Samsara: Worlds Apart Chapter 1 – A New Beginning

AN: Well, it's that time again. Time to start on the long journey of a longer story. I said I'd stick to short stories for the year...butttttttttttt that is no longer true. Oh well. Anyway, this is my new story, one that's quite a bit different from normal.

For starters, it's in 1st person, which I haven't done for an actual story since 'Holy Judgment', but it fits better for what I'm trying to do. For those who hope this to be a Mass Effect story, I'm sorry to say that they are going to be disappointed, as it won't be long before we move onto a new world.

That's right, I'm doing one of the universally deplored...Jump Chains! The pit of the already cancerous sore that is Self Inserts. Specifically, it will be 9 worlds in total, but instead of rushing through them as you see most often, I'm instead going to narrow down the time spent in each world.

This will help keep the length down, but only to a degree. Honestly, I expect this story is going to be at least 500 000 words, and I might take a break in between worlds. I'm also going to post them as separate stories for traction so I don't have to leave them under miscellaneous.

These worlds, while worlds I enjoy with scenarios that interest me, each have a purpose. One that will be gradually revealed as time goes on, alongside more of just what it was that brought our main character into his embrace.

I'm doing a lot more planning for this story, which is normally fuck all if I'm being honest, so I hope it shines through. I'm also using a beta reader to help with quality and story consistency. His name is , a fairly new author, but we know each other in real life, so it makes things easier.

That's about all from me for now, so until I meet you again, I bid you, adieu.

The sound of a great gasp filled the room as air flooded my lungs, the volume taken in great enough that it was almost like I had never breathed at all. This air had to go somewhere, however, so when it felt like my lungs were close to bursting, I exhaled, letting the air rush out of my lungs almost as quickly.

Now that my body's most immediate demand for oxygen was satisfied, new stimuli started flooding through, like the scent of stale air, a faint buzzing in my ear, and numerous aches and pains from all over my body, primarily focused in my arms and shoulders due to how they were positioned. Unlike what you would expect from just waking up, my arms were not at my side. Instead, they were pulled up above my head, kept restrained by some force across my wrists.

But as much as these new, strange sensations bombarded my mind, they were irrelevant for the moment. Instead, I focused on breathing, on inhaling and exhaling the oxygen-rich air around me as I calmed my rapidly beating heart, letting the steady rhythm soothe it into that of a gently idling motor.

Some time passed before I felt up to doing more than breathing, but when I did I opened my eyes, letting light bleed into my vision as the deep blackness that I had been experiencing faded away into blurred greys and blues, my eyes focusing as my surroundings came into view, helped along by a few rapid blinks.

Blinks that I swiftly repeated, as I distinctly remember not falling asleep inside of what appeared to be some kind of detainment facility, based on the flat, bland tiles that surrounded me in all four directions except for the end of the room, where I could see less artificial looking bedrock admixed with some metal walkways.

Now, this could have just been a weirdly made room, but there was one other clue that had me leaning towards a prison cell. Because surrounding me was a spherical GLOWING BLUE FORCE FIELD! One that warped and changed over time as wisps of glowing energy rolled around the confines of the ball, spitting in random directions from the surface of the ball.

This is what my arms were being restrained by, my hands almost submerged in the top of the field as it kept me held in position.

"Since when were forcefields invented?!" I asked with not a small amount of disbelief in my tone as I strained my head, turning it as far as possible around me to get as large of a view of my surroundings as I could. This amounted to a little over 250 degrees from my starting position, but all this got me was more lifeless walls.

Performing this movement, however, I noticed that my restraints weren't quite as rigid as I first thought. Yes, when I was just hanging there, the forcefield acted a lot like steel manacles, but as I tugged my arms downward, I felt some give, even managing to free one of my arms entirely to leave it down at my side.

"That could come in handy," I muttered in surprise as I looked at my hand, not quite understanding just why it was blue instead of tan, and why it held a distinctly more feminine shape than I was used to. This was enough of a slip in focus for my arm to be pulled back up into the edge of the field, the force involved jarring my shoulder.

"Fuck," I cursed, glaring up at the field again before looking around again, looking through the sphere surrounding me, to the only other thing that was interesting, which was the rock wall in front of me. Although...squinting, I focused on the edge of the opening for the rock wall section and saw that there was in fact another barrier there, one that divided the flat tiles and the rougher, more natural segment.

A barrier curtain, part of my mind said. Great, so even if I managed to get out of the glorified hamster ball I was stuck in, I'd still have to deal with another barrier. This was just great. I had no idea where I was, was dealing with stupidly advanced technology, was tired, sore and achy, and had nothing to occupy my mind.

