Shared Memories

It was an ordinary afternoon, the sun resting in the sky emitted a bright scarlet tint that softly reflected off of the rippling waters of a small pond. Not five seconds after this scene, a plop is heard, and a fishing net sinks into the waters.

"Yah such a cheater Jackson!" A blonde-haired guy sat on the bank of the pond and made a visible tsk sound, his dull grey-blue eyes glaring at his best friend. His thick accent was a tell-tale sign of his New Orleans background.

"Did ya wanna wait until after dark to have enough fish to cook? It's your fault anyway, comin' up with the plan to fish so damn late" I had made this statement light-heartedly and with a hint of Dixie Twang; my green eyes being covered by a bit of my wavy shoulder-length hair that had managed to escape my half ponytail.

"Point proven." My friend pulled his line back in and proceeded to get things ready for me to start cookin'. "You better be as good a cook as you say you are. I ain't gonna be able to eat anythin' else for dinner.

"Alan, relax." I smirked as I pulled in my haul. Three catfish and ten largemouth bass. "Between this catch and my cookin', you'll be eatin' good tonight!"

As I pulled the fish out of the netting, one of the bass slapped my arm with its tail and managed to land on the ground, flopping back into the pond… Nine. I had nine largemouth bass. Was damn shame. It was one of the bigger ones as well. I took my bowie knife and jabbed it into the first fish, cutting the head off and then moving onto the tail. I was gonna make some of the best cut filets this kid has ever eaten. After a while, every fish was cut and sliced, the skins and other grodie stuff being thrown back into the pond… to let the ecosystem take care of it naturally, of course. I then set upon seasoning. I used a special Cajun blend I made myself. A spicy kick to anything I sprinkle the shits on. Recipe will be my secret until the death though. Finally, I threw the first fish onto the pan Alan had set up for me, the fire crackling under it. As I did this however, my life would be changed; be it for better or worse:

Cold… why is it so cold? It's a summer afternoon, is it not? Nah… it's much too dark… Pitch black actually. My feeling is slowly coming back to me. This sensation is unlike anything I've ever felt before… Like my essence is being sucked into something… but what?

A flash of white. As I opened my eyes, I saw… not the pond that I last remembered. Nor the warm glow of the evening sky. No, I saw a sterile white room and a bunch of ladies with medical equipment and strange clothing.

"Scuse me, but what exactly is goin' on here?"

The woman looked at me with disbelief before finally answering: "You were hit during a mission. Seems like it was pretty bad seeing as you don't even remember."

"Mission? The actual hell're you on about?" As I got this question out, everything came rushing back to me. I had lived an entire life in this strange world. I remembered lots of crazy things: Turians, Asari, Salarians. Hell, even Quarians. But these were all aliens… from Mass… Effect… wait. Nothing was fitting together... I decided to test something out.

"What's my name?" I asked this nonchalantly

"Um. Jericho, are you alright?"

"I'm stabilized right? I'd like some alone time for a second… wrap my head around this." I shooed her away, the rest of the nurses following suit.

Everything came flooding back. My name was apparently Jericho James. I was a member of the Blue Suns… I have no recollection of Zaeed Massani, so I must have joined after he was taken care of. The good thing is that with my new memories, I also had the knowledge of using my omni-tool. So that was a plus. I pulled it out to check the date: 2180. So that means the first Mass Effect is just around the corner… And that means I've got a bit of planning to do. Seeing as I've gotten gloriously lobotomized into this poor Jericho fella's brain now, I should have access to all of his combat knowledge, and his muscle memory. Which is a boon because other than hunting, I've no firearm experience. Like at all. And if his won't translate… I can blame brain damage and get back into the game slowly.

The Doctor came in and gave me a glare. He then looked down at his data pad and jotted down a couple of things before addressing me: "So, Jericho… How's ze head trauma treating you?" A THICK German accent was heard. Like the damn medic from TF2 level stereotypical.

"Y'know. Bit painful. Wicked headaches. Eyes feel like they're gonna pop out. Nothing out of the ordinary" I smirked as I leaned back in the operating bed.

"Well, you realize it's time to re-administer your tattoo, correct?" He tapped on his left pectoral and I looked down, realizing that a giant white spot sat there… kinda like my old tattoo I had there in my… Real life? Other life? I still don't know what to make of this. Is it a fever dream? Hell, my mind is super conflicted right now.

