Shepard had been in many battles, and in had passed many difficult situations. He also had taken part in quite many quite hard physical activities during his military career. But mentally, few ordeals felt so exhausting than the talks he just had had with the leaders of the Alliance colony on Proteus. It had begun with them complaining about the use of their shuttle to bring Shepard and his team on-planet, and gotten worse from there. The Normandy could land on planets, of course, just not on Proteus. Or at least, nowhere near enough the colony. The planet was by definition a garden world, owing to the abundance of free water, the nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, the gravity within standard perimeters and of course the presence of carbon-based life forms. However, it also showed that this definition, 'garden world', did not always mean much. It was a harsh world, with over 90% of its surface were water, and constantly storm-wrecked water at that. The small island chains here and there were all far too small or way too rugged for anything larger than a shuttle to land, and that also made orbital insertion of the Mako impossible. As the Normandy had no shuttle on its own, Shepard had been forced to request use of one of the colony's own shuttles, and while the colony had agreed, the Commander had also gotten tirades about the additional use of fuel and material attrition.
Of course, such a planet could make anybody grumpy and angry, he thought. Few sunlight ever fell through the thick cover of clouds that seemed to enclose the entire planet, and instead the dark ocean was constantly illuminated by lightning. And that was not only a psychological problem, but also a real problem in starting any colony at all. Proteus' 12,000 inhabitants actually lived in an experimental colony, with only some few facilities above ground, including a landing pad for the shuttle, right on the cliff of a small island. The main colony was actually underwater, connected to those facilities by a ridiculous long elevator at the cliff side. It was supposed to be an experimental colony, a general test to see whether underwater colonies on foreign worlds would be feasible at all. Still, it seemed as if the Alliance politicians had all but forgotten about their little experiment. Shepard was actually the first Alliance official to pass by in years. Consequently, the colonists had used what he had hoped would only be a short briefing to drown him in all sorts of complaints and messages for the Alliance leadership.
"Glad that's over, sir" Chief Williams commented as they left the meeting, and Shepard could only agree. He had her brought along to the meeting, leaving Lieutenant Alenko and Tali'Zorah in the above surface installations, to help the colonists with some repairs. At least he had gotten something out of it, a whole up to date list of known prothean ruins and debris fields in the Cluster. And just as Navigator Pressley had said, there were lots of them. He would have to go through them in more detail to see which looked like an asari archaeologist of good family would most likely choose for a dig. They would probably still waste days in this god forsaken dead end of the relay network, but at least it was a start. Shepard sighed thinking about it, stepping into the elevator to the surface. Maybe we should've simply picked up a random Prothean History graduate. Any random Prothean History graduate.
He really could not wait to be on board the Normandy again. At least the colony seemed to have a decent elevator system. Funny. Even on this isolated dump of a colony the elevators still are faster than on the Citadel, the centre of the civilised galaxy and all that. Still, of course a kilometres long way upwards took its time, and when Shepard had arrived at the surface, his patience had all but run its course. Stepping out of the elevator's topside station, he looked out to an asphalted field in front of him, surrounded on all sides by prefabs and ugly steel constructs, which in turn were surrounded already by rocky, barren cliffs falling down to the stormy sea. At least he immediately spotted Lieutenant Alenko, working on some electrical cables on the ground. Then again, he spotted only him.
"Where's Tali?" the Commander asked.
"Up the control tower," the Lieutenant answered. "She worked for two. Usual for her, or so Adams told me. But I think she also wanted to take some time to take a good look at the world. I don't think she has been to an oceanic planet before."
Shepard sighed, but found it unable to muster further anger. He had read up on the quarians since his talk with Tali. And on the turians and krogan, too, for that matter. But the quarians were really the most unusual of those people. Having lost their homeworld, they now wandered the stars in the largest fleet in the galaxy, ten thousands of ships housing seventeen million people. Their mobility ensured that they could always find new resource deposits, but even so they were stretched to the limit. After three hundred years whittling away on those ships, they badly needed a new homeworld, but the Council had driven them away from any attempt they had made so far. Violently, in at least one case even. And their degenerated immune system made them ill-adapted to develop a colony in any new ecological system anyway. Ideally, they needed their homeworld back, but that had been in geth hands for centuries
And so, the current quarians like Tali grew up on crammed, overaged ships, with little material luxuries. They would leave the ships on their pilgrimages, but after return would rarely leave the fleet again. They were quite an insular people, apparently. Which probably meant that what Alenko had said was true: Tali most likely had not seen an ocean like this before. Depending on where she had went before he had found her on the Citadel, maybe she had not seen an ocean, period. While Shepard wanted badly to return to his ship, he did not wish to interrupt her, at least not rudely via intercomm. He shook his head and made his way to the tower, an ugly all-steel construct void of any decoration or even only any other material, and already rusted at some places.
