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Joker was at least one drink in by the time Kaidan showed up to the Foggy Goggle, one of the bars scattered throughout Arcturus. Kaidan hadn’t meant to keep the other man waiting, but between the encounter earlier that afternoon and a headache he barely managed to get under control, time slipped past him and it was already ten minutes past when he was supposed to be meeting his friend.
“Hey, I was wondering where the hell you were!” Joker called out when Kaidan slumped into the free chair. “Thought you were gonna leave me hanging there for a while.”
“Nah, I wouldn’t do that to you, Joker,” Kaidan replied. Signalling a waiter over, he placed an order for a Crown Royal, neat. He would normally stick with beer but given his afternoon, he deserved a good whiskey.
Joker waited until their server left before asking, “What the hell happened to you that you’re going straight to the hard stuff? I thought you were just going to get a look at the Normandy and get out once you saw her.”
“That was the plan,” Kaidan answered, shifting in his chair and massaging the back of his neck.
“Was? Did the ID I give you not work? Did you get caught?”
“I didn’t get a chance to try it.” The waiter returned, slipping the glass onto the table before leaving. Kaidan took a sip, savoring the flavor before continuing, “I was on my way there when I ran into Captain Anderson and Commander Shepard.”
Joker sat back, eyes wide. “So it’s true the Butcher of Torfan is going to be our XO? Shit, man. I want to fly the Normandy but now I’m not sure it’s worth it.”
“So you’re saying that stealing the Normandy to take her out on a test ride was for nothing?”
“Haha, very funny.” Joker swirled what was left of his drink and stared down at it. “I don’t know why I’m worried. I mean, you’re at greater risk here, Kaidan. You’re going to be one of the ones on the ground with her.”
Kaidan took another sip, mentally comparing the woman he’d briefly met with how he’d imagined her based on the stories. She was shorter, for one thing. Shepard had also been, aside from her mostly-hidden shock at meeting him, more measured than he’d been expecting. Kaidan had imagined her closer to Ares’ children, if he was being honest with himself: more than a little bit bloodthirsty and uncontrolled. The commander’s actions at Torfan cast a long shadow on her reputation within the service. She didn’t strike him like that, though. She’d barely reacted when he noticed the tattoo on her arm, and he doubted that Captain Anderson would’ve chosen someone like an Ares kid as his second.
Granted, he’d only met Commander Shepard for a brief moment but he’d learned to trust his gut when it came to people.
“I think I’ll be fine,” he said. “Besides, there’s something else that I’m worried about.”
Joker frowned and leaned forward. “More than serving under the Butcher? Did your dad visit you or send you a message?”
“No. But it’s something along those lines.” Kaidan glanced around before moving towards Joker and saying softly, “She’s one of us. Well, one of Rome’s but close enough.”
“What?” Joker hissed, his eyes wide with shock. “Are you sure?”
“Considering I saw the tattoo, pretty sure.” The Greek and Roman camps hadn’t been interacting much those few years Kaidan had attended Camp Half-Blood, but he’d met a couple of Romans during his years serving with the Alliance. He knew what that tattoo meant.
“Well, shit.” Joker drained the rest of his drink. “This is bad, Kaidan. You know what the odds of having more than two of us--from different lineages no less--are on a ship the size of the Normandy?”
“Small?” Kaidan guessed.
“Atomically small,” Joker shot back, signalling for the waiter to come back over. “Are you sure your dad didn’t send you something? Maybe it got misdirected to Earth?”
“You know that’s not how he works,” Kaidan answered, sipping his whiskey. Despite his reputation as being one of the more modern Olympians, Apollo was surprisingly old-fashioned with his prophecy delivery.
Joker sighed and played with his new drink. “I know. It’s just… Look, I just got a weird feeling about this entire thing. Like don’t get me wrong, I was looking forward to serving with you. It’s been a long time since Camp and it would’ve been nice to be back together without worrying about capture the flag killing me. But this, combined with the rumors I’ve heard about this shakedown cruise have me worried.”
“What rumors?” Kaidan asked, leaning forward again. “What have you heard?” He wasn’t sure if it was because Joker was the son of Hermes or just really good at making connections, but he always seemed to be tapped into whatever gossip there was.
Joker glanced around before whispering, “Some turian operative from the Council arrived today and has been holed up with Hackett since he got off his shuttle.”
Kaidan sat back in his chair, processing what Joker had said. “You sure he’s from the Council and not Palaven?” Palavan would be easy enough to explain. The turians had helped design and build the Normandy, it would make sense for them to check in on the ship before her shakedown and official commissioning. A Council operative was something completely different.
“Positive. He came straight from the Citadel and his shuttle didn’t have any Hierarchy markings. Plus,” Joker added, “word has it he’s a Spectre.”
“Shit,” Kaidan swore quietly and finished his drink.
“Yeah. My thoughts exactly.” Joker stared at his glass for a moment before sighing. “Any idea who Shepard’s parent is? It might give an idea of how big of a shitshow we’re in,” he said, switching back to the earlier topic.
