"What do you think of that, Shepard?" laughed Wrex from atop the Grizzly IFV. "They say I was the first one in a hundred years to pull that off!"

Shepard froze. She'd been here before. It had not ended well. Not well at all.

Samantha, you need to evacuate the area.

The long-repressed memories surfaced, fired into her conscious mind. The rumbling noise, that same horrible rumbling which had borne down on her once before.

Yes, evacuate! Where? There's nowhere to run to!

Samantha, you cannot delay. We don't have time.

The stench of the acrid acid burning against the hull of the truck. The screams of her men as the acid ate into their flesh, through their armor, and into their bones. The sight of a broken and twisted vehicle flying through the air after being lifted by the demonic beast. The cry of the beast, striking fear into her very soul. All of it came flooding back to her.

We're all going to die!

"Hey, you hear that..." Wrex's voice floated through her mind, only for a second, before fading into the cacophany of horrors which played on repeat.

Samantha, we will not die if you listen to me. Allice's voice gained a hint of urgency. We are not going to die. Samantha. Wake up!

"Hey, Chief, I was thinking."

Shepard turned and raised and eyebrow skeptically, "You sure that's a good idea, Toombs?"

Toombs paused for a moment, his eyes glazing as he digested Shepard's comment. "Uh, well, yeah, I think so."

"Well, I'm all ears corporal," snarked Shepard, returning her eyes to the road. More of a track through the native flora really, possibly a path. Akuze was one of those 'garden worlds' that were ripe for colonization. Hot, humid, and full of forests. Stupid, massive, forests.

"Okay, well here it is," began Toombs, winding himself up for the big reveal, "You know how you can do that thing with your mind, like, that biologic stuff?"

"Biotics?"

"Yeah, that, well I bet people have been doing it a long time but we didn't know about it!" Toombs seemed pleased with the idea. "Like magic, you know? That would explain a lot of things that people believed in. I imagine a bunch of the stuff those religious fundies believe was actually caused by biotics, miracles and stuff."

Shepard remained silent, her eyes watching the back end of the armored personnel carrier in front of her.

"Chief, what do you think?"

As slowly as she could manage, Shepard tilted her head and gave Toombs a sideward glance. For effect, she stared directly into his eyes with an unfocused look. She held her face as Toombs shed his previously confident grin. Finally she dropped the face. "That's the biggest bunch of crap I've ever heard, Toombs." She returned to her omni-tool, ignoring the pained look on the corporal's face.

The hum of the engine and creaking of the truck chassis as it bounced along behind the APCs were the only noises that punctuated the silence between the pair.

"Still, Chief, you gotta admit, it's somewhat plausible. Think of all the crazy things we've seen in the last thirty years. I mean, come on! Eezo? Aliens? Who saw that shit coming?"

"Toombs, I've seen some weird shit that you would not believe, and I never left Earth. Is it really that hard to wrap your head around the idea that the galaxy does not revolve around our insignificant species? Our ancestors were idiots."

"I'm not saying that, it's just that we've been pretty much in space for what, a couple of centuries? I've seen the vids, the stuff those guys were doing in the twentieth was primitive. They didn't have any idea about eezo, but maybe they would have thought things different if that stuff was found on Earth. Suppose the people that did know about it hid it from everyone. I don't know, it just seems like a bunch of stuff people believe could be explained by it."

Shepard furrowed her brow. "And what would the explanation be? A biotic wizard did it? Come on Toombs, people are morons and will buy any line of crap they're sold as long as it's shiny and smells good."

Toombs pursed his lips in frustration, but held his tongue. Shepard returned to her omni-tool, trying to get a sat-nav signal to determine their position. Usually she preferred to have a proper map, but these stupid colony worlds usually had no maps and minimal global satellite networks. Akuze was still in the infant colony stages, one of few that didn't have a mega-corp backing it.

"Stupid piece of junk," growled Shepard, giving up on her tool. She keyed the mic on her helmet radio; "Gupta, Chang, hold up here in this clearing. Set a perimeter. I need to get a satellite fix on our position and the foliage is playing hell with my receiver."

"Yes, ma'am!" chorused the drivers of the two APCs.

"Toombs, pull up on that little rise to the right so I can run up the antenna."

The corporal piloted the truck, more of a buggy which was affectionately called the 'Puma', onto the loamy ground.

"Whoa," commented Toombs as the truck sank slightly. "This is mushy stuff."

"We'll be fine. We won't be fine if we can't find the pioneers."

Toombs grunted as he urged the truck through the soft terrain. When they got closer to the small mound, Shepard released the satellite aerial from its cradle and watched as it slowly rotated into an elevated position. She turned back to her omni-tool and waited for the link to establish.

