"I can't believe you! Oh yeah, let's send the one person we don't want to be a soldier in the first place out to a prime target with just one marine. I'm sure that will go fine!" Jeff yelled over the comm as Kaya entered the conference room.

"Hey, the other marine she was with was me," Vega said, genuinely upset by this sudden lack of confidence.

Kaya stopped just outside the door and leaned against the wall. She knew she probably should interrupt this little cat fight before it got out of hand, but her curiosity got the better of her.

"It could have been fucking Shepard! Wouldn't matter! She never should have been sent out there on her own like that! And – holy shit, Vega – you fucking left her on her own."

"Hey, that's on Jack! And, you're telling me you wouldn't trust Kaya to Shepard? Really, pendejo?"

"Don't pull me into this, Vega!" Jack yelled. "We were fighting for those kids down there–"

"Enough!" Kaidan shouted, slamming his hands down on the table. His outburst was more commanding than annoyed, an officer trying to get his soldiers into line. "There was absolutely no intel that suggested anyone was going to try and hit the Academy. And everyone made it out, so will you all just shut up?"

"Yeah, well, tell your girlfriend I said thanks for that one," Jeff griped.

"Jeff! That's enough!" Kaya said with a slightly raised voice, walking past the dividing wall and over to the conference table. His jab at Liara had taken things just a bit too far.

"What – you're supposed to be down in the med bay!" Jeff scolded over the comm. "You got shot!"

"I got grazed," Kaya insisted, even though that wasn't strictly true. "And Medi-gel is one hell of a drug. Now fly the damn ship! I do believe you're supposed to be making sure whoever the hell that was doesn't catch up to us."

She could hear a few choice retorts running through his head, but Jeff stayed silent. It took her a moment to realize both Van Dyne and Malik were in the room. Agent Malik studied Kaya carefully with those same dead eyes. There were no thought processes behind them to analyze, but Kaya could very clearly see Malik sizing up the eldest psychic in the room.

"We do apologize for the precaution," Malik said, looking squarely at Kaya. "It's just that it would be unwise for us to trust you."

"So what was all that back on Omega?" Kaidan interjected, quickly figuring out what had passed between Kaya and Malik. "Everything about looking forward to working with Shepard's old squad?"

"That was completely genuine," Van Dyne said. Kaya thought he meant it. "Although you may have mistaken me. From a professional and personal standpoint, I am looking forward to working with the people who helped save the galaxy. Who helped rescue me from Cerberus six years ago. But I have to be aware of the dangers. You could be indoctrinated."

There were a few stutters of disbelieving protest from both Kaidan and Vega before Malik stepped in, "It is a distinct possibility. Some of these scientists now working within the Alliance having been working with Reaper technology since right after the First Contact War, ever since the incident at Temple Palaven. They have had ample time to study its effects. We do not know if the artifacts are even still active after the destruction of the Reapers, it's true. But they still had over two decades to study it. Cerberus was certainly able to make significant gains on the technology in a much shorter period of time."

Kaya found herself impressed by the young woman's matter-of-fact tone. She sure as hell had not been this pulled together at twenty one.

"If you think we could be indoctrinated," Vega began, "then why are you on the ship?"

"So far, none of you show any signs of indoctrination," Van Dyne said. "That being said, the signs can be particularly subtle. I got a dose of it at the Academy – the soldiers there were implanted with Reaper tech – but I haven't detected the same unusual thought patterns aboard. No humming. No headaches or hallucinations. No voices that don't belong there. Or, rather, no voices without a known source."

"How could you possibly believe we're working for them, after what just happened down there?" Kaidan asked, aghast.

"It's our asses on the line here, Major," Malik said. "You'll have to excuse an overabundance of caution. We still believe that our best bet is the Normandy's crew. Alexis wouldn't have made contact with you otherwise. But, we can trust no one right now. I would think you of all people would understand that."

"Fine," Kaidan said tersely. "Joker, chart a course for the Citadel. We need to report in to the council on this ASAP, and I'm not trusting anyone linked to the Alliance right now except us. Vega, Jack, Kaya – I need to you to fill me in on what the hell happened down there. Now."


