A Celestial Journey
Chapter 1: An All Expenses Paid Trip
A/N: So I keep bouncing between three stories I am working on now so if this is a little out of the blue that is why. I hope ya'll enjoy this.
Disclaimer: I own my failures and nothing else.
"Thoughts"
["AI speech or text."]
{"OVERSEERS SPEAKING"}
"Talking"
"LOUD THINGS/WORDS/NOISES!"
POV: Orion Hill
It started with one of Orion's favorite past times; Answering spam emails to mess with scammers. He was on the third email tonight and had already managed to make all three of said scammers tear their hair out in frustration. Then suddenly he got another email and this one was just screaming for him to mess with the scammer who sent it. The hook was utterly ridiculous. It simply read "You've w0n an all ecspenses pa1d tr1p t0 the Andromeda Galaxy! Cl1ck the link below to claim your prize!". Thankfully he was being smart about this and was doing all this on an old beater laptop he wiped and bought cheap and was doing it at home with all the various electronics unhooked from the network to avoid giving said scammers any real information to work with. Otherwise he would never even think of doing this.
(This is a warning for all you people out there who are thinking of trying this DON'T! I have no IDEA how this stuff works and this is just my best guess. You have been warned NOT to do this without professional input!)
Orion clicked the link and the old beat up laptop takes a second to load it. Up loads this weird retro style website with a banner that says "WINNER!" and a button that says "Take this short quiz to gain your prize!" Orion presses the button fully expecting it to ask the normal questions used to steal someone's identity along with enough viruses that he might have to brick the laptop. Instead an actual quiz pops up with questions like "Does the idea of traveling to another galaxy excite you?" and "Is their anyone who you would miss or would miss you?" and "Are you prepared for possible maiming, brain damage, mental backlash, partial insanity, and possible interactions with an elder god?" All of which Orion answered yes to other than the one about others missing him. He hit enter and was taken to a page where it said "Congratulations Lucky Winner! Sit still and good luck on your journey!" At this point he was rather confused and was hoping it would get to part where he could mess with the scammers. Then all of a sudden his screen flashed brightly as he, his calico cat Molly, and a bunch of his electronics vanished from the world entirely.
As Orion was seemingly flung through time and space via a rather trippy wormhole he couldn't help but wonder if he should've avoided clicking that link.
{"INTEGRATING SUBJECT INTO CHOSEN UNIVERSE."}
Orion shuddered as he felt the strange voice all the way into his very soul before he started to scream as knowledge not his own started to be burned into his mind. How to fix machines the likes he had never imagined possible. How to drive vehicles he had never dreamed of. How to deal with mass effect fields and the tech that used them. How to utilize forms of weaponry he considered impossible. And as all that knowledge was crammed into his mind his phone came apart and shifted into something new as it slipped through his flesh to fuse to the bone in his hand, An ocean blue holographic display appearing on his arm and hand. His VR headset melted as well and fused to his skull and his brain another display much more opaque than the last springing forth over his eyes displaying various vital signs and other information as all the mass effect games he owned melted into it supplying him with all their knowledge. Then Molly his precious cat yowled as her body twisted and shifted becoming more than she was as her entire being was turned into code. At the end of the transformation Molly knew what she needed to do and what here task was as she leapt into her owner's new devices and got to work setting up defenses on the well of knowledge he possessed. His PS5 and all the requisite games melted together and reformed forming a small drone the size and shape of a kitten with a small backpack on it's back. Lastly the being watching all of this unfold waved his hand putting a powerful shield upon his memories. One that cannot be broken through any mortal means.
{"INTEGRATION COMPLETE INJECTING SUBJECT INTO CHOSEN UNIVERSE."}
Invisible to any being even the AI of the ship he arrived on Orion appeared inside of one of the few empty cryopods. One that was slated for a wealthy patron that never showed. The cryopod activated and thus Orion was sealed for the remainder of the 300 year journey to his new home. Andromeda.
POV: Sara Ryder
Sara had just sat down to eat after finally arriving at the Nexus. She had had a shit week. First they arrive in Andromeda and wake up only to crash into some dark matter bullcrap. That damaged her brother's cryopod and he got stuck in a coma. Then the perfect garden world they were promised turned out to be a hellscape. Then they discovered hostile aliens within moments of crash landing on said hellscape. They had to fight through what seemed like hundreds of the bastards. They made it to a terraforming device and managed to fix it only for her dad and her to be launched off a cliff. Then her helmet broke and her dad went and died so she could have his helmet and transferred S.A.M. to her making HER pathfinder rather than the person that was supposed to be!
She had barely had time to scarf down two bites of food before her connection to said AI opened (And didn't that throw her for a loop when she found out.) ["Pathfinder, there is a situation in the cryobay that requires your attention."] S.A.M. said making her panic. "Is Scott okay?! I swear if something happened to him SAM I am gonna have a break down here!" She thought frantically at the AI. [Scott Ryder is fine Pathfinder. However when a count was taken of the cryopods we discovered one that had been marked empty at the beginning of the voyage was active. Neither the logs nor my cameras record anyone entering the pod or the pod's activation. There is someone alive inside it."] Replied S.A.M. calmly making Sara relax for a moment before she realized what S.A.M. was implying. "Wait so you're saying we have a potentially hostile stowaway that somehow managed to pass under even your radar?" Sara asked as she got up stuffing the last few bites of her food into her mouth before throwing it away. ["Them being hostile is unlikely Pathfinder but they are undoubtedly a stowaway and an impressive one at that. The only reason we caught it was the pod was damaged slightly in the crash. Not to the extent of Scott Ryder's pod but enough for cryo staff to be concerned for the entity inside. There is a decent likelihood of some level of brain damage."] replied S.A.M. as Sara started jogging towards the Cryobay.
