The sun was rising over Vancouver, and Kaidan Alenko sat quietly on his porch overlooking the Pacific. He had built his small cabin home with nothing but his own two hands and his implants, and there wasn't another person living within a mile of him. His own quiet paradise.

A lone Reaper Destroyer was visible in the distance, clearing debris from the Invasion of 2186. Within the two years after Shepard had sacrificed herself to stop the Reapers, they had repaired the Mass Relays and were helping to rebuild cities and planets across the galaxy.

Kaidan felt his heart sink as he thought of the Commander. N7, the first human Spectre, the savior of all organic and synthetic life in the galaxy. But to Kaidan, she had been even more than that. If he was being honest with himself, she still was.

He took a swig of coffee from the mug in his hand and scratched at his thick beard. Next to him, his Newfoundland stirred. She was a large dog, nearly 160 pounds of muscle and black fur. She yawned and looked up at him, and he reached over to scratch her behind the ears. He looked down at his watch; it was nearly six.

"All right Ash," he said as he stood. "Ready to get going?" He left his half-empty coffee mug on his chair and walked down the wooden steps to the paved dirt walkway, Ash lumbering behind him. She jumped into the bed of his pickup (Kaidan had never really liked the smooth ride that modern vehicles provided), and they began the drive into town.

They arrived on a street filled with construction vehicles. Several of the men and women gathered waved to him as he parked his truck.

"Sir," one of the younger men said, snapping to a salute. He was the only one dressed in Alliance fatigues.

"Come on, Donnie," Kaidan sighed. "I've told you a thousand times, you don't have to call me that anymore. I'm a civilian now."

"You'll always be Major Alenko to me, sir." Kaidan chuckled and rolled his eyes.

"Hey there, Alex," Kaidan said to a woman walking over to him.

"Hey Kaidan. How you doing?"

"I'm all right. Sorry I couldn't make it out last week. I had an unexpected visitor."

"Well, you can make up for it today. You ready?"

"Always." He followed her to a scaffold on the face of a badly damaged building. This particular part of town hadn't been hit as badly as most of the area in the initial attack two years ago, but there was still a lot of work to be done. And with Alliance forces tied up rebuilding major economic and diplomatic centers, it had fallen largely to the locals to repair their own homes, all across the galaxy. Lieutenant Donnie Richards had been sent to their town to help oversee the repairs and report any major issues to Alliance Command.

"This'll go much faster now that you're here," Alex said. A large pile of cinderblocks sat at the foot of the scaffolding, next to a large bin attached to a pulley system.

"Hey Kaidan!" a man called down from the top of the scaffolding. "Good to see you got your lazy ass out here today."

"Yeah yeah. At least I have the strength to lift a few bricks with a rope, Ahmed."

Ahmed laughed. "Oh, I can do more than that. But why waste the energy when we've got our very own biotic?"

Kaidan chuckled. A field of dark energy formed around the cinderblocks, illuminating them with a bright blue aura. As Kaidan lifted block after block to the scaffolding above, he let his mind wander back to the visitor he'd had the previous week.

"Look, Garrus. It was really nice to see you, but I told you. I'm not a Spectre anymore, I'm done with that part of my life. I can't just running around and blowing stuff up with you like the old days."

"Kaidan, you're not listening to reason. You heard what happened to Chakwas, didn't you?"

Kaidan sighed. "Of course I heard. But the answer is still no. I have a life here now. The people in this town need me, to help them rebuild and to deal with the Alliance. I know how to get them to get things done. This is where I'm needed now."

"Well, I can see you've made up your mind." Garrus stood. "It was nice to see you again, old friend."

"Same to you." Garrus walked out the door toward the awaiting shuttle, then stopped and turned around.

"If you ever need anything, Alenko. You know how to get in touch."

"Got it, Garrus. Be safe out there."

"Same to you."

"Kaidan!"

Kaidan looked up. The scaffold was creaking dangerously.

"Get some of those cinderblocks off of there now! What happened to you?"

"Sorry," he said, quickly lifting the blocks from the scaffold. The ominous creaking ceased.

"You okay down there?"

"Yeah, just… doing some thinking."