"Yeah, yeah get it over with" I awaited the tattoo to be inked in. This guy was not very gentle though. Getting this tattoo hurt a lot more than I remember it hurting in my- I'm gonna say other life. It actually hurt a lot. After it was said and done, I looked down at the blue sun that now sat on my chest. It was gross and slightly bloody, and I was gonna have to keep it covered for a while until it finished healing. What a hassle.

After being released by the doctor, I decided to check out my surroundings. First. My clothing. Seemed like standard Citadel Human wear, though my colors were green. Then the location… We were in a Citadel hospital? It was diligent care to say the least. Probably a cover hospital for the Blue Suns in this area. I walked around and decided to see what there was to buy. I pulled up my omni-tool, but instead of pulling up a map, I saw a little ping: Message from a guy named Sindri. Was telling me that he had finished something big and wanted me to go see what it was. Memory of the shop he stays in flashed back, and I headed down there, toward the lower wards. As I get to the spot, I'm greeted by a Salarian

"Ah! Jericho!" He grinned in a rather creepy, reptilian smile. His skin was smooth and slimy looking… makes sense, seeing as Salarians are amphibious if memory serves me correctly. "Just got the stuff you ordered. Dying to test!" He sets a flat disk on the counter, before continuing. "This is the shield dome you requested. Press button, throw on ground. Instant cover!" He does this and a large bubble lands on the ground, almost covering the entire shop's floor space. "Test it"

I had assumed he meant with a gunshot, so I pulled out the pistol I just realized was on my hip and blasted it. "Hmm. Seems sturdy enough… what else ya got for me?" I looked as he set a couple of things on the table: First, some armor that looked similar to the T-51 power armor from Fallout, though it was pretty Blue Suns in aesthetic; a helmet that looked similar to the T-51 power armor helmet; what looked like a new omni-tool; a gun that looked like a triple barrel shotgun that was painted blue; and what I assumed was a biotic amp… it looked kind of like a scaled down GPU for a gaming computer.

He grinned as he slid the armor over, "So, first thing is armor. Not only is the armor itself super sturdy; but also fitted with improved kinetic barriers, able to withstand even a rocket. I daresay Spectre level equipment." I slowly strapped it on. It collapsed like most armor but it was still large and in charge. After I got the armor completely equipped, the crazy bastard shot at me! Regardless of if the bullet just bounced off (It did), I was livid.

"Don't do that shit again, unless you wanna be missin' a horn"

Sindri gulped and pointed at the left leg of the armor. "Even place for dome shield. Magnetic strip. Stays put"

I put the disk on the leg, and it stuck there, just as he said it would. He quickly pepped back up and moved on to the helmet. "Helmet here is same material as armor. Should keep cranial area secure. Even added custom HUD like asked!"

He slipped the helmet on me, moving my hair from my face as he did, and my vision got bombarded with all sorts of displays. Most seemed standard. Situated at the bottom right of my FOV was shield levels, armor stability, and even shield dome durability (All in percentages, no less!). And on the bottom left was heat level and gun currently in use. Hell, it even counted the number of grenades and medi-gel I had on hand (and he included a freebie of six packs of the gel).

"Let's see this omni-tool" I slipped it onto my hand, after sliding the old one off. It came fitted with some cool stuff. Pre-programed with some combat tech.

"First there's the ignite program. Cook an enemy's armor right off. Then the shield drain. It saps power from an enemy's Kinetic barrier array and siphons it into your own. Even integrated into HUD. Top left corner. Only added basic stuff. Didn't think you had the mind for any more," he gave what I could only assume was a smug smirk

"I'll ignore thatcha said that. Best in the bidness or not, one of those horns would make a purty neat trophy on my belt," I gave a rather sinister glare, which in the back of my mind worried me a bit. After I get myself situated, I'll need to iron out all of these memories and figure out which are the real me…

"Of course, of course!" he paced around a bit before giving me the gun. "And this is that gun you asked for. Custom made by the best in the Turian Hierarchy." He gave me an approving look "You can even name it, I plan sell these things mainstream. Based on your feedback."

"This is the Triple Shotty then," I said this as I slipped it on the back of my armor, holding to the mag strip. "Now I'm assumin' that's an amp?"