One tram ride and a bit of jogging later and Sara arrived at the Cryobay though for some reason she had to go around the central area this time. Something to do with the last time she went through there things nearly exploding. It meant it took her a good extra ten minutes to get to the bay. Still she found herself rather excited. After all it isn't every day someone stows away on a ship like this and fools an AI to do so no less. She arrives to organized chaos as medics bustle all over dealing with newly awakened passengers. Due to the Nexus being unfinished they had to keep the number of people they woke up to a minimum with priority on those that were useful to finishing the nexus and handling the botanical work needed. This meant that thankfully the bundle of medical personnel and guard personnel surrounding a single if damaged cryopod was rather obvious. Sara made her way over just in time for them to pop the pod open and her to come face to face with a pair of toxic looking lawn green eyes.
POV: Orion Hill
Orion woke up with a gasp coming face to face with a red head with some of the weirdest purple eyes he had ever seen causing him to look around in confusion. Either someone was playing a prank on him or that was an Asari. Given the level of detail on some of the tentacles on her head and how the blue color even extended to her tongue. Yeah he's not in Kansas anymore. Nor likely anywhere on Earth. As the Asari speaks he thanks god for the universal translator on his omnitool as what she says to him is in perfect English despite her lip movements being completely different. "Are you alright? Do you know where you are?" She asked calmly while waving the rather stereotypical bright orange omnitool over him as a light scans him.
"N-Not really... where am I and... Who are you people?" Orion asked cautiously as he noticed the fact that there were some rather burly looking guard types with what look like police batons in their hands standing around him. "My name is Doctor Carlyle you are in the cryobay onboard Ark Hyperion. What is the last thing you remember?" She asked drawing his attention back to her. "The last thing I remember? Lots of pain... I still seem to remember my name and a bunch of technical information... but beyond that everything is a bit of a blur." Orion answered as honestly as he could while internally freaking out at his location. "And what is your name?" The Doctor asked as she finished scanning him. "My name is Orion Hill." he said as he looked around and noticed the android calico kitten with the strange backpack on her. "Molly!" He said he scooped up the android shell actually transferring a partition of the cat turned AI into it. This causes the shell to "wake up" with a mewl as he cuddles it into his chest.
The doctor upon noticing the cat starts to scan it as well only for Sara to burst between them with a cry of "KITTY!" and start petting the shell. "Sara I need to scan the cat too. For all we know it could have diseases or damage similar to Mr. Hill. Our pods were not made for more than one occupant and certainly not a kitten." Dr. Carlyle lectured as she reached around Sara to scan the kitten. Unbeknownst to them the display on her omnitool glitched for a moment as the cat turned AI "Adjusted" her readings to show a normal although cold kitten. "Thankfully she seems fine despite all odds." The Doctor said as the kitten purred and nuzzled into the pets happily. "Now then Mr. Hill. Due to you not being on the list of people who were supposed to be on this journey we will unfortunately have to detain you until we can decide what to do with you-" The Doctor said only to be cut off suddenly as Sara chimed in. "We'll take them! They can be part of my team!" Sara said only for the Doctor to protest. "Sara! You can't be serious! You don't even know this man! Who even knows if he is qualified to be on this ship much less your team!" Sara then responded immediately. "SAM seemed impressed with him! He somehow managed to get into that pod without alerting anyone or being caught on camera! He just said that his technical knowledge survived! Right Orion?" She asked turning to Orion how nodded in numb shock before she continued. "Besides anyone that concerned over a cat can't be THAT bad of a person." She said as though that proved anything.
Orion meanwhile was stuck in a state of surprise that someone was leaping to his defense so swiftly after meeting him. It almost made him feel bad that he had to lie to them even if it was just lies of omission. Dr. Carlyle seemed to struggle to find an argument to refute her for a bit before sighing in resignation. "Very well. I will not fight you on this for NOW. However I reserve the right to say "I told you so." Should anything go wrong." She said as Sara pumped her fist in the air before turning to Orion. "Alrighty looks like you're on my team now Orion! You better be ready for the adventure of a lifetime mister!" She said with a grin while pointing at him triumphantly. Orion meanwhile resigned himself to being stuck with her. ["Pathfinder, might I suggest getting Mr. Hill along with yourself to your new ship? You shall have ample time to get to know your new team member on your way to Eos."] S.A.M. piped up from Sara's omnitool causing Orion to freeze and all the blood to drain from his face as he finally realized where he was. Mass Effect: Andromeda. Pre-Eos Mass Effect: Andromeda at that. Holy Shit he was totally screwed.
A/N: Well there you go guys the first chapter of yet another fic. When will I get back to anything other maybe Random is as Random Does? Who knows I tend to write fanfics in universes that I am reading about or playing the video game of. Given that I will be playing Mass Effect: Andromeda or reading Starwars, Pokémon, and Helluva boss/Hazbin Hotel fanfiction we'll see what pops out of my ADHD brain. Anyway everyone thank you for reading and please leave a review. Have a wonderful day you amazing people!