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Mass Effect: The Helldiver Saga, The Collector War	By : Veyron722skyhook Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 6229 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or it's characters. They belong to Bioware and EA. No money/profit is made by me from this.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
Okay, this one ended up being so long that I've had to make it into two parts. Part two still isn't finished yet i'm afraid, but I am working on it and I hope to have it uploaded by the end of this week. In the meantime, please do enjoy this chapter. I spent a lot effort on this.

Chapter 16
Best Served Cold, Part 1
Sure enough, both and Liara had spent the whole of yesterday making love and getting Austin to recover from the hangover he had had. True enough to what both of them had expected, it had probably been the best sex they'd had yet in their relationship.
Eventually, Austin had decided to confide in Liara about the dream he'd had about Kelly. Liara had been very surprised at first and had even been a tiny bit concerned at first. Austin however had explained that it had most likely been a combination of may things that had caused the dream.
For one, he had just had a meal with Kelly the day before so that was a primary contributing factor. Also, Austin had admitted to Liara that Brandy did often give him funny dreams since it messed with his brain. Up until now though, he had never had a dream like that before. Although to be fair, he had also been out for several hours because of the sleeping gas as well, so that may have also contributed to it.
To Austin's surprise, Liara had actually found the story a bit funny, and slightly interesting. Especially since she reckoned that her… ministrations on him in the night had been a primary cause of his erotic dream.
This had surprised Austin, but he was thankful at least that Liara hadn't at all accused him of being unfaithful to her. In fact, when he had even told her that the special Helldiver implants that he had in his head which where linked into his omni tool had recorded the whole dream very clearly, she had even asked to see it.
This had shocked Austin mightily and he had even promised Liara multiple times that he loved her and only her, but Liara had calmed him and said that she wasn't angry at him at all. So, the next few hours of the night had been spent watching the whole recording together. Like Austin, Liara doubted that she'd be able to look at their Yeoman again after seeing how sexual she was, especially with him. She had even laughed hysterically at the bit where Kelly had brought the camera in and had even found the scene very arousing. It hadn't taken long for the two lovers to eventually give in to how horny they'd become from watching the recording and they'd both started pleasuring each other as they watched Austin fuck Kelly nearly everywhere.
Once they'd both brought each other to an orgasm, Austin still felt as though he owed Liara an apology and had even swore on his own life that he'd only ever Liara and would never cheat on her. Once again though, Liara told him that she was not angry at him at all and did not think that he was unfaithful to her at all since she admitted that she had once had a dream very similar to his a year or so ago after Austin had been killed by the Collector's. She'd been heartbroken and depressed and had ended up drinking a whole bottle of Ice Brandy. Her dream had included him in it, but it had also included an Asari she'd become acquitted with only yesterday. After hearing that from Liara, Austin now understood and all his worry disappeared. In fact Liara had even managed to make him hard again by explaining the dream to him fully, and in very explicit detail.
By the end of today, Austin's hangover had almost disappeared and he reckoned that another good night's sleep would take care of the rest. At that, Liara had simply smiled and once again initiated a Union with him. With her now properly inside his head, the two had a perfect dream with each other walking on a beach hand in hand. Shortly afterwards they'd both went for swim in the sea and then Austin had carried Liara back onto the sand and they'd both made love. The sex after that was… well, let's just say that it put even Kelly's dream made porn movie with Austin to shame.
Both Austin and Liara slowly woke from their slumber and Austin stretched.
"What made you think up a beach?" Austin asked as Liara sat up in the bed, not caring whether the quilt cover slipped off and exposed her breasts.
"I don't know, I guess it just came to me." Liara smiled as she gave a small yawn. "How's your head?"
"Fine. Hangover's completely gone." Austin smiled as he gave Liara a kiss. "Thanks for all of yesterday. That day is going to stick with me for a very long time."
"Anything for you, my love." Liara smiled as she returned Austin's kiss.
At that moment, there was knock at the door. Both Austin and Liara turned in surprise to the sound. Austin ultimately told Liara to just say in bed while he pulled on his boxers and some trousers and went to answer the door. It was Kelly. Austin did jump a bit when he saw her. After the dream and both him and Liara pleasuring each other to watching her, it was a bit uncomfortable to be around her. Austin however, kept a straight face and acted normally.
"Morning, Kelly." He smiled warmly.
"Good morning, Major. How are you feeling? I heard about what happened the day before." Said Kelly.
"I feel fine, thanks. Nothing a little rest doesn't fix." Austin replied. "So, what can I do for you?" he asked.
"The Arkane Council wish to speak to you. They say that it's priority 1 urgent." Said Kelly.
"Hmm, that sounds serious. Okay, I'll be down in a few minutes. Just let me get dressed." He said.
Kelly nodded and left for the elevator as the doors closed and Austin and Liara set about getting dressed. After yesterday, both of them where looking forward to a bit of action again.

The holograms of the Arkane Council stood in front of Austin yet again. This time, they looked as though they where concerned or worried about something. Austin couldn't help but feel that what they had to say would not be good.
"Major, we apologise for calling you like this on such short notice, but this is urgent." Said Spartan.
"What's the situation?" Austin asked.
"We've recently intercepted a transmission from an Alliance team. According to what we've been told, they where sent to the ice planet Krelldoor to investigate reports of a Cerberus base there. Just recently though we intercepted a leaked transmission between Cerberus agents subjecting that these reports where willingly leaked. There's a high chance that this whole ting is a trap for them." Tarnack explained.
"Why tell me this, though?" Austin asked. "I thought we weren't on good terms with the Alliance?"
"We're not. The only reason we're taking this seriously is because it… concerns your sister." Said Spartan.
Austin immediately reacted when he heard the word sister. His sister!
"Sarah? What's she got to do with this?" Austin asked.
"She's leading the team. She's still with the N7 program, promoted to Commander now we believe. She's been put in charge of the team and is handling the operation. What worries us even more is that another leaked transmission we intercepted from Cerberus mentioned her by name." said one of the Arkanes.
"Some of us fear that Cerberus have planned this. They may be going after her to get to you just like Shadow went after Chief Williams to lure you to her." Said Tarnack.
"Do we know if Shadow's behind this? Because this definitely does sound like her work." Austin asked.
"Unknown. But you could very well be right. If she's back again, it can only mean trouble. Taking down the Collector's may be our top priority, but Sarah Shepard is a fine soldier. She even helped you defeat Saren at the Citadel two years ago and has even worked with your squad a few times. We'd hate to lose such a fine ally." Said Spartan.
Some of the Council agreed and nodded their approval.
"Send me the coordinates. We'll be there in no time." Said Austin.
"Be careful, Major. There's every high chance this is a trap." Spartan advised.

