Hey there everyone. Hope you enjoy this series I,m making, I will be inserting myself and a few OCs' into The Mass Effect Universe. Hope you all enjoy
-Fool
(Character Inserts)
-Zachary Smith(My insert)
Justin Maverick (My Friend Blayzer Raylock)
-James Pearson
-Lewis Itsuyu
Chapter 1: With Friends like these?
"No, I was pretty sure that there was no Yellow ending" I said over the phone to Lewis "dude, I didn't like the endings any better than you did" I sighed as Lewis thanked me and hung up. I beat the Mass Effect's third game in the Trilogy for the millionth time now and sighed. Me and my Friends are gamers, Me being the largest, although we aren't the most likely of the stereotype. James and Lewis would be coming over tomorrow morning to get ready for our annual celebration. What are we Celebrating? The day we became friends in High School. I went into the shower and turned on the hot water, Damn, Its really been awhile, I can't believe we all graduated already.
I undressed and got into the shower, The hot water did me good as I leaned back towards the Tiled wall of the shower. I lived alone, No parents to speak of for the longest time. My parents were a Rich Couple who lead the leading developments in Science. My Mom had died at childbirth, so I grew up with my dad. He died of unknown circumstances when I was going into High school. The funeral was short-lived, and I went on with my life. I had my parent's money because they left it to me, I honestly didn't want the damned account, and I met my two friends the first day. four years later hear we are, graduated and still friends. I sighed as the water came over me, I didn't care if I spent an hour in the shower, I felt relaxed.
Cleaning up and getting done, I got out of the shower and dried off. I sighed at my own reflection on the mirror. I looked more like a Linebacker than a Gamer. I hated sports, but I loved to do martial arts(No, I don't consider that a sport), and I do Gym stuff. I had a military issue buzz cut, or so James called it, and the purest gold of amber eyes. I was Caucasian, with black hair. I had a firm jaw, and a mass of muscle on my person. After Dad died, I had started up martial arts and going to the gym nonstop, developing a body builder profile in the years. I got dressed, Choosing some Jeans and a muscle shirt and headed for the bed. It really didn't take long to hit the sack as I fell asleep minutes later.
Dreams are a fickle thing in my opinion. It could be anything, and you usually wake up from it remembering almost nothing in detail, but that night, the dream will be burned into my consciousness for the rest of my life. It started as I dreamed about the stars, A mass of darkness with white dots everywhere. Its so eerie and hollow that you feel the vastness of space just by looking at them. This time i was Lucid Dreaming, Aware of my dreaming state, but somehow I was unable to change the scenery. "What the Hell?" I asked myself as I looked around for anything but stars and space. then it went by me, A comet the size of a marble, Leaving a long streak of white behind. That made me surprised, it was in so much detail, contrasted with the background.
The voice was the first thing that I had heard in the dream "We are sorry, but we need you. You and your friends are the only thing that stands between The reapers in the Galaxy. Shepard will need you, we are sorry we could not ask first" the voice was ringing inside my head, as The whole entirety of my dream collapsed into darkness, then I slept, with no dreams the night.
Eden Prime, 2183
I woke up, groggy and In a weird position. I was not, in my bed, I was lying on metal, I moved to get up, only to kick someone in the head by accident "Ow, dammit" The voice I recognized, It was Lewis, I quickly stood up, Noticing I was in my Tennis shoes, Lewis and James were on the floor near my, I groaned and stretched "I swear, when I figure out who did that... Wait, Where the hell am I!" It was funny seeing Lewis yell. He was a Japanese-American, and had one hell of a mind. He and James stood.
"Where the hell are we?" that was James, A Hispanic with an attitude. I frowned and found a wall, searching it for a door. The room was soundproof, so I couldn't hear anything outside, once i found the door frame, a Hologram appeared, making me jump. It looked so familiar that I we all knew what it was.
"That's, a Mass Effect door isn't It?" A voice asked. I found the light switch and flipped it. We were in an Storage area by the looks of it, There were boxes everywhere. The Names on them were ours as well. The guy there was another Asian like our Lewis, except with short Crew Cut style Black Hair, a darker cream shade of skin. His eyes were Brown. Plump cheeks, a round head. He looked Chinese Spanish. His voice was Lower and more rich.
