He turned around, his gun raised and pointed at the trio of intruders that appeared behind him. The three remaining members of the Citadel Council turned to face the turian Garrus, the asari Liara and finally the human Commander Kacey Shepard. Kaidan was surprised to see all three of his former squadmates in front of him, especially his former commander, his former...lover?
That wasn't true. He knew that. But he still held up his gun, the pistol pointed directly at Kacey.
"Shepard? What's going on?" He asked, confused at her sudden arrival.
"Shepard's blocking our escape! She's with Cerberus!" Councillor Udina said, with a hint of anger in his voice.
Kaiden moved in front of the council, blocking Shepard's path. He didn't want to believe Shepard was with Cerberus again. Although...didn't she say she wasn't with them anymore? He couldn't rule it out though.
"Just hang on...I've got this," Kaiden said, trying to reassure both the Council and himself, "Everybody just calm down."
Shepard lowered her gun, although Garrus and Liara did not.
"I can explain this to you Kaiden." She said, calmly.
Kaiden still kept his pistol pointed at her. He didn't want to, but he didn't know what else to do.
"Come on Shepard," Kaiden said in slight disbelief. "Gun drawn on a Councillor...kinda looks bad."
At that moment, Shepard looked at both Garrus and Liara, and gestured for them to lower their weapons too.
"We don't have time to negotiate." Shepard responded, slightly frustrated, "you've been fooled, all of you."
What? What was she talking about?
"Udina's behind this attack," she continued, "the salarian councillor confirmed it."
She spoke with conviction, something that Kaiden admired about her. But...the salarian councillor? Was she alive?
The asari councillor looked at Udina with worry, before backing away a bit. Udina walked up next to Kaiden, but before he could say anything, Udina spoke.
"Please. You have no proof. You never do."
'She didn't have any proof that the Reapers were gonna wipe us out yet here we are,' Kaiden thought to himself. His grip on the gun loosed a bit.
"There are Cerberus agents in the elevator shaft right behind us. If you open that door, they'll kill you all."
Kaiden assessed the trio in front of him. All three looked pretty banged up, like they've just been through hell and back, and given how C-Sec was pretty much in chaos right now...
"We've mistrusted Shepard before..." The asari councillor said, "and it did not help us."
'She did have a point' Kaiden thought.
"We don't have time to debate this!" Udina said, growing impatient, "We're dead if we stay out here. I'm overriding the lock."
Shepard once again raised her gun at Udina, only for Kaiden to stand between them.
"Kaiden you know deep down that I'm right." Shepard pleaded, "And I know that you have it in you to do the right thing."
The pair looked at one another, guns still raised and pointed at one another. And yet, Kaiden could tell that Shepard was right. He felt a little stupid for doubting her. But only a little.
"I better not regret this." He said.
"You won't." Kacey replied.
Kaiden lowered his gun and turned around to face Udina, gun raised again.
"Udina, step away from the console."
"To hell with this!" Udina said. As he began to undo the lock on the elevator, Kacey raised her gun again and the asari councillor approached Udina, only for him to push her onto the ground and hold her at gun point.
"He's got a gun!" Kaiden said.
At that very moment, Kacey shot her pistol. The next thing Kaiden knew Udina was lying dead on the ground. The turian Councillor helped the asari up as Kacey approached Kaiden.
"Get the Council back and cover that door!"
Kaiden could only smile.

"Shepard just saved the lot of you."
Officer Bailey's voice rang through Kaiden's head as he replayed the events in his head. His words rang true. And to think, he almost...
Well, that didn't happen. He didn't lead the Council to their deaths. And he didn't shoot Kacey, Garrus or Liara either. Luckily.
The attempted coup on the Citadel took place only four days ago, and yet Kaiden wished it never happened. He regretted pulling a gun on his closest friends. On Kacey. And for all three to be so forgiving of him was something that continued to bother him as time went on.
That forgiveness went as far as to allow him to rejoin the crew on the Normandy, which was probably the thing that surprised him the most. The new Normandy had a lot of things that the previous one didn't, including what became his favourite room on the entire vessel; the Starboard Observation Deck. It was arguably the most peaceful area of the ship, as most of the crew relegated themselves to either the Lounge or kitchen area of the ship in their downtime. As for himself, Kaiden preferred to remain within the Observation Deck during his own downtime, at least for the past three days. It was quiet, serene, and the view of all the endless stars in the black abyss that is space was unusually breathtaking. Not to mention, it gave him time to think, time to reflect.
By now, he assumed that Kacey was doing what she usually did daily on long trips like these; running around the Normandy checking up on everyone. Making sure everyone was doing okay. And just like that, he was reminded of another thing he loved about his commander.
He sighed, as he stood up and walked over to the edge of the window that was the main feature of the room, one arm leaning on the glass, raised above his head. He couldn't help but smile at the thought of Kacey running around checking in on everyone: Joker, Garrus, EDI, Liara and James. Perhaps even walking in on them doing some odd or embarrassing. God knows that happened to him once or twice.
Still lost in thought, he failed to notice the very person he was thinking about enter the room, leaning on the door after it closed. Kaiden stared blindly at the endless abyss of space, only to be broken out of his self induced trance by a slight tap on the shoulder.
"Hey there, stranger," Kacey said, moving a small strand of her dark red hair out of her way.
"Hey there, Commander," Kaiden replied, startled by the sudden appearance of Kacey, something that he was beginning to think was becoming a pattern.
"Getting all formal on me now, Kaiden?" Kacey teased, "you do know you can still call me by my name, right?"
"I didn't think that it was appropriate," Kaiden replied honestly, "after everything that's happened."
"You mean the coup attempt?"
"Well, yes" Kaiden replied turning to face Kacey, "but also that whole thing with you and Cerberus. And the whole Collector situation."
"I see," Kacey sighed, "well I suppose you do deserve an explanation, that is, if you want it."
'If I want it? Of course I do.' Kaiden thought to himself, 'I want to know what happened with you.'
"Yes, an explanation would be great." Kaiden replied, taking a seat near the window.
Kacey joined him, sitting next to him as she tried to figure out where to start. Noticing the indecisiveness written subtlety across her face, Kaiden decided to speak up.
"Why don't you start with last thing you remember after the first Normandy got destroyed?" Kaiden said.
"Yeah, that's probably the best place to start." Kacey replied, nodding in agreement, "I don't remember much aside from one instant when I woke up 'too early' as one of the doctors put it."
"Too early?" Kaiden questioned, "what did that mean?"
"I don't know, to tell you the truth. I just remember struggling to breathe, and a woman with dark hair ordering the doctor to put me back to sleep. After that, I don't remember anything until I woke up, hearing that same woman call me name over the comms and sirens blaring in the background..."