Hey everyone! David here with the first story of my Mass Effect SI series called Reduced Mass (Name doesn't really have anything to do with the story, I just wanted a title that had the word mass in it :S). This is my first real foray into the world of fan fiction and I am more than excited to share my first real story with you! For months now I've been trying to convince myself to write a Mass Effect SI but I was too scared to actually publish it because when it comes to writing, I always think that what I write is absolute shite. But this time, in some weird way, I convinced myself that I was going to do this, as I love reading fan fiction and want to contribute some great to this website.

This SI is going to be five stories long, with the first taking place before the events of ME1, the second following the events of ME1, the third following the protagonists adventures between ME1 and 2, the fourth story following the events of ME2 and ultimately having the fifth story following the events of ME3 (I don't know if I'm going to follow canon yet, but I can decide that when the time comes.). I'm taking my time on this project, as I don't want this to become a poorly written, ten thousand word, incomplete fan fiction. This fic is going to have countless OC's, original storylines, a Gary Stu free environment, and realistic character development.

I always appreciate reviews, criticism and feedback as that is what ultimately makes me improve as an author. I do have writing experience but this is my first SI, so if I do anything blatantly, obviously wrong, make sure to tell me. If you want to help me in developing the story further, just PM me!

Now without further ado, I present to you Reduced Mass!

Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or anything related to it. It is the property of Bioware and EA. I have no intention of stealing anything. That'd be pretty stupid of me. The OC Character do belong to me though.

My name is David, and I was brought into the Mass Effect universe by a Guardian Angel. Now I know you're probably just going to brush me off as crazy, maybe even call the Police on me, the man that has gone insane and needs to be checked into a looney bin, but I assure you what I'm about to tell you truly happened. About twelve years ago, I was on a ski trip with my friends. I was the ripe age of nineteen and I had just finished school. If you're asking as to why I didn't finish school at the age of eighteen, I managed to fail ninth grade and had to repeat it. It was during my 'I don't give a fuck phase' and I regret it till this day.

Anyway, I was on a weeklong ski trip with four of my buddies, who had all just finished school with me in July of that year. That year was 2014. The ski trip itself was the last real free time I would have for a long time. While I did nothing really productive from July to November, three months after Christmas I would start basic training. I enlisted with the Bundeswehr right after I finished school and since then, I've been trying to get myself into shape so I wouldn't be a complete embarrassment when I actually started my training. Other than that, I was working a part time job at an old folk's home, tending to the elderly. Thinking back on it now, it was a pretty damn good life that I was leading. I mean, I had an income although it wasn't much, I had loving parents, good friends and a kickass dog. I was a busy 'man' during this time and the ski trip would help me unwind and relax one last time before real life and responsibilities would come to dropkick me in the nuts.

The ski trip was one of the best times I'd had during this time in my life. Who doesn't love one week of freedom on amazing slopes in a beautiful country? Add four great friends into the mix and it is bound to be one of the craziest, most fun experiences one can have. We packed all our stuff and met at Michael's, one of my friends' houses. He had the biggest car and we would need it if we were to successfully transport five sets of ski gear to Austria. Living in Germany comes with its benefits. It's literally less than a day's drive to any of the 9 countries that border it. I was born in Germany, Hanover to be exact. I lived there until I was six years old, and then my family moved to Canada for seven years. I became somewhat of a native speaker in both the English and German language, which has helped me to a great extent in my life.

From Hanover, it was a nine-hour drive to the place we were staying at, which was located directly on the mountain by a black diamond slope. It couldn't get any better. We arrived in the afternoon, got the keys to our lodge, geared up and instantly hit the slopes. I could write ten thousand novels on why I love skiing and I still wouldn't have listed all the reasons as to why skiing is absolutely badass. I've been skiing since I was six years old and every year my family and I would go on a weeklong ski trip. This year was different as my parents decided to go on their own vacation as they wanted to experience a warmer side of Europe. So, I gathered my four closest friends and off we went!

The week itself was awesome, but it is nothing worth noting here. Until we reach the last day that it. It was our last run down the slope closest to our lodge and we were ready to return after a long day of skiing.

"Last one down the slope buys the beer!" I wasn't sure which one of my friends said it, but I wasn't going to buy any beer today. It was our last run of the day on the slope closest to our lodge. It also happened to be the most populated one at this time of day as it was the closest to the main lodge of the resort. I didn't manage to get onto a chair lift with all four of my friends, so we split up. Michael and I took one lift, and the others took the one behind us.