"Who the fuck just sent us here, because I would kiss them" I said and jumped for joy. James and Lewis soon got out of their shock and looked at each other with a smile.
The boxes held A lot of stuff. Ranging from rations to Omnitools. We each put ours on and they flared to life. There was a short sequence of calibrating, and then a Letter Icon appeared on it. It read as followed:
"Times are dire and you all were called upon. We did not anticipate the need, but please be careful with what you do, we can not determine what you could change with a world of your knowledge. Just being here will effect the universe. Good luck and we will be watching you. Do not die, we have given you each a large bank account connected to your Omnitool, The credit Chit will be on your armor. Hurry.'
-A Friend
We found the Armor first, It was pretty ordinary, but could be Customized later if we chose to, It was just the color of steel, but it felt good to have on. While getting the armor on, Lewis made a noise "what?" I asked, only to see that he was glowing with an all too known biotic flare.
"They Gave us Implants? That is so cool. Oh... I should Introduce myself, 'I'm Justin Maverick" the other guy said.
"No, that's just creepy dude, and Nice to meet you Justin" That was James, who also figured out how to flare his new biotics.
"Stop complaining, are we on The Citadel, or somewhere else?" we each grabbed a pistol, Justin took the sniper, Lewis grabbed a Sub-machine gun, I took the Shotgun, and James grabbed an assault rifle. I activated the door mechanism to open the doors, outside was a very familiar sight "Damn, Its Eden Prime, That means the Beacon and Saren... And Nihlus" We didn't see Sovereign or Geth, so we were early. It was planning time, so we started devising strategies, and came up with what to do.
When The Reaper Sovereign tagged down out of the clouds, we got into position. I came down to the Docks and slipped into the shadows, Justin got into a building that overlooked the Area, Lewis and James went straight for the Tram area. I was going to make sure that Nihlus didn't die and that Shepard never had to deal with the Beacon's Images, I would do it. I knew there was a chance it would break my mind, but I knew more about how it would help the crew.
Soon Nihlus Was there, In the Flesh, Black carapace and white markings, and then Saren, The fucked up looking Turian that looked like he was learning from the Terminators. Turians were not like how they looked in the game, Graphics do no justice to the real thing. I had a program I developed most of the time waiting. It was simple, and what was better, I had An Omnitool set up on the other hand with the Armor. Both supporting a Mass Fabricator, instead of a mini fabricator, It was a larger block, but it was better. Omnitool flaring with my senses, as soon as Nihlus turned his back, I ran for them as the pistol shot rang.
"What... NO!" That was Saren, as My shield held a bullet in it. IT was a small sliver seeing as mass accelerated fire arms only require slivers to shoot. It sent a large crack on the shield, Saren made a break for it, Running. My shield came down and I slumped for a Turian I had wanted to save since first playing the game was alive and well now, Just shocked. I smiled and Cheered.
"That was... Saren almost killed me..." the Turian just sat on the ground and put his hands around his armored knees "I can't believe it" He was in some seriously bad shock, I knelt down to him, trying to calm him down when Shepard, Kaiden, Jenkins, Ashley, and Lewis run up to see me trying to comfort the Turian. I sighed and picked the Turian up. Heavy, but I managed to bridal style him.
"The Famous Commander Shepard, Its good to see you, This isn't the best time, A guy named Saren Just tried to shoot this guy, I heard their conversation and helped him out, He needs Medical attention, He's gone into mental shock" Kaiden and Jenkins went to some supplies and Made a stretcher, And I set The Turian on the said stretcher. when they had set him up right, they carted him off.
Commander Shepard, It was a Male Shepard, His kind gaze with Blue eyes looked at the Turian being hauled off to a Drop Off Zone to get to Chakwas, he looked sorrowful, Paragon definitely. I frowned and looked at him "I guess your here for the beacon? Its over there" He walked over to the docks and there it was. Saren must have used it when he ran from Nihlus and left. Ashley walked up to it and was caught in a barrier, Shepard pushed her. Being an Idiot, I pushed Shepard. It felt as if I was stuck in water, but couldn't move. Then My brain froze. Images, Feelings, Sensory Overload was the best description as I lost Consciousness, Falling to the ground. James and Lewis already would have known what happened. But I dreamed only of one thing the entire time, Protheans.
