A squad of N7's landed at the Akuze colony. The medic said, "Sir, there are signs of several dead Alliance soldiers. Their armor has been eaten by some kind of acid. It appears to be far more potent than even most synthetically produced acids. It ate right through their armor."
The Commander nodded, and said, "Are there any signs of survivors?"
"Sir, there might be survivors." an N7 Shadow said, "But there's something weird about this."
"What?"
"There is a... massive glowing hole in this body. It seems to glow brighter towards the east."
"It could be caused by whatever killed these marines."
"It wasn't." an old man said, walking up. He leaned on a cane, his withered arms shaking. The N7's all pulled out their weapons, and the Commander said,
"Who are you?"
"My identity is irrelevant to you, soldier." the old man said. "What you are concerned with is the one who caused that glowing wound."
"Who?"
"The leader of this unit. She knew what was going to happen, and purposefully led them to their deaths."
"Why would Shepard purposefully kill her unit?"
"Madness has consumed her mind. She believes that there are godlike entities which had given her the power to traverse back in time to prevent the deaths of trillions. She believed that they had told her the timeline could not afford meddling with. That if she modified history too much, the fabric of the universe would be torn apart. That there are multiple universes entwined. Together that would all be destroyed if the history of one is altered too much.
"You must bring her in, and kill the few she spared. They were in on her scheme. They believed her madness. If they are eradicated, Shepard will turn herself in. From there, we can open her eyes to the insanity that possesses her mind."
The Commander said, "You sound insane. These wounds couldn't have been inflicted by humans."
Then, John walked up. He said, "Commander, this never happened."
He jumped, and said, "Captain John Shepard?"
"This never happened, Commander. I was never here, and neither was this old man."
The old man shook his head, and walked away, disappearing into the ground. Once he was gone, John said, "Remember, this never happened." waving a hand.
-=0=-
Sarah said, "Team, move out. We're heading back to the colony. Pickup should be here in the next half hour."
"How aren't you sure about this? Aren't you supposed to have a perfect memory?" Jennifer asked, gathering her kit.
"Last time I was found by the team. I didn't go looking for them when they arrived. There is a margin of error in the timing that the reports had. I don't want to say they'll show up at any specific time and be proven wrong."
"Let's not waste any time worrying about exactly when the unit is going to show up, and focus more on rendezvousing with them so we can get a proper meal." Wrex said, picking up his shotgun.
Sarah looked at what remained of the camp, then said, "This place looks like it was made by scavenging whatever we could. That's good. It shouldn't make anyone suspicious."
-=0=-
The Commander looked at the massive corpse before him in awe. There was a massive hole in its head. A faint glow around the edges. A Shadow said, "Sir, this... thing isn't like any other lifeform the Alliance has encountered to date. And, they don't seem to be native to Akuze."
"Then where did they come from?"
"Tuchanka." Sarah said, walking up. "These are called thresher maws."
"Shepard, you're alive. Were there any other survivors?"
"Yeah. They're right behind me." Sarah said, as Wrex, Miranda, Jack, Jacob, and Jennifer walked up.
"What happened to the others?"
"Eaten by these damn things. If it weren't for Wrex's knowledge of threshers, we'd have been lucky to not lose the entire team."
"You think six survivors is lucky?"
"Considering we were up against an unknown foe several dozen times larger than us, yes. Whoever sent the maws here clearly didn't want any survivors. They wanted corpses, not soldiers."
"Who do you think is responsible?"
"No clue. What I do know is that whoever is behind this just made several very powerful enemies. And once I find whoever is responsible. They are going to die. Painfully."
"Shepard, we're soldiers. We bring justice, not vengeance."
"I just lost most of my unit, Albert. And whoever caused their deaths also destroyed an entire colony. This isn't just a tragedy. This is an attack against humanity. And the people responsible for it are going to pay for their crimes. Who better to bring them in than someone who it's personal for?"
"Someone who can stay objective and not lose more people going for revenge."
"You act like I would let anyone else go after them. That I wouldn't be going in solo. Killing them like a furious goddess of vengeance. Leaving nothing of them to be remembered. I will not leave a single molecule of a single cell unscathed."
"Shepard, get your head out of your ass. You're good, but you're not that good."
"Al, you should know by now that if I say I'll do something, I do it. You've seen my record."
"Shepard, you're saying that you'll do the impossible."
"Would be far from the first time."
"Can we just get off this rock before any more threshers show up?" Wrex asked, "I'd rather not have to waste any more ammo on them."
"Wrex is right. Fighting more threshers would not be good." Miranda said, "So you two can keep bickering like a pair of bloody schoolchildren once we're off this rock."
Sarah shook her head, and said, "Harsh, Miri. Besides, I see three dead maws. We should be good."
"I'm doing this job for nothing, Shepard." Wrex growled, "You don't want to have an angry, unpaid krogan around."
