A.N.: Special thanks to lostshadowthief for their infinite patience and amazing ideas. I couldn't have done it without you.
2176 CE :: Serpent Nebula - Citadel :: Zakera Ward
Lauren walked through the bustling marketplace, armed with determination. She had to buy the gift for Tamsin today, or she would lose her nerves again. Thanks to the lack of the artificial day-night cycle, shops never closed and people never stopped. Unlike Tamsin who required a nap between meals on their off days, Zakera Ward never sleeps.
Stopping to enjoy a bowl of ramen, Lauren glanced out the tall, tinted glass, admiring the cityscape. The visual was reminiscent of old Hong Kong or Singapore, metropolises before they succumbed to the wear and tear of daily life and technology had taken upon itself to reinvent the two countries. She marveled at the wondrous product of years of peace, allowing humans and fae to come together to breathe life upon an old, dusty space station. The Council's ways may have gotten on her nerves sometimes but she knew and understood her place as a soldier in the Systems Alliance, the only fully human and fae joint venture into the forays of space.
The First Contact War between Systems Alliance and the advanced, almost ethereal species of the Citadel in 2157 occurred when she was devouring the veterinarian texts her parents required for rearing spacecows. Even at five, her parents knew Lauren was different than most children. Her intellect exceeded standards and soon outgrew their little experimental colony on the planet Demeter. They would watch Lauren choose datapads and books over other children her age. At least until Tamsin came along.
By 16, she had completed her medical training at the Citadel's foremost Huerta Memorial Hospital. Her parents had never been more proud of her as she accepted the certificate and the offer to join the Systems Alliance. Starting as a medic only solidified her abilities, soon creating and improving on methods to save many different species. And by a serendipitous turn of events, she came to train under Tamsin, picking up the friendship where they had left off. Lauren rose through the ranks and found herself being presented with the chance at joining N7, one of the youngest to ever be bestowed such an honour.
Finishing her ramen noodles and chasing the salty taste with a beer, she thanked the shop owner. The blonde wandered down the aisles, getting more narrow as she descended from the 28th level. What started as wide, sophisticated storefronts quickly became stalls and stands. Neon lights flashed for her attention, loud voices called for her acknowledgement.
She did not know why she stopped, but the tugging in her chest forced Lauren to halt in front of a small stall. The width of it no larger a meter, the sides held together by dark cloth, hundreds of chains and pendants displayed. Her eyes immediately landed on one particular one as her fingers involuntarily reached out to touch it.
"Ah, the labrys."
Lauren jumped at the voice. Her pulse settled as she turned to find an elderly woman peek out from behind the stall. Years of living had formed hard lines across the woman's forehead, and if Lauren had to guess from the way she dressed, the old woman was a colonist.
"It's very beautiful, ma'am."
The woman smiled brightly, and proceeded to hand Lauren the necklace. "A woman's strength and self-sufficiency."
Lauren examined the pendant, it looked like a double-headed axe. Her omni-tool beeped quietly, giving a brief description of the item. The Greek symbol was mainly associated with feminist movements on old Earth, declaring independence for women and was linked with female divinities. Crafted beautifully in titanium, the silver-gray pendant was not perfect, but in Lauren's eyes it was. It was perfect for the woman she loved, both the meaning behind the shape and the metal.
"I'll take it," she decided, waving her omni-tool against the scanner.
"May she love you as much as she loves it."
Lauren nodded happily, thanking the old woman. It was time to go home.
2177 CE :: Outskirts of Systems Alliance space - Akuze
The ground shook as two Makos traversed the arid lands of Akuze, cracking and crumbling as though threatening to swallow the armoured vehicles whole. Akuze was barren, empty, and cruel. It was completely uninhabitable, but leave it to the idealistic fae and humans to want to terraform every planet they came across.
"What the hell does the admiral even expect to find in this shithole?"
"Scared, Lutz?" Tamsin taunted. "Just follow orders, ogre."
Private Daniel Lutz grumbled on the other end of the communicator and Tamsin proceeded to ignore him.
"He's right though," Lauren began.
They had driven across the planet for what seemed to be hours, only to survey the cracked, red soil. The scanners had picked nothing up for the past thirty minutes, and to be honest, Lauren was beginning to get antsy. Admiral Hackett had been clear on what they were to do: find out what happened to the colony they had established earlier in the year.
