The transport buckled as it dropped through the atmosphere. Inside the dropship, Sergeant Major Avery Shepard was jostled in her restraints.
"Any idea what we're doin' here Sarge?" A man sitting to her left asked, struggling to be heard over the roar of the vessel's descent. Shepard turned to face him.
"No clue." She shouted back. "It's gotta be big though. They deployed the whole company." She patted the rifle beside her. "And they don't send sniper support on milk runs." The man nodded.
"I hear that."
Another soldier walked down the shuttle and slipped into a free seat on Shepard's other side.
"Lighten up there Ave." She grinned, looking at Shepard. "You look like you're attending a funeral." The man on the other side of Shepard laughed at that.
"Don't worry LT. She always looks like that."
Shepard rounded on him. "Shut up Toombs." But the icy tone was gone from her voice. Shepard felt a hand clap her shoulder.
"That right there is why you'll never be command material Shep. You can make that rifle dance, but you can't handle people worth a damn."
"Sure I can. Shepard grinned too. "It only takes one round. Besides, you don't need people skills as an N7. All you need is skill."
It was true. In fact, it was the reason Shepard had been invited to join the N7 program. Her biotics were exceptional-she'd been exposed to an eezo reactor on route to Mindor as a child-but she made sniping into an art. She punched her friend lightly on the shoulder.
"So what about you Ali, have you decided whether or not to accept."
"Just because you signed up in a heartbeat," Shepard raised an eyebrow. "Okay." Ali held up her hands to chest level, palms out, in mock surrender. "Between heartbeats. But it's a tougher choice for me. Some of us actually like the people we serve with."
"I'll try not to take that as an insult ma'am." Toombs chuckled.
Shepard shook her head, smiling faintly. It felt good, having friends.
"Lieutenant Hills." The pilot called back to them. "We're five minutes out."
Ali stood and moved to the center of the shuttle. She grabbed a handhold above her and began calling out orders to the unit.
"Okay people, we're three minutes out. Sullian, You're boys are on point. Second through third squads…"
Shepard tuned her out, turning instead to Toombs. "You got your act together Corporal?"
He patted his assault rifle and spotter scope. "Gotcha covered Sarge."
Shepard nodded. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to go very wrong.
"They don't send sniper support on milk runs."
Shepard was lying on her stomach, tucked into a small crevice on a ridge. Beyond her lay a large, flat expanse. Akuze's primary settlement prospect. She scanned the plain through the scope of her sniper rifle. Beside her Corporal Toombs did the same with a pair of binoculars.
"Shepard, come in." Her comm buzzed.
"Shepard here." She responded, her eyes never leaving the scope.
"Are we clear?"
Shepard paused. The feeling of unease had only gotten worse since their arrival planetside. She could call it off, should call it off. Something was very wrong here. A feeling of dread filled the air. But it was just a feeling.
"You're clear."
Below her, the marines fanned out along the plain. Shepard continued to scan the area, looking for anything, anything that would justify calling off the mission. As she continued to survey the area, a small stream caught her eye and refused to let go. She stared out at the rippling surface of the water, wondering why it seemed so important. And then it hit her. The stream wasn't flowing. It was rippling.
"Pull out! Everyone pull back to the ridge now!" Shepard shouted, spamming the general channel. "Get the hell out of there!"
The order came a second too late. Just as the soldiers below began to move, the ground below them shifted. Suddenly, several large, scalled worms erupted from the ground, tearing into the marines. Thresher Maws Shepard's memory reported to her. The floor of the plain disappeared in a cloud of dust. The radio was soon drowned out with screams and gunfire as the troops below attempted to fight their way back to the ridge. It was a futile gesture though. More and more Thresher Maws erupted from the ground, spewing venom and thrashing their arms about. Shepard swung her rifle around, firing madly. She got a grim sense of satisfaction as one of the creatures lost an antennae. Another's arm was badly mangled. A third took a round in the tongue before retreating underground. Recycling the bolt, Shepard uttered a silent prayer of thanks that she'd brought HE-AP (High Explosive Armor Piercing) rounds for her rifle. Shell after shell was ejected from her rifle, but even as she felled several of the creatures, more kept appearing. Beside her, Toombs fell to the ground, screaming in agony. She spared him a silent glance. He was covered in Thresher Maw venom, she watched as it ate through his armor and began on his skin. Shepard's attention returned to the scope. She heard her partner whimper once, then lie still. As Shepard slammed a new battery into the rifle, she spotted a group of marines advancing towards the ridge, Lt. Hills in the lead. Her left arm ended before the elbow, her right clutched a pistol. Then the ground below them cracked, and yet another Maw shot out of the opening. Roaring, it slashed its arms, sending marines flying. Lt. Hills fell to the ground in front of it, firing her sidearm. Shepard vaulted over the ridge, sliding down it, pumping three rounds into the creature's open mouth in quick succession. The first two rounds exploded inside its body. The third exited through the back of its head. It collapsed to the side with a resounding thud. Shepard reached the corpse, and lifted up her C.O. with her left hand, her right still sported the rifle. Lt. Hills stood, gasping for air.
