CH13

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Revival

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Soulsavers- Revival

2555- Shanxi, Evacuation Centre 12, Hardin's Port

The sounds of the gunships roared overhead as the clouds beckoned forwards with heavy winds, dust and ash carried in through the air as the battle over the capital city continued. The sun was setting over the horizon its tinged aura illuminated the clouds a beautiful bronze and orange, it softened the sight of the world in turmoil, even as fire raged, and the earth burned. He could feel the heat, the warmth, the world, as it cried in pain.

Said gonna be a revival tonight ooh
I wanna see a revival yeah
Gonna be a revival tonight
Lord, let there be a revival yeah

Shepard took moments to feel the warmth slip away from him as he hit the ground, his body weight carried through the air as another sun erupted next to him. His ears couldn't register the noise from the explosion, but he could feel the impact of the shockwave pass through his very fibre, he landed upon the ashen ground and felt the cold earth wake him.

Forgive what I have done
It means my soul's survival, oohh
I need you so, it's sin
Put an end to my suffering oh

He grasped the earth below as he felt himself attempting to recover from the impact, blood seeped from a wound that had appeared from the battle, he could feel the warm blood drip from his aching body, his adrenaline kicked in to keep him going, he didn't want to die, not like this. He stepped up and above, mass accelerator rounds zipped around him, puncturing the earth and environment around him.

He was pushed to his side as an armored figure appeared; it knocked him to the ground and let his head hit the floor once more. He could see its visor, the angled head, the enemy; a figureless being that just had a gun in its hand, alien, xeno, and names couldn't define what these beings really were, ultimately because it is meaningless. They are all equal in death aren't they?

Why am I so blind with my eyes wide open? ooh
Trying to get my hands clean in dirty water

His fate was not met at the end of that gun though, the figure buckled and exploded in a messy bloody gore as it was struck by a heat round, and in moments he felt the gore wash away and was replaced by calmness. He heard someone yell his name.

"Daniel!" Daniel felt the hands of someone lifting him.

He was now facing the familiar look of his brother, Aldo; he smiled at him and said.
"Come on Daniel, get back up marine, you need to get going. The transports are coming, mum and dad are going soon, and you need to go." Al said pulling him to his side.

I wanna see a revival tonight
Lord, let there be a revival yeah
I need to see a revival tonight oh
Wanna see a revival oohh

Aldo pulled him through the streets of ash and blood; even as bullets and explosions flew through the air Al wasn't perturbed from his task. His iron willed brother had tasks far greater than just getting him to safety; Al was always the strongest, if not the oldest for a reason. He carried Shepard to the port where the people scrambled for the safety of a transport to the heavens above.

Shepard was pulled to the side as Al moved him to an emergency terminal where the marines were transporting wounded. Through the hallways of the dying and dead they emerged at the stairwell to the nearest evac gunships. Pelican flights were boarding with as many people they could fit; his gunship was waiting for him at the end of a landing platform.

Why am I so blind with my eyes wide open? yeah
Now I need someone
Let this dark night be done oh

Daniel felt himself being lifted into the gunship, blood was still dripping but he tried to grab onto Al, he said. "Don't go, don't Al…" He grunted through his teeth. His brother put his hands on his own and unclasped them. Daniel felt anesthetic being injected into his wound and he felt light headed, he couldn't feel his hands.

"I won't be gone Daniel, I'll be right here, with them, we'll always be with them." He punctuated the sentence with a smile.

I need you so, it's sin
Put an end to my suffering
I wanna see a revival tonight
Lord, there needs to be a revival

The gunship lifted off and Daniel felt the world move away, he tried to reach out, no words came, he felt it all leave, the warmth, the sights and sounds. As they reached above the layers of ash and smoke, it happened. The light of warmth he felt as he stared at the sun, the light came from below as it engulfed all of Shanxi, he felt the warmth pass him and he felt nothing else, but that warmth.

"We're waiting brother."

Omega- Residential level 20

The world came crashing back to him as he woke up, his vision blurry except the blood pooling exactly where he had his scar from years back; it had healed but left a mark that made everyone ask what had happened. He never gave a clear explanation aside from "Shanxi". He gripped his chest and felt the warm blood pool away; he checked his internal suit systems and made sure he had been treated by the auto medical response.

His body was hurt, but not as badly as when the gunship had crashed, his body was sore all over and it would take some time before his drugs were administered to get him up again. He coughed and looked over himself, all the years of fighting this war had turned him so dull, his grey plating and black carapace had been utterly ruined, and it no longer held the dreaded black and silver, but dull grey and white of repairs and armour damage.

