I’m late to Kaidan appreciation week, but I was on vacation, and then it was my birthday, and I’m working on it. I chose to explore Kaidan’s biotics and BAaT a little more, and later I may go more in depth, but over 2k words later I had to end it somehow, because I have 6 more days to get to. Art by @jlsdrawings.
Day One: Nov. 13 - Parents/Childhood
Michael and Josephine Alenko had always known Kaidan was a little bit different; he’d been glowing blue when he was born, after all. They figured it had something to do with the transport crash in Singapore, downwind of the construction site of the building she was designing while she was pregnant, maybe something to do with radiation. It didn’t make them love him any less. He was a healthy, happy baby boy who occasionally flared blue when he sneezed, or randomly levitated a toy or snack towards himself…even if he’d gotten in trouble and wasn’t supposed to have said toy or cookie; his own personal superpower despite the headaches that came with it. It wasn’t like he knew any better until he was older.
When he was seven, he wanted to be Superman for Halloween and go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood with a bunch of friends, and even if they were slightly worried, they couldn’t say no to their adorable son who was missing his two front teeth and grinning up at them, begging, whistling slightly every time he said ‘Superman’. He’d been careful not to use his powers too much since they’d begged him not to use them at school, keeping the use of his powers confined to the house where they could keep an eye on him, since no one really understood what exactly they were or why he had them. Everything went fine, until Kaidan decided he really was Superman and took on a kid a couple years older, and twice his size trying to take everyone else’s candy, hurling him so hard he broke his arm in three different places, coming home with a massive migraine that lasted for a week.
The Halloween incident caused some anxiety and tension to arise surrounding Kaidan, he hadn’t meant to hurt the boy, only tried to do what was right just like they’d always taught him, just like Superman. They hadn’t meant for that night to change things, but they had, and not for the better; he was watched like a hawk at school, even if he and the kid whose arm he’d broken were actually friends now, Jason Gunther had turned over a new leaf when nursing his broken arm…maybe hiding his powers hadn’t been the best idea, but they hadn’t wanted him taken away from them. The teachers knew Kaidan was a good kid, but now they knew he was dangerous as well, a secret they kept hidden from the outside, while doing their best to keep the rest of the kids safe just in case another accident happened, telling everyone to tread carefully when dealing with the Alenko boy. Jason was the only one who dared get close, already knowing some of what Kaidan was capable of.
Michael had started researching in the dark recesses of the extranet, trying to figure out a solution, or a way to train Kaidan to have a little better control; his ‘biotics’ as he found them being called, weren’t unique to just his son, though most parents seemed to feel the same way…speaking only in hypotheticals and encrypting texts as much as they could.
That was how Kaidan had met Dustin McKinney. Josephine and Michael had met Dustin’s parents on the web when the two boys were thirteen and found out they lived close by, it had taken years, and even though they were still unsure why both their sons had these extraordinary powers, but at least they had found a kindred spirit for Kaidan to befriend and share problems with. Jason, Dustin and Kaidan were inseparable, the three boys did everything together until word of the Gunther incident trickled out and when they got home one day, they found two men in white suits waiting to take the two fifteen-year-olds away, much to Jason’s dismay. They’d tried to convince both their parents that the two boys were dangerous, and while they didn’t believe it, all other options had been exhausted—the two boys needed training, training to learn control and discipline, and that was something they couldn’t provide.
Sixteen years and multiple minor incidents, and one large one, had their hands tied; they couldn’t deny Kaidan had never broken Jason’s arm, the two goons from Conatix hauled them away. Biotic Acclimation and Temperance Training may have been far from home and having the implant installed may have hurt like hell, but they’d always wanted to see the final frontier, see what was out there and do some good. They just wished they weren’t isolated out at Gagarin Station, and could call home once in a while, but the rules were strict, and so they made the best of a bleak situation…at least they were among kids just like them and didn’t have to hide their powers anymore, even if there were multiple accounts of broken limbs, because they weren’t being trained properly. No one really understood biotic powers, and didn’t know the first thing about teaching all the teenagers control.
For the first year, not much happened out at Jump Zero, but the kids at Brain Camp had all gotten closer. Kaidan and Dustin had met Rahna, Shelby, Tanya and Beckett, as close a group as friends could be growing mostly around Rahna; she was smart, charming as hell, sweet and determined, but had an air of vulnerability—Kaidan and a couple of the others thought she was beautiful. Every evening before lights out, they’d sneak into Kaidan and Dustin’s room, and play cards or network games, reminisce, and eat snacks they’d stolen from the kitchen; their Biotics made them all hungry, and they ate foods that were horrible for them, when not hauled in to be evaluated at how their powers were progressing. Shelby was tech savvy, always trying to figure out how things worked, had brought her and Kaidan closer, their love of tech bonding them; they could talk about it for hours together and never get bored…she even confided in him that she’d been smuggling parts to her room for months to try and build a transceiver, so they could all call home if they wanted.
