I don't own Mass Effect, which is regrettable.

Another Realm: Rōnin

In memoriam.

Prologue: Departures

Date: 08-27-2181

Journal Entry 1: Cieran Kean

(Liberated by Trena T'laria)

Voya says that I should keep writing crap like this down, that it helps clear my mind. Personally I don't think it helps all that much, but I like not having knives sticking out of my body.. so here we fucking go again. (She would stab his ass too. Fucking tides damned crazy bitch).

Since I lost my last journal, or because a certain scaled creature stole it, quick review. (No Comment)

Near the end of March in 2015, I passed out in a hotel in upstate New York and woke up in a suburb of Nos Astra on Illium in 2180. Awaiting me was a medical condition, a mysterious Matriarch, and the news that I was apparently just the prototype to make sure that she could drag her Chosen One to this galaxy.

Yeah, shit was complicated. And it only got worse.(Understatement of the goddess damned year)

Still.. there were some good points. I met Trena T'laria, a short little tit of an Asari who still managed to become my best friend. And you know, teach me things like how to work an omni-tool, build armor out of scrap metal, get over killing people. You know, things that I'd need just to survive on Illium. (Not the most flattering description of myself, I have to say. Could have at least mentioned that I have a decent rack.)

I also met Xerol Shaaryak and his family, apparently the only non-exiled Batarian Highbornes to be found outside of the Hegemony. Well.. now they they weren't. At one point he had been exiled, then did enough crap to be welcomed back. Him, his niece, and two of his cousins at least. (He made them a small ocean of money.)

His brother and sister in law weren't so lucky. See, they'd joined the Blue Suns and come up with some convoluted scheme to sell out the Suns to the Hegemony. The part they fucked up was that they also wanted their daughter, who was living with Xerol as his heir, to sell her off to some highborn warrior family for political points.

Said daughter, Nynsi, and I got rather.. close. Yes, I know she's a Batarian and I'm a human. We made it work. For a while. Getting ahead of myself, have an issue with that. Anyways, long story short: Gang war backed by her parents broke out, I killed Nynsi's mother in the middle of a fight, her dad had Xerol killed, tried to kill Sederis, I smashed his head into a wall. While I was wearing power armor. (Yeah. The blood smear was rather impressive, and definitely have to give the ape style points for getting everyone's attention before he did it.)

In the end, Nynsi ended up as the new head of the family, and I was her Harath'krem. Basically a combination of her adviser and bodyguard. And for a while things were.. pretty good. Trena ran security, we made a few pretty good friends amongst the staff.. probably the best few months of my life. (Self-centered ass didn't even mention that I found my bondmate in that timeframe. Ass.)

And then the Hegemony got fucking involved.

You see, after I'd killed Chacksin ul Shaarayk, his omni-tool had gotten stuck in my armor. Matriarch Aethyta (my sometime boss) and Nynsi put their heads together and came up with a plan to keep the True Son gang and Blue Sun mercs off of us in a rather permanent fashion by releasing all of the Blue Suns information we had onto the extranet. Who they were cheating out of cash, who they were betraying, the works.

So yeah. We kind of started a war, one that the Hegemony felt like getting involved in.

We didn't really care until Balak, yes that Balak, got himself stuck on Korlus behind Blue Suns lines. Thanks to a whole lot of cultural bullshit, Nynsi got us involved in trying to rescue him. Which we did, at the low low cost of losing more than half of our security force, my armored exoskeleton.. oh, and I died. For just a few minutes, mind you, but my heart definitely stopped. (And I may have gotten sent a will telling me all this shit. And everything that he remembered about the 'games' that described what was coming. Might come. Shit. It was complicated.)

I missed a few months in my initial recovery, and things between Nyn and I improved a little bit. It helped that Balak was a complete and total asshole who did everything he could to alienate her. But we were living on a knife edge, with my lover being increasingly torn. On one hand, she had a lot of cultural pressure saying that she should be Nynsi Shaaryak, Matriarch of her family.. and me, wanting her to stay as Nyn Shaaryak, free living heiress. (Huh. Never thought about that Bitch like separate people.. shit. That explains a lot. Dammit ape, why do you always fall for the broken ones.)

Since my life can't be easy, you can guess which half won. I didn't exactly help, crossing a few cultural lines.. though her own stress led to Nynsi blowing up in ways that I hadn't expected at the time. I was on thin ice with orders to keep Balak's people alive in one of her hotels. Confident that they'd be fine, I went off with Trena to help the Eclipse boot out the remaining True Sons. (Athame's fucking ass.. really wish he'd stop blaming himself for that crap.)

By the time we got back, all of the crew were dead, and the hotel's staff had been tortured to death.

After that.. well, Nynsi kicked me out as you'd expect, naming me Reyja'krem. Loosely, Exiled Warrior. I'm still technically a member of the Batarian highborn caste but I don't have any of the legal protection a Harath'krem would. Essentially I'm a lordless, landless medieval knight. Trena, her new bondmate, and some of our friends left with me (or got kicked out after), and we all ended up in a Republic Intelligence safehouse. I'm a little ashamed to admit that I fell into a depressed, alcoholic haze for a few weeks before Scales beat the crap out of me. (Asshole got a few hits in of his own once I got him pissed)

Once I was back in my right mind, Aethyta brought me in to confirm her own theories. We had two groups who might have done it.. the Hegemony was definitely ruthless enough to kill their own people, though the why was illusive. The other option was the Blue Suns, taking out whoever they could as their last strongholds began to fall.

