His eyes shot open. How long had he been out of it? He groaned and looked around using his eyes around, not sure if moving any part of his body was wise at the moment and discovered he had fallen nearly 35 feet down the cliff.

The pain in his back and head was unbearable and he felt himself slowly slipping into unconsciousness again, but before his eyes shut again, he noticed something in the snow, maybe it was Rena, the Quarian he discovered in the ship. Maybe it was his rifle, he didn't know, and his eyes shut as he went unconscious again.

When he slowly regained consciousness, he first thing he noticed is that it was getting dark. He groaned again as he slowly got to his feet. Spirits, did his body hurt badly. He stood there, wondering what he should do. He got the idea to contact Sergeant Therian.

He was just about to speak when he coughed a few times, causing him to groan from the pain in his chest. "Therian?...Are you there?" He got nothing back, just silence. He began to move to the object he remembered he had seen in the snow earlier. When he approached, he recognized it as his rifle. It was half burried in the snow but was otherwise undamaged from the explosion and fall.

He fell to his knees and began to dig his rifle out of the snow, once he had unearthed it, he picked it up and checked it over, just to make sure it was undamaged. Once he finished with that, he looked around and he realized he was alone. "Spirits..." He said to himself.

He began walking down the cliff-side, taking careful steps so he didn't disturb too much snow at once. He made it to the bottom after what to him seemed like an hour. That wasn't so bad, he thought to himself.

He was wrong. At the bottom of the cliff he found Rena's blood covered body. Along with the cylinder he was asked to retrieve. "Rena?" He said as he cautiously make his way to her body, he was slightly uneasy about going near it as he swore he could see her breathing, but there was no way she could be alive, her mask was cracked and she had numerous glass shards stuck in her chest.

He sighed to himself and looked at the cylinder, it was damaged beyond repair. "Spirits! Rena, why did you take it?" He said to her as if she could hear him. He had to tell Parnos. "Doc? Parnos, it's Desis." His comm crackled to life, finally! "Desis! I heard an explosion, is the object okay?" Came the now familiar voice over his helmet's comm. "No Doc, it's broken. I clipped it to my armor and I found it by a Quarian I found earlier aboard the ship." The comm crackled for a moment.

"The cylinder is broken? There's only 2 on this whole planet, Desis! You need to get me the other one!" Desis sighed. "Doc, slow down! I need to know why we need these if I'm going to risk my neck for it. Two already have." He said and he began to think about the sergeant again. "Desis, I can't tell you anything else but you have to do this, everything is at stake!"

Desis sighed again and looked down at Rena's body. Did she just...Move? "Okay, Doc. Where is the other cylinder?" He asked while taking a few steps away from the body. "In...It's in the storage depot, not A-23, it's in B-02! Go to the locker area, the common goods storage. Look for locker D-6, Desis! Do you hear me? D-6! You have to get there befo..." The comm suddenly went silent.

Desis knew he wouldn't reach the doctor again. Spirits, he couldn't believe this. But he had to admit, he felt important. He pulled up a map of the complex in his helmet and eyed the map. He discovered that the storage area he was instructed to go to was in one of the more higher security areas, and he didn't have clearance to enter.

"Spirits, what do I do now?" He mumbled to himself as he began his walk towards the command center. After he traveled a few meters, his comm crackled to life again. "Did you hear me? Do not trust the General, do not stop for anybody, do you hear me?" Came the doctor's voice. "Uh, Doc. I'm not sure I can do this."

This was going against everything he was taught in boot camp. He was passed through boot camp, but he had not expected to be sent here. "Desis, you have to! Okay? You have to! Everything is at stake, the Hierarchy itself depends upon our success here!" The comm cut out again.

What did he mean by that? Desis wondered and took a detour away from the command center, he had thought about reporting in, but with the most recent warning from the doctor, he decided it wasn't worth the chance.

He began to move again, down a path that had been created by heavy machinery. He slipped a few times on some icy patches, and stopped moving for a rest. He never took the time to realize there was a strange beauty in the dark sky and frozen landscape.

Desis was just about to begin moving again when suddenly something grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. Infront of him was Therian. "Th-Therian! I thought you were...Gone." Desis said. Spirits, was he happy to see him!

"It takes more than an explosion to get rid of me." He said and patted Desis on the shoulder. "You of all people should know that, Desis." Desis tilted his head slightly, Therian never called him by his first name before.

"You and I need to have a chat, Desis. Now."