"I hear you're getting out of here."
Kaidan turns to the Drell who spends so much of his time tucked into the corner of the lounge. Their physiology is different, but even so, Kaidan can tell the alien is fading. His breathing sounds harsh and ragged, and his speech is slurred, when it comes at all. There is only one way Thane Krios will leave this hospital.
"My clearance came through this morning." He swallows hard, a wave of guilt crashing against the inside of his stomach. There has been so much death in this war, in his life; he's even caused some of it. But it seems different now. He studies Thane and sees an equal: a warrior. He deserves better than to linger through a slow and painful fight against an enemy that cannot be defeated. How can you fight against your own body? Thane's illness is not a problem that can be solved, certainly not with a well-placed shot from the rifle Kaidan sometimes sees the assassin maintaining, with the easy motions of someone who does it without thinking. He hasn't seen the gun for several days, though.
"Do not grieve for me. I have lived a long life. I've asked Kalihira to forgive my sins and guard my path. And I have made peace with my son. It is my time."
"How do you know?" Kaidan demands.
"What?"
"How do you know it's your time?"
"It is not your time, Kaidan Alenko."
"How do you know?" he repeats.
Thane draws in a shaky breath, and blinks his large eyes, staring out the fake window for a long time before turning back to Kaidan. "Are you ready to lay down your weapons and give up the fight?"
"No," Kaidan replies immediately. He sighs. "You know how they say your life flashes in front of your eyes when you're about to die?"
"I am intimately familiar with the concept, yes."
Kaidan winces. "Sorry, that was..." he trails off as he picks up on the look Thane is somehow projecting. No apologies. Right. "Anyway, after Mars... the future flashed, for me. After everything I saw in the invasion on Earth, everything I see here," he waves his arm toward the halls deeper in the hospital, echoing with the agonized moaning of the injured refugees laid out on cots or sometimes directly on the floor because there is nowhere else for them to go. "The anguish, the families... the children. It made me determined to live. I need to do something... to save at least a few lives."
"That's how you know."
A sharp, insistent electronic ping interrupts the conversation before Kaidan can figure his response. He frowns, reaching for the source of the sound. It's not the soft chime he's come to expect from his hospital bracelet, but a harsher tone coming from the omnitool he's still getting used to wearing again. He slides his finger over the device and pulls up a flickering holographic message. The vid cuts out almost immediately, leaving only sound, and that's barely getting through. Crackling bursts of static make the words almost impossible to understand, but there's no mistaking the concussive bursts of explosives and the repetitive pulse of automatic weapons-fire.
"That's local: Citadel," Thane says. The Drell has gotten out of the chair, and Kaidan can immediately see by the way he stands, ready to fight, that his reputation as someone to be feared is certainly deserved.
"Yeah."
"Someone's attacking the Citadel?"
Kaidan nods, running through the frequency bands of his omnitool, but he can't get the signal back, not to the Alliance outpost signature the call had been placed from, and not to C-Sec or the diplomatic backchannels of the Presidium either. "Looks that way. They've cut off comms."
"The attackers are Human," Thane observes, his perfect recall allowing him to make sense of the flickers of fast and blurry video Kaidan could not have focused on. "Cerberus." The organization is easy to recognize, with their distinctive armor marked by the sharp angles of a logo that is familiar to anyone with even a hint of military experience. The Illusive Man does make enemies.
Kaidan blows out a frustrated sigh, and stuffs the surge of anger back down to the pit of his stomach. Calming breaths. Focus. It doesn't matter why Cerberus is here, what's important is stopping them. He needs a plan. His fingers twitch at his side, reaching for the gun he doesn't carry because he's in a hospital. He needs a weapon, and armor, and a plan. One step at a time.
Behind him, Thane is muttering to himself. Or more accurately, to the datapad in his hand. "You get a channel up?" he asks, surprised. His omnitool authorizes him to a level of backdoor clearances the Drell shouldn't be able to match, and he can't get through.
"No," Thane replies heatedly. He continues trying though, following Kaidan to his hospital room. The route is depressingly familiar, even winding through the hushed chaos of senior medical staff responding to scattered reports of the station's intrusion while trying not to ignite a panic among the already-jumpy refugees. Thane shoves his way into his own room and returns half a heartbeat later, holding his rifle in a loving grip.
"What are you doing, Thane?"
"I promised Commander Shepard that I would guard your back should Cerberus come to finish what they started," the Drell assures him, assuming a position for covering fire as Kaidan slips into his room and goes for his gear. "Hurry it up, Major. I have one more fight in me, and I'd rather make the most of it."
"You promised what?" Kaidan asks, as he fumbles with the locker he hasn't touched since he was admitted. "I didn't even know you knew Shepard."
