Bioware owns this universe and this is just my attempt to be part of it by writing this story. While I tried to keep true to the dialogue of the encounter on Horizon in Mass Effect 2 there is some slight differences. I hope you enjoy and I welcome all constructive criticism and feedback – RA.
Horizon
The blast rang out to all corners of the colony, inexplicably the GARDIAN cannon was functioning. But who had corrected the calibrations?
The moment of confusion was enough for a pair of husks to appear from around the corner of the closest building. Wailing loudly they ran at him, arms failing erratically as they did. Kaidan raised his pistol, felt the thermal clip click into place and took aim at the closest husk. Squeezing the trigger the shot fired, hitting the husk in its mutated face while mid stride. It collapsed thrashing violently, landing near where Kaidan stood. Blue electric energy pulsated from the husk into a bright halo across the ground overloading the shield generator on Kaidan's armour.
"Damn it!" Kaidan cursed angrily firing another round into the husk, this time putting it down for good. It stopped thrashing, the eerie blue glow fading from the exposed circuits.
These husks had definitely been upgraded since Eden Prime.
He sidestepped the second Husk which launched itself over its fallen comrade straight towards Kaidan. They moved faster than they had on Eden Prime, Kaidan barely had time to throw his arm up in a protective block before the Husk leapt at him again hitting it across its face, the Husks teeth gnawing uselessly against his armoured forearm.
The electric tingle of his biotics spread through Kaidan like warm, electrified goose bumps and he threw the husk. There was a sickening snap as the biotic force hit the Husk squarely in the head before sending it flying into the wall of the building it had emerged from. The force left a splattering smear of grey and blue mess on the wall, this time though the husk lay on the ground lifeless and unmoving.
That worked better.
The quite satisfaction lasted a second before sliding the pistol into its holster and resuming his steady run towards the engineering sheds, the rhythmic attack of the main cannon against the invading ship gave Kaidan renewed energy, despite having spent the majority of the day running and expending his biotics to their limits.
He was getting close, the blasts were leaving an echoing ring in his ears.
Kaidan reached the hill which overlooked the East border of the colony in time to see the invading ship fire its engines. Intel had suspected that those involved with the missing colonists were also the cowards which had attacked the Normandy. If nothing else came from today at least the Alliance will now know that the Collectors were behind both.
As if it was a signalled the paralysing swarm rose above the colony, a deadly swirl of winged pincers that formed a retreating cloud over Horizon.
Kaidan rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the insects reminded him of the stabbing pain that those pincers had caused. He could admit that those bugs were an ingenious way of immobilising an entire colony, even if he could not fathom how the Collectors managed to control a army of bugs to do so. Also how the Collectors came by a paralysing poison similar to the one he knew Cerberus used made Kaidan very suspicious. Right now though, it was just yet another riddle to add to a growing list. What a nightmare of a day.
He would discuss the matter with Anderson when this is over. But regardless of if Cerberus had created and therefore given the poison to the Collectors, or the other way around, Kaidan had confirmation of their involvement. Involvement of the rouge organisation, however tenuous, was never a good sign and left Kaidan with a foul taste in his mouth.
From his vantage point on the hill Kaidan could see the clearing where the main GARDIAN cannon stood, it was ringed by engineering sheds and farming equipment, which meant there was plenty of cover for his approach. There was also a hell of a fire fight going on down there.
Grabbing his assault rifle, Kaidan focused the scope to get a better look.
A group a soldiers, heavily armed and some using biotics, were completely surrounded. Husks and Collectors alike throwing themselves at the group in waves.
That explained the lack of resistance from Collector forces as he had made his way over here. Kaidan thought it was a little too easy compared to the dog fight that he endured after initially getting free of the paralysis.
Right now both the armed group of solders and the Collector forces were distracted which meant Kaidan could get closer and figure out who had come to Horizon's aid.
There was a loud explosion in the clearing. Kaidan quickly swung his scope towards the sound. He managed to see what looked like a giant sized bug, similar to those of the paralysing swarm, land amongst the group in the clearing. He caught a glimpse of it before the dam thing moved behind a shed and was obscured from view.
Another explosion in the clearing, this time Kaidan could see red flames above the roof of one of the sheds. The colonists kept their fuel supplies down there. The soldiers were going to need help.
The pre-fab buildings whirled past in a blur as he sprinted down the hill, his assault rifle still in his hands, biotics charged, ready for any sudden attacks. To his surprise he noted the frozen orange glow of colonists, statues frozen in their frantic attempt to flee from the initial invasion. The Collectors had spared them. Or left them to collect after the armed group had been dealt with.
