ME: Whiskey and Bourbon C03

Ashley watched him go and then turned to her with a look on her face that was about to ask a question. “It’s none of my business, ma’am, but is there something I should know about between you and the LT?”

“You’re right, Chief, it’s none of your business.” Jesse said, her eyes looking ahead to the spaceport, wondering at what they would find waiting for them.

“Want me to scout ahead?”

“We are all going together, in case there is more of the walking dead hiding behind crates.”

“Aye, ma’am.” Ashley hitched up her rifle and took point, ready to go when Kaidan finished. He walked back around the barrier with a grim nod and wiped sweat from his forehead.

“Last bomb clear, Commander. We are clear to proceed to the spaceport.”

Jesse nodded and motioned Kaidan to take rear guard. The squad walked carefully along the walkway down to the port, nerves wound up, and senses aware of any little noise in the sudden quiet. The telltale whine of an electric cry started and Ashley raised her rifle, coughing out a rapid burst of fire at a shambling husk. As the squad headed down, they repelled the onslaught of husks that used to be the spaceport workers and various maintenance people. Biotics flashed from both Jesse and Kaidan, when their biotics combined, it sent a devastating effect to the enemy in its way. The battle was quickly over, leaving the team once again breathing heavily from the firefight. Slowly, Jesse made her way to the object of interest that remained intact. The spire was pulsing with a green light among grooved channels, sending a shaft of the same green light into the air of Eden Prime. Whatever it was Saren was here for, he already gotten to it.

“Well, fuck.” Jesse sighed, lowering her pistol and clapping it to her hip.

“That’s the beacon?” Kaidan asked, continuing to walk cautiously up to it.

“Yeah,” Ashley answered. “But it wasn’t like that before. It wasn’t active.”

“It is now and Saren has whatever information that thing contained.” Jesse frowned and then tapped her ear to activate her comm unit. “Normandy, the beacon is still here and ready to be transported. We have one casualty and need an SAR to search the colony for other survivors.” Her eyes roamed around the blackened skies of the agrarian colony, shaking her head at the devastation, all for a stupid Prothean beacon. Then she noticed Kaidan seeming to struggle against something and she snapped into a sprint, pushing him away from the beacon that was pulling him toward it.

However, whatever was grasping at him caught her and Jesse couldn’t resist the inexorable pull to the beacon.

2

Kaidan shook his head and looked over to Jesse, seeing her struggling with the force from the beacon. Then she didn’t struggle as the thing pulled her up and her back arched rigidly. A lump formed in his throat as fear, desperation, and concern filled him for her. He rolled up from the ground and started to run toward her. “SHEPARD!” He yelled.

Something held him back from reaching her and Kaidan jerked hard. The Chief called out to him. “There’s nothing you can do for her, LT, unless you want to harm her!”

“But…” He stammered, his eyes looking onto Jesse’s stiff and silent screaming body hanging in midair. Kaidan watched helplessly as some unknown force from the flaring beacon held Jesse captive for a brief two minutes. The beacon flared brightly, exploded, and flung her away. Kaidan ripped out of Ashley’s grip and went to her, gently turning over the prone form of Jesse.

Yanking off his gloves, Kaidan checked for a pulse and sighed in relief to feel a strong and steady beat at her neck. Somewhere to the side, Kaidan heard the whine of the Normandy come and prepare to land. Gathering Jesse to his chest, Kaidan stood up, grunting a little at the woman’s muscular form and weight of the armor.

Captain Anderson met them at the end of the ramp. “How is she?” He asked Kaidan as the marine hurried aboard.

“Unconscious. Whatever the beacon did to her, must have put her into shock.” Kaidan responded.

“Take her to medbay immediately.” Anderson stood aside for Kaidan.

“Yes, sir.” After a couple of steps, he stopped and looked at the Chief hanging back. “Captain, this is Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams. She is the only survivor left of her squadron. She can show someone where Jenkin’s body is at.”

“We will take care of it, Lieutenant.” Anderson nodded. Kaidan nodded and started toward medbay with Jesse clasped tightly to his chest.

