Hello! Welcome to Kaidan's chapter. Thanks to those who have recently started following and those of you who have been reviewing!
In preparation for his interview, Kaidan had shaved for the first time in what felt like forever. It would be good to portray the Alliance in the best light by appearing as a clean-shaven leader who had his shit together. Plus, having no whiskers is what Shepard had always preferred. She would jerk her head back when he kissed her neck and playfully accuse him of hurting her. When they had the opportunity to shower together, she would gently run a razor across his face and check her handiwork by giving him kisses all over. Back on the first Normandy, shaving was part of his daily routine that he never neglected. However, with everything leading up to London and the months after, shaving just did not fit on his list of priorities. Maybe if Shepard saw the vid one day she would appreciate that he put the effort into looking nice on camera for her. Then again, maybe she would laugh at how undignified he looked these days. His hair was growing out weird and was turning grayer by the second. His face appeared as if it had aged by years.
Diana Allers came knocking at the starboard observation deck door at exactly the time they had settled on. She came dressed in her typical attire, with her primary accessory being a vid recording drone. Kaidan greeted her, and the two of them sat down on the couch. She was sitting straight up, so he decided to follow her lead.
"Good, major. No slouching. Looks bad on camera," Diana remarked as she fiddled with the drone.
"No problem. We ready, Allers? Because I have…," Kaidan said before being interrupted.
"Don't worry! I'm ready," she assured. Diana stopped messing with the drone and gave Kaidan a warm smile. "Let's do this. Turning it on now."
The drone lit up and made mechanical noises as the lens became focused on the two of them. The machine turned on a light that nearly blinded him.
"Sorry, Major Alenko," Diana apologized. "Need proper lighting. Can I call you Kaidan?"
Kaidan shrugged. "I'm more comfortable being called Major Alenko during interviews, just for professionalism's sake. But you can call me Kaidan otherwise."
"Sounds good. Anyway, here we go. Deep breath. We're rolling! Can you describe to me what is going on with the Normandy right now?"
"We left Rannoch a few weeks ago. Since then, we've been pressing forward. Hoping to get back to Earth as soon as possible. We are landing on any planets which we're familiar with to stock up on resources."
"Uh huh. So you do you believe the Normandy will make it back to Earth?"
"That's the plan." Kaidan gave his best reassuring smile to the camera.
"On Rannoch, the Normandy left behind Garrus Vakarian and Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, two crew members from the original Normandy that fought Saren. Was it hard saying goodbye to them?"
"Of course it was difficult. They are close friends of mine, and they were a vital part of our crew. But in these times, I can understand if they wanted to stay behind on Rannoch. I think they deserve to be a little selfish for once. Commander Shepard would have insisted on it."
"Interesting. Do you think you will see them again? Considering what we currently know about the mass relays."
"Will I see them again? I hope so. Can't say for sure. I already miss them. Now I have to do all of the calibrating," Kaidan chuckled.
"What are you doing to maintain crew morale in these difficult times?"
"I'm emphasizing that everyone needs to keep working hard. We'll make it home if we just stay strong. I think it's a little disheartening for everyone to be stranded out here, not knowing what happened on Earth or who survived. Lieutenant Vega has been helping create some activities to keep everybody's minds off of our predicament. Karaoke is coming up tomorrow, and we played poker recently. Continued my losing streak," Kaidan smirked.
"What motivates you to stay focused on your journey back to Earth?"
"It's my home. It's home for a lot of us. Earth is where we belong. Many of us have family, friends, and loved ones back there. We're praying that we'll get to see them safe and healthy again. My dad… my dad was missing in action the last time I heard. Presumed dead. I'm hoping that my mom is doing okay."
"Yes, we have lost so many people on Earth. I understand that the Normandy evacuated Earth during the battle at London, leaving behind Commander Shepard. Was that a challenging decision? And do you believe that Commander Shepard is alive?"