Well, nothing and a complicated grey box of some kind I'd seen over my shoulder. It looked like an interface of some kind, so maybe if I could get out of my ball I'd be able to do something with the flat barrier, but that would involve me actually getting to the terminal.

Which, based on how it was fucking energy, and I was flesh and bl-

Wait.

Wait just a second. How the hell did I know it was called a terminal, I thought as my brow furrowed. That shouldn't be possible, people didn't just know things by looking at objects. But thinking about it for a moment, I realised I did know what a terminal was. Hell, I even knew what the terminal behind me in particular was called.

It was a Prothean Terminal, one designed to activate a Prothean security cell that I now knew I was restrained in.

Prothean.

A term that evoked two different responses. The first was curiosity at the precursor species, a hunger for knowledge at just why such a mighty race has disappeared with almost no trace of their existence.

The second response was disbelief. Disbelief that I had been somehow, without my knowing or permission, transported into the universally loved world of Mass Effect, the centrepiece game series of BioWare. Disbelief that I had been inserted into the mind of another character, one that I had thought, though quite attractive, was fictional.

Evidently, that belief had been false, as I had somehow found myself in the body of the 106-year-old Asari researcher, the daughter of one of the most influential Asari currently alive, Liara T'soni.

"You know, surprise doesn't even begin to describe how shocked I am," I muttered to the empty air in stunned silence, finding that I could now hear the difference in my voice. It was distinctly more feminine than it previously had been. Smoother too, as my words flowed together in a way that was entrancing to my ears.

Well, to the holes that took the place of my once human ears, a part of my mind supplied as it thought about the internal anatomy of the Asari race, one of the many things I had needed to learn to graduate from the standardised learning most of my race were put through. Liara's race was put through.

That's going to get annoying.

Turns out that, while Asari did have a layer of cartilage throughout most of our heads, our ears were actually protected underneath it, using the curvature of the solid tentacles to direct the sound into the cavities where the delicate hairs were located.

Even now I could feel knowledge like this enter my head, knowledge like the muscle groupings that each Asari had, about the diet that we needed to eat and even the embarrassing sex-ed classes that I had begged Mother to not make me attend, much to my failure.

I was an archaeologist. I could understand why I would need to know how to fight, the Batarians existed after all, and much of my research could both be considered valuable and took place in the less civilised regions of space. I already knew how to meld, Monther had shown me well enough. Why did I have to know how to do the second kind, the one reserved for reproduction?

And why did they make us practice it with those we were comfortable with?! Tsiara had never been the same after our practice session, never quite looking me in the eye after we had come down from our mutual meldings. No children had come from it of course, as aside from the special kind of melding, you also had to be in the Matron stage, which required regular and repeated melding.

"Fuck," I cursed softly, shaking my head to clear my thoughts as I refocused on a crack in the wall in front of me, using it to centre my mind on the present while also distancing it from my newly inherited memories. Clearly, whoever had sent me here had seen to it that I would also receive Liara's memories rather than just taking her place, which was both helpful and annoying.

Helpful in that it let me know how things work here, preventing me from standing out too much, but harmful in that it was a whole new set of experiences to define my worldview from.

All 106 years of Liara's memories were now mine, which eclipsed the mere 26 I had lived as a human. Just based on pure time lived, Liara's memories should have been able to overpower my own, leaving a bewildered but enlightened Asari with the knowledge that she had spent a decade looking for.

Instead, a bewildered yet confused mix of an Asari and a male human had been left floating in Prothean shackles, one that possessed the memories of both, but had a personality that leaned towards the latter.

I knew I should be confused, and I was. I also knew I should be scared, as I now knew that the scourge of the galaxy was going to appear once more, a fleet of soulless machines millions of years and billions of lives in the making that would stop at nothing until their task was done.

But I wasn't. It might just be the shock of it all, and at any moment I might simply break down in tears as the weight of my fears got to me, but for now? For now, I was fine.

"Well, no, that's a lie, I'm definitely not fine," I admitted to myself, struggling to move in the bubble I was suspended in as various parts of my new and improved anatomy ached, calling for some sort of relief that was not helped by my state of fatigue.

Liara had been stuck like this for more than just an hour or two, and a quick search of my memories proved it. Liara T'soni, and now myself, had been hanging here trapped for the past 20 or so hours. Knowing what I knew now, I could only hope that Shepard and whoever it was that would accompany them would be here soon.