3

“Over here, Kaidan.” Doctor Chakwas told him as soon as he arrived through the door. He rushed over to the cleared bed for Jesse and proceeded to get her dead weight body out of the armor. “Is she responsive?”

“There is some rapid eye movement going on but she won’t come around.” Kaidan replied. His hands grasped at a boot and slipped it off, then took the other boot off. He laid the armor to the side and stepped aside for Chakwas to run some tests over Jesse. Jesse was the strongest woman he had ever known, a real hard ass. However, nothing ever got her down for long and Kaidan was optimistic that whatever forced this woman into this comatose state, it won’t keep Jesse in it for long. When Chakwas asked for his help, considering he was a certified medic, Kaidan gladly did so. Despite their contentious past and the games they pushed at each other, Kaidan cared deeply for the woman.  Damn, if only he hadn’t let his curiosity get the better of him and investigate the active beacon! It was a dumb rookie move, knowing that the beacon could be potentially dangerous, especially if Saren had decided to set a bomb in the thing if the other bombs failed to detonate.

“Kaidan,” Chakwas came up to him with sympathy. “Go clean up and get something to eat. There is nothing more we can do for now but wait for Shepard to wake up. 

“I’ll be back. I…someone needs to be here.” He glanced over at Jesse’s sleeping face, seeing the little twitches around her eyes and mouth as she dreamed. Turning his back on her, Kaidan walked out of the medbay and went about to getting out of the armor and showering.

After refreshing himself with a shower and hot coffee, Kaidan returned to the dim medbay and immediately went to Jesse’s side. Dragging a stool over, he sat down at her bedside and took her limp hand between his. He ignored the look Chakwas gave him at the familiar gesture of a subordinate to his superior.

“Jesse…” Kaidan started, his voice cracking and then clearing. “I should have told you about my biotics. I was stupid. Stupid to hold back, stupid to go up to that beacon, only to have you push me aside like some errant child. Damn! This is my fault that you are laying here!”

Kaidan felt her fingers twitch in his hands, making him smile a little. Raising it to his lips, Kaidan laid a gentle kiss on Jesse’s fingers. Then he freed one of his hands and went to brush a lock of hair from her eyes. “We are heading to the Citadel now, to return Nihlus’ body and to let the Council know what transpired on Eden Prime. Anderson doesn’t think this will go down well but we weren’t at fault for this. Still….you know how politics are.” He sighed deeply. “Damn it, Jess, wake up!”

She didn’t. Jesse continued to lay there, eyes moving rapidly under her lids, fingers twitching in his hand. Kaidan sighed and sat there, not leaving her side. In a low soft voice, he would talk to her, hoping his words and voice would calm whatever Jesse was dreaming. He would regale stories about their OTC days, the fights they gone to and updating her on the fighters. Chakwas came over every hour to check Jesse’s vitals but remained silent to Kaidan’s intimacy to the Commander.

After a couple of hours, Kaidan’s voice grew hoarse and he remained sitting there, holding Jesse’s hand. He remembered the time they had spent the night together and he had kissed at the scar running at the corner of her lips. She had teased him about his own on his upper lip, asking about he got it. Kaidan had laughed at her then, saying it was silly thing.

“Seriously, Alenko, tell me!” Jesse smiled, her finger tracing at the scar sensuously that he shivered in delight.

“I busted my lip on a stair. Not a carpeted one or anything like that, but a hard, metal stair. Dad had surprised me one day when I was seven and took me to the spaceport to watch the shuttles and Alliance fighters flying in. I was so awed to see this that I missed the first step up to the observation platform. What was to be the best day of watching fighters, turned into a tear filled disaster. I didn’t cry from pain but because I was going to miss an air show that was to happen that afternoon. The medic cleaned me up and glued the cut closed but my dad was always playing it safe with me at that age and took me to the emergency room.”

“What happened?” Jesse asked as she tightened her leg around his hip, pulling him in closer to her body.

