"We pointed out the way to go and scratched your name in sand,

Though you thought it was nothing more than a place for you to stand.

Now, I want you to know that while we watched, you discover there was no one true.

Most everybody really thought it was a childish thing to do.

Tears of rage, Tears of grief.

Why must I always be the thief?"

-Bob Dylan "Tears of Rage"

Mass Effect: "All Along The Watchtower – The Thief"

Chapter Three – Riders on the Storm

The tension in Kaidan's muscles told him that the gravity on the station was more intense than he was used to. He hadn't made it a habit to spend much time on a space station of any kind—not even the Citadel felt comfortable after a day—and he had even requested a transfer off of one during basic training. The structures simply brought back too many bad memories that weren't worth reliving.

He didn't let those thoughts get in the way of what had to be done, though. Orders were orders. If the higher-ups wanted him on Arcturus Station, then the only question available to him to ask would be, "Want me outside the hull or inside?" There really was nothing that could be done about it, no matter how much he'd rather be planetside.

After rounding an oddly-illuminated statue of the great Jon Grissom, and wandering through one corridor after another, Kaidan found himself in the waiting room for Captain Bryant's office. He found it amusing that this man had his own waiting room, even though it was, in fact, only populated by himself and a bored secretary. The lady didn't even notice Kaidan enter until he was standing directly in front of the desk.

"Oh!" The secretary put down a nail file and straightened her uniform a bit. "Good afternoon! How can I help you, sir?"

"I'm here to see a Captain Bryant," he said. "I'm under orders, if that makes any sort of difference."

"Ah, I'm sure it won't," the woman said, matter-of-factly. "He's very busy at the moment. So, if you'd just take a seat, I'll let you know when he can see you."

"Okay…" Kaidan caught himself before turning away. "Do you need my name or anything?"

The secretary pulled her hand away from the nail file again, which had almost magically reappeared in her grip. "Absolutely, I can take your name."

"It's Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, ma'am. I guess…I'll be right over there." Suddenly, the waiting room wasn't all that amusing anymore.

He leaned back in his chair—it was comfy, at least—and he began to almost drift off. The ride out to Arcturus Station hadn't been the most pleasant of trips. He couldn't remember ever being on such a cramped ship with so much going on. And with a Mass Relay jump almost every hour, on the hour, rest was hard to come by.

When Kaidan found his vision of the floor begin to blur, he heard the door into the waiting room. He didn't even bother to take notice and continued on letting himself fall asleep. But when he heard a metallic clacking noise move past him, he couldn't help but see what was making it.

A man was standing at the receptionist's desk. He sported the typical Systems Alliance uniform, with the exception of a blue cap, which seemed out of place given the dress code on the station. His face was rugged with a red-brown goatee taking shape around his mouth, and his arms were very defined. Kaidan assumed this was on account of the crutches that the man leaned upon, which existed because of the metal braces across his legs.

Feeling embarrassed about how long he had been staring at the crippled man, he turned his attention back to the floor.

"Good afternoon!" the receptionist greeted, loudly enough to make Kaidan jump. "Can I help you?"

The man with the crutches also seemed started at the welcoming. It was a moment before he said anything. "Hey," he finally said. "I'm Flight Lieutenant Jo—" He stopped to cough briefly. "Jeff Moreau. I got an appointment with Captain Bryant."

The receptionist thumbed a button on her desk to turn on a computer screen, and she brought up what looked to be a list. Kaidan wondered why she hadn't provided him with the same courtesy. "Joe…Joe," she murmured as she went down the list. "Oh, I see. Well here you are! You're a little early!"

"Yeah…" The Lieutenant angled a thumb back towards the center of the waiting room. "I'll just wait here." He turned away from the desk and took a few steps into the room, his eyes moving across the various propaganda posters that covered the wall. Most were old relics from as far back as the First Contact War, directing prospective enlistees to "Take Back The Galaxy!"

Kaidan watched as the man with the crutches began pacing around the room. He was intrigued by this, but was more curious as to why the man was in the room with him. He assumed that maybe he was a part of the "special unit" that the Commander had mentioned, though he couldn't even begin to think of what this meant.

Deciding a little conversation might be pleasant, he looked over to his fellow prisoner of the waiting room. "So, what did they drag you in for?"

The Lieutenant stopped pacing and his eyes narrowed into a sneer. "Yeah, great to meet you, too," he snapped. "Nice sideburns."

Flustered, Kaidan went back over what he had said to the man, trying to figure out if he had said anything insulting. "Did I...? I'm sorry." He shrunk back into his seat. The Lieutenant seemed annoyed, though Kaidan couldn't quite tell what got to him. After a moment, he moved over to the nearby wall and eased himself back onto it.

When Kaidan gathered his courage again, he decided to press his luck and try talking to man again. "I'm not exactly sure what I'm here for either way. Just thought I'd…" His voice trailed off when he realized he wasn't getting a reaction from the man. He thought that maybe it would be best if he didn't bother him anymore.

But the Lieutenant spoke up. "Yeah, I got a meeting with Captain Takes-His-Time in here," he said. "Smart money says it's a job interview."

Kaidan smiled. It had been awhile since he had heard anything resembling humor. "So, what did you do to make them reel you in here?"

The man snorted. "Ninety-nine percent flight record," he said, beaming. "How about you?"

"I ruined someone else's." Kaidan wasn't trying to be funny, so he was surprised when he heard the Lieutenant laugh a bit under his breath.

"Oh…kay, so what do you do?" the man asked. "Soldier?"

