A/N: Well, uhh… Hello there, fellow reader! I'm Dzugh, and this is my first attempt at an SI, or even fanfic in general. What inspired me to write this were SI's of such great quality as Herr Wozzeck's Mass Vexations, iNf3ctioNZ's Masses to Masses and DelVarO's Massed Up – All of which are great fics and if you haven't read them yet, you most certainly should. I can merely hope that this will score anywhere near that quality.
Anyway, now that the introductions are out of the way, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing, and I hope that my actual fanfic is better than my Author's Notes!
Prologue
As my mind slowly finds its way back into consciousness, I find myself hit by one thing and one thing alone: A massive headache.
Damn it! I knew I shouldn't have drank that much whiskey last night! I mean, true, it was my best friend's birthday, and he did challenge me to a drinking game, but I can see clearly now that accepting that challenge was a huge, hangover-bringing mistake. Now, if only I could've seen that last night…
Wait a second… As numbness finally starts leaving my body, I can clearly sense that I'm lying on the floor, except the texture is all wrong. As I grow more and more conscious by the second, I realize that this is some sort of rock I'm lying on.
And I get that doesn't make any sense. My friends could be pretentious assholes sometimes, but driving me off God-knows-where and leaving there to rot was below them… Right?
As I finally find myself fully awake, I decide to open my eyes and see what's going on.
My eyes finally flash open and I'm greeted by the lovely sight of a red sky.
Now, this would somewhat make sense if it was dawn, but I can see the Sun right above me!
As I struggle to figure out what's going on, my nostrils are assaulted by an unwelcome smell. My head turns to face the apparent source of that smell. The sight that greets me is even less welcome than the smell.
I see another human, staring right back at me, with an almost accusing stare. Then I realize that half of his head is missing!
My head instinctively turns to the other side, as I'm absolutely terrified by the sight. What greets me there is hardly any better. Another butchered body. As my head continues to move, trying to inspect the environment, I'm greeted by one massacred body after another. I can hear some of them are still alive, some screaming in agony, while others merely sob while awaiting their fate.
This is the part where most of the people would scream out of fear. I on the other hand, don't. And that's because I'm too terrified.
Behind me I hear a deep, resounding voice speak:
"Think we should put them down? Their screams are starting to get on my nerves."
Another, similar voice replies:
"They're humans, Denerak. They deserve all they get. Besides, once the human Alliance forces get here, they'll be so distracted by the screaming that they won't even notice us…"
"Keep dreaming, Silan." – Denerak, apparently, says. – "Besides, the only good human is a dead human."
"Alright, you want to kill 'em? Kill 'em." – Silan replies with an annoyed voice, causing Denerak to, I presume, jump in joy. – "But I and the rest of the gang are staying here."
Then I hear a sound of someone jumping over something. I presume fortifications of some sort, followed by Denerak's reply:
"Fine, I'll have all the fun for myself!"
Several seconds later, I hear two strange-sounding gunshots and one of the screaming voices simply stops… Several seconds later another, then another and yet another. At this point I begin to, plain and simple, panic.
I know I have to get out of here, and my fight-or-flight chemicals enter the bloodstream.
Against my better judgment of playing dead, I quickly get up (or rather, stumble up) and begin to run for it.
"Hey guys!" – I hear Denerak's say. – "We've got a real live one here!"
I scan my surroundings, trying to find some cover, but besides a relatively small boulder, I see nothing. The boulder being my best chance, I run for it.
I run as fast as I can, first step – second step, one – two, one – two, one – two.
Then Denerak, presumably, begins to fire his gun at me. I can hear bullets hitting the ground around me, flying harmlessly past me, and still not hitting me. Thankfully, Denerak is one piss-poor marksman.
But then, I stumble on something, a rock I guess. I try to get back up as quickly as possible, but due to panic induced by Denerak's fire, that isn't easy.
And then, my luck finally runs out.
I hear one of the bullets make a… Squishy, for the lack of better terms, sound. I don't feel anything, but I'm afraid that he hit me, so I throw a quick glance at my legs. One of them is leaking a crimson liquid. I try to deny it for a moment, but I realize I was hit.
My struggle ceases as the painful sensation travels from my leg, overriding any attempts at moving. I simply collapse back at rocky surface, face first.
I ignore the additional wounds that have now appeared at my face, and attempt to crawl away, even though at this point I realize that it's pointless.
Several seconds later, I see a shadow stepping over me. A mere moment later, a powerful kick to the ribs sends me rolling onto my back. Though the Sun initially blinds me, the man's shadow soon rectifies that as he steps over me.
"So, this is the human who though he could get away?" – He asks in a mocking tone.
Then I see his face. And if none of this made any sense before, it certainly didn't now. I see a dark brown-red, four-eyed face of what I recognized was a batarian. With that, I'm left speechless.
