Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owners, namely Bioware.

Outside Villers-au-Flos, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy.
24th March, 1918.

British forces were now at the Red Line, including the 2nd Ox and Bucks, who had Lieutenant Trileena Navuris, Asari Huntress of the 147th Huntress Unit, to thank for the assistance in escaping the Germans.

Needless to say, as they all walked all the way to the Red Line in the aftermath of their retreat, much of the rank and file of the Ox and Bucks, along with some NCOs, were slowly coming around to the idea of a blue-skin, tentacle head, female alien fighting alongside them. That wasn't to say that they were totally over the shock of an actual alien, let alone a female, being amongst them. In fact, Trileena had heard some of the humans mutter under their breaths, wondering on whenever she was, what they called a Martian. Not to also mention, that some were thinking that there must be a logical explanation for her 'appearance', for they reckoned that it was impossible for her to be a woman because, and quote, 'women cannot not fight'.
And there were those who looked at her in a mixture of amazement and awe, along with gratitude.
Then again, given that they had been shot up by Germans, they had been very grateful for the help she provided.

However, many other NCOs and officers, still were skeptical on her origins and allegiance, and thus squashed down the rumours being spread amongst the soldiers, telling them to cut the chatter and stay focused on the job at hand, while giving Trileena the cold shoulder whenever she tried to ask them some questions, which basically said it all to her, to mind her own business.

After a seventh rebuffed attempt at conversation with one of the officers, Trileena heard mechanical sounds, and turned her head towards it, seeing a rhomboidal shaped vehicle with tracks, that had a high climbing face, and two sponsons with two cannons and a set of machine guns across the vehicle.

Another one appeared, and it had a very familiar appearance, only that the sponsons were completely consisted of machine guns. And around 5 more appeared.

Watching as they moved slower than walking pace, Trileena's observation was cut short when a voice spoke up behind her,
"You're probably wandering what these machines are, miss. Well, let me introduce you to the Mark IV tank", before pointing at the one with the cannons, "That's a male", and then the one with the machine guns, "And that's a female".

Turning her head, realising that one of the soldiers must have caught her staring at it, before catching a word that the soldier had said, then doing a double-take at the big rumbling machines before her, "Tanks? Those are tanks?"
"That's right, miss. 'Bout the first damn thing in this bloody war that's useful..."

Trileena tuned the soldier out as she observed the mud-caked tracked vehicles that these humans called tanks.

The Asari, unlike the Turians or the Salarians, did not have much in the way of tanks, but did have armoured fighting carriers, basically troop carriers with a turret to provide fire support, known as AFCs. These human 'tanks', however, didn't look like that they could even capable of taking on a Hovercar, let alone a Asari AFC or a Turian tank in a one on one fight.

Then, she was brought out of her staring when one of the soldiers called out and pointed towards the sky.
"Whoa, look at that!"

Everyone snapped their heads to look at where the soldier was pointing towards, and they all saw it. Including Trileena.

Around five fireballs, falling down from the sky, veering off in opposite directions, some getting bigger, others getting smaller.

However, one of those fireballs, coming on a projectory that was rather within their vicinity, was giving off so much heat, that much of the soldiers, and Trileena, was feeling the heat coming off it, even if Trileena reckoned that it was miles away from them.
Then, the fireball came in much faster than it did before, so fast that it became much brighter than it was, so much so that they all had to turn away from looking right at it.

And immediately, the fireball crashed into the ground, and a huge explosion could be heard, causing some to stagger a bit at the immense power of the shockwave that ruptured right through the air.

Trileena could hear them speaking amongst each other, wondering on what it was, and where it had crashed.
"Do you reckon it's in Germany?"
"Erm, well..."
"Yeah, it'd serve the Hun, alright!"
"No, it looks like it's crashed in Belgium".
"Belgium?"

However, their starring and their rumour spreading prompted the officers to divert their attention, "Alright, everyone, stop loitering about and get a move on! Fritz isn't taking a break, neither should the lot of you!"

The murmuring amongst the soldiers died off, as they groaned slightly and now moved off in the direction of the Ancre.
But before Trileena followed on, she took a glance towards the sky, wondering what was going on up there, before shaking her head, knowing that this wasn't the time or place to ponder on such things.

Crashed segment of Rachni Dreadnought, 3 miles North-East of Genk, Belgium, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy.
25th March, 1918.

