Well, at least ONE person likes my first try, (possibly two :) ) and that's motivation to keep writing. As you can see I cleaned up the pov and am now trying to be consistant with the forwards and overall length. Updates will likely be slightly eratic while I accustom myself to writing for an audience instead of just for myself.
Eden Prime
This isn't possible, I kept telling myself. This can't be real. I'm dreaming; Yes, that's it! I HAVE to be dreaming!
But reality seldom listens to inner monologues. I backpedaled furiously away from Shepard's hand, trying to sort out my surroundings (trying being the operative word). Kaiden (I finally remembered his name) placed a cautionary hand on Shepard's shoulder when he tried to follow me.
"Careful, Shepard. He's confused."
Why does that sound familiar? I gingerly scrambled to my feet, holding my side in what I would recognize later as the "injured" animation. I then hit myself multiple times in a vain attempt to wake up. Jenkins piped up when gunshots were heard over the hillside.
"Commander, we can't afford to waste time here; we have to get moving!"
I couldn't think straight. I was panicked. So I did (panic, that is), and ran off in what I hoped was the opposite direction of the gunfire. Behind me I head Shepard curse and order Jenkins to take point while he and Kaiden followed.
I-on the other hand-was composed barely enough to not scream like a little girl. Had I been thinking at all, I would have immediately recognized the area and not run around a certain corner… with a blocked line of sight.
So naturally I ran head on into the sights of the first enemies Shepard and his team would encounter: Geth drones.
This time I did scream like a little girl, and my body froze; just in time for my foot to hit a rock and send me falling flat onto my backside for the second time in as many minutes.
Which saved my life. Unfortunately Jenkins (who had been following close behind me) now was forced to take the brunt of the drones' fire, his shields overloading in seconds, and his armor failing in less than that.
Shepard and Kaiden roared in fury, firing their weapons in an almost godlike precision that tore through the drones faster than they could counter. This gave me enough time (shocking me into survival mode instead of panic mode) to find a boulder to crouch behind. I glanced around at the colony I now understood was Eden Prime, realizing we were very close to that Prothean dig site.
This distracted me long enough for the one drone Jenkins's comrades had missed to float around my cover and zone its sites on my forehead. I yelled again, throwing my hands up in a pitiful attempt to block the shots I knew were coming…
Except that my "attempt" wasn't so pitiful, after all.
The shots were fired, but they never hit their mark. My eyes were tightly shut at the time, so I didn't immediately understand what was happening. I worked up the courage to inch one eye open and what I saw…
A glowing, bluish-purple field surrounded me on all sides, repelling the drone's bullets as easily as bugs on a windshield. A domed biotic barrier was protecting me, and I was the one generating it. I didn't quite believe it until I noticed my body wreathed in the same energy that kept my sorry rear from meeting an early grave.
Bad news first: I had never generated biotics before, and I could already feel my strength ebbing fast from the constant barrage the barrier was enduring. I wasn't going to be able to keep this up for long.
But the good news came a second later in a blaze of bullets; I had help. Yes, I'm not ashamed to admit I needed help. The drone attacking me was scrap in record time, and I ran out of energy in the same instant. I put my hands on my knees and tried to catch my breath when Shepard took off his helmet and approached me, signaling Kaiden to keep watch.
"Where's your weapon, soldier?"
I barely heard him through the roaring in my ears. Jenkins lay on the rocky ground, eyes wide open. I knew he was dead, but my mind still couldn't accept this as real.
No, no no nonononono. Just wake up, you idiot! I pinched myself hard. Nothing. I shook myself and tried to feel the metal springs of the bed I was certain I was lying in. Still nothing. Shepard finally lost his patience and grabbed me by the shoulders.
"Suck it up, marine. Where. Is. Your. Weapon?"
"Must be a civilian, Commander," Kaiden said over his shoulder. "Probably in shock."
"Civilians don't fly Alliance Tridents." Shepard said flatly. "Nor do they throw out barriers like that."
"Neither do I," I say in a very small voice.
"Really." Shepard stated sarcastically, looking me up and down. "What was that you just did then?"