"I was with her on the voyage through the Omega 4 relay... The Suicide Mission, as it is often referred to."
"She never said. But she visited you too then, every time she came to see me?"
"She did."
Kaidan smiles, his fingers flying with practiced movements as he pulls his armor over the Alliance-issue off-duty jumpsuit he'd taken to wearing since the Spectre ceremony. It makes him feel somewhat useful again. Or at least like he's prepared for the possibility of being useful. He never thought it would actually matter, that wearing something designed to have armor strapped on top of it would buy him an extra few minutes in a fight. Who expects a fight in a hospital on a diplomatic station?
"That sounds like Shepard," he admits, locking his gun into its holster with a satisfying click. "She'll do anything for her people."
"And we will always return the favor."
"Damn right."
It's immensely comforting to feel the weight of his armor wrapped protectively around his body again. He loads the thermal clip into his gun by feel, and his heartbeat pounds quickly underneath his ribcage, his body is charged with adrenaline. He can feel the sparks of potential coiled in his brain, surging through his fingertips. His mind settles into the uncanny state of calm that allows him to scan his surroundings for threats and priorities without being distracted by fear or panic at the very serious physical threats that come from having live grenades thrown in his general direction. He crouches into cover behind the admission desk, abandoned by the hospital staff who've retreated to protect the patients who cannot defend themselves.
"Flashbang," Thane says softly, over the private channel hooked into his armor. Kaidan fiddles with his omnitool as the Drell talks, strengthening the feed and locking in their two-way communication. Cerberus won't be able to cut them off unless they take out their own radios with it. "Non-lethal. That is promising."
Kaidan bites his lip, watching the Cerberus assault troopers sweep through the lounge, red light tracking from their guns and sweeping over the furniture. The room is eerily silent. The lights flicker, then go dark, returning with a loud pop as the hospital's emergency generator kicks in. "They don't seem to be expecting resistance," he murmurs. The subvocal mic will amplify his words and relay them to his partner.
"It's a hospital," Thane reminds him.
"That's just it. What're they doing here? Attacking the Citadel doesn't make any sense."
The hostile squad moves past his position, and Kaidan breathes a bit easier, until one of the more lightly armored men pauses and turns back, looking directly at him.
"Damn!" He opens fire and cuts down the combat engineer without a second's hesitation. Of course they'd use sensors. He curses himself for not thinking about that immediately.
"You take the right, I've got the left," Thane instructs.
Kaidan nods, reloading his pistol and taking his next shot. The Cerberus trooper drops. It's just like target practice at the shooting range. He falls into the rhythm of war like he'd never been out of it.
"Clear," he breathes. "Next steps?"
"Those commandos are here for us, Alenko. Anyone connected to Shepard is at risk. Cerberus goes nowhere without aiming for complete control."
"The Presidium. They'll try for the Council."
"Indeed."
"We have to stop them." Kaidan sprints for the inter-level express elevator just outside the hospital's main entrance. Out here, the backup lighting that had shown bright within the medical facility is nowhere to be found. He moves cautiously, holding his gun in a steady two-handed grip and scanning for possible ambushes. It takes him a long moment to realize that he hears nothing more than the echoes of his own breathing cycling back through his earbuds.
"Thane?"
"I am safe enough. Go. Protect the Council, Spectre. Do your job."
"What about you?"
"I will do my best to help C-Sec manage the situation. I... owe Commander Bailey a great deal."
And he's still terminally ill, he doesn't deserve to be dragged through a firefight. Kaidan nods. "Okay."
"I will direct Security to your location. Keep in contact."
"Yeah. See you on the other side, Thane."
The elevator is still working. That in itself is enough to send relief surging through Kaidan's entire body. He takes another few careful breaths, thinking it through. Prepare for the worst, be ready for a trap... he palms the button that will take him to the Presidium's upper levels, then changes his mind and redirects. The Commons. More options, in case they are waiting for him the way he expects.
The elevator doors slide open, and Kaidan ducks out from behind them, rolling to cover behind a low wall. Cerberus has made quick work of the open walkways and storefronts; the whole place is painted with bulletholes and smoke damage. And empty. Above his head, warning klaxons blare along with a looped recording declaring "civil unrest" in each of the Citadel's Wards in alphabetical order. "For your safety, avoid these areas." Kaidan swallows an ironic laugh and checks his gun again.
His Spectre access gets him in through a back door that Cerberus must not know about. He keeps his senses alert, but encounters no one as he hurries through the emergency-use-only shaft that involves climbing a lot of stairs and scrambling through narrow passageways. The Councilors won't like this, it means getting dirty and uncomfortable. But he imagines they'll like being dead even less.