SSV Normandy, 2183
My had was killing me as I sat up on the Med-bay. When my memories flooded me of what happened I snapped awake. There, Stood Karrin Chakwas, The Medic herself. I sighed and stood up, Although she had a scowl at my attempt, she made no move to stop me. "You have been out for a whole day. Shepard will be here... Ah, there you are" she said as the doors opened and Shepard walked in "He's doing fine commander, I'll give you two some privacy, but I still haven't run any medical diagnostics on any one of them, I will require that soon" With that, she walked out of the room post haste.
He stared at me for the longest time. Creepy as it was, He sighed and frowned "Not one of you three even showed up on any Identification system. You guys saved a lot of people, but no one knows who to think, right, Nihlus?" The Turian walked in, out of his armor and into some more Comfortable cloths.
"You saved my life when I didn't even know it needed saving. Your timing will be appreciated. I'm sorry you had to see a Turian Spectre in such a bad spot. I guess I'm getting old" he said. He didn't look old, but arguing seemed pointless.
"Your Omnitool was also impossible to access so we don't even know the first thing about you. Your friends refused to do anything until you woke up, so now here we are."
"Who are you so we can thank you properly?" Another fucking Legend's voice asked. Admiral Anderson, In the flesh "I don't care if you aren't in the system of anyone's."
My story, I thought about that for a minute "My Name is Zachary Smith. My friends and I... We escaped from Cerberus Months ago. We were fucking pawns for the Illusive man for years. He wiped out our names from everything, and we were non the wiser. I'm not ever going to forgive that fucking twisted bastard. Before we broke out. I had seen a lot of stuff he did. I have a lot of information the Alliance could use. but I want to work on this ship, the Normandy with my friends. This ship from what I saw was designed for dangerous things, and it could really be putting a spin in the galaxy as we no it. We came here, because we figured out about a shakedown run and came here on piggyback from a generous person. I swiped a lot of Cerberus Funds as well. I... I'm Rambling. I'm sorry" No one can say I am not a good liar, but this wasn't a bad lie at all.
Anderson sighed at the story "Okay, We will upload your bio-metrics into the Alliance Archives as new recruits. With Saren on the loose, we are heading towards the Council to inform them of the situation. You will be positioned on the normandy, and you are going to be watched until we are sure you can be trusted. First things first though. There was a beacon. What did you see?"
Okay, now was the hard part, What to do about that "Well it was pretty clear about segements and vauge about everything else. The Protheans did not die in a civil war, they were Harvested and killed. There were these robots shaped like Insectoids, Giants, and Saren has one of them. His Flagship Sovereign, Is a Reaper. I also have a lot of stuff going on in my head. jumbling it out might take some time" what he told them Shocked them to no end. I sighed and leaned on the wall.
"I believe him" That was Nihlus "Saren always wanted me to step into that fucking Ship of his. And went nuts when I always refused. I had a bad feeling in my Gizzard, and now I knew I was right" he said.
Shepard nodded towards Nihlus "He doesn't seem to look like he's making this up, so we will go over this once now. Zachary, What is Cerberus exactly. We know its a Pro Human Organization, Classified Funding. We just don't know a thing about them"
"They are a bunch of insane people, that's what" I said "They were behind the Thresher Attack on Akuze" Shepard looked pissed, Definitely not A sole survivor Shepard "Cerberus was experimenting with the squad there. I don't really know why though. I also know that They are fucking Hypocrites. I'm really close to a lot of stuff. I bagged a lot of Info I still haven't decoded yet. I swear I'll try to give updates as fast as I can." It was the best thing to get them believing. The tension finally disappeared from the room and everyone left, but Shepard. He was Calm the whole time. Paragon Shepard was my favorite, trying to stop everything unnecessary.
He smiled "Come on, We will go see if we can't find your friends and Get you all some gear. We're heading towards the citadel... What?" he asked, as I started laughing to myself.
"Its not you. When we get on the citadel, I have a lot to do, I'll leave the council to you. I've actually figured out something and will get us some support" I said, Knowing full well what to do "I'll meet you at... say The market place when we get there." Shepard nodded without a second thought as we headed to find my fiends, and Justin.
