✧ 01

[bi_otic]

Who: Kaidan Alenko
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Marsiva
When: Today

Action

[Kaidan doesn't panic like most people would, but it would be a bold-faced lie to imply that waking up on the Marsiva did not come as a shock. The ship runs as silently as the Normandy, so at first he doesn't quite realize he's somewhere else entirely, but opening his eyes dispels that illusion quickly. He's on his feet in seconds, eyes wide and alert]

What the?!

[But the outburst ends there. Having a temper tantrum wouldn't change anything, after all. Instead, he switches to calmly assessing the situation. His armor is piled near the end of the bed and he sets himself to methodically gearing up, inspecting each piece before strapping or snapping it into place. The onboard computers seem to be functional, but his omni-tool and guns are gone. Not surprising for a kidnapping, but it makes him feel naked even with the armor. He lifts a hand to the back of his neck in another moment of mild panic for his implant port, and finds it in place nestled among the bristle of hair. Just to be sure, he flares his biotics experimentally, a shimmer of blue crackling briefly over his body. N

Not disarmed entirely then. Good.

With that, Kaidan moves to get a better look at his prison]

Broadcast

[Some time later, Kaidan sits in mess hall with his communications device, giving it something a skeptical leer. Physical keyboard...how antiquated. It feels a little strange, but it's nothing he can't deal with.

The idea that he's been cut off from anyone and everything he's ever known, however, less so.]

This is going to a shot in the dark but, is there anyone from Earth or the Systems Alliance here? This is Major Alenko, requesting a sitrep. Or...anyone really. I don't think who we work for matters a hell of a lot right now.

[Except maybe Cerberus. He can't shake the idea that the Illusive Man is to blame for this somehow, but he'll take what he can get.

He lets out a restrained sigh of frustration.]

Look...somebody has me confused with an extranet celebrity and I'm not...I'm not that guy. And if this about the war...I'm just one man. It won't stop us. It won't stop Shepard. So I don't know why I'm here.

Comments

[alwayscomeback]

Oh, we have contact. We hit a new star system ever month or so. It's just that no one there knows who we are or what the Fleet is. Take that as you will.

[It's sketchy, is what it is. ]

Nothing the Marsiva has. But our comms people have managed to check out other things-abandoned ships, old waystations- stuff like that. At the moment, though, it's like having pieces of a puzzle that don't fit together just yet.

[bi_otic]

Better than no pieces at all but...[sigh]...not exactly promising, I agree. Guess I'll have to wait until they let me out of here until I can do some digging of my own.

[alwayscomeback]

Yeah, sorry you're pretty much stuck til then. But hey, once you're out, I'll give you the info I have. At least you'll have something to work with here, right?

[bi_otic]

[Another restrained exhale, this time covering both frustration and the impulse to laugh bitterly]

Yeah...yeah, it's something. And if there's anything I can do to help, once I get out of here? Just let me know.

[alwayscomeback]

Thanks, man, I know we could always use more people who're used to the whole...space thing. Lots of us come here without a clue how to deal with it at all.

[bi_otic]

Wait...really? Like...they bring in pre-spaceflight races?

[He can hardly imagine what kind of a bumpy transition that would be]

[alwayscomeback]

Oh yeah. I'm one. I mean, back where I come from, our technology is pretty much run by bending or steam. No electricity or anything.

[It was the worst, Kaidan, the worst. ]

[bi_otic]

You lost me at bending.

[alwayscomeback]

Oh, it's a thing some people can do where I come from. They can control an element, fire, water, earth and air. I say it's magic, but they say otherwise. But it's so magic.

[bi_otic]

[Eyebrow.] I'm not sure if I believe in magic. Can you...give me an example? How it's used in technology especially?

[He's a biotic. Something like that would be easy to dismiss as magic, if one didn't understand how it worked. To be frank, the human was still working that out to an extent. Maybe his people have something similar]

[alwayscomeback]

I'm really, really not a fan of magic, trust me.

[But hey, talking about how it's used in technology is workable. ]

Okay, so Earthbenders can make the ground move, right? They can shift it into whatever form they want. I made these tanks that run on the ground, but instead of an engine- which is still pretty new for us - they move the ground around the tank- so it moves with the earth.

[bi_otic]

[He's still having trouble with the idea of what bending is, but one tricky new concept at time]

That sounds pretty amazing. And these, uh, Earthbenders? I take it they have to be the ones driving the things? Or at least on board somewhere.

[It gives him pause for a moment, the idea of someone plugging a person into something and using them as an engine.]

[alwayscomeback]

[It's okay, even Sokka doesn't really get bending and he's lived with it around him his whole life. ]

Oh yeah, they'll be on board making it move forward. I mean, you could have anyone steering it, really, but it helps a little to have someone who can read the dirt ahead of them.

[bi_otic]

I can see that.

[Though he's not 100% sure what reading the dirt entails exactly. He's sure Sokka wouldn't know either]

What do you use these tanks for?

[alwayscomeback]

[He absolutely would not. Bending stuff, ugh.]

They were used for war. Or rather, us trying to win it and stop the other side from literally razing the planet to the ground. They were...kind of a horrible necessity.

[bi_otic]

[He nods solemnly at that. Horrible necessities were a given in war. That that is something Sokka is familiar with is another sobering detail]

I get that...yeah.

How, uh....how long has that war been going on for you?

[alwayscomeback]

A hundred years.

I mean...not for me, obviously. I'm not a hundred. But that's how long it was going on before we stopped it.

[bi_otic]

Trust me, there are people out there that would still look young at a hundred. I try not to assume. Too much...

[Cough]

Not sure if it's worse to be missing out on a war that you're still fighting in, or to be missing out on the peace afterwards.

[alwayscomeback]

My First Mate is like, twenty four but he looks sixteen. Forever. But that was more uh...weird kindappy stuff than anything else.

[At least he sounds genuinely sorry for Allen. It sure sucks. Poor bro.]

The latter, I'd say. I mean, at least we can see the peace. Some people never did.