The German troops, who maintained a perimeter 4 miles surrounding the crashed segment, were unaware that the occupants were still alive and well, and were not intent on staying where they were.

In fact, after they had crashed, they immediately set to work on burrowing themselves out from underneath.

And burrow they did, until they managed to dig their way through underneath and reach up to the surface.

And once the Rachni reached the surface and burst out, the Germans were completely caught by surprise, as massive bugs, some bigger than a horse, came rushing out and started swamping them in overwhelming numbers.

Of course, the Germans attempted to fight back with their weapons, from their Luger P08 pistols, Mauser C96 machine-pistols, their Gewehr 98 bolt-action service and their Stielhandgranates, but before long, every German soldier and officer found themselves slaughtered in droves by the Rachni.

As soon as this small group of German soldiers were finished, the Rachni screeched and began rushing through the war-torn countryside of German occupied Belgium, with the intent of spreading as far out as possible, while more Rachni came pouring out from the hole, adding more to their numbers.

Within moments, the whole city of Genk was being swarmed by the Rachni, who had achieved maximum surprise against the small German garrison, and German sentries by the infamous 'Wire of Death', a barbed-wire/electric fence at the Belgian-Netherlands border, were easily overwhelmed by the masses of Rachni.

Village and town fell to the Rachni, inciting mass panic amongst Belgian civilians who had suffered from the German occupation, and it got to the point, that one hour after the Rachni started spreading out from their crash site, they were heading straight for Antwerp, Ghent, Brussels and Liege.

And they had absolutely no intention of stopping there.

Brussels, Belgium, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy.
25th March, 1918.

And indeed, the Rachni did not stop, as across Belgium, wave after wave of Rachni swarmed the countryside, slaughtering all resistance that came across them.

After capturing Antwerp and the city of Hasselt, the Rachni continued heading onwards towards Ghent and Liege, as well as Brussels, where the German occupation forces were in a chaos trying to organise a response against these sudden attackers.

Just as the Governor General of the Kaiserliches Deutsches Generalgouvernement Belgien, Generaloberst Ludwig Freiherr von Falkenhausen, who in the midst of planning Operation Georgette with Ferdinand von Quast and Friedrich Sixt von Armin, was now getting widespread reports of a unknown enemy swarming right through the Belgian countryside and making short work of German forces everywhere, and trying to formulate some form of response, he was absolutely shocked when one of his messengers arrived to tell him that the city of Leuven had fallen was now under attack.

For Leuven was halfway within the vicinity of Brussels, and while the others were surprised that they were this close so suddenly, Falkenhausen decided that enough was enough, and ordered that German troops, slated for Operation Georgette to be redeployed in order to meet this new threat.

Kortenberg, Belgium, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy.
25th March, 1918.

Unteroffizier Johannes Kollmann was confused, as he slung his Gewehr 98 over his right shoulder, and marched alongside his kameraden.

The 11th Bavarian Infantry Division had all been set and ready to go, for an upcoming operation on the 7th of April, and were planning to get to their staging areas for the upcoming operation, but then, all a sudden, they and a dozen other units assigned to the operation were pulled off and sent to a position east of Kortenberg, east of Brussels.

And after hours and hours of marching in formation on the road, and passing Brussels, Johannes immediately knew that something was definitely going on.
Everywhere on the road, there was a sense of chaos and panic in the air, as everybody around them just seemed to be rushing from place to place. Officers were on edge, and some Belgians, with the few belongings that they had on their backs (some didn't even have belongings, but just the very clothes on their person), were running in the opposite direction, screaming their heads off and not looking back.

Gefreiter Bruno Schlick, Infanterist Klaus Waldmann, Franz Andele and Hans Vetter all saw the horror on their faces, and wondered what on Earth could cause such horror on the faces of Belgian civilians, until Unteroffizier Hermann Zehnder whispered for them to shut up and keep on marching, otherwise they would endure the wrath of Knoth.
This caused them to shiver and carry on marching forward in formation.

Johannes was so deep within his thoughts, as he subconsciously marched in formation with his unit, that he didn't notice how long they had marched and how far until they could see indicators of massive activity right in front of them.
Shouting, sounds of horses, sounds of guns being cocked and loaded, and sounds of artillery being prepared.

