I was really planning to alternate between this story and 'What Matters The Most', now that the reposts on the latter are up. However, the plot bunny for that one is being elusive, while this one insists on gnawing at my ankles, so for now I'll feed this one, lay a trail of Cadbury mini-eggs to lure the other in and see where that takes me.

Endrius – Jayce definitely leans more toward the Paragon end of the spectrum, but I'll be giving her a bit more of a Renegade edge than I did in my first play-through with her. If you want any of the non-standard dialogue options, you have to lean almost totally one way or the other...no real benefit to having a Paragade, apart from the satisfaction of some well-deserved slapdowns. And yes, Tali definitely comes across as young and innocent all the way through the trilogy; I've seen her compared to Aerie in BG & Merrill in DA2.

Theodur – Patience, grasshopper! We will reach Therum in due time, and I'm not planning on writing up every side-mission in the game, but with this Shepard's history, no way was I skipping this distress beacon. One of the unfortunate side-effects of command is having to listen to your subordinates' complaints and problems, but I tend to subscribe to Dr. Chakwas' view: it's when they stop sharing stuff like that with you that you have a problem. Tali will definitely wind up on the away teams, and a lot sooner than Jayce would prefer. Like many soldiers, she tends to consider civilians a separate species, and she's not entirely sure what to do with one, but Tali mentions in game dialog that they are given training and equipment to prepare them for the Pilgrimage, and that most return safely. In the game, everything settles into place rather quickly, with everybody getting along and seemingly no friction. I wanted to start out with some rough spots: misunderstandings, head-butting (both literal and figurative) and plain & simple ignorance, because to me, strong teams are formed by working past those rough spots and smoothing them over as you go. Plus it's more fun to write.

Thanks for reviewing!

OOO

When Kaidan reached the cargo bay, Ashley was already suited up and selecting weapons. "Any idea what's up?" he asked her as he strode to his locker and began pulling on his armor.

Ash shook her head. "Commander just said to get ready for a drop," she replied, settling shotgun, pistol and rifle into their positions on the harness, brown eyes gleaming with readiness. "More geth, maybe?"

"Maybe." He flexed his fingers, settling them into the gloves, activated the dermal interface that transmitted tactile stimulation through the suit material to improve manual dexterity, then finished tightening straps and activating seals. Planets with breathable atmospheres were few and far between. "Look, Chief, I know you want payback. I do too." He'd been up late the previous night, trying to write a letter to Jenkins' family, still hadn't managed to find the right words. "Just...don't get tunnel vision, all right?"

"Aye-aye, Lieutenant." The response was crisp, but didn't quite hide the edge of irritation underneath, and he sighed inwardly as he grabbed his guns and his helmet. He'd gotten used to being called 'boy scout' and worse, took a bit of resolute pride in it at times, but on a mission like this, where the normal rules were being set aside, was there going to be a place for a boy scout? Maybe he should have taken the Commander up on her offer of a transfer.

Further broodings were cut off by Shepard's arrival, fully armed and armored. "The Mako ready to go?" she called to Garrus as she strode across the cargo bay toward the armory.

"Checked and ready!" the turian responded, gathering up tools. "The cannon should have eight-point-three percent better range now." He ducked into the cargo container that served as his quarters. Might look rough, but he had more space and privacy than most of the crew, Kaidan included.

Shepard nodded, stopping in front of Kaidan and Ashley. "You two ready?" she asked, giving them both a once over.

Ash nodded. "What's the mission, Commander?"

"We've picked up an Alliance distress signal from the planet Edolus," Shepard replied. "No response on any of the comm channels, no messages. Just the signal."

"What do we know about Edolus?" Kaidan asked her.

"Terrestrial planet, carbon dioxide-nitrogen atmosphere," the Commander reported. "No indigenous life forms, no colonies, moderate mineral resources."

"Maybe some independent miners, ship broke down," he mused. If they hadn't been prepared for an extended excursion, a planet like Edolus wouldn't offer anything once their supplies ran out. And this part of the galaxy didn't get a lot of traffic; there might be nothing left but the bodies.