"Et tu, Brute?" Tamsin huffed.
"I mean, it's not like - "
"A whole colony went missing! Someone has to look for these missing fae and humans."
Lauren kept quiet. Even though she knew that the admiral would not place them in danger purposely, the entire mission was full of holes from the start. The communicators at the colony had pinged them back, so that meant that the comm buoy was in working order, just that no one was responding. Also the initial scan of the planet showed no humans or fae in the supposed area, resulting in the more manual option of sending teams to investigate. This was getting more curious by the minute.
The vehicle suddenly lurched and Lauren slammed into the armoured panel, cursing loudly as the impact jarred her entire body, rousing her from her thoughts. Tamsin and Corporal Bernard Lee had not fared any better if their shocked faces were any proof, albeit for two different reasons.
"What the fuck, Corporal?" Tamsin snapped at the cowering man.
"S-Sorry, ma'am," he stuttered, his eyes darting wildly across the monitors. "There was - I think there was movement."
"You think?"
"Something moved behind the shack on the right," he pointed, tracing his fingers across the screen. He added in a small voice, "Should we check it out?"
Tamsin only nodded while the shaken corporal notified the other team. Lauren studied the map, realizing they had surveyed half the planet already and were finally at the colony they were tasked to scout. She pressed a button on her new Karpov pistol, turning off the safety. With the sleek gunmetal weapon in her hand, she hopped off the Mako after Tamsin, who cradled an Avenger assault rifle.
"Listen up," the valkyrie spoke to her gathered troops. "Since there hasn't been anything moving on the surface, this may well be a wasted trip but we have to check it out, as per orders. Stay in formation and call out when you find something."
The soldiers muttered their assent as they begin moving toward the colony. The living shacks were mostly intact, except for the few that were in shambles at the far end of the area. The two teams advanced in silence, all of them trained in the art of stealth, ready to act upon a moment's notice.
Lauren trod along the dusty roads carefully, still unsure of what they were dealing with. When she found a console, she immediately hacked it, eager to find out what happened on Akuze. A series of logs appeared in front of her and she picked the first one.
We heard noises again last night, the dated entry read, at first we thought it was the cows but Trey couldn't find anything. I told him we need to tell Elder Henris but he said that it was okay. Anyway, today I saw Jason kissing Carlos! It's so nice to see love blossoming so far away from Earth.
The second and third entry described more noises happening and the fourth was a rather explicit piece of erotica that left Lauren blushing. The dates on the logs began to get irregular, still noting the presence of weird noises and gossip until the eleventh and final one.
Something is seriously wrong here, the screen showed, Mitch and Phoebe have been missing for almost three weeks. The elder has said nothing so far but I know something is going on! Shit, I just heard a yell, maybe Trey fell or something. I'll co
That was the last entry. A chill ran down her spine as Lauren finished reading it, the unfinished word unsettled her. As though compelled to check behind that particular shack for clues, she rounded the corner, preparing for the worst. But there was nothing. Standing in the middle of the now-defunct perimetre set up for space cows, she wondered what tore such a large hole in the fence.
"There's something here!" came the voice of a private, whose name Lauren had forgotten.
They gathered at the broken shack that had caught Lauren's attention first. One of the side panels of the rectangular living cabin was completely gone, causing the heavy roof to crumple beneath its weight to one side. Lauren was the first to notice the torn limb still clutching the rail of a stairway, below it was the colour of red rust. Dried blood.
"What the fuck!" Corporal Lutz swore as soon as he followed Lauren's eyes, paling at the sight.
Tamsin furrowed her eyebrows, no doubt eliminating ideas of how the arm ended up there. Another private with a forgettable name retched in a corner. Lauren felt sorry for the man but this was how warzones looked like and worse. She turned her gaze away from the man and back to the severed limb.
"It looks like an animal attack," Lauren concluded from the way the flesh was torn, jagged and painful.
"What could have done this?"
"A space cow?" suggested an unhelpful soldier.
Tamsin shot the soldier a death glare, making her retreat to care for the soldier who was still bent over. She ordered the mouthy Private Lutz to collect the arm for processing. Lauren wanted to take another look at it but that could wait till later.
"Maybe it has something to do with the - "
A low rumble in the distance caught her attention as she whipped her head towards the sound. The land stayed motionless, the sky was free of everything. That left only one option.