"I'm going to miss this place." I say, glancing over to Michael who was looking the other way, enjoying the panoramic view of the Alps. "It's been a damn good week."

"Huh?" Came the reply from next to me. Michael zones out of conversations regularly, so this was a common occurrence.

"I said that I'm going to miss this place and that this was a goddamn great week with you guys." I'm sincerely hoping he hasn't zoned out again.

"Yeah it was, wasn't it," he replies then looks over to me. "We should do this more often."

"Would be great, but it'll become less likely to happen once basic begins." I nod. "And after basic I'm gonna be busy with all the crap the military flings at you, you know?" I look around, taking in the beautiful view while sighing sadly. "I don't think I'm going to be back here for a few years."

"There's no reason to upset over that," he says, giving me a small pat on my shoulder. "The mountains sure as hell aren't going anywhere, and knowing you you're probably going to ski yourself to death after you've retired." He smiles at me and then continues speaking. "Hell, I think that's the only appropriate way for you to die."

I laugh, feeling my previous mopey thoughts drift away for the moment. Michael always finds a way to cheer me up when I'm feeling down.

"You're right, I shouldn't be dragging you down to depression town with me." I say whilst laughing. "Besides, this trip isn't quite over, yet is it? I'm sure as hell I'm not going to be the one buying you assholes beer"

Michael snorts at the remark. "I wouldn't bet on that, I've been practicing knocking people off skis when I go past them yesterday, it's surprisingly effective."

"Oh please, what kind of person would willingly practice this nonsense with you?"

"Who said anything about willingly?"

I laugh again, shaking my head. "How many people did you kill while knocking them off their skis?"

He looks away thoughtfully, furrowing his brows before looking back to me.

"I've lost count, but the ones I do remember won't be missed." He says with a menacing tone.

"Please, please, please tell me you knocked Justin Bieber off of his skis."

The chair lift reaches the part where we're supposed to lift the restraint that's keeping us from falling out. We lift the restraint and get ready to disembark the lift.

Michael looks at me as if I'm stupid.

"Really dude, do you think I hit girls?"

"Fair point," I reply. My skis finally touch the snow and he stand up from the lift that is now making a round back down the mountain to pick up the next load of skiers. We ski away from the lift and a few meters down the slope, we stop to wait for the other 3 idiots to show up.

A few seconds later, they do and we all finally gather together on a flat part of the slope.

"Alright, here are the rules" Dennis begins to explain. "We start the race right here, and the last one to the front door of the lodge loses."

"What's the loser have to buy?" Nicholas asks. He's the newest to join the group of friends as he only moved to Hanover from Cologne five months ago. We call him Nico for short.

"Two cases of Beer, winner gets to choose the brand." Dennis replies and looks to everyone else. "Rules understood?"

We all nod, giving our confirmation in short, one word answers.

"Well, everyone get in a damn line then."

Dennis points to a flatter area of the part of the slope we're standing on. We promptly lined up and waited from Dennis the give the countdown. The slope itself was a pretty tough route to ski down. It had at least 2 90degree turns, and at high speeds, you have to be a pretty damn good skier to not wipe out. It wouldn't be that hard if the track was wide, but the track was only about as wide as a dual lane road where the turns were.

"Alright, everyone ready?" Dennis looks down the line before putting on his ski goggles.

I pull my goggles over my eyes, bathing everything in a pleasant orange light. It always looks like constant sunset.

"Three, two, one, GO!"

All five of us are off almost immediately. The adrenaline rush kicks in right away as we round the first turn almost in unison. Right after the turn, Nico and I pull away from the rest of the group on the steep slope down. Apart from Nico, I've been skiing the longest time, so we make up the front of the group. Dennis, Gregor and Michael are close behind and Lukas is last. It's really between Nico and me as to who gets to choose the brand of beer.

We reach a large part of the slope that hasn't been groomed properly. This is where skiing at a high speed becomes virtually impossible without taking a tumble. Large snow piles line the slope and my skis regularly get stuck in them. I manage to keep my balance though. Gregor isn't so lucky and gets his skis stuck in said snow pile, flying off his skis. I hear him curse from behind me. I chuckle to myself. Gregor always seems to be the one to wipe out. Don't get me wrong, he's a pretty good skier, but he always underestimates every part of a slope, which equals him wiping out at least once every time. He never gets seriously injured though, so that's a plus.