Kaidan paused, getting that faraway look of looking back into time. “I got the scare of my life. I was so angry to miss the show that I threw a temper tantrum. With that tantrum, I made the floor shudder with a burst of raw biotics. People got so silent all of a sudden. I sobered quickly, forgetting about being upset. Dad…well…he took it in stride, apologized for my tantrum and rushed me out of the hospital.”

“With all the advances in medicine, they couldn’t heal that scar?”

“I thought you like men with scars, Jess.” Kaidan chuckled low in his throat.

“Well, I do, and it looks sexy on you.”

“I’m glad you approve!” He nuzzled at her lips, teasing at Jesse’s full lips with his teeth.

“Well?”

“Dad wouldn’t let me get it removed. It was reminder of what my little tantrum brought on.”

“Awww, that’s cute!” Jesse laughed softly.

“Cute?” Kaidan pulled back to look at Jesse’s light bourbon colored eyes. “You just said it was sexy!”

“It is that.”

“I’m not cute.” Kaidan mock growled and pressed into Jesse, half rolling her onto her back, nipping at her lips, chin and throat. Her laugh rang out, followed by a pleasurable moan.

4

The muffled sound of someone talking filtered into her head, becoming an almost annoying drone. She scrunched her eyes as the nightmare faded and reality slowly made its way to her consciousness. Jesse slowly opened her eyes, blinked at the light shining above her. The light dimmed immediately as a dark blur came close to her side. Her eyes fluttered opened again and the world slowly focused around her immediate sight. A strong, callused hand squeezed hers, making Jesse look over to the sharpening shape of Kaidan.

“Hey, trouble.” She could hear immense relief in his voice.

“Hey, snoops.” Jesse smiled wanly. “How long…”

“Fourteen hours. We are halfway to the Citadel.”

Jesse shut her eyes and groaned quietly. “Oh, god. I thought that was part of the nightmare and we were still doing the maiden voyage.”

“Nope. Anderson has informed Ambassador Udina as to what happened.”

“Help me sit up.” Jesse asked. She felt his arm under her shoulders provide support as she lifted her chest up from the medbay bed. The world spun for a moment while she did, making her temples give an instant pounding throb. “Oh, shit, this feels like when I was first implanted but ten times worse.”

“Commander, here, this should take the edge off.” Chakwas came over and pressed a hypospray to her neck. Immediate relief ran into her bloodstream, deadening the throbbing pain to a minor annoyance. “Can you tell us what happened? You are physically fine but seratonin levels were heightened above normal.”

Jesse squeezed her eyes shut, afterimages of the horrific images of whatever plagued her mind waited for her. Slowly shaking her head and taking in a deep slow breath, she looked back up to the doctor. “It was some sort of nightmare…but…it felt so real, like someone was sending a warning. I don’t know, it’s all jumbled up and unclear.”

“I shouldn’t have gone up to the damn beacon! If I hadn’t, you wouldn’t…” Kaidan growled in self-recrimination.

“Hey, it’s not your fault, Kaidan.” Jesse looked at him over her shoulder. “You couldn’t have known.”

He looked back at her and gave a small smile and short nod. “Still…”

“It’s done and over with.” Jesse assured him.

“Well, you are awake and I know Captain Anderson was anxious about your condition.” Chakwas commented and moved to her desk. No sooner had she approached it, the doors to medbay opened and Anderson strode through.

“Shepard! You are awake! Good, how are you feeling?”

“Like ten MAKO’s had their turn running over me.” Jesse chuckled and winced.

“At least you are up and with no injury. Lieutenant, please leave us.” Anderson told Kaidan.

“Yes, sir.” He turned his gaze to Jesse. “If you want to talk…”

“I’ll see you in a little bit, Alenko.” Jesse nodded.

He nodded and walked out of medbay. Jesse couldn’t help but watch him leave, thinking to herself the man still filled out a marine uniform quite well and only gotten better over the years. Shaking her head and getting back to the task, she turned to look at Anderson. “So, what is going to happen?”

