There are a few things l never expected in life. Standing on the Citadel as an Asari is probably the most unexpected thing in my entire life. Both of them really. I'm getting ahead of myself. At one point in time I was a human male living in America. I had just been forcibly retired after forty-plus years in the US Marine Corps as a Major General. I actually enjoyed my retirement and spending time with my wife and children, until Alzheimer's hit. Despite the best efforts of several doctors and my family, I died at the age of seventy-one. I wish I could have spent more time my children, especially my son who might have resented me a bit for constantly being away. He was only twenty-six when I died, as I didn't start my family until I was in my forties. I loved my son and both my daughters dearly. Even to this day, I don't remember a damn thing about them. By the time I was hospitalized, I barely knew who I was.

I remember playing video games with my son, cheering him on when he won or ragging on him when I won. We played Mass Effect together, arguing over the morality of the choices and who to romance. We played Halo and Battlefield, and I remember being so proud when he declared that he wanted to be a therapist to help people. My daughters went on different paths, one joined the Marine Corps as a pilot, and the other was a scientist. My wife was a car mechanic that I met when I had dropped my car off to have it fixed.

I loved them all dearly and I will always hate the fact that I can not and probably never will be able to remember them clearly. They were all there the day that I died. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't fight on for any longer. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was so very weak. I had died, surrounded by my friends and family. Moving right? Except for the whole brain disease thing, but I digress.

That turned out to be not that. To my surprise, I woke up as a baby in the arms of an Asari and an anxious Krogan standing off to the side. My parents. I was their third child and named Myria. I switched it around to Moira when I was older. A name that I knew had some importance to me back when I was human. My parents were dedicated to raising all of their children, and once I turned thirty, I was asked if I wanted to be a huntress like my mother. I eagerly accepted and excelled at it. I also learned how to fight from my Krogan father, who at one point had been a successful mercenary and quite frankly, a terrifying Battlemaster. I spent decades learning philosophy, martial arts and weapons. I proved to be a hell of a pilot, mainly because I would pull stunts that everyone else would consider to risky or insane. Finally, at age one hundred-one, I was ready to set out. I had participated in a few missions in Asari space, hunting down pirates, terrorists and others when I felt the urge to go traveling around the Milky Way.

One tearful goodbye later and I was bouncing across the galaxy for more then ten years until I ended up here, on the Citadel. I stood in the Presidium, leaning on the rail and watching the cars fly by. I held up a purple hand to the sky and watched as the light seemed to flow between my fingers. I inhaled and thought about myself. My markings on my face, black and shaped like one of the constellations near Tuchanka and on the left side, shaped like a constellation near Thessia. My scalp-crests started off like a normal Asari's then the tips changed from purple to black and swept upwards at the tips, reminiscent of my father's head plates. I also had a few sharper teeth, in shape of canines. These days, after over a century in my new life, I didn't think much about the fact that I was no longer human or a man. Every once in a while sure, but these days not so much.

"You look lost in thought. Credit for your thoughts?" A voice to my right said. I turned and looked at a dark-skinned human male and offered a wane smile. Leo Longstreet, one of the first people I met on the Citadel when I first came here a year ago. Matching my 5'11 height, he was more brick-shithouse musculature then my toned dancer strength. A mechanic by trade, he was one of the few people that I allowed to touch my ship, Serenity. I dropped my arm and smiled over at him. Leo pulled me into a hug that I happily returned. "Shouldn't you be at work?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Cardus was nice enough to give me the rest of the day off. Nomi and I are going to lunch and you're coming with." I snorted. "And if I didn't want to go?" I asked. "Nuh-uh. You don't get a choice. You're coming to lunch with Nomi, Micah and I." Leo said as he began to drag me along to his wife. I stopped resisting when I heard Micah. "Micah's going to be there?" I asked.

"Yup. It's a family lunch. That includes all of the family. Even the purple ones with the weird fringe tendril things and weird face-tattoos."

"My scalp-crests are not weird! And the tattoos are markings of constellations near Tuchanka and Thessia! They aren't weird either."

"They're a little weird."

"Are not!"

We argued back and forth until we reached his wife, a dark-skinned human with her shoulder length braids tied up in a bun. In her arms was a squirming baby, no more than a year old. "Micah!" I called out, and little Micah gurgled and started laughing. I exchanged quick hugs with Nomi and then had to move quickly to catch little Micah who decided to try and jump in my arms. I held up the giggling baby and rubbed his nose with mine. Micah giggled and made grabby motions with his hands. I ignored him and kept my head out of his reach. One painful incident with his stupidly strong baby-hands and my scalp crests made that a good idea.

I did however levitate him with a biotic field that had him giggling loudly. "So where are we going?" I asked, keeping a close eye on the floating baby. My biotics are powerful, but you have to be careful. "We're going to the Red Star." Nomi answered.