"I don't know why anyone would want to live on a colony like this," mused Toombs, pulling off his helmet and wiping the sweat from his brow. "I mean, I liked it on Mars well enough. A bit hot, but it's a dry heat, you know? Earth though, man, I'd love to live there." His voice had a dreamy tone to it.

"You've never been the Earth, have you, Toombs?" scoffed Shepard.

"No."

"It sucks. Don't go there. I couldn't get away fast enough."

"Well, that's your opinion and you're entitled to it," sulked the corporal, not feeling like having his dreams ruined.

Ignoring him, Shepard focused on the omni-tool as it began searching for the satellite signals. She kicked herself mentally for not downloading the area maps locally when they had been preparing for the mission. Always something, what a stupid thing to forget. Some leader you are.

"Hey, Chief," interrupted Toombs, "You hear something?"

"Yeah, your fat mouth."

"No, seriously, it's like, a real low rumbling noise. You don't hear that?" He began looking around the clearing nervously.

"I'm a little busy, and I'm wearing a helmet. Not much time or ability to listen to random animals in the forest."

"It's getting louder." A little quiver could be heard in his voice. "Listen!"

Shepard pulled her head up from the holographic display on her arm. There was something making noise. It was getting louder. Much, much louder. The truck began to tremble.

She began looking into the dense forest, seeking the source of the noise. "What the hell is tha..."

The lead APC suddenly erupted from from the ground in a spray of dark, earthy debris, flinging a pair of marines into the air. The APC tilted forward onto its nose and came to rest on its back, crushed and twisted. A hydrogen tank must have ruptured, as flames began licking from the underside, spewing dark clouds of smoke from the wreckage. From the cloud of debris emerged the most terrifying sight that Shepard had seen.

A gruesome beast, some fifteen meters tall, lashed out at one of the nearby marines with a prehensile blue tongue, wrapping around him as he screamed in pain. The beast drew him back toward its gaping maw, small pincers gripping and tearing his body to pieces. Two appendages, jointed weirdly like arms with razor-sharp scythes for hands, flailed out at the crowd of shocked soldiers, knocking them down and crushing them mercilessly. The carapace of the beast was brown and purple, jointed in segments like a centipede. It was ridged with small appendages that wriggled strangely in the air, seeking purchase in the obviously unfamiliar atmosphere. Through it all, a horrific groaning, wailing noise could be heard emanating from the beast, nearly drowning out the cries of the injured marines.

The shock of the sight and the surprise of the attack caught her men flatfooted. A few of them even remembered to raise their rifles and fire at the beast. It was a useless gesture of defiance against the massive creature; the slugs of hypersonic material deflected off of its rugged shell. Shepard shook herself from the shock and leaped from the passenger seat of the truck, climbing for the unmanned minigun mounted on the back of the truck. She latched into the seat and disengaged the safeties on the multi-barreled cannon.

"Everyone scatter! Get out of the vehicles!" she screamed into the open command channel, hoping her troops had enough sense to run from the beast. "Toombs! Drive!"

The beast latched on to a second marine, possibly third or fourth as she hadn't paid close attention, who was struck down in the initial assault, drawing the poor bastard to his death. Shepard grit her teeth as the aimed the massive gun and pulled the firing triggers, spraying hundreds of rounds into the fleshy blue mouth of the creature. It seemed irritated by her actions, and withdrew into the hole it came from.

Toombs drove the truck toward the APCs, his foot flat on the accelerator. The truck swung wildly as the wheels sprayed dirt and foliage as they sought traction in the soft ground.

"Chief! You got it!" shouted Toombs in triumph. "What the hell was that thing?"

Shepard narrowed her eyes. The beast had retreated, but was it gone? The rumbling, groaning noise was still present, a dull reminder that the threat was not gone.

They crossed the clearing quickly and pulled up alongside the remaining APC. A handful of marines had begun to gather the wounded and were loading them into the back.

"Chang!" shouted Shepard from her seat.

"Ma'am!" The marine was clutching his arm at the elbow, blood dripping from his gloved hand.

"You've got thirty seconds to get everyone back in your carrier and move out."

He nodded. "Ma'am!"

"Toombs. Keep this thing moving!" she barked.

"Yes ma'am!"

She pulled up her omni-tool and tried to get a signal. Even with the aerial at maximum power, there was nothing but noise on any of the satellite channels. She swore at the device. She needed to call for assistance, but what the hell could she do if all the fancy technology in the galaxy couldn't allow her to make the damn call.

"Chief, we're loaded to go." Chang's voice interrupted her string of curses.

"Pedal to the metal, Chang. I'm marking the coordinates so we can come back later." She didn't need to mention that one didn't leave a marine behind, not even a dead one. However, when facing the unknowns of the galaxy, a commander was always forced to balance survival of the living with respect for the fallen.