Krelldoor was deep inside the so called Element cluster. It was named that because each planet inside that cluster was all one different element. Krelldoor was an ice planet, Hydro was a water planet with one extremely small island, Scorch was a fire and lava planet, Dune was a desert planet, and even the planet Conifer was all jungle.
As the Normandy cleared the Mass Relay, Austin saw the each massive planet orbiting the cluster's sun. It was a colourful display.
"Well, there's Krelldoor." Said Joker.
"I pick up no Cerberus transmissions, or transmissions of any kind in the area." Said EDI.
"Launch a probe on the surface. See if it picks up anything." Said Austin.
EDI did so and a probe launched from the Normandy and into Krelldoor's atmosphere. There was a brief pause while it scanned.
"Scans are coming in now. They show…" said EDI, but she was quickly interrupted when the Normandy suddenly shook violently and there was a small explosion.
"What the hell?!" said Joker.
As Austin regained his balance he could see a ship out of the cockpit of the Normandy. At first, it looked like a small fighter. But as it got closer, the ship was more like a small vessel. And when it got really close, both Austin and Joker's eyes turned to shock.
There, right outside the Normandy… was another Normandy. It was completely identical and size and design to the one they where piloting right now. The only difference was that it had Cerberus colourings instead of Helldiver.
"It can't be!" Joker managed to say.
The Cerberus Normandy fired another shot and that was enough to snap Joker out of his shock.
"Taking evasive manoeuvres! Everyone hold on!" he said.
The Normandy made a sharp rotation to the left, Austin quickly held on to a nearby railing.
A vicious dogfight occurred as both Normandy's tried to outwit one another. The Cerberus Normandy had better firepower, but Joker was definitely the better pilot. The ship shook again as the Cerberus Normandy managed another hit.
"We can't evade this guy forever, EDI! Isn't there anything you have that could give us an advantage?!" said Joker as the ship shook again.
"There may be something. The way that ship is flying would suggest that it is an AI pilot." Said EDI.
"An AI pilot? Cerberus seems far to desperate to get rid of us." Said Austin.
"We're gonna have to head into the ice ring fields!" said Joker as he steered the Normandy towards the large asteroid fields of ice orbiting Krelldoor.
"Mr Moreau, the odds of successfully navigating these fields are approximately 720 to 1." Said EDI urgently.
"Never tell me the odds!" said Joker confidently.
The constant movements and collisions of the ice made it extremely difficult to manoeuvre properly. Even Joker did look nervous by this. Austin could even see him sweating a bit. The Cerberus ship also appeared to be struggling as well. Despite this though, it was still keeping up with them. It fired another shot which managed to land a dangerously critical hit on the Normandy.
"The shields are down to 10%! One more hit on rear and the armour won't be able to hold!" said EDI urgently.
"Dell, get those auto turrets online!" Austin yelled into his comm.
Dell didn't reply, but the auto turrets seemed to come on and started firing on the Cerberus Normandy. The enemy ship however returned fire and the whole chase once again turned into an intense dog fight. There was ice shattering everywhere as some of the shots missed their target and instead damaged the ice asteroids.
After what felt like several long minutes, a single massive asteroid could be seen out of the cockpit. It was slowly descending to collide with another one, and the gap was getting smaller and smaller. Despite this though, Joker kept going.
"Joker, what are you doing?! Pull up!" said Austin, realizing that the pilot was going straight for the gap.
"It's the only way!" said Joker.
The ship continued on it's course at full speed. The gap was getting very small now and didn't look big enough for the large Normandy, or both in this case.
"The gaps' too thin, Mr Moreau!" said EDI.
"Shut up!" Joker yelled.
The gap got smaller and smaller. With some dumb stroke of luck, the Normandy flew right through the gap without even a scratch. The Cerberus Normandy would have also made it through, but the AI pilot failed to react in time to make the correct turn and one of it's engines collided with ice.
There was a massive explosion as the engine exploded on contact. The hull of the Cerberus Normandy was catapulted at vey high speed away through the rest of the gap as the asteroid collided with the other and the whole area became showered with massive ice shards and smaller asteroids.
It seemed as though they'd won as the Normandy spun several times to avoid all the shards that where heading at them at an even faster speed. However, they failed to notice the damaged hull of the Cerberus Normandy in time.
"Look out!" Austin yelled.
But it was too late. The Cerberus Normandy collided very hard with the Helldiver Normandy. Their Normandy's kinetic barriers where fortunately still active and they had been designed for an impact of this size, so they weren't blown up. But the shear size was still enough to knock the Normandy as the Cerberus ship was sent plummeting into the atmosphere of the Ice planet below them.
"The controls aren't responding! EDI, do something!" Joker said urgently as he fumbled desperately with the holographic controls.
There was no reply. The impact had even disabled EDI's systems.
"All crew, brace for impact! This won't be pretty!" said Austin into the ship comm.
The cockpit became engulfed by a lot of fire as they entered Krelldoor's atmosphere. The ship then gave a violent shake and Austin felt his helmet collide very hard with something and his vision went black.

Austin groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. His suit's visual feed quickly came back online and his suit once again went through the process of turning his lockdown off. Despite that his visual feed was fine, all he could see nothing but blackness.
As the Helldiver slowly stood up, there was a spark and the emergency lighting came on. It was faint, but at least Austin could see a bit.
"Major, you okay?" Austin heard Joker ask.
"Yeah. I'm alright." Austin groaned. He only had a small headache. Nothing that was gonna hold him back. He then looked to where EDI's avatar should have been. "EDI, can you hear us?"
There was a very long silence as they waited to see if the AI would reply. Austin just about to ask Joker to check her systems but then EDI's avatar came back to life. The bright blue light from the hologram illuminated a lot more of the cockpit than the emergency lighting did.
"Yes, I can hear you, Shepard." She said.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"My systems are intact, so I would probably qualify as fine." The AI replied.
"Okay, first things first. What the hell was that?!" said Joker.
"I can only think that it was the Normandy was building when they where working to bring Shepard back to life. They had assumed that he would work for them and had planned to fund his mission, including building another version of the Normandy. The only reason it looked exactly the same as ours is that Cerberus managed to steal the designs." EDI replied.
"Well, however they did it, what matters is what condition we're in. What's the damage?" Austin asked. "Most importantly, is the heating still on? Because if it's not, Krelldoor's atmosphere will freeze us to death."
"The life support systems and all the other critical systems are still operating. Our engine systems and several others however overloaded during the crash. They are all fixable, but it will take time." Said EDI.
"How much time?" Austin asked, braced for bad news.
"At least 4 hours. Beyond that, I do not know for certain how long it will take." Said EDI.
Austin was silent for a while. Of all the places to crash to crash a ship in this star cluster, Krelldoor was one of the worst. Although there where the occasional research facilities that had been posted on the planets, each one of them was largely uncharted. Each environment was so dangerous that it had claimed the lives of hundreds of exploration teams who had attempted to shed some light on the blank maps. Krelldoor however was the worst out of all of them. The atmosphere outside was twice as cold as the North and South poles of earth combined. Worse still, they had crashed on Krelldoor's dark side.
Each planet inside the Element cluster had a sun which gave light to the planets. And, like every other planet, they had their rotations around the sun and their rotational axis which enabled them to have days and night cycles. An interesting difference however was that these rotations where vastly different from that of normal planets. The planets rotated to have day and night, but they did not have the rotations that could cause seasons and weather changes. As a result of this, each planet in the element cluster had a certain part of it that was always left in the dark and never had any sunlight at all. Not even the planet's moons shone on these parts. Because each planet had them, they where all called dark sides. Due to eternal lack of sunlight, these areas where almost completely lifeless, even on a cellular level. How many people had journeyed into these regions… fewer had returned, most without their sanity.
A thought then hit Austin. The dark sides where ideal places for enemies to hide since it was impossible to anything. Even an earthen satellite would be blind trying to find something in the blackness. Krelldoor in particular had it's hostile atmosphere to boot and there was a storm nearly all the time. With zero visibility and a very low chance of being found by accident by an expedition, how could Cerberus resist.
Austin turned back to EDI.
"Have we managed to get a fix on the Alliance signal?" he asked.
"The scans from the probe where able to get a firm lock on the location from the signal and some communications from the Cerberus Normandy before we destroyed it." EDI replied.
"It is definitely destroyed, isn't it? This ship is the one and the only." Joker asked.
"They crash landed within range of the probe. The ship was completely destroyed. No survivors." Said EDI.
"Good." Said Joker.
"How far is the signal source from where we are? It has to have been sent from the base." Austin asked.
"It is roughly 14 miles from our present location." EDI replied. As she did, her avatar projected a small holographic map of the whole dark side area showing the location of the Normandy and the signal source. At that moment, Griffin came up to the flight deck.
"Major, you alright?" he asked.
"I'm okay. What happened to you?" Austin asked when he saw Griffin's condition.
The whole of Griffin's front was blackened and scorched. Austin guessed that something had gone wrong with his explosives. It wouldn't be the first time they had blown up in his face.
"I was making some more demolition charges when the attack hit. I put them away in my bag, but the crash knocked them out. Some of them… well, I think you can probably see." Griffin replied, slightly embarrassed.
Austin wanted to say something but ultimately decided not to. It wasn't necessarily Griffin's fault. He had after all stored them in his bag so that they wouldn't cause harm. If the ship hadn't crashed, they wouldn't have blown up in his face. He imagined that Dell had most likely said "I told you so." The Arkane had been concerned about the danger of Griffin making his explosives in the cargo bay.
"But you're okay?" Austin asked with a bit of concern.
Griffin nodded. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me, it happens all the time. Although, Dell nearly hit me on the head with a spanner. He wasn't too happy that this happened. He was also a bit angry that one of the charges blew his desk in half, and I may have damaged the simulator a bit."
Austin just sighed. "You really need to be more careful with those things, Griffin. It's gonna get you killed if you're carless." He said.
"Or worse, get someone else killed." Said Griffin.
"Anyway, was anyone hurt during the crash?" Austin asked.
The demolition expert shook his head.
"No. Just a few bruises and some damaged equipment, but nothing major." He said.
Austin breathed a small sigh of relief.
"So what now? Do we continue with the mission?" Griffin asked.
"The ship can be repaired, but we can't wait. Especially if those Alliance marines need aid." Said Austin.
"But how are we going to get there? There's no way the shuttles can fly in conditions like these." Said Griffin.
"The old fashioned way… we walk." Austin replied.
Griffin didn't say anything for a minute. He went to say something, but Joker beat him too it.
"Are you nuts? It's at least 100 below out there!" said Joker.
"Normal people might not survive, but we may be okay." Said Austin. He then turned to Griffin. " Check the planet conditions." He said.
Griffin nodded and went over to one of the nearby consoles in the cockpit. Joker realised which one.
"Wait, not that one! I need to…" he tried to say, but Griffin didn't listen. The demolition expert was a bit shocked when he saw that Joker had left his extranet page open. Especially since it was on the Fornax website with quite a few tabs open.
"Blimey!" said Griffin. He gave Joker a unimpressed but shocked expression from under his skull faced helmet. "Get a girlfriend, Jeff!" he added.
The Helldiver closed the site and used the console to analyse Krelldoor's current condition. There was a minute or so wait before Austin joined him.
"So?" he asked.
"Well, the temperature's far too low for the crew, but with an extra heating unit and another de-icer, we may be okay." Said Griffin.
"I'm sure Dell can oblige." Said Austin. "What about walking distance?"
"3 hours, and that's at maximum. There's a storm on at the minute, and that will really slow us down." Said Griffin. "Worse still, we're gonna be rather blind out there. There's no light at all out there and this whole side of the planet's facing away from the sun. Sun won't be on this side at all for hours."
"Well, we don't have much choice. Besides, we've been trained to handle conditions like these. Tell Alpha Squad to assemble in the cargo hold and get Dell and Sill to work on the upgrades." Said Austin.
Griffin nodded and turned to go, but Austin quickly stopped him.
"Also, tell Dell to outfit X-5 for the snow. We're taking him as well." The Major added.
Griffin nodded. Just before he left though, he turned to Joker.
"Word of advice; Delete your extranet history." He said, much to Joker's embarrassment.

