OMEGA
SAHRABARIK SYSTEM
Stretched out beneath the dead light of the infirmary, Shepard listened to the hum of electronics all around her and attempted to pull her awareness away from the bone deep ache that she had woken to that morning. It had started dull but progressed ruthlessly until she had finally relented and stiffly made her way to Doctor Chakwas' office in the Medical Bay, collapsing atop one of the infirmary beds with a groan while the doctor looked on in alarm. Still, the matronly looking woman had recovered in a snap and set about determining what was wrong without much prompting.
"I don't know why you push yourself so hard, Alex," Chakwas admonished as she moved about the room, putting away the collection of instruments that she had been using to take scans and readings.
"If I don't, who will?" Shepard winced, blowing out a breath and trying her hardest to relax. Her muscles were wound so tight they felt ready to burst free of her skin. Voice strained, she projected loud enough to get Chakwas' complete attention."Can you just do me a favor and make the pain stop?"
Bustling about, the doctor moved to the medicine cabinet and keyed in the codes to open it, taking out a small collection of bottles and getting to work. "While I still think you were too hasty in utilizing all that experimental technology on yourself, and in yourself, its turning out to be a good thing that we did this all at once. That is why you're in so much pain, but it's also why you're also alive."
"What?" Alex lifted her head slightly to watch as Chakwas began blending a few of the bottles and retrieved a wicked looking syringe. The price of not listening,she supposed.
"You're in pain because your body is undergoing extreme changes. Your muscles have an incredible amount of strength woven into them and it's a good thing we managed to latticework your bones at the same time, because if we hadn't your body would be pulling itself apart. It's already trying. I'm sorry to say that this is going to be a side effect until everything settles into balance once more." Drawing the liquid into the syringe, Chakwas gave it a critical look. "We should have done more research."
"We didn't have the time." Pushing herself into a sitting position despite the sharp pull of pain that went through her like lightning, Alex let her head hang for a moment as she recovered. "Still don't. Just... just give me whatever is in that bottle."
Sighing her frustration, Chakwas rounded the edge of the bed and pushed the sleeve of Alex's rumpled shirt higher on her shoulder. "Every action has consequences Alex. Even if we don't see them at the moment we make that action, they do. But you're still the same stubborn young woman I've known for years. Honestly, sometimes you're worse than Jeff." Jabbing the needle downward, she made a sudden noise of distress and Alex swung her head to see.
The formidable looking needle had looked capable enough to pierce steel and Alex had first imagined that Doc Chakwas had chosen it as some form of continued punishment but now she wondered at that. Crimped at a point of stress and bent at a degree so it lay alongside her skin rather than inside it, the needle had lost the battle against her synthetic skin weave and Alex felt a small laugh boil up to the surface up at the ridiculous sight. When Chakwas gave her a sharp and worried look, the laughter grew until it edged uncomfortably into hysteria.
"Alex Shepard." The stern, commanding tone of Chakwas' voice didn't even help and Alex doubled over as the laughter sent pain lancing through her, finally managing to focus on that and reign herself back in, laughter turning into helpless wheezing as Chakwas traded out needles and remixed the compound. Advancing on her once more, the doctor sighed and grabbed her hand, twisting it over until the bullseye in the crook of her elbow was exposed to the light. And to the needle. "You are utterly impossible." Sighing, she guided the needle home and finished the injection. They had taken her thicker skin into consideration during the operation and though both Doctor Chakwas and Mordin had been almost appalled at the choice of the bullseye, Shepard had insisted upon the tattoos as a way to pinpoint where the skin had been left thin enough for medigel injections. That Doctor Chakwas had forgotten only meant that nobody had really adjusted or even considered that Alex was so different these days.
"That's a pretty powerful muscle relaxant, so I imagine that you'll be feeling better shortly. We're not sure how fast your system will metabolize this, so why don't you stay here for a while and get some rest? There's time enough for that."
"I have another fight though." Alex felt the relaxants working, loosening the hard clench of pain into something manageable. "Tomorrow. Then we go. I have to make plans."
"Listen to me, Alex Shepard. Sit there and stay there. You've been rush, rush, rushing for long enough and this isn't me asking you as a favor to a friend." Chakwas leaned in close and Alex tipped her head away with a surprised blink at the tone of command in her words. "I am your Doctor, and I outrank you in any and all circumstances that deal with your personal well being. You will not leave this bay until I say you are ready." And to drive the point home, she crossed to her desk and engaged the locks on the door with a smile. "I will tranquilize you."