"It wasn't a decision I had control over. We received orders, and we followed through with them. Joker did what he was told and what was best for the safety of the Normandy. We wouldn't be sitting here talking if he had hesitated or made one wrong move."
"I see. And what about Commander Shepard?"
"Whatever she did, it obviously worked. From what we've heard, the Reapers are dead. So she must have been alive in order to end the war. So I think there's a good chance she's alive now if she was able to make it to that point."
"That is a logical conclusion, yet the crew seems to feel otherwise."
"We took a lot of hard hits on the ground. They might doubt her survival, but I've worked with her for a while now, and I know she's the toughest solider around. Or maybe I'm being naive, and they're right. Who knows? That's the point. Nobody can say anything definite just yet, so I'm keeping the faith alive."
"It's clear to everyone that the commander is a close personal friend of yours. What would you say to her if she could hear you right now?"
Kaidan paused before answering. He needed to respond to this question tactfully. Allers was going to a place he didn't want to go. She was digging up a little too much for his comfort.
"I would just tell her that we're coming home as fast as we can. That we're all proud of her. If she's hurt, I'd want her to be strong. And the whole crew misses her."
"Is that all?" Diana questioned.
"Allers, let's not go there," Kaidan warned.
"Go where, Major Alenko?" Allers prodded. She batted her eyelashes in an attempt to play innocent.
"All that I can say is that is hard to fill her footsteps. She's the best leader I've ever met."
"Okay," Diana said distractedly. She turned off the drone, and the light on Kaidan's face went out. "Thanks so much, Kaidan. I'm sorry if I said anything to offend you, just trying to get good material."
Kaidan sighed. "Yeah, I know."
"It must be difficult to be here without her."
"I'm not sure what…"
"Respectfully, you can cut the crap. The camera's off, and I don't have a wire taped to me. I mean, it's obvious what was going on. I don't really know why you want to hide it so much because I doubt anyone would care at this point. I merely wanted to express sympathy."
Kaidan was unsure what to say. He wanted to continue denying it, but it was somewhat of a relief to have someone straight out confess that they knew about their relationship. Some pressure had been lifted off of his shoulders.
"Off the record… yeah, it hasn't been easy, but I keep going because I have to know what happened to her," Kaidan confessed. He rubbed his neck. "Anyway, I just wanted to say that I feel sympathetic to you, too"
"Oh?" Diana raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. You're stuck on this ship with the rest of us. I know your career is probably a big part of your life, but I'm sure you're missing someone or something right now. And you've got great footage of the battle and what's happening here, and you can't exactly show it to galaxy. The news world is moving on without you."
"News is moving on without me? We'll see about that. I'm dropping off footage and interviews with every populated sentient planet we pass, and I think my boss will like what I bring back with me. That is if the crew and you give me something to work with," Diana smiled.
"Ha. We'll try. I also wanted to let you know that I'm here. If you want to talk or anything, you know."
"Good to know, major. Same goes for you." Allers stood up to leave, but she started pressing something on the drone. "I just sent you a message with some vids of London. Got a few of the commander in action. Thought you might want an exclusive first look."
"Thank you… Diana."
"No problem."
Allers sauntered out, her drone following right behind. When the doors shut, Kaidan pulled up his messages on his omni-tool. He opened a vid that Diana had just sent. It was a recording of Shepard standing at the docking ramp. Kaidan was in the corner of the frame, being held up by Garrus. Kaidan's heart dropped. He knew what this was. It was difficult to hear anything except for the roar of the battlefield. He watched as Shepard reached toward him, giving him one last kiss. She stepped away, and Garrus held him back. The camera focused on her face. She was beautiful, even with the blood and soot smeared across her face. Shepard looked sad, but he saw the determination in her eyes. Kaidan watched as she ran toward Harbinger, dodging left and right, taking out an enemy here and there. Kaidan was tugged back into the ship, and the ramp door closed. The vid ended. He hoped these weren't the last images he would see of her.