"And the human can't speak?" – Denerak continues his monologue with fake disappointment. – "Shame, I would've liked to hear your screams before you died!"
As he raises his assault rifle towards me, a strange thought, condemning Denerak of hypocrisy, goes through my panicked mind.
Then I find myself staring down his assault rifle's barrel. And as I prepare for inevitable, I hear a gunshot and everything goes black.
Wait a second, I can still think. Why can I still think if I'm dead?
Then I hear a barrage of various gunshots open up, about a dozen joining them a few moments later. Some of them seem to be silenced by the heavy guns that open fire few moments later.
I open my eyes, to be greeted by the sight of… Three gunships from ME2? That's what they look like. They open fire on where I presume the batarian fortifications are.
I look around and see what appears to be a small mechanized unit of Alliance troopers and several Makos advancing, the Makos effectively providing cover and fire support for the infantry.
"They're breaking off!" – I hear the muffled voice of what I presume is an Alliance soldier.
Nearly as soon as he says that I can see a larger vehicle move up… Wait, is that one of those Grizzly tanks? The vehicle grinds to a halt, and the front hatch opens up, revealing a woman, in what is apparently a bit different version of the armor the rest of the soldiers have, she presumably being the commander of the forces.
I can see her raise her raise her left arm to her head, presumably activating some sort of communicator, as witnessed by the Makos breaking formation and apparently pursuing the retreating batarians.
"Spread out! Check for survivors!" – One of the soldiers orders just loud enough that I can hear him.
Then, looking back at my leg, I realize just how much I've bled.
"Hey! I'm here! I NEED HEEELP!" – I scream, half-fueled by agony I'm in, half-fueled by pure panic at the large poodle of blood that my left leg was in.
"We got a live one here!" – I hear the voice of a female soldier who is closest of them to me. As she rushes to help me, I can see the commander disembark her Grizzly, and I don't know if it is due to loss of blood, but I'm sure I saw that figure somewhere…
I see the soldier who spotted me earlier above me. She speaks up:
"He's alive, but bleeding badly." – She reports into her communicator. – "I don't think I have enough medigel to stabilize him, Lieutenant!"
In the distance I can see the commander tap her communicator again, and I hear a reply coming from the soldier's own comm. unit:
"I'll be there in a second, Ramirez!"
However, I can feel my consciousness slipping away already… Damn, headache aside, I actually feel like sleeping… Yes, a little nap won't kill me…
However, soon it becomes evident that the soldier won't have any of that. She slaps me so hard that any thoughts about sleeping mysteriously vanish from my mind.
"Stay awake!" – She orders. – "I am not loosing another civvie today!"
As I'm in no position to negotiate, I simply grunt in acknowledgement. Damn it, there were nicer ways of saying that! Those critical thoughts are lost, however, when I see the Lieutenant towering above me.
"How bad is it?" – The Lieutenant asks in an awfully familiar voice.
"The wound itself is treatable, but he's lost a lot of blood." – The soldier called Ramirez replied.
The Lieutenant turns to me and asks:"What's your name?"
I must admit that I'm a bit startled by the question, so it takes several seconds to blurt out my response: "S… Sergei."
"Okay Sergei," – She replies, her voice emotionless and helmet concealing any expression. – "I need you to stay calm."
She opens up her omni-tool, presumably to apply some medigel. I have little choice but to try staying calm. Suddenly, I feel a cold, tingling sensation over my wound.
"That should keep you stable until help arrives." – The Lieutenant answers my unasked question.
At the edge of my sight I can see a third soldier approach.
"Lieutenant, Major Kyle's requesting a SITREP!" – He informs quickly.
Lieutenant sighs, and brings her left hand back to her comm. unit.
"Major, this is Lieutenant Shepard. Do you read me?" – The Lieu… Wait, holy shit… Did she just say Shepard? That's why the voice was familiar!
As Shepard starts leaving I can hear her muttering off the situation, but I'm too shocked by this revelation to care… Or come to think of it, by the fact that I'm… Wherever here is.
Ramirez must've seen the worry and confusion on my face, as she said:
"Don't worry; you're going to be just fine."
I don't say anything. I'm far too tiered and far too confused by all of this to do so.
"Look, we can't stay here and keep protecting you civvies, the Brass wants batarians off Torfan by nightfall." – She explains, leaving me to contemplate what this could mean for me. – "Don't worry, though, we're sending several transports to pick you up. You're gonna to be just fine."
With that she starts to leave, leaving me alone once more. I turn to see the Alliance forces reorganizing, presumably to push the enemy further. At least I knew I was on Torfan.
As consciousness starts to drain away from me once more, I can hear the rumbling of the returning Makos, and soon afterwards the sound of the Alliance unit moving out.
As the world turns to black, I am left to wonder: What am I going to do?
A/N: And there you have it, the first chapter. I hope it didn't come of as too bad. The next chapter should come out soon enough, if life doesn't choose to intervene.