We found them at the cockpit taking to joker. He wasn't much of a talker in the first game, but it seems we changed that. They were cracking jokes. Justin was leaning against the wall outside, Just listening. He seemed okay. He just felt distant towards everything. I frowned and walked over "Hey Justin, Cool ship, huh?" I tried being nice, but he still shot it down.
"Yeah, but we aren't friends, Maybe one day, but no. I'd rather be left alone right now" he said. I told him what Shepard wanted and got the others. His face lit up for a fraction of a second before disappearing. He didn't talk so I told the goofballs we were going to the Citadel. They freaked at both the news and at me being Okay, James and Lewis snatched me away to a more private area. It was not a good sign.
"I won't even begin on what could have changed from taking the beacon" Lewis said sternly. I was never going to live this down. "But you seemed to pull through as usual, And honestly, I think we need our art specialist here to design our custom gear, bound to have come up in your head eventually" he said and it was unanimous, we were going to design holo's of custom gear, and have enough to get it "Lets get started then, our most awesome Artist" he told me, I never mentioned I was a great artist, did I?
Citadel, 2183
Well, again the games gave no justice to anything. Humans were more diverse in the game, Turians looked more like the badasses than I could ever think of, Shepard was awesome. We were alone again, and Lewis was raising an eye at me "Your serious?" he asked. I grinned, finally finished the holograms and set them aside before we docked on the Normandy. I leaned back and sighed. Time to go about one of the more annoying things in my opinion, getting Garrus, Tali, and... Wrex.
Lewis and James know I have a large love for the Krogan Battlemaster, but I don't know if risking it with something that could easily kill me was a good idea, In the end, I just decided to fuck logic, and was planning on trying it anyway. As I exited the Normandy, Shepard, Kaiden, and Ashley left. Me, Lewis, James, Even Jason decided to tag along. I asked him earlier about the armor thing and he did his own designs verbally while I created it, A real knack for detail, that one.
As I walked around the marketplace, I did find the Custom Store eventually. I messaged them and we went inside. There, In the market place of the presidium, was a krogan there, Owning a shop. Did I mention that the games did no justice, well now the krogan were more hulking than I ever imagined. Yup, definitely going after Wrex, even if it meant a one way ticket to the Med-bay. Stopping for a minute, I was mindfucked. Surprise fading, he looked at us "Ah more potential customers. Welcome. I am pleased to meet you, My name is Darrak. Please, what can I do for you today." Happy Krogan like that are insane Krogan, so he must love his job.
After filling in the details of all of our stuff, His glee for new toys was eminent. I would have laughed, if I knew I would survive the ordeal. He looked up from his screen and said "The price will be 99,800 credits each, an additional 4,000 for your weapons. I gave each of you a 200 credit discount for no questions and for interesting designs. I would probably hire you if I didn't already think you were in the middle of something big. And I know you didn't ask what a Krogan was doing on the Presidium, but I will tell you. I'm probably the only Krogan to fight his own against the rebellions. I'm not proud of it, but we were idiots for not listening to the females. Some things just spiraled out of control"
Never seen an emotional Krogan that wasn't spewing poetry for a girl. Hopefully more will show up. "It will take a few hours actually, thanks to your designs, I can easily get these together faster. if you'd give me a way of sending your omnitool a message, It would make it infinitely more easier." I did, and he nodded.
Hours later at the food market, I was starving. It was close to the market district as well. While chowing down on some food, I got a call on my Earpiece, It was Shepard "Zach, the council has acknowledged Saren's betrayal, and although they are sketchy, they will for the time being, accept the Reapers, although they'll keep searching for another explanation by the looks of things, we have a fragile wall here. I might be delayed on the meeting as well, Got a lot to do, Find our potential recruits yet?"
"No, I haven't found them, but the plans changed. There is a Turian, Garrus Vakarian, I hear he was on Saren's case. There is also a Quarian, who was seeking refuge from the shadow broker in exchange for info on Saren. The guy, Fist, I heard he betrayed the shadow broker, so she's in trouble soon, and there is a Krogan Battlemaster that is after Fist, So that's the potential recruits for you"
He whistled at that "Isn't that something, your good at information gathering. I'm pinned down here with regularity things, so its up to you guys, I wish you luck." he shut off the comm link, and I get a message on my omnitool, Everything's ready.