"Or pirates," Ash suggested darkly. Raiders were a regular threat on colonial worlds; she'd likely dealt with their attacks and the aftermath often enough.

"Either is a possibility," Shepard agreed. "I called it in to Systems Alliance and was contacted by Admiral Hackett. There are no Alliance ships currently near this system, so we've been asked to investigate."

"Asked?" Ash looked as startled as Kaidan felt; if they had needed any further proof of their change in status, this was it. The Alliance didn't ask its soldiers to do anything, much less use one of its highest-ranking officers to do so.

Shepard gave them a wry smile. "Yeah, it felt strange to me, too." That she didn't look either smug or pleased with the situation was reassuring; Kaidan knew that there were some officers who would be only too happy to run with an opportunity like this. Maybe the rules wouldn't be set aside completely. Her expression grew serious as she continued. "We're in an odd spot: betwixt and between, but the Alliance just donated its most advanced ship to further this mission. If they need our assistance, I intend to provide it, but I also intend to keep Alliance business within the Alliance...which means I'll likely be tagging the two of you for the away teams on those missions."

She paused, regarding them expectantly. "You can count on us, Commander," Kaidan told her, Ashley's enthusiastic response close behind.

"Good," Shepard said, looking pleased. "Let's head out, then. Either of you have experience in IFV drops?"

"I've done a few," Kaidan replied, then felt compelled to add, "All of them in green zones, though."

"I did a couple in training," Ashley put in, looking embarrassed at the admission.

Jayce grinned at her. "You'll like this one better," she promised as she started toward the Mako. "I want Joker to practice hot drops in this bird, so he'll be taking us in low and fast. Take the gunner's seat," she instructed Ash as they climbed in. "Kaidan, you're on navigation and shields." She dropped into the driver's seat, laced her fingers together, flexed them outward. "Buckle up. I'm driving."

"That sounds ominous," Ashley remarked as she retrieved the straps for the five-point harness and began fastening them. "I don't remember this many straps in the Grizzly."

"The Grizzly didn't need them," Shepard replied, buckling herself in with the efficiency of long practice. "Too bulky and heavy to do much beyond rolling on open ground. This beast can take on just about any terrain and win. Gyroscopic stabilizers mean that it can right itself if it gets tipped, and between the traction on the tires, the thrusters and the eezo core, it can damn near go up or down a vertical wall." She patted the console affectionately.

"You planning on driving it or marrying it, Skipper?" Ash smirked.

Shepard chuckled. "If I knew a guy who had saved my ass half as many times as the Makos have, damn right I'd be marrying him. Systems check." Levity shifted to business, Kaidan and Ashley matching her as they ran through the operational checklist, finding all systems green.

Shepard secured her helmet beside her seat, waited for Kaidan and Ash to do the same.. "All right, Joker, begin your run when ready."

"Aye-aye, Commander. Drop run commencing in ten seconds. Nine...eight..."

As the countdown continued, the Mako's engine rumbled to life. Kaidan glanced back at Ashley; the gunnery chief's face was alight with anticipation, and Kaidan felt a gut-clenching moment of deja-vu, remembering Jenkins' enthusiasm at the prospect of 'action' on Eden Prime.

Not again, he vowed fiercely to himself as Joker's voice continued on the comm.

"Three...two...one. In position and commencing drop run."

The Normandy's inertial dampeners kept any of the effects of the frigate's momentum or maneuvering from being felt by those within, but as the cargo bay door dropped, the ground flashing by provided a dizzying indication of their speed.

"Holy shit! How low are we?" Ash's startled inquiry echoed Kaidan's thoughts. It didn't look far at all.

"If you have to ask, you probably don't want to know." Shepard didn't look around, her face a study in concentration and her hands hovering over the haptic interface.

"Dropping in three...two...one. Releasing!"

As Joker finished, there was the sudden jolt of the restraining clamps opening, and the Mako rolled forward, down the ramp and over the edge, and Christ the ground was close!

