Words: 60k+
Link: https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/mass-effect-good-boy-me-si.31981/
( A half-mad SI gets put into the Mass Effect Univers by his ROB. Just that the circumstance is a bit different than usual. )
So, I had this idea some time ago and had finally the time to write it down. Now I did like to hear what you guys think about it. For the moment this is only a One Shot but maybe I will make it a whole story if I find the time and the muse. Also, I need a beta and English is not my first langue. So please show me where I have made errors.
But enough from me, here is the story:
Mass Effect: Good Boy
"I'm real tired of your shit, you know that?" I looked up when I heard the voice. It took me some moments to realize that the world had stopped. No one was moving. Not even the giant form of a greenskin before me. Not that it hadn't been easy for me to step aside to get away from his chopper blow. I lifted my bolt pistol and fired the Holy weapon that had been part of my Space Marine Order since the days of the Unification of Terra. Of course, because the whole world was frozen the projectile stopped moving as soon as it had left the barrel. Nevertheless, it would kill the Orc as soon as time started again. After I had made sure that the greenskin would die,I took a moment to look over the valley the final battle was taking place.
Everywhere I could see Space Marines, my brothers, fight and die against hordes of the chaotic Orcs. They would die, but their sacrifice would stop this horde from attacking Imperial worlds again. Even if it was the end of my Order, we gave our lives freely as it was our duty to the Emperor.
"Did you hear me?"
I looked over my shoulder to the lone figure that was still moving, like me. He was wearing an expensive suit. On his face, I saw the anger all too clearly. It had become an emotion that I saw more often than not on that face since I had been torn from my old life.
"I did," I finally said. "Did you expect me to answer?"
"A little bit of respect would be nice. On the other hand, you have done everything you can to ruin my fun."
"What? I survived again and again." My voice was shaking with anger. "First Star Wars, then Star Trek and so on. Every universe that you sent me, I survived. I even bettered myself from my starting position. Isn't that what you wanted?"
"No! I wanted to see how you would experience the Rebellion, not to burn down half the Galaxies for the Empire! I wanted to see how you would develop as a Jem'Hadar, not that you conquer the Alpha and Beta Quadrant for the Dominion. I wanted to see you make the Warhammer Universe a better place, instead, you embrace the culture of this grim, dark future!"
"Well, you should have taken Hiver then, or one of the others. He is a better author and SI than me it seems! More "fun" for you. I just want to go back to my old life!"
"Your old life was boring."
"Yes! It was! And I liked it very much, thank you!" My voice was shaking now. All my hate and my anger had found finally a way out. "I had a good job, a fiancée that loved me and an apartment that I could pay for. So fuck you and your entertainment! I will do it every time you send me somewhere! Every time I will fuck up your plans. Make them crumble before you until you send me back."
"You selfish prick! Do you now how boring infinity is? Maybe I was too nice to you. Maybe I should remind you of what I am capable of! Of your place, my little plaything!"
"Oh, what universe could be worse than Warhammer or Cthulu? Come on! Do your best!"
A dangerous look came into his eyes and for a moment I started to regret my words. But then I stopped. Since I had become a Space Marine I had lived with the danger of the Inquisition, horrible monsters and all the shit that lived in the Warp. What could the ROB do to make my life any worse than it already was?
Well… to give you some advice for free? If you are in the same situation as me, don't make the Random Bastard angry. The angrier they are, the worse their ideas. At that time I believed I had seen everything he could think of.
I was wrong, sadly.
He didn't snap his fingers, there wasn't a flash of light or something like that. One moment I was a Space Marine, mighty defender of the Imperium of Man, a son of half-gods. A veteran of hundreds of wars and battles.
Then the world changed completely without a warning and I was somewhere else.
I didn't have hands anymore and was standing on all fours. I was crouched down low to the ground and was growling at a two-legged prey-thing that was standing over another fallen prey-thing. It was standing between and my next meal.
For me, it was very confusing why the standing one didn't run away like prey normally did when one was wounded and one of my kind was near it. This one wasn't even the mother of the other one so it was not normal.
The growling came less from me being threatened by a little prey-thing with a stick. It was more a reaction from my irritation. My instincts told me that all of this wasn't normal for prey. And that was enough to stop me from simply killing the stick-prey-thing.
After a moment I had made my mind up. My muscles tensed and I was ready to jump the stick-prey-thing when my mind finally adjusted to the new situation and stopped me. I forced the instincts of my new body aside and looked at the scene before me.
There were two human children before me.
One was a boy whose left leg was broken, I could see the bone poking out. The smell of blood made me hungry, to my shame.
Lucky for me it wasn't the first time I was in an inhuman body so I controlled my hunger and the instincts that wanted me to kill the stick-prey… I mean, the child. The first time I had been a Vampire… it hadn't been pleasant. Sometimes I had still nightmares from it.
This time I could hold myself back from simply killing the child.
The girl that was standing in front of the other one stank of fear but her hands weren't trembling. She was ready to fight even if she feared my new form… whatever that was.
That was something I had to look into as soon as this was over.
I had to know what I was.
After a moment of just looking at the little girl I wanted to stop growling, when she did something unexpected. With fear but also the courage only little children have in face of danger, she whacked my nose with her stick and said loudly:
"Bad varry!"
To say that I was surprised would be an understatement. It was the last reaction I would have expected from a scared child that tried to stay brave in the face of a monster. My instincts made me pull my head back a little and whimper in confusion. Her hit hadn't hurt, it was simply irritating.
She looked at me, now with less fear in her eyes and more determination.
Her voice became even less fearful as she said, "Sit down!" in a commanding voice.
One look at her told me that she was expecting that I follow her command as if I was a dog. It also amused me a lot. And just because of that, I followed her command. It also put me in a better place to look at the scene I was part of. Only now I realized that I was bigger than her. I towered a whole head over her.
"Good varry," she said but still hold onto her stick, smart girl. Without turning she asked over her shoulder, "Jonny, are you okay?"
The boy only whimpered but didn't say anything else. I could see how tears were gathering in the eyes of the little girl. She had to bee very afraid about the whole situation, still I respected her control over herself.
Maybe it was born out of fear but it was never the less a big accomplishment that not even adults could do most of the time in a similar situation.
But she would lose it soon.
The time the girl used to speak to the boy on the ground gave me some time to think over all of this. She had called me "varry". That sounded like a childish name for something that she couldn't say. It took me some moments to draw the line. A memory came to life in my head of dogs that looked like fish and one of them called Urrs or something like that.
I blinked as I finally remembered.
It was a memory from my life before the ROB. A game universe I had loved. Maybe because of that I still had some clear memories about it. For me, it seemed as if a whole life lay between now and then… it probably was more than a whole life. But I didn't want to think too much about it. I forced my mind back from my sad memories of home towards the memories of the game I still had.
Varren.
They were, as far as I knew, the dogs of Mass Effect. In the first game, I had to fight them, in the second also but there had been also Urrs … no that didn't sound right.
Urz!
That had been his name, Urz. The varren on the home world of the Krogan. He followed you around if you gave him something to eat. You even could do pit fights with him if you wanted. So, now I was a Varren and it seemed even a wild one. Now I understood why the girl feared me … this would be interesting indeed.