"Knowing my luck, it could be another couple of days," I muttered with a hint of bitterness before shaking my head slightly. "Mass Effect was a game. You could show up for the Liara mission at almost any point in the first couple of missions, and she would always be there. Waiting. Waiting, and mostly healthy. But this isn't a game, or at least I don't think it is. Considering I can speak and move how freely, I'm kind of leaning towards this being the life behind the game."

A surge of power went through the restraining field, momentarily increasing the force on my limbs as I jerked around a little.

"Well, not freely exactly, but I can move with some effort, just can't get free. Definitely not a game, then, and I choose to not think otherwise."

Because if nothing could be changed, if my destiny was set in stone to watch Shepard die? Only madness lies on that path. Think about it for a second. Knowing just what would happen, when it would happen, who it would happen to and not being able to change anything? That sounds like…well, it depends. If it's all good things, like puppies and kittens shitting rainbows and the like, then it would be a pleasant journey, one tread with ease.

But if you knew you were walking into a genocide 50 000 years in the making and you couldn't do anything about it? The mental anguish it would causes would be catastrophic.

So yeah, I'm just going to assume it's not a game for my own mental well-being.

Welcome.

…at least, I thought it wasn't a game, I thought weakly at the sudden intrusion into my mind.

I'm sure this may come as a surprise to you, but as you might be able to tell, your surroundings have shifted radically into something new and exciting.

Yeah, no shit Sherlock.

While there may be some confusion as to why you are here, you should at least know where you are. I took the liberty of ensuring that you were deposited into a world you know, assuming that the familiarity of the reality's setting may help to soothe some of the transitional woes you may face.

Well… the voice isn't wrong. I may have been shifted into a new body, one that was alien to me twice over and is both older and far more powerful than the one I had possessed originally, in a galaxy that was set to erupt in a bloody war at most a couple of years away, but at least I knew where I was.

I wasn't being sarcastic either, as I really was glad to know where I was.

It was the same principle as the sea vs. getting into a tank with a stingray.

In one, there may be no danger, or there may be a lot, and any little sign of something going wrong like something touching your foot may set your imagination into overdrive, pointing out every possible thing it could be from seaweed to a shark.

For the other, you knew the stingray was dangerous, especially if you received a barb to the heart, but if you kept an eye on it? Kept your distance? You would be relatively safe. You could prepare yourself. Ready yourself for what was to come.

So yes, the mysterious voice was correct, being in a familiar scenario was confronting. But that did not make me comfortable. Literally, or figurately. I was still shocked and a little scared at just what had changed.

I had a life back home in Melbourne, Australia. I had Family. Friends. A degree in Computer Science that I had finished after 5 gruelling years, don't ask, and a nice job lined up for it after a short break. Sure, the world had been going to shit with the threat of war and the aftereffects of economic collapse from a worldwide pandemic, but things had been comfortable.

Settled.

Now? Now I was in something completely out of my comfort zone. Hell, I was probably going to have to get into a life-risking situation in at most a couple of days, and I had never had a riskier experience than a rollercoaster.

However...as much as I wanted to rage, as much as I wanted to yell out and scream at the voice for what it had done, I didn't. For one thing, if they were powerful enough to bring me here, pissing them off could easily make my life a lot harder than it needed to be.

Don't piss off your boss. That was like, rule one of adult working life.

Another part of me, however? It was grateful. Despite being content with life, despite being well on the way to actually experiencing the world in full, it didn't mean I had been happy. It hadn't meant that I had been fulfilled with what I was doing, not when I had been too content with what I'd had to bother risking it for more.

So, I stayed quiet, letting the voice talk as much as it wanted as I soaked in as much of its wisdom into my ear holes as I could.

I wouldn't be too alarmed at the events to come in both the near and distant future, however, as that is not the purpose of my action in bringing you here. I will not say too much right now, as I dislike interfering when events are in motion like this, but I will reveal that your goal as Liara T'soni is to get to the Normandy alongside its crew alive. If you do, your goal will be reached, and the next stage for you will begin. Until then, I will leave you to get acquainted with your new form.

Turns out, the wisdom it could impart wasn't a lot. All I got out of that little speech is that, firstly, whoever put me here doesn't like to interfere with things, which is kind of an oxymoron considering its interference was the whole reason I was here in the first place, but it was good news regardless.

It meant that any actions I took, the decisions I made and the outcomes that came from them would be unaffected by some otherworldly power. Sure, there were still going to be Reapers and their minions involved, but at least I wouldn't have to deal with the interference of a god.

Secondly, I learned that I had the goal of getting to the Normandy alive, which was the end of the mission in the game. From that little nugget of information, I could probably guess that the same trend would follow through for future missions, which was…something.