The cargo hold was quite a mess. The crash had knocked over all the crates, the simulator looked as though it had broken one of it's arms and Dell's desk was covered completely in loads of damaged contraptions.
Sure enough, all of Alpha Squad where assembled here. They where currently making sure that their armour was sealed properly. If Krelldoor's atmosphere got in through a leak, they could risk instant frost bite… or worse. They where also adding a few extra accessories to their armour and also some extra armour plating. On close inspection, Austin saw that these where extra heating units and also the de-icers he'd requested. Dell and Sill worked fast. In fact all the Helldivers looked ready and the two Arkane engineers where currently making the proper modifications to X-5 by fitting him with twice as many heating units and de-icers so that he could function properly in the sub zero temperatures without his circuits or limbs freezing up. Dell was also giving him a system upgrade. The robot after all would be their guide. The Helldiver suits didn't have the range to lock on to the signal properly, but X-5 did. He would lead the group and make sure that they kept heading the right way and didn't get lost, especially since that was very easy to do on a planet with conditions like this.
Austin finished fitting the last heating unit onto his armour and readied for what was to come. He made sure that he had everyone's attention as he spoke.
"Listen up, everyone! Krelldoor is one of the most isolated and dangerous planet's in the element cluster, and possibly the galaxy. You've been trained for conditions like these, but that does not mean this is going to be a walk in the park for us. As a result, I'm laying down these simple rules." He said.
All of Alpha Squad made sure to pay attention to this bit. The last thing they wanted was to disobey their leader, especially since the slightest slip up would land them literally in a world of trouble.
"1. Never separate or stray from the group under any circumstances. If you get separated out there, we may never be able to find you. 2. Maintain constant communication with each other. If anything happens out of the ordinary, you report it immediately! Watch your suit temperatures as well and make sure that they stay at a comfortable and warm temperature. 3. Unexpected things are bound to happen. When they do, no on tries to be a hero." He said.
"Yeah. That's his job." Said Dash enthusiastically as he indicated to Austin.
All of Alpha Squad laughed slightly and even Austin smiled a bit.
"Laugh it up, Dash." He chuckled. He did admire the Scout's attempt to lighten the mood a bit.
"Now, if you have anything that needs doing before this, do it now! It's gonna be a hell of a long walk. You have five minutes!" said Austin.
Some of Alpha Squad took this time to make sure that they had checked everything fully.
The Major then walked up to X-5 who was running a full system check to be sure that he was ready for the freezing cold.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Good to go, Major. Let's kick some ice!" X-5 replied, banging his metal fists together enthusiastically.
Dell simply groaned and face palmed at X-5's pun. He didn't know how Alpha Squad put up with this childish robot.
"Just be careful out there, Shepard. There's no telling what you'll find." Said Sill.
"I appreciate your concern, Sill. But we'll be fine. If your dad built these suits anywhere near as they say, this should just be a very long walk." Said Austin.
Dell simply cleared his throat. He was a bit nervous about this. Helldiver suits where designed for operating in sub zero temperatures and in the snow, but they had never been tested in an atmosphere like Krelldoor. He did try to relax though. All of Alpha Squad had taken every precaution to make sure they didn't get frozen after all. There was very little that could go wrong and a very rare chance of the more likely things going wrong.
With everyone ready, Alpha Squad stood in front of the cargo bay doors, ready to disembark into the cold vastness.
"Clear the cargo bay!" Austin yelled.
Everyone else immediately did so and the hanger bay was soon empty of everyone but them.
"We're ready to disembark, Joker. Open the cargo bay doors." Austin said into his comm.
"Aye aye, Major. Good luck." Said Joker.
"Be careful, Shepard. Come back alive." Said EDI.
There was a slow grind as the cargo bay door slowly lowered itself. Almost immediately, wind, snow and an absolutely massive amount of cold air entered the cargo bay. Alpha Squad immediately felt the temperature outside of their suits drop completely. The cargo bay door finally hit the ground and Alpha Squad slowly made their way out into the snow. All that could be seen was nothing but blackness. They could only see the Normandy's hull because of thee lights on the outside and inside. Their visibility had turned to zero immediately and they couldn't see anything, not even their own hands.
In an attempt to try and illuminate the path ahead a bit more, all of the Helldivers activated the lights attached to their armour. For this particular mission they'd swapped their usual flashlights for very powerful spotlights. The spot lights did at least make things bit easier and they could now see each other, but only just. Plus, the spotlights only managed to illuminate about 4 metres of the path ahead. Even with all the spotlights on, including X-5's, they could hardly see anything. The only other thing that was visible apart from themselves, was the ground and the snow being blown about everywhere. The wind didn't help either as it kept blowing in their direction and their helmets kept getting covered with snow. The heat from the suits and the de-icers quickly melted the snow, but the clearness was only brief before more snow blinded their visual feed.
"I can't see a goddamn thing!" said Sandra as she tried to wipe away the snow that was collecting on her helmet.
"It's worse for Cerberus than it is for us." Said Austin.
The wind and the snow made it impossible for Alpha Squad to hear each others voices, so the had to use their inter comms to talk to one another. It wasn't a bad thing. They had often done this before on other missions. It also allowed them to communicate to one another without the enemy hearing them.
Austin turned to look back at the Normandy. He could see Joker waving to them from the cockpit.
"We're clear of the Normandy. Close the doors." Said Austin.
Joker nodded from inside the cockpit and the cargo bay doors raised themselves back up. The huge amount of light that had been emanating from the cargo bay slowly disappeared until the door had completely shut.
All they could see of the Normandy now was the cock pit. Joker simply nodded to Alpha Squad.
"Alright, everyone move out. X-5 will lead the way. Stick close to him, we don't want to get separated out here." Said Austin.
"Twenty bucks says that at some point during this mission, you're gonna be hiding behind him." Said Kraan to Dash.
"Hell, if it draws fire, great! Just means I won't have to shoot it myself." Said Dash,.
"I can still hear you all!" said X-5, not happy at being called it instead of he. He may be a robot, but he had feelings and emotions.
"That's enough!" said Austin sternly.
The whole squad set a steady pace through the darkness for two hours. If it weren't for the storm they would've been there by now. But the shear force of the wind, and the snow blinding their visors every second was really slowing them down. Even with all the enhancements that their suits gave them, the Helldivers where still met with a lot of resistance from the wind. In fact, the wind so strong that Dash almost got blown over due to his armour being the lightest and therefore the easiest to push.
"I'm cold, and I can't see a goddamn thing." Sandra repeated from earlier.
"Quite gryping, Sandra!" said Ventra.
"I like gryping." Sandra replied.
"Knock it off you two!" said Austin.
He didn't blame some of Alpha Squad for arguing with one another. Cold temperatures like these often did things to people. Nature could be lethal when need be.
Another hour or so passed as the Helldiver's made their way very slowly through the dark snow. It was a tiny bit scary being able to only see as far as the spotlights would allow. Some of Alpha Squad had even tired uses different visions modes, but even night vision made no difference at all. Thermal vision however had been a small laugh when Ventra had joked that Leena looked very hot in that mode. The Quarian Helldiver had said it was only the thermals, to which everyone had laughed. Even Leena had also laughed after realising what she'd said.
The pace was slow, but the mood slowly brightened as Alpha Squad spent the time by chatting to one another. Griffin in particular did his best to keep the conversation up. The conversation eventually turned into stories as Alpha Squad started filling the time with their back stories. Griffin listened intently to this. He had only worked with Alpha Squad for a year after all while the rest of the Helldivers had all worked alongside one another for at least five years. Austin was happy to see Griffin chatting and laughing with everyone as though he'd known them all his life. The demolition expert was settling in very well.
Finally, after 3 whole hours of wandering through the snow, they could see something the distance. Light! It was very, very far off, but light all the same.
"Looks like we're here. Everyone keep your heads down stay cloaked." Said Austin as he and Alpha Squad crouched down, their cloaks activating as they did so. You too, X-5." said Austin as he turned to the robot.
X-5 did so and vanished with everyone else. The next few metres where taken at a slow pace as the group got closer to the complex undetected. As they got closer, they found that it was actually a camp of some sorts. Austin guessed however that most of the facility was below the snow and ice rather than on it. There was one single large building which looked like the entrance and it was surrounded by several small bunkers. A bit like the houses on Horizon and human colonies in fact, only with windows to keep the cold out. There where several large spotlights to illuminate the area and also quite a lot of Cerberus troopers on patrol. They too had exosuits to protect them from the cold temperatures.
The snow and the storm made it all the more easier to sneak in close enough. Finally, Alpha Squad took cover behind one of the bunkers. Austin took a small sensor from his belt and threw it into the centre of the camp. Within seconds, a small pulse emitted from it and all the Cerberus troopers where shown on the Helldiver's HUDs.
"No way we can get through without being spotted." Said Alaara. "Too many Cerberus troopers."
"Deal with them. Nice and quietly." Said Austin.