"You're asking me?" I blurted out. "I've never used biotics in my life! I shouldn't be here, not two seconds ago I was…"
The crash. I crashed. That was real. Am I dead, then? No, I hurt. That means I'm obviously not in heaven. But I don't hurt all over, so just as obviously I'm not in the other place.
"You were what? Do you know where you are?"
"Eden Prime," I say before I can stop myself. Then it hit me. I'm on Eden Prime. Then I hit me. "This is real... this can't be real."
"Believe me kid. It's real." I looked up at Shepard. And proceeded to gape at the fact that he was my Shepard. The Shepard I created years ago the first time I put the game into my Xbox. His eyes narrowed.
"What?"
"It's…you're… no," I stammered out helplessly. "Commander Shepard? Born on Mindoir, Hero of Elysium, elite N7 operative-"
"Whoa, there slow down." Shepard took a step back. "How do you know so much about me?"
"You… you wouldn't believe me." I chuckled weakly. "Hell: I wouldn't believe me."
"Oh? You'd be surprised…" He raised his omnitool and scanned me. "Corporal Donovan."
That got my attention. "'Corporal?' What are you… Wait a minute, how do you know my name?"
"It's in your extranet service record," Shepard said with a puzzled look. He began reading off said record: "Corporal Conner Donovan, Ascension Project graduate, born on Earth, enlisted in Eden Prime's Colonial Defense force 2181 after receiving top marks in combat tech and biotics-"
"That's… What? Top tech marks? I wouldn't know an ezo core from an omnitool! Where are you getting all this?" I grabbed Shepard's arm to see the info crawling across his screen.
"Hey, hey, look it up yourself. Check your own omnitool."
"I don't have one."
"Yes you do, here," Shepard pressed another button, and the signature bright orange glove of an omnitool appeared around my left arm. I yelped and jumped almost a foot into the air.
"You really don't remember any of that," he asked when I couldn't take my eyes off the device sprouting from my wrist."
"How do you… work this thing," I breathed, completely nonplussed.
"And the fact you're wearing an Alliance flight suit?"
"Am I?" I jumped again when I realized he spoke the truth. Kaidan interjected urgently:
"Shepard, we really don't have time for this. We have to get to the"-
"Prothean Beacon."
They both stared at me. My brain caught up with my mouth a second later, and I groaned. "The… Oh crap." I covered my face.
"I'm going to assume the reason you know about that," Shepard started slowly.
"Is the same reason I know who you are, yes." I finish. "Like I said, you wouldn't believe me if I told you." I took a deep breath. "The only things that record has right are my name and my… homeworld."
"… So?" Shepard folded his arms and cocked an eyebrow, waiting for my answer.
He's going to love this.
"I was born on Earth. Just… in a small midwestern town, in the early 1990s."
"Uh huh." Shepard raised the other eyebrow and gestured back to the crashed Trident. "Do you remember how you got into that? Or how you crashed it?" He spoke slowly and deliberately.
Great. He thinks I'm… "I know how this sounds, Commander. I'm not crazy, I'm not slow, and apparently" I looked around at the Eden Prime settlement. "I'm not dreaming either."
"Commander!" Kaidan interrupted again.
"I'm on it! All right," Shepard turned back to me. "I'm not even going to ask how you know so much despite being 'from the past.' We're on a mission to recover that beacon." He fixed me with his gaze. "Can you help us?"
I willed my heart to stop pounding hard enough to drown out my thoughts (such as they were). When I could trust my voice, I considered all my options. 1: sticking with Shepard was statistically the best way to stay alive long enough to figure this out. 2: Shepard was one of the few people who wouldn't try to exploit my knowledge (once he found out). 3: Shepard didn't know his way around the colony; I did.
"I don't know where the Beacon is," I said. Shepard turned away in exasperation. "But I do know how to get to someone who does," I continued. I knew that time was running out for a certain gunnery Chief, so I hurried on.
"I appreciate you two saving my life, Commander. I'll help however I can." I saluted him as befitted a Corporal (as I apparently was) to a Commander. "I just want to say in advance, despite that record, I have no combat experience." I hung my head a little.
"We'll see." Shepard studied my face shrewdly, then took out his pistol and handed it to me. "Follow my lead, don't be an idiot, and you should live to see tomorrow."