Finally, although this was implied, there would probably be some time stuck in the cell before Shepard and crew arrived, based on the 'get acquainted' comment, which was just...lovely.

…

Why did I have to be right? Couldn't I be wrong this time? You know, like every time I had thought a girl was hitting on me but was just being polite. Why did shooting my shot have to work this time? Unlike the satisfaction of a good lay, all I had gotten was the tedium of restrained movement admixed with the occasional attempt of the Geth at opening my cell. Sure, that had been concerning at first, but by my estimation, it has been almost a day and a half from when I had first woken up.

Maybe.

It had been a little hard to keep track of the time passing due to my Omni-tool being disabled by the field's security measures, but on the plus side, it was getting easier to pull my arms closer to my chest. I think the fields weakening slightly, or at least the inner one is.

When I spent a good twenty minutes just staring at the field, I could see it flickering slightly less than it had when I first showed up, which was good, but judging by how it had only gotten slightly easier to move, I'd be dead when the power eventually shorted out the field.

What had not been so pleasant was the freak out I'd had about 15 minutes into my imprisonment, where I had come to more or less understand that I would likely never return home. Would never again be among the people or places I grew up with.

This understanding caused me to break down into tears, confirming that Asari can in fact cry in a not-so-fun way, while also proving that they do have eyelashes for some reason. We had no hair on the top of the head, or anywhere else on the body from memory, but somehow my baby blues had eyelashes to help keep the dust away, which violates almost every law of evolution I could think of.

Sure, I may have gotten onto this train of thought as a way to distract myself, but it was a legitimate question.

Hair comes from mammals which had fur at some point in the evolutionary line, which is why humans have hair. Krogans have scaly skin like their reptilian forefathers and the Turians have the more pointed mouth of their avian ancestors, neither of which had hair.

Not Asari though, no siree, as we had somehow managed to inherit the traits of three separate evolutionary lines. Hair from mammals for our eyelashes, small scales from retiles that covered our skin in a soft but protective layer, and cartilage from the ratfish family, which included sharks and rays, protecting our skulls.

As I said, we broke the known laws of evolution, which had become the source of a number of research projects over the years back on Thessia. The matriarchs had wanted to know just where we came from, and despite billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of work hours put in, no conclusive answers had been found.

Probably because they didn't want to acknowledge that the Asari, much like the current iteration of Krogan, were not a product of evolution. Or at least, I didn't think so. For example, in the case of the Krogans, we had uplifted with the sole purpose of making a war-hungry, robust race of shock troopers.

High levels of regeneration, resistance to most forms of exotic damage and redundant biological systems weren't exactly low-energy and weren't something that would have emerged naturally from a biological standpoint. No, we had bred them like lab rats to ensure that those traits were possessed by their entire species, all for the purpose of annihilating the Rachni.

My theory, which I was pleased to be able to back up now seeing as I possessed outsider knowledge, was that the Asari hadn't come from the oceans like was popularly theorised by much of the Thessian scientific community. No, my theory was that we had been made by the Protheans for some purpose unknown before they had vanished.

It had been the subject of my thesis put towards the board of educators and the Royal University, and evidently, at least a few of them saw merit in my idea seeing as they had green-lit the funding for my archaeologically digs in the remains of the once great Prothean civilisation.

Receiving that funding had been a blessing from the goddess, and I couldn't have been happier despite the ridicule and harassment I had received from many of my fellow graduates. No, I had been far too eager to actually get out into the galaxy, to find and prove my theories were reality to let it get me down.

10 years and little success later I trapped myself in an almost inescapable prison, but at least I'd have the satisfaction of being right before I died. We had been made by the Protheans, likely as some sort of experiment in a long-lived, hyper-fertile race that could easily handle the strain of controlling element zero as some sort of backup plan against the Reapers.

That's right, the big bad forefathers had made a race of biotic-slinging, ageless sex soldiers, all for the sole purpose of repopulating the galaxy with viable troops. Or maybe the last part had just been because the scientists in charge of creating us were lonely and wanted some company that they could one day start a family with.

Whatever the truth was, no one would ever know considering the only Prothean I knew that hadn't been eradicated alongside the rest of their race was Javik, and he wasn't exactly a scientist. Or cooperative, for that matter.

Not even I knew, and I had literally looked into the origins of the Asari's creation one day on BioWare's website because I was the right combination of bored and intrigued, and all it had said was that the Asari emerged from the ocean, which from a biological standpoint, was vanishingly unlikely. No, I liked my theory of the Asari being designed much better.

On a side note, did you know that the Asari had amazing singing voices? I don't know if it was on purpose or Liara was unique in this case, but my singing voice was now exponentially better than it had been.