"Don't you work there?" I asked.

"Yes I do. So I get a discount which works great for the purple-black hole that I'm friends with."

"What is this, ragg on Moira day?" I asked petulantly. "Biotics take a lot of calories thank you very much."

"Everyday is ragg on Moira day!" Leo said as he pulled me into a side-arm hug. Whatever I was going to say next was lost by alarms ringing throughout the Presidium. I immediately dropped Micah into his mother's arms and took both Leo and Nomi's hands and started leading them away. "Serenity is a great place to ride this out." I told them. "Shouldn't the arms be closing by now?" Leo demanded.

"Better question is who would be dumb enough to attack the Citadel? There's literally a fleet right there!" I snapped. We reached a taxi stand and I hurriedly started putting in information to get a taxi cab. When it started saying that the taxi services were shut down due to the attack, a biotic infused punch shattered the consol and the remnants blinked a bright green. "There we go, one taxi cab." I said with a smile. A smile that promptly disappeared when a loud whooshing sound followed by a thud. I looked over at the source of the sound and could only stare at this thing that had appeared from out of nowhere.

Unfolding from a crouch this light grey humanoid shape stood up on forward bending legs and seemed to glare at us with a single light blue flashlight eye. "A fucking Geth? What?" Leo asked, confused. As he very well should be as they hadn't been seen outside the Perseus Veil in centuries except for the attacks on the human colonies. All of which is a long fucking ways from here!

Said Geth made some sort of mechanical noise and reached for the rifle on its back and I formed a barrier in front of us. "Get in! Serenity is coded to let you guys in! Stay there and don't open for anyone except for me! If things get to dangerous fucking fly away!" I yelled.

"We can't just leave you here!" Both of them yelled at the same time. Several more Geth joined the first one and started shooting. I could feel the barrier starting to break. I flicked one of my hands back and a small biotic bubble popped in front of the family and made them fall into the taxi. With tearful eyes, they thankfully didn't argue and closed the doors. The taxi lifted off and flew away, and I dropped the barrier long enough to send shockwaves bouncing across the ground, sending the Geth flying into the air. I heard them land some distance away, and I don't think they'd be getting back up again.

I groaned and rubbed my head. I was not dressed for a fight at all! A leather jacket covering a crop top with pants that covered my boots. Not a scrap of armor on me. I of course had a pistol and several knives strapped to my belt, as both of my parents were aggressive in the Take a weapon everywhere you go thing. Biotics aren't invincible after all. I grabbed my trusty M-3 Predator pistol from my shoulder holster and started running. A couple biotic blasts wrecked some more Geth, and I felt proud of myself, right up until the moment a slug missed my head by maybe a couple inches.

I swore and hit the ground. I rolled and fired off a couple shots, which didn't really accomplish anything except making more Geth pay attention to me. That loud machine noise they made when they spotted me did nothing to help my nerves. I don't know if it was their version of talking, or if it was some sort of intimidation thing, but it worked either way. I saw people running this way and that and they ignored my repeated shouts to get down. They paid the price for it. Geth opened fire on them and they went down in droves. They were the lucky ones. The ones that didn't die right away or were caught were dragged over to these tri-pod machines. They struggled until a spike erupted from the base of the machine and impaled them. The Geth walked away, leaving the now impaled people stuck on spikes several feet in the air.

I stood up and grabbed the Geth with my biotics. They rocketed up into the air at impressive speeds, before they slammed right back down at maximum velocity. I turned my attention to destroying these spike-things when a giant white Geth stomped around the corner with several normal sized Geth with it.

I ran.

Yes yes I know. Former US Marine and trained Asari Huntress with a Krogan battlemaster for a father and I ran. But you know what's the one thing that my parents and life itself taught me over and over? There are times when you have to cut and run. No armor, a single pistol with a very limited amount of ammo, no cover and horribly outnumbered and outgunned?

This is one of them.

I ran as fast as I could and I heard the tell tale shriek of a missile as it raced past my head. It detonated a few feet in front of me and put me on the ground. I groaned and pushed myself up, ignoring the pain as the rounds from the Geth rifles got closer. I ran again. I stopped only to grab a cowering Salarian holding a human child. I pushed them both ahead of me and fired off a couple shots behind me.

"Where are we going?" The Salarian demanded. "C-Sec! I'm a huntress. If I can get some weapons we can hunker down!" Another shot came way too close to my head for comfort. "Is that yours?" I asked, pointing at the child. (Who was screeching at a seriously impressive volume)

"Oh um no. I just found it. Didn't seem right to just leave him, or is it a her?"

"Find out later get in the elevator!" I snapped, pushing both of them in. A quick bullet into the control panel and the elevator dropped. We got to the bottom a little faster then I would have liked, as it left all three of us on the floor, thankfully with nothing broken. The elevator doors opened I found myself staring down the barrel of a rifle. I raised my hands in the universal "don't shoot me I surrender". I was still on the floor and starting to get a headache from both the child screaming and the overuse of my biotics.

