He was losing them.

As Kaidan looked over his assembled audience, he found that only studious Oriana, stern Jimenez, and bright-eyed Cassandra could have told him whether he was discussing biotics or brain surgery. It was hardly a mystery why the more experienced of the group had lost their focus. His initial set-up of a hoop and ball game had taken far longer than he had anticipated due to the extra time he'd found himself spending bringing younger students up to speed. The level of his patience with them was precisely equal to the level of distraction of the rest of the class.

The commander caught Ash's gaze. She held it for a moment and shrugged apologetically. Then Kaidan had an idea...

"Now, some of you are already familiar with my colleague, Chief Williams." Ash stiffened. Several of the boys - Seshaun and Nick included - quickly turned their heads. Others had already been staring openly. It was then Kaidan's turn to glance at the chief and offer an apologetic shrug.

He transitioned the gesture into an open-palmed wave indicating Williams. "She is a highly trained marine, proficient in hand-to-hand combat, with reflexes honed over years of service." Kaidan's eyes flicked back to Ash before focusing back on the collective group with a forced smile. "Which one of you thinks you can figure out a way to get this ball...", he held up the one they'd been using for practice, "past her and into the far wastebasket without moving from your seat, using your hands-"

"-or being able to see your target clearly." Ash smirked then pointed to several of the girls in the audience. "You, you, you, you, and you - come on up here with me. Form a barricade in front of the boys by standing shoulder to shoulder and raising your hands up high. We'll make then work for their shot."

Cassandra not only held her hands up, but waved one back and forth enthusiastically. "C'we use our biotics too?"

Kaidan smiled as he nodded. "Absolutely. Let's make this a real challenge. So who wants to go first? Seshaun?"

The boy cocked his head to the side. "How are we supposed to-" He frowned as he peered past the line of girls. He was taller, but the waving arms made it difficult to plan a shot into the small basket nestled under the desk. A gleeful Cassandra stuck her tongue out at Seshaun. He retaliated by pursing his lips into a close line and narrowing his eyes as he reached for the ball. He would not be beaten by giggles and pigtails.

Working to keep his angry resolve, he set the ball on the floor and held his right hand over it, creating the gesture he needed to raise the light sphere into the air. The awkwardly-sized features of the teen's face contorted as he focused on bringing the ball higher and higher until the small red object spun innocently centimeters below the ceiling. "Let's see them block this," he muttered in a determined growl as he brought his hand up with fingers splayed outward. Pushed by unnatural forces, the ball sped across the room and bounced off the top corner of the far wall.

All eyes were trained on the projectile as it sailed across the room. Several students gasped and flinched back. A few of the inventive ones hastily erected a whisper of crackling blue shields, but most had no time to move before the ball rebounded off the top corner of the far wall and returned to slam into Seshaun's face with an almost musical thud.

While one of the staff Kaidan didn't recognize attended to the mild injury, he pushed aside the shrinking amount of pity he had for the boy and grasped the opportunity provided. "Force is only one of the tools at your disposal. Full force is just as likely to hurt you as it is to accomplish your objective. There are-" The commander's words stalled on his tongue as he caught a glimpse of Williams answering her comms. "-ah... other tools. Can anyone name one?"

Whatever the message was, it didn't leave Ash smiling.

From the back of the crowd Oriana raised a slender hand. "Environmental circumstances." Hearing no objection to her comment, she continued. "For example, we can tell based on the previous trial that the angle of the wall is useful for changing the course of the object we wish to move. A strike at the top of a horizontal right angle will send the ball downward so..."

The young woman's voice faded to the back of Kaidan's mind as Ash discreetly signaled for his attention. He needed a quick and quiet exit, even if it was only a temporary one. "Would you care to demonstrate?"

"Um... sure." Looking a bit like a recruit who had been given his first pistol and told to shoot a target at five hundred yards, Oriana drew herself up and glided toward the position of the abandoned practice ball. She picked it up and eyed the walls, lining up her shot.

The commander felt Oriana's display more than saw it as he made his way over to address the chief in low tones. "Bad news?"

Ash looked at him as though he'd just asked if it was dark in space. "When is it ever good news? Remember those few extra days you had here?" She shook her head. "Not anymore. We're heading back ASAP."

"Did he give a reason?" It was bad form to assume the sender of orders, but when Kaidan figured he was almost certainly correct, it just saved time.