"Everyone get to higher ground!" Lauren yelled, scrambling up a stretch of broken stairs.
Tamsin joined her up on the roof of a shack as she ordered her team to stay low when they had reached an elevated position. The rest of the squad followed orders and clambered to other various parts above ground level. Lauren heard the noise again and knew she would not be able to see anything.
Instead she spoke to Tamsin, "The colonists found something here," she paused, looking around at the devastation, "Or something found them, I'm not sure. But they heard noises, and people were disappearing."
The noise was now closer, close enough for Lauren to see the parched ground crack a little and the pebbles on the surface jump to life. Tamsin shot her a confused look.
"What are you doing, LT?" Tamsin whispered in alarm as Lauren grabbed a damaged pipe.
"Just testing a theory," Lauren calmly replied, throwing the object.
The pipe clattered loudly as it hit the dirt, all the soldiers ceased to move and watched with bated breath. The rumbling from the ground had stopped but for a moment. As though with renewed energy, the terrible noise grew louder as it charged towards the pipe with a vengeance.
When the soldiers present recounted the tale in the future, it would be embellished with great exaggeration in favour of their bravery and strategy. But what really happened was that everyone froze in a seemingly reverent silence as the creature broke the surface under the pipe, rose 10 feet above ground and pierced the stunned silence with a deafening, ghastly shriek.
"Fucking worm!" Tamsin recovered first and growled as she took aim.
That was what kicked their survival instinct back into action and their training took over. Two of the shotgun-wielding privates lobbed grenades at the giant worm, easily as thick as the width of a building. Being an L2 biotic, Corporal Lee harnessed the dark energy while the rest emptied clip after clip into the monstrosity.
The worm writhed in discomfort as the soldiers attacked, screeching bloody death. It thrashed about, making the already unstable structures even more wobbly. Lauren watched, wide-eyed, as the creature leapt into the air and brought its hundred-tonne body down onto two of her squadmates, immediately swallowing one of them whole and Private Lutz had been sawn in half by the razor sharp teeth. His torn body twitched in the hot sun, painting the dry land with the bright contrast of fresh blood. With his last breath, he reached out to where Lauren and Tamsin stood, as though asking them for help. The older blonde squeezed her eyes shut, looking away from her fallen soldier.
The long body disappeared into the arid land as fast as it appeared, leaving them all confused and distraught for a while. The soldiers attacked the beast with a newfound rage, fueled by the loss of their teammates.
"Die, motherfucker!"
"Kill that piece of shit!"
Lauren was too busy to take note of who had yelled what but she noticed that the hide of the beast was too thick, bullets simply glanced off its natural armour. There has to be a better way, she thought, thinking back to the lessons during her training.
The Thresher Maw was said to be a descendent of the great serpent Jörmungandr. They were blind but their sense of hearing had evolved to aid them in hunting. They had a voracious appetite, one that could devour battalions in a matter of seconds. Many had encountered the brute as explorations into space were increased but most of them did not return.
Lifting her pistol, she aimed carefully and fired several rounds into the fleshy flaps of the worm's mouth. It whipped its head about as a loud groan rose from the depths of its body. Purple liquid spluttered out of the wounds as the rest of her squad followed her lead, aiming for the mouth.
But this victorious discovery was short lived as the worm dove below ground again.
"Anyone has eyes on that fucking thing?" Tamsin barked into the communications device.
As if it sensed their confusion, it took the chance to take out the partially destroyed shack Corporal Lee stood on, sending him sliding off the smooth panels to the ground. The rest of the building crumbled quickly, causing the adjacent one to collapse. The worm leapt and went straight for the corporal but only managed to knock him backwards. It resurfaced only to slam its weight upon the other unsuspecting soldier.
The corporal quickly scrambled to his feet in a panic as he tried to climb back up onto something stable. Tamsin was cheering the man on, yelling for him to hurry up. Lauren kept a watchful eye out but before she could react, the structure beneath her feet began to shake violently, throwing her to the edge.
Tamsin reacted quickly, diving with her hands stretched to pull the woman back. As they struggled to their feet, a scream sent them turning their heads towards the corporal. They watched in horror as Lee, clung tightly to a pole, his dangling legs were in the vice-like grip of the maw's cutting teeth. He screamed in agony as it attempted to pull him below ground.
"No! Stop!" Lauren shouted but it was too late.