"Absolutely on the first, not so tight on the second," I joked. Shepard glared at me until I raised my hands saying "Sorry, bad time." I glance over at Jenkins' body, hating my guts. "I'm sorry about him."
"Don't blame yourself. Blame the drones." Shepard and Kaidan walked over to examine Jenkins'. Kaidan closed the dead marine's eyes with the familiar "Ripped right through his shields. Never had a chance."
Shepard gazed sadly down at his former comrade. "We'll see that he receives a proper ceremony once this mission is complete." I blinked, recognizing the paragon response. This was the Shepard I played! "But I need you two to stay focused." I blinked again. 'Two?' That wasn't how… oh right. I mentally kicked myself and examined the pistol Shepard gave me to make sure I wasn't going to shoot myself.
"Aye aye, sir." We were back to the "script," evidently. Kaidan looked over at me with an unreadable expression. "Come on, Corporal."
"Yeah, Kai… sorry, Lieutenant Alenko sir." I decided to follow the few regs I knew of for the moment. Being too familiar with military operatives would probably get my ass kicked.
"Lead the way, Donovan." Shepard nodded up the path, pulling out a shotgun while Kaidan readied an assault rifle. I took a steadying breath then walked up the path up to some trees. I knew we had a few drones yet between us and the next cutscene (for lack of a better word), so I went cautiously, ducking behind cover where I could and checking my pistol's ladar constantly.
I counted myself lucky that before being yanked from my home dimension I had looked over the Mass Effect wiki a few times, so I knew at least half the jargon associated with Alliance military. The M-3 Predator Shepard had given me wasn't standard issue, but I knew how to pull a trigger (since I didn't have to worry about thermal clips yet).
I stayed out of Shepard and Kaidan's way when drones tried to ambush us further along the path. But of course, somehow the drones recognized my inexperience and focused most of their fire on me.
I kept in cover while the other two focused on taking the drones out and popped out only once to fire at the last drone. Which promptly exploded from the one bullet I fired. I gaped in surprise, whispering "Sheesh."
"You sure you have no combat experience, kid?" Shepard asked me, sounding amused.
"Uh… I have the rifle and archery merit badges," I stammered helpfully.
"Great," Kaidan said, rolling his eyes. "A glorified boy scout."
"He's doing the best he can, Kaidan." Shepard admonished him. Kaidan relented, giving me an appraising look. "Eagle Scout, actually," I told him nervously.
We forged ahead, taking out more drones in the process. I surprised myself again with my accuracy several times… though this may have had something to do with unlimited ammunition. I didn't have to worry about wasting a shot, though I tried to make them count.
Soon enough we heard more gunfire ahead of us, and our first glimpse of Dragon's Teeth. I focused on the Geth units advancing on us until one of them overheated my pistol. I ducked behind a rock, swearing. I had the bright idea to try throwing one of the rocks at them with biotics. It worked; sort of. It distracted the Geth in question long enough to have its head blown off by Shepard's shotgun.
This of course left me breathless and worn out. I tried to get back into cover, but one of the remaining Geth got close enough to hammer me in the gut with its rifle. I collapsed from the pain and rolled over onto my back to find myself staring down the barrel of a Geth Pulse rifle. I looked up at it, couldn't move, couldn't even breath until: "Stay down!"
Rifle bullets tore into the Geth, and when it turned to face this new threat I pulled up my pistol and nailed it right in the eye. Then there was silence. I got clumsily to my feet and caught sight of the impaled humans on the teeth. Which made me lose any control over my stomach I had been lucky to maintain. When my lunch finished decorating the ground I whiped my mouth and nearly jumped out of my skin when a human woman in pink and white armor patted me sympathetically on the back and turned back to the Commander and Alenko.
"Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. You the one in charge here sir?"
If the cliff-hanger style endings bother anyone I'll try to adjust. I appreciate anyone who reads and-or comments on these (negatively as much as positively). Eventually I'll have to stop playing ME3 and go back to ME1 to make sure I stay true to the dialogue and such (youtube is a big help). Hopefully I'll be able to keep this going long enough to make it to the end of 3. Hopefully being the key word...