The wind howled fiercely as the Cerberus sentry stood guard. He didn't really see much point in standing guard. Who would find them out here? This was the most hostile, isolated and dangerous places in the world. Still, that didn't change anything. He'd signed on to this job and was getting paid for it, he might as well do it. Besides, it wasn't like he was being asked to do anything unreasonable, all he had to do was just stand outside until the next guard came to do his shift. Then he'd be able to go inside the nice warm huts and either have a warm meal or catch some much needed sleep which he was actually very desperate for. One of the sentries had been stupid enough to not check his armour seals properly and had even fallen through the ice into freezing cold water which had given him a major frost bite. Unable to do his shift, the current sentry had to do it for him.
The fierce wind and heavy snow got even worse as the storm increased a bit more. What the sentry wouldn't give now to have a fire out here right now like the others had indoors right now. Unfortunately, the storm was far too windy to have or even start a fire.
As the storm reached the absolute worst he'd seen on Krelldoor in all his time here, he started contemplated just saying "fuck it all" and go inside until it was his shift that he was meant to be doing. Before he made his mind up however he started to hear something. It sounded like movement of some sort. It startled him at first, it was probably just a small rock or something. However, several seconds passed and the sound didn't stop. This slowly began to worry the sentry. He and all the others had already had the run in with that Alliance squad that had according to what he'd been told had been lured here to lure a Helldiver squad here as well.
It did suddenly occur to him that he had been told to keep an eye out for any silhouettes in the snow since this could be the Helldivers cloaked. Then the sound started to get slightly louder, the wind also started sounding as though something was distorting it, and then there came the unmistakable sound of footsteps.
The sentry raised his gun very slowly as the noise slowly started to surround him. It now seemed to echo all around him.
"Guys, whoever's doing that, stop it! It's not funny anymore!" the Sentry shouted into the wind.
The sound however did not stop and just kept growing louder and louder. He looked around aimlessly for any sign that there was someone else other than Cerberus out there. Nothing but snow, the spotlights, and endless darkness.
As the sentry stopped turning however, he found himself looking at something. A silhouette of some kind. It almost looked camouflaged. Before he could see anything more or react in time, the silhouette lunged at him and everything went dark as the Sentry felt a blade impale him in the heart.

Several more sentries where currently huddled around a small fire that was heating a large saucepan of water that they where going to use for making some warm cups of tea or coffee. Unfortunately, the heating in the bunkers and the normal cooking facilities had been damaged when the Alliance squad had attacked. They would need to remember to get some technicians up from the underground base to fix them. As they waited for the saucepan to reach the right temperature, the door was suddenly flung open.
All of the sentries immediately got to their feet and pointed their guns at the door. They tried desperately to see who had opened the door, but their was no one there. To try and see better all the troopers activated their lasers. Still they could see nothing but the dark snow storm outside.
Then they suddenly seemed to notice the laser dots as they where being shone onto something. Only too late did they notice the three silhouettes inside the bunker with them before they heard the sound of a blade, or a sword, being unsheathed.
Before any of them could react, one of them was suddenly thrown by an unseen force right into the wall. He went completely motionless as he did. Almost as thought he'd been impaled there by something.
The other two Cerberus troopers looked around aimlessly for their attackers, but still nothing.
Then the next one was picked off as the long blade of a sword was suddenly stabbed right through his chest, spraying large amounts of blood everywhere.
The last sentry panicked and just simply fired everywhere, hoping he would somehow hit his attacker. This tactic however was short lived as he heard a twang of released string and he to was suddenly flung right into the far wall by nothing at all. As his back collided with the wall very hard, he felt a severe amount of pain in chest and looked down. For a moment, there was nothing there. He slowly moved his hands to where it hurt and tried to feel. He felt his suited hands touch something.
Then came the sound of an electrical buzz of some kind and very slowly, an arrow of some kind slowly appeared out of thin air. Slowly but surely, it seemed to de-cloak outwards from his body, almost as though it was growing out of him. Finally, the sound stopped and the arrow was fully uncloaked. Seeing now that he had a massive arrow sticking out of his chest, the soldier went limp on the wall and simply lay there almost like a trophy hung up on a wall.
The invisible forms of the Cerberus attackers slowly moved the dead bodies out of eye range so that no one would find them by accident. This however did not work right when one more sentry suddenly appeared in the door way.
"Guys? What's with all the noise?" he asked.
He only briefly saw the already frozen blood on the floor before he hard the loud noises of screams of pain over the loud noises of the wind. As he quickly turned back to the sight inside the bunker he saw the silhouette of an invisible figure brandishing a blade dripping with still warm, red, human blood.
Acting immediately on instinct, the Cerberus trooper bolted the door shut as he ran for it. Just as he bolted the door shut however, another arrow suddenly punctured it's way right through the door. As it shot through, it tore right through the trooper's suit and also ripped off a rather large chunk of his skin. The trooper grunted loudly in pain as the arrow scarred his arm and he immediately felt the killing cold temperatures of Krelldoor on his skin. Clamping his hand over the tear on his arm, the soldier ran for it, daring not to look back as he heard a loud smash behind him.
The trooper ran for the next nearest bunker he could see. He was so frightened that he didn't even notice that the door on this had been forced open as well. He suddenly felt his foot slide as he slipped on the still unfrozen blood of his dead comrades. He was left briefly petrified by the sight of the bodies. He quickly regained his composure however as he spotted another camouflaged silhouette heading in his direction.
The sentry tried to run, but the wet blood on his foot kept making him slip and he tripped on the dead bodies several times. The massive figure toward over him as the soldier tried to crawl to safety. As the figure slowly reached for him, he desperately tried to kick the figure's arm away. In his haste, he kicked the saucepan that was on the fire. The pan full of water went flying, spraying the figure with unfrozen water and the Helldiver's cloak malfunctioned.
The Cerberus soldier looked in astonishment as Kraan seemed to materialize out of nowhere right in front of him. The Krogan looked at himself briefly as his cloak malfunctioned and the Cerberus trooper finally managed to get back on his feet. Kraan roared at the trooper challengingly before the soldier sensed another presence behind him. He whirled around to find another cloaked Helldiver right behind him. He pointed his gun, but the cloaked Helldiver grabbed his wrist and gave it a violent twist, breaking the bones in his arms.
The cloaked Helldiver then gave the soldier a violent punch which smashed him right through the wall of the bunker and out into the cold again. In the distance was the very edge of a cliff. As the Cerberus trooper slowly picked himself up from the small wreckage, the cloaked Helldiver hopped out of the hole he'd just made and landed right in front of the trooper.
The Helldiver reached down and threw away a large bit of debris so that he now had complete access to the Cerberus trooper. The trooper however counteracted by grabbing another large piece of debris and swung it at the Helldiver. Despite swinging as hard as he could however, the debris simply smashed to pieces as it hit the Helldiver's armoured arm.
The cloaked Helldiver immediately returned the attack with a very fast but strong kick which sent the trooper flying. This time however, the trooper was sent right in the direction of the cliff's edge. The trooper struggled violently to slow himself down but he had nothing to grab onto due to the smooth snow and ice. He tried even using the ice pick on his belt but it simply wouldn't dig in. All it did was just go right into the snow and not grab onto anything. The trooper kept trying harder and harder, but still nothing. Before he knew it, he felt his entire body leave the ground and he could only scream as he flew right over the edge and plummeted down into the pitch black abyss.