"Mass effect field engaged." Shepard's hands were flying over the controls, but her voice remained steady and as calm as if she were talking across the table in the mess hall. "Thrusters firing." Almost as soon as it had begun, the weightless sense of free-fall eased, but the feel of the tires hitting the ground came unnervingly soon after that. Acceleration due to gravity on Earth was 32 feet per second squared...Kaidan decided that he didn't really want to know what the surface gravity on Edolus was, and that it was a good thing he hadn't tried to count the number of seconds they'd taken to reach the ground.

The three of them grunted in near-unison at the impact. "Sorry," Shepard muttered, glancing briefly at each of them before turning her attention to the external readings. "Shocks on these things really suck. Good flying, Lieutenant," she told Joker. "How long was our drop path?"

"Eighty meters, Commander. Give me more practice, and I can probably shave off another five or ten easy," Joker replied confidently.

"Keep practicing, then. Make it SOP unless I give orders to do otherwise," Shepard told him. "Kaidan, see if you can get a fix on that beacon. Ash, let's test fire the guns, make sure our turian crewmate put all the pieces back together properly."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Aye-aye, Skipper."

As Kaidan began scanning transmission frequencies, the report of the guns shattered the stillness around the Mako, the rapid-fire chatter of the machine guns punctuated by the resonating thunder of the cannon.

"Everything seems to be in order, Commander," Ash reported.

"Good. I'd hate to have to find a shit detail to assign him to this soon," Shepard quipped, her eyes scanning readouts on the monitors.

"I thought you might have already. Did he really say to you what I thought he said?" Ash wanted to know. What was this? Kaidan cocked his head, listening to the conversation with one ear, the feedback on the frequency scanner with the other.

"If what you thought he said was an utterly lame attempt at a come-on, then yes," Shepard replied with a smirk.

"He did what?" Kaidan jerked his head up and stared at her, outrage distracting him from his task. Who in the hell did this turian think he was?

"At ease, Lieutenant," Shepard told him. "My tender ears have been subjected to much worse, and I think I won that particular exchange. If that was the best he could do, it's no wonder that we kicked their asses in the First Contact War."

Ashley laughed. Kaidan was far from mollified – Vakarian was a guest on their ship, for god's sake! - but a sudden familiar tone caught his attention. "Got it!" he called out, working to isolate the signal and get a bearing. "Due north, three-point-three-five klicks," he updated as he added the navpoint to the map.

"Nice work, Kaidan," Shepard congratulated him, turning the Mako to his mark and rolling forward. "Let's go see what we've got."

The going was easy; the ground was mostly made up of silicate sand, with intermittent outcroppings of igneous rock that the Mako rolled over easily. As they drew closer, however, the signal from the distress beacon was joined by other, fainter sounds.

"Commander," he said slowly, feeling the first stirrings of disquiet. "I'm picking up what sounds like transmissions from Marine personal ID chips in the same vicinity as the beacon."

Shepard looked at him sharply, then slowed the Mako, craning her head to peer at the readout on the terrain scanner. "How many?"

"Not sure yet." He adjusted the feeds, trying to boost and clean the signals. "I'm not -" He hesitated. "I'm not reading any life signs. Just the transmitter signals and a signature from an Alliance IFV...looks like a Grizzly."

"Sonofabitch!" Ash swore from the back.

Shepard scowled and opened up the channel to the Normandy. "Joker, run another scan," she barked. "Sweep wide. I'm looking for any Alliance ship in this system or evidence that one crashed or was destroyed."

"Sure thing, Commander. What's up?"

"Not sure yet. Stay close, keep this channel clear and be ready to execute an emergency evac." With a final glance at the scanner, Shepard continued forward, abandoning a straight approach to follow the line of one of the rock formations, edging up until the external cameras were trained on the broad, shallow bowl below them.

