I woke up, with a headache that would make even Tim Cridland want to stay in bed. Pretending to sleep was not an option for me, as today was the first day of my university exams, and quite possibly the worst too. I don't know why they would start the exams this early; my professor only told me about this exam a few weeks ago. Yeah, that's good, a few weeks of studying is always enough. To be honest, I'm too tired right now to leave my house, let alone actually doing the exam.

I don't know what job I want to do yet. I know I'm going to have to go to finish university, my mum unrelenting in her attempt to give me a good chance in life. The army always seemed like a decent option afterwards, although I would have to really be in shape to do it. It would seem like a good way to save lives and be helpful to people, and I suppose there isn't much effort that goes into it.

I throw off the covers, grabbing one of my crumpled long-sleeve t-shirts off of the floor, trying to delay getting dressed as long as possible. Ignoring the pain is difficult, and I want to just go back to sleep so badly, but I know I can't. I hate my university, and even though a lot of kids say that and don't mean it because they don't understand how lucky they are, mine really is terrible.

Even getting down the stairs is an endeavour, and as soon as I reach the bottom step, I notice that none of my parents are downstairs. My dad is probably still in bed, he doesn't get up until about 10am. I move into the kitchen and past the cupboards towards the fridge. As I get closer, a piece of paper taped to the front of it grabs my attention. I pull it off and start reading it.

'Dear Jack

I had to leave early today, going to the studio for the day. Told Russell about this and asked him to tell you, but I wrote this just in case you didn't know. I should be back in time for dinner tonight.

Love Mum

PS: Good luck with your exam!'

I guess it was a surprise for her, because I remember her telling me that she wouldn't be going today. There goes my chance of getting picked up after my exam. I've never liked getting picked up anyway, walking home gives me the chance of going to the shop on the way back. Could be considered a long walk, a few hours, but it's never seemed like too much trouble. I should have known that my dad would forget to tell me this; he has been forgetting a lot of stuff ever since he had his fifty-fifth birthday.

I crouch down to open the cereal cupboard door, and start rummaging around in there, not really caring what I get. It only takes me a few seconds to pick something out, and I stand up again. I put the box down onto the counter slightly heavier than intended, causing my headache to flare up again.

It's always a good time to have an exam, when I just want to die. I make my bowl of cereal and take it into the living room, if only to see the time on the clock.

I only have 20 minutes to go before I have to be at the university, to register before my exam. This only gives me 5 minutes to get dressed and finish my food, which I didn't realize.

I just decide to leave my food and go back upstairs, and let my dad take my cereal back into the kitchen when he decides to actually get up.

Getting dressed is painful, and not only because of my headache. Going into the bathroom, the need to sleep nearly overwhelms me. Closing the door, I stumble slightly. Holding my face close to the mirror, I only get a quick glance at my pale complexion. I didn't notice the large amount of water on the floor until both of my feet were suddenly thrown forward and my head smashed straight into the sink.

As if I could possibly feel any worse, now I have to worry about a serious head injury. My vision was starting to blur now, the taps in front of my face starting to blur together into one. Oh fuck. I struggled to hold onto the sink, trying not to fall onto the floor. Holding on for any longer than a few seconds is impossible, and my hands eventually slip off, causing my body to fall roughly to the tiled floor.

I didn't even notice how much pain I was in until now, now there is nothing distracting me. That fall didn't really help matters either, causing even more pain.

My knees were the worst affected, intense pain throbbing continuously, leaving me unable to move. The headache seemed to have increased tenfold, now being felt completely throughout my body. Everything had lost focus now, a bright light on the ceiling appearing only as a long line which was focusing on my eyes.

I turn my head when I hear the sound of a door being opened, my consciousness starting to fade. The only positive thing about this is that I will hopefully miss the exam today, I thought, as my dad comes in and notices me on the floor.

I could feel my eyes starting to close, the sound of my dad's shouts being the only thing stopping me from passing out.

It isn't enough.

My head is killing me. For some reason, I thought the immense feelings of pain would have gone by now, but sadly not. Fortunately, the rest of my body has stopped hurting now, so it's only the headache I have to deal with now.

I open my eyes, and find myself looking at the floor. It was a very bright surface, orange in colour, and I closed them again to try and avoid looking at the irritating sight.

Turning myself onto my back, I look at the sky. It was a very beautiful sight, albeit no clouds, and it was extremely red.

Wait, what? My bathroom ceiling definitely isn't red, and I definitely didn't fall down next to… an assault rifle. What the fuck happened?

I start looking around the area, and notice the camp that I am in. There are a few small buildings next to the cliff on the other side of the camp, a lot of cargo crates, and a few dead bodies scattered around. I get up quickly, thinking about what just happened. There is no way I just magically transported somewhere else when I just fell unconscious. This must be a dream, no way is this real.

