Meet me at this navpoint at 0000. –L

That's all the message said. Kaidan was curious. They weren't supposed to be out of their bunks after 2300 and before 0500. He knew if they got caught they'd get into trouble, probably pretty severely too, if Vyrnnus' attitude of late was any indicator. The location she had picked was pretty secure with only one way in and out. He had been there before with Rahna.

Kaidan lay down on his bunk and listened to Jason curse and bluster about an argument he had had with Kat. "You sound like an old man fighting with his old lady," Kaidan chuckled.

Jason stopped and laughed. "God, I never thought I'd get caught up like this with a girl. It's like she knows me. It's fucking freaky. I mean, like you and Rahna, she gets you, doesn't she?"

Kaidan sat up and bit his lower lip. "Sometimes. Yeah."

"Alenko, you need to start talking, man. A girl as fine as that…the rest of us would like to know about it," Jason winked.

"A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell…or anything else," Kaidan said cryptically.

Jason threw a pillow at him. "You are no fun."

"What time is it?"

"Almost midnight. Why? You gonna get a little somethin' on the downlow?" Jason asked.

"No, I'm supposed to meet Lauren Shepard."

Jason's jaw dropped. "You mean that chick that you fight with? Holy shit, Alenko, you are more of a man than I thought you were! Two babes at the same time!" Jason got onto his knees in mock worship.

Kaidan scoffed. "It isn't like that. She's more like a coworker. Not even really a friend, let alone…"

"She's a girl. You can bang her," Jason interrupted. "100 credits says she wants you. She's just waiting on you to show up."

"I already tried. Months ago. I kissed her. She…she just glared at me and walked away."

Jason's mouth now formed an "o." "Well, maybe she's just into girls. Sorry, man. Ouch."

"Eh, whatever. I have to go," Kaidan said quietly as he used his omni-tool to hack the door open.

Kaidan walked quickly and softly in his sock feet so he wouldn't make any noise in the metallic hallways. He knew he shouldn't be doing this, but curiosity had him, as well as more than a little primal interest, now that Jason had brought that subject back to the surface.

He rounded the corner to the dead end corridor Lauren had picked. She was crouched behind a crate and peeked out just briefly enough to motion him to come over. She was wearing a loose tank top and a tiny pair of shorts. Kaidan wasn't trying to, but thanks to Jason, he was seeing Lauren through a different pair of eyes. His gaze lingered for a quick moment on the subtle curve of her breasts and moved down to appreciate her long lean legs.

He moved in close beside her, allowing his hand to brush not completely unintentionally against her thigh. His implant site tingled, but Lauren's look was serious so Kaidan tried to push his straying thoughts aside. "What's going on? You know we can get our asses ripped for this," Kaidan whispered.

Lauren wasn't immune to Kaidan's proximity either. She had heard him speak, but her eyes only saw his full lips move. It took a minute for the sound to register in her brain. She shook her head and looked at him directly. "I don't think this place is as much a great place for us as they want us to believe."

"I don't understand," said Kaidan.

"I don't really have anything to back it up. Just call it a gut feeling. Something isn't right about this place," explained Lauren. "I mean, it's like I know the military, and that's where Vyrnnus says we're going to end up, right? This isn't anything like the military. They are tough, for sure, but complete mental intimidation isn't the Alliance's way."

"Yeah, I guess so. I never knew you were a military brat. I am too."

Lauren smiled. "Navy?"

"Yeah," replied Kaidan. "My dad."

"Mine too. Spacer or groundside?"

"Some space before I was born. Local though. Luna, Mars." Kaidan cleared his throat before he continued. "You know, you should smile more often. It looks nice."

"Uh, thanks, I guess." Lauren blushed and quickly moved on. "Anyway, I had to tell you about this because I didn't think anyone else would believe me. The way they treated Indi…they sent her to another Conatix facility on Earth. It's like we're being sequestered."

"Did you ever think that they are studying us?" Kaidan offered. "I mean, we are a new type of human. We don't know what will happen to us because of our exposure."

"I get that. I don't know…maybe I just read too much history, but it just reminds me of slavery. Instead of being the best of humanity, it's like we are a sub-species. Animals instead of people."

"Guess I never thought of it like that. So, what are you going to do about it?"

Lauren crooked her mouth to the side in thought. "I need to find more information, something to back this up. Find out why."

"Ok, how?" Kaidan said with an amused smile on his face.

"Well, that's where you'll come in. Can you hack? You said you were good with tech stuff."