Turns out, the Krogan did his job way too well. The armor was a perfect fit. He grinned at his handiwork and leans back smugly onto a wall. Okay so a run down of how we did our armor and custom weapons I guess. I honestly am a real sifi fan when I design my armor. I used points from a lot of them. Mass effect, Halo, Dead space, Crysis, and a fair few more.
My helmet was designed to look like the one on Crysis 3. Most of the armor was like its weave on the inside, but inspired plating of DS, ME, and Halo fitted all over it with a custom feel. The others were awesome as well, Lewis went all Killzone assassin, James had a whole biotic setup going there. His Visor and it was built for more flexibility than a tight-suit, hehe, one can joke if they want to. in the end, it was Justin that had everyone's attention. He designed the fucking armor from Vanquish. I wasn't even that much of a fan and even I was a bit solemn from it. out of all of us I was the only to build some custom weapons, two of them. I built the FF13 gun-blade, and a fucking shit ton of spikes, pretty thick at the end, but go into a sickening spike. I was going to enjoy them as I stuck them Into the bag i had since we woke up in that room on Eden Prime. There were twenty five in total, each holding about 100 spikes so about 2,500 spikes. He gave me a licence for further business and we were out. I headed to C-Sec, James to the Medical clinic in the wards, and finally Lewis and Justin went for the alleyways in the wards. Time to find some people.
As the elevator stopped, I was looking outside of it and I saw him. I had my helmet in my backpack , but it would have gone crashing to the floor if I had been holding it. The strongest Krogan ever, is right there, pissed at C-sec. I rang Shepard and he was ready for a video chat. Walking up to him, he looked my way with those red eyes. His voice was low, but his low tone made him sound eviler than I know him to be "Not afraid to talk to the Big, Nasty Krogan currently being harassed by C-sec, Your an idiot then. What do you want."
"I came because Commander Shepard is looking for recruits to stop the rogue spectre Saren, and I also heard you have something against a guy named Fist." He was passively blank the whole time, mulling it over. He grunted and hefted a hand
I shook it, and his grip was iron. My response grip made him grin widely "Good to see a more lively Human. You have a quad from what I've seen so why the hell not. Fist though, Is mine" he said. I nodded and we were walking out when a guard stopped me. I dialed up Shepard and we were free to go. Awesome.
Half an hour later we all were outside Chora's Den, Garrus and Tali were there, recently recruited for this band of misfits that was the Normandy Crew. I reached into where a heavy weapon is and grabbed the handle that unhooks from place in the long rectangle. Snapping it out of magnetic lock, I activated the mechanism, it flipped into a blade and looked fucking wicked. That got everyone's attention, I even had a box of needles on a spare ammo pouch. I was fucking ready to go. Using biotics, Me, my friends, and Justin, imagining a wall around us as Kaiden instructed, we threw up our biotic barriers. We had gotten some practice on them on the way during our perspective fights from Eden prime to present and some help from Kaiden. On shepherd's signal, we charged into the Bar.
There were the guards, and there were more than the game let on. One blasted at me, but my barrier was holding. He however, wasn't rigged for blades. I sliced him down the chest, and he fell. It just clicked as I spun and sliced another that was creeping up on me, I was going to have to kill people. Now, Kaiden had showed us earlier how to use basic biotics, but I already wanted to do something. Focusing on one Image, like how the barrier was rung up, I thought of a speeding bullet and drew a spike and I got behind cover. Biotics flared and now I used a mini mass accelerator and launched a needle into that Krogan bouncer's eye, spearing his brain. It wouldn't kill him outright, damn double nervous system. It effectively impaired him since I basically just preformed a Lobotomy from a distance. Wrex blasted him in the face and he was gone.