"Correct. Modified Savant model. Helps reduce mental strain while using biotics. Look at HUD in visor as well" He yoinks my old amp out and installs the new one. As it is installed, I see my biotic abilities that I have available on the top right corner. Guess everything he made is meant to integrate into my HUD. This guy was thorough. What abilities did I have? Singularity, Throw, and Barrier? Odd mix of skills. I could likely learn more as well, given the training.

"Anythin' else? I'm ready to get back in the field" I actually just wanted to get home, which I now knew was not too terribly far.

"Nothing but payment. Down payment completed but need rest" He moved his hand in a gimme fashion.

"Sure, sure. What're ya owed?

"267,000"

"Alright let me check" I checked in my bank account, and saw that yes, I had enough. More than enough. Memory came in force. I had been doing merc work for a couple of years. Made up near about one million credits. I was down to 759,000 after that purchase. Still plenty. I sent him the payment directly from the omni-tool, having connected it to my accounts already.

"Come back if anymore ideas arise. Yours are... intriguing." He smirked again as he went back into his shop, and I exited.

I hailed a cab and headed home, Jericho's memories proving super useful to me at current. As I got to the door of 'my' apartment, however, I was drawing a blank. I had NO idea what the passcode was or even might be. I tried all the basics. 1234, 4321, so on and so forth. Nothing worked. I then struck an idea. Maybe Jericho wasn't so different from Jackson after all… I punched in the number that I had used in my other life for near about everything. Bingo. Worked like a charm. And getting inside. Something I was not prepared for. I looked around the sci-fi-esque living space. Was very reminiscent of Anderson's apartment in ME3. It was a bit smaller in scale though. To the right: nice open concept kitchen, with black granite countertops and mahogany (Seemingly. Could be some funky alien wood) paneling and cabinets. To the left was the living room, where I was met with likely the largest screen, I had ever made contact with. Covered the whole damn wall! At least 400 inches. Otherwise, the walls were marble, with black carbon fiber shelves lining the wall the front door was on, books lining the shelves, and a huge window serving as the left side wall. You could see all of the traffic go through the ward, and it was magnificent. Sky cars zipping by, the lights of the ward. It was beautiful to say the least. I then went to a separate room. One closer to the one bedroom I had. It was supposed to be a sort of rec room, but I had apparently renovated it to be a personal garden of sorts. The floor was actually dirt. So hopefully I would never need to move out of here, or I'd be facing some real consequences. More so than that, was the plant life growing all over. All sorts of strange plants, most of them I couldn't recognize. So, Jericho had a bit of a green thumb. Even badasses have a soft-spot, I guess. There was a bench, easy sittings. Lastly the ceiling was kitted out with a giant plant light. Big enough to encompass the entire room in artificial sunlight. There was even a little pond I had made at some point. Or Jericho made it… I needed to get this ironed out. This was the perfect place to do such as well.

I started going through my memories: First was the memory of Jackson: Country-fried nerd that both spent his daytimes hunting and fishing, and his night times playing videogames and finishing a college degree online. Jackson was just 20 years old and wasn't a very intimidating specimen in the least. He did have some solid kickboxing/MMA experience. Wanted to cage fight once upon a time... Second was the memory of Jericho: badass mercenary with a penchant for anger. And judging from his abilities, was pretty much just moving cover and crowd control. He was 27 years old and had a very similar appearance to myself, albeit with some slight differences. One, was that I now had a beard. I just noticed it somehow and it honestly looked pretty good. His hair was also more of an auburn red, rather than my original chestnut brown. His eyes were still green as an emerald. The hairstyle was the same: a half-ponytail; as was the relative size and build, though a couple of inches taller. I wondered. Was all of that life just a fever dream? Did my life as Jackson ever truly exist? But come on, a dream where I played a game based on the world I lived in? Ludicrous. I don't think Jackson was a fever dream. I'm still Jackson. But how did I end up in Jericho's body? And is he in my body? Who knows what sort of mischief he'd be up to… or what kind of mischief I'll get into in his body…? Well I wasn't going to get home trying to figure this out. I needed to make sure I survived here. Which meant that I needed to keep working. It was at that moment that I got a call. So these things did work kind of like phones. The contact info was hidden, but I answered anyway. Not too terribly much to lose.

"Jericho. Just heard the news. You're up and about, ready to cause trouble!" The guy laughed at the end of this.

