Rite of Honor

Author’s Note: Lol, I knew people would catch it. Yeah, switched krantt in the last chapter with battlemaster. Krantt = group. Battlemaster = leader. My bad.

Also, if you had Wrex survive in ME1 and you import your character, does that mean you don’t get Grunt? Or does that mean Wrex is the Urdnot Clan leader? This is out of pure curiosity, if anyone knows.

-o-o-o-

“Did I ever mention how much I hate Krogans?” The Turian asked aloud, gaze intent as he cleaned the barrel of his sniper.


“For the millionth time, Garrus…” Shepard laid sprawled on a slab of stone, one arm draped over her eyes, “YES.”


“Speaking of Krogan, where did ours wander off to?”


“Why don’t I just check the flowery post-it-note the big guy left for us. Right. How the hell would I know, Garrus?”


The former C-sec officer raised a brow ridge, pausing in his cleaning to look at the dormant Commander. As relaxed as she was now, if he concentrated, he could spot the tension in her muscles. As if she was continuously on guard. The Turian smirked, “What’s been shoved up your proverbial ass,” When she uncovered one eye to openly glare at him, he added with a larger smirk, “Commander.”


“You know, I don’t need a judicial system to Court Martial your scaly hide.” She retorted, laying her head back down and covering her eyes.


“You forget? We’re not exactly with Alliance anymore Commander. I’m sure Cerberus will let you get away with anything you want, though.” Garrus commented with a small laugh, resuming his weapons inspection.


Grinning, Shepard pushed herself off of the stone slab, giving a little laugh of her own as she snorted, “Who’s side are you on, Garrus? You that desperate to actually *be* your little namesake?”


“Hmm…” Garrus looked upwards as though contemplating, “You know, for not actually coming up with it myself, Archangel does have a certain… ring to it.”


“I’m out.” Shepard said, picking up her favored submachine gun as she passed the amused Vakarian, “I’ve had enough of sarcastic, suicidal Turians for the day.”


“Good riddance.” Garrus said with a wave, “And take your pet Varren with you. This little shelter’s all we got and he’s doing a fine job stinking up the place.”


“His name’s Urz.” The Commander said without a glance back, throwing in a small wave as she left.


At the sound of his name, the purple streaked Varren lifted his head, his spikes rattling with pleasure as he bounded after the human. When he nudged her leg, Shepard nearly fell over. With her reflexes, she caught herself before she could get halfway through her stumble.


“You little menace,” She said fondly, crouching to pet the Varren along its stiff spikes.


All Urz did was pant, his monstrosity of a tongue hanging out as he barked, possibly agreeing.


Shepard nearly reeled over from the stench of the Varren’s breath, but considering its raw meat diet, she wasn’t too surprised. Garrus hadn’t just been talking about Urz’s wonderful scent, but the Varren’s sense of hygiene as well, “Sorry to tell you this, buddy, but Garrus was right.”


The four-legged Varren merely cocked his head a little to the side, letting out a questioning whine, as the Commander stood.


“You’ll get over it.” She insisted, turning around.


She nearly ran into another Krogan. Or rather, the other Krogan nearly ran into her.


“Watch it human!” He snarled, his black and white Varren seconding the greeting.


Frowning, Shepard stepped up to his face, “Watch it yourself, pal. You need your eyesight checked?”


At her heels, Urz made a threatening lunge at the other Varren, his spikes rattling with a vicious fervor.


“Last time I checked, we didn’t let trash onto our homeworld.”


“Yeah? Well I guess in your case, they made an exception.” Shepard snapped back, glaring at the largely muscled Krogan Warrior before her.


She remembered him. He was the one who barely restrained his Varren from taking a chunk out of her when she went to see the Chief Scout. She wanted nothing more than to take him, one on one. From the way his eyes narrowed, it appeared the feeling was mutual. Unfortunately, she didn’t want to start something within the Urdnot clan, even if this was only a border outpost. Especially with how Grunt’s Rite had only been completed a couple days before.


“Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is, human? Bet on the pits. We’ll be sure to enjoy your hard earned credits.” The Krogan challenged.


“Careful what you wish for, Krogan.” Her eyes narrowed as she watched him walk past her, his snarling Varren trailing after.


Urz made a small lunge for the female Varren’s tail, missing on purpose as it snapped its jaws loudly a millimeter behind its target. Yelping in surprise, the black and white Varren growled before bounding after its master.


Returning to Shepard’s side, the Commander swore Urz was laughing as it huffed in a loud, rhythmic pattern.


“That’s right, boy. You sure showed her.” She coddled the retired veteran. She remembered the shopkeeper, Ratch, mentioning that Urz used to be the pit champion. Then something happened to his handler. Exiled, perhaps? Didn’t matter. The Commander looked down at the purple and silver Varren by her side, “You sure you still got it in you, oldtimer?”


Almost as if he understood, Urz barked before rushing after a Pyjak, the part monkey, part rat-like creature hightailing it across the compound with the Varren at its heels.


Shaking her head, Commander Shepard continued her aimless walk, attempting to keep herself from falling more into the pit of boredom than she already had. Maybe she could take a tip from Urz and go down to shoot at some more Pyjaks. But that could only keep her entertained for so long.


She was just about to circle back to the little shelter, which the Shaman had allowed them to borrow for the duration of their stay, when she saw a brown Krogan approaching her. Really, couldn’t they get a little more varied with their plate coloring? The Asari had at least delved into dye and body paints. The only time the Krogan seemed interested in any sort of decorations was when it came down to war paints or armor models.


“Shepard.” The Krogan nodded in greeting.


In an instant, familiarity clicked into place. The Commander nodded in reply, remembering this particular Krogan. He had proved extremely useful during the Salarian’s quest. Even though EDI was able to bypass their weak firewalls to get the intel, the Krogan had added a few helpful tidbits about the fortifications and what to expect, “Chief Scout.”


“So I heard not only are you part of Grunt’s krantt, but you are his battlemaster as well.” The Chief Scout noted, grunting when he received Shepard’s agreeing nod, “Ah, so it is true. Tell me, do you know the whereabouts of Urdnot Grunt?”


“No, I can’t say I do.” The Commander replied, her stance lax as she shifted her weight to her other foot, “Why? He done something that needs undoing?”


“No. Rather, there’s something that needs doing.” The Chief Scout paused to look her over, “Perhaps you would be interested in this little endeavor. I’m sure one who has defeated a Thresher Maw can handle a scouting mission.”


Shepard grinned, her glowing scar seeming to pulse brighter. She remembered the Chief Scout explaining one of their scouting missions before. Less recon and more sabotage. Messing with the enemy’s head. This day just seemed to be getting better and better, “Sure, sounds like just the type of fun I’ve been looking for.”


Clearly impressed, the Chief Scout toned down his reactions to a simple grunt, “Good. I’ll be sending you and a few other men down tunnel 5, out next to the medical bay. You won’t be needing more than your gear and your weapons. It should be a quick mission, in and out. The storm’s still shitting on us outside, so make sure you don’t linger too long topside for those short stretches. While the upper atmosphere is far more violent, you can brave the less intense, ground level winds if you’ve got a strong pair of feet under you.”


“You got it, Chief. Anything else I should know?” The Commander asked, feeling her blood pumping already at the prospect of upcoming action.


“Would you like to bring your krantt along?”


“Their loss.” Shepard grinned wryly. She couldn’t wait to rub this in Garrus’s Turian face. And Grunt…? Well, she didn’t know what his deal was, but he wasn’t around to join the fun.


“I can see why the Shaman tolerates you, human.”


“Er, thanks…” Shepard honestly had not idea what else to say. From the way the Chief Scout was acting, it was as though he had never paid a compliment in his life. But the Commander was too excited to care.

-o-o-o-

They should have been more careful. But everyone had been too intent, too focused on the enemy to realize any other threat.