Austin stood over the edge as he watched the Cerberus trooper disappear into the darkness. With the whole camp now clear of all the Cerberus troopers, he deactivated his cloak and the rest of Alpha Squad also uncloaked behind him.
He turned to face Kraan who was still sparking a bit.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Idiot threw some water on me. My cloak shorted out." Kraan replied.
Austin walked up to Kraan and gave the Krogan a quick scan.
"Should be okay in a few minutes. The water will turn to ice very quickly in this weather." He said.
"So what next? We've got many different ways of approaching this." Said Alaara as she indicated to the base.
"We could just blow the doors off." Griffin suggested.
It seemed however that none of Alpha Squad had forgotten about what happened on the Purgatory.
"And have you set off all the alarms again? No!" said Dash.
At that moment, X-5 came out from behind one of the bunkers and joined them.
"I think we just go in stealthily. We still have the element of surprise after all, unless we go with X-5's approach." Said Alaara.
There was a slight murmur among the Helldivers that X-5 didn't understand.
"Yeah, barging in, face first, guns blazing and getting your friend shot in the ass!" said Ventra.
"Easy for you to say, at least you have a…" X-5 went to say, but Austin interrupted him.
"Alright, that's enough!" he said.
Everyone fell silent as he said it. All that could be heard now was the wind and the storm until Austin spoke again.
"We do this by the book. We go again, find Sarah and the Alliance marines and get off this base without anyone seeing us." He said.
"And if Shadow's here?" Sandra asked concernedly.
"Leave that to me." Austin replied coldly.
Right at that moment however, they started to hear something. A rumbling sound of sorts. Then they started to hear the faint sound of what sounded like train. But that was impossible. Those sort of things hadn't been used for at least a hundred years.
This however was all cleared up when a large monorail train suddenly came into view. It was heading towards the facility at a steady pace. It was only now that Alpha Squad saw the long track rail going from the small base entrance far out into the darkness.
Austin didn't blame anyone for not seeing that earlier. The track was very thin, it was unlit and the snow and storm hid it from sight very well. As the cargo tram zoomed over their heads, Ventra activated his scanner's. The tram was slowly heading for a smaller bunker right next to the base entrance. The doors to this bunker where now open, emitting a faint but definitely noticeable light.
"Or we could just go in that way?" He suggested over the tram's loud noise.
"That would certainly be more sensible than trying to get the main doors open." Said Austin rather loudly so that everyone could hear him.
Just before they could grapple onto some of the cars however, Griffin suddenly shouted out to them.
"Guys, watch out!" he yelled, almost as though something was about to happen.
"What are you…" Dash was about to ask but he was quickly interrupted by what Griffin was trying to warn them about.
The demolition expert had spotted several Alliance demolition charges planted on the tram tracks in the distance. Before they'd been able to do anything though, the tram had already reached them and it was too late.
The whole front of the train exploded as it hit the charges. The train became dislodged from the tracks and the rest of the cars became violently derailed. Surprisingly, there where quite a lot of cars. But then again, this probably was a cargo tram so it made sense for it to have this many carriages. Right now however, that was the least of Alpha Squad's concerns as the force of the explosions sent some of them off their feet.
"Get clear! Run!" Austin yelled as he and the others ran to evade the other carriages as they fell violently from the tram and seemed to land everywhere. More explosions and wreckage littered the whole area.
This was starting to feel like something out of a disaster film as Austin just managed to jump away from a carriage that landed dangerously close to where he'd just been.
"I don't wanna die!" Dash yelled in a panicked voice as he ran.
More and more of the carriages on the tram tracks smashed into each other and then fell onto the snowy ground.
"Liara!" Austin yelled as he found himself separated from the others as two more carriages and a large piece of the tram track landed right in front of him, blocking his path.
He managed to stop just before he crashed into the debris by accident, but he then suddenly noticed a large crate that had landed in front of him. It was filled with several cylinder and rocket shaped objects, and it was partly on fire. One the side of the box it said "Warning: Explosives!"
Without even thinking, Austin turned and ran as fast as he could. The crate seemed to explode as he ran sending flying of his feet and he landed head first in the snow.
Austin dared not get up as thing started to quiet down again. The last of the tram had most likely come and derailed. Still, Austin simply lay there, a bit shaken by this and he also felt a bit too petrified to move. A sudden loud noise however quickly snapped him out of it. Austin looked up as he heard a loud bang in front of him.
Austin got up slowly and looked to where the bangs where coming from. As he did, one of the extremely bright spotlights on the base shone in his eyes and he struggled to see clearly. From what he could see however, one of the carriages had landed in front of him and it seemed to be shaking. Another loud bang came and the carriage shook again, this time even more. It was a s if there was something inside trying to get out.
Austin was about to do a scan, but at that moment the door on the carriage was suddenly catapulted into the air as another bang smashed it off. It flew up into the air and then landed very hard right next to Austin.
Austin simply stood there as he saw something very big crawl out of the carriage. The light was still shining in his eyes and he could only see the silhouette of what liked a massive creature of some sort. It looked almost spider like from the looks of it having more than just two arms and two legs. It's precise size was hard to tell, but from the looks of things at had to be at least 5 metres tall.
The silhouette merely stood where it was for a moment. Austin dared not move in case this thing hadn't seen him yet. The creature seemed to look in his direction for a moment and he seriously contemplated on running, but it then turned away and seemed to sniff the cold air. Austin could only dread to imagine what this thing was. Although he could only see the silhouette, it did not look alike any sort of creature he'd even seen before. The creature then reared it's head up and emitted a loud ear splitting roar which sounded very close to a scream. Once it had done so, the creature then looked in the other direction away from Austin and disappeared as it hopped down. Whatever that thing had been, it looked like it was gone. At least… for now.

Austin quickly found the others who also seemed a bit shaken from the experience. Dash in particular looked a bit dizzy with shock.
"You guys okay?" he asked.
"No significant damage, I guess." Said X-5.
"Okay, first things first… what the hell was that?!" said Ventra. "Accidents like these only ever happened with Earthen trains."
"It wasn't an accident. Someone put some Alliance demolition charges on the tracks." Said Griffin as he fished his minigun out of some of the wreckage.
"Why would the Alliance marines blow up the tram though?" said Dash, finally regaining his voice.
"Lot's of reasons. Most likely to cut off reinforcements." Said Liara.
"That was a cargo tram though. All the markings on the carriages denote cargo and supplies. Plus, my scans show no sign of any other life forms." Said Leena.
"You okay, Shepard? You look like you've seen a ghost." Sandra asked concernedly, noticing how Austin seemed rather quiet.
"I think I did." He replied.
"What?" said everyone.
"There was some sort of… creature in one of the carriages. I don't know what it was, but it was… big. I didn't really get a good look though, I only saw it's silhouette." Said Austin, trying to keep his nerve and trying to pull himself together and stop his minor shaking.
"Well, whatever it was, it's no longer in the vicinity. My scans show nothing." Said X-5.
"Do you think there's a shipping manifest on this thing?" Ventra asked.
Leena nodded as she picked up a small datapad. It looked a bit damaged, but functional.
"According to this, they where bringing in cargo and supplies from the next base several miles from here." Said the Quarian. Before anyone could speak however, she continued. "But they had something else as well. Under special authority from the Illusive Man, secret cargo was also being moved here as well. It doesn't really say anything more than that, apart from something about, Experiment 13."
Everyone fell a bit silent. If the Illusive Man himself had ordered something to be transported here under extreme secrecy, it could not be good. Austin however pushed these thoughts aside and his thoughts turned back to the Alliance and his sister.
"We'd better get moving. We've still got a job to do." He said.
All of Alpha Squad nodded and they headed for the entrance they'd planned on originally. The small opening where the tram should've disappeared into was still open. If they where quick, they could get in before it closed.