As Shepard could see inside, for a control tower it also had only minimal electronics. Certainly not an ounce more than necessary. Even as he went up the stairs he did scarcely find more than just even more bleak metal. He found Tali on the top level, not noticing his approach. He stopped in the door frame, and did not speak at first. Seeing her stand there, all alone amid the barren steel, looking out to the vast, dark ocean – it tug a string in his heart. She is a far way from her home, in a galaxy largely hostile to her kind. He hoped she had at least found a sense of community on the Normandy. He would have to ask her, later. And he also needed to have her skills, including her combat skills, undergo a field test, eventually. This little planetary visit had included no danger or threats of combat, so he would have to include her in more ground teams assembled. Well, at least that way she will get to see even more of the galaxy, until she returns to her people and their ships.
He made a small cough to draw her attention, and remarked: "I heard you and Lieutenant Alenko did well here. The colonists might not even have been that marginally cooperative as they were if they had not received your technological aid."
"It was nothing, really" Tali answered, turning around. "They have some very clever and well trained people here. They have to, to keep an underwater colony running, that is quite an engineering challenge. It is just that they are a bit ressource strapped, so what we could bring in from the Normandy helped quite a bit."
"And that you know how to deal with limited resources did not?" Shepard asked, ironically.
"It comes..." Tali started.
"...with being a quarian, yes, yes, I know." Shepard interrupted with an ironic half-smile. She is an odd mix of self-certainty and modesty, that's for sure.
"But it does!" Tali exclaimed. "Maybe that's something we should consider on the Flotilla. Hiring out advertisers to deep space colonies who, just like we, have to make do with what they have. Of course, some people on pilgrimage do exactly that."
"Well, seems like there's always use for a quarian engineer, then," Shepard replied, smiling. "So I'm glad you came with me. More dangerous, but also more exciting and you get to see the galaxy! You were enjoying the view here?"
"Yes," Tali answered "I've been in space all my life. The ocean reminds me of it, but it is so much more lively. It's just as vast, or at least looks just as vast, but it isn't just void. It's movement, turbulence, at least here. And even though it only spans a single planet, it makes one feel small in a way space never does. Or, never to me anyway. Since I am likely used to space."
Shepard did not quite know what to make of that. Maybe from a quarian point of view it was just smalltalk. Reading up on quarian customs, he had read it mentioned again and again just how sociable a people the quarians were, to make up for their individual isolations in the suits. Still, in a way it moved him. "Well, then," he managed to answer. "Let's head back to space for now. I got what we came for. Let's return to the Normandy and find Dr T'soni."
After returning to the Ship, Shepard and Pressley had gone through the list from the colony. The cluster had virtually dozens of prothean sites, though most of them were little more than a single wall or column remaining, and hence probably not worth visiting. However, even after sorting out all those places, and prioritizing on the most promising looking sites for a dig, they ended up with no less than five potential locations. It was not as bad as finding a needle in a haystack any more, but bad enough. The Commander and his XO had both agreed the best looking prothean ruin was the one in the Sparta system: A nearly intact bio-dome on an asteroid in the system, probably used in its time for housing miners. They had no way of knowing whether Dr T'Soni was there, but it was a start, at least.
He had Joker fly the Normandy at a low cruising speed. Having two ground missions in one ship day would probably be a bad idea, and he also needed to put together equipment most likely needed for an expedition on an airless, low gravity asteroid. The rest of the day, though, he spent relaying the Proteans' complaints to Arcturus Station, centre of the Alliance, and with talking to his crew and ground team. Especially the latter was an odd mix, to be sure, and in the most different moods. Wrex and Garrus were not talkative at all; the former probably because that was just his nature, and the latter probably because of Shepard's improvised lecture on the turian's first day aboard. Ashley Williams seemed still bitter about what had happened to her unit on Eden Prime, blaming herself for it. And Tali still was overenthusiastic about the technological capabilities of the ship. He had to remind her that such an advanced state of technology was not Alliance standard, but that rather the Normandy was a prototype ship. Still, her excitement was refreshing.