There's one more turn until we reach the lodge, and it's still between me and Nico. It's just a straight shot down the slope so whoever manages the highest top speed will win. I look behind me and see Nico gaining on me. While I make my way down the hill in a somewhat controlled manor, Nico is just cruising down in a straight line. It's about four hundred meters to the lodge and just as I turn my head back to where I'm going, I see him shoot past me.

I frown. Nico's taste in beer is horrendous. I refuse to drink anything that he wants Lukas to buy. Come to think of it, I wonder if he's actually caught up with the rest of us. Gregor's probably last ever since he took that dive. If Nico really does buy his crap beer, I'm sticking to drinking liquor that won't taste like horseshit. Oh yeah! I totally forgot that we all packed at least one bottle of hard liquor for the last day. What did I bring again? I'll have to check once I'm inside.

I brake right in front of the lodge only to see Nico standing by the door, looking smug. I sigh and take of my skis, put them in the stands outside of the lodge and walk over to him.

"I guess I won, didn't?" He grins at me. "That means I'll just have to pick the beer we're drinking today, won't I?"

"Yeah, yeah you won," I reply, rolling my eyes. "No need to be so smug about it."

Nico chuckles. "Well it wouldn't be fun otherwise. Besides, my taste in beer is impeccable!"

I scoff at the remark. "Impeccably terrible yeah. I mean, who on earth enjoys drinking Oettinger?"

"Don't diss the beer!" he says, giving me an accusing look. "It tastes good. It's cheap too!"

I glance over to my right and see Dennis standing there. He shakes his head, before pointing an accusing finger at me.

"Did you have to let this guy win?" What? Since when is this my fault?

"I most certainly didn't let this tone-deaf turd waffle win!" I exclaim, jabbing my thumb in the direction of Nico. "Besides, he cheated."

Nico looks at me with a surprised expression. "How on earth did I cheat?"

I think for a second, not coming up with a bullshit enough excuse. "You just did."

Just then, Michael and Lukas arrive, stopping right by us and quickly joining the circle. Lukas takes off his goggles and looks at me.

"Did you win?"

I look away sheepishly. "I uh… kinda lost to Nico."

Michael groans. "Seriously? We gotta drink piss tonight?"

"I don't understand your guys' problem with my taste in beer," he shrugs. "Besides, less is usually more, and six euros for a case of beer is a great price." He looks over to the slope and points at Gregor walking down the hill. He starts laughing.

"And plus, you won't have to buy the cases!" he adds

The rest of us turns our heads in unison and take and see Gregor walking down the slope with his skis in his hand, only one of them was broken off at the tip. We all burst out laughing.

"What a sad sight." Lukas manages to say while laughing.

I always knew Gregor took dives on slopes, but this is just too much. Good friends always laugh at each other's misfortune, and this was no exception. In German, we call it 'Schadenfreude'. Don't get me wrong, we didn't laugh at him mean spiritedly, the situation was bound to happen at some point. We even started betting on when Gregor would break his first pair of skis.

Gregor joins the group and throws his skis in the middle of the circle we've formed. He sighs angrily before turning to Dennis, who has his hands on his knees from laughing. The rest of us managed to slightly calm down before he arrived.

"I don't know what the hell you're laughing at," he says, tone suggesting he's pretty pissed. "I could've seriously injured myself."

Dennis stands up straight again, wiping a tear from his eye. "Yeah, you could've. But you didn't. That's what makes this so funny."

"That has got to be the most embarrassing walk of shame that I've ever seen in my life" I add.

Gregor looks back and sighs. "Right, whatever," he turns to me. "I just hope you won, cause I sure as hell don't want to buy garbage today."

It always gets put back on me, doesn't it? "Sorry to burst your bubble dude, but I lost."

Gregor throws his hands into the air theatrically. "Just perfect! This day just can't get any worse, can it? Did Nico win?"

I give him a quick nod, making Gregor facepalm.

"In the end, we'll be too drunk to care what kind of beer we drink," says Lukas. "At least that's what I'm planning on doing today."

"Who's the designated driver?" I ask. Dennis nods his head over to Michael.

"It's his car, he volunteered."

I narrow my eyes at Michael. Since when doesn't he drink? "I didn't expect you to volunteer Michael," I say, giving him a confused expression. "You usually love getting hammered."