It stood on top of a very large piece of debris. The small metal creatures that it could see moving below all had their backs turned, so it didn't need to worry about being seen. It was tempted to just attack here and there, being held as a prisoner inside that carriage for so long had made it very hungry. It watched patiently as the metal figures made their way through some kind of opening. As the creature moved a bit closer, being careful not to be seen or make any noise because of it's massive size, it could slowly feel the warmth and light coming from inside. A strong smell also started to come to the creatures nostrils, a smell that easily overpowered the current usual smells of smoke, fire, oil and the freezing cold air. Flesh and blood! The creatures hunger only seemed to grow as it could now smell some proper prey. It watched as the metal figures disappeared through the gap. It considered this for a moment. Would it be wise to go in there? For all it knew, this could just be another trap by those humans who had tortured and imprisoned it ever since it could remember its' first sight and smell from birth.
The contemplation however was interrupted when it saw that the large doors where slowly closing. Moving as quickly and quietly as it could, the creature ran at the entrance and managed to stealthily jump in without being spotted.
The creature gave a very comforting sigh as it felt warm air on it's skin again. Plus, the smell of food got even stronger. Soon it's hunger would be over. The creature gave a small growl as it set off to hunt for it's unsuspecting prey.

Sarah Jane Shepard was alone. Everyone tat she'd been with earlier had either been captured or killed. She was really regretting coming here now. This had all started when the Alliance had recently acquired intel saying that a Cerberus base was here. An Alliance team had been selected for this task, and as an N7 marine she'd been put in charge of them.
This mission however had gone to hell almost instantly. This whole thing had been a trap. From what Sarah had managed to learn, this was all a trap for a Helldiver team with her and the marines as bait. Sarah had done her best to fight them off, but all the remaining Alliance soldiers where either dead or currently a hostage.
Sarah was currently wondering cautiously through a corridor. From inside the N7 Death Mask that she wore, her breathing was calm but fast. She was sweating as well with nervousness and fright. Not only had she had failed the team she'd been put in charge of, but something else had happened. She hadn't seen what had happened, but from what she had heard, Cerberus wasn't the only danger in the base. Something had come out of the shadows and attacked the Cerberus troops. Sarah hadn't even dared look and had just run. She wasn't cowardly, but she had been in very poor condition to fight. In fact, her N7 Defender armour was rather damaged from several gunshot holes. Sarah herself though was okay.
A sudden bleeping sound however, made Sarah stop. She'd attached a motion tracker to her assault rifle and it was currently showing something was near. Sarah now slowed to a snail's pace as she slowly continued through the long corridor. As she continued moving however, the bleeping just seemed to get faster. Whatever was near her was getting closer, or she was getting closer to it.
She turned towards a nearby door and the beeping was now so fast that it was just a constant beep. Sarah was taking no chances with whoever this was. Just as she set up to breach however, the door was suddenly smashed open and Sarah found the door collided with her, sending her flying backwards.
As Sarah slowly got up, she looked to the doorway. Standing there was a figure. At first, Sarah couldn't tell because of a lot of smoke. But as it cleared, it revealed a female form clad in some sort of armour. White and black and a few other colours adorned certain parts of the armour. The helmet in particular however sent chills down Sarah's spin as she found herself looking at the helmet of a Cerberus Phantom. This Phantom however was unlike some of the ones that had attacked her and her team earlier though.
This Phantom had a dark grey armour that looked more larger and bulkier than the usual Phantom's who had more slimmer armour. The Phantom's right arm looked almost like a cybernetic arm. It reminded Sarah just a bit of her father, General Matt Shepard of the Helldivers. In addition to this, the Phantom had a battle dress of some kind around her legs, two large shoulder guards, and she also seemed to have a small pony tail of jet black hair sticking out from behind her helmet which oddly had one half of it's eye optics blue, and the other half red. The Helmet itself had a more slimmer design than the usual Phantoms and the eyes where different too. Rather than the design that a normal Phantom had, this one had a design that looked more death like. The Phantom also had two large curved blades of some kind on her back. Of course she also had the usual Phantom sword which was strapped in a holster on her right thigh. Also on the Phantom's back where three spears of some kind. They where decorated by some sort of necklaces with miniature skulls on it, and on the very ends of the spears where real human skulls. One of them even looked like it sill had some blood on it, and another even had it's spine attached. It was not a pretty sight.
The Phantom glared down at the N7 marine. Sarah didn't even stop to consider as she fired several shots at this new Phantom. The shots didn't even seem to have any effect on the Phantom's armour as she made her way over to Sarah. The Phantom's cyborg hand closed around Sarah's neck and threw her against the wall. As Sarah recovered from this blow, she noticed the Phantom walk up to here for another attack. Sarah didn't give he the chance however and she used the end of her rifle like a club and smashed the Phantom in the side of the head. Very shockingly however, this did not seem to even hurt the Phantom and she turned her head back in Sarah's direction.
Before the N7 marine could try again, the Phantom grabbed Sarah's neck again in her cyborg hand and grabbed the rifle with her other, throwing it away as she did do. Both opponents stared at each others masks for a moment before the Phantom seemed to move her head to the side slightly. Then there was a small faint mechanical sound as her helmet retracted, revealing the users scared face.
"You?!" said Sarah in surprise.
Sarah found herself staring into the face of a very old friend of hers. Tyranny Azula, known these days by the name, Shadow. The cybernetic upgrades from the Illusive Man had helped a great deal. The Phantom had never felt this powerful before. As had already been noticed by Sarah also, she had made a few upgrades to her armour. The cybernetics on her face however did show. They hadn't fully healed from the surgery and Shadow's fierce temper and violent attitude wasn't helping. In fact, the scars where glowing brightly with an evil red tint to them. Only Shadow's blue cybernetic eye stood out, but a few minor implants around her eye also glinted from the scars hadn't fully healed yet.
"Hello, old friend. You don't look to good." Said Shadow. Even her voice sounded all the more evil than ever.
"And you look like crap, Azula. What's happened to you?" said Sarah coldly.
Although the two women had been old school friends a very long time ago, that was passed. Worse, they had parted on very bad terms. To say that they where pleased to see one another would be an impossibly mild understatement.
"Your meddlesome brother, that's what!" said Shadow.
"You let your past haunt you, Azula. My brother's been dead for two years." Said Sarah, trying her best to still breath as the cyborg still kept her grip tightly around her throat.
"How little you know." Shadow grinned evilly. "And how little you will know before I kill you."
"Still angry about the night before break up? Nothing's changed! Cerberus is evil… and so are you!" said Sarah.
Shadow didn't say anything and simply looked at Sarah's death mask.
"You're very wrong, dear Sarah. Once again you put your keen and penetrative mind to the task, and as usual, it come to the wrong conclusion." Said Shadow. "Now if you'll excuse my hastiness, I have a score to settle with your brother."
Shadow then switched hands so that her human hand now gripped Sarah's neck while her cyborg hand was now free. The long metal claws slowly grew out of the mechanical fingers, still dripping with a bit of blood from her previous victim.
"Maybe… but not today!" said Sarah.
As Shadow lunged at her, Sarah pulled the trigger on the pistol she'd been holding in her left hand and had been pointing right at Shadow's stomach. It was a trick she'd learned well from her brother to offer one hand, but arm the other. A trick it seemed that Shadow had similarly employed as well, but didn't use in the same way.
Shadow gave a sharp and painful scream as the round managed to penetrate her new armour. She dropped Sarah and her left hand flung to the wound. As Sarah got to her feet however, she saw that it wasn't bleeding.
"A clever attempt. But ultimately pointless." Shadow smiled evilly as her helmet pieced itself back together over her head.
Sarah knew she couldn't possibly have any hope of fighting Shadow at all, so she did the only thing that would be best. She ran. Surprisingly, Shadow didn't run after her, just walked.