The shaft dumps him out into one of the small meeting rooms that ring the top of the Council's main chamber. The last time he'd been here, it'd been to accept his nomination as a Spectre. Now, it's time to show that it isn't just a title.
He frowns, crawling forward toward the thick plexiglass window, just in case Cerberus is looking. What if the Council isn't here? It isn't the most logical place to hide.
But it is the most defensible, whispers his Marine-training, in Ashley Williams' voice.
Sure enough, when he peeks carefully over the windowsill, it's to see all of the Councilors pacing anxiously around the large room, just below him. Pressed for time, he shatters the window with a few well placed shots - not bulletproof? Stupid risk! - and jumps down.
"Major Alenko," Udina gasps, eyes wide with surprise and unconcealed fear. Kaidan reminds himself that the diplomat isn't a front-line soldier the way he is. He's not used to people coming after him with guns.
"Don't worry. I'll keep you safe. Come on, we've got to get you to a shuttle."
The rest of the Councilors watch him warily, and he scans the room, running options in his head. The maintenance shaft is safer, certainly, but the elevator will get them to the shuttles faster, and speed may mean the difference between life or death. And in either case, they'll be caught in a chokepoint, he's the only one with combat experience and armor, and only a couple of the Councilors have even a handgun. Elevator it is. "Go!" he commands, watching their back as Udina shoves the rest of the Council past the doors Kaidan has locked open.
The human ambassador meets his eyes as Kaidan slips into the elevator and punches the button that allows the doors to slide smoothly shut. The car rumbles and begins to move shortly thereafter. The ride is anything but smooth. It stops and starts, shudders and jerk, and even begins to fall, for a terrifying few moments. It stabilizes, and starts moving upward again. Kaidan concentrates on breathing and forces himself not to act as twitchy as he feels in front of the people he's supposed to be rescuing.
Udina slams the emergency-stop button as they reach the shuttle pad. Kaidan is moving to force the doors open manually when they hear the heavy jolt of something - someone - landing on the top of the elevator car. Cerberus has caught up to them. No time to think. He wrestles with the doors and manages to separate them just enough to squeeze through. "Go!" he commands, and the Council, to its everlasting credit, actually follows his order. It's enough to recharge him. They've reached the goal. It fills him with confidence and hope for perhaps five seconds before he rounds the corner - eyes still alert for an ambush - to see the shuttle, burning.
Smoke pours from its engine, obscuring the familiar Alliance paint scheme. Fire licks out from behind the panels where electronics reside, crackling and collapsing under the savage assault. Even with the fire extinguisher he could still grab from the elevator, there is no salvaging the vehicle, not quickly enough.
New plan, what now? Where is he supposed to go? "Back to the elevator!" he demands. C-Sec. It's their best option. And he will keep them all safe because it is his job, and he sure as hell is not going to just give up. "Go!" he screams, when no one moves. "I'll cover you." He turns back to the waiting elevator to do just that, and then he sees her. Gun drawn, aimed steadily at the Council members he is trying to protect.
"Shepard?"
"Shepard's blocking our escape!" Udina snaps. "She's with Cerberus!"
No, Kaidan's mental-voice insists. No, this can't be right. Uncertainty twists in his stomach. Isn't this what he'd known, all along, what he'd feared? He'd tried to fight it because he wanted so badly for it not to be true, but...
"Cerberus goes nowhere without complete control."
They'd owned her for years.
Trust me, Kaidan. Please.
"Everyone just... calm down," he insists. He's the only one that's agitated.
"Kaidan, I'm here for him," Shepard demands, nodding toward Udina. Kaidan draws in a deep breath, his gun tracking her movements. Ready to... shoot her? Can he really pull that trigger?
Does he have a choice?
"Would I do this if I wasn't damn sure?" Shepard spits, holding his gaze and his attention. Dangerous, his training screams, pulsing through his blood. His fingers tighten around the grip of his gun. "Would I?"
Kaidan, you know me...
Breathless giggles. The softness of her skin, slick under the artificial rain of her Captain's-Cabin shower. The rhythm of her heart as he traced his fingers along her ribcage to rest between her naked breasts.
And the single-minded determination with which she's thrown herself into the line of fire, to protect him.
He drops the gun. "I better not regret this, Shepard."
"You won't."
"Udina," he orders, infusing his voice with as much command as he can muster. "Step away from the console."
"To hell with this!" the Councilor retorts, pulling a holdout gun from a hidden pocket and throwing the Asari nearest him to the ground.
As soon as the man points his weapon at the unarmed diplomat, Shepard takes the shot. Clean. Right through the heart. Udina falls.
"Get the Council back and cover that door," Shepard orders. Kaidan nods, falling in right behind her. He doesn't regret it at all.