But then came the arrival of the turian trainers—called in by Conatix Industries to speed of the examination and evaluation training sessions, it had to be super hush-hush since the First Contact War with the turians had just ended.
“I’m Commander Vyrnnus and I was at the Helm of the dreadnaught that killed your father.”
He paced in front of the line of cadets, hands clasped behind his back mandibles flicking out, daring someone to defy him.
“My father wasn’t in the war.” Kaidan glowered at the turian, drawing a line on the ground with his toe; he wasn’t about to fall in line…he’d had enough of that to last a lifetime. “He’d retired to Vancouver; my family had an inland home that matured to new beachfront.”
That drew a couple snickers from the others, but Vyrnnus wasn’t amused; his brow plates drew together as he brought his face in close, grabbing Kaidan by the collar and hauling him off his feet. “Do you think you’re funny, Cadet?”
“No, sir, I just think you should get your facts straight.”
Kaidan didn’t have a beef with the turians, having not experienced the loss the First Contact War had inflicted on some of the other kids there, all he knew were the aliens were weird and superior, and were trying to tell him what to do—he hated it. Seventeen years of hiding his powers, and trying to keep control so he didn’t hurt anyone like Jason had made him snap. Kaidan didn’t realize he’d just made everything worse, not only for himself but for everyone close to him. Vyrnnus pushed them all so hard, they either came out a superhero or a wreck, and the extended use of their powers were trying on the amps that had been meant to help regulate and control their powers started to degrade and cause severe neurological damage or debilitating migraines to the kids, Dustin included.
With the loss of his best friend, Kaidan was willing to risk everything when Shelby told him she was done with the transmitter—he wanted to go home, and really the only thing stopping him was Rahna…he loved her, they all did, and Vyrnnus’ training was hardest on her, her body not used to the strain. He found her in the mess the night they were all supposed to use the transmitter to send a message home, he’d taken the chance already, wondering why she wasn’t already with Shelby saying hi to her parents, she’d declined the opportunity—it had been two years since they’d all had any contact, the first birthdays he’d had without them. If he thought that was bad, Rahna and her parents had been estranged for longer, the two of them living in constant fear of her powers, even going so far as to send her brother away and not tell her where he’d gone. He sat with her until lights out wondering if the transmitter had actually worked and Shelby had been able to talk to her parents, and if his parents had gotten his message.
The answer came in the morning, when Kaidan, Rahna, Beckett and Tanya were headed to get water on their training break, everyone was rounded up and filed into a different training room then usual—Shelby was tied to a pillar, the tech for her handmade transceiver at her feet and a pile of building blocks…and Kaidan was certain she’d been there all night, deprived of food or drink; the tactic screamed Vyrnnus’ name…that was how he trained them. Make them use their biotics to grab food and drink and pull it towards themselves, starve them until they had no alternative but to use their powers, despite everything that the L2 amp was doing to them. He knew his parents hadn’t sent him away for this—they’d thought they were helping; how was he going to tell Dustin’s parents what had happened? Knowing Shelby was his friend, Kaidan was the first one Vyrnnus decided was guilty, having it out for him since that first day, grabbing the youth by the collar like he always did and hoisting him above the ground, mandibles flicking out in uncontrolled anger, talons pointing towards the destroyed tech on the floor.
“Cadet Alenko, what was Cadet Bullford doing here?” Vyrnnus snarled.
He hoped the turian could read the hate in his brown eyes. “I don’t know, sir.”
“You don’t know? She was your friend and you didn’t know what she was up to?”
“I said I DON’T KNOW!” Kaidan screamed, face red and mottled with rage as he flared blue, he’d be damned if he let the smug turian get a thing out of him.
Vyrnnus threw Kaidan to the ground, stalking up and down the line of cadets, questioning them all in turn, but they were all bonded by their hatred of him, and even though they all knew exactly what Shelby had been up to, they all responded the same way Kaidan had. It didn’t bode well for Shelby, especially when Vyrnnus kept her tied up, beginning their training like she wasn’t even there. He felt the headache throbbing behind his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose to try and shake it off, more focused on Rahna; she was trembling, more afraid of Vyrnnus than anyone, and they all tried to protect her from him as best they could. The turian had a smug smirk on his face, lecturing them all about wasting their education and treating it as a joke, before delving into the lesson for the day.
