Chapter 9

Kaidan paged down the datapad's screen as he paced across his room. It felt better to be up and moving after sitting at his desk for hours reviewing his team's reports from Tokyo. His older reports from Prague filled the screen on his desk illuminating the dark room. Kaidan tossed the datapad down on the desk. Spectre reports were just as unhelpful.

There wasn't any reference to this Terra Firma meeting Allers mentioned. Maybe it wasn't even real. If there was a larger attack being planned, it was going to be impossible to counter without any real information. The key was that meeting, if it was real. It was too late to try infiltrating them here. There were no contacts and out of the few agents who'd worked their way in, none of them were involved in this gathering in Vancouver. They knew of an attack, sure, but nothing specific, nothing useful.

Kaidan closed his eyes, rubbed them with his fingertips, and released a long breath. He should have turned a lamp on when the room dimmed. Looking at bright lights in the dark? He knew the recipe. A light blinked on his Omni-Tool. His finger hovered over the button to check his messages. He let his hand drop and paced again.

He wasn't going to be able to sleep unless he took something. He didn't want to take any more sleep aids. He'd had too many weird dreams lately, fragmented. Remembering them on waking was like grabbing at smoke. No sleep aids tonight. He didn't even want any pills for the headache. It could have its way with him tonight. No drugs, no dreams. Kaidan paused by his bed. No drugs, no sleep either though. He glanced out the window at the darkness. He just needed to get out of this cage.

He rushed through the halls before finding an exit. Wet air chilled him as he rushed through the doors. The blackness enveloped him. On Headquarters's perch above the city, night felt dark and still, except for the city lights in the distance below and the far-off murmur of passing shuttles. Dark miles of lawn stretched to the dim shadows of the distant mountains. HQ was being built up along the coastal side. There was a new expansion every month pratically. The building was becoming a metropolis, but for now, this side was undeveloped, acres of rolling grassy slopes.

The Memorial Gardens spread out to his left running all the way to the ocean cliffs. Slab-like monuments rose in shadowy rows. Kaidan didn't want to see the columns of names glinting off the bronze plaques. Kaidan turned the other direction.

Dew dampened his pant legs as he brushed through the grass turning east. The dark part of Vancouver spread out in front of him. If the darkness rolled back, he knew what he'd see below - the moth-eaten frames of skyscrapers, collapsing shopping centers, broken shuttles, crumbling arches and pedestrian bridges - the dead part of Vancouver, not yet rebuilt.

Darkness thickened as he left the building lights behind. This was real night. On a ship or a station, day and night were arbitrary constructs. Night was a twelve-hour period of reduced staffing with nonessential operations suspended. It was just you telling yourself, "This is night time." Here though, night really was night.

He sank down onto the wet grass and rested his elbows on his knees. The living part of the city, sparking with buildings and skycar lights, spread to his left around the bay. The dead part, a stretch of blackness, spanning out to his right. In between ran a gray line where reconstruction was underway, where it was neither living nor dead but suspended somewhere in between. That felt familiar, living in the gray line.

Shepard was back. He'd seen it on the vids. The crowds had mobbed her - C-Sec officers shoving reporters back and yelling up at the buzzing camera lenses, Miranda and Liara flanking her as she ducked under the flashes. Quite the return party. Shepard had to hate it.

His Omni-Tool strobed a dim light across the blades of grass at his side. He should just read the message. It was juvenile just ignoring it. He sighed and punched it up before he could double think it. He ran his eyes over it and dismissed it. He hadn't even needed to read it even. Same thing, Liara wanted to talk to him. His chest throbbed matching the pain in his forehead. It was good to be out where it was cool, dark, and quiet.

He flopped back in the grass. He was committed now, utterly and thoroughly damp. It felt good to be in the grass though, feel it tickling the back of his neck, and the cool, damp blades sticking to his arms. The stars glittered above him. He breathed in and out tasting the earthy, wet air. He closed his eyes.

He sat with Shepard at a white linen tablet set with detailed silverware. Angelo's read across the top of the datapad menu. Shepard set it aside, folded her hands on the table, and gave him a red-lipped smile.

