Okay, I'm back! I hope you missed me because this is the weekend and I might squeeze in another chapter or two if I'm lucky. I have exams next week that I REALLY dont want to fail, since then it means I wasted three years of my life. So yeah, I'll probably be preparing like crazy after the weekend so you wont see much of me, much to my dismay. Hey, I like writing and these exams I'm about to have are scaring the crap out of me. Do you know how hard it is to memorize every single system in a car, and then having to know how each small part operates and what it does? Yeah, I have A LOT to memorize here, and the questions are drawn in random, so I cant really prepare for a specific topic, I have to prepare for EVERYTHING. Which is...the whole damn car. So yeah, hard times are to be had next week. Wish me luck. I'll try to squeeze in another chapter, as I already said, especially since we are approaching very fun and interesting times.

Also, I want to thank all the reviewers who told me their opinions and I'm really glad to know you loved the story so far! It does wonders to my self esteem when it comes to writing. Thanks again! Anyway, back to topic, this is actually a very short chapter, but also very important. You will see why in a few seconds. However, the chapter after this one is going to be way more interesting and I think longer too, since I'm kinda thinking about splitting it into two chapters, but I might not. We shall see when I get to it. So, go ahead and read the new chapter!

On a side note: Fuck you Bioware! Goddamn, you just made my fucking day. FUCK. YOU. Those who actually know what I'm talking about, and I know that some of you do, and why I'm practically pissing blood right now from sheer anger... you're are probably as pissed off and disappointed as me. Maybe not enough to piss blood, but still fucking angry. Once again, fuck you Bioware for spitting right into my face... exactly after stomping on my balls.

It was hard to believe how boring my job was, now that Jorrun and Lucy said. Sure, sometimes Johnson and Tilben dropped by but it happened rarely. Most of the time I just stood by the wall and stared at people. It was so boring that I even considered throwing out Harkin, even though he was pretty much an untouchable. Fortunately, I quickly decided not to do that, since I think I have enough problems with C-sec by now. He and Fist had an agreement. No one touches him and C-sec won't bother them. Thankfully, Johnson was right. Soon enough I stopped seeing C-sec around me and I think they got bored with following me around.

Annoyingly enough, the guys in charge decided to hire a replacement for Jorrun. They settled on another human, who I found to be very annoying. First of all, much to my horror I found that he was an idiot, at least in my opinion.

He was a big guy, almost two meters tall, bald and with a constant frown etched on his face. They hired him as a temporary replacement, just like they did with me and then, much to my horror, they instructed me to explain everything to him.

I had a major flashback to my own first day when Jorrun did the same and so, I did everything exactly as Jorrun did. I even gave him the same 'no one cares who you are' speech. That night was extremely boring, since the guy was not much of a talker and his main ways of communication were grunts, huffs and one-syllable words. It honestly felt like working with a human version of Gormul. At least he didn't hate me, much to my relief.

While he didn't look that intelligent, didn't say much and seemed to have more muscle than brain, he knew how to do the job. The first guy he threw out left some of his teeth by the bar. I think another one left a dent in the wall. Also, much to my horror, I think actually Gormul likes him.

Time passed quickly, much to my surprise. Time had the annoying habit of slowing to a crawl when you were bored but thankfully it didn't do it this time. While I was bored, I was still pretty busy. I was going out to my morning runs, had the gym and my job. Jorrun also gave me access to my training warehouse before he left, so I practiced my firing skills when I had free time. I just had stuff to do to pass the time, much to my pleasure.

Still, I was bored and I couldn't believe I actually wanted to go on a job for Fist. I figure I actually went insane somewhere in the last few months that I actually wanted to go on a potentially dangerous task now. Thankfully, or not, since I'm not really sure if I'm the same guy anymore, they included me in the next job. It went without any troubles but there was something...thrilling when Gormul and the other guy were checking the goods and then we cautiously left, hoping this wont descend into a fight.

It was worrying that I actually found a thrill in it. I never remember myself actually wanting to be in danger, or looking for the thrill I was experiencing now. I had no idea what to make of it and I decided to simply file it away for now, since I had better things to do than to worry about suddenly becoming an adrenaline junkie.

Eden Prime was coming closer and closer and it was terrifying how fast it seemed sometimes. One moment it was two months and now it was less than two weeks. Where the hell the month and a half disappeared to? Why the hell time moved so fast? Much to my horror I realized that I had no idea whether I'm ready or not. Sure, I could shoot a gun and fight better now, as far as I know I'm decent in a firefight but...was I really ready for this?

Shepard and the Mass Effect 1 crew were probably the most dangerous people in the galaxy and I'm not even starting on the Mass Effect 2 crew. After all they did... or will do, it was pretty obvious that no one, other than the Reapers, could mess with them and come out in one piece. But the important question bothered me. Am I really up to par with their standards? I'd like to believe that yes, I am but a small part of me was worrying that I wasn't and that I would just be rejected.

