I do not own Mass Effect or anything relating to the Mass Effect universe. Mass Effect belongs to BioWare. All OC's belong to me.

Ok, let me start by explaining myself and what life is like living in the Mass Effect universe. I am not going to bore you with how I got here or mumbo jumbo like that. I will however, explain that this universe is nothing like the glorified Mass Effect universe that everyone knows through the game. Can you just have a gun and armour and expect to survive? No. Is racism everywhere that a person goes too? Yes. Is it easy to live and hard to be killed? No and no. Now that I have your attention, I would like you to follow my story, and find out for yourself what the REAL Mass Effect universe is like.

20:15:29 August 20th 2185

Zakera Ward Apartment Complex 2405-X

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

I groaned and cussed the world as the incessant demonic beep of my Omni-tool rang throughout the apartment's bedroom and reverberated between the two sides of my skull. Whoever invented the alarm clock should be shot, beaten, shot again, starved, shot again, and shot again for developing this sleep depriving torture machine. I cursed inside of my mind has I none-too-gently mashed the Omni-tool in attempts to shut it up. Finally, getting lucky and succeeding in shutting the alarm off, I slowly got out of bed and surveyed my apartment for what must have been the thousandth time. It was a not too big but not too small 8x8 square inch room. Not exactly King size… but that's all that I could afford right now. Slowly making my way over to the bathroom, I looked at the mirror and half-smiled, half-grimaced at the sight that greeted me. Short, buzz-cut hair that was a dark brown was grungy and was flattened from sleeping on. A sturdy jawline framed my face and tapered to a point that some ladies apparently found attractive. Bluish/Green eyes stared back at me, weary but still holding a spark of youth and cleverness in them. A big build took up most of the mirror, but I was not too muscular, nor was I skinny. I was just big-boned. Three vertical scars chased down the left side of my chest and ended below my pecs. I had obtained it after a nasty bar fight with a Turian had gone south on me. My slightly tanned skin radiated with health but was far from modeling.

Such a crying shame. I thought to myself rather sarcastically.

Looking at my eyes again, I sighed and wondered how I could continue on like this. Barely enough money to pay for shelter, food and water, and that was not considering that I had not had another mission for me in over 2 weeks. Splashing my face with water and rubbing my eyes, I exited my bathroom and headed towards the large equipment locker that took up most of my room. Tapping in the password into my Omni-tool, I swung the locker open and gazed with pride at what lay in. My M-6 Carnifex Hand Cannon lay polished and ready to use at the bottom of the locker. Bringing my gaze upward, I found my only other weapon, my pride and joy M-15 Vindicator Battle Rifle. Polished and ready to use, I took it out and felt assured at the comfortable weight in my hands, turning it over and over, looking for defects. Finding none, I let out a satisfied grunt and set it down beside me. Then, there was my last piece. My Mantis medium-class armour suit seemed to absorb all light that was shined on it, what little light there was, and I took it out of the locker, attaching it to my body piece by piece. Finally after having put on my suit of armour, I attached the guns to their respective places on my suit, and as a finishing touch, slid a 7 inch combat knife onto my chest holster. Satisfied that everything was secure, I opened up the door, tapped my Omni-tool to lock it and slid out, nodding to myself as I heard the door close with a thunk and then beep to indicate that it was locked.

My name is Alex Babik, and my life is a living hell. Not literally of course, but it was close enough. With being only 22 and having absolutely no family and few friends, it was a fight for me to just live here on the Citadel. Everything thinks that the Citadel only houses rich people, people that can afford to take a day off or don't have to worry about putting food on the table to eat. That is a bald-faced lie and yet no one can see the truth. Down here in the lower level of the Zakera wards, you cannot even walk one hour without experiencing an encounter where you "tried to steal someone's credit chit" or "Assaulted someone and got into a fight".

Thinking about how much of a shithole my life was, I walked through the Zakera Ward, hoping that someone would have a job for me. I was a mercenary and a fairly skilled veteran, having been in over 20 firefights and not being dead yet. All along the corridors, I saw neon signs that read Solaris Tech or Citadel Souvenirs or some other crap like that. Living in the Citadel for over a year, I knew my way around and so I headed for the Black Star Club. Looking around, I saw sights and signs that depressed me even more. A young female human dressed in what looked like torn cloths and rags was begging for some credits for food, but was promptly ignored. C-Sec officers were detaining a thrashing Turian yelling his innocence. Anunconscious drunk was being dragged away by his friends.

"It's shit like this that makes living on the Citadel so depressing. So much unused space, so much poverty and yet everyone higher up than us just scoff at us and ignore our existence. It were men, like Commander John Shepard that saw everything for what it truly was, not just the glorified areas, holo-vids and pictures." I sighed out loud, more to myself then anyone.

I earned a few odd stares for this, but I did not pay any attention to them and kept on walking.

'Such racism, hate and poverty. How can one truly survive in this universe when everywhere you go, you are either yelled at, insulted, robbed or assaulted?' I mused to myself, lost in my own self-pitying.

Life always threw something at you, you always hope it is good, but it usually fucks you sideways and worse for wear. Life however decided to throw me a curveball, one that could be a blessing or a curse. Either way, it was going to change my life forever.