“You tell me. We will have a meeting with Ambassador Udina but I’m not sure of what to say.”

“Is the beacon…?”

“Destroyed. We salvaged the remains the best we could but it is inert. Whatever was in it, it has been delivered and then exploded.” Anderson shook his head.

“If only we gotten there sooner and met that bastard!” Jesse growled.

“Commander, you accomplished your mission. It isn’t your fault that Saren had a head start on you, or that he was involved at all. He was always one to be a step ahead of everyone.”

“You know him, sir?” Jesse stared at Anderson.

“You could say that. So, what did happen?”

Jesse related the mess of images and the dire feeling of distress and warning she had gotten from the experience of the Prothean beacon. Even after talking about it, her head felt extremely full of something important but when she tried to make sense of it, it made her dizzy. When Anderson mentioned telling the Council about her vision, dream, portent, whatever it was, Jesse snapped at him and immediately apologized. Politicians didn’t want to hear about a soldier suffering from nightmares, and use that as basis to declare Saren a rogue Spectre. With such flimsy evidence, if it could be described as such, it was sure grounds for political suicide or a one-way ticket to rehabilitation.

“You are probably right but it should be mentioned in the debriefing.” Anderson sighed. “Anyway, we got a few hours before we reach the Citadel. Go rest or grab something to eat before then.”

“I think I had enough sleep for two days.” Jesse chuckled. She slid off the bed and stretched. “Oh, Chief Williams, we could use her on the Normandy, sir. She’s a good soldier and well, is a bit displaced from her squadron.”

“Lieutenant Alenko has already requested her transfer to his detachment, citing the same recommendations.” Anderson smiled.

Jesse nodded, quirking her lips into a lopsided smile. Kaidan always could anticipate certain decisions from her. Then again, he had an eye for talent, just as she did. “Good.”

“I’ll leave you be, Shepard.” Anderson took his leave leaving Jesse to walk out of the medbay on her own.

5

It didn’t take long to find Kaidan once she got a cup of coffee and then decided to grab a second one to take to the fellow marine. He was tinkering with something on the MAKO down in the shuttle bay, slash Armory, slash gym, and general hang out spot to wind down on the Normandy. She would know those legs sticking out from underneath the vehicle anywhere. Walking up to the indisposed man, coffee in both hands, Jesse reached Kaidan and gently kicked his booted foot.

The man scooted out from underneath the MAKO, greased hands and all, and sat up, looking up at Jesse. She held out a coffee to him with a half-smirk.

“Thanks.” Kaidan said and took the proffered cup with a greased hand.

“You’re welcome. How are you doing?” Jesse asked with rare concern and warmth. Kaidan was the only man, next to Sean, a former gang mate, that she ever let her vulnerability show.

Kaidan took a drink, set the cup aside, and reached for a rag to wipe his hands. “I’m holding up. I’m glad we got Jenkin’s body but…I don’t know if his folks survived the attack. There were survivors but we didn’t have much time to take note of who and how many before leaving.”

“I would have thought we would have left Jenkins on Eden Prime?” Jesse queried.

“Nah, it wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted a military honors funeral and then spaced to join the stars he had itched to travel in.”

“I’ll make sure he gets his last wish.” Jesse told Kiadan and then sat down next to Kaidan, leaning back on the MAKOs tire. “Look, I’m sorry I snapped at you down on Eden Prime.”

“You don’t need to apologize, Jesse. You are the commanding officer and you expect everyone in your squad to do his or her fullest potential on a mission. I’m sorry I failed you.” He looked sideways at her. “I never told you about BAaT and why I swore never to use lethal force with my biotics.” Kaidan sighed deeply and lay back against the MAKO next to Jesse.

“No, you didn’t but then we didn’t talk much about either of our past history back in OTS.”

“Yeah, we didn’t. But, now, this is different and you need to know why things happened the way they did down on Eden Prime.” His eyes caught Jesse’s and held them, serious and honest. There were no games, no teasing, none of the past seduction he would tempt Jesse with. It was something new and she was surprised to see this other layer to a complicated man. “You remember when I told you about how I got the scar on my lip?”

