Blinding light surrounded me when I opened my eyes. I was… exactly where I expected to be.

I was in a coffin-like structure, surrounded by asari.

Now… You know how there's that scary movie where you KNOW there's gonna be a jump-scare coming up, but you still jump?

It was like that.

I thought I was mentally prepared to see REAL asari around me, but apparently I wasn't quite as prepared as I thought I was.

I reflexively brought up my hands to my face.

Bad move.

I felt like my whole body was completing a galaxy-sized circuit. A biotic field blasted everyone back about 10 feet. It was a blackish-green field. And it came from me.

Oops.

Two asari rolled up to their feet, bringing Disciple shotguns to bear.

Very bad. VERY bad.

I was immediately getting off on the wrong foot. I had two choices now:

I could fight two probably HIGHLY trained asari commandos.

Or

I could completely improvise and go off-script.

I elected for option 2.

I'm playing a person who's been in stasis for millennia. Act confused, scared, and disoriented!

Sending up a silent thanks to Ms. Becky and all my other acting teachers, I rolled left (away from the shotgun-wielding asari). I started to run for the corner, but then collapsed, tripping over my own feet.

Way to be a klutz, Kevin…

It's ok, Javik was weak too when he first got out of stasis in the From Ashes DLC. Pretend to be weak! It's better than admitting I'm just clumsy, I guess.

I kept on trying to crawl towards the corner, propping myself up against the wall. The two asari came around the stasis chamber, still keeping me firmly in their sights.

Don't shoot, don't shoot…

In response to my fear, my biotics flared again, weakly.

A green and white-clad asari threw herself (or itself, I guess? I never got the whole 'non-gender' asari thing) between me and the two guards. She spoke very rapidly and insistently, but I couldn't understand a word of the language she was speaking.

Right. Need to meld to get the language. Added to the list of things to do.

My rescuer seemed to have authority, because the two guards lowered their guns. And then she turned around to face me.

And I looked for the first time into the face of Liara T'Soni, asari maiden and archeologist.

Her eyes as she looked down on me were full of pity and concern, but with a large amount of wonder and amazement behind them. She reached out a hand, slowly, as one would a wounded dog back on Earth. Which I guess was appropriate, given the circumstances.

"SPOON" she said slowly.

That took me by surprise. I hadn't expected to hear anything I could understand. But what in the world could that mean? But then I remembered: she's the leading expert on Prothean culture. She's probably trying to use Prothean words to communicate.

Oh yeah, I didn't tell you? I speak Prothean now (a gift from ol' Levi).

She put her other hand on her chest.

"FRIEND." Another Prothean word I guess she knew.

Playing the part of a much disoriented, very confused stasis-waker, I cocked my head to the side, as if I was trying to understand.

Then suddenly I reached out and grabbed her outstretched hand.

As Leviathan had taught me, I transferred to her mind a clip of the backstory Levi and I had constructed together.

*******************50,000 YEARS AGO********

"Triumph, order orbital defenses to target Reaper troop transports! We must stop enemy reinforcements from arriving!"

"Acknowledged"

"Ko'le, report!"

I swap out the power-source for my Prothean Particle Rifle. I stand to attention.

"Indoctrinated are overrunning the outward defenses. Inner lines of defense holding. All simulations predict the energy shield will block the stasis wards from any detection, Master."

Urush Robbidir, general of the Prothean Empire, stood on the Promenade, overlooking his fortress crumbling to Reaper attack. He was weary; his shoulders were slumped.

"Master?" I queried. "We must get you to your stasis chamber."

"Yes," he replied dejectedly. "I must go and hide in a box while my soldiers die in battle."

"They know why they fight," I replied. "They fight for the future of the Prothean Empire. They fight that their general might live to reestablish the reborn Prothean Empire. If we do not do this, their sacrifice will be forgotten, and there will be none to sing their name-songs in The Remembering."

He slowly looked up, his shoulders now proud and straight.

"Very well. Lead on."

We ran down the hallways…

"It is ready, Master."

I inputted the last of the VI command sub-routines. Urush looked at the chamber, and then at me.

"What of you, Ko'le?"

"I am a thrall, Master. I have no place in the Reborn Empire. I will take command in your name and fight off the Reapers as long as possible. When the detonators go off, the Reapers will believe that we committed suicide. They will be unable to detect the stasis wards through the rubble. You and rest of the Reborn will be safe."

Urush nodded, slowly.

"A good plan, Seneschal…a good plan."

A rush of pride went through my body at my master's compliment.

"I will see it done."

Before I can react to my master's comment, he whirled around, hypospray in hand. The paralytic injected into my neck, I slump over, completely helpless. Urash catches my falling body in his arms, and tenderly lays me in his own stasis chamber.

"It was a good plan, Ko'le. But without my body, the Reapers will never stop looking for me. When my lifeless corpse is found, it will confirm to the Reapers that the last Prothean stronghold has fallen. They will not bother to dig through the rubble, because there will be nothing left they seek."

He places a three-fingered hand on my cheek. I strain against my unwilling muscles, unable to even speak. Only my eyes betray the emotion I feel.

"You have served me well, faithful friend. You deserve a long life in the days of peace. Our scouts reported that your world had been completely passed over by the Reapers. Who knows? Perhaps when you awake, it will the Oomans traversing the Relays and dwelling on the Citadel."

