Much Ado about Nothing

Because I'm such an XP-Whore, this chapter was supposed to cover some of the Citadel side quests, but developed into something totally different after talking nerdom with Lossefalme… though nothing we talked about recently made it to this chapter. o_O (How that managed to happen is anyone's guess…)

Also, if no one has checked out Lossefalme's fic Oligo, you are seriously missing out on a wonderful post-ME Kaidan tale.

As Kaidan and Commander Shepard made their way to a transit station that would take them to the Hawksmoor Barracks, Kaidan took in the sights continuing to marvel at the technological monstrosity that was the Citadel Station. It was a wonder that the Council, made up of only three members, could keep so many species at peace.

Bachjret Ward was crawling with life. Every Citadel Race, humans, hanar, elcor and volus meandered on their way to who knew where. A pack of Keepers scuttled past, ignored by the rest of the species. The green four-legged, four-armed creatures didn't speak, but the packs on their insectoid bodies emitted a sound that grated on Kaidan's ears—almost like scraping a fork against a metal plate.

The light of Widow refracted against the nebula in a cacophony of indigo and violet, casting everything, even the bright lights of the Ward, in a sensuous blue glow. Kaidan felt like he had enveloped himself in dark energy simply by looking around, the distorted blue of the area playing tricks with his retinas. The absence of the subtle fluctuation that signaled a mass effect field was the only thing that let him know that he hadn't inadvertently exercised his mutated nervous system.

A particularly vocal hanar street vendor was pushing human-made, salarian-modified watches. Kaidan was relieved when a herd of elcor meandered in between the vendor and his and the Commander's positions. Until the pheromones they used to communicate reached his nose and… lingered. Their communication was subtle, but the odor of the pheromones definitely was not. The musky rust scent was punctuated by an earthy overtone. It was just strong enough to nearly gag him. He was quick to step away.

Shepard's cough caught his attention as he shrugged under the weight of his seabag and moved along side her. "I don't think I'll ever get used to their smell," she mused quietly, giving another cough and bringing a slender hand up to fend off the offending odor. She looked at him peculiarly. "Can you imagine what they must think about our scent?"

"I—I've never thought about it before, ma'am." Leave it to Shepard to surprise the hell out of him. He definitely had never met anyone like her.

She smiled. "What's that really old expression? 'Think outside the box,' Kaidan." She looked like she was about to say more, but then cocked her head to the side, bringing her hand up to shield her ear from the noise of the Wards. "Shepard here. How can I help you, Ambassador?" A frown formed on her face, a line drawn across her brow as the Ambassador spoke to her on her personal comm. frequency.

Shepard swiped her hand over the biometric pad at the transit allowing it to deduct the proper amount of credits from her Spectre bank account. They boarded the transit, choosing seats as close to each other as possible, but as far away from several elcor as they could. It was interesting to see that asari and salarians also avoided sitting too close, but the volus—in their protective ammonia-scented suits—and the turians didn't seem to notice. A krogan barged in at the last minute, causing a stir with crowded patrons. The large obviously-annoyed being didn't appear to notice, merely reaching up and grabbing the railing with his three-digit hand.

Kaidan diverted his attention back to Shepard and watched as his commander's pale face colored a bit as she adopted a thunderous expression, her eyes cutting to his. "I'll be there shortly, sir," she told her comm. in a tone that was anything but pleasant. She stood and reached up and grabbed the overhead railing, moving until she was standing beside him.

"Something wrong, Commander?" he asked arching his neck up to look at her as she gazed down at him, one hand clutching the overhead railing.

"I've got to cancel tonight, Alenko," she told him in a grudging tone. They were going for drinks right after they dropped off their gear.

He felt his face fall. Cancelling? He forced a smile and kept his voice neutral. "It's alright, ma'am. I understand."

Shepard gazed at him, her odd-colored eyes perusing his frame as he sat there crowded between two chatty salarians and brusque turian. Her eyes swept over his face, his shoulders, his legs, heating his blood. She was quiet a moment before speaking. "You're disappointed."

He considered her tone, her statement. She was a very hard woman to read. The initial curiosity was still there but it was mingled with something that Kaidan couldn't put his finger on. There were regs against what he suspected it might be so he put the thought aside and answered her honestly.

"Yes," he admitted. "Not everyone gets to buy the first human Spectre a drink, Commander."

Her musical chuckle made him feel somewhat better.

"After meeting with Udina and telling Kahoku his men have died," she said soberly, "I'm going to need a drink, Lieutenant."

"Well, you can still join us after—" he started, then stopped when he realized what she said. "I can go with you if you need me, ma'am."

She blinked. "You have Liberty, Kaidan. Use it."

He shook his head. "There will be time for personal leave after we take care of—" he looked around—"of business, Commander. I'm here if you need me. If… if you want me to go with you, just say the word."