"It's raining men, hallelujah, it's raining men, amen~!"

Not to say that the Weathergirls had been my first choice, but I'd gotten bored at counting the tiles on either side of me, and it had started to strain my neck keeping it turned that way, so I'd resorted to a movement-involved activity.

"I'm going to go out to run and let myself get, absolutely soaking wet~!"

I'd run through the songs that I normally listened to. Well, the ones I could remember at least some of the lines to like Bon Jovi's 'It's My Life', Queen and David Bowie's 'Under Pressure' and even 'I Was Made For Lovin You' by Kiss, which had sounded the best It ever had in my new voice.

Then I'd run through the lyrics of songs I knew but still kind of liked, like 'Barbie Girl' and 'Shape of You', before just running through any songs I knew, mostly just parts. Then, after that had gotten old, I returned back to the songs that I liked a lot and just kept singing them on repeat.

I did 'Under Pressure' for a solid half hour, and had now been doing 'It's Raining Men' for the past 15, and on a side note, I have to say, Asari vocal cords are bullshit. I'd been singing for hours now, and I still don't possess even the slightest hint of raspiness that overturned vocal cords get.

"It's raining men, hallelujah, it's raining men, Every specimen, Tall, Blonde, Dark and Lean, Rough and Tough and Stong and Mean~!"

In unison, the Geth watching me moved their head, their arms splayed outward in the air to represent reaching out for something as the echoed recorded of my voice at the appropriate times, something that they had picked up on scarily quickly, but it helped make the performance.

"To hell with this, we aren't getting to this cracked Asari any time soon and we still have the ruins to explore," The Kroagn watching her said, looking kind of strange in his combination of professional-looking silver and black armour, and bright green skin.

I'd spent 5 minutes alone on riling him up about it, but it turns out that repeated songs were the way to go I thought with amusement as he stormed out of sight, pushing Echo, the Geth on the far right, out of his way with a half shove that made him stubble to the floor.

None of the Geth followed the Krogan however, and even Echo got back into position to continue the performance.

"God bless Mother Nature, She's a single woman too~"

Helpfully, Lefty, the one on the far left, mimed a swooning woman by putting its robotic arm against its head, mining swooning as Charlie caught him, continuing the performance.

"Get moving you buckets of bolts!" The Krogan yelled from the distance, instantly making all 10 Geth watching me slump in unison, all of them looking strangely sad for having light bulbs for heads. Still, they did as asked and moved in unison as they marched away, only Echo on the end passing to wave slightly before he rushed to catch up to his brethren.

Shame, that group of Geth had been listening intently to my little performance for hours. The robot's strange movements had been entertaining me for the past few hours. Now what was I going to do, sing to myself again?

10 minutes later of doing that, and I was already bored.

…

"For fucks sake, Shepard, would it kill you to hurry up!? I've been hanging here for 2 days! Almost 3 real-time and my suits not going to be able to handle much more sanitation!" I growled, my words reverberating off the circular ball of energy I was contained in as I glared at the stone wall, shooting, unfortunately figurative, beams of fire at it as I sought to somehow burn a hole through my confinements.

"Did he…she…they? You know what, I'm just gonna call them Shepard until I know one way or the other. Did Shepard choose to do every other mission first, is that why Shepard's late? Cause If so, when I get free, and after I've had 12 hours rest, a shower, and food in that order, I'm going to give Shepard a piece of my mind and a foot up there ass! Well, I'll need the Cipher, so I'll be getting a piece of Shepard's, but the point stands!"

Noticeably, my legs were slumped, clearly not standing.

"I meant metaphorically!"

You know, I was probably getting a little loopy due to lack of food, water, and proper rest. Arguing with yourself was the first sign of insanity, wasn't it?

No, it's not!

Yes, it is, me!

…

"Right. I'm sick of waiting. I already know that my Biotics won't do jack shit from inside the ball of eternal damnation, and I'm fresh out of ways to distract myself," I muttered grouchily with chapped lips as my arms twitched, remembering the zap I'd received earlier at the gathering of eldritch energies around them when I'd tried.

"But that's just the thing," I said, the corners of my full lips twitching at the humour of it all. Not ha ha funny, but more dark humour funny. "What I'm experiencing right now? This ain't a game. This ain't a series of ones and zeros commanded by a human being with some pleasing visuals and sounds slapped on top. This is a world in itself, and in the real world, there are no guarantees. Like they always say back home, the only guarantees in life are death and taxes, and I don't pay taxes."

Sadly, there was no one here to laugh at my joke, but if they were here, they would. Probably.