He then felt the cold metal floor of the Aires gunship with his hands before he tried to sit up, he suspected that the gunship crashed and he was lying in the fuselage about 3 meters from the cockpit. The aching of his bones and their cracking followed as he tried to lift himself up, this wasn't the first time he had managed to end up being tossed around like he was a salad, and this surely wouldn't be the last.

He tasted tin in his mouth, he could hear his internal medical systems kicking in, his body felt slightly better when the painkillers kicked in, he managed to bear the pain and stand upright, he analysed where he was and his previous assumption was correct, he was sitting in the remains of the fuselage, but the cockpit was lying in pieces as well. He kicked off some of the trashed metal and search inside, he found that Carol wasn't present in the gunship, and neither were Mikael and Matthew.

He decided to take a short break so his body could repair itself, the internal bio dispensers were at their peak to keep the Colonel upright, it was amazing that he could walk considering the crash he had taken was worse than that from his HEV jump 4 years prior. He made a quick check on inventory, he still had his gear but he had lost a few grenades, he'd probably have to make do with what he has left. There was also the question about what he had encountered, his head throbbed trying to remember the voice, it sounded sinister and out of place.

He made sure to keep his ears and eyes out for any further encounters with the collectors, the being that he had faced was one of their creations, and he had still the harsh memories of Matano and the first encounter with the collectors. But something was nudging in the back of his mind, he didn't know what it was but it made him uneasy, the collectors and the reapers, what did it all boil down to? He had more questions than answers and the ONI knew something he didn't, especially since Ackerman told him about the Shadows.

He checked his health gauge [89%] it was better enough, Shepard lifted himself from the wreckage and began to search, his TAC beeped in as it registered the contacts in the region, there were 3 signals, all from his team. Mikael was stuck down in the lower levels of Omega, he seemed to be dealing with a lot of collectors, he also seemed to have friends with him, and it made sense seeing as the collectors were the real threat. Carol was far to his west, but her signal wasn't showing up clearly, she was probably using a scrambler in order to hide her location again… And finally Matthew was on the higher levels above, he was battling with some collectors in residential level 4.

Shepard decided to take his chances with Matthew, his captain was his first priority as Carol would only join up once she has done what she wants to do, and Mikael is a brilliant soldier with plenty of skill and valour, he could hold his own against a platoon worth of krogan battlemasters and not flinch, he had no need to truly fear for his team, they were prepared for this kind of situation or else they would have never agreed to come along or ever survived long enough to join.

He felt his strength return, he moved from the wreckage and through the dirty streets of Omega, he'd have to get to Matthew as fast as possible and hopefully find some help along the way. He carefully negated the streets as his TAC pad mapped out his location. He found that there was a lot of traffic from the general communications, the marines had landed over the whole station in random groups and were now being attacked from left to right by the collectors, and it seemed that the collectors didn't want the UCAF to interrupt their plans.

He smirked but then had a flashback to the collector crab unit, it seemed more than capable of ripping into Aires gunship, and it spoke through to him, he then felt the memories of his past keeping up with him now, all of those years, one would think that a person could have gone passed them, but now he didn't know. He pulled through so often, but not today, repressed memories have been resurfacing ever since he joined the helldivers.

He got to his feet and made a marker on his position, he searched for a route to the upper levels to reach his captain and regroup with the others to find the asari leader of Omega. Loading his AR he jumped away from the wreckage and kept himself shadowed in the dim and dirty streets of the massive station. His trip took him from the crash through empty streets and plazas.

As he passed an intersection in the district he found his way through the slums, from there he made his first contact with the collectors ground forces. It was halfway across from an apartment complex, 2 dozen chitin armoured figures stood on guard, he could see that they were not part of the inhabitants mostly because they were the most Omni present group around and they had guns.

The collectors were moving large black pods from the apartment, a number of the pods were still on the ground but those were soon to be gone as well, the collectors were moving them by air and ground. His objective was the plaza next to the apartment, it had a lift to the levels above and he needed to make the trip through 4 junctions on the way so it was a long way up.

He could tell that this wasn't going to be an easy attack, 24 against 1 was never good odds, but then so was the 700 odd assault waged on Matano by the collectors trying to kill him. He took out a modified Oracle scope, he attached it to his AR and began to observe the collectors movements. 4 were on patrol, 8 were in the plaza's front, and the rest were monitoring the pods.

The guards on patrol came first; he'd need to be very careful in dealing with them first before going ahead to punch by the rest of the collectors.

He dropped down into the shadow of one of the buildings nearby and brought his AR to bear on the 4 moving guards at the front, he fired in 2 short bursts and all four dropped in moments. The AR that he had wasn't silenced and it was easy to tell where shots come from when everything is dim, the 18 remaining collectors converged upon Daniel's position.