The N7 marine had no idea where she was going, nor did she really care, but she had to hide somewhere. As she ran down the stairs and threw a long corridor, she tried a nearby door to hide in, but that wouldn't open. Starting to panic now, Sarah pushed open some double doors. As she turned a corner however, what she saw next froze her right there.
In front of her was the unmistakable cloaked silhouette of a Helldiver. Normally this would've been good news for Sarah. But as the Helldiver uncloaked in front of her, she found herself staring at a very familiar sight. The Helldiver's armour was almost 100% identical to the armour that her brother once wore.
A few differences was that this ghost seemed to look like more… updated. Almost as though it where showing what her brother would look like where he still alive.
Sarah thought she was going mad as this ghost drew an M-76 Revenant from his back. He seemed to head towards her without even showing any emotion. Not wanting to find out whether this spirit came in peace or not, Sarah headed back through the doors that she'd come through earlier. She wished she hadn't however when she saw Shadow had now reached the bottom of the stairs in front of her. The Phantom's cybernetic arm folded open to reveal her mini plasma cannon which she pointed at Sarah. Sarah turned around only to find her brother's ghost blocking her path as well. He too seemed to have his weapon pointed at her. Was this really the end? Sarah just closed her eyes from behind her Death Mask and waited for the inevitable. However, what she heard next in place of an expected gunshot changed everything.
"Sarah, get down!"
Sarah's eyes shot open. Her brother's ghost had definitely said that and it was in his voice. Sarah didn't have much time to debate this though as she just trusted her instincts and ducked without even thinking.
As she hit the floor, there was a loud bang as the ghost fired his weapon. Sarah looked up slightly to see Shadow staggering backwards slightly. The round hadn't damaged her armour, but it had left a mark it seemed.
It then occurred to Sarah that what she had thought to be a ghost had just actually fired a real shot at Shadow. Was her mind playing tricks on her?
Her answer came in the form of her brother grabbing her and shielding her from Shadow's attacks as the Phantom recovered from being shot and fired her plasma cannon at them. Any thoughts of this being a ghost vanished from her head now. This was real. But how could it be? Her brother had been confirmed killed in action two years ago. And she really doubted that it had all been a cover up, even if it had, Austin would've still found a way of letting her and their parents know he was alive. He wasn't that sort of person, he'd never let anyone think for a moment he was dead if he wasn't really.
Question after question flooded Sarah's already confused mind as she felt plasma shot after plasma shot impact against the Helldiver's armour. It didn't even seem to be causing him pan and neither was it damaging him.
Then Shadow's plasma fire stopped suddenly. Her weapon had overheated. The Helldiver immediately reacted by smashing open a nearby door and pushing Sarah in.
"Stay here!" he said.
Once again, it sounded just like her brother. Could it really be him?

Austin turned back to Shadow. He had to admit he was taken aback slightly by Shadow's new attire. She just seemed even more villainous than ever now. The skulls just made things even worse.
Right now though, he was more concentrated on making sure that Sarah was safe. Once he'd dealt with Shadow, hopefully for the last time, he'd explain everything.
Shadow's wrist cannon finally cooled down and she resumed firing. Once again though, the plasma melted upon contact with his shields. Unlike Helldiver cannons, Shadow's was based off of the plans for the prototype which had been stolen after these ones had been discarded because they overheated. As a result, Shadow's plasma was far too weak to penetrate his shields or amour. Any other normal person, or an Alliance marine in Sarah's case would still be obliterated though.
As plasma shot after plasma shot kept melting harmlessly on his shields. Austin fired another shot from his Revenant. Shadow staggered once again as the heat sink hit her hard in the chest. Before Shadow had a chance to recover, Austin fired another one. He fired another one, and another, and another until finally the last one knocked Shadow onto her back. The neon lights on her armour flickered and seemed to go out. That at least meant she was down for now. But Austin knew Shadow too well, she was down but not out.
The Helldiver stood over the Phantom's motionless body as he took a thermal clip from his combat belt and inserted it into the Revenant. Sarah risked a glance out of the doorway to see Shadow's neon lights coming back. Before Austin could react in time, Shadow got back up and her feet and grabbed the gun.
The two opponents glared at each other as they wrestled violently with each other. Austin tried to loosen Shadow's grip while Shadow attempted to yank the gun out of Austin hands. After failing to overpower each other, they simply abandoned the gun and grabbed one another.
Sarah watched as the two armoured opponents smashed one another into the walls, almost punching right through them. The shear strength and force of both of them caused the walls to crumble slightly. Austin then managed to give Shadow a hard kick which smashed her right though one of the walls.
As both opponents disappeared into the next room, Sarah ran for it. She knew that if this was indeed her brother, he'd want her to do this.

Shadow threw Austin to the ground. The cybernetic upgrades had made her stronger than ever and she was also faster. Not to mention that her temper was just as fiery as ever. As Austin tried to get up, Shadow once again grabbed him and threw him out threw a nearby window. The window was in front of an outside walk way, so Austin didn't need to worry about falling to his death.
Shadow it seemed didn't want to finish him off. Her real target was Sarah. As Austin saw Shadow leave, he jumped back in through the window and took off after her, stopping only to pick his Revenant back up.

Sarah continued running through all the different corridors and down all the stairs. She dared not look back for fear that Shadow was right behind her. Then, things got even worse. Sarah found herself in a corridor that seemed to have no end, and to make things even worse, the lights started to flicker. As the lights went on and off Sarah started to sweat even more. Sarah's running stopped completely and it now turned to a walk. Then to a crawl.
The lights went off. Then on again. Then they went off again for a very long time. Then again they came on. Sarah jumped back in fright as she Saw Shadow standing in the corridor before the lights went off again. There was a brief pause before they came back on again. Shadow was gone and the corridor was empty again. This time though, the lights where very faint. All the lights managed to do was allow the doorways and just a tiny bit of the corridor to be seen.
Sarah didn't moved for a very long time. She simply stood there, petrified with fright. She took several deep breaths before she made a very slow and cautious step forward. The N7 marine instantly regretted that though. Because as soon as her foot touched the ground, the whole complex seemed to shake as a long drawn out, ear-splitting roar echoed throughout the entire corridor and the complex.
Sarah was once again left completely paralysed as the terrifying roar shook the entire place and she saw her vision blur a bit. Sarah was seriously beginning to doubt whether her sanity was intact now.
The lights then suddenly went off again. This time, they seemed to stay off. Without any way of seeing anything that could attack her, Sarah quickly reached for a flashlight attachment on her belt. She quickly turned it on as she un-holstered her assault rifle and clipped the attachment into place.
Like something in a horror film, or a horror game, the flashlight only made the atmosphere all the more eerie. It only illuminated about two or three metres in front of her.

Austin set a very slow pace through the corridor. Whatever that roar had been, it had not been friendly. Worse still, the lights where out. As if it wasn't hard enough to find Sarah.
His thoughts however where interrupted when his suit detected motion right around the next corner. Austin immediately switched off his flashlight attachments and also switched off the spotlights on his armour.
Very quietly, the Helldiver took cover right at the end of corridor so that the motion he was detecting was right around the corner. He noticed that whoever this was also had a flashlight.
Austin slowly took a very deep breath. He had no way of knowing who this was. If he was lucky, it was Sarah. If he wasn't… well, he'd adapt to the situation.
He took one more deep breath and he bolted round the corner, gun raised.

Sarah jumped back slightly in surprise as her brother jumped out in front of her. In her surprise, she drew her gun. When she saw that it was Austin however, she didn't fire. She still kept her gun trained on the Helldiver though. She wasn't taking any chances. She had to know for certain whether this was truly her brother. For a long time she'd been hearing all these different rumours about her brother being alive, even when he should be dead.