"Okay," Alex shifted, leaning back into the tilt of the bed. "I think I can spare some time."
"And throwing yourself into those pitfights." Chakwas glowered. "I don't know what you're trying to prove."
"I'm trying to prove that all these upgrades work."
"We both know better than that."
Alex shut her mouth with a click of teeth and glowered. "Regardless, we need to leave Omega. Soon."
Turning the syringe with the bent needle in her hands, Chakwas frowned. "We all know the risks of what we face, but we don't have any solid leads right now, Shepard. Why rush us out of here so quickly?"
"Even if we don't have leads, we still have needs." Alex settled herself back, kicking her feet up as the relaxant soothed her down to a level of comfort she hadn't known for years. Since before being spaced and resurrected. "Miranda tells me that Cerberus is working on something big. She has a few connections she's still able to tap so we know that much. It could be weaponry or armor, something we can use that they've already engineered from Collector technology." Shrugging, she let her glance linger on the ceiling. "The Illusive Man isn't on speaking terms with me right now, but he's after all sorts of resources. Eezo, Palladium... you name it. He's reaching far and wide for those minerals, which leads me to believe that he's got something he's not sharing."
Tossing the damaged syringe into the waste bin, Chakwas moved to her desk. "I still don't trust him."
"Neither do I. But we need whatever edge we can get. Liara has a lot of information on mineral rich planets and moons and if I can scrounge up enough minerals to tempt him, I think that The Illusive Man might overcome his bad mood and throw me a bone."
"Is that the only reason you want to get out of Omega so quickly?" There was a sly tease in Chakwas' voice and Shepard sat up to look at her over the edge of the doctor's data monitor.
"What do..." Alex stopped, frowned. "Not you too."
"I saw Kaidan when he came through here. Is he what you're trying so hard to avoid?"
Rather than brush it off, Chakwas had known Kaidan Alenko longer than Shepard herself did, Alex approached the subject cautiously. "Anderson sent him to drag me back to the Council and try to get them to believe the threat is coming. All that data I sent them from the Collector Ship should be enough that I don't need to be involved." Well aware that she was sounding more sulky than commanding, Shepard cleared her throat and sat a little straighter on the edge of the infirmary bed, scooting forward until her boots rest firmly on the ground.
"Is that the only reason?"
"That's the most important reason. He's very persistent." Blowing out a breath, she wallowed in the relief that came with the lack of pain. "I'm not the Council's favorite person, Doc. They're going to fight whatever I say simply on principle. Nobody believed me then, why would they believe me now that I've been running around with Cerberus? I don't have the time to waste trying to convince them." Her hand came up as Chakwas opened her mouth again. "And yes. Yes. I still... Kaidan's still... I don't know what to say. I'm trying hard to bury what I feel for him, because he's a good guy, Doc, and loyal to his core." Closing her eyes, she lifted her shoulders in a pained shrug. "The last thing he needs is to be involved with me right now. Just one more thing I don't have the luxury of time to figure out."
"Love really is wasted on the young. What about what Kaidan wants?"
Eyes popping open, Alex let out a hissing breath. "Kaidan wants to accomplis his mission, and Anderson was wrong for sending him. For one thing, I won't let myself be swayed by what was between us and for another, I don't think that Anderson realizes that Commander Kaidan Alenko hates my technologically advanced guts for working with Cerberus. And leaving him hanging for two years," she finished sourly. Paused. "He believes me about that now though."
Rather than brush off her concerns, Chakwas rose and moved to sit on the bed next to Shepard, leaning in until their shoulders touched in a moving show of solidarity that reminded her somewhat of her mother. Shepard was still human enough to admit that it moved her. A little. "Life is never going to be easy, particularly in these times we face now. You have already managed remarkable things, Shepard. In time, you'll be able to handle this as well." Giving her a nudge, Chakwas rose and returned to her desk and the data waiting for her. "In the meantime, we're both products and children of the Alliance Navy and Marines, no matter where our loyalties may be at the moment we will always be true to that background. I know you're angry and feel they turned their back on you."
"They did."