The cannon blasted again. Kaidan was nearing the outside edge of the engineering sheds, he could hear the heavy gun fire over the new ringing in his ear and sense the massive amount of biotic energy being used. Whoever had fixed the GARDIAN's targeting calibrations were doing well to hold their own against that monster.
But how had they been immune to that damn swarm?
The Collectors ship's engines roared to life, it's exhaust hit the colony like a shockwave of heat and air, causing Kaidan to stumble mid stride. The ship was leaving. The Collectors had successfully managed to abscond with more than half of the colony, but unlike the other settlements there were survivors and the attackers had been identified.
The Cannon fired a few last blasts at the retreating ship, aside from the fading roar of the engines, a eerie silence fell across the colony.
It was over.
"NO! STOP THEM! NO! NO! NO!".
Kaidan slowed as he approached the clearing, pressing up to the closest shed and he carefully edged towards a better vantage point.
He could recognise Delan's voice yelling in the clearing and had to suppress an annoyed moan. Of all the people... Kaidan stopped the angry thought in its tracks. As much as he disliked the man and his obstructing behaviour, Kaidan didn't truly wish for Delan to be trapped on that Collector ship. But he did hope that Delan would be haunted by the guilt of what happened here. After all, if the cannons had been properly operational there would have been more colonists still on Horizon, rather than in that ship, going god only knows where. There had been a lot of good people on Horizon, sometimes a little small minded, but good people all the same. So many lives gone.
"Don't let them get away!" Delan cried out.
Kaidan could see Delan running into view yelling at those who stood closest to the cannon.
"They have Lilith, Egan and Sam….. Half the colony is in there!" Delan yelled
From where Kaidan stood he could see the armed group was a strange rag tag mix of people. A dark skinned man paced the perimeter eyeing the pre-fab buildings with suspicion, he held himself as seasoned solider and he had a kind face. However, Kaidan's eye was immediately drawn to the orange insignia on the mans broad chest. Peering through the rifle scope he could make it out clearly. Acid rose in the back of his throat, Cerberus again.
Were they working with the Collectors?
No, the cannon working didn't seem to support that.
So why were they here? Maybe trying to cover their tracks with the paralysis poison? Kill the Collectors before its revealed that they had made the poison that the Collectors were using? Kaidan would put nothing past them and nothing was beneath them so long as their "goals" were met.
"We have a reports that there has been sightings of Cerberus at the colonies that went missing. The intelligence suggests they may be involved, not their normal MO, but at this point we are not ruling out any possibilities" He remembered Hackett's debriefing before coming out to Horizon. Kaidan knew from experience that Cerberus were unpredictable, unethical and messy. But even he had initially written off the rumour of their involvement. A pro-human group stealing colonists didn't make sense.
Regarding the clearing in front of him now Kaidan could see that there were six individuals, aside from Delan, in the clearing. Aside from the dark skinned solider there was a woman wearing something similar to a cat suit, attractive but impractical for a battlefield. Still it was more appropriate to the nakedness of a bald and heavily tattooed woman who was pacing impatiently back and forth, that one was dangerous. Even from his hidden position Kaidan could feel her charge biotics, like static electricity, the woman was boiling over with the charged power. How she managed to maintain the charge was admirable but there was an instability to it, as if the biotics had not been tamed through years of practice and learning. It reminded Kaidan of how he had felt when he was 15 and his own ability had begun to fully manifest.
An older grizzly looking man was lazily leaning against the fuel barrels on the far side from where Kaidan stood, arrogantly smoking a cigar and seemingly disinterested in Delan's yelling. Despite this Kaidan did catch the protective glance he casted towards the two standing directly in front of the cannon.
A Turian stood behind Delan. His body appeared tense, as if posed to pounce on an unsuspecting Delan if he made a wrong move towards the woman in black amour. She had her back to Kaidan and appeared to be the focus of Delan's anger. Kaidan couldn't make out any distinguishing features on the Turians face, there was barley a face there. The half that was in Kaidan's view was heavily scared and freshly burned. Obviously still healing, Turian or no he shouldn't be on active duty while healing from that kind of injury.
He focused on the woman in black armour, something about her was familiar to Kaidan. She wasn't particularly tall, but the way she held her shoulders back, her head proud, gave her an air of authority that quickly made up for her lack of height.
His heart suddenly jolted to life. Kaidan drew a steady breath to soothe the tremor spreading through his body.
"There is one more rumour you should be aware of Commander Alenko" Hacketts voice rang clearly through his memories.
The woman standing in the clearing turned to face Delan, accusingly jabbing her finger squarely on Delans chest. She had her red hair tied into a careless and messy knot. He could see her face now and her emerald eyes were a flame with rage.