He strides over to the console and taps the command key. The doors close, with the low hissing sound of the environmental seals engaging.

Urush walks over to the stasis chamber and looks at me through the glass. He places his hand against it, and I hear his muffled voice in the echoes of my steel prison.

"Live well, Ko'le of Terra. And know that Urush Robbidir loved thee..."

And all faded to darkness.

********** 50,000 YEARS LATER*******************

Liara reeled backwards, as did I. I hadn't expected it all to be so vivid; after all, they weren't even my memories, so to speak. But I was still experiencing all the emotions, all the vivid memories as if I had truly been there.

Which, the strictest sense, I had…but you get what I mean.

Man, time travel will mess with your head.

I took stock of my situation. Asari, Turian, and other Council races' languages and knowledge was now swimming around in my brain. While I had been showing Liara my little backstory, my brain had been assimilating her information and knowledge.

"By the Goddess…" Liara said, comepletely in awe.

"Ma'am? Doctor T'Soni, are you alright?" one of the other scientists asked.

"Say the word, doc, and I'll blast this mummy right back to the Hell he came from," said one of the guards.

"No…No," said Liara, wearily waving them off. "I'm alright. And so is he."

Ok… I can understand them. Time to see if they understand me…

"How. Many. Others?"

My voice was strange in my own ears, sounding harsh and grinding. Kinda like when I wake up and haven't had a drink of water yet.

Which I guess was exactly the problem, but instead of just 7-8 hours, I'd been asleep 50,000 years.

Everyone jumped at my words, including Liara. One of the other scientists, wearing a long white lab-coat, now came around the pod and knelt down to my eye-level.

"Take it easy," she said. "You've been in stasis a long time."

"HOW MANY OTHERS?" I insist.

Everyone looked at each other warily, no one really wanting to be the one to answer me, I guess.

"I see," I continued. "By your silence, I take it that… I'm the only one."

Miss Lab Coat nodded.

"I'm sorry."

"Not your fault," I said. I didn't have to try to look sad. Very real feelings of sorrow and loss were washing over me. I guess Levi did a really good job implanting those false memories into my brain. Either that or all the loss and shock from being transported from my world into a video game was catching up to me all at once. Choked sobs were escaping me, and tears were rolling down my face. Lab Coat reached out a hand and placed it on my shoulder. Liara turned to her in a panic.

"NO, Wait!"

She pulled back her hand, looking up at Liara with a panicked expression.

"I'm sorry, I was trying to…"

Liara now looked very confused.

"Did you… see anything?"

Now Miss Lab Coat looked confused.

"No…."

Liara was now the center of attention. She looked down, shyly and started playing with her hands.

I forgot how shy she was in ME1.

"I… saw… something… I'm not sure what… from the past…"

"You saw my past, Asari," I interject. Once again, everyone in the room jumps. "Forgive me, but I needed to know what had transpired since I entered stasis. I failed to take into account that your methods of communication might be more primitive than my own."

"Than his own? What the hell? He's a human! What the hell is he talking about? Are you telling me that the humans are the descendants of the Protheans?" This outburst came from one of the guards.

"Calm down!" a voice rang out. Everyone turned to the speaker. She was in a long, black, dress, concealing a very well-proportioned figure. Matriarch, I thought. She strode forward, her graceful gait exuding elegance and nobility. I pulled myself to my feet, with Lab Coat grabbing an arm to help. The Matriarch looked me up and down, and then calmly spoke.

"Let's start at the very beginning. Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

"Matriarch Alesia…" started Liara.

"Dr. T'Soni."Alesia's tone was one of finality and noncompliance. Liara stepped back, folding her hands in front of her.

I drew myself up, shaking the emotions from my cob-webbed mind as best I could.

"I am Ko'le, Seneschal of the Prothean Empire. You stand in the…" I looked around the room. Broken pillars and crumbled walls stretched out as far as the eyes could see. "…ruins of the Fortress of Urush."

Everyone looked up and around us, as if they were seeing the ruins for the first time. I continued, turning my gaze back to Liara.

"How long… has it been?"

Liara looked at me thoughtfully, then at the Matriarch, who nodded at her almost imperceptibly. She turned and answered.

"We're not sure, as our own understanding of your culture is somewhat limited. Near as we can tell… almost fifty thousand years…"

I leaned back against the wall. Liara took a step forward, instinctively grabbing my other arm. She then looked down at her hands and then at me, worriedly. I smiled, realizing her concern.

"I have already assimilated what I need of your knowledge, Asari. There is no further need of mind-sharing."

Liara smiled nervously.

"So that's how we can understand each other. It's similar to our own melds, but this was so much more vivid…"

"Captain Beyala, take our guest back to Base Camp," Alesia ordered. Captain Beyala, the asari who had been so keen on 'blowing me back to Hell', turned and saluted her, right hand over breastplate.

"Yes, Matriarch."

Liara protested, "Matriarch! I still have so many questions…"

"We all have questions, Dr. T'Soni," interrupted the Matriarch. "As you're foremost authority on Prothean culture, you'll have your Q&A time, I promise. Until such time, it is my funds which finance this digs and my word that is final."

That seemed to quell the torrent of questions I knew she had the tip of her tongue. Leaning on the two asari, I started walking down the stairway, with the rest of the party in tow.

Author's Note:

thanks for reading, everybody!

please review or PM me with your thoughts! I welcome all creative input and suggestions/comments!

Tusken 1602