Mass Effect: Dark Beginnings

Author's Note:

I'd like to start this story by stating that this is the story of my character Tarius. Tarius is actually a Sith lord I came up with years ago. So, even though this is a Mass Effect fan story there may end up being some Star Wars references in it. Nothing big but I figured I owed readers a fair warning. So now here's the story.

Prologue

It had been a week since Saren had encountered the giant being that called itself Sovereign and he still was trying to make sense of what it had told him. The being or machine or God or whatever it was had called itself a reaper, with enough blandness to tell Saren just how little it cared for that name. It had then told him of the fact that there was an entire armada of other reapers that waited in "dark space". Then it told him of the fact that they were trapped in "dark space" and that it wanted Saren to help it. It told him all this after threatening him with death for discovering it. Yet how was he to know his target would lead him there only to be killed in a cave in caused by the reaper's movement? In the end it didn't matter, he agreed to the reaper's request easily enough. It was only when he got away that he had to think of why he said yes to Sovereign. In the end he realized that it was Sovereign's story of the reapers and the fact that he made it very clear that the reapers would return, and that it was hopeless to fight, that had convinced him to join Sovereign. "Perhaps if I make them see organics can be useful, then they will let us live. They are machines after all, and therefore, they think like machines." Yet, the doubts remained. It did not matter though, he was right, he knew it, he just had to find the conduit and he will have proven his worth and therefore, the worth of organics. But first he would have to deal with this human they had chosen to possibly become a spectre. This was the reason he had been thinking of Sovereign. This file had been brought to his "desk" and was placed in front of him. A file containing info on a mission to retrieve a prothean beacon and observe a human being considered for spectre candidacy. "This beacon could hold the rest of the information I need to find the conduit." At that moment he made a decision. He states that he could not observe the young candidate at this time but he would gladly take over should whatever spectre that gets the job have something happen to him. "We shall see how things go for you young human when you lose the beacon." He would have to inform Sovereign that he may have found the rest of the info. He was pretty upset when Saren had told him that the first beacon didn't have all the info. For a moment Saren had been sure Sovereign would shoot him but Sovereign had calmed down and told him to find another beacon and here was one being handed to him on a silver platter. No one and nothing would stop him, not even this... Shepard.

Shepard was getting impatient. "Well that's an under statement." He mumbled. He had been called to speak with Anderson 5 hours ago and was still waiting. "Can I enter yet?!" He screamed at Anderson's assistant. "I told you that you can go in when he calls for you." At that very moment Anderson poked his head out of his office. "Has Shepard shown up yet? I've been waiting 5 hours." The assistant was very confused now. "You said to wait for you to call for him sir." Anderson looked at her flabbergasted. "I told you to send him in once he got here!" By now Shepard just wanted them to shut up. They were making him angry and that was making the voice come out and tell him to kill them both. The voice always got stronger when he got angry. He could still remember the first time it spoke and how he had tried to fight and— No! He wouldn't think about it. He started rubbing his head which caused Anderson to look at him. "Are you all right commander?" "Yes. I just like rubbing my head for no reason! Of course I'm not all right! I haves headache from all your damn yelling!" And there it was the snap caused by voice, and from the way they were looking at them, his eyes had probably done their usual red flash. "I'm sorry commander for keeping you waiting and not using manners. Please, come into my office." They entered Anderson's office and after the door was closed Anderson told him the truth. "I actually did tell her to wait for me to call you in but I wanted to see how easily you would snap." Now that the voice was gone, for now, he could think clearly. "You wanted to see my eyes didn't you?" Immediately Anderson didn't have to answer. His face told Shepard everything he needed to know. "It's all right. Your not the first one. You're one of the few that lived but that's not a surprise." Anderson stared at Shepard for a long time before responding. "You're so casual about all the people you've killed." "I thought that was a good thing in my line of work." Again Anderson stared at him. He was so calm after being so angry, like someone else had taken control of him earlier. He had heard the stories of course but he couldn't believe how true they were. "The reason I called you here commander is that I need someone for a mission, nothing big, just a shake down run but I figured it would be good for you to come along. You know, have a little down time. According to your file all you've done is work for the past 5 years." Shepard was shocked at the change in subject. "You know, you may be right. This job sounds easy and like it would be a good break for me." "So you accept?" "Absolutely." Shepard was a little surprised, Anderson lived up to the stories about him to. "See you on the ship commander." Both of them were surprised because they learned that even with all the bad thing s about them they still liked the other.

Author's Note(continued): When I started writing this prologue, I wanted to do something that hadn't been done or that I hadn't seen done. In the end I decided to talk about how Saren met Sovereign and how Shepard got recruited for the mission. These were scenes that I had never seen done and I thought would be fun to do because they're never talked about in the game.