Chapter Eight: Dust and Blood
The pod neared the planet's atmosphere and the console let out a warning as it did. Yui grunted and glanced back, "We're getting ready to enter, brace for it." He began to turn back and then paused and took a look at Deras. She sat limply in her seat while Merix began to check her own straps across the pod. With a sigh, and knowing he was going to regret this, he unhooked himself and set the Varren from his lap in his seat. He took the straps and secured the complaining animal in place before shifting back into the main pod to check Merix over. He had just finished re-attaching her helmet to the rest of her suit when the pod gave a shudder before bucking as they hit the upper atmosphere. Yui gripped the pods seats tight as the pods floor began dancing beneath his feet. It leveled out enough for him to pull himself into a seat and latch onto the crash bars with a death grip. He hadn't come this far just to die because he wasn't wearing a damn belt. The pod shuttered again as they hit the stratosphere and then calmed a bit as the mass effect fields kicked in. "Here we go!" Yui boomed, "Get ready for the fun part!" They hit the troposphere with a massive shutter before the fields kicked it into high gear as they screamed through the air. There was a moment of complete calm where Yui took a deep breath before there was a massive boom as they hit the ground. It was all Yui could do to hold on as the pod bucked and was slammed around as they skipped across the ground. There was a moment of weightlessness before they hit something hard and Yui was nearly torn from his seat. The pod groaned and acidic smoke came from a panel that hid part of the inertia dampener as the pod slid to a stop with a grinding noise. Yui let out a whoop of exhilaration as the adrenaline of the landing really hit him. They were alive!
Yui sat back laughing for a few seconds before he pulled himself to his feet and detached both the Varren and Deras from their seats. Merix detached herself too and opened the door to reveal old ruins and sprawling salt flats. As Yui stepped out to check the area and the Varren charged out of the pod like a his head was on fire and his ass was catch, he took a deep breath and cast about. A grin spread across his face and he threw back his head laughing, and threw his fist at the sky above, "WE'RE ALIVE YOU MOTHER FUCKERS! YOU CAN SHOOT US, BLOW UP OUR SHIP, AND CRASH LAND US, BUT YOU CAN'T FUCKIN KILL US!" his laughter became almost hysterical as he sat down hard in the dirt. Finally he caught his breath and pushed himself back to his feet. He glanced back at his daughters to find Merix watching him with a small smile. "Great to know you're in such a good mood!" Yui and Merix jumped and turned to find Scarlet smiling at them. Yui chuckled, "How in the hell did you get to the ground before us? And find us so fast?" Scarlets smile widened, "Glad to see me? We launched just before you did, made for the pods as soon as we came out of FTL to find ourselves staring down the barrel of Mass accelerator. No dodging it, and they were shooting at something before we got there. We just had the bad luck of catching the shot." Yui just shook his head as Scarlet and the rest of the team closed in on them. "You didn't answer the second question." She nodded to the Turian pilot, "He knows how to fly more things than we thought he did. Just picked a pod, followed it, and got lucky that it was yours. After that it was a matter of following mad Krogan laughter."
He laughed again and began checking over his equipment. The armor was intact, shields working, combat knife, an emergency kit with a little food and water, medi-gel. He paused on the last item, the Claymore shotgun he had taken off Natalya. He pulled it out and glanced at the stock to find familiar scripting still carved into the butt. It was an old language that was only used by Shaman anymore. Few could speak it, fewer could read it, but his father had insisted that he be able to do both. Tradition, he had said. Every clan leader and their sons had to know it. He traced the lettering with a finger and muttered to himself in the old language, "With strength comes power. With power comes leadership. With leadership comes clan and responsibility. May your arms guard these things well." She had taken this gun when she had taken his leg. Now it was his once more. "What was that?" Yui jumped as he was pulled out the trance the lettering had put him in, "What?" She nodded to the gun, "You were muttering something and groping your gun. It was kinda creepy." Yui shifted the gun to his back, and busied himself looking around, "Nothing, just remembering something... important..." his voice trailed away as he cast about and got a good look around. "Fuck. What planet are we on?" The others glanced at each other, "Tuchanka. It was where we were going after Natalya had us turn around. Why?" There was a yipping sound as a Varren shaped blurred shot past them back into the escape pod. "Double fuck." The ground began to shake as a section of the sand began to shift and seemed to sink in on itself as Yui yanked his shotgun back out, "We landed in a mother fucking Thresher Maw nest!" Scarlets jaw dropped and the section of ground Yui had been watching erupted into a fountain of sand as the Maw hauled itself up and out.