"Ah yes. I'm itching to get back into the grind… You guys got something for me?"

"That we do bud! Meet me in the port tomorrow and I'll give ya the skippy. 0700 Galactic Standard Time"

He ended the call with a click and left me to my own devices. Which meant that I needed to watch some tv. See how surreal intergalactic tv would be. About three hours later, I had gotten very absorbed into a sort of Asari parody of 'The 40-Year-Old Virgin'. Didn't quite have the same charm as the original, but it was a good movie, nonetheless. After that, I decided to check out 'Fleet and Flotilla'. All of the talk about how good it was in the games has me really curious now that I can legitimately watch it now. All in all, it was pretty good. Gave me a perspective on Quarian cross-species relationships. Although to be honest, it didn't really matter too terribly much to me, I'm not terribly into Quarians. I then finally decided that I should get some rest. Especially seeing as I'd be up early.

The next morning, I got up and strapped on my equipment. I felt badass as hell. I got to the port and a vaguely familiar man was standing there in wait. I'm assuming it was my contact. Was in his mid-forties. Hair was starting to grey. Still rather fit but was obviously losing what muscle he used to have. As I got close to the decided upon place, he quickly walked up to me with his arms open.

"Jericho! Great to see you in such good order! Good news from the higherups as well." The man motioned towards the ship in question. Looked sort of like a Turian Frigate… but blue…

"What's the news?"

"You're the captain!" He was beaming as he said this.

"Me… I'm the captain? Of this ship?" I was definitely not prepared for this when I hung up last night.

"Yep. Your shot calling last go around made it possible to get out of that Hegemony trap. The top dogs know talent when they see it Jericho. I know talent when I see it," he explained. "You're gonna make it far in this line of work. You're gonna do me damn proud and make us all a ton of money. The mission briefing is on a data pad in the captain's quarters. Get in there and make some magic happen!" He grinned again. Memory of who he was started to surface. My mentor. My captain. Hell, my father figure.

"Why? This was your ship… Why give it away?" I was stifling back tears at this point. The real me didn't know this man from Adam. But the Jericho in me was about to go down in flames.

"I'm looking to retire. I've been in this business a loooong time. Since the inception of the Blue Suns- Hell, I've been a gun for hire since before then. It's time for me to kick back." He smiled, this one more tranquil.

"You got a place to stay? I could let you stay in my apartment for a while. Until I'm finished workin' at the very least. I have a ship to call my own now"

"I'll actually take you up on that. Just make sure to read the data pad in your new quarters. I'll see you later." With that, my old captain. My mentor. Darren Carmichael made his exit. And I made my entrance. This wouldn't go exactly how I thought it would though. It was actually going to be very different… but my options were endless now.

I walked into the ship, and the decontamination process begun. After a couple of minutes, I was allowed into the ship. Rather empty crew. The pilot was still around. Artais I think his name was (going off of Jericho's memory). Other than that, I only saw a couple of engineers, and a munitions person. Why would he give me such a barebones crew? I decided to head up to my quarters. Might find something of use there. Felt strange to do so, but I'd get used to it. I saw a data pad on the bed. Just what I was looking for. As I opened it up, the message on it was rather… chilling.

-Jericho James

This is gonna seem strange at the moment. But do not trust the brass. Couldn't say anything at port or their bugs would have caught it. They decided to get rid of me because of the things I know. I know Vido's secret. I also know that that Batarian bastard didn't start up the Blue Suns. Keep this knowledge under wraps. And if you meet a man by the name of Zaeed Massani… Don't let him learn that you're Blue Suns affiliated. But befriend him. They likely think you're in on the "conspiracy" seeing how close we are. Go freelance. The only people left on the ship now already know the deal and will be 100% behind you. I've made friendly enough with the big dogs of Omega that you'll still be swimming in work. I gave them your contact info. I'd be looking for a better crew though. Blue Suns crew won't be cutting it anymore…Artais could give you a good start on people to look into. He's got Ex-Military contacts he could get in touch with. Among others in the underground. I can put you on the scent of somebody though. Zaiya Dennis. L2 Biotic. Jump Zero vet. She's powerful and hates Batarians… which I think is something everyone on that ship can agree with. Her contact info is imbedded here. Now get out there and make a name for yourself!