Now, I'm not a galactic badass or anything close to it. But I'm a decent enough engineer, and so Aethyta left a spot open for me. I'd support the Intelligence team going to Omega to investigate the True Sons and Blue Suns (They'd be disguised as a mercenary team). While I was doing that, Trena and her newly pregnant bondmate would be staying on Illium to support the group looking into the Hegemony angle. (We were very, very drunk all right?)

Shit... just writing the crap about the hotel.. need a damned drink again. I'll come back to this later. (Somehow I doubt it. And again with the damned drinking.)

To: The alien woman who would kill me and wear my skin as a cloak if I didn't write this.

From: Cieran Kean (The Ape)

Annotated and shit: Trena T'laria (The awesome Asari)

Dramatis Personae – Original Characters

The Omega Team

Cieran Kean – The protagonist and unwilling dimensional traveler, Cieran is roughly six feet tall and built like a rail. Green eyed, his brown hair extends well past his shoulders and is typically tied back, also has a long goatee. Still recovering from severe injuries suffered in the Battle of Korlus, he tries to compensate for his average combat skills with heavy usage of technology.

Rane'li – An exiled Batarian lowborn, she is a former communications specialist forced into a combat role after the Shaaryak security forces were decimated. Like most Batarian females is very built and relatively tall, and has copper toned skin. Is currently going out with Cieran Kean.

Illyan T'Donna – A truly massive Asari in terms of both height (six and a half feet) and strength, served as a mechanic at the Shaaryak estate until her firing. While capable in a fight, her limited biotics force her to rely more on weaponry than most of her species.

Trisren – One of Aethyta's spies, she is of above average height, and thin for an Asari. Chosen to lead the Omega mercenary team. While friendly, she takes her job extremely seriously and is determined to make sure that her people are prepared.

Illium

Trena T'laria – Cieran's best friend, a short, stocky Asari from Illium. Her dark blue skin lacks any markings. Formerly an Eclipse sister, she owes Jona Sederis for events in her past. Currently in possession of a will detailing the events of the Mass Effect games, she is holding onto the data until she can either disprove Cieran's origins or Eden Prime occurs.

Ghai T'laria – Formerly Xerol Shaaryak's Harath'krem, a pale blue Asari of average height and build. Suffered severe injuries in battle that have left her with limited biotics and a ruined voice, but has begun to show hidden depths. Bonded to Trena T'laria, she is pregnant with their first child.

Erana T'Donna – Illyan's younger sister, has yet to reach her first century and is still growing. Regards Cieran, Trena, and Ghai as surrogate parents given her father's death and mother's failure as a guardian.

Captain Shera Vasir – Younger sister to Spectre Tela Vasir, she is of similar appearance though has a noticeably warmer voice. A highly competent I-Sec Captain, was 'exiled' to oversee Khar'shan Minor for caring more about her job than pleasing Illium's Executive Board. Works closely with Matriarch Aethyta.

Nynsi Shaaryak – Head of the Shaaryak Highborn family, and the only such individual outside of the Hegemony after the death of her uncle and cousins. She has teal skin and a biting wit, though the stress of her new position has pushed her more towards cold formality. Cieran's former lover, she is an absolutely lethal shot with her pistols.

Antagonists

The Matriarch – The mysterious Asari who first brought Cieran to the Mass Effect universe. Has not been seen in over a year and her motives remain unknown. Evidence has been accrued that Cieran was not her only 'experiment', and that as many as ten other humans were brought before him only to be killed (either by the process or for unknown reasons after).

Adan Krom – A human assassin hired by the True Sons, is wanted by Jona Sederis for attempting to kill her mind healer. Enjoys psychological games with his targets, but is highly adept at escaping even when apparently cornered. Believed to be on Omega.

Next up is Prologue 1: The Brawl

So.. here we go again. This chapter's not much more than a short, intro blurb to give everyone a quick refresh.. and maybe taunt my old readers a bit with a few teasing things. Again Kudos to the Blocked Writer for continuing to act as my beta, keeping me on my outline, and helping to find the errors that I miss. This story is outlined at forty chapters, divided into a prologue, three main acts, and an epilogue so expect it to be roughly on par with AR: Arrival in terms of length.

The current release plan is Tuesday and Friday mornings. As I do have six chapters complete and ready to go, I'm going to do what I did at the end of Terminus. Until I run out of chapters that are done, any chapter that gets 12 or more reviews will see the next chapter posted the following day, while still having the planned post on the scheduled day. Once I'm out of finished chaps, will do my damnedest to stay on that schedule. In any situation where I get chapters done early, the same rule will always be in affect.

As this is more of an intro than a proper chapter, expect the actual Chapter 1 tomorrow morning when I wake up.

Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."

Thanks, Kat