Yeah, I wasn't exactly in the best mental state right now. Maybe if I actually was Liara and didn't just possess her memories I'd be able to stay a bit more upbeat about things. Or maybe I would have just been blissfully ignorant, as when she'd been trapped she knew that her mother would send someone after her, so she simply had to wait it out.

That's probably what kept her in relatively good spirits in the game until Shepard had arrived, the false hope of her mother's rescue. Unfortunately, I knew better. The Geth were what Benezia had sent, and I was left waiting for a crack squad of marines and misfits to get me out of there clutches.

"And for some reason, I have my doubts on whether they'll show up," I smiled bitterly, not happy about the fact, but accepting of it. "Oh well, it sucks. It does. But I can't really do anything about it. Maybe this is a test by whoever it was that put me here, a test of my mental fortitude on if I can withstand the pressure that comes from an extremely delayed death."

Well, jokes on the fuckwit who put me here, because I somehow doubt the small multitool in my belt will be able to get me out of my extra-terrestrial bonds.

"If I'm going to die though, there's one thing I want to see firsthand," I said with certainty, preparing myself mentally for a second before I grunted, straining as I pulled my arms into my torso, heaving against the somehwat-reduced-but-not-by-enough force of the restraints on them as I began to fiddle with the robust clothing I had worn for the dig site.

It was quite an expensive number, I will admit, but Mother has always liked to spoil her Little Wing. Brand new from the research division of Goddess Essentials, my clothing was designed to be as sturdy and life-preserving as possible while still remaining fashionable.

The main component, and the one that held the shields and general creature comforts like sanitation and temperature control was the black undersuit that wrapped tightly around me from the top of my neck to the tip of my feet. On top of it was a large green and white overcoat that connected to a pair of gloves, all finished by a solid pair of boots that provided stable footing.

Coming in at just under the cost of an average sky car, it was no surprise that the suit was air-conditioned and recycled water to a certain degree, but the batteries that provided such features and the shields were just about dead from prolonged use.

My suit's wonderous, if failing, tech wasn't what interested me however, as some awkward moments of my fingers latched onto the connection points on the right side of my chest, the location of the garment's seam as I pressed the latches that only I could command, releasing the pressure one by one as the upper garment loosened around me.

The instant the last pressure seal came undone I immediately took a breath, luxuriating in the sensation of being able to breathe freely before shaking my head and going back to work. I knew I only had so long based on the level of strain I could feel in my arms, and I was not wasting the opportunity to know just what breasts felt like from the other end.

"Stupid coat," I grumbled as the fabric bunched awkwardly in my grip, resisting my attempts to remove it. It was elastic you see, and while normally this wasn't much of a problem, I didn't have my full range of movement at the moment.

"Gahh!"

I made it work however, as some pulling and tugging helped the elastic release its grip on my body, letting me pull the coat over my shoulder and halfway down my arms where it started coming off much easier, the sleeves loosening automatically to go up and over the gloves I was wearing before it dropped to the ground, falling through the floor of the force bubble to the metal flooring below.

I stared for a second at this, stunned and a little embarrassed by what had happened.

"You know, I hadn't actually thought about what would happen after I removed the overcoat. Maybe I should have."

Nothing for it now though, seeing as it was now beyond my reach.

"Guess I'll meet Shepard in just my undersuit if they ever actually come then," I muttered, doing my best to ignore the tinge of embarrassment the statement caused. The embarrassment didn't actually emerge from me though. Well, not the male part of me who had spent the past 26 years not caring if his shirt was off or not.

But joining the man was Liara, who did in fact care about the formfitting, almost latex quality the underlayer had around her chest and rear end. Previously hidden by the thick layer of coat that had hung down, not a single part of her shapely features was obscured from the world.

My skin was still hidden, yes, but I wouldn't be surprised if a tailor could guess my cup size at a glance.

"Well…I've gone this far," I shrugged, admitting that while it wasn't ideal, my current situation of living right now wasn't really ideal either, so I got back to work. Unlike the overcoat, the undersuit was fully automatic due to its complexity, letting me reach up to the back of my neck where I depressed a couple of buttons in my security pattern with ease.

I didn't feel any relief at the underlayer going slack, as it was fitted perfectly and moved with the heave of my chest, but it didn't stop a slight chill from running down my spine as the front fell forward, no longer supported at the back where now bare blue skin could be seen.

"Moment of truth," I said with both amusement and a hint of arousal, the situation overpowering the remnant embarrassment Liara's memories impacted on me at the action of exposing myself in public as I tugged off my gloves, letting my arms slip out as the under suit flopped down to my waist, leaving me bare from the waist up as gasped in relief at the sensation of no longer having anything touching my skin on the top half of my body.