Gun fire rippled out from Scooge almost instantly, and Sheldon followed not too far behind as everyone scrambled for cover. Except Yui. The world seemed to slow as he glanced back at the escape pod where Merix now was huddled over Deras staring in horror at the massive beast and cast about as the others fired their small arms at the Thresher Maw that towered over them. He turned back to the Maw and took a deep breath. Some days you just couldn't win, but those are the days you needed to at least make sure someone did. The world sped up again as he charged, letting out the bellowing wordless war cry of his clan. The Maw screeched at the tiny creature stormed towards it and spat a massive glob of acid at him as a sniper round punched into a soft spot on its armor, and drew the first blood. The shot went wide but still splattered Yui, leaving drops of sizzling acid to eat at his robotic leg. He ignored it and kept going, he had to get closer, if he just got a little bit closer... The Maw reared back as Yui got close and more bullets found their way under the segmented chitin, but they were nothing but annoying stings to the beast. But this little one was challenging it, charging like he was going to fight it in hand to hand. The Maw obliged him and tentacles lifted out of the ground to block his way, Yui growled, "NO YOU STUPID BASTARD OPEN YOUR DAMN MOUTH AND EAT ME! EAT ME DAMN IT!" The tentacles pulled back getting ready to smash the Krogan when suddenly he found himself in the air and flying before they had even touched him. He glanced down to find himself surrounded by a blue glow, and as he tumbled in the air he saw Scarlet shrouded in biotic power. She had heard him yelling and had under stood what he was thinking. He smiled to himself, they had always thought alike. It was why she let him lead in combat when she could have just done it herself. His tumble brought him back facing the Thresher Maw in time to slam into its nose.
He scrambled for purchase as he began to slide down, and the Maw made a sound of annoyance as it threw its head back tossing him up into the air. He landed at the top of its mouth and with a snarl slammed his feet into the bottom of the beasts jaw as he slid into its maw. He began to slide forward and its jaws began to descend on him to crush him before swallowing. With a roar he slammed his hands with the old shotgun into the top jaw and pushed back. The jaws slowed but kept closing, but Yui knew he had to keep the Maw busy. Had to keep it distracted with the others ran. He roared out in pure rage and the world before him went blood-red. The jaws stopped coming down and began to shake as they parted. Every muscle in his body strained against the beast, and the beast responded in kind, and closed just that much harder. They stood frozen, locked in a stalemate. The world before Yui's eyes turned darker and darker red till suddenly everything came into sharp relief and slowed to a crawl. He listened to his own breathing, watched as spittle and acid intermixed and dripped down his arms, leaving trails of melted metal behind. The words of his father whispered into his mind, With strength comes power. With power comes leadership. With leadership comes clan and responsibility. May your arms guard these things well. He remembered the first time he had been told that as a boy after his father had finished a challenge for the right to lead. He had said Yui's brother hadn't understood those words. That that was why he was dead and would never lead. Now Yui stood on death's door, staring down the mouth of hell itself, and he understood. To have power you needed to be strong. As he held the Maws jaws back he knew he had that. This strength gave him the power to protect his clan, his daughters. An image of Scarlet flashed through his mind, and brought a smile to his face. Her as well. His hearts beat loud in his ears and he glared at the jaws above him and as the world came back into full speed his words boomed out, "YOU WANT TO EAT ME FINE! BUT YOU'RE GOING TO FUCKIN CHOKE ON ME FIRST!"
Yui shoved the barrel of his shotgun farther up into the top of the jaw and pulled the trigger, pumping shots into the soft flesh on the Threshers mouth. There was a hiss and the smell of cooking meat as the shotgun over heated. He wasn't going down without a fight. He was GOING to kill it before he died, and nothing was going to stop him! Suddenly the Maw jerked back, almost dislodging Yui from his perch in the beasts mouth. Something slammed into its head, sending the beasts head fly back and hurling Yui from its mouth. He flew several feet before slamming into the ground and bouncing a bit farther before coming to a stop. He lay stunned for a few moments before pushing himself into a sitting position with a groan. He glanced about confused, and turned to see the back of the Maw. Why had it throw him from its mouth? And what were those beams sticking out of its body doing there? Maws didn't grow things like that right? He watched as a bolder flew up from the ground before the Thresher Maw and cracked in half cross its face he watched as a chunk of it continued its flight. Was it getting bigger? Why. Then it dawned on him and he let out a groan. "Oh you mother fuck-" There was a massive flare of pain before everything went suddenly and very violently black.