Kaidan stared out the window of the transport. Yet another broken-down shuttle to yet another lousy mining job. Yet another stop on his never-ending quest to find a job that sucked so much they couldn't afford to discriminate against him.

He sighed and leaned his head back against the headrest, trying to ignore the strange smells assaulting him from all corners of the cabin.

I knew you had it in you, boy. What took you so long?

Kaidan suppressed a groan as Vyrnnus' voice sounded in his head, as it had done most nights in the year since Kaidan had killed his instructor. Only then, with the turian's dying breath stuttering out in blue bubbles of turian blood, had Kaidan understood. All the beatings, all the harassment, every injustice was meant to provoke them, make them stronger, and make them strike out with the skills they had learned. What Vyrrnus had done was still wrong, but it wasn't until those words had come out that Kaidan understood Vyrnnus had meant well in his own twisted, sadistic way.

It would have been easier if he had never realized that.

Kaidan ran his hand over his tired eyes, realizing that sleep would elude him once again. Even if he could sleep, he didn't want the other passengers to see him in the middle of a nightmare. At least he'd been able to avoid a migraine so far. This transport was headed for a small mining facility on some asteroid in the Traverse, and it was crowded with a variety of people, human and non-human alike. Kaidan had nothing against the hanar, but bioluminescent speech was like a special kind of torture in the middle of a migraine, even without the strangely loud translation into spoken language.

Giving up on sleep, Kaidan pulled his datapad out of his duffel and linked it to his omni-tool. He may as well check on the mail he'd been putting off reading.

The letter from his mother was expected, and unwelcome. It was yet another reproachful reminder that he hadn't spoken to his father in a while. Kaidan was well aware that he hadn't spoken to his father, and he didn't plan on changing that in the foreseeable future. There were several messages from people trying to sell him things. One promised an "all natural herbal strength enhancer, discovered from the ancient secrets of the protheans" that was supposed to be as effective as gene therapy for a fraction of the price. A fraction of a lot was still a lot, especially for something that almost certainly wouldn't work and would probably land a person in the hospital. He deleted that, along with its companion messages offering larger genitalia, proven ways to get rich quickly, and LIVE chat with an asari dancer.

No, he would not keep that one. He had few credits as it was.

The last message was from Sam. She had sent him several messages in the last year, and offered more than once to send him money. As welcome as it would have been, Kaidan refused to take her up on it. Sam was barely sixteen when she left Jump Zero, and had become an emancipated minor shortly after that. Kaidan had no doubt money was at least as hard for Sam to come by as it was for him. He'd manage, as he had frequently told her. His brow furrowed in irritation. If this was another offer…

But it wasn't. Sam had just turned seventeen, which made her old enough to attend the Arcturus Military Academy. The message was to tell him that she had been accepted to the academy and was planning to be a marine. Despite the ambivalence Kaidan felt toward the Alliance in general and the military in particular, he couldn't help but smile at the thought of one-point-five-meter-tall Samantha Keller as an Alliance Marine. She'd probably be really good at it, though; she was sure as hell pushy enough.

As his eyes scanned to the bottom of the message, he saw that Sam had included some information on the most recent settlement between Conatix and the former students of the BAaT training program. The money they were required to cough up was minimal, especially considering the after-effects of what they had done to the kids. One thing that caught his eye, however, was their obligation to pay for higher education for the students who qualified. It specifically included correspondence classes via extranet.

"I know you don't want anything from Conatix, Kaidan," Sam said at the bottom of her message, "but they owe this and more to all of us. Take their damn money, because if you don't the bastards will just keep it."

That was interesting. Maybe… no, he didn't care. They could keep their damn money. Kaidan didn't need or want help from anyone. He'd make it on his own.

And yet, here he was, on another filthy transport headed to another filthy, hard-labor job. He hadn't wanted to attend school, he had been too afraid of the reception he'd get. On Earth, biotics had to register, and most universities kept a roster of their biotic students. Even in schools where those lists were kept quiet, they were routinely hacked. Biotics had been harassed and even killed for being on those lists. Correspondence classes would eliminate the need to register as a biotic with the school. Kaidan had looked into it once, but most student assistance wouldn't cover long-distance learning.

Maybe it wouldn't hurt to fill out the form, at least. Sam was right; if he didn't claim it, Conatix or its shareholders would just keep it. Besides, if he could get some sort of education, maybe he wouldn't have to spend the rest of his life in places like this.