Prompt: This is the price you pay for loss of control

He's been locked in his quarters for several day cycles. How many he doesn't know; doesn't care.

I killed someone. Kaidan squeezed his eyes shut and wondered if he would be executed, like the bad guys in those vids Colby downloaded from the 'Net. He didn't think he could be executed without a trial, but he didn't know for sure. Things worked differently in space.

He rubbed his face with the heels of his hands. He hoped Rahna was okay. The way she looked at him after what he did... Kaidan swallowed.

Voices came suddenly out in the corridor, and he tensed: was this it? Were the police going to take him to jail? Would he have a chance to see his mom and sister again?

The door slid open, revealing one of the other turian teachers and...

"Dad!" Kaidan bolted upright on his feet, but stayed put at the look on the older man's face.

"Gather your things, son. We're leaving."

Kaidan swallowed hard at the tone in his father's voice. Not good. He fumbled around, stuffing his few shirts and pants in a duffel, grabbing his omni-tool from the desk and sliding it in his pocket. In a few minutes, he was ready.

"Dad, what's—are we..." he trailed off as his voice cracked in an unmanly display of fear.

"There's going to be an investigation, Kaidan," his father said in a measured tone, keeping a hand on his shoulder as if afraid he would run off. "We're going home until this... incident blows over."

Kaidan bit down on the inside of his cheek. He'd ruined everything; the expensive surgery, the trip to this station-all for nothing.

His father stopped unexpectedly and Kaidan looked up, curious. A few students were standing in the middle of the corridor, chatting. The voices died as Kaidan met their uncomfortable gazes.

"Rahna!" Kaidan stepped forward, barely held in check by his father's firm hand. "Are you okay? No one came to tell me what's going on—"

Rahna's bottom lip trembled and she shook her head, her curtain of dark hair swinging madly. "I... I don't want to talk to you anymore, Kaidan."

Kaidan felt like he'd been socked in the gut. The girl turned her head away, and he and his father passed through the gauntlet of students—people who'd he'd called his friends.

"This is the price you pay for loss of control, son." His father squeezed his shoulder gently and guided him toward the airlock.