The transit craft landed, and they disembarked in relative silence. Kaidan wondered if she would tell him to go to hell or if she would take him up on his offer of support. A flicker of apprehension coursed through him as he reflected on his statement. Was he being too forward? Did she think that he was trying to push the regs farther than they were meant to go? That really wasn't the case. They'd been serving a month together in extenuating circumstances. As her detail commander, Kaidan felt it was more of a duty to accompany her on missions. As far as he was concerned, meeting with Kahoku completed the mission.

Meeting with Udina? Well, that… that he was doing as a friend.

Kaidan didn't particularly care for the Ambassador. As a biotic, he stayed current with politics only because some of the decisions Parliament made affected him directly. The Ambassador's attitude continually grated his nerves. At least Shepard had the advantage of getting a one up on the older man when they had delivered Tali and her information to him and Captain Anderson. The expression on Udina's face when Shepard had told him to shut up had been well worth any reminders of their positions. Shepard, of course, had been quick to remind Udina that she was out risking her neck to expose Saren and a rocky truce had been formed between Commander and Ambassador.

Kaidan and Shepard produced their identification cards for the guard on duty and received a sharp salute each. Once they were on the elevator to the quarters assigned to the Normandy's crew, Shepard broke the silence.

"I could use the support, Alenko," she admitted finally as the cheerful but nauseating music of the elevator droned on.

He nodded, relieved that she wanted him to go. "When's your meeting?"

"As soon as I drop off my gear." Shepard's brows drew downward in a frown as her left wrist beeped. She powered up her omni-tool, texting something.

"I'll drop off my gear and go with you then," he told her. She looked up from her texting, the amber light of the device casting her in an ethereal glow, a small smile playing on her mouth. He drew his lips in thoughtfully as he took her in.

Then he noticed that she had upgraded her omni-tool, and he suddenly felt like a geek.

"Is that the new Kassa Polaris?" he inquired, moving closer to study the tools' fabber. It was larger than his Logic Arrest, but he remembered that the microcomputer's nanoprocessor didn't have enough yottahertz to handle shields over two-fifty strength. He wondered at that: if Shepard had had to adapt her biotics around the lack of strength in shielding. It would explain what had happened on Feros. He was still hesitant to ask her about her capabilities.

Her smile deepened, warming the deep green flakes in the copper of her eyes, and Kaidan felt like his knees would give out. "Burns found it today. It's better than the damn Chameleon I had. The fabber's a little bigger, but I'm not into hacking anymore, so it's not like I need the extra yotts."

"'Anymore?'" His eyebrows rose inquiringly.

She shrugged. "What I get for dating an Infiltrator." He did not want to know. No, he did not. Her former liaisons were none of his – A bead of black took shape around his heart. Was she seeing someone? "What's your model?" Shepard tilted her head to his left arm.

He powered up his omni-tool, overly eager to not only show off his toy, but to not talk about Shepard's intimacies—either previous or ongoing. He doubted he would get much out of her anyway. An Infiltrator? "Ariake Logic Arrest."

"Eight decimal one decimal seven?" She asked as she studied the model. Then she smiled knowingly up at him. "We're such nerds."

He laughed at that. "So we are." He studied her a moment. Her hair, akimbo as always, had taken on a rust-colored hue under the amber glow of the tools. The glow also highlighted the three prominent scars on her face, the cut on her upper lip, one just above her eye that dissected her right eyebrow, and the strange-shaped one just below her left eye. Another scar showed up, hidden from view by the bangs that normally hung on her forehead, but she had pushed them aside and tucked them behind her ear. It was also on her right side and kind of looked like two claws had managed to get past her defenses.

"When are you meeting with Kahoku?" he inquired when he was sure she was done studying the Logic Arrest.

She sighed. "I haven't decided whether I should go before or after."

"You could have told Fifth Fleet Command to relay—"

"Like Hell," she interrupted, her face a stormy cloud. "If they were your men and you asked me to investigate, Alenko, how the hell would you feel to hear it from someone other than me?"

He raised his hands in surrendered as she grumpily powered down her Polaris. "I spoke out of turn, Commander. It won't happen again."

Her face remained stormy as the elevator doors cycled open and they exited. They found the quarters, and Kaidan was surprised that the entire crew had been assigned to the same room. Normally, men and women were kept separated for privacy issues. Too much gawking with the younger soldiers or something. Apparently Mikhailovich had no reservations in throwing them in altogether. This was going to be interesting.

"I'm not the one who matters, Alenko," she told him quietly as she tossed her seabag on a bunk.

Knowing how rumors got started so easily, he chose a bunk that was on the far side of the room. "You do matter, Commander," he told her just as quietly, walking back and standing beside her. "You—you told Jenkins family personally, didn't you?"

"Anderson did." She shook her head. "I was still out when he made the vid-mail. The Sole Survivor strikes again."

"His death wasn't your fault, Commander."

"I'm sure his family sees it differently." She sighed and held up a hand to quell the protest that was forming on his lips. "Let's go to the Embassies."

He nodded and followed his commanding officer out the door.