“A war god, I think?” He thought back to his brief encounter with her that afternoon. Her tattoo had two crossed spears, but that could be any number of war gods or goddesses the Romans worshiped. Her features--brown skin, black hair, strong nose--could’ve easily come from her mother. The only other thing he could remember about her were her eyes, which seemed to shift from an eerie light blue to a light grey. If she’d been Greek he would’ve guessed Athena based on her eyes alone, but from what he remembered of the Romans, Minerva didn’t have any children.
“Well, that’s great,” Joker said while making a face. He pulled up his omnitool and taped it to pay. “Who knows? Maybe this is all some weird coincidence and the biggest problem we’ll have to deal with are batarians looking for revenge?”
“Still not all that comforting.”
“Yeah, well, I’m grasping at straws here. I managed to avoid quests while at Camp and I’m not looking to get started on one now.”
“You really think we’re dealing with a quest?”
“Three demigods on a ship I know for a fact an Athena kid had a hand in designing plus who knows how many others managed to get involved with the project at some point? What else could it be?”
“Well, when you put it that way…” Kaidan paid up and got to his feet.
“Well, if there’s ever a time to pray, I guess this is it.” Joker sighed. “You doing anything else tonight?”
“I’m probably going to just head back to quarters and rest,” Kaidan said. “I don’t want my headache to come back tomorrow.”
“Fair enough. I’ll hopefully see you before we launch.”
He said goodbye to Joker and made his way back to his current quarters. They were sparse - he was only ever staying in Arcturus for a few days at a time, so it wasn’t worth bringing a lot of stuff with him when he was only going to be shipping out and leaving the room open for the next person on leave. Everything in them could easily fit in his duffle bag, which left little room for personal knicknacks. There were a few things, however, that he always made sure to pack no matter where he went.
Shifting through his belongings, he found what he was looking for: a small, heavy leather bag. He opened it up and stared at the dozen or so golden coins inside the pouch.
He didn’t have many physical ties to his time at Camp-Half Blood: these drachmae, his necklace, and a worn orange shirt that was several sizes too small at this point. He’d spent a handful of years going in the summer before being shipped off to BAaT and then the year after it was shut down trying to sort out how he felt after killing Vyrnnus and put his head back on straight. Even though he hadn’t been back since then, he still looked back on his time there fondly. Camp had been a home away from home. It was a place where he didn’t have to hide parts of himself and could relax without the scared or disgusted looks he normally got for his biotics. It had helped him recover his sense of self after BAaT had done it’s best to break it down.
Kaidan took two of the coins, slipped them into his pocket, and exited his room. He didn’t have the ability to send an Iris message there, but fortunately there was a place within the station where he could.
Despite being in space, Arcturus was still laid out on a quadrant system based on the four cardinal directions. Kaidan’s destination lay somewhere in the northeastern area of the station, in a small, out of the way hallway. He pressed a set of tiles, marked only by small, barely perceptible Ancient Greek letters inscribed in the corner. A doorway appeared in front of him and he stepped through, surrounded briefly by the smell of strawberries he’d always associated with Camp.
Altars were were laid out in the room in an echo of the cabins at Camp Half-Blood, with small braziers on each one where demigods could place offerings to their divine parents. Kaidan quickly stopped and said a short prayer to Apollo, placing his offering of a Nanaimo bar his mom had sent in his last care package. He waited until it vanished in a puff of smoke before making his way to the cluster of stalls in the far corner.
Once inside, he fished out the two drachmae and pressed the button to start up the small fountain. Once the mist began to form, he tossed the coins in and said, “Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering. I would like to talk to Chiron at Camp Half-Blood, please.”
A rainbow flashed through the water spray before resolving into the face of Kaidan’s former teacher.
“Kaidan? Well, this certainly a surprise!” Chiron said, eyebrows climbing up his pale face. “Is everything all right?”
“I’m not sure,” Kaidan admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. He quickly outlined the situation before asking, “Have there been any prophecies from any of the oracles? Jeff doesn’t believe that at least three demigods from two different lineages serving on one ship can be a coincidence, and honestly I agree. Something just doesn’t feel right.”
Chiron paused for a moment before answering slowly, “There have been no prophecies, per say, but two of your younger siblings in Cabin Seven have reported strange dreams recently. Something about a cycle coming to its end. The dreams have left them quite shaken, as you can imagine.”
“But nothing from Apollo or any of the other gods?”
“Nothing, but their power of foresight isn’t absolute.” Chiron sighed. “I can ask the campers if they remember any details and consult with Lupa to see if New Rome’s books contain more information than we have, but I don’t know if they have any more information than we do.”
“Anything would be helpful at this point. I hate feeling like I’m walking into a situation blind.”
“I’ll contact you or Jeff, either via Iris message or through other means if I find out anything,” Chiron promised. “You ship out soon, correct?”
“Yeah, in two days.”
“Hopefully I find something before then. Safe travels, Kaidan.”
“Thank you. Good luck with Camp.”
Kaidan waved his hand through the image and ended the call, feeling even more unsettled than he’d been before. Even though he hadn’t received the gift of foresight from Apollo, he knew enough about it to know that at least two people getting similar dreams was a bad sign.
Leaving the stall, he went over to Tyche’s altar. It couldn’t hurt to give the goddess of luck an offering, even if it might be too late to change what seemed to be heading their way.