Michael shrugs. "Ever since last time, I decided to put my drinking habits on hiatus."

Lukas chuckles. "I think it's for the best today, I don't want him to do what he did last time."

Nico narrows his eyes, looking at all of us before speaking. "What exactly did he do?"

Nico wasn't there during that night, and it was one of the weirdest nights of my life. Not to mention, I had the absolute worst hangover the next day. But that story is for another time.

Dennis speaks up. "I can tell you what he did. It wa-" he is suddenly stopped by a snowball hitting him square in the face.

"That story is for another time," Michael interrupts. "Besides, it's not that exciting anyway."

Dennis wipes the snow from his face and quickly flips of Michael. "Whatever you say, mister drag queen."

Michael visibly turns red at the remark. We burst out laughing again, apart from Nico who's standing in the circle looking as clueless as ever.

"Let's just go inside." Michael says and storms past us. We quickly follow him, still snickering on our way to the door.

The rest of the night was quite eventful. After entering the lodge, we showered, dressed in some indoor clothes, put some fire in the fireplace and sat down in the living room. It was a pretty small lodge, with only two bedrooms, a living room, bathroom and a small kitchen. Nonetheless, it was enough for the five of us. Gregor and Nico went took the lift into the valley to go buy the beer and some food for tonight. The rest of us had brought the hard liquor from Germany, which totaled up to four bottles. two bottles of Jägermeister, a bottle of Vodka and a bottle of Whiskey. While my friends like to mix their drinks, I prefer to drink mine straight with the exception of Vodka, I can only stand the stuff if I mix it with orange juice.

The bulk of the night was spent in the living room, talking about anything that came to our minds while we were playing drinking games. Those games are a blast to play, if you're looking to get drunk of course.

The talking and drinking carried on long into the night until we were all pretty drunk. By that I mean we were absolutely shit-face drunk, aside from Michael, who stuck to non-alcoholic drinks. At around the half-way point of the night, we actually started drinking the terrible beer that Nico chose. We were too drunk to care.

Things got interesting at around three in the morning. Everyone aside from myself and Nico were still awake. We told ourselves we were going to finish the second bottle of Jägermeister before going to sleep, and it was taking a little while longer.

"Pour me another one!" I say rather slowly. I have to concentrate on what I say and speak slowly or only gibberish comes out. Nico doesn't quite understand that I can barely make out what he says.

"wonly fif yi get to have oune aswell!" he exclaims. Nico's always been a happy drunk, which is better than to have him smashing windows angrily in a drunken rage.

Nico picks up the bottle and fumbles with it, trying to unscrew it in one way or another. He is quietly cursing to himself. I grab the bottle from his hands and try to unscrew it as well. While my motor skills are exponentially better than is, they're still utter garbage at the moment. After some trying, I manage to get the bottle open and put the 2 shot glasses in front of me. It doesn't matter how drunk I am, I always have a steady hand when pouring alcohol.

I pass the shot glass to Nico, who instantly pours the brown liquid down his throat. I quickly follow suit and drink the shot. The bottle is officially empty and I knock it on the table three times to get Nico's attention. He looks over to me and I shake the bottle in front of him.

"empety alaryde?" he slurs. I nod and stand up from the sofa. The world begins to spin but I somehow manage to keep my balance. Nico isn't so lucky and just as he stands up, topples to the side and onto the ground. I quickly manage to help him up off the ground and guide him to his bed.

"Can you reead me ia bedtmiae story?"

The comment catches me completely off-guard and I try as best as I can not to start having a laughing fit. I focus one hundred percent of my brain on speaking, so I don't sound like Nico when replying.

"Maybe next time dude, I need to sleep myself."

He grunts and turns to the other side, mumbling something along the lines of 'thank's dad' and almost instantly falls asleep.

Right, now I just need to get to the other room without keeling over or projectile vomiting all over the curtains. Shouldn't be that hard. Wrong. While I don't vomit all over the floor, the rest of the alcohol is finally settling into my bloodstream. Walking is becoming more of a chore with every passing minute. I must get to bed quickly.

It's at this moment that the first wave of nausea hits me like a twelve-ton lorry. I instantly run to the bathroom and lift the toilet seat up. I actually kind of trip my way to the bathroom. Just imagine the fellow that walks by John Cleese in the Monty Python sketch 'Ministry of Silly Walks'.

I spend the next 10 minutes on hanging over the porcelain pony. When I finally finish my business, I step out of the bathroom and look around.