While part of the Asari's reputation as lustrous may have been made up by the more depraved individuals of the galaxy, there was some hint of the truth in there as to just why so many young Asari maidens took up the role of exotic dancers in the first couple hundred years of life.

The truth of the matter was simple. We liked it.

The feeling of our skin in the air, of our movements unencumbered, was exhilarating and calming all at once, another sign of genetic programming I theorised. Being so happy without clothes was counterproductive to protecting yourself from the elements, yet on the beaches of Thessia, there was nary a shred of clothing to be found, not even by the most influential leaders of our race.

"This…this is nice," I said in surprise as I looked down to see the wonderous sight of round, blue skin topped with a slightly purple nipple. As much as I enjoyed the sight, however, I did find it a little strange to experience more movement than normal when I twisted my torso, the sway of my breasts continuing after I stopped. While not even close to the size of my mother's…sorry, Benezias breasts (then again, not many were), I had quite the nice pair standing proudly upon my chest, their curves soft yet distinct as they protruded from my ribcage.

Curious, I went through the effort of pulling my arm back from its outstretched position where it had returned when I lost focus, using it to reach down and squeeze my chest curiously. The feeling was of both pressure and pleasure as I shifted in surprise at the touch.

"Very nice, Liara. Very nice," I grinned, unable to help it as I pulled my other arm down, latching on with both hands as I (wo) manhandled my breasts this way and that, tugging on them gently before even giving my stiffening purple nipples a tug.

A breathy gasp escaped my throat unprompted at the action, the sensitive bundle of nerves playing right into my fantasy as I licked my lips, suddenly feeling dry in the throat as I repeated the action, making sure not to be rough as pleasure coursed through my skull.

I had made that mistake in the past at 16, and while it hadn't been the nail in the coffin that ended the relationship, it had probably contributed to Marie feeling that way. In my defence, they were the first pair of breasts I'd seen outside of my mother's, and at their appearance, I hadn't been able to stop myself.

That experience had served me well for my second relationship, and it was serving me well now as I spent a good five minutes teasing and tugging my shapely tits, only pausing occasionally to give my arms a rest while also searching for any sign of something coming, either Geth, Krogan or Alliance Military.

Faintly, I thought for a second that it was strange that no one had come in quite a while, but my addled mind just made me shrug as I refocused my attention on myself. Myself, and the wonderful, freely exposed blue skin of my chest and chiselled abs. My girl was packing.

"I know just how fun the top end is, let's see just what the fuss about the bottom is," I said, my grin infected with lust as I pulled my arms down again but kept them moving past their previous stopping point. Mindful to not actually take them down the whole way so as to leave me naked as the day I was born, I slipped my thumbs underneath the elastic of the undersuit waistband, preparing to pull it down from my waist to my knees.

Tugging outward a little, catching a glimpse of something enticing just before I pulled down, a new sound interrupted my playful experimentation. A sound that I recognised despite only ever hearing it properly in one life.

The repeated high-pitched rumble of guns firing sand-sized shards of metal at a great percentage of the speed of light. Specifically, what I thought was an assault rifle, a sniper rifle, and the loud explosion of what was either a grenade or a rocket.

Liara may have been a bit naive, but she had experienced more than her fair share of combat in the last 10 years, far more than was expected of the gifted archaeologist she was on file.

"Now? Really? Couldn't they have waited for another…oh, I don't know, 45 minutes? Or hell, even another 15? They've been this long, and I would have been done exploring by then," I grumbled even as the flash of fear and embarrassment crossed my mind.

With haste, I grabbed onto the loose top half of my undersuit, pulling it up while simultaneously passing my arms through the sleeves and into the gloves. As soon as I did, I hit the automatic suit-up feature and got treated to the strange experience of your clothes shifting and tightening around you.

I shivered slightly at the action, the movement of the high-tech clothes feeling pleasant on the more sensitive parts of my anatomy, but I was glad the buttons finished latching up before I caught my first glimpse of a (probably) friendly figure, an Alliance N7 marine in full body armour.

As there was only one N7 marine who could be on this planet, I knew exactly who this was. Commander Shepard, of the Alliance Navy.

While I couldn't see exactly what she looked like as she was wearing a helmet, I could tell it was Fem-Shepard based on her stature and the fact that she had visible curves underneath thick armour plating. Which, props girl.

I was quite pleased by this fact, as appearance aside, I'd always preferred the strict but compassionate voice of Jennifer Hale over the more basic Mark Meer. Not to mention, while Liara may swing both ways, I did not, and if the opportunity strikes I just might have a go at the Commander myself.

