[VIDEO, shifting to ACTION potentially | 001: Arrival]

[standsentinel]

[By the background, Kaidan, outwardly a normal-looking dark haired man in his mid-30s, is still on the ship. Still beside the pod that's disgorged him even, as a blurry nameplate can be made out behind him if you squint. His own communicator has come to him in the form of a datapad, which he's currently holding out in from of him with the slight abstracted furrow to his brow commonly seen amongst iPad users as they try to make sure the camera's focusing. Some things carry down across centuries, apparently.]

Look. I don't know where the hell I am, but this sure as hell isn't the shuttle down to Vancouver. Everything's saying 'ship', but I'm not hearing engine noise and what little I've seen says this thing is way too big to be stealthed.

And there's another thing--

[He turns the datapad to let its camera pickup take in the pods along the corridor.]

That's not normal cryostasis like I'd call it. It looks more like prothean tech. So if anyone's picking up on this frequency, I could use a few answers.

[After a moment more, he stares at the camera and awkwardly rubs at the back of his neck with one hand as he's recalled to manners and lets the irritated command slide out of his voice.]

Uh. Please?

Comments

[standsentinel]

What's her name?

[He explains himself a moment later:]

I have a feeling this ship and I are going to become good friends -- I'm no systems engineer, but I know enough to tinker, and she looks like she's in need of it. I could keep an eye out for a pod with her name on it while I'm doing that.

[flowing_kinetics]

Kaori Tadokoro.

[Well, that gives you his last name, at least.]

[Audio]

[relicrebellion]

I have not seen anything, but this vessel seems...large. [This is an understatement.] If they are here, we will find them.

[She smiles, small and encouraging. She doesn't really feel it - but someone has to.]

I will see you once you've caught up with the Commander.

[video]

[knightoflight]

Oh. I'm sorry. [For...being sorry. Welcome to Wing's world.]

Oh? This has happened to you before? Did you find your way home?

[standsentinel]

I'll ping you if I see anything... Tadokoro.

[A last name's a start, at least, although Kaidan crooks his lips as he's forced to pause where a first name would go instead.]

My name's Kaidan Alenko.

[Audio]

[relicrebellion]

[Liara has a thousand questions to ask, but while she's not aware of Kaidan's undead status, she can pick up on undercurrents.

So she'll ask them once they're face to face.]

[flowing_kinetics]

Akira.

[Luckily, he's happy to fill it in. That's... an interesting name there, though, buddy, but he guesses he can't really criticize.]

Kaidan. Got it.

[standsentinel]

I'm getting pings that a couple people I know are here too.

[Kaidan waves the datapad-communicator by way of evidence.]

One of 'em's Shepard. But you feel free to ping me if you want, ki-- Akira.

Re: [video]

[standsentinel]

[Kaidan's from the part of the North American amalgamation that used to be Canada. Excessive amounts of 'sorry' are not unfamiliar territory.]

Not... the dimensional stuff, exactly. But ancient relics, mysterious purposes, getting tipped headlong into a conflict I wasn't expecting? Done that before.

[flowing_kinetics]

Alright.

[You're not a bad person, so he might actually keep that in mind. For now, he's just going to head past you to look through the other pods. Hope you didn't want a proper goodbye!]

[video]

[knightoflight]

[A taste of home!]

You've certainly got an advantage on me.

[Wing tilts his head, grinning.] I died where I was from. I thought this was...what happened after death.

[femshep]

[There's no 'when she screws her courage' about it. No hesitation. Whether she's sure about this or not, there's no way in hell she'll show it. This is something she has to do. Has to understand. Because this is impossible.

But it seems that much more possible when he meets her eyes. There's a moment of silence after his greeting, a moment of searching and the barest hint of otherwise-concealed uncertainty, and then:] Kaidan.

[Another pause, this one a bit longer, and the next bit's a little more wary.]

But you were dead.

[No use beating around the bush.]

[standsentinel]

What?

[Kaidan sounds honestly startled by that, and takes a quick look down at his hands and the half-assembled pistol in them as if checking to make sure they've not gone ghost-translucent while his attention was elsewhere.

They haven't. Something twists his expression then, worry darkening his eyes as he looks her over closely and answers with a voice gone hushed.]

No-- No, Shepard. If that's-- Did-- Cerberus tell you that after Horizon? I, uh... I tried sending an email.

[His cheeks warm slightly as he replays how lame that last sentence sounds, especially after how he remembers Horizon going down. Rather than rub at his biotic implant site with hands full of gun parts, he visibly stills himself back to the task -- quick and sure -- of re-assembly.]