The Normandy entered the Sparta system the next day, just as Shepard was going through the ship's available gear for missions on hostile environment worlds. Sitting in his room, a concentrated look on the datapad in his hands, he almost jumped when he heard Joker's voice on the intercomm:
"Commander, I'm picking up a signal. Seems to come from this planet we're passing by. Edolus, currently at point six AUs distance. I think it's an automated distress beacon, Alliance standard."
Of course, the Normandy, as an Alliance ship, was bound by standing orders to check out such signals and render aid when necessary. As a Spectre, Shepard could maybe override this, but there was little reason to, and 0.6 AU was basically no distance anyway. "All right, set course for the planet, Joker. Bring us into orbit directly above the signal."
Truth be told, a distraction from those equipment lists is kinda nice.
He commed Garrus and Tali to suit up and meet him at the Mako. He wanted to test the capabilities of "his" aliens, and he figured Wrex already was tested as is. Besides, some place in the vehicle needed to be reserved in case persons had to be transported away from whatever had caused the distress. And it would be a nice test run for the ship's Mako, too, which so far had found no use. Shepard was certified to handle and drive armoured vehicles, but he feared he could have become a bit out of practice. So it would be a test run for him, too. Let's hope it's nothing that will all test us to our limits.
He was a bit unsure when he started the orbital insertion. The last time he had dropped a tank to the surface of a world was... Hm. Must've been before the Blitz, even. He knew of course that due to the Mako's thrusters and especially its mass effect generators it was nearly impossible for the vehicle not to land on its wheels, and he also knew the driving system was intelligent enough to be close to fool-proof, but he still was feeling uneasy. And it did not help much that the same was true of Tali and Garrus; neither of them was a soldier and it so far after had not been expected for them to make surface drops in armoured vehicles. Still, each of the three managed to present a calm enough exterior, even though an "Oh, spirits" escaped Garrus' mouth at one point.
Edolus itself was a lifeless rock, covered in silicate sands and scarred by small impact craters. Small debris hit the planet at an almost hourly base, due to the gravity pull of its inner neighbour, the gas giant Ontamalca. Its dark sky, darkened by the high prevalence of CO2 in the atmosphere was again and again lit by meteorites closing in, and on the ground only some few rocks stood out amidst the sand. The best summary to describe the world, though, was "yellow" - both the ground and the air, probably due to dust, were in that ever-same colour, the way everything on Mars was red.
At least the Mako's landing on this harsh world was against all expectations soft enough. Seems like I haven't lost the touch, Shepard thought and checked his instruments. The vehicle was fully functional, and the signal was nearby in northern direction.
"I'm sure this planet doesn't get a lot of tourism," Tali commented dryly once they hit the ground, looking out of the window.
"At least your awfully limited choice in armour is paying off for now, Tali," Garrus remarked. "You can't go out there without a helmet anyway."
"Very funny, Garrus." Tali replied, "You've heard me explain to Dr Chakwas that the envirosuit is for protection against diseases. None of us quarians can just so take off our helmets, no matter the planet."
"I see," Garrus said "Well, the quarians endangered the entire galaxy when they let the geth break free. I hope your people are properly contrite."
What the hell?, Shepard thought Does he have to bring this up now? Or say such shit at all? He was was about to speak up, but Tali proved quite capable of holding her own, saying: "Just as the turians are properly contrite for releasing the genophage upon the krogan?"
"You're assuming that sterilising them was a mistake," Garrus answered calmly.
"I don't know about a mistake," Shepard chimed in now, temper flaring up, though he managed to keep that from appearing in his voice "but it sure was a crime. Just as attacking a previously unknown species out of the blue was, occupying one of their planets and showing no regard for civilian life. All for violating a rule that species had no way of knowing, and all without ever telling them about that rule, too. Not that said species was in Citadel jurisdiction at that time, anyway, so said rule didn't even apply to them!"
"That..." Garrus began "Uh... hm." Good. Apparently that had him shut up. "Well, let's not bring up old disagreements again" the C-Sec agent finally managed to say.