The fighting was over and we headed into the back. The four of us, me, Lewis, James, and Justin had just killed people. I pushed it to the back of my mind and sighed. I'll deal with that can of worms after we finished up here. Suddenly the beacon's visions went off in my mind. It wasn't inflicting pain on me or shoveling me with information on overload. It was like it was asking me. Later I thought and it was gone. Odd. James and Lewis looked mortified but they snapped out of it. No one here we fought were good people. Justin seemed to mull it over for a minute before hefting a sniper rifle one of them had and throwing away his shitty one. I flipped my sword into its gun. Wrex looked at it with an expression of amusement "A sword and gun in one, Impressive." he said.
Taking the compliment with a smile we charged into the backroom. There were some cargo workers, but shepard sent them away with a paragon sentence. Wrex mulled over them "Should have killed them, They might warn Fist" he said. I shook my head and he looked at me "Why would you leave them then?"
"They weren't bad people, just working for the wrong guy. those mercs knew their job perimeters, and they still went along with it. Now then, come on tall and dangerous, you have a contract to fulfill don't you?" Wrex's smile was odd. Everyone walked in but he stood there until I passed him.
His voice whispered in my ear "Flirting won't do anything yet, but I will think about it, Human, now then, come on, Fist isn't going to die by waiting patiently another few decades" he said. He hefted his shotgun and I had my gun-blade out, Loading a spike. I thought about retrieving my other one, but I didn't want to go digging around Krogan grey matter.
Fist as we opened the door ducked behind his desk as turrets appeared, but tali and Garrus blasted them with tech overload as Shepard and Wrex blasted them apart. The desk came open as another turret and I shot the turrets muzzle and it fired as my spike entered the barrel, blowing it up. I was an awesome shot that Claire Farron would approve. Whimpering, fist must have pissed himself as Shepard asked him to tell them were Saren is. He kept saying he didn't know. Shepard said he was going to let him live if he did tell them where Saren was. I stood next to Wrex knowing full well what was going to happen. I thought about changing it, but I looked away as Fist gave him information "I don't know the exact location, but I know a few things. There is a Quarian who has the Info, but my men would have had her... Oh..." Tali had just walked up to them, apparently salvaging the turrets
"Yeah, OH, you Bosh'tet, You sent me to die" Wrex apparently figured ti was time so he shot Fist in the face, blowing his head up. I sighed and looked at everyone. Shepard and the others were shocked, Except the four of us and Wrex.
Shepard whirled around "Don't do that to someone I promise I'll keep alive again, Clear?" His voice was shaded and Wrex stood up to his full height. Oh lord. Shepard made one more face, something that should never be on a Paragon. It was the total blank face that says 'I will kill you 200 different ways at once and you better like it. Wrex backed off with a huff, But I think Shepard got to him.
"It will never happen again, Shepard" he said. Damn one fraction of a second later he was chipper than a chipmunk at Garrus, apparently they were betting or something. Over what, I have no idea. Wrex... He kept turning out to be better than I ever thought he was. I sighed and leaned back. This was going to be a long few years.
Normandy Docking Bay, 2183
We had our missions. Artemis Tau cluster, Noveria, and Feros. Justin, James, Lewis, and I were in the Med-bay doing a scanner. When it beeped, Chakwas had a darkened face "This can't be right, Joker?"
Intercom buzzed "Yes, Doctor Hacksaw?" he asked, apparently knowing about the Anagram joke "Is something wrong?"
She looked mad at the name but continued "Send up Commander Shepard, Kaiden, and Wrex. There is something they need to see on this scanner of our new human crew-mates. It is of the utmost importance"
That gave me a bad feeling in my gut. Shepard and the only two biotics on here came in and Chakwas opened up her omnitool showing all four of our scans. Shock fled through my body and My bones chilled. Holy Fucking Crap.
I need a drink, because We were swimming with Element Zero and in our necks were these growths, I would guess Organic Biotic Amps. "Fucking Cerberus, I didn't even want to talk about their experiments on us. The Illusive man will pay" Honestly, I can remember my Lies, but Either way, The Illusive man will pay, personal or not. He was an insane being that gave humans the worst name possible. Too bad there isn't a bar on this Normandy.
Well, That was the First episode of Broker of Light. Please, feedback would be awesome for my first story. I may also need a beta reader since I will on mess up spelling. Hoped you enjoyed this Pilot chapter, and will enjoy all that is to come.
-Fool