Re: [video]

[standsentinel]

Wars, domes and crashed spaceships?

[Kaidan shakes his head, and the bemusing sight of a robot grinning isn't enough to keep a wry grin of his own from his face.]

Got to say, Wing, the Cybertronian idea of an afterlife kind've makes ones like the Norse one sound like lazing on a beach somewhere-- wait, you died?

text ;

[worldkiller]

< Pro...thean tech?* >

* translated from kyrptonian

Text:

[standsentinel]

Protheans. Race that was exterminated about 50,000 years before my time. They had technology like these pods. Wondered if they were the same.

Text:

[worldkiller]

< It might be a hard jump for a first guess.

Or maybe not. >

[video]

[knightoflight]

It was....not what I'd expected, no. It was almost a relief to discover it was not the afterlife.

[Almost. The smile flickers.]

[He nods.] I did. I was defending my City. And my friend.

Re: [video]

[standsentinel]

[A soldier's gravely undertanding respect stills Kaidan's expression at that, giving hints about his occupation in case the uniform somehow didn't. He gives Wing a small nod.]

Nobody really wants to clock out, even when you're signed up to put your life on the line for people. But that... that sounds like a good death.

Although-- how's that work out to ending up here? Unless there was a shuttle crash I missed out on entirely, I'm still alive.

Re: Text:

[standsentinel]

Hard jump? I think my dictionary program glitched on that one.

[femshep]

Horizon? [What he's saying just plain doesn't mesh with what she knows, and it's showing on her face as a jarred sort of confusion.] I-... How do you know about Cerberus? [She'll get this in a second. For now, she's still reeling.

After a pause, she shakes her head a little.] I didn't know you made it off of Virmire. We all thought-... [Her jaw sets. He doesn't need to hear it again.] If we'd have known, there's no way in hell we wouldn't have come back for you. [Though it's said with certainty, she can't help but feel a twinge of guilt. She sealed his fate in an instant those years ago, and somehow now she's got the right to pretend it was something she couldn't have found some way to stop. Something that wasn't entirely her fault.]

[standsentinel]

How do I know about-- Shepard, I was standing right there. Enough time has passed, and enough news has spread that Shepard turned herself and the Normandy in, that the heavy fire of hurt and betrayal that he'd been blazing away with on Horizon has... well, pick your thermal clip related metaphor here. Baffled concern lends an edge and a drive to his words all the same.]

What the hell--? I was right there as we pulled out of Virmire, too -- knocked out cold by Saren, but you pulled me out. You're not making any sense, Shepard...

[He trails off at that, suspicion darkening his eyes as he stares at her.]

Assuming you are Commander Shepard. What's the first thing you shot on Eden Prime?

[He's assuming that even the most heroic of obsessed biographies won't remember that poor, innocent gasbag.]

[femshep]

[She lets out a dry laugh despite the situation, because:] Shit, Kaidan, three years later and you still won't drop it. [Though technically it's not three years later to him. Nor is it to her, with her two years dead. Details, details. Either way, between Eden Prime and Virmire, three or four times she had to justify that it was scientific curiosity, or alternatively, that the gasbag could've been lethal and they really had no way to know.

But then the humor's faded, because she's going back over what he's saying, and it's dawning on her.] You think Ash died, don't you?

[standsentinel]

[Laughter answers laughter, although there's still a brittleness to it, and Kaidan shakes his head before returning to putting the final touches on reassembling his pistol.]

Someone needs to remember the humble beginnings of the great Commander Shepard.

But around the same time as he clicks and slides the trigger guard back into place and holsters the gun anew, his expression's gone back to bemused, and a little bleak this time.]

No 'think' about it -- nothing and nobody survived that nuke going off. That's... that was a hard call, Shepard. I still kick myself a little for asking you after if you made it that way 'cause of us. Stupid timing to ask, right then. Survivor's guilt...

[He huffs a laugh and a sigh mingled.]

Of course, putting my foot in it's sort've the story of my life, isn't it?

[femshep]

[And though she's trying to analyze this logically, figure out calmly and rationally what the hell's going on, the loudest and most prevalent thought in her mind is, 'there's no survivor's guilt, you didn't survive.'

And then there's 'us'. There's only one way to interpret that, not without blatant and willful ignorance, but she just... There's no way to wrap her head around that one. Not while she knows what really happened. Not while she knows why.

Shepard lets out a slow, inaudible breath. Then:]

It was Ashley I ran into on Horizon. [Her words are careful but sure. There's no doubt that it's been Ash all along, after Virmire anyway.] She was on the ship when we left Virmire. [There was no 'us', Kaidan. She managed to make sure of that.]