Disclaimer: I do not own or make any claim to the Mass Effect universe or the characters contained in this story, all of which are owned by BioWare and Electronic Arts.

Redemption: Come What May

Chapter 5: First you Thresh it...

Akuze, Command Post Alpha (October 18, 2177, 2245 hours, Colony Time):

Shepard glanced up from the data-pad he was reading to survey his squad. Gibson and Vladick were catching some shut-eye after the squad's guard posting, while Jenson, Toombs and Forbes played a variant of Blackjack popular among the marines known as 'Blackgum', where rather than betting money they played for the Energy Bars, Jell-O and Chocolate that came with ration packs and drawing a Red Jack resulted in an immediate bust.

A familiarly uncomfortable gnawing ate at his stomach, and Shepard decided that he should listen to it, much as he might regret it. So he got up out of the cot and strode over to the mess tent, which was really a 300L crate full of de-hydrated MRE's and a pair of general purpose microwave ovens.

While military weaponry, vehicles and armour had advanced light years since the discovery of Mass Effect technology and the cross-culture exchange with other Citadel species, military cooking had advanced little in 200 years; dehydrated meals were still the most space efficient means of feeding troops. Grimacing at the thought of eating dressed up nutrient paste again, Shepard sifted through the packs attempting to find a new meal type in the vain hope that it wouldn't taste like cardboard.

Settling on 'Tandoori Chicken and Fried Rice' he slit the seal on the packet with his combat knife and placed the water injection nozzle into the slit. Once enough water had been added he slipped the reconstituted packet inside the microwave and let it heat up.

As he waited, John looked around the rapidly assembled camp site amidst the deserted colony. Akuze was a relatively mild planet with conditions quite close to Earth, though tidal events and weather tended to be more extreme due to the four moons trapped in its orbit. The colony was set up on the smaller of the two northern continents, at a sub-tropical latitude and the site itself had been chosen for its nearly optimal position. It was situated with-in a natural clearing near a mountain chain that would have provided an excellent water supply from both rainfall and rivers while the clearing gave the colony a good line of sight in the event of a pirate attack.

'At least it should have' he thought to himself, grimacing as he thought of the loss of life here.

A shrill tone shook him out of his thoughts as the machine announced that he could now claim his sachet of warm paste. Pouring the contents into a bowl, he grabbed a utensil pack and returned to his cot. As he had feared, it was a struggle to resist the urge to gag as he began to eat, the slimy texture and complete lack of flavour made the meal particularly unappetising; he decided that Tandoori Chicken was another 'No' meal.

Seeing his Lieutenant's discomfort, Jenson, the squad's most senior NCO and a long-term member of his squad, spoke up.

"Don't worry LT, you get used to it after the first hundred or so," he smirked, getting a laugh from around the table.

"Glad I'm on number 85 then," John shot back, joining in the laughter. "I'm starting to think they should include a straw with these utensil packs; I'm not sure how much good a knife and fork do when dealing with sludge."

"I think we can all agree on that, sir. I wonder how many signatures we'd need for a petition…" Forbes, a newer addition to the squad, replied, rubbing his stubbled chin thoughtfully as another round of laughter came from the table.

The laughter died quickly, however, as a fleeting but noticeable shudder rumbled through the ground.

Shepard excused himself from the group as his comm squawked, listening with interest as Treyn's voice came through his earpiece.

"Echo Lead here, anyone else feel that tremor? I didn't think this area was tectonically active."

"Echo Lead, this is Alpha Lead. We felt it too and you're right, the original survey noted this region as tectonically stable, it was one of the reasons the site was chosen."

"Delta Lead here, we felt it in the camp proper as well," Shepard said, adding his own report.

There was a moment of silence before Hynes' voice came over the comms again.

"Grizzly One, did you feel anything?"

"Negative Alpha Lead, though the radar system glitched out a minute ago. The suspension systems probably would have absorbed any shaking."

"Roger Grizzly One, send me a copy of the radar charts for the last fifteen minutes and keep me apprised of any more 'glitches'."

"Roger, sending now."

As quiet once again descended, Shepard returned to his cot. Whatever the tremor was, it hadn't even woken Gibson and Vladick up from their slumber. Poking his 'meal' a couple of times, he decided that he wasn't so hungry after all, so he stowed his helmet and gloves and tried to catch some sleep, setting his omni-tool to wake him in four hours.

"-ontact Engaged! Repeat, hostile contact engaged! This is Grizzly Actual requesting immediate assistance at grid location Golf Two, Bravo Three."