Jesus, I hope I haven't woken up anyone with my stomach noises. Maybe I should get some fresh air, that's always a good Idea. A little walk never hurt anyone.

Walking towards the front door, I double check to see if I have the keys to get back into the house. I pat down on my right pant pocket, feeling something circular. That's gotta be the key ring.

I step outside and feel a cold blast of wind hit me right in the face. My jacket is on my bed, maybe I should get it.

On second thought, I won't need it, I'm only going to be gone for ten minutes tops anyway. And plus, being cold is going to take my mind off being drunk, right?

I start walking down the path that leads towards the main lodge. It's only a few minute walk so I should be back in no time. The nights on the mountain are extremely dark, save for the few lamps that illuminate the path.

I look up whilst walking. The view is breathtaking. There are thousands of stars in the sky. With no light pollution, it's filled to the brim with them.

It would be pretty cool if I could explore the stars up there. It's been a thought that I've been having for a while now. I recently finished playing Mass Effect again and every time I do, it makes me feel as if I'm missing something up there.

Large battles, beautiful planets, it all seems so close, yet so far away to me. Maybe I'll get lucky like Peter Quill one day and get abducted by aliens. That'd be rad.

Wait… did I just say rad? I'm not an 80's kid, I've never used that expression in my life. God, I need to snap out of it

I come up to a fork in the road. I forgot which way leads to the main lodge, but I'm going to take my chances with going left.

After five more minutes of walking, I suddenly find myself in the middle of a ski slope. It's not uncommon to have paths leading over parts of slopes, that way you wouldn't have to go around them.

I haphazardly decide to walk down the mountain, which is an absolute horrendous idea. It is pitch black and I have to ram my heels into the snow to not slide down. Although, sliding down on my ass is a quicker way of traveling. I quickly dismiss the Idea. I don't want to walk all the way back to the lodge with a soaked bottom.

Just then, a huge wave of dizziness hits me and I'm knocked off balance just as I want to take another step. I keel forward and begin rolling down the slope.

I frantically try to dig my hands into the snow to stop myself. It doesn't work. I gain speed, becoming faster and faster before the slope decides that it should turn left at a ninety-degree angle. I begin to panic as I realize that I can't turn or stop myself at this speed. I begin to yell for help. Maybe someone will hear me.

I somehow manage to start sliding on my stomach at least twenty meters before the slope actually turns to the left.

As a last-ditch effort, I ram my boots into the ground to try and slow myself down. It works but it's far too late to save me.

I am practically hurled off the side of the slope and into the tree line. I fly two or three more meters before my right leg stops my flight by hitting a tree. The snap of my leg is audible as I land in the deep snow covering the trunk of the tree.

I let out a hysterical scream that seems to go on forever. The pain is excruciating and my body is sent into complete overdrive. My heart is exploding out of my chest and a panic induced cold sweat starts to run down my forehead. I try to speak but can't, as shock locks my body up. I have trouble breathing as landing on my stomach has knocked all the wind out of me.

After about fifteen minutes, my body decides to stop panicking. The sweating stops and my heart begins to beat a little less hard. The pain in my leg subsides as I am not moving it. I am propped up on my elbows in half a meter-deep snow.

At this point in time I begin yelling for help. Someone's bound to find me here. The ski patrol is probably just around the corner, getting ready to pick me up and bring me to the closest hospital. They probably won't see me though.

I remember that I have my phone on me, but it's in the chest pocket of the sweater I have on.

Fuck, I'm going to have to flip myself on my back, aren't I? I plan this out in my head. Either I flip myself to the right from my prone position on my stomach. Which means that I'll have to put most of my weight on my right leg, which equals excruciation pain or I flip myself to the left, which means that my right leg will dangle loosely in the air before it'll slam into the snow. That also means excruciating pain.

Shit, this plan doesn't have any way of doing this without pain, does it?

I quickly dismiss flipping to the right, as the tree is obstructing my path there. My heart begins to pound again. I don't want to do this, but if I want to better my chance of being seen even by a little bit, I have to.

I find a piece of wood beside me. I wish I could take off my leather belt to do this, but a stick should suffice. I put the stick into my mouth and bite down as hard as I can on it. It doesn't break.

Right, time to do this.