During debriefing Hackett had handed him a data pad containing an anonymous communication that had been messaged directly to Anderson. Kaidan had dismissed the glow of hope it had given him briefly. He was a practical man and he knew that no one had the ability to survive the Normandy's explosion, vacuum exposure and possibly atmosphere re-entry. Not even her…. And the woman Kaidan had known would never have volunteered to work with Cerberus, especially after what they had seen while investigating Saren. When he had asked him about the message Anderson had refused to speculate or discuss it beyond acknowledging that he had received it and Hackett wasn't much better.
Now standing in the clearing was the evidence that he had been wrong to dismiss the message entirely.
"I did EVERYTHING I could! All you did was cower in your garage!"
Kaidan heard her voice and the world seemed to slow to stand still, it was definitely her. His own heart, thumping in his ears, his feet moving with the grace of dead weights, his eyes did not leave her face.
"You did more than most Shepard" the Turian spoke to her over Delan's head.
Somewhere in his mind Kaidan registered the familiar voice of scared Turian, but all he could focus on was her.
Shepard.
Commander Shepard.
Naomi.
She was alive.
Kaidan holstered the assault rifle, the dark skinned solider saw his approach and nodded in recognition, apparently allowing Kaidan to walk by. Kaidan didn't slow his pace into clearing barely acknowledging the Cerberus solider as he walked past.
Shepard was his sole focus.
"Shepard? Wait, how do I know that name?" Delan spoke in an accusing tone.
Kaidan could see her clearly now. She was as he remembered although he had feared that he had forgotten her voice, or her eyes and the way they saw more than what her facial expressions or spoken words would give away. But looking at her now, it was like she had never gone away.
"Commander Shepard" Kaidan's own voice felt like gravel in his throat as he spoke, heavy with the confused emotions which threatened to overwhelm him. "First Human Spectre, Captain of the Normandy, Saviour of the Citadel."
He walked right up to where Naomi and Delan stood, sparing the frustrating man with an indifferent glance.
"You're standing in front of a legend Delan" Kaidan's voice trailed off, he couldn't take his eyes off her. The hope he had so recently dismissed fired his heart with overwhelming relief. Igniting life to the part of his heart which decayed with grief with her apparent passing. She was standing in front of him now.
"And a ghost" Kaidan finished.
"Figures!" Delan responded disgustedly "All the good people we lose and you are still here! I'm done with you Alliance types!"
Kaidan registered in his peripheral that Delan was storming off in a familiar tantrum that Kaidan had seen countless times since arriving on Horizon, and sparred it less than half a thought.
Naomi stood in front of him, she wore black tight fitting light armour plating. It was styled like a mercenary rather than an Alliance solider. The N7 insignia was still proudly displayed on her chest though and to his relief he couldn't see any Cerberus badging. Standing in front of her now, it felt as though the two years that was between them vanished. His heart was beat a steady drumming in his ears. He had loved this woman, mourned her death and now inexplicably, miraculously, she stood in front of him. A small, unsteady smile touched her lips. As if she was unsure what to do next. Her eyes searching Kaidan for a reaction.
He swallowed the gravel lodged in his throat and took a step towards her. Time seemed to speed up to normal as he gathered her into an embrace. He did not realise how unsure of her he was until the relief flooded through him as she embraced him back.
"I thought the worst when I saw the Collectors take off. I'm glad you are ok". She spoke so softly that Kaidan barley heard her over the steady drumming in his ears.
"I thought you were dead Shepard….." Kaidan spoke to her, the feel of her in his arms immediately familiar, her scent, which was unmistakably HER, drowned his senses. "We all did."
"I know…. I'm sorry Kaidan" Shepard whispered in his ear.
He took a deep breath and let go of her. Taking a step back, realisation setting in. She knew, for two years she knew that he was grieving and she had done nothing.
The two years between them reopened liked a chasm before him. In a rush all his senses snapped back into place relief and joy at her being alive were slowly dimmed by growing anger and betrayal.
In the last two years she had been needed.
Cerberus had become increasingly active and destructive.
The Council refused to prepare for the Reapers. The Alliance had followed the Council's suit and had put up barriers at every turn as Hackett and Anderson desperately tried to take Commander Shepard's place and prepare for the coming Reaper invasion.
The Batarians had become increasingly hostile. The missing Human colonies.
Even closer to home the Normandy crew had disbanded without Shepherd there to hold them together. And Joker had been grounded, all but formally dismissed from the Alliance for his role in Shepard's apparent death. No small part due to Kaidan's damming testimony against him.