Holding the blocks in the air for an indefinite period of time. They were already weak from the hours of training he’d put them through earlier, and they’d never gotten their water…Rahna’s block waivered in the air, from her exhaustion; Kaidan ignored the migraine and used his biotics to catch Rahna’s block and keep it from falling as well as continuing to hold his own, feeling the blood trickle from his nose—he should have known it wouldn’t escape Vyrnnus’ notice, seeing as he always watched Kaidan and his friends for failure. Vyrnnus approached her making her eyes bulge wider in fear, the turian holding a glass of water. It was a trap, and everyone knew it, the entire room holding their breath as he taunted the poor girl, biotically holding the glass in the air just out of her reach.
“Go on. Take it.” His whisper was menacing.
“Don’t fall for it!” Kaidan hissed.
Her arm reached out for the glass; all she wanted was a drink without getting a nosebleed, and with a sneer Vyrnnus grabbed it and bent it out of shape, the sound of cracking bones filled the air, making her let out a shrill scream and fall to the ground holding her arm. Something inside Kaidan snapped. He felt the electrical charge pulsing through each individual eezo nodule in his body, the all too familiar tingle of his biotics washing over him, as he directed all the energy towards the target of his hate: Commander Vyrnnus. A large blue ball surged from him, headed directly towards him, and he turned, feeling the air crackle with biotic energy, a power he’d been trying to unleash for a year. Kaidan watched the turian’s head go back, further then it should have, and realized in an instant he’d gone too far.
“Someone get help! We can save him if we just get him help!” He cried, approaching Rahna.
The only movement in the room was Rahna shying away from him, her blonde hair everywhere, and blue eyes brimming with tears; she didn’t let him touch her…he was the monster now, not Vyrnnus…
He stood on the balcony of his parents’ house staring out across the landscape—it wasn’t the same as it had been all those years ago, playing with Jason and Dustin, before he’d been shipped off to Biotic Acclimation and Temperance Training out on Jump Zero; Kaidan had killed someone. He was eighteen years old, a month out of BAaT, and completely changed. It had been an accident, but he still couldn’t bring himself to explain to his parents why he spent so much time just staring outwards off the balcony; his mother, Josephine stood watching him from the doorway, a frown creasing her brow—her son had never been this quiet it all the years she’d known him. ‘Brain Camp’, as he called it, had broken her son.
She wiped her hands on her apron, and retreated inside.
“Michael?” She called softly. “Kaidan’s out on the balcony again.”
Sighing, Michael nodded to his wife and opened the refrigerator pulling out two bottles of his favorite lager. “I’ll talk to him.”
Something cold touched Kaidan’s arm, and he looked to his right, to see his father offering him a bottle of beer as he leaned against the railing next to him, he scrunched up his nose and picked the bottle up off the railing. For a moment, the two of them didn’t say anything—the only sound was the occasional swallow as they drank in silence; Michael knew Kaidan would talk to him when he was ready, and when he was, he’d lend an ear. Kaidan eyed the bottle suspiciously.
“I killed someone, Dad—I didn’t mean to…it just kind of happened. My instructor broke someone’s arm: a girl I liked, and I lost it, I let loose a full biotic kick and snapped his neck.” He admitted.
“Kaidan, you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself for doing what you thought was right…even right choices have consequences…what’s the phrase? No good deed goes unpunished.” Michael consoled, placing his hand gently on his son’s arm. “You’re still the man we raised.”
Kaidan wasn’t entirely comforted by that, but he did feel slightly better that his dad accepted him even after the fact…there may not be a next time for him after screwing up at brain camp with Conatix being investigated after Vyrnnus’ death, but just the fact that his father had so much faith in him finding a purpose, a bigger and better purpose, made Kaidan smile. He watched as a ship landed over in the distance beyond the English Bay with renewed hope he would start again.
“We’ll always be there for you, sweetie.” Josephine stepped forward and embraced her baby boy. “Whatever you choose and wherever you go—your father and I will always be cheering you on.”
“Thanks, Mom—I’ll try to make you proud.”
Kaidan had left the next morning with no clear plan in mind, he just wanted to do some good in the world; to leave his mark; to atone. He didn’t know where he was going to go, but the universe was a big place, so he hopped a shuttle and let it take him off planet to an unknown, backwater place full of eezo so he could study it and get in control of himself where no one knew his name or his past or anything about him other than the fact that wherever he went got a little bit brighter before he left.
Hopefully he could save some other unfortunate children from the making the mistakes he’d made…
