Kaidan observed Kacey carefully as she finished. While Kacey had his undivided attention, the biotic took the time to carefully observe Kacey as she spoke. She was more relaxed now than she was in the observation deck. Her outburst on the observation deck had made Kaidan worried about what else Kacey was hiding. The small tidbit she had revealed spoke volumes, and he was starting to piece it all together.
She was clearly under too much pressure; she was cracking underneath it. But it seemed that some of her troubles were deep rooted, only exacerbated by the war. Kaidan hoped that, after Rannoch, Kacey would be willing to open up a bit more.
Then, a piece of the story came to mind.
"Kaidan? You okay?" Kacey asked, looking at him with concern. Cobalt eyes met maroon ones as Kaidan was brought back to reality.
"Yeah, just…" Kaidan trailed off, "Kacey, can I ask you one thing? Honestly?"
"Yeah? What's up?" She replied.
"You said that you told Garrus that you knew what it was like to want revenge." Kaidan said, "What did you mean by that?"
She looked at him like he was crazy; almost surprised that he had picked up on such a detail. He could see her hesitate before answering.
"It's…it's nothing bad. Or important anymore."
"Kacey."
Kacey sighed, "Do you remember what I said back at the apartment? About those two soldiers I was friends with?"
"Chantelle and Adrien?" Kaidan mused, "What about–? Oh."
The realisation hit him like a freight train; he looked at her, surprised and concerned. Surprised that Kacey of all people even considered the possibility, and concerned that, in her current situation, she would go through with it.
"You aren't seriously considering…" Kaidan trailed off.
"No." Kacey replied, "I've thought about it. Considered it. And came to the conclusion that it wasn't worth it. Of course that was before he showed up on the Citadel."
"And now?" Kaidan said, "Do you want to kill Kai Leng?"
"Yes."
"Will you?"
"I'm not going to look for him if that's what you're driving at." Kacey replied, "As much as I want the bastard to rot, I'm not going to waste time on a personal vendetta in the middle of a war."
"I wasn't doubting that, Kacey." Kaidan replied, "I'm just worried. I mean, what happens the next time we cross paths with him? I just don't want you to get hurt."
Kacey gave a small smile, "You really are a sweetheart, Kaidan. And trust me, I'll be fine. I know all of his dirty tricks."
"Sounds like you know him." Kaidan mused, "From before the war."
"I knew him before either of us went anywhere near Cerberus." Kacey replied, leaning back on the sofa, " I mentioned before that he used to be Alliance. We never served together but we both went through training at Arcturus Station."
"You two enlisted around the same time?"
"Yeah. We had a…disagreement about who should be allowed to enlist in the military and it turned into a physical fight." Kacey mused, "I kicked his ass and he wasn't too happy about it. We never got on and after that he had it out for me."
"Safe to say, you were rivals." Kaidan said.
"Yeah." Kacey replied, "It wasn't anything serious and after Arcturus, we didn't run into each other until I started the N7 program. He was also offered a place, and he did everything he could to sabotage me and everyone else."
"Kacey, what did he do?" Kaidan looked at her, concerned.
"We were tasked to find our own distress beacons on a remote planet." Kacey mused absent-mindedly, "Kai Leng started killing off the others. Hell, he attacked me. I got away and warned those that were left. We worked together to make it out alive. Afterwards, we told Alliance Command what happened, but since there was no evidence, they couldn't do anything about it."
"He got away with it." Kaidan replied, "You joined the Tokyo after that. So, how could you know who killed Chantelle and Adrien if you were on that ship?"
"Because he told me." Kacey replied, standing up and walking towards the fish tank, "When we were on shore leave on Terra Nova, he…he was in one of the bars. He followed me out, pinned me up against a wall and told me it was him and that he was going to do the same to me. We fought, then he got scared off when you started calling my name."
"Hold on. You told me you bumped into someone, not that you were attacked." Kaidan said.
"I didn't want you or anyone else getting involved. Chantelle and Adrien did, and they paid for it." Kacey sighed.
Kaidan stood up and walked over to Kacey, holding her hands in his own hand, "That wasn't your fault. And we'll deal with Kai Leng and Cerberus soon, the right way. With all of us together."
"I hope you're right, Kaidan." Kacey said quietly, "Because if he lays a hand on any of you, he'll regret it. Nobody messes with my squad."
…
The shuttle ride to Rannoch was quiet, calm. Tali was both nervous and giddy about getting to step foot on her species' homeworld. Liara was busy running analytics with EDI and Legion, while Javik, James and Garrus were sharing stories of their own. Kacey was quiet, staring off into space while Kaidan fiddled around with his omni-tool.
He had to hope that she would be okay. He had to. Kacey had made it clear that she was not going to do anything reckless regarding the Cerberus assassin but he wasn't so sure. The rumours he heard about Kai Leng had him concerned, and if he had history with Kacey, then she was going to be a target. Especially after she foiled his assassination attempt.