Where had she been? Kaidan had mourned her and suffered survivors guilt for the good part of two years. He had finally reached a point where he could remember her without necessarily having to relive her "death". A point where he could hold her memory as an example of how he should conduct himself as a Commander.
The pedestal he had placed the memory of her on came crashing down leaving him only with a deep sense of betrayal.
Had she thought so little of him? Or was it simply that he meant so little to her that he wasn't worth the effort of reaching out to, to let him know that she was alive? To spare him two years of mourning?
"You don't seem too happy to see me. Something bothering you Kaidan?" Shepard's voice was defensive, official, unfeeling steel.
It did nothing to quell his anger. "Yeah something is bothering me" Kaidan almost spat the words out, uncharacteristically his anger was getting the better of him. "I spent the last two years believing you were dead!"
How could she not realise what that meant?
Two years…..
After Ilos he had thought, assumed, that she had cared for him as much as he had for her. For three months he had fought by her side against Saren and Sovereign. It wasn't a long time to get to know someone, but still, he had been utterly convinced she had felt the same way.
"I thought we had something Na…." He realised he couldn't use her first name. It was too personal, intimate, he had only used it on a few occasions.
"…Shepard." He felt utterly defeated, looking away from her searching gaze Kaidan battled with his conflicting emotions, the exhaustion of this terrible long da threatened to undo him completely.
"I thought it was something real Shepard." He returned his gaze to her eyes, stared straight into the familiar emerald pools. He needed to know her reaction. "I …. I had loved you".
His anger registered like a slap across her face. Kaidan was well aware that he had used past tense for something that he had never admitted to her while she was alive….. well, before the Normandy crash. He needed to know what her excuse was, how could she justify her behaviour.
"Thinking you were dead… It tore me apart. How could you put me through that? Why didn't you contact me? Why didn't you let me know you were alive?" He waited for her to justify the two years of silence.
Emotions played across her face, hurt, regret, sympathy and…. Anger? Then there was nothing no emotion, no reaction, just blank. It was only her eyes that gave away that there was more beneath the surface. He had seen her do this with journalists, masking her emotions to appear neutral, it annoyed Kaidan that she would try it here with him.
"I'm sorry, Kaidan. I was clinically dead, it took two years to bring me back." Shepherd reasoned. "So much time had passed. You had moved on. I don't want to open up old wounds." Shepard stared impassively at Kaidan, waiting.
Your move he interpreted.
She had been dead? Death wasn't an incapacity that you could just heal from. For the first time since seeing her again he felt suspicion worm its way into his mind.
This was Cerberus they were dealing with after all.
But how could she say that he had moved on? What did she know of the last two years. A rush of realisation washed over him.
Dr Alana Cohen.
Unbidden the memory of Alana swam into his mind. Of them walking through the Persidum markets, she had smiled at him when they passed the newly released Alramani Designs campaign advert. He had laughed at her when she attempted mimic the Asari model's fierce look.
"Deadly, passionate…. Huntress, the fragrance" Unable to keep a straight face Alana had burst out laughing.
It was infectious, he couldn't help but laugh along with her. It had been the first time since the Normandy that he actually wholeheartedly laughed. Alana's dark brown hair had fallen over her face and Kaidan had reached over and brushed it back behind her ear. She had bright emerald eyes like Shepherd.
He buried the memory away. Thinking of Alana still hurt.
The Illusive Man had promised that Kaidan would pay the price for getting in the way, and Kaidan had assumed that Alana was that price. With Shepard standing in front of him now, he realised he may have been wrong.
If she knew about Dr Cohen, well… then she knew. He wouldn't have denied it anyway. Even though Dr Cohen had been just as traumatising to him as Shepards death had been.
"I did move on." Kaidan knew that he hadn't done anything wrong, yet standing in front of Shepard now he felt as though he had cheated on her. As though he had been caught red handed betraying her trust.
His anger was reignited with fresh fuel. Kaidan had thought Shepard was dead! It was her that had betrayed him! Especially given the company she kept now.
"At least I thought I had moved on. Now we are getting reports of you and Cerberus…" He left that hanging between them. She needed to give him answers.
Your move.
"Reports? You mean you already know?".
Kaidans head snapped to where the voice had come from. In his anger and relief he had forgotten that the scared Turian had been standing with Shepard as he approached.
Garrus.
His face was so disfigured that he had failed to notice that he was the one accompanying Shepard. She had seen fit to let Garrus know that she was alive. Guess he had confirmation on where he stood with Shepard.
Kaidan nodded his former comrade in acknowledgment.
"Alliance Intel thought Cerberus might be behind the missing human colonies. They got a tip this colony might be the next on to get hit."
