Disclaimer: All copyrighted works in the following do not belong to me, and are included without intent to profit.

Self Insertion Idea: Untitled Mass Effect SI

by Nathan Huss

"Hey. Hey, human! Wake up!"

A sharp pain hit me as a boot collided with my side. I glared through watering eyes as I coughed, looking up at the two figures standing above me.

"What?" I grunted. "'m not bothering anyone. Was just sleeping..."

"I don't care. Have some questions for you, and if you're smart you'll answer them." Something with the voice...

I pulled my glasses out of the pocket I had stashed them in (thankfully on the side opposite of the one I had been kicked in) and looked at them again.

Ah hell, these two worked for Aria... probably. Outside of the mercenary groups, no one else was as well armed, and they weren't wearing any of the allegiance symbols for one of those. I pulled myself up to sit against the wall, sighing to myself. "So what is it?"

The first, a batarian, scowled down at me. "Hph... Two days ago, one of Aria's men was killed. A batarian. Couple Vorcha that got caught selling his stuff spilled that you had been spotted near where they found the body."

With a groan, I began talking: "It was some Blue Sun. Turian. Dark blue... possibly purple... face markings, kinda like this." I traced a finger over my own face in a rough indication of the basic pattern I recalled.

The batarian blinked, and glanced over to his partner, who was himself a turian (with white markings, for what it was worth). I didn't notice any type of response, but the batarian nodded and turned back to me.

"Just like that? How do we know you're not lying, human? Maybe you killed him."

I snorted. "With what? And leaving enough for scavengers to be IDed? Anyway, it's not like I was bribed to stay quiet or anything. I just stumbled onto things after it was finished..." Threw up once I realized what had happened. It hadn't really kicked in that I was seeing blood until I spotted what was left of the dead guy's face... "And he told me not to say anything or I could expect a round between the eyes when he found me again. I suppose he thought there was too much attention already or something, and I was just thankful enough he didn't kill me right there in the first place, but..." I shrugged. Still didn't quite understand why he hadn't, but I wasn't about to complain.

"But you're telling us anyway?" the second thug finally spoke up.

A tired smirk grew on my face for a moment. "Compared to him, I like you guys better; He may not have gone so far as to shoot me, but he did knock me around to get his point across. You only kicked me the once.

"Now, is that it, batarian?" I asked, what little humor I had left fading. "I'd like to get back to sleep."

They shared a look and nodded. "Yeah that's it," he said, and they turned to walk down the corridor.

I grumbled wordlessly as I squirmed a bit deeper into the alcove I had been sleeping in. My stomach was aching again, and not just from the kick that had woken me and brought back the phantom of the similar bruises from other days. Trying my best to ignore the feeling, I mentally made a note to check how many credits I actually had on me to get a meal later. But for the moment, sleep was the better alternative... I really didn't feel like moving all that much...

-[Scene Break]-

"Spare some credits for a meal?"

I was doing... surprisingly well. At least I thought I was.

"Anything you can spare towards a meal, ma'am?"

Since... whatever had brought me here... I had ended up on the streets (corridors? Depended on where you were, I supposed) of Omega. One human with no up-to-date skills or knowledge outside of the most basic, on a space station filled with an assortment of criminals, mercenaries, and ne'er-do-wells (to put it mildly). To be honest, I wouldn't have been surprised if I had died during the first few days, but I had managed to find myself struggling along with more or less success.

Most of which I attributed to not stepping on any toes and being fairly innocuous in the overall. Once it became obvious to the few who actually cared that I was just a 'poor ignorant human' (or whatever they actually thought of me. I didn't particularly care to know the exact terms that were likely used) and decided to 'explain' things to me I pretty much just went along as I was told. You can't beg on this corner because X has claim and can back it up, keep out of this gang Y's territory if you don't want to get shot or conscripted, etc...

It was actually fairly... cordial, I supposed. There was something of a constant turnover of new homeless people, and I was allowing myself to be fit into the system... such as it was... with a minimum of fuss, and it was appreciated in its own way (I even ended up getting a hand-me-down translator for what I thought was fairly cheap. Probably 5 iterations behind the curve and with twice as many owners before me, but I didn't notice any problems with it). Paying dues to the equivalent of a 'Beggar's Guild' meant that I wouldn't be shaken down for the entirety of my credits and actually had someone to complain to in the event that it did happen... and even have a decent chance of them taking it seriously. Even in the short couple of months I had been there, I was... tolerated, in the respect that I 'knew my place.'