"Shepard, I have to go back. Cover me from the ridge."
Shepard kept her grip on Ali's arm despite the woman's struggles to get free. Shepard thumbed the thermal sights on her rifle and scanned the dust filled battlefield. She could count the remaining human signatures on her hands.
"Ali." She stated calmly, her eyes fixed firmly on the scope. "It's no use. There's no-one left to save." Shepard's voice sounded cold, even to her.
Lt. Hills rounded on her. "How can you say that?" She shouted. "Those are our people dying out there!"
Her only reply was a slight recoil as Shepard squeezed the trigger. She dropped the rifle, grabbing the bolt as it fell, and then sung the rifle back up, ready to fire. Her left hand never relaxed its grip on her friend's arm.
"Dammit Shepard, you could at least act like you cared!" Tears welled up in her eyes. Shepard opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by a low rumble. Before her, another Thresher Maw burst from the ground. Shepard dropped her rifle-she didn't have a good angle-and curled tendrils of biotic energy around her right hand. Then she shot it upwards. It connected with the base of one of the monstrosity's antennae, melting it. The useless appendage fell to the ground as its one time host reared in agony. Then it poised again, and shot towards Shepard, intent on eating the annoying pest. Shepard let go of Ali's forearm and gathered all the force she could generate into twin spheres. She prepared to launch them when she felt herself being shoved out of the way. It was a powerful push, laced with biotics. Shepard landed in a heap then feet away, further up the ridge, only able to watch as her friend faced the Thresher Maw, a grenade clutched in her remaining hand. The creature's mouth enveloped her. And Shepard's world dissolved in a flash of white and a splatter of red.
Sgt. Eric Sinmaz stood at the perimeter, scanning the small expanse in front of him. Something was very wrong. The ground team was due back two hours ago. They hadn't even reported in yet. Sinmaz had ordered his troops to deploy drones to find them, but no dice so far.
"Keep your eyes up everyone." He called out over the comm. "We'll hold here for a few more minutes, until our drones report back."
Several minutes passed. Still nothing. He was about to order his men back to the transports, when a flicker of movement caught his eye.
"We've got movement!" He shouted. "On the ridge!"
He stared ahead, rifle not quite pointed at the figure advancing over the crest of the ridge. One figure. It walked with a heavy limp on its left side, and its right arm was cradled as if broken or dislocated. As it came closer, her saw that it was, in fact, wearing what looked like alliance armor. It was hard to tell. It was soaked in blood.
"Oh God." Eric whispered. "I think it's one of ours."
The figure-obviously feminine-looked like she'd been through hell. Twice. Her armor was in tatters. Her helmet had been torn off, its breathing tubes trailed behind her. Blood caked her face and soaked her hair. She staggered forward, still limping severely. Sgt. Sinmaz watched it in horror.
"It's Shepard." He whispered.
She was almost recognizable. She looked nothing like the calm, graceful, and obviously skilled woman who'd stepped off the dropship earlier that day, rifle in hand. Now she just limped past the Sergeant, as if her wasn't there. Her eyes were wide and unblinking. Her mouth hung open slightly. Sinmaz slipped himself under her arm, helping her along. A medic met them at the shuttle. They strapped her into a stretcher in the back, and the medic began to work on her injuries.
"Shepard?" Sinmaz whispered. "What happened? Where are the others?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, her regretted uttering them, fearful of what the response would be. Shepard broke her thousand yard stare, to gaze at him. Only then did it strike him how hollow they looked. After a second, she returned her gaze to the ceiling. Then his comm buzzed. A quivering Private reported in.
"Sergeant, our drones just returned. They're gone sir. Alpha Company was wiped out."