"Only because they were left no other choice. Like it or not, we work with an organization that is largely considered a terrorist group. But I know you possess a very deep sense of duty and loyalty as well, even if you have been trying to distance yourself from it lately. You want to help the Alliance and you want to help Kaidan, if not the Council. I'm sure you can find a way to satisfy yourself and get them what they need to convince the Council that the Reapers are a real threat."
Somewhat encouraged not only by Chakwas' faith in her but also the relief from pain, Shepard pushed herself to her feet and corrected the slight wobble in her legs as she stood. "And that's why my team is the absolute best, I guess. You all believe in me. It's a bit scary sometimes."
"We trust you Shepard. To lead us, to do the right thing." Smiling slightly, the doctor stood, laying her hands on Shepard's shoulders. "You are a strong, capable woman who knows what she wants and is not afraid to go after it. And while that might lead you down some concerning paths, it's a good thing. Remember that... a very good thing."
"I'll try. That's the best I can promise."
"That's all that I ask."
Feeling better in body and a bit more balanced in mind, Shepard left the Med Bay and considered her options. It hadn't been that long ago that she had told Kaidan that she didn't have the luxury of holding a grudge, so it was time to live up to that claim. To set aside ill will and anger and take another shot at convincing the galaxy that the end was near.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
After what had happened in the depths of Omega, Kaidan hadn't been expecting to hear from the Normandy so soon. Joker's warning in mind, he had fully intended to try and get back in contact with Councilor Anderson and try to convince him the whole thing was a wash. Not one to admit to failure, he was loathing the idea that this mission that carried such professional and yes, personal, importance might be the one to make him cry Uncle. Maybe he just needed to convince Anderson to send somebody else. It was too personal. He was too close to it all. Before he could cement his plans though, Joker had sent him another message telling him to come swing by the ship for reasons unknown. As cryptic as the invitation was, he decided to take advantage of it and see if he could get Joker to play along and call the Normandy grounded for at least another day so Kaidan could at least try and figure things out.
Omega's layout was beginning to become familiar beyond the routes to and from the docking bays that he had memorized and he found himself in front of the Normandy in record time; looking sleek and capable in the low light of the dry dock as repairs were completed.
=Hello Commander Alenko,= EDI greeted as he approached and the entry opened smoothly. =You are expected.=
"Ah. Thank you, EDI." He moved from the entryway and made a beeline for the pilot's chair, Joker waiting for him with a measuring look.
"Before you say anything." he began, tugging the bill of his cap with a frown. "I wasn't the one who wanted you to come back down here. Shepard wanted to talk to you and told me to give you the call."
"Shepard wants to talk all of the sudden?" Kaidan frowned, wondering what might be in store for him now.
"Yeah. But for once, I think this might be good news. She's all set up in the conference area, so EDI can show you the way." Joker waited a moment and Kaidan turned away, headed back toward the CIC when the pilot called out. "Hey. I don't know what happened down there in Omega, but thanks for getting her back in one piece. Shepard's tough, I know. We all know. But she's not as invincible as she thinks."
"Yeah, I know. No problem." Still frowning, and far more uncertain than he was a moment before, Kaidan followed the helpfully lit path through the CIC, adhering to EDI's instruction as the AI guided him around the CIC and into what must have been the lab area, where a harried looking Salarian looked up from his work long enough to grace Kaidan with a quick once over before deciding the strange Marine was no threat. Putting the lab behind him through another door, he finally came to the conference room and felt himself tense when the doors hissed shut behind him, leaving him on the other side of a large table from Alex Shepard herself; looking calm and composed in a uniform that carried vague echoes of the old style of the Alliance Marine duty uniform.
The silence in the room stretched as she sized him up; Kaidan pulling himself straight and meeting her eyes with an impassive look of his own. It seemed easier if they pretended this was something no more important than an official briefing between them. Easier to consider her a stranger, like she seemed to be considering him. Finally, she shifted and blinked first, bringing her hands out from behind her back to set them on the tabletop, long fingers spread wide as she shifted her weight forward.
"I'm going to give you all the proof you should need to take back with you, Alenko."
"We have your Collector data as proof already. My orders specify that I return with you, Shepard," he countered smoothly, sounding far more capable than he felt with that green, glowing gaze on him once more. "The Alliance needs you to speak at a hearing concerning upcoming threats. Whatever proof you can supply us with will be welcome of course, but this all hinges on you being there to present it."