“I remember.”

“After that incident, my dad was extremely worried about my awakened biotic talent. I would get a little upset, I tended to send little shockwaves out from me. Mother was frantic that she was going to lose me to some government program and would never see me again. I was so young but I remember the arguments so clearly on what to do with me. Biotics in humans was rare back then, only awakening in other children around my age. Some never survived that initial step. From what I learned later, mother was exposed to eezo when she was pregnant with me. There was a shuttle accident when her and father were going home from vacation. Many people were exposed to the eezo core of the shuttle that day.” Kaidan looked off into the distance, reliving his childhood. “Dad was approached by a man from Conatix Industries regarding my burgeoning biotics a few months later. They were gathering other kids like me, wanting to help us control and refine our talent. Conatix saw us as the next step in human evolution.”

“I remember the news reports, what I managed to see on the streets, when Conatix finally closed the doors after a few years from some incident. They were a bit controversial in some of their methods.”

Kaidan chuckled. “In some things, yeah. Dad and mother argued and debated in sending me to the Biotic Acclimation and Temperance Training. Mother fretted because it was so far away and they wouldn’t be able to visit as often. However, dad was saying it was the best for me. I needed to be with kids like me, learn how to control my biotics. And it was being funded by the Alliance, which dad still had great respect for. If I had another episode like that first one, well, let’s say dad didn’t want the house to be destroyed or the neighborhood.”

“Hey, nothing wrong with bringing the house down.” Jesse grinned wickedly.

“Not in a respected neighborhood! Besides, you are talking about something else.” Kaidan nudged Jesse and reached for his coffee, finishing the cup in one drink. He looked into the cup and grimaced.

“Don’t worry about the coffee, we can get more. Please, continue, while you are in a chatty mood to talk about your past.”

“Dad won the argument after a few months. So, on my tenth birthday, over many tears and crushing hugs, I was sent to BAaT, along with other kids my age. It was fun to ride in a shuttle and go to a space station, then onto a transport to Gagarin Station. The fun ended after we arrived onto that sterile and utilitarian station. There were Alliance soldiers as security and people in lab coats everywhere.”

“It would have been frightening to a kid.”

“To say the least.” Kaidan snorted. “But kids adapt well to new situations and so we all did. The most painful part was being implanted to enhance and control the dark energy. The teachers helped us cope, making games to entertain and train us in control, dexterity, and fine manipulation.”

“So, lot’s of football or hockey, huh?”

Kaidan laughed. “Yeah. Hey, sports are great training for kids! Wore us out at the end of the day, too. As we grew older, it moved on to martial arts, and for the gentler kids, they found creative outlets for them. I found I loved tech and was taking apart old data pads, radios, and such.”

“You were lucky to have an education like that.” Jesse dropped her head.

“It wasn’t bad for the first few years. I missed my folks like crazy, as we only got two breaks a year where we could visit family. Then, coming back from a short summer break in my sixteenth year, there was a change. The program started to gear up toward more military applications and to ready us for that, my class got a new teacher, a Turian commander.”

“Oh?” Jesse looked hard at Kaidan, seeing his jaw flex with controlled anger.

“Commander Vyrnnus, ex-military and a real bastard. A veteran of the First Contact war, disliked humans. I can understand the pressure now that Conatix had to speed up the training but…the choice of Vrynnus…” Kaidan shook his head.

“Go on.”

“We were pushed, and pushed hard. There was little in the way of breaks. Everything had to be done biotically or not at all. Soon, we broke up in squads and were doing war games but the only weapon of choice was our biotics. There was this girl, sweet and gentle, she hated all these war games.”

“A sweet girl, huh?” Jesse’s eyebrow rose.

Kaidan looked at her and shook his head. “Hush. Rahna was her name, came from an influential and rich family. Her family lived in Singapore when that accident happened. Vyrnnus would have us do even the most mundane task with biotics but she was so tired and worn out, she reached for a glass of water with her hand.”

