We're going to need a bigger boot.

Kaidan was in a good mood. No, scratch that, he was in a great mood. Had stayed that way for most of the morning, too, even if Shepard had to take off and go talk to someone who might have intel on the Reapers. Dr... something.

Dr. Something had remained Dr. Something until about an hour later, when Shepard called in to let him know that Dr. Bryson had been murdered. And so instead of calling Allie and Jack in for lunch, he was calling them over to a nice apartment-slash-lab in the middle of the Presidium. If they wanted to help. He'd been pretty clear about that. And then pretty clear about it again to Shepard ("Look, Jack's a detective.") as he waited outside in the yard for their shuttle to come in.

It hadn't quite killed his happy buzz. Maybe that was morbid. But still.

[[ for jack and allie and SP. details taken from Mass Effect 3: Leviathan. ]]

... Yep, that email had definitely been something Kaidan had sent. Maybe it'd been a bad idea. Maybe he should just keep it casual. Maybe...

... maybe he could really use the distraction of having Allie and Jack over today. He waited for them at a restaurant opposite the local Portalocity office, one of the few across the galaxy that still took traffic. Reapers were making it harder and harder, these days. He fiddled with his datapad the entire time, told the waiter he was fine twice, then finally ordered a cup of coffee.

Okay, so he was early. It was gonna be a day.

[[ for allie and jack! ]]

The further they made it into the Eden Prime settlement, fighting Cerberus all the way, the less empty it became. And not in the good way. Bodies were everywhere out here, colonists with their snacks still on the table, the screen turned to a sports channel-- all dead. They were picking up the data they needed along the way; Shepard's knowledge of the Protheans, the cipher he'd gotten burned into his brain years ago, was invaluable. He could parse Prothean language like no one else.

Still. Kaidan hoped this would be over soon. He'd rather be out in a real battlefield than fighting his way through someone's home.

Finding the room that held the actual stasis deactivation signal was a blessing. Even if it meant watching the cipher spook through Shepard's eyes again, an unnatural green supplanting his usual baby blues.

"You understood that one, too?" Liara asked as the green faded.

Shepard shook his head for a second. "...Yeah," he said. "Let's get back to the pod."

Kaidan pressed his shoulder against the edge of the doorway and peered out. "Cerberus backup forces are here." He drew his rifle. Yeah. Time to end this.

---

( Cerberus had cut off the bridge, so they'd had to take the long way around... )

[[ and this mission is over! nfi, taken from mass effect 3. ]]

Eden Prime.

It was the colony where all of this had started, years ago now: Kaidan, a young lieutenant, had gone down to shore for a routine mission with Shepard, and then it had all gotten outrageously out of hand. It was weird to be back there. So much history... Saren. The geth. The Prothean beacon that had lodged itself in Shepard's head-- damn.

And Ashley, of course. The memory was a jarring one. Kaidan found himself thinking of her as the shuttle descended.

( The significance wasn't lost on Shepard and Liara, either. )

[[ let's see if i can actually finish one of these in a few days' time this go around. nfi, taken from Mass Effect 3. ]]

It had been literally almost a year because transcribing from this canon is hell at least a day since they'd landed on Utukku; the ensuing jaunt through Rachni-infested caves had been... something. Kaidan had a lot of nostalgia for the old days on the Normandy, but Rachni? Fighting Rachni had not been something he'd missed. At all.

He held on to one of the handles in the back of the shuttle, watching Shepard's face as the man sagged back on the bench. It hadn't been an easy decision. They'd had to sacrifice most of Aralakh company to the Rachni to pull off what they'd done, and... there were going to be questions. A lot of questions.

He looked from Shepard to the blood-drenched krogan sitting in the corner of the shuttle, munching down loudly on a chunk of field rations. "I can evaluate you now, Grunt," he offered. "I am a licensed field medic--"

"I'll be fine," Grunt said. He made a loud smacking noise as he bit down on the rations again. "Just some. Scratches." His eyes nearly rolled back into his head, and Kaidan jolted forward. "No, I'm fine, I'm fine, 'm just gonna... nap... time..."

Kaidan looked from the giant krogan now curling up on the bench like a six-year-old kid back to Shepard, and raised his eyebrows.

"That's my Grunt," Shepard said fondly, if tiredly.

Kaidan sighed. "You really think releasing the Rachni queen again was a good idea--?" he asked.

"At some point we have to show some trust," Shepard said. "And we can really use her forces."

"If she's not just going to get indoctrinated again," Kaidan pointed out. "I mean, how much longer are we going to keep giving Rachni the benefit of the doubt--?"

"We need friends, Kaidan."

"I know. But still. The Rachni..."