The APC lurched into gear, backing away from the crate where the beast had emerged from. Toombs piloted the truck into a lead position, his knuckles white on the steering wheel.

Shepard continued to watch her omni-tool, hoping that she would get a signal soon. The two remaining vehicles bounced along with as much speed as their drivers would risk, the jarring crashes of the suspension adding to the tension.

The beast was following. Shepard could hear it, even over the sounds of the truck whipping through the brush.

"Chief," Toombs' voice on the radio interrupted her thoughts. "You think that thing can get us in the woods?"

"I don't know, Toombs. Do you think I know what the fuck that was?" spat Shepard, irritated.

Half her squad was either dead or injured, her comms were screwed up, and the survivors were facing some unknown cosmic horror which was probably stalking them. An altogether fantastic day.

"Just keep driving. If we stop we're dead."

As the minutes passed, the foliage increased in density, leaving only a narrow track for them to pass through. Toombs reluctantly reduced his speed to keep from pulling away from the much larger APC.

"I really hope this thing isn't smart enough to know where we're headed," stated Toombs, his voice still tinged with nerves. "Because I don't have a lot of manuverability here."

"I know." Shepard tried to hide the tension in her own voice. There was something very wrong. Her omni-tool wasn't even getting a signal anymore. Were they being jammed? "This fucking piece of shit!"

Shepard's outburst was enough of a distraction for Toombs to take his eyes off the path for a moment. "Oh...!" gasped Toombs, jerking the truck to the side, trying to avoid the large tree which lay fallen across their path. The vehicle slid as the tires lost traction, halting with a crunch and a tangle of branches as they hit the tree.

"Damn it!" swore the corporal, slamming his palms on the wheel. "Where did this fucking piece of sh..."

"Not now!" interruped Shepard. "Drive!"

As the corporal began trying to extricate the beached truck, she turned her head to look back at the now parked APC, a chill surging through her veins. Keying the command channel, she ordered, "Everyone! Out of the vehicle! Run!"

The seconds seemed to dilate as she saw the hatches open on the APC. The frightened marines poured from vehicle, trying to help their wounded comrades. This monster would not take pity on them. She knew it. The groaning, rumbling noise of impending doom was again pounding in her ears. It was coming back to finish the job. They were trapped. She could feel the sweat on her palms, even through the softness of her gloves as she rubbed the triggers on the gun, knowing the beast would be making an appearance.

From somewhere in the forest, a jet of ichor spattered the APC, sending tendrils of smoke from all surfaces it touched, be they metallic or organic. It ruptured something pressurized; the APC exploded with a bright yellow fireball. The screams of the unfortunate few that had the ooze touch them pierced the air. Shepard felt a wave of stench, sulfur and rot combined in a toxic cocktail, making her body gag reflexively. The assault on the senses was continuous and unrelenting. A few marines fired back into the leafy abyss, not seeing their tormentor but taking a small psychological comfort of doing something. One by one, the popping of random gunfire began to cease.

"Toombs! Drive!"

The frustrated corporal regained enough of his senses to hammer the accelerator, forcing the truck to divest itself from its leafy confines. It bucked wildly as the corporal tried to avoid the dense underbrush with little success. Shepard spun the gun mount to face the rear of the vehicle, looking for the beast, hoping to find a target. She was whipped by the foliage, some of it managing to puncture her armor. Gnashing her teeth, she ignored the stinging pain, focusing solely on pouring fire into the forest in the direction the beast had spewed its foul sap from.

"Chief!" A female voice cracked on her radio, Private Robbins perhaps, she couldn't tell. "Oh God no...!" The transmission ended in a wet guttural scream. Toombs heard it too, he let off the accelerator slightly.

Shepard roared in frustration. She knew her marines were being picked off, one by one. They might already all be gone. The channel had gone dead.

"Get back to the clearing, I want to kill this fucking thing!" raged Shepard.

Toombs was silent, but she knew he was in the same mindset. He was drinking buddies with Chang. He had probably bunked up with Robbins. They had all been comrades in arms.

The truck surged onto the narrow path as they exited the dense undergrowth. Shepard was certain there was a small branch lodged like a spear in her back, but it seemed minor considering the circumstances. Unfettered by keeping pace with the now-certainly destroyed APC, Toombs drove the truck with reckless abandon. The groaning cry followed them. Good.

The trip back to the first ambush seemed to pass in a mere instant to her adrenaline heightened senses. The stench of the burning vehicle and beast-bile lingered in the air. Toombs turned the truck onto the wide loamy ground, driving slowly as if to taunt the beast into making another appearance.