“I take it that was a mistake?”

“Oh, yes, especially if old El Capitan happened to be patrolling close by. He rushed Rahna and took her arm, jerking from the table roughly. He screamed at her for not following protocol and had her do it again…with biotics, or else she wouldn’t get her water. However, he yanked her arm too hard and broke it. I saw red when he had done that. Without thinking, I lashed out at Vyrnnus and unleashed a powerful biotic kick. I didn’t realize that there was no control to it, using my anger to fuel the power to the kick. I don’t think I realized what I had done until the red haze cleared up a few minutes later and the rush of teachers and Alliance soldiers were rushing past me.”

“You killed him?” Jesse asked quietly.

Kaidan ground his teeth, laying his head back on the MAKO and closing his eyes for a moment. “Oh, yeah, snapped his neck clean. I was escorted to a holding cell soon after they checked on Vyrnnus’ status until something could be decided on what to do with me. I was in that cell for a few hours before released to my room under guard. There were no charges against me, seeing I did it in defense of a fellow student. Of course, this was after hours of going over vid footage to be absolutely sure of the circumstances of my attack.”

“Then what?”

“I was sent home. I tried to talk to Rahna before leaving Jump Zero but she wouldn’t look me in the eye after what happened. It was like I turned into some kind of monster to her.”

“This is why you didn’t use your full potential until today?”

Kaidan looked to Jesse and nodded. “Yeah, I know what I am capable of and was hesitant to unleash that again.”

“Kaidan, you are older and more experienced now, with better control. You need to get over this fear.”

“Jesse, it isn’t fear, it’s just…well, I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“After Eden Prime, that can’t hold you back anymore. You are lucky to still be serving and not in some padded cell because of that L2.”

“I know.”

“I know the specs on the L2, despite its instability. It was geared to be powerful but they had to dial it down on the L3 generation so the energy spikes wouldn’t happen that drove people nuts.”

“You do pretty well with the L3s, Jesse.” Kaidan snorted.

“Well, I know my limits too. Our implants learn as we use them and grow as we grow. If we hamper ourselves, we hamper the effectiveness of the implants.”

“Hey, I never asked you about your biotics. You are three years younger than me and well, your family…” He halted as Jesse was an orphan.

“It’s alright, Kaidan. I got exposed to eezo in my teens when my gang ran along an Alliance shipyard. It was a thing for me, to go to the shipyards and see the flyers and fighters go out for maneuvers. Call it my secret, if you will. I wanted out of the Reds so bad and I saw the Alliance as the only way out.” Jesse smirked a little, sharing a bit of her time in the Reds with Kaidan. “Two fighters were doing this complicated flying pattern and the one pilot clipped the wing of the other. Next thing you know, they exploded, the mass drive went outwards in the sky over the area. I never knew I got exposed until a couple weeks later I started getting sick and when I coughed, I glowed.”

“Oh, you still glow during certain…”

“Lieutenant Alenko, you will keep that to yourself!” Jesse punched Kaidan in the shoulder with a smile.

“Ow!”

“You deserve it.”

Kaidan chuckled. “All right, all right. I did call a cease fire on the games.”

“I thought it was a truce?” Jesse arched an eyebrow.

“Did I say that?” Kaidan smirked and stood up from the floor, holding out a hand to Jesse to help her up.

He held on a little too long, Jesse thought, and his eyes hid unspoken words from her, which made her insides squirm. “So, are we good then?”

“Yes, ma’am. After what happened down on Eden Prime, I can’t hesitate or hold back anymore. Those husks are tough sonsabitches.”

Jesse paused as she watched the minute flickers of several emotions cross Kaidan’s eyes and mouth. “I enjoyed this talk. I was stupid to not want to talk about the past but…”

“Hey, we were kids back then, for all intents and purposes, still running away from our pasts. I have come to terms with mine, though talking with you about it has been a good thing.”

“Yeah, it has.” Jesse smiled. “Ready for more coffee?”

“Hell, yeah! Plus, let’s go and get to know our new Chief.”