"Hello? Would you be able to help me? I seem to be a bit stuck!" I called out, yelling a little to ensure I was heard through the two separate barriers.

Before Shepard could speak, her companions walked up behind her, and much to my surprise, it wasn't just the two of them.

Coming up on her right was another pair of marines, neither of them sporting the N logo but still clearly members of the alliance military. Kaiden and Ashley, naturally.

"All clear, Shepard. No enemies in sight, although judging by how many signatures Joker reported, more will be on us soon enough."

"Noted," Shepard nodded at Ashley, sounding exactly like she did in the game before she turned to look back at me.

On her left was a tall Turian dressed in blue police armour holding a sniper rifle, a Quarian in a purple battle-suit fiddling with an Omni-tool, and an extremely scarred Krogan hefting a massive fuck-off shotgun that he looked eager to use. Otherwise known as Garrus, Tali, and Wrex, the rest of the potential ground crew that can be brought aboard the Normandy in the first game.

"Liara T'soni, I presume?" Shepard asked, the question clear in her tone.

"Yeah, that's me," I sighed, slumping slightly in my restraints even as I kept an eye on the squad. "I'd attempt to shake your hand, but as you might be able to tell, I'm a little tied up at the moment."

The joke earned a snort of laughter from Shepard as well as Garrus, but it didn't stop her from folding her arms across her chest, taking on a serious aura.

"I can see that. What are you stuck in, exactly? Is it something we need to worry about?"

"Only if you want to get inside. It's a Prothean security device, one that I activated as soon as I caught word of the Geth approaching. I must have pressed the wrong button, as I didn't intend to activate the inner bubble I'm currently trapped in. I would have disabled it, but the console is over there," I tilted my neck, gesturing towards the complicated terminal down and to my right. "Without access to it, I've been stuck like this for the past 3 days."

"Is that why you took off your outer coat?" Ashley interjected, gesturing with the end of her assault rifle at the cloak beneath me. The mention of the coat was enough to make my cheeks go red as I looked down, but I did my best to not let it embarrass me despite the chuckles I could hear from the rest of the peanut gallery.

Instead, I tried to give a reasonable explanation that they would buy, which should be fairly easy considering I was the foremost expert on Protheans in the galaxy.

"This forcefield is designed to prevent the use of Mass Effect fields," I addressed Ashley, putting on a clinical tone. "As a result, it puts out a lot of energy. While the energy does dissipate through the heat sinks scattered throughout the cell, the process is not perfect due to lack of maintenance," I sighed helplessly, attempting to sell the act.

"It's been slowly getting hotter in here, and the outercoat only offers an extra layer of protection, it doesn't do anything to keep me cool as the undersuit does. Your lucky you came now, in another couple of hours you might have found me a smidge more undressed," I joked, earning a shuffle from Kaden while Garrus and Shepard looked on in interest.

Luckily, I didn't have to explain why, even if I wasn't really fibbing.

"Your suits batteries running out of power?" Tali queired, making me nod.

The squad started talking at a lower level, looking like they were debating something about me considering how they were pointing. I couldn't hear them, and while I could lip-read Asari and a smattering of Human English, I couldn't exactly do the same for Turian and Krogan considering they used universal translators.

It seems like luck was in my favour, as despite some animated movements from Ashley, Shepard overruled her with a pointed look before she turned back towards me.

"We'll find some way to help you," Shepard said, her voice confident as I felt relief, grateful that I wouldn't just be left here.

"Thank you," I smiled gratefully, my eyes shining. "To get me out of here, you'll have to deactivate the security device which will require you to get past the barrier curtain. Goddess knows that the Geth have been trying to do so, but be warned, there is a Krogan among them."

"A Krogan huh?" Wrex spoke up for the first time with a deep rumble, a bloodthirsty grin crossing his lizard lips as he cocked his shotgun, causing it to start humming. "Maybe I'll actually get a challenge for once."

"Not what most beings would say, but to each their own," I replied, earning an amused grin from the alien veteran.

"Thanks for the info. We'll find our own way in, so hang in there," Shepard interjected, signalling the squad to move out as I nodded, the action involuntary before my mind caught up with itself as I watched the squad of six move out of visual range, the sound of gunfire quickly appearing mixed with the occasional explosion.

"Did...did Shepard just make a pun?"

I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

AN: Sooooo, what did you think? Did you like it? Hate it? Let me know in the reviews.

Also, another thing I'll be doing with this chain of stories is posting some of my answers to reviews in the sort, but only for those posted in the most recent chapter.