Beyond the Horizon.

Biotic Trauma.

Shepard had gone on another mission with Grunt and Mordin, there were two more team members he needed to get on Illium, Liara was also there, expecting Shepard. Kaidan had stayed behind this time, so he decided to explore more of the ship. 

He got down to engineering and was going to head straight for the engine room until he saw two flights of stairs that headed even deeper into the ship. He slowly made his way down them, the hull creaked as it had a warmth around it from being beneath the engines. 

Kaidan wasn't sure what he was expecting to find down there, but a whole ass human wasn't it. The woman was sitting on a cot bed, looking down at a datapad. He must have startled her as before he even got the chance to blink she had him by the throat against the pipes, glowing biotic blue in rage. 

"Who the fuck are you?!" she shouts inches from his face.

"Calm down, I'm Kaidan Alenko!" he quickly says. "I've not long joined Shepard. I didn't know anyone was down here!" 

The woman let him go but kept her biotics active. "Why are you down here?" 

"Looking for Shepard," he sarcastically says. "What do you think?! I'm looking around the ship," he says rubbing his neck. 

"Well down here is off limits so fuck off," she says turning her back to him. Kaidan looked around, she'd made a little home down here. Her clothes, guns, and bed were all down here.

"You chose the hole to sleep?" he asks. 

"Yes, it's small and defendable." Kaidan raised a brow at her.

"From who?" 

"Noisey fuckers!" she shouts. "Leave before I kill you." 

Kaidan laughed at her, she snapped her head towards him. "We are on the same team here, whats your name?" 

She crossed her arms over her chest, not looking his way. Kaidan moved closer, keeping his movements slow so she didn't attack him again. "Jack," she mutters.

"Nice to meet you," he says holding his hand out. Jack scoffed at him, turning further into her bed. Kaidan looked at his hand as he pulled it back.

"Hate the Alliance that much?" he asks. Jack stood up, pacing the small space between them.

"No, I hate Cerberus though. The bastards," she growls. 

"You know you're on a Cerberus ship correct?" Kaidan was being serious but she took his question as sarcasm. Her biotics glowed slightly, he'd hit a nerve. "Sorry," he mumbles. "It was a genuine question." 

"Yes I know," she declares. "I joined because I made a deal with Shepard. I want information on Cerberus after what they did to me." Kaidan leaned against the table, arms loose at his side. 

"What did they do to you?" Jack turned away from him, not answering him. "You tell me what Cerberus did to you and I will tell you something about myself?" 

Jack stared at him, unsure why he was trying so hard to be friendly to her. She shrugged her shoulders and walked under the pipping where it was dark. "Cerberus kidnapped me as a kid, injected me with god knows what to make the perfect biotic. I was tortured for years before escaping." 

Kaidan nodded to her words, very much not surprised since it was Cerberus after all. "I understand." 

"You don't understand shit, you don't know what it's like!" she says getting into his face. Kaidan only nodded again, letting her say her peace before she moved back to her bed, sitting down with a heavy thump.

"You ever heard of BaAt?" Jack looked up at him, the name seeming to recall in her mind.

"That crap biotic school the Alliance tried to hide when it ended badly for them?" Kaidan nodded, glad he didn't need to recall old memories to explain it.

"You're looking at the reason they shut it down." Jack's eyes widened slightly, disbelief written across her face.

"You're the one who killed that Turian?" Kaidan nodded, he wasn't surprised Jack knew why they shut down. The Alliance tried their best to hide the real reason, but the Turians were pissed one of their top generals had got killed by some teenager and wouldn't keep quiet about it. It took years for Turians and Humans to steadily get along again. "Well fuck," Jack mutters.

"I know it's not near as bad as what you probably went through, but I do understand." Jack stood back up, moving closer to him.

"Why did you join the Alliance after what they did to you?" Kaidan rubbed the stubble over his chin, sometimes he had the answer, but at times he wasn't fully sure of his reasoning behind it. 

"I guess knowing the Alliance acknowledged their mistake made it easier for me. I was offered compensation for the physical and mental abuse it caused me. I also didn't know what to do with myself when I turned eighteen so joining seemed like my only option at the time." Jack looked at him, smirking slightly.

"Guess they take pussies then," she jokes. Kaidan chuckles, finding this formidable woman quite pleasant saying she scared the crap out of him. 

"Do you regret joining?" Kaidan quickly shook his head. 

"No, I wouldn't have met Shepard if didn't join." Jack raised a brow at him, studying him closely.

"You were on his crew on the old Normandy?" Kaidan nods. "And you like him more than your commander?" Kaidan quickly stands up straight, feeling very exposed. 

"What makes you think that?" he struggles to say without a broken voice. Jack smirked at him, turning her back to him.

"You have lover boy written across your face," she comments. Kaidan blinked a few times before wiping his face. 

"I don't know what you mean," he whispers as he looks towards the stairs. "I need... to go," he quickly adds before scurrying off. 

"Bye, lover boy," Jack cackles. Kaidan felt himself go red in the cheeks as he stumbled up the stairs. He didn't care for Shepard in that way... he tried to tell himself that but knew he was lying. 

---

Kaidan went straight to Mordins lab, going to his newly assigned desk to mark a report to Anderson. 

To: David Anderson.

From: Kaidan Alenko.

Counsellor, 

I have gained Shepard's trust, he has taken me planet side to recruit more crew members. Tali Zorah has rejoined and we have two new members being brought on today. A Drell called Thane Krios and Asari Jusitcar named Samara. 

Shepard seems still wary of Cerberus, he has issues with the Cerberus crew members and argues with one in specific called Jacob Taylor, a comment was made about him once being Alliance. You may wish to investigate that. 

I shall keep you posted.

-Kaidan.

Kaidan felt a prang of guilt sending the message, he was betraying Shepard by doing this, but it was his job to do so and he had to put that first over feelings.