-Darren Carmichael

I was in awe. Not only was I pretty much told that I was going to meet Zaeed super fucking early, but I was also mixed up in Blue Suns politics? After just getting here? Now was as good a time as any to learn my way around the underground of space though. Just then, something hit me. More memories. This time of Jump Zero. The beatings I received, the pain I endured. The times went hungry, just to find out my potential. And Kaidan… We're already friends then. Might make things a bit easier unless he thinks less of me for my career choice. Which begs the question… was I ever alliance? I don't remember any of that at all. The memories were foggy. Likely seeing as they weren't my own memories to begin with. Deciding it was time to get moving, I walked up to Artais. And he turned a couple seconds after he finally noticed me standing there.

"Ah Jericho. Congratulations on the promotion. I assume that you know the deal?"

"Yeah Cap- Darren filled me in. We need to set up a meeting with one Zaiya Dennis. Seems to stay around Omega. Let's go ahead and get there and we can iron out the details on the way." I turned from the Turian and to the munitions room. That's where Dominique was said to stay. As I got in, I saw the young-looking guy working on a couple of guns.

"Oh, hey Jer- Captain. I gotta get used to that" He rubbed the back of his neck as he set down the pistol he was working on with his left hand.

"You can call me Jericho. I'll have a tough enough time with the change myself. We're currently on route to Omega. Gonna pick up a Zaiya Dennis. Likely get in touch with the Omega crime boss as well. Apparently, Darren had a good relation with them or somethin'. Anything you got for me?"

"Not much. Working on getting these pistols ready for field use again. They're a bit deformed from the amount of use they were seeing. The heat caused them to soften up ever-so slightly." He sighed into his hand as he continued working. "I'm glad we got those bone-heads out of here. Especially those knuckle-dragging Batarians."

This crew really hated Batarians… Though every one of us probably has a history with them slaving our home worlds or something similar. "Good shit Dom. And same here. Now get back to work and I'll make sure the next round of guys is at least a bit competent."

I walked out of the room while saying this and started typing up on my omni-tool. Needed to get a meeting point set up for our newest arrival. I decided that a vocal call would be easiest. I hated typing back in real life.

"You better have a good reason for calling me unannounced" The voice was slightly reminiscent of Jack. There was a bit more femininity and class though.

"We have a mutual friend… Darren Carmichael?" My voice was calm. I wasn't going to be intimidated by a woman. Even if she was a powerful biotic. No way, no how.

"You got my attention now. Carmichael is a strange name to be throwing around," she scoffed, as if she was skeptical of my intention.

"Just meet me on Omega. I plan on putting together a master crew and you are one of the best in the field if my sources are right. And I've got big plans." With that, I clicked the call off, and with it, sent the coordinates for where we were to meet.

To be honest. I'm handling this a lot better than I would have thought given that not even 24 hours ago, I was cooking fish on a skillet by a pond. I sent a message to Artais, telling him to call me when we made it to Omega. I was entranced by the fish that Darren kept in his cabin… do all captains do stuff like this? Main difference was that Darren's fish were all Earth-native. As I looked, I noticed a note… a paper note that read:

If I find that you didn't feed my damn fish, I'll tear you a new asshole. Next time you dock at the Citadel, I'll have a tank ready for them. Bring them.

So that's something I would need to do every day now. Great. I wonder if I could buy an automatic feeder like in ME3? I flipped through the books in the data pad that Darren left for me. 'The Art of War', 'Aurelius' Meditations', '33 Strategies of War'… well we definitely know what sort of person he was. Nothing remotely entertaining. Just informative reads. I got to reading Sun Tzu's writings, seeing it as a good first step to really learning the tricks of the trade in regard to leadership and combat tactics. After a bit of reading, I stripped my armor and weapons off, and laid them on the chest that sat in front of the bed. I wanted them ready in case of any emergencies that may happen. Now to figure out if Aria had gotten control of Omega yet… I assumed that she had, but I definitely wasn't sure of that fact. If it was still the Patriarch, then things might be kinda funky. He was an unknown in my book. I had no real intel for how he was before Aria took over. Though I think the year would state that Aria is in control. Instead of thinking about it, I decided that getting some shut-eye was the best course of action.

A/N

Well that's the first chapter. Give me honest opinions. Was it good? Decent? Trash? I'll take it all and use that to try and fix everything up as well as I can.