Shepard shot awake at the sound of the radio in his ear and the cannon fire in the distance. Quickly sitting up he grabbed his helmet and secured its seals, before going to do the same with his gloves. Around him he could see the rest of his squad doing the same.

The Commander's voice once again came through his earpiece, relaying instructions.

"Acknowledged Grizzly Actual, Alpha is en-route to your position. Remaining squads, hold position and protect the camp and the Gallipoli. Grizzly Actual, can you give a description of the hostiles?"

"Only one hostile sir, it looks like an indigenous life form, very large, easily 30 metres tall. It just appeared out of the ground and attempted to attack the vehicle. I think it was the source of the tremors earlier. It retreated after we engaged it, though it didn't seem to be badly wounded. Recommend heavy weapons and armour piercing or explosive ammunition."

"Roger Grizzly Actual, fallback to the camp, Alpha will cover you. All squads, switch to high calibre weaponry and arm with explosive ordinance, marksmen to use armour piercing ammunition. Charlie squad, grab the Heavy Weapons and get them prepped. I want squads spread out and covering all angles of fire. Gallipoli, get airborne and in to orbit, we don't know this creature's capabilities yet. Any information you can find in the Council database would be appreciated as well," Hynes stated, his voice calm, methodical. It was an unexpected situation, but he wasn't going to let that faze him, Special Forces are trained to handle unexpected situations.

"Roger Alpha Actual, Gallipoli beginning prep for dust-off, we'll be airborne in three."

Acknowledgements from the other squad leaders came through to Hynes and Shepard added his own acknowledgement as he began to organise his squad.

"Alright everyone, weapons hot. Jenson, get that Tungsten ammo loaded and take up position on top of the prefab to the left. Vladick, Forbes, I want you to dig in near the garage and help the Grizzly team when they arrive. Gibson, Toombs and I will set up overlapping fields of fire across the courtyard. Remember to fire in short, controlled bursts, explosive ammo will quickly overheat your weapon if you fire full-auto," he snapped off orders, the training in his mind taking over, positioning his men to cover the entrance for the Grizzly and Alpha team.

Detaching his Lancer and activating the explosive ammunition modification, he took position behind a set of crates as Toombs and Gibson did the same five metres on either side of him. Tense seconds followed as all that could be heard was the growing thrum of the Gallipoli's drive core as it powered up and the growl of the Grizzly's engine as it drew closer. The marines waited, prepared for any assault on their position.

And that was the biggest flaw in their plan.

With an explosion of dirt and a shrieking wail, the creature launched itself out of the ground and latched onto the hull of the Gallipoli.

Shepard hadn't been prepared for the immense size of the creature. It was nearly the size of the Gallipoli and more of it was still buried under the surface. It raised two scythe-like raptorial appendages and brought them down, crashing through the hull of the vessel like it was made of cardboard, the screech of rending metal carrying through the night air. The long, wormlike body rippled with muscle and purple chitinous plates as it struggled to drag the impaled prey back into its underground lair.

The marines in the camp were transfixed by the carnage in front of them, unsure of how to react. Screaming over the comm from the crew aboard the Gallipoli spurred the marines into action, however.

As one they broke cover and opened fire on the behemoth attacking their fellow servicemen. The crack of high powered rifles and clatter of automatic weapons filled the air as small explosions blossomed across the creatures hide where the explosive rounds impacted. Despite the volume of rounds hitting the creature it barely flinched at the fusillade, continuing to haul the Gallipoli off the landing pad. Shepard was also firing, using sharp burst of fire, trying to hit at what looked like they could be weak points on the creature, to little avail.

Without warning, an enormous explosion blasted out from the side of the beast, taking a chunk of the chitinous armour with it. The thing screamed and rapidly retreated into the earth, the cracked plating on its side smoking from the impact of the shell. Shepard looked around for the source and saw the Grizzly cresting the top of a nearby hill, its cannon readied and scanning for the creature, should it reappear.

Silence settled for a tense minute, no one daring to move lest that somehow attract the creature. But soon the moment passed, and after quickly surveying the area, a number of marines jogged over to the battered frigate and began to pry open the emergency escape hatches to help the crew of the ship escape.

Alpha team was just beginning to crest the ridge with the Grizzly when another tremor rumbled through the ground.

It was the only warning as seconds later, the creature rose out of the ground again, three hundred metres away from the camp.

The turret on the Grizzly began to rotate towards the animal, turning to face the threat as soon as it had exploded out of the ground. The beast was faster however and it arched backwards and released a projectile spray from its mouth.

