Akuze

Akuze is a planet that features in the Sole Survivor backstory for Commander Shepard. It is also mentioned in the assignment UNC: Dead Scientists.

In 2177, Akuze was in the early stages of colonisation by humans when all contact was lost with the pioneer team. The Alliance sent in a marine unit to investigate and look for survivors. When the unit camped for the night, they found themselves set upon by thresher maws. The marines had no idea what they were facing and almost the entire unit was slaughtered. A monument was later placed at Akuze to mark the deaths there.

If Shepard is a Sole Survivor, the commander was the only marine to make it out of Akuze alive, though it isn't known how Shepard managed to survive. Shepard later discovers that there was another survivor, Corporal Toombs, who claims the slaughter at Akuze was not an accident. According to Toombs, the renegade black ops group Cerberus deliberately set the thresher maws on the marines, to study the creatures and see how the unit reacted.