He ran and dropped behind the cover of a wall as fire from the collectors sprayed his position, he waited for a pause before he fired back; he clipped 2 more as they came from the plaza front. Ducking again behind another wall to his right he prepared to rush around the oncoming collectors. As another wave of gunfire stopped he began to fire in bursts alongside the right flank killing 3 collector drones as he rushed. He was stopped as one brought a particle beam to bear on his position.

The beam drained part of his shields and left him worried about how much more damage he could take before he'd have to duck again. He rolled over his cover and on to the other side while firing, his shots peppered 2 more collectors before the particle beam dropped him into cover once more, he couldn't keep up with the beam user on the far left of his position, there was too little visibility to see the collector.

His position was quickly isolated as the collectors began to strategize; the 11 other began to concentrate fire on his position. He was pinned and without help, he either had to make a quick withdrawal or he was going to have to fight all of them off at once. His shields were still charging when he heard the noise.

"We can see all Shepard!" The deep voice shouted in his mind.

He turned to find the source of the noise coming from the rear was glowing, its eyes burning bright, it was firing vigorously at his position, and it was one of the damned special units that he assumed were from directly controlled drones. He felt the pressure now, the creature was pummelling him with gunfire and the regular bursts of fire blasts.

He needed a lot of help now, and unknowingly his prayers were answered. From around the street a heavy armoured figure in red appeared, his armour smothered with the blood of the collectors and blood pack, his years of combat saving his rump more than once. The armoured krogan had witnessed the guts of the human taking on the whole collector token force, he'd take the distraction to distribute some punishment and make his own way from the slums.

The krogan brought his shotgun and got right around the distracted collectors before he unleashed a burst of speed and began blowing into the unsuspecting drones. The collector's attention was suddenly taken from the primary target to another, a krogan who had decided to join the fight. Shepard heard the shift in fire as the collectors battled the unknown; Shepard popped from cover and unleashed hell upon the possessed collector.

The creature buckled and exploded into ash as the bullets shredded it; Shepard ducked behind cover once more and reloaded his rifle before he moved. He could see that he had been saved thanks to blind luck, a krogan was drawing away some of the attention, his weapons blazing as he fired a dozen or so rounds as he went into the collectors, his armour withstood a lot of the fire as he hammered into them.

Shepard felt it would be rude to leave while the fight was still going on, at least not without returning the courtesy to the alien. He fired into the rear of the collectors and began to hack his way through them as fast as the krogan could. In moments the last of the collectors were gone and there were only 2 figures that stood out amongst the dead.

Shepard had no respect for the krogans, he had seen their method of fighting, brutal and blunt, as well as over aggressive, but this method of fighting had just saved his ass from being cooked by the collectors. He went over to meet with the krogan not forgetting to still have his finger on the trigger. The red armoured krogan stood over some of the dead picking around for some heat sinks, the need for heat sinks were important in continuing the fight.

He turned his head up as the human soldier arrived, he could tell this was a veteran though, the armour and body language suggested it before the human ever made it to him. He asked.
"What is it that you want?"

The human in the black ebony armour responded.
"You got some pretty damn big death wish going in for that fight for me."

"Yeah, well I need to get up to the level above anyway, the collectors have pretty much overrun the whole slums, and I'd rather take my chances up there than down here." He replied over the searching of the bodies.

A red stick appeared from the hand of the human marine, it was a heat sink.
"Looking for this?"'

The krogan laughed, he never knew that humans had such a martial sense of humour.
"You're fast, I'll give you that."

He took the heat sink and stood up, his height was just a bit above the human's own, he could tell that the human wasn't like a normal one though, he had probably some cybernetics and a lot of physical upgrades, but the krogan was still a damn sure sight for sore eyes.
"So human what can I do for you?" The krogan asked.

"How about introductions? I'm Colonel Shepard, 88th helldivers." Shepard revealed.

The krogan replied. "The names Wrex, Urdnot Wrex."

The human and the krogan looked at each other for a moment, Shepard had his first meeting with a krogan who didn't want to smash his face into the ground, and Wrex had just made his first conversation with a human who didn't want to rip him to pieces with a knife. The ice was broken as Shepard asked.

"So, where do you plan on going?" He asked pointing to the plaza behind him.

"Needed to get to any level above, down here the collators already cleared out a number of blocks, it wouldn't be too smart to remain in the district any longer, I'm just trying to survive as usual." The krogan shrugged.

"Same, but I need to get to the level above to regroup with my squad mates; we're here for the search for Aria T'loak." He explained.

