April 7th, 2177 CE
"Shepard, I just got word from the higher ups, prep your people and meet in the cargo hold for a briefing." Jasper closes his comms and does just that.
His current gunnery chief, a man by the name of Nadra, helps him gather everyone within minutes. For the past six months, Jasper has been on high alert. Leng isn't coming after anyone yet, or at least isn't being obvious about it, so the best thing to do is focus on his work. The efficiency and swiftness in his latest ops being a somewhat happy side effect.
When they have all gone down to the hold, they see two additional fire teams with service chiefs waiting for them in a tight formation. Adding people to a platoon just before an op bodes poorly. Jasper frowns deeply as he preps his gear for whatever the captain needs them to do. Once done, he moves to the head of his own gathering platoon, saluting the captain.
They look on with a stern frown. "Alright, Shepard. Alliance brass says we've lost contact with a pioneering team somewhere on Akuze. I need you to find out whatever you can about the situation and report to the rendezvous point within three days. We've got to resupply our fuel for however many trips the recovery will take. Any questions?"
Jasper hums. "What do we know about Akuze, Captain?"
They grunt. "It's a dustbowl, Shepard. Lotta sandstorms, so we're dropping you in Tardigrades with tents and supplies to last you and any survivors for the duration of the trip. We've seen no signs of life on Akuze, but for all we know it could be a pirate base. Be ready for anything."
"What about the pioneering team, do we know what they were up to?"
The captain shrugs. "They were there testing the viability of terraforming. There're pockets of garden on Akuze. But that's about it. From the sounds of it, they cut contact within twenty-four hours. Nothing from them since."
Jasper nods and turns to his people. "Anyone else have questions?" No one answers. He turns to the captain. "I'm guessing they'll be joining us?" He tilts his head to the other teams.
The captain nods. "Yes. They specialize in reconnaissance and recovery. I suggest you ride with them. Good luck, Shepard." The captain walks to the elevator and ascends back to the CIC.
Jasper turns to Nadra with a cheeky grin. "Looks like you'll be getting to drive for a change."
Nadra smiles wryly. "Thank Allah for that, Shepard. Now you can finally see a proper desert driver."
Jasper huffs and shakes his head, then makes his way to the Tardigrade out in front. He frowns behind his helmet; he doesn't like dropping in cold like this. The number of unknowns makes his stomach clench. He does his best to relax as they drop to the sands below.
April 8th, 2177 CE
Jasper knows what the pioneering team found down here. But he sure as hell wishes he didn't.
After a day of fruitless searching around the ruins of the missing team's campsite, he'd ordered his people to take shelter around a solid rock formation. He'd awoken around 0117 hours to the screams of the dying, and the ungodly shrieking of these… things.
Nadra was one of the first to go. He'd shot at one of the ones chomping on a Tardigrade with an ML-77, and the damn thing had spit on him. Jasper can't stop seeing his armour and flesh melting away as he screams and flails helplessly.
Jasper feels everything distantly now, a numbing adrenaline flowing relentlessly through his veins. Of the initial fifty people under his command, he's only got twenty-six left. These are the worst losses he's ever taken, and there was nothing he could've done to prevent them. It's the most foul and bitter pill he's ever had to swallow.
They're speeding towards a mountain range several kilometers away, the Tardigrades are barely outpacing whatever the hell these things are. Jasper has been quick enough to deduce that they can't easily burrow through solid rock, so his squads are doing their damndest to stick to driving over boulders, but the Tardigrades aren't meant to sustain that kind of driving, it's only a matter of time before they give out.
Jasper focuses on directing the squads forward, trying to block out all the shooting and screaming coming from the rear. He never hears the tell-tale hiss. The man behind him screams in agony and slams into the back of his seat. He whirls to see the poor bastard turning to slush, along with the back axle. Jasper sees a dune and shouts to the driver to follow him, diving to a safety roll. The next Tardigrade in the formation rushes to him, and he climbs on quickly as they pause, losing precious seconds. He turns to boost his driver, who is running towards them, but one of those things comes up right under his feet and swallows the screaming man whole. Jasper screams for the driver to go as he fires his Shuriken at the damn thing, only getting small pockmarks into its thick hide. They obey, and hit the boulders to the left, barreling away from the angry creature.