"I know you took it Quarian! Officer, I demand that you arrest her for stealing my Credit Chit!" A voice rose over the crowd, catching my attention and causing me to look at the source of disturbance. Ahead of me by about 20 feet, a Volus was shaking his fist at a female Quarian and yelling obscenities and words at the female that were practically dripping with venom .

"No I did not! You bumped into me outside the used ship store, and without even apologizing or saying anything you just took off and now your accusing me of stealing your credit chit!" the Quarian shouted with anger and disbelief detectable in her words.

"Hey both of you two calm down! Now let's find out what happened…" the Human C-Sec officer exclaimed trying to calm down both parties.

Interested and tired of all this racism, I made my way forward towards the group, intent on solving the dispute.

What are you doing? I screamed inside my head. It was only then I realized that I remembered a dispute like this from the game, except the odds of it being that were slim to none, however I was tired of all of this bullshit so I continued on.

"I am telling you, I felt her hand slip into my pocket , and when I checked later, my credit chit was-"

"Excuse me" I interrupted "what seems to be the problem here?" I asked calmly, surprised at how smoothly I was handling myself.

"Back off civilian, this is a C-Sec investigation" the officer said, holding his hand out as if to bar me.

"I think I can help here, and I'm pretty sure you want to be done with this, so let me help" I reasoned with the officer, hoping this would calm him down.

He seemed to mull over this for a moment, then nodded his head, confirming my request to help.

Looking over to the Volus I asked "So what is the problem?"

The Volus looked to the Quarian and spoke with an angered voice.

"I was walking down along by the used ship store over there" the Volus pointed to a sign that said Used Ship Store "and then the Quarian here bumped by me and robbed me! I felt her hand go into my pocket, and when I checked afterwards, my credit chit was gone!" He yelled the last part at the Quarian, pointing an accusatory finger at her.

"That is a lie!" The Quarian spoke up, outraged.

Raising my hands as a calming effect, I then gently shifted my gaze towards her and I noticed several things. One, her suits design was absolutely beautiful, with red and white colorings and an intricate design on her hood. Two, the suit fit snugly, in all the right places to compliment her body's natural curves and I caught my self-staring for a bit

'Pervert'. I berated myself silently

And finally, the eyes behind her visor were like tiny spirits, between the colour of purple and white and seemingly floating.

'She's beautiful… in a different sort of way' I thought to myself.

Realizing that she was waiting for me to question her, I asked her in the calmest, strongest voice I could muster. "Are these accusations against you true?"

The Quarian breathed deeply for a moment before answering.

"No! They are all lies! He bumped into me outside the Used Ships store, knocked me down, and walked off without even stopping or apologizing. Then a few minutes later, he runs up here with C-Sec, and accuses me of stealing his damn credit chit!" She finishes the last part of her sentence in an angry yell.

Thinking to myself of where it could possibly be, I think for a minute before I remember where it was in the game.

I had no idea where it would be in real life so I just assumed that it would be there because I didn't know anywhere else to go.

Speaking to everyone in the group, I tell them "Stay here, I am going to look for it." And with that I started to make my way to the store that I remembered where the credit chit was in the game.

I walk for 3 minutes before I see my destination- Solaris Tech.

Stepping inside the store, the Salarian clerk there greeted me with a warm welcome, and after I asked if the Volus's credit chit was there, which it was, I hastily made my way over to the investigation group and told the Volus.

"You left your credit chit at the Solaris Tech store. The clerk there is holding it for you." I finished with a smile that said 'In your face asshole'.

The Volus froze and then started stuttering and shuffling his feet nervously.

"Oh… well uh… she could have stolen it." He said indignantly, trying to act like he did nothing wrong.

Anger boiled up inside me at this. 'How the hell can he act like he did nothing wrong? Racist bastard!' I yelled inside of my head. But what made me explode, was what the C-Sec officer said.

"Okay ma'am you're clear of all charges, but I will be watching you!" He finished with a threatening stare.

This caused me to blow up.

"What the hell? Are you guys serious?" I shoved the Volus hard enough to make him stumble back. "You accuse her of stealing and yet you just left your credit chit at the store! And you!" I took two fast paces forward and grabbed the officer by his collar. "You saw she was innocent and when you let her off all you can say is that I will be watching you?" I thundered at the officer.

The Quarian had backed up slightly in awe and fear and my thunderous display.

"Its corrupt assholes like you that make the Citadel a bad place!" I yelled and cocking my arm back, I rocked the officer right in the face.

He went down with a grunt and lay still on the ground. The Volus, looked at me in surprise and disbelief and I was pretty sure that behind his mask, fear and worry was etched on his face.

Ignoring him, I went over to the Quarian who had slightly huddled in upon herself.

"Thank you, I wish I had more than just words to give you, but thank you" she spoke in awe and gratitude, a voice that made me smile slyly.

"It was no problem, Everyone needs to do that once in a while, especially too racists. By the way, I never did get your name miss…?" I finished the question with a smile.

"Lia. Lia'vael" She spoke, her voice tinged with a smile.

Hey guys! This is my first attempt at a self insert for any story, so i dont know if i did bad or good, so if you could be kind enough to spend one minute and hit that review button and tell me how I did and what you think so far, i would be most grateful.

Review please!