"Not an option. I'm staying here to better counter the threat since it will likely come from this direction. The Omega-4 relay is still hot, and I anticipate that the Reapers will strike through it, or near enough to it." She didn't feel it necessary to bring up the encroaching fleet she had seen; stars emerging from the depths of Dark Space to resolve themselves into thousands of unblinking Reaper eyes. The walls of the conference room shivered and she straightened slightly. "Not yet EDI. Sorry."
=You need more practice before you can fully attempt this,= EDI's voice cautioned from nowhere and Kaidan felt his hackles go up at the tone of secrecy that passed between them.
"Just what are you planning?" Dropping the air of formality that had been a barrier between them, Kaidan leaned forward to the table, mirroring Shepard's posture.
"I'm planning to give you all the proof you need." Shepard's smile was smug and she brought her hands up in front of her, eyes closing and fingers moving as if she were manipulating a control console. She heaved a brief sigh. "EDI, this interface is terrible," she muttered, barely audible and clearly irritated. "Ah. That's much better." Fingers twitching, she cracked an eye open and gave him a look of curious anticipation that set off his warning flags a moment too late.
The room went completely black. Stumbling in the sudden void he'd been dropped into, Kaidan felt his spatial awareness slip away from him like water and widened his stance to keep from wobbling. It lasted only a moment before the darkness faded into a scene he would rather have never found himself facing.
It was real enough that he began to question what Shepard had just done to him. The flooring beneath his boots was slick and gritty with humidity and whatever squelching, sandy substance had grown over it, the ceiling of the massive room was unseen, walls curving overhead in a collection of pipes and cells and a great many things he couldn't find descriptions for; a sickening blend of machine and organic that would have made the hair on the back of his neck rise if every muscle in his body hadn't already tensed itself in preparation for flight-or-fight reaction at the sight of the... the thing directly before him. Suspended over the fathomless pit stretching before it, it was vaguely human and nearly skeletal in the way it looked; synthetics and metal but still somehow alive. His mind struggled and skipped for a moment before supplying him with the single horrifying realization that it was a Reaper. A human Reaper.
The thing rocked forward from its suspension; secured in the air from a series of hydraulic tubes and immense cables. Its jaw gaped forward with a monstrous metallic shriek and the scene surrounding him shuddered and skipped; images flashing and incorporating themselves into what he was looking at with an air of chaos that reminded him of stereotypical attempts at mindwashing, Collector pods. People trapped inside them. Those same people struggling in sudden panic as they were unmade, liquified, processed. Wide, climbing walls and arching structures lined with thousands of pod cells. Again, his mind struggled to comprehend for a split second. God, the colonists. He felt his skin go clammy in an instant.
Then everything froze, wiped to black again and blinked back to reality and Shepard's pale, shocked face. "Oh shit. Shit. I'm sorry I didn't mean to... not like that."
"What the hell did you just do?"
"Damnit, I'm all blunt force, no finesse... I need to talk to Kasumi-"
"What did you do!" Kaidan snapped, reaching out to physically grab her shoulders and shake, pulling her away from her worry and back into ice cold composure if the glare she shot him was anything to go by.
"This conference room is hologram equipped for communication purposes. I had EDI link up to display my greybox-"
"Your greybox?" Kaidan gave her a look of shock, compounded by the nightmare he'd been dropped into without warning. Silent for a moment, she broke the hold he had on her shoulders with a quick twist, hands up to knock him back. "What the hell have you been doing!"
"Surviving!" Prompted by anger or simply her blunt force method of handling things, the room went dark again, but not the emptiness of the void he'd been in before and Shepard swiveled in the midst of her own memory to face a wall of darkness and a smattering of stars in the distance. Only they weren't stars, not moving in small clusters as they were. Swallowing hard, Shepard pushed the memory down and Kaidan only caught a gleaming edge of metal in the distance as the "stars" cleared the darkness and a shape resolved itself into a massive, space faring body... another Reaper?
Unable to control the way her memories were shifting now, Shepard began to curse with increasing intensity as scenes unfolded around him, some forming and vanishing too fast to be certain what he was seeing, but others lingered. He caught images of places he recognized; the Citadel's Presidium, Illium's towering skyline from the trade floor, a flash of the Horizon colony. There were more scenes he couldn't imagine that still brought touches of wonder and horror in seemingly equal parts and before the room snapped back to the conference center and its wide table; a massive thresher maw bearing down toward them.