Probably best to start moving, try and find out what this place is. I suppose it would be best to try and have a look around here first. I move around a few of the cargo crates, in an attempt to go and have a look at the bodies. When I do get a chance to look at them closely, this is the point where my video game training kicks in.

I can see how most people would probably be distressed at seeing them, but it doesn't affect me really. I stop next to the closest person, and stare at her for a second. Should I see what she has on her? Even though this is a dream, it doesn't seem right looting someone's corpse. It feels even worse because it is a woman. Still, what she has on her might be useful.

I crouch down next to her body, and turn her onto her back. My eyes widen when I see the massive bullet hole at the top of her Alliance uniform.

…

Alliance? The only time I've ever heard the word Alliance before is… oh.

Mass Effect.

This is the first time I've had a Mass Effect dream before, so this is something new.

Although, I have got no idea why I dreamed of being on Eden Prime. I mean, to be honest, the first Mass Effect game isn't that great. I know it set the foundation for the rest of the series, but to me, it was also the least polished out of the trilogy.

This might just be because I played the series backwards, starting with the third and ending with the first. Just resumed playing the first game again though, and I've only just got past Therum.

Oh, sorry, accidentally went off track a bit.

…

I scan her body, looking for anything I can use. I assume she is a scientist, judging that she doesn't have much on her. Seeing the small harness-looking device attached to her trousers, I pull that off recognizing it as a shield generator. She also carries a small pistol inside her right pocket, which I decide to just hold in my hands for the moment.

The omnitool on her wrist was taken off easily, but taking off her armour is a problem. Very surprising that it is a medium one, since I would expect most scientists too only use a light variant. I could do it roughly, but that would seem too aggressive. I decide to take my time doing it, trying not to touch any sensitive areas. Seems silly, since she is dead, but I can't escape the feeling that doing so would be wrong.

Now I've geared up the best that I can. Taking the time to look at the rest of the dead bodies gives no results, and I was hoping to find an assault rifle. Something like that, a weapon that would actually be useful in a combat scenario.

I was about to head off north towards another settlement I could see in the distance, until I suddenly remembered the rifle that was on the ground before. Hurrying back around the crates, I reach the spot where I woke up. I grab the rifle and replace the pistol, placing the small firearm back into my pocket.

Suddenly, I can hear a strange sound in the distance. It is starting to sound like it is getting louder, which intrigues me a bit.

Well, I might as well go and have a look what my mind has decided to invent for me. I hope it is going to be interesting.

Soon enough, I find myself in an area on top of a large cliff face, several feet above a canyon that would be terrible to fall into. Quite a lot of flat rocks lying around, which I assume is the cover used for the humans.

There is a dig site directly in front of me, which I remember as being the point where Ashley is saved by Shepard. As I was walking, the loud sound gradually disappeared. Now, there is only silence, and I'm not sure when this event is supposed to happen.

I suppose I could wait it out… or I could go and find Ashley myself. Well, I'm not going to wait around here forever. Jumping off the cliff face is slightly difficult, and I land awkwardly. The surface here is a lot harder than it was before, which catches me by surprise.

I'm holding my rifle rather loosely, pointing towards the floor. I can't remember the point when Ashley appears or who is chasing here, hoping that it wasn't more than a few geth. The sound appears again, and this time I can recognize it as gunfire. I lift my rifle and point it towards the noise, moving slowly to not be taken by surprise. I only manage to round the corner, and recognize Ashley running towards me.

"What are you doing?" I say, lowering my rifle. There isn't anything chasing her, and I don't want to shoot her. Even if this is a dream, I quite liked Ashley in the games. She seemed friendly enough and only acts tough because of her upbringing as a soldier.

Ashley is fast on the uptake, only seeing me a few seconds before she makes contact with me. She doesn't stop running though, and moves straight past me, grabbing my left arm to drag me along with her.

"What are you doing?" I repeat, realizing that now would be a good time to run instead of letting myself be dragged along.

"Can't talk! Geth chasing me!" she yells back, still holding firmly onto my arm. I look behind us just in time to see two geth drones zoom into view, firing rapidly at our location.

It only takes us a few seconds before we reach the cliff face from before, and Shepard hasn't appeared yet. Guess this means we have to get rid of these drones ourselves.

I feel Ashley's hold on my arm disappear, and look down in time to see her accidentally trip over a small rock misplaced on the ground. She falls down awkwardly, fumbling with her pistol, trying desperately to take it out of the holster.

Looking back at the geth drones, I see that they have caught up to us, and their aiming directly at Ashley.

Well fuck, I guess I need to help her out.

