"I can give you a run down on the mass effect later if you like, sir," Kadian offers, the title escaping out of sheer reflex. But the mass effect, and its potential for making some really good weapons technology, is a conversation for another time, and likely another place altogether -- the camp blacksmiths are capable of working near magic, given their tools, but Kaidan wouldn't ask them to even think of the kind of tolerances needed to keep a micro-scaled mass accelerator from exploding in your hand.

There's only so much soiled straw he can clean from the stall, as the camp's horses are kept in as good condition as the camp's weapons, and for similar reasons, but there's still fresh straw to break from its bale and spread around, so he continues to work as he talks.

"We encountered the turians first, and after three months of fighting the Citadel Council stepped in -- this species who'd barely left their own solar system had just fought the species that makes up the bulk of their military arm to a standstill, so I guess they figured they'd better get everyone to play nicely. So, with the Council getting involved, that introduced us to the asari and the salarians. After that, meeting the other races was a matter of course -- quarians, krogans, volus, hanar, elcor, drell... the Batarian Hegemony got pissed off at the Council for bringing us on board so fast, closed their embassy and withdrew from all diplomatic contact. The galaxy's full of other sentient life... which is why it's a little worrying to me that you haven't met any of it. Uh, I mean generally speaking," he clarifies.