The stream of liquid impacted the Grizzly side on, splashing across the second tire and turret barrel. The areas that the blast had impacted immediately began to smoke as the acid pitted and scored the metal, rendering the turret barrel severely weakened and the tire inoperable.

The Grizzly's crew were unaware of the barrel damage, however, and as soon as the gun was lined up, the order came to fire.

The force of the shell firing caused the barrel to shatter, failing under the force, while the shell spun away harmlessly. The sudden loss of the barrel meant the usual systems for absorbing the recoil of such a shot weren't in place, so the turret recoiled violently and only narrowly avoided breaking off the vehicle in its entirety.

Now that the Grizzly was no longer a threat, the creature then began to line up another attack on the damaged Gallipoli.

Seeing what was about to happen, Shepard's eyes widened in horrified realisation.

"Move! Get out of the way! Go! GO!" He screamed, hoping someone would realise what was about to happen. A couple seemed to take note of the danger and began to run, dragging their comrades with them.

Too late.

The acid spray impacted across the hull of the Gallipoli and five of the marines nearby, their screams audible even without comms, as the acid ate through their armour, then their flesh.

Shepard had no idea if any of them were still alive, but it was a question that would have to wait because things began to happen very quickly after that point.

Another explosion of dirt announced a second creature, as it launched out of the ground and wrapped its tentacle-like mouthparts around the Grizzly. With no weaponry and no mobility, the crew inside were helpless as the entire vehicle was dragged underground.

Toombs and Gibson traded a shocked look between them. More than a little shaken, Toombs turned to their Lieutenant.

"Sir, what should we-"

The corporal was cut off as two more of the creatures rose from the ground and attacked the Gallipoli once more; sinking their scythe-like limbs deep through the hull and leaching acid in an attempt to further weaken their prey. A couple of marines fired at the creatures in vain, their small-arms lacking the power to even annoy the creatures. Just as before the beasts attempted to drag the frigate into the ground, but this time they extended glowing blue 'tongues' that carved clean through the armoured hull, further weakening the ship's structural integrity.

That was evidently enough, however, as the Gallipoli's super-structure was wracked by the sound of groaning, shearing metal as the entire ship was ripped apart, two large portions of which were dragged down into the abyss by the retreating monsters.

And then it was over.

Silence descended on the camp; no one knew what to say. In two minutes they had lost their armoured support, their evac route and a fifth of their number, and inflicted little more than flesh wounds on the creatures that had done it.

In tactical terms, the creatures could do little better if they were planning to thoroughly annihilate their enemy. Either they were exceptionally intelligent or they were exceptionally aggressive, and Shepard wasn't sure which was worse.

Hynes and the rest of Alpha team arrived during the period of silence that had overtaken the camp, and his presence soon rallied the scattered marines.

"Marines, I know what you're thinking right now, that we don't have a chance, that we're all dead men walking. But we are still alive and we can still fight. These things don't seem very interested in us, and with any luck it'll stay that way, but until the cavalry arrives I want information. Delta squad, link up with the Alliance. Give them a sit-rep and see if they have any information about these hostiles. Everyone else, I want an accounting of our casualties; see if there is anyone still alive out there that we can help. Keep yourselves spread out and if they come back, fall back to the camp, normal weapons don't have enough punch to damage them. Dismissed."

His authoritative, crisp tone helped to focus the marines, their fear replaced with action now that they had something to do.

Shepard took stock of Delta team and moved off towards the comm gear. He left Jenson and Toombs on look-out while Vladick, Gibson and Forbes helped the other marines with their tasks.

Interfacing with the comm satellite, he attempted to raise Alliance Command. He knew they wouldn't be getting any reinforcements for at least another 50 hours, when the main force arrived, so advising Command of the new developments and trying to get information were the priorities. After a couple of minutes he was finally routed through to the Intelligence Office.

"State your name, rank and verification code," ordered the synthesised voice of the VI that controlled comm traffic through the Alliance systems.

"Staff Lieutenant John Shepard, Verification Code: Alpha – Kilo – Zulu – Romeo – Romeo – Delta – 1"

"Identity verified. Transferring you to the Intelligence Officer for your mission."

Shepard waited for another half-a-minute until another voice finally came over his headset.

"Lieutenant, your platoon has another four hours until the next scheduled check-in, what's happening?"

"Sir, our force has been attacked by unidentified, hostile indigenous life-forms and we have suffered heavy casualties. The SSV Gallipoli has been destroyed and we are currently undertaking rescue efforts. In addition, our IFV has also been destroyed, along with at least seven marines."

There was an obvious pause before the reply as the Intel officer on the other end of the line tried to digest what he had just been told.