"So that syncing laser needs a line of sight, right?" Kacey said, catching everyone's attention, "What's the fastest route?"
"The upper entrance." Legion stated, "Target the base before the geth can organise resistance."
"What about you?" Kacey asked.
"We will deactivate defence systems and acquire an escape vehicle." Legion responded.
"You can do that?"
Legion lowered its head, "This unit still carries remnants of the Old Machine upgrade code. We can break any geth security. You are concerned."
"I trust you. You know your limits." Kacey replied, "I'm more concerned you didn't tell me about the upgrades."
"You were tolerant of our recovery of geth intelligences from the server, but this matter is different. Personal."
"You were ashamed."
"Shame is an emotional or cognitive response to societal judgement. It should not apply here."
"I'm on your side here, Legion." Kacey said, "We all are. We want to help your people."
Kaidan could hear Javik scoff, only for Garrus to nudge the prothean. Legion to one look around the shuttle before responding with, "We did not intend to cause offence."
Kacey facepalmed as a small laugh rang out through the shuttle. Despite the levity the squad was indulging in, Kaidan could see how serious Kacey's expression had grown to one of frustration.
"How the hell did we get here?" A frustrated Kacey said, "The geth are better than this."
"No." Legion corrected, "Based on empirical evidence, they are not."
The shuttle landed as Legion finished. The geth turned, taking a step of the shuttle.
"Proceed to the upper entrance, Shepard-Commander. We will exit here and procure an escape vehicle." Legion informed.
"Got it." Kacey said, "Legion? Good luck."
"Acknowledged."
As the group left the shuttle, Kaidan noticed Tali waiting in the back of the shuttle. She took a deep breath before stepping a foot outside. Kaidan could see the quarian look around, a sense of wonder as Tali observed her surroundings. Kacey stood next to Kaidan, looking at the sight with a sense of pride.
"You know, for as bad as things are right now, I'm happy that Tali gets the chance to be here." Kacey mused.
"On that, we can agree." Kaidan said, "She deserves it."
"Absolutely. Now all we have to do is take down the base and her dream will really come true." Kacey said.
"Of course. It can never be that easy."
"Never."
…
Kaidan could see Garrus using his sniper rifle to scope out the base's exterior. Kacey had stayed back to talk with Tali, so he figured the best thing he could do was scope the place out. However, it seemed the turian had beaten him to it.
"See anything we should be worried about, Garrus?" Kaidan asked.
"Aside from some geth? No." Garrus said calmly, "I've got a good vantage point here, but it's too exposed if they shoot back."
"Not unless the rest of us get down there and draw their fire, leaving you to pick them off one by one." Kaidan mused, "Or I cover you and I with a biotic barrier."
"Both could work." Garrus mused, "Although you wouldn't be able to shoot if you had a barrier up."
"True." Kaidan said, "Maybe if we can position ourselves in flanking positions to get around them, we might be able to pull it off without leaving ourselves open."
"Yeah, maybe if three took the left and four took the right, and I covered both with sniper shots…"
"It could work." Kacey said, joining the pair, "I see you two are putting those strategic minds to good use."
"Of course." Kaidan said, "What else would we do?"
"Well, if you two are confident with your strategy, we'll do it." Kacey said, "Kaidan, you take two and hit the left and I'll hit the right. Who do you want to take with you?"
"I'll take EDI and Tali." Kaidan said.
"Okay, I'll hit the right with James, Liara and Javik." Kacey said, "Garrus, will you be okay up here."
"Remember who you're talking to." Garrus smirked, "I can handle it."
"Just try not to take another rocket to the face." Kacey mused.
"I will keep that in mind." Garrus laughed as Kacey, Kaidan and the rest of the squad jumped down towards the base.
They had split into their groups and, on Kacey's signal, opened fire on the geth. Kaidan took Tali and EDI and worked around the left hand side of the battlefield, keeping to cover as the geth showered them in bullets.
"Tali, send a combat drone to handle the geth in the back!" Kaidan said as he shot another geth unit in the head, "EDI, overload their shields!"
"Got it!" Tali said as she sent a combat drone to the back.
It was weird to be handing out orders like this; Kacey clearly trusted him and seemed to have enough faith that the rest of the squad would listen to him. Her sudden willingness to defer to his and Garrus' plan had him slightly worried; she usually wasn't that hands-off with her orders nor strategies. He didn't doubt for a minute that she trusted him, it was clear that she did. The real question was why she had chosen to defer to their plan entirely and give Kaidan a bit of flexibility.
Garrus was doing well in taking down the geth that was getting too close to the squad as they fought their way through the synthetics to the base. Kaidan was also impressed with both EDI and Javik's combat abilities; EDI took full advantage of her physical form to wreak havoc on the geth while Javik's ruthless yet efficient fighting style was definitely an asset to their squad.