The krogan raised an eyebrow behind his helmet.
"You're after the pirate queen herself? Bold move."

"Well we do need her help in dealing with this collector problem. Rather not waste the chance getting some help along the way." Shepard said.

The krogan contemplated the idea of jumping along for the trip, having a human help in the coming fights would be a damn sure thing better than trying to run it on his own, he wouldn't have engaged the collectors directly if Shepard wasn't here. He made his decision.
"Fine, I'll accompany you human, I think there's something to be learned." He replied.

"Good, and by the way, call me Shepard." The colonel said.

The krogan smirked and followed after the colonel as they headed to the lifts. It didn't take long for them to reach the next junction on the level above, it was at level 14, from there they had to take a long way around the fighting to get to the next junction and reach 9 and from there the final route would get them to 4 where they'd reach main level where the port was, there they could begin their search for the location of Aria.

But along the way they had intercepted communications from the other marines who had landed, half the main force was scattered over the whole station with the other half engaged with the collectors on the levels below. He could tell that the marines were in need of direction, especially against the possessed forms of the collectors, he would need to command over them once he regrouped with the others.

On arriving at the main level of Omega he and Wrex were both greeted by the sounds of heavy fighting, they were presently about 40 contacts where they were, Matthew's signal was about 2 blocks in the direction of the club nearby. Shepard removed his AR and loaded in some HE shells, he was sure to fight something bigger and if his suspicions were correct they'd run into something bigger than just a crab.

Checking their sights the two made their way through to the outside plaza where they found themselves in the largest shoot out on the station, 40 contacts were neutral and all were a mix of UCAF marines and locals fighting against the collectors. Bullets and explosives scattered over the whole area as the battle raged on, Shepard was faced with the arduous task of locating someone of command experience.

He made his way through to a make shift command post by a few of the officers, he could tell they were part of the advanced assault that was supposed to have been on the lower level. He was saluted to by 4 marines.
"Sir, we didn't know if you were alive or not, but its damned good thing to see you here."

"Status report gentlemen." He asked curtly.

The Lt brought out an image of the area.
"Sir, there's about a 3 fucking battalions worth of the bug eyed mother fuckers between us and Captain Matthew's position, they're clogging the whole road ahead and from around the district, we can't push through without any more support. And from what command has managed, they can't send support, at least not yet."

"Well then we'll just have to make do won't we? I need to get to Matthew's position search for the leader of Omega." He said to the Lt.

"Aria, T'loak is on the other side of the district near the location of the captain sir, that's why he's there." The Sgt of the officers explained.

"Well then looks like I'm going in then." He smirked.

"I'd advise you against that option sir; we have reports of a ton of heavy armoured crab like things between us and them, there's no clear report but there's also a report that there's some kind of walker there as well. We don't have the man power or the firepower to punch through the enemy lines. We'll leave ourselves open for assault from any direction." The Lt warned.

"Who said anything about you marine? I need heavy weapons and a single route to clear the way to the captain, now do you know of any route and do you have any heavy weapons?" He asked.

The Lt and the officers looked at each other and shrugged, the Lt replied. "We have 3 heavy weapons, and there are 2 routes you can take, but we warn you, once you take them they close behind you, we can't risk being flanked while we're still pinned here." He told Shepard cautiously.

"I'll take them." He replied confidently.

XXXXX

Shepard was granted access to a whole drop pod filled with weapons, he removed a light 32cal machine gun, the Tristan Lancer machine gun was one of the UCAFs older weapons, it proved effective in the war and in the conflict with the turians, it held a 400 round ammo case and had 5 ammo drums, it was modified with MA upgrades to ensure maximum effectiveness, it was a bit bulky though when used.

There was a 40mm HEAT tank lance, the short hand grenade launcher was required to be used on enemy vehicles and armoured transports, it would no doubt provide the firepower to crack by the heavy infantry and enemy walkers. And then there was the final weapon, an External Exo-skeleton Assault Armour attachment.

The suit attachment was used for field use, but it would serve the colonel for this mission, he needed it for the 2 heavy weapons, and all of the ammo he was carrying. There was also the fact that the exo-skeleton had a short sided mini-gun and grenade launcher attached to it, it was enough for dealing with enemy crowds.

But before the two left, Shepard got one thing for the krogan who was accompanying him; he pulled a modified AA12 from the pod and gave him the ammo needed for the CQC combat shotgun. The krogan eyed him when he gave him the shotgun.
"You sure you trust me with this?" He pointed at the bronze coloured shotgun.

"Why not? That's probably going to save you a lot of trouble, besides; we need to rush the collectors, no need to hold back." Shepard commented as he brought the exo-skeleton armour up to operational standards.