"I hope you see the irony in your statement, turian," Tali answered sarcastically. "And for the record, the Council refused to give us any aid against the geth 'breaking free'."
Fortunately, that ended that rather unfortunate conversation, and not too early, either. "Target now in under half a click distance" Shepard announced. I'll have to have a talk with Garrus. Again. About team behaviour, this time. Of course, maybe I wasn't really professional, either, but whatever. Lame excuse as it may be but I didn't start it.
He had to admit that he had – not exactly an anti-turian bias, not that. He knew turians were individuals, and that quite many turians disagreed with this or that aspect of the Turian Hierarchy. Some even disagreed with the entire concept of it altogether, and some colonies were only very uneasily part of it. Other turian colonies, in the Terminus Systems for example, were not even part of it at all. Turians were in that aspect just as diverse as humans were. But that made the bad sides of the Turian Hierarchy all the more inexcusable. An anti-Turian Hierarchy bias, maybe that covers it best. And a reflexive dislike of any major action the Hierarchy has taken. Not that my criticisms were incorrect, just maybe not appropriate on a mission. Ah well, my temper got the better of me again.
Soon, shapes came into sight that were surely not native to the planet. Looking through the Mako's magnifier, he could make out a damaged M29 Grizzly and an electronic structure that was probably a communication buoy, most likely the one emitting the distress signal. And bodies. He could not yet see it clearly, but several dead bodies seemed to lie around vehicle and buoy. Apparently Shepard had come too late.
"Be careful now," he announced. "Something killed whoever sent out the signal, and whatever it was may still be..."
He did not get to finish the sentence. The ground shook, and a ridiculously, abnormally large creature came out of it, a giant worm with clawed arms and a terrible blue tongue. Threateningly it loomed over them, directly in front of them, an alien form almost skyscraper high, all mouth and claws, blocking out the faint sun in the sky. Instinctively, Shepard fired a shot from the Mako's cannon at it, glad that the vehicle's intelligent control system allowed him command over both driving and shooting at once.
"Thresher Maw!" both he and Garrus shouted at the same time, answering Tali's simultaneous question: "Keelah, what is that?"
Shepard turned the Mako around, taking some shots with its machine guns at the beast, before driving into the relative safety of some nearby rock plateau. His mind raced, as he did his heart. He himself had never encountered such a creature before, but he was no stranger to them, either. Sarah's retellings of what happened on Akuze told me plenty of them. Those had been... vivid. It was almost like a beast of legend, but he knew all too well how real they were. In a way it was strange of thinking about revenge against dumb animals, but that was exactly what occupied the Commander's thoughts at the moment as soon as he could focus them again.
"Keelah..." Tali exclaimed once they had reached the safe rocks. "Can we deploy the Normandy to support us?"
"From orbit?" Garrus asked, though not in a voice that outright dismissed the question. Now, during combat, or rather in a combat pause, he seemed very calm and professional. Especially considering just what they had just encountered. "No. That thing would be under the ground again before the ship's kinetic strikes could reach it, and at GARDIAN range it would be just as vulnerable to the Maw as we are."
"Which however isn't all that much," Shepard commented grimmly. "We are in armoured tank. We should be able to take it down."
"This vehicle looks like it can take some severe punishment," Tali agreed.
"Maybe," Garrus admitted. "But is it really necessary? It's your decision, Commander, but I'd advise against it."
"So noted," Shepard answered. "But that thing already took down one Alliance military unit. If we don't defeat it and their distress beacon continues to broadcast the signal, more might follow."
"I'm ready, Commander," Tali announced. "Even if the Mako is hit somewhere, well, I'm also trained in field repairs. Under enemy fire, if need be."
"Ready as well, Commander" Garrus agreed.
"Then let's do this," Shepard said and began to drive the Mako towards the beast's nest again, slowly and carefully at first.
The Maw had gone underground again after the team had escaped its first appearance, but they did not have wait for long for it to reappear again. Just as suddenly as the first time, it broke through the ground again, and its worm-like body again rose up right in front of them, reaching the sky. Its sheer size was maddening. However, Shepard immediately sprang into action. It felt strange going against such a large creature, several times larger than even the Mako, but it was quite a liberating feeling for the Commander to open fire on it. Even Garrus joined in, using his sniper rifle to take shots at the Maw. Shepard doubted that would amount to much damage, but also figured everything would help. He grinned at the turian's bravado.