Then, as soon as they got closer, they saw where they were being deployed, and took a good look at it all.
It looked liked that a battle was being prepared, for barbed wire, machine guns, mortars, field guns, medium guns and heavy guns were being readied in positions all over the wide open plain, while men were putting down sandbags and digging up foxholes.

As everyone quickly exchanged glances with one another, Oberleutnant Albert Teschner then shouted for the whole platoon to halt, and they did so.

Then, as the Oberleutnant reported in to another officer on the scene, Johannes then heard his friend, Infanterist Ernest Gernhardt, whisper, "Mein Gott..."
Asking him what the matter was, Ernest quickly looked at him, with a slight dread on his face, which got Johannes very concerned.
Then, Ernest asked Johannes, "Is it me or are they loading chemical shells over there?"

At this, Johannes glanced over to lots of artillery crewmen by their vast variety of artillery pieces across the plains, getting their guns ready.
But what had gotten his attention, was that certain guns were being manned by crewmen wearing gas masks, and taking utmost care with handling the shells, more so than they probably would with a regular shell.
And he could see the markings of yellow and green on the shell.

A chill went right through Johannes' skin and bones, and he was not alone, when Ernest said, "Whoever they are, command must really want them dead if they want to gas them..."
Johannes blankly nodded, saying nothing as memories of being gassed by the British and seeing many of his fellow Germans gasping and choking to death, screaming in agony, passed right through his mind.

Then, he and Ernest were not the only ones to notice, and were starting to whisper loudly, until Feldwebel Paul Knoth shouted, "SILENCE! STOP TALKING AND PAY ATTENTION! THE OBERLEUTNANT IS COMING!"

And so he was.
Oberleutnant Teschner then said, "Alright, everyone, fall out and follow Feldwebel Knoth. He'll guide you to your positions".

After being given the order to fall out, Knoth then had everyone follow him towards a set of foxholes, where he pointed out an individual one for a soldier to take.
Johannes was shown to his foxhole, which was to the right of Ernest's foxhole, and they unslung their weapons.

But then suddenly, a shriek pierced right through the air, in the distance. And even though it was some distance away, it still could be heard by everyone present, making them all jump at it, before they all aimed their weapons right down towards where it had come from.

Everywhere across the line, everyone was loudly speculating on what on earth the shriek was, but were silenced by the loud, piercing voices of the NCOs, before a call came that whoever they were, they were fast approaching, and a gas attack was authorised.

Looking across the line, Johannes could see certain guns being readied and elevated, by men in gas masks, before the shriek came back again.
Immediately, Johannes jumped and turned his head right back forward. A chill went right through his skin and bones once again, at the realisation that the shriek was much louder.

Whoever they were, they were getting closer and closer.

Then, came a shout throughout the line, "GAS MASKS ON!"
"GAS MASKS ON!"

Immediately, Johannes got to his helmet and undid the straps, putting it to one side, before getting to his tin, slung on his body, containing his gas mask.
Opening it, he got it out and slid the mask onto his face, tightening the straps, to ensure that the mask was sealed on his face and that he'd be able to survive if the winds blew back the gas their way.
Satisfied, Johannes was accompanied by the sounds of his own breathing, which dominated over the sounds of activity all over the line, as he put his Stahlhelm back on.

Then, the shriek came back. And this time, it was louder than ever before.
Whoever they were, they were here.

Looking through the eyepieces of his mask, as he got his rifle and adjusted his position and aim towards the front, Johannes was astonished to see, well, bugs.
Giant bugs as big as a horse or a pony, with four legs and two whip-like things acting as arms. And there were dozens of them, all over the field, heading towards them.

"FIRE!"

The sound of artillery fire and Johannes knew that the order had been given to launch the attack.
Waiting, as they heard the distinct sounds of shells in flight, heading towards their targets, he watched and waited, until the shells hit the ground and exploded, right in front of the giant bugs.

And immediately, a massive cloud of gas erupted right through the field, spreading all over the place and engulfing the bugs.

Johannes tensed, even though he could hear some soldiers cheering.

But the cheers stopped, when one bug came out of the cloud, then another and another.

One by one, a giant bug emerged through the gas cloud, seemingly unharmed.
Then, the bugs charged, and a horde emerged, heading towards their defensive line.

The distinct voice of Feldwebel Knoth shouted, "WELL DON'T JUST STAND THERE! OPEN FIRE!"
And immediately, machine guns, mortars and artillery (firing high explosive rounds) let rip right at the bugs. As did rifle fire.