The krogan nodded and followed after Shepard as they took the alternate route to the Captain and to the location of Aria T'loak. Along the way Wrex asked.
"You have a bold plan human?"

"Yeah, it's rather simple, we fight or we die, that's the plan, why need to bother with going head first into an oncoming army of bugs?" He replied.

The krogan nodded and followed after him. When they finally arrived at the end of the route they paused before opening the doors. When they exited into the open they found themselves in the square of one of the residential malls, the far end of the mall was open up to the barricades were, the captain's signal was there with a team of marines and a number of other neutral signals.

Shepard kicked himself into gear as he brought the heat behind the collectors; he fired in heavy bursts with the Lancer and shredded the rear guard of the collectors before stomping on the others who had gotten in his way. The sudden assault from the rear made the collectors turn and face away from the captain and the others as the danger was no longer in front but at their back.

2 walkers appeared and strafed the exo-suit with fire; Shepard returned the favour with the 40mm guns and blew through the walkers in moments. The battle lasted for about 2 minutes before the helldiver arrived at the front of the mall where the marines and Captain Matthew, and Aria were. He disembarked once he got the suit behind cover.

He was greeted by the familiar black and blue armour that Matthew wore; he received a salute from his second in command. "Sir!" The captain said.

"Good to see you too Matt, what's the situation with Aria?" Daniel asked.

Before the captain could respond a voice interjected.
"Why don't you ask me yourself?"

He turned to see a white suited asari with face markings and a SMG in her hands; she smiled as she walked up. "So looks like the info was right, the helldivers were coming to greet me, I guess that means you're the dreaded Hellbane of the turians?"

Shepard remembered when the turians called him that when he started his viscous campaign against the turians back in 2556, he smiled and replied.
"Possibly, and I take it that you are Aria T'loak?"

"Yes, but I'd like to know is why you are here." She said.

Shepard divulged the situation.
"We need information, specifically on a spectre, one named Sarent Arterius, we were told that you might have some leads into his activity here in the Terminus systems especially since that he has the collectors allied to him, or I suspect that you didn't know?"

Aria visibly blanched at the news, she hadn't known that Saren was allied with the collectors, but that explained half of everything that's been going on with Terminus, she replied.
"I might not have known, but thanks for the update, the information is with me, and if you want it, you can help me before you get it."

Shepard suspected that it would end like this, there's always a catch with any of those who live in the Terminus systems and even in council space, and they were always a like. He nodded and asked.
"What do you need to get done?"

Aria smiled and explained.
"The collectors first of all, I'd like you to get them the fuck off my station ASAP. I'd also like to ask if you could help with the problem down in the lower functions of the station, air on level 4-9 have been contaminated with a virus specifically designed to kill any being that isn't collector based, I don't know when it was launched, but its spreading from the far levels, and with the fighting going on, I suspect that its reaching the higher levels soon. So if you and the rest of the marines don't want to die, I'd kindly like to ask you to plug up that fucking hole."

"Done, but I'm going to need to regroup with my marines, they're scattered over the whole station, and I don't work alone unless I need to." He replied.

"Fine, I won't stop you, but don't take too long, because I'm sure the collectors would love any chance to take more shots at us." She expressed.

Before Shepard and the others were about to organise their departure, a thunderous shockwave sent them all shaking. Shepard have been able to tell what was an impact from usual strikes, that wasn't a MAC shot, he looked around the cover and found himself staring at a very big red eye.

"OH You have to be fucking kidding me!" He shouted.

There a massive shape of a squid faced creature beared its fangs out at the colonel and the marines, this day was just getting better and better.

XXXXX

OPTIONS!

Here's for the upcoming chapter on Shepard's mission:

Option 1 is to recover Mikael from the lower levels first

Recover Carol from the depths of the far east of the station

Recover the marine forces from the battle field and help them secure a landing zone

Direct confrontation with the collectors in the environmental control zones

Deal with scattered enemy jamming signals

Unknown reports of strange activity in lower levels of 17, puzzle to come

Wait for Spartan support.

You now decide how this is to go, all of these can be put into order by whatever you want, any ideas just say them, this part I leave to you guys.

XXXXX

Got this message from someone a while back…

Y U no update? ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

Hmm that's a good question, well I've had 2 projects released in the past week and It's hard trying to come up with a good plot line for those two stories so, you're kind of going to have to wait on those plans. Updates are kind of slow, and with this new option of choosing the story line I want to maximise the potential for interaction with the audience, I need to figure that part out as best as I can.

And seriously a 10,000 chapter is not easy to come up with on the spot.