Kaidan eyed his meager rations the same way he had taken to looking at them since Vyrnnus had decided he should only have half of his normal intake- in the back of his mind, he was grateful that it was the last day of the punishment.
Every meal was the same as well.
Kaidan would slowly eat his food- if only to make it last longer and to fool his body into thinking it was eating more than it really was- and Rahna would always try to get him to take some of hers. Of course, he never accepted what she offered him and he had good reasons not to.
For one, he couldn’t take food from his girlfriend (and what a delight it was to be able to call her that in his mind and to the rest of their little group).
Second, he couldn’t risk her getting her rations halved as well- even had she not been his girlfriend.
Finally, well, he could all but feel their new Commander’s eyes on him. He wasn’t about to give the Turian the pleasure of knowing how horrible it truly was that he couldn’t eat.
It was only a week, after all.
Of course, given the fact that, by the time breakfast and lunch passed on that first day, Kaidan had felt as though he was starving to death and tired beyond anything he had ever experienced. He had never been so happy for seven days to pass.
None the less, Vyrnnus had pushed him harder and harder- pushed them all harder and harder, in fact. Kaidan was pretty sure that, even had he been eating normally, he’d’ve been just as tired as the others.
Pushing around his soup with his spoon, he felt more than a little troubled by the fact that he hadn’t been able to help Rahna out the entire week. He was barely able to complete his own tasks- let alone help her out with hers.
“Alenko!” the increasingly familiar bark of Vyrnnus echoed across the dining hall, “report to my office- ASAP.”
Looking down at his unfinished half-rations, he felt even more disheartened than he had all week. Rahna squeezed his leg and nodded at him encouragingly before he stood up and took his tray with him.
He stood at attention in the doorway of Vyrnnus’ office, trying his best not to sway from exhaustion. It had become something of a challenge for Kaidan not to show any weakness to the Turian in front of him and, thus far, he was succeeding.
“How old are you, boy?” Vyrnnus snapped suddenly, not looking up from the terminal he was sitting behind.
“Fifteen, sir,” Kaidan answered, looking just over Vyrnnus’ left shoulder.
Vyrnnus nodded before picking up a glass and filling it with water before setting it down on his desk. “Do you know what I find interesting about you, Alenko?” he all but sneered.
Kaidan took a few calming breaths before he could say something rash. Finally, he asked, “Would you like me to answer that honestly, sir?” He had gotten pretty good at stifling the sarcasm over the last week, but it still slipped through sometimes.
“Okay.”
“Nothing- I think you find absolutely nothing interesting about me and the rest of us here.”
Vyrnnus stared at him for a long minute before nodding his head. “You’ve gone a week with half the rations of an already insufficient portion of food for a biotic.”
“Those were your orders…Commander.”
“Yet your biotics are still stronger than your classmates.” He eyed Kaidan suspiciously before gesturing to the water on his desk. “Take the glass.” As Kaidan reached forward to take it, Vyrnnus growled a warning before backhanding him. “With your biotics, boy!”
Frowning, Kaidan accessed his biotics and began the process of pulling the glass to him…when he felt a resistance. Looking up, he realized that Vyrnnus was cloaked in the same blue aura that always surrounded him when accessing biotics. Deepening his concentration, he pulled harder on the glass with his biotics. There was a little give before resistance was, once again, met.
Kaidan felt something come from his nose but gave it only enough attention to wipe it away- trying to out pull Vyrnnus. However, no amount of concentration on Kaidan’s part could out-power a biotic with an amplifier.
Finally, Vyrnnus waved his hand. “Enough.” As Kaidan let the dark energy dissipate, Vyrnnus nodded. “Full rations starting tomorrow. I expect you to keep your attitude back in your bunk. Dismissed.”
Kaidan leaned against the wall just outside of Vyrnnus’ office and continued to wipe the blood that was freely flowing from his nose. He had never been so exhausted in his life. Somehow, he had a suspicion that things were only going to get more difficult.
