"Not that good, but... better," Kaidan said. "It... made me feel better at the time."

"It was my job to get everyone out safe," Shepard said. "I failed. I vowed not to let that happen again. Same here. I'll remember her, and I'll do better for her."

And the Kaidan of over a year ago swallowed. "Yeah," he said. "I guess that's all we can do. ...Thanks for the advice, sir."

Shepard looked like he came close to smiling, but didn't. "That aside," he said, "I'd like your input on the last mission."

"Input?" Younger Kaidan had a disbelieving hint of laughter in his tone. "I don't know. We're fighting giant machines from outside of the galaxy. Should I be afraid of them? Or in awe of them? Anything so old, so... intelligent--"

Shepard chuckled. "Yeah, they've been around for a while," he said. "So have the turians. And we gave them a boot in the ass."

"Heh," younger Kaidan said, as the environment finally started to fade around them. "I think we're going to need a bigger boot."