"Thank you. Good health to you."

And things could have been worse. The aforesaid possibilities of death, conscription, and so forth. I was eating enough to survive without major problems, wasn't hooked on anything (which really helped, aside from the obvious. No addiction meant no sinking money into said addiction, which meant more for food and actual necessities), and hadn't stepped on any toes.

I was just another nobody on Omega, if a well-behaved one. Shepard and company would come and go (if they hadn't already. I wasn't sure just when I was comparatively), and I'd try to save up to get off the station before things really went downhill. I had never gotten around to playing the third game, but had seen enough online to get an idea. I did not want to get involved with-

"Aria wants to see you, human."

"… what...?"

Two turians, no mercenary or gang iconography (aside from claiming to work for Aria. And I doubted anyone who tried to claim that falsely would do so for long), and their weapons weren't drawn, but...

"Aria wants to see you. Now."

"R-right..." I stuttered. I quickly gathered the credit chits I had received, and followed behind them.

After walking a ways to a parked aircar, I was let in the back while the two aliens sat up front. As we drove off, I was desperately trying to think of why Aria would want to see me. The most prominent reason would be something relating to the shooting a while back, but her men had already interrogated me about that and there'd been nothing since.

The ride was silent aside from the hum of the engine, leaving me to stew on the question. I wasn't about to ask any questions to the two up front, as even if they personally knew the details I'd probably just end up with something to the effect of 'Because Aria.' I just couldn't think of anything else.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. My 'arrival' to Omega could possibly be the reason. Appearing out of thin air (I presumed) would be something that could get notice, but no one had made so much of a peep that they thought I was anything other than a down on his luck human who ended up in the wrong place.

Eventually the ride came to an end, and I was led to the Afterlife Club. I'd only been in this area once before, just to satisfy my curiosity. I'd never even considered trying to get into the club itself. Aside from the fact that beggars would never be allowed to camp out in front of Aria's effective headquarters, and that the bouncers would toss me out with just one look if I wanted to enter, I'd be willing to bet that the cost of a single drink was likely more than I could comfortably spare.

A few of the people lined up outside the entrance sent a few dirty... or disgusted... looks my way, although the returning glares from my 'escorts' kept them from protesting or commenting.

Inside the club was just as I had imagined/remembered; loud, crowded, dimly lit with flashing lights and a big holodisplay in the middle. To be honest, aside from the music I could do without coming again... well, plus the fact that my current attendance wasn't exactly optional.

I was led lower into the club, past the main area and into what I supposed was either a private room, or possibly an 'employees only' one way or another. Inside were a couple more assorted (and armed) aliens, a beaten and bloodied turian slumped in a chair, and Aria T'Loak.

"Here's the human," one of my escorts said. At some cue I didn't catch, he pushed me further into the room... albeit relatively gently as I didn't have to adjust much to avoid falling over... then he and his partner headed back outside, the door sealing shut behind them.

Everyone in the room save Aria herself and the partially-conscious turian was looking at me with expressions that probably ranged from dismissive to disgusted (I had been getting better at gauging alien expressions, but aside from asari I still missed things; still, it was a good bet what with 'homeless bum' and 'human' being factors).

For my part, I just stood silently. This had pretty much confirmed the circumstances of why I had been 'summoned,' though I was still unsure as to the exact reasoning, and 'speak when spoken to' was likely the-

"Is this the one?" Aria said. I blinked, glancing around to check who she had been addressing. One of the thugs glared at me and jerked their head towards the seated turian, so I cautiously stepped forward to get a better look.

"Probably," I replied after a few moments.

Now Aria finally turned to look at me, a mild frown on her face. "'Probably'?"

I shrugged. "Face paint looks about right, but it's been about a week since I last saw it. Wasn't like I bothered memorizing it. And other than that, I'm generally horrible at telling non-humans apart from the rest of their species unless I either spend a lot more time with them, or they have something very prominent that stands out."

"No need to remember the one who... beat you and promised 'a round between the eyes'?"