"What the hell were you thinking? I thought – I thought–"

"I know," Kaya said, wincing.

She was trying to keep her voice level as Jeff stood angrily between her and the bed in their cabin. The last thing they needed was for the whole damn ship to hear this particular argument. Kaya had hoped that, by retreating back to the med bay for a little while they made way to the Citadel, she would give Jeff the opportunity to calm down. That had apparently not happened.

"But I had to get those kids out of the line of fire," Kaya insisted. "And Jack was better equipped to take care of them."

"You could have died!"

"You think I don't know that? You think I made the decision lightly?" she said, raising her voice. Trying to keep this private was going to be a losing battle, anyway. "I made a choice."

"You chose to throw yourself on a grenade!"

"Yes!" she screamed. "Yes! I did! But I did it knowing full well that my barriers have gotten pretty damn good. I'm a soldier, Jeff. We can debate whether or not that ever should have even happened, fine. But, even if I'm no longer officially enlisted with the Alliance, I was trained since I was a kid to throw myself on a grenade. So that's what I did. And, you know, as a military man who's been on a few fucking suicide missions, I would think you'd understand that."

That seemed to somber him. Jeff sat down on the bed, hands clenched into fists. She tried not to feel his mind whirring, but it was impossible to block out.

That was to save the damn galaxy from the Reapers. Totally different. And, hell, that was planned. We knew what we were getting into. This was impulsive, stupid. Reckless. She could have died. I thought she died. And, for what? For a couple of kids she'd never even met.

"Stop! Oh my god, just stop!" she yelled, horrified by that last bit. "I don't care if this isn't the fucking Reapers! It doesn't have to be the end of the damn galaxy for it to be worth dying for. Those were innocent children. Children my very existence puts in harm's way. The only reason these traitors in the Alliance are coming after them is because they know, from me, that it's possible to torture them enough to turn them into weapons. And if you think I wasn't going to protect them with my life, then you don't know anything about me!"

She crossed the room and went to raise her left arm, to knock against his chest and try to force some sense into him. Instead, a sharp pain caused her to clutch at her shoulder.

"Son of a bitch!" she hissed.

He looked up then. His face was pale, and the anger was still plain upon it, but there was worry in his eyes now.

"Let me see that," he said, standing up. She tried to protest, but he hobbled over and pulled away the bandage. "What the hell, Kaya? That is not just a graze."

"It's fine. Doc patched me up."

"Yeah, and I can still see where a bullet ripped through your fucking shoulder," he said. "Stop trying to move it and sit down."

Kaya let out a little cry of exasperation, but she obliged and flung herself down on the bed. Maybe her compliance here would get him to calm the fuck down. He sat down next to her and carefully reapplied the bandage. She kept her eyes shut, worried that she would start crying if she looked at him. Jeff rested his hand – lightly, so lightly she could barely feel it – on top of the bandage when he was done. Something about what Kaya had said seemed to sink in.

"You know you can't blame yourself for this, right?" he said quietly.

"Do I? Jesus, Jeff, if I had never taken that Mars mission. If I had never ended up in this time, if I had just stayed MIA in college instead of running back to Cain – none of this would be happening. Christ, the youngest one is twelve years old. Her name is Lily. And all I can see is an image of her, strapped to a chair, being tortured."

He put a hand under her chin, turning her face to his. She still refused to open her eyes.

"You coming to this time kept them from getting a head start," he said. "It's probably what gave those kids a chance at something resembling a childhood."

This was a possibility Kaya had not considered, and her eyes flew open to look at him.

"I – well, I – damn it, will you just lie here with me and shut up for a while?" she said softly, shutting her eyes again.

He moved to the other side of the bed and slid his hand into hers. She could see Kaidan and Vega a level above them, getting ready to depart with Malik and Van Dyne. Kaya found herself wondering what the Council could possibly do about all this. It wasn't as if they could call the Alliance out on it in the open; the diplomatic repercussions would be massive. And, unlike Kaidan and Garrus, Kaya refused to believe this went that high up. It was just too conspiracy-theorist for her.

Then again, as she fell into an uneasy sleep, Kaya mused that some of the worst truths in history tended to be proven conspiracy theories, the Reapers among them.