Scratching his neck, Kaidan demurred. "I'm ok. Their terminals are probably pretty well protected here."

"I know," Lauren grinned. "That's why we have our biotics. Vyrnnus was the idiot who taught us how to fight."

"So what's Plan B? What if we get caught?" Kaidan was growing concerned at Lauren's brazen attitude.

"We'll start a riot. There's more of us than them."

"Are you sure…"

"No, I'm not sure, but we've got no other options and I want off this shitty station. I'm sure as hell not going to let them make me some kind of mindless laborer. Or soldier. I do things because I want to."

"Ok, I'm with you. When do we start?"

"Tomorrow during our free period." Lauren grabbed his hand. "I can trust you, right? You won't rat me out. I'm doing this for everyone."

Kaidan gave her hand a squeeze. "I've got your back, Lauren."

x-X-x

When free period came, Lauren waited in the same corridor for Kaidan to arrive. A few minutes ticked by and Lauren started to get worried. Was he not going to come? Was he going to squeal after all? Her breathing started to quicken and she could feel her heart start pounding with anxiety. Maybe she was just being paranoid anyway. It could just be all in her head.

Lauren was standing up to leave when she bumped into Kaidan. "Hey," he said quietly as she pulled him down behind the crate. "Sorry about being late. I got caught up with Rahna. She wanted…uh, to talk. I had to make something up to get away. I'm a terrible liar."

"Never mind about her. I was thinking that we should go to where they store their comm logs. Something has to be in there that would say what the hell this whole place is about."

"And you know where this is?" Kaidan wondered what Lauren did when he wasn't around.

"I think. The adults have a section of the station where the doors are locked unless they walk near. It won't open for one of us. I know you can hack doors. This one might be a little tougher than our bunkroom doors."

"All right, let's go. You lead," said Kaidan.

"We'll just walk like any other couple, ok? Put your arm around me…the adults will just think we're trying to find a secret place to mess around."

Kaidan awkwardly wrapped his arm around Lauren. He felt her snuggle against his chest. Her hair was very close to his nose and he could smell the coconut shampoo that she used. The tingle in his implant site returned at the feel of her touch. He didn't want Rahna to see them, so he hoped this place was far from the cafeteria.

They walked cozily down a few corridors that Kaidan had never been into before. They got more than a few knowing looks from the adults they passed along the way. At first, Lauren had casually held his hand that was on her shoulder, but then she let it go and wrapped her own arm around Kaidan's waist, sticking her fingers through one of his belt loops. This was not what he was expecting, and as much as he hated to admit it, he liked it.

Suddenly, Lauren stopped and placing both of her hands on his hips, turned to face him. She quickly took a few steps back into another dead end corridor and pulled Kaidan with her by his belt loops. He was caught off-guard by the abrupt move and he stumbled a bit, hitting her forehead with his chin. He recovered quickly by using his arms to brace himself against the crate behind Lauren.

Her hands were still on his waist and his arms were keeping her close to him. She looked into his amber brown eyes and felt her breath catch. Kaidan felt his own breath turn shallow as he noticed the gray blue hue of her eyes. He felt a fiery shock through his nervous system, just like he had felt from her before. But as quickly as it came, it stopped and Lauren moved herself from between his arms.

"You need to hack that door," she said as she cleared her throat.

Kaidan nodded wordlessly and opened his omni-tool, a contraband piece of equipment on Jump Zero. He made quick work of the lock and the panel turned green. The two walked in quickly and the door locked behind them.

"Where do we go now?" Kaidan whispered.

"I think this way," said Lauren, as she turned a corner.

Lauren watched their front while Kaidan kept his eyes behind them, and they soon arrived at another doorway.

"How did you know this is the room?"

"I have my ways," said Lauren as she opened the door quietly.

No one was in the room filled with large servers and a couple open terminals. Lauren directed Kaidan over to the closest one. "Scan it. See if you can find anything of interest…like comms about eezo exposure and starting this place."

Kaidan started running through files and logs. His tool pinged several things, which he quickly downloaded. "We'll have to read them later. We've got to do this quick and get out of here."

"Right," Lauren said as she stepped by the door to keep watch. "Are you done yet?"

"Yeah," he said, closing his tool. "Let's go."

A/N: Thank you for all the new favorites and follows! I plan this story to go on for a couple more chapters...and I may, at tccarty's suggestion, start a new ME novelization with this Shenko pair. Please review!