However, the Thresher Maw soon responded in kind, spitting out its dangerous yellow acid. Shepard had read up everything on those animals, and he knew that Thresher Maw acid was still a poorly understood chemical substance – but enough was known about it from a battlefield perspective, and most of that knowledge amounted to the advise of staying the hell away from it. The Mako went into reverse gear, hard. Inertial forces hit its passengers hard, but it was worth it: The acid missed the vehicle only be some mere meters.
"Shit, shit, shit," Shepard cursed with a pressed voice, though more to verbally blow off steam than out of real anger. So far, things had been tense but gone well. He immediately fired the Mako's cannon again as soon as it cooled down. Its slug, accelerated by a mass effect, hit the Thresher Maw just below it mouth with a great impact force. The beast threw back its head, convoluted – and vanished in less than a second.
"It's still alive!" Garrus shouted, to Shepard's great, irrational annoyance. As if I didn't know.
"I know!" he shouted back. "Now shut up and focus!" He couldn't see how Garrus, sitting a row behind him, took this, but the turian did shut up. The Commander yanked the Mako forwards again as fast as he could, taking a sharp curve. "Can't be sitting ducks," he explained in a hasty voice, "Sorry I snapped, Garrus"
"No worries, Commander," Garrus replied.
As predicted by Shepard, the Thresher Maw burrowed itself again to the surface after only a short battle break. Displacing enormous amounts of desert sand, which sprayed to all sides, it darted upwards again, targeting the Mako. With the beast now at the vehicle's side, the Spectre had to refocus the targeting system first, but as soon as had done so he opened fire with both cannon and machine gun on it. A spit of acid hit the Mako's path, landing behind the vehicle just a scant few meters, and then another one missed just the same way. Shepard began to strafe around the Thresher Maw, landing several shots, before the beast burrowed again. Shepard growled, a deep heart-felt sound of battle heat and annoyance at the Thresher Maw's hit and run tactics. He noticed Tali gave him a quick side-glance, but there was no time to feel self-conscious. He continued the circle the Mako was currently driving - but that proved to be a mistake. Way quicker than before the Thresher Maw reappeared again, though only the accompanying sounds and the Mako's sensors told him that time.
"It's right behind us!" Garrus shouted.
"Ah, damn. Damnit, damnit, damnit," Shepard cursed, employing his rather limited vocabulary in that respect. "We need to go faster, or we're done for!"
"Opening up the safety locks on the Mako's velocity," Tali announced.
"Do it!" Shepard commanded, while Garrus again muttered: "Spirits..."
Soon after, the vehicle did go faster. Shepard had few conceptions of the technology behind it, but he was aware the safety lock had been there for a reason, and Tali's muttering confirmed it: "That will require quite some repair work."
The Commander only hoped the vehicle would not fall apart on the battlefield, but for now it seemed sound enough, even if it made some rather unhealthy noises he had not heard from it before. He raced it to safety, up a nearby rock cliff.
"That... was intense," Tali commented once the Mako came to a stop.
"Well, I did want to see the world outside of C-Sec," Garrus said self-ironically. "I guess I succeeded a bit too well."
"Yeah, well," Shepard replied, adrenaline still racing through his body. "Everybody all right?
"I'm fine," Tali announced. "And the Mako, too, best I can tell."
"We don't seem to have suffered any wounds or damage yet at all," Garrus generalised. "Even if it was close. So, do we continue?"
"Don't like half-finished work," Shepard replied grimly, and then shook his head after a pause. "Okay, that phrase was utterly cliché. Truth is, we have to keep going. Same reason as why we started it in the first place."
"Let's hope then our good luck doesn't run out," Tali commented.
"We better not rely on good luck," Shepard answered. "I was a damn fool to drive around in the Thresher Maw's nest like that. Yeah, better then standing around, but it might be better even if we copy its tactics. Hit'n'run, that is. As soon as it appears, we drive backwards again up those rocks here."
"Sounds reasonable," Garrus observed. "And I'm certainly not opposed to a less adventurous strategy."
Tali nodded sharply in agreement, and Shepard did likewise. He drove the Mako around, and approached the plain again carefully.