April 9th, 2177 CE
He's down to twelve people. Jasper cusses himself out endlessly within his own head. They'd spent that hellish night and most of yesterday getting up the smaller mountains in the pass. The dunes surrounding the mountains are taller than they'd hoped. Tall enough for these things to chase them into the caves and waste the rest of their Tardigrades as they were brought low by exhaustion. What is he going to tell their families? The captain?
The only one left of that original recovery team is Corporal Toombs, and he's the highest-ranking soldier here, other than Jasper, making him second-in-command by default. He's getting a hell of a promotion after this if Jasper has anything to do with it. The man is the only bright spot here, keeping morale alive as best he can. Jasper is also trying to console the remaining people as best he can, but he doesn't have his usual charm. He's too angry right now.
Speak of the devil and he shall appear, thinks Jasper as Toombs approaches him with a ration bar and water bottle. "Come on Lieutenant, you've gotta be in top shape to get us out of this."
Jasper takes the ration bar and water, grunting as he feels himself tremble. Damnit. He's got to be better than this. They need him to be better than this.
Toombs looks at him seriously. "Sir. We're getting out of this. I've heard about what you can do. You always find a way to keep your people alive."
Not this time, I won't, Jasper wants to bite back. But he holds himself together long enough to devour the nutrition set before him. He looks to Toombs with a critical eye. "Toombs, what are the chances that we can move within the hour? It's almost midday, and I don't think the caves can shelter us forever. One of those things will remember it can stretch its damn neck into this hole soon enough."
Toombs blanches. "Damn. Didn't need that image, Sir. But we can move out anytime you want, the others are just as eager to leave as you are."
Jasper nods. "Then tell them to pack up. We're getting to the top of this mountain if it's the last thing I do." Toombs salutes him and runs off to the others. Jasper groans and rakes through his loosening hair. He fucking hates the unknown, and clearly common sense wasn't one of the flowers in the garden of whatever the fuck made these damn things. The strange looks he gets from the passing soldiers lets him know that he'd not kept all that internal. He stands with a huff.
April 9th, 2177 CE
A fire team. That's all they are now, Jasper thinks distantly. Himself, Toombs, Diez, and Farkas. He's almost everyone. This is the greatest disaster he's ever seen. He's looking at a court martial for sure, and that's only if the families don't get to him first. How could he have let this happen?
He's pacing aggressively near the entrance to the cave they're huddling in. He's running through what he's learned about these godless things. They're smart enough to use their acid to make tunnels in the rock to follow them, said acid can travel up to hundred meters away, and the only weak spots they have are their eyes. Jasper found that out when he'd picked up a fallen soldier's Viper and got a decent shot at one. Damn thing's screech could've blown his ears out.
"Get ahold of yourself, Lieutenant!" Toombs. Trying to keep him sane. Damn him, Jasper would almost prefer the madness sets in than deal with the shithole that is his reality. He turns to look at the other man with a stony stare. Toombs doesn't budge. Jasper sighs and nods to himself.
They've got enough supplies for one more day of travel, and the Alliance must have gotten the distress signal put out by the beacon they'd stashed in a small cave yesterday. Once their comms begin to buzz, they can give the Iztaccihuatl their coordinates and get the hell off this bloody hunk of rock. Jasper looks at the two remaining servicemen under their command. As far as he's concerned, rank can go croak in a creek for the time being. His omni tool buzzes to life as he activates his combat scanner.
He looks to Toombs. "My scan puts the closest one at around four hundred meters to the east. Think we can duck it?"
Toombs looks at the two sleeping on the rocks pensively. "We could, yeah. But Shepard, that scanner's been off before." Toombs looks at him again with concern. "What if they're hiding in the storm?"
The creatures have been able to avoid alerting their scans by hiding amongst the storms and under thicker dunes. It's how they took out Jasper's engineering squad within the second day.
Jasper's shoulders tense with fury. "Then we're up shit's creek without a paddle, Toombs."
Toombs grimaces at the visceral visual he's conjured for himself. "Well… We'd better move then. How many more drones can you make?"