"You make a valid point, Wrex. I'd still rather clear this out now then later. But... yeah I don't want to have to put a few in ya. Where's your ship, Al?"
"This way, Shepard."
-=0=-
Aboard the ship, Shepard leaned back and said, "Albert, I will be the one to eradicate whoever is responsible for those creatures being on Akuze. It nearly killed someone who means more to me than my own life.
"And, someone who does that is going to die the most painful death imaginable. They'll see that while there are no angels and demons, no gods and devils, there are things equally terrifying. I'll show the people responsible that when you fuck with me, you've picked a fight you can't win."
"Shepard, it isn't my decision."
"But what you say to High Command will have an influence on whether or not I am allowed to go after the perps of this crime. I want you to help me get on any strike force that is related to it. I'll not let the bastards behind this get away with it again."
"Shepard, you're still suffering from the stress of losing your team."
"No I'm not. I'm reacting to the stress of nearly losing someone who I didn't."
"If you are acting emotionally, there is no way High Command could trust you with a mission."
Sarah shook her head, and said, "Once I tried to not feel. To be cold. Unfeeling. Not care about my team. All it lead to was unnecessary deaths to more efficiently achieve my goals.
"Deaths that I could have prevented, if I had cared. If I'd acted emotionally. But I didn't. I lost someone, and I quit caring. I just focused on doing things fast as possible.
"You say that my acting emotionally will cause problems, but it won't. Acting emotionally is the only thing keeping me from going insane. From killing people who don't need to die. From not sacrificing my team for nothing."
"You have to stay objective about a mission."
"Staying purely objective leads to unnecessary sacrifices. So, Albert, you'll have me on any mission against the people behind this that you can get me. Because, in the end I am the best damn soldier the Alliance has ever had. The most deadly individual you'll ever meet. The most lethal bitch the N7 program will ever produce.
"But that's just to the enemy. To those on my side, they'll want to follow me over any other option. Because, never again will I lose a team. I'll sacrifice life and limb for those under me. They'll know that if a bullet is coming their way and their shields won't block it, I will take it for them."
Al leaned back, and said, "Very well. I'll put in a good word about you in my report. That you risked life and limb for your unit , but you couldn't save them all."
"Good." Sarah said, walking quietly into another room. There, she sat down and sighed. Miranda walked in, and said,
"It never gets any easier, seeing so many die and walking away unscathed. No matter how many times you endure such tragedies."
Sarah nodded, and motioned for Miranda to sit beside her. The Operative complied, and Shepard rested her head on Miranda's shoulder. "I promise you, this will be the last time time goes back. I'm gonna kill Halthas this tiem. I'll stop the Reapers on our terms. We can't stand going back so much. It'll destroy us. There are only so many histories a mind can fathom, before being broken by it."
"How are you going to stop someone so powerful?"
"I don't know yet. But everyone has a weakness. I just need to find and exploit his."
Miranda nodded, and said, "I'm going to miss you these few years when we can't really meet up."
"I'll miss you too. But, I never said time travel was going to be easy for us."
"True. And it's infinitely better than what would have happened if you'd given Halthas what he wanted."
"That would have been a massive loss for everyone. Ever."
-=0=-
An old man leaned forward, and said, "The ancient tales speak of a hero who forged a powerful warrior from a Dark Butcher. They say that this hero died saving one of those closest to her. But death was not the end. She rose from the grave, to destroy those who took her life before.
"They say, that it was after her end that this hero forged the warrior. The Warrior would help her, and be a frequent irritant. But, she would not wish it upon any other. It was her burden, and she bore it with dignity.
"But, in the final battle against her foe. The masters of the group that took her life, the hero fell. Her blood flowing in great rivers upon the battlefield. The final foe lay destroyed before her, but at a great cost.
"She lay there for a day. Then a week. Then a month. Eventually an entire year passed with the hero lost. But she was being searched for. The people of those times would never let so valuable an individual be forgotten and not honored.
"They would be searcing throughout the year she was lost. And past it, two and a half years they looked. And only when all hope seemed lost, did message of a wreckage of the final enemy reach the ears of the people.
"None had been brave enough to go towards the monstrosity. Fear of those enemies was still strong in the hearts and minds of the people.
"But, there were still a few of the hero's companions looking for her. And they braved the area surrounding the wreckage. What they had expected to find was a rotting corpse filled with maggots. What they instead found was the hero sitting. Asleep upon a throne of crystal.
"The hero's wife walked up to her, her hands shaking with fear. When she neared, the hero opened her eyes, and said. 'You're finally here. Get me out of this place.'
"After they returned, the details of the lives of the hero and those who followed her become scarce. They had done what they needed to, and returned to quiet lives with their friends and family."
-=0=-
A/N: Hope you all enjoyed the latest chapter. And if you did please leave a review to let me know what you liked about it.