Kaidan almost told him, and he really wanted to. After all, when was the last time anyone asked him a personal question that wasn't related to some kind of report write-up? But he held back. No sense in telling this stranger his life's story. "No offense, I just don't make it a habit of talking about it. If I had my way, I wouldn't be anywhere near here."

The man bit his lip, looking a bit annoyed. Kaidan wondered if the Lieutenant thought he was crazy after that little spiel. But the man continued, patiently asking, "What's with the long face? Don't you ever smile?"

Kaidan looked around the room, unsure if the man was joking about their situation. "What's there to smile about?"

The Lieutenant nodded. "Yeah, I hear that."

By the man's tone, Kaidan guessed that there was a bit of truth to that statement. It was then that he figured that he should be a bit more upfront with the stranger. "They brought me in because I'm an L2."

The man raised a brow. "Biotic?"

"Yeah…" Kaidan replied flatly.

"So, that means what? You're better than L3s?"

This surprised Kaidan. "L3s?"

"Uh…yeah," the man said. "You know? The new guys? They don't get seizures? I thought you guys were all…up in arms about it?"

Kaidan shrugged. "I didn't know we were up in arms about anything."

"Soldiers don't watch news vids, huh?" the Lieutenant teased.

"I guess not," Kaidan replied. "Apparently we make them."

The two of them laughed. It was hard not to, the room was becoming more of a bore by the second, and their reactions were a subconscious agreement of this fact.

Kaidan reached out his hand. "Kaidan Alenko."

The man shook back. "Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau…call me Joker."

"Joker does seem a lot easier to say."

Joker grinned and his eyes fluttered as he said, "Yeah, and it fits my warm and fuzzy personality, too." He turned back to Kaidan. "You got anything shorter than Kaidan Alenko?"

The biotic was taken aback by this. "Kaidan?" he replied innocently.

"I'll take Alenko," Joker replied with an amused snort.

"Alright…" Kaidan wasn't going to fight him on it. Not that he knew exactly what his new acquaintance had been talking about.

The natural discussion between them faded and they were met, once again, with the mind-numbing dullness of the waiting room. Joker moved over to the center of the room again, but this time facing Kaidan. He sat in place, shifting his weight back and forth rhythmically between his crutches.

Kaidan noticed that the Lieutenant's eyes were focusing in on something on the wall at his back. Before he could ask what he was staring at it, Joker read whatever he was looking at aloud.

"La muerte comienza con usted?"

And then it happened.

The words were a shock through Kaidan's system. They tore out images and voices from his time at Jump Zero out from his mind and forced them before his eyes. When he heard Vyrnnus' laugh somewhere in the room, he jumped to his feet and threw up a barrier of dark energy on impulse to protect himself.

The whole scene spooked Joker, causing him to lose his balance and slip back off of his crutches. His full weight landed on his right leg. The snap that it made brought Kaidan out of his shock instantly. He looked down just in time to watch Joker's other leg break at an angle just under his left knee. The man screamed loudly into the room and his face with bright red.

Kaidan quickly rushed to his side. "Oh, God," he said. "Are you alright?" He felt silly for asking that particular question, especially when he was confronted by Joker's screams.

"Jesus! Ah, Jesus!" Joker's words shot through gritted teeth and his hands were clenched just above his wounds. He looked up to Kaidan. "You asshole!"

The biotic ignored the swears and picked Joker up off the ground. As carefully as he could managed, he placed the man in a chair, trying to make him as comfortable as possible. Afterwards, the biggest struggle was trying to think of any words he could offer that wouldn't be meaningless.

"I'm…" Kaidan struggled. He didn't know what to do anymore. "I'm so sorry."

Ignoring the apologies, Joker turned towards the receptionist, who had frozen in place during the entire incident. "Call the hospital," he shouted. "Or…sickbay or whatever the hell…Jesus!" He took a few calming breaths before continuing. "The Navy's gotta have some medi-gel lying around somewhere!"

Kaidan felt horrible. He repeated the line that he had already fed his injured acquaintance so many times already. "I'm so sorry." He almost said it again when the man cut him off.

"It's…" Joker cringed for a moment. "It's alright." He was finally able to say it. "It's alright."

Now Kaidan felt exhausted. He shamefully took a seat next to Joker, who gave an irritated thumbs-up when the receptionist let them know the medics were on their way.

"On any other day, I'd have turned you into shine matter," Joker threatened as he exhaled.

Kaidan was tired enough to say what was on his mind, but he regretted it immediately. "You'd probably have to catch me first." He went wide-eyed and waited for some terrible reaction from the man sitting next to him. He had already shattered the man's legs, one more word to their superior officer would more than likely mean a court marshal.

But, to his surprise, Joker did no such thing. The Lieutenant smiled quite suddenly, and laughed has hard as he could manage with the pain still present in his legs. Kaidan nervously joined in, still not quite sure what they were laughing about, but doing so with the knowledge that everything was going to be just fine between them.

"You're brave, Alenko," Joker chuckled. "You're brave."

The two of them sat there in silence, looking straight ahead but smiling to themselves. As they took in the events of that strange meeting, they recognized the beginning of a friendship. It felt somehow alien to Kaidan, but he hoped they had been called to the captain's office for the same reason. When the medics finally arrived and began to move Joker to the infirmary, Kaidan followed.

-

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A/N - Thanks for reading! This has been the second part of a two part prequel story. You can find the first part, entitled "All Along the Watchtower: The Joker" on Mister Buch's profile. Additionally, this prequel story will lead into our main collaborative fanfic, "All Along the Watchtower", which will also be posted on Mister Buch's profile as soon as it's completed! You can find a link to his profile on my page! Thanks!