Austin instantly put his left hand up in an attempting reassuring manner.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Sarah, easy! It's me!" he said quickly.
Sarah was clearly shaking. She was clearly very frightened, confused and probably delirious. It almost made even Austin shed a tear to see his sister like this. What had the last two years done to her?!
The N7 marine very slowly lowered her gun slightly so that her guns flashlight was not shining in her brother's face. It was now that she saw her brother's armour clearly. True enough, her brother had a more advanced look to him. His armour also had a more cleaner look than when she'd last seen him alive two years ago. Still, as she'd found out, people these days could make very convincing replicas of armour if a person was willing to pay enough money. And, as she and her brother had learned in their line of work, appearances could be very deceiving.
"Show me your face." She ordered.
"I…" Austin went to say, but Sarah repeated her words, this time even louder and way more forceful.
"Show me your face!" she yelled.
Austin did not try to argue with Sarah and retracted his helmet. He also holstered his Revenant.
Sarah was lost for words as the Helldiver's helmet retracted and she found herself staring right into the face of her brother. He looked no different than she remembered. He did seem to have one or two new scars, but other than that, nothing different at all.
Sarah quickly snapped her mind back to the situation at hand though. Facial surgery was also popular with enemies.
"How do I know it's really you?! Tell me something only my brother would know!" Sarah demanded.
Austin did not even hesitate to argue. He instantly wracked his brain for something about Sarah that only he would know. Then he quickly came across a memory of when Sarah had revealed a very startling fact about herself.
"When you where in high school, you brought a girl home with you. After a long conversation, you revealed that you are in fact bisexual. You prefer that this fact is left secret, and is only ever kept between you and me, our mother and father, and your closest friends." Said Austin.
Sarah was left speechless as she heard this. Only her true brother, her family, and someone she trusted with her own life knew this secret. True indeed, she was bisexual and preferred women as much as she preferred men.
To make sure he was absolutely certain, Austin then added another fact about his sister that only he would know.
"Also our mother always called you by the nickname Sari until you where 12 years old." He said.
Upon hearing this, Sarah eye's went wide with shock behind her Death Mask and she dropped her assault rifle right there.
To Austin utter surprise, his sister then literally pounced on him and hugged him so tightly that he feared she might crush his armour. The N7 marine even removed her Death Mask as she did so.
"You're alive! You really are alive! I can't believe those reports where actually right." She said, now sounding on the point of tears.
Austin wanted to say something, but he ultimately couldn't find the right words and he simply hugged Sarah back just as tightly. Apart from Liara, Austin had missed Sarah more than anyone.
After several long seconds, Sarah released her brother from her hug and Austin got his first clear look at Sarah's face.
She hadn't changed a single bit and she looked just as young and beautiful as she had done two years ago. Her hair looked red than ever and her face was just a beautiful. She had a more mature look this time, but it did nothing to diminish her looks. This was beyond any shadow of a doubt his sister. A sister he loved dearly, and would never abandon again.
"I've… I've missed you so much." He said, doing his best to hold back his own tears. He did hate it when he went all emotional like this.
"Where have you been all this time?" Sarah asked.
"Dead! And now he's going back to it!" a voice yelled.
Both siblings instantly looked to the source of the noise. The light's instantly came back on Shadow stood in the corridor. Here where both her targets, right where she wanted them.
Austin immediately reacted and he pushed Sarah behind him. His helmet reassembled as he did so. He turned to face Sarah as he did so.
"Run." He said.
For a moment, Sarah didn't reply. She wasn't about to abandon him now.
"Run!" Austin repeated, this time more forceful.
Sarah didn't need to be told again. She quickly picked up her Death Mask and her assault rifle and ran for it.
Shadow saw her run and started slowly waling towards Austin.
"Not this time, Shadow. You can mess with me, but you will not have my sister!" Austin said in his head.
As Shadow slowly made her way towards him, Austin un-holstered his Revenant and pointed it at Shadow. As he pulled the trigger however, the gun simply clicked. Austin pulled the trigger again, but still the gun clicked. The Helldiver looked at the gun's thermal clip chamber. It was completely empty.
"Aw. What's the matter, Shepard? Lost something?" Shadow laughed evilly as she took a small cylinder object out from under her combat dress.
"I hate it when she does that!" Austin groaned in his head as he saw the thermal clip shine in Shadow's cyborg hand. The Phantom had very sneakily taken it out of the gun when they had wrestled with it earlier.
Shadow tucked the thermal clip back under her combat dress and resumed her advance. Despite the fact that the gun was empty and that Austin didn't have enough time to put another one in though, Austin did not throw the gun on the ground. Instead, he did something that the Phantom hadn't thought of.
Once Shadow was close enough, Austin swung the gun right at her helmet and it hit her with full force. Normally, that would've knocked a normal person to the ground, but Shadow was different. The cybernetics in her body made her three times stronger and more endurable than a Krogan. All the attack did was knock her head to the side a bit.
Austin however, followed this with several more strikes, but still it did no good. After the last strike, the two simply glared at one another.
Austin went for another strike, but Shadow blocked this one. Before Austin could react in time, Shadow brought the Revenant to the side and then gave Austin a hard but very swift kick. Surprisingly, the kick was so hard that Austin was sent flying backwards.
As the Helldiver collided very hard with the floor, he caused several of the tiles and the floor to smash part slightly. Austin was left rather disoriented by this and it took him a while to recover. Shadow noticed this and slowly walked up to him. She stood over her opponent for a moment before she reached down and grabbed Austin with her cyborg hand. Before Austin could do anything, Shadow hauled him up and threw him right threw the wall.
Austin saw that his surroundings where a large open office. Shadow slowly stepped through the hole she'd made in the wall. This time though, Austin had recovered from Shadow's kick and he swung his leg at hers. Shadow was knocked onto her back and she landed very hard on the floor. Austin then rolled back up and he brought his left fist down onto Shadow's helmet. The Phantom spasmed slightly as the fist hit her square in the face.
Shadow however quickly counteracted with a swift kick which knocked Austin off of her. As Austin recovered slightly from this, Shadow rolled over onto her front and quickly got back up in a crouched position.
The two opponents once again looked at one another again before Austin picked up a large desk and swung it at Shadow.
Shadow was still in the middle of getting up as the desk collided with her. However it did very little to damage her. All the desk did was smash to pieces in Austin's hands as it made contact with the Phantom's armour.
Austin looked at the smashed apart desk for a minute before Shadow grabbed him and flung him against the wall, smashing apart several more desks as she did so.
As the Phantom pinned him against the wall, Austin gave Shadow a hard punch in the face which sent her off him. Before Shadow had time to recover, Austin grabbed her and threw her half way across the wall, once again smashing up more desks as he did so.
Austin slowly made his way over to where Shadow was slowly getting up. He was so preoccupied by expecting Shadow to trip him up though, that he failed to notice that the Phantom's left hand was glowing with biotics. Austin only noticed too late before Shadow gave him a very hard biotic ally charged punch which sent him flying.
Shadow got to her feet and made her way slowly to where the Helldiver had landed. When she saw the small crater where the body should've been however, there was nothing there. Just as she looked around though, Austin suddenly uncloaked right in front of her and gave her another punch in the face. Shadow was quick to counteract with her own punch however as her cybernetic hand made very hard contact with Austin's helmet.
The Helldiver reacted quickly by grabbing both of Shadow's arms and pushing her hard. The Phantom tired to push back, back Austin's strength and mass still outweighed her own. Wall after wall was smashed and crumpled as the two opponents charged their way through.
Shadow finally managed to get grip on her feet again and she pushed hard. This stopped Austin there and Shadow seized the opening. Using her cyborg hand, she grabbed Austin's helmet and smashed it several times into a wall.
Austin had to admit that this was not going well. He'd been completely unprepared for Shadow's new strength and enhancements. She also seemed all the more determined than ever to kill him. He doubted he'd be able to win this if it continued. He'd have to find some way of losing her and rejoining with Alpha Squad, and hopefully his sister.

The corridors once again shook as another horrifying roar echoed throughout the corridors. Sarah was beginning to think that Cerberus wasn't the only enemy down here. Having heard this roar twice now, it now sounded familiar to the sounds she'd heard when Cerberus had suddenly been attacked by an unseen creature. Whatever that thing had been, it was close.
Her thought's however where interrupted when she suddenly ran into something hard. The crash knocked her back and she fell. She looked up to what she had bashed into. It looked like a silhouette of some kind. A camouflaged silhouette be more precise. It moved slightly as it looked at her.
"Sarah?" it asked in a strangely familiar female voice.
Sarah looked up in surprise. She recognized that voice immediately.
"Liara?!"
The silhouette disengaged it's cloak and Liara stood above Sarah in her Helldiver armour.
"You're a Helldiver?" Sarah asked in surprise.
"It's a very long story." Said Liara as she helped Sarah up.
At that moment, the rest of Alpha Squad uncloaked.
"You're all here as well?" Sarah asked in surprise.
Before anyone could answer though, another roar echoed throughout the corridor. This time though, it was much louder and it sounded as though it was much closer. Something was heading their way, and it did not sound friendly.

Right, Part 2 will be up soon, I promise, but it needs a bit more time. I haven't finished it yet.
Few things I can guarantee at least in Part 2:
Fierce sword fights, including between Shepard and Shadow...
The creature fully revealed...
Miranda and Jacob defect to the Helldivers
A catfight between Miranda and Shadow (Miranda loses i'm afraid, but survives)
Stay tuned and i'll hopefully get back to you in a few days.
Please do leave reviews for this as well. Like to know how well i've done for a completely original mission story.
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Mass Effect: The Helldiver Saga, The Collector War