So here it is CH. 1. due to some suggestions from last chapter I spent extra time on this after I had finished to fix it up a bit. I think my style is a little better then the prologue. still need work tho. I promise to explain a few things at the end of this for those who might have questions.
I take aim at the targets, empty metal crates with bullseye's painted on them, and fire repeatedly. Ten shots out of twelve hit their mark, and six are perfect. I set the red pistol down when my com buzzes.
"Loss! Can you come over here and help me with this relic?"
"Sure Liara, Be right there."
I leave the gun on a nearby crate and head over to the mining tunnel.
It's been months since I woke up here on Therum. Liara calls me Loss because when I first woke up after my accident I asked what my name was. Her response was "Oh, you must have memory loss." To which I replied, "So my last name is Loss?" Stuck with it ever sense. Anyways, apparently I somehow hit/landed on a small transport when she was coming down from a passenger ship to study some prothean ruins that miners had uncovered. Luckily a skilled salarian doctor was on the passenger ship and came down to fix me up. Apparently it had taken everything he had brought with him that he was planning on using to set up a clinic on a station called Omega. I never got to meet the doctor but apparently he "enjoyed the challenge" of fixing me up. Apparently he also fixed my eyes, a heart condition and some trouble I was having with my esophagus, not that I remember any of it. He even inserted biotic implants in my brain. He didn't understand why I hadn't been given them at a younger age like most people who had biotic abilities. I wasn't able to move much the first few months but as soon as I could move my arms I helped Liara with documenting any relics she found. Dr. Liara T'soni, an archeologist. Also an alien belonging to a species called asari. It sounds familiar, but anytime I try to remember anything before the accident I get massive headaches.
I walk over to where Liara is struggling with a particularly large prothean artifact.
"Here I got it." I bend over a little and take the artifact from her, grunting a little as I do. "Where do you want it?"
She pointed. "Over in that crate, so we can take transfer it to Denga's ship when she gets here. And Loss? Be careful, we don't want you to overdo it." she said with concern in her voice.
"Nonsense Liara, the doctor said I was healthy and fit for active manual labor."
"Yes I said that. But that doesn't mean you should hurt yourself by overdoing it.
"Yes Dr. T'soni, not overdoing it." I grunt the words as I struggle to fit the artifact into the crate. Once I got it in, I turned towards Liara.
"I told you to call me Liara, Loss."
I rubbed my left arm. Interestingly enough my left arm was one of the least damaged parts of my body, but for some reason I have a pain on the shoulder. The pain felt like I had been stabbed with a needle, and it never went away. "Okay Liara Loss." I smile.
"That's not my…you're making fun of me again." She said indignantly with her hands on her hips.
I pat her on my head as I walk past her. "It's so easy to do though."
"Hey!"
I ignore her and walk over to a small crate nearby and checked inside, making sure I had packed everything I owned, which wasn't a lot. Blood covered clothes, blood covered leather jacket, a cracked and broken antique cellphone, and a bloody rosary. Denga said it was from an old earth religion called "Catholicism" and thought the fact it was bloody to hilarious. Something about a human tradition called Bloody Mary and mirrors. I didn't get it.
"You sure you'll be fine on your own?"
"I'll be fine, thanks for your concern. I was studying Prothean ruins by myself long before you came." She walked over and looked into the crate. "I don't understand why you want to keep all of that."
"It's all I have left of me, of who I was." I closed the small crate hard frowning. "I wish I could remember who I was."
Liara gave me a small hug. "That's why your leaving, to find out who you are and why you got here."
I hugged her back " Again thanks for nursing me back to health."
Liara rolled her eyes. "This is the seven hundredth time you've thanked me you know."
"Well it's true I am thankful."
"Well it was fun to teach someone everything I know about the Protheans."
We broke apart and I headed back towards my makeshift shooting range.
"Well I'm going to get back to practice if you don't need anything else."
"No, I should be fine for now."
Liara went back inside the mine shaft while I walked over to where I had set up a small shooting range to practice my pistol skills with, which several months ago were awful. Since my biotics, despite a lot of practice these past months, were dreadfully weak, I knew that if I were to survive I would need some fighting skills. Space was dangerous, or so Denga said.
It was weird. My memory loss that is. I looked at the pistol in my hand. The actual feel of the pistol in my hand was familiar to me now, but when I first held it, it felt strange. But when I started shooting targets; that felt familiar. Like I had shot weapons at targets before. It hadn't taken long for me to get used to the kick. More like I was remembering then learning. And that wasn't the only thing like that. When Liara was teaching me about asari, salarians, and turians I had felt like I had known everything she told me, but hearing it as fact was new. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and grasped my pistol. No time to worry about the past, cause with any luck I'll find it soon. I took aim and began shooting at the targets.
I was on my way back to the mine shaft when a small transport flew down and landed near by the mine shaft.
Denga's here.
Denga. Smuggler, mercenary, Captain. The asari claimed to have a list of occupations as long as I am tall. She was the one piloting the transport that had hit me. She claims that she had seen a weird distortion in the atmosphere of Therum, then the next seen she had seen was a human holding up his thumb right before we collided. That human was me of course. A thumbs up. She laughs every time she recounts that part. Last time she was here was a few months ago when she took some scans of me to help make me some identification.