Williams raised an eyebrow, "I don't think you're hearing me, L.T. Do what you've gotta do to get out of here without causing a stir. We're leaving in five." Ash moved to go, but stopped, the ghost of a smirk gracing her lips. "Ten creds says it's a retrieval op."

"Anyone we know?" He wasn't sure how Ash had gotten to the conclusion she had, but he had to admit, it seemed likely.

Frowning, the chief crossed her arms and shifted her weight toward her left foot. "With our track record, I'm hoping it's someone we don't know."

"Commander?" Jimenez' voice reminded Kaidan that his moment aside was over in a tone that was a little less than delicate.

Williams left the room while the class focused keenly on the lecture they assumed the commander was about the receive.

"Captain." Kaidan nodded in deference before turning to the gaggle of eyes. He wiped the back of his hand across his forehead as his mind jogged full-speed through his instant of awkwardly-purchased time. "I hope you were all paying attention. You're going to need it. Group up in three's and decide amongst yourself who had the best question."

Painfully predictable, the focus of the group turned immediately toward who was going to work with who and who would be left out. The commander felt a small stab of self-reprimand for stooping to such a ploy, but approached Jimenez as though it were simply part of the plan. "Have them answer each other's questions..." the knife in his gut twisted just a little, urging him into something he would regret later when he was reading over dozens of juvenile discussions,"... then forward the results on to me."

The steely-eyed captain didn't buy the ruse for a moment, but offered an acknowledging nod. "We'll see you back here again." She turned back to the class without another word as Kaidan slipped out the door.

Driven in part by curiosity, but more so by the rush of the upcoming mission, he nearly ran to Williams' ship. He had to skid to a halt mid-stride once he remembered he had none of his gear with him. A quick stop at the guest room allowed him to grab his seabag and run a hasty assessment of the remaining items in the room. Kaidan pulled everything together in a few seconds and resumed his hustled course back toward the ship.

Ash met him at the airlock. "Good to go?"

The commander nodded as he stepped on board. Behind him, he sensed more than saw Williams giving the all-aboard signal and clearing the ramp. The pilot announced their departure through the ship-wide comms and just like that, they were under way. Procedure - It was like a welcome mat every time he stepped on a ship.

The greasy, dark-haired private that stepped out in front of him was not procedure. "Commander Alenko, Captain Safren is waiting for you in the comm room. The man's eyes strayed beyond Kaidan's shoulder as he hastily added, "She asked for you too, Chief Williams."

Ash shuddered as the private returned to his station. "Ettel. Guy gives me the creeps."

The pair didn't speak much during the trip to the comm room. Rather, they didn't speak much to each other. Williams had plenty to say to her crew, one salutation or order at a time. In short order, Kaidan was able to piece together a vague personality profile of the SSV Perth - something like a scrappy child wearing boxing gloves.

This vision was shattered by the elegant wave of Captain Safren, indicating the two of them toward their seats in the conference room as though she were welcoming foreign dignitaries. "Commander, Chief," she smiled. "We're ready to begin, Councilor, however, we will be out of range of the buoy in ten minutes."

Somewhere in the out-of-place shiny hair and glittering eyes of the Captain, Kaidan had missed the full-size, digitized version of Councilor Anderson standing at the far end of the room. Though, to be fair, he had only been in the room a bare few seconds.

A tired voice rolled out from the hologram. "Will you excuse us, Safren?"

"Of course." Still smiling the petite woman bobbed her head and stepped out. Kaidan made a mental note to get a better evaluation of the crew when he had a moment. That woman just didn't add up. He shook his head and focused on the projection.

Anderson didn't waste any time. "Williams. Alenko. I'll be straight with you. I'm sending you on a mission that you won't be able to discuss with the rest of the crew. Technically speaking, you're not even on this mission, but we have to know."

"Have to know what, sir?" Ash didn't bother containing her curiosity as she leaned toward the projection.

"We have to know..." For a moment, the councilor seemed to pick his words carefully, then dismissed the idea. "...why our ghosts are turning up on Omega." He threw up several images that hovered near his head. The one on the right displayed a stealth ship bearing Cerberus markings. The one on the left revealed a man sitting at a bar, his scruffy face partly hidden under a ball cap. This too bore a Cerberus logo.

Both were all too familiar.