A/N: My first attempt at a multi-chapter story, which ended up being just a series of one-shots that I put into chronological order. I will update it weekly. There will be either nine or ten chapters in total. Some aspects are AU; certain people are alive that really shouldn't be. Reviews are much appreciated!

Phoenix (n)

4. a person or thing that has become renewed or restored after suffering calamity or apparent annihilation.

The humid jungle air was starting to affect him. His shirt was plastered to his skin from sweat, and there was a constant pressure in his sinuses from the incalculable number of unfamiliar species of plants and pollen. It was a miserable feeling, though Joker and EDI didn't seem to mind-the couple was sitting off to the side of their downed ship, seemingly unaffected by the fact they were billions of miles from home. Seeing them together ignited a longing in his heart-a longing he hadn't felt since Shepard was killed by the Collectors three years ago. He wondered, not for the first time, if she had survived the final battle with the Reapers back on Earth. That was where he needed to be right now, helping clean up the mess that the Reapers created, not on some godforsaken planet in the middle of the galaxy.

Something had messed up the mass relays as they had traveled through one. Kaidan remembered having to prompt Joker to leave Earth. The disabled pilot hadn't wanted to leave Shepard as much as Kaidan. EDI had warned him that the blast would destroy her and all synthetic life if it caught them. While EDI reported that the blast had, indeed wiped out all synthetic life, she had been spared due to the fact the Normandy was traveling at FTL speeds. The energy particles had not reintegrated with enough intensity to kill her.

Shepard forcing him to get on the Normandy caused a strange déjà vu to the day she had been killed on the Normandy. The panic in his chest had felt the same. He hated leaving her-nothing good had ever come out of it, but Shepard would never walk away from the fight. She had fought the Reapers at the beginning; it was only fitting that she would see the war to its unpredictable end. There was a feeling-lurking in the deep recesses of his mind-that Shepard had been responsible for that red blast that destroyed all synthetic life. The feeling intensified the more he thought about the concept. It would have happened no other way.

He cursed as his skin came in contact with an exposed wire in the Normandy's control frame. He withdrew from his crouched position underneath Joker's pilot's chair. Kaidan was attempting to rewire Normandy's distress beacon. With the mass relays overloaded, it was a futile hope, but it was the best that they could do. There had been no causalities in the crash-a relief to all the crew members. A few, like him, had been present when the first Normandy had gone down in flames. No one wanted that to happen again.

Kaidan tweaked the wire so that the plastic casing was covering the exposed part. He couldn't afford to be electrocuted when he was one of the few who knew how to activate the distress beacon. He pried open the box that held the wiring for the beacon and set about transforming the signal to be received beyond the nebula in which they were located in. With any luck, Normandy's emissions from traveling the mass relay would be followed to the distress beacon.

"Getting it to work?" Kaidan turned slightly at the voice.

"Almost, the transmitter was damaged in the crash."

Tali sighed, "I suppose that was inevitable. It would've been too easy if everything had stayed intact."

Despite the circumstances, Kaidan had to laugh at his friend, "True,"

Tali leaned against the wall, "That thing better work. Garrus and I are going to starve. There is no dextro food on this planet as far as I can tell. The sooner that we get among our own species, the better."

Kaidan frowned over the mass of wires he was studying. "What will you eat until then?"

"There's leftover food in the lower decks of the ship. We can ration that. It's a good thing there's only two of us dextros in the crew. I actually promised Garrus I would get him some food. I also need to find a way to get the food safely into my suit..."

Kaidan grinned, "Go ahead, Tali, I'll finish the beacon."

"Thank you. I'll bring you some chips if I find some." With that, the quarian turned and walked away.

The turian and the quarian's new relationship was the talk of the ship. With little else to do except sit and wait to be rescued, the gossip was the only source of entertainment. There was even a few members of the crew who took turns spying on the two and reporting back to the others. Being the highest ranking officer, Kaidan should have been the one to discourage such actions, but he wasn't that type of leader. Anything to keep the crew occupied.

Kaidan made a small noise in the back of his throat in triumph as he fit the last wire into place. The beacon box lit up. He turned the knob to the highest frequency.

It wasn't much, and there was a small chance that any ship would be able to make the journey to their planet within a month, but it was hope-hope that he needed to believe that he would one day get to return home to Shepard.

Kaidan set his jaw and turned to face the wall opposite him. The beacon was up, but if he could start the repairs now...there was a chance they could get back to Earth sooner. With the goal of fixing the Normandy enough to traverse back to the Sol system in mind, he began his work.