N7
Part One: Grissom Academy
Chapter 1: Kaidan
Kaidan grunted with exertion as he shoved along the crate in front of him biotically, his skin glowing brightly blue and brilliantly reflecting the sweat glistening on his brow. He glanced over at Jack and bit his lip; she was already a couple of feet ahead of him. She glared at him resolutely and Kaidan grinned to himself. She wasn't going to beat him twice in a row.
For another couple of minutes they struggled in silence, the two massive crates ahead of them slowly moving down the practice room. Out of the corner of his eye, Kaidan saw Jack stumble slightly, her concentration dipping as she did. He grinned and forced himself to break beyond his limits, his implant protesting heavily. With one final groan and blast of pain to his temples, Kaidan heaved the crate over the line and collapsed on the training mat, the glow persisting to pulse around his body.
Kaidan closed his eyes with exhaustion. He heard Jack swear from the other side of the room and a thump as she too fell to the floor. He smiled widely in his victory, but was quickly sent back down to Earth as another wave of pain washed over him.
"Maybe I overdid it," Kaidan said to himself, grumbling.
"Maybe? You nearly killed yourself, Alenko." Jack stood over him, already back on her feet and offering a hand to help him up. Kaidan took it gratefully and gingerly lifted himself into a kneeling position, resting on his heels and raking his temples with his hands.
"Good job though, I thought I had you for awhile there." Kaidan looked up from his pain to see Jack nodding at him, but the brief and unusual praise was lost with a fresh outburst from his implant.
"Shit Alenko, go to the medical ward already."
"Fat chance, Jack, you know they don't care about us."
"Yeah, they don't like their shit being broken. Speaking of which, hold on a sec."
Kaidan watched her run off, Mohawk-ponytail swinging as she went. "At least I don't do it intentionally!"
He fell back onto the mat and stared up at the ceiling, sighing at how far he'd sunk since he came to the academy.
His father had been a soldier in the Navy, and Kaidan been ensnared in military expectation since before he could remember. Every test, every training exercise, even his chores were to be done with utmost precision lest he risk his father's disappointment. When he came to the Academy when he turned twenty, everyone there already knew his name; all the teachers had come to expect the best. Kaidan tried his best to fit in, but it wasn't easy being the teacher's favorite.
His first day of classes was a living nightmare. Professor Solus had known his father from an expedition on Eletania, and the moment Kaidan entered the room Solus was already rambling off on him.
"Alenko, Kaidan, entering the biotics program at Grissom. Lots of promise. High level of intellect. Expectations from father hard to handle. Handsome young man. Taciturn. Sheltered. Heavily closeted homosexual. Doesn't want to admit it. Take a seat. Studying Krogan anatomy…" Kaidan grimaced at the memory, his cheeks reddening at the thought of walking to the back of the class as they stared at him. He had gone from the mute teacher's pet to the gay mute teacher's pet. No one talked to him; everyone talked about him.
By the end of the first week the initial abuse had begun to wear off, and he could at least take pride in his biotic ability. Kaidan had been training with his father for years, and biotics was one thing he took away from the experience with pride. He was bumped up a level and met Rahna, who didn't seem to mind the hype and respected him for who he was. Rahna was a nice girl who didn't have any friends either and they bonded, even though Kaidan wasn't aware of her reasons for following him around.
A month passed and most people seemed to forget about him. To them, he was just another weirdo with some biotic talent.
Kaidan shook his head bitterly and sat up on the practice mat. Opinions could change, that much was for sure. He resumed massaging his temples and bit his lip, easing the tension as much as he could with only his fingers.
A crash sounded in the hallway and Kaidan jumped to his feet, his biotics flaring around him. He started then frowned as Jack came sprinting around the corner, a plastic bag clutched in her hand and a mad grin on her face.
"Don't just stand there, Alenko, run!" Another crash echoed in the distance and Jack grabbed Kaidan's arm roughly. "Shit they're getting close," she said with another maniacal grin. They tore around the hallway and out of sight, eventually ducking in with the rest of the students in the cafeteria.
Kaidan routinely ignored the cadets shuffling to get away from him and sat down in the corner table, Jack following suit.
"Thank me later," Jack said, pushing the meds onto his lap.
They didn't talk much all through dinner, even though Jack was pretty spirited about one of her new arm tattoos. Kaidan said his head was still hurting him and headed up to his room, ashamed that he had let his memories get the best of him.
The new recruits were arriving tomorrow: a fresh wave of people just waiting to get to know him. Kaidan sighed and stared up at the ceiling before drifting off to an uneasy sleep, Rahna darting in and out of his dreams.