Shepard drooped visibly, hand pressed to her eyes as she muttered under her breath. "I don't have this under as much control as well as I thought I did."
"What was all of that?"
"What do you think? Memories." Shepard let her hand drop, shifted to lean her hip against the table. Visibly separating herself from that brief moment of weakness, she took a few deep breaths before pinning him with a steady stare. "My memories."
"Which brings to mind," Kaidan felt anger spark again beneath the confusion and other muddled emotions of being privy to flashes of Shepard's mind. The anger was much safer than the worry smothered beneath it. "Why the hell did you have yourself greyboxed?"
Alex shot him a look of pure irritation that shivered down his spine. "I didn't have it done, it was done to me without my permission or acknowledgment, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to take advantage of it." Pushing herself into motion, she paced around the room with the practiced ease of a person familiar with the space. "I will use every advantage that comes my way, no matter what other people may think. I will make this perfectly clear, Commander Alenko," she hissed, hands moving through the air as she gestured, spinning to point a finger sharply in his direction. "I will not stand for people giving me lectures on untested technology, risky procedures or what I should or shouldn't be doing with my time and abilities. I will use every single advantage that comes my way. There is only one goal, one reason to keep moving, one thing I have to accomplish. And I will accomplish it. The Reapers will not win."
"Then we're working toward the same goal," he snapped back, tired of diplomacy when all she wanted to do was shout. "Stop working against me, Alex and work with me!"
Throwing her head back with a frustrated growl, Shepard whipped forward to pin him with a stare. The green glow of her eyes was augmented with red; something he'd already come to recognize as a warning sign. Beneath her skin, a red glow red crackled at the surface and faded back into the angry flush spreading quickly across her features. "I'm trying, damnit! Why can't you compromise with me, Kaidan?"
Her small slip seemed to diffuse his own anger and Shepard was left with a quietly suspicious look on her face as his shoulders went back down, a slight smile tipping up the corner of his mouth. Anger faltering in the face of his inexplicably self-satisfied calm, Alex let her arms drop to her sides with a rough sigh. "What? What now?"
"You called me Kaidan. I think we're making progress." The biotic could have laughed at the blank look that crossed her features then, her attempts at separating herself from him in one way or another almost clarifying in the air between them.
"This doesn't change anything." she muttered. "I'm not going back there." The fight drained out of her, she moved to the main computer console that sat at the hub of the Conference Room's table and brought up an interface, typing in a series of commands and muttering to herself a moment before raising her voice. "What's done is done, and I won't waste my breath trying to convince the new Council of what the old Council won't even believe." Typing as she talked, she seemed more civil at least, if no less weary. "If you and Anderson can't accomplish that, then there's nothing I can say that will help."
"But you were there, Alex. You fought and defeated the Collectors. You have firsthand experience of what we're dealing with." Kaidan kept insisting, rounding the table to approach her as she worked until she gave him a warning glance and shifted further away from him. "The information that you sent Anderson is incredibly valuable, but they'll find some way to dismiss it."
"And I'm supposed to change that? The Council doesn't trust me; new or old." Alex laughed bitterly and closed her eyes once more, fingers working in the motions of what he recognized as her toying with whatever information lurked in her greybox. He resisted the urge to unnecessarily inform her that memory recorders were illegal within the higher ranks of the Alliance, but she'd made it very clear she didn't give a damn, and that she had no intention of returning to the Alliance. Eyes popping open, she reached back to the terminal and withdrew a slim datastick, extending it in his direction. "Here. Now you have all the additional data you might need. I've been greyboxing everything, apparently, so I just had EDI help me transfer the data pertaining to my experience with the Collectors and Reapers."
Kaidan reached out, their fingers touching briefly as he accepted the datastick. She didn't pull away automatically, her eyes shifting to take in the contact with something unreadable in her expression. It was mildly disappointing to him that he couldn't read her anymore. At least not as well as he used to be able to. The guilty hours he'd spent watching her work aboard the Normandy had lent a certain kind of expertise toward the woman he had loved. Might possibly still love. Now she was as foreign to him as a volus; every thought kept contained under a heavy mask."I... thank you."
"You're welcome," she responded with an air of uncertainty, as if their civil behavior was another prong of his strategy. But after a moment, she lifted her shoulders, shook out her arms and rolled her neck in a quick attempt to shake off whatever stress she had been carrying along with her.