As Johannes aimed and fired his Gewehr 98, he noticed that the artillery did kill one or two bugs, who were blown apart to bits, as did the mortar rounds that hit square on.

The MG08 machine guns, with a rate of fire of 500-600 rounds a minute, did manage to severely wound the creatures, but unfortunately were not able to kill them.
And worse, Johannes could hear that the steady stream of machine gun fire was becoming irregular, presumably due to the machine gunners panicking, or the gun itself actually misfiring due to overheating.
Or just simply, there was just too many giant bugs.

As for the Gewehr 98, Johannes panicked as the rounds just only seemed to wound the giant bug coming right for him, and did not seem to do much fatal damage.

Firing a fourth round, which the creature just seemed to shrug off, Johannes then tried to work the bolt on the weapon, only to find that his hands were shaking so much that he was struggling to work the bolt.

A rather loud shriek and Johannes looked up, only for him to notice a long whip like tentacle going straight for his neck.
And his world turned to black, as his head was decapitated from his body and flung off in quick succession.

Within moments, the German defensive line east of Kortenberg, east of Brussels, fell to the mass swarm of giant bugs, that were now spreading all across Belgium.

Many hours later, the Rachni went across the border, straight directly into France, directly into the Western Front.

Outside Villers-au-Flos, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy.
25th March, 1918.

Still quite some distance away from the Ancre, the 2nd Ox and Bucks stopped dead in their tracks when they heard, a shriek piercing right through the air, far off in the distance, and despite that, it still could be heard clearly by everyone.
Everyone in the 2nd Ox and Bucks, all heard it, snapped their heads towards it and wondered what it was.

Especially when the shrieks continued, becoming a bit much louder.

But one person amongst them in particular, a certain visitor from the stars who became their prisoner, before joining them in the withdrawal, had snapped her head over to the shrieks, knowing exactly what it was, having spent much of her maiden years fighting these exact creatures.

Dread, went right through her, at the thought of the Rachni, here on this planet.

Lieutenant Trileena Navuris whispered, "Oh no".

Well well well.
Now things get truly interesting here. The Rachni are now in force, and starting their assault.
And there's no doubt that the German Spring Offensive will be halted dead in it's tracks, and both the Allies and the Central Powers will be finding themselves in a bit of a shock.
Especially since the Rachni have now proven themselves to be immune to chemical attack, as I reckoned that since they came from Suen, a planet with a toxic atmosphere, the Rachni would be immune to the various chemical weapons used by the Allies and the Central Powers in WW1.

Now, some historical notes:

For their chemical shells, the Germans used yellow to mark shells with mustard gas, and green for chlorine and phosgene, and the Germans had less opportunities to launch gas attacks from 1917 to 1918, as winds blew from West-to-East a lot of the time, which meant the Allies had much more favourable conditions to launch gas attacks on the Germans.

The German occupation of Belgium began with much of Belgium having been conquered from August to Winter 1914. The Belgian government fled into exile at Le Havre in France, while King Albert I (commanding in Veurne, West Flanders) and the Belgian Army continued fighting on with the Allies, most particularly at the Yser Front, where Belgian troops held a static front from October 1914 till 1918.
In the country itself, Belgium was divided into three administration zones, with the majority of the country being held by the formal military occupation administration run by a German governor, known simply as the General Government.
Others, much closer to the front line, were much direct, repressive, military control.
The country experienced a widespread economic collapse, along with wartime shortages and widespread unemployment, and also experienced several unpopular measures by the Germans, including forced deportation of Belgian workers to Germany and forced labour on military projects. And there was German support for the radical Flemish Movement, in order to gain support from the Flemish population of Belgium.
Then of course, during the invasion of Belgium, there were German massacres on towns where the Germans accused the populations of those, fighting as Francs-tireurs (basically guerrilla fighters), and in Leuven, the historic library of the town's university was burned down. Around 6,500 Belgian civilians were killed, and the news of these massacres became greatly exaggerated by the Allied press as 'The Rape of Belgium' and used quite frequently in Allied propaganda, creating sympathy for the Belgian population in occupied Belgium amongst the Allies.

The 'Wire of Death' was an electric fence/barbed wire border defense made by the Germans to prevent Belgian civilians from leaving Belgium by going to the Netherlands, which was neutral.
Around 2,000 to 3,000 Belgians were believed to have died trying to cross into the Netherlands.

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