This fanfic is in response to my own frustration at bioware's inability to commit to a straight answer as to whether or not Liara and Ashley or Kaidan will be returning as actual squad members in ME2. Despite rumors to the fact that they will, I can't understand why the company just won't set the record straight to alleviate everyones concern. It only makes me look forward to ME2 with more fear than excitement and I'm sure that's not Bioware's intent.
Although I like some of the new characters that have been revealed especially Thane, I'm not too keen on Jacob and Miranda taking the place of Ashley and Kaidan as the main protagonists in the story. It's like replacing Han Solo and Princess Leia in Star Wars at least in my opinion. I think of Lost when they brought in Nikki and Paulo and everyone hated them because they would be taking up screen time that had previously been given to the regulars and I feel the same way about this.
I don't want to go on a rant of complaining...ME2 may turn out to be wonderful and my fears completely unwarranted, but I just wanted the reader to know where I'm coming from.
It is possible that I might expand on this later or use some of the parts for a much bigger fic in the future. Then again maybe not.
Shepard runs across a familiar face when acquiring new biotic amps for her new team at Omega Station. Set in ME2.
Disclaimer: Mass Effect and Characters belong to Bioware
RECONCILIATION
Kaidan stood defiantly. No matter how he had missed her...no matter how beautiful she had looked, he would not give in.
"You here to make a deal, Shepard?" he asked, flatly.
Shepard looked at her former lover. Little had changed except for his hair, which now fell loosely around his face, falling just short of touching his shoulders. It wasn't a look she would have imagined Kaidan choosing, but she had to admit it was rather flattering.
"Kaidan...aren't you going to ask where I've been for the last two years?" she asked, puzzled.
Slowly glancing at the two squad members that graced her party Kaidan quietly said, " It doesn't matter...do you want to buy amps or not?"
The elation she felt at seeing him depleted in response to his answer.
"He's not going to give me a chance to explain." she thought.
"Shepard, it's important that we wrap this up...we have to find Thane...if there's trouble these amps could make the difference." Shepard's male companion spoke.
Kaidan watched the man. His body language said volumes...the way he leaned into her when she spoke, the way he watched her when she wasn't looking. It was the second thing he had noticed after the group had walked into his headquarters. The first had been Shepard herself.
"That used to be me." he thought.
Shepard glanced back at her companion.
"Yes of course, Jacob." she answered, "Your right."
Turning to Kaidan she said, " What do you have?"
Kaidan motioned to the much younger man that stood on his left. He opened a large case containing several advanced high tech biotic amps.
"You'll find that we've included several to choose from. Biotic Evolutions makes the top 5 biotic amps in the galaxy. I believe my associate has included 3 of those as well as some of our lesser models if the price is too steep" Kaidan explained.
"You don't have to give us your sales pitch, Alenko. It's not like we haven't heard it before." Shepard's female companion complained.
This wasn't the first time Kaidan had dealt with Cerebus. Why Shepard was with them he couldn't imagine, but he was not a fan of Miranda. He had sold amps to her on several occasions and her aggressive brash nature didn't sit well with him. He had a genuine dislike for the woman.
"If I promise to shut up...Will you, Miranda?" asked Kaidan.
Surprised Shepard blurted out absently, "You two know one another?"
"Been buying amps from Alenko for the last year. Can't say it's been a pleasure though." Miranda replied snidely.
"I see" said Shepard.
She reached into the case and selected the three higher quality amps and nodded to Kaidan.
"These are the ones." she said.
"Excellent choice." he answered.
"Kaidan...maybe we should talk." Shepard responded.
He looked her coldly in the eyes, "I have nothing to say."
Looking to his partner he said, "Collect the payment. I have other things that need to be tended to." and Kaidan Alenko walked away.
Kaidan sat at his desk in his office. He had joined Biotic Amp Expansions only a year and a half ago, and had quickly rose up through the ranks to sit as the head of the organization. The first thing he had done was change the name to Biotic Evolutions. Essentially the company produced top of the line biotic amps, the proceeds of which were funneled back into the biotic community.
Most biotics especially the L2's saw the business as a godsend since the request for reparations from the Alliance had been turned down. Not even Chairman Burns, the one non-biotic that championed their cause could persuade the Alliance to budge.
The downside was that in spite of all the good intentions Biotic Evolutions was flawed in the fact that more often that not it's leader found himself secretly supplying biotic terrorists with amps, finances, and weapons. It was a distasteful part of his job, but he convinced himself that the good far outweighed the bad.
The destruction of the Normandy had left Kaidan both physically and emotionally damaged. According to the doctors Kaidan's L2 implant had shorted out fusing itself into the base of Kaidan's skull. That combined with trying to cope with the death of Shepard sent the Lieutenant over the edge. After an episode in which the brass was convinced he was losing his mind the implant had been unceremoniously removed without his permission...an act that would lead him to have more sympathies for his own kind and to a resignation from the Alliance Military.
Soon he had found himself in the employ of Biotic Amp Expansions as a way to give back to his own kind.