Once they had finally dispatched the geth outside, Kaidan, EDI and Liara rendezvoused with Kacey, James, Javik, Liara and Garrus, who bolted across the battlefield towards the squad.
"That went really well." Liara mused.
"That it did." Kacey said, "Kaidan, Garrus, nice work."
"Shepard-Commander, you must climb to the upper levels before geth units can fortify their positions." Legion chimed through the comms.
"We're on our way." Kacey said as the squad headed towards the building and began to climb up the pipes.
"Admiral Gerral here." Gerral said through the comms, as Kaidan saw Kacey roll her eyes, "The Heavy Fleet has a clear path. All forward."
"Geth fighter presence is negligible." Raan said, "Patrol Fleet, break cover and engage."
"I hope they don't try to blow us up." James mused.
"Same here." Kacey replied, "Shit! Everyone get down!"
They all ducked behind what little cover there was up on the service catwalk as several rockets flew past. Kaidan took a small peek and saw a few geth rocket troopers and snipers, with a ground force closing in on them.
"We've got geth closing in on us!" Kaidan said.
"And a bunch of rockets and snipers waiting for us." Tali added.
"Not to mention, we don't have a lot of room to manoeuvre." Kacey mused, "Liara, how many geth can you catch with a singularity?"
"Definitely not all of them." Liara said, "But I can get most of them."
"Tali could deploy her combat drone to distract some of them." Kaidan mused.
"Yeah, I can do that." Tali replied.
"Okay but that doesn't help with the swarm of geth heading our way." Garrus said.
"Disruptor ammo helps." Kacey mused, "But what we really need is a smoke bomb."
"Would that even work against the geth?" James asked.
"No it won't." Tali said, "They would be able to pick us up via heat signatures."
"What if we used a cryo blast on a grenade?" Kacey asked.
"That sounds incredibly stupid." Javik mused.
"But possible." EDI stated, "A cryo blast on a grenade could create a smokescreen that could freeze the geth. However you would need to manipulate the grenade and cryo blast at a monocular level to receive the desired effect."
"So in theory if Shepard threw a grenade and I used a cryo blast and reave on the grenade, it'll make a smokescreen?" Kaidan asked.
"In theory." EDI said, "Chance of success is at sixty-seven percent."
"I will take those chances." Kacey said, "Kaidan?"
"I'll do it." Kaidan said, "For as crazy as it is."
"If that actually works, I'm buying you both a drink." James said.
"Same here." Garrus mused.
"All right, let's do it." Kacey said, "I'll throw it when you're ready, Kaidan."
Kaidan prepared himself as they had only a small window to make it work. Kacey threw the grenade when Kaidan was ready, and he activated his cryo blast and immediately used reave on the grenade. A bunch of white smoke appeared, allowing Liara to use a singularity on the snipers and rocket wielding geth and the remaining squad to thin out the geth's numbers.
"Wow, that actually worked." Kacey mused.
"Yeah, it did." Kaidan said, surprised.
"I can't believe that worked." James added, "Nice."
"Come on, let's finish this up." Kacey said.
Kaidan moved from one small space of cover to the next as they tore their way through the geth forces. Kaidan knew that Kacey, Garrus and Tali had upgraded gear from their suicide mission, but he had to admit that the salarian doctor knew how to modify weapons. The disruptor ammo that Kacey had tore through the geth, while Garrus' armour-piercing ammo cut through the geth like a hot knife through butter. Tali was able to hack more geth so they would fire on each other, evening out the playing field.
It was clear that the weapons they had outpaced the rest of the squad's by sheer versatility. Made sense that they were outfitted for a suicide mission, since the very fact they managed to survive the Omega 4 Relay was a testament to how good their weapons were. Kaidan never fought a Collector, but considering how they were the prothean equivalent of a husk or marauder, it made sense to him why such modifications were needed. He just hoped that they could somehow replicate the modifications so the whole squad could benefit from those upgrades.
Kaidan followed Kacey as they squad moved further up the side of the base, dodging bullets and killing geth. Kacey continued to dish out orders as she always did as they reached the upper catwalk, where the entrance Legion had told them to go was located.
"Stay sharp! We've got rocket troopers up here!" Kacey shouted, as a rocket flew past and headed towards Garrus and James, who dived into cover just in the nick of time.
Kaidan fried their shields, while Kacey fired one disruptor concussive shot after another. Liara used a singularity to round up the stragglers that followed EDI's decoy, allowing James and Javik to unload bullets onto the synthetic machines. Garrus took out the remaining snipers as the navigated through the catwalk towards the entrance.
"Come on!" Tali shouted as she shot a geth trooper in the head, "We need to get inside before they send reinforcements!"
"Okay, let's go!" Kacey said, as the squad bolted around the corner and headed onto the base.