Kaidan considered the datastick for another long moment before tucking it away and giving into a curiosity that had come to mind. "What else do you have stored in that greybox?" Shepard seemed mildly surprised by the question and his sudden change of interest.
"Ah... everything. Everything since I came back is stored in here. I haven't exactly had time to look through it all or organize datastreams, but it's all there." Shepard tapped at her temple with a wry smile and her eyes drifted away from his glance. "I've come to learn what Thane meant when he said people could get lost in memories." The latter was said softly, a concession to herself perhaps. But...
"Who's Thane?"
"A very accomplished assassin I have the good fortune of counting as a friend. Thane also happens to be a Drell, and they have a very interesting memory recall system," Shepard explained with a shrug before giving him a dry look. "Why the interest?"
"We always worked well together, Shepard. Is it so terrible that I want to make sure you're doing okay?" Kaidan sighed, shifting on his feet at the small bit of confession. Shepard too seemed a touch surprised, but blanked her expression rapidly to cover whatever else she might give away.
"I suppose not. I guess I never congratulated you on your promotion." Struggling for a moment, she blew out a sigh. "I'm glad the Alliance seems to be treating you so well."
Nodding a quick thanks, he didn't feel it necessary to tell her how much a nightmare that promotion had been at first; he'd still been a bit of a wreck after her "death" and being pushed into a Commander's position had left him feeling sick, as if the Alliance expected him to replace their lost hero by way of his association to her. It had taken him a lot of internal struggle to finally feel good about the promotion and to find his own feet, finding certainty in that he'd earned it by his own hard work and not some form of pity or a demand for compliance. Mostly, he had wished that she and the rest of the already dispersed crew had been there to make the event something worth celebrating. "It has it's ups and downs, but Councilor Anderson seems to have taken a personal interest in my career after... everything."
"He's a good man. A good mentor. You could learn a lot from him," Shepard said with a far away smile. "Look... tell Anderson that I'm sorry. But I don't have time to waste. If he wants to holo-conference something, I might be able to work that in, but there's nothing else I can do for him."
"Will do for him," Kaidan corrected gently, not wanting to press her back into anger, but also not letting her get away from her refusal. Their needs were so very different these days and it was easy enough to wish for the days when they worked side by side toward a common goal with the all the stops pulled out. Her eyes flashed reproachfully, but she didn't argue the point. "Shepard-"
"Woulda, coulda, shoulda. That's all I can do, will do, to help," said Shepard. "I've done what I could on the front you're about to attack, and it wasn't enough. Take what's on that datastick and with it and the Collector data, I hope it's enough to help you and Anderson beat this thing. I'm done with the Citadel. I'm exerting my energy where it will be the most help."
"Alex. Please. We really need your help on this." Kaidan straightened his shoulders and made sure his tone and expression got the right message across; a friend asking for help and not a soldier begging for it.
"We leave tomorrow night, and nothing will change that unless something spontaneously explodes." Quiet for a moment, Shepard finally sighed and scrubbed a hand across her eyes. "You probably don't want to stay on Omega after this Alenko. It's no place for you."
"Yeah, no problem. I can tell where I'm not wanted."
Blowing a rough breath out between her clenched teeth, Shepard gestured to the door and let her gaze drop back to the table at her side. "Just be safe out there, will you?"
Ignoring the clear dismissal for the moment, he let out a quick laugh. "Would you ever promise me the same?"
There might have been a fleeting smile on her lips, there and gone before he really say it existed. "You know I couldn't."
"Then I'll do what I can, Alex. But no promises." He waited long enough for her to say something in return, but not long enough for the silence to stretch on into something more awkward than it already was. "Goodbye Shepard."
The door whisked closed after a moment longer, and feeling like a coward, Alex leaned back against the table and stared at it. "Goodbye, Kaidan."
AN: I honestly should have finished this whole story before playing ME3. I really should have. But I didn't! So as well as taking me a bit longer to pump out this chapter, I'm worried it might have taken a turn from what I intended and be clouded with some of what happened in that game; Shepard and Kaidan's reunion included.
Either way, hope you all enjoy it. Don't forget to leave a review if you feel so obliged. I hate to beg for them, but I really do appreciate them. Reviews give me the happy-feel-goods. ;)