The odd thing about it was that Kaidan Alenko was not without his abilities...in fact his biotics had increased. A fact that the research scientists at Biotic Evolutions wished too keep quiet. The galaxy did not need to know that there was a human biotic that needed neither implants nor amps to use his abilities. It would throw an even more suspicious light upon the biotic community as a whole. Kaidan's rare condition which he believed to have been caused by the short out of his old L2 implant was the inspiration for renaming the company 'Biotic Evolutions'.
"She hasn't changed a bit." Kaidan thought as he remembered the radiance of her face... the curve of her hips...the way her armor clung to her form.
He looked down at the mirror on his desk.
"Not much different. " he whispered, as he looked at himself, "Except for the hair."
He had grown it out to hide the burn marks on the base of his neck from the L2 implant. The act had saved him hundreds of hours of boring conversation trying to explain how it had happened to everyone who noticed and were rude enough to ask.
"Can't turn back time, I guess." he thought, as he ran his hand through his hair revealing the burns.
Kaidan spun the old HMWP Master Pistol on his desk. It was the same one he had used in helping to take down Saren.
Seeing Shepard had opened old wounds, things he thought he had put behind him. A recurring thought ran through his mind, the same thought that had run through his mind when Anderson had told him that they were ending the search for Shepard's body and pronouncing her killed in action. Kaidan Alenko wanted to kill himself.
If it had not been for Dr. T'Soni's intervention he would be dead right now.
"I would rather die with her, than live without her." Kaidan had said to T'Soni.
Liara had understood. She had carried a torch for Shepard herself at one time. In Kaidan's state of grief she was able to convince him to live when he had thoughts of joining Shepard in death.
The memory brought a weak smile to his lips. He had once been so jealous of the young Asari and in the end she was the one who had saved his life.
"But Liara isn't here now." he thought.
Thinking back on his earlier encounter with Shepard, Kaidan's mood further darkened.
He remembered the look in Jacob's eyes as he leaned in to talk to Shepard.
Are they together? Had she moved on so easily?
"It's been two years, Alenko. Of course she's moved on." he thought.
"You haven't." his consciousness answered him.
"Why didn't she contact me?" he wondered, broodingly.
"You look disturbed?" the voice said.
Startled out of his private thoughts Kaidan turned to find Shepard standing in the center of his office.
"How long has she been standing there?" he wondered. "Did she see the burns?"
He brushed his hair down flatly over the area of his burns with his hand. He didn't want to try and explain the scars.
"Shepard?...How did you get in here?" he asked.
"You know me Kaidan...if I need to get somewhere...I'll find a way." she stated.
Looking at her, all the old feeling resurfaced only to accumulate in the pit of his stomach as a knot of apprehension. If she had loved him she would have come looking.
"Cerebus had me." she said, as if she could read his thoughts.
"What do you mean...they had you? You work for them don't you?" he asked, critically.
"I do now...I have for the last 6 months, but for a year and half I was in a holding cell. I was lucky I guess. I didn't end up like Kahoku...no science experiments performed on me either." she explained.
"And after what they did to Kahoku, how can you work for them? That doesn't sound like you." he stated.
"Heading an organization that fronts as a legitimate business, but secretly sells amps and weapons to biotic terrorist groups doesn't sound like you either." she chided.
"Touche'...I guess sometimes we wind up in places we never thought we'd find ourselves.." he answered, feeling ashamed that she knew about his activities, "So why are you working for Cerebus?"
"I'm helping them find out why all the human colonies are disappearing." she answered.
"Ahhh.... Commander Shepard, out to save the galaxy again." Kaidan said, a broad smile crossing his face.
Shepard smiled in return. This was her Alenko. The one she had fallen in love with...the one she still loved.
"Well you know...someones got to do it." she said, " Might as well be me."
"I guess." Alenko said.
"You know...Tali and Liara are working with us as well." she offered.
"Really...It's been a long time..." he said, his mind obviously drifting off into the past.
"There's a place for you too...if you want to come." she said.
The offer surprised him. When he saw her standing there he had thought she had wanted to explain herself...to find some closure to their relationship, not ask him to join her team.
"I don't know what to say...why would you ask that, Shepard?" he asked.
"I...I just thought that we might pick up where we left off, and well...you were always there for me in a pinch...I could always depend on you...not like some of these people I'm bringing in. I mean they're excellent in a fight, but I don't know who I can really trust or how loyal they might be when things get rough. I know you Kaidan...I know that if things go south, you'll be right by my side." she explained.
"What about the guy that came with you to buy the amps...Jacob?" he asked.
"Jacob...he's just an agent of Cerebus...that's all." Shepard said.
"He likes you...you know." Kaidan said.
"I know...but my heart belongs to someone else." she answered.
Kaidan rose from his desk and moved to Shepard, his hands gently reached out and held hers.
"And who would that be?" he asked, looking her squarely in the eyes.
"You." she said.
Kaidan pulled her into his arms and she welcomed him with a kiss.
He would give his resignation in the morning before heading out with Shepard and her new team, but for now the night was early and he was right where he wanted to be...in the arms of the woman he loved...just as it should be.