"Here, kitty, kitty..." whispered Toombs with frightening calm.

The rumbling grew in volume. It was close. So close.

Toombs punched the accelerator just as the beast surfaced behind them. Shepard swung the gun in its mount, sending a salvo of super-accelerated material at the gaping maw. The foul creature loosed a torrent of acid toward them, but Toombs narrowly managed to manuever the truck away from the stream, fountains of earth streaming from behind the truck.

The beast, now bleeding a luminescent blue slime from its mouth, withdrew from the assault.

"Did you get it?" asked Toombs, his voice empty.

"I got it mad," replied Shepard simply. The battle would not be won so easily.

"Okay," resigned Toombs.

The dance between foes carried on for many more rounds, the beast surfacing and trying to strike them, and they managing to avoid the cosmic horror my the slimmest of margins. It was obvious the creature was beginning to flag, bleeding acidic fluid each time it appeared on the surface. Shepard continued to fire barrage after barrage into the beast, but it refused to quit. Toombs' driving grew wilder and more reckless, the truck lurching across the tracks, craters, and ruts that with each pass. Shepard, lost in her own world, only saw the risks he was taking when it was too late.

"Toombs! Watch out!" yelled Shepard, but her voice was hoarse and indistinct.

From her vantage point, Shepard could see the growing crater which Toombs had taken aim at. The beast was surely going to emerge from there. It had slowed its assault, and Shepard had figured out the tells. The clouds of dust, the movement of the ground, she knew this beast.

"Toombs!" He paid no heed to her screams. They were rapidly approaching the edge.

"Toombs!"

The truck hit the lip of the crater at speed, launching into an ungraceful arc. Simultaneously, the beast emerged from the hole, adding its own impact energy to the undercarriage of the truck. Mortally wounded, the truck twisted weirdly in the air before resuming a downward path under the influence of gravity. Shepard flew outward, uncontrollably, having been ejected from her position by the force of the blow. With a sickening crunch, she landed in the shredded foliage, far from the wreckage, obscured from view.

Pain consumed her, drowning out the sights, sounds, and smells of battle.

An infinite moment later, no telling how long, Shepard came to under a soft rainshower. Pain coursed through her body. Her arm was definitely broken. Probably several ribs. And that branch in her back seemed to be a lot bigger now. Hauling herself to her feet, she looked out across the field and spotted the beast lying broken and bleeding from the hole it emerged from. Some distance away, the upended chassis of the truck lay burning, totally consumed in flame. The APC stood in the center of the clearing, smoldering now.

As she surveyed the death and destruction before her, Shepard did something she had refused to do for many years.

She cried.

A wave of calm suddenly passed through her body, and she could feel her heart beat slowing.

Samantha, we have very little time, the thresher maw is headed directly for...

Yes. It was time to let go of the past. Toombs had claimed his kill, and he had paid his price. Now it was time for her.

...Wrex.

She lifted her right arm, opening her palm as if she were gripping a ball in it. It felt like her body was moving slowly; she could feel the very atmosphere that resisted her movements. The tingling sensation of the dark energy gathering in her body was heightened; little static charges were leaping from her very pores. The energy gathered in her palm, crackling with excitement.

"...Shepard..."

Her mind released the energy, urging it to form a cushion of atmosphere as it traveled. It was more than happy to comply, dancing merrily as it surged toward the dumbfounded krogan.

"...what are you doing..."

The wave of pressure crashed into the great battlemaster, lifting him and pushing him backward from his perch upon the IFV. He moved slowly in an ungainly arc away from the vehicle, his limbs flailing like streamers behind him.

As quickly as he cleared the edge of the vehicle, it lurched upward; propelled by a great impact from below. The spine of vehicle bent and cracked, splitting it nearly in two pieces in a show of dust and sparks. The broken vehicle flew like a discarded toy, the cloud of sand swirling behind it.

From beneath the dust and debris rose the beast itself, its mandibles and tentacles flaring open to let loose a great scream. It towered over her, its weird luminescent tongue probing out into the dust, seeking its quarry.

No. Not today.

Once again, she sought the dark energy that permeated the very fabric of reality that surrounded her. It was only too happy to oblige, heeding her call and collecting in rivulets that coursed through her nerves and danced on her mind. Seeing the beast begin to sway in preparation for a strike, she willed the energy into a tiny ball in her hands, expelling all matter which existed within a tiny radius.

The beast leaned back in preparation for a strike.

She raised her arms, ready with one of her own.

Here, kitty, kitty.

I have to fly out tomorrow, and I doubt I'll be able to revise it before then! If I get a chance, I'll edit and upload from the airport. Thank you reviewers, and readers! A gold star for anyone who spots the non-canon insert.