"Hey Loss, how's the pistol practice coming along?"
"Half decent, I hit my targets most of the time now."
"You look like you've put on a few pounds since I last saw you."
"Yeah, I have."
When I first woke up I had weighed very little. After a few months of just eating, sleeping, and taking it easy I put on a good fortyish pounds. Most of that turned to muscle once I started helping Liara move artifacts. Plus I exercised a bit each morning to wake myself up.
"You look good."
The tattooed asari turned to the krogan that had come with her. "Dargo get those artifacts loaded will you?" Dargo grunted and walked over and began moving the crates. She turned back to me "Liara inside?"
"Yeah, she went back in a little while ago. I'll go get her."
"I'll come with. Faster that way."
As I walked over to the mine shaft I stumbled a little and fell.
"You okay?"
I looked up at my older sister.
"Fine sis, just ran down the hill a little too fast. My pride is hurt more then anything." I stood up and wiped the gravel off of my hands. the gravel had scratched them a little causing them to sting. "Scratched my hands a little though"
"Loss?"
I blinked and looked at my hands, where I had seen scratches was now covered by the black from the armor I was wearing. I looked up at Denga shaking my head a little in an attempt to clear it. "Sorry Denga, I had a memory flash."
Memory Flash. That's what I call them. I never know when or where but a memory from before I lost my memory will sometimes just come on to me. It's a mix of hallucination and memory. At least I believe it's a memory. During the Memory Flash I reenact whatever motions I made during the memory. Same with whatever I say. And what I see is all memory, the real world doesn't exist at the time. Needless to say it's led to some funny moments with Liara. I shook my head again. Focus Loss! Focus!
"Alright let's go see Liara."
A few minutes later Liara was handing Denga a list of the artifacts. "Here's everything."
"Thanks Liara. Here." Denga reached over and handed a credit chit. "It's all there minus the expenses for Loss's trip and identification. Speaking of which you are now Loss Memoria, originally earthborn, now space vagrant."
"Memoria? Seriously? I thought Loss was my last name."
"I thought it was funny. 'Sides that's what you notice? I thought the space vagrant part would've attracted more notice."
I shrugged "Meh, it works for me."
"I also got a pistol with a registration to your name and your own omni-tool."
"Good. I think I messed up Liara's one too many times experimenting with the settings on hers."
"Yes, it took forever to get it working right again." She said, again with her hands on her hips.
Denga must've told her to do that. She didn't use to. "At least I figured out how to make an Overload."
"And you hacked into my private locker."
"And I hacked into your private locker, but how was I to know I wasn't some kidnapped public official who had his memory erased so that I wouldn't fight you guys while you bargained for a ransom."
Liara looked at me like I was crazy, "What?"
Denga started laughing hard, "Somebody watched the vids I left behind."
"Well it's not like I had much else to do while I was stuck in bed like a human statue."
Denga shook her head at me. "You're like a hyperactive child. You really are the luckiest person I know though.
"Yeah I know." The chances of me hitting/landing on her transport were one in a million. Then the chances of a salarian doctor good enough to fix me? Out of this world. Literally. And then to have a benefactor like Liara who happened to have saved a ton of money from all of the relics she found? I reached out and put my arms around both Liara and Denga. "I've got two hot asari chicks all to myself." Liara blushed while Denga laughed. Then Denga gave me a small biotic tap that sent me tumbling to the ground.
"That's my wife your joking about."
I looked up at one of my best friends. "Well Matt you were included too." I say as I stand back up.
Matt looked at me. "Well I don't mind me, but you shouldn't include my wife either." We look at each other and start laughing.
"Loss? Loss! Loss snap out of it."
I looked around while everything went out of focus and then back in. "Liara? Sorry Memory Flash."
Liara looked worried. "You sure you'll be okay, with these flashes someone might think you're crazy."
Laughing I reply, "I am crazy dear. Won't be hard for someone to figure that out."
"Got that right." Denga had a small smile on her face. "I'm heading back to the shuttle. Come up when you're ready to leave." And with that she headed back to the surface.
I turned to Liara. "Thanks for everything Liara."
"No problem, besides you were a big help to me once you healed."
We hugged. "You try not to get yourself stuck in here okay?"
"I won't I promise. Good luck at finding your past."
"Thanks." I turned to go.
"Loss?"
I turned my head back a little. "Yes?"
"Be careful." Her voice was full of worry.
"I will Liara, thanks." I headed out to the surface.
Later while the transport docked into her ship I turned to Denga. "So Denga, what's the plan?"
"Well I'm dropping you off at a human colony. I figure you can start your search there, plus I have to pick up some "goods" there."
"What's the name of the colony?"
"Eden Prime."
So there's the big twist. I have no memory of who I am or where I came from. As you can see my writing style still needs a LOT of work. mostly in the descriptive area. a few things to note. one, I've handled weapons before. rifles, shotguns, handguns, and bow and arrows which is why it feels similar. also I don't know medically if such a thing can happen and I don't care. I think the memory flashes are cool and an interesting plot device. A lot of exposition/supposition or whatever was in this chapter but I plan on dialing down alot for the rest of the story. I know it still feels rushed so I'm gonna try and slow down next chapter. Action to be had soon. Also I'll probably be updating the story once a week.