I aim my rifle again, pointing towards the drone on the left, and fire rapidly. The recoil isn't that bad, expected it to be a lot worse. Aiming for their head is very simple, and because they are only focusing on Ashley, it enables me to lock onto it effectively.

The geth I fired at is destroyed, and the second one turns its attention towards me. The trooper has focused completely on me, which leaves it completely open to Ashley. It only gets a chance to fire a few shots, before it is also destroyed by rapid and accurate gunfire from the Alliance soldier.

I stop for a second, breathing heavily. That was not what I expected; shooting is supposed to be a lot harder, especially in the first game. I suppose this dream was made specifically to be easy.

"Are you OK?" I said, looking at Ashley, hoping she's not injured. Silence hangs in the air uncomfortably, until I extend my hand to her. She turns to me, looking me up and down, as if noticing me for the first time.

"I'm fine" she replies, grabbing my hand, pulling herself to her feet. She starts dusting herself off, still looking interestedly at me.

A scream comes from the right of us, and I spin around wondering what the hell that was. Two geth troopers have just come into view, pulling a man with them. He is struggling as best he could, trying to lose their grip, but they aren't taking any notice. Very determined to drag him to the Dragon's teeth that were placed just further away from us.

Oh fuck. I remember this. Poor guy gets turned into one of those disgusting husk creatures. I need to do something, even though this is a dream, have to at least try and help him.

"Hey!" I shout, trying to get the geth's attention. If Ashley can help me out here, maybe we can stop them in time. As soon as I say anything, Ashley looks towards me, with eyebrows raised. She draws a hand across her throat, signalling me to be quiet. I don't care what she thinks, I shouldn't be quiet, and if I can help anyone I will. Anyway, there were only two geth troopers which we can handle, if she wants to help me.

"HEY! OVER HE-!" I start to shout again, but I get cut off when I suddenly feel myself get thrown behind a giant rock. My head is smashed against the jagged surface, and I slide down to the ground again, dropping my rifle. My head hangs tiredly, and now I'm starting to feel sick again. The headache starts showing its ugly face again, my vision beginning to blur. I can barely see the floor as it is, and trying to raise my head to look around anywhere else is making me feel even worse. I close my eyes, trying to resist the pain.

"Are you okay?" I hear Ashley say, feeling her shaking me. My eyes are closed, making me look like I'm not awake, so I guess she thinks that she threw me too hard. Soon enough, she stops and sighs. "Damn it".

I'm in way too much pain to even try to talk to her any more, and now I'm just listening to what's going on. The man has stopped screaming now, and I don't know what happening. There is another uncomfortable silence, and I can only assume that the guy has been turned into a husk.

I can't believe Ashley stopped me from helping him, and putting me behind cover made things worse if that's possible. Unless Shepard has appeared, she is going to fight those geth and the husk by herself. And why the fuck does this hurt so much? I only hit my head on a rock. It seems strange for my pain in real life to carry into a dream. Unless… this actually is real life? Fuck.

I look to my right, and see that Ashley has disappeared. I guess she's gone to go and fight the enemies, but I can't do that right now. Trying to stand up is too painful, and I don't want to make my headache any worse, so I have to just stagger across the ground on my knees. I need to see what's going on, because this silence has been hanging around too long for my liking. Moving slowly, I eventually reach the side of cover and peer out, trying to find Ashley. I see her instantly, talking to a woman and another man. The fight must have ended while I was sitting down, and I just didn't hear any of it.

The woman has to be Commander Shepard, along with Lt. Kaidan Alenko. My head is starting to lose sensation, and I realize that I am about to fall unconscious again. I would try and say something to them, but I don't think it would do any good. I can't even see Kaidan that well, as he is facing away from me, talking to Ashley.

Shepard, however, is looking straight at me.

A/N:Hey guys, welcome to my first story. I wasn't sure how to approach this first of all, but eventually decided on just doing a self-insert. Writing from my POV would be easier than starting with any of the major characters. Plus, I know I would enjoy doing this more.

Hopefully, this story won't differ too much from canon (can't guarantee anything), but I might have to at some point, to take my story in the direction I would like it to go.

Also, I'm not sure if I want to include an explanation on why my character has suddenly appeared in this universe. I would like to keep it mysterious for now, but I would like to see the viewer's opinion on this matter.

A few really good stories I would like to mention before the next chapter: The Masses to Masses series by iNf3ctioNZ, and Massed Up by DelVarO are the best Mass Effect stories I have read so far. In particular, Massed Up was the one which made me want to attempt to write a story myself.

Not sure how often I can update this, probably every few days or so, but I can't make any promises. And finally, to end with a disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect or anything related to it. Mass Effect is owned by BioWare.