Interlude I – Primus
She stepped out of the shuttle, onto its ramp, which led to the platform. She went the path slowly, looking ahead at the cause of all the problems on this planet: the tower of these aliens. For months her troops wanted to open its gate and now it was opened, not by her own soldiers.
"Primus.", a deep voice from the side said and she looked there. The commander of the local troops was standing there, bigger than his soldiers, but not armed this time. Few members of his legion were standing around as well, although most of them were inside the tower right now.
"Centurion.", the Primus replied with her gentle voice, stepping towards him, "How did you fail?"
His look was miserable, as if he was awaiting punishment. "I underestimated the enemy, Primus.", he replied, not trying to find excuses.
"The newcomers, I presume.", the Primus deduced without hesitation, "They have become quite a pest in the last year.", she casted a glance at his troops nearby, "How many did you lose?"
"More than half of my legion's strength.", the Centurion replied honestly, "Most of them during their surprising assault on our base."
The Primus nodded. "You outnumbered them, had the better position and still you failed.", she growled, before taking an angry breath and looking at the gate of the tower, "What have you seen?"
"It doesn't matter what THEY have seen…", a new voice stopped the centurion from answering. The Primus looked back to the shuttle, where her superior left it right now: he was a head taller than her, slender-built and dressed nobler with a cape, as was his right by rank. This was symbolized by the ring, made out of his bones, right at the top of the back of his head, expanding backwards. "It matters what the INTRUDERS have seen.", he finished his sentence with his deep, clangorous voice.
"I see, Archon.", the Primus replied, bowing her head, while he passed her, moving right at the tower. She looked back to the centurion who gave her the device with the recording. Before she left him however, to follow the Archon, she ordered him: "Decimate 1/10 of your remaining legion, as punishment for failure. You choose whom. But when this legion fails another time, I will choose."
"I understand, Primus.", the centurion bowed his head, but she still could see the relief on his face. She followed the Archon right into the dark chamber within the tower, where the troops were standing to both sides, parading their commanders.
The Primus looked at the shining triangle, floating in the air. Half a legion lost…for what?, she asked herself, before handing the device to the Archon, who seemed to wait impatiently already.
He activated it and it started to flow, before flying backwards and projecting the recording in front of the triangle. This creatures are so puny…the Primus thought, when looking at the black suited intruder, And still they are so dangerous. The figure was stepping forward, right beside the Archon who observed each movement with certain interest. Then the intruder stretched out his hand towards the triangle and the Archon copied this movement, but even after waiting few seconds, nothing happened.
The Archon lowered his hand and looked at it, in confusion. Then he seemed to realize how this situation looked like and turned around, anger on his face. He marched back towards the shuttle, while the Primus followed him. "I want them found, immediately.", he hissed towards her, without stopping or looking back.
"It will be done, Archon.", the Primus replied, knowing about his obsession, but also knowing that she couldn't dare deny him – at least for now.
"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts
But the changes are mine.
Author's comment:
And another change I am doing here. The reason should be obvious: in the game these aliens were the stereotyped villain of any evil empire/evil aliens/evil conquerors and so on – so with other words, they were boring as hell. Even the Reapers from the trilogy were much more interesting, despite the stupidest reason for doing things, they could have possessed. So I will shine more light on these guys, trying to make them not only interesting in their own right, but also much less like the super-evil empire they were portrayed in the game – after all the best villain is the one who thinks he is doing the right thing. So await more of this kind of chapters, showing more of the antagonist of this story.
And with this another shortie the Prolog is officially over. When the next chapter will be released…well it depends on my mood, the feedback from here and my free-time schedule ^^ So stay tuned till then.