It proved to be quite a successful strategy. Immediately when the Thresher Maw showed itself, Shepard would drive the Mako backwards out of range again, firing at it the whole time. The creature's counter attacks were surprisingly easy to handle that way, owing to the combination of a very fine tuned steering system, thrusters and an element zero reactor allowing the Mako to easily dodge any acid attacks.
"That's more like it," Garrus commented at one point. Shepard had to agree to some degree, but he also felt annoyed at the new slow pace of the battle. It was maddeningly frustrating to have the Thresher Maw hiding again after only one or two shots. Stay focused, Jon. This is not the time for any misguided conceptions about personal vendetta. And it was not like that no progress at all was evident. The apparently quite hardened skin of the Thresher Maw showed only few signs of damage, but the Mako's sensor gave a rough estimation of the damage the enemy had taken, and it gradually if slowly increased. However, those sensors readings were of course dubious quality, as there was too few known about Thresher Maws.
Garrus apparently agreed, saying at another point: "Somebody should calibrate those damn sensors. No way the Maw still stands with so much damage taken!"
Shepard could only agree. The amount of punishment the beast could take was astonishing. By all estimations, it should already be dead, and that only added to his frustration. "Fuck that shit," he finally muttered under his breath, and accelerated the Mako. "Were finishing that thing now or never!" he announced.
"Oh, here we go again..." Tali commented, but did not object.
Rationally, Shepard realised this had not exactly been his wisest command decision, but he had decided now and all that was left to do was to execute it. He barely gave another glance when the alien beast rose in front of him again, its formerly terror inducing size by now a known sight. He yanked the Mako sidewards and began to strafe the Thresher Maw again, driving and steering at reckless speeds while firing without interruption, even at the detriment of his aim. The creature, on its part, seemed just as intent to have a final battle, or so it seemed to Shepard. While that was probably anthropomorphic nonsense, it did stay outside longer than usual, trying more often to hit its enemy with its dangerous acid.
And it succeeded.
Shepard had not expected it, but suddenly the back end of the Mako swerved back and forth. While that was quickly, brought under control, the cause of it soon became clear.
"We're hit!" Tali announced. "Damage at the backside. Might burn through to steering electronics, trying to fix that. Can't do anything about structural integrity out here." With that, she climbed out of her seat, making her way to the backside of the vehicle.
Shepard growled again. The Thresher Maw had gone again, too, disappeared again into its sub-surface nest, so the Commander had no choice but to make for the cliffs again. At least maybe from there he could fall back to the old and tried strategy.
But it did not come to that.
Just as Shepard already thought him safe for the moment, the ground rumbled again in a by then well known pattern, and the ground before the Mako opened. The terrible, majestic head appeared, of the Thresher Maw appeared, hovering almost on ground level right in front of the vehicle, as if it waited for its opponent to drive right into its digestion system. The real reason of course was that the beast rose noticeably slower than before, and it seemed less secure in its movements, too. Nonetheless, the first thing it did was to spit acid, right into the vehicle's approach. Shepard accelerated, and the yellow substance missed them by a hair's breadth – they had darted away below it. In fact, some drops did hit the Mako, but not enough to do any real damage.
"Too close for comfort!" Tali complained, but as she nonetheless went on to repair the damaged electronics that was very much an excusable minor lapse in discipline.
That is the end battle now Shepard thought us or it Having come too dangerously close to the alien beast, Shepard now also had to evade giant, brown claws hitting at the Mako. The beast seemed to be all around him and his companions now – its body a massive tower in front of them, its head above them, its claw at their sides. However, by now the Thresher Maw's injuries were notable, and the hits were too slurry and slow to hit their mark. The Commander drove past the beast, missing it again far too close for comfort, hitting it again with the cannon at this close distance, to then gain distance as fast as he could.
However, he did not make for the cliffs again. Instead, he indeed ended the battle now. Driving parallel to it again after having gained sufficient distance, the Mako's cannon finally finished the Thresher Maw off after two more shots. It shook and convulsed several times, before finally crumbling down, its entire massive above-terrain length falling to the ground, starting a giant dust cloud.
A collective breath of relief could be heard inside the Mako. One down, god knows how many hundreds to go...
"Not that I want to shirk away from my responsibilities, but that was definitely not on the job description for a Spectre's geth expert," Tali half complained, half joked, still not looking up from her repair works.
Shepard laughed, thus dragged out of his dark thoughts. "I'm ever so sorry, Tali," he replied. "Next time, I'll try to take on the giant beast on food, alone." He shook his head and breathed out. "Damn, but that was at times really closer then it should've been."
