Full disclosure and honesty: I am Reyder trash. I let Reyes’s sniper shoot Sloane down and did not even bat an eye. But then I read Uprising… and I gotta say, I feel for Sloane a bit more. I recently wrote the following Sloane/Kaetus oneshot/drabble as part of a chapter about Keema and Reyes. So here it is: a Reyder fan’s tribute to Sloane and Kaetus!

“For the last fucking time, no, we aren’t taking any angara recruits right now. They’re an unknown entity, for fuck’s sake. We don’t have the time or resources to focus on that right now. Understood?”

Sloane Kelly waited for her recruiter’s confirmation, then ended the call abruptly and slumped back in her chair. Kadara was certainly a step up from the Nexus, but it came with its own rotten can of worms.

The kett were almost the least of the problems. Kett were easy to deal with. They were a clear and obvious enemy, so there was only one solution: complete annihilation.

When Sloane and her people had arrived in the Govorkam system to discover one alien species who sought only to kill and abduct members of the second species, she’d actually been relieved. It had been so long since Sloane had dealt with a clear-cut, black-and-white problem that she’d jumped wholeheartedly into eliminating the kett. Unsurprisingly, many of Sloane’s exiles had seemed to feel the same way, enthusiastically taking out kett after kett with a relish that would be concerning if they hadn’t all just spent some three-odd months trapped in a slowly dying tin can filled with rapidly dwindling food supplies.

The angara, now: they were the more tricky problem. Not that the people were a problem per se; they were certainly civilized, as much as any Milky Way species (and arguably more so than some). But Sloane just could not find it in herself to respect them.

Cognitively, Sloane knew it was wrong to blame the victim. She didn’t know the whole history behind the conflict between these angara and the kett. But she just couldn’t understand how the angara could be cowed by the kett. The Nexus rebels had been slaughtered and then abandoned by their own people. It was hard to fight your own fucking people. The kett, on the other hand, were complete strangers who shot before talking. In Sloane’s opinion, this was by no means a difficult problem. But the confusion among those idiotic, wishy-washy angaran administrators…

Sloane’s lip curled involuntarily with contempt. She refused to deal with that kind of bureaucratic bullshit again. She was finished with the slow, laborious council decisions, the hemming and hawing. Sloane was only interested in doing what needed to be done to ensure the security and safety of her people. And now that the immediate kett crisis was over, the secondary – and more long-term – crisis of surviving and thriving on this hellhole of a planet was paramount… and in particular, sustaining her Outcasts for the long-term.

As her people’s ranks grew, Sloane would need to find ways to sustain their needs. The tax she’d imposed on the residents of the Port was working out quite well so far, and if most of those credits ended up in her people’s pockets, or supporting the development of Milky Way businesses, well… it was the price the residents had to pay for security and safety. There was nothing to be done about that. But as more exiles clamoured to join Sloane’s circle, and more residents were kicked out for not being able to afford the fees, Sloane knew she’d have to find an alternative source of income for her people sooner than later.

Suddenly, her omni-tool sounded. One of Sloane’s krogan guards was calling from just outside the door. “What?” she answered impatiently.

“Some turian wants to talk to you,” grunted the guard. “Says he knows you from the Milky Way-”

“Just let me in. She won’t thank you for wasting her time.” An irate flanged voice interrupted the guard… a flanged voice that Sloane knew better than any other, and hadn’t expected to ever hear again.

Kaetus.

“Let him in.” Sloane was on her feet and striding towards the door without thinking about it. Before she reached the door, it opened and there he was, in the flesh. His posture was tall and proud, and he was as handsome as the day they had left the Milky Way – the day she’d closed the lid on his cryopod and watched his eyes drift shut with sleep.

Sloane was not one for big displays of emotion, but her heart seemed to swell in her chest and push its way up towards her throat as she reached out her hand. “Kaetus. It’s damn good to see you,” she said.

Kaetus nodded once and took her hand in a firm shake. “You too. When I heard you got kicked off the Nexus, I came as soon as I could.”

Sloane took her time removing her hand from his. “We didn’t get kicked off. We chose to leave. It was either that or stasis, can you fucking believe it?”