"The beacon's right in the center, Commander," Kaidan reported. "Grizzly's next to it, and I'm reading signals from ten ID chips. Bravo Squad, from the 319. No life signs," he confirmed with a sinking heart.

Shepard's expression was grim and baffled. "Something had to drop them there; the Grizzly flies even worse than the Mako. So where's the damn ship?"

"Looks like they were assigned to the light frigate SSV Antietam, Commander," Joker spoke up, "and there's no sign of it in this system, crashed or otherwise."

"This is weird," Ash declared, leaning forward to study the image on the monitor. "That Grizzly's taken damage," she declared. "I can see burned areas on the hull, and the top turret is gone. Could it have been the geth?"

"I'm not reading anything besides the beacon, the Grizzly and the ID transmitters," Kaidan said.

Shepard nodded, still frowning. "All right, ahead at half speed. Ash, stay on the guns; Kaidan, be ready to bring up the shields; Joker, sing out if any company drops in."

The Mako rolled off the rock and onto the sand. Kaidan watched the monitor as the Grizzly grew larger and larger on the display, and now he could begin to make out the bodies tumbled in the sand around it, but he couldn't tell what might have -

"What the -" He sat up suddenly, looking around. "Did you feel that?"

"Feel -" Shepard's words cut off and the blood drained from her face as another, stronger tremor shook the Mako. "Goddamn it! Shields up!" she shouted, jamming the accelerator to the floor and sending the Mako leaping forward just as a geyser of sand exploded upward in their wake.

"Shit! Thresher maw!" Ash gaped at the towering shape on the monitor, panic lacing her voice.

"Shoot it, Marine! That's an order!" Shepard raced the Mako past the Grizzly, sand flying up from beneath the tires. "Lieutenant, activate the GPR and give me a status on the shields!"

"Shields at eighty-nine percent," Kaidan replied as he turned on the ground penetrating radar and Ash began firing the guns into their wake. "We took a hit from the acid, but it didn't penetrate. Up to ninety."

"It went back under!" Ashley shouted. Shepard immediately brought the Mako to a halt, gunning the engine.

"Commander, what are you doing?" Kaidan asked incredulously.

"Watch the GPR, give me bearing and distance, and divert shield power as I tell you," Shepard said in lieu of a reply, still revving the motor. "Ash, when you see that thing, you shoot it, understood?"

"Aye-aye, Commander!"

"Commander, what's happening?"

"Little busy right now, Joker," Shepard replied tersely.

"It's coming!" Kaidan stared at the GPR, desperately trying to interpret the readout. "Bearing two-ten degrees, fifty yards...forty...thirty..." Christ, the thing was fast! "Twenty...ten...Commander!"

"Shields to the rear!" Shepard ordered as the Mako lunged forward. Kaidan shifted all power to the rear shields, watched them fluctuate but hold beneath another spray of acid, only dipping to ninety-two percent before starting to recover.

"I hit it! It's down!" Ash proclaimed excitedly.

"Still moving!" Kaidan warned as Shepard stopped the Mako again. "Bearing two-seventy-five, sixty-five yards...fifty...forty...thirty...twenty...ten..."

This time, when Shepard released the brake, the wheels spun in the sand; an instant later, the rear of the Mako was flung upward by a massive impact, warning klaxons screaming as Shepard fought grimly to keep the vehicle upright. The gyroscopic system won out, and the Mako leaped away as the thresher slammed into the ground, narrowly missing the escaping vehicle.

"Shields at seventy-five percent with damage to the frame." Kaidan watched the meter, willing the shields to power back up. Another hit or two like that, and they'd be in serious trouble. "Seventy-six...seventy-seven..."

"Down again!"

"Here it comes!"

Shepard got them clear in time, and the cat and mouse game continued: Ash shooting, Kaidan desperately shunting the shields from one exposed area to another, Shepard pushing the Mako to its limits in near miss after near miss, until -

"It's down...no!" Ashley stared at her targeting monitor as though unwilling to trust what it was showing her. "It's just laying there. I think it's dead."

"No movement, Commander," Kaidan confirmed after consulting the GPR.