"You're saying that an indigenous life-form did this. Preliminary surveys of the colony site made no mention of anything capable of that much destruction. Can you give me a description? I'll pass it along to our Council Liaison, the other races might have come across something like this before."

"They appear to be a primarily subterranean species and they are huge, easily larger than an Alliance Frigate. The best way I could describe them would be worm-like, with purple coloured armour plating covering the back. They possess two very large raptorial appendages and a large blue tongue that can seemingly chew through metal. They also use a powerful acid as a projectile weapon."

"Christ… okay Lieutenant, I'll pass this along and get back to you as soon as possible, stay near the comm system until you hear back from us."

"Roger, be advised however that we may need to vacate the area if they return, our weapons have been completely ineffective so far."

"Understood Lieutenant, we will be in contact soon."

The fifteen minutes it had taken had felt like an eternity to John as he paced nervously around the satellite uplink, but Alliance Intel had come through for them.

They now knew what they were facing, though it didn't paint a pretty picture.

Apparently the creatures were called Thresher Maws and were believed to have originated on Tuchanka, the Krogan Homeworld, where they are the Apex Predator.

That alone was enough to set alarm bells of in his head, everything that lived on Tuchanka was designed both to kill and not be killed itself, even the few remaining plants would make a Grizzly Bear look like a cute stuffed animal in comparison.

Thresher Maws apparently use their raptorial scythes as their main method of attack but also have extremely powerful digestive acids as well as the capacity to produce concentrated sonic pulses that can stun their victims at best or pulverise them at worst. The 'tongue' that had so easily ripped through the hull of the Gallipoli was in fact a radula formed out of titanium and carbon crystals that was mainly used for burrowing but, like everything else about the creature, could easily be turned into a weapon.

To make matters worse, their defensive capabilities were just as potent as their offensive ones. They were resistant to all known types of radiation, and are actually known to utilise many forms as an energy source in a form of radiosynthesis. They possess very rapid cellular regeneration, even greater than that of a Krogan, and their armour plating is composed of a very thick and dense carbon weave superficially similar to Carbon Fibre, giving them significant protection from Mass Accelerator rounds.

All of the information provided gave Shepard little hope of beating them, a feeling that only increased when it was revealed that the standard tactics employed by the Turians if they encountered one was to call in heavy vehicle support, preferably aerial, or failing that, to avoid combat and retreat as rapidly as possible to an exfiltration point. Only vehicle mounted weapons or the most powerful of man portable weapons had proven to have any effect on the Maws in combat and it commonly ended with the Maw retreating only to reappear beneath its target.

The more he read, the more Shepard couldn't help but think that Intel was wrong; these things weren't Apex Predators, they were Forces of Nature.

After relaying the provided information to the Commander, Shepard went to check on his squad, leaving Hynes to formulate a plan.

As he ascended the ladder next to the door, Shepard could see the prone forms of the two marines he'd left assigned as look-outs, propped up on the cool metal of the prefab structure's roof.

"Lieutenant," Jenson noted, not taking his eyes from his scope as he scanned the horizon.

"Chief, Corporal," Shepard replied, nodding to Jenson and Toombs in turn. "How is it looking out there?"

"Nothing's moved since the last attack twenty minutes ago, and I mean nothing, no bugs, none of those skink like things. It's way too quiet."

Shepard nodded his head grimly, agreeing with his squad's lead sniper and scout. Jenson's sharp eyes had been proven time and again in both training and combat, so he was usually the squad's first warning against hostile incursions, but now the enemies they fought bypassed the surface entirely, so he was using his trained eye to watch for movement in the ground.

Toombs was acting as his spotter, and as well as providing a second set of eyes, the Corporal had also brought an AT-63 missile launcher.

The AT-63 was a single shot, disposable, self-guided High Explosive Anti Tank (HEAT) weapon, designed for use on light armoured vehicles, shuttles, gunships etc. Shepard had no idea if it would be enough to stop a thresher maw, but it was better than the alternative.

"Did you get any information from the Brass sir?" Toombs asked, glancing back at the Lieutenant.

"Yeah, but you're not going to like it. They're called Thresher Maws, originally from Tuchanka."

"You mean the Krogan planet?"

"Yeah."

"Shit."

"My thoughts exactly."

"So, how do we kill them?"

"I don't know, the Commander is working out a plan at the moment, expect a full briefing shortly, but from what I've heard, it will have to be one hell of a plan."

"Do you think they'll be back?"

