The Other First Contact

C. C. Morse

Prologue: Another Day for C-Sec

The market was loud and bustling, peoples of nearly all races all talking at once: with each other, with shopkeepers, and one Drell in a corner was talking to himself, likely lost in a memory. Two turians stood with their backs nearly against a wall, watching the life around them through the glow of their omnitools. The glow was the only indication they were there, their black with blue striped armor faded neatly into the shadows. As one turian directed the tool towards a crowd, a blue light flashed on it. The he nudged his partner and they both pulled out weapons: one rifle carried awkwardly in one hand so the other hand could continue scanning with the omnitool, while the other turian pulled out a rocket launcher.

The turians began to walk towards the crowd. An asari shopkeeper looked disapprovingly at them, her muttered words, "I remember the days when C-Sec didn't have the audacity to carry heavy weapons…" could be heard as they walked past.

"Wait…" the omnitool-holding turian said, and his partner stopped alongside him, never taking his eyes from the crowd. The omnitool flashed again, and a scream erupted from the crowd. The turian quickly put away his omnitool and readied his rifle, and ducked. A massive, pinkish-black tentacle flew past where his head had been.

The crowd seemed to explode as the panicked people fled from the creature, the source of the tenticle, tripping and pushing each other in their haste. It was bipedal in shape, with rough black chitinous armor. One arm grabbed a rifle and leveled it at the turians. The other arm was a long grasping tentacle that pulled back towards the creature with the asari shopkeeper caught in its grasp. The creature fired.

The turians swore and jumped behind a counter. The shots seemed to continue for minutes until they stopped, when the unmistakable sound of a gun's heat alarm sounded, and then the turians rose up and returned fire. The rifle wielding turian launched off an Incinerate from his omnitool first, and then opened fire on the creature while the projectile zoomed towards it. The Incinerate hit, but the only effect was that the creature was forced to take a step back. The other turian launched two rockets at it, while his partner's gun began to sound its own heat alarm. The creature took the hits and raised its rifle in response, while the tentacle arm shifted into the form of a shield. The turians ducked back down while shots from the creature's rounds rained upon the counter again.

The rifle wielding turian readied an Overload and the other reloaded the rocket launcher. When the shots stopped the turians rose back up, only for the rocket-launcher wielding turian to be forced to jump to the side as a tentacle flew towards him. The other launched the Overload and opened fire again. When the Overload hit a guttural shriek filled the air and the creature's armor seemed to writhe. The tentacle appendage recoiled and shifted into an arm. The fallen turian rose up and launched all of his rockets at the creature. They all hit and the screams grew louder as they did. The flash of the explosives both illuminated and concealed the creature. A tentacle shot out towards the turians again and they ducked down behind the counter. The screaming continued and then died off, and the turians readied their weapons and rose up again.

In place of the creature was a red streaked pile of gore, which was dormant upon the floor. The rifle wielding turian launched an Overload at it. The pile remained unresponsive. The turians moved out from behind the counter towards it, keeping their guns aimed at it. They stopped at the edge of the pile and one turian nudged it with the barrel of his rifle. Nothing happened.

The turians sighed with relief. One put away his rifle and pulled up his omnitool while the other simply rested his rocket launcher against the floor.

"Yes, we have great news!" the turian spoke into his omnitool, while his friend was smiling like an idiot. "Sir, we have successfully-" the turian was cut off as blood flew from his mouth and he was suddenly yanked backwards by an unseen force. The other turian turned around to see his friend with a tentacle impaled through his chest being pulled towards a drell.

The turian raised his rocket launcher and fired, and nothing came out while the other turan became engulfed in the flesh of the drell. The creature suddenly morphed into a swarm of tentacles and then to the form of the other turian. The real turian quickly reloaded his rocket launcher and fired all of his rockets at the creature wearing his partner's form and then dove behind a counter. A scream filled the air as he reloaded the rocket launcher. He rose up and fired all of his rockets again.

The turian ducked back down and reloaded. The air was filled with silence. Suddenly, the turian stood back up, ready to fire the launcher again. The creature that took the form of his partner was now a mass of bloodied, exploded flesh on the floor. The turian sent a rocket at the largest pile of gore and the mess exploded, but otherwise remained inert.

The turian looked around at all of his surroundings, finding that this time he was completely alone.

******************** Another Day for C-Sec: End ********************

Talk for reader:

Fight scenes are hard. I had to edit a couple of times to make it clear that the enemy is tough, but not too bright, but not too tough and not too stupid. The Protoform fought like players with beginner level experience…on hard mode. I need heavy weapons to be the bane of the enemy; otherwise the galaxy does not stand a chance. Also, Overload and other electrical attacks are effective for disrupting the enemy's abilities. I really just can't make this hopeless or it will suck. Incinerate has the effect of a rocket launcher in game so, it is pretty much the same here. I guess explosives don't really do much against the armor, but the electrical attacks are good for disrupting the armor. The enemy can keep fighting as long as there is food (people) to heal themselves with. The rocket launchers can hold four rockets at once. A direct hit from four rockets on an unarmored enemy is usually fatal. That turian was carrying at least eighteen rockets on his person…a lot of rockets. But there is tougher stuff out there…

I draw inspiration from Palladius's "Prototypes" and HoboGod's Reapers Light.

I cannot figure out how to get this site to allow me to tab and it also removed all of my double spacing.