, with her finally being able to go on her own on August 10, 2188, without as much as an apology for the misplacement of justice. With trauma, grief, and fear having taken over her emotions, she no longer trusted her feelings, nor did she trust C-Sec anymore. She put off dating, for fear of the pain and loss she felt when losing Sagran, as well as the prejudice that most would have against Quarians. Especially with word of how she was suspected in that shootout, she didn’t want to be seen by anyone after that, despite her innocence.

Nirena’Kelani, now a few months into being 21 years old, July 2nd, 2189, would have found her own job to work at. She was lucky to come across a turian mechanic named Lijek, who was kind to Quarians and offered her a place to work. She would be good friends with Lijek, who let her build her own little drones and stuff to help her out(as long as they didn’t cause damage). While she worked, she and Lijek would talk, mainly about Lijek and his husband, and how she was on her pilgrimage. Lijek talked about how he knew a quarian growing up, and knew quite a bit about a quarian’s pilgrimage. He never mentioned who the quarian was, as he always referred to the quarian as “she”, cryptically. Lijek was always the type to leave a bit of mystery when talking. Plus, Nirena’Kelani didn’t ask her name. A month into working, Nirena’Kelani asked Lijek about the wars she’d heard about, surprising him that she was unaware. He understood, since Nirena’Kelani explained how her life went up and down, and explained about the Terminus Wars(something Nirena’Kelani knew quite a bit about) as her people were a part of it, and the Reaper War, which she did hear about, but did not pay much attention to, seeing as she wasn’t really a part of it and she was focusing mostly on getting her own life back on track. While she didn’t know much, she wasn’t oblivious enough to be completely un-knowledgeable about what was going on, knowing a bit about the Reapers and the conflicts that took place over the Omega Four Relay.

During her job, Nirena’Kelani stayed away from any sort of interaction with strangers, and prepared to leave the Citadel when she had enough credits. She purchased her own small shuttle that was practically falling apart due to age and various damages, and it was over a hundred years old. Luckily, she was able to buy the shuttle at a decently cheap price, before getting ready to leave the Citadel, spending the next few months preparing her departure from the Citadel back to the fleet, where she would fix up the ship a little to run properly. Soon, she had gotten her own ship license and fixed the ship she bought. In those few months, she’d finally see the quarian embassy, where she asked about the fleet and the *Vonahue*, though she wouldn’t be able to get any answers before she had to get back to her job, making more credits and continuing to fix and revamp the shuttle.

Nirena’Kelani later said farewell to Lijek, thanking him for all his kindness before she left the Citadel and returned to the fleet with it, only to realize that the *Vonahue* and all its crew, including her parents and friends,were gone in a drive core overload accident back in 2187. Regretting not contacting her parents before it was too late, she chose not to return, deciding to just leave the ship with the Migrant Fleet and return to the Citadel, seeing as she felt she could help out, joining the CRC to see what she could do to help out considering what little she knew about the war, and despite all the prejudice she experienced. Nirena’Kelani would come to understand the politics, the quarians becoming a council client race once again, and the rest of the details about the war.

## Personality

Nirena’Kelani is fairly reserved and independent, going out of her way to avoid interaction and prevent any sort of attachments to anyone she was suspicious of, especially people who look at Quarians the wrong way, While this makes her out as one with a somewhat closed off attitude, she’s been trying to go differently, since she’s been wanting to make changes after the war. She is friendly and nervous a lot of the time, as well as overall just plain clumsy, a trait she’d kept during childhood. She could get pretty mean as well, only if she feels it necessary to turn to such behavior.

She generally doesn’t talk too much, but when she does, she speaks with a soft voice. When she’s mad, she’ll raise her voice, which sounds loud and scratchy. Her voice modulator/speaker had some minor damage she didn’t feel the need to repair, so her voice is a pitch higher than it normally sounds. She likes technology, but not to the degree that she used to.

### Exceptional Skills

* *Building -* One of Nirena’Kelani’s skills and hobbies included building little trinkets and random machines, like a robotic arm on a mount, or her own personal drones. One of her Nirena’Kelani’s personal projects that she never fully got into included an untested unconfirmed-to-actually-work particle shielding device, something she always tinkers with when she’s bored. She never used it, as it was more of a pet project she never finished.
* *Reading -* Nirena’Kelani liked to read, mainly drama and action stories as well as the occasional horror story.
* *Singing -* Nirena’Kelani is a fairly good singer, liking to sing in her free time when she was alone. She liked to sing back on the Migrant Fleet, and she would keep this hobby/habit to remember her time as a child before leaving the Migrant Fleet.

## Physical Description

Nirena’Kelani is a slim & young Quarian adult with a blue and white enviro-suit with grey armor on the legs, arms, wrists, and shoulders. She has slightly wide hips and a slim waist and stomach, as well as slim thighs. Her chest armor is scratched and chipped, and her left shoulder is discolored. The enviro-suit has cuts and marks of damage, and the veil has a large sewn area going from the top to the side where it meets the shoulder. The visor is tinted dark blue with scratches, and the left breast area of the enviro-suit has a patch black from another Quarian’s suit. At first glance, Nirena’Kelani look like a normal Quarian with a damaged enviro-suit. She’s generally very stiff, doesn’t relax, and looks around her often. To others, they could say she walks like she’s in a hurry and looks around like she’s never been here before. She walks with a slight limp to her left leg, and she always clutches her left wrist, not moving it around a lot. Both acts of manner are from permanent injuries during her capture and slavery on Omega.

### Armament

* M-8 Avenger
* M-9 Tempest
* M-5 Phalanx

### Abilities

* Incinerate
* Overload
* Concussive Shot
* Sentry Turret