"I told you we didn't need reservations. You wanted to go to Basil. Ha," Shepard said. "Well, we could have gotten in there too, but it's not as nice. Why settle for second when you can have this." She nodded around them. "Right? Nice? I think they make you keep your elbows off the table though. So, you know, glass half full, half empty, you decide – clean silverware, no elbows. Hey, what were you saying before? You think any of those messages –"

A commotion in the corner made her swing her head around. A man stood up from a bent knee by one of the tables. A woman touched her finger. Platinum hair fell back from her face as she looked up at him with a shining grin. A few tables around them clapped.

Shepard rolled her eyes and turned back. "Corporal Vance. Worked together on The Liberty. That will make number four. Have to congratulate her later, I guess." She picked up her wine glass and took a sip. "Uh, anyway, lost my train of thought – of yeah. I've gotten all sorts of messages. 'Fans' and adamantly 'not fans.' Even had this asari come up to me at the Dungeon, convinced Garrus to give it another try. Anyway, bumped into me, spilled my drink, don't even know what it was. Then when she's cleaning me off with a napkin leaves me with this cryptic message written on the sticky thing. Warns me not to speak at the Summit."

She sat back swirling the wine in her glass and looked back at him. "No, it's nothing. Not a threat. I'm just giving you an example. I get that stuff all the time. Just, that was memorable. Garrus jabbed me for being slipped her number, which I wasn't." Shepard blinked at him and shook her head. "No, it's nothing. Here – she was drunk. I was concerned for a moment. Followed her, but when I heard her around the corner – wasted. Going on about the s-summit, stutter with the name. Wrong place, wrong time. Obviously, someone worked up over the Summit, saw me, recognized me, made a fool of herself either yanking my chain for giggle or just really that wasted."

Shepard turned away for a second. When she turned back to him, she frowned. "I'm fine. Don't worry. I shouldn't have said anything. It was funny. Think I should go congratulate them now? The hubbub's died down enough? Probably saw me looking. Awkward if I don't. You need a refill? Let me see if …"

Kaidan woke with a gasp and blinked up at the dawn sky. He sat up, skin clammy, and grass prints crisscrossing the back of his arms. With a deep breath, he rubbed a hand over his face. His face actually had dew on it. He brushed off blades of glass as he got to his feet. The city was waking up down below. Sunlight crested the mountains.

He rubbed the chill out of his arms. He'd dreamed. He actually even remembered it - Shepard, the upscale restaurant. He tried to remember a time on Citadel when they may have gone somewhere like that. Never. He'd never seen her in that dress either. He'd remember. There wasn't a Summit being planned back then. It had to more recent then. She'd mentioned the Dungeon, that was Vancouver. He'd hardly seen her since arriving on Earth. No, it had never happened.

Strangely specific though. Clear for a dream - Angelo's restaurant, Corporal Vance. He brought up a search field on his Omni-Tool. This was crazy. He searched Alliance records for Vance. A string of Vances filled up the search que for Alliance military. The only corporal was a man Kaidan didn't recognize. He breathed out an easy breath and paused on the list of names. The corporal could have been promoted Kaidan supposed. He dismissed the profile with a flick and brought up the next name. He frowned and enlarged the profile picture - the woman at the restaurant, the same dimple and platinum A-line. She'd been promoted, moved to Reno, but she'd been in Vancouver and still a Corporal months ago. An extranet search even brought up an engagement announcement. Then man in the photo was the same one standing up from bended knee. Another search confirmed, she'd served on the Liberty with Shepard.

Kaidan's heart thumped. He dropped his arm to his side and stared down at the city. Buildings and skycar lights unfocused as his mind raced. Maybe he'd seen the announcement somewhere in the news. He could have met Vance during his time in the Alliance. Maybe Shepard had talked about her. It could all be rolling around in his subconscious.

He hung his head and pressed fingers to his eyelids. He had to look, confirm it one way or the other. He swallowed and brought up the extranet screen again. He typed in "Angelo's." A restaurant downtown Vancouver glowed on the screen. He stared at the address for a long time before snapping his Omni-Tool off. He released a long, slow breath before spinning around and marching back to the building. Angelo's was down by the bay near the Emerald Tower, near Liara's building. It wasn't a dream. It was a memory, and it hadn't been his.