The valkyrie leapt into action, spreading her dark wings and charged towards the beast as her assault rifle roared to life. Her aim was true, striking the Thresher Maw where it hurt the most but as fast as fae reactions could be, this predator was bred to decimate entire platoons. It let go of the corporal's legs to release a long spray of burning acid at his new prey. Lauren could only observe helplessly as Tamsin pulled off her armour, hissing in pain but with a look of pure fury in her eyes.
"That cost me a year's pay, fucker!" Tamsin snarled as she released another clip into the hulking monster.
Lauren tried to distract the Thresher Maw using her pistol, firing off several rounds, careful not to be hitting her squadmates. Tamsin being louder and nearer took the brunt of the beast's anger as it did another dive, narrowly missing her. As her finger squeezed the trigger, Lauren realized there was a chance they would not get out of this alive. Her brain worked faster: the only way to destroy the oversized worm was to first get rid of its tough hide. Bullets were not penetrating but perhaps a well-aimed grenade could help.
Drawing the beast back towards her, Lauren ran across the rooftops, making as much noise as she could. She only hoped that the beast would follow her deeper into the dilapidated colony. She hammered on the metal roof with her sidearm, her heart rate increasing as the ground near her cracked and exposed the slithering body.
Using her previous trick, she threw a broken piece of what was once part of a shack onto the ground below, steadying herself knowing that she only had one chance. Like clockwork, the great beast broke from the ground, rearing its head and gnashing its terrible teeth. Lauren trained her sight onto its jaws, thick saliva and acid dripping from the sides, and released the grenade from her hands.
She was not religious, but watching that grenade fly through the air, Lauren prayed. Oh, how she prayed for the literal ticking time bomb to land where she had intended. The world around them stilled, all eyes followed the trajectory of the object no bigger than a fist.
And it landed. Right inside the Thresher Maw's mouth.
It was almost comical, the way it descended and the way the worm rose up to meet it. A breath later, a deafening explosion shook the ground as sizeable chunks of purple and grey viscera splattered the area surrounding. The body was separated from the head, a rather poetic reflection of justice served, and the decapitated piece landed with a dull thud near Tamsin.
Lauren finally allowed herself to look. She groaned as she stood, her gorgeous armour was covered in goo and bits. She called the Trafalgar and requested for a MEDEVAC and jumped off the ledge, hurrying towards the rest of her team.
In the short while that had taken place, Corporal Lee was no longer moving due to the severe blood loss from the deep lacerations on his thigh. If Lauren had to guess, one of the worm's bites got lucky and severed the poor man's femoral artery, causing him to bleed out faster than necessary. Tamsin on the other hand was bruised and battered but she looked like she fared better. But the thought crossed her mind too soon as the valkyrie coughed, sputtering blood.
She fought hard against her impending exhaustion. The world swirled around her when she finally caught sight of the tiny hissing hole in her armor. Looks like the damn worm won after all, Lauren thought bitterly as she fell to her knees.
She saw Tamsin's worried face but could only crawl to her as the colours blurred and smeared together into a grotesque rainbow. While one hand was held out to the valkyrie, the other was grasping haphazardly at the utility kit strapped on her chest. She needed to hurry, the toxin from the Thresher Maw's acid had paralyzing qualities, aiding in hunting.
Pulling out an ampule, she plunged the attached needle into her neck, feeling the cool liquid swim into her bloodstream. She reached across her chest to yank a second one out and stabbed Tamsin with it. She could apologise for that later, for now, she was going to save her life.
Tamsin gave a low groan and Lauren replied with a similar tone. Both were losing their ability to speak as the magic of the anti-venom worked its way through their bodies to rid them of the poison cruising through their veins.
With the last bout of strength, she called the Trafalgar again and she closed her eyes, her eyelids were becoming too heavy. She only hoped that someone would come save them soon.
To: Staff Lieutenant Lauren Lewis
RE: Incident Report [21770126-AKZ]
I regret to inform you that Lieutenant Commander Tamsin Sigrún could not be recovered. A memorial will be held in her name at 0900 hours on the Commons.
As her listed contact, you will have to accept her Purple Heart posthumously awarded for her heroism and her sacrifice.
I'm sorry for your loss. The Alliance will always remember the brave soldier for her fearlessness.
Deepest Condolences,
Admiral Hackett