Now the only thing I could do was wait, try to squeeze in a training session here and there and hope for the best. I try not to think about it too much, because then I get stuck in a thoughtful and sulking mood and my thoughts always end up straying to bad places, and I don't like bad places. I usually try to stay away from them as far as I can.

So this is what I was doing now. Waiting and preparing. Too bad I had no idea if I was emotionally prepared. Was I ready to go and save the galaxy? I want to say 'hell yes!' but somewhere deep inside I say 'dunno, maybe'. I hope I'll solve it by the time Shepard arrives.

I yawn as I finally leave the Den, saying goodbye to all the people I knew before I leave. Damn I'm exhausted. Sure, it was fun at the beginning and I could ignore the bad parts when Jorrun was there with me but now that I was alone, had no one to speak with and basically had no way to spend the time while working, this job was tormentingly boring.

I walk out and breathe in the fresh night air. Well, it wasn't actually fresh, but it was definitely fresher than the air inside the Den. I tiredly make my way to the hotel, ignoring everyone on the streets. When I finally enter my hotel room I simply collapse on the bed and fall asleep almost instantly.

I have no idea how long I was sleeping, especially with the Citadel not having a damn sun to shine into my eyes in the mornings, but the annoying pinging of my omni-tool woke me up. Usually messages just pinged once but when it was tagged as urgent, it just didn't stop until I answered it. This certainly gave me a damn good reason to shut off that function now. I hate waking up like this! It gives me awful flashbacks to when I was waking up for school, and I hated school.

I rub my eyes and let out a massive yawn as I twist around in my bed to a more comfortable reading position. I quickly accept the message and squint open my eyes to see what whoever it was wanted from me. My eyes widened when I saw the name and the message.

'Check out the news. I think you would find it interesting.'

I blink at the message and then at the name. I haven't heard a word from the Chairman and now he sends me a message. I nearly forgot about him by now! Man, this reminds me why I kinda dislike him.

Regardless, I do as the message says and turn on the TV, quickly switching to the news channel. And as soon as I hear what's going on, I suddenly find myself fully awake. "... The human colony of Eden Prime came under attack by geth forces. What appears as a motiveless attack came to a conclusion with numerous human casualties, which are only growing. The Council dispatched reinforcements to the colony but many fear that by now it is already too late to save the colony from the geth..." I stop listening there, instead choosing to stare at the screen.

It was quite weird to watch events that I saw happen in the game on the news. I bet that Shepard is already on Eden Prime by now, kicking the geth off the planet.

But...it's beginning. The day is finally here. A weird type of weight settles down in my stomach and I find myself numbly staring at the TV screen, not really listening and not really watching. My brain was furiously working as I tried to think of what I was going to do now. I have no idea when Shepard would arrive, I had no idea how I would meet up with her. I cant just walk up to her and ask her to let me join them. I needed a damn good way to meet her and give her a damn good reason to want me on board.

My omni-tool pinged again and I look at the new message with bated breath.

'P.S. Time to choose.'

Damn, he's right. It's...hard to choose. On one hand I want to help Shepard. Who didn't ever dream about joining up with their favorite character and kick ass? I sure did but this is...real. I can die, I can get people killed. This wasn't just a fantasy... this was real. Can I just leave my old life behind? Leave me family alone like that without saying goodbye? Did they even know where I was? Did I die back there, or did I just vanish, just like that? All these questions were making my head hurt but damn, I needed to choose!

Fuck, I needed to prepare.

Things were quite... odd, I must admit. Nothing major really changed, but I could see the subtle things if I looked hard enough. For one, Chora's Den had more human visitors looking for a drink. Most humans I saw on the Citadel looked more weary and worried, along with some aliens. The main topic in nearly every conversation I happened to overhear was about Eden Prime and the possible war against the geth. People were nervous, obviously. No one wanted another war, which was understandable. However, over half of the population dismissed it as a one-time event.

Things were changing and people simply didn't want things to go bad. They preferred to ignore it and live their own peaceful life-style. Unfortunately for them, I actually knew what was going to come, which put me in quite an advantage. Then again, I wasn't really in a position to change things, since even Shepard couldn't change them, especially concerning the dumbasses that are the Council.

Regardless of all these things, I had no idea what to do. Not a word was said about Shepard saving the colony, so it might be classified for now... or something. Right now the only thing I knew I could do was hang out in the Den, which I was doing all the time, even when I wasn't working, and wait until Shepard gets here.

So far I've waited for a few days with nothing happening. It was just torturing, waiting for something to happen without knowing when it will happen. God, I just want to go and punch someone know. Maybe I should go and stalk Udina until Shepard will finally get here. Damn, I thought the mass relays instantly transported a ship to the destination, so what the hell was taking her so long to get here?

