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Kaidan shepherded the three councilors onto an elevator. "When we get to the top, there'll be a skycar waiting for us. I'll get you to safety from there," he assured them. The question of where he could find that safety when it appeared the entire Citadel was under attack by Cerberus was one he intended to put off until he had the controls of the skycar under his hand and his three charges aboard.
When the attack came, he had been momentarily frozen, looking for orders. Kaidan had always been a subordinate, always been under someone. It was going to take some getting used to being his own person—a Spectre, answerable, really, to no one but the Council, and there only loosely, as far as he could tell. In the face of his own inexperience, he had done what came most naturally to him in such situations: He had asked himself what Shepard would do, and done that.
Which meant finding the councilors. It still bothered him that no one knew where the salarian councilor had gone. He had wanted to wait, trying to reach Valern as long as possible, but Udina had pushed him to keep moving, not to risk the entire council for one missing member.
C-Sec was in chaos, but Kaidan had found one operative still with his wits about him and sent him off for the skycar. Now he had to get there.
The elevator lifted off and Kaidan breathed a sigh of relief. Surely nothing could happen to them from here.
Or so he thought until he heard the unmistakable thud of boots on the roof of the elevator car and the even more unmistakable sound of gunfire above his head.
"What is that?" the asari councilor asked, staring up at the ceiling in horrified fascination.
"Gunmen. Get down!" Kaidan told her, pushing her out of the way into the corner where she would be a smaller target. He raised his own weapon, listening to what was going on above his head. It sounded as though there were two groups on separate elevators, shooting at each other. Maybe they would all take each other out, he thought optimistically.
But the gunfire continued, and Kaidan added his own to it, shooting through the ceiling. Maybe when they did refits on the Citadel after this, they should make the elevators bullet-proof, he thought.
The elevator arrived at its level, and Udina punched the button to open the doors, hurrying out. The other two councilors followed him, Kaidan bringing up the rear, still watching the roof of the elevator to see if anyone came after them.
When no one did, he turned and ran after the Council, stopping short when he came out of the hallway to see the skycar—waiting as promised, but totally destroyed. Well, damn. What did he do now? He tried to think quickly, plan on his feet the way Shepard always seemed to be able to do.
They would have to go back. That was the only way. They were trapped up here, sitting ducks for Cerberus. He said as much to the Council, ordering them back to the elevator.
But when he turned around to lead them back, he saw the last person he had expected, although he probably should have: Commander Shepard. She had Garrus with her, and the grunt they had rescued from Earth, Vega, and they all had their weapons up and pointed at the Council.
She had gone Cerberus. Kaidan didn't want to believe it fully, not even now, but how else could he explain her presence here, the weapon she had aimed at Udina's chest? "Shepard? What's going on?"
Udina put his fears into words. "Shepard's blocking our exit! She's with Cerberus!"
The last thing Kaidan needed was Udina putting himself in the middle here. No, this was between him and Shepard. He moved to stand in front of the Council, lifting his own gun—although he pointed it over Shepard's shoulder, at Vega. Even now, he couldn't quite bring himself to aim a weapon at Shepard. "I got this," he told Udina. "Everyone calm down."
Shepard lowered her gun. "I can explain, Kaidan."
"Explain? Come on, Shepard. Guns pointed at the Council? You have to admit, kinda looks bad."
"I know." Shepard shifted her stance, gun at her side, no longer poised to aim and fire, and she put out a hand to indicate Garrus and Vega should do the same. "But we don't have time for negotiations. You've been fooled, all of you. Udina's behind this attack. The salarian councilor confirmed it."
Behind him, Kaidan could feel the asari and turian councilors shifting away from Udina, who snorted in disgust. "Please. You have no proof; you never do."
"There are Cerberus soldiers in the elevator shaft behind us. If you open this door, they'll kill you all."
After a moment, the asari councilor spoke. "We've mistrusted Shepard before … and it did not help us."
"We don't have time to debate this," Udina snapped. "We're dead if we stay out here."
He moved toward Shepard and she lifted her weapon again. Kaidan shifted his aim, and suddenly he and Juniper were staring at each other over the barrels of their guns. One twitch of a finger, and he could kill the only woman he had ever loved—or she could kill him. And over what? The word of Udina? Who was he going to trust? Kaidan asked himself.
"I better not regret this," he said to Shepard—and swung around, aiming his weapon at the human councilor.
Behind him, he heard Shepard assure him, "You won't."
"To hell with this!" Udina shouted.
The asari councilor grasped his arm, holding him still, and he shoved her away from him, hard, so that she fell. Before she could move to rise, Udina was aiming his weapon at her.
"He's got a gun!" Kaidan shouted over his shoulder, in case Shepard's sight line was blocked.
Apparently it wasn't, because she didn't hesitate for a moment before shooting Udina.
The turian councilor reached down to help his asari counterpart up. Shepard came toward them. "Get the Council back and cover that door!" she called behind her to Vega and Garrus, who moved quickly to do as they were told.
The doors behind them were being opened by some kind of plasma saw, it appeared. Shepard and her team tensed, ready to deal with whoever was waiting there.
But it was Commander Bailey who stood there, with another C-Sec operative. "Made it as far as we could, Shepard—but it looks like you, uh, took care of things."
"Something's not right," the asari councilor said with some suspicion. "You told us Cerberus was targeting us. Where did their soldiers go?"
"They were," Bailey told her. "But they beat feet into the keeper tunnels when they figured out we were coming. Shepard just saved the lot of you, Councilor."
"Then you have saved my life twice now, Commander." The turian councilor held his hand out to her to shake. "I owe you both a personal debt and one on behalf of Palaven."
She shook his hand. "You don't owe me anything, Councilor. In times like this, we all stand together."
"Do you have any idea why the Illusive Man would do this?"
There was an edge of pain, raw and sharp, in Shepard's voice when she spoke. "No. I don't. But you can bet everything you hold dear that I'm going to find out."
Kaidan looked at her face, seeing the shadows beneath her eyes and the tension there. Behind her, Garrus reached for her shoulder, putting his hand there comfortingly, and Kaidan wondered what had gone wrong, because it was clear something had.
"All right, people," Bailey said. "We got a tunnel and a million more places to secure. Councilors, we're going to need to move you all to safety. Spectre Alenko, you got them?"
"Of course. Councilors?"
As he led them away, he heard Bailey's low voice. "He's in the hospital. You'd better hurry."
"Thank you." Her voice was choked, and she rushed past Kaidan without a backward glance.
Joker, he thought. Or … the drell. No one else would have had that kind of impact. His heart ached for her. He wanted to go with her, to lend her his support, but he had his duties, and Commander Shepard never shirked a duty. He could do no less.