A short snort of self-deprecating laughter was swallowed, though the effort to hold it back made me cough instead. "What for? Even if I had the stomach or nerve, I don't have any way to get 'payback.' And then, even if I had tried and somehow succeeded, I'd likely end up like how this guy is now, only with the Suns as the hosts. I was lucky enough to be let off alive; I wasn't going to push that for only getting roughed up if I didn't have to, until I was directly asked about it."

The Queen of Omega made a small noise of acknowledgement. "I suppose I should only expect so much."

I tilted my head as I thought. "I do somewhat better with voices. Maybe if I heard him speak."

Aria glanced at me for a second, before nodding once. One of her followers moved forward and shook the turian, as well as knocked strongly on the side of his mandibles a few times (the equivalent of slapping, I guessed. I certainly wouldn't want to try hitting an exoskeleton with just the palm of my hand). The seated alien wobbled, and then looked up.

"Speak," the thug ordered.

The turian glared up at him, before focusing on me, eyes flickering up and down. I wondered if he would actually recognize me (provided he actually was the one all this was supposed to be about. I doubted Aria would have gone this far without being sure on her own, but you never know...), and resisted waving.

"Huh? What...?" he muttered after a few long moments, before something clicked in his head. "Wait... you? You're... Knew I should've silenced you..."

I shrugged. "They found me on their own. I was willing to leave things and forget, but..." I turned to said asari crime boss. "If that wasn't effectively an admission... yeah, it's him."

She nodded once, and turned back to the tied up turian. I glanced at the still-closed door, before sighing and simply backing away to lean against the wall. I hadn't actually been dismissed one way or the other, so trying to leave was probably not something I should try pushing at the moment.

"Cordis wasn't nearly clever enough in keeping things quiet," she said to the seated turian. "Though he did manage to hide the identity of his contacts from the initial search. I would have been willing to settle for simply making an example of him, maybe even keep on a few of his contacts for my own purposes once I found them, but then you had to make a sloppy attempt to save yourself. So now I need someone else to be the example to anyone else who thinks they can slip anything past me."

Oh god, they weren't going to execute him right here, were they? I turned away in preparation, only to come face to face with one of the batarians.

"Something wrong, human?" the thug asked, smirking. "Don't care to watch?"

Ah, great... "I did mention the nerves-and-or-stomach thing, yes?" I replied in a low voice. "So no, I don't really want to have to watch his 'punishment' or whatever."

"You really don't care about getting-"

"About what?" I hissed, before quickly glancing towards Aria and the others. Somewhat surprisingly, chair-turian was still alive, but if that meant I got to keep my breakfast from meeting the floor I was more than fine with it. In any case, the others didn't seem to have noticed me talking with this guy, so I just looked back to him. "What the hell did he do to me that just about anyone else on this rock wouldn't, without even as much of a reason as he did? I'm not involved in all... this." I waved a hand around vaguely. "Hell, you people barely even needed me here, apparently, beyond being one-hundred-percent on who you're going to be killing when you were already at ninety-nine. I'm not a part of this beyond waiting to be allowed to leave at this point!"

"That eager to leave our company?" Aria asked.

I avoided jumping as the ruler of Omega decided to approach, and substituted that reaction with internally cursing as fast as I could. And behind her the seated turian was still wobbling back and forth in the chair, amazingly only slightly more wounded than he had been the last time I had glanced over. The hell was going on?

"I..." I paused, trying to figure out how to word things that wouldn't get me in too much more trouble. "I just figured I'd have already been tossed out... since I've already done what you brought me for."

"And just who said that you were done?" she asked, half-smirking.

Okay, I had a sinking feeling about where this was going, and I definitely didn't like it.

"I'm just not sure what else I'd need to be here for," I replied.

"I see. Reasonable enough, and you have been making sure to be respectful, so I suppose it wouldn't hurt to finish things up here to allow you on your way." She jerked her chin to the side.

A thug who had been standing just behind her moved forward, and quickly grabbed my wrist. He quickly shoved a metal object firmly into my hand, and it took a few moments for me to allow myself to grip it before he let go and stepped away.

Glancing down, it was pretty much as I had been afraid of: a handgun.

I almost tossed it away, but managed to keep enough control not to do so. I also didn't blurt out anything along the lines of "Are you crazy?" or "You've got to be joking!"

Instead, I managed to only strangle out a simple "Why?"

"To think that you'd been doing so well," Aria said, with a faux-sigh. "If you really need a reason, just think of it as a reward for being so obliging until now."