The C-Sec officer kept the rifle aimed at my face as the Salarian tried his best to get the child to stop screaming. "Stamper stop pointing the rifle at them and help them!" A voice shouted. I breathed a sigh of relief. At least somebody has a brain. The Stamper guy finally lowered the rifle and helped me up. He escorted the Salarian and the now sniffling child to where the other civilians were. I looked around the devastation inside C-Sec. Here and there where Geth bodies, but for the most part, the floor was covered with groaning and twitching bodies in C-Sec uniforms. A good number of them weren't moving, and they would clearly never move again. Fires raged in different spots as people tried to fight them with whatever means they had on hand. A Turian officer yelled orders, trying to bring order back to life. He wasn't succeeding. Chaos and misery ruled in the C-Sec Academy.

I spotted a group of C-Sec moving towards one of the hallways and I grabbed a rifle from someone who never was going to use one again. I scooped up some thermal clips and fell in behind the group. I rolled my eyes at how long it took them to notice me. C-Sec. Heavy on the will, not so much on the skill.

Maybe I was being to harsh, they did just get torn to pieces after all. Regardless, the Turian in charge tried to get me to leave, until I pointed out that A) I am a huntress and B) They need all the help that they can get. He agreed. We moved carefully up the stairs to the upper level and started making our way to the Council Chambers. More of the Presidium was on fire and we saw bodies everywhere, along with people impaled on those damn spikes. Bodies were scattered about, as store fronts were broken with their wares scattered about. We stepped over several of them, and I noted with sorrow that the Asari who worked as a secretary for the Consort hadn't made it. A triple shot to the chest had killed her. At least she didn't suffer, most likely dead before she hit the ground.

These sights never get any easier, no matter where you see them. Kabul, Baghdad, now the Citadel.

We kept walking forward, heads on a swivel, trying to reach the Council Chambers. We never made it. The most well crafted ambush that I have ever had the misfortune of being on the receiving end erupted. Faster than I could hope to react, the three C-Sec in the front were cut down in a hail of gunfire. Gunfire erupted all around us and C-Sec officers started dropping like flies. I formed a dome with my biotics and held it long enough for the survivors to grab the wounded and find some cover. I jumped behind the burnt out remains of an air car and popped out long enough to drop a Geth trooper. A deep laugh echoed through the gunfire and I saw a Krogan directing the Geth. I fired a few shots at him that didn't do much except get his attention. Which is what I wanted. A few choice insults about his manhood and being a pathetic bitch that hides behind synthetics, and he rather predictably charged at me. A Turian next to me started to freak out but I ignored him as I waited until the right moment.

That moment quickly came as I hit the Krogan with a lift and sent him up into the air. A biotic hit sent him hurtling off to...somewhere. Not sure where he went but he wouldn't be coming back down anytime soon.

My victory was short lived as a round clipped my shoulder, spinning me around and putting me on the floor. I snarled and jumped back up to open fire on the Geth, dropping a couple more. I dropped back into cover and slapped some medi-gel on my shoulder. (which stung like a bitch by the way) Two more of the giant Geth appeared and both opened fire. Whatever they were using as weapons ripped through the meagre cover that we had and two C-Sec officers died in a hail of slugs. They died silently and quickly. "We should leave." I told the Turian next to me. "We really should. We'll cover, they escape?"

I nodded. The Turian barked out a couple orders and then looked at me. I nodded and held up three fingers, counting down. At one, we popped up like jack-in-the-boxes with rifles and opened up. Geth dropped like ventilated stones and the other C-Sec officers started to make a run for it. The Turian and I dropped back down as I sent a shockwave to give us some breathing room.

"One more time?" The Turian asked. "Sounds good ummm." I trailed off. "Riktus. Enforcement division."

"Moira."

We nodded and popped up one more time to give the others time to retreat. Then we fell back ourselves, moving from one burning rubble to the next. Riktus might only be part of the Enforcement division, but he clearly learned pretty goddamn fast about keeping your head down and moving. Unfortunately he didn't know all of the ins and outs as he stuck his head up for a little to long and took a slug right in the shoulder. I crushed the Geth that shot him with a piece of rubble and started to drag him out of the way. I had to drop him with a shouted apology to shoot several more Geth that got to close for comfort. I dragged Riktus inside a bombed out store and put him behind the counter before jumping there myself.

"Think the others got away?" He asked from the floor. I placed some covering fire as a few more Turian officers rushed in to join us. They upended desks and moved pieces of rubble with my help. A couple were from the Special Response teams. Or what was left of them. "Last stand?" A Salarian said.