"Yes," Garrus agreed. "But we were victorious. That's the only thing that matters right now."
"I guess," Shepard replied. "Well done, people! Your conduct during the battle was very professional. And very successful." That mission was supposed to be a test of them. Not like that, of course, but damn, did they ever pass with flying colours. He activated the Mako's communication systems: "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard with ground team. Do you copy?"
"Right here, Commander," Joker's voice immediately replied.
"We encountered and defeated a Thresher Maw," Shepard reported. "Lots of dead bodies around here, so we suspect that thing caused the distress signal to be sent."
"Whoa now, hold on there, Commander!" Joker replied. So much for professional conduct in my crew... "Did you just say 'Thresher Maw'? Because I totally heard you saying that."
"Confirmed," Shepard answered and smirked. "Minimal damage to the Mako, no injuries to the team."
"That explains the odd movements of the Mako we have tracked up here," XO Pressley's voice cut in, much more serious and disciplined than Joker's.
"Yeah," the Flight Lieutenant confirmed, "like you were dancing tango with that car or something."
Shepard rolled his eyes, but smiled. "You do sound like the person who would take technical gear to a dance, Joker," he jested, "In any case, we will now investigate the bodies. Do we have coffins aboard the Normandy?"
"Confirmed," Pressley answered after a pause. "After all, crew deaths are expected on this mission. I'll go check how many, can't find the number in these cargo lists..."
"Good, have them prepared. Ground team over and out."
Shepard slowly drove the Mako to the emergency buoy and the bodies around it. He flinched when he saw them laying there. The battle had not allowed for a more detailed look, but now the visual impression hit him in force. Over a dozen badly mangled bodies. It must have been a massacre for the Marines. He left the Mako together with his team, careful and still paranoid that something bad could happen. Garrus was the first to walk to the bodies, once everybody was sufficiently sure no new horror would jump at them from behind the cliffs or from below the sand. After a while he observed: "Wounds seem consistent with a Thresher Maw attack. Acid burns and claw slashes. At least we don't have to worry about other monsters here, it seems."
Shepard nodded. "I'll have to comm Arcturus Station, see what they were doing out here... wait a moment!" he suddenly interrupted himself. "Those unit markings, isn't that – that's the unit Admiral Kahoku spoke about." Garrus and Tali gave him puzzled looks, or at least Shepard assumed Tali looked puzzled behind the mask, too. "I met him at the Citadel Tower. Whatever, he said a recon team had been lost in the cluster two weeks ago. Well, now we know why."
"Then you should contact him as well. First and foremost him even, probably," Garrus advised.
"Of course," Shepard replied. "I'm just wondering... look at how devastated that Grizzly is. How they're all slaughtered. How the hell did they have time to set up a distress beacon?"
"They didn't," Tali spoke up. She had taken a closer look at the buoy, standing near it now. "That thing has been sending far longer than two weeks. Also, I can't find any registration number on it, making it impossible to trace back. Now, why would somebody use such a buoy?"
"A trap," Shepard immediately replied, almost hissing. "They were lured to here. Just as we have been."
"But why?" Garrus asked confused. "Aside from Proteus, nearly nobody is in this sector. If people want to lay traps for Alliance troops, there must have been better places. Even better places with Thresher Maws. If its a trap it's a very inefficient one."
"Damn if I know," Shepard replied. "I know Thresher Maws can be found pretty much in every star cluster if you look long enough... no idea why they chose one here. Whoever did that. But Tali's arguments do not leave much room for interpretation."
"I can't be sure," the quarian spoke up again, "but there are also marks on its lower side, pointing to it having suffered some impact force. As if it was dropped from above, maybe."
"From a safe distance to the Thresher Maw," Shepard concluded.
"And hence not erected by the marines," Garrus added. "Also, if it was done to avoid the Thresher Maw, then its location must have been known."
"Making this a clear, direct attack on the Alliance!" Shepard exclaimed, angrily. "Whoever did that... We may not know who did it or why, but the Alliance won't let that slide!" He shook his head and tried to calm down. "Right. The corpses will be recovered to the Normandy, and the buoy should be transported to the ship as well. This requires an investigations by more professional instances then us. And I will definitely tell Admiral Kahoku."