Before

"What about Alenko? Fits the profile perfectly. Powerful biotic, L2. One of the few sane ones left. Killed a turian when he was 17."

"And worked with another while serving on the Normandy. He's liberal concerning alien politics and the Alliance's poster boy. We've already been over this."

"Sources say he isn't too hot on the Alliance right now. Unhappy about the smear campaign against Shepard and put on forced leave for becoming too unstable. He'd be perfect for the program. Sane L2s are hard to get by."

"You just want to see if you can break him. Well, if you're so insistent about it, go for it. If you can get Alenko, he's all yours."

"If the rumors about Lazarus are true the boss might already have thought about Alenko himself."

"Well then hope he came to the same conclusion as you or we have to deal with the other one."

"You deal with the boss, I deal with Alenko."

"Who comes out alive wins?"

"Something like that."

Kaidan - then

The glass was empty. Not in a metaphorical sense but in a very real one, and he could not remember when that had happened. Or the one before. His throat was still burning from the liquid so at least he could be sure it was him who'd emptied it. Not that anybody was close; all the other patrons stayed clear of him and even the strippers had given up after some time. Only the batarian bartender paid him a visit every once in a while to refill his glass. He didn't bother asking if he wanted more, just one look at his customer apparently told him everything he needed to know and to keep the whiskey flowing. It wasn't particularly good whiskey but probably better than most of the other things that could be found behind the bar. The name Afterlife had to come from somewhere and for Kaidan it hit uncomfortably close to home.

Not going there, Alenko, he thought, watching the batarian fill his glass again. He hadn't even noticed the bartender coming closer. Losing his sense of what was going on around him was always a stupid idea but on Omega it became a particularly stupid idea, not to mention a dangerous one.

Under normal circumstances he hadn't even think about touching alcohol on duty but the circumstances had long stopped being normal. Somewhere between first setting foot on the Normandy and being forcefully ordered to leave the ship while it fell to pieces around them.

Kaidan closed his eyes, breathing in the faint smoky smell of the liquid before swallowing it whole. The whiskey burned all the way down, rougher than before. Maybe the batarian was getting annoyed with him, giving him ryncol instead of his own poison of choice. At this point he wasn't sure he cared. He'd have to stop soon to give his biotic metabolism a chance to kick in or he would most likely wake up on the floor tomorrow and, if he was very lucky, only sporting a hangover instead of some new scars for his growing collection. Bar fights had lost their charm after he started not remembering them anymore. He wondered what she would think of that new trait. He could almost see her raising one eyebrow while silently staring at him as if she could see beneath the skin, deep down to his bones without any secrets left.

"Commander Alenko?"

Commander. Even after a few weeks of being called by his new title it still felt wrong, like something only she should be called. It was something he still needed to get used to. Or maybe not. After all, that was why he was here, wasn't he?

He opened his eyes but didn't look at the newcomer. Instead he raised his glass, trying to catch the eye of the batarian bartender. He didn't ask who wanted to know, partly because he was beyond caring and partly because he already knew. If someone on this station was aware of his name, they were most likely either Aria T'loak or his contact. Since the queen herself sat in her booth, shooting him dark glances from time to time, the person next to him would be the latter.

"You are too early," Kaidan said with much less of a slur than he'd expected.

"We were told you were already here. What would be the point in waiting another few hours?"

The point was most likely to catch him off guard by showing up hours before their actual appointment, making him less of a threat.

Since Kaidan didn't answer, the other kept talking. His voice was deep and held a hint of excitement.

"We would like to talk about a proposition with you. Somewhere more quiet."

I bet you would, Kaidan thought, his eyes glued on the liquid the bartender filled in his glass.

"Deal was you'd show up tomorrow and alone."

In the corner of his eye he saw the figure shift as if surprised Kaidan knew about the others. Of course he knew about the others. He might have trouble seeing straight right now but that didn't make him blind. Or at least it didn't make his biotics blind which were still able to sense the other two biotic signatures behind him, quietly humming.

Glass hovering over his lips, his eyes wandered to Aria T'loak, who observed the scene with only mild interest. Briefly Kaidan wondered what she made of this. As long as she couldn't sell or use the information somehow, she probably didn't care. Too bad that this kind of information was always worth something to someone. Noticing him staring, Aria gave him the tiniest of nods. He raised his glass to her before leaning his head back and emptying it. It was probably the last one he'd get in quite a while. Maybe he should've savored it.

"The circumstances changed, Mr. Alenko, as you are well aware. The information I have for you is far too delicate for this kind of ... establishment."

The disgust in the mans voice was obvious and Kaidan couldn't help from clenching his teeth. For one second he questioned whether dealing with this scum really was the right thing to do or just cutting corners. She always called him her moral compass but right now he could need one of his own. Wondering what she would have done would probably get him killed. It got her killed in the end.

"'s you can see 'm not really in the shape of actually talking to you. So if you could jus' come back tomorrow, 'd greatly 'preciate it," he slurred, butchering the last words more for effect than being actually drunk. Or at least he was pretty sure he was.

"Mr. Alenko -"

"Commander."

"Commander Alenko, the time is running out and the information I have for you will be worth your time, I can assure you. Now if you'd please come with me ..."

The question what would happen if he didn't died on his lips when he felt something sharp boring into his neck, followed by a burning pain that made the world swim only a second later and much more violently than the whiskey-maybe-ryncol had. Before his face made the acquaintance of the sticky bar, strong arms pulled him back and on his feet, which balantly refused to support him any longer. He found himself sandwiched between two solid figures whose faces swam too much to make out. He felt their biotics crawl over his skin like ants, itching and biting instead of a calm and solid flow. They felt all wrong.

The man stepped in his blurred line of sight, nothing but a black and white shadow in front of too bright neon pink lights that made his eyeshurt. His contact tipped his chin up, looking him briefly in the eyes. The sudden movement made Kaidan's head spin even more, his vision betrying him before the cold fingers vanished and his chin sank on his chest.

The last thing Kaidan saw before blacking out was the treacherous orange symbol on the cufflinks of his treacherous contact that would haunt his dreams for years to come.