I position my right arm as a jack to the side of me. I push and twist myself to the left slowly. My leg begins to lift off of the ground and as soon as it's hanging by itself just an inch off the ground, it explodes in pain. I immediately drop back onto my stomach. The pain is just too much. I begin to cry, not just because of the excruciating pain, but also because of the hopelessness of this situation. The tears flow freely as I pound my fist into the snow. I am going to die here. My life doesn't flash before my eyes as I begin to frantically scream for help again.

I manage to regain my mental stability for a few seconds and I gather all of my leftover courage to try flipping myself on my back again. I at least want to die comfortably. I get in position again, using my right arm as a jack. If I do this quickly, the pain won't be as prolonged. I bite down on the stick again, and quickly fling myself over to the left, rolling over onto my back.

My leg slams into the snow and I begin to scream again. I try to scream for help, but only a not understandable wail escapes my mouth. I feel myself beginning to throw up and I quickly turn my head to the right. The remnants of my Dinner shoot up through my esophagus and onto the snow beside me. I begin to sob again as I slowly begin to accept my fate. I got myself into this, so I might as well pay the price for it.

As all of this was taking place, I didn't even notice hypothermia setting in. It just sort of crept up on me. My attempts at calling for help become slurred and I start to sweat again. But this time, I'm sweating as if I am warm. Like, really really hot.

Minutes pass and the pain slowly dies down to a non-excruciating level. I've calmed down enough to stop wailing and I begin to start thinking straight again. Hell, I don't know what's waiting for me on the other side. Death has always been a mystery to me. I've always wondered what would happen when we die. It won't be long now until I die and for some reason, I'm not afraid to. I heard most people that freeze to death just fall asleep and never wake up.

If I HAD to choose a way to die, that'd be the way to go anyway.

I begin to grow more and more tired as time passes, but I keep trying to keep myself from going to sleep, as that would mark the end of my life.

Just then, I realize that I still have my phone on me. My hope is quickly reignited as I fumble trying to get it out of my chest pocket. I manage to get it out and I hold it over my head, pressing the home button.

No service.

I sigh deeply. This is it. No one is going to find me. I am officially going to die here. At least it'll be a painless death. Might as well make myself more comfortable while I slowly drift away. I unlock my phone and go to my music playlist.

There's one song that always manages to make me happy. I scroll down and select 'Plätscher' by Paul Kalkbrenner. It's soothing yet upbeat.

I feel my eyes slowly close. My eyes are about to fall shut, but I manage to open them one last time. I wearily look around one last time, just as the songs soft bass drum kicks in.

I feel surprisingly calm right now. Maybe sleeping for a few minutes won't hurt. Maybe this is all just an incredibly lucid dream.

My eyes begin to slowly fall shut again. Everything is becoming blurry. The last thing I see is a large, looming shadow seemingly standing over me.

Huh, weird, maybe someone has come to my rescue. I try to gather some strength to call out to the shadowy figure, but before I can, I lose consciousness for the last time in my life.

I gasp as my eyes shoot open. I'm on my stomach, lying on some sort of metal floo- wait… I'm not dead? I thought I died! It probably was just one extremely lucid dream. I heard too much Jägermeister does that to you, or was that Absinthe? It doesn't matter now though, I'm alive!

But where the hell am I? Why am I on a cold metal floor? Oh right, I was on my way to the main ski lodge, they have metal floors there, for whatever reason. I probably just passed out there.

Ugh, my head is fucking killing me. Maybe I did have a little bit too much to drink. Come to think of it, I wonder how Nico is feeling. If I remember correctly, he wanted me to read him a bedtime story. I smile at the thought, opening my eyes again. The light blinds me and my head flares up in pain again.

Right, I forgot how sensitive I was to light when I'm hung over. I slowly sit up, eyes still closed. It must be afternoon, because it sure sounds busy in the lodge. I slowly open my eyes again, fighting through my headache to try and quickly adjust to the lighting. I stand up slowly as well.

Whoa, I'm still a little shaky on my feet, I should take this slow. Getting your circulation going properly after a night of drinking is pretty damn important.

I begin to walk around a little and it's at this moment that I notice that something isn't right. This doesn't look at all like the lodge. Last time I checked, the lodges walls weren't a dull gray color, and they sure as hell weren't made of metal. And why am I in an alleyway? There are no alleyways on mountains. I turn around and walk for the exit of the alley. I take a sharp right turn and stop dead in my tracks. My eyes grow to the size of satellite dishes.