Shepard trained the camera on the maw's inert bulk for a long moment, then sank back in her seat and tipped her head back, eyes closed. "Congratulations," she said after several deep, slow breaths. "You two are now officially half as tough as my cat."

Ash's laugh had a slightly hysterical edge to it, but Kaidan was honest enough to admit that he would probably sound the same right now. "Mac didn't have an armored vehicle, did he?"

"No," Shepard agreed, "but humans don't have nine lives, so I'd say that evens you out." She opened her eyes, gave them a wan smile. "Damn good job, both of you. Those bastards are hell to fight, even in an IFV." Her voice was steady, but she was still a shade too pale, with a light sheen of sweat on her face and the faintest tremor visible in her hand before she gripped the steering wheel again, turning them back toward the Grizzly and the beacon.

"That's how you do it, huh?" Ashley was recovering from her own shock, beginning to analyze the fight. Kaidan was still waiting for his heart rate to dip below one-eighty. Biotics wouldn't have done a damn thing against a behemoth like that.

Shepard nodded. "They pick their targets by tracking vibrations in the ground, and they're damned accurate at intercepting anything on the move. The only way to beat them is to wait until the last second to move. Once they're up, their tactile sense goes out the window, and their visual acuity sucks, so they'll spray acid in what they think is the right direction before going back down. Get as far away as you can while they're up, keep the shields stacked on the exposed aspect of your IFV and keep pouring lead into them until they drop."

She stopped the Mako a short distance away from the Grizzly, nodding toward what the disabled vehicle's bulk had hidden before: the decaying corpse of another thresher maw half buried in the sand. "Get caught between two, and you're in a world of hurt," she said tonelessly. "They killed one, but the Grizzly got flipped. Tore its main gun off. They had to come out to fight the last one, but with no cover, they never stood a chance." Her grey eyes were distant and bleak as she retrieved her helmet and pulled it on. "Let's look around."

"Commander?"

"We're all right, Joker," she reported quietly. Kaidan exchanged a worried glance with Ash before they both followed her.

Kaidan didn't really want to look at the bodies of men and women who'd probably died in terror and agony. While Shepard and Ash scanned dog tags, recording the names of the dead, he approached the distress beacon and cracked open the circuit panel to run a diagnostic series.

"This isn't a military beacon, Commander," he reported with a frown. "It's transmitting an Alliance distress signal on an Alliance frequency, but there's no identification data in the transmission. Just the signal."

"There's no sign of any other ships here, either," Ash added as she ducked out of the Grizzly. "No wreckage, no other bodies. And the mission data recorder has been removed from the Grizzly."

Kaidan could see Shepard's face hardening behind her visor as the implications sunk in. "So, somebody set up this beacon in the middle of a thresher nest and lured these Marines in. Joker, what was the size of the Antietam's crew?"

"Ten naval officers, and a squad of thirteen Marines," came the prompt reply. "It was a scouting ship, reported missing with no distress signals ten days ago."

"So the ship and crew just vanished?" Ash asked. "And there are only ten marines here; where are the other three?"

There was no response. Kaidan could see the rise and fall of Shepard's chest with her breathing, but she was otherwise motionless. He could guess where her thoughts were. It was way too close to what had happened on Akuze, and even though that had been an accident, while this was looking like a nasty setup, it still had to be touching some raw nerves. Who the hell would have laid a trap like this? And why?

"Commander?" Ashley took an uncertain step, reaching out to touch her shoulder. Shepard stirred and lifted her head, acknowledging the NCO's presence with a nod.

"Lieutenant, break that beacon down and prepare it for transport," she ordered Kaidan. "Once we get it on board, analyze it for any evidence of who placed it here." She turned to Ash. "Chief, there should be some body bags in the cargo compartment of the Mako, and probably some in the Grizzly, as well. Let's get these soldiers off this damned rock and take them home."

OOO

A.N. - Was I the only one wondering how in the hell those Marines wound up on Edolus without a starship?