"We'll hold here for now." I said. I looked around. I spotted a human woman who looked like she was about to lose it. "You!" I barked at her. She jumped and looked at me. "Yes you. Go out back and find any exit you can. When you find it, give a shout and let us know. We'll fall back by small groups and get some reinforcements and try again for the Council Chambers." The authority in my voice cut off any arguments they might have had and the woman jumped up to run to the back of the store. I heard a lot of clattering and breaking as she tossed things aside, looking for the exit.

My omni-tool beeped and I activated the comm. "Moira! It's Leo. We made to Serenity and we're inside. Nothing's happened here. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Leo. Stay with Serenity. As soon as this is dealt with I'll be down to see Micah."

"Micah? What about me?" Leo asked in a mildly aggrieved tone.

"What about you?" I answered.

"Oh. That's hurtful." I laughed and a few more good natured insults passed between us before a slug slammed into the building. "Moira what was that?!" Leo demanded. "Nothing big just something to deal with." I said as nonchalantly as I could. A few more slugs smashed into the building. "Woops. Have to go. Bye now!" I hung up on him before he could say anything.

"Everyone get ready! We only have to hold long enough for what's her face to find us an exit. Conserve your ammo and make your shots count!" I yelled. Grim faced C-Sec officers nodded and leaned into their rifles, ready to fight. The first group of Geth were shot to pieces and we didn't take a single casualty. Riktus had finally bound his wound and was up and shooting as well. Our group let out a ragged cheer. They let out an even bigger cheer when C-Sec girl shrieked that she had found an exit. At my direct orders, they began breaking off in groups of two or three to make their way out back.

I bared my teeth and waited. These Geth were something else. If I had my armor and some people from my unit, this would be another story. But if wishes were ships then beggars would fly. Three of the giant Geth led the charge against us. We braced and waited, dropping one of the larger Geths. Before they could do any damage, burning debris slammed into the ground in front of the store. Not going to lie, I let out quite the un-huntress like screech. In my defense, in the 117 years of my second life, I have never had a moment where I was about to engage in a massive firefight, to have it interrupted by pieces of debris landing on top of us. We celebrated this turn of events, a piece of debris hit the building. It didn't directly hit any of us, but it did pass by close enough to set the arm of a human on fire. He shrieked in pain as he rolled around trying to put his arm out. His companions helped and eventually they managed to put him out. I dropped the rifle and blue lights erupted all along my body as I created a barrier. Everyone crowded around me, and the woman who had found the exit earlier ran back in with the few others that had managed to get out the back. Guess they thought that this would be safer or something.

For a few minutes, I thought that things would go well, and that we would be okay. I kept right on thinking that until an especially large piece of debris that looked black as space itself and crackling with red lightning hit the ground and ricocheted into my barrier. My barrier held but I felt like my skull had been split in two. I dropped to one knee and tears started to fall.

"Can't..hold….against…..another…...hit...like….that." I ground out. I forced myself to stand, teeth gritted against the pain. Several more hits while smaller knocked me right back down to one knee. "Moira! Moira! It's okay, the debris has stopped!" I opened my eyes to stare at Riktus's concerned face. "It's done?" I asked, my voice a whisper. "It's done, you can drop the barrier." Arms shaking in relief, I dropped the barrier and collapsed. Riktus and another caught me and gently put my arms around their soldiers and lifted me up. Slowly we all walked outside, wary for another ambush from the Geth. We didn't have to worry. The Geth that were outside were smashed to pieces by the debris, a pieces of Geth were scattered all over the area, few if any of the bodies were intact.

"Our home." One C-Sec officer whispered, tears in his eyes. I looked around. The Presidium had been burning before in the attack, but now it was demolished. Entire sections of it were taken out, and from where we stood we could see fires burning through the wards.

"Get back...to the academy. Open up comms. You can still save lives." I whispered. "Not gonna be much help. So tired."

"I think you've done enough." Someone said. I think it might have been Riktus, but I wasn't to sure. My vision blurred and my legs refused to support me. My last thought before unconsciousness claimed me was that I desperately needed to train. I don't know what the hell happened to cause this attack, but I would find out. I remembered something my father told me, of training that he had one in a moment of insanity. He went to a death world worse then Tuchanka and spent a year on there. I would do the same. I would be ready for whatever it was that caused this, because this was only the beginning.

I would go to Eingana.

Hope you all enjoyed that. A couple notes, first this is not a self-insert. I'll leave it to Bioware to finally give us a Mass Effect game where you can do that. If they ever do. Wish they had done that with Andromeda but whatever. A head-canon of mine is that Asari take a little bit of their appearance from their fathers, and have slight differences in appearance because of that. I don't know why they couldn't do that in the game proper, but I'll just chalk it up to the difficulties of making a game in general. If you have a problem with this, I am happy to discuss it in a polite manner.

-C.H.