"Rewa- no!" I jerked backward. "That... this-" I motioned to the gun with my free hand "-is the last thing I'd want."

"Then quite simply it's because I said to do it."

"Wh-"

"Shoot. Him."

I looked at the gun in my hand, and then quickly over to the turian in the chair. It wasn't as if I cared about him at all, and who knows how close he had actually been to just killing me as well back then if he hadn't been rushing or just didn't want to risk more attention, but to actually...

"No... no," I finally said, shaking my head. I turned the gun around to grip it by the barrel, and held it out for whoever to take it back.

Aria glared, and the enforcers closest shifted around me, not quite lifting their own firearms to aim at me, but obviously ready to do so.

"Do you think you're proving anything?" she asked in an irritated tone.

"No," I said again.

"Some misplaced sense of mercy, then?"

I looked off to the side. "I... it's not like I think you'll let him go. Or that he even deserves it or not. I don't even know his name, or what else he may have done, but... Not like this. Not me.

"And I know that it doesn't make a difference," I continued in a rush. "And you've probably done this however many times one way or another, and... Just, I won't do it, and you'll probably have something done to me for refusing, and... and I don't know why you want me to do it other than to prove you can make me but..."

At least if I got killed now, there were worse things that I would avoid. Husks, indoctrination, Cerberus... Comparatively, this wouldn't be so bad, would it?

"Damn it, just have one of them do it," I whispered, gesturing weakly towards the various armed aliens. "I don't work for you; they do. Does it really matter that I won't do it when I'm not important in the first place?"

Nothing else was said for several moments. I had closed my eyes so that I wouldn't see whatever punishment Aria was considering coming, but it was nerve-wracking all the same. Was I in for some torture of some sort, or a quick, unceremonious kill?

"It matters," Aria said, from closer than I expected. Before I could respond there was a loud, sharp noise that I had heard echoing down the halls of Omega more times than I liked.

There was a thud from somewhere deeper into the room, and I at least knew that I wouldn't be required to shoot anyone anymore...

"You're right. You're nobody. And I would have been quite content to simply forget you even existed," the asari crime lord said. "But if a nobody thinks they can say 'no' to me and get away with it, well... then people who actually matter might start thinking they can as well."

I nodded. She ruled by her (deserved) reputation, and since I wasn't anything close to Shepard there wasn't-

"Still, you at least didn't try any drivel about sparing him. Just that you didn't have the spine to do it yourself. And that you 'don't work for' me." I could hear the smirk in her voice at that last sentence.

"I can actually accept that. Not the refusal itself, but the rest... you didn't preach any morality, try to make any appeals, or even beg. You knew what would happen. What I can do if I chose."

I could hear her walking around behind me. "So, I suppose I can treat that with some respect. You don't work for me? You do now. Consider it your actual 'reward.' Of course, now... now if I tell you to do something, it gets done.

"For the time being, though... find him something he won't mess up."

"Right," one of the batarians replied. The door opened, and her footsteps faded out into the noise of the club.

I shivered, finally opening my eyes. I quickly turned away from the center of the room, knowing what I'd end up seeing there if I didn't, and came face to face with one of the enforcers.

"Well, human, I'd congratulate you for being lucky enough for Aria not to kill you, but I doubt you'd feel the same for long. Come on."

He turned away, before stopping. "Oh, and put that away, will you?"

I blinked. "What?"

He rolled his eyes before nodding downward. I followed the direction, and finally realized that I was still tightly holding the barrel of the handgun that had been forced on me, knuckles white and locked in a death-grip. I wanted to toss it as far away as I could, but settled for just offering it to the enforcer.

He just shook his head, smirking. "Oh, no. That's yours now. Never know when Aria is going to need to make an example of someone else, after all."

Author's Notes:

Yeah, I've stuck a number of these in here, haven't I?

This SI ends up in the Mass Effect-verse on Omega. And, as the chapter you (presumably) just read shows, ends up in the employ of one self-styled criminal asari Queen. Pretty much at the lowest unofficial rank there would be in her organization/group, but nonetheless. The overall story would involved him getting a hang of living in the latter half of the 22nd Century as essentially a criminal gofer, and prepping for the eventual mess that are the games' plots.

This... I may or may not actually do at some point, but if I really did I'd have to read the extended media to get an idea of what happens outside of the games as I'm not quite willing to just "wing it."