Chapter 8

The Mess hall was mostly just a table and chairs in the center of the crew deck, a small island of quiet in a busy ship. The Normandy had taken off from Arturus Prime three hours prior, and Kaiden was still getting used to the ship. He sat at the end of the table, his left shoulder pointing out to the empty crossroads between the Med bay behind him, hallway laden with sleeper pods off left, and the brig in front.

Near the center of the table, across from each other, was a pair of Alliance crew members from Engineering, a man and a woman, along with the batarian Medical chief, Dr. Erad, beside the Scottish male Engineer. "Come on, Gabby, the trip to Eden Prime is not some conspiracy theory trap, or anything but a simple shakedown run."

"I'm telling you Kenneth, there's something off about this whole flight. Captain Anderson is holed up in the loft instead of commanding the ship, and besides, we should be testing the Normandy against some powerful, cutting-edge sensor tech, not against the sensors of a backwater agri-colony that's not even near the borders. We should be traveling into the Kite's nest, or Virmire."

"The Captain can't be expected to baby-sit us through basic procedures, we're a crew of the best from two different fleets; it's a good sign that he trusts us to handle our own. And Eden Prime is a fine testing ground, they have above average sensor systems because of the prothean ruins, the Alliance had a vested interest in guarding the planet. And besides, would you go showing off your new prototype ship on the edge of Turian space? And the Sentry Omega cluster is just filled with Pirate activity. Besides, do we really have big sensor arrays to guard against our closest allies?"

"Yes, you do." Stated Dr. Erad simply. "And only a few are from the days before we started getting along."

Kaiden continued to listen to the engineers bicker, with the occasional input of the Batarian doctor. The two of them were partners, helping Engineer Adams on the fourth deck. When they were on duty that is, right now there was a Hegemony engineering team running the ship.

Eventually, finished with his modest meal, Kaiden stood, walking towards the back of the ship, past the trapezoid pillar of the elevator shaft. Why the area around a rectangular elevator would be shaped that way, Kaiden would never know. Maybe it was a Batarian thing.

Kaiden passed the elevator, looking to the wall opposite. Two doors marked it, one leading into the mostly empty life support room, the other held space for off-duty crew members, just like most of the rest of this floor. He Turned, pausing.

Kaiden stood in front of the elevator, his eyes resting on the floor control. His eyes settled on the Cargo Deck button, and he pressed it on a hunch.

The Cargo bay was a large, empty room, a small armory built around the entrance, shelves with weapons on the far walls, workbenches for upgrades, modification and maintenance before him. On the Right side of the floor, next to the massive doors that would open for shuttle launch, was a firing range, four rows of targets, able to be pulled back to deploy a small simulation battlefield. Similar, though not as large, as the one they'd worked on at Arcturus prime. On the left side sat the Shuttle, a blue and white Kodiak model, a rectangular box with four an engine on every corner.

And at the bench, as he'd suspected, Kaiden saw James.

The bigger man was deep into his work, unspeaking. His Shotgun, some Batarian model, a Big, powerful weapon though, was open before him, and James seemed to be tinkering with a small modifier behind the barrel.

Some weapons experts modified their weapons with specialized ammunition and firing mechanisms, Kaiden knew, with some built to re-shape the bullets into armor-piercing rounds, others to cloak shots in fire or electrical charge. The common problems with these devices were that they were always temperamental, otherwise they'd have been implemented as standard-issue, and required constant maintenance, requiring any soldier who used such modifiers to know their weapon, and its inner workings, well enough to keep the device running smoothly, otherwise the modifier might malfunction, stopping the weapon from firing at all.

Vega appeared to be doing such modification now, and was so absorbed in his work he hadn't appeared to notice Kaiden. He must have come down to be alone, Kaiden knew at once. He hadn't showed much interest in being with the crew. Other than Navigator Presley, nobody appeared to have spoken with him since boarding. Not even EDI.

Kaiden paused. Not a single soul other than the two of them was in the Cargo bay, and nobody seemed liable to some down. This was a chance to talk, a chance to show James he wasn't so alone on this ship. And yet, when Kaiden knew he should talk, he found his mouth dry, his knees stiff, and arms hanging at his sides like dumbbells. Kaiden wanted to speak, to walk beside, to clasp a hand on Vega's shoulder and talk, and yet he found his legs turning him about, leading him to the elevator, and that part of him that had called him brave in sullen quiet.

He rode the elevator upward, the confined space filled to bursting with his shame. It was as he lifted the lid off of his sleeper pod that he finally let the thoughts come in full, without censorship:

What kind of man is it who lacks the confidence to talk to someone he'll put his life in the hands of?

[Quick note]

Good news, I feel like I have some actual weight to give to the characters of Kaiden and Shepard. Vega is nice to use as a lightning rod for all the character problems that they can have. delayed posting the chapter because I usually prefer to post short chapters like this one in groups.