Why are there turians here? And krogans? Is that a batarian? What. The. Fuck. I clearly don't remember taking any LSD last night. I'm sure as hell not high. This feels pretty real to me. I start to slowly walk onto the bustling road. There's barely any humans here, but a metric fuck-ton of batarians and turians. I don't think I'm on the Citadel. Where am I then?

A krogan walks past me and glares at me. He says something while shaking his head.

Why didn't I understand that? What the hell is going on here? This entire situation is making me uneasy. A wave of nausea hits me again and my knees slightly buckle. Oh Jesus, now's not the time to be losing my bowels again.

Two turians walk by me. They are deep in conversation and don't seem to notice me, as the one on the left walks squarely into me. I fall on my back and groan. The Turian gives me a funny look and says something to me. I can't understand a thing he said. I just stare at him and after about ten uncomfortable seconds, he just shakes his head and continues walking.

Now I remember, everyone in the Mass Effect universe has a translator. I don't know whether it's implanted or not, I just know that I need to get one. My stomach rumbles again and I can start to taste the bile in my mouth. I scramble to my feet, only to be hit by another wave of dizziness. I stumble over to some sort of storefront. I just need some place to lean on until the dizziness goes away.

I lean with both hands on the counter and take a deep breath. This has got to be a dream. Maybe I did take LSD last night and I can't remember. Wait, none of my friends actually do any drugs. What the fuck is going on here?

I begin to feel the bile coming up again, but this time I can't stop it. I release my bowels onto the counter just as the shopkeeper, who just happens to be a batarian, walks out of what looks like to be a storeroom.

He immediately begins yelling what seem like obscenities at me while accusingly pointing at me. I'd explain myself, but I can't understand a damn thing he's yelling at me. Maybe he's going to kill me, which would probably mean that I'll wake up somewhere again. At least I hope. The batarian storms off and sticks his head into the storeroom quickly to yell something. Hopefully he's just telling his janitor to clean up his mess.

My prediction is wrong. Two other batarians emerge from the storeroom and walk up to me. Oh shit, they don't look friendly. I try to walk away but another wave of dizziness stops me dead in my tracks. One of them walk up to me and punches me straight in the stomach. The wind is instantly knocked out of me and I crumple to the floor like a ragdoll. I am quickly picked up again by the other and dragged into the alleyway I originally came from.

I get thrown to the floor and the two of them stand in front of me. They're probably expecting me to get up. I at least try to do that before I'm kicked right in the ribs. I slump onto the ground again and begin to wheeze for air. I don't get a moment rest though, as I'm picked up off the floor again and held in place by one of the aliens. He says something that sounds mocking to the other and they both laugh. The one on front of me gets in my face and says something. Man, I really need a translator. I decide to take a risk and rear back my head and slam it into the batarians… nose?

He stumbles back and it seems to me like he's cursing under his breath. I think I just fucked up.

I'm right, I did fuck up. I'm met with a knee to the face and a terrible crunching sound. I yelp out in pain as blood instantly starts flowing out of my nostrils. Some of the blood gets into my mouth and I can taste the metallic tinge it ha.

Yep, he just broke my nose. He doesn't stop there though and suddenly his fist collides with the left side of my face. Multiple times. I scream out in pain he hits my nose again, and I subsequently have my face slammed into the alleyway wall by the other batarian. I collide and tumble to the floor. I'm kicked in the ribs again and both of the batarians stand over me. The one to the right of me spits in my face.

Yep, I'm definitely not dreaming. This is as real as it gets. I am in the Mass Effect universe and by the looks of it, I didn't get a terribly good start to my adventure. By the looks of it, there's a pretty high chance It's going to end right here as well.

The last thing I see one of the batarians raising his boot and slamming it into my face.

After that, I am engulfed by blackness.

And that was the first chapter of Reduced Mass! I sincerely hope you enjoyed it and any feedback is greatly appreciated. To clear some things up:

And before you ask, of course I'm not going to die this chapter. That would defeat the purpose of an entire Series!

NOTE: I've decided to tweak this chapter a little. It is now 2017 and re-reading the prologue, I see now that it wasn't my best work. I've cleaned up the spelling, taken out some superfluous information and trimmed everything down a bit.

There won't be any continuity errors as I'm not REWRITING this chapter, I'm just streamlining it. To any new readers, you're in for a wild ride!

Again, any feedback and criticism is greatly appreciated, as it helps me improve the story!

Until next time!

David.