"Not sure, the fact they didn't continue to attack after they destroyed the Grizzly and the Gallipoli makes me think they were dealing with things they considered a threat, and it would appear that we're not on that list. Let's just hope it stays that way."

"What about the Colonists? No way they would have been more of a threat than us."

That caught Shepard by surprise. He hadn't considered the fate of the Pioneer Team. Their demise, presumably at the hands of the Thresher Maws, seemed to indicate another reason for their behaviour.

"Hmmm, that's a good point. I don't know, really, there are a lot of unknowns here…" he mused.

Noting the tense set of their bodies and noting his own flowing adrenaline, he decided he needed to try and lighten the sombre air.

"Anyway, we're just paid to shoot stuff, not work out the motivations for giant alien worms; we can leave that to the techs and the brass to figure out."

That got a couple of chuckles out of the marines; forced laughs, but better than the paralysing tension that had been there before.

Jenson spoke up shortly after, still keeping his eyes focused down the sights.

"Any information on these things' weak points, LT?"

"Not really, the whole body is armoured. Avoid the purple plating on the back; it's even tougher than the rest of it."

"Or you could just shoot wherever this baby hits it," Toombs stated proudly as he hefted the launcher, "I'm sure it will do enough damage to one of those things to at least make a dent."

"Let's just hope you don't have to use it, Corporal," Shepard commented, before turning to go check on the rescue operation from the Gallipoli.

Shepard spent the next half an hour sifting through debris and searching the mangled carcass of the Heavy Frigate for survivors.

So far there had been only corpses.

It would appear that the entire crew of thirty four had been killed in the attack; the sheer violence of the assault that had gutted the ship had also sparked various oil and electrical fires. Even though all star-ships were specifically designed to be fire retardant, there was only so much you could do when fire-systems are off and you're surrounded by vegetation and organic matter. A such, the ship's interior and what was left of the super-structure's tangled remains was charred almost beyond recognition and many sections were still too hot to search properly, while fires still burned in others; the chances of anyone surviving were somewhere between slim to none.

Shepard mentally cursed himself as he looked over at the row of body bags filled with the burnt remains of the crew and the acid scarred bodies of the marines caught in the Maw's attack.

He should have been able to save them.

Forcing himself to look away he turned back to the wreckage. He still had a job to do, still had men to lead; he couldn't afford the luxury of self-pity.

Once more his omni-tool beeped and Commander Hynes' voice came across his earpiece. He looked up from his work and saw all the marines around him do the same, indicating that he was addressing everyone.

"Marines, assemble outside the Ops tent ASAP, we've got a lot of intel to go through."

Glancing back at the charred mass of metal that used to be a beautiful ship now splayed in front of him, he threw what used to be part of an I-Beam to the ground and turned to walk back to the camp, ensuring that the other marines followed his lead.

They knew as well as he did that, for the moment at least, there was nothing more they could do for souls, alive or dead, left in the wreckage.

When everyone had arrived, the marines were arrayed throughout the courtyard in the camp, and many of them now sported armour covered in soot and blood as they sat on crates of supplies or leaned against tent poles, as the Commander explained what they now knew about Thresher Maws.

Shepard could see the colour drain from the faces of some of them, and a couple decided it would be wise to sit down pre-emptively, but by and large they took the information that they were fighting an unknown number of gigantic, near invulnerable alien worms pretty well.

Then Hynes began to describe their plan of action for the next 48 hours as he paced in front of the platoon.

"We don't have the firepower to fight these things, but so far they don't seem that interested in us. If we're lucky it will stay that way but I'm not foolish enough to bank on it. Foxtrot will jury rig the motion sensors into seismic sensors, which should give us some warning if they come back. I also want our marksmen out on the rooftops keeping an eye out. You've got the only small arms capable of hurting the Maws so make your shots count, look for gaps in the armour or the region around the mouth. I also want our heavy weapon stores to be distributed around the colony. If these things attack again we can't try a traditional defence, we need to spread out and hit them wherever they show up. Try to stay sparse, bunching up makes you vulnerable if they start spitting acid or come up inside the camp," he instructed, still pacing and enforcing every point with a hard stare or emphatic gesture.

Looking around at the arrayed marines again, he sighed and dropped the 'Commander' tone, addressing them as friends instead.

"I won't lie to you, we don't know how many there are, we don't know if we can really hurt them and we don't know what causes them to attack. So far they've ignored us and I pray that it continues because we've got two more days until reinforcements get here. If they do attack, then you have two choices, you can fight, or you can die, because right now there are not a lot of other options."

The rest of the marines nodded sombrely. They knew the score, but they would be damned if they were going to go down without a fight.