They stared at each other, in silent impasse.

"I gotta... I wanna hanar blankie," mumbled the bloody krogan warrior cuddled up in the corner.

Shepard sighed. "Let's table this for later."

[[ look who's finally gotten her 360 hooked up again. establishy. will try and finally get this canon catchup DONE while i still have free time. ]]

It'd been a long trip down. Utukku laid somewhere in the less-explored regions of the galaxy; a nowhere, a backwater, famous only because it had once been home to the rachni. Some place they never would've bothered going if Wrex hadn't asked them for help. If there hadn't been word and evidence that-- well.

( So now they were here, hitting atmosphere with the shuttle. )

[[ nfb, nfi, ooc-okay. taken from Mass Effect 3, Attican Traverse: The Rachni. to be continued. ]]

It hadn't been a great night for sleep, but drinks with Allie had at least helped Kaidan's brain calm down enough that he got a couple of hours of rack time. Then there had been breakfast. Briefings. Another conversation with Hackett. Finally, Kaidan had worked out what docking bay the Normandy was currently docked at.

He waited a little longer, after that.

But eventually, he had to go. Shepard was going to be taking off soon-- he didn't want to miss his shot.

So he stood by the Normandy's docking tunnel. Waiting. Thinking he was probably crazy. Worrying, still, about Udina.

It'd been one heck of a weekend.

( The doors slid open. )

---

The previous Normandy hadn't been a particularly huge ship, and while this one was a little bigger, fitting new major crew in was something of a problem. Eventually, Kaidan was relegated to the starboard observation deck, to make office and quarters there.

He was fine with that. It had a nice view, and a comfortable chair. He couldn't complain.

Once he had his stuff moved in, he settled down in that comfortable chair and took out a datapad. Put in the addresses of the few people back on the island who might care - if they were still there - and sent it.

Apparently got pulled out of the Fandom timeline for a couple of months. Sorry I haven't called. I'm available now. --K.

[[ open for phone calls, messages, etc! stuff under the cut taken from mass effect 3. ]]

Looking at the Council chamber, it was hard to imagine that it hadn't been more than a couple of years since Shepard and Saren fought in this very room. Hadn't... been more than a couple of years since Shepard had stood here, going through the exact same thing Kaidan was right now.

Well, more or less. A lot of circumstances had changed. Nobody could deny the Reapers were real now, for one thing, and there were four councilors, not three, and his new position wasn't up for much debate. He sucked in a breath and cast a quick look towards the balcony where Allie was. Stupid nerves.

Councilor Udina practically glowed with pride as he spoke, drawing Kaidan's attention back to him. "Major Alenko, step forward," he said.

Kaidan stepped forward. No more time to be nervous. Now it was time to face the music.

"It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel," said the asari councilor. She looked worried, not proud; the rest of them all did. Understandable, considering the circumstances. Kaidan wasn't exactly jubilant either.

( Of course nothing goes as planned. )

[[ FINALLY, DONE. with much thanks to allie_vamp for having the patience to deal with me as i went through this at a snail's pace. taken from mass effect 3, priority: citadel. let the actual canon catchup begin. ]]

It hadn't exactly been the most... enervating time lately. Kaidan'd been here, on a hospital bed, letting doctors poke and prod at him. He was using the time to try and keep tabs on his old students - if he could find them at all - and writing letters to whoever was willing to read and respond to them.

He didn't exactly expect the guy who came marching in the door. Not that was a bad thing, considering he was busy fending off one of Udina's latest attempts to rush his answer on the Spectre thing.

Predictably, the expression on Udina's face turned to something... curdled... as he saw Shepard. "Shepard," the man muttered as he marched out the door.

"Udina," Shepard echoed, raising an eyebrow at him.

Kaidan smiled wryly at him. "Shepard, hey," he said. "You just missed snack time-- actually, that's probably a good thing. ( Thanks for coming. )

[[ nfb, nfi, ooc-okay! taken from mass effect 3 with some narrative added in for spice. ]]

Huerta Memorial was a crowded hospital. Salarian, human, turian and asari doctors milled around, chatting-- the atmosphere was tense. News of Earth's Reaper invasion had just arrived, and everyone was on edge. More so now that they were aware there was a war hero lying in one of the single rooms, though the room itself was well-guarded.

( Shepard paused in the doorway. )

And... he'd like to sit here, make sure that Kaidan wound up all right... but he had a war to fight, and the Council was waiting for him. He stepped out of the room, nodded at Kaidan's friends sitting in the hallway. "He's stable," he said.

Then Shepard was gone, on to do his job.

[[ for those there! speech taken from mass effect 3. ]]