So right now I was sitting at the bar, drinking a tupari, since I wasn't in the mood for anything alcoholic and more importantly, I was planning. I had several ideas on how to approach Shepard or how to involve myself in the Saren investigation but so far, I had no effective ideas. Most of the stuff I came up with will make me look suspicious... especially considering that I actually had a reason to be suspicious. I had knowledge that I shouldn't have.

"Hard day?" Jenna asked as she was passing by.

"Heh, I wish," I reply with a small smile. Yeah, Jenna was actually rather nice and pretty much the only other person I never minded talking with. Though I had to stop myself from talking about C-sec with her, since she really got nervous whenever the topic came up, which is weird, considering it was somewhat suspicious. "I'm just extremely bored."

"I noticed. It's your day off," she remarked with a sympathetic look. I snort at her remark. It was common knowledge that whoever worked here never visited on their days off. Other than me, of course, but everyone thought I was weird anyway so it didn't really matter.

"Yeah," I groan out. "I don't have much to do, which is really sad. So instead of moping in my hotel room I guess I can sit here and drink something," I explain halfheartedly.

"You still live in that hotel? Why haven't you got an apartment yet?" she asked me with apparent confusion.

"Do you know how much an apartment costs? I don't think I earn enough to buy an apartment," I explain with a frown. Okay, actually I had no idea what was the price for an apartment, not that I wanted to check now. If it will turn out that I could get an apartment all this time... I think I'll kill myself. Living in that hotel room sucked.

"Well, whatever suits you. I'm renting a small apartment and I only pay about fifteen thousand credits a month, which is pretty cheap," she says and then smirks when she sees my horrified look. Goddammit! I knew I could rent an apartment by now! I bet I actually pay more by staying in that hotel room. Goddamn! It was then that I noticed that she was no longer looking at me. In fact, she was worriedly looking at the entrance.

Huh, I wonder what made her so worried. I turn around and look at what caught her attention and... holy shit. I just stare, and probably gape with awe, worry and shock as one of the biggest krogans I've ever seen walked into the Den. He walked in with purpose, and he had that specific 'fuck with me and die' aura around him that made anyone standing in his way clear the path for him. The most prominent features that captured my attention was the red crest and the claw scars running right in front of his blood-red eye.

Urdnot Wrex has just entered Chora's Den.

Oh god, it was beginning and shit, I don't think I'm ready. But still, I'm pretty damn shocked to see Wrex in person. He looks much more intimidating in person than in the game. The game didn't really show his body language like a real living being would. I could practically see his badassitude ooze from him. His armor looked badass too, especially with it being the color of human blood, not that it was related but it was just what my human mind came up with. Damn, I'm geeking out here. If I didn't know that I would probably get punched right now, I would go and try to chat with him. Wrex looked pissed, and he came for Fist's head, so I'm not really keen on standing in his way.

Wrex approached Gormul and started talking to him and holy shit, Gormul was actually looking nervous! Hot damn, I'm seeing something incredibly surreal here! I cant hear their argument from here but I know that basically Wrex wants Fist to come out... so he could kill him. I actually have no idea why the hell Wrex actually demanded something like that. I mean, who in their right mind would actually agree to this demand? I sure as hell won't!

Huh, I'm forgetting something. I look around and see Harkin sitting there, drinking his liquor and pointedly ignoring Wrex and Gormul. Hey, I think this is the moment where...

Before I can complete my line of thoughts, the door slides open and I see the new arrivals. A trio of newcomers entered the club, two women and one man, all armed to their teeth. I immediately recognize Kaidan and Ashley but my eyes froze on the middle woman who lead them inside, carrying herself like nothing could mess with her and live and to make it better, it was probably the truth. My brain could easily connect a name to the face.

Shepard was here.

Yep, we are officially entering the Mass Effect 1 events! Woohoo! Yeah, it took me 13 chapters to get here, but I am finally here! Yep, fun times are to be had, and yes, I think I kinda quoted Herr Wozzeck with this phrase, but I dont think he will mind. :P

So yeah, soon enough we're going to get things started. Next chapter is going to be...interesting. I hope. Anyway, I dont think I have anything more to say other than some small things. So... thank you everyone for reading this story! I'm glad you loved it so far. Feel free to leave a comment, point out a flaw (which I gladly encourage you to do, this way I'll avoid doing the flaw again) or you can just tell me your opinion. Hell, you can tell me my story sucks, though you better give me a valid reason as to why it sucks. So yeah, that's it for now.

As for ME3...ooh boy, I'm going to have a very ranty AN next chapter. So you better get your Angst Shielding just in case because the amount of rant I'm going to unleash will be enough to incinerate your eyeballs! So yeah, I'm going to search for my pitchfork and torches for now, so I'll come back later with a new chapter. Until then, have fun.

Delvaro out.