"We should have connection, Major," Traynor's voice explained over Kaidan's head. "Good luck."

"Thank you, Specialist Traynor," the man answered formally before pressing the button in front of him.

The two had been spending the last few minutes trying to connect to the lead Alliance ship that held Admiral Hackett. Traynor assumed the only way they would not be able to reach him was if the ship itself had been destroyed. Which wasn't very reassuring after attempting to hail their frequency about ten times. Kaidan was nervous about checking on everyone's status as it was. He had thought that there was a slim chance he would make it through to see the next day, so knowing he lived while so many others had died made his stomach turn to stone. Imagining one of the most important people in the Alliance military dead wasn't helping his nerves settle, either.

Blue haze washed over him as the holographic vid comm connected to the admiral's ship. For a few seconds, there was nothing but blue … Kaidan sighed audibly as Admiral Steven Hackett came into view. The aging man looked no worse for wear, despite a small cut that was visible across his left cheek. His hat was off of his head, revealing gray hair fashioned in a buzz-cut, close to his scalp, and a possible bald patch on the back of his head. Hackett's blue eyes widened as he saw Kaidan standing before him. The major wondered why the admiral looked so shocked … He then realized in hindsight that he hadn't bothered cleaning himself up from his unfortunate experience of head-butting a quarian and a wall in less than a second.

Dried blood cracked as he wiped his hand along the side of his head. After it stopped bleeding, he didn't really worry about it. The second human Spectre shrugged as he brushed his fingers together to get rid of the dried flecks. Hackett took that as a sign that Kaidan was all right, nodding.

"Major Alenko," the admiral said as he stood with his arms at his sides. "Glad to hear from you."

"Glad to see you're in one piece, Admiral," Kaidan responded, putting his right hand up in a quick salute. "Have other ships made it to the rendezvous?"

"A lot more than I expected, which I'm thankful for. Some have reported emergency landing after leaving the detonation site, but all of them are still functioning. Looks like most were able to get out in time. How's the Normandy?"

"We made the relay jump before the blast reached us, sir. The ship systems went down momentarily, but everything is coming back. Crew is all present and accounted for, with few injuries."

"Great news. It may take a bit, but we're working on gathering functioning ships to use for rescue and recovery missions. As long as you're able to get to the skies without trouble, we'll have the Normandy assist in the operation."

"Anything from the ground troops, sir?"

"Check-ins from all over Citadel space. The turians reported the Reapers fell on Palaven, Thessia has given the all-clear … Nothing from Earth yet, but we're hopeful. By the sound of it, the Crucible did what it was supposed to. The Reapers are destroyed."

Kaidan smiled and nodded. "That's incredible."

"The ground forces will work on their own rescue and recovery for now until we can gather the ships. We can tow the inoperative ships to a drop location to get mechanics working on them. The sooner we can get everyone up and running, the better."

"The relays seem to have been damaged, sir."

"Yes, they've sent reports. We're working on contacting the quarian flotillas, so we can see what can be done. It will take some time, but I think they'll be able to help out, along with possibly some asari and salarian scientists. Can you tell us the coordinates of where you landed?"

"We're working on it. Like I said, the systems are in the process of coming back, so we may not know for a little bit yet."

"Very well. Contact the ship with your coordinates as soon as you can. If you need anything, contact me again. We can get someone out to you if it needs to be done."

"Will do."

"Major Alenko?"

"Yes, sir?"

Hackett paused for a moment, nodding. "Your crew did a great job. Well done."

"Thank you, sir."

"Hackett out."

The holographic image of the admiral disappeared as he turned away from the terminal. Kaidan resisted the urge to correct him about the crew. He was part of this crew, yes, but they were never his. Shepard kept all of these people together …

"Hey, Traynor," Kaidan said, instinctually looking up to speak to the specialist.

"Yes, Major?" the woman answered.

"Any luck with knowing where we are?"

"Unfortunately, no. The ship's tracking seems to have been thrown off from the landing. We're scanning to see if there's any damage, but it may just take a bit for it to get its bearings. Think of it like getting really dizzy. It takes a little while to figure out which way is up if you spin too much."

"I gotcha. How about EDI?"

There was a pause on the specialist's end before she sighed. "Nothing good. I still haven't been able to get a reaction from her yet. Tali said she plans on going to the core to see if there's anything she can do. For now, though, we'll have to make do without her help."

"Do you think she'll be back once the systems are back up?"

"We can hope. A majority of the systems are reporting as temporary disconnection, but no damage. There's a few more for us to wait on, but we seem to be getting back to working order."

"Good. Let me know once the coordinates are found or if we get EDI back, will you?"

"Of course. Oh, and Major, Joker would like to speak to you if you have a moment. He's down in the med bay."

"Will do. Thanks, Traynor."

Kaidan ran a hand through his already smooth dark hair, exhaling a puff of air. A list of pros and cons started running through his head, something he always did when things got a little out of control. Out on the field, Shepard would make jokes about him making checklists as they went through their missions. "Rifle: check. Armor: check. Biotics: check. Bad guys: check. Hair perfect: check often."

She poked fun at his stoic approach to missions, as she did with everyone that got a little too serious. It wasn't that she didn't care (Kaidan could tell by looking at her that she cared a great deal about everything she did), but she didn't want everyone to sap themselves of their energy by being so serious all of the time. Shepard was great at reminding her crew that they still deserved to make jokes, to just have fun sometimes. Interesting approach for an Alliance leader, but hey, it worked. Even if she was throwing bullshit around until it made sense, it always worked.

That was the Shepard method, not the Alenko one. For Kaidan, it was easier for him to categorize. Think about everything in neat little packages separated to be dealt with one at a time until he was ready to handle the big picture. "Surgical" was a term he'd heard more than once. Of course, his method had gone through some adapting over the last few years. His experiences on the Normandy and rising in rank in the Alliance made sure of that.

The Spectre could tell he became more introspective, especially as the Reaper War came to a head, thinking more about people's actions, how certain people got involved in certain things for certain reasons … How someone's life could turn on a dime because of one simple event. And if that simple event didn't happen, that life would probably go in a completely different direction …

Too philosophical for his own good these days, he supposed.