Kaetus shook his head. “I didn’t know what to believe at first. When I woke up on Elaaden with two krogan staring down at me, I thought I was having a cryosleep-induced nightmare. The krogan said-”

“Wait,” Sloane interrupted in confusion. “What do you mean, the krogan? You… You didn’t come from the Nexus? What… what happened to Ark Natanus?”

Kaetus’ mandibles lifted slightly in an expression of confusion. “I have no idea. I woke up on a sandy wasteland. There were damaged cryopods all over the place. I think the krogan who found me were collecting salvage. I thought they were going to kill me.”

“Why didn’t they?” Sloane wondered in confusion. Unfortunately, old grudges didn’t wear off even after 600 years, and there wasn’t much love lost between the krogan and the turians.

Kaetus gave a small sardonic laugh. “I think they could tell that I had no idea what in the spirits was going on. They brought me back to their settlement. New Tuchanka, it’s called.” He chuckled again. “A fitting name for a roasting-hot desert planet. But it’s actually pretty impressive. Nakmor Morda’s doing a good job out there.”

Sloane shook her head in amazement. “Fucking Morda. I’m surprised she didn’t eat you.” In spite of herself, Sloane was impressed. Wish we could take some lessons from the krogan. I wonder if ever…

She shook her head, discarding the idea for now. “How did you get from… Elaaden, you said? How did you get from wherever the fuck that is to here?”

Kaetus spread his hands helplessly. “I escaped New Tuchanka. Younger krogan can be hot-headed and careless, you know how it is. I basically hitchhiked all the way from New Tuchanka to the Elaaden Port, then paid for passage on a ship. I used about two-thirds of my credits to get here, but… here I am,” he finished, his hands dropping to his sides. “By the way, you might be interested to hear that Nakmor Kesh joined the council on the Nexus. I overheard some of Morda’s people talking about it.”

Sloane eyebrows leapt high on her forehead. Sloane would never forgive Kesh for allowing Tann to wake the krogan battlemaster, but she would be lying if she denied that Kesh was the most levelheaded person on the Nexus. “No fucking way. Tann stonewalled her the entire time I was there.”

Kaetus gave another brisk nod of confirmation. “But I didn’t come just to pass on news of the Nexus.” He took a step closer to her. “You know you can count on me, Sloane. I’m here to help you in any way I can.”

That ball of emotion swelled again in her throat, and she had to swallow hard to push down the urge to press herself against his tall and rangy form. Instead, she nodded briskly and gestured for him to follow her back to her chair. “Fantastic. I can use someone reliable and trustworthy.”

Kaetus followed her up the dais. “As it turns out, I heard something on the lift that might help. There’s a doctor, Ryota Nakamoto, who seems to have discovered an antibiotic that grows naturally on this planet. It sounds like he needs resources to refine the formulation and ensure that it works, but that might help offset the drain on medical resources at least.”

Sloane sat in her chair, one foot cocked up on the seat, and rested her elbow casually on her knee as she looked up at him. “Yeah, okay. It’s not exactly food and water, but medicine is helpful, no doubt. Put him in touch with me, will you? Maybe we can set him up somewhere. A lab or something. What do scientists need for their research?”

“We’ll find out. I’ll set up a time for him to meet with you,” Kaetus replied briskly. Sloane coolly nodded her thanks, but she was rapidly losing her battle to remain impartial with him. She had always felt more at home with the turians and krogan than with her own species; she wasn’t the type to tippy-toe around people’s feelings or to mince her words, and most humans didn’t appreciate that kind of bluntness. But Sloane had never felt more at home with anyone than with Kaetus.

Kaetus’ gaze slid over her face, and he seemed to see something in her bichromatic eyes that she was unable to hide, because he slowly approached her and placed his hands on the arms of her chair, leaning down with his face near enough to hers that she could see the brilliant corona of hazel in his irises. “I was afraid I would never see you again,” he told her bluntly. “You know that I’m not just here to be your second, right?”

Sloane took a deep breath, and for the first time in what felt like months, she smiled. “I know. You’re a big softie,” she teased gently. He chuckled deep in his throat, then traced the scarring on her lip and jaw with a gentle talon. “We have some catching up to do,” he murmured, then tilted his head to kiss her.

Sloane gave in and wrapped her arms around his neck, savouring the slightly rough feel of the skin at the base of his crest. Sloane would always get shit done; it was just her way. But with Kaetus at her side, it suddenly didn’t feel like such a chore.