Jasper shrugs. "So long as there's enough minerals in the air? As many as I damn well please. Can only control one at a time though."
Toombs smiles sadly. "Too bad it took all this to get you so informal, Shepard. I feel like I've been missing out."
Jasper grunts. "You really haven't. Now wake the others, I should go scope things out."
Toombs chuckles. "Nice one."
Jasper scoffs as he unfolds the Viper from his back.
April 10th, 2177 CE
"COME ON, SHEPARD!" Toombs screams as he begins to scramble up the cliff. Jasper follows behind him quickly. The two make their way up by several dozen meters before the maws return.
Maws is what they will call them, for that's all they seem to be. Just hungry, gaping maws, swallowing whatever they can in a never-ending cycle of gluttony. Jasper's seen enough of this place. He wants to go home, or to the grave. Anything would be better than staying in this hell.
The Iztaccihuatl was now aware of the dangers present on Akuze, but their rendezvous point moves by the hour. They have to reach the tallest peak of this damn range, the only one where there aren't any surrounding dunes for the maws to follow with.
They lost Diez after moving out yesterday, not to a maw, but to poor visuals and loose terrain. Jasper can still hear the crack where his body met the rocks below.
Farkas, overwrought with grief and fear, had shot himself last night while they'd both slept. Toombs claims they got damn lucky that he didn't take them along for the ride. Jasper had been lost in his own head, screaming at himself for failing to keep the younger man's spirit alive.
He's lost every single soldier of his platoon. What the fuck kind of a leader is he if he can't get them through an encounter with a bunch of fucking animals? At least Toombs will have a good career ahead of him, Jasper thinks bitterly. To survive incompetent command under this much stress? He should be given N7 status on the spot once they're back.
They make it up about halfway, a hundred meters or so up from the last cliff. They're running on pure adrenaline at this point. A hiss echoes over the dunes. Acid flies into the cliff face above them. Jasper scrambles to the left, against the wind. He gets out of range. Toombs isn't so lucky. His handholds dissolve and with a scream of inhuman horror, he falls. Jasper screams his throat raw as he watches one of those damn maws intercept the falling man, grasping him in its beak and burrowing under the sand.
He climbs mechanically after that, and once he reaches the peak, he sits in deafening silence.
Jasper huddles in on himself for warmth, to find solace amongst the freezing desert winds. They're all gone. And it's his fault. If he'd been smarter, faster, better… None of this should have fucking happened. They should be here, licking their wounds and waiting for them to be picked up. Instead, they're dissolving in stomach acid or lying dead as the wind strips the flesh from their bones.
Jasper doesn't think he'll ever forgive himself. He knows the families won't. He thinks of Mason, his father, Raanta, Perkins, hell, he even thinks of Leng. Why is it that every time something bad happens to the people around him, he gets to walk away? Is it bad luck? Fate? Some fucked up plan handed down by a power unseen? Whatever it is, he just wishes it would stop. He's already eyed his pistol once, and it was one time too many. He's no coward. He'll face the music with his head held at the level. These people deserve that much.
Lights and the sound of thrusters through the storm. The shuttle is almost here. Jasper already told the captain the abridged version. She's as angry as he was, hell, probably even angrier. She entrusts him with her men, and he gets them all killed. So much for his exemplary service record.
The shuttle lands and opens, and there is the captain, looking like a vengeful deity if there ever was one. She hoists Jasper to his feet and shoves him into a seat, shouting at the pilot to get the hell out of here. Jasper feels everything from a distance. He's too numb to even feel himself breath.
The captain turns on him, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him harshly. "Shepard. Can you hear me? Don't you dare let this shit break you. I deserve better than that, they deserve better than that. Don't—"
Jasper leans forward, his eyes closed, utterly spent. He hadn't heard a single word. Captain Ćosić can only stare in silence at his unconscious form.
Author's Note
Sorry this chapter is so short. If you're reading this, thank you so much for sticking through to the final stretch. I've decided to combine the next two chapters I had planned into one big finale. I hope to see you all there. Please leave any thoughts you have in a review. It would really help me a lot. Thank you for your time.