He could feel himself starting to calm. Garrus' presence confirmed what he had suspected earlier. The fact that she had not attempted to contact him but had contacted Garrus confirmed that she hadn't thought enough of Kaidan to contact him and let him know that she was alive. Knowing where he stood calmed him. He had his way out. She just hadn't cared for him as much as he had for her. It hurt and would have hurt more if not for two years of grieving her hadn't already been and gone, simply the reality was that he had lost her a long time ago.
They were now just two soldiers, former comrades, talking. And despite everything it was good to see she was alive.
"Anderson stonewalled me Shepard. But there were rumours that you were alive and working for the enemy."
He couldn't bring himself to acknowledge that she was inexplicably working for Cerberus. Feelings aside the woman him knew and the woman who had apparently risen from the dead and was working with Cerberus didn't match up. Kaidan was missing something.
"Cerberus and I want the same thing; to save our colonists. That does NOT mean I answer to them!" It was her turn to get angry now. He had hit a soft spot, he had called her what she had despised most, a traitor.
"Do you really believe that? Or is that just what Cerberus wants you think?" Kaidan asked, measuring her response in his mind. He had learned a thing or two about Cerberus since she had been gone. Cerberus did not work with people, they controlled people and those people were easily disposed of. Even Commander Shepard could be discarded if she was deemed no longer useful.
Kaidan couldn't help but wonder just how much Shepard understood of her new partner. Maybe he could make her see how naïve she was being.
"I wanted to believe the rumours that you were alive, I never expected anything like this. You have turned your back on everything we believed in. You betrayed the Alliance." Kaidan took a step towards Shepherd and held her gaze. "You betrayed me Shepard".
"Kaidan, you know me. You know I'd only do this for the right reason." Shepard still wore her mask but her eyes were imploring him to understand.
"You saw it yourself" She continued "The Collectors are targeting Human colonies. And they are working for the Reapers."
The Reapers? What evidence did Shepard have that the Collectors and the Reapers were working together to kidnap Humans? Kaidan had stood at Shepard's side when Sovereign had declared the end to all Organic life, not just Humans.
There had been husks here, and it took Reaper technology to make them but she knew that it didn't take Reapers to actually create them. If the Geth could use the technology it is plausible the Collectors could too.
He took a moment to really look at her. It was Shepard, but she looked younger. The corner of her eyes no longer had small laugh lines. There was no longer a puckered scar that cut into her top lip, her trophy from Elysium. The long scar that ran down her left cheek was also gone. That one had been a physical reminder of the cost of survival that she had paid at Mindor. There were a web of new scars to replace them. Fine lines of whitened skin, jig sawed her face like a puzzle reminding Kaidan of clothing seam lines.
She was changed. How much depended on how much Cerberus interfered.
"I want to believe you Shepard. But I don't trust Cerberus. They could be using the threat of a Reaper to manipulate you." Kaidan hoped that Shepard would recognise the mistake that she was making. "What if they're behind it? What if they're working with the Collectors?"
"Damn it, Kaidan! You're so focused on Cerberus that you're ignoring the real threat!" Garrus interrupted angrily.
"I can see you are not going to listen to reason then" Shepard was angry with Kaidan now.
"You show up after two years and tell me you're working with Cerberus. Where exactly does reason fit into any of this?" Kaidan snapped back at her.
Kaidan wasn't the lovesick Lieutenant anymore. He had two years to harden up, he was a Commander himself now. He was relieved that Shepard was alive, but he won't just follow her based on her say so. Especially if that say so involved Cerberus.
"You've changed. But I still know where my loyalties lie. I'm an Alliance solider. Always will be." Kaidan rubbed his temple, the day had worn him down and he had been liberal with his use of biotics earlier. The tension in his temple meant that a migraine was about to start. He still had a lot to do, the remaining colonists needed to be checked, the Alliance needed to be notified.
"I've got to report back to the Citadel. They can decide if they believe your story or not" Kaidan said simply. It was time to move on.
"I could use someone like you on my crew Kaidan. It'll just be like old times". Shepard implored, reaching out and grabbing Kaidan's arm as he turned to go.
Old times. Kaidan wasn't who he was two years ago. Obviously neither was Shepard. He took her hand and gently removed it from his arm.
"No, it wont. I'll never work for Cereberus." Kaidan told her simply. There was no room for discussion on this particular issue.
And Shepard didn't try to convince him any further.
After all that happened between them, this is what it had come down to.
"Goodbye Shepard. And be careful, Cerberus cannot be trusted."
He would have sworn before today that there would not have been anything that could have made him turn his back on her. But Kaidan did.
He turned around and walked away from Shepard.