It was a bitter victory. The rival clan’s squad had been completely demolished. But before Shepard and the Urdnot crew even had a chance to bask in the afterglow, the ground had erupted around them. The storm was making it hard enough as it was, chunks of debris and torrents of sand already whipping at their bodies. This was just too much.


The Krogan scouts watched in horror, immobilized, as the giant streak of brown swallowed one of their teammates in one gulp. A split second later, they all fell to the ground as another erupted from the earth, a second Krogan roaring before his sudden, strangled silence.


A cold lump settled in the pit of her stomach, the familiarity clawing at her gut. She knew what they had stumbled into, and the past reared its ugly head to draw her, paralyzed, into its depths. Before becoming a Spectre… before Sarren… her old team had-


No.


She had to snap out of it.


Finding her voice, Shepard exclaimed, “Thresher Maw nest! Move it, NOW!”


Everyone scattered, as if her voice was a splash of ice water down their backs. Everyone but one. With single glance, Shepard realized this scout had not completed his Rite yet. Too young. In fact, he was the female Krogan’s messenger. Their envoy. What the hell was he doing here? And why the fuck was he just standing there!


Knowing she might regret it, Shepard turned back, shouting, “Nagoroth!! Get your ass MOVING!”


His wide eyes snapped to hers, his hand gripping his gun weakly. Suddenly, a tremor to outdo all the previous ones rocked the very world beneath their feet. Shepard caught herself roughly on her hands and knees, the fall jarring her bones, while Nagoroth fell flat on his face beside her.


When she whipped her head to look around her, she craned her neck back and realized why it had been so strong. A dozen separate Thresher Maws had sprouted from the earth, creating a temporary circle around them. Columns of hardened flesh that reached towards the sky like living pillars of death. Beside her, Nagoroth gave a gasp of disbelief as he caught up to what Shepard had already figured out.


There had been a fourteen of them total, excluding Shepard and the envoy. Scratch the two lost in the beginning, that left twelve.


Catching sight of the flailing limbs disappearing down each throat, the Commander and the Krogan looked at one another.


“…”


Unable to be held by gravity any longer, their rush to expel their bloated bodies from the ground suddenly nonexistent, the towers of massive flesh began to waiver.


Instincts kicking in the same time adrenaline jolted her system awake, Shepard grabbed the Krogan by the arm, “Move it! GO GO GO!!”


A short sense of accomplishment washed over her as he started running, keeping stride to the breakneck pace she put them in. Maybe the ones that had just eaten were full and sated, but there were more whose mouths had yet been filled.


Like hell Shepard was going to have everyone die on her again.


At that moment, the towers of Thresher Maws started colliding with the ground, rattling the landscape around them.

-o-o-o-

“What do you mean, you don’t know where she is?” Grunt demanded.


“Like I said, I don’t know where she is.” Garrus stated calmly, “Look, I don’t know what you’re getting so worked up about. We both know Shepard. The Commander can take care of herself.”


The Turian was testing his very patience. Barely holding back the snarl in his throat, the silver-plated Krogan replied, “Yeah, but where in camp would she go that this mutt wouldn’t follow?”


Appearing from behind the large warrior, Urz poked his head, looking up at Garrus with his wide purple gaze. Garrus pushed himself up from his seat. Something was clearly wrong. If it wasn’t enough that Urz was here with them instead of with Shepard, it was the very stance of the Varren before them. The purple striped beast stood as though there was danger nearby, while simultaneously looking beat down, as though he were worried. Or afraid.


“All right. Who would know where the Commander could be? Who could we ask?” The Turian thought aloud, strapping his rifle to his back.


There was barely a pause before the Krogan and the Turian exchanged glances, the same name pouring from their mouths, “Chief Scout.”


The brown Krogan had his hearts leap to his throat when the two charged at him from nowhere.


“Ah, Urdnot Grunt, I was just looking fo-“ The Krogan started to say.


But Grunt cut him off with downward swipe at the air, his head shaking, “No time. Where’s Shepard, Chief Scout?”


“That’s what I was just about to tell you about. I sent her on a scouting mission, the same I meant to find you for.”


“How long ago?” Garrus asked.


“Does it really matter-“


“How long!” Grunt emphasized with a growl.


“All right, okay. They left down tunnel 5 a couple of hours ago.” The Chief Scout had barely said that before the two were gone, the Varren loping after them. The brown Krogan didn’t know what had gotten into them. As if to reassure them, he shouted at their backs, “It’s just a scouting mission.”

-o-o-o-

“Nagoroth!” Shepard exclaimed, but too late.


With a desperate cry, he jumped forward. But the Thresher Maw had enough of a dive to catch the Krogan by his leg, an audible crunch heard as those jaws snapped shut.


The envoy’s resulting scream made Shepard charge forward without a second thought, firing her submachine’s cryo rounds in its face at the same time, peppering its armor down enough to use her biotic powers.


It was retreating, attempting to drag the ensnared Turian back down its newly formed hole, intent on bringing its snack down to its lair.


“Oh no you don’t.” Shepard muttered, pouring as much firepower as she could from her gun before releasing her incendiary shot.


She felt the ball of flame shoot from her fingertips, guttering wildly right before impact with the shocked face of the Thresher Maw. Nagoroth was released unceremoniously, crying out at his abrupt meeting with the ground.


The Commander had worn down the beast’s armor enough that the Thresher Maw received substantial damage from her last blow, but it was not dead. Apparently it had had enough, though, as it continued its retreat, tail between its proverbial legs. They had been running for at least an hour now, having escaped the primary nest of the monsters. But there was still one or two chasing them. Possibly boiled down to one, now.


But Shepard couldn’t take any chances. She ran up to the downed Krogan, surveying his mangled and bloodied leg.


“Are you all right, can you stand?” Shepard asked, regretting her decision to leave Grunt and Garrus behind. While Grunt was reckless, disobeying orders and charging in without organized thought, his fighting skills would have been a godsend right about now. Not to mention his brute strength. Garrus was also a skilled tactician and an amazing shot. But what she regretted most was that he had their main supply of medi-gel.


“I…” The Krogan envoy attempted to stand, but his mangled leg gushed out more blood even as he roared out in anguish.


The earth rumbled ominously around them.

Both their heads shot up as the ground exploded outward a few yards away.


“Shit…” Shepard breathed. There was one last Thresher Maw, just as she had expected. She looked at the wounded Krogan beside her, and he met her calculating gaze with a terrified one.


Immediately, the envoy sorely wished he hadn’t disregarded her when she was asking questions back at the patrol camp, turning her aside because she was an alien. Out here, his life was expendable. She would surely leave him to die.


Which is why he stared at her with mute shock as she shoved a shotgun into his hands.


“Take this. For protection.” She said quickly, a hand still wrapped around her own submachine gun, its familiar weight reassuring, “I’ll draw it off.”


“Wait. Why…?” Nagoroth asked.


“Shut up. Survive. And maybe we’ll talk about this later.” The Commander snarled, before shooting at the beast coming closer.


The Thresher Maw had smelled blood and its feelers quivered with anticipation, scrunching its body not unlike a worm and a snake combined as it propelled itself forward. But when the stinging burn came from the unwounded prey, enraging it, the beast turned its focus on the Commander.


“Got your attention, did I?” Shepard asked innocently, danger lacing her voice with heavy sarcasm.


As soon as she was sure it was charging after her, Shepard took one last glance at the boy, who was still gaping at her, before pelting it out of there.

-o-o-o-

The minute they had stepped out into the surface, the wind howled and threatened to blow them away. But determination clenched their jaws shut and drove their heels into the ground, keeping their balance.


“Where to?” Garrus inquired.


Without any warning, the Varren beside them picked its head up, sniffed, and took off like a rocket.


Garrus blinked, “Huh, even in this extreme weather…”


“As long the mongrel gets the job done.” Grunt stated, hefting his